Chapter 68: Crossroads of Choice

Moreover, the biggest problem—the ‘release’ function—came with the condition of being over 19 years old, but the game’s mischief that often occurred didn’t seem to have an age limit.

Even during ‘July Snow’ practice, there had been an incident with Lee Chan-seo that was embarrassing, if one were to call it that.

Imagining Chae Han-ul as the subject made his head spin.

So, what should he do?

Just as he was about to sink into thought, his shoulder was suddenly yanked back.

Startled by the sudden movement of his body, he briefly panicked, thinking the game’s mischief had started again, but then realized someone had actually grabbed his shoulder.

At the same time, Chae Han-ul’s head, awkwardly bent and frozen in the spot his shoulder had been, came into view.

…Huh.

Strangely, he felt he had experienced something similar before.

Quickly rifling through his memory, a vague recollection surfaced.

“Jae-seo.”

It was the day before the 3rd contest, when they were modifying the choreography formations for ‘Beautiful Hate’.

Seo Jun-jae, explaining the new formation, had suddenly grabbed his arm like this, and Kwak Jun-sung had been standing hunched over with his elbow awkwardly raised where Jae-seo’s shoulder would have been, just like Chae Han-ul now.

“What I said earlier was sincere.”

At the same time, Seo Jun-jae’s voice whispered softly in his ear, and he swallowed involuntarily.

…It seemed the biggest problem now was not Chae Han-ul at all.

***

Late at night, he led his exhausted body home.

As the bed came into view, a strong urge to dive right in surged up.

He forced himself to suppress it, went into the bathroom, quickly removed his makeup, and showered.

He hung the towel he used to roughly dry his hair around his neck and perched on the edge of the bed.

Before succumbing to the sleep he so desperately craved after two weeks of camp and the live broadcast, there was something he wanted to check—no, needed to check.

He took out his phone and launched 「Please Take Care of My Idol」 as usual.

There was a ‘New’ mark on the icon shaped like a human silhouette, which was his original goal.

Seeing it, anxiety suddenly crept in.

What if they added a new feature?

With the huge hurdle of ‘release’ already in place, the ominous feeling that if anything else appeared, it would be worse, not better, made his finger over the screen hesitate.

…Let’s just get this over with and sleep.

After a long hesitation, he pressed his index finger firmly on the phone screen.

The character encyclopedia opened, and an unexpected change caught his eye.

At the top of the window listing the names of participants he had met on the program ‘Please Take Care of My Idol’, there was text with an index graphic.

[Please Take Care of My Idol Season 2] [NUAVE]

A sigh of relief escaped as he realized this was why the ‘New’ mark had appeared.

But then, worry began to seep back in.

He had remembered his original purpose.

…The ones he needed to check were Seo Jun-jae, and Yeo Hyun-tae.

And Chae Han-ul….just in case.

“At least it’s easier to find names now.”

Muttering nonsense, he tapped ‘NUAVE’.

Eight names appeared in a single scroll without needing to scroll down.

He immediately tapped Seo Jun-jae’s name and scrolled all the way down.

[Favorability｜50.2 %] [Release]

The number that appeared was so absurd he let out an involuntary laugh.

It was clear Seo Jun-jae hadn’t liked him much when they first met in the bathroom during the first camp.

The favorability he had checked on the day of the production presentation was only 5.2%.

…But in just a couple of months, his favorability rose 45%?

‘I wish I could stay with you.’

‘What I said earlier was sincere.’

The answer he had been trying so hard to ignore was this after all.

Recalling Seo Jun-jae’s words from just hours ago, he squeezed his eyes shut, then snapped them open again.

No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t understand.

What was the strategy for Seo Jun-jae in this game?

What actions had he taken that made his favorability rise this much?

As he pondered, he recalled the crazy, perverted, psycho-like incidents that had often happened with Seo Jun-jae.

“…Could it be he likes that kind of thing?”

Maybe he had interpreted the actions the game forced him to do as flirtations.

And that somehow worked on Seo Jun-jae…?

“Do I have to press this?”

Lost in thought, he muttered to himself, looking down at the phone screen.

Whatever the reason, with both conditions met—favorability reaching 50% and being over 19—the ‘Release’ button was flashing obnoxiously as if urging him to press it.

The moment of ‘release’, which he had thought was still far off, was now right before his eyes.

The resolve he had so carefully gathered, telling himself he would accept it, crumbled away laughably easily.

“…Let’s think about it tomorrow.”

For now, he’d sleep and think about it again with a clear head tomorrow.

He tried to sort out his thoughts and closed the game window.

He doubted he’d have a better idea tomorrow, but to find peace of mind now, he decided to push everything onto his future self.

He tossed the phone aside, burrowed under the covers, and lay down.

Despite the turmoil in his head, thankfully, sleep soon washed over him.

***

And then, the next day, the moment he checked Yeo Hyun-tae and Chae Han-ul’s favorability, he regretted his decision from yesterday bitterly.

[Favorability｜49.9 %]

[Favorability｜89.6 %] [Release]

At this point, he even suspected that all three of them were mistaken.

Could they have misremembered the name of their first love from childhood, perhaps Kim Jae-seo or Im Jae-seo?

“Ah, shit.

Let’s stop.”

After thinking for a long time, he shook his head to clear his complicated mind.

What was the point in wondering how these three had come to have such high favorability for him now that the conditions for release were already met?

Whether they liked him or not was their business.

He decided to think about things as simply as possible from his own perspective.

First, let’s not press the ‘Release’ button.

He wasn’t mentally prepared yet.

And judging by the various events so far, if the game really wanted to force the ‘release’, it would definitely do so somehow.

So he’d just put it off until then.

…By the time that moment comes, I’ll have mentally prepared myself somehow.

***

A few days later, their first schedule as members of ‘NUAVE’ was set.

Arriving at the quite large building, still feeling dazed, he saw a large sign reading ‘K-Dream Entertainment’.

After telling the lobby staff on the first floor his name and purpose of visit, he headed to the pre-advised meeting room.

Upon arriving at the fairly spacious meeting room, three people who appeared to be employees of ‘K-Dream Entertainment’ were seated at a table.

He greeted them and entered.

The woman sitting in the center, who smiled and greeted him back, pointed to the seat across from her and told him to sit.

As he pulled out a chair and sat down, the staff members explained their departments and positions, but most of the terms were new to him, and he couldn’t understand them.

Only very common words like ‘legal team’ or ‘contract’ registered.

The staff member in the center, who said they handled artist contracts, handed him a document binder.

Opening it, he saw several pages clipped together, starting with one labeled ‘Exclusive Contract’.

As if telling him to read it, a hand gestured, and he began to meticulously read through the pages densely filled with text.

Comparing it with the standard contract he had looked up online beforehand, he read for a while and eventually reached the last line of the last page.

After hearing explanations about some contract clauses and answers to a few questions, the contract seemed to have no particular issues.

Besides, Yoon Ji-heon, who had experience signing as an idol, would read the same contract, so it would be okay even if he missed something.

After writing his name and signature on the contract, he was sent to a meeting room on a different floor.

“Is Sim Jae-seo here?”

“Jae-seo hyung!”

As he opened the meeting room door, Park Seo-hu and Lee Woo-rim, who seemed to have finished their contracts first and were sitting inside, welcomed him with somewhat exaggerated gestures.

He wondered why they were acting that way, then remembered something he had heard from a participant on the show: that while they were from the same agency, their relationship was a bit awkward.

Something about the internal system meaning they hadn’t practiced together and had only barely exchanged greetings right before filming?

Even if that was the case, Lee Woo-rim, unlike Park Seo-hu, had shown the greatest sociability in any team on the show, so at the time he had dismissed it as a joke.

But judging by the current atmosphere, it seemed it wasn’t entirely false.

He briefly worried, thinking, How are they going to manage when they have to promote together?

But it didn’t last long.

It was a group formed through a short-term survival show, with nine members total.

How could everyone be close?