Translator: Dreamscribe
Army Captain.
And "Company Commander", those were the titles used to describe me in my past life.
‘Was I buried at the National Cemetery in that life?’
That was a lingering question that remained unanswered even after I regressed into a woman's body.
In my past life, I died in the line of duty.
Usually, when someone dies in the line of duty, it's assumed they'd be buried in the National Cemetery, but in my case, the death was so bewildering that it left room for doubt.
‘Company Commander!!’
‘That... crazy useless bastard....’
I was shot and killed by one of my own company members.
The day I died had a monthly shooting drill, just like any other day.
Company commanders had to take turns supervising the shooting range, but the commander of the neighboring company asked to switch turns with me, and I went out in his place, that was where it all went wrong.
'Ready shooters, commence firing!'
I gave the firing command through the microphone installed at the range and was scanning the area to make sure no one was goofing off, as usual.
Bang!
With a loud gunshot, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my chest.
I thought it might have been an insect sting and rubbed my chest with my fingers, only to find my hand smeared with bright red liquid.
‘Huh...?’
What popped into my head at that moment was a mass shooting.
Just a few years ago, there had been a serious incident where a reservist went on a shooting rampage during training.
But now, no one was pointing a gun at me.
Thud.
Throughout my life, I had seen countless movie and drama protagonists get shot.
'It was all lies.’
People who get shot and keep fighting, or scream in agony, I had seen all kinds of reactions, but they were all false.
When you're really shot, you can't even scream. All strength leaves your body, and all that comes out is a faint wheeze of air.
‘Company Commander!’
Only after that did people realize something had happened and rushed over in a panic, but I already knew.
The bullet had hit a very bad spot.
'Just which bastard.'
I couldn’t just close my eyes like this, it was too unfair.
So, mustering the last of my strength, I turned my eyes desperately to find the shooter.
‘That... crazy useless bastard....’
I saw a new recruit holding a rifle, panicked and unsure of what to do.
And the safety device in his lane had a deep gouge, as if it had been grazed by a bullet.
That’s when I understood.
That clueless rookie had missed the target and shot the safety device instead.
I had been hit by a ricochet.
That was my final memory from my past life.
After that, I opened my eyes to find myself crying like a newborn baby, and as time passed, I realized I was now a girl.
‘But does it really matter?’
Maybe it’s just because I never cared too much about the little details.
Or maybe, because the very act of regressing was already so absurd, the fact that I changed from a man to a woman felt like a trivial matter in comparison.
But still, I hadn’t expected something like this.
“You want me to go on an idol show?”
“Technically, it’s an idol survival program.”
Hmm.
To be honest, I don’t even know what the difference is, but seeing my aunt’s serious face made me feel like I had to pretend I understood, even if I didn’t.
“No way. That seems like an unreasonable request, even from a landlord.”
It was a mistake to come running out excitedly just because my aunt offered to order fried chicken for dinner.
Even if she’s my aunt, she’s still technically a stranger.
And the limit of a stranger’s kindness when it comes to food is just snack crumbs, at best.
“I’ve been put in charge of a new project our station is pushing, and it’s already off to a bad start.”
She popped open a beer can, chugged it like water, and began her lament.
“How could that agency not notice one of their trainees going into a motel with a guy?”
From what I gathered, my aunt had been assigned to produce the upcoming idol survival program and had been running around nonstop for the past year trying to recruit idol trainees to participate.
Because they had to gather exactly 100 people, my aunt had run herself ragged, from trainees of major entertainment agencies to those from small and mid-sized ones, running around till her soles were on fire and begging till her hands turned into feet, just to barely meet the quota.
But a few days ago, one trainee from a certain agency who had already confirmed their participation caused an incident, and now there was a glaring hole in the roster. The murderous look in my aunt’s eyes as she explained this said it all.
Munch munch.
I half-listened to her with one ear while devouring fried chicken with full focus.
Of course, I couldn't just eat silently and pretend not to notice, so I threw in the occasional "Really? Oh wow? For real? Uh-huh!" type of reaction here and there.
Right around the time I finished eating, serving up audience-level reactions as if I were just a viewer.
“So, about that, Si-on, can you fill in as a replacement?”
“Sure.”
“Great! It's settled!!!”
A completely thoughtless answer blurted out of my mouth.
Like she’d caught her prey, my aunt locked in the decision before I could even retract my response.
“Wait! Aunt! How could I go on a show with idols!!”
“It’s fine! They’re not even real idols yet.”
“I’ve never even danced in my entire life!”
“It’s fine! No one’s asking you to debut as an idol. We just need you to help fill the numbers.”
Was she suffering from a case of 'It’s fine' syndrome?
No matter how reasonable my objections were, the only response I got from her was "It’s fine."
It reminded me of my battalion commander back in the army, no matter how many times I said, "Isn’t this dangerous?" he would just repeat, "It’s fine."
“Come on, isn’t there at least one other person who could fill in instead of me?”
“There actually are people who could step in.”
“Then let them...”
“But the trainee who dropped out was the visual member.”
“Huh?”
"Even though her skills were rock bottom, her appearance was really good."
My aunt scolded me, saying if it were just about filling headcount, it wouldn't have taken so long to put the lineup together.
“Some are for visuals, some for singing, some for dancing. We also need someone for variety and a few to act as fillers.”
With only 100 slots, they had to select people who could fill necessary roles from a broadcast perspective, so filling the gap left by the dropout wasn’t as easy as it sounded.
“But do you think I’d be good enough?”
“You’re perfect, just keep your mouth shut or better yet, don’t move at all. Just sit there quietly!”
Would she soon tell me not to breathe, too?
Honestly, it's not that my looks were bad, I just didn’t care enough to pay attention.
Even my mom Kim Sukja had stopped mid-motion several times after seeing my face when she was about to kill me.
‘Hey! Just because you skip hitting the face doesn’t make it not domestic violence!’
‘You! Always running your mouth!!! That face is the only reason you’ll survive in this world!’
There were also those boys in elementary, middle, and high school who would stuff candies in my desk like it was a fridge on White Day and run away.
So yes, looks-wise, I was probably above average.
‘But so what? It’s not like anyone gives out Bitcoin for being pretty.’
But with memories of my past life intact, my appearance felt like nothing more than a luxury to a mentally middle-aged man trapped in a young woman’s body.
No matter how good-looking I was, my personality just didn’t suit becoming an actress or making money through livestreams.
“Anyway, I’m absolutely not doing it.”
My aunt was trying to seduce me with her devilish silver tongue, but I had zero intention of appearing on that idol survival program.
Besides doubting whether a show where 100 trainees compete would even succeed, the moment my face got exposed on TV, it could seriously interfere with my quiet life plans.
My dream life was always that of a low-key citizen with a lot of money, not a famous face.
“Okay. Then, how about 1 million won for appearing?”
“What?!”
At the current Bitcoin price, one coin was worth 200,000 won.
1 million won meant I could buy five whole coins, a massive sum.
Was she saying I’d get that much just for appearing on the show once?
My hands began to tremble at the thought of 1 million won.
Since my regression, I had been scraping together investment funds since childhood, and at most, I’d saved about 2 million won.
Honestly, if I hadn’t gone to PC cafes or bought League of Legends skins...
If I hadn’t made that impulsive purchase of the ‘Kongming: Romance of the Three Kingdoms’ Blu-ray last month, I would’ve had a bit more money, but as things stood now, I only had 2 million won.
And yet, here I was, being offered the chance to earn half of that in one go.
Without even realizing it, my body leaned forward as if to take the hand my aunt extended to me.
“A... No!”
But the cost was too great.
The moment my face aired on television and someone, starting with my friends, recognized me, I didn’t have the shamelessness to handle that kind of attention.
“Oh-ho... resisting even for 1 million won? Fine, then if you survive the first round of voting, I’ll throw in another 1 million won!”
“I’ll do it! I’ll do it!! I can do it!!!”
My aunt sneered mockingly as she upped the offer.
In the end, I took her hand.
***
“Hello. I’m Lee Si-on.”
“Ah... yes. Welcome....”
Lee Hyuk-soo, a new recruit at the cable network MPlay.
For the past month, he had been ground down preparing for the pre-production of a new program.
'Who wants to handle the pre-interviews for the trainees participating in ‘Idol Ground 100’?'
'Idol Ground 100', MPlay’s upcoming mega project, soon to be revealed.
A program where the viewers would vote to select 7 members from 100 contestants to form a national girl group.
'Interviews? Idol trainees? Aren’t they all pretty girls? I have to do this no matter what!'
Since no one else volunteered, the task had naturally fallen to the newbie, but Lee Hyuk-soo had eagerly raised his hand, thrilled at the idea of interviewing 100 pretty girls.
And now, exactly four weeks later, Lee Hyuk-soo wanted nothing more than to beat his past self within an inch of his life.
-Hello! I’m a trainee from BI Entertainment...!
-Uh... so, I...
-I’ll work hard! No, I’ll do my best!
There was no way trainees who hadn't even debuted yet would have excellent interview skills, and
'Is this what you’re calling an interview?! There’s nothing usable here! Re-interview all of them! Find something, anything, that’s worth airing!!!'
His senior had already ordered him to redo all the interviews.
Since then, he’d gotten used to relentlessly pushing these fresh-faced kids to draw out anything even remotely sensational.
But knowing full well how those overdriven interviews would end up looking after editing for broadcast, the whole process left him with a bad taste in his mouth.
If there was any silver lining, it was that today marked the end of this hellish round of interviews.
It was actually supposed to be wrapped up last week, but one of the trainees scheduled for an interview had been dropped from the lineup, causing a delay.
And today.
'I got a replacement. We’ll do the pre-interview today, so let’s wrap this up quickly.'
PD Kim Mi-young, his direct supervisor and the director for 'Idol Ground 100', had managed to find a last-minute stand-in, and now they had to conduct the interview in a hurry.
'Just where in the world did she find a trainee like this?'
Lee Hyuk-soo had low expectations since his senior said the replacement was found in a rush, but the moment he saw the trainee who arrived for the interview, he was speechless.
Having interviewed 100, well 99, idol trainees so far, his standards had been raised after seeing more than his fair share of stunning visuals, but this was the first time he found himself awestruck purely by looks.
Her long, straight black hair flowed down to her waist and glistened like it had been oiled.
Her white skin looked untouched by makeup, flawless like polished jade.
And as if those features were just supporting cast, her perfect facial features and the piercing blue eyes that crowned them left him breathless.
'Are those... contact lenses?'
Lee Hyuk-soo thought that for today’s pre-interview, just capturing her face on video would be more than enough.