WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

[ Translation - Aren ]

I'm a Reporter, Please let me get off the Stage

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Chapter 1

I couldn’t breathe……

Was this a nightmare?

Intense fatigue weighed down on my entire body. I felt like I was wrapped in a thick winter blanket.

But why did I still feel cold?

My hands and feet were so cold that it was almost painful.

I tried to stretch out my hand, but I couldn’t grab anything.

……By the way, didn’t one usually wake up when one felt too cold?

I felt completely dazed because of the cold…… Wait, this……

‘Puha!!’

Was I actually about to die?

Only after I felt that my death was imminent did I manage to open my eyes.

I could faintly see something right before me.

Crushed Coke cans, empty cup noodle containers, wooden chopsticks……

They were floating in the air.

What the hell was this? Zero gravity? Did sleep paralysis let you experience floating in space?

When I opened my mouth in complete confusion, air bubbles burst out of it.

……Wait, air bubbles?

I wasn’t dreaming or rolled up in a blanket right now……

I was inside water.

‘Save me!!’

I tried to scream with all my might, but all that did was let precious oxygen escape my mouth.

Water rushed down my throat.

This is scary.

Why was I splashing around in the water in the middle of winter?

Was this some kind of punishment game I wasn’t aware of?

But now wasn’t the best time to question this.

Now that I had come to my senses a bit, I had to act. If I was just a bit too slow……

‘If I think about anything else right now, I’ll die.’

I grit my teeth and waved around my arms and legs.

I somehow tried to reach the faint light I saw in the distance.

I was finally able to get my head above the water.

“Puha!!”

Wheezing, I roughly breathed in the oxygen I had been lacking.

When I looked around, I found myself in the middle of a body of water.

It was a very dark night. Even the moon was covered by thick fog.

I could see an arched bridge in the distance as well.

……That was the Mapo Bridge.

The Han River?

I thought I had been tied up and dumped into some deserted reservoir.

I was actually splashing around in a surprisingly quiet and normal place.

A view on the Han River was a sign of wealth.

To live in an apartment where one could get lost in thought while looking at the river reflecting the rising sun’s light every morning, was also something I, Park Doyoon, a reporter in the entertainment department of an online media company, desired. 

But would I actually go to such an extreme extent as to throw myself into this river?

Did I actually love the Han River so much that I threw myself into it?

Did I go crazy or something?

Did I get that drunk last night?

While I was in the middle of lamenting, I felt some vibrations going through my body.

I looked all around me and saw a boat approaching from afar.

They were the human fishers, the Han River rescue team.

I just left my helpless body in their hands.

I lost consciousness due to the relief of ‘surviving’ I felt and the extreme cold.

* * *

And when I came back to my senses again I was on land fortunately.

A blanket was covering my body properly.

I also couldn’t see any flying instant noodle cups around me either.

I grabbed my throbbing head and raised my upper body.

I also rubbed my arms, which were still stiff from the cold I had experienced earlier.

Other than this severe headache, it seemed like there was nothing wrong with my body.

I could see three other beds with curtains around them in the room.

This seemed to be a four-person hospital room.

Now that I had some time to think, naturally……

The faces of my coworkers came to mind.

How weird. Today was supposed to be a weekday.

Around this time, my boss or the director should have come here, kicking up a fuss about how I wasn’t able to go to work or something……

Has the news of me almost drowning not reached the company yet?

In that case, this would be an unauthorized absence.

Meaning, threatening messages like ‘Do you want to die?’ should be filling my inbox.

“Sigh…… I’d rather die.”

I murmured as I looked for my phone.

However, even after I lifted this paper-thin blanket and the pillow, I couldn’t find my cell phone.

Even if my belongings I had with me broke after I fell into the water, shouldn’t they have at least returned them to me?

That was when I felt like I was in some deep trouble here.

The door opened loudly before a young man poured into the hospital room.

“Hyung!”

It seemed like that young man was here to visit another patient in this hospital room.

I felt a bit sorry for him seeing his youthful face so pale.

“Hyung?”

Wait.

“……Me?”

He meant me?

“Why would you do something like that?! Are you crazy?!”

Who was that guy? He didn’t even give me enough time to ask him that.

Just who the hell was this temperamental kid……?

“I…… I’m sorry.”

I had no idea what was going on, but I should apologize first.

“Why did you have to do something that you’ll feel sorry for? If you were having such a hard time, you should have talked about it!”

The boy’s eyes suddenly became teary.

Things became even weirder. How should I react to this?

Should I ask him who he was? If I did that……

“You don’t even know that……?”

Yeah, no, I couldn’t do that.

Just look at those eyes. Although they were dripping with tears, they sure looked fierce.

If I made even one wrong step here……

The hard work of those human fishers who had fished me out of the Han River might go to waste.

While I made repeated, half-hearted apologies, a man quickly entered the hospital room through the open door.

He seemed to be in his late 40s.

He looked at me with a stiff expression on his face, seemingly having mixed feelings……Wait.

That person wasn’t unfamiliar to me. This person was…

“……Kim Kyosik?”

Kim Kyosik, the CEO of ZU Entertainment?

I was obviously familiar with this person.

“What? What did you just say?”

When I looked at him again, his eyes and mouth seemed severely stiff.

Even more so after I called his name. His expression actually became even more somber.

Should I have called him CEO? I mean, things like that tended to happen when someone was surprised, but wasn’t that kind of petty……?

Well, if a reporter called one by their first name like a close friend without even trying to use one’s title, I was pretty sure their face would also scrunch up.

However, regardless of how his face looked, I had one very fundamental question.

That guy…… Why was he here before me making such a scary expression?

“Did you do this on purpose to make me feel guilty?”

“What? Me?”

What did my falling into the Han River have to do with making him feel guilty?

…… I wanted to say something, but I held back.

“There are limits to trying to garner sympathy!”

So why was he still attacking me like that?

“Mr. CEO, why are you talking like that to someone who basically died and came back to life?”

That little boy who still had tears in his eyes also seemed angry.

I inadvertently looked at his face again.

However……

Hey, this wasn’t the first time I had seen that face, right?

I didn’t really see him in person, but I could clearly remember.

His visuals were rather unique, combining cuteness with sharpness.

However, those looks had been completely overshadowed by the bright orange hair he had during his past activities.

But his mental strength was exceptional, only giving his leader, Ahn Yuyoung, quite a bit of anxiety.

He possessed so much positive energy bordering on madness……

“……Iro?”

The rapper of the group WEEKANIZ.

He was the youngest member who turned 21 this year.

I was certain. This guy was Iro.

But what did that guy have to do with me?

Did those two decide to kill me or something?

Did they want to actually turn me into a corpse after I barely avoided drowning?

Would the rescue team’s hard work really be trampled on like that?

“……Hyung, why are you like this?”

But that little guy seemed far too hesitant and soft to say that he wanted to kill me.

“Huh?”

I really had no idea what was going on, so all I could do was let out some dumb sounds.

“Why are you suddenly calling me by my stage name? Are you angry?”

……?

Why couldn’t I call him by his stage name? While I didn’t know much, I fortunately did know his real name.

“……Ire?”

Only then did his face lighten a little. I was glad that he was rather simple.

“Hyung, I was really scared that I would never get to see you again……”

Drip.

Drip, drip.

“Are you crying?”

In the end, he started crying.

I felt sorry seeing him with the corners of his mouth drooping and heavy tear drops falling from his eyes.

I never heard that he was that weak mentally.

I patted his back a bit and brought out the words that Kim Kyosik had said before again.

“……Garnering sympathy?”

“Let me ask you just one thing.”

A sharp and stinging gaze poured over me.

I felt wronged here.

“Did you do this because you want to continue being an idol or something?”

“Wait, what?”

“Did you risk your own life because you wanted to see me suffer?”

Iro or rather Ire dropped his head, his eyes still wet, at these words.

On the contrary, I raised my head high.

And, without a shred of hesitation, I snatched the cell phone from Kim Kyosik’s hand.

“What are you doing, you idiot? Why aren’t you answering me?!”

I pretended like I didn’t hear Kim Kyosik’s angry shouts, turned on the phone’s camera app and switched to selfie mode.

“You punk, how can you take a selfie in a situation like this?!”

The pale face showing on the phone’s screen was definitely……

Ahn Yuyoung’s.

……Someone who wasn’t supposed to be in this world anymore.

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