* * *

“Weren’t you going to take me to the dorm?”

I stopped in front of a blue iron door and couldn’t take another step forward.

Beyond the door, I sensed the presence of four people.

Judging by the size of this ‘dorm’ from the outside, it seemed impossible for more than four people to live here.

“Are you sure this is the dorm?”

I asked again.

“Yes, it is.”

“Are you sure? It doesn’t look like it.”

No matter how I looked at it, it seemed unlikely, and I doubted it, but Gyuhyeong wasn’t lying. That made it even more difficult to understand.

“To anyone, this looks more like a storage room or a trash dump, doesn’t it?”

The smell coming from the crack of the door already suggested that.

It reminded me of when I entered a dungeon for training during my trainee days.

In the trash swamp, which was the first trial, there was a similar smell.

I was seven years old then and fainted right away due to the overwhelming stench.

So, what I’m saying is, there’s no way anyone could live here.

“Let’s go to another dorm. This isn’t the place.”

As I quickly turned around, Gyuhyeong grabbed me.

“Unfortunately, this is the only dorm we have.”

Gyuhyeong laughed awkwardly and pressed a six-digit code.

“I would love to move you to a better place, but as you know, our budget…”

The creaking of the dented iron door drowned out the rest of Gyuhyeong’s words. So, there isn’t enough budget?

“Let’s recover quickly, succeed, and move to a better place, okay?”

Gyuhyeong, with a good-natured smile, disappeared inside the door.

It’s hopeless.

Voices chatting and the stench hit my nose through the open door.

Ah— this really isn’t right…

“Kang Yichan, hurry up.”

This really isn’t right.

Because of Gyuhyeong’s urging, I finally stepped inside.

And immediately regretted it.

“Eeek! What is this?”

My eyes widened in shock.

This place is uninhabitable.

The entrance alone is the worst.

There are only four people, but so many shoes.

Dirty, smelly shoes were piled up, leaving no room to step.

Half of the strange smell seeping through the door crack must be coming from these shoes.

“Let’s go in.”

As I stared down at the shoes with wide eyes, Gyuhyeong gently pushed me forward.

I was pushed into the world’s worst dungeon.

* * *

A bedroom the size of a nostril, a living room the size of a nostril, a kitchen the size of a nostril, and a bathroom the size of a nostril.

All these nostril-sized spaces came together to form a nostril-sized house.

When I asked how five people could live in this cramped place, it turned out it wasn’t impossible.

In the nostril-sized bedroom, there were two bunk beds and a regular bed. Five people could sleep there.

Half of the living room was filled with clothes. The other half had a small table, a TV, and an audio system.

And the kitchen.

Instinctively, I covered my mouth and nose. This place couldn’t possibly produce food. Except maybe for various molds and insect colonies.

The problem with this dorm wasn’t just its size.

Yes, it’s dirty. It’s beyond dirty.

My conclusion was that this place was worse than the trash swamp, the worst trial among trainees.

With my left hand pinching my nose, I swept the sink with my right hand.

“Eek.”

I thought the sink’s surface was gold-colored, but it wasn’t.

It was a layer of dirt, from old to new, accumulated over time. And it was slimy…

How could such filth touch my precious self?

“Hey, you dirty guys!!!!!!!!”

I finally exploded.

This isn’t right, not even for a kid.

Suppressing the rising nausea, I instinctively grabbed a scrubber.

And frantically scrubbed the sink.

The source of the stench wasn’t just the shoes at the entrance.

“Are you guys beggars? How can you eat in a place like this?”

Mountains of unwashed dishes, food scraps stuck in between, piles of stinking laundry, an indescribable bathroom.

This dorm, dirtier than a dungeon’s filth pit, was a complete disaster.

And in such a place, what do you do?

“A welcome party?”

To my sensitive nose, this place was worse than a bottomless pit.

“How can you have a party when it stinks so much? Are you all out of your minds?”

“Hyung, you just got discharged today…”

While I roughly finished cleaning the sink and started washing dishes, Anchovy 1 and Anchovy 2 stood beside me.

Just as skinny as Kang Yichan, they were Park Roa and Kim Jaewon. They called me hyung, so they were younger than Kang Yichan. But still, dirty anchovies.

“Then at least take out the trash.”

I pointed to the trash bags Gyuhyeong had bought earlier.

But the two just blinked, not knowing what to do.

Sigh, do they really not know how to clean? Now?

When I threw the scrubber I was holding, the two flinched.

“I-I’ll do it.”

Then another anchovy popped out from behind the two.

This one was Yoon Siwoo. Same age as Kang Yichan, he said.

“I’ll handle the trash. I can do it.”

The guy who had been sneaking looks from behind gathered the trash scattered on what looked like a dining table.

This guy doesn’t seem to know how to clean properly.

Still, it’s better than nothing, so I’ll leave him to it for now, and as for these two…

“How about you two do the dishes?”

I pointed to the pile of dishes that had formed a mountain. The two kids’ eyes went wide.

They looked like rabbits playing on the hills behind Parapara, and my anger strangely subsided.

Although, they were still dirty rabbits.

“Us?”

“Unless you want to clean the toilets?”

“We’ll do the dishes!”

“Make sure you do it thoroughly.”

With that, I threw the door open.

There lay another scrawny kid, Han Junyoung, lying on the bed reading a comic book.

Finally, I got the last one to get up and handed him a rag to clean the floor. Only then did my anger subside.

2 a.m.

We barely finished cleaning.

Of course, it wasn’t perfectly clean.

A dungeon is still a dungeon; it can’t become a magic tower.

Watching the exhausted scrawny kids dragging themselves to bed, I finally got some time to myself.

In front of me was a laptop with a label reading “Kang Yichan.”

Let’s take a peek into the diary of this kid who supposedly enjoyed writing.

* * *

First mission, dungeon cleaning.

I must have overdone it. Every part of my body ached.

Having no muscles on such a skinny body, it’s no wonder I hurt.

“Yichan hyung, do you want me to apply some pain relief patches?”

Youngest member Jaewon approached with a white pain relief patch.

He had been applying patches to the team members’ bodies for a while now.

Pain relief patches.

From what I learned through language purification and media acquisition, those were like badges that weaklings stuck on themselves to boast about their effort.

A 9th circle archmage doesn’t need such badges.

I declined his kindness with silence and focused back on the choreography video Roa had put on.

An idol. So, they just have to show their pretty faces while dancing and singing on TV?

[Hey, Teacher Jun said to memorize the choreography first. Teacher Seongho will give you the separate parts for the song later, so you can listen to that.]

The ones who thought I had temporary memory loss were all radiating “worry.”

While some of it was for Kang Yichan, they seemed more concerned about the team falling apart.

Team disbanding, huh? That would be troublesome for me too.

Not knowing what the future holds, losing my support would be a headache.

‘Just pretend for now. Just enough to avoid disbanding.’

I had no intention of actively living Kang Yichan’s life. My previous life was too exhausting for that.

Barely escaping that life, I can’t live it again. Right?

Without taking my eyes off the screen, I maxed out the level of my second power, “Media Acquisition.”

A day passed, and I had memorized the entire choreography for LIT’s first album title track, “Only One.”

* * *

“Yichan.”

As I was leaving the dorm with my sneakers on, Yoon Siwoo called out.

“Practice starts at 10… Where are you going?”

Blade Entertainment was a ten-minute walk from the dorm.

The practice room was on the third floor, and starting today, I was to join their practice.

But there was a more urgent task than practice.

“Exercise.”

I answered nonchalantly and quickly left the dorm.

Exercise. What Kang Yichan needed was exercise.

Idols in this world were expected to have lean, muscular bodies.

But Kang Yichan was just skinny.

While being thin is better than being fat, lacking muscle made each day tough to endure.

Is a body that breaks down after a bit of cleaning really a body? It’s more like a paper doll.

“Let’s run. Like running in the hills behind Parapara, just run.”

It felt like going back to my trainee days.

I became a full-fledged mage at eight, passing the mage qualification exam at the youngest age.

I struggled with physical endurance during the harsh training.

My mentor made me run in the hills behind Parapara daily.

Running through the forest every day, the earth’s mana began to favor me, allowing me to use infinite mana freely.

“Those were the good times.”

I was startled by my own words.

Good times? What am I saying?

Am I seriously considering doing this?

“Are you crazy? No. I won’t. I can’t do it again.”

It may be miserable, but I somehow got a second chance at life.

Not knowing when this second life might end, I just wanted to live it quietly.

Being an idol is physically demanding, but I want to think of it as a vacation emotionally.

Leading a life constantly in the spotlight, receiving admiration and expectations was tiring.

Now, I want a quiet life without comparisons, competitions, or conflicts.

Living quietly and receiving the goddess’s call eventually would be the most peaceful outcome.

“Live quietly, and go quietly.”

Yes, that’s my decision. My goal for this second life.

If I lived my past life thick and long, this time, I’ll live thin and short.

Thin and short…

* * *