CH 3

Dongshik was met with a scowl because he looked excessively as he guessed about the relationship of the people he had nothing to do with. 

“Huh? What are you glaring at, you bastard?”

One person from Park Haeun’s group of friends said something provoking. Grimacing heavily while saying something that would’ve appeared in an old-fashioned gangster movie or Japanese anime could be laughable, but because of his especially threatening appearance, it felt frightening. 

Dongshik realized for the first time that people who talked in this way existed in real life. He could not say anything because he felt fear and fluster overlapping. 

At that moment, Park Haeun interrupted with an indifferent voice. “That’s Hyunchul ahjussi’s son. Don’t scare him, idiot. He’s fucking scared.” 

Although it wasn’t false, he became extremely embarrassed that he was getting criticized for being frightened. As Dongshik did things unrelated and lowered his head, the topic moved on on its own. 

“So will Parkha’s leg stick together?”

“Fuck, why are you saying something obvious? Do you think he won’t be able to walk because he broke it a little?”

“Have you played the game I told you to try?”

“Master Sniper? I did clear it all, but it tried to lead you to whale excessively, so I got pissed.” 

“You crazy bastard, you already cleared it? How much did you spend?”

“I didn’t spend that much!”

“Then again, would money be a problem for him?” 

“That’s true. Hey, Parkha, if you don’t have anything to do, install this.”

“What is it?”

As the conversation lengthened, no one was looking at Dongshik. When the focus had completely shifted, Dongshik slowly got up from the chair he was sitting on. As he said good-bye to his father with his eyes, he nodded his head as if he understood Dongshik’s feelings. 

He had tried to quietly leave, but… 

“Bye, Dongshik-ah? See you again?”

Park Haeun, who had sensed Dongshik’s movement as if he had a sixth sense, grinned and said good-bye. Dongshik felt a prick of conscience and turned his head. He didn’t want to reply with an acknowledgment of empty words. It was because he didn’t want to see that face again.

As he pretended to nod his head slowly, Dongshik walked hurriedly towards the door. Should he have asked how old Park Haeun was? He looked quite young…

However, he didn’t feel like turning back just to nitpick about age.1 Dongshik, who carelessly picked up his faultless shoes for no reason, left the hospital ward in a flash. 

Park Haeun’s one flaw was that he didn’t have any luck. If he’d had a little more luck, he wouldn’t have a name like this, and he wouldn’t be hospitalized because he broke his leg. 

“Please excuse my son earlier.”

The other bed’s Han Hyunchul-ssi apologized calmly. Park Haeun, who had been deep in thought while holding his phone, turned his head. Han Hyunchul-ssi’s foolish son confusing Park Haeun for a girl after seeing his name wasn’t actually anything new. 

Of course, he didn’t not feel bad about it because it happened often. Park Haeun hated being teased or misunderstood because of his name more than anything else. Normally, he would’ve grabbed him by the collar or done more. 

However, Park Haeun liked his hospital ward peer, Han Hyunchul-ssi. Originally, when Haeun had been hospitalized, he didn’t have a sliver of a thought to use a double occupancy room. If only the hospital had not refused him saying there were no remaining single occupancy rooms, being harassed by another patient would not happen. Even Haeun’s father worried that his son would get caught up in a fight in the ward, but fortunately, Han Hyunchul-ssi, who had already been hospitalized, was decent and humorous, and he didn’t provoke Park Haeun’s picky temper. Haeun could look over his son’s mistake. 

“Ah, well, it doesn’t matter. It happens often.”

Park Haeun replied in a rare generous voice. Hyunchul was relieved, but was also curious about something else.

“It must have been quite uncomfortable because of your name. Is your household Christian?2”

At those words, Haeun’s unaffected expression crumpled. Hyunchul was flustered and smoothed things over by saying he didn’t have to reply, but Haeun was not angry at him. It was because of his habit of raging first when that topic came up. 

He tried his best to calm down. Although his flaw was that he had no luck, it wasn’t that he had extremely bad luck. If his luck had been extremely bad, he wouldn’t have been able to beat the danger of dying as soon as he was born and been in a worse accident than breaking his leg. So Park Haeun was barely able to calm his voice. 

“They weren’t originally Christian. This actually has a story.”

As Haeun saw Hyunchul’s expression of wanting to ask more, he shrugged his shoulders.

“My body was a bit weak when I was born. However, I miraculously got healthier after they gave a large amount of money to a neighborhood pastor and prayed. So they named me like this saying that it was all thanks to God and the pastor. I think it was just a fucking conman.”

It seemed that Han Hyunchul-ssi was thinking of how to reply to Haeun’s blunt voice. Since his reaction wasn’t important, Haeun ended the conversation by shrugging his shoulders. Although Han Hyunchul-ssi’s strong point was not offending anyone, it was tiresome to play along with his nosiness.   

Park Haeun turned his gaze to his phone and opened the app store. It was to download the game that the friend who had just left recommended. 

The name of the game was <Euratsha3 Idol>, but it wasn’t a title that looked very fun. Park Haeun didn’t have any interest in idols, and it objectively sounded a bit cheap. 

Following what his friend had said, <Euratsha Idol> was a game like a dating sim. If it was a dating sim, then it was a dating sim. He was curious what a ‘game like a dating simulation’ was, but his friend slurred his words and didn’t give a proper reply. Even though he clearly knew that Haeun disliked dating simulation games with pretty girls. 

The reason he disliked them was simple. It was because using his head and trembling with nervousness to win the favor of characters with eyes the size of fists and weird ways of speaking was pathetic. Weren’t the bastards playing those kinds of games obvious? 

The reason he downloaded it despite not usually touching games like this was because he trusted his friend’s eye. And he had been too bored before. 

It took a fairly long amount of time to download it because it took up a large amount of space. It felt exceptionally joyful to see the starting screen that had finally appeared. 

『Welcome to the world of ‘Euratsha Idol’ (๑›‿‹๑)』⤶

A bright, cute screen welcomed Haeun. It already didn’t fit his tastes, but for the time being, he continued a little further. 

『Tell us what the Player’s name is! ٩(๑>∀<๑)۶』⤶

Haeun almost always used his real name when he played games, so this time, he also entered the three characters ‘Park Haeun.’ 

『What will the Player’s stage name be? (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و』⤶

Did he have to choose a stage name because it was an idol game? Haeun, who had been about to write his name without his surname, hesitated for a moment. It was because using a nickname instead of his ambiguous real name seemed better. He didn’t like being called by his name very much, so his friends referred to Haeun with a nickname. 

『Shall we begin with the name ‘Park Haeun’ and the stage name ‘Parkha’? 

[  Yes  ┃  No  ]

Haeun pressed ‘Yes’ unconcernedly and began playing.

As soon as the button appeared at the start of the story, he skipped everything. Because of that, he started without knowing anything, but he usually got to know things as he played the game, so it didn’t matter.

He pressed skip when he could, and soon, he had moved to his room in the dorm. Haeun was finally able to check how the main character, that is to say, his character looked. Hair the color of mint chocolate ice cream, eyes the size of large bells, and a physique that didn’t look very big was memorable. 

It was his first time seeing a main character of a dating sim that was drawn this diligently. And he wasn’t even a capturable character, but his face looked feminine. How would he date like this? Haeun tapped his phone screen with a displeased expression as if it was an app where a cat character would scream when he touched it. 

However, ‘Parkha’ on the screen didn’t scream or cry and only stood idly. Instead, it moved on to the next screen and many buttons appeared. ‘Practice,’ ‘Start routine,’  ‘Quest,’ ‘Check Interest Meter,’ etc… A notice popped up that it was only possible to practice once a day in game time. He skipped this time too. 

Haeun wasn’t enough of a passionate player to care about the interest meter or quests, and it was the same for practice. He pressed the ‘Start routine’ button with an uninterested expression. 

As soon as the scene changed, another character appeared. It was a male character with bright red hair and eyes that were sharp like a cat. With just a glance, he looked taller than Park Haeun’s character. Haeun repeatedly pressed the screen with a sour face. The redhead spoke to him with a frown.

[Sungjae]

“Are you in your right mind? Our comeback is right around the corner, but you don’t go to practice? Are you saying you’ll do as you please from now on?”

‣ “I-it’s not like that.”

‣ “S-sorry… I didn’t feel very well…”

‣ “M-mind your own business!”

He hadn’t known that he would curse out of nowhere because he skipped practice. As he looked at the list of choices that appeared, Haeun was so dumbfounded, he mumbled aloud. 

“Did someone rip up this bastard’s tongue? Why’s he fucking stuttering so much?”