after a scandal, wooyoung, a defunct k-pop idol, runs away to his sister's hometown. he craves anonymity, yet his quiet routine is disrupted by a chance encounter- a local with a warm presence, who offers him a glimpse of a life beyond the spotlight...
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apparently, there was a reason for all of the positive feedback left on san's game.
as soon as yeonjin opened her shop doors at 10 a.m., wooyoung dashed in—and the first thing he did was take a small nap to make up for all the sleep he'd lost while milling over his interaction with yeosang.
as soon as his eyes opened, he remembered the game he'd downloaded only a few hours earlier. a big mistake. his eyes were almost dry after nearly six hours of gaming, and it was a little past six when he finished. rather than feeling accomplished after finishing the game, wooyoung felt... dejected.
his phone lay on his stomach as he rested on the beanbag, his pondering gaze fixed on the ceiling. the seemingly innocent game "lumi's lullaby" had swallowed him whole. he'd travelled through its world, befriended its eccentric characters, and devoured its heartwarming story, only to be left on a cliffhanger of epic proportions.
the game's premise, while brief in the description they provided, was far from simple. in the game, the 'celestial curse' imposed on the planet was the work of the night weaver, a powerful celestial entity enraged by humanity's disregard for the world around them. as punishment, the night weaver cursed the planet with constant unease: violent storms, erratic weather patterns, and a general sense of anxiety among all living things.
wooyoung had raced through the chapters, becoming increasingly invested in lumi, the shy and introverted astronomer, with each level of self-discovery. the additional characters he met on special episodes were equally intriguing. the grumpy cloud giant, perpetually shrouded in rain, who only responded to a strategically placed rainbow, and the mourning constellated whale with its own song - each encounter had moved him in some way, leaving him wanting more.
but the most frustrating piece? the abrupt end. just as lumi reached the culmination of her journey, the screen had erupted in a blinding flash – then... black. a single, taunting line mocked him: "to be continued... season two coming soon!"
wooyoung groaned, running a hand through his tousled hair.
season two? did they have any idea of the emotional turmoil they'd just inflicted? what happened to lumi? did her lullaby reach the night weaver? did the restless planet finally find peace? the unanswered questions gnawed at him.
this "lumi's lullaby" wasn't just some time-waster; it was a full-on emotional rollercoaster disguised as pixelated constellations. he felt like he'd just finished binge-watching a ten-season k-drama, only to have the final episode cut short right before the big kiss – and let's be honest, who did cliffhangers that dramatic anymore?
wooyoung kicked his feet, unable to control his frustration, like a child throwing a temper tantrum in a candy store. yeonjin, who was perched on the bean bag opposite of him, looked up from the magazine she was reading.
she sighed. "woo, it's just a game! real life exists, you know? just wait until the next season, like any other normal human would."
but wooyoung wasn't just any normal human now. he was an unemployed normal human, and in a town so devoid of big events, the only way he could keep himself entertained was through media, specifically a game that appeared to entertain him more than any movie or drama could.
