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Chapter: 09
— Help Kang Haeseol maintain S-rank in the theme song evaluation!
(Time remaining: 7 hours 55 minutes)
—
“—The number you have dialed is not in service. Please check and try again.”
“Damn it.”
With time slipping away helplessly, he decided to just gloss over how he even got the number in the first place.
He tried calling Kang Haeseol’s saved number anyway, but only a cold automated message came back.
‘Yeah, of course. If he quit training after appearing on Chumaf, he’d have changed his number.’
Among the nine trainees who first achieved S-rank, Kang Haeseol was the only one who never once made it into a debut group.
That is, excluding Woo Hwigyeom, who voluntarily dropped out midway.
Yecham and Kang Haeseol both had cold, sharp-looking faces, but their vibes were different.
Yecham looked cold and distant, like someone overly polite and hard to approach. Kang Haeseol, on the other hand, looked aggressive, rough, like someone with a bad temper—what people would call a “streety” face.
He once complained that ever since school days, people had misunderstood him because of his looks—and it was the same in Chumaf.
Kang Haeseol was the type who got absorbed in one thing and didn’t notice his surroundings, was shy around strangers, and actually had a somewhat volatile personality. For someone like that, being under 24-hour surveillance cameras was a huge burden.
Occasional negative moments were exaggerated through editing magic, while his rare good moments were often completely cut out.
Even Yecham himself had remembered him as “a talented guy with trash personality” before actually meeting him.
Yecham only truly saw Kang Haeseol again during his third reset.
Shortly after Chumaf 99 ended, a mysterious faceless composer appeared—someone who only wrote songs for failed idols who never debuted.
At that time, Yecham was gathering skilled staff to improve album and stage quality, so naturally he became interested in this anonymous genius composer.
He launched a large project with a broadcasting station, creating a tournament-style survival show with failed idols as bait, purely to lure him out.
As planned, the bait worked, and the composer came to Yecham’s company.
—
“Ah, trainee Kang Haeseol.”
At Yecham’s first words recognizing him, Kang Haeseol’s face instantly turned red up to his neck as he shouted:
“I’m a composer!”
And that was how their connection began.
Unlike his image from Chumaf, Kang Haeseol was diligent and detail-oriented.
He was not only talented as an idol but equally skilled as a composer.
Yecham, who liked him both professionally and personally, kept meeting him every reset after that.
—
“Hyung, why do you only write idol songs?”
“Sentiment, I guess.”
Once, Yecham had asked him that.
Thirsty, Kang Haeseol opened a can and gulped down the drink.
“I quit the industry thinking I’d never look back because it was so disgusting. But then Chumaf 99 got uploaded late to streaming sites.”
He continued.
“I don’t know if I was crazy, but I ended up watching it.”
Yecham quietly listened as Kang Haeseol spoke like a drunk fool after soda.
“When I watch that show, I look like a total bastard. But I know—I really did my best every single moment while I was there.”
Except for his second evaluation, Kang Haeseol had always performed well on stage.
Even if the program never highlighted him.
“In the end, my brightest moment is there.”
Kang Haeseol smiled bitterly.
Though Yecham had destroyed Chumaf himself, for Kang Haeseol it had become something sacred in his heart.
That day, Yecham felt guilt for the first time about tearing Chumaf apart.
—
“Admitting that just makes it harder to let go. It’s stupid, but I started wanting recognition. But I was also scared of getting hated again if I tried idol stuff… so I just drifted like this.”
Listening to the regret and self-deprecation, Yecham suddenly thought:
It’s a waste that only I know this guy is actually decent.
—
“What about debuting in another way? Like, say… Respirit?”
It was a spontaneous suggestion, but it sounded good even to him.
Yecham could gain a reliable teammate, make up for damaging Kang Haeseol’s “sacred place,” and Kang Haeseol could fully use his talent as an idol.
“Are you insane? Fans would throw actual stones at me.”
“No, I mean hypothetically. If you could go back in time.”
Yecham clarified quickly.
Kang Haeseol thought for a moment, then laughed.
“So you’re saying I should join Respirit and ride Ha Yecham’s popularity?”
“Yeah.”
Yecham’s face brightened instantly.
If I reset now… I could debut with Hyung Haeseol… wait, I’d need to dig up what he was doing at 19…
But Kang Haeseol interrupted his thoughts.
“Even if I went back… I’d still try Chumaf. Sounds dumb, but I really wanted to do well there.”
It was a stupid answer.
But his expression was so sincere that Yecham couldn’t bring himself to go looking for 19-year-old Kang Haeseol again.
After that, Yecham reset several more times and asked similar questions whenever he met him as a composer.
And Kang Haeseol always gave the same answer.
That was just so like him.
And now, after a long time, Yecham was participating in that same Chumaf—together with Kang Haeseol.
He pushed away distracting thoughts.
Now, within about 8 hours, he had to remotely control someone he only just spoke to yesterday and didn’t even have a phone number for, to make him maintain S-rank.
The hologram system was always annoying, but it had never given an impossible quest.
So this one should be solvable too.
The only people he could contact Kang Haeseol through were three roommates.
He opened his contacts, stared at the names, and quickly typed a message.
—
“Hi, it’s Ha Yecham. Sorry, could you pass a message to Hyung Kang Haeseol?”
He thought it might take hours, but surprisingly, a reply came in 30 minutes.
—
“Okay~ what should I tell him ( ˙ ꒳ ˙ )?”
“…What is this ridiculous message?”
After checking the sender name (Bam Sehyuk) a few times, Yecham reluctantly replied.
He didn’t want to involve Woo Hwigyeom, and Sim Sangrok seemed fine but unfamiliar, so he chose Bam Sehyuk—who seemed straightforward—but now regretted it.
“Tell him I liked the song.”
“Got it ∠(｀∇´)”
Despite the odd request, there was no confusion in the reply.
Third message came quickly:
“Message delivered (￣▽￣)V”
“Thanks.”
Six hours left.
Kang Haeseol would definitely arrive within two hours.
Yecham lay back on the bed again.
He had done everything he could.
Now he would just sleep until Kang Haeseol came.
—
BANG BANG BANG!
Knocking woke him up.
“Ha Yecham! Open the door!”
A familiar voice echoed loudly.
He checked the quest window first.
Linked Quest Activated!Remaining Time: 5 hours 17 minutes\text{Linked Quest Activated!}\quad \text{Remaining Time: }5\,\text{hours }17\,\text{minutes}
‘Wow, that’s fast.’
Less than an hour had passed.
Yecham got up and walked to the door.
When he opened it without warning, Kang Haeseol almost fell inside.
Yecham instinctively caught him.
Since cameras were recording, he couldn’t just let him fall.
“Why didn’t you check my messages? Why aren’t you answering calls?!”
“How did you get my number?”
“I asked Bam Sehyuk! That’s not the point!”
Lowering his voice for the camera, Kang Haeseol continued:
“…What do you mean by song?”
He looked younger than Yecham remembered.
Like someone who hadn’t been hurt yet.
“How did the evaluation go?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember. What song are you talking about?!”
‘Good.’
He had clearly forgotten everything from panic.
Kang Haeseol was easily among the top five trainees in skill.
If he just performed normally, S-rank was guaranteed.
In the original timeline, Kang Haeseol had fallen to D-rank after a disastrous second evaluation due to exhaustion, poor condition, and extreme stress.
He became the show’s scapegoat character.
Comments had been brutal:
- “Was his S-rank just luck?”
- “Used up all his luck in the first round lol”
- “Probably just overhyped”
Producers had turned him into a villain through editing.
So Yecham had even forced him to sleep the night before practice so he wouldn’t mess up again.
He wasn’t planning to interfere beyond that this time.
But seeing Kang Haeseol yelling at him instead of being defeated… strangely, it made him feel good.
‘Should I thank the quest for this?’
—
“You listening to me?”
Kang Haeseol, irritated, glared at him like a demon.
The situation wasn’t over yet.
