Chapter 1: The First Day of Preliminaries, Returned

“Mr. Rai-heun?”

“It’s Heun.”

“Huh?”

Even half-asleep, Rai-heun corrected the other person’s mistake with precise pronunciation.

This wasn’t the first or second time.

It wasn’t even the second or third time.

Having experienced this tens of thousands of times throughout his life, it came out as naturally as a machine executing a programmed command.

Because of that, the words that followed came in a sleepy, languid voice.

“It’s Rai-heun, Heun. Not Hun. …My name.”

“Ah.”

Only then did the person who woke him up realize the meaning of Rai-heun’s words and let out a small exclamation.

Rai-heun looked up at that face through half-open, bleary eyes.

In his blurry vision, a stranger’s face came into full view.

Even without looking, he knew the words and expression that would follow.

He would say this with that slightly embarrassed yet curious face he had seen tens of thousands of times.

“That’s an uncommon name. Rai-heun. Haha. I’ve seen many unique names during my two years in this industry, but yours seems to be on the rarer side even among them.”

I knew he’d say that.

To the words he had heard tens of thousands of times, Rai-heun offered a habitual, generic response, “Yes.”

There was no need to extend the conversation with this stranger by making excuses that his parents gave it to him so he was blameless, or speaking from hard-earned experience that having an ordinary, unremarkable name might actually be one of the five blessings.

“Anyway, Rai… Heun! Contestant. The preliminaries are starting soon, so please line up with the 300s group. You’ll wait in groups of 20 in the waiting room, and then take the audition one by one in turn.”

“…”

“Mr. Rai-heun?”

The staff member wearing a name tag labeled ‘STAFF’ around his neck asked with a puzzled look as Rai-heun didn’t answer.

Rai-heun answered in a dazed voice as if still not fully awake, yet clearly enough to be understood.

“…Yes. Understood.”

Though not entirely satisfied, the staff member turned away from Rai-heun after hearing an answer and headed toward where the other contestants were.

The people gathered here today were those who had passed the regional preliminaries or online screenings.

Therefore, for most of them, it was their first time at a broadcasting station, and the majority had no idea how things proceeded.

Having frequently seen people over the past two years miss their turn like fools and get eliminated from the preliminaries if staff didn’t inform them, he busily searched for those whose turn was approaching among the people in the convention hall.

Because even though an announcement was made in the hall 10 minutes ago, there could still be people dozing off like the contestant just now.

“…”

Thus, the staff member left a busy back view behind and departed.

Rai-heun remained in a daze, staring at the scenery before him with unfocused eyes.

There were countless people inside the hall, and the noise they created was clamorous.

Faced with such a vivid reality, Rai-heun still carried a face that looked as if he were dreaming.

A moment later, Rai-heun got up from the chair where he had been dozing off.

Instead of standing in the line for the 300s group mentioned by the staff member, he walked somewhere else.

To Rai-heun, there was something far more important right now than the audition, which the gathered contestants were pouring all their focus into.

Something he absolutely had to verify.

[The 1st XVT Super Audition Survival ‘BE A STAR’! Challenge your dreams and claim the 100 million won grand prize!]

Forcing his barely responsive legs to move as he walked outside, Rai-heun slumped down upon seeing the giant banner covering more than half of the building’s exterior wall.

He had held out hope that it wasn’t true, but he had genuinely returned.

To ‘that day.’

The wildly popular audition survival show ‘BE A STAR’ was an ambitious new program prepared by XVT, a broadcasting station gaining massive popularity for its variety shows.

Its main premise was to select people with the potential to become stars from all over the country, rank them through competition, and choose a single winner to receive full support.

The winner would receive a grand prize of 100 million won, an album and music video produced by XVT, as well as promised special perks across variety shows under the parent company’s affiliate networks.

While talent as a singer came first, a star absolutely needed performance, sense, and a charm that pulled people in.

‘BE A STAR’ was a system designed to choose a winner by combining all these aspects.

It meant that simply being good at singing wouldn’t make one a winner.

And for some reason, he had been dozing off in that very audition hall.

Just in case, he had come outside the building to confirm whether today was the 1st season or 2nd season of the audition.

According to the broadcast information, the 1st season was meant to select male stars, while the 2nd season was for female stars.

After confirming that his worst fears were realized, Rai-heun pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket.

The home screen displayed only the month and date without the year.

Sliding his finger across the screen to enter the calendar app, the exact today’s date appeared.

March 3, 20XX.

Even when he checked a portal site for final confirmation, it was the same.

It was March 3rd.

He had returned to the first day of open auditions, six months before his death.

“…”

After freezing like a stone statue for a moment while staring intently at the numbers on the screen, Rai-heun slipped his mobile phone back into his pocket and stood up from the floor.

Now that he had confirmed today was the first day of open auditions, what he had to do was clear.

Brushing himself off and walking back toward the auditorium where the audition was taking place, Rai-heun’s face retained none of the dazement or confusion from when he had first woken up.

What surfaced on that face was nothing but a resolute determination, a terrible malice, and a razor-sharp intent to kill contained within his glistening eyes.

“Number 318, Mr. Rai-heun. Please step this way.”

Rai-heun, who had been waiting outside the studio where the judges were waiting, moved his steps upon hearing his number called.

After confirming it was the 1st season survival show through the banner, he had sat and waited briefly in the meeting room where people waited in groups of 20, before waiting alone outside the studio for his turn.

In the past, knowing nothing, he would have wandered around confused or frantically asked the staff.

But this time was different.

Like someone with prior experience, Rai-heun calmly found the meeting room by himself and made his way to the preliminary studio.

Because he truly did have prior experience.

“Alright, Number 318. When the door opens in a moment, you’ll step inside. Since it’s your first time wearing a body mic, it might feel unfamiliar, so please be careful not to unconsciously press against the mic on your chest. While you’re speaking, the sound team can monitor it, but if noise gets mixed in while you’re singing, it can be difficult to edit. Then it’ll be your own loss. It could even affect your results.”

“I know.”

“Pardon?”

The staff member, who had been rattling off the precautions he must have repeated to countless contestants as if fed up with it, raised his head with a puzzled expression.

What do you mean you know?

You’re probably just some dime-a-dozen karaoke singer who came here aiming for the 100 million won anyway.

Even without saying it aloud, everything he wanted to say was clearly written on his face.

“I said I know that much.”

“…”

The staff member, who initially looked at him with an expression that said ‘What’s with this guy?’, froze completely in the exact posture of looking up at Rai-heun.

Then, after a brief moment, his pupils rolled as if thinking of something, and just as he seemed to realize where he had seen this face before, he looked at the contestant’s name tag attached to his t-shirt and assumed the face of a soldier who had just reconfirmed a confirmed kill.

“Ah… Could you be that Rai-heun?”

“…Yes.”

Even without asking, he knew why the heaviest emphasis had been placed on the word ‘that’ in ‘that Rai-heun.’

So Rai-heun merely gave a slow nod to confirm he was indeed that person.

Satisfied with the confirmation, the staff member asked no further questions.

He was a staff member lacking a bit in memory, but quick on the uptake.

He realized that the contestant with the unusual name before him wasn’t just one of many annoying targets, but rather an ‘editing point’ of the program that needed to be paid extra attention to.

“You seem quite nervous, but you can take it easy today. For someone of your level, Mr. Rai-heun, someone will notice and mention it just by looking at your application. No, maybe they already knew and passed you through the over-the-phone evaluation.”

Seeing Rai-heun’s rigid expression as he remained silent, the staff member seemed to judge that he was nervous.

In his own way, he threw out various bits of small talk thinking he was easing the tension, but to Rai-heun, it was nothing more than annoying noise.

None of it was correct anyway.

Rai-heun wasn’t nervous.

Far from being nervous, this whole series of procedures was merely boring and tedious.

He wanted to hurry up and meet that bastard, expose the razor-sharp truth right in front of that hateful face, and if possible, plunge a real blade into him as well.

Which meant he wanted to kill him.

Because he had truly been killed by that bastard.

The talk about the screening was wrong too.

The reason Rai-heun was able to come to this agonizing audition venue wasn’t because of that dreadful past scandal.

For that to be the case, that incident had long since faded from the public’s memory, and countless individuals with far greater buzzworthiness had applied for this audition.

Although the prize money was similar to other audition shows, because the hosting network was one whose variety shows achieved massive success every time, the contestants’ expectations were extraordinary.

General Director Ki Seong-mu, who was rumored to become the CEO of one of the affiliates in a few years, and PD Mun Jeong-hyo, who directed this program, were both famous figures to that extent.

Though far from pleasant, the reason Rai-heun was able to come to this audition was also thanks to that hateful bastard.

Ki Seong-mu.

That bastard who killed him, whom ripping apart wouldn’t even be enough, was precisely one of those founding figures.

Thanks to that, he managed to pass the fierce screening said to have drawn hundreds of thousands of applicants and make it all the way to the station.

He knew very well that the reason that bastard passed him was by no means out of goodwill.

He also knew full well that receiving help was disgraceful and unjust.

Yet he couldn’t refuse that help.

There was no other way.

No other way to break through this trashy life and situation.

“Number 318, Rai-heun.”

The door to the preliminary studio swung open.

Stepping inside, the familiar layout of the room greeted him instantly.

Three judges sat behind a long desk under the bright, artificial glare of studio lights.

Center stage was Mun Jeong-hyo, the main PD of the program, flanked by two vocal trainers.

“Go ahead and introduce yourself, and let us know what song you’ll be singing.”

Mun Jeong-hyo spoke casually, barely lifting his eyes from the application sheet in front of him.

“My name is Rai-heun.”

“And the song?”

“I will be singing ‘To You, Once Again’.”

At the song title, one of the vocal trainers blinked and looked up.

It was a notoriously difficult ballad that demanded immense emotional depth and vocal control.

“That’s a bold choice for a preliminary audition.”

“I believe it’s a song that fits my current state best.”

Mun Jeong-hyo finally raised his head, narrowing his eyes slightly at the quiet confidence in Rai-heun’s voice.

There was no sign of the nervous shaking typical of rookies standing before a camera for the first time.

Instead, Rai-heun’s gaze met the PD’s with a chilling, unfeigned composure.

“Whenever you’re ready.”

Rai-heun took a deep breath, stepping closer to the standing microphone.

The backing track began to play softly through the monitors.

As the opening notes drifted into the air, Rai-heun closed his eyes for a brief second.

When he opened them again, the sorrow and rage of a broken timeline bled directly into his first note.