When Kim Seongjin woke up from his dreamless sleep, he instantly knew something was off.
First of all, he didn't remember his bed being this uncomfortable. Sure, he was poor, but come on, this was next level.
Second of all, when he opened his eyes, instead of seeing his dilapidated ceiling, he was face to face with a floor covered in sweat. His sweat.
The floor? Sweating? What kind of nightmare was this?
He tried to move, but his body felt... wrong. He could feel the weight of his muscles, the tightness in his limbs. As he pushed himself up with a groan, his hands met with a cold, sticky surface. The room smelled faintly of... desperation and something else. Was that hairspray?
Seongjin blinked, his mind struggling to process what was happening. This wasn't his shitty apartment.
"Wait..." he mumbled, looking around the unfamiliar space. The room was small, bare except for a few glaringly shiny items that made no sense to him—like a mirror reflecting some kid's overly styled hair. No, his hair.
What the hell was going on? Isn't it a stockage room?
Before he could piece it together, the door swung open and someone barged in, flashing a fake-ass smile. "Jinsoo, time to wake up. You've got practice. You can't keep slacking off like this!"
Seongjin blinked again. "Wait, who the hell are you? That's not my name?!" he managed, his voice rough and confused.
But the person just gave him a pitying look, muttered something about "dumb trainees" and left the room, slamming the door behind them.
What the fuck?
Kim Seongjin, now realizing he was completely fucked, slowly stood up, trying to get a grip on what was happening.
———
Seongjin decided to flee. He grabbed only the bare essentials: his phone, the wallet lying next to him, and some keys he didn't even bother to look at.
Yeah, it was cowardly. But honestly, who could blame him?
Everyone deserves a moment of weakness, right? It's not like he really had a choice.
So, that's how he found himself holed up in a public restroom, locked in an intense stare-off with his phone. He took a deep breath and unlocked the screen (thankfully, Face ID still worked).
The date was correct. That was something.
He quickly scrolled through the news, his contacts, and other notifications. Nothing particularly noteworthy. Just that Lee Jinsoo (his name—nothing special, but whatever) was a stupidly average, orphan, empty guy.
"Okay, great. This is going well..." he thought to himself.
He wasn't particularly... memorable. Far from it. It stung his ego, but it was the truth. The guy was a shell of a person. Nothing remarkable, nothing exciting. The kind of guy you forget two seconds after meeting him.
How the hell was he supposed to debut in a group with this profile? Absolutely impossible. This wasn't some dumb novel with a system—
[SYSTEM INITIATED]
...
He should have shut his damn mouth.