The Sound of a Dying Man - 0

"Beep.... Beep... Beep....."

Listening to the sounds of the ECG next to my bed, hearing my heartbeat growing slower and slower with every passing second, I knew it was about time.

Peering through my cloudy, smoke-filled eyes, tears started welling up as I looked at the three people around me, the only three people that had come to see my last moments.

It was a hard truth that they were probably the only 3 people that ever cared for me, the only three that I trusted from the bottom of my heart, and the only three people that would ever come to see me on my death bed.

On the right, holding my hand in hers, trying her best not to cry, was my older sister, the one who had raised me after our parents died.

Holding my left hand was my best friend, her red eyes clearly visible from my position, who had stuck with me even when I had only been able to become an okay idol, even when her group started topping the charts.

And finally, cradling my head in her hands, was my childhood friend, who had been my inspiration for everything, and had been someone that I could only look up to.

I had spent the entirety of my life trying to catch up with her, after all.

She was my shining star in the sky, one that I could never dream to touch.

But now, I couldn't even dream about catching up.

This damned thing called "cancer" was killing me from the inside.

I just wished that I had done more things with my life.

Finally closing my eyes, I heard all three of them murmur,

"Good night... Ha-neul"

"Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!"

Falling asleep due to the drugs, I was now officially dead, as I passed on peacefully to the other side.

…

I was a mediocre man my entire life. I was mediocre at singing, mediocre at dancing, mediocre at rapping, and even mediocre in plain old socializing.

I was just a random guy with a slightly handsome face that you would take a glance at when passing him by on the streets before going back to minding your own business.

But, what most people didn't know was that, under all this mediocreness, I trained every single day to try to make it into something special.

I danced, sang, and rapped like my whole life depended on it, but, as with everything else in my life, I was never able to break the barrier between good and exceptional.

And then, when I had the accident shortly before being diagnosed with terminal cancer, I was forced to quit.

I mean, sure, the group I was in was only a mediocre group that would never even touch the top 300 in the charts, but still, it was my life, my everything.

After all, I had to keep my promise…

So, when I left, I realized that everything that I had worked so hard for had been taken away from me.

I kept asking myself this one question over and over again, 'Why?'

'Why was I inflicted with cancer?'

'Why was I the only one that suffered from the accident?'

'Why didn't I have more time?'

'Why was it that I made everything that I touched mediocre, almost as if I was cursed?'

But then, as I thought about it more and more, I realized that it all boiled down to this one question,

'Why was my luck just so bad?'

After all, over the course of my life, I had suffered setback after setback, all my misfortunes never caused due to my own fault.

It was like God was intentionally dropping eggs on my head.

And, of course, as it was God, what could I ever do to stand up in the face of this adversity?

I could only resign myself to my unfortunate fate.

Well, at least I was now at peace.

I could finally rest.

No more dancing, no more singing, no more rapping like my life depended on it.

At least I wouldn't be condemned to hell if there ever existed a place like that.

I would probably just be sent to a place for mediocre people.

But, again, at the very least, I wouldn't have to suffer anymore.

Finally at peace with myself, I let myself drift away, as the particles of my soul scattered into oblivion.

…

"Huff Huff Huff Huff…"

Sitting up suddenly, I clutched my chest as I felt the familiar beating of my heart inside my chest once again.

'No, no, no, no, no!'

It couldn't be!

Please! I couldn't take it a second time!

There was no way that I was back!

I already knew where I was after all, the all too familiar scene, smells, and sensory overload bombarding my five senses.

'Please tell me this isn't a punishment from hell, what did I do to deserve this?'

But then, before I could think of anything else, there was a "Ding!" sound in my head followed by the appearance of a blue screen in front of me.

Knowing what this screen was, I tried touching it to see if it was real.

Of course, if you've read as many novels as I had, my hand just passed through it, but I still couldn't disprove the fact that this screen had really appeared before me.

I was just currently in a state of denial right now as I couldn't actually believe that this was happening to me.

I tried blinking hard for a few minutes, then pinching myself, before slapping myself in my face over and over again.

But, the blue screen never disappeared.

So, I just sat there on my bed as I continued to read it as the number shown on it kept growing higher and higher, before stopping at 99.

Then when it passed the threshold to 100, the screen changed, and I saw a single sentence on it.

Whether it was for better or for worse, I knew that this one sentence would change the course of my life, my fate, forever.

I wouldn't be the mediocre me anymore.

After all, I now had this system.

[Ding! Congratulations, the host is now completely bonded to the Superstar Idol System!]

---

Disclaimer: I am not Korean and I definitely am not an Idol or a trainee. All of my information comes from extensive research to try and make everything right, but, as the internet is not always the best source, and due to my own culture, I might mis-portray some things. If I happen to do so, please call me out so that I may fix it up and make this novel as genuine as possible.