Chapter 176

Chapter 176

One thing to note was that the Words of Persuasion trait didn’t guarantee any results even if it was activated. The description of the trait was as follows.

[Trait: “Words of Persuasion” (A)]

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

: 60% chance of being triggered.

Activates at any time.

The effect was emotional. This didn’t mean I could say something random and hope that they would be convinced. In other words, this was like training wheels for any situation requiring communication, ranging from performances to ordinary conversations.

This meant I would need to give this director, who was infatuated with the US, hard evidence that he was likely to accept. I would have to focus on the root of his desire to take us all the way overseas—our public reputation.

“We would like nothing better than to be a success in the US… but how long are you planning for us to stay out there?”

He seemed to have everything planned out and didn’t hesitate for a second to respond.

“I’m thinking two years, perhaps three at most. I see it as a completely viable plan.”

This meant we would spend the entire period of his contract focusing on the US. No way I’m letting that happen.

I asked him, “But if we’re active in the US for that long, don’t you think the Korean fans will all leave us?”

“Haha! We don’t need to worry about that, like in the old days. Everyone keeps up with the trends through WeTube and social media, don’t they? You all speak the Korean language, after all. It’s Korean fans that will have better access than anyone else.”

“Hmm… In that case, I think they’ll hate it even more.”

“I’m sorry?”

“You see, we’ll have to start from the bottom with hardly any popularity if we go, and the fans probably won’t like that.”

I paused a moment to let this sink in before adding, “They think of us as an amazing group right now. But if we have to start over in America, it’ll break the spell. And if they don’t see us doing well in Korea for two or three years, it’ll probably damage our reputation permanently.”

“He’s right! We’re doing so well right now in Korea, and that’s why other countries are showing an interest, you see! As you said, everyone has access to the internet nowadays,” Big Sejin chimed in with a smile.

I continued speaking before he had the chance to argue, “I think the reaction in Japan that you mentioned earlier was because anyone watching the show already knew that we became an amazing success following.”

“Hmm…”

Obvious displeasure at being talked back to by youngsters who hadn’t even gone to college mixed with another, less obvious expression on the director’s face. He was uncertain because we’d hit the nail on the head. It was at this moment that I got the popup.

[“Words of Persuasion (A)” activated!]

There. My prediction that any progress we’d made in the Korean market would be lost during the two to three years we spent in the US, and would thus ruin our brand seemed to have been pretty convincing. Under normal circumstances, he could have simply doubled down and insisted that his master plan had everything handled, but my trait had tipped the scales.

Now all we have to do is allow the director to save face while he agrees. It would give him a chance to back off slowly while giving him a way out, like It’s for the TeSTAR members’ sake.

“We’re nervous, you see,” I said.

“Y-yes,” Ahyeon chimed up.

“For now, we’re still growing in Korea. We’d like to see how much further we can go,” Raebin said.

The other members provided support fire since I’d already discussed the matter with them since our last meeting.

“Filming reality content in the US seems all right, but making it our sole target seems a little…”

“Strange. This feels like a movie clumsily mimicking Hollywood’s style because they want to draw more people in,” Bae Sejin had said.

“I think that’s the perfect analogy!” Raebin replied enthusiastically.

“Well, y-yeah!”

Through this process, we’d already agreed that we’d oppose the director should he bring up broaching the American market.

Chungwoo gravely spoke up to drive the nail in. “I’d like us to sit on this idea until we’re more firmly established. Perhaps when we win a daesang in Korea. Please?”

The director’s eyebrows twitched. Then he shrugged as if he was being generous. “Well, it can’t be helped, I suppose. This is the entertainment business, and your opinions matter the most. I believe they should be respected.”

“Thank you!”

Now we just had to leave before he changed his mind.

“Phew...”

As soon as we left the office, I could hear relieved sighs coming from everyone’s mouths.

“Who would have thought he wanted to send us away?”

“I-I was shocked,” Ahyeon said.

That gives us until the end of this year, at least… If we were to win the daesang this year… Well, that would give us even more clout, and negotiating would only get easier.

Chungwoo stepped forward and slapped me and Big Sejin on the back. “Good work.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Ugh.”

“Do we still get to go to America? To my house?”

“Yes, we’re going there,” I said.

We couldn’t stop the filming of reality content from going ahead altogether.

“Yay!” Eugene said, putting his hands in the air.

The members all looked at him with an expression that said, We’re happy you’re happy, at least, before turning away.

Still, that went pretty well. The meeting with the director had given me conviction. He was the sort of guy who trusted in his own opinion a little too much, but he wasn’t hard to handle.

All I have to do is make it seem like he’s the one being generous. And more important than anything, his focus was on making TeSTAR grow, rather than exploiting us for T1.

I’ll just point him in the right direction. I stretched. A strange popping noise came from my shoulder.

“Do you want a massage?” Big Sejin asked after exclaiming over the loud noise.

“It’s fine,” I said.

We’d been working without rest since “Present” had come out, all the way until the “Picnic” repackage album, and the strain was beginning to show.

Still, we have a lot to show for it. The songs from our album were still performing well even though our promotions on music shows were already over.

Though, VTIC did have us beat toward the end. VTIC had done an early reveal of their song from the same composer, and they had climbed the charts at an astonishing speed.

It can’t be helped, I guess. The text I’d gotten last night had been slightly infuriating, though.

[Thanks for the song, Moondae :)]

The bastard had even sent a screen capture of the charts. I’d felt a rush of rage, but after recalling how peaceful my life was at this point, with no immediate problems to take care of, my anger had subsided.

Now all we have to do is make a decision regarding subunits for our concert. We hadn’t yet decided whether to add subunit performances to the concert and if so, who would be grouped together. There wasn’t anything particularly troublesome about this process beyond ensuring the performances were of a high enough quality and protecting Eugene’s morale.

I’d like to do a subunit with someone else, if I can. Maybe Raebin. Thinking about the member I’d originally hoped to do a subunit performance, I tried to think of a way to mollify Eugene.

Before the meeting took place where we could finalize our decisions, however, something happened that impacted the whole situation greatly. The edited version of the horror escape room live I’d done with Eugene was uploaded.

***

[Moon Puppy and Cha Kitty’s Emergency Horror Escape | TeSTAR Roommates Extras EP. 1]

The title had become more descriptive than the sample Park Moondae had provided and made for a different vibe from the original W Live that had aired in real-time.

The real-time broadcast had been done using a single shaky smartphone camera, and it had seemed almost like a mockumentary or found footage. This edited version of it lacked that feeling, however, and had been given a fresh coat of variety show paint.

As a result, the horror element was no longer the focus, but instead how entertaining the two characters were.

“The theme of this room is... the nightmare a child has after bringing home a weird doll... This is why it’s important to sort your waste.”

“Is the doll scary? I hate nightmares!”

Just before they’d entered the room, Park Moondae had seemed calm, while Cha Eugene was making a fuss. The calm-to-scared ratio didn’t change after they were inside, they just swapped moods.

“Hey! Moondae! There’s hair over there! That teddy bear has human hair! It looks disgusting!”

“Put that down. Put it down, Eugene.”

Eugene was still making a fuss, but was now more excited than anything, while Moondae was outwardly calm but obviously freaking out internally. Toward the end, they were both reduced to quivering with fear.

They’d been immersed in the story, but the fun editing allowed the fans to be detached from it. And to them, nothing could have been more entertaining.

“If we put these together like so... Is that English?”

“Yeah! Um... It says This is not a dream. Not a dream?”

“W-wait a s-second.”

There was a rumble and the overhead lights flashed red. A cheap-looking mannequin in the corner suddenly turned its head.

“Aaaaaaah!”

They jumped clean into the air, grasping at each other’s arms, and it was hilarious to see even through infrared. People were happy that the video delivered exactly what they’d expected the moment they saw the title.

- (00:57)(05:14)(13:09) Look, their eyes grow progressively bigger LOL

- The mannequin was at fault here. It scared these scaredy cats

- LOL I’ve never seen Park Moondae rely on Cha Eugene so much before haha T_T

- They’re making sure they don’t destroy anything in the escape room and only tugging on each other’s clothing. They’re law-abiding idols

└ LMAO wtf

Because both of them always seemed so unshakeable to the fans, and with the addition of the explanation that they’d chosen this content for themselves, few people took exception with the video.

“That was fun. It was a novel experience.”

“Let’s come back and do this again sometime!”

“Right.”

They acted happy and casual after their escape, like they’d had no issues at all. It was the perfect example of excellent self-produced idol content. The video took off far better than Moondae had expected it to.

- Scaredy boys, keep up the horror content…

The fans had dubbed them the “scaredy boys”. It had basically given anyone who wanted to fangirl over both Moondae and Eugene, but hadn’t been able to find a good connection between them thus far, the opportunity to do so. Those who liked seeing them both were so eager about this video that the solo stans who’d been aggressive toward each other were forced to back off.

In the end, after a cursory look at the Internet’s reaction, Moondae ended up telling Eugene, “Hey, let’s do that subunit performance.”

“Wow!”

It was a simple admission of defeat. In order to avoid direct comparisons with the subunits of the previous concert, however, they decided to adjust the timing a little.

“Why don’t we perform the subunits during the encore concert later?”

“Sounds good!”

This had been the conclusion they’d reached at the previous concept meeting. They’d added a special surprise event to the upcoming tour.

“They’ll be shocked, won’t they?”

“They’ll probably double over laughing.”

Everything was perfect. TeSTAR slowly finalized preparations for the concert without any conflict of note arising. The new director even gave TeSTAR a long ten-day holiday before the final practice session before the tour. This was accompanied by the impressive declaration that the agency was also responsible for keeping its artists in top condition.

Is he trying to start by asserting dominance or something? Moondae wasn’t all that touched, but he welcomed the chance to go on vacation. Everyone desperately needed a bit of rest.

***

“We finally get to go home!” Big Sejin said.

“Rest well, everyone,” Chungwoo said.

“I’ll keep in touch,” Raebin promised.

They exchanged effusive goodbyes, like we were about to part for months or something, before leaving the dorm.

“W-would you like to c-come over?”

“My grandmother was really impressed with your singing as the May Bridegroom.”

“I’m going to look for a house to move into with my mom… Well, I-I thought it would be nice to share some info if you have similar plans!”

Ahyeon, Raebin, and Bae Sejin had all invited me to their houses, but I’d gently turned them down.

I’m finally alone. I wanted to sing as I mentally went over my plans to spend the next ten days as a homebody. I’d made sure I had emergency contacts in the agency just in case I fell sick, and procured some first aid medicine as well. There was also some porridge in the fridge, just in case.

A cold I can deal with. Even if I did get one, I’d be fine. I had ten days, so even if I was sick for three, I would get to rest properly for at least a week.

I shouldn’t look online much. Though it was silly, I’d decided to try to take Eugene’s advice.

I can take a few days off, surely. The new director had taken a keen interest in us, and there was no doubt he was reinforcing the need for the agency to monitor what was happening online. That meant I could rest easy, knowing they would probably be in touch if a problem arose.

“Good.”

I’d muted all notifications on my phone except for those from emergency numbers. I’d even put up a status message on my profile, which was rare for me.

[On vacation. Responses will be slow.]

I picked up my phone to check my profile one more time and realized the screen was already on. It was a phone call.

[Cheongryeo Shin (VTIC)]

I didn’t like this one bit.