Survive! Foolish Bottom!

 

His eyes flew open as usual. Since entering this game world, he had inadvertently developed the habit of waking up early in the morning. Having gotten up early to practice, he now found it hard to fall back asleep, even when he wanted to.

 

Rubbing his eyes, Haeun got up and immediately checked the Eu-idol app with groggy eyes. This had become a familiar routine.

 『It’s Day 23 of Play! (´･ω･)y』 Accumulated Points: 59P   Seongjae Affection: 21/100   Ilhyun Affection: 9/100   Junwoo Affection: 6/100   Yejun Affection: 10/100   ? ? Affection: -2/100   

It had already been over 20 days. He looked at the points he had accumulated by clearing quests as he pleased, with satisfaction. He hadn’t used them yet. A situation requiring them had not arisen. Haeun thought of these points as a kind of emergency escape button.

 

In the meantime, he had somewhat adapted to the activities as an idol. Thanks to the stats he had accumulated from viewing the Last Ending, Haeun, who was otherwise distant from the idol scene, was now able to perform on stage without issues. However, the problem was the persistent low affection ratings.

 

The first chapter of the story “Eu-Idol” deals with this comeback activity. The duration of the activity was a total of 4 weeks. Now in the 4th week of activities, once this week’s music shows were completed, the seemingly never-ending activity period would come to an end. In other words, chapter 1 of the story was nearing its end, but the affection ratings were still worryingly low.

 

“Eu-Idol” had a daunting structure where maintaining an affection rating of at least 55 with all characters was necessary to achieve a successful idol ending. 

 

When Haeun first attempted to reach the Last Ending, he had neglected interactions with other characters and focused entirely on training “Park Ha” with great dedication. As a result, “Park Ha’s” individual abilities were maxed out, and by the end, a very capable broadcasting professional had been created.

 

However, the star’s successful ending was not achieved. Due to insufficient intimacy with the target characters, rumors of discord arose just before the year-end stage, and other members ended up leaving. Consequently, the well-trained Park Ha was left alone in a failed group.

 

But was it really impossible to succeed as an idol just because of a few bad relationships with members? There were top idols who faced multiple bullying scandals. If that’s the case, he should be allowed to debut as a solo artist! Even thinking about it again, the dissatisfaction surged to the back of his throat.

 

Moreover, even if it was necessary to maintain the affection ratings for the group members to sustain the group, it was a mystery why he had to care about Yejun’s affection rating, who was not even a member. 

 

However, due to the requirement of maintaining the affection rating with “all target characters,” he had to busily work on increasing the ratings, despite the unpleasant task.

 

To make matters worse, the problem character who was still marked with a question mark, “Gyowon,” had also appeared on the target character list. If the requirement to build affection extended to him as well, the situation would become incredibly difficult. This was because the affection rating for the person he might not even meet again was at a dismal -2.

 

‘Originally, I was supposed to give up on targeting if I couldn’t get the favorability above 30 by the end of chapter 1.’

 

It felt like he was sinking into endless pessimism. But seeing how things were turning out so differently from the original, there was no strict rule that he had to follow the exact same pace. Since he wasn’t required to focus on just one character, it was okay if the current favorability were a bit low. With plenty of points saved up, he could still get help at a crucial moment. Haeun decided to think as positively as possible.

 

He meticulously checked the updated schedule and quest list. There were no schedules today besides practice, and the daily quests were nothing special. 

 

Haeun put his phone in his pocket, opened the door, and left the room. A quick glance showed that Seongjae and Junwoo were already seated in the living room.

 

Junwoo was sitting at the table, having a simple meal, while Seongjae seemed to be monitoring the last music broadcast in front of the living room TV. It was a scene that clearly showcased their personalities: Junwoo, who was meticulously taking care of himself, and Seongjae, who was surprisingly passionate about his work.

 

Just as Haeun was about to pass them and head to the refrigerator, the system cheerfully chimed in with a reminder.

 『Basic morning greetings are essential! Try greeting the members~』 

It was a bit annoying to be reminded to greet them, even though it wasn’t a quest. However, reflexively, he approached Seongjae, who had the highest favorability among the target characters.

 

“Seongjae yah, did you sleep well?”

 

Haeun approached Seongjae and leaned his face closer. He tilted his head to the side without realizing. If greetings were required, why did he need to lean in and tilt his head? Haeun silently screamed inwardly as Seongjae responded.

 

“What are you doing? Get your hand away.”

 

Haeun awkwardly lowered his hand, which he had brought near Seongjae’s shoulder.

 

Indeed, having the highest affection rating didn’t mean Seongjae had become less grumpy. If anything, it seemed worse than before.

 『’Seongjae’s’ favorability has increased by 1.』 

The notification that the favorability had increased only added to the absurdity of the situation. Haeun couldn’t understand why he had to go through such a struggle to increase favorability. 

 

He headed to the kitchen, as it was time to greet Junwoo.

 

“…Junwoo, annyeong.”

 

His tone was more hesitant than when he spoke to Seongjae. It was obvious that Junwoo’s response would be even worse. Junwoo glanced over and replied.

 

“Yes.”

 

It was a cold answer. There was no warmth in Junwoo’s expression even though he was smiling. Haeun’s efforts to maintain a friendly smile felt like they might lead to a twitch of his lips.

 

“Good morning.”

 

“Indeed.”

 

Junwoo added one more comment, but it was in a tone that clearly didn’t reflect his own feelings. Whether the smile looked unappealing was due to Haeun’s mood or if Junwoo’s attitude was genuinely off was unclear.

 

“Where’s Ilhyun?”

 

Haeun asked while casually looking around. Instead of Junwoo, it was Seongjae who answered.

 

“Ilhyun went for a radio schedule. Didn’t you know that?”

 

Despite his harsh tone, Seongjae’s straightforward response was more pleasant compared to Junwoo, who sat with a mysterious smile.

 

“Oh… I forgot. Thanks for letting me know.”

 

Seongjae shrugged. If he was going to give schedule updates, it would have been nice if he had shared details about the other members to avoid such misunderstandings. Haeun grumbled to himself as he took out a box of health grain cereal from the shelf.

 

After finishing his monitoring, Seongjae went to his room first, and Junwoo followed at a slower pace after finishing his meal. They were heading to the same room. While they seemed to match well, it felt like they only shared a room and were far from being close friends.

 

Haeun, having eaten the health grain cereal, returned to his room. Just being in the living room felt like waiting for the two ticking time bombs to explode.

 

“Doesn’t even fill my damn stomach.”

 

Haeun quietly complained after closing the door. As ‘Park Ha’ was an idol, managing weight required adjusting his diet. The frustration of being constantly busy and lacking sleep was compounded by having to eat such small meals.

 

If there were settings to make him like sweet things and dislike scary ones, there should have been a setting that made his stomach small so he couldn’t eat much. 

 

It was funny how ‘Park Ha’ was originally set up as a big eater who loved sweets but was always sad about having to manage his diet. Although these settings were meant to be cute, Haeun couldn’t understand what was so cute about them.

 

Even after eating, he lay down on his bed, patting his flat stomach. Haeun glanced at the time. Although it was only a brief break before he had to head to the practice room for dance rehearsals, he still felt a rare sense of relaxation.

 

For over 20 days, they had been running around from one music broadcast to another, and once they had even appeared together on a radio show as guests. They had been managing a schedule without a moment’s rest. 

 

If they had been able to appear on high-viewership broadcasts or shows that gave them a lot of screen time to build their name, it might have been worthwhile. However, as a failed idol, Stone Cherry mostly appeared as a background character, clapping for others even on the few opportunities they got.

 

The only possible chance for notable screen time might be the recent “God Of Live” shoot, but even that was unlikely to have any standout moments.

 

What about Ilhyun? Haeun thought absentmindedly. Among the members, he suited radio the best. Even in the one radio show he had appeared on, he showed a seasoned attitude that was not typical for an unknown idol.

 

“Is it live?”

 

Haeun muttered softly.

 

“Maybe I’ll check it out…”

 

When dealing with others, he had to use a soft and gentle tone to avoid losing affection or being punished by the system with unexpected forced cuteness. As a result, he had developed the habit of mumbling to himself when alone, to avoid becoming completely influenced by Park Ha’s overly polite speech.

 

He quickly installed the radio app and saw that a live broadcast was in progress. 

 

Today, Ilhyun was appearing as a backup DJ on a relatively large radio show. Normally, a failed idol like Stone Cherry would find it hard to even get a backup DJ spot on such a program. Ilhyun’s appearance as a substitute was entirely because the main DJ was an actor from the same agency as Stone Cherry.

 

Haeun had forgotten until he heard that Ilhyun was on the show, but this was an episode that also appeared in the original game.

 

“Come to think of it, there was an event related to this radio episode.”

 

If Ilhyun had a high favorability, an event would occur. Otherwise, the broadcast would pass by without incident. The requirement was an affection rating of 25 or higher. If that was met, a phone call would come from Ilhyun during the broadcast.

 

Ring. Ring.

 

Right, a phone call like this…

 

Ring. Ring.

 

But wait, wasn’t the affection rating still below 10?

Hey guys, this is Flo!

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