The three of them huddled together, whispering to each other at my question.
“Does he really not know why he’s asking?”
“He probably doesn’t. But at least he’s aware enough to ask if he made a mistake. That’s some progress.”
“Wow, hyung has reached enlightenment. If that’s progress, how bad was he before…?”
I can hear you, you brats.
And honestly, I don’t even know if I made a mistake. I’m just curious because the initial intention dropped, supposedly due to encouraging among members.
Looking down at their heads with disinterested eyes, Kwon Ha-jun patted the floor in front of him with his palm.
“Come on, Eden. Want to sit here and talk?”
Damn, shouldn’t have asked. This means Kwon Ha-jun’s nagging mode is on, which lasts at least 30 minutes.
Still curious, I plopped down. His deep brown eyes met mine with a serious gaze.
“Do you remember how much effort and hard work we put in preparing for our debut album?”
No. For me, it was seven years ago, so there’s no way I remember it in detail.
Kwon Ha-jun continued, seemingly taking my disinterested look as agreement.
“But disregarding all that hard work and effort and belittling us by saying ‘what did you expect from us’ is not the right attitude. It’s not fair to yourself either.”
So the problem was my cynical tone?
Still not understanding the issue, I scratched my cheek. I was just being honest.
Come to think of it, when did Kwon Ha-jun stop nagging before I returned?
I felt nostalgic for a moment listening to his long speech, but then I yawned as his lecture continued.
“You don’t look like you’re reflecting at all…”
“Shut up, Do-bin.”
Rising while pressing down on Kim Do-bin’s head, I ruffled his hair and said to Kwon Ha-jun,
“I’m going to wash up, so summarize it in three lines and tell me before bed.”
Ryu Jae-hee, stunned, asked Kwon Ha-jun behind me as I headed to the bathroom.
“Is that really considered progress?”
“If it were before, he would’ve blocked his ears and run to the bathroom no matter what I said. This is real progress. At least he’s willing to hear the summary now.”
“…Ha-jun hyung, are you Eden hyung’s mom?”
Ignoring them, I closed the bathroom door and took a deep breath. This always required mental preparation.
“Status window.”
Muttering almost inaudibly so no one could hear, the status window appeared.
Among the options, I opened the Weekly Quest window that had been incessantly blinking, urging me to check it.
[☞ Check the Weekly Quest!]
[▶ Post selfies and messages on official SNS at least 5 times a week (Initial intention +2)
▶ Search for fan reactions at least 6 times a week (Initial intention +2)
▶ Post on the fan cafe FROM board at least 4 times a week (Initial intention +2)]
[※ Completing all quests will grant an additional 10 initial intention points!]
[※ The quest list may change or be added to each week!]
[※ Failure to complete at least two weekly quests will result in penalties!]
“What kind of annoying quests are these?”
I scowled as I scanned the quest list. I could write another song in the time it takes to do all this, damn it. And there are even penalties for not completing them.
Clicking my tongue at the tough quests, I thought of someone before my return and let out a short exclamation.
These were all things the youngest, who was famous for loving fans, had been consistently doing. Ryu Jae-hee had done all this without any rewards?
Maybe he had returned before me and was controlled by the system…
[The Initial intention Recovery Project is exclusively for ‘Yoon Eden.’]
Oh, fine. Got it. If you’re that upset about me doubting the diligent fan-service guy, then fine.
Clicking my tongue at the system’s quick denial of Ryu Jae-hee’s control theory, I turned my attention back to the Weekly Quest.
If I complete this week’s Weekly Quest, I can gain 16 initial enthusiasm points per week.
Considering the debut period, it’s likely that only the basic quests are given now, so I can potentially earn more than 16 points per week if I don’t skip any.
‘It’s fortunate that my initial enthusiasm can still increase.’
As long as I don’t lose all my initial enthusiasm within a week, there’s a chance for recovery. If I can keep even 1 point by Sunday, I can prevent the regression.
After washing up and coming out of the bathroom, I entered the room I shared with Kwon Ha-jun and Seo Ye-hyeon, laid down on the mattress, and logged into the official SNS account provided by the agency.
REVE_official @LnL_reve
[YuJae Dream]
Dear fans!
This is my first greeting, I’m YuJae from REVE 😊
Did you enjoy the debut stage today? I still can’t believe we’ve debuted, it feels both real and unreal ㅎㅎ I’m looking forward to meeting our fans during our activities!
Let’s stay together for a long time! (hamster emoji)
#Reve #레브 #유제
(Photo)
Share 1 Quote 1 Like 3
I clicked my tongue at the sight of the youngest, who had already posted a selfie with a greeting on both the official SNS account and the official fan cafe’s FROM board.
That “Dream” next to his name was a pun Ryu Jae-hee had pushed, combining the English word for REVE’s meaning, “dream,” with the traditional Korean letter-ending “00 드림.”
Eventually, this became a standard for other members when they posted on the official account.
I could write something similar. As I read through his post, my eyes lingered on the hamster emoji.
He’s calling himself a hamster again.
Right now, he might look cute like a hamster, being the shortest in the team with a cute face, but in two years, 19-year-old Ryu Jae-hee will shoot up in height.
He’ll grow to be one of the tallest in the team, and his soft facial features will become much sharper, losing the hamster-like look.
But fans will still insist on calling him a giant hamster.
It’s fascinating. I’d hate being called a giant hamster, but he likes it and even brags about it.
Is it just a difference in taste?
‘I can’t exactly tell him that in the future, he won’t look like a hamster at all, so he shouldn’t use it.’
Oh well, the youngest can figure it out. Whether he’s a hamster or a sewer rat.
Scrolling through the clean feed, which only had a debut news link shared by some obscure media outlet, debut concept photos, and Ryu Jae-hee’s post, I found myself making a weird face.
I barely visited this official account before the regression. Even when I did, it was only a few photos Ryu Jae-hee forced me to take with him.
Since the quest required posting on the official account 5 times a week, I decided to complete the quest that required posting on the official fan cafe 4 times a week first.
[From. Eden]
(Photo)
Hello, this is Eden from REVE. Please take care of me.
I uploaded a formal greeting with an appropriate selfie from my phone’s gallery, presumably taken during trainee days.
It was the longest post I had ever made on the official board.
Before, I used to just post a line from a pop song I liked as a survival check-in.
[It has been detected that a post with less than 2 lines of effort has been written on the official board.]
[Initial Intention -1]
Ouch. Feeling a sharp pain again, I frowned.
This system is getting creepy. Detecting language, gaze, and even post effort.
Memorizing this new deduction reason, I touched the post to edit it.
‘There’s nothing to write about. We don’t even have fans right now.’
This is so annoying. What kind of situation is this? Can I just go back to the time when posting a song lyric was enough? Can’t you regress me back to my 7th year?
Sighing with each sentence, I forced out enough words to stretch the greeting to three lines and entered my room.
“Hey, if you sigh too much, you’ll age faster. Once aging starts, your skin and face will deteriorate quickly.”
Seo Ye-hyun, who was applying skin lotion, essence, eye cream, and moisturizer in order, said to me.
I wonder what fans would think if I filmed him and showed them. Would they criticize him for being pretentious, or would they praise him for diligently taking care of himself?
I’m sure the latter would be overwhelmingly more common.
“Well, unlike you, who’s only in charge of visuals, I’m the talented member, so it’s fine.”
Ouch, the pain shot through my body as soon as I finished speaking.
[Detected statement causing discord among members.]
[Initial Intention -1]
That guy is really narrow-minded.
I realized how he felt when he started bad-mouthing me at a drinking party, despite all the hard work I put into improving his skills. Why get upset over a comment like this? Is he a visual member or a talented member?
I don’t want to regress again, so I’ll have to be more careful with Seo Ye-hyun. I need to treat him like I’m praising a five-year-old. I’ve already lost 2 points of initial intention because of him.
Closing the lids of his basic skincare products, Seo Ye-hyun mumbled.
“Sorry for not being talented.”
“No need to be sorry. I’ll work you to the bone until no one can say you’re not the talented member.”
After staring at me for a moment, Seo Ye-hyun plopped onto his bed. He really is incredibly handsome, even seeing him every day.
“You really need to fix that shitty way of-”
Seo Ye-hyun’s words were cut off as the door suddenly burst open. Ryu Jae-hee poked his face and his phone through the gap.
“Oh, what? Eden, did you post on the fan cafe?”
“Why, am I not allowed to?”
“Aaah, I wanted to be the first to post! The fan-loving concept and title are mine!”
“Take it, take it. You can have the fan-loving title or whatever.”
I threw a pillow at the face of the youngest, who was spouting nonsense to an already troubled person.
For you, it’s a concept, but for me, it’s survival.
* * *
The first week of activities was coming to an end.
During our activities, the number of official account followers and fan cafe members increased slightly, but it wasn’t a significant number.
Even when I diligently searched to complete the Weekly Quest, the search results for “REVE” only showed our official account and a few random comments like, “Who are these guys? REVE?”
Searching for “Eden” brought up results for “anything” or other people named Eden, but not me.
“Hello, seniors! We are the rookie group REVE! Please take care of us!”
In the waiting room of a veteran group that had just made a comeback, we bowed at a perfect right angle to ensure we didn’t make any mistakes and handed out our debut album.
Of course, as soon as the album left my hands, it was tossed onto the waiting room table.
With the insincere comment, “We enjoyed your music,” accompanied by a fake smile and a pat on the back, we bowed once more to the senior boy group and turned to head to the next waiting room.
“Those guys will soon be on Arario TV and Showdown too.”
