Chapter 99

The man was reading a webtoon.

So-called 'Kids of the Magic School.'

A few years ago, it was a webtoon that was all the rage.

When he was in high school, every Tuesday, the greeting was, "Did you read 'Kids of the Magic School' yesterday?"

It was that popular.

But now, it was being heavily criticized for its poor plot development and character collapse.

Once, it was rare for it to get anything less than 9.9, but now it had a meager average rating of 7.2.

The comments on the latest chapter were a mess, filled with irrelevant remarks.

- I bet the author will keep milking this until they die. Whatever.

- It's -3 degrees today. Everyone be careful not to catch a cold!

- Did you know you should wash strawberries with a toothbrush?

The man was an avid reader of this webtoon.

It had been a source of strength throughout his high school years, and he always gave it a 10-star rating and a like, no matter what.

But this time, he couldn't.

"What the hell…."

He stared at his smartphone with a bewildered look.

He was so shocked that he didn't even notice people staring at him.

— Kids of the Magic School Chapter 592 [Final Chapter]

The final chapter's rating was 1.0.

Usually, even if a series ends, people tend to give generous ratings out of nostalgia, but a 1-star rating?

The problem was that it deserved it.

In the final chapter, the protagonist and his companions met a terrible end while facing the forces of evil.

The comment section went wild, and various online communities were in an uproar, with the title "Today's Kids of the Magic School Final Chapter.jpg" circulating everywhere.

The man opened his eyes in shock.

What on earth was going on?

No, why….

Tears welled up in his eyes.

Even as he scrolled down, he couldn't believe it.

All the characters he had loved for years were meeting their end.

Some minor characters even disappeared without a word, turning to dust.

Of course, if this had happened in the middle of the series, there might have been a chance to salvage it.

But the word in front of him now was "Final."

It meant it was completely over.

Ignoring the stares of others, the man burst into tears.

Everything around him seemed gray.

If they were going to end it, why did they have to do it this way?

Eunho, Eunseong, Ji-eun, Mr. Park….

Did they have to send off these characters like this?

He felt embarrassed to be crying over a webtoon, but it had been a source of strength during tough times.

Whenever he felt lonely or sad, he found comfort in the friendship and love of the characters in the webtoon.

It felt like someone had taken it all away from him.

'If I were the author…'

If I were the author, I wouldn't have ended it like this.

While he was thinking this, something strange began to happen.

The lights in the subway car started to go out one by one from the far end, and soon the car he was in went dark.

Then he lost consciousness.

* * *

When the man opened his eyes again, he was confused.

He was sitting in a classroom.

It was break time, and the students were chatting.

He looked around in a daze and was startled.

Not only did his face in the phone screen look younger, but the background around him was also familiar.

The familiar classroom setting.

The gray school uniform and red tie he had seen many times before.

'Could it be…'

Just as he was about to realize the identity of the place, a shadow fell over him.

It was a tall, handsome high school student.

When he smiled, the surroundings brightened.

He looked like the perfect protagonist for a Korean teen movie.

He was the protagonist.

The protagonist of the webtoon, Kids of the Magic School, Eunho.

"Hi, you're the new student, right?"

The class president sat down next to him and smiled.

"The teacher said to take good care of you. Since you transferred from a non-magic school, it might be hard to adjust."

"…Huh? Oh."

"If you have any trouble, just tell me. I might not be the best at studying, but I'm good at taking care of people."

As they were greeting each other, some of Eunho's friends came over and tapped him.

A boyish student asked, "Wanna play basketball?"

They got up.

For a while, the man, who had suddenly become a 'new student,' was bewildered.

He started to piece together the situation.

This was the world of the webtoon.

He wasn't sure if he was dreaming or hallucinating, but he decided to find a way out as a new student.

One thing came to mind.

The protagonist's legs were still fine.

Just in case, he checked the date on his phone—it was April 2012.

He knew this from reading the webtoon multiple times.

If it was April, it was before the accident.

The first misstep by the author, Eunho's traffic accident.

He was hit by a car while trying to save a young girl in disguise, becoming crippled.

From there, the story progressed to December 2012, eight months later, where everyone died.

Lost in his thoughts, the man's phone received a mysterious message.

[Mission: Save the protagonist 'Eunho' from today's accident!]

[Reward: Return]

This was the way to get back.

The new student, who now understood the situation, immediately started trying various methods.

He tried to keep the protagonist at school as long as possible, but the plan was foiled when the protagonist said he had something to pick up.

He tried to avoid the situation or take a different route, but the inevitable happened.

In a different location from the original, a young girl was crying on the road.

But the development was the same.

The girl was crying, a car was coming, and the protagonist ran to save her, only to be paralyzed by the villain's magic.

Before he could stop him, the protagonist ran onto the road and was paralyzed.

The car was coming.

The new student used a spell he learned in class to make his clothes lighter and ran at an incredible speed.

He successfully saved the protagonist.

Eunho, breathing a sigh of relief, thanked him profusely, creating a heartwarming atmosphere.

Then, Eunho picked up the phone that had fallen to the ground.

"Is this your phone?"

"Yeah, it is."

Just then.

The phone vibrated, and a message appeared on the screen.

[Notice!]

[You have successfully saved 'Eunho' from today's accident.]

The expression on Eunho's face hardened at the strange message.

Soon, various questions followed, and Eunho, looking serious, asked, "…What are you really?"

In the tense atmosphere….

* * *

One person sat down with a bewildered look, and the other was breathing heavily.

The bewildered one's expression turned fierce.

[What are you really?]

Just as the 'new student' was about to speak, the scene changed.

A white screen appeared with the logo 'EverDream.'

People watching with bewildered expressions heard a lively narration.

[School uniforms are comfortable! EverDream~]

At that moment, everyone watching the ad had the same reaction.

"……"

The EverDream SNS ad, 'Magic School Edition.'

It won an award at the 2014 TV CF Awards and became known as one of the most annoying ads on the internet.

* * *

* * *

As the end of summer vacation approached, the area in front of Hongdae was bustling with teenagers out for fun.

On the second floor of a fast-food restaurant right in front of the subway station, a group of middle school students gathered around a smartphone, looking at fries.

One girl said, "What is this? It's on the page again."

"What?"

"It keeps coming up. Remember the one that came out a few days ago? The school uniform ad."

"What's that?"

The girl tilted her head.

"…You don't know?"

"I don't, but is it on the Facebook page?"

"Ah! I saw that."

A boy pretended to know, but she gave him a look to be quiet.

He smiled sheepishly.

The two friends showed the video to the others, who reacted with frustration, just like they did the first time.

"Damn, what is this?"

"Hey, who are these guys? They're really handsome, seriously."

"Those are the guys who played basketball in 'Jusehan.'"

"Oh, them? Wow, I didn't recognize them."

Soon, her friends started talking about the new boy group, NewBlack.

The middle school girl, who had pretended not to know, smiled contentedly.

'You guys don't know.'

She had an album with a message from Seonwoo, "Please forget the World Cup jokes…"

While subtly promoting NewBlack, PowerwSouffle quietly laughed.

It was a perfect civilian cosplay.

* * *

I want to make a program like a documentary called 'NewBlack in 3 Days.'

I want to show how much can happen in just three days.

Actually, I thought the reaction would come from 'Jusehan,' not the ad.

The ad was our first, so it was meaningful, but since it was circulating on SNS, I didn't expect much impact.

But when I first saw the ad, I was amazed by its quality.

The direction was so well done that we were completely engrossed.

Later, I found out that the director, Geon Yu, was famous in the industry for his excellent visual style.

Thanks to that, 'Night Sea,' which started at 89th place on the first day, had risen to 59th place in just three days.

It was still below Something, which was in the top 20, and Fireworks, which was in the early 50s, but considering it had only been three days since its release, it was an encouraging result.

For three days, I was so happy.

I wanted to grab the hands of sad or depressed people and share the feelings I was experiencing.

This feeling, you really have to experience it to understand.

The emotion of having all three songs in the top 100 of the music charts, which I created or participated in, was overwhelming.

If I said I would be proud of it for the rest of my life, would that be an exaggeration?

And, I wasn't the only one feeling this way.

"Maybe we'll even get to number one."

At Jihyun's words, we all burst into laughter, but he was stirring his jelly with a serious face.

"Seriously. If a documentary and a special Chuseok episode come out, we might go even higher."

"Bro, do you know how big this is? I saw the news."

"Yeah. My dad called last night and subtly asked if we'd consider being the model for their chicken ad."

"What did you say?"

"When I asked for a high price, he hung up."

We all burst into laughter at the image in our heads.

After laughing for a while, I looked around.

We were in a meeting room at HBS MTV.

It was the second pre-meeting.

"But they're really late."

Biju said, sounding worried.

"It's been 30 minutes since the meeting was supposed to start."

"Yeah."

As the members looked around, puzzled, I smiled to myself.

My siblings didn't know, but cameras were hidden everywhere, filming them. The PD and writer were probably watching from somewhere else.

-So, if there's anything you want to do with your siblings, write it down. We'll review it.

This was the proposal I made at the last meeting.

It was a small revenge for the hidden camera I experienced during the school uniform ad.

Just as I was looking forward to it with joy, the TV turned on.

"Ah, what is this!"

My siblings, looking like they had just discovered a haunted spot, stared at the TV screen.

At first, they were bewildered, but soon their eyes widened.

"…What is this? Why is this here?"

It was because of the video playing on the screen.

A voice from the production team was heard.

-What kind of person is the hero usually?

The interview they had filmed at the company was playing.

Everyone was reacting with, "What? Why is this here…?"

Biju and Rihyeok quickly turned to me, and the other members seemed to realize the situation.

"Wasn't this filmed by the documentary team?"

"No."

I smiled brightly at my siblings, who were blinking in surprise.

"It was the reality team."