Chapter 154

Chapter 154

The fans were very excited about TeSTAR’s upcoming album, of course, but some of them were also worried because each member was getting a solo song.

- Why are they doing solo songs already? How are we supposed to stream their tracks to the top now? T_T

- I’m already stressed out at the prospect of the trolls saying TeSTAR has finally returned to their proper rank or whatever

- They were trying really hard to nurture a group fandom until now, weren’t they? So why this all of a sudden?

The way each individual track performed would not be an accurate reflection of the popularity of each member, of course. Because they would all be on a single album under the same name, the determining factor would be how palatable the songs were to the public.

Given that TeSTAR was originally from a survival show, however, it was difficult not to expect there would be some attention directed at how well each member’s song was doing. As their worries and the expectations grew, TeSTAR’s teaser was announced using WeTube’s premiere feature.

The video itself would go up the following day.

[TeSTAR “Present” | Official Teaser]

There was a simple, unassuming thumbnail showing an arrow buried in a tree inside a dark forest. It didn’t spark much interest, and fans weren’t overly excited by it.

- I think it’s something historical themed

- Are they doing this on purpose?

- An arrow? Haha

But the mood changed when people saw the length of the video. It was no less than eight minutes and twelve seconds long.

- Wait, I thought this was a teaser…

- What kind of group releases a teaser that’s eight minutes long?

- Guys, what the hell is going on here? I’m going nuts with curiosity

- Maybe it’s a mistake? What kind of teaser is eight minutes long?

K-pop music video teasers were usually a minute or less. Eight minutes was unheard of. Not that it was a bad thing, of course, since teasers weren’t so much used for promotion as they were for satisfying the expectations of the fans these days. Still, some of the fans who were concerned about the group’s performance were disappointed by this.

A teaser would mostly be watched by fans, but given how long it was, it would get even fewer views. Their appearance on the American show had attracted a lot of attention, leading people to expect that foreign K-pop fans would take more of an interest in TeSTAR. The fans wanted to see just how much more popular the group had grown.

- Even if the teaser view counts aren’t considered important... Isn’t it better to keep it short?

- I think it would have been better to split the video into multiple clips and release them separately. But I dunno.

- Please don’t tell me this is going to be the sort of boring emo sh*t T1 usually makes

- I think it’s about time they made a mistake, but I hope I’m wrong. Hopefully, they put their money into the right things

Because nobody wanted to make a mess before the comeback, the fans always said only positive things on public communities or social media.

- Eight minutes? That’s amazing. I get to see more of them starting right from the teaser T_T

- Do I get to see Bae Sejin act, maybe? Oh god I’m so excited

- How am I supposed to wait twenty-four hours?

- I think I’d lose it if the teaser was only thirty seconds after all the waiting. Eight minutes is amazing. It goes to show just how generous TeSTAR is as a group

Praying that the excitement wouldn’t die down the moment the teaser was released, the fans waited anxiously.

On the day of the reveal, those who’d been waiting in the real-time chat for the video to drop were astounded by what they saw.

- ??

- Whut

The fans had been right—it was basically the stuff of a real historical drama. However, the members were not humans in the video.

The video began by showing a huge palace, after which the camera seemed to be sucked inside. After rounding a handful of corners, a paper sliding door moved aside to reveal a library filled with books.

The camera zoomed in on a shabby, antique book that was open on the floor. There was an ink-wash painting of an arm coming out of the sand on a beach. Then the image faded, replaced by an actual beach.

Now the camera dove into the water, zeroing in on a figure lying on top of a large submerged rock. It was a blond Seon Ahyeon, wearing a loose-fitting traditional white robe. The sunlight filtered through the blue seawater, rippling over his pale face and the rock. The sight was both beautiful and strange.

A caption in an old-fashioned font appeared along the bottom.

[※Breathing※]

This was the name of one of the tracks that had been on the previously released tracklist. A gayageum began to play softly as Seon Ahyeon’s solo track began.

Ahyeon stood and started to dance underwater. His movements were beautiful, but not the choreography that went with the song. His hair and robe swayed about entrancingly in the water.

- No way T_T

- So good-looking

- The water shots are out of this world

People were amazed and thought to themselves that Ahyeon’s solo track must be the intro. As soon as the beautiful underground performance was over, however, the camera showed Ahyeon’s eyes surrounded by bubbles before shooting out of the water.

It now approached a peculiar circular pattern on the sand, created with mother-of-pearl. As the sun was setting, the figure that had been curled up inside the pattern stood up—it was Cha Eugene, covering his mouth with one hand.

Ancient Korean letters in a strange font covered his cheeks, collarbone, and the backs of his hands and glowed in the many colors found in mother-of-pearl.

A small gong began to sound, and a powerful new beat began.

[※Rhythm※]

It was Eugene’s solo track.

- Huh?

- Whoa

- Don’t tell me this is what I think it is

- Good god it’s Cha Eugene

The chat exploded with reactions to Eugene’s performance and excited guesses about what was going on in the video. The viewers were right.

All of the member’s solo songs were introduced one by one in this way. After Eugene came Bae Sejin, his eyes covered as he sat on an old tree stump and sang a ballad song. The subtle ringing of a carillon accompanied his voice.

The camera then entered a cave in the forest, inside which was Kim Raebin, holding a hand lantern with a neon light inside. His solo track was futuristic bass, heavily featuring a reed instrument.

The camera exited the cave and headed toward an old thatched-roof house on one side of the forest. Strange, colorful fabric covered the rotten paper doors of the house. Park Moondae was sitting on the wooden porch.

The familiar sound of a bamboo flute filled the air as “Last Flower” began.

- He’s wearing traditional wedding clothes! Oh my god, thank you!

- You can’t go too long without seeing Moondae’s face. He’s amazing.

And finally, the camera returned to the fancy palace, a stark contrast to the thatched-roof house. Standing in the middle of the shot was Lee Sejin wearing an ornament that looked like a giant tail as he executed acrobatic moves in tandem with a drumbeat. It was a light-hearted song, easy on the ears.

The fans were happy, of course.

- Wow, the songs all sound good, don’t they?

- T_T

- I love the hair, the makeup, the costumes, everything

- The video is top-notch

- I want to get the album already T_T

- Please give us the full video

- Best eight minutes of my life

But after Lee Sejin’s dance ended and he disappeared into the palace with a smile, the screen went black.

- ??

- What about Chungwoo?

- Where’s the title track?

- Is this even a teaser?

One of the members had been left out, and the title track had yet to appear as well. The fans were confused for a moment but relieved when the video started up again.

- Must have been all the traffic

- Oh, that’s a relief

- This is the problem with using the premier feature

The video was back to showing Ahyeon under the sea, along with the gayageum from his solo track.

- Huh?

- Again?

- So this is a bug, right?

It wasn’t a bug. Ahyeon stared at the camera for a moment before disappearing, and the video cut to Eugene, also staring into the camera on the sandy shore. Then came Bae Sejin. The traditional Korean instruments in the background didn’t vanish, however, as each new member was shown.

- Huh?

Every time a new member appeared, a new traditional Korean instrument joined the beat playing. They melded together perfectly, creating an entirely new track. When the camera finally reached Lee Sejin, the drums kicked in, making it a proper track in its own right. Then, more modern instruments joined in before the song came to an abrupt halt.

The footage shifted to a hand. The large, muscular hand picked up a book from the floor, the same one that contained the strange ink-wash painting. The spine of the book was visible on camera.

[※Journal of the Supernatural※]

“Will you be leaving?”

The camera panned up the man’s arm to show his face—it was Ryu Chungwoo, wearing a traditional warrior’s outfit.

- So handsome

- OMG Chungwoo

Regardless of what people were screaming in the comments, Chungwoo dusted off the book and pocketed it while wearing a worried expression on his face.

His clear eyes were directed at someone off-camera as he said, “Looks like it.”

The melody exploded in volume as Chungwoo turned his back on the camera and walked out of the library. When he stepped outside the walls, he drew the bow from his back and aimed into the forest.

The Korean bow he wielded was lacquered black.

He’s back

Be warned, be warned

He’s circling around

Feeling the thrill of the game

The arrow flew free of the bow with a whistle, sinking deep into a large bamboo tree.

He’s me

The video ended by showing the arrow buried in the bamboo, identical to the thumbnail.

- Holy crap

- Wow

- Was that the title song just now?

- No way!

- Are the other members supernatural entities, and Chungwoo is hunting them?

- I love you TeSTAR T_T

- It’s nuts how all the solo songs are connected!

The solo songs, when combined, made up the title track, and the footage all hinted at the music video’s story. In a sense, this ticked all the boxes as far as teasers went. The composition of each song made it clear that the members had considered the harmony of the album as a whole before working on their individual tracks.

This was made all the more apparent in the information that TeSTAR had gone out of their way to add in the description box. The people who’d written the lyrics and the songs, and done the arrangements were all listed.

- Their names are in every song

- They made them together, huh? T_T

Though the members’ names were toward the bottom of the list for each song, several members were still mentioned in each of them. This was true even on the songs that were not their respective solo tracks.

They had connected all the songs in the teaser for a definite reason. It was a clear display to everyone that the album was the result of a group effort. Even if the view counts of individual fancams could be compared at a later point, the logic needed to defend against comparisons between each member was already laid out.

- They’re so serious about the group

- Let’s keep going until TeSTAR gets their own dinner show T_T

- The music video views are what matter. The teaser’s meant for us fans to enjoy. Thanks, TeSTAR. Best eight minutes I’ve ever spent

Fans of TeSTAR as a group, as well as fans of only one or two members who weren’t all that radical, seemed to be content. Chungwoo’s fans, however, reacted a little differently.

Based on the end of the teaser, Chungwoo seemed to be the focus of the title track, but he hadn’t introduced his solo song.

- Don’t tell me only Chungwoo doesn’t get a solo track?

- As if it’s not annoying enough that people are criticizing him for being incompetent, this is next-level neglect

- If we protest, the CE fans will say we should be happy Chungwoo gets to be in the center. I’m disgusted

- I hate how they made it so that we won’t even be able to complain about the length.

People claiming that there was no need to make a fuss before the comeback even started collided somewhat with those who were upset that Chungwoo didn’t get a song in the teaser at all.

Thankfully, a post was uploaded to TeSTAR’s social media account before the angry posts could be screenshot and spread everywhere as a point of contention in the TeSTAR fandom.

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

Hey, Loviewers. How did you like the teaser?

I’m a little nervous since I found out while we were preparing the album that I’d be taking a larger part than usual. But please be excited for the album!

I’m Ryu Chungwoo, by the way (smile emoji)

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

This suggested that it was pointless to worry about Chungwoo not getting enough screen time.

***

“Do you think this will do?”

“Yes.”

“It sounds a little arrogant.”

“It doesn’t, don’t worry.”

“Haha. All right... Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Chungwoo smiled and locked his phone. He didn’t seem to care much about the reactions to his post since they would die down as time passed and more content was released. Even so, I’d decided it would be best to reassure him again at this point.

I think we’ve got this matter handled now. After making sure that Chungwoo’s fans were willing to wait a while to see how things turned out, I returned to the articles that I’d been reading earlier.

These articles are the real problem.

They were about Goldie #1’s group.

[Golden Age, the rising stars and rookies, enter comeback countdown]

[Golden Age, originally from Idol Inc., may soon encounter TeSTAR on the same stage?]

[It’s a chaotic August for the music industry... TeSTAR and Golden Age to have overlapping comebacks]

They were all articles describing how this new group was doing a comeback at the same time as us. This instantly made me think of what had happened a year ago.

Back when we debuted... TeSTAR’s debut had coincided with the top-tier idol group VTIC. This situation seemed to be an exact repeat of that.

Would you look at that? I bit my lip. It was really obvious to me now—their agency was really good at their job.