NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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The concert ended in [great success]!
Fan Index +200
Recognition +100
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‘Nice!’
The 1 billion won revenue from the concert of my idol, ‘Iris,’ went into my pocket.
Of course, it wasn’t my real wallet.
It was the wallet in the smartphone game.
The game called ‘My Enter’ is a mobile game with the concept of becoming the CEO of an entertainment company, just as the title suggests.
Idols! How fantastical they were to someone like me, an ordinary person.
Although the game glossed over many details, it felt quite realistic to someone like me who didn’t know much about the entertainment industry.
With the continuous addition of content involving idols, I couldn’t help but get deeply immersed in this game.
Overall, the game had a light-hearted atmosphere, but there were many instances where a misstep could lead to failure, giving it a realistic touch.
I also experienced trial and error at first, but recently, I’ve become familiar with the game system and am now on a winning streak.
The group I formed, ‘Iris,’ is a 7-member girl group. As the name suggests, meaning “Goddesses of the Rainbow,” each member took on a color of the rainbow, and matching their outfits by color was fun…
“Joo-in! The New Year’s Eve bell is about to ring, aren’t you coming out to watch?”
“Oh, got it!”
I was admiring my pretty babies when my mom’s call from the living room brought me back to reality in an instant.
From being the virtual CEO of an entertainment company handling billions to being the real me, Shin Joo-in, lying on my bed in a ten-thousand-won T-shirt playing a mobile game.
The reality hit me hard, and I turned off my phone screen and left my room.
“There’s still 20 minutes left, why call me out so early.”
“It’s almost time.”
When I sluggishly came into the living room, my mom was sitting on the sofa eating fruit.
As soon as I plopped down next to her, her phone rang.
“Hello? Oh, Mrs. Minsoo. Yes, Happy New Year.”
The mom who called me out went into her room to take the call, leaving me alone in the living room.
An awards ceremony was on TV, but having been busy working recently and far from watching TV, it didn’t interest me much.
With time to spare until the bell, I picked up a piece of fruit and turned my phone back on, focusing on the game screen again.
Seeing the glamorous dresses on the awards show made me want to buy pretty clothes for my Iris babies too.
‘I wonder if there are any dress items among the outfits.’
I checked out the newly updated dresses in the game’s styling screen one by one.
Oh, this outfit would be perfect for the next album. Oh, this would look great for the concert finale.
Whether it was because of my bias towards my babies, the characters made with graphics looked incredibly pretty.
‘This would look beautiful for the year-end awards event.’
The year-end awards event, known to be one of the highest difficulty levels in the game.
My Iris, who won the Rookie of the Year award at the year-end awards in their first year, found it very difficult to go beyond that.
Now in their third year, it would be nice if they could at least win an Excellence Award.
Winning the Grand Prize would put them in the Hall of Fame in the My Enter game’s official community, but only a handful of players had reached that level so far.
‘I want to win the Grand Prize too.’
I dreamed of creating a Goddess of the rainbow in the truest sense.
Immersed in such dreamy thoughts, I was focused on dressing my characters when I heard the acceptance speech of someone on TV, speaking with a tearful voice.
[Thank you to my colleagues, employees, and my family who supported and encouraged my acting career. I am grateful to everyone who helped me stand here today.]
The person holding the trophy was an actress around my age.
“…….”
The reality hit me again, and I put my smartphone down on the sofa.
Her sparkling appearance on stage made me compare myself to her.
‘What have I achieved so far?’
I was so sure that the first company I joined after graduating from college would be the start of my bright career.
At first, I was hopeful. While my friends complained about their bosses, I was lucky to have a kind boss.
People say dealing with people is the hardest, but having a boss who understood and considered my situation as a new employee was a great blessing.
There were times when his excessive friendliness made me uncomfortable, but I thought it was just because I wasn’t used to socializing yet.
However, the qualities I thought made him a good boss were actually driven by his interest in the opposite sex.
Of course, I couldn’t accept it. He was a married man.
[If I made you uncomfortable, I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have done that… Let’s try to work things out without making it awkward.]
Seeing me distressed, he surprisingly apologized in a rational manner.
Back then, I naively believed his words.
I was too preoccupied with escaping the situation to think clearly.
Regardless of his seemingly rational response, the fact that he was hitting on a new employee despite having a wife was inherently irrational.
[Did you hear? Manager Kim from the planning team got involved with a really weird girl.]
[Wow. I know her. We joined the company at the same time, and I always thought her gaze was a bit off.]
When I came to my senses, my image at the company was that of a crazy woman chasing after a married man.
Even my boss, who heard the rumors, seemed apologetic and expressed his intent to clarify the situation.
I thought things would gradually improve, but.
‘It was that bastard who spread the rumors.’
I didn’t know. I didn’t realize that the guy who claimed to suppress the rumors was actually playing the victim and spreading them behind my back.
I had done nothing wrong, so I stood my ground, and because I stood my ground, I thought I had grown numb to the criticism.
But looking back, it was hell.
Even his wife got involved, and with no one to listen to my side of the story, I was left alone to endure the criticism until I finally broke.
Why did I have to live like this? When that thought crossed my mind, I just wanted to drop everything and escape that place as soon as possible.
I ended up leaving the company as if I were being fired.
I endured that place for five long years.
Those were five years I desperately wanted to erase from my life.
After quitting the company, I also gave up my apartment and moved back home to seclude myself.
Mom didn’t ask why I suddenly quit my job and came back, but she seemed to sense that something had happened from my demeanor.
I could endure the company’s madness, but I didn’t want to become an unfilial daughter.
As the memories I wanted to forget resurfaced, I felt exhaustion wash over me, and I closed my eyes.
I might have dozed off for a moment.
Deng—
Even in a half-asleep state, I heard the sound of the New Year’s Eve bell.
Deng—
I should make a wish…
Deng—
… Whether these past five years remain as the low point of my life or become the foundation for growth, I don’t know…
Deng—
I hope that from now on, only happiness surrounds me and my loved ones, making these past five years seem insignificant.
Deng—
Deng—
…….
[Now, we will announce the winner of the Music Award. The Music Award! The prestigious winner is…]
Amid the hazy consciousness, I vaguely heard the award ceremony announcement.
It seemed the bell ringing had ended while I dozed off.
I wondered if Mom finished her call and heard the bell.
[Irasol! Congratulations!]
If it was the Grand Prize, I thought I’d recognize the name, but it was unfamiliar.
Had I really been living so disconnected from TV?
[Irasol, as a solo artist, released the self-produced album
Hmm? Wasn’t it the Acting Awards just a moment ago?
My eyelids were heavy, and I couldn’t hear clearly.
I squinted and barely opened my eyes, seeing the TV screen through my blurred vision.
Was our TV always this big…?
[I want to first thank my fans who love my music…]
Chik-.
[Our company members… and… so much…#!&… I… ?!#%…]
Chichik-.
[
The TV screen turned to static, and then suddenly the screen switched, displaying an unknown phrase.
‘What the…?’
Was it still a dream?
***
Was it still a dream?
When I woke up, I was lying on a sofa I had never seen before.
One bedroom, one dressing room.
It looked like a house where a woman lived alone, but it was incomparable to the one-room I had lived in until recently.
All the furniture looked expensive. Moreover, in front of the sofa was the large TV I saw in my dream.
“What the, where is this?”
I was definitely at my parents’ house.
The senses were too realistic to be a dream, yet the situation was incredibly unrealistic.
Could a dream be this real? Feeling confused, I wandered around the house.
“Wow. This is totally my style.”
In the dressing room, only clothes that matched my style were hanging. At a glance, the sizes seemed to fit me perfectly.
The interior, too, seemed to be a realization of my dream home.
When I returned to the living room and turned on the TV, the morning news was showing scenes of people welcoming the New Year from all over the country.
Even when I opened the curtains to let in the sunlight, the view outside the window was incredibly realistic.
Was it not a dream?
Then what about mom…?
“Ah! My phone!”
Though the house was full of unfamiliar things, the phone left on the sofa was the same model I used.
It was a new model I recently replaced, having deleted all my contacts.
When I turned on the screen, the date was the same. January 1st.
Maybe I only turned off the screen last night; when I unlocked the phone, the game screen of My Enter appeared right away.
However, there was an unfamiliar quest window in the center.
Quests in My Enter were random events that appeared unexpectedly, often giving greater rewards than other events if completed successfully.
[
Suddenly, the phrase I saw on the TV screen in my dream came to mind.
Was what I saw in the game appearing in my dream, or was this still a dream and the phrase appeared again?
Anyway, the group I was raising was Iris, not Monochrome?
Somehow, the name felt familiar…
“Ah!”
Oh, I remembered.
Monochrome was the name of the first group I created when I started playing the game.
The group I experienced all kinds of trial and error with before getting used to the game.
Monochrome was a five-member boy group, and even after I focused solely on Iris, they hadn’t disbanded and still remained in the group management screen.
That was because of a tip circulating in the official community.
If you are short on money, create any group and use them to earn money.
So sometimes, when I spent too much on producing Iris’s albums and was short on funds, I would temporarily switch to Monochrome to earn money through their schedules.
But suddenly, a quest for Monochrome? And for the Grand Prize at the year-end awards?
‘No, this isn’t the main point!’
I turned off the game screen and opened my contacts to call mom.
But the contact list was empty.
‘How could there be an error so soon after getting a new phone?’
I had no choice but to dial the number directly.
[The person you are trying to reach is currently unavailable…]
Was she on another call for the New Year?
I tried to leave a message, but even the messenger contact list was empty. Sigh.
I registered mom’s number in the phonebook and pressed contact sync.
[(Unknown)]
Unknown user?
A growing sense of unease crept over me.
If this realistic dream was actually reality… Did something happen to me or mom?
Usually, when you realize it’s a dream, you wake up immediately, but no matter how much I pinched and hit myself, there was no sign of waking up.
As if urging me, a notification from My Enter appeared at the top of the phone screen.
[My Enter: A quest has occurred! Check it out now!]
Mesmerized by the alert, I touched the screen.
The loading screen of My Enter appeared, and then the quest window from before showed up again.
“Monochrome winning the Grand Prize… Quest reward…”
As I read the phrase carefully, I noticed the quest reward written below.
[
And
[Shin Joo-in] returns to reality.