The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

My head was in a mess. I didnt have an inkling as to who the twenty-seventh regressor was or what nth regressor I was. Continuing on that, I still had no idea what the identity of this system was. In the beginning, I simply thought the system was like a god.

There were times when I thought it could be a demon who placed bets on my companions lives and drove me to the toughest corners. Yet, seeing how all the results ended favorably for us every time, I thought it could also be a god-like entity. But after hearing the twenty-seventh regressors words and Do-Seung who attempted to kill me just now, I didnt know what to think.

Perhaps, its simply a phenomenon that loops for infinity. I thought perhaps, this wasnt the work of some divine or evil entity but a mechanical existence that simply repeated the same sequence of events. Befitting the nickname I gave it, this system could be nothing more than a part of a giant mechanism.

It could be a machine that simply received the command, Lock Siren in a regression loop and make them suffer forever and could be tormenting us until eternity. I thought the system was our assistant, but was that not it? Perhaps, it could be our final villain boss that was driving us into madness.

Tae-Yoon, are you listening to me right now? Yeon-Hoon asked me then.

AhSorry? Because I was so focused on thinking about the system and regression, I didnt know what was happening in the real world. Now that I regained my senses, I realized that my members were staying close to my side and looking at me with great concern.

Whydo I look strange? I asked.

Are you seriously asking us? You dont answer any of our questions and you are dripping in cold sweat. Even when we were approaching you, you didnt realize it and stared blankly at your desk. Yeon-Hoon said in frustration.

Tae-Yoonare you sick? Should we go to the hospital? Woon placed his hand on my shoulder and asked.

Are you hungry? Should we go eat something? Dong-Jun grabbed my hand and asked.

Do you have a fever? Do-Seung extended his hand out to touch my forehead.

Slap. I instinctively struck Do-Seungs hand away, hard.

?

Tae-Yoon.

AhIm sorry.

Do-Seung looked at me wide-eyed in shock and Woon and Dong-Jun also stared at me in astonishment.

I just sweated a lot soI didnt want anyone touching me, I explained, but it didnt change the awkward atmosphere.

Ahyeah, its understandable, Do-Seung smiled awkwardly, but he appeared shocked that I had slapped his hand away so roughly.

UmIs everyone okay?

Mr. Tae-Yoon, should we search a hospital?

Not just us but Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna were also at the conference room and looked concerned.

Ah, Im fine. I forced a smile on my face and replied, I justneed to go to the bathroom for a bit. You dont have to worry about me. I got up from my chair and left the room.

I will follow him. Yeon-Hoon also got up to follow me. I wanted to tell him not to follow me, but because I understood my members feelings, I let him be. Then, when I went to the bathroom and saw my face in the mirror, I realized why my members had been so concerned.

HaSeriously I had broken out in cold sweat all over my body, and my complexion looked very pale. I turned on cold water and splashed my face. Then, I wiped the water droplets with a paper towel and looked at the mirror again. Yeon-Hoon was staring at me from behind in the back of the bathroom. The face reflected in the mirror looked very worried.

Im sorry. I dont know why Im suddenly acting like this. I thinkI just got nervous thinking that we were really going to debut now. I just made up any words that came to my word to ease his worries.

Did you meet the second regressor?

Sorry?

In the mirror, Yeon-Hoon suddenly asked me about the second regressor. I flicked my head around in shock, and then, my surroundings turned black.

Shaaaa! Yeon-Hoon wasnt where he should be. I was also no longer in the bathroom. There was no sky or earth, and there was only darkness around me.

What is this! If I was locked up somewhere, I thought I could try to find an exit, but there was only darkness here. I didnt know whether my eyes were open or not. All I could say was, Yeon-Hoon?

I didnt think it was the system that created this situation but Yeon-Hoon who had spoken to me through the mirror. The system had never placed me in a space with only darkness like this. I quietly looked around my surroundings. There was a time when I thought a whole other entity possessed Yeon-Hoons body, but after going through what I did today, I had an idea of who this entity was.

What regressor are you? I thought this entity inside Yeon-Hoons body right now and the one who locked me in this dark space wasnt just anyone but Yeon-Hoon who had gone through multiple regressions. Hearing this, Yeon-Hoon began to walk out of the darkness.

Thats not very important.

How could he say it wasnt? I stared at the existence before me. He clearly had the appearance and exterior of Yeon-Hoon. The way he talked, his voice, and his gaze were all like Yeon-Hoon but simultaneously, not at the same time. It felt as if I was looking at two separate entities at once.

Listen to me carefully, Tae-Yoon. Its not succeeding the missions that are important.

What?

You wont be able to achieve what you want by following someone elses orders.

What do you mean?

Return to the very beginning.

What?

After saying words I couldnt understand, Yeon-Hoon left. Instead of answering my questions, he left me with more questions rising to my mind.

Shooooong! The black space seemed to constrict until it became as tiny as a dot and I returned to the bathroom.

Hmph! I felt my legs give out. I quickly clutched onto the bathroom sink and supported myself.

Tae-Yoon! Yeon-Hoon, who had been waiting for me from behind, approached me. Are you really okay? Lets go to the hospital! Im really so worried about you Yeon-Hoon crossed his arms with mine and said.

I stared at Yeon-Hoon. He had a completely different atmosphere from the Yeon-Hoon who I saw in the dark space. I stretched out my hand towards Yeon-Hoon. I could reach for him and touch him, unlike the other Yeon-Hoon.

WhyWhat is it, Tae-Yoon?

No, its nothing. I withdrew my hand. Lets go.

I tried to go back to the conference room. We didnt have much time before the debut and I thought I took up too much time right now.

Lets go to the hospital first. What are you doing? Yeon-Hoon said in astonishment. You were breaking out in cold sweat in the conference room and wobbling in the bathroom. If you refuse to go to the hospital in this state, its like you want us to worry about you.

Nobut.

I dont want to hear any excuses! Lets just go! Yeon-Hoon shouted in anger and dragged me outside. Yeon-Hoon was rarely persistent like this but he appeared very angry right now.

Okay In the end, I had no choice but to go to the hospital.

*** freewebno(v)el

As expected, the doctors at the hospital told me there was nothing wrong with me. Though they could do more detailed inspections, they said that they doubted anything would come up when all my results were coming out as normal. It was natural since I wasnt really sick but just suffered the side effects of using the system.

When I returned to the company building from the hospital, Dong-Jun, Do-Seung, and Woon were still listening to songs in the conference room.

What did the hospital say? Was there anything wrong? Do-Seung asked first.

Yeah, they say hes healthy! Since hes slightly underweight, they just told him to eat well. f(r)eewebn(o)vel.com

Ahthank goodness.

Sorry for making you all worried.

I apologized to my members. It felt like I had ruined the mood on an important day when we were deciding our debut day.

No, its fine.

Its good that you dont have any problems.

Since we are all here together like this, lets choose our title song and album tracklist.

Yeon-Hoon and I sat on the conference room chair. But before that, I thought I had to mention something else.

Im sorry for pushing your hand away that time. I was just surprised that time, I said.

Ah, that time? Its fine. I already forgot about it. Do-Seung smiled. He had looked hurt when I slapped his hand away that time but it seemed he understood because of how bad my state looked.

Okay, then lets talk about the songs~ Dong-Jun got his laptop and turned on the music.

Are the songs that Do-Seung wrote also included in the list? I asked.

Yeah, there is. So, I wont vote but just watch you guys, Do-Seung said he would just watch us. I thought this was quite a cruel way to decide the songs, considering that we could not choose his songs.

Im not worried because my song will get chosen, Do-Seung said with his arms crossed and backed away.

Oh~ That confidence~ I want to purposefully pick something else now.

Hey!

Im just joking~

Dong-Jun and Do-Seung bickered like they usually did. There was a total of ten songs on the list, and we needed to choose three among them. And among the three songs, we needed to choose the title song.

While you and Yeon-Hoon were at the hospital, we all listened to the songs once each. But we are going to go through it again to vote, Woon explained and took a seat beside me.

Then, I will really turn it on now~ Dong-Jun pressed the space button on his laptop and played the song. Though I already listened to a little bit of this playlist this morning, it made me a bit nervous that I was listening to make my vote this time.

Soon after, I listened to all the songs and it was time for us to collect our votes.

Raise your hand if you thought the fourth song was the best.

Okay, put your hands down now. Now, raise your hand if you liked the sixth song the best

We all lowered our hands and only raised our hands according to Do-Seungs voice. In the end, the song that received the most votes were:

The third song got the unanimous vote while the sixth and seventh songs got three votes each.

Thus, the third, sixth, and seventh songs were chosen.

They are all songs written by me, Do-Seung said.

What?

Thats crazy.

I literally just got the chills.

Woon, Yeon-Hoon, and I genuinely felt chills that Do-Seung had written all three songs that we liked the best. I didnt know if our ears were trained to like his music by now, but I realized how impressive Do-Seungs talents were again. Only Dong-Jun protested.

This is a hoax! Do-Seung is lying!

You think I will be crazy enough to manipulate such important results!

Theres no way all these three songs are yours!

Dong-Jun, you were the only one to have raised your hand at all three of my songs, so what are you saying?

Ah, anyways, this is a hoax! Dong-Jun yelled and Do-Seung sighed. Like this, our debut song was decided.

Can we immediately work on the lyrics now?

Yeah.

It was my turn to write the lyrics.

I will write the drafts by today evening and try to finish all three songs by tomorrow morning, I said.

Dont push yourself too much.

You know that I usually write fast. Then, I asked Do-Seung to send me the song files by mail. But rather than working on the lyrics, something else hung on my mind.

You wont be able to achieve what you want by following someone elses orders. This was what Yeon-Hoon told me in the black space.

Was he saying that I shouldnt follow the systems missions? I wondered. But if I didnt follow them, Woon would die.

Hm. I felt conflicted. He told me to go back to the very beginning. I recalled what he told me.

No way.

A frightening thought came to my mind.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢