The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

Kang Do-Seung ran towards the first regressor. His back as he ran towards his distant past looked very frantic. He reached his hand towards his wailing self but Kang Do-Seung’s hand only seemed to swipe the air in vain.

The fifteenth Kang Do-Seung recognized the first regressor Kang Do-Seung, but the first regressor Kang Do-Seung seemed to not be able to recognize him. Only then did the Siren members realized that although the worlds were mixed up, the ones on the other side didn’t recognize them. All they could do was look helplessly at the devastation.

“Do-Seung…” Lee Woon approached Kang Do-Seung and patted his shoulder in consolation. The first regressor embraced Bong Tae-Yoon’s cold dead body and began to sob. The atmosphere of The Showcase 2 Final Stage became frigid. The stage hosts did not understand what was happening and stood still in shock, and the producer in charge failed to take appropriate measures in an unexpected emergency.

“Bong Tae-Yoon…Please open you eyes…” Kang Do-Seung tightly hugged Bong Tae-Yoon.

The 15th regressor Kang Do-Seung stared at the first regressor Kang Do-Seung sorrowfully as if the old wounds that he thought had healed a long time ago were throbbing again. He looked at the scene in front of him as if he was about to cry.

“Let’s go, Do-Seung…Let’s go…” Lee Woon pulled Kang Do-Seung’s arm. Just in time—

Cracccccck—!

The sky of this world began to crack, and it was the same phenomenon as before.

“Guys! Hurry up!” Woo Yeon-Hoon called out to them. Kang Do-Seung and Lee Woon joined the rest of the members, and the Siren members tightly hugged each other. Yeon-Hoon hugged Bong Tae-Yoon’s drooping body with all his might.

Ziiiing-! Now, no one knew what the next world would be. It could be someone else’s world, not just Kang Do-Seung’s. Or perhaps, another Kang Do-Seung’s world could come out. However, they all knew one thing—it was that this world would present its most terrible memories one after another.

“Guys…don’t get agitated…No matter what you see, don’t act rashly.”

They had no idea why this was happening and why the worldlines had twisted.

“Tae-Yoon will come back.”

The only thing they could do was just hang in there, waiting for their maknae, who would be desperately struggling.

***

The universe was just a quiet space, and everything flowed in order. While watching this huge world of mass flow harmoniously without error, I felt like I could feel what order was in chaos. After sending Yeon-Hoon down to the ground, I was slightly immersed in feelings of transcendence. The thick world line created by y members and I was connected to the original world line. The accident with the truck driver, which was the point where the worldline jutted out, was treated only as a minor incident.

This world was now flowing in one direction without any differentiation. In one world, there was only one worldline—this was the first law I learned after becoming the system. Therefore, if there was a moment when the world was unlikely to lead to one line, the world ordered the system to create one complete world, and to carry out that command, the system made the extreme choice of ‘infinite regression’ until a world that was best to join the original world came out.

Of course, I now became the system directly and forcibly joined the world we built to the original worldline. Regardless of what happened, since our worlds were connected to one world, we didn’t do anything against the principle of the universe. I was finally able to enjoy peace in a long while. While it was only a temporary compromise in the mask of peace, it was a long time since I didn’t have to worry about the death of my older brothers.

I swam in space and closed my eyes. Although my sensory organs did not actually exist, the meaning of closing eyes still existed; so when I thought I was closing my eyes, that meant I was closing my eyes. When I opened my eyes again afterwards, I said goodbye to the short peace and prepared for my next steps. I made my way to the world line.

I couldn’t leave this space because I had become the system itself. My empty body was probably left below with my members as they desperately struggled to face their situation. I had no plans to leave my body forever like that. The future I wanted was a future where the five of us lived together. My dead body was not part of that plan.

The worldline throbbed while letting out a gleaming glow. Like this, it felt like a living creature, and I patted it with my palm. Memories of every moment built up by mankind permeated to my mind. Humanity sounded like a grandiose word, and I had to crush that grand idea with my hands for a bit now. I reached out and looked at the end of the worldline. The core of the system, which was hanging at the end of the worldline separated from the line and approached me.

I held the core in one hand and grabbed the worldline in the other, and what I was trying to do was go against the nature of the system.

Wriiiiing—!

I grabbed the worldline and began to twist it. The second law I learned after becoming the system was that if there was one system, there was also a system of reversal. Of course, there was not always a system of reversal. When the worldline that was flowing in one direction went awry, the system of reversal was born every random cycle, which could be hundreds or thousands or even decades, to reverse the direction of the worldline.

The system of reversal’s only goal was to overturn the worldline. The system of reversal itself was not bad; just as everything had yin and yang, it was bound to exist naturally. Of course, I called out the system of reversal in quite an artificial way as I had forcefully made the worldline jut out and forced the world line to twist in the opposite direction.

Wriiiiing—!

Although it was only the end of the worldline, a line headed only in a straight line had never shown such curvature. The worldline deliberately made it ‘jut out’, and as a result, a gray shape hovered around it. Now that the worldline had gone awry, the system of reversal begun to be born. The shape gradually took on a concrete shape. The face became a face I was familiar with, and the body also became a body I was very familiar with. This was only natural.

Because I was the system, the system of reversal that originated from me took on my form. I faced myself. The purpose of the system of reversal was to reverse the direction of the world. But now, instead of the system of reversal, I was the one turning the world in the opposite direction.

Above all, it was not a system cause by a natural process but an artificial system created by me. Due to the above variables, the reversal system did not seem to function properly as it stood still and didn’t do anything.

Originally, it should have designated incarnations, and after punishing regressors, it should have worked to completely turn the world around. However, because I was now twisting the worldline, the reversal system could not find targets to designate as incarnations and above all, it could not perform its main function to turn the world around.

The worldline twisted a bit more and more parts started to reverse. The system of reversal raised its empty eyes and looked at me, and his eyes stared at the worldline. He must be super confused as the system of reversal’s goal was to reverse the world in the opposite way, but I was already doing that. If that was the case, the system of reversal would probably make one choice—to turn the world back around while I turned the world in the opposite direction.

Tap.

The purpose of the system of reversal was to turn the world in the opposite direction. If I was already turning the world in the opposite direction, the system’s goal would be to turn it back in the opposite direction. The opposite of an opposite direction was the forward direction.

The system of reversal and my role have been switched, and I began to have a power struggle with the system of reversal. It was quite ridiculous that the system of reversal was trying to make the world flow in the forward direction. Like this, it became difficult to say who was truly the system of reversal.

Of course, the worldline was not something that could be twisted so easily by force. It was only going through a period of confusion for a while now, but once I took my hands off it, everything would go back to what it was. The system of reversal that was born by twisting the worldline would disappear as if it was never there, and the worldline that I forcibly twisted for a while would be aligned correctly again.

But what if I didn’t take my hands off? Then the system of reversal would not disappear, and the worldline would not stretch in a straight line. In other words, the human world, which had been going on for hundreds of years, would not be able to take a step forward—all because I grabbed and twisted the worldline. This was the kind of insane power the system had.

Of course, the world of humanity may not matter much from the perspective of the universe. Since I was the owner of this system, not the owner of the universe, I didn’t know the universe’s will at all.

However, given that there was only a single worldine in this vast and infinite space, it seemed like there was no other intellectual life other than humanity. A universe that just existed without any intellectual life was no different than not existing; no matter how expansive and infinite it was.

If I was the universe, I would never want the worldline of humanity to end like this, and maybe the universe felt the same way as me. The eyes of the reversal system seemed to awaken, and the eyes, which seemed to be empty from the moment it was born, began to make eye contact with me with a clear will. It seemed the universe ust have tried something to prevent me from stopping humanity forever like this.

The other Bong Tae-Yoon took his hand off the worldline and grabbed my arm. Although it didn’t have a body that could be called an arm, the system of reversal was in the shape of my body in this space anyway. Was it trying to physically fight me? Since this was a space where force didn’t exist, it wouldn’t mean anything. However, the universe seemed to be bigger than I expected. The other Bong Tae-Yoon’s face shone for a moment and then brightened up enough to blind me and engulf both of us.

Flassssh—!

It wasn’t the universe that I opened my eyes to afterwards. The space that I saw seemed to be modeled after the Salt Desert somewhere in South America. There was no distinction between the sky and the ground, and there was only an endless horizon. Beyond this space, I saw wreckage of broken planets floating around and burning trees growing. It was a world that could not exist in reality and existed beyond the universe. I couldn’t describe it as anything else except that it was an imaginary world.

The other Bong Tae-Yoon and I stood there, and I regained my physical senses.

Clutch—!

“Hmph!” And I could feel the familiar sensation of Bong Tae-Yoon squeezing my neck. I was flustered that I was being choked as soon as I opened my eyes. I wondered how common would it be for people to be killed by a version of themselves.

Gaaasp! I felt a similar sensation as the time when Kang Seok-Doo almost killed me. I wondered what would happen if I died here. No, would I even die in the first place? I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I didn’t think it would be anything positive as I wouldn’t be able to reach the future I wanted.

Of course, I had no intention of quietly following the wishes of the universe. The other Bong Tae-Yoon was the same as me, so since we had the same body, there was no difference in strength between us.

“Argh!” I escaped his clutch by kicking him in the stomach. This time, I rushed at him, and like this, our tedious and lengthy battle began.