Chapter 2

It has already been a week since this inexplicable event occurred.

After making a deal with the cotton ball, I opened my eyes to find myself in a shabby dormitory.

Ding!

Soon, a strange alarm sounded,

Congratulations! You have become 'Yunchung.'

From now on, you must save the girl group 'Still Blue,' which is destined to fail!

This place is a little different from your world.

To put it simply, it can be called a parallel world.

Everything is the same as in your world, but there is only one difference.

In this world, there has never been a person named 'Baek Nokha,' and there never will be.

A window that you would typically see in a game appeared before my eyes.

You have entered the body of 'Yunchung,' a person from 10 years ago in your world.

And you must fulfill two wishes of this 'Yunchung.'

Yunchung's first wish is—

!

...?

What?

Putting aside the absurdity, I tried to recall the name 'Yunchung' from my memory.

"Yunchung, Yunchung…."

Ah, I remember.

When I debuted, there was a debut survival program on a cable channel.

It was a debut survival program launched by 'Colors,' one of the five major agencies in our country, to launch a new girl group.

In this survival program, all the female trainees from 'Colors' competed to debut.

And Yunchung was one of the trainees who participated in the survival program.

I was busy at the time and didn't watch the program properly, but I knew the general content.

"But I thought she debuted."

...What is this wish?

To debut in first place?

I frowned.

At that time, what place did she debut in?

The trainees who were confirmed to debut through the program debuted as the girl group 'Still Blue' a year later.

There were five members in total, right?

I once saw them during an overlapping activity period.

One of them had a good voice, so I vaguely thought, "Oh, that's the main vocalist."

"Did she debut in fifth place or something? No, isn't it enough just to debut? Does it have to be first place?"

I couldn't get out of bed, puzzled.

Then,

Beep.

My phone rang beside me.

But something was strange.

"This phone… it's my phone."

What? I thought I entered someone else's body.

Why is the phone mine?

And it's my phone from 10 years ago?

I couldn't pick up the phone, both because I couldn't make sense of the situation and because I was scared,

Beep—

The phone rang even louder.

Unable to do anything, I picked up the phone, and a notification appeared on the screen.

...A news alert?

This is... an article from my world.

I clicked on the article as if in a trance.

The fifth member of 'Make a New Color' has been confirmed.

It is Yunchung, a trainee who was embroiled in controversies over lack of confidence and social skills throughout the program.

Although Yunchung finished in last place, 12th, in the viewer popularity vote, she was chosen as the final member by the 'Color Choice' selection by the judges.

Dohyeong, a member of the 12-year-old girl group 'Grace' and a senior at the agency, cited the 'need for a main vocalist' as the reason for choosing Yunchung.

Ding!

While I was reading the article, another notification appeared.

"Always, when something goes wrong, there's controversy."

I clicked on the article, even though I was tired of it.

I needed to understand the situation.

The manager of the agency 'Colors,' Kim Mokyoung, mentioned that Yunchung was chosen because she had "a voice that could hold the center of the group" and was "the final puzzle that could complete the immature skills of 'Still Blue.'"

However, netizens reacted negatively to the judges' choice, saying it ignored the viewers' opinions.

So that's why she wanted to debut in first place.

...It must have been painful to be at the center of such controversy.

Of course, every trainee dreams of debuting. It's a blessing just to debut.

But being hurt is still being hurt.

She's a person.

Even before debuting, she received hate comments. She must have felt like the whole world hated her.

"Still, what's up with this phone?"

I unlocked the phone and looked around, but nothing worked.

The only things that worked were opening the news alerts and...

the contacts app.

"Why can I only open the contacts app?"

It was full of things I couldn't understand.

Fortunately, it seemed that I could keep opening the news alerts even after opening them once.

I wanted to open other news articles, but there was no internet connection.

This phone is completely random.

"Still, I should be grateful to have this much."

...It seems like I... made a contract with the devil, right?

That cotton ball must be the devil.

Otherwise, none of this makes sense.

"Right. It's better if it's a real devil. At least it means they have the ability to grant wishes."

I looked at Yunchung's face, now my face, in the mirror on the desk.

That's right. I hadn't noticed before, but Yunchung was quite pretty.

Even in the entertainment industry, where beautiful people are common, she stood out.

"I look much prettier than when I debuted."

Well, 'Baek Nokha' didn't become famous just because she was beautiful.

Rather, she had a fairly ordinary face for an idol.

Of course, fans would say... she was the prettiest in the world.

But that was what I wanted to say to my fans.

When I first debuted, my style, hair, and makeup didn't suit me, so I was a bit overshadowed.

Thanks to styling and camera techniques that suited me, I improved a lot compared to before.

"Hmm. With this level of talent, she should have been popular."

She also had the skills.

With a major agency, she should have had decent promotion.

Why... wasn't she popular?

As my confusion grew,

Ding!

Another notification came to my phone.

...Is it reading my mind?

***

"She should have been unpopular."

I felt sorry for Yunchung, but this was the truth.

It was my conclusion after watching the first episode.

In the 55-minute episode, Yunchung appeared for only about 3 minutes.

And even those 3 minutes weren't solo; they were scenes with other trainees.

During those 3 minutes, the only emotion I felt was frustration.

The owner of my body, Yunchung, was

really

completely

lacking in charisma.

Lacking charisma was one thing, but she also lacked confidence, social skills, and even a sense of humor.

On and off stage, she was perfectly... a statue.

In these survival programs, chemistry with other trainees is important, but Yunchung had none of that.

She didn't even speak.

When someone talked to her, her response was just, "Uh, yeah…"

"There's no way she could have any screen time or be entertaining."

And the scenes set in the practice room were also pitiful.

She had a good voice, but her dancing and expressions were... a disaster.

She couldn't even match the choreography, bumping into other trainees.

However, I didn't feel contempt when I watched Yunchung.

Because I understood why she was like that.

I guessed that the 'original' Yunchung...

had a fear of cameras.

And a fear of the stage, to boot.

***

10 years.

In this entertainment industry.

Including my trainee period, it's 20 years. I might not be the person who knows the entertainment industry best, but I'm not someone to be underestimated.

In this industry, you can see all kinds of people.

The types of people who survive are roughly as follows:

Those with incredible talent, those who make up for lack of talent with effort, those with strong mental fortitude who can last long, etc.

And the types of people who struggle to survive are as follows:

Those who cause trouble, those who lose their初心, and those with sensitive hearts.

It's a harsh place.

People with sensitive hearts can't survive here. It's not that they did something wrong for not surviving.

It's the place that's wrong for grinding people down so much.

Anyway, Yunchung was the third type.

An incredibly sensitive person.

She seemed to be timid.

"At least it's a relief that her unpopularity wasn't due to a bad personality."

It's hard to help someone with that type of personality.

Those with bad personalities have a high probability of having had issues even before debuting.

You can somehow make them debut.

But the problem is after that.

Even if you manage them well from the moment of their debut, the past already exists.

If personality or past controversies arise after debuting, it's impossible to fix.

Being sensitive and lacking charisma is not a sin.

It's impressive to have a strong mental fortitude at this age.

Just 20 years old. Just born.

Well, I can fix being sensitive.

"I can do that, at least."

I'm an expert in mental fortitude and charisma.

Ding!

"...Was this a tutorial so far?"

There's even a reward.

And it's... the memories of this body.

There's no reason to refuse. I have to live in this body now.

I pressed 'Yes.'

And,

I couldn't speak for a long time.