Debuting by Riding the Returnee’s Bus – Chapter 79

Author: LyraDhani

“Right now?”

“Yes. Right now.”

“…….”

“Show me, quickly.”

It wasn’t just Joo Wooyoung; even Baek Suhyeon was looking at me as if I were a madman.

Naturally, I realized I had gotten far too worked up. I’d repeatedly gone off the rails without giving a single explanation, so how could I not come across as strange?

I needed to calm myself down a little. It might already be too late, but I didn’t want to be treated like a party member with mental issues.

I immediately loaded up the tears.

“Actually….”

I quickly came up with a plausible excuse.

Basically… I explained that I had been a victim of a random, unprovoked assault when I was young. I told them it wasn’t just a typical assault, but that I had nearly died… and that I had been severely injured and traumatized for a long time.

I also had to explain that the perpetrator looked just like Baek Suhyeon’s brother, Baek Yuhyeon. That was the only way they would understand why I had hidden in the bathroom like a lunatic and refused to come out after seeing him.

I worried if this alone would be enough to explain my behavior, but fortunately, Joo Wooyoung and Baek Suhyeon seemed to at least try to be understanding. To begin with, I was practically sobbing my eyes out while telling the story, so their reaction was only natural.

‘Wait, but are they actually believing me? Shouldn’t they be a little suspicious?’

The thought crossed my mind that they might be secretly doubting me, but in this situation, I had no choice. Yes, it was forced. I knew it was a stretch. But I had to push through. If I’d had more time, I would’ve looked for another approach, but right now my brain simply wasn’t working properly.

I had to be somewhat shameless.

‘Fine, I’m saying all this—what are they going to do about it?’

Normally, in such a situation, it would be difficult to easily express doubt or suspicion. Setting Baek Suhyeon aside… I saw Joo Wooyoung wearing a worried expression and nodding.

“Ah. So that’s why?”

“Yes. Hic… uuaaaah….”

“Don’t cry… Unha.”

Joo Wooyoung offered a word of comfort, equipped with his usual warm smile.

“Are you… feeling a bit better now?”

“Yes. Th-thank you, hyung… and I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. If something’s bothering you, you can always tell me. Honestly, I’m just glad you called me today.”

‘Did I… clearly get through to them?’

It didn’t matter. What mattered now was providing a justification for the actions I had just taken. Of course, there was still a problem.

“My brothers are a bit cold, but they aren’t those kinds of people… I’ve never heard anything like that happening, and especially my eldest brother—he’s mostly abroad, so he rarely comes to Korea.”

‘That’s the problem.’

The fact that Baek Suhyeon’s brothers and Lee Unha had zero points of contact in reality was the issue. While I was worrying about what to do if he refused to show me the photos, thankfully, Baek Suhyeon held out his phone. Perhaps to confirm it was all a misunderstanding, he willingly handed them over despite his bewilderment.

“But since you want to see them, Unha, I’ll show you. You seem really anxious.”

Naturally, photos of the people I’d been curious about came into view.

“This is the eldest….”

“Yeah.”

“And this is the second brother. See? He’s a different person from the one in your memory, right?”

“Wait, I want to see a bit more clearly.”

“Sure. Go ahead. Oh! And this one is a family photo.”

I kept swiping through the photos, staring at the faces. I zoomed in… and zoomed out, burning the images into my mind.

“Do you have a photo from a side profile?”

“Uh, wait a sec.”

“Okay.”

“But there really aren’t many pictures here.”

“Ah, I’m not that close with my eldest brother… I don’t have any recent photos at all. Honestly, it’s been a long time since I’ve even seen him, and we hardly keep in touch.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah. I have a few of my second brother, though. He’s always been good to me. He comes over to our house a lot… and I’ve gotten a little closer to my third brother recently too. Maybe it’s because of the Idol Classism…”

“This is the second one, right?”

“Yeah. He looks like me, doesn’t he?”

‘He… really does.’

He did look like him. He definitely did.

He didn’t look like Baek Suhyeon. He was strikingly similar to that mad Dark Mage.

But….

‘I’m not sure.’

There wasn’t enough evidence to conclusively identify either of them as the Dark Mage. Both the first and second brothers shared a similar image with that madman. The second brother at least had a lively expression, making the resemblance feel more distant, but when I looked at the family photo where he had a blank expression, the resemblance became much stronger.

However… the most similar one was likely the eldest. Among the three brothers, he looked the most like him in terms of features.

‘His eyes… are the closest match. I don’t know how old they are… but all three of them look so young anyway. That probably doesn’t mean much….’

I tried desperately to recall specific traits, but nothing came to mind. My head felt foggy, as if shrouded in mist. In fact, I almost wondered whether that bastard had planted something inside my head—I really couldn’t remember anything specific.

‘Did he have a mole somewhere? Was it on the chest? Was there nothing on the hands? Is there really no identifying feature?’

Wait, maybe none of that mattered.

‘Looking at photos alone… I can’t confirm if they possess mana or not.’

I decided I needed to see all three brothers in person—no, even Baek Suhyeon’s father and mother too before making a decision.

Perhaps I had an unusually serious expression on my face, because Baek Suhyeon spoke up anxiously.

“It’s not my brothers, right?”

“Yeah… sorry. I guess I was mistaken.”

“R-right? Phew… what a relief.”

Even while exchanging those few words with him, my mind was already occupied with figuring out how I could get closer to the Baek family. If I really wanted to dig into this….

‘Should I just keep Baek Suhyeon close to me?’

That would be the most rational choice. Either we debuted together, or I built a strong personal friendship. One of the two. Of course, the former would be much more advantageous than the latter when it came to learning about his family. Especially since he’d said his oldest brother rarely came back to Korea, all the more reason to keep Baek Suhyeon close and monitor him.

It was while I was continuing to swipe through the photos on his phone.

Suddenly….

[What are you doing, Oppa? Did you get home? I just got home too!] [9:17 PM]

Baek Suhyeon’s phone vibrated with a message.

“Ah. You got a text, Suhyeon.”

“Ah! From who?”

“Your younger sister.”

“I don’t have a younger sister.”

“Then who is it?”

“Ah. Wait…. It’s my girlfriend.”

“?”

“Hold on a sec… I need to reply. You’ve seen all the photos, right? You’re sure it’s not my brothers?”

“?”

“She usually contacts me around this time….”

‘Did I just hear that wrong?’

No, looking at Joo Wooyoung’s expression, it seemed I hadn’t.

He definitely said…

‘Girlfriend?’

Without a doubt…

‘Girlfrieeeend?’

Even as I searched my memory again….

‘A girlfriend?? Is this brat… out of his mind?’

The word ‘girlfriend’ had actually popped out of his mouth. It seemed it was a forbidden realm for Joo Wooyoung as well, as he was staring at the guy with eyes even more bewildered than when he was looking at me during my panic attack. He was even muttering, ‘Girlfriend?’ just like I was.

Of course, I was no different. My bewilderment had completely eclipsed the tears I was shedding just moments ago and the incident from earlier. I had just decided a few minutes ago that I should push him into the debut group if possible.

So how could I not be stunned when the word girlfriend suddenly entered the conversation?

Instantly, several scenes flashed before my eyes. A scenario where I forced a friendship and pushed for him, only for the group to get obliterated because of his dating scandal. I imagined failing the quest and being sent back to the other world all over again.

‘No matter how important it is to track down the Dark Mage… am I really supposed to help this guy debut?’

Faced with this unbelievable reality, I cautiously opened my mouth. Praying that it was all a misunderstanding.

“You have a girlfriend?”

“Huh? Yeah….”

“You mean an actual girlfriend, not just a female friend?”

“Uh… yeah.”

“So, you’re saying you’re in a relationship right now?”

“Yeah….”

“Is it okay for you to have a girlfriend? You….”

“Ah… I-I know that too. But… I never expected things to turn out like this….”

“Did you tell the writer? No, of course you didn’t, right?”

“W-well, at the st-start, when I first joined Idol Classism, I didn’t have one.”

“So you decided to date during the broadcast? I mean… even so… are you in your right mind?”

“…….”

“Well… we haven’t been dating for long….”

“How long?”

“About three days.”

‘This bastard… is he really insane?’

“You’re going to break up with her, right?”

He was a lunatic. Even if he could hide it for now, this story would follow him like a label forever. Sure, there were probably one or two other contestants secretly dating too, but considering he was someone who was supposed to debut together with us, this was naturally a disqualifying issue.

‘I can’t take him with us. He’ll only become a burden to Joo Wooyoung.’

But….

‘If I let him go, I’ll lose my best lead on that Dark Mage….’

I opened my mouth again. It was a continuation of the previous question.

“You’re going to break up, right?”

“Huh? Uh… well… the thing is….”

“You’re going to break up, right?”

“Um….”

“Didn’t you join Idol Classism because you wanted to be an idol?”

“That’s true, but….”

“Sigh….”

“I told you we already knew each other. I never expected things to turn out this way.”

“Is she a classmate?”

“Huh?”

“I’m asking if she’s a classmate. Or have you known her since you were kids?”

“A-ah, no….”

“…….”

“We met while playing a game… while we were duoing….”

“…….”

‘This is… shocking in so many different ways.’

I was speechless. I didn’t know if this made it better or worse. I’d already had enough to deal with, but everything happening here now was so absurd that I could barely process it. But maybe it was better this way. I could only hope he was just an idiot couldn’t live up to his looks.

I cautiously spoke up. Honestly, either way it was unacceptable, but this would at least make things slightly more forgivable.

“Have you… actually met her in person?”

“Huh? Yeah!”

“You really have?”

“A-ah, no….”

“…….”

‘Okay, step one.’

“…….”

“Have you ever talked on the phone? No, have you heard her voice?”

“Of course….”

“You really have?”

“No….”