Idol Revive: If I Don't Debut, I'll Disappear
Chapter 149: Idol’s Maze (1)

Chapter 149: Idol’s Maze (1)

Rayen glanced at Binh and Renjiro, then at Yeo Haru. Their sponsors had been fighting for a while now, until Drake was unable to bear it anymore.

"Let’s go. You have nothing to do with them from now on, okay?" Drake said, pulling away Yeo Haru out of the door.

Madrigal was fuming and wanted to follow Drake, but Binh stopped him. Renjiro and his sponsors remained quiet. Meanwhile, Ms. Pia approached Rayen and his group of sponsors. Seeing her, Madame Sophie flinched, but tried to immediately relax.

"Where’s Minho?" Pia asked Rayen, ignoring Sophie’s awkward expression.

"... He broke down. He was sent to the dorms," Rayen answered.

"I see..." Ms. Pia said. "Then, I’ll go up to see him."

Nodding, Rayen watched as Ms. Pia also went out of the office door. Sophie continued her words upon seeing Ms. Pia leave.

"Rayen-chii, it’s not like I’m threatening you. But if you try to join them with their mess, we really have no choice but to let you go."

Finally, Rayen responded. "I know..."

He was never in agreement with what they were just about to do.

Coming clean was a complete suicide. Although they hadn’t heard Yeo Haru’s complete plan, that guy totally lacked imagination, so Rayen doubted he could even make any decent plan at all.

And to be honest, even though Rayen wanted to help them, he wasn’t willing to commit suicide with them.

"Good." Sophie sighed in relief. "You didn’t even say anything to the video. If you really joined them, it’s the same as admitting that you made a mistake."

’I know...’

Sigh.

Still, it was hard to look the others in the eye.

Rayen glanced back to the meeting room door. Did those two still haven’t concluded their meeting?

Rayen was talking about Adrian and Plotter, who were left alone inside the room.

Just then, the door of the meeting room finally opened, revealing Adrian and Plotter. At the same time, the other door to the office also opened. Ms. Pia had come back.

Her eyes darted around until it landed on the Director. "Ms. Overseer, I can’t seem to go up..."

"Yes, we barred the way up since there’s an ongoing challenge at the upper floors. It’s to prevent the eliminated participants from sneaking their way in."

"Is that so?" Ms. Pia seemed crestfallen hearing the news.

Her shoulder slumped as she closed the door. Suddenly, her eyes landed on another person. The gloom that enveloped her suddenly changed. Rayen followed her gaze and saw Adrian walking toward them with Plotter in tow.

"Ohh... I didn’t know he looked more handsome in person," Ms. Pia said.

Rayen’s mouth twitched.

’What’s with the sudden change in attitude?’

Adrian also noticed Ms. Pia’s strange gaze and backed down behind Rayen. However, the Director was near Rayen. When Adrian saw her, he stepped back again. In the end, he hid behind Plotter, who only eyed him with a strange gaze.

...

Meanwhile, on the fifth floor, the challenge was proceeding smoothly.

Team Seven Flowers walked about the whole place. On their sides, they were surrounded by talls grass walls. The only way out for them was to proceed forward or backward.

"Welcome to the Idol’s Maze," said the familiar distorted voice of Plotter.

It was the same voice, but it lacked the usual liveliness as though it was just an automated voice.

The other three from their team still hadn’t come back, but the challenge proceeded as usual. Since they weren’t the only team that had missing members, they didn’t protest about it. Well, what choice do they have other than to silently accept it?

"In this maze, find the nodes placed in every corner. We prepared surprise challenges for you in each node. Good luck~"

Xu Jii glanced at Iris. Since their supposed-to-be leader was among their missing members, Iris had inherited his mantle.

"What do we do?" Xu Jiji asked.

"What can we do? Let’s explore the maze!" Xi Huan said, already walking ahead of them.

Iris also nodded. Forcefully pulling back Xi Huan. "Stay with the group."

"Okie-dokie," Xi Huan said and walked alongside Xu Jiji.

She sighed.

What a headache.

The time passed by as they walked aimlessly inside the maze. Finally, they encountered their first node.

In the middle of the intersection before them, a white marble table was standing. On it was a tablet screen and a paper written with something. Iris couldn’t read the small letter from afar, so she approached it by herself.

[If you are able to do the challenge correctly, the correct direction will be shown to you. If not, it’s up to your luck.]

After determining that no dangerous trap was waiting for them in the node areq, Iris beckoned for her teammates. They stared at the screen in front of them as numerous comments fleeted about the screen.

– Please do aegyo.

– I want to see Ayumi do moonwalk

– Can someone do jump over the leg?

Some comments didn’t make sense to the members at all. Should they pick one challenge from these?

Finally, their confusion was answered when a pop-up notification suddenly appeared on the screen.

[Requestor: Hehe_Secret

"Please guess which is the fact among these three statements."

1. I love Ayumi

2. I think Xu Jiji is cute

3. Xi Huan is the ending-fairy king of IdolRe.]

Iris glanced behind her teammates. "What do you think?"

Xi Huan raised his hand.

"It’s 3!"

The distorted voice asked, "Is that your final answer?"

Iris looked conflicted. What is even an ending fairy?

However, out of the three statements, it was the only objective one. The other two were based solely on the opinion of the requestor.

Finally, Iris said, "Yes, it’s our final answer."

Suddenly, a buzzing sound effect echoed throughout the whole place. The words on the pop-up notification changed.

[Wrong. The correct answer is 1.]

"....."

Right after the answer was revealed, the table and the screen disappeared. They were left to choose which of the left and right direction they should go on their own.

"Where should we go?" Iris asked, glancing back behind her.

"Wait, let me guess." As Xi Huan said that, she tossed a coin in the air and quickly caught it. "If it’s head, let’s go right. If it’s tails, let’s go left."

Iris looked dubiously at her, but with no clue, she just let her be. If she was having fun, so be it.

Xi Huan lifted her hand to show the result. It was heads. So, the team walked toward their right when another node appeared in front of them.

The set-up was similar from the first node they encountered. The members read the bullet comments flashing on the screen.

– Please Overseers, pick me. I wanna see them do aegyo!!!

– Ayumi, Ayumi, send me a flying kiss!

– Why don’t I see Yeo Haru? Where are they?

– Right? Where’s Rayen too? And Adrian?

Just then, a similar notification pop-up appeared on the screen.

[Requestor: CrunchyWOWHartHart

"Prove them you can dance, Rara! Do Criss-cross Shuffle!"]

"....."

’The one you’re requesting for isn’t even here...’

***

The Director looked at her wristwatch.

"I’ll send the participants upstairs."

As she said that, she waved her hand dismissively. The moment Rayen blinked, his surroundings had all changed. He heard a collective of short yelps around him as his butt hit the hard floor.

’Ouch...’

Rayen stroked his behind as he looked around him. He saw familiar faces of his four teammates they left behind earlier, then Yeo Haru, who disappeared with his sponsors. Yeo Haru averted his gaze the moment Rayen met his eyes.

"You’re back?" Iris exclaimed from behind Rayen.

Rayen nodded. "What’s this place?"

Xu Jiji also welcomed him with a wide smile. Only then did Rayen realize there was someone missing in the group.

"Where’s Adrian?" Rayen asked.

His teammates glanced everywhere and also realized that Adrian was nowhere to be found.

"Huh? Was he left with the kid writer?" Yeo Haru asked, unaware that Adrian and Plotter had long finished their conversation.

Rayen shook his head. "He’s with me before they sent us back."

"Then why isn’t he here?"

The others watched them in confusion. Just then, a figure suddenly appeared in mid-air. He adjusted his crooked glasses and tried to mask his anxiety-ridden face.

"What happened to you?" Rayen asked.

Adrian almost backed-up, but he was able to stop himself at the last second.

Such a minute detail.

If someone wasn’t paying attention, they wouldn’t notice it. However, Rayen was too familiar with him.

’Something’s sus...’

However, since Adrian didn’t want to spill it, Rayen wouldn’t push it. Adrian turned to their teammates.

Iris understood right away and explained, "We’re currently inside a maze."

"Yeah, I can see that. Do we just have to get out of here?"

Iris shook her head. "We need to take on a challenge whenever there’s an intersection..."

Just then, Rayen only realized how weary these people looked — except Xi Huan. This person still looked energetic as ever, while the others had dark eyebags and puffy faces from the lack of sleep.

"What’s the progress now?" Adrian asked.

"I think... we’re lost."