“I’m sorry. I can’t do it.”

As soon as I said those words, sharp gazes from all around like a swarm of knives flew towards me as if trying to kill me.

My head was dizzy and aching because of the awful smell of alcohol. Still, it wasn’t hard to see that the agency president who spoke and my fellow debut group members silently resented me.

Sitting right beside me, the president of my agency grabbed my shoulder and asked with a forced smile as if to give me another chance.

“You can’t do it?”

“Yes, I can’t.”

I forcibly shook off his hand and stood up to prove my point. The murky eyes followed my every move.

“Think about it carefully.”

“What else do I need to think about?”

“Just give in this once, and you can live as you please afterward. Doing things you don’t want to do is a part of social life. I told you to think of the company like family. Can’t you do this for your family? You better know that if you go on like this, you’ll never be able to set foot in this industry again. You said you wanted to be a singer.”

Whether it was a threat or persuasion, he just needed to do one, damn it.

While listening to the drunken president’s babbling, I scoffed.

“Yeah, I wanted to do it, but I don’t want to sell my body for it.”

My blunt words made the woman, sitting in the higher seat and said to be the director of a large corporation, slightly change her facial color.

The leader, who had been watching the woman’s complexion, pleaded with me in a desperate tone.

“You know I’ve been a trainee for ten years. Please, just bow down this once. I can’t debut if I lose this chance.”

“Is this something that can be done by bowing? Get a grip, hyung.”

“You… were you always this selfish? You should at least think of your brothers who worked so hard in your place when you got into the debut group with your good looks.”

My face was faintly reflected in the soju bottle in front of me. Even with this vague image, I could confirm that I was extremely good-looking.

What’s the use of being handsome?

Looking at the distinctly cool expression of a fool, I felt momentarily choked up.

It’s hard to live as pathetically as I do with a face like this.

But my self-reproach didn’t last long.

It was only right that my anger should be greater towards the company that used and consumed naïve minors as they pleased.

“That’s right. I got in because I’m handsome. In this industry, appearance is also considered a skill. When I said I wanted to learn something other than dancing, you were the one who forced me to practice my lousy basics over and over again. Hyung, it’s not right to say that when you know all that.”

The more I thought about it, the more absurd it was.

“Who are you calling selfish? I thought you were a good hyung, but it turns out you were just a decoration. If you’re so envious of the sponsor, you do it.”

My head felt cold like ice water had been poured over it.

Sharp and fierce words I would never have dared to say under normal circumstances were easily said now that I was pushed into this situation.

This is why they say life is a real test.

The feeling of finally being able to speak my mind, which had been bottled up all my life, was refreshing. But before anything else happened, I needed to get out of here.

I put on the coat I had taken off earlier and nodded.

“If you have nothing more to say, I’ll be going.”

“Stop right there!”

“Really.”

I stopped halfway while opening the door and turned around. Their loosening facial muscles seemed to think that I might change my mind.

That superficial reaction only made me laugh.

“Just as a sincere piece of advice, because I’ve been with you for so long, you should take care of your appearance if you want to be an idol. Especially you, hyung, your face looks like it’s been chewed up and spit out by a squid. You’re so full of inferiority complex that I’m worried you’ll have a mental breakdown from malicious comments.”

“What…?”

“I’m genuinely grateful that you didn’t pretend to be a good person until the end. I think I won’t feel guilty for ruining everything because you’re all such trash.”

You bastards.

“President, everything you do will surely fail. And you too, Director. Ah, don’t worry, I will be the only one who knows about this. That director sitting over there seems like our president wouldn’t even dare to look at her, so why would I go around talking and get stabbed?”

I left the high-end bar briskly, ignoring the president’s shout to catch me and the desperate plea from my (former) colleagues.

When I felt I was far enough away from the VIP bar, my legs, which had been holding out, suddenly gave way, trembling.

It was 4:30 in the morning.

There was no one nearby.

I sat down comfortably in the empty space.

“I thought I was going to die from fear…”

It wasn’t very pleasant to sever ties with the people I thought I had been getting along with in such a horrible way.

…Well, we didn’t get along.

Looking back, there have been countless moments when I felt like something was wrong while living as a trainee in that company.

I could easily say hundreds of times when they pretended to care for me but couldn’t hide their frustration for not being able to break my self-esteem.

I just turned a blind eye.

I wanted to believe they were thinking of me, even though they were like that.

What could I do about the past now?

I was grateful that I had come to my senses before stamping my seal on the contract.

Like the president said, I might never be able to step foot in the entertainment industry again.

But it didn’t matter.

I didn’t even want to see that dirty place anyway.

I experienced such things before even debuting, and I couldn’t imagine how filthier it would be once I became a celebrity.

“That guy’s expression earlier was really funny…”

Did they think I would be a naïve fool till the end?

***

Since that day, five years have already passed.

I, along with the other trainees of the debut group, had quit high school early because of our company’s insistence that focusing on idol activities would be for the best.

There wasn’t much regret in that hasty decision since I didn’t think receiving a high school diploma would drastically change my life.

After giving up on my only dream and goal in life of becoming an idol, I was…

Living quite well.

During the summer, I enjoyed the cool air-conditioning, and during the winter, the warm heat of the boiler in my comfortable room. I diligently lived the life of a jobless person, eating three meals a day prepared by the housemaid ajumma, immersing myself in games, and sporadically uploading videos on YouTube.

The only hardship I could think of was the military service I had to complete as soon as I turned twenty.

That place was really… let’s not talk about it.

Even now, I didn’t even stretch my legs toward the direction of the military base and my former agency. However, on the day I “accidentally” heard the news that the male idol group that debuted there had poor sales, I opened my parents’ cherished alcohol.

Anyway, my rich parents didn’t care much about what I did, and since I didn’t seem to get tired of gaming, my life would remain the same.

…That’s what I thought.

Until my dream unimaginably reappeared before my eyes.

After being discharged from the military, I started a YouTube channel where I uploaded gaming-related videos in my room to make a living from management fees and other expenses.

The channel, featuring game reviews and strategy guides without focusing on a specific genre, did better than expected, and I occasionally received work from companies.

This time, a company I had worked with asked me to review an idol simulation game.

To be honest, this kind of game wasn’t to my taste, but I had received so much from the CEO before, so I agreed to do it.

I started the game without much expectation, and the opening video began to play.

The quality of the illustrations and overall video was not bad.

Soon, the video ended, and the start screen appeared.

After a few clicks, the screen quickly changed.

[Chapter 1: General Provisions

Article 1 (Purpose)

This agreement aims to establish the basic terms and conditions regarding the use of the game and related services provided by Raon Haje (hereinafter referred to as the “Company”) between the members and the Company….]

There was nothing special about these terms of service. I checked the agreement as if it was just flowing like water.

[Do you really agree with the terms of service?

Y/N]

[Y]

Did they really need to ask about the agreement again with a pop-up window?

While thinking about that, I drank a few sips of the sweet and sour sikhye and repeatedly pressed “Enter.”

Anyway, I didn’t know what would happen next then, so I went on to the next step and set my nickname.

[Please enter your nickname.]

[R]

[Ra]

[Raon]

I quickly entered the nickname I had used since elementary school.

[Loading….

Welcome, On Raon.]

On Raon?

That was strange.

I entered “Raon,” not “On Raon.”

However, “Raon” or “On Raon” didn’t really matter.

There were many times when someone else had already taken the nickname “Raon,” so I had to add “On” in front of it to make it “Onraon.”

“Ughh.”

Maybe I overdid it by streaming the newly updated transcendent raid Perkle for five days straight.

Suddenly, I was overcome with sleepiness.

My eyes became so dry that I wanted to take them out and wipe them clean before putting them back in, and they began to close on their own.

Well, it’s not like I have to do this today.

With a thud, the bottle of sikhye resting on my knee fell to the floor, and I slammed my head on the desk.

Bang!

“Ouch!”

I woke up immediately.

The sound of my head hitting the desk was so loud that the people around me began to glance at me.

People.

My mind froze for a moment.

People? Looking at me?

In that instant, I realized that I wasn’t in my room, and a chill ran down my spine, driving away any leftover sleepiness.

I quickly stood up and looked around.

Over two hundred computers lined up, the noisy sound of mechanical blue-axis keyboards being typed on, and the smell of cigarettes lingering in the stuffy air.

A PC room.

I had figured out that much, but I still didn’t understand why I was there.

Who, why, and how?

Suddenly, I felt the need to look in the mirror.

Thankfully, my phone was right next to the keyboard.

It bothered me a bit that it was an old model I had used a few years ago, but I didn’t have time to worry about that. I went straight from the lock screen to the camera app, switched to selfie mode, and checked my face.

“Wow, wow… wow…”

It was shocking.

“When did I become this ugly?”

Anyone who heard me might think it was nonsense, but unfortunately, I was dead serious.

Where did the handsome face that wouldn’t be humiliated even if placed between good-looking celebrities go?

Instead, there was a face like this.

Although my facial structure and features were undoubtedly mine, this was too much, even if my face had sagged a bit from exposure to electromagnetic waves.

I felt like I knew why I suddenly wanted to look in the mirror.

No one was paying attention to me, or more precisely, to my appearance, so I unconsciously felt something was off.

It wasn’t oversensitivity, but rather, my face was something you’d want to look at once, twice, and again and again.

Even my garbage-like former company that kept belittling my life, relationships, and skills at every turn didn’t dare touch my appearance.

No more words were needed.

It’s a shame that my face, which my parents worked so hard to make, was ruined by electromagnetic waves.

I really need to cut down on gaming.

My gaming friends, who were also like losers, might laugh and bet on me changing my mind just because I looked in the mirror once.

Honestly, even if that happened, it would be worth it. I would win anyway.

“…”

A moment later, I regained some composure and took another look at my face that I wasn’t sure if it was mine or not.

And then, I revised my evaluation to think that this face wasn’t that bad by general standards.

However, there’s not much difference between a one-of-a-kind face and a common one.

This face was about ten notches lower than my original face.

It didn’t make sense that my face got like this because of aging or natural deterioration.

In fact, my face now looked younger than ever since I returned from the military.

I looked so young that I thought the face value of the student wearing a school uniform and playing a game next to me was similar to mine.

Maybe my vision itself had deteriorated, not just my face.

It was nothing more than a hopeful idea, but it would have been nice if it were true.

Why are my eyes like this?

Once deep, clear, and vivid like black obsidian, those black eyes were nowhere to be found.

Instead, deer-like, bright, and transparent brown eyes shook uneasily within the screen.

…I’ve never heard of electromagnetic waves breaking down melanin pigment.

Despite all the new features on this unfamiliar face, the eyes were the only part that looked somewhat like before.

Thinking that perhaps the strange brown color of my eyes was because of contact lenses, I carelessly poked my eyeball with the tip of my fingernail, only to be rewarded with searing pain and tears.

“Ouch! Shit!”

Immediately afterward, I saw something strange through the eye I hadn’t poked.

To be more specific, something like a pop-up window you’d see in a game.

[Due to inappropriate language, a profanity filter penalty has been applied.

(Time remaining 00:59:59)]

[If inappropriate language continues, penalties may increase.

(Time remaining 00:59:57)]

“What the…?”

Tears streaming down my face, I clutched my now-closed eye, causing the high school student sitting next to me to scoot their chair away.

In any case, I was lost in my thoughts.

Did I really play too many games? Was that why I was dreaming this ridiculous dream?

However, the ominous feeling that this might not be a dream lingered as I thought about my eye hurting.

“Faith…”

Yes?

“Hope! Love!”

Was I Hong Gildong?

Why was I shouting words like “faith,” “hope,” and “love” instead of cursing?

I tried spouting other profanities just in case, but instead of swearing, I shouted fruit names like a madman.

When I tried to stretch my disobedient tongue, the high school student next to me finally murmured something and moved to a different seat.

“Ah shit, am I alone in the PC room?”

“?”

I couldn’t understand. What language was that?

He looked Korean, but maybe he’s a returnee from abroad? Judging by his expression and nuance, it seemed like he cursed at me.

I get it. If a seemingly normal guy behaved like this, I would curse too.

After a long deep breath, I finally calmed down and pressed the first speed dial.

The person who held the glorious first speed dial on the phone of a handsome man like me was my housekeeper who had been working at our house for 15 years.

Although, after knowing her for so long, she sometimes treated a rare beauty like me as if I were less than dog poop on the street.

However, there was no contact listed on the speed dial.

It was unbelievable, but at least I remembered the phone number, so I dialed it.

“Hello? Ajumma, it’s me.”

– “You called the wrong number.”

Beep- Beep- Beep- Beep-

The call was instantly disconnected, and I was left dumbfounded.

Why did ajumma not pick up, and why did a curt foreign man answer instead?

When I realized I was merely in a PC room, I felt an incomparable sense of dread.

Haha, what was this really?

Even if I forget my mom and dad’s numbers, I will never forget ajumma’s.

With a foolish-looking face, I confirmed the number was correct and called again.

“Hello…”

– “I told you, you have the wrong number.”

Once again, I was met with incomprehensible words and a disconnected call after only a second.

It’s only polite to back off after being rejected twice.

But it was so unbelievable that I called a third time, and the call was cut off immediately, making it apparent that I had been blocked.

I went to the empty address book to contact someone else.

No, actually, it wasn’t entirely unexpected.

I had a feeling this would happen even before discovering that this phone was the model I used during my trainee days, which had been out for over five years.

I started fumbling with the phone like a half-crazed person.

However, it was clean and neat.

The album was completely empty, and there wasn’t a single game left of the dozen or so that had been installed on my phone.

The number of friends registered on KakaoTalk was 0.

Strangely, I couldn’t read anything written on my phone.

The only text I could read was:

[On Raon]

Awkward.

Even though I’ve bet my life on multiple games, I was not the kind of brat to use a nickname for my messenger profile…

At this point, a cliché that would be hilarious if it was someone else’s life but felt trashy in my own, buzzed around my head like an angry swarm of bees.

Ugh, no way. It couldn’t be.

[Tutorial Quest Arrived!]

“Ah, what a surprise.”

[▶ Quest Description:

You’ve just realized that something is wrong. As expected, you are inside a game. Rest assured, you’re not crazy, and this place will become your undeniable reality. Let’s proceed with the tutorial quest kindly prepared for the clueless you.

▶ Completion Condition:

Proceed with the tutorial and understand the basic game system

▶ Confirmed Reward:

A small amount of experience and money

Would you like to proceed with the quest?

Y/N]

Ah, I could read this properly.

I must have set the phone’s language settings weirdly, I thought as I touched “N.”

Are you kidding me? I refuse. No!

[This quest cannot be refused.

Automatically Proceeding.]

Damn!

Feeling awkward in many ways, I left the internet café that started to chase out the minors as it was almost 10 PM to, as the game instructed, proceed with the tutorial.

Of course, I didn’t have an ID.

“Ugh, it’s cold.”

Even though I was wearing thick winter clothes, the possessed body was so thin it barely had any fat, so it seemed to feel the cold more than my original body.

Checking the date on my phone, it was the end of February 2017, about 5 years behind my reality.

Shivering, I wandered around looking for a deserted place.

I didn’t know how to proceed with the tutorial, but I didn’t think it was something to do where people could see me.

But strangely, I couldn’t read any of the big letters on the signs or billboards I saw while walking.

The streetscape was undoubtedly Korea, and the letters were definitely Hangul. I felt like a foreigner… or rather, an alien.

I wandered around the unfamiliar streets for a while and finally reached a deserted park when a system window popped up as if it had been waiting.

[The tutorial will begin.]

[Check your character information.]

Character information.

The information window popped up like a hologram.

[Individual Trainee, On Raon

Level: 1

Experience: 00.00%

HP: 50/50

Fatigue: 20

Strength: 10

Power: 10

Agility: 10

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 10

Charm: 10

Luck: 10

Fame: 0

Remaining Stat Points: 0]

“Wow, this sucks….”

After unintentionally blurting out a comprehensive review, I began to look in more detail.

I didn’t even know why there was Fatigue and HP in a game like this.

Seeing these hard-to-look-at values from one to ten, I naturally felt overwhelmed.

Most of all, my Charm was at 10.

I had a feeling there was a reason I looked so unattractive.

After that, the system briefly explained the simple information that anyone who has ever played an RPG would be familiar with.

If you think or say keywords like “character information,” “skills,” and “quests,” a window will appear in front of your eyes.

I also checked other useful features for users, such as a minimap, inventory, and cash shop, in case I needed them.

But nothing worked, no matter how often I tried using different terms, so I gave up.

Thus, the first quest was merely a process of confirming that this was really a game.

And it was a terrible game at that.

“Logout! Please!”

[Logout has been denied.]

“This stupid game. Why on earth is logout denied? Tell me why I’m possessed by this game!”

I didn’t expect a response, but one came.

[You have agreed to the following terms and conditions.]

“Terms and conditions?”

[Article 11 (■■ Service)

Users of this game are considered to have agreed to the use of ■■ services.

If it is confirmed that you have agreed to these terms and conditions, the service will start even if the ■■ has the same wavelength as that of ■■.

The company is not responsible for any disadvantages arising from this process…]

There were more trivial explanations following.

I didn’t know if such a garbage clause existed, but what could I do now?

While I regretted my mistake by tearing at my hair, a message appeared saying the tutorial was over.

[The tutorial has ended.

Quest complete!]

“What did I do for it to be over already….”

[Did you think it was over already? Life is a field without any tutorial. From now on, learn by rolling on the ground. Fighting! (^^)]

Why was this guy picking a fight…?

When I felt like I wouldn’t get along with this system in the future, the reward calculation began.

[Experience and cash will be awarded as quest rewards.

Level up!

You have stat points to distribute.]

Before I could even think about investing all the stat points into Charm—which was my identity—several windows popped up one after another.

It seemed like the notifications that had been off until the end of the tutorial were now flooding in.

[Data transfer…

Data collision warning…

User recognition failure…

User recognition retry…

ERROR!

ERROR!

ERROR!

ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!]

Countless eerie error windows appeared, turning my vision red before suddenly disappearing.

There were a few intact ones in between, but I didn’t have time to read them.

Whew, what a surprise.

A perfectly normal popup finally appeared in front of my now clean view.

[Synchronization complete

Some abilities have been reset due to incomplete synchronization.]

Cancel. It’s not perfect.

Reset, huh?

So that’s why my stats were so low?

[Error correction process activated

Please select one ability to synchronize with the main body.

Recommended abilities: Korean, Charm]

Wait a minute.

Did Korean count as one of the reset abilities?

Was the reason I couldn’t understand what the high school student or the person on the phone was saying because I couldn’t speak Korean?

If I couldn’t read or listen, of course, I wouldn’t have been able to speak properly either.

That’s why my pronunciation seemed a bit strange.

Was this difficulty level seriously insane?

How could I live in Korea if I couldn’t speak Korean?

In the end, without the confidence to relearn Korean from scratch, I tearfully chose Korean.

Goodbye, Charm.

Farewell, attractiveness.

[You have chosen Korean!

Advanced Korean will be synchronized.]

I could finally read the warning sign in front of the non-operational fountain.

Yes. I am Korean!

I felt like my insides were clearing up.

However, the system’s mischief didn’t end there.

[Main quest arrived!

“From a shut-in gamer to an idol in another world?!”]

I didn’t know who came up with the quest name, but they should change the person in charge. Quickly.

[▶ Quest description:

Having completed the tutorial, you are now preparing for the first filming of the idol survival program Pick Your Heart 3. Pick Your Heart is a cruel, cold, and stimulating survival program that selects 10 trainees – 7 by public vote and 3 through a combination of votes and expert evaluations – from a pool of 100 trainees. You are slated to participate as an individual trainee. The first shooting is tomorrow morning. Show your presence in the first evaluation, even though you are a newbie at level 2, with all your stats at 10.

▶ Confirmed rewards:

Attention from trainees and mentors, a small amount of experience points, money, lodging for four days, and a place to get some clothes and necessities.

▶ Penalty for failure:

On a cold winter day, poor you with nowhere to go will face a tragic ending called freezing to death.

(Failure and rejection are treated the same)

Y/N]

“?”

I rubbed my eyes and looked again.

[▶ Penalty for failure:

On a cold winter day, poor you with nowhere to go will face a tragic ending called freezing to death.

(Failure and rejection are treated the same)]

“…”

I couldn’t help but lose my reason.

Why was an idol training game so extreme?

I breathed a deep sigh, and my breath came out like dry ice smoke.

My hands, buried deep in my pockets, were freezing, and my ears seemed ready to fall off.

Feeling like I would become the first idiot to freeze to death on the first day of the game possession, I pressed the acceptance button with my trembling hands.

It’s not because I was mad; it’s because I was cold.

Really cold.

Damn it.

* * *

Barely accepting reality, I decided to spend the night in a 24-hour unmanned café.

I used the money I received as a tutorial quest reward to get a hot chocolate latte from a vending machine-like coffee machine.

Holding a cup of hot chocolate in one hand and sitting in an uncomfortable chair, my current state was truly pitiful.

Whether it’s a game operator or a god, please send me home. Fragile game shut-ins will die if they stay outside too long.

However, it wasn’t an exaggeration.

Either because I hit my head too hard at first or stayed in the cold for too long, my HP dropped by 20 instantly.

What kind of crazy balance was this?

Would the game really kill you if your HP reached 0? Would an idol training game give such a miserable death to its players?

Scared, I allocated the stat points I received from leveling up to Health, Strength, and Agility with a 2, 2, and 1 distribution.

As a result, my HP increased by a tiny bit.

It was still a pathetic amount—I felt it would drop to 0 and be game over if I hit my head anywhere.

I inevitably left Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charm alone for now.

Someday, I am going to be handsome again.

Right?

Suddenly, I felt like crying.

I quickly shook off the sadness and searched for the program with the same title and name as the game on my phone.

Pick Your Heart. Shortened to Pick Heart.

Pick Heart was already an ordinary idol survival program in real life, drained of all its novelty.

It was a cruel program that ranked trainees by viewer votes and eliminated those with low rankings.

The program ultimately debuted the remaining trainees as a group.

It was clear that viewers were already getting tired of idol audition programs, as this was already the third season.

I noticed an article about Pick Heart 3 introducing an “expert evaluation” to differentiate itself from the flood of other programs and aiming for a self-produced idol.

The details were not specified, but it was not completely ignoring votes.

It’s a system perfect for manipulation.

Searching a bit more, I found quite a few people expressing doubts about the results of Pick Heart 1 and 2 and raising suspicions of vote manipulation.

The game even had such unnecessary realism in this aspect.

This is clearly biased.

I remembered my favorite contestant, who might have debuted if not for vote manipulation, and felt bitter.

Anyway, it seemed there were no particular issues in the game’s 2017 Korea.

Season 1 debuted a male group called UPon, but they disbanded after a year and a half of activities. The second season debuted a female group called yoUs and was about to disband at the end of this year.

Both did very well.

The results must have been produced by grinding the participating trainees.

And now I’d be joining as a dirt-spoon individual trainee.

I sipped the hot chocolate I hadn’t touched because it was too hot.

Some sugar should help my brain function.

[Chocolate is good.

Fatigue -5]

Only 5? Stingy.

[Come to think of it, it’s so sweet that you feel like vomiting.

Your fatigue increased by +5]

“Crazy, I’m sorry.”

I apologized immediately, but the system didn’t return my fatigue level. It even put the swear word filter back on.

You bastard.

From now on, you’re a dog system.

Anyway, with something sweet entering my system, my brain started to work a little.

It’s not like I can just go and say, “Play any song!”

There must be a song scheduled for me.

I thought I should check my only possession—my phone—again.

When I checked my files, there was an MP3 file called PickHeartEvaluationSong.

I thought that this must be it and pressed play immediately.

“…”

It was my first time hearing this song.

Listening to the melody, it seemed like a vocal-focused song rather than a dance song.

I listened to the pleasant female singer’s voice until the end, and a system window popped up.

[Song: Hello, world!

Do you want to memorize it?

Y/N]

“Wow.”

Was this the possessors’ buff?

Was I finally walking the superstar path, not crouched miserably in a 24-hour unmanned cafe?

I was willing to call the dog system a system again if my prediction was correct.

I pressed “Y” with an excited heart.