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It has been a while since the burning, gold sunlight glowed and disappeared along the horizon bay. The moon rose from the shadows, giving light to those who were lost in the darkness below. Nighttime has fallen.
By then, Magnolia had returned to her home safely. She put on a disguise to conceal her true identity as an idol, thereby preventing anyone from following her back home. Using the keys from her pockets, she inserts the end into the door lock and rotates the doorknob in one swift motion, and she goes inside.
She closed the door behind her and released all her pent-up stress with a deep sigh.
‘I made it! I made it through the day…!’ A half-thought appeared through her mind.
Exhausted—without even giving herself time to change back to a more comfortable outfit—her body instinctively flops onto her living room couch, diving headfirst into the fluffy cushions as she attempts to get back a fraction of her lost energy.
“Mmm… Home…” She silently mutters, letting her guard down, getting to enjoy this temporary bliss all for herself for a brief moment.
Eventually, she was able to recover a bit and slowly turned to face the ceiling. Her hands fished out her phone and started backreading through the messages she missed earlier.
“Hi, Magnolia. Meet me at the agency by tomorrow at 4 AM. We'll travel to the filming site to XXX for the MV shoot. It's an all-day schedule, so be prepared.”
‘There seems to be no end to my busy schedule.’
It was a message from her director to sleep early for tomorrow, even though she was clearly overworked for the day. For a moment, she made a slight frown. Deep inside, she was upset, but couldn’t pinpoint the reason why she felt this way. Lonely? Stressed? Her mind didn’t have the answer—only unsolved questions.
“Everybody, Magnolia uploaded another song!! It’s at the top of the trending page, and her singing is such a banger as always.”
“Her dancing is so cute! I’ve replayed that part over a million times now!”
“She’s grown so much! I'm an early fan who has watched her since the year she debuted, and I'm so proud of where she is today. Love you, Magnolia!!”
She scrolled through the internet, attempting to take a break and have some time for herself that’s not work for once. But scrolling through social media, her page was bombarded with praise and adoration from her fans, as if escaping her identity as a famous figure was practically useless everywhere she went. The longer Magnolia looked around social media, the more she encountered… herself. She is popular after all—too popular, which is greatly affecting her daily life.
Magnolia was lethally tired; she needed a distraction from her lonely life somehow. Medicine, food, sleep, and now social media. No effect. Her efforts seemed futile, but she’s more than desperate for a quick repair.
“...”
‘I should watch TV instead.’
She decided it was a good time to watch some television today.
Summoning all the strength she could accumulate, she slowly lifted her arm and reached for the remote as she continued to lazily lie on the couch, pushing the power button to turn on the television.
She plans to connect to Channel 40, a frequent channel that Magnolia usually watches television on. She swiftly presses the numbers “4” and “0,” and waits for the screen to load.
She realizes she accidentally made a mistake with her input and made it “404” instead of “40.” In haste, she tried to change it back, but it was too late for fixes. The TV received the information, and the screen suddenly went static.
Magnolia panicked a little, and her anxiety started to escalate even further when she saw a figure far away in the distance—virtually. Then, it started to get closer… And closer… And closer.
The figure was fast approaching the screen, which is a strange strategy for an advertisement. But it only took a few seconds for Magnolia to conclude that it might not be a promotion for service, but rather a gateway for a cursed entity inside.
And as she tries to switch the channel, a voice frantically tries to get her attention.
“WAIT! STOP!!”
“I’M NOT HERE TO HURT YOU!!”
…?
“Just… don’t change the channel…”
“Please…”
The figure was begging her to… stay?
She’s left confused, constantly re-evaluating herself in her mind, whether the unknown entity on the screen is actually talking to her or she’s going crazy and just needs sleep.
“Please… give me a chance to present myself for once.”
But the person on the screen felt oddly real. She could be going crazy, but she’s confident that her five senses and her secret sixth sense can detect that this is no ad—the place doesn’t even look like a proper ad; it’s dark and empty.
She reluctantly writes something in her notebook and shows it to the extremely worried woman on the channel.
“Who are you?”
The figure silently reads and makes a short response.
“Me…?
“W-Wait! Give me a moment to introduce myself!”
She quickly fixes her coffee brown hair and adjusts her plaid sailor ribbon in a hurry.
“I’m Toshi Ame! I’m the mascot for Channel 404! Please enjoy my show!”