Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 245

“Who are you…?”

Yu-geon asked me with a surprised look.

“Do you know Ise hyung?”

Of course I do. But I had no need to explain everything to Yu-geon, and even if I did, he would think I was crazy.

“Uh, yes.”

I felt a faint hope that he might remember me if I looked at him longer.

“Hey, wait a minute.”

“…?”

I narrowed my eyes and looked up at him. He gave me a strange expression, as if he was puzzled.

“Why do you look so familiar? Have we met somewhere before?”

I drew a clear line.

“We saw each other once at the entrance of the officetel.”

“Not that.”

“That’s all.”

He then scanned me carefully, as if he was dissecting me. I felt a chill run down my spine from his piercing gaze, as if he had survived the fierce entertainment industry for nothing.

“Hmm~. Why can’t I remember? Your face and your way of speaking are so familiar.”

I pushed his hand away with disgust. What kind of pick-up line was that? Gross.

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

As I was about to shake him off and turn away, the status window that had been neglecting its duty popped up.

[You have a system function available. Do you want to check it?]

[Yes/No]

What? All of a sudden? The thing that had been quiet all along suddenly appeared and showed me a notice. I couldn’t erase my doubt, but I decided to check it anyway.

‘Yes.’

Then a red-lettered item description window appeared.

[>Special Item]

[Data Transfer Right]

[Limited Function Only]

It was the item that I had asked about before, something that prevented data damage in case of an error.

‘What happens if I use it?’

[You can partially transfer a copy of the data you want to transfer to another storage.]

‘…!’

It was a very tempting function that I heard for the first time in a long time.

[Due to the limitation of the function, you can only transfer data less than a week in real time.]

Meanwhile, the system screen kept flickering and shaking, as if it was trying to recover and didn’t have enough power to show me the notice.

‘Do I have to think about what will happen if I can’t use this either?’

If I wanted to give someone my memories from the virtual idol days and ask for their cooperation, honestly… Hwijin was more suitable than Yu-geon.

Because… he had more influence, I guess. Yu-geon had a hard time working with the staff in a friendly manner because of the schedule disruption during the Floss days. ṟἈŊȱΒË𝙨

When he was in Floss, he was the undisputed top star and did so well that he usually got the upper hand and came in first.

But people who didn’t know the situation probably saw him as a ‘star who went wild with popularity’.

Even if Offbeat was doing pretty well, it would be difficult to have the same influence as he did in the Floss days.

‘Well… there are one or two celebrities who changed their attitude after the project group disbanded.’

From what I heard, there were rumors flying around like gossip, and Yu-geon was treated as a bit of a downgrade.

There were even staff who wouldn’t even greet him.

So it would be better to save it and use it when I had a chance to meet Hwijin later, rationally speaking.

‘But will there be a next time?’

He was a person I could hardly meet again unless I ran into him by chance.

I was just an unregistered teenager who didn’t exist in this world in the first place.

If I followed him to some schedule next time, the staff and security would block me.

I paused for a moment, stopped walking, and thought about it. Then I turned back to Yu-geon.

His eyebrows twitched with a smug look that made me want to slap him.

‘…’

I was annoyed, but this was not the time to argue.

‘I’ll use it.’

As soon as I said that, the status window flashed and disappeared. At the same time, Yu-geon clutched his head as if he had a headache.

“Ugh. My head suddenly…”

He tilted his head in confusion and looked at me again.

“Why do I suddenly have this strange memory… or is it not? What is this?”

He seemed to be bewildered by the contrast between his experience on the idol stage in reality and the memory that was unexpectedly transmitted to him.

I watched Yu-geon for a moment and then opened my mouth with a sigh.

“I told you to ask me for help anytime, right?”

Then let’s take that help now.

Yu-geon, who had been relaxed until a while ago, frowned and asked.

“Who are you, exactly? Why… no…”

He looked puzzled, as if he had dreamed of a memory that was different from his own reality.

I didn’t have anything to say, even if it was a bit mean. It was nice to see that annoying guy, who wasn’t crying or anything, just looking dumbfounded with a lot of questions on his face.

I snickered and laughed with a deflating sound.

“I’m the person who saved you three times.”

It was time for the spring weather to start, but it was unusually cold.

Snowflakes began to fall from the sky.

A little while ago, Yu-geon was lying on the sofa, enjoying a brief break in the tense dorm.

“Meow!”

The cat with a spotted pattern didn’t like Yu-geon taking up the sofa and cried out loudly.

“Hey, why. Don’t chase me away, too.”

Yu-geon grabbed the cat by the armpit and lifted it up, and the cat struggled fiercely as if to say, where are you touching?

“Come on.”

Yu-geon calmed the cat down by stroking its forehead to the top of its head, and the cat, who had softened, climbed up to Yu-geon’s chest and curled up.

The cat seemed to like the warm human cushion, and for once, it became obedient and growled softly.

It was already the third day since he had stayed at the Climax dorm. He had gotten used to it to some extent, but it was still awkward.

‘Wasn’t there a dog, too?’

He asked the other members, and they said it was a dog that Ise had brought in from the beginning, and when he asked why he didn’t see it anymore, he said he had sent it somewhere else on his own and got angry.

Even Yi-jun, who usually didn’t fight with Ise, got mad at him for being so irresponsible.

‘I can’t believe he would do that…’

He was not the kind of person who would casually abandon a dog, not a person, with a sense of responsibility that was more than twice as strong as others.

‘Is he really a split personality or something?’

If not, how could a person change so much? Yu-geon wondered, but he couldn’t figure out what the problem was because he couldn’t reach Ise.

‘I don’t know if he can’t do the activities because he’s sick, mentally or physically,’

The only thing that was clear was that if he left it like this, most of the things that Cheon Ise had done would be in vain.

Climax, Offbeat, and Swift would still maintain their reputation if they went back to WePlanet, but

The salad funding and the composition label that he had been pushing for himself were almost certain to collapse.

And that was the same for Cheon Ise’s reputation.

‘Come to think of it, his reputation wasn’t that good a year ago.’

Hwijin didn’t seem to believe him when he said that Cheon Ise had changed.

He brought the dog after that.

‘Hmm…’

He wasn’t sure or suspicious that he had a split personality.

But it was a situation that was hard to explain otherwise.

Even if it wasn’t a split personality, there must be some other disease that made his personality go back and forth. Yu-geon shrugged his shoulders and sat the cat in a corner of the sofa and got up.

‘Let’s go to his house for now.’

He said he had moved from the officetel to his home. It was a situation where he expected to be turned away at the door, but he knew the address and phone number that he had received through the manager.

‘Even if I hadn’t received it from the manager, honestly, everyone in the country would know where the Cheon Soo Group family lives with one search.’

He called the house first and a middle-aged woman who said she was his mother answered. He said he wanted to visit him and she gladly said he could come.

He sighed deeply and changed into his outdoor clothes and called a taxi to go down to the parking lot. His steps were not light at all.

He drove for about 30 minutes and paid the taxi fare and got off. What kind of house is this big? A huge mansion appeared.

‘He was a much richer son than I thought.’

Well, it was Cheon Soo Group, so it was obvious. He was surprised by his frugal lifestyle and lack of luxury, unlike a rich son.

He took a short breath and was about to ring the doorbell when someone opened the door and came out.

‘Who is it? Did another member say they would visit first?’

He wondered and checked his face.

He was engulfed by an inexplicable sense of familiarity. A neat face that looked gentle but also stubborn. It wasn’t the flashy face that you usually think of when you think of an idol, but his features were clear and he looked sincere, making him look like he would be popular.

And then, a moment later, strange memories flashed through my head like a carousel, accompanied by a terrible headache.

“Who are you? Why… No…”

What’s going on? I couldn’t understand what was happening in my head.

Then, a familiar-faced male student chuckled and answered with a smile.

“The person who saved you three times.”

What nonsense is this? But I vividly remembered myself telling him confidently to ask me for help anytime.

But that couldn’t be. When I was filming for My Idol Stage, I shared a four-person room with only one other person, and he was eliminated in the first round of re-evaluation, so I was forced to move to another room after that.

And in that room, I was at the center of the argument, and all kinds of trivial scenes were aired like clips.

Why? I kept seeing a blurry scene of him standing next to Hwijin.

I became friends with Hwijin after the final debut members were confirmed.

There was no way that the three of us had shared a room.

But why did I remember it so vividly…

“…”

Why did I feel like crying?

“Let’s go somewhere first.”

The male student, who looked younger than me, casually spoke in informal language and caught the snowflakes.

He acted as if he was very familiar with this situation.

“No… What is this…”

“Let’s just go somewhere and sit down and talk. It’s going to be a long story.”

With a faint sigh, Yu-geon was dragged out to the street with his wrist held tightly. He had a better physique than him, but his grip was so strong that he couldn’t resist.

“Wait…!”

“Never mind that, let’s just go somewhere.”

Clang, Yu-geon was dragged into a random cafe nearby and quickly put on his hat and sat down in a separated seat.

“Who are you?”

When he asked for the second time, the male student spouted nonsense again.

“The person who brought you out of the emergency stairs and put you on stage, who comforted you when you ran away and felt depressed, who went to Jeju Island and brought you back on a dawn flight.”