The Goal is the Ending Fairy - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Translator: Iris
Proofreader: Floor

– Clack clack

In a silent room with the lights off, only the sound of my keyboard broke the stillness. 

The game that I, a former FPS pro gamer, had recently fallen in love with was…

>[5 Combo Clear! Wow, the cheers from the fandom ‘I’ are growing louder!] 

…none other than the idol nurturing simulation, <Happy Idol! Nurtured By My Own Hands>.

This game requires the player to choose a character and meticulously control its idol activities. 

Moreover, due to its extremely realistic structure, every single choice dictates the character’s fate… a truly extreme game. 

It wasn’t just once or twice that this vicious game drove me crazy. 

>[All Combo! Congratulations!] 

>[You have completed all final tasks for the ending! As a reward……] 

Still… It’s been a long journey, Seo Dana. All that hardship is finally over today. 

In just a moment, the long-awaited grand ‘Awards Ceremony’ will begin. 

The ‘Awards Ceremony’ is the game’s largest annual event, marking the end of the year. 

I even rushed to finish the piled-up tasks just for this.

The current time is 23:59.

I worked myself to death because the game scores are tallied at 0:00. The result is that I somehow finished all the main tasks… 

>[It is 0:00! Revealing the results of the 20XX ‘Evening Server’ Awards Ceremony.] 

Now, all I have to do is patiently wait for the result. 

>[Calculating ranks… Moving to the ‘TBQ Awards Ceremony’…] 

>[Loading Awards Ceremony…] 

“Ah, please…” 

Seriously, you jerks. How much money did I spend on microtransactions here? 

>[…] 

If I don’t win the Grand Prize this time, I’m quitting this game, seriously. 

>[Loading Complete!] 

Not long after my grumbling, a new, flashy screen window opened. 

>[Results Open! │ Click] 

After taking a deep breath and hovering the mouse around several times, I was finally able to press the results button.

– Swish! 

The sound effect accompanying the results of the ’20XX Season’. 

I slowly scrolled the mouse upwards from the bottom, fixing my eyes on the ranking screen.

‘Please, please…!’ 

My ID wasn’t in the middle ranks, so with a swelling heart, I scrolled to the very top…

>[Congratulations!] 

“Huh?” 

Wait, seriously? 

However, despite the expectation I had when seeing the 1st place spot, the Grand Prize section read:

>[Top 1 (Grand Prize and 3 other awards): Player ‘Royal Minju’ │ Details] 

…It wasn’t my ID. 

There was no need to hurriedly move my gaze; my ID was right in the slot below. 

>[Top 2 (Special Prize and 3 other awards): Player ‘DaNa7’ │ Details]

‘Is this even a game?’ 

Having confirmed the result, I leaned back weakly against the chair. 

I’m going crazy, coming in second again. Not the Grand Prize again.

All the things I did just for this kind of ending… Those countless efforts flashed through my mind like a panorama. 

The cash poured into the character, the days spent constantly tapping the keyboard to keep the rank from dropping. 

And the tasks I cleared endlessly just to stack one more stat… 

That’s not all. Because this was my first time ever playing such a game, I had to go through all sorts of trials and errors.

Of course, for a first attempt, it wasn’t too bad. 

After all, the first group, which started with a small agency, not only proudly took the top-tier spot but also achieved the server-wide 2nd place. 

But that doesn’t mean I was satisfied with the entire process. 

Especially that damn Sora Music. 

I did think about changing agencies midway, but trusting the public opinion that they did good work and re-signing was the wrong judgment. 

That one agency caused me no end of trouble… 

Sigh, these were kids I nurtured myself.

‘Your sister was sorry, kids.’ 

However, despite these many failures, I managed to wrap up this season successfully. 

Although I didn’t win the Grand Prize, I swept up many awards like the Album of the Year and the Popularity Award… I’ll be satisfied with this season.

– Clack clack 

I moved the mouse again, quickly exiting the awards ceremony screen. 

Now, let’s forget the past and prepare for the album for the next season’s first quarter….

…Huh? 

“What is this? Why is it doing this?”

 I instantly widened my eyes and pressed my face close to the monitor.

 The screen on the monitor was malfunctioning with a ‘crackle-‘ sound. 

Ignoring my surprise, I checked the computer here and there, but there was no reaction at all. 

The unsettling, cracking sound foreshadowed some ominous sign.

Literally, it was a sight where it wouldn’t be strange if something immediately went wrong.

And strange events continued to happen. 

“!” 

Suddenly, the colourful screens on the monitor started spinning around… in short, they seemed to be going haywire. 

“This is too much… Ah, this is seriously overboard…” 

I was so dizzy that a monologue slipped out. 

I tried punching the screen and pressing the mouse and keyboard everywhere, but nothing reacted. 

There’s some kind of error… It wouldn’t cause the game to be affected.

Like, all my past game records suddenly being wiped out… (I’m even more scared because I have a history of that.)

‘No, wait, why would the computer, which was working fine just moments ago, suddenly do this?’ 

It was around the time when many questions began to paralyze my reason. 

“Seriously, stop messing with me…” 

This time, the screen was emitting an incredible light and behaving erratically. 

The light was so strong that I couldn’t even squint. 

Finally, as I got up from the chair to distance myself a bit.

– Clatter! Thud! Boom…! 

“……Ah.” 

I’m screwed.

The accident that just happened was my fault. 

Getting up from the chair was the first mistake. Right after, I spilled my coffee, almost tripping over the headset cord… 

To make matters worse, while trying to steady myself, I frantically mashed the keyboard. 

“Noona (Sister), I heard a noise… Huh?!” 

“……” 

My brother, Seo Da-on, opened my door, likely because of the noise. He witnessed this maddening show firsthand. 

“What are you doing? This is seriously legendary…” 

I sincerely want to ask myself… 

I ran my hands over my face, looking at the scene of the accident. 

I had something more urgent to attend to than being caught in this mess by my brother. 

“But Noona, what about your keyboard?” 

Yes. My damn keyboard. 

This was a gift from a fan back when I was a pro gamer. 

It was my favourite keyboard, one that had rainbow LEDs when pressed, and animal paw keycaps on the arrow keys. 

But sadly, it met its demise the moment coffee was poured all over it. 

My high school fan had saved up their allowance to buy this for me, and it’s just gone like this, so futilely…? 

Honestly… I’m so dumbfounded that I can’t even cry. 

Suppressing the surge of annoyance and sadness, I first righted the fallen computer. 

But the truly outrageous thing happened next. 

The screen, where the eye-stinging light had subsided, was still clearly abnormal, displaying a strange message.

>> Idol Self-Nurturing Simulation <Happy Idol! Nurtured By My Own Hands!> START! 

>> The selected character has no play history yet! Would you like to immerse yourself in this character and proceed with the game? 

>> [Yes/No]

…Ah. It seems something was pressed randomly when I stumbled earlier. 

But the screen is such a mess right now that I can’t see the game or anything else. Naturally, I had no way of knowing who the character was. 

And needless to say, abandon what I’ve been doing and choose a new character? Why would I do something so pointless? 

So, I moved the mouse toward the ‘No’ button and clicked it. 

But what kind of trickery is this?

>[No/Yes] 

The moment I pressed the button, the positions of the two options suddenly swapped… a completely insane thing happened. 

Consequently, my mouse, which was heading to the right, ended up pressing ‘Yes’.

It switched so quickly that I didn’t have time to undo it. The selection area was also slightly obscured by the cursor. 

Just as I was about to be appalled by the ‘answer-is-fixed’ behavior, the game window began flashing on its own, regardless of my intent.

>>[☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐?]

>>[☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐.] 

The screen, displaying a series of unreadable, strange words, was, to make matters worse, also emitting a massive light. 

It was the same intense light as before. 

“W-What is it…?!” 

Before the surprised Seo Da-on could reach me, and before I could even avoid the light.

“Noona!” 

I was sucked into the light without even letting out a squeak of fear…

***

“……?” 

Am I dreaming right now? 

I blinked my eyes at the unbelievable reality. Fast once, then slower again. 

But nothing changed. 

This utterly awkward space was the same every time I opened my eyes. It remained the same even if I slapped my cheeks several times.

A strange house I had never seen before. And me, standing awkwardly alone in the living room. 

I looked around, surveying my surroundings, but nothing seemed helpful for my current situation. 

Only the naturally cluttered domestic scene filled my view. 

The sight suggested that someone had been using the place just moments ago; a sense of life was discernible. 

…Wait a minute.

‘Does this make any sense?’ 

So, because of that unrealistic (absurd) incident moments ago, I’m here now. 

But before that…

– Ding-dong!

What is this thing floating above my head? 

A letter-like icon was hovering in the air. 

The hologram-like object had been loitering around me and occasionally emitted an alert sound. 

I rubbed my eyes again, thinking I might have seen wrong, but it didn’t disappear. It was the same as this strange house.

– Ding-dong! Ding-dong, Ding-dong! 

Even when I tried to ignore it, the icon continued to make its presence felt. 

Now, it was even eagerly shaking the blue exclamation mark attached to its side. Its appearance seemed to urge me to open it quickly. 

No matter how many times I looked or checked, it was clear. 

This wasn’t some kind of hallucination either.

‘Has technology improved this much already?’ 

I’ve lived long enough to see a flying touchscreen… The scientific civilization of the 21st century is truly amazing. 

I lowered my hand from my eyes, which were stinging from rubbing. 

Whatever it was, I felt like I had to check it. 

Conversely, checking it also felt like crossing the point of no return, but what else could I do? 

I had no other choice. 

If I kept ignoring it, I felt like there would be absolutely no progress in this situation.

‘No other option, I guess.’

After hesitating for a long time, I finally braced myself and reached out my hand. 

As I clicked the screen in the air, thinking ‘No way this will work’…

– Whoosh! 

A new window popped up with a strangely familiar sound effect.