Became The Leader of a Girl Group Destined To Fail – Chapter 186

Chapter 186

After the filming of <Coloring> was over.

I immediately returned to the company’s studio.

Why didn’t I go back to the dorm?

Well…

“You said you had questions for me about the song?”

It was to meet Dan Ha.

Dan Ha looked puzzled, not understanding why I had called him.

It was understandable.

I had never been the one to suggest meeting up first.

“…Actually.”

I cleared my throat.

“It’s not about the song… I just have some questions, so I reached out.”

“…?”

Dan Ha’s eyebrows twitched.

He had a look that seemed to ask why I was asking him instead of Han Jae-i.

Well…

It’s because you seem a bit more human than that guy.

Han Jae-i seems like he would try to use whatever I say to his advantage.

“Senior.”

“Yes.”

“Can you recognize what this is?”

I showed him the string of texts I had received from the fluffy ball.

If he recognized what it was, it meant he was also a contractor like me.

If he had no idea what it was, he was just an ordinary person.

Or, he was a contractor pretending to be an ordinary person.

“…!”

As expected, Dan Ha’s eyes immediately wavered.

He recognized it.

“I won’t ask anything that would harm you, Senior. Please, if you know what this is… could you tell me?”

“…”

Dan Ha looked at me with a very dark expression.

“You already have an idea of who I am, don’t you?”

“…Nokha.”

It was clear.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“…”

Dan Ha lowered his gaze and fell into thought for a moment.

Then, he took a deep breath.

“Can I ask you just one thing?”

“Ah, yes. Please go ahead.”

“Why are you in someone else’s body instead of your own, Nokha?”

Uh…

That was a difficult question to answer.

“That’s because the fluffy ball told me to.”

“…Fluffy… what?”

“The one who made the offer.”

“You call it fluffy?”

Dan Ha looked at me incredulously.

“Then what do you call it, Senior?”

“…‘It.’”

Dan Ha spoke as if it was the most obvious thing.

“It doesn’t really look like fluff… Why do you call it that?”

“It looks like fluff to me…?”

“…?”

We looked at each other with eyes full of confusion.

“It seems to appear differently to different people. What does it look like to you, Senior?”

“A black… shadow?”

“To me, it looks like a fluffy… kind of cute animal.”

“It’s discriminating against humans. Appearing cute only to people it likes.”

Is that so…?

Dan Ha let out a hollow laugh.

“Well, anyway. Back to my question. So, you didn’t enter someone else’s body because you wanted to, Nokha.”

“No. From the start, I was asked to enter Yoon Cheong’s body… and save Steel Blue.”

“…It’s a bit different from us. We… Jae-i was the first to receive the offer.”

Dan Ha began the explanation.

The first life.

Although Burn Ash was quite successful as a group, there was always a sense of regret among the members.

The regret of feeling that they could do better.

Just when they thought that they could truly do better if they tried once more.

Han Jae-i was the first to receive the proposal.

“Do you want to try just one more time?”

Thus, Burn Ash got a second chance.

“Were there any talks about compensation?”

“Compensation? Ah.”

Dan Ha nodded.

“They said that if we succeeded in the second world, we could live there permanently.”

It was the same reward as Dahin’s.

It seemed most contractors received such rewards.

“May I continue?”

“Yes, please do.”

But they said they didn’t know back then.

They were too young and naive to realize how significant a decision it was.

They thought a second chance simply meant turning back time.

They didn’t know it meant crossing over to a parallel world.

“In the second world where we tried again, we failed. No, to be precise… it wasn’t a complete failure. We still managed to achieve some fame. However, our results weren’t as good as before we regressed. We were all too confused during our activities… and above all, Jae-i’s greed was too much. He wanted to do everything perfectly and have everything to himself.”

I understood how he felt.

Knowing all the information.

He must have been desperate to use it.

And unlike me, he crossed over with all the members.

It must have been much easier.

But it turned out to be too much of a good thing.

“Jae-i really regretted it. He wished he had stayed in the first world.”

“…I think I would have felt the same.”

“But… we couldn’t return to the first world.”

“Why not? Did the fluffy thing… I mean, ‘it’ interfere?”

“No. On the contrary, ‘it’ said to let them know anytime if we wanted to go back.”

Dan Ha sighed.

“The problem was us.”

The regrets lingered.

The attachment lingered.

Even after repeating life twice, the humiliation of failure remained.

So, they said they wanted to give it one last try.

“Jae-i was the first to start persuading us.”

Especially Han Jae-i had the most regrets.

As the group leader, he felt more burdened.

His desires were greater.

Knowing the talents of the members, he couldn’t let go.

Thinking that Burn Ash’s lack of success was entirely his fault, he couldn’t give up.

If he thought it was because they lacked talent, he would have given up quickly.

But thinking that they had the talent but failed due to poor strategy, bad luck, and wrong choices.

That thought held Han Jae-i back.

“We couldn’t refuse Jae-i’s words. We all knew how he felt. So… we all decided to give it one last try. And that’s this world.”

“Did the fluffy thing accept all that?”

“…Nokha.”

“Yes.”

“That fluffy thing… do you know why it’s doing this?”

Only now did I see it.

The sense of discomfort between us.

Why I felt uncomfortable listening to Dan Ha’s words.

Dan Ha knew something I didn’t—

“‘It’ benefits from us constantly working without rest and staying as idols for longer.”

That was it.

“Pardon?”

“‘It’ feeds on people’s joy, happiness, love, and altruistic feelings. From what I know, there are dozens of worlds ‘it’ is involved in. ‘It’ needs to feed on positive emotions from each world to survive… That’s why ‘it’ makes these contracts.”

Dan Ha continued calmly.

“So, I’ve heard that ‘it’ made contracts with many idols in many worlds besides us. The more we wanted to renew the contract, the more ‘it’ liked it. We were a group that showed relatively good results.”

“…I had no idea.”

This was another shock.

“We also heard from other contractors. There are more contractors in this industry than we thought.”

Dan Ha smiled bitterly.

“It means that this industry makes people that desperate.”

I didn’t respond.

Though my motivation was different…

I came here because I was desperate too.

“But.”

Dan Ha lifted his head.

“I heard that very few succeed.”

“!”

This was a rather surprising fact.

“Just because they got a second chance, doesn’t mean everyone succeeds. ‘It’ said so too. Most fail. Considering that, we were very successful.”

“…I see….”

“It’s rare to completely change fate like Nokha did. Since we were already a well-known group in the first world, it was relatively easier for us…. Originally, Steel Blue was….”

“Destined to fail.”

“Yes. Nokha is probably the only one who pulled a bottom-tier group to the top like this. Others, at best, only improved slightly compared to before.”

Is that so?

Indeed, Dahin also mentioned that she was upset because things didn’t go as planned.

She thought she could accomplish anything if given a second chance.

But it wasn’t like that at all.

…Changing fate isn’t easy.

“Why idols, specifically?”

“Pardon?”

“There are so many ways to create positive emotions. But why idols, specifically?”

“Ah.”

Dan Ha gave a bitter smile.

“Don’t you know, Nokha?”

“?”

“There aren’t many professions where one person can evoke such joy and affection in so many people all at once.”

…Right.

That made sense.

I understood.

A profession that received this much love…

Really isn’t common.

“Then… senior. Can I ask just one more question?”

“Yes.”

“You’ve experienced three different worlds, right, senior?”

“…That’s correct.”

“Did you see Baek Nokha in all those worlds?”

“!”

Dan Ha’s eyes widened at my question… then narrowed.

It seemed like an unexpected question.

“No.”

“…!”

“I only saw Nokha in the first world.”

Dan Ha looked bewildered.

“Now that I think about it. I didn’t realize it before, but… I only saw you on stage in the first world.”

“As I thought….”

“And…”

Dan Ha hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“I haven’t seen a case where someone entered another person’s body… other than you, Nokha. All the other contractors I know went into their own bodies.”

I couldn’t respond.

Dan Ha’s eyes were demanding an explanation from me.

But I didn’t have any answers either.

“So we were constantly confused. The voice was undoubtedly Nokha’s… but why was it someone else? We wondered if you were really the same contractor as us, or… if there was something else.”

Dan Ha’s eyes trembled slightly.

“Maybe you’re asking me all these questions because you have a dilemma.”

“…Yes.”

“Choosing between the first world and the second world.”

He was spot on.

Of course.

He must have faced the same dilemma as me.

“We chose a third option, so I can’t really give you advice. But.”

Dan Ha gave a faint smile.

“Maybe… there’s a third option for you too, Nokha.”

A third option.

Yes.

That’s what I needed right now.

I couldn’t choose just one.

Both had become precious to me.

In that case…

I had to find a third option.

<Member Profile>

Name: Baek Nokha

Height: 165 cm

Foot size: 230 mm

Vision: L: 0.3, R: 0.1

Position: Solo

Family: Mother

Education: Eunhwa Elementary School, dropped out of Eunhwa Middle School. Passed GED.

Birthday: April 7th

Blood type: O

Hobbies: Riding a bicycle alone, playing the guitar

Motto: The world keeps turning anyway.