🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 09
The Crazy One in This Area Is Me (4)
Jisooho said he had been practically camping out at the convenience store in front of my house.
“But Hajin-ssi doesn’t really come out as often as I expected,” he said.
Well, it was vacation. There was nothing to roam around for anyway with graduation just around the corner.
But there was no need to say that out loud, so I just nodded. I added one line instead.
“You could’ve just called.”
“…….”
A faint look crossed his face, like he hadn’t thought of that. Probably just my imagination.
“Anyway, the reason I came today is, as you might have guessed.”
Jisooho spoke in a calm tone.
“I came because I really think you should debut in our company, Miro. It would be a waste to give up on you like this.”
Nice.
But I couldn’t bite the bait too easily and immediately reel in the hook. I put on my most careful, slightly worried expression and asked back.
“Are you serious?”
Jisooho nodded vigorously.
“Seo Taeil-ssi agrees as well. The other staff who watched your audition video feel the same. Hajin-ssi, you really have potential. You fit our company’s image perfectly—you’ll definitely like it here.”
Kim manager aside, he was conspicuously avoiding mentioning the executive director. As I suspected, the one who opposed me must be the director.
I made a mental note to quickly figure out Miro Entertainment’s internal power structure while folding up an empty milk carton.
“We really want you to trust us—no, trust me—and come with us.”
“Ah… yes.”
‘Trust you?’
There was a time I would’ve been tempted by words like that.
“Just trust me,” “Follow me,” “I’ll show you a bright future”—I used to believe that. Back then, I didn’t understand that in the end, everyone was just salaried workers and commodified laborers under capitalism.
The moment someone better than you appears, you’re out.
I swallowed the words rising to my throat with a polite smile. No need to nitpick here. Like I said, someone like me could be found anywhere in the country—if I pushed too hard, the door to Miro might actually close.
‘But I can’t just let it slide either.’
I hadn’t been idle for the past three days.
As the man in front of me kept talking earnestly, I watched him and organized the information in my head.
Name: Jisooho. Age: mid-30s. And—
A man known as Miro’s “guardian spirit,” a rising force within Miro Entertainment who successfully launched Enderway (there were articles about it), long-time acquaintance of the notoriously difficult Seo Taeil (checked his Instagram), and the so-called “next pillar” of Miro Entertainment (according to Manager Kim).
This was an industry full of geniuses who came and went.
He might just be a competent manager who happened to be in the right era… but—
‘I need to confirm it.’
Whether he built that résumé through skill, or whether he knew the future.
So I had to figure out exactly what this guy was.
If he was a regressor like me, I’d grab him by the collar immediately. If not, I had to make him mine.
In a situation where I might need to take over an entire entertainment company, having a first ally like him was invaluable.
But how?
Just as I was thinking that—
A system window flickered, sending a new message.
[Special Reward from Emergency Quest]
Content: “Trait Viewing Ticket for Designated Target (self excluded)”
[Would you like to view the traits of ‘Jisooho’? (Y/N)]
Right, there was something like this. A reward from that chaotic presentation incident.
At this point, saving it would just be like keeping an uncashed lottery ticket.
Without hesitation, I selected YES.
A blue light scanned Jisooho as if analyzing him.
Then a window appeared beside him.
[Jisooho (Awakened)]
Titles: “Burning Passion,” “Deepest Shadow”
Trait: Star Maker ☆
- Instinctively identifies those destined to become stars (77% accuracy)
- The aura of a person changes depending on their star potential
Special: Influenced by contact with a regression subject—“echoes of a past timeline” (déjà vu)
“…What?”
“Pardon?”
“Ah—no, sorry. I was just surprised by how extreme those conditions are.”
I’d just accidentally spoken informally to a man ten years older than me. I quickly recovered, but my eyes wouldn’t leave the trait window.
“You’ll really do well, Hajin-ssi. I guarantee it.”
Now that I saw his ability, every word he said sounded suspicious.
Either way, now that I knew he had even been influenced by a “regressor,” I had to make him mine.
What should I do?
I looked at Jisooho, who was still passionately speaking.
- Reveal everything and propose cooperation (threaten him). High risk, high return.
- Observe a bit longer and determine whether he’s trustworthy. Low risk, low return.
As for me—
I was the kind of person who preferred going all-in. I didn’t do stocks, gambling, alcohol, or cigarettes.
“…I’m confident,” he was still saying.
“Jisooho Team Leader.”
“Ah, yes.”
“What color am I?”
“…Pardon?”
He blinked rapidly, confused.
“What color did Seo Taeil have? Someone at his level should be pretty high-tier, right?”
“H-how… how would you even…?”
His reaction was almost like he’d seen a ghost.
To calm him down, I pulled a chocolate bar from my pocket and handed it to him.
“I can see status windows. I know, sounds crazy, right?”
“…No.”
“So I’m asking.”
I leaned back, staring at him.
Jisooho stared into the empty air where I pointed, trembling.
I rested my chin on my hand, trying to look as composed as possible.
“So… am I the kind of person who can become an idol?”
“Pardon?”
“Feels like this life, I’m just destined to be an idol.”
Go on. Tell me my fate, so-called guardian spirit.
Jisooho fiddled with the melting chocolate bar for a long time before finally speaking.
“I’m not sure when it started exactly. I just… began seeing it one day.”
It always came suddenly.
At a bookstore he randomly entered, a restaurant he stopped at to avoid rain, a trip he took on vacation—he met people destined to become stars.
“How did you know they were stars?”
“I just knew. The redder the color, the greater the potential. I saw a supporting actor with a strong red aura, and a few months later he became a breakout success in a weekend drama. That’s when I realized I had this ability.”
That was how he became Miro’s “guardian spirit.”
He also said that before scandals or crises, the aura would turn black or disappear.
For a manager, it was basically a broken skill.
“The reason I recognized you immediately on the subway was the same.”
“…Subway?”
“Yes. Don’t you remember? You were treated like some kind of mystic.”
A memory flashed in my head.
“Excuse me.”
“Yes. I believe in the Way.”
“Pardon?”
“We’re fellow believers, so please move along.”
Right. That was the day I went to the audition.
So it was him.
“I was disappointed after losing you, but then Manager Jang contacted me. I literally screamed that this must be fate.”
So that’s why Miro welcomed me so enthusiastically.
As the timeline clicked into place, I nodded slowly.
But one question remained.
“So what color was my aura?”
“Ah, that…”
He hesitated, fingers interlocked, then finally spoke.
“White. Extremely bright white.”
“Not blue or red? Then I’m basically a failure?”
“I was surprised too—it was a color I’d never seen before. But I had a strong feeling. That I had to bring you in.”
“And if I’m actually nothing special?”
“If there’s no potential, I don’t see any light at all. The fact that I saw light means there’s something there.”
Red, blue—at least make it consistent. This ambiguous white was frustrating.
But there was no reason for him to lie.
Whatever the color meant, it was clear this guy could be useful.
So the real question was—
How much of my hand should I reveal?
Can I trust Jisooho?
My instincts told me he wasn’t dangerous. But no one can read a person completely.
Trusting him and revealing everything were two different things.
After a brief pause, I decided to reveal just enough so he wouldn’t feel excluded.
A mutual exchange of secrets builds trust faster than anything else.
“…As I said, I can see status windows and I’m currently doing quests. That’s why I became a trainee at Miro.”
Perhaps already overwhelmed once before, Jisooho took this better than expected.
After processing it silently, he began firing questions.
“Quests… what exactly are those?”
“If I fail them, I get penalties. And those penalties are worse than you can imagine.”
“So you just need to become a trainee?”
“I need to find someone too, but yes—I have to debut. Like I said, I feel like I was born to be an idol.”
Jisooho looked thoughtful, then cautiously asked:
“Is becoming an idol only because of the quest?”
“…Is that important?”
“It’s very important—to me.”
‘Why does this guy care more about my idol career than I do?’
[System Alert: Awakened ‘Jisooho’ has activated “Star Maker ☆” mode.]
“…It is important to me,” he continued.
“If I’m going to bet on a white aura I’ve never seen before, I need to know exactly what card I’m holding.”
“…So you’ll help me?”
“I also have reasons why Hajin-ssi must debut. Complicated adult matters.”
He trailed off, but I understood.
There was some kind of conflict with the executive director.
“Which is why this matters to me.”
“……”
“If you finish your quest and disappear, it becomes a problem for me too.”
[System Alert: ‘Jisooho’ is responding to you. His “response rate” will affect ally recruitment.]
[Ally recruitment status: ?/??]
A new window appeared above his head.
An ally.
So that’s what the quest meant.
I met his gaze.
For someone called “Burning Passion,” his eyes were already full of life.
Honestly, it was a bit overwhelming.
At some point, people like that started to bother me—their sincerity made it harder to hide my own emptiness.
Do I want to be an idol?
I still couldn’t answer that.
But—
‘This person won’t abandon me.’
At least not him.
There was no replacement for me in his eyes. I was the only white aura he had ever seen, and the only “crazy one” who could see system windows.
After thinking for a moment, I pulled out only as much sincerity as he could accept.
“Yes. That is my ultimate reason.”
“Then—”
“But I don’t plan to half-heartedly try.”
Becoming an idol just to stop regression wasn’t simple. I knew that better than anyone.
I remembered the gift Manager Jang had given me.
I would probably never fully understand its weight.
So I could say this with full sincerity:
“Whatever it is, I don’t intend to disappoint anyone.”
[System Alert: ‘Jisooho’ is responding. (Response rate: 73%)
‘Jisooho’ can be recruited.]
[Would you like to recruit? (Y/N)]
“Please take care of me, Team Leader Jisooho.”
And so I became a trainee at Miro Entertainment.
Betting my fifth regression on it.
[Single Quest 01]
“Finding a Lost Dream”
Find the starting point of a tangled thread to unravel it fastest. Become an idol trainee within the time limit.
Remaining time: 39 days (base 60 days)
Quest completed.
Reward: Key information access for regression tracking.
A few days passed as I settled contract matters and adjusted to the situation.
In that time, the year changed, and I turned twenty.
My father received a job offer from a new company.
“They’re saying I’ll have to work as a non-regular employee for about a year…”
“Go for it, Dad.”
“Huh? …Is that okay? Won’t you be embarrassed that your dad is non-regular?”
“Am I not embarrassing as a repeat student and part-time unemployed son?”
“Our talented son, embarrassing? Who would say that?”
“I feel the same.”
I gently held my father’s worried hand. He quietly held mine back.
“Starting next week, right? Your… singer thing.”
“Yeah. It’s nothing special. I’ve done it before.”
“Still. Let me know if it gets hard.”
I shrugged with a smile.
“Come on, what’s there to worry about?”
And then—
My first day at Miro Entertainment.
I immediately sensed something was wrong.
“…So I was personally recruited by Miro after a fight with Rene, Miro won, I had a huge argument with senior Seo Taeil and stormed out, and then your team leader knelt down and begged to bring me back?”
“…That’s not how it happened?”
Honestly.
This is insane.
