Debuting by Riding the Returnee’s Bus Chapter 38

“You. Except for Joo Wooyoung, you’ve never called another trainee by their name once.”

 

At those words, my face stiffened involuntarily.

 

“If that’s not looking down on us, then what is it?”

 

It was because I realized I still hadn’t managed to shake off the habits from my days as a slave.

 

For a moment, my mind went blank. Until No. 12 spoke up, even I hadn’t realized that I never addressed the other trainees by their names.

 

In the midst of my confusion, I realized I had to answer his question and began to stammer, but there was no way a proper answer would come out. Without a single excuse to fall back on, I’d been completely cornered.

 

“N-no, that’s… I mean. When did I… I… don’t really remember? I never…”

 

“Don’t play innocent.”

 

“That’s not it. I think you’ve misunderstood something. I…”

 

“I misunderstood? Should I ask right now? The kid who’s your roommate… No. 123. What was his name again?”

 

‘What was it?’

 

“What about No. 98’s name?”

 

‘No…’

 

“No. 78 and No. 45… and No. 141. What are their names? It’s okay if you’re wrong, just say them.”

 

*This bastard…*

 

“I had a feeling, but I guess it was true.”

 

“…….”

 

“I’m telling you one more time, loud and clear….”

 

“Hyung… wait.”

 

“Don’t talk to me privately outside of the broadcast. It makes me sick. Fuck, seriously.”

 

There was nothing I could say.

 

The more I thought about it, the more anger welled up at my own stupidity.

 

It felt like anger was surging up from my very core. I was angry that I had been caught by No. 12, but even more so because I realized I had been making such a brain-dead mistake until now.

 

And for good reason….

 

‘It means the fact that I don’t call the other trainees by their names has all been captured on camera.’

 

Of course, since most of them were older than me, I had generalized by calling them ‘hyung’, but… since I had specifically attached a name to Joo Wooyoung by calling him ‘Wooyoung hyung’, it would definitely look strange.

 

I hadn’t even called No. 123, my same-age friend I spent the most time with, by his name once.

 

In fact, I felt like offering a bow of gratitude to No. 12. As the show went on, there was no doubt that viewers would eventually start noticing how unnatural it was.

 

‘I was too stupid. Fuck. Lee Unha. You were way too stupid.’

 

Of course, there was an excuse. It wasn’t easy to change habits formed over seven years in an instant.

 

The habit of memorizing fellow slaves by their numbers instead of their names, from all those years serving that insane dark mage, still lingered inside me.

 

Yes.

 

In that place, it was the natural thing to do. Everyone did it. Names were….

 

‘There was no need to memorize them.’

 

There was no need to grow attached. After all, several slaves died every single day. It was a place where slaves you had introduced yourself to yesterday would return as corpses today as naturally as breathing.

 

Whether they were demi-human slaves, combat slaves, or experimental slaves, it was a daily occurrence to die if you couldn’t please the Master.

 

After living in such a place for seven years, it became only natural not to take an interest in the other slaves.

 

I wasn’t the only one. Except for a few, almost all the slaves called each other by numbers rather than names. Sometimes we used names given to us by the Master, but cases of calling someone by their real name were practically non-existent.

 

Similarly, we never asked about past lives or personal circumstances.

 

Of course, there were some slaves I had become somewhat close to, but that was a calculated risk I took. In fact, every slave I’d grown close to during my early days had died.

 

At most, we just knew each other’s names, talked about what we did before coming there, and occasionally spent time together in the room, but when they actually came back as corpses, it was incredibly hard to maintain my composure.

 

And I knew that failing to maintain composure in that place led directly to death….

 

In a way, it was only natural not to memorize my comrades’ names.

 

‘I was already out of my mind trying to adapt here…. and the situation was strangely similar to back then.’

 

Yes. A group of similar guys gathered together, eating and sleeping together, with familiar faces disappearing day by day—the similarities were impossible to ignore.

 

I continued to rationalize it to myself, forcing my anger to subside.

 

It was a critical mistake, of course, but on the other hand, I knew there was no need to get this worked up.

 

The place I was in now wasn’t a mad dark mage’s playground; it was Idol Classism.

 

There was no reason to stress out and blame myself this much over one mistake. It was a problem I could correct gradually from now on.

 

No. 12 didn’t seem interested in dragging this issue into the open and starting an all-out fight.

 

As I took a deep breath and calmed my anger, a small question naturally lingered in my mind.

 

‘Why on earth is he staying quiet?’

 

From one perspective, he could send his biggest rival—a rival he clearly disliked—straight to the abyss without suffering any consequences. Why was he staying quiet?

 

‘Does he just hate playing politics?’

 

Was he fine with debuting alongside Lee Unha? Because it was just business? Or did he think someone else would eventually notice? Did he just not want to get his hands dirty? Was he afraid of the backlash?

 

‘Wait, is this something to worry about?’

 

Posting anonymously on a community forum wasn’t exactly difficult. There might be anxiety about IPs being tracked, but these days there were countless ways around that.

 

There were even communities that guaranteed complete anonymity, or he could just ask a close friend to do it, and Lee Unha would be headed for rock bottom immediately.

 

Since it felt like he hadn’t taken any action to exclude Lee Unha despite being hostile, I was confused about what position I should view No. 12 in.

 

While various questions swirled in my head…

 

“We will now begin the courage test!”

 

The only fact I could immediately learn about No. 12 was….

 

That the guy was a bigger coward than I thought.

 

He showed signs of trembling as our turn approached, and eventually, he let out a massive explosion.

 

“Aaaaahhhhhhh!!!”

 

“Are you… are you okay?”

 

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!! F*ck!!! Aaaaahhhhhhh!!!”

 

“Don’t, don’t swear! Hyung! You’ll get edited out!”

 

[KFA_KOREA: You’ll get edited out ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[ONLYyouAI: Is Unha really worrying about screen time in the middle of this?ㅋㅋㅋ]

[7898GONGPHA: Look at him soaked in sweat T_T Poor thing… Can’t they skip this kind of stuff?]

 

“Aaaaaaaahhhhh!!!”

 

“No. First, just calm down, hyung.”

 

“Aaaaahhh! F*ck!!!! Aaaaaahhh!!”

 

“We, we have to go together! Hyung! It’s not that way! It’s this way!”

 

“Kyaaaaaaaaakk!!”

 

[bokusung: Kyaaaaaakk lol why is his scream so cute…]

[nanana.kko: This feels real. I’ve watched all the other trainees’ lives, and this guy’s reaction is the most genuine ㅋㅋㅋ]

[chill0319: He’s seriously a huge coward ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[DSsara950: Our Haejun’s expression is the real deal ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[honey.k.honey: I thought he’d never be scared, but he’s the biggest coward.]

[Dreammy55: But honestly, I was surprised too. The atmosphere is crazy.]

[http.kanna: This place is a famous spot originally ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ It’s natural to be scared ㅋㅋㅋ]

[hotel_ny_bat: Haejun imust be so scared… Were you really that frightened??]

[vinazina: Unha doesn’t seem scared at all ㅋㅋㅋㅋ I thought Unha would be more scared.]

 

‘As if I even have time to be scared.’

 

“Ah, I, I don’t believe in ghosts. Ever since the horizontal coordinate system theory came out, I believe in them even less. Wait a second. I can’t read the chat right now. I think Haejun hyung went somewhere else… Is anyone watching Haejun hyung’s live broadcast? Where did he go? We have to go to the science lab to get the stamp, seriously….”

 

[jjj_kkk_111: Haejun oppa is in the infirmary right now! lol He’s suffering in real-time. Go save him quickly!]

 

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaakk!!!”

 

‘Is he doing this on purpose to farm attention?’

 

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!”

 

But looking at his face, it didn’t look like he was acting.

 

‘He… he’s truly terrified.’

 

If that level of reaction could be covered by acting, he shouldn’t be an idol trainee; he should be making a name for himself as a legendary actor.

 

His pupils were darting around nonstop, his entire body was drenched in sweat, his voice was already hoarse, and he looked so exhausted that it seemed like he might collapse at any moment.

 

Naturally, as soon as I heard No. 12’s screams, I realized that clumsy acting wouldn’t even compare, and I had no choice but to change my route.

 

I decided to go with a ‘bright and fearless’ concept, showing absolutely no fear.

 

Maybe because of that, the response was pretty good. The completely opposite reactions from the two of us were creating a strangely effective synergy.

 

In the blink of an eye, No. 12 came flying out of the infirmary. Behind his loud ‘Aaah!’, ghosts like the ones I’d seen in old movies were popping out, and suddenly No. 12 grabbed my hand tightly and started running.

 

I didn’t know if he’d completely lost his reason from fear, but right now the mission clearly wasn’t even on his mind anymore—his only thought seemed to be getting out of this place.

 

Even in that state, he seemed to think he had to take care of his teammate, as he was dragging me along too.

 

Was he instinctively protecting his teammate even while genuinely terrified?

 

‘Is he… not that bad of a guy?’

 

The cameras were even following us, yet was it really that frightening? A smile was blooming on the director’s face as well.

 

‘Guess they got a great shot.’

 

“Hyung. We have to do the mission! I said we have to do the mission?!”

 

“Get out! We have to get out!!”

 

“No. Hyung!! The mission! The mission!!!”

 

“We have to get out!! I’m serious! This is real!!”

 

“What do you mean real! It’s all makeup!”

 

“I really saw it!!!”

 

“No, I’m saying it’s not real!!! What on earth is real! Seriously, what’s wrong with you, hyung?!”

 

“We have to get out!!!”

 

“Let go of me first! I’ll go by myself. I said I’ll go by myself! We have to complete the mission!”

 

“I said noooooo!!!!”

 

[marumi: I said noooooo ㅋㅋㅋㅋ k-kawww ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[memo.88: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[159cm_mina: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Wait ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[_king_kong123: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ He can’t even see the mission ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[2youna: But I’m a bit worried ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Haejun looks way too shocked ㅋㅋㅋㅋ ㅠㅠ]

[chu3_3_3: The real deal has appeared ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

 

‘No, f*ck, we should at least complete the mission. I don’t know what it was, but they said we’d get a reward for it.’

 

But there was no way my voice would reach No. 12, who had already lost his reason.

 

I couldn’t beat No. 12 in terms of strength, so I ended up being dragged out of the abandoned school.

 

Only then did No. 12 seem to grasp the situation and look around. I didn’t know if he realized he had ruined the mission because of himself, but he couldn’t lift his head.

 

He even seemed to feel somewhat indebted to me.

 

A moment later, a quiet voice came from his mouth.

 

“I’m… sorry.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Regardless of what I said earlier… sorry for ruining it.”

 

‘What… is up with this guy?’

 

I couldn’t make heads or tails of him at all, but I didn’t think Kim Haejun needed to apologize to me.

 

<Idol Classism> Courage Test Live – Peak Viewers: 70,000

Lee Unha SNS Followers: Total 447,000

<COMMONS> Rank Mission <Followers> – Final Rank: 1st

<Benefit> NEXT Performance Single Member Selection Right

 

I was able to finish the rank mission in 1st place with an overwhelming difference.

 

For a trainee who hadn’t even debuted yet, it was a shockingly high and satisfying number.

 

Just as I was relaxing, feeling that the debut which had felt so far away was finally drawing near…

 

<< Linked Quest >>

[You, with a 1% contribution to the Demon King’s defeat. Assist the Hero Joo Wooyoung, who had a 99% contribution, and form the optimal members to debut together.]

<<Penalty for Quest Refusal or Failure: Return to the Other World>>

 

A sudden new text greeted me.