Ch.10Do they think the police are just sitting around doing nothing?

A month after starting middle school.

I was living a relaxed daily life, to the point where I couldn’t even remember what happened on the second day of school.

“Hey, Kangsik. Aren’t you being too strict with us as friends?”

“Ah, n-no, but, b-but I can’t accept all these requests.”

“Come on, can’t you make an exception somehow?”

“…D-Donghu, c-calm down, this is just a notebook game.”

“That’s exactly what’s driving me crazy.”

Na Kangsik, a genius game developer who created AAA-grade games and even received a GOTY award.

True to his title as a genius developer, the notebook game Kangsik made was insanely fun.

It was just simply moving a character called Jollaman on a notebook.

How could something so simple be this fun?

I wanted to make in-game purchases, but Kangsik’s game philosophy was strict.

“P-paid items sh-shouldn’t affect in-game p-performance…”

“What if I buy you cup noodles today? Or Koko Burger? How about a Big Mac?”

“Th-then… I could add c-custom capes and weapon skins…”

“…You’re really strict, aren’t you?”

“S-sorry, D-Donghu, even if you’re m-my b-b-b-best friend, I can’t allow that.”

Even while stuttering, his eyes sparkle when it comes to game management.

This must be what it’s like to have a field you’re passionate about.

People with clear goals always looked cool.

Glance.

While listening to Kangsik, I checked my Facestorm account.

5,000 followers.

In less than a month since creation.

It was an impressive number considering I only posted my face without any interaction.

‘It’s a pathetic number compared to my previous life.’

Back then, SNS was actively thriving.

Now, SNS was still in its early growth stage, so it was natural to be behind relatively speaking.

‘Popular kids have around thirty thousand, I guess.’

I didn’t even bother with Cyworld since it was clearly going to fade away soon.

It was also ambiguous for making profits anyway.

“Donghu, don’t you feel bad for Kangsik? Stop whining and take your turn. Our break time is short, why are you doing this?”

Kim Minhyeok interrupted while I was thinking.

Kim Minhyeok. A guy who used to hang out with Park whatever’s group, got beaten up a few times, and then persistently tried to become my friend.

Since he wasn’t a bad person, I just let him be.

‘Thanks to him, we were able to resolve things by calling the police.’

After I made the self-proclaimed Shinbit Middle School’s number one, Park whatever, throw up.

He planned to bring upper classmen to beat me up.

But that plan reached my ears through Kim Minhyeok’s tip-off.

Before they could come after me, they had to have a conversation with the police first.

The age for juvenile protection is up to 14 years old.

Among those who were coming to deal with me were some third-year middle schoolers, so they were quickly taken to the police station.

This news spread throughout the school, even leading to internal disciplinary action.

‘Still, it ended well since no one got hurt.’

The problem came afterward.

Perhaps because they were delinquents living in a romantic era.

It was later revealed that they had stolen bicycles and motorcycles, which escalated the situation.

Because of this incident, police officers swarmed Shinbit Middle School.

Unintentionally, it became an opportunity to clean up the school bullies.

Looking at it this way, it was strange to see Kim Minhyeok so absorbed in the notebook game beside me.

“Do you think they know that you were the starting point of their downfall?”

“Starting point? What’s that? You’re using difficult words again.”

Kim Minhyeok said that and rolled the dice.

The twenty-sided die showed 17.

“Yes!”

With this, he could monopolize the iron ore vein.

By the way, this was exactly what I had tried to bribe for with a Big Mac.

Damn it.

‘What makes this notebook game so fun?’

Na Kangsik, you’re truly a genius of game development.

‘But he’s really handsome and cute.’

Sometimes when I’m playing around like this, my creepy self from my previous life surfaces.

Being handsome, I can regularly keep in contact with Shin Yerim.

Girls in my class squeal whenever I smile at them when our eyes meet.

To think I’m living the light novel life I only imagined.

A thrilling yet strangely gloomy feeling arose and then disappeared.

‘Let’s think positively.’

Thinking negatively wouldn’t change anything anyway.

“By the way, have you all decided what CA activity you’ll do?”

At Kim Minhyeok’s words, I realized, oh right, there was such a thing.

‘This was still the era when Saturdays were for playing.’

The five-day school week system was implemented from 2012.

Before that, students had to come to school every other Saturday.

Usually, they only had morning classes, often replaced with club activities.

“I, I’ll be in the c-computer club.”

Kangsik seemed firm since his career path was clearly set.

A look that said he would never change his mind. The problem was that his confident developer image was slightly amusing.

“What about you, Donghu? I was planning to join the same club as you.”

“Hmm, club activities…”

In the past, I just joined the library club.

Because I enjoyed reading books in the library.

But since this was a new life, I wanted to try something new.

‘Dance club… no, band? Should I join the band?’

The band club.

A somewhat leading position that always appeared during school trip talent shows or festivals.

I felt like I could do something now.

“…Should I join the band club?”

“Band? Do you know how to do anything?”

“I’ll be… the vocalist?”

“Really? Then I’ll join the band club too.”

I laughed helplessly at Kim Minhyeok’s natural decision.

You still haven’t broken your habit of following others, have you?

+++++++

At the time when Kim Donghu was deciding on his Saturday activity.

ST Entertainment scout Jin Kyungmi was staring intently at her computer screen.

“Kyungmi, what are you looking at so intensely? I’ve been calling you.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I think I’ve found a truly exceptional talent.”

“Exceptional talent? Who?”

*Slide*

Instead of answering, Jin Kyungmi showed the screen.

The boy on the screen looked incredibly young.

Clearly a middle school student.

At an age where baby fat was just starting to disappear.

But the potential of that face was unbelievable.

A face that couldn’t be easily defined.

Describing it as bewitching would be most appropriate.

Something beyond being handsome.

Like a fantasy of a single jewel constantly emitting different lights before your eyes.

How could a human face look like this? That’s what it felt like.

So naturally…

“Isn’t this all edited?”

It lacked realism.

Having been in the entertainment industry for a long time, such thoughts were inevitable.

How many times had they gone to meet Facestorm celebrities only to not recognize them in person?

In a world where even the most handsome people use editing, this level of manipulation seemed outrageous.

“It’s outrageous, truly outrageous. No matter how young…”

“I felt the same way at first, so I downloaded the images and examined them? But this isn’t edited.”

“What?”

“This is really his bare face.”

“…There’s really a kid who looks like this in Korea?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“Then why haven’t you contacted him yet?”

“He’s blocked everything, he’s completely blocked messages and even disabled comments… it’s like he knows he’s handsome.”

“Then we should go find him directly.”

“I was about to get approval for that… so can I go?”

The team leader laughed incredulously at Jin Kyungmi’s words.

“Why are you still sitting? Are you crazy?”

“Yes! I’ll bring him right away!”

And ST Entertainment wasn’t the only one thinking this.

YK and JHY Entertainment were the same.

All three major entertainment companies were looking at Kim Donghu’s Facestorm account.

Not only that, but the three major acting agencies—Cybers QA, Sapling and Tree, and Full Lady—were also looking at Kim Donghu’s account.

They were all heading to one place.

Shinbit Middle School.

Six entertainment companies began moving toward that destination.

+++++++

On the way home after school.

“Kim Donghu! You should have told me if you were joining the band club!”

“No, you were going to join the dance club anyway, right?”

“Oh please, why would I? On what grounds?”

I was being harassed by Shin Yerim.

By the way, after the Shinbit Middle School delinquent cleanup, Shin Yerim was scheduled to transfer to our class soon.

Being in the same class as Park Seokgu was the main reason.

They completely scattered Park Seokgu’s group across different classes.

“But do you know how to play any instruments?”

“No?”

“How can you join if you don’t know any?”

“What about you?”

“Me? I’m going to apply as a vocalist.”

“Then I’ll do piano, keyboard.”

“You just said you don’t know how to play anything.”

“I did Czerny 30.”

The representative childhood activities: piano, taekwondo, and Kumon.

Apparently, Shin Yerim had learned piano.

“Impressive, really…”

But I notice this every time we walk home—aren’t we strangely close?

We weren’t linking arms, but the distance between us was very close.

“Kim Donghu, you’re really popular on Facestorm, huh?”

“Am I?”

“Yeah, with a face like yours, don’t you get casting offers?”

“I blocked all messages?”

“Why?”

“It’s annoying.”

I kept it open for about a week.

But too many useless messages came in, so I just blocked everything.

Since advertising wasn’t fully activated yet, it was the right time to ignore all contacts.

‘SNS will grow bigger after some more time passes.’

Just in case, I had already set up a YouTube channel.

Since the concept of privacy protection was still weak during this period, I couldn’t upload vlogs.

But I was thinking about maybe uploading some gaming content occasionally.

‘Speaking of games, I could upload that next year.’

LoL.

An incredible game that started in 2011 and unified all games in South Korea.

With the gaming knowledge in my head now, I could quickly reach high ranks for sure.

‘But that’s for later.’

I thought nothing special would happen now. Just as I was about to take a step…

*Ring ring ring*

Suddenly, my phone rang.

“Huh?”

An unknown number.

“Hello?”

-Hey, weren’t you curious about me? Is it right that I’m calling you first?

“Uh…?”

But it was a voice I’d heard often.

The voice of my childhood desk mate came through the phone.

-Kim Donghu, you’re crazy.

In a somewhat more mature state.