The Goal is the Ending Fairy

Chapter 9

Translator: Iris
Proofreader: Floor

After taking off my shoes and stepping inside, Lee Jinyoo avoided Chae Sunha and clung to me.

Chae Sunha, meanwhile, clicked her tongue at me and turned her back toward her room. She even closed the door with a loud ‘thud.’

‘Brat…’

I briefly glared at the door Chae Sunha had entered.

The tall trainee, who had been quietly standing beside me, then spoke up.

“You’re in the same room as Chae Sunha, are you going to be okay?”

“…Pardon?”

Shouldn’t she be asking if Chae Sunha is going to be okay, not me?

As I asked if that was really true, Lee Jinyoo, whose arm was around my neck, added:

“The five people who arrived before Unnie decided on roommates. Or should I switch with Sunha Unnie?”

…So that’s why Chae Sunha looked so upset. Because she knew she was sharing a room with me.

I was momentarily tempted by Lee Jinyoo’s suggestion… but no matter what, I couldn’t do that when the rooms had already been assigned.

Making up my mind, I shook my head.

“It’s fine. The dorm is just a place to sleep anyway.”

“Aw, that’s too bad~ I’d love to sleep with Unnie too.”

Lee Jinyoo finished her playful words with a little ‘whoosh’ of air into my ear.

Shudder

I got goosebumps and quickly pushed her away. That included furiously wiping the affected ear.

“Ahahaha! Unnie, you really hate it that much?”

“Be quiet.”

Was she always this much of a character?

Unlike her appearance, she wasn’t just affectionate but a total prankster.

It seems she was someone I was already close with.

I’m glad to have a friendly trainee besides Yoon Heejo, but why did she have to be such a playful character?

Girls like Lee Jinyoo are my number one type to avoid.

As I tried to peel away the clingy Lee Jinyoo, the trainee beside me chimed in to help.

“Go inside and unpack now. It’s late.”

“Ah, yes.”

“…Did you eat dinner?”

She hesitated for a moment, then the words she uttered were nothing major.

“Yes, I ate before coming.”

“Okay.”

Seemingly satisfied with that, the trainee left without lingering.

“Good night, Se-Yi Unnie~”

“…Good night.”

She nodded in lieu of a verbal answer and entered her room.

“Then I’ll head off too.”

“Unnie, if you’re uncomfortable, come to my room! It’s across from the room Se-Yi Unnie just entered.”

How could I do that? That would make her roommate uncomfortable.

Still, when I said I understood on the surface, Lee Jinyoo finally disappeared into her room.

“Whew….”

[You might be a little uncomfortable for a while.]

The Helper, which had been clinging to my shoulder for some time, now flew around freely.

Since no one else was around anyway, I silently agreed.

The reason I summoned the Helper after a long time was because I had a crucial task for it…

‘Help me move my luggage.’

‘[?]’

And so, the Helper, looking bewildered, dutifully lived up to its name. Even its floating figure looked exhausted now.

I can confidently say that this was the most helpful moment the Helper has been since the tutorial.

[Ah! Da-na nim, then I’ll be going now…!]

“Okay.”

I figured it was about time since I had exploited it for over half a day.

[Be healthy while I’m gone, and please take care of yourse—]

However, the Helper disappeared before it could finish its sentence. It seemed it wasn’t by its own will.

Currently charging cooldown….

Helper: [Charging | ▷▷▷ | Complete]

I looked at the empty space above me, then grabbed the doorknob.

“……”

The person I saw immediately upon opening the door was, of course, Chae Sunha.

Even though she must have sensed my presence, she didn’t spare a glance my way.

Had she decided to completely ignore me?

She had already finished unpacking and was arranging her bedding, seemingly preparing for sleep.

Come to think of it, the managers had given a specific instruction earlier.

They were told to return home early so that cameras could be installed all over the practice room starting tomorrow.

If we couldn’t use the practice room because of the camera installation, then resting well and planning for tomorrow was the better choice.

Chae Sunha seemed to think so too.

I felt the same way and quickly unpacked my bags and changed into pajamas. My few belongings were instantly put away neatly.

As I looked at the satisfying sight, my gaze suddenly fell upon the bed I was supposed to sleep in.

It was a bunk bed, naturally placed there like in any trainee dorm.

I shifted my eyes to my roommate, but she only radiated a dark aura, as if asking what I was looking at.

“Chae Sunha.”

…Hmm, no answer came back.

“Are you going to use the top bunk or the bottom bunk?”

When I asked again without backing down, Chae Sunha sighed, putting down the clothes she was folding.

“…Bottom.”

“Alright, then.”

It didn’t matter much to me, so I readily gave her the bottom bunk.

I’d never slept in a bunk bed before, and this seemed fine in its own way.

After finishing the minimal tidying, I climbed the ladder and flopped onto the bed.

Washing up was definitely the smart choice. The moment my body hit the bed, sleep poured over me, regardless of the new dorm.

The accumulated fatigue seemed to be catching up now… I must have overused my practice time today, relying solely on the 『Iron Stamina』 passive.

As I burrowed deep into the blanket, the light conveniently switched off.

The abrupt darkness was surely the doing of the person below me.

Since I was lying down to sleep anyway, I didn’t say anything about it. It would have been more inconvenient for her to climb up to turn it off.

…….

An awkward silence settled, with no words exchanged.

Before I could even feel uncomfortable with the quiet, I instantly fell asleep.

* * *

Inside the individual vocal room.

Right now, my head felt like it was going to explode.

The reason was the agony over which song to choose for the vocal mission.

First, for the dance, I planned to use the <Go Away> choreography that I practiced with Yoon Heejo.

Since the first mission was essentially a simple self-introduction, the preparation period wasn’t long—only two weeks.

Therefore, I needed to use something familiar for the dance part to be ready within the time frame.

So, putting dance aside, the truly urgent matter was the song.

Other trainees probably had songs they usually practiced, but I was different. I didn’t know any songs in this world.

The fortunate thing was that the MeTube in this game wasn’t completely disconnected from reality.

After all, the song <Go Away> that I practiced dancing to was a real-life song.

In this way, the game had a history of using real singers’ and idols’ songs often.

It was common to use them for challenge quests in a rhythm game format.

Since the original artists earned good royalties, many agencies invested their idols’ songs into this game.

The problem was that the timeline was all jumbled, and many of the songs I searched for hadn’t been released yet.

The only music I really knew was the game’s BGM. How am I supposed to choose a song as an idol?

The few songs I could think of all came up empty when I searched.

I’m in trouble. Is there any song that I can think of…

…Ah, but there is a song that I know best here.

The idol group I played before transmigrating, ‘IDeALIC.’

I know all their lyrics, of course.

I quickly turned on my phone and typed the name into the MeTube search bar.

IDeALIC

Related videos immediately filled the screen.

As expected, the current timeline I was playing in was definitely after IDeALIC’s debut.

Even when I played before transmigrating, the in-story group from Hon was said to be IDeALIC’s junior.

In a way, it was a lucky situation that I was a member of the rival group to IDeALIC.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to sing the only songs I knew.

“Oh…”

They’re still pretty, by the way.

I smiled contentedly as I looked at the individual fancam thumbnails of the IDeALIC members.

Perhaps because I entered the game I was playing, the titles and order of the released songs were the same as the ones I knew.

Then, my scroll stopped at one person’s thumbnail among the fancams.

-[Fancam] IDeALIC Harin Fancam 4K ‘WINning’ (IDEALIC HARIN FanCam) | @REALMUSIC_20XX.01.22

This was the character I had chosen in my previous playthrough.

The member in the thumbnail was smiling at the camera, her beautiful straight hair neatly tied up.

She was certainly a considerable beauty, unforgettable once seen.

Given that the most recent song was <WINning>, she must have been active for about two years now.

At that point, her Affection stat would be quite high, so it was natural that she instantly captured attention.

I clicked the fancam and briefly admired Harin’s face.

Seeing the familiar face along with the song I had once loved gave me a nostalgic feeling, like coming home.

Moreover, this was the actual video of the character I had only ever seen in illustrations… The deeply immersed players of this game would probably be weeping if they saw this.

Well. I need to calm down first.

Separately, the song <WINning> was not suitable for the individual mission song.

It was a fast-tempo, hip-hop-based song.

Furthermore, it would be difficult for me to perform a song sung by six people all by myself.

So, the song I chose instead was <Star Rain> (별비), a track from the same album.

Perhaps because it was from the same album, it existed when I searched MeTube.

Since it was a B-side track, there weren’t many videos, but that was enough.

I clicked on a video with lyrics and English translations for each member’s part, and a familiar melody poured out.

♪~♩♪♬~♪♩♬~

Yes, this is the song.

It was calm and not overwhelming to sing alone, and it was the only IDeALIC song without a rap part.

It didn’t have excessively high-pitched notes to enhance the song’s atmosphere, and its slow tempo meant that even with poor technique, it wouldn’t hinder lyric delivery…

This was the perfect song, exactly what I was looking for for this mission.

Plus, I know all the lyrics to this song.

I had performed that damn challenge quest of getting a rhythm game score of over 900 points with this song like a dog.

Thanks to that, there was a time when I completed the quest dozens of times, almost breaking my keyboard.

So, I had implicitly memorized all the lyrics to this song.

However… it was a song that didn’t match my emotional sensibility, so that part might be challenging.

The possibility existed that the emotional delivery, let alone the lyric delivery, would be poor.

I have no choice. I’ll just have to try my best to convey the emotion.

I connected the speaker and my phone via Bluetooth and turned up the volume slightly.

Then, the song’s intro began to flow with a mood-setting piano melody.

I smiled in satisfaction as I listened.

Good. It’s settled. The song will be this one.