Leaving 'Park Moondae'?
Therefore… Whether or not he disappeared like this, I would just go back to the point where I won the grand prize and continue living as a TeStar member.
Now, there was no need to talk further with Park Moondae just to understand the principles of the system. Because he didn't seem to know anything.
I had done as much as I could, so I'd stop worrying about it and completely get my hands on the idol life I had been developing for years.
I wouldn't deny it.
Apart from being ruthless, it sounded plausible when I heard it. Because I came to admit that the life I lived in that body was also mine.
'But…'
I took a deep breath and relaxed my fists.
"That's not it."
"… …"
Cheongryeo stopped tapping his fingers on the table.
"Of course, what I experienced in Park Moondae's body is my experience. Because I did it."
"Is that so? Then…"
"But the body is something else."
I leaned over.
"I can't say that it's mine no matter what just because I have been using it for a few years. Park Moondae's growth background is what he went through."
"… …"
"I happened to get quite a bit of help there."
If 'Park Moondae' hadn't lived right, it would have been difficult to win such a dramatic first place. And even after debuting, it would have been a past history.
Cheongryeo stared at me.
"Have you ever thought that you would have succeeded faster if you did it with your original body?"
"I haven't tried it, so I can't say for sure. And in the first place, this is also a problem that has nothing to do with achievement."
I chuckled.
"Park Moondae has the right to live with his body. Don't blur the subject."
"… …"
He continued to stare at me without saying a word, then quietly opened his mouth.
"So, if that's what hoobaenim wants, you're going to give up your career?"
"I never said I would give up."
"Then…"
I crossed my arms.
"We have to come to an agreement."
Now that his status abnormalities were over, I was going to listen to what he wanted and make adjustments.
"I'm just saying that I'm not going to wipe my mouth and be a backstabber."
"I don't understand. You don't need to think about it that much."
I shrugged.
"Well… I guess I'm attached to it."
After sharing how 'Park Moondae' has been for several days in a row over the past few years, it meant that he was human too.
'It's kind of funny how I'm thinking about how to respect him and not how to get this other bastard to give up.'
At that moment, the guy sitting across from me took his hand off the table without expression.
"You feel attached to it."
"Yes."
"I didn't expect it to weigh the same as your achievements."
I put my glasses back on.
"You keep trying to measure things that may not be an alternative… Think hard about it."
"… …"
"Isn't it more comfortable to live now with both than having to give up one side of your career?"
Just in time, the dog under the table barked. Cheongryeo reflexively lowered his hand.
I could see the dog rubbing its nose.
"I'm also going to try to handle the situation with the goal of having both of them okay."
"… …"
Cheongryeo kept his mouth shut with a mysterious expression. It seemed as if he was moving something in his head that he did not know whether it was a calculation or a thought.
'It's surprising.'
This bastard, I thought he was going to weed out his competitors by encouraging me to think well.
'The way of thinking is exaggerated, but he gave honest advice.'
I ended up adding it briefly.
"Anyway… Thank you for recognizing TeStar's Park Moondae as me."
"… …"
It wasn't a bad feeling that the first evaluation after hearing all this shit was recognition.
He paused for a moment, then smiled bitterly.
"Is that so? Well, then."
No, I canceled it. I was a little pissed.
Cheongryeo removed his hand from his dog.
"That's too bad. I was willing to help in case of emergency."
I didn't think this bastard was trying to help bury the main body of Park Moondae.
'How wasteful is the career of a top-rated idol?'
I changed the topic to wake up the useless overindulgence of the guy.
"Then give me a phone call with this body tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?"
"I think I'll have to check who is in this body after today."
"Hmm."
"Don't do anything stupid."
In order to prevent an unexpected situation, I was thinking of leaving a note to 'Park Moondae' to listen carefully to the voice coming through this phone and remember it, and to skip it in the future.
Cheongryeo shrugged.
"Great. I will contact you through the other body, so wait."
"I don't need that…"
Wait a minute.
I remembered the phone call I received from this guy out of the blue one day in November.
-Hmm… I wonder if you have anything to say to me.
And the next words.
- So far…
"… … "
Looking back at the date, today was the day before.
'I see.'
Now I understood. This bastard contacted me knowing the situation at that time.
'But he didn't mention it once and wiped his mouth until I won the grand prize.'
Was it helpful or not?
Anyway, he was an unpredictable bastard. I clicked my tongue and got up.
"Are you going?"
"Yes."
The story was over, and since there was no case picked up, I thought of looking for more traces of Park Moondae, even physically.
"Well, goodbye. I will contact you tomorrow."
It felt a bit odd that I had already received that call.
"Yes."
I ended the conversation with Cheongryeo and returned to the officetel.
Upon arrival, the search began immediately.
'Is there anything?'
No sign of anything came out.
I didn't feel much of a sense of life in an officetel, perhaps because he was stuck in a boarding school. Only one bedroom was filled with hobbies everywhere.
TeStar's albums and MDs.
It was kept well in various drawers that I didn't even have time to open because I'd been chatting with him every time.
'Did he come to the concert again?'
He even visited the MD of the world tour I did earlier this year.
"Looks like he had a good time."
I smiled and put them back. Still, it wasn't a bad feeling to have been used to relieve stress in this guy's life for exams.
But the situation was still the same.
The whereabouts of 'Park Moondae' were still unknown, and the only thing that could be confirmed was the marking of the calendar on the smartphone.
-The day I meet hyung!
"…"
Other than that, there were no special schedules, and there were no logged-in social media accounts. Except for looking for TeStar, he really only studied and lived.
I tried a few times to see if I could see his status bar, but nothing popped up. It was just my 'receiving the reward'.
"Hoo."
I stopped here.
Eventually, near midnight, I sat down on the couch and started scribbling notes.
-When I came in, you weren't there, so I'm writing to you. First of all, congratulations on passing. You worked hard.
… …
I had set up a recording for Cheongryeo's phone call, so I organized it once again, from just knowing his voice and not meeting him or leaking additional information, to how to contact me in December.
Then soon… It was midnight.
Dang-.
I was lying on the sofa
A small bell rang in the corner.
'He changed the clock.'
After a short thought like 'I think that was a concert MD', unconditional sleep came over again.
Soon my senses and thoughts disappeared. As always these days.
Dang-.
But the bell rang.
'Wait a minute.'
And what I was doing was cognition and thinking.
'I'm coming back.'
I didn't know what it was, but it was like I was trying to completely fall asleep and have been interrupted…
"Hyung!"
"… !"
I got up.
I was still in the officetel. But there was one strange thing.
"It's nice to see you, hyung…!"
A strange-looking boy was sitting on the floor in front of the sofa where I was lying.
He resembled me strangely, but he wasn't exactly the same…
"Park Moondae."
When his name was called, he smiled awkwardly.
"Yes… I'm not sure if I can be called by that name."
I could guess why he said that. It looked as if he had mixed some of Ryu Gunwoo in the frame of Park Moondae and was in his early 20s.
'Did he receive that as a new body?'
I had a headache because of sleep. I pressed my temples and rose from the sofa.
"That's your name, though."
"That… Hyung uses that name too. Since it's hyung's name… Ah, then please call me 'Keundal'!"
It sounded like a title that only came out of a game, but he could do as he liked. I nodded and went straight to the point.
"How is the situation now?"
It was an unexpected situation, but he seemed strangely calm.
The guy in front of me turned to the blinds on the veranda with a slightly nervous face.
And operated the button.
"Ah, first of all… Please look at this."
Wiing.
The blinds open, and what I saw…
"… !"
The sunset was setting outside the window.
However, it was not a common color. The feeling of golden, purple, and red sunlight crashing into each other and hearing the sound of a music box somewhere.
It was something I knew.
"It's a scene from the
"… Implemented?"
"Yes."
The guy laughed awkwardly.
"I… This is the world of imagination."
"… … !"
"So, not in reality, but only in our heads, that…"
"I know what it is, so stop it."
"Yes."
I could understand it as a state similar to the daydream I had during that coma.
And I also realized why he was behaving like that. It seemed that self-awareness was mixed in while living as 'Ryu Gunwoo'.
'He's going through all kinds of experiences.'
I held back a sigh.
The guy laughed awkwardly.
"Hyung really knows everything…"
There were so many things I didn't know that I was about to go crazy, so that was enough.
"No way. Rather, you seem familiar with this situation."
"… …"
"Maybe today… So, were you here all day yesterday?"
Originally, Park Moondae, 'Keundal' sat carefully on the floor. And he answered seriously.
"Yes."
As expected.
"And it wasn't just yesterday."
"What?"
"Hyung, I… I've been pressing 'accept synchronization' while resolving status abnormalities."
I remembered. It made me feel uncomfortable since it only mentioned 'accumulated completion' every time.
"It turned out that it was synchronizing with the time I was with hyung."
"With me?"
"Yes."
"I have no memory of that."
"It was different."
Keundal rubbed his palms on his thighs with a nervous face. And he spoke quietly.
He brought up a random topic.
"Hyung, that, I want to apologize first."
"Hyung suffered so much… Actually, it's my fault."
"… …"
"That… When hyung was in a coma, I had a crazy idea."
He slowly began to explain the situation at the time.
"Because they said hyung might never wake up again. So I… I cleaned hyung's house. At that time, I knew."
Following those words, the thoughts he experienced at the time began to appear in my head like a direct resonance.
-This…
The camera I used.
And I didn't bother to delete the stuff on it.
Among the data, there was also something I uploaded with the 'gun1234' account.
And this guy who was tidying up the house seemed to recognize it at once.
The psychological blow was very decisive.
-Uh, what should I do…
"At that time… I must have been very heartbroken. It was no different than hyung helping me from then until now, and there was nothing I can do to help, and hyung was going to die soon…"
"… …"
"So I was packing up and going back, and I accidentally leaned against the railing of the outer stairway holding the trash. Without thinking…"
It was such a cheap one-room building, so I thought the railing looked dangerous when I went out to smoke.
"But, the railing couldn't overcome my weight and collapsed…"
And, of course, when this guy was at his most frantic state, it was broken.
-Ping!
At the worst possible timing.
"To be honest, I thought I might have broken my leg in moderation until now… … I didn't talk about it because I didn't want you to worry. But maybe… Maybe I was on the verge of dying then."
I almost bit my tongue. But his story wasn't over.
"So I guess the system got it wrong."
"Mistaken?"
"This system grants wishes based on the thoughts you had right before you died."
Keundal swallowed.
"However… I hoped that hyung would live a long and happy life, but at that time, you were in a coma on the verge of death like me… An error occurred. It misunderstood the object."
"… !"
"Hyung brother went back to the past and lived in my body instead of me."
- Ugh…
I remembered waking up in a dirty motel room.
But the point of view… It was mine.
"I think I was fused into the system in the process… I guess there was still a bit of ego left. It's like a pattern of behavior that needs to be corrected."
And I realized.
This guy continued to use the word 'system' naturally.
… Just like the usage of a word that I defined alone and that I had never explained to anyone.
I barely opened my mouth.
"… Status window."
The guy nodded.
"That's right."
"… …"
"So, hyung, I am… I am hyung's status window."