Chapter 171

Chapter 171

There was an infamous story about a doll that was thrown in a dumpster, only to appear before the front door the very next day. Right now, I feel how the protagonist of that story must have felt.

What is this doing here? The Words of Persuasion trait had appeared as a C-rank trait early on during Idol Inc. I’d used it to persuade Ahyeon to believe in himself, then deleted it after I debuted. It was funny that it had come again, but the funnier thing was: Why is it A-rank?

I’d seen a trait appearing for a second time, but it was then combined with another, and upgraded. When that happened, the trait ended up with a different name.

This system is so disorderly. I had no idea why this trait had the same name. Saying it had been moved up to A because it had been so effective was the kind of excuse a crappy phone game might make.

I decided to look at the description closely for now.

[Trait]

“Words of Persuasion (A)” activated!

Your words have a strong emotional impact on anyone who listens.

: 60% chance of being triggered. Activates at any time.

“Hmm...”

The description was the same, while the likelihood had really gone up. The chance of activating had been 35% when it was at C, but here it was 60%.

That means the name really did remain the same... but why? A thought occurred to me then.

Is it a warning of what’s to come? I had hypothesized for a while now that whenever a new trait appeared, there was always a reason for it. And that hypothesis has been proved largely correct so far.

Maybe the system didn’t change the name to make me think again and warn me that I would really need it... No. That’s going too far. I decided not to focus on the status window’s intentions too much. It had tripped me up too many times.

But just because I didn’t like it didn’t mean I should ignore it, either. I needed to be objective. Tapping at my arm with a finger, I eventually shrugged.

Well... I was going to replace one, anyway. Having a strong emotional impact sounded like it could be pretty useful.

This is the right choice. I scrolled through the traits.

[Trait: International Student (A) was deleted!]

And so Words of Persuasion (A) reentered my status window.

Welcome back, I guess. Now all that remained was to distribute my points.

“Yeah. I think the basics are the most important, too, like Sejin said. But I’m not talking about technique—it’s more about the attitude. It’s always important to hold on to the passion you started out with.”

“Hmm. I guess you’re right!” Big Sejin said.

“I-I think the heart is what matters, too!” Ahyeon said.

“That’s right! The heart! Personality!” Eugene interjected, in English again.

No, I don’t think that’s what Ahyeon meant. The conclusion they’d come to, as it happened, was not one represented in the system and was therefore completely unhelpful to how I would allocate my points.

Oh, man. The members seemed happy enough that they’d arrived at a matching conclusion, though, so I chose to leave them be.

“So the heart is what matters... but wait, why are we talking about this anyway?”

“Moondae asked!” Eugene said.

Chungwoo turned to me, and I avoided his gaze.

“I was just bored,” I explained.

“Oh, okay,” Chungwoo said, smiling awkwardly. “I thought you were trying to remind us that we should stay motivated since our new promotional cycle is coming up.”

“Oh, well, we can think of it that way! Let’s kill this comeback!” Big Sejin said.

“Y-yeah!”

Suddenly everyone was encouraging each other and hoping for a great comeback.

Huh. At least they’re not as anxious as before. We had securely positioned ourselves as a popular idol group, and our songs and choreography were good.

A repackage album was supposed to come out with short notice and contain the same songs as the previous album with the addition of only a few new ones, so there wasn’t a lot of heavy expectation regarding the results. It lessened the burden quite a lot.

The new season of Idol Inc. wouldn’t trip us up, either, since the agency was surely going to be careful not to step on our toes for a while after the corporate spy incident. It would be easy to just refuse to appear on the show or allow them to write articles about us.

From what I heard, the recent sixth episode had featured an insane stock sales discount—in other words, they were selling negative votes for cheap. I didn’t have to worry about it, so for me, it was just amusing.

Maybe I’ll choose the easy option this time. I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to invest points in dancing, so I would have an easier time physically, at least. I stared at the status window, which I still had up, then grinned.

That’s hardly something I should be thinking since I’ll be dead if I can’t gather 200,000 people. I chose the route of efficiency. The song we were releasing wouldn’t include a powerful performance this time, so it was best to focus on other elements to make the song more enticing.

Still, I guess I’m coming back around to my original idea. As I’d thought of doing since the start, I chose the charm stat, switching it from B+ to A-.

Not that this will bring me anywhere close to Eugene’s level. I did wonder, though, what difference it would make to go from a B to an A grade.

***

It was Thursday afternoon, October 17, two weeks after Park Moondae had finished sorting through his status window.

“Comeback!” Moondae’s fansite master shouted, unable to contain her excitement as she watched the music video and streaming apps running on her tablet, PC, and phone. The screens all contained the same title.

[TeSTAR - Picnic]

It was the new song released on TeSTAR’s repackage album, which had come out three days prior.

I love it! While she was worried that her idols never seemed to know when to take a break, she couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

I was afraid they wouldn’t be able to keep the hype train rolling after “Present!” She needn’t have worried. The song was great. The light, gentle R&B song was perfectly suited to enjoying on a chilly fall morning.

Let it be everyone’s commute song of choice... Please! It had only been three days since it was released, and the fans were busy trying to push it up the daily charts, but the fansite master was already picturing the success the song might have—which wasn’t like her.

This needs to do well on the streaming platforms! The song was obviously intended for easy listening. A strange sort of second-hand pride filled her, and she was consumed by the need for everyone to hear it.

TeSTAR had also not forgotten to include the details they might have missed if they’d focused too much on making a song that was palatable to as many people as possible. These details, which were meant to please the fans, were in the music video.

No weather forecast is getting in my way

I want to see you today

A light walk to your location

Makes the sky blue, there’s the causation

Go on a picnic, go on a picnic

The music video’s story was simple and showed the TeSTAR members as college students hanging out at the Han River, but the props and camera angles were pure art. They’d carefully represented key moments from TeSTAR’s career, from Idol Inc. to “Present.”

For instance, there was a high school uniform hanging in Moondae’s room that was identical to the Idol Inc. uniform. Seon Ahyeon was blowing soap bubbles at the Han River, and Ryu Chungwoo was shown walking through the trees.

These were details that only fans would recognize, and they were a joy to find. A journalist who was interested in TeSTAR even wrote an article about the easter eggs.

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

[A group’s nostalgia at their first anniversary]

You see here a very compressed timeline, packed with goodies. TeSTAR has been working without rest, and the music video is teeming with the public’s shared emotions for their journey.

[...]

All of those moments have been dissected and left out in the open in all their splendor. If you know, you know, but the video is enjoyable even if you don’t know what it’s about.

[...]

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

This article didn’t get much public attention, of course, but it received plenty of comments and encouragement from the fans, led by the fansite master. Though the general public was not as excited about taking apart the individual details of the music video, they did respond quite well.

Proof of this was that the K-pop online communities weren’t filled with posts saying the song was bad or that “Present” was better.

That was the limit, however.

- It’s a bit bland compared to “Present,” but that’s just me

- They went down the easy road this time T_T. Are they done with their concepts?

└ Raebin arranged it himself, and the members liked it so much that they wanted it as a title track! We’re looking forward to what amazing music they’ll bring us at their next comeback♡

- Not bad.

- The song’s nice, but I was expecting a little more oomph

This didn’t mean the fans witnessing all this go down were not angry, of course.

They thought “Present” was cringy and overdone, those bastards! Seeing people praise past songs that could no longer be criticized and using the leverage to bash a new song was as annoying as ever. The fansite master considered this, feeling like she would explode from frustration, but soon calmed herself.

It’s fine. The song is amazing. That made everything all right. It wasn’t just the title track that was getting good reviews. The physical repackage album was amazing, too. Those who preordered were sent picnic blankets and boxes, which were decorated with patterns designed by the members.

I know it’s just a business tactic... but it was a good one. The fansite master smiled proudly at one wall of her room, on which hung a patterned blanket featuring apples that looked like squashed rice cakes.

Next to it were figurines of the May Bridegroom from Bespoke Singer, in various sizes. Simply seeing it made her feel happy inside.

“Good... Things are going well.”

She was able to calm herself but then rolled about on her bed as excited happiness filled her. To be honest, when she’d decided to be a fansite master for someone who had debuted from a survival show, she’d secretly worried that she’d set herself down on an arduous path.

But the way things were going so far... The experience was far more smooth sailing and happy than she’d expected. There had been problems along the way, of course, but they had been dealt with adequately, and the issues never lasted long. More importantly, the numbers proved just how popular they were!

And Moondae’s recent appearance on The Past Calls was great, too. The fansite master recalled how her feed had frozen briefly as people exclaimed with great excitement that Moondae was like a wise crown prince.

Moondae is a genius puppy... Her fussing was primal and instinctive. However, she quickly pulled herself together again.

I need to get to work! She needed to edit the pictures she’d taken at the last event so she could watch the comeback stage when it aired, unburdened. But as she clicked into a different browser tab on her laptop, she saw a community announcement had been posted to TeSTAR’s WeTube channel.

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

[TeSTAR Tests Out Life Together: (Side Story) Roommate Switch, Revisited!]

Who’s going to room up with whom? Loviewers with memberships can find out first on Friday (tomorrow) at 7 P.M. >_<

(Photo)

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

The photo was of many male hands playing a card game of some sort. It was obvious they were playing a game to decide their new roommates!

“Yeaaah!” The fansite master shouted eagerly.

This is going to be great! Not that she hated Ahyeon in any way, but she wanted to see how Moondae would react to the other members as his roommates. She sobered before long.

Uh... Not Ryu Chungwoo though... I think it would be great if it was Lee Sejin! Though things had been handled very smoothly, from Moondae’s behavior in the summer package, something bad seemed to have happened between him and Ryu Chungwoo. All the fans were at least somewhat aware of this. Not that it was overly serious, of course.

They were getting along again pretty quickly. She suspected they’d only quarreled briefly, but there was no need to risk making them roommates. The first team battle of Idol Inc. had left a powerful impression on her, so the fansite master wished it was Lee Sejin.

In any case, I hope it’s fun! Only this general wish by the fansite master actually came true.

***

“Wow! Moondae!”

“Wow...”

Seriously? I was momentarily at a loss as Eugene held up his hand for a high-five.

So this means...

“We’re roommates!”

Thanks for the confirmation. Like I needed it. Fine.