The S-Rank Paparazzi Reincarnates as an Idol Chapter 116

Chapter 116

 

Ding.

[Opening the Status Window of ‘Observer’ Yoo Haein.]

 

—

[Status Window]

Yoo Haein (25)

‘ Appearance: A-

‘ Singing: A+

‘ Dancing: S-

‘ Star Quality: S+

‘ Stamina: S-

‘ Ability: ???

‘ Trait: Idol who regressed 5 years into the past

‘ Fatigue: 40

‘ Current Status: Penalty Threshold Exceeded (???%)

‘ Special Condition: Observer

—

 

“…He really is insane.”

‘All of his stats are A-rank and S-rank?’

The numbers were completely absurd.

‘And what’s this about his penalty threshold being exceeded?’

Yoo Haein had acted relaxed the entire time, but in reality he was a clown hanging onto a rotten lifeline, a man living on borrowed time.

‘I was already grinding my teeth after just three penalties.’

At that level of penalty accumulation, every moment he spent breathing was probably hell.

Yet he smiled through the pain and manipulated the entertainment industry.

‘I was worried about how Yoo Haein would move against me from now on, but looking at that state, it must already be hard enough for him just to keep himself standing.’

That was vaRuable information.

Knowing that the regressor threatening me was shackled by the heavy chains of penalties was an enormous gain.

Ding!

‘Huh?’

The translucent blue window flashed again.

[Data analysis complete!]

[Successfully absorbed a fragment of causality that detached from the target system ‘Observer.’]

‘What?’

[You have acquired a new item!]

‘What is this thing talking about? I got an item?’

[Would you like to check the item?]

‘Yeah.’

Beside the translucent blue window appeared a lens glowing with a violet hue.

“…A lens?”

The moment I picked up the disposable-packaged lens, an item description appeared.

 

—

[Item Name: Observer’s Afterimage Lens (Grade: A)]

Effect: When equipped, you can detect the light emitted when an Observer uses a system authority once.

—

 

‘That’s a better haul than I expected.’

The corners of my mouth naturally lifted.

I had obtained an ability I never anticipated.

“Siwoo! What are you doing over there?!”

A hurried shout suddenly reached me, and I looked up.

The members were running toward me with the festival’s dazzling lights behind them.

The lights scattering behind them spread like halos.

“Siwoo, little brother!!!”

Rua arrived first and smacked me square in the back.

Smack—! Smack—!

“Ow!”

His hands packed quite a punch.

“I told you not to go! Siwoo little brother deserves to get hit!”

I silently accepted the incoming blows, and the members who arrived afterward gathered around me.

“Why does your complexion look so bad?”

“Because Rua hyung just smacked my back.”

The members glanced at him, and only then did Rua stop.

“No. I didn’t hit that hard!”

“What are you talking about? It really hurt.”

As Rua and I bickered, the others started speaking one after another.

“Siwoo, what happened with the senior?”

“Did Yoo Haein sunbae say something weird?”

Concerned voices echoed from every direction.

‘…This doesn’t feel bad.’

It had been a long time since someone genuinely worried about me.

The bizarre and chilling world of systems I had just experienced suddenly felt far away.

“No. It’s just… I heard something pretty tiresome.”

I deliberately avoided looking back toward the warehouse.

Instead, I stared at the new notification window that appeared before me.

Ding.

[Cha Siwoo-nim ㅠㅠ]

The blue window finally seemed to have come back to its senses and flashed dramatically with emotion.

‘Back to the usual system, huh.’

The stiff, machine-like thing from a moment ago was gone.

[You protected me!]

‘Well… I guess I did.’

The system-sharing proposal Yoo Haein made hadn’t been an alliance at all.

It had been parasitism.

A disgusting scheme to suck away my healthy system authority and use it to patch up his decaying penalties.

‘I’m not particularly interested in sharing what’s mine.’

[This system is moved to tears!]

‘Yeah, yeah.’

While I was enjoying my emotional reunion with the flashing system, Rua’s firm voice rang out.

“Next time, don’t ever go off alone, Siwoo little brother.”

“Okay. Got it.”

“Siwoo, let’s go. We need to check our next schedule.”

I nodded at the endless stream of nagging from the members, but the corners of my mouth kept rising on their own.

“Yeah, okay. Let’s go.”

As I started walking, the members naturally surrounded me like bodyguards.

“…?”

“Siwoo hyung is banned from acting alone now.”

“Seriously. Do you think you’re some kind of troublemaker?”

“Yes.”

With Seo Hayul’s puffed-up response bringing the conversation to an end, I headed toward the vehicle surrounded by the warmth of the members.

‘If Yoo Haein is holding the answer sheet, then I’ll just turn that answer sheet into the wrong answers myself.’

And I decided I’d help bring forward the ending of deletion that he wanted so desperately.

 

☆☆☆

 

It hadn’t even been two hours since the festival ended.

The van returning to our dorm was wrapped in a strange silence.

Having poured every ounce of energy onto the stage, the members had completely passed out.

‘Can’t blame them.’

But I wasn’t resting.

I had to monitor the community reactions pouring in in real time.

‘This is getting a bigger response than I expected.’

The speed at which posts were appearing was anything but ordinary.

The dam holding back the burning enthusiasm of the online communities finally burst after countless cracks formed.

 

[Are they really rookies? Their domination of the university festival stage was insane.]

[Did Lucy Star Boys really make tens of thousands of people sing along without MR?]

[Review: I was waiting for the girl group and became a Lucy Star Boys fan instead.]

 

Among the flood of posts, I clicked the one sitting at #1 on the popularity rankings with overwhelming views.

 

[Summary of Today’s Minguk University Lucy Star Boys Sound Accident + 18-Minute Delay Incident.txt]

1. Lucy Star Boys’ audio system died from the first song, and the MR disappeared.
2. Cha Siwoo threw down the mic (looked insanely cool) and started rallying the crowd with his bare voice.
3. They hard-carried the atmosphere with an a cappella group singalong.
4. The audio got fixed, and they successfully finished the festival performance.
5. The next team was late, creating an 18-minute gap.
6. Lucy Star Boys grabbed the microphones and started an impromptu “Department Battle,” flipping the entire stadium upside down.
7. In the end, they led a singalong of a national favorite song and even took a group photo before leaving.

Summary:

These rookies cleaned up all the seniors’ messes and created a legendary stage. They’re ridiculously efficient and the real deal.

 

Comments (1,291)

– Anonymous: Watched the video. Their vocal power is insane. His raw voice pierced through the speakers. (1,000+ likes)

  ㄴ I was there. When Cha Siwoo shouted, “Nursing Department, make some noise!” I almost threw my textbook without thinking. His charisma is no joke.

  ㄴ Honestly the most fun performance of the entire festival.

  ㄴ Cha Siwoo hard-carried so hard lol.

– Anonymous: We all know who that late senior group was, right? (500+ likes)

  ㄴ LOL. If it weren’t for Lucy Star Boys, today’s festival would’ve become awkward as hell.

  ㄴ True. Honestly, it would’ve turned into a controversy if the juniors hadn’t saved it.

– Anonymous: I became a fan after seeing Cha Siwoo roll up his sleeves and keep the beat. (3,000+ likes)

  ㄴ Same.

  ㄴ How does a rookie have this kind of mentality? Seriously amazing.

  ㄴ Even as a guy, he looked cool.

 

“Are these view counts and comment numbers for real?”

The numbers accumulated in such a short time were hard to believe.

And while the major communities were exploding, QTube was even worse.

 

[#1 Trending Video in Real Time]

[4K] University Festival Audio Accident – How a Rookie Handles It (Full Version)

 

Only two hours since upload.

The views had already surpassed 500,000 and were climbing vertically.

‘At this pace, it’ll easily pass a million before tonight.’

Every refresh brought a flood of new views and comments.

‘How exactly did they film this?’

When I played the video, the version of me on screen didn’t even twitch an eyebrow despite the sudden audio failure.

Instead, I calmly led the audience and took control of the stage.

The part where I joked, “The reason your exams went badly is because of us,” was already being turned into memes and flooding social media.

‘We’ve definitely cemented our weight class.’

At this point, it wasn’t just cementing it.

It was like pouring concrete over it.

With this level of recognition and buzz, aiming for Rookie of the Year at the year-end awards was no longer a goal… it was practically a scheduled event.

At that moment, the smartphone in my hand vibrated briefly.

A name appeared on the screen that made my brow furrow immediately.

[Yoo Haein]

The warmth from the stage vanished instantly, as if someone had dumped ice water over me.

The text message was ridiculous.

[Yoo Haein: The online reaction is great. Honestly, your response was impressive. I’ll be waiting for your call.]

“What the hell.”

I responded with the ultimate weapon: leaving him on read.

I had no intention of letting that guy ruin my good mood.

‘Time for a mood change.’

I opened my gallery and looked through the group photos from the stage and the backstage behind-the-scenes shots.

‘These came out well. The fans will love them if I upload them.’

With practiced hands, I quickly edited the photos.

Individual shots of the members looking tense before the performance and a group photo with tens of thousands of flashes spread out like a galaxy were uploaded to the Lucy Star Boys official account.

[#LucyStarBoys #MingukUniversityFestival #ThankYouLuminaForBeingWithUs #MingukUniversity]

The moment I pressed upload, likes and comment notifications started exploding like a dashboard breaking down.

 

☆☆☆

 

After surviving a brutal schedule, the numbers on the calendar changed once more.

The cold winter air brushing past my nose seemed to ask who the protagonist of this season was.

And that chill signaled the arrival of award season.

At long last, an invitation to the most prestigious stage summarizing a year of Korean music, the GMSA (Global Music Show Awards), landed in our hands.

Hosted by C Broadcasting Station, GMSA was the most influential festival opening the year-end award season every year, and for idols, it was a battlefield of dreams.

The heat radiating from the tens of thousands of spectators packed around Gocheok Sky Dome was intense enough to melt even the harshest winter cold.

“Wow, this is no joke.”

“There are so many people.”

Just before getting out of the vehicle, we checked our outfits and makeup one last time.

Since this was a gathering of Korea’s top singers, presence was just as important as skill.

“All right, Lucy Star Boys. We’ll be getting out soon, so get ready.”

“Yes!”

At the manager’s calm voice, leader Kim Sunyoo encouraged the team and began the final inspection.

“Guys, once we get out in front of the red carpet, there’ll be more reporters than you’ve ever seen before.”

“Wow!”

“I’m actually nervous.”

“You know you need to smile and greet people in front of the cameras, right? Don’t let yourselves get intimidated.”

“Yes!”

“Of course.”

“Good. Let’s do this!”

At last, the van came to a smooth stop at the red carpet entrance.

The moment the heavy sliding door opened, all the noise of the outside world rushed into the quiet vehicle like a tidal wave.

“WAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

“Lucy Star Boys!”

“Cha Siwoo!”

“Hoseung!”

The cheers of countless people struck our eardrums hard enough to shake the space itself.