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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Chapter 2
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Chapter 2.
A week had already passed since this incomprehensible event occurred.
After making a deal with the Cotton Lump, I opened my eyes to find myself in a shabby, cramped room.
Ding!
Then, a strange alarm sound rang out.
Congratulations! You have become 'Yun Cheong'.
From now on, you must save the doomed girl group, 'StillBlue'!
This place is a little different from your world.
Simply put, it's a parallel world.
Everything is the same as in your world, except for one crucial thing.
In this world, a person named 'Baek Nok-ha' never existed. And never will.
A window, like something out of a game, appeared before my eyes.
You have entered the body of 'Yun Cheong' from ten years ago, relative to your own world's timeline.
And you must fulfill two wishes of this 'Yun Cheong'.
Yun Cheong's first wish is—
[Debut as number one in the agency debut survival program 'Make a New Color']
!
…?
What?
Putting my bewilderment aside, I rummaged through my memories for the name 'Yun Cheong'.
“Yun Cheong, Yun Cheong…”
Ah, I remember now.
Around the time I debuted, there was a debut survival program on a cable broadcasting station.
It was a debut survival program launched by 'Colors,' one of the top five major agencies in Korea, to launch a new girl group.
In that survival program, all the female trainees from 'Colors' competed for a chance to debut.
And Yun Cheong was one of the trainees who participated in the survival.
I was too busy at the time to watch the program properly, but it was quite a hot topic, so I generally knew what it was about.
“But I thought she debuted already.”
…What's with this wish?
[Debut as number one in the agency debut survival program 'Make a New Color']
As number one?
I frowned.
Back then, what rank did she debut at?
The trainees who were confirmed to debut from the program debuted as a girl group called 'StillBlue' a year later.
There were five members, right?
Our promotion periods overlapped once, so I'd seen them.
Someone among them sang really well, so I vaguely thought, 'Ah, that must be their Main Vocal.'
“Did she debut at, like, fifth place back then? No, isn't just debuting a blessing? Does it *have* to be first place?”
Perplexed, I couldn't bring myself to get out of bed.
Just then,
Bzzzzzz.
My phone vibrated beside me.
But something felt off.
“This phone… it's my phone.”
What? Wasn't I supposed to be in someone else's body?
Then why is this my phone?
And my phone from ten years ago?
Unable to grasp the situation, and feeling scared, I couldn't bring myself to pick up the phone.
Bzzzzzzzz—
The phone vibrated even more insistently.
Reluctantly, I picked up the phone, and a notification popped up on the screen.
…A news alert?
[Yun Cheong Selected as Final Member of 'Make a New Color'.]
This… this is a news article. From my world.
As if possessed, I tapped on the article.
The fifth member of 'Make a New Color' has been confirmed.
It is none other than trainee Yun Cheong, who had been embroiled in controversy throughout the program for her lack of confidence and social skills.
Although Yun Cheong only ranked 12th, the lowest in the viewer popularity vote, she became the final member through the judges' 'Color Choice'.
Do Hui-yeong, a judge who is both a member of the 12-year veteran girl group 'Grayish' and a senior at the agency, cited 'the necessity of a Main Vocal' as the reason for choosing Yun Cheong.
Ding!
As I frantically read the article, another notification popped up as if on cue.
[Yun Cheong, Controversy Over Final Member Selection?]
“It's always a controversy at the drop of a hat.”
Annoyed, I still tapped on the article.
First, I needed to understand what was going on.
Director Kim Mo-gyeong of agency 'Colors' explained the reason for choosing Yun Cheong, stating, “Her voice can anchor the group. She is like the final puzzle piece that can complete the skill-based aspects of the still-immature 'StillBlue'.” Thus, she revealed why Yun Cheong was chosen as the final member.
However, netizens reacted to the judges' decision by saying it disregarded viewer opinions.
So this is why she wanted to debut as number one.
…She must have been upset. Being at the center of such controversy.
Naturally, every trainee dreams of debuting. Just debuting is something to be grateful for.
But being upset is being upset.
She's human.
How could she not be upset when she's getting malicious comments even before her debut?
It must have felt like the whole world hated her.
“By the way, what exactly is this phone?”
I unlocked the phone and looked through various things. But nothing worked.
The only things that worked were opening the news alerts that came in, and….
…the contacts app.
“Why can I randomly open the contacts app?”
It was full of things I couldn't understand.
Fortunately, it seemed I could keep opening the news alerts even after viewing them once.
I wanted to open other news articles, but there was no internet connection at all.
This phone is truly arbitrary.
“Still, I guess I should be grateful for at least this much.”
…It seems I… made a contract with a demon, didn't I?
That Cotton Lump, it must be a demon, right?
Otherwise, none of this makes any sense.
“Right. It's better if it's a real demon. At least then it definitely has the power to grant wishes.”
I looked at Yun Cheong's face—now my own—in the mirror on the desk.
Indeed. I hadn't looked closely before, so I didn't realize, but Yun Cheong was quite pretty.
Even in the entertainment industry, where beautiful people are a dime a dozen, she was pretty enough to catch one's eye.
“She seems much prettier than I was when I debuted.”
Well, it's not like 'Baek Nok-ha' got famous just for being pretty anyway.
Rather, for an idol, my face was just average.
Of course, my fans… they said I was the prettiest in the world, but….
That was what I wanted to say to my fans.
When I first debuted, I felt a bit overshadowed due to styling, hair, and makeup that didn't suit me.
Thanks to suitable styling and 'camera massage,' I did get much better looking than before.
“Hmm. With visuals like this, she should have been popular.”
Her skills were also solid.
And if her agency was large, she would have gotten decent promotion.
Why… wasn't she popular?
Just as my confusion mounted,
Ding!
Another notification arrived on my phone.
[Make a New Color Episode 1 Updated!]
[Would you like to watch now? (Yes/No)]
…Does this thing read my mind?
***
“No wonder she wasn't popular.”
I felt sorry for Yun Cheong, but this was the cold truth.
It was the conclusion I reached as soon as I watched Episode 1.
During the short 55-minute episode, Yun Cheong appeared for only about three minutes.
And even that wasn't three minutes of solo screen time; it was three minutes in scenes with other trainees.
And the only feeling I got during those three minutes was frustration.
The owner of this body, Yun Cheong.
Truly.
She had absolutely no flair for entertainment.
If only it was just a lack of flair. She also lacked confidence, social skills, and even a sense of variety show humor.
Both on and off stage, she was perfectly… a block of wood.
In these survival programs, chemistry with other trainees is usually important, but Yun Cheong didn't even have that.
No, she just didn't speak at all.
Even when someone spoke to her, 'Uh, yeah…' was about all she'd reply.
“No wonder she had no screen time and wasn't interesting.”
And the scenes set in the practice room were disastrous.
The kid sang well, but her dancing and expressions were completely… at a disastrous level.
She couldn't even match her movements, bumping into other trainees—that says it all.
However, watching Yun Cheong, I didn't feel she was pathetic.
Because I felt like I knew why Yun Cheong was like that.
It's a guess, but the 'original' Yun Cheong…
…has camera phobia.
Stage fright is a bonus.
***
Ten years.
That's how long I've been grinding in this entertainment industry.
If you include my trainee period, it's twenty years. I might not be the person who knows the entertainment industry best, but I certainly wasn't a rookie to be ignored.
If you stay in this business long enough, you see all sorts of people.
The types of people who survive are generally as follows:
Those with immense natural talent, those who compensate for a lack of talent with sheer effort, those with strong mental fortitude who endure for a long time, and so on.
And the types of people who struggle to survive are as follows:
Those who cause trouble, those who lose their initial passion, and… those with tender hearts.
It's a tough place.
People with tender hearts can't endure in a place like this. It's not the fault of those who couldn't endure.
It's the place itself that's wrong for grinding people down until they can't take it anymore.
Anyway, Yun Cheong was the third type.
Someone with an incredibly tender heart.
From what I saw, she had a weak spirit.
“…At least it's a relief that she wasn't unpopular because of a bad personality.”
It's hard to help that type of person.
Kids with terrible personalities likely had terrible personalities since long before their debut.
Debuting them can be managed somehow.
The problem is what comes after.
No matter how much you manage them from the moment their debut is confirmed, their past already exists.
If personality controversies or past controversies explode after debut, there's no salvaging it.
Simply having a tender heart and no flair for entertainment is certainly not a sin.
At this age, having a strong mentality is what's truly remarkable.
She's only 20. She's practically a newborn.
Well, I can fix the tender heart part.
“Whatever else I might be lacking, you see,”
“I'm an expert when it comes to mentality and flair.”
Ding!
[Tutorial Complete!]
[Calculating Tutorial Reward…]
[~Yun Cheong's Memories Until Age 19~ have arrived!]
[Would you like to confirm? (Yes/No)]
“…That was just the tutorial?”
There's a reward too.
And it's… the memories of this body.
There's no reason to refuse. I have to live in this body now, after all.
I pressed 'Yes'.
And then,
For a long time, I couldn't open my mouth.
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