The Idol: A TWICE Story

E16: Hello

A/N: This weekend is my final break before exams, and boy am I enjoying it. But that won't stop me from updating, even if it is a shorter chapter.

Min-sik hadn't realized just how many notifications he had missed because of his old phone. His new phone pinged at least five times every hour, primarily with corporate emails telling him about various ever-changing policies and requirements for the PerViz program. Min-sik had started logging his hours using the online forum, and he'd kept up with everything (so far).

The notifications slowed drastically around six every evening, which was usually the time Min-sik decided to sort through them all. He logged onto the forum later than normal that evening after dinner with Dae-won, only to find that a majority of the disorganized forum channels had vanished from the page.

There was an announcement post at the top of his screen:

Older/defunct forums are now accessible under the "archive" folder. Anyone wishing to create a new channel must receive permission from an administrator before doing so.

"So they've actually got admin doing their jobs," Min-sik muttered, clicking around the much more streamlined menu.

The introductions channel was one of the ones that had been erased. It annoyed Min-sik a little, considering he had spent two precious minutes of his life typing his own introduction out, but it was probably a good decision in the long run. People couldn't target someone based on their username, and it promoted the use of messages only when necessary.

One channel that he hadn't seen before caught his eye, called "Idol Q&A." The forum's description was interesting, to say the least:

This forum anonymously allows idols to connect with, answer questions of, and give advice to trainees seeking perspective.

The forum was intensely saturated with meaningless or technical questions. The usernames of the trainees who asked the questions were visible, but the idols' were hidden. Min-sik typed one in for fun, thinking back to his and Dae-won's conversation: what made you want to become an idol?

Min-sik logged out of the forum for the day. He didn't check it until the following evening, where he was surprised to find that his response had garnered four replies:

I always loved to sing and dance, so the idol profession really appealed to me

my sister failed an audition, so I kind of wanted to prove that I was better than her XD i guess it just stuck