Chapter 102

Chapter 102

The game studio collaborating with TeSTAR had already produced a few games that had earned a dedicated fan base before being purchased by T1. As a result, there were a few smaller gaming communities that often engaged in discourse about this particular studio.

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127 Section was mentioned in the captions of an idol music video. What do you guys think?

(TeSTAR comeback trailer video)

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- Wait a second... I think you’re right.

- I just watched it. Seoul setting, a red curse, biohazard marks, and even a water tank. It’s pretty much confirmed.

- What? An obscure studio like this is being promoted by idols? (Confused face emoji)

└ Getting bought by a business juggernaut is a pretty sweet deal

- Something... something big is in the works

- Oh so they’re male idols. What a relief. That’ll keep out the fanboys

└ But there will be fangirls instead

└ What does it matter, as long as they spend money on the game? I’m worried they’ll close down the servers not long after they release this game like they did on their previous games

└ LOL. You make a fair point

No one was complaining that an idol group had been brought in on a game like this, nor were they worried it could possibly eclipse the game’s impact.

Firstly, the music video was well made and seemed faithful to the game’s concept, based on the information that had been released so far. And the second reason they were okay with it was... they were in no position to be choosy.

The studio behind 127 Section, Ruins Factory, had gained a reputation over the past few years as an underdog that produced good games, but because they never managed to develop a good monetization model, their games never remained online for very long.

As a result, all their fans wanted was for the servers to stop closing down prematurely.

- Does this mean we can expect money to be invested in the studio?

- Yay! 127 Section is going to be the game of the year!

- So when is it releasing, exactly? They put out a trailer, but there’s no release date! (Table slap emoji)

└ What do you expect from such a tiny studio?

Only after TeSTAR’s comeback had gotten plenty of press time did the studio finally announce the game’s release date.

[Ruins Factory’s new game 127 Section to release alongside TeSTAR’s second album, the hottest group right now]

[TeSTAR’s comeback trailer was a collaboration video... 127 Section to be released soon]

- Yay!

- So many more people are going to hear about the game now!

- TeSTAR? aka Ruins Factory’s sons.

- TeSTAR, they are gods!

As the gamers waited with great excitement, TeSTAR’s fans began to grow nervous.

- So this album is really just promotion for a game?

- They’re not going along with that dumb director’s idea, are they?

- Why can’t they give us a better idea of what kind of collaboration they’re planning? All this ambiguity pisses me off

- Should we get on the agency’s case again? T_T

Thankfully, before their anxiety could be left to simmer for too long, more information was released.

[TeSTAR Concept Photos: Side A]

TeSTAR’s teaser photos for the upcoming album appeared. They were obviously going for a clean and refreshing vibe, the images depicting the members lying in a forest wearing white T-shirts, watching the scenery outside the window while lying on their stomachs in bed with headphones on, and so on.

They were also barefoot. The images evoked the feeling of a teenager’s summer day, the overall feeling of wistful beauty.

- No way!

- Oh my god I’m in love

- Ahyeon’s barefoot! BAREFOOT!

- Did you see the pic of Moondae biting into an apple? Did you see it!?

- I feel faint

- Oh god... They’re only getting more handsome by the day!

These concept photos were in complete contrast to the information that had been released about 127 Section and the comeback trailer, and so the fans relaxed as they began applying their own edits to the photos and re-uploading them.

***

“Moondae! The reaction online is amazing!”

“I know. I’m seeing it, too.”

“Haha!”

I could hear Big Sejin’s laughter growing faint as he ran down the corridor. He was probably going to talk to the others. I checked the comments on my phone, and everyone seemed to be coming to the natural conclusion that the game collaboration was just a small part of the album.

I guess it was a good idea to release the information in this order. If news of the collaboration came out later, the fans might have been turned off. But if it were announced too early, then all the interest might have been funneled into the game.

We’ll approach this slowly, step by step. It was important to build excitement up to keep anyone from feeling turned off, being careful to maintain only a middling connection with the game.

We can’t become too involved in it, either. The game collaboration had to be just a bonus of sorts that would allow people to immerse themselves more fully in the universe we were building.

I was sitting basking in the results of all our hard work when a pop-up appeared on my screen.

[Cheongryeo (VTIC): Are you putting out an album?]

I stared. He definitely had some underlying reason for asking this question. I couldn’t ignore him, however, so I responded.

[Yes. Our comeback is at the end of the month.]

[Cheongryeo (VTIC): I see. Then there’s still time.]

He then made a suggestion I didn’t particularly enjoy.

[Cheongryeo (VTIC): I made a song. Would you like to include it in the album?]

Are you out of your mind?

[Oh no. It’s all right, really. We couldn’t possibly ask you to do that for us, and the album is basically complete, anyway. Thank you so much for the offer, though.]

[Cheongryeo (VTIC): It’s because I want something from you. I’m not offering you the song for free, so don’t worry. And you don’t have to use it on your upcoming album if you don’t want to :)]

[You want information, is that it?]

I tried to word my response ambiguously just in case someone was reading over his shoulder, but I was basically asking if he wanted to know more about the future.

[Cheongryeo (VTIC): Yes.]

[As I said before, I don’t really know much.]

[Cheongryeo (VTIC): I’ll be the judge of that. :)]

Damn it, I don’t want to meet this bastard again. I wish I could just cut ties with him or something. The only option left was to ask him for information in return.

[In that case, I’d like to hear about your past, rather than taking the song.]

Unlike his previous responses, which had arrived without any delay, it took him a while to answer me this time.

[Cheongryeo (VTIC): As you wish.]

***

I had so little free time while preparing for the album that I wanted to delay meeting him until after our promotions, but that hadn’t worked out.

“I have a concert tour then and I’ll be overseas.”

As a result, I’d been forced to rent out a recording room in the middle of the night, after practice was over for the day.

Sh*t. I’d told the agency I’d try to work something out with him, but that I wasn’t sure what would happen.

Not that I really intend to collaborate with him. Cheongryeo arrived sometime later.

“Hey there. How have you been?”

“I’m good, of course.”

“Seems like it. The trailer was fantastic. Oh...” Cheongryeo was hanging his thin coat up next to the door when he turned to regard me blankly. “Did you know about the game? Does it turn out to be a mega-hit on release? Is that why you decided to collaborate?

“No... the agency forced us to.”

“Oh, I see.” He grinned and sat down, taking out a small USB stick from his pocket. “Would you like to listen to the song first?”

He really doesn’t listen, does he?

“I don’t... really need the song.”

“Since we’re here, why not just listen to it.” He fidgeted with the device and sat at the front of the booth. Before long music began to play.

“Not bad, huh?”

It was a tropical house track with an addictive beat. This only made me more suspicious.

He’s not the sort of person to just give something like this away, is he?

“Why are you giving it to me? You could certainly make use of it yourself.”

“Hmm. Well, I’m not really into this style of music.”

“What about another group in your agency or someone else from your team? A unit could release it or something.”

“Hmm...” He turned off the music and cupped his chin in his hand. “You’re smart, as expected. Unnecessarily smart.”

“...!”

“This isn’t actually my song,” he said, tugging the USB drive free of the computer and throwing it in the trash bin. “Two years ago, a promising new composer gave the song to T-Holic, and it became a hit—in another version of the past, of course. I stole it for myself.”

What?

“Oh, you don’t have to feel sorry for the composer. They took to copying other people’s music after this song, got sued by a bunch of people, and ended up fleeing overseas.”

I stared, and he adopted an embarrassed smile.

“Well, at least that’s what happened before I traveled back and changed things. He’s probably living a nice life now since I paid him handsomely for the song. I can’t give it to someone from my agency, though. The composer might try to give us more plagiarized songs if this song did well.”

“And you offered it to me instead because...?”

He smiled. “I was going to warn you, of course. You wouldn’t ever take another song from the same composer once I’d told you the truth, isn’t that right?”

Why do I get the feeling he wouldn’t have told me if I hadn’t noticed something weird was going on first?

“You just said I was unnecessarily smart, though.”

“Well, it takes the fun out of explaining when you’re so suspicious all the time.”

Our conversation was a master class in evasion.

He continued speaking with a grave expression, “I want to keep track of dangerous little events like this. I don’t want to know anything all that incredible... just small things—trends and incidents that you can remember. Then I’ll tell you what I know.”

All I did was study. I could only really remember incidents that had come up on the nine o’clock news or on the front page of portal websites. I doubted he wanted to know what the hurricane that was coming next summer was called.

“You do remember that I was busy preparing for the civil service exam, right?”

“You knew enough about the world around you to nab first place on Idol Inc.”

So this was where the misunderstandings on his part had come from. I told him shamelessly, “That was just hard work and talent.”

He would totally lose it if I told him about the status window. I was resolved to never say a word about it.

“But you seem to know far too much about how these shows are filmed.”

He probably wouldn’t believe me even if I confessed that I’d sold fancams and pics as a paparazzo after dropping out of high school. I decided to feed him a story more familiar and common.

“I was into idols before I began studying for the exam, so I know a little about the industry.”

He seemed to be momentarily at a loss. Then he sighed. “So you were an idol fan?”

“Yes.”

“Whose?”

“Marshmallow.”

He sighed again, then said in a softer tone, “Regardless, tell me anything you remember. I’ll also tell you what I know.” He was finally giving up.

I nodded to him. “Yes. All right. Let’s see... Beaton from Maximite gets caught drinking and driving early next year—”

“Color me completely unsurprised. Next.”

“Hmm... Mewdy releases a Christmas carol at the end of the year. I heard it at every restaurant I went to, so I assume it performed well.”

“All right... Next?” He repeated this about three times more before he said glumly, “You don’t know what sort of beat will trend next year, for example?”

“If I knew, I’d have used it already.”

At this, he was forced to admit that I really didn’t have much to offer. “You don’t seem to be lying... ugh.”

“Would you like to know the applicant saturation for next year’s civil service exam?”

“Forget it...”

“Hmm.”

I supposed it was my turn to ask the questions. “Do you have any idea why this is happening? Or maybe what incident triggers it?”

“I’d love to know the answer to that myself,” he said with a frown. “One thing I know for sure is that you don’t have to worry about dying once you successfully complete whatever is required of you. I knew a few things about the future, and it’s come in handy the past few years.”

The tone he used when he said “handy” sounded shady as all hell.

“Did you steal music?”

“Haha! Do you even have to ask? The idols who released those songs didn’t write them. I simply approached the composers before they did.” He smiled brightly. “But that ended as of last year.”

“...!”

That told me something important.

He turned back time last year. I knew he’d gone back to before his debut, which meant, considering how long VTIC had been around, he’d gone back at least seven years.

So he had to have had a minimum of eight status abnormalities. How many times had he failed, if he’d been forced to somehow figure out what they were and a workaround, all with no access to a status window?

No wonder he’s so unhinged. I resolved to keep my distance from him from now on.