Chapter 156

Chapter 156

Ever since I’d gained the Catch-All Ears trait, which allowed me to detect good songs, I’d never once failed to judge whether a song was good or not. And the chorus of Goldie #1’s title track was... extremely good. I didn’t mean this in regards to completeness or artistic expression—the song was the kind that got stuck in your head after a single listen. Its mass appeal was off the charts.

Goddamn... There was no way they’d outdo us, of course, but it was very likely that there would be trolls saying stupid sh*t.

And right now, we can’t afford for that to happen. Our current album, Tiger Hunter, had gotten four out of five stars from the most reputable music review website in all of Korea. It was the first idol album that year to do so.

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The Beauty of Balance.

Balance requires disparity. From the moombahton of “Rhythm” to the synth-pop of “Breathing,” various elements have been combined into a traditional gugak-flavored package. “Present” elevates this to a five-star meal.

Thanks to recent trends, the industry is replete with singles and mini-albums. This group, however, has attempted to release an entire album every half year or shorter, and it seems there was good reason for their recklessness.

[...]

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The only criticism, levied later in the article, was that the album was “obsessively well-made,” and that the title track followed a common structure. The critics had given it a higher score than anyone had ever imagined they would. It was a great help to our reputation, of course.

Moreover, the response from their overseas audiences was clear—notably in the form of music video view counts, album sales, and rankings on global music streaming sites, netting us many invitations from foreign media.

We had already agreed to perform on a mid-sized English talk show and do a morning Japanese TV segment. The song was hardly an easy listen since its focus was functioning as a performance track, but it was still doing great in Korea, too.

I think we were in fourth place the last time I checked. The agency had told us that new members were joining the official fandom in much higher numbers than they had during the last album, and that was probably the largest indicator of our success.

Putting all of this together, this promotional cycle was the perfect opportunity for us to score highly both commercially and on the artistic front, securely cementing our place in the top tier of the industry—in other words, we were about to embark on an incredible career high.

This was where TeSTAR was at as Golden Age—Goldie #1’s group—was about to release an album, all while attempting to gain a foothold against us. Unfortunately for us, their song was extremely good.

The trolls are definitely going to say that Golden Age has better music and that TeSTAR only won thanks to our fandom. It would be a setback when it came to winning over new fans and the general public. I could already see the risk we now faced—losing our newly earned reputation as a top-tier, well-rounded group, and becoming known as that boy group with the big fandom. The goal was to become an elite group, and I didn’t want anyone or anything holding us back now.

Our tour needs to be huge in scale, too. If I wanted to avoid dying at the hands of my status abnormality, TeSTAR needed to keep going strong until our next comeback.

I have to make sure the public continues to give out praise for our current album. After some thought, I came to a conclusion.

National pride is the way to go. We needed to make audiences in Korea feel a sense of pride when it came to TeSTAR while making sure it wasn’t so in people’s faces as to turn them off.

With a short sigh, I replied to Goldie #1’s message. My members had already responded.

[It’s a good song, and easy on the ears. Congrats.]

I sent a straightforward compliment, making sure I wasn’t giving their agency any room to twist my words should they decide to try and do so.

Goldie #1 was simply grateful for the supportive messages.

[Ha Iljoon: T_T thanks guys!]

[Ha Iljoon: I hope it’s received well... We’ll do our best]

Goldie #1 seemed a little nervous. After sending a few messages back and forth, he ended the conversation with a joke.

[Ha Iljoon: Can you sign an album for me when we meet at one of the music shows next week? My little brother might kill me if I don’t get one.]

It was only a couple of hours later, however, that we got another message from him.

[Ha Iljoon: Guys, I’m so sorry to ask this, but is it okay if I say in interviews and stuff this week that you liked the song?]

[Ha Iljoon: I’m really worried since the reporters keep trying to start a fight between us when they’re asking questions]

[Ha Iljoon: TeSTAR is in a different league, and it scares me, the way they keep doing this... Please help me]

Oh no you don’t. While he might not have any ulterior motives, there was no knowing what the agency might do if we gave them permission to say this. It would give them the perfect opportunity to release headlines that read, “Golden Age’s new song wins praise from TeSTAR, their competitor.”

I quickly typed out a message in chat before the others could say anything.

[I don’t know if that’s a good idea. I’m afraid people might accuse you of leaking your title track to another group from Idol Inc.]

I received a private text not long after sending this.

[Big Sejin: Good job haha]

He’d avoided answering Goldie #1 himself. Big Sejin didn’t even need to jump in to back me up. Goldie #1 seemed immediately cowed.

[Ha Iljoon: Oh gosh, you’re probably right. Thanks, Moondae. The agency nearly sold me out, didn’t they?]

So it was his agency who put him up to asking. I would definitely need to keep a close eye on them. Goldie #1 didn’t seem to see TeSTAR as a competitor, considering the difference in our popularity, but he sure trusted his agency.

I envy him. It was a far cry from how things were between us and our agency. Holding back a sigh, I called said agency.

I need them to confirm an exact date. Keeping a close eye on every minute detail was the only way to ensure they didn’t screw us over last minute.

***

The week after Moondae listened to Golden Age’s title track, a reaction video was uploaded to a large WeTube channel. It was a channel known for creating interesting situations that sparked fun reactions, and they had played host to a lot of celebrities as of late.

No one like this had ever appeared on the channel before, however.

[Korean gugak musicians check out modern K-pop (feat. TeSTAR) | NAYA]

The guests were Korean gugak musicians—gugak meaning national music and referring to Korea’s traditional music and dance.

The video filmed one guest at a time and then edited them all together into a single video.

“Hello! I’m a gugak Korean singer, Baek Jubin.”

“I gave a solo performance last year at the National Gugak Center.”

“My most recent performance was... the Korean mask dance, I think.”

The video showed footage of the artists’ past performances before someone off-camera asked them a few short questions.

[※NAYA: Do you listen to K-pop?※]

“I know most of the famous songs.”

“Nope.”

“Yes, I’m a fan.”

Each artist responded differently, but the video emphasized one key point:

“It’s very different from the music I normally perform or create.”

The production team then opened a laptop up in front of each of the artists and had them watch a music video—a teaser, to be exact.

[※NAYA: I’m going to show you a K-pop music video that’s currently trending on WeTube.※]

“Okay... So do we just watch, or...?”

“How many views does it have? Whoa, over ten million?”

“I’m pressing play. Three, two, one.”

Click.

The video they were watching appeared in one corner of the screen. It was TeSTAR’s new teaser.

“Huh? What is this?”

The artists began to laugh the moment Seon Ahyeon’s solo track began.

“So this is why you’re showing us!”

“It’s the gayageum.”

With the exception of the main instrument, the song was mostly just K-pop, but the gugak artists still seemed to be having a good time.

“That’s a very clever way of using this instrument.”

“They incorporated it... in the choreography as well. There’s an arm movement there that’s used in the Taepyeongmu peace dance.”

“Wow, look how handsome he is! Someone that gorgeous should have joined our field.”

Cha Eugene’s solo track began, and their reactions grew a little more pronounced.

“It’s not over yet?”

“Wow, this guy’s pretty amazing, too! He looks great with the gongs!”

“Hold on, I just noticed the length of this video…”

[※NAYA: Please keep watching. (Stifles laughter)※]

The artists watched the first verse of each member’s solo track, the cinematic footage accompanying each song speaking of heavy capital.

“Whoa…”

They were just trying to show a polite interest at first but soon grew entranced by the video. The moment when the gugak instruments from each solo track began to combine and form the title track’s accompaniment evoked the most effusive reaction of all.

“Wow!”

“So it all comes together like that!”

“Where did they even get the idea to do that?”

“These instruments are always used for different types of songs, and I don’t think they’re ever all used together... That’s very interesting.”

[※NAYA: They came up with the idea themselves as they wrote the music.※]

“That’s unbelievable!”

The moment Chungwoo appeared in the video, they were sucked in by the story as well.

“Are they some kind of supernatural creatures? The book said something about the supernatural in the title..”

“Oh, I get it. Look. That one right there is a nine-tailed fox.”

“Really? Oh... Is the guy who appeared first supposed to be Cheoyong, the mythical monster hunter? That seems to be right.”

The production team then made a surprising declaration.

[※NAYA: Why don’t you ask them yourselves?※]

“What!”

The TeSTAR members appeared from off-camera.

[※Park Moondae: Hello. I’m TeSTAR’s Park Moondae.※]

[※Cha Eugene: Hey! I’m Cha Eugene. We’re TeSTAR!※]

“Whoa!”

One or two different TeSTAR members appeared with each of the gugak artists, sitting opposite them. Their sudden appearance caused a pleasant and funny scene to unfold featuring the confused artists.

“The video was amazing!”

“I think you must be geniuses. It was really amazing.”

“You’re even more good-looking in real life.”

“Uh, can you really not see... out of one eye?”

[※Bae Sejin: Huh? Oh, n-no. I... uh... I used to be a child actor...※]

“Oh! Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. It seemed so real, seeing you in the video wearing the eye patch!”

Their raw, confused reactions meant the vibes between artist and idol were both friendly and funny. Toward the end, their conversations took a turn, becoming more touching and serious.

“In our line of work, we often get the feeling that we’ve grown distant from the public. Thanks for putting together this amazing fusion performance.”

[※Park Moondae: We’re the ones who should be grateful. It was thanks to artists like you that we were able to learn just how amazing gugak instruments can sound. Thank you very much.※]

“Let’s keep up the good work, all of us!”

[※Cha Eugene: Great! Let’s hug!※]

The video ended on a slightly humorous note to avoid leaving too much of a serious impression.

[※Cha Eugene: I’m actually American! I like gongs!※]

The artists looked befuddled.

“Th-that’s nice. I didn’t think foreigners would like them, too...?”

This was how the video ended. As was to be expected, it trended in Korea as soon as it was uploaded, garnering millions of views. This wasn’t the only video of its kind to emerge.

TeSTAR appeared on a channel that posted choreography videos to show off their performance in greater detail while wearing hanbok and they also could be seen in the teaser for a public television variety show, playing the gugak instruments from their respective tracks.

They were directing attention to the selling points of their album while also ensuring that they weren’t being too heavy-handed about it. They were also sure to appear in content that was well suited to the message they were hoping to convey about their music.

They worked hard to sell the impression that TeSTAR was giving exposure to Korea’s classical music. Then the agency began to funnel articles about TeSTAR’s overseas schedules onto the main pages of portal sites.

This bomb went off around the same time Goldie #1’s group began their first week of promotions. The plan was successful. Luckily, this sort of marketing maneuver wouldn’t turn them into a symbol of Korea, since that was an impregnable position already held by VTIC.

Not everything went entirely to plan, however.

***

We were filming overseas, the first time we’d done so during this promotional cycle. It should have been busy backstage with last-minute checks, but instead, the atmosphere was filled with a cloying sense of urgency and worry.

“Kim Raebin!”

“Are you all right?”

“I-I don’t know...” Raebin was pale as he reached for his right foot, only to quickly pull his hand away. He was obviously in a lot of pain.

“Raebin, don’t touch it.”

“Do we have a first-aid kit anywhere?”

“Let me have a look!”

The staff rushed to take off his shoe and check his foot. It was swollen and bleeding.

Sh*t.

I nearly bit clean through my tongue.