Chapter 150

Chapter 150

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[The identity of the May Bridegroom from Bespoke Singer just came out]

: TeSTAR Park Moondae

He showed up dressed in the same outfit as the hologram.

(screen capture)

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- Holy sh*t

- I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this

- Good lord LOL

- It was Park Moondae after all, you bastards T_T

The real-time reactions are just as expected. I glanced briefly at the exploding comments section, then stared at the TV, having given up on running away. The May Bridegroom’s identity reveal was playing on the TV in the dorm living room.

[※It’s TeSTAR’s Park Moondae?※]

[※The nation’s favorite stock idol appears out of the blue...※]

[※The audience and judges are shocked※]

The way it had been edited together with all the captions was hard to watch, so I’d taken a moment to stare at my phone instead. I wouldn’t have minded so much if I were alone, but we were watching as a group.

“I-it’s okay, Moondae! I-it came out great!” Ahyeon reassured.

“You were very impressive!” Raebin said.

“Wow, Moondae, looks like you went all out for this one! You even had a costume! Woo!”

Big Sejin prodded at my shoulder. In the meantime, more captions appeared under Park Moondae on the screen.

[※Could you please introduce yourself?※]

[※Yes. Hello. I’m Park Moondae, TeSTAR’s main vocalist.※]

[※The rosy May smile... that melts many a heart※]

“Rosy...!”

“Wow, those captions are something...”

The members, unable to hold it in any longer, began to bury their faces in the sofa to stifle their laughter. An over-dramatic montage of our promotional footage appeared, and the members refused to look up. I guessed even they were a little embarrassed now.

Why are we even bothering to watch this together? I’d expected something like this would happen the moment they said they wanted to watch it together, but I was starting to feel like I should just go into my room and finish the episode alone.

The show soon moved on to the announcement of the winner, however.

[“The best avatar of all time on Bespoke Singer is…”]

[“The May Bridegroom by Park Moondae!”]

Confetti flew everywhere.

“Wooow!”

“Of course, you won! How could you not after singing like that?” Bae Sejin shouted, openly very excited.

“...?”

Why is he so pumped?

Bae Sejin cleared his throat and averted his gaze when he noticed me staring at him. I remembered how he’d remarked that he liked “Winter Night” last week with a rigid countenance.

I guess he’s into dramatic vocals like that. He was acting like he’d just watched an exciting sports match or something. The emcee was making a huge fuss on screen.

[“Ah! Moondae! Would you like to say a few words?”]

[“Hmm... It was very fun, singing as the May Bridegroom. That alone was a really meaningful experience, but I was very happy that people liked the bridegroom... Thank you very much.”]

That much was true. I hadn’t done a lot of planning before the show, so I’d been surprised that it went so well.

I was lucky. I couldn’t expect that my luck would always hold up, but still, it’d been a refreshing experience.

“Moondae, that avatar looks about the same size as you. Did you plan out that reveal from the start?” Raebin asked.

“Weren’t the flowers over your face uncomfortable?” Eugene butted in before I could answer.

I answered all their questions patiently. “Yeah, I planned for it. And yes, they were uncomfortable.”

“I knew it!”

“It’s not good to be uncomfortable!”

Their reactions embarrassed me a little, but I couldn’t complain. They’d put up with my erratic moods for the past month or so, after all.

“Seeing you perform like this makes me want to get started on our next album already!” Big Sejin said.

“Y-yeah,” Ahyeon agreed.

The members chatted away, excited as they watched the rest of the show. My part was nearly at an end.

[“Sadly... Chicken with a Ribbon gets second place!”]

That guy is from Goldie #1’s group. The chicken was doing his interview now.

Chungwoo asked, “Will you be on the show again, then?”

“Yes. I’ll be in the next round’s semifinal episode two weeks from now.”

“That’s good. Congratulations. Uh... let’s see. One moment.” He smiled and stood up, and the two youngest members shot to their feet as well.

“...?”

It was obviously staged.

Uh-oh. Don’t tell me...

The three disappeared into the kitchen, only to reappear moments later.

Eugene was holding a cake in his hands.

[“TeSTAR’s first anniversary”]

[“We did it! We’re amazing!”]

I knew it. Today was June 18th, the first anniversary of our debut.

Though there’s less than an hour left of today. It was already 11:20. We’d uploaded some anniversary content at midnight the previous day, so I’d momentarily forgotten about it.

“We did upload that video at midnight... but I thought we could have a little celebration of our own, too,” Chungwoo said with a smile, tousling the youngest members’ hair

“These two helped me prepare it.”

“Cake is amazing!” Eugene cried.

“We came up with the writing on top together.”

It read exactly like the kind of message these three would cook up. The thing was, the wording wasn’t really what mattered.

Did they wait until my episode was done? I don’t know what to say... I guess I’m proud of them. Odd emotions well up inside me, but were quickly disrupted by Big Sejin.

“Wait! Wait! Let’s take a photo first! Moondae?”

Why are you holding out your phone to me like I’m the cameraman?

“Oh, come on. You’re good at taking photos. Wait, don’t tell me you don’t feel confident because it’s a selfie? Is that how it is?”

“Give it here.”

“Well, well!”

I’ll let it go this time. I snatched the phone and put it in selfie mode. Holding out the phone as far as I could, I maneuvered the camera so all seven of us and the cake were visible.

“Here goes.”

“Okay!”

I smoothly snapped several photos, each a couple of seconds apart. As soon as that was done, everyone was talking all at once.

“Now then, let’s eat!”

“Is this edible? All this food color on the top...” Bae Sejin asked.

“It’s great!” Eugene insisted.

“Eugene! Wait for the older members to eat first!”

Bae Sejin seemed resigned as he put a mouthful of cake in his mouth.

I shrugged.

It’s not bad. It tasted great for such a fancy-looking cake. And so, thirty minutes before June 18th was over, we had a modest celebration for our anniversary by sharing some cake.

“Good work the past year, everyone. Let’s keep it up,” Chungwoo said.

“Of course! Let’s keep going until we get a daesang!”

“Eat up, now. We’re not promoting at the moment.”

“Y-yes!”

The simplicity of it was pretty nice.

***

While Moondae and the other members were peacefully eating cake, his fans were busy roaring with triumph.

- The May Bridegroom is Park Moondae! (shouting from the rooftops)

- I feel so vindicated right now. Thank you, my favorite idol

- I nearly died I was so frustrated. So you finally get to meet my husband—Park Moondae

└ Get in line, there’s a lot of people ahead of you

└ LMAO

The fans had struggled to restrain themselves all this time, and social media and related online communities were being positively bombarded with smug posts.

[Comparisons between the May Bridegroom and Park Moondae’s movements]

[The identity of the May Bridegroom (which most people already guessed)]

[Shocking finals of Bespoke Singer]

The fans expressed their happiness, and only after some time had passed to allow it all to sink in, did they really start to crave new content from Park Moondae.

- Park Moondae must be nuts! How did he come up with an idea like that? When he goes, he goes all the way! That’s why I love him!

- His profile said the flowers change into his bride’s ideal face when he meets the person he’s to marry. Then he appeared in person! What do I do?

└ It’s a proposal, right? I think it is. Time to break out the marriage registration forms

- I can’t tell where the flowers end and his face begins. Isn’t Park Moondae just one with the bouquet?

- The May Moon Puppy? I think I found the perfect nickname (countryside puppy with a flower tucked behind its ear)

- I feel so proud... You’re not Korean if Park Moondae’s music doesn’t fill you with pride

Though not as effusive as his fans, the dedicated viewers of Bespoke Singer were also deeply impressed by the May Bridegroom. All his performances had been so good, and even his face reveal had been high-impact and well-thought-out.

- It’s been a while since someone took Phony Singer so seriously. I guess I’ve seen too many guys trying to make do with cheap baseball mascots and the like

- He sings so well, it’s a pity he’s just an idol. He’ll only end up doing dance songs all his career, won’t he?

└ You’re out of the loop, aren’t you? Everyone starts off that way, but he’ll debut solo once he gets his career going

- He didn’t sing an original song for the finals. If he’d written the song himself, I’d have been impressed

- He really was flawless, other than the preliminary round, which was a little on the weak side. I doubt anyone would disagree with me

└ It was a great strategy since the preliminary round was used to form his character. I wonder if someone directed him? If he did all that himself, that would really mean he’s worthy of being called a top idol

└ His vocal cords are his own, at least. That’s more than enough to put him up there, isn’t it? LOL

└ LOL you’re right

The dedicated viewership was pleased with him, and even casual viewers liked his performance even if not all of them enjoyed his avatar.

He’s a fabulous singer. That he’d had such an easy win on a music variety show that aired on national television at prime time, with a viewer rating of 10% or more, had somewhat of an impact on his reputation with the general public.

This first became apparent in comments on the May Bridegroom face reveal video uploaded to WeTube.

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[The thrilling, romantic May Bridegroom! Who could he be? | Bespoke Singer | 0618202X]

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- The final performance really gave me chills! It was so amazing!

- This young man is a blessing to our country... What a voice he has! He sings so well :)

- Park Moondae! We oldies are waiting for your next performance! T_T

- He’s got a hell of a face, too. I guess his voice matches his looks.

An older audience had begun to take an interest in Park Moondae. They’d gotten glimpses of him in the past because of the massive success of Idol Inc., but not many people had heard him singing at his best like this.

And this was all in addition to those who’d fallen in love with the May Bridegroom character itself.

- Proposal followed by breakup, followed by courtship, then obsession. A perfect saga

- I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him since last week. In my head, there’s already a prequel movie about him

- My love doesn’t come, and my love rots away. (May Bridegroom fan art)

- This was the first good non-human character in a while. Who knew an idol would love strange concepts as much as I do?!

└ LOL he suddenly feels like a friend, doesn’t he?

└ I mean, did you see him wear a costume exactly like his hologram? Oh, he’s for sure dead serious about his character

- I can’t stop thinking about the moment he took off his bouquet head. It’s driving me nuts

└ You too? Me too! LMAO! I liked the bouquet head so much, I thought the character would be ruined when I saw a real person’s face behind it. But it was much better than I expected

└ I guess having such a handsome face saved him

- I wish Moondae would talk more about the May Bridegroom, like how he came up with it and all that.

Even if Park Moondae had made the character, the hologram based on his voice and gestures, he and the bridegroom were not the same. Even so, more and more people seemed to become attached to the character because it had so many things in common with Park Moondae.

- I’m already so excited for next week T_T

He’d given an amazing performance on a popular show, and his identity had just been revealed—the praise and attention raining down on him had reached its peak. Things did not just end there, of course.

[Park Moondae should debut solo haha]

Comments like this, designed to upset, were to be expected. However, they were about to be crushed.