Chapter 139

Chapter 139

As expected, our plot to flip the script on the emcee during the intro dance made it into the episode in its entirety.

[※The DJ is dazed at the outpouring of praise※]

[※Twenty-three years of experience on variety shows, defeated by first-time guests in fairy wings※]

The editing focused on getting a laugh at the emcee’s expense, but our impact was still felt.

[※Are all rookies these days like this?※]

[※Truly terrifying!※]

These were the captions they edited over the footage of us, in addition to CGI that made our wings glow fluorescent.

I unmuted the video after the members promised they would stop just howling with laughter every time I appeared onscreen. They were now sitting and clearing their throats a lot as they tried not to laugh.

“Haha! Ahem. It seems like you guys did a really good job.”

“Amazing— Ahem! You did amazing!” Raebin said.

“You’re a terrifying person. That’s so cool!”

“Uh... thanks.”

Eugene seemed to have taken some artistic liberties with the Korean language and decided that terrifying meant amazingly talented.

My embarrassment aside, the episode turned out well. Even the viewer reactions, which I was checking in real time, were quite good.

- LOL why are they doing that?

- The DJ doesn’t know how to react LOL

- They’re out of their mind!

- I can hear the staff laughing, haha

- What’s with the wings? LOL That’s so damn funny

- Look at how bold they are!

- I’ll bet they gave VTIC a run for their money

As it happened, the two members of VTIC appeared and did a pretty suave dance. It lasted all of ten seconds, after which they were immediately overwhelmed by the DJ’s fast-paced comments.

“Hmm...”

The interaction was funny in its own way.

I guess the VTIC fans will be pretty happy with it. As I was passing down this generous evaluation mentally, the twist was revealed and the doppelganger team battles began.

[※One body, two souls! Remember? That means you need to share the punishment! You’re doppelgangers, after all!※]

It was interesting, but the first thirty minutes of the battles didn’t contain anything that was out of the ordinary. There were only a few shots of us participating in the various games, as well as my confused reaction to VTIC’s sudden voluntary defeat.

“Where did your wings go?” Eugene asked.

“We took them off since they could become dangerous,” Big Sejin replied.

“Oh!”

The conversation remained light as this week’s Saturday Party episode came to an end.

“You two did really well,” Chungwoo complimented.

“Th-that was fun!” Ahyeon said.

They were lavishing us with praise, but it was a bit too early for compliments. We hadn’t seen the second episode yet.

“Thank you very much! Be sure to catch next week’s episode live!” Big Sejin said cheekily.

“Haha. All right,” Chungwoo agreed with a laugh. He had no idea what the following week would bring.

The fans on the internet were excited for the next episode, and there wasn’t really anything special going down in terms of the internet’s reaction. Even non-fans seemed to find the two of us pretty fun because we’d started the episode with a bang. Everything was going perfectly. The impact would hit harder if people didn’t expect much from us. I stretched and got up from the floor in front of the sofa.

I’ll have to wait another week to see what happens. Things were going according to plan, assuming that no major issues came up later. The situation I’d feared became reality soon enough, however—public opinion about me was swaying.

***

While Park Moondae waited for the next episode of Saturday Party to air, discourse online was growing rowdy. As he’d foreseen, the controversy regarding the recording of Choi Wongil hadn’t been laid to rest entirely.

The uploader had put together a written post, discussing Choi Wongil’s infamy on Idol Inc. and providing evidence that proved they were a staff member.

- Wow, they were staff on the show?

- The recording wasn’t edited. Apparently, parts were cut out because the record button had to be pressed several times

- Choi Wongil’s frightening. Was Moondae blackmailed or something?

- We should avoid his agency

This didn’t last more than a few days, however, since metadata that hadn’t been erased properly exposed the uploader’s personal information.

========================

[Holy crap guys, the guy who tried to unmask Choi Wongil is trash]

: (Screen capture)

You see the original URL for the image here in the corner? The last part looked like a username, so I googled it. It showed me everything this person has been up to LOL. He’s an unemployed chronic liar who likes to mock people who are ill. The staff ID card was stolen, too

(Screen capture)

========================

The agency immediately uploaded an announcement that they’d be taking the uploader to court. The popular opinion was that the person responsible for disseminating this information had never met Wongil before. He’d recorded the audio during a one-time part-time job, stumbling upon the conversation by chance.

Wongil’s agency began to upload corrective posts across various communities, being as inflammatory as possible as they exposed the uploader.

[Person who spread rumors about Choi Wongil = an infamous internet account who loves to speak ill of the dead]

[The person responsible for the Choi Wongil leak is more nasty than you ever imagined]

Once this was done, the public finally began to sympathize with Choi Wongil.

- It’s disgusting. Poor Choi Wongil

- That’s really scary. Idol Inc. ended so long ago and the malicious editing from that show is still holding him back

- I just listened to the first recording again. It’s so sad... I wonder what he’s been through?

As the public began to focus on a different aspect of the incident, the sympathy toward Park Moondae and praise for his personality died out. There were some who’d been waiting for precisely this.

========================

[Opinions differ right now about Park Moondae and Choi Wongil]

: Here’s a behind-the-scenes video from Idol Inc. that was released after the show ended

(screen capture)

During the first team battle, Park Moondae took the bridge part that used to be Choi Wongil’s. Park Moondae glances at Choi Wongil after saying he’d arrange the song on his own. FYI, Park Moondae made this part super high and it became the note that kick-started his popularity

(screen capture)

Look at how confused Choi Wongil looks

“Park Moondae screwed Choi Wongil over”

vs

“This is just baseless supposition.”

Which do you think is the truth?

========================

- More nonsense

- Why are you uploading this now? Trying to start a fight?

└ Should I decide the timing of my uploads based on the fans’ feelings about it?

- LOL what do you mean, opinions differ? You mean you want them to differ.

Most people dismissed this as nonsense, but a few malicious individuals tried to gain momentum for the theory.

- Oh... I’m not liking what this says about Park Moondae.

- I thought everyone knew? He pretends to be innocent, but he’s crafty as hell haha

- You know how good he is at protecting his reputation. The way I see it, he probably assessed what he stood to gain from it before he helped with clearing up Choi Wongil’s name

└ Yeah, he feels a bit shady

└ He vibes like someone who didn’t get enough love from their parents growing up...

- Park Moondae’s fans are saying that Choi Wongil picked a fight out of the blue in the recording... but I think there’s more to the story

└ I thought the same thing, too haha

- Choi Wongil said he’d do the chorus in the first team battle, so Moondae agreed. This is utter bullsh*t

└ You want to blame Choi Wongil again?

This post was deleted before long, of course, thanks to all the reports and contradictions in the comments. It left a bad taste in the fans’ mouths, however.

More posts painting Park Moondae’s past activities in a malicious light popped up from time to time among the trending posts, only to cause fights and disappear just as quickly.

The posters were out to get the following reaction:

[Everyone was making such a big deal over how nice Park Moondae is. Isn’t that ridiculous?]

The sentiment didn’t get a lot of traction thanks to Park Moondae’s quick response and TeSTAR’s fame, but it was a precarious few days. The fans spent them anxious and afraid. It was in the midst of all this that the second part of the Saturday Party episode featuring Park Moondae aired.

Please give us something to criticize him for more.

We don’t care if it’s no fun. Please don’t spark any more controversy.

Two very different kinds of people waited with anticipation as the second part began to play.

At first, the episode just started out moderately funny.

[※Wow! The game just refuses to end!※]

[※Why are they so good at this?※]

It was fun to watch the idols and actors playing the games with such grim determination. There was footage of Big Sejin patting an actor on the back after a penalty, which was edited nicely with captions that read, “They’re already best friends!”

Things started getting a little strange during the next round.

“This next game is called Don’t Move a Muscle! The person who manages to remain calm and unmoving no matter what happens wins!”

If one of them managed to hold water in their mouths without spitting it until the end, their team would win. Park Moondae was the only one who managed to survive at the table, which was soon drenched with water.

[※Wait, Moondae! You’re awake, right?※]

[※Is this even possible?※]

The staff suddenly ran on set, screaming and dancing sexily. A monkey burst out of the DJ’s booth, and a circus clown passed in front of him juggling fireballs on an elephant’s back, but he didn’t react at all. He seemed completely relaxed as he stared into space. Elephants had nothing on the absurd situations he’d found himself in before.

At least elephants are real. He was living the life of the protagonist in a fantasy novel, and a status window had him by the throat. A familiar caption appeared above Park Moondae’s head, for the first time in a while.

[※Serene※]

An image of a Tibetan fox appeared in the background as well. The water filling his cheeks made his face bigger, meaning he resembled the fox all the more strongly.

[※An unprecedented situation※]

“The staff have... run out of things to try!”

“Wow!”

“That’s amazing!”

Park Moondae had taken a flawless victory. He swallowed the water and bowed to the people around him, leaving the viewers massively entertained.

- LOL whut

- That’s hilarious

- Park Moondae never changes... Amazing.

- He hasn’t changed a bit LOL

- The Tibetan fox wins

- He’s so cute T_T

This wasn’t the end of it, however. The emcee was winding up and aiming, now gunning for Big Sejin.

“This time the penalty goes to... Lee Sejin!”

“What!”

“Hey, that’s hardly fair!”

“Three people were disqualified before Sejin!”

“He failed at a critical moment. That’s when the team falls apart, you see. Look! You laughed, and you made two others on your team laugh as well!”

The emcee manipulated the situation suavely, trying to confuse Big Sejin. Big Sejin only grinned, however.

“Sounds good!”

“Sejin?”

“You’re an idol. You’re okay with people scribbling on your face?”

“What matters more is my team’s victory!”

[※?!※]

Big Sejin pointed a finger at Park Moondae, the confused caption edited on top of him.

“Moondae!”

“If you keep winning like this, I’ll make sure to earn the penalty in every game!”

“Your team might win, but you’ll get the penalty every single time! You’d better think carefully!”

Big Sejin was hell-bent on victory.

[※Sacrificial spirit...?※]

The captions seemed taken aback as well, but Park Moondae wasn’t.

“Okay. I can live with that. What matters is that the team wins. We need to find the imposters.”

“Guys, you’re getting too serious about this!”

“You do realize this is a variety show, right?”

“We need to win, no matter what it takes, and find the imposters.”

“Sure, that’s important! But you’ll be remembered forever for what you do on the show!”

“There’s no future for our team if we don’t find the imposters.”

“My gosh.”

The two of them refused to listen to any attempt at talking them down. They stepped forward and returned with cat whiskers and raccoon marks all over their faces. They looked cute, but their eyes were burning with determination.

[※They’re ravenous for success※]

As the captions emphasized their eagerness, the next game commenced.

“This time we’re playing... Song Encyclopedia! What year is it right now? That’s right, 1988! It’s time to listen to the songs released this year and guess their names!”

Big Sejin, who’d predicted this game would be part of the lineup, began to guess them all.

“Correct!”

“Yay!”

Big Sejin was about to secure a win when Park Moondae began to sabotage his victory.

“Oh, Moondae... Wrong!”

“I’m sorry, what are you doing?”

“I want to get as many answers wrong as possible so I can get the penalty.”

[※!!※]

The captions evinced shock as Park Moondae balled his fists.

“Lee Sejin won’t be able to escape punishment if he keeps on doing so well.”

“Wait a second.”

“This isn’t how you’re supposed to use the rules!”

It was a mess. The other members of the cast, unable to stop them, ended up joining in and trying to aim a penalty at anyone who seemed to be on a roll.

The viewers found this hilarious.

- LMAO what is this?

- I’m laughing so hard, I feel like I’m going to vomit

- This is nuts. Why is this happening?

- I’m losing my sh*t

- These eager rookies have thrown the show into chaos LOL

Even though they were supposedly trying to win for their team, they were far too invested for such a trivial game.

“Hey, let’s go.”

“Ugh.”

Even the veteran entertainers inevitably gave in to participating in the self-sacrifice and sabotage. They looked resigned to their fate as they threw their arms around each other’s shoulders and went out to get their penalty. The sight was worthy of a comedy show.

The cherry on top was what unfolded during the final game, which would decide the winner. Sohyeon from Marshmallow had given up on threatening her doppelganger.

“I’m sorry Moondae! Youngrin is afraid of heights. It just doesn’t feel right!”

[※!!※]

This act of betrayal marked the end of the new fad. Youngrin successfully raised her flag and led her team to victory.

“The real ones are... the party team!”

“Yay!”

Park Moondae’s dazed look was a comical sight.

- He did all he could...

- LOL he’s so f*cking cute

- Idiot! Don’t get so invested in the games, LOL!

- Seriously, he’s so funny haha

- That is adorable. Only a rookie could cause this much chaos haha

- He seemed way too serious about the show even on Idol Inc. He’s no different here, is he LOL

A clip heavily featuring TeSTAR in the episode went viral as soon as it was uploaded to WeTube.

[(Saturday Party) | There Are Imposters Among Us! | Collection of TeSTAR’s overzealous antics | Legendary Two Bodies, One Soul episode | SBC]

The haters’ best efforts to paint Park Moondae as crafty and shady had been thwarted by “the quirky and eager Tibetan fox Moondae” yet again.

***

There. A sigh full of feeling escaped me as I turned off my phone. Putting himself out there like that had been embarrassing, but the outcome was satisfying all the same.

Looks like things are looking up now. It had been a great idea to ask the VTIC members to make a bigger fuss than they usually would since their reactions had made our actions seem even more bizarre. Because we’d left people with the impression we were just silly, goofy guys, trivial issues shouldn’t cause us issues for a while now. I suddenly recalled that there was something I’d been meaning to tend to.

I think I can relax and devote some attention to it now. I’d been planning this since the start of our promotional cycle, and this seemed to be the right time to get started. Some prep work needed to be done first, however.

First, time to go through my payments. It was finally time to see how well I’d done last year.