Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 241

[Kang Jinwoo] Who the hell are you? I won’t tolerate this low-quality prank. Have you no shame? 12:58 PM

[Kang Jinwoo] There’s a limit to scamming. I’m blocking you. 12:59 PM

Damn. He rejected my call right away and assumed I was hacking his messenger or doing voice phishing.

I can’t block him. I wondered briefly what to do, then decided to go all in. Even if he thinks I’m crazy, I have to avoid being blocked.

[Me] Gwangju City, XX-dong, XXXX Industrial Support Center, Room 307 1:02 PM

[Me] Remember? 1:03 PM

[Me] You lost the first priority condition and the designated office because you missed a document. 1:03 PM

I didn’t want to bring up the old wound, but I had no choice. It was something only he would know, so I had to recall it in a short time.

[Kang Jinwoo] ? 1:04 PM

I laughed at the sharp question mark that came back. Is that all you have?

[Me] Don’t you remember getting drunk on vodka for the first time on your trip to Russia and taking off your shoes in the hotel lobby? 1:05 PM

Then he called me again right away. I can’t answer the phone! I get why he’s confused, but can’t we just meet and talk?

I look different now than when I was CEO Lim Hyun-seong. My scars are gone, and I’m even 20 years younger.

But if he just looks at me, he’ll recognize me. Of course. It’s me.

My original plan was to pretend to be a hidden relative or a son. I had a comfortable life thanks to what CEO Lim left behind, and I had no intention of claiming to be his successor. But I wanted to expose the owner’s crimes, so I approached him.

‘That was the plan.’

But I had no time to worry about anything else, as I was in danger of being blocked before I even made an appointment to meet him in person.

[Me] I can’t answer the phone. 1:05 PM

[Me] Let’s talk face to face. 1:06 PM

I wonder if he thinks I didn’t die and hid somewhere.

I sighed briefly and informed him of the time and place.

[Me] Come to Cafe △△ at ○○ Station by 2 PM. 1:06 PM

What does it matter what work you’re doing? You’re an executive, you can get out. I didn’t think much of it and just notified him, then closed the messenger.

A while later. The cafe I arrived at by bus was quiet, as the busiest time had just passed.

“Welcome.”

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The only part-timer seemed to be busy sorting out the inventory in the corner, as there were no customers.

‘The atmosphere is not bad.’

It looked like I didn’t have to worry about anyone overhearing us. I ordered the cheapest iced americano and sat down, and soon Kang Jinwoo rushed into the store.

He looked around as if he was looking for someone.

“Here.”

I raised my hand awkwardly and looked up at him. Kang Jinwoo’s face turned to shock and horror in an instant.

“What the hell is this…!”

He must have been surprised. He ran out after being called by someone he thought was dead. The person waiting for him was too young to be the one he thought was dead, but too similar to be anyone else.

“…How have you been?”

He looked shocked and then slightly happy, and his hair turned white. I was too tired to lie shamelessly.

I clenched my teeth to keep from saying anything unnecessary.

“What the hell… What happened? What’s wrong with you? Am I seeing things?”

Kang Jinwoo grabbed his head, wondering if he was hallucinating.

“Sit down.”

I calmed down my pounding heart and pulled up the status window, which had no warning messages even though I was deeply involved in Lim Hyun-seong’s affairs.

‘Status window.’

Then, on the empty screen with no functions, the remaining time, which had decreased by about four hours, was displayed.

[Remaining quest duration: 164 hours]

“Let me tell you the most curious thing first. It sounds crazy, but I’m dead.”

“What?”

Kang Jinwoo touched my shoulder, as if he couldn’t believe it, and was startled when he felt a person instead of a ghost.

“What are you talking about? This is not a dream or anything. What the hell is this…?”

“Believe it or not, I don’t have time, so just go with it. You know, like in the movies. Dead people come back to life for a few days and stuff.”

“You call that an explanation?”

Kang Jinwoo still looked confused, wondering if he was crazy.

“You’re not crazy, so don’t think weird things. How’s the company these days? You haven’t been fired, have you?”

I asked him in a familiar tone and accent, and Kang Jinwoo answered with shaky eyes.

“You’re worried about the company? Of course it’s a mess. And why would I get fired?”

It was quite surreal to sit face to face with a high school kid who looked like he was about twenty, and talk to him casually as a forty-something man.

Well… was there anything realistic that I experienced after my life as Lim Hyun-seong ended? I chuckled lightly.

“I thought you wouldn’t get re-contracted right after the contract ended, since you talk so politely.”

He didn’t answer, probably worried about the same thing.

“You’re fine, you have a lot of savings and your house must have gone up in that neighborhood, but I’m a bit worried about the other employees…”

“Ha. You worry about everything even though you’re dead. What do you mean it wasn’t suicide?”

Kang Jinwoo shook his head from side to side as if he had just come to his senses and asked abruptly.

“It’s exactly what I said. How could I kill myself at that timing, when I had just started a business of that scale?”

The handwritten will that my family provided to the media was a fake made by copying my handwriting. It had no legal effect anyway, it was just used as evidence to confirm my suicide.

According to my will that I never wrote, I had alienated my family for business gains, but I felt guilty inside, and I lost confidence in the success that I achieved by abandoning my family, and I felt ashamed and gave up on life.

‘What a joke.’

How could someone who was having a headache over the lawsuit with his family think that way?

How could it have been resolved so quickly? I could only think that it was the result of a collusion between the local police, the investigator in charge, and the lawyer.

“Ha… then are you saying you were murdered?”

I hesitated at Kang Jinwoo’s confused question.

If there were many bidders who expected to get some crumbs from my family’s cooperation inside…

‘Can I trust this guy?’

I didn’t have time to worry. He couldn’t stand his temper and raised his voice.

“Hey, isn’t that the most important thing? Why can’t you talk?”

Hmm. Yeah, with that personality, he wouldn’t have survived in the gap between those hyenas. I answered with relief.

“There must be a suspect. When did you see me worrying about my family?”

“Huh… no, yeah. That makes sense, but… ha… how can people be so shameless. No…”

Kang Jinwoo groaned as he washed his face with dry water.

“The company is in chaos right now. Your brother, no, the current president, wants to sell the shares you gave to your family and keep working as a salaried president, and some of the business units are shaking because of that…”

I expected it, but. It was going to the worst. He probably wanted to cash out quickly because he thought he would go bankrupt if he kept meddling, but he also wanted to keep his position as president.

‘He’s incompetent.’

I clenched my teeth and sighed.

“Help me. I don’t have much time.”

I had about a week left. If I couldn’t persuade Cheon Ise, I had to save the company somehow.

Kang Jinwoo was silent at my desperate request.

He must have had a lot of worries too. It was obvious that he was crazy in a situation where he claimed that he came back after dying.

It wasn’t even a fairy tale. And the magistrate of the fairy tale had the power of investigation and punishment. He was just an executive who received his salary from the company. And his life depended on the contract period.

So I couldn’t blame him if he didn’t volunteer. It was enough to be grateful that he told me the internal situation of the company or gave me some financial help.

After a while of silence, Kang Jinwoo opened his mouth as if he had made up his mind.

“…How?”

“…!”

I was surprised and grabbed Kang Jinwoo’s hand.

“Thank you, really. I’m glad I contacted you.”

Then Kang Jinwoo pushed my hand away with a disgusted look.

“What are you doing, gross.”

I had gotten used to the light skinship of these days’ kids, and I didn’t realize that I had made it a habit.

“No, yeah. Fine. Let’s move to another place first.”

I needed a more secretive place to make a concrete plan. It didn’t seem like anyone would suspect, but it was a weird combination.

“I’ve seen a lot of things in my life…”

Kang Jinwoo pinched his cheek as if he couldn’t believe it was real.

I was about to reflexively ask him if he wanted me to hit him, but I remembered a face and became solemn.

‘If I think I’ll never see them again… I should go see them at least once.’

I didn’t have the confidence to not break down even if they treated me like some weird crazy stalker.

‘But I can’t ignore them like this.’

I couldn’t just let go of that side either, for the sake of the employees who were on Cheon Ise’s shoulders.

‘I should go to a business hotel or something… no, wait. You don’t have any personal information right now, do you?’

Kang Jinwoo hesitated as if he was flustered, thinking of giving me a few 50,000 won bills and some accommodation fees before parting.

If this was the countryside, I could go to a guesthouse or something. But it was the middle of Seoul, and there was no facility where a minor could stay without proving their identity, except for a temporary shelter.

‘Where can I go? I can’t go to a PC room either. Because I’m a minor.’

Kang Jinwoo asked me with a worried expression, and I told him to go to the facility.

‘Won’t you get ripped off by some weird kids there?’

I was about to lecture Kang, the executive director, for his biased remarks, but then I realized I was not in a position to do so and stopped.

At least I had solved the internet problem with the device that Kang had hastily activated for me with his own phone plan, so the situation was much better than before.

‘Kang said he would take care of the company matters. Now I have to think about how to approach Climax again…’

I installed SNS and Y-app on my phone and added various idol communities to my favorites.

‘I hope nothing else has happened in the meantime.’

I entered the main screen with a nervous feeling and saw a headache-inducing title.

[Offbeat, to perform as a 7-member group for the time being]

What the hell are they doing now? I felt dizzy.