Ch.217217 – The Phantom of the Opera 2

# 217 – The Phantom of the Opera # 2

Idol Christina, real name Jeong Sujeong.

She said she had lived for her dream of becoming an idol since she was very young. How young? Almost since she was in kindergarten, apparently.

“When I watched the older girls on TV, I thought I wanted to be like them too.”

The dazzling spotlight of the entertainment industry shown in the media tended to stir the hearts of boys and girls. But Jeong Sujeong had already half-given up on her dream despite her young age.

“I lived with just my father. My mother passed away when I was young, and my father worked day labor jobs…”

Becoming an idol required costs for education and training.

The life of a trainee had many aspects that weren’t easy for a girl from a financially struggling family to endure.

“My father supported my dream. He told me, ‘Sujeong, you can definitely do it, so don’t give up on your dream.’ Saying that, he even started working as a designated driver.”

Under her father’s sacrificial support, Jeong Sujeong became an idol trainee at the age of around ten, living and training together with other children through thick and thin.

But there was a problem.

“…I couldn’t dance well or sing well.”

Currently, Jeong Sujeong’s appearance was objectively pretty. She truly had that “idol” look. But if you asked whether being an idol was just about having a pretty face, the answer was no.

According to Kwon Sua, being an idol was a kind of “charisma.”

A charisma that captivates people.

Apparently, you needed something that could drive people crazy and make them pour out their devotion and passion through the screen to succeed.

“I absolutely had to succeed. For my father who was working so hard for me. And for my mother in heaven, I really wanted my name to spread throughout the world.”

Among the rough gems who wanted to become famous, Jeong Sujeong made various painful efforts.

Perhaps as a reward for such desperate determination, Jeong Sujeong was able to become a member of a newly formed group at the age of 15.

“But I needed something. Something more decisive. I thought that even though I had become an idol, if I stayed as I was, I would just be one of countless stars that would disappear.”

In reality, Jeong Sujeong’s group “Nymphia” didn’t even get a chance to shine briefly, receiving surprisingly little public attention.

The agency where Jeong Sujeong belonged was deeply concerned as the group they had finally launched was sinking from the start of its voyage, and eventually decided to try a certain ‘taboo.’

“Taboo?”

“Ghosts! Ghosts!”

Kwon Sua shouted abruptly.

Seeing her trembling, it seemed she both feared and resented ghosts.

Kwon Sua explained.

“You’ve heard those stories, right? If a ghost’s voice gets recorded in a song, that song is destined to be a hit! It sounds like superstition, but our entertainment industry is sensitive to such beliefs.”

The entertainment industry—a sunny life among the sunniest. Those who gathered there, desiring honor, fame, and wealth, would stop at nothing to get what they wanted.

The more desperate and earnest people were, the more they were susceptible to temptation.

“Our CEO really likes those things. Superstitions. Before releasing an album, he makes us perform rituals or buys talismans, boils them, and makes us drink the water.”

The superstition-loving CEO searched and found a recording facility haunted by ghosts. It was the recording facility in office #5 on the second floor of broadcasting station K.

For various reasons, the office had been tightly locked, but after spending a lot of money, they got permission to use it and began recording their new album there.

“You know the result, right?”

Jeong Sujeong straightened her shoulders somewhat confidently.

I honestly shook my head.

“I don’t know.”

I hadn’t had time to listen to recent idol songs.

Soon, Kwon Sua exclaimed dramatically.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never heard ‘Ratta-ratta Ratta-tui’? People say it plays in every advertisement when you just turn on the internet, and it’s the background music in every café with open doors!”

It was a song with a strange title. Listening to the song Kwon Sua played, I thought I might have heard it somewhere before.

The chorus went “ratta-ratta” with strange interjections, and if this kind of song was played in various stores like a round song, it might drive you crazy as if possessed by a ghost.

“So was a ghost’s voice really recorded in that Ratta-whatever song?”

“Yes. It’s this part.”

The chorus section.

Among the women’s voices, wasn’t there a voice that went “Ah—”? It gave me goosebumps, not in a bad way, but in an impressive way.

It was an incredible tone. It created a perfect harmony.

“A ghost recorded with us! There’s no way a male voice could be this beautiful!”

Kwon Sua trembled.

She seemed to think this tone was a male voice. Kwon Sua was an expert when it came to listening to music and sounds. I wondered if this beautifully resonating voice was really from a ghost.

“There’s a rumor that this broadcasting station is full of souls who died without becoming idols! They participate in the recordings! Ghost-possessed songs drive people crazy!”

I thought what drove people crazy wasn’t ghosts but the incomprehensible hook song with the chorus “ratta-ratta ratta-tui” destroying their frontal lobes, but I swallowed those words.

Because Jeong Sujeong’s story wasn’t over yet.

“Some members got goosebumps about chorus parts that weren’t scheduled or recorded, but I saw it as an opportunity. If only I could meet this ghost…!”

Jeong Sujeong’s desire to be an idol was so great that it could overcome her fear of ghosts and death in some ways.

She said that after midnight, she went to the darkened second-floor office, put a kitchen knife in her mouth, held a candle, and looked into a mirror to meet the ghost.

“That’s a kind of séance.”

Long ago, there was a rumor that if you looked into a well, mirror, or water-filled basin where your face was reflected while holding a kitchen knife in your mouth at dawn, you could see your future spouse.

This was a kind of séance to summon ghosts, which was somewhat dangerous. Séances by beginners usually fail, but some actually succeed.

“He really appeared through the mirror. A white man with no face…!”

“It’s a ghost! A faceless egg ghost!”

Kwon Sua was still making a fuss.

But Jeong Sujeong thought differently.

“He’s not a ghost. He’s just a person. Wearing a mask. And he has a natural talent for singing and composing lyrics and music. He just doesn’t appear in front of other people.”

A masked man.

A natural talent for music.

“…The Phantom of the Opera?”

I thought about the music ghost that might exist in the broadcasting station. Speaking of music ghosts, I remembered the rhythm ghost with the stretched neck I met in the music room, which made me feel bad.

That guy, I’ll teach him a lesson if I ever meet him again.

“From then on, my secret meetings with that man began.”

Jeong Sujeong said she often met the man at dawn in the broadcasting room. The faceless man became Jeong Sujeong’s vocal coach.

He trained her in vocalization, breathing, techniques, and everything he knew without holding back.

Why?

If that man was really one of the ghosts staying at the broadcasting station as Kwon Sua said, there must be a reason why he gave special training to Jeong Sujeong.

Regarding this, Kwon Sua gave a very plausible opinion.

“He’s trying to steal her body! After making her successful as an idol! He wants to take over her body and enjoy that glory! Ghosts always long for the warmth of living people!”

It was a reasonable theory.

Soon, Kwon Sua trembled again.

“That means ghosts might appear to try to steal the body of me, Kwon Sua, who was once the top idol, if I stay in this broadcasting station! Eek!”

Wasn’t it 8 years ago that Kwon Sua was the top idol? After 8 years, I wondered if ghosts might have forgotten Kwon Sua’s name by now.

The entertainment industry is as fickle as a wave-washed beach. Words written on the sand easily disappear with the waves of time.

“That man is not a ghost. And the reason he helped me is because he loves me. There’s no other explanation. I can tell.”

An idol is a profession sensitive to gazes.

Jeong Sujeong said she could feel the man’s strong desire for her through the white mask. She believed he loved her.

“I can’t just stand by thinking my precious junior idol might get hurt or die because she’s bewitched by a ghost. We need to help her. Look at her eyes. She’s already half-bewitched.”

Indeed, there was something like desire writhing in Jeong Sujeong’s gaze. If, as Kwon Sua said, a ghost was seducing her and making her mind strange…

# # #

Whatever the case, it seemed best to meet this broadcasting station ghost directly. If it was the kind of ghost that harmed people, I thought it would be good to turn it into points.

At 2 AM. The man appears when no one is wandering around the second floor of the broadcasting station.

“He fears other people’s gazes. I don’t think he’ll come out if you’re here, senior.”

We decided to hide in the darkness of the broadcasting station to trick the shy ghost. Fortunately, I had an item needed for times like this.

“Invisibility Cloak: This hides the appearance of the person covered by it. It’s an item used by wizards in ancient times.”

This was an invisibility cloak. It was a gift sent by my parents who had traveled to England, and it was a properly effective item.

When we covered ourselves with what looked like a black cloth, our appearance disappeared like ghosts.

Waiting for 2 AM in that manner.

The gloomy broadcasting station felt more terrifying and eerie than expected. Thinking back to the days of wandering around the darkened school, the breath of Kwon Sua, who was under the cloak with me, became rough.

“There are many ghosts in broadcasting stations. I used to be afraid of this place.”

Kwon Sua must have recalled memories from long ago when she still unilaterally feared ghosts.

Soon, the bell announcing 2 AM rang in my head.

Dong dong-.

“Are you there?”

Jeong Sujeong, standing in front of a large mirror, shouted.

It was a wall mirror large enough to reflect her entire body with space to spare.

“I came to meet you today too!”

Step, step-.

Soon, a person’s white face appeared in the mirror. It was a face as bright as the moon shining in darkness. He spoke.

“Don’t turn around. Just look at the mirror and talk.”

It was a voice with a tone that stirred the hearts of listeners. Just when I thought it might really be the work of a ghost, Kwon Sua trembled in great fear.

Ghost. Thinking that Kwon Sua’s fear of ghosts was still the same, I firmly held her hand to reassure her.

“It’s okay. If it’s a ghost, we can just exorcise it.”

“That…”

The reason Kwon Sua was trembling was not because she saw a ghost.

“It’s not a ghost. It’s human.”

A man who appears wearing a mask at 2 AM.

In some ways, that was scarier to Kwon Sua than a ghost.