Debuting by Riding the Returnee’s Bus Chapter 75

In truth, I had gone through a period like that myself. No, mine was even worse. I had lived most of my life as a slave, entrusting my very existence to the Master—no, to that mad dark mage….

 

‘Compared to me, he’s in a much better spot.’

 

He wasn’t clinging to one particular person or surrendering his identity to someone else; he was simply so anxious about being alone that he was reaching out to anyone at all for help.

 

In the case of Joy, the slave whose sole purpose was to bring happiness to his master. I had lived looking only at that madman. Day and night, morning and dawn, I only wished for that crazy Master to come find me. Whenever that dark mage disappeared or was gone for a long time, my anxiety reached its peak, and I only found peace of mind when I was with him.

 

Although I eventually broke out of my shell due to a certain incident, my past self surely wore a face similar to Baek Suhyeon’s.

 

Of course, Baek Suhyeon and Joy—Lee Unha—had different personalities, different backgrounds, and completely different circumstances, but…

 

As I looked at Baek Suhyeon once more, I couldn’t help seeing the image of Joy from the past overlapping with him. It was a struggle to not be alone, no matter who the companion was… and that made it even more poignant.

 

‘Even if I go home, I have nothing to do….’

 

“…….”

 

‘And now that I think about it, I need to monitor Idol Classism anyway.’

 

“…….”

 

‘Should I just stay here?’

 

It wasn’t exactly for Baek Suhyeon’s sake. It wasn’t out of some idle sympathy. Nor was it because of our old bond. To him, it was a story from a relatively recent past, but to me, it wasn’t. The person known as Baek Suhyeon had already become a distant memory to Lee Unha. In fact, Jung Taehee felt closer to me at this point.

 

The decisive reason I chose to stay was, well, because I knew that there were no coincidences in this world. Maybe this world was different, but at least in the other world, it had been true. I’d learned that lesson so many times I was sick of it, so I simply wanted to observe him a bit more.

 

Maybe….

 

‘He… could become the next member.’

 

“…….”

 

‘It’s not a ridiculous thought.’

 

As someone in the Noble class, his skills were guaranteed. His predicted rank was likely hovering precariously near the debut line. Despite his fragile temperament, he had a good physique. His tendency to chatter a bit and his hobby of collecting robots were slightly concerning, but he seemed good at hiding those sides of himself behind a mask most of the time, so it probably wasn’t something worth worrying about.

 

‘I want to see him perform too… I can find it easily on the internet….’

 

Since I had to catch up on Idol Classism anyway, staying at this house for a day seemed reasonable.

 

‘And the food’s free too…’

 

As I nodded, feeling like I’d finally settled on a course of action, I saw the corners of Baek Suhyeon’s mouth turn up, taking my gesture as a sign of agreement.

 

“Then… just for one day….”

 

“Great. Then it’s settled. Want dessert too? Ice cream? You’ve been stuck in the dorms this whole time, so you haven’t been able to eat anything good.”

 

“Don’t we need to manage our weight, though?”

 

“Eh. One day is fine. Today is a cheating day for everyone!”

 

I knew I probably ought to resist, but…

 

‘I do want to eat something.’

 

I hadn’t been able to eat all the foods I missed when I was in the other world, and since he was offering to buy, I had no reason to refuse.

 

“Then… shall we?”

 

“Yes, yes! Tell me everything you want. I’ll order it all.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Everything?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

‘You really were a good friend, weren’t you…?’

 

He didn’t show even a hint of displeasure. Then again, since his top priority was keeping Lee Unha here by any means necessary, would anything else even register? I felt a little guilty for taking advantage of him like this, but I comforted myself by thinking of it as payment for acting as his emotional stabilizer.

 

While waiting for the food, we took a proof-shot together to upload to SNS. By the time we were ready to monitor Idol Classism, about 40 minutes had passed. Once the preparations were finished and I sat down on the floor in front of the sofa, the scene before me felt strangely satisfying.

 

“Suhyeon, you haven’t monitored it either?”

 

“No, I saw it. But I thought it would be fun to watch again… from what I remember, it starts with the Commoner class… should we just skip it?”

 

“No. Let’s just watch.”

 

‘I’m curious how Kim Haejun came out on broadcast too.’

 

“…….”

 

‘This story is probably….’

 

Based on the structure, it would likely air the Commoner class story, followed by the evaluation of Slave Group 6, and then the Slave Auction. After that, it would naturally begin building up to that infamous dark mage performance. The broadcast time was likely set longer than usual—perhaps slightly over two hours.

 

“Huh. They’re showing it right away? What’s going on?”

 

“Huh?”

 

[Staff: We will now begin the evaluation for Slave Group 6!]

 

I was surprised by the unexpected choice made by the broadcast people, but….

 

Sure enough.

 

[6 Hours Ago]

 

Subtitles began to appear on the black screen. It was clear they intended to first explain what happened to the Commoner class six hours prior before showing Lee Unha’s team’s evaluation and the Slave Auction.

 

Viewers waiting for Lee Unha’s team were probably cursing, but those who stanned trainees in the Commoner class were likely letting out a sigh of relief. After all, the Commoner class had been getting somewhat neglected. The Commoners in our team, watching from their respective homes, were probably breathing a sigh of relief too. They weren’t as greedy for screen time as before, but they still wanted to see themselves in the media….

 

And, as if to reward that anticipation…

 

The Elder Duo appeared on the screen for the first time in a while. Since they had successfully completed their previous performance, it was obvious the producers wanted to start planting more screen time for them beginning with Episode 4.

 

The same went for Kim Haejun. He had already been one of the trainees receiving a large amount of screen time in the Commoner class, but because he’d been with me during the Citizen Revolution mission, he seemed to be getting even more attention now.

 

Watching him on screen, I felt once again that my choice hadn’t been wrong. He wasn’t the one taking charge of the team, but from a step behind, he quietly looked after his teammates without drawing attention to himself. Although the prickly, thorny exterior he first showed me remained, it was obvious that he was soft-hearted inside.

 

In particular, he couldn’t seem to stand it when a member was being sidelined. He would approach a teammate who couldn’t find their place and strike up a conversation. The funniest part was that he still wore the same gruff expression while doing it.

 

‘Isn’t this basically a full-on Kim Haejun redemption edit?’

 

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to describe it that way. Even the stage was perfect. From what I could tell, Kim Haejun had contributed an enormous amount to the team, yet he never made it obvious. He was even humble about it.

 

The only minor flaw was that he didn’t seem to blend perfectly with every single teammate, but the way the show presented him now, you couldn’t even tell.There wasn’t a single disqualifying factor.

 

Kim Haejun was a perfect Tier 1 asset.

 

“Why wasn’t Kim Haejun in the Noble class?”

 

“Maybe they deliberately didn’t put him there because they wanted to stir up drama for the show…”

 

“Ah. That makes sense. Oh, this is delicious.”

 

Although the truth had finally come out, just a few days ago Kim Haejun had been public enemy number one. Now, the community reaction was so good you wouldn’t even remember those days. Although I couldn’t follow it in real-time, a quick search was enough to guess the atmosphere.

 

It was because Kim Haejun’s fans, who had spent all this time getting beaten down, had seized this redemption edit as their chance to strike back. The traces of the fierce battle, where they swarmed like bees as if this was their last chance, were everywhere.

 

There were still people who disliked Kim Haejun’s fans and had formed an anti–Kim Haejun faction to continue resisting them, but they simply couldn’t hold back the pro–Kim Haejun side riding the momentum of the redemption broadcast. Soon, the entire community had transformed as if it were Kim Haejun’s fan club.

 

 [Anonymous]: Our Haejun, honestly….

 [Anonymous]: Watching him take care of Ban Seongjae really shows he’s a kind-hearted guy.

 [(Video of Kim Haejun taking care of Ban Seongjae)]

 ↳ [Anonymous]: Isn’t he just a total tsundere? He wouldn’t even talk to people usuallyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

 

 [Anonymous]: The photo of Kim Haejun, Jung Taehee, and Lee Unha uploaded to Unha’s SNS.

 ↳ [Anonymous]: They seem to be on good terms nowㅋㅋㅋㅋ.

  ↳ [Anonymous]: They were always on good terms.

   ↳ [Anonymous]: It was all Idol Classism’s fault… haha… nothing Benok said was wrong… I would’ve snapped from stress too….

 ↳ [Anonymous]: I heard from an acquaintance that other trainees fight a bit too… it just hasn’t leaked. Honestly, Kim Haejun was just unlucky. Thinking about Han Jungmin… man…

  ↳ [Anonymous]: Can you tell me who you heard that from? Who else fought?

   ↳ [This comment is private.]

  ↳ [Anonymous]: Tell me too!

   ↳ [This comment is private.]

 

At some point, the blood-soaked war gradually died down. No more posts about Kim Haejun appeared.

 

Instead—if you could call it that—those who had been busy keeping each other in check and biting at one another joined forces to face a common enemy. It was the event that might be the most problematic in this entire program.

 

The long-awaited evaluation of Group 6 had finally begun.

 

[Staff: We will now begin the evaluation for Slave Group 6!]

 

In fact, this was the main event the viewers had been waiting for the longest. An accident occurring during a great performance in a poor environment, the PD’s apology, and the conflict behind the stage. The result of all those elements were coming together.

 

This was supposed to be the moment that felt deeply satisfying, and it did. Because that was what the viewers wanted. They wanted to see the underdog get a good score and receive encouragement from the judges.

 

But….

 

‘It’s not an interesting scene for us.’

 

Since I knew something even more stimulating was waiting behind it, how could I just focus on this show? Sure enough, the episode unfolded exactly the way I’d expected. For Idol Classism, it ended the evaluation on a surprisingly calm note, with everyone receiving generally positive comments…

 

In my memory, Paige had shown a somewhat negative reaction, but it looked like they’d edited that out to focus entirely on giving the audience a satisfying payoff.

 

‘This is probably….’

 

They might have thought there was no need for the evaluation itself to be provocative.

 

‘Because the real provocation comes after this.’

 

Immediately after, as expected, the scene that could become the program’s biggest controversy began.

 

[MC: Haha. Just because of the mistake in that last stage doesn’t mean some of you will be dropped from Idol Classism.]

 

[MC: As mentioned before, the name of this mission is the <Slave Class Auction>. Based on the performance you just showed on stage, we will proceed with individual auctions, not team auctions.]

 

[MC: And, right here at this moment! The <Slave Class Auction> will take place!]

 

Surely some viewers had predicted this development….

 

But witnessing it in reality would be on a different level.

 

‘Even thinking about it now….’

 

[MC: We’d also like to invite all the other Slave-class trainees who have already completed their performances to come onto the stage!]

 

‘That really was a bit much.’

 

The image of the Slaves ascending the stage with anxious faces was reflected in my eyes.

 

[MC: Now then! We will begin the <Slave Class Auction>!!!]