IRSBV Chapter 03

Maomai
Aug 27
5 min read

Chapter 3

Something was wrong.

She wasn’t waking up from the dream.

Leaving Eunha behind, Noah splashed her face with cold water in the bathroom sink.

But no matter how many times she washed, the dream clung to her.

At last, after pinching her own cheek five times, she had no choice but to admit it.

He was no longer Noah, the vocalist of Ark-less who once fell asleep in his 32-billion-won Malibu mansion by the beach.

He was a strange young girl in Korea—Seol Noah.

What the hell is going on? Why am I in this body, in Korea?

Noah had been born in Korea but adopted out to the U.S. as a baby. Shee never knew what became of her biological parents, nor did she care to find out.

The adoptive parents she met in America were good people—until a car crash took their lives when she was ten.

After that, she was handed over to her adoptive mother’s older sister—an aunt by name, but never by affection. They showed no interest, no love for the abandoned Asian child left in their care.

She grew up almost entirely alone, neglected and unwanted.

So when she turned sixteen, Noah ran away.

And in the back alleys of that runaway life, he met Anya.

Anya was rare among the backstreets: an Asian girl like her. Her parents were Korean too, but too busy with their affairs to care for her.

It was Anya who taught Noah Korean.

It was Anya who suggested they form a band.

“You sing well. I play the drums. Let’s make a band. That way, we can work together and live together forever.”

“What? If it were that easy, everyone would start a band. Someone like me? Forget it.”

“Don’t say that, Noah.”

Back then, Anya had looked her straight in the eye—so certain, so unwavering.

“You have talent. Enough that I’d stake my entire life on it.”

No one in the world could have turned down eyes like that. And so, as if bewitched, Noah nodded. She had never sung before meeting her—yet Anya made her sing.

From then on, Anya became more than family.

At first, they named the band Ark, inspired by Noah’s name—Noah’s Ark.

But then—

“I don’t like the name.”

That was Mia’s first contribution when she joined.

“Why? It’s connected to Noah’s name. Ark sounds cool, doesn’t it?”

“…No god would ever let someone like me aboard an ark.”

Her words silenced them.

Mia had grown up in a poor but ordinary family, yet her introverted nature made her a target. Bullies shoved paint and trash into her family’s trailer, locked her inside school lockers, even once strangled her in class—after which she dropped out.

She shut herself away every day, until the music drifting from a nearby street pulled her outside… straight into Noah and Anya.

“But Mia, it’s not just you who’d be left behind. None of us would get on that ark.”

“Right. If anyone here deserves God’s love, it’s you.”

“You’re the kindest of the three of us.”

“What…?”

The three of them burst out laughing.

“Then how about the opposite? Not Ark—but Ark-less. A band abandoned even by the ark itself… Arkless.”

And that’s how the name Arkless was born.

One day, while they were playing on the street, a record label agent left them a business card. That’s how they debuted.

---

“Hey, Seol Noah.”

Eunha’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

“You were always weird, but today you’re really weird. What’s up with you?”

“…Eunha.”

“Why are you saying it like that? Sounds cheesy.”

“This… this is all real, right?”

At Noah's question, Eunha blinked rapidly for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"What's with you? Were you spacing out because you think we might actually pass the audition? I can't tell if you're being cute or..."

Eunha wrapped her arm around Noah's neck.

“Yeah, it’s real. Believe it already. You were seriously insane out there. Like, people thought you were already a pro.”

Noah wrinkled his nose. I was a pro. A long time ago.

“And this really is… Korea?”

“Geez, you’re scaring me. Where else would this be if not Korea?”

“…And what year is it?”

“What?”

Eunha tilted her head, baffled.

“It’s 20XX. Are you sure you’re not sick? Do you need meds?”

20XX? Then… the year’s the same?

“You—you don’t happen to know a band called Arkless, do you?”

“Arkless? What’s that?”

Her flat response shook him to his core. She didn’t know?

No way…!

“Do you not know them, or do they not exist here at all?”

“I don’t even get what you’re talking about. Is it some famous band?”

“They won fifteen Grammys! If you know rock, you have to know Arkless—”

“Whoa, whoa. Stop right there.”

Eunha put her hands up, cutting him off.

“First off, I’ve memorized every single Grammy winner since the 2000s. And I’ve never heard of that band.”

“!”

What?!

The major Grammys—Album of the Year, Record of the Year—Arkless had won them both.

Yet here, their name didn’t exist?

“That’s not all. Second—rock? Us? What are you even talking about?”

“?!”

Noah’s mouth fell open.

“Then… what are we, if not a band?”

“Of course we’re a band!”

Eunha gave him a once-over, clearly unsettled.

“But we’re an idol band.”

…

Idol band?

Not rock?

The words circled and circled inside her mouth, refusing to come out.

---

Still reeling, Noah let himself be dragged outside by Eunha, who complained the whole way.

Before long, she shoved him into a small one-room apartment not far from the entertainment company building.

“This is… my place?”

“Yeah, it’s your place. Seriously, what’s gotten into you? You’re acting like you’ve got amnesia.”

…Fine. If this was reality, and she was really Seol Noah—

“…Guess so.”

She’d have to adapt first. Only then could she figure out what to do next.

“Anyway. Where’s your songbook?”

Eunha dropped onto the bed with a sigh.

“Song… book?”

“Yeah. The one you always carry around. The first audition was easy enough, but the real test starts now.”

“There’s… a second audition?”

“There are three rounds, duh. Didn’t I already explain this? Loft Entertainment runs it. From round two, it’ll even be a survival show on TV. Ugh, do I really have to be the one remembering all this stuff for you?”

Noah’s heart ached. She missed Anya—Anya would never have nagged her like this.

To be scolded like a kid at nearly forty years old was… depressing.

Still—the songbook.

If it were the real her, where would she… ah.

“There it is.”

Sure enough, it was shoved under the bed, lying there carelessly. Eerily familiar.

He took it reluctantly from Eunha and flipped it open.

And then—

---

[‘Seol Noah’s’ memories are being transferred to Noah… (1/100)]

[Collect all of Seol Noah’s fragments.]

[When the time comes, you will be given a choice.]