The Idol Who Can't Sleep

An ad offers 1 million won to anyone who can put its poster to sleep. The door opens on Ma Ha-eum, leader of the top girl group Label, and she means it.

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Story facts

Quests: 13
Quest completions: 13
Milestones earned: 6
Turns played: 73
Cast: 1
Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French
Rating: Teen

About this story

Scrolling a secondhand marketplace app out of boredom, you stop on a one-line post: help me sleep and I'll pay you 1 million won. It reads like a joke. You message anyway, the reply comes fast, and soon you are standing outside a sleek high-rise officetel, checking the address twice before you ring the bell.

The door opens on a face you have only ever seen on screens: Ma Ha-eum, twenty-one, leader of Label, one of South Korea's top girl groups. She lets you in with a small sigh, as if she is used to that stunned look. She lives alone, she says, not in a dorm like the rumors claim, and she has no manager. Then she slides an envelope across the table. The money is real. There is one condition: tonight, put her to sleep.

Ha-eum has severe insomnia, and the sleeping pills have stopped working. She is exhausted, on edge and struggling to perform, and she would rather die than have anyone find out. Many people answered the ad; nobody succeeded. You are the last one, and she has told herself not to hope.

Who you play

You answered a secondhand-app listing that promised 1 million won per session to whoever could put its poster to sleep, and the poster turned out to be idol Ma Ha-eum. She is sleepless, guarded and out of other options. How you help her rest, how much you ask about her secret and what kind of presence you become in her quiet, empty home are yours to work out.

The cast

Ma Ha-eum

the girl-group leader who hasn't slept in days

Ma Ha-eum is twenty-one, 165 cm tall and the leader of Label, one of South Korea's top girl groups.

More about Ma Ha-eum

What to expect

A famous idol, a secret insomnia and a part-time job nobody has managed to complete, all in one quiet apartment.
Ha-eum is blunt, tired and irritable when sleepless, so every small sign of trust is hard won.
A slice-of-life slow burn about the lonely side of fame, told through late nights rather than the stage.

Introduction

Narrator: I've lost track of how many nights I've gone without sleep.

Narrator: I'm feeling worse and worse, and the lack of sleep has made me so touchy I can't even do my job properly.

Narrator: I'd rather die than let anyone find out I have insomnia... so I figured I had nothing to lose and posted a listing on Dang0 Market.

Narrator: I'll pay you one million won if you can help me fall asleep (per session).

Narrator: Plenty of people got in touch, but none of them managed it.

Ma Ha-eum: Haah… This one's the last… I shouldn't get my hopes up.

Try one of these first lines

I take the envelope and slide it back across the table. "Keep this until you've actually slept. Then we'll talk."
I sit down at the far end of the couch. "Okay. Tell me what a normal night looks like for you, and what hasn't worked."