Idol Revive: If I Don't Debut, I'll Disappear-Chapter 318: Club Cleansing

Yuzuka handed the cards back to Gil and Son Areum.

"Congratulations on collecting all the stamps!" Yuzuka said.

Gil let out an awkward laugh. As soon as they finished getting the last stamp from the last station, the maze’s wall immediately moved, revealing the exit.

While they held their stamp cards, the two exited the maze. As soon as they appeared out of the door, they were greeted by Yoo Gyeo, still holding his megaphone.

"W-Welcome back!"

The remaining fifteen minutes passed quickly.

When the time limit reached its end, a loud buzz reverberated inside the maze, reaching even outside. Yeo Haru escorted the students out. Some students were still disoriented from the huge maze, frustrated upon getting lost, and unable to find the other stations.

In the end, from over 200 participants, only two people passed — Gil and Son Areum.

Immediately, fingers pointed at Gil.

"How come that guy passed? Are you sure there wasn’t any cheating that happened behind the scenes?"

"Right! How can he pass and not anyone else?"

"Excuse me. I also passed, you know." Son Areum peeked out from Gil’s back with hands raised.

Yoo Gyeo immediately seized that chance.

"T-That’s right. How can you say there’s foul play when someone else passed?" Yoo Gyeo glanced at Son Areum. "T-Tell us, was there anything of the sort that happened?"

’Hey! Hey! If you say it that way, this girl might—’

Before Gil could even finish the words in his mind, Son Areum had already answered Yoo Gyeo’s question.

"Of course..."

’See?! I told you!’

But Son Areum wasn’t yet done speaking. She continued, "...there wasn’t any. It’s all fair and square."

Gil: "....."

There were still unsatisfied rumors in the air, but Yoo Gyeo did not listen at all. Seeing that Yoo Gyeo wasn’t going to hear them out, the students dispersed by themselves and left.

...

After the game, the members of the Healing Arts Club, quickly cleaned up the rooftop venue. It was quite easy, since the whole maze was made up of an entire book page scenario. With just one tap from Rayen’s phone, the scenario was deactivated, restoring the rooftop to its original appearance which amazed both Gil and Son Areum.

As soon as they finished cleaning up, they made their way back to Room 434.

When they entered the club room, the silence was broken by a single popping sound. Suddenly, on Gil’s head, a party hat was placed by Rayen.

A few seconds later, it had crawled down to Gil’s chin. The sensation of something crawling on his face made him stop moving.

"W-What is this?!"

Just then, a sound of camera flashing suddenly went of. At the same time, a bright light almost blinded his eyes.

"You look ridiculous," Son Areum said as she inspected the picture she just took.

Rayen laughed awkwardly. "Sorry, I forgot it was quite mischievous."

This was the same Party Hat that loved to nibble on people’s chins.

He tapped a few times on his phone, buying another Party Hat, which he placed on Son Areum’s head, and also soon crawled down on her chin to nibble on it.

Son Areum was amazed unlike Gil. "Is this hat alive?"

She pulled it away from her face, inspecting it.

"Let’s celebrate," Rayen said, feeling quite relaxed now.

"Celebrate? What’s there to celebrate about?" Miles complained.

Rayer smiled at Miles. "There are many things to celebrate about."

Such as no longer having any nightmares at night and relievving themselves the trouble from the students.

Xu Jiji also nodded along with Rayen. "It’s also a welcome party for our new members!"

"As if they needed us to welcome them." Miles rolled his eyes.

"Don’t think like that, Miles," Yuzuka said.

Immediately, Miles’s tune changed. "If you say so. How do we celebrate?"

Rayen was the first one to move, taking out snacks from his dimensional pocket. When it came to parties, food must be a must! Although he can also order food from the system, there weren’t many variations of food available. And so, he would keep some of his stash in his pockets.

"Is your pocket that huge?" Gil asked, still battling with the mischievous hat.

Rayen laughed and tossed a snack in his way.

"This system of yours is truly convenient." Gil had had enough and tossed the hat into the locker.

"While we celebrate, why don’t we do a cleansing for the new members?" Yuzuka also suggested.

Once freed from the creepy hat, Gil sighed in relief. He turned toward them. "Cleansing?"

"Yes. Actually, aside from recruiting you guys, we also came here for the Rising Stars," Rayen said.

"What’s the connection between the Rising Stars and this Cleansing?"

"Let me educate you, Stupid Unaffiliated," Miles said.

He explained the Bugs and the roles of minstrels and the cleansing for them.

"So, everyone has some kind of Bugs infecting their Life Books?"

"That’s the gist of it."

"Where do these Bugs come from?"

Rayen and the others shrugged.

"That is what we’ve been investigating," Miles said.

"So the reason you were so busy before was because of this?"

Miles and Yuzuka nodded.

"Actually, it’s just my mission, but Yu-chan would occasionally help me out."

"What did you find, then?"

Yuzuka laughed awkwardly. "We already know that Entities are more susceptible to Bugs than Unblooms. However, there was no such symptoms or whatever. Since we’re the most infected ones, why aren’t we the most affected? We’ve been leaning in this direction for a while, but it’s hard to investigate this matter when we can’t even see the lines."

"Let’s not talk about this, Yu-chan. We’re currently on vacation. I don’t want to hear anything about Bugs," Miles said, preventing himself from acting nauseated.

"Geez, okay." Yuzuka turned toward Rayen with shining eyes. "So, can we request a cleansing from you?"

Actually, she just wanted to see them perform live. Being so busy these past months, she wasn’t even able to attend their debut stage, which was quite regrettable.

Rayen smiled and nodded. As a former member of the Elite Club, Gil knew the layout of the room. Without anyone noticing it, he pulled out a speaker from somewhere and quickly set it up.

Just how many of these things did the Elite Club leave for them?

When Gil played Don Juan, the three Minstrels immediately assumed their position.

During the half a year that they’ve been together, the Minstrels now shared a tacit understanding. The three were able to modify the formation that worked for only the three of them.

Son Areum listened with curiosity in her eyes. There were rumors going around the internet these days.

[LEGENDARY CEEDZ. Crying every era.]

[Fans that love to make their idols cry → An idol group that loves to make their fans cry]

Those who’ve attended SEEDZ’s stages were all sent home crying. Son Areum wondered if all of that was true. Was it because of the so-called cleansing?

The three Minstrels faced the two Unaffiliated Entities and bowed toward them.

Soon, the music began. As Don Juan’s prelude filled the entire club room, the resonance also activated.

"Don’t want, don’t want, don’t want it

I’m not ready.

No, not yet."

On Son Areum’s head, a single black line gradually appeared, swaying along with the music.

’There’s only one? Aren’t Entities susceptible to more Bugs?’

Rayen’s gaze swept over toward Gil. Unlike Son Areum, Gil didn’t have any lines — not a single one at all.

"But even if you don’t want,

The sun will still come

No one can ever, ever stop the dawn.

Yeah, no one, no one can."

When Rayen finished Liam’s line and stepped back from the center position, he glanced at Xu Jiji and Yeo Haru. The two also noticed this point, but they did not let it show on their faces. After all, they’re already professional idols.

However, their eyes couldn’t help but get swept by the thick ropes connected to Yoo Gyeo. Rayen’s eyes were also caught by this sight. As the rope wriggled along with their song, some strands separated from it, forming a huge broom on his head. Rayen tried his hardest to stop the corners of his lips from twitching.

The only other person that Rayen had seen to have so many lines like these was Plotter.

’And this guy was still denying that he’s Plotter.’

Just from Yoo Gyeo’s lines alone, the whole room was filled with black lines. Some lines were also from Miles and Yuzuka, but they were far fewer in number than Yoo Gyeo’s, and still more than Son Areum’s and Gil’s.

"But I don’t want to!!!"

Gradually, a few of these lines snapped and dissipated as though spooked by Rayen’s screams.

However, Son Areum’s reaction was different from these lines. Instead of getting scared, tears were streaming down her face.

Now she knew — all those rumors were true.

What’s this? She tried to wipe the tears, but she couldn’t stop crying at all!

The same was going on for Miles. Tears and snot had filled his face. Beside him, Yuzuka was also crying, but she didn’t look as ridiculous as him. She could even browse through her phone and buy a party hat in the system, placing it on Miles’s head.

The Party Hats have a refreshing effect, so they should help cheer Miles up. At the same time, she also bought one for herself.

"Don’t wanna wanna wake up yet."

Just as the next Party Hat book page appeared in Yuzuka’s hands, it immediately caught the Minstrels’ attention. But it wasn’t the book page they were looking at, but the black line that was connected to it, silently floating in the air.

When Yuzuka activated the book page, this line immediately latches onto her.