The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

“So we’re having a hangout party with just regressors, right?” Dong-Jun confirmed with me one more time. This felt like we were out casting Yeon-Hoon when in reality, Yeon-Hoon was working the hardest in our war against the system. However, we couldn’t prematurely call a person who did not have their memories as a regressor.

“Yes, see you tonight.” Anyway, if this was successful, we would also be able to meet with Yeon-Hoon with his memories as a regressor. Thus, I wasn’t going to feel impatient.

“Then I’ll go buy a beer and see if Kang Do-Seung and Woon are up to it.”

“Yes.” Just in time, the door slammed open and the rest of the members came in.

“Park Dong-Jun! Are you crazy! Why did you just runout! How can you just get on the elevator by yourself?”

“Why did you run like that all of a sudden, Dong-Jun…”

“What’s wrong, Dong-Jun? Are you sick?”

The members seemed to have came all the way to the dorm because Dong-Jun suddenly ran. Well, I guess I would also go up to catch someone if the person I was walking with suddenly ran somewhere like a madman.

“I suddenly missed our maknae so much that I couldn’t help it~” Dong-Jun responded nonchalantly to the members’ questions.

Sigh… “Dong-Jun…”

“Are you sick? I’m asking cause I’m really serious.”

At this point, shouldn’t I get hurt that they were reacting like that to Dong-Jun running to see me? However, I couldn’t find even a trace of worry that I would be hurt on my members’ faces. Although the situation itself was ridiculous, I still felt strangely sad.

“Guys, wake up. Let’s hurry up and go buy a beer.”

“Yes~” Dong-Jun got up from his seat and left the dorm with the members. Like this, the beer party went on its second expedition.

***

The members came back with beer. Since they weren’t heavy drinks, the amount of beer they bought was miniscule.

‘Four cans of imported beer?’ That was the amount I used to drink all by myself. I remembered wanting more after drinking that amount and having to go to the convenience store multiple times. I couldn’t believe four adults were sharing that amount; I guess they thought just one can per person was enough.

“Guys, this is 12,000 won for four cans. So cheap!” Yeon-Hoon excitedly bragged about getting a bargain.

“Wasn’t that originally 10,000 won? I guess it went up.” I said the price without much thought.

“…How does Mr. Bong know the price of beer?”

“Oh…!” Only after I spoke did I remember I was a minor. In the future where I used to live, a new era of beer price competition among convenience store opened across the country, and the price of 12,000 won for 4 cans dropped to 10,000 won. The price of beer, which had risen with rising prices, was returned to the price about 10 years ago.

I had remembered the price of that time and had a slip of tongue, but Yeon-Hoon glanced suspiciously at me.

“Were you…a delinquent, Tae-Yoon?”

“You’re being way too nice to describe a high school student who drinks as just a delinquent. If you’re a high school student who drinks, you’re a thug through and through.”

“Then were you a thug, Tae-Yoon?”

“I don’t drink! I’ve never had a drink in my life. I just knew the price because I saw the previous price in a convenience store a long time ago.”

“…I’ll look over it for now, but no alcohol.”

“…Yes.”

I suddenly became a teenager who drank. Since I never had a drink in this world’s body, I wasn’t technically lying. The members sipped a can of beer each, and as expected, they had no choice but to go on the road to buy beer again. On the third expedition, they bought eight cans of beer.

‘Does it double every time they go?’ I imagined that they might buy 16 cans of beer on the fourth expedition and eventually have to buy a bucketload of beer, but the expedition eventually ended with 8 beers.

“Ahhh~ I’m not going home today! Everyone, drink up and pass out here!” Yeon-Hoon was completely drunk by his third beer.

“How can you act like an annoying boss by just drinking three cans?”

“Where the hell are you planning to go when this is our home?”

“Are you okay, Yeon-Hoon?”

“I’m okay! Ugh~” Yeon-Hoon sprawled on the floor and began making weird sounds that sounded like howling by a slightly deranged wolf. We judged that he was far gone and pushed him into his room.

We hadn’t intended things to work out like this, but luckily, only the regressors were left now. Was it because Dong-Jun had already told the others in advance? As soon as Yeon-Hoon was out of the picture, the atmosphere changed slightly. It seemed that everyone’s regressor egos had come out, and I could tell whether their egos had come out just by seeing their eyes.

People’s eyes reflected their emotional state, so it was impossible for this world’s members to have the same eyes as those who have regressed numerous times.

“You’re all here, right?” The other members nodded to Do-Seung’s words and quickly confirmed that they we were all regressors.

“Did you also successfully bring Dong-Jun’s memory in the end, Tae-Yoon?” Woon asked.

“Yes, I succeeded.” Frankly, I had been aiming for the 999th regressor, but a success was a success.

“I was trusting you, Tae-Yoon.”

“That punk has the same personality even after regressing many times.”

“You don’t seem to have changed much either, Do-Seung.”

“…I think I must have suffered quite a lot in the world where you regressed.”

“Wow, bingo.”

“…You little shit.”

Do-Seung and Dong-Jun exchanged the same type of conversations despite having their memories as regressors. As expected, even if the world was different, there were some things that always remained the same.

“What the hell did you do to me?”

“I can’t tell you. I’ll get in trouble then.”

“…”

“Should I tell you a hint?” The way Do-Seung teased Do-Seung was the same as usual; no, he seemed to have become a bit more vicious, and I have never seen the regressor Do-Seung so angry. Rather, I felt relieved to see such a human side of him.

“Tae-Yoon, really great job getting into the Billboard Hot 100.” Woon shifted the topic to me and praised me.

“No, it wouldn’t have been possible without you guys.” I wouldn’t have been able to succeed without my members and one other person. If there wasn’t Do-Seung’s rearrangement and the dance moves used in challenge videos by Woon, we would have failed. Dong-Jun also played a key part when he made forced jokes to liven up the atmosphere when we ate with Willy Freedman.

If any one of these factors had gone wrong, it would have been very difficult to get this result.

“Now that we’ve succeeded in the mission, it doesn’t matter what happens, but I hope we stay in the Billboad 100 for a long time.”

“And hope our rankings go a little higher.”

“Well…but if we go further from here, this world’s Do-Seung could be in danger.”

“What? Why?” Do-Seung was in danger?

“His head is already soaring high above the sky. He suddenly looks at himself in the mirror while exercising and murmurs, ‘Who am I? The youngest song composer of a Triple Crown All Kill song…haha.’” Everyone burst out laughing at regressor Do-Seung retelling of Do-Seung’s cringeworthy moment.

People were free to do whatever they wanted in their free time, but it was so childish that we couldn’t help but laugh.

“I understand why he did that though. I often say words to cheer me up on purpose to raise my weights when I exercise, since mental power is also part of exercise. This world’s Kang Do-Seung also said that with the same intension, but it was a little embarrassing to hear as an outsider.”

It was fortunate that conversations between regressors were blurred in people’s memories of this world. If Do-Seung remembered this, his mentality might crumble into pieces.

“Oh, but I think that’s the same for Woon in this world too. He frequently murmurs, ‘this choreography is so good…’, even though he was the one who made it.”

“It’s the same for Park Dong-Jun. I’m not exaggerating but he seriously searches Siren’s name a 1,000 times on Utube. And did you know that he created a messenger multi-profile?”

“A multi-profile?”

“He made one for his high school classmates to see…wait a minute.”

The atmosphere of this conversation was slowly turning into a diss-battle of the members. I wondered if I should put a stop to it but just left It because it was fun.

“This is the profile, and seriously, I just want to smack him on the head.”

I stared at the multi-profile for non-celebs that Dong-Jun made. The profile picture of the multi-profile was the mirror selfie that our group took together in the waiting room of a music broadcast. This was normal so far, but the profile message was the true kicker.

—I am currently unable to reply because I’m busy with my schedule.

“…”

“…Pfff.”

“...Hahaha!”

He was unable to check messages because he was too busy with his schedules.

“For real…I don’t want to say this, but he’s too full of himself.”

“He wants to make it obvious to his non-celeb friends that he’s very busy and popular right now.”

It was true that we had busy schedules, but it wasn’t to the extent that we couldn’t check a mirror selfie similar to the one on the private profile, the message was completely different.

—Siren Fighting!!

This cute phrase was his profile message. As expected, there seemed to be chaos deep inside people that no one should see. Like this, we went back and forth exposing the members like this, and we had a good laugh in a while. Perhaps because the members had drank, they were more loose with their mouths.

When was the last time I had laughed like this? I hadn’t been able to laugh ever since receiving the Billboard mission as I was always in a nervous state. However, I needed to leave behind the easy-going and fun emotions behind and tell the members what was on my mind.

“Guys, can you focus on what I’m saying for a moment?”

“Yes.”

“Of course.”

“What is it?” The members laughed and talked for a long time and then listened carefully to my serious voice. First of all, I needed to share with the members about Yeon-Hoon, who I met in space and became the system. I wondered how I should I convey this and decided to say it as it is.

“You know the system that gives us missions? That’s actually Yeon-Hoon. So…” I wanted to say that if Yeon-Hoon tried to take control of the system and we help him completely control the system, we could end the endless cycle of regression but—

“What?”

“…What did you say?”

“What the hell, wait a minute.”

The members panicked before they even heard me finish.

“No, no, wait a minute, guys. Wait-“

“Where’s Woo Yeon-Hoon!”

“Ahhhhhhhh!”

“How…could Yeon-Hoon do that…I really believe him…”

I thought that I really needed to fix my speech, and I realized brief summary was not always the answer.