"Jae-min, you'll catch a cold if you sleep here."
But this time, a slightly different voice tried to wake me. A kind voice I had heard many times, somewhere.
Where had I heard this voice before?
"......Jun-hyeok hyung?"
Knowing it couldn't be, I mumbled a name as I sat up. And there before my eyes stood Jun-hyeok hyung, who had fallen out of touch after leaving the agency.
"Yeah, kid. Get up. Let's go eat."
Hyung really hadn't aged a day. He looked exactly the way he did back then. If anything, he seemed even younger than before he left the agency.
But had I ever told hyung my door code?
"Is it really you, hyung? But why are you here?"
Gripping the arm of the hyung I hadn't seen in so long, I pressed him about why he had appeared in front of me instead of asking how he was. And soon after, I got smacked on the back.
"Lee Jae-min! Aren't you going to snap out of it? Don't you know what day it is today?"
"Ow!"
It's a dream, so why does getting smacked on the back hurt this much?
Rubbing the spot where hyung had hit me, I turned my head without thinking, and froze.
Because in the mirror covering an entire wall, the kind a hospital would never have, was my fresh-faced 20-year-old face.
"Huh?"
In that moment, the '20' the chubby blue dragon had mentioned flashed through my mind.
Jun-hyeok hyung asked if I still hadn't come to my senses and swung to whack my back once more. I caught his arm and asked.
"Hyung! What's the year, month, and date today?"
"It's February 12, 2020! Jae-min, I think you're way too nervous."
2020. The year I turned 20. Then the part about sending me back was for real?
"......This isn't a dream, is it?"
"Hey! What time did you go to bed last night? How many times have I told you! For an idol, condition is everything! Especially on a day like today......."
Jun-hyeok hyung's nagging started up again. But I concentrated on looking around the practice room.
"The twenty-year-old Lee Jae-min-nim will definitely succeed-yong!"
It felt like I could hear the blue dragon chirping inside my head.
"2020....... So I really came back."
Honestly, I still didn't quite get what was going on.
"Are you really going to be okay?"
Just then, as I muttered at the mirror, hyung asked in a voice full of worry. He seemed to have completely forgotten how fiercely he'd whacked my back to snap me out of it.
"I'm fine. More importantly, hyung, I really missed you."
When I turned my head, hyung's face came into view, his brows furrowed. Right. He hadn't looked young; he just was young.
Since I'm 20, hyung, who's 3 years older than me, would be 23 right now.
I hadn't known it back then, but I knew now. That 23 is an age when it's hard enough just to look after yourself.
"This won't do. I'll run to the pharmacy and get you a calming pill, so wait here."
Yet at that age, he was a world-class busybody.
Just like now.
"Okay, hyung. Thanks."
But I didn't stop hyung from leaving the practice room. I had something to take care of.
Click.
The practice room door clicked shut, and once hyung's footsteps faded away, I got up from where I sat. Then I spoke into thin air.
"Come out."
"Hmm. You're holding up better than I thought-yong?"
I had something to talk about with this short, chubby blue dragon, you see.
"Explain. Is this a dream?"
If this was a dream, I meant to tell it I didn't need a dream this horrible. Especially not a dream of the day the debut lineup was announced.
I'd almost rather it told me I was dead; then this would be my life flashing before my eyes, and I'd only have to watch it one last time.
But the dragon shattered my hopes.
"I said it's not a dream. You don't like dreams like this, do you-yong? You must've had it hundreds of times already."
It even dug into the wound after shattering them.
Barely holding back a curse, I spat out a very cliché question.
"Then what are you? A grim reaper?"
Nothing else could possibly know how many times I'd dreamed about this day. But the dragon tilted its head and asked back, as if surprised.
"Do you happen to like that genre? If you want, I can say I am one-yong."
"No."
Why would I like something like that? But if it's not a grim reaper either, what on earth is this?
I'd felt it from the start, but it really was an unfriendly dragon.
Getting impatient, I was about to fire off another question. But the dragon was faster.
"It's simple. Jae-min-nim, you've come back. To age twenty, the year you lived most fiercely out of your twenty-four years."
"......."
Right. At 20, I really had lived every single day fiercely.
But as fierce as it was, it was also an age full of sadness and hardship.
"Couldn't you have asked before showing me something like this? That's way too unfriendly."
My voice took on an edge. I didn't want to go through all those countless setbacks again.
Of course, not to be outdone by my whining, the dragon fired words right back.
"You're just as unfriendly-yong, Jae-min-nim. Talking down to me from the very start! And how many times do I have to say it? I'm not showing you anything, you came back-yong!"
Came back. Was what I just heard true?
In my rush, I grabbed the dragon flapping in front of my eyes.
"So right now! You're saying I regressed? Like Park Han-seok?"
"You talked like you'd never read a webnovel, but you know everything you need to-yong?"
A mistake. I'd gotten worked up and said something I didn't have to. But this dragon, somehow it looks like it's smiling.
At this point, I had no choice but to admit it.
"Fine. I read it. I read it."
When that goddamn bastard Kim Min-seok kept shoving it at me saying it was fun, I had sworn I'd never read it. I figured watching a story about someone pulling off an idol debut through some nonsense condition like regression would only put me in a bad mood.
After all, I knew webnovels were what people read to live out vicariously what they couldn't achieve in this life.
But the moment I opened chapter 1 out of curiosity and read the grief of an idol who died before his debut, I realized.
That it was already too late for me to drop RGI.
Still, I never moved on to the webtoon. That's why I didn't recognize Park Han-seok's face and cursed him out.
"Ahem! I only read it because someone kept shoving it at me. But how do you know about that? Is it because this is inside my dream?"
Embarrassed for no real reason, I turned the question on it, and this dragon, get this—
"That's because I am Super Strong Dragon!"
It slipped out of my grip, planted both hands on its stubby waist, and proudly spouted bullshit.
"Super Strong Dragon? You're the author of RGI?"
"I told you so-yong! Jae-min-nim, you're way too suspicious."
The urge to ask whether it wouldn't be suspicious in my shoes rose all the way up my throat. But I decided to ask something else instead.
"Fine. Let's say you really are Super Strong Dragon."
"It's not a let's-say, I really am Super Strong Dragon-yong!"
How long did I have to play along with this nonsense? Irritation slowly crept up.
I've seen hyung, so it's about time I woke up. If I'm dead, I'll just head to the afterlife.
Though it's a shame I never got to debut in the end.
"Fine, I get it. So why are you doing this to me? I wasn't moved enough by the thing to have its author show up in my dreams."
"Because you trashed me, Jae-min-nim. 'If it were me, I wouldn't have done it like this here.', 'If it were me, I'd have picked that one, not this one.', 'If it were me—'"
"Stop!"
I blurted out a shout. But I had no choice. The words I'd said while reading RGI were pouring out of the dragon's mouth.
As I huffed and caught my breath, the dragon's swishing tail looked somehow gleeful.
"Do you believe me a little now-yong?"
That dragon is really RGI's author, Super Strong Dragon? You mean that wasn't a pen name, it's an actual dragon?
But why me, of all people? Bringing me back to 20, the hardest year of my life, just because I trashed it? Isn't that way too petty a reason?!
My head was a mess. Where did the truth begin and where did it end? I didn't even know what was right anymore.
"......min!"
The moment the blue dragon blurred before my eyes, someone called out to me.
"Jae-min, you okay?"
"Jun-hyeok hyung?"
Hyung, who'd said he would get a calming pill, was back. He tossed aside the pharmacy bag he was holding, ran over to me, and clasped my trembling hands tight. Jun-hyeok hyung's hands in mine were so warm it made me want to cry.
Ah— so this is real. I really came back.
'I told you so-yong!'
Ah, shit— that damn yong-yong! Please, just stop!
***
"Are you really okay?"
"Like you said, it must be because I didn't sleep enough. I'm fine now. I even took the medicine."
I managed to stop him from dragging me to the infirmary, but I couldn't get out of the calming pill. Who else but hyung would worry about me like this?
But hyung apparently couldn't see this damn dragon. If he couldn't see this eyesore, I suppose that was a relief, if you could call it one.......
'Do you want to go back again?'
Catching my less-than-pure look, the dragon asked out of nowhere. I gave a tiny shake of my head, small enough that hyung wouldn't notice.
No. I've come this far, and I can't go back without doing anything. That is absolutely out of the question.
"You really don't look good....... Then you're going straight home to sleep as soon as you see today's announcement. Got it?"
It seemed he had caught me darting my eyes every which way to dodge the dragon's eyeballs. Jun-hyeok hyung's worried voice reached me.
Seeing him look after me even at a time like this, he really is a fool of a person. Whatever happens to anyone else, I'm going to make sure my Jun-hyeok hyung debuts, no matter what.
"Okay! But are you okay, hyung?"
"Me? Well— I'm fine."
Sure, he's fine now. But would he still be fine after the debut lineup was announced?
Jun-hyeok hyung, 23 and in his 5th year as a trainee, was a main vocal. He actually sang pretty well, and although he wasn't outstanding at dancing, he was good enough to blend in. On top of that, he had a gentle personality and above-average looks.
But hyung wouldn't make the debut lineup announced today. So why had Jun-hyeok hyung failed to debut for years?
The old me wouldn't have known, but the me now does.
I don't know exactly what went on behind the scenes, but the reason was Director Park. No, right now he'd still be Chief Park, huh?
Hyung must have only found out right before he left AP. That's why he dropped me a hint. Not to do anything that would only benefit that bastard.
......Him and his meddling, honestly.
"Worried?"
Hyung suddenly pushed his face close and asked. It seemed my expression had darkened as my thoughts grew heavier.
I'd heard for years that I shouldn't let my emotions show on my face, and it was one of the bad habits I still hadn't fixed.
"Not at all? I'm not expecting anything anyway, so it's fine."
Let's smile for now. I can't show hyung this face when we've only just reunited.
I shrugged and winked.
Of course, whether hyung would go for my cutesy act was another matter.
"Hey! Why aren't you expecting anything? Coach Kim's comments at your last lesson were good, too."
But hyung seemed hung up on my words more than on my cute act. Anyway, Coach Kim, huh.......
"Aw— if Coach Kim's comments were enough to debut, you'd have debuted looong ago, hyung?"
"I guess you've got a point there."
If I remember right, Coach Kim, the vocal trainer, got abruptly replaced the following year too. Back then, Chief Park's name came up among the trainees as well.
No matter how I look at it, that bastard moves for money. How much has he been raking in from the trainees and the trainers?
"Anyway, I'm not greedy this time. Let's debut together next time, hyung. Okay?"
By then, I think I'll be able to beat that damn Chief Park.
"Hey, I'll be twenty-four next year. You want me to go straight to the military the moment I debut?"
"Aw— you never know. If things go well, you might go later."
Stuff like that really does happen, hyung.
I swallowed the fact I couldn't tell him yet.
"Then I couldn't ask for more."
A little later, hyung raised his head to check the clock, stopped asking questions, and got up from his seat.
Still, it'd be okay to tell him this much, wouldn't it?
"Hyung, what would you think if 2D idols got popular here too, like in the country next door?"
"Well, I don't mean to knock them. But in our country, isn't a living, breathing idol still the best? There's a reason people say it's enough just to breathe under the same sky."
That's Jun-hyeok hyung for you. He thinks exactly the way I do.
"I think so too."
Since I've come back anyway, let's give it a shot. The kind of idol people are happy just to breathe under the same sky with.
'It won't be that easy-yong!'
Super Strong Dragon-nim, please read the room.