"Must've been three years since they said they'd fix that neon." Nari grumbled, her voice dripping with irony."The ticking of that clock should be considered a form of torture." she added, tapping the counter nervously.
Sitting behind the small store counter, I pushed my earbuds deeper into my ears, trying to drown out the endless noise from the street outside.
Beez beez...A university notification popped up on my phone. I still couldn't believe I chose Marketing school. Not for stability, that's for sure, just to escape all this, even if I hated these dull, meaningless days.
A customer walked in, looking impatient.
"Hello." I said mechanically, eyes fixed on the scanner.
Items slid under my fingers, but my mind wandered elsewhere. The phone rang, customers came and went without a word, some even grumbling.
"Can you go any faster? How much longer do I have to wait?" a sharp voice snapped me out of my daze. I sighed, my movements still mechanical, automatic, like my body had decided to stop feeling.
The customer left, grumbling, without even saying goodbye.
My eyes landed on the old TV hanging on the wall.K-pop performances flickered across the screen. The idols danced, radiant, full of life, their smiles lighting up the room with an almost unreal glow. I looked away, a mix of longing and nostalgia tightening my chest.
I remembered the days when I still sang. The songs my mother loved, the laughter we shared, bittersweet memories floating in my mind, echoes of another time.
Maybe if I had dared, if I had chased that dream, things would've been different. Maybe I would've found my place, a meaning to this life I drift through without purpose.
I let myself go, tired, my eyelids growing heavy.
"Hey, are you getting paid to work or to sleep?"A voice jerked me abruptly awake.
My hands trembled as I scanned the next customer's items quickly, trying to hide my embarrassment.
But my gaze was drawn back to the TV.A familiar song filled the room, With Finesse, live, performed by DreamTeen themselves.
Impossible. The group had disbanded almost two years ago… and this performance was from three years ago.
A cold shiver ran down my spine.Around me, everything felt both familiar and strangely different, the posters on the walls, the products on the shelves… as if time had reversed, or frozen.
Then, suddenly, a bright glow caught my attention. A translucent page floated before my eyes, almost like a hologram suspended in the air.
"A second chance to fulfill your dreams is offered to you. Do you accept?"Yes / No
I screamed in shock and stumbled backward, falling on my butt. The customer stared at me with almost as much stupor written on his face as I had on mine. My eyes flicked between him and the hologram multiple times.
"What's wrong with you?" he asked, half worried, half condescending.
Was he seriously not seeing the gigantic hologram right in front of me?
I tried to play it cool, so I wouldn't make myself look even more ridiculous. I mumbled a weak excuse, something about seeing a wasp, and quickly scanned his items so he'd leave.
Once I was alone again, I reread the hologram:"A second chance to fulfill your dreams is offered to you. Do you accept?"Yes / No
I took a deep breath and tried to think rationally. But none of the possible answers were rational. Only three possibilities came to mind:
I'm dreaming and none of this is real.
I'm not dreaming but I am going crazy and hallucinating.
I'm actually living my "Debut or Die¹" moment.
The pain in my butt told me option 1 was out. And crazy people don't usually know they're crazy, right? So if I think I might be crazy, it means I'm not crazy… I think? I kind of lost my train of thought. I might not be going crazy, but I'm definitely going stupid.
Anyway, that left option 3 as the most probable. I never thought I'd say this, but I might be a time traveler.
I decided to just agree and see. No matter how much I stared at the hologram, there was no warning, no "fail and die" clause, so it should be fine.
I clicked Yes.
Synchronizing with user…...
"Do you want to learn how the system works?"
Obviously, yes.
"Great!""Starting from now, I am your AI companion. You can call my interface and use it anytime you want. You just have to think of the command, no need to say it out loud."
Well, that's good. I won't have to look crazy in front of other people.
STATS:
Voice – C
Dance – D
Visual – C+
Charm – C
"You see those stats? Those are yours. Not so good, right?"
Am I… actually getting roasted by my system right now?
"But don't worry, you can improve thanks to the missions."
Singing (C → C+)Mission: "Record yourself singing 25 full songs and anonymously publish them online."
Dance (D → C-)Mission: "Perfectly reproduce a complex choreography within 48 hours."
Visual (C+ → B-)Mission: "Go on a full self-care day trip, spa, hairdresser, dermatologist, clothes shopping."
Charm (C → C+)Mission: "Approach 10 strangers and make them laugh at least once."
Fair enough. Some missions were embarrassing, but it was a small price to pay for stat boosts like that.
"And you haven't seen everything! When you accomplish an important achievement, you'll be able to roll the Special Ability Wheel, which will give you a unique skill for your stardom dream! I'll tell you when you hit those milestones, but the list can't be seen beforehand."
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:???????????? …
"Same as for the wheel, you'll only see it when you get to use it. Any questions?"
Yes. Why choose me, out of all the people in the world who never accomplished their dreams? I'm not special. I don't even have a dramatic life-or-death goal like those manhwa main characters. So… why me?
"I am not programmed to respond to that question. Please ask something else."
Figures. No use asking what can't be answered.
Anyway, even without knowing why, I'll do the best I can. That's the least I can do. I was given a golden opportunity, it would be foolish not to use it.