I’m Debuting With The Bias I Killed Chapter 40

Chapter 40

 

In the hallway filled with screams, I headed straight for the table. Everyone was too distracted by the “No Entry” sign to pay any attention to the table beneath it.

And just as I expected, someone had already gotten there first.

It must be Go Jae-seong.

Snap

In the darkness, I grabbed the hand reaching for the flashlight.

“……!”

The other person violently shook his hand, but I snatched the flashlight away from him.

Click.

When I shone the flashlight, it was, as expected, Go Jae-seong, who flinched in surprise. He already had another flashlight in his opposite hand.

I figured he’d be the kind of guy to take both of them…

As expected, his shamelessness never disappointed.

As soon as the light appeared, the trainees came rushing over.

“AAAAAH!”

“I can’t see anything!”

“W-Who has the flashlight?”

I shone my flashlight directly at Go Jae-seong. More specifically, at the hand holding the flashlight.

“There he is!”

“Jae-seong!”

Thanks to that, all the trainees rushed toward him. After all, the person they could see right away would take priority over me, whose location they didn’t know.

Serves you right.

 

[The first space containing a hint is the New Talent Development Team office on the second floor.]

 

Meanwhile, Choi Un-jo confidently walked up to the second floor without a single flashlight.

He was fearless back then, and he’s still fearless now.

“Sh-Should we go, too?”

“Jae-seong has a flashlight, so…”

The trainees gathered in a crowd behind Go Jae-seong.

I turned my gaze in the opposite direction.

‘Where are you hiding…’

As expected, someone was crouching beneath the emergency exit sign.

“……”

He had his knees pulled to his chest and his head bowed deeply. He didn’t move an inch.

“I-yul.”

I shone the flashlight at the ground near his feet instead of his face. I didn’t want to startle him unnecessarily and make things worse.

Only then did he flinch.

“…Hyung Seong-woo?”

His voice was barely audible.

“Why are you here?”

“…Because I’m scared.”

 

How can you say that so honestly?

I felt bad for someone who was frightened, but honestly, there must have been a whole truckload of fans who would find his expression cute. It was a good thing it was dark. If it weren’t, my feelings would have been written all over my face.

“Let’s go together.”

Kang I-yul grabbed the hand I held out to him in a hurry, as if he had just encountered a lifeline.

His hand was cold.

He really is scared.

“……Ha.”

Perhaps he was embarrassed now, because he pressed his lips tightly together.

“What? You two haven’t gone upstairs yet?”

Han Sang-yoon had somehow come over to us, too.

“Yeah.”

“Good. Let’s stick together.”

And so, the three of us began moving.

The production crew had clearly gone all out. Even when I watched it on television, I thought the scale was excessive, but seeing it in person was on an entirely different level.

Clack. The sound of a door closing somewhere.

Thump, thump, thump. The sound of someone running overhead.

Screeeeeech. Strange static coming from an old speaker.

They had decorated the place so thoroughly that it was difficult to believe this was the familiar company building.

‘No wonder I-yul developed a trauma.’

I could fully understand why he had been unable to walk around the company for a while after this mission.

“Wow… That thing isn’t a person, right?”

“…It’s probably a mannequin.”

A mannequin was standing on the stairs.

I stopped in my tracks for a moment. A memory from before my regression flashed through my mind.

“Let’s go the other way.”

I turned around while pretending to be casual.

“Why all of a sudden?”

“I just have a bad feeling.”

I naturally pushed Kang I-yul toward the opposite side.

“What? Seong-woo is kind of a scaredy-cat, too?”

And into the empty space I had left behind, Han Sang-yoon strode up the stairs.

“We have to go that way to reach the New Talent Development Team.”

“Hyung, let’s just go somewhere else…”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I’ll go first, so just follow behind me.”

……I had definitely tried to stop him.

Han Sang-yoon stood in front of the mannequin.

“See? It’s nothing.”

At that moment…

FLAP-FLAP-FLAP-FLAP!!

The mannequin shook its body like crazy and lunged at him.

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!”

With a powerful scream that echoed through the hallway, Han Sang-yoon collapsed onto the floor.

He has good projection.

I had never heard Han Sang-yoon reach that kind of decibel level before.

“What the hell! What is this?!”

They say life is a comedy when viewed from a distance and a tragedy when viewed up close.

I hurriedly turned my head away.

I mustn’t laugh. Absolutely not.

“Hyung……”

Kang I-yul grabbed my arm with a pale face.

“Thank you…”

It was a rewarding moment, enough that I could ignore the little pangs of guilt pricking at my conscience.

We supported Han Sang-yoon, whose legs had given out, and somehow made our way to the next location.

Still, thanks to the mannequin, we were able to naturally head toward the second location, the Public Relations Team office, instead of the New Talent Development Team.

They must have already found the first hint.

[Congratulations. Trainee Go Jae-seong has acquired a hint!]

As expected, the announcement came not long afterward.

[The second location is the Public Relations Team office.]

“Uh……?”

As soon as I-yul raised his head and saw the words “Public Relations Team,” he immediately opened the door.

The sound of the trainees’ footsteps could be heard approaching.

“Argh!”

I pretended to trip over a wire and grabbed the desk where the hint had been placed.

“Oh, what’s this?”

I casually held out the paper, and I-yul nodded with surprised eyes.

“Wow, how did you find it so quickly?”

“I tripped over something and grabbed it, so I found it by accident… Anyway, let’s get out of here right away.”

Rattle–BANG!

In the direction the flashlight was pointed, Go Jae-seong was standing there. I quietly lifted the hint paper and waved it.

“……”

BANG!

He hurried off with a loud noise. He was probably heading to the location of the third hint.

But if that guy had any sense, he wouldn’t head straight to the place where the hint was located.

The announcement came soon after.

[Congratulations. Trainee Yoo Seong-woo has acquired a hint!]

From that point onward, it became a race against time.

There were seven hidden hints in total. If I searched for them in order, I would overlap with Go Jae-seong, so I searched for them in reverse order.

It felt as if we were playing tag while avoiding each other.

“Huh? You found another one?”

“Hyung, what’s with your intuition?”

The more hints we found, the wider Kang I-yul’s eyes became.

I shrugged.

“I guess I’m just having a good feeling today.”

In reality, it wasn’t intuition. It was the shameless cheat code of a regressor.

After finding two more hints, only the final one remained. Han Sang-yoon was exhausted and leaning against the wall.

“I’m going to rest for a bit.”

“Okay. You’ve really worked hard, hyung.”

And then I stopped in front of the final location.

‘I don’t think we should go in here.’

An ominous atmosphere seeped through the gap in the door. Even before my regression, this had been the most notorious location.

“I-yul, hold the flashlight here. I’ll be right back.”

“…I’ll go with you.”

“Don’t worry. I’m really not scared of things like this.”

“……”

Kang I-yul’s expression seemed to say: The fact that you aren’t scared is the scariest thing, hyung.

“Then at least take the flashlight.”

The hand he held out was pitifully trembling. A short laugh escaped along with my breath.

‘Good grief. You’re in no position to worry about someone else right now.’

Seeing him offer me the flashlight until the very end despite being so frightened moved me in a strange way.

“All right. Let’s go in together.”

Creak

The moment the door opened, cold air rushed out.

It was on an entirely different level from the places we had passed through so far.

The ceiling was completely shrouded in darkness, and pieces of fabric hanging here and there swayed in the breeze.

Screeeech. The sound of metal scraping against something came from somewhere.

Unidentifiable red stains continued across the floor, while marks resembling palm prints were smeared all over the walls.

Anyone could tell that this was the final stage.

Kang I-yul had already grabbed the hem of my clothes.

‘You’re going to tear it, I-yul.’

Clack. A cabinet opened, and something crawled out.

Its movements were so jerky that it was difficult to tell whether it was human. Its arms were bent at strange angles, and its neck hung limply.

“KIEEEEEEEEEK!!”

With an entrance straight out of a zombie movie, Kang I-yul practically jumped straight up in place.

Riiip

Thanks to that, my T-shirt had already reached the end of its life.

Meanwhile, I…

“Wow~”

I was genuinely impressed.

He’s really good at acting. Even to my eyes as a zombie movie enthusiast, the movements were satisfying.

No wonder they were broke.

The company had prepared this kind of scale just to reveal a single mission. It really was an incomprehensible company.

The zombie continued its passionate performance. It crawled across the floor and slammed its head against the wall. Then it suddenly bent its back backward and screamed.

“Ah…… Hello?”

“……”

Taking advantage of the brief moment when the zombie stood up, I politely greeted him.

“You’re the best zombie I’ve ever seen.”

“……”

I gave him a thumbs-up.

“…Thank you?”

The zombie, who had instinctively thanked me, was even more startled by his own response and resumed acting.

“Hyung……”

Kang I-yul was practically on the verge of tears.

“Don’t talk to that person……”

“Why?”

“It’s scarier when you do that……”

Ah. I hadn’t thought of that.

Then a mask suddenly dropped from the ceiling.

Crash!

“……Eek!”

I almost burst out laughing at the sight of our reflections in the mirror.

You’re not exactly small enough to hide behind me and be concealed…

I immediately opened the mask’s mouth.

“How did you…”

His eyes were filled with fear.

“They always hide things in places like this. Even in movies and dramas.”

“Wow…”

“I’m actually a horror movie enthusiast.”

As expected, there was a hint paper inside.

“I-yul, you take it out this time.”

“I-I can’t look.”

“Then just reach your hand in.”

Kang I-yul squeezed his eyes shut and stretched out only his hand.

[Congratulations. Trainee Kang I-yul has acquired the final hint!]

“It’s over!”

“Yeah.”

Kang I-yul’s face visibly brightened.

I also said goodbye to the zombie when we left.

“Good work”

“…Yes.”

After a brief pause, the zombie spoke.

“It’s my first time.”

“Pardon?”

“Being greeted.”

I suddenly felt awkward.

“You really acted well.”

At that, he made a peculiar expression.

It was a face that seemed unsure whether he should be happy or bewildered.

“Hyung!”

Kang I-yul, who had already made it outside the door, was calling for me.

“Hurry up!”

I moved my feet while holding back my laughter.

Seriously. He must have really wanted to get out of that room.

I-yul, who had been following me while holding onto the hem of my clothes, let go as soon as we reached the front of the studio, pretending nothing had happened.

“Wow, I thought I was going to die…”

“All right! You really enjoyed yourselves, didn’t you?”

“AAAAAH……”

Kang Se-jun, who had made a surprise appearance dressed as Dracula, smiled calmly as he spoke.

“Now, shall we combine the hints you collected?”

When the trainees attached the letters they had brought onto the “No Entry” sign, a single word was completed.

[FANTASY]

“It is, of course, Fantasy.”

The studio door opened. The first thing that caught our attention was the clothing hanging on racks.

[Suits, school uniforms, streetwear, baseball uniforms.]

“What do these outfits have in common?”

“……Ah?”

“They are the outfits of male idols, designed to fulfill the fantasies held by the public.”

Along with his announcement, the mission for this round was revealed.

 

[CODE MISSION 4: What Is Your FANTASY?]

The boys have reached the fourth gateway.

There is only one way to decode the code: Make the fantasy a reality.

 

“Fantasy?”

“For this mission, you will select a free-choice song that matches your outfit and create a performance.”

A free-choice song. The trainees’ eyes changed instantly.

“We’ll proceed with team selection shortly. We’ll take a short break first.”

The filming was temporarily suspended, and sighs of relief erupted from all around.

“They didn’t have to make us search for it while giving us such a scary mission.”

“Exactly”

I also crouched down in a corner near the wall. Dragging two cowards around had been more exhausting than I expected.

Just as I was taking a short breather…

“You must like scary things?”

It was Go Jae-seong, who had appeared again despite everything.

‘I was just trying to rest…’

For some reason, this guy always showed up at the exact moment I least wanted to see him.

I shrugged with a suitable smile.

“Yeah! You were pretty good at finding things, too, weren’t you?”

Go Jae-seong plopped down beside me.

Then a thought flashed through my mind.

Now.

A way to confirm Go Jae-seong’s regression without letting him discover my identity.

I hummed a song casually.

 

♪ Closer and closer

♪ Oh I see you now

♪ Shine like a…

 

Thump.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed my shoulder.

“What is that?”

When I turned my head, Go Jae-seong had an expression as if he had seen a ghost.

“What?”

“Th-That song just now.”

Got you.

As expected, that reaction wasn’t one you’d see from someone hearing it for the first time.

At last, I became certain.

He really did regress.

I answered with an indifferent expression.

“It’s my original song.”

“What? An original song?”

At first, his pupils shook as if he couldn’t believe me.

“Yeah. I made it recently, so I guess it’s stuck in my head.”

“……”

Next, his eyes narrowed. He was calculating whether to believe me or suspect me.

“Why? You don’t like it?”

So I delivered one more blow.

“No, it’s not that……”

His voice trailed off.

“It just sounded familiar.”

Right. He must be confused. This was a song that hadn’t been released in this world yet.

“What? Where did you hear it?”

I immediately countered.

“……”

Go Jae-seong shut his mouth. His hesitant gaze gave me an opening I couldn’t miss.

“What? You have to tell me. What if I plagiarized it without even knowing?”

I deliberately reacted even more dramatically.

His face was flustered. The sharpness in his eyes from earlier gradually softened.

His suspicion began to waver.

“No.”

A brief denial.

“It’s just……”

He paused to catch his breath.

“I guess I mistook it for something else because I liked it so much.”

“Oh, what a relief. I was startled because I thought I’d plagiarized it without realizing.”

Only then did I smile as if I had finally relaxed.

“But I’m actually getting a compliment from you.”

“What? You’re good at this stuff anyway.”

A casually tossed-out remark. But the emotion contained within it wasn’t light. His voice was subtly excited, as though he was desperately trying to remain calm.

“Filming is resuming. Trainees, please gather!”

The timing was perfect.

“I should go.”

I turned away first.

Go Jae-seong’s attitude was telling me everything. He was just about to bite the bait I had thrown out.