Chapter 185

Chapter 185

It wasn’t long before the door of one of the large boxes on either side of the stage opened.

“TA-DA!”

It was the box on the right, which contained the winners of the minigame. Cha Eugene was the first to jump from the box with great excitement, and the other members followed him onto the stage with smiles on their faces. They were wearing a red uniform reminiscent of nutcrackers. In a word, they were cute.

“Oh my goodness!”

While everyone was amazed by the outfits, a melody began to mix with the accompaniment.

Oh, this one! I know this song! Many in the audience recognized the tune—it was a famous children’s song from the 2000s. It had been given a refreshing, sophisticated band music makeover, making it perfect for an idol concert. Though, it went without saying that it was a little excessively bright.

The members who had won ran out onto the stage, waved at the audience, and then fell into formation as they began to dance. Their movements were in perfect sync.

My friend

He’s so cute

He says nothing at all

But his heart is true

They seemed to be glancing at the teleprompter from time to time, but the winning members divided the song between themselves easily and sang it very well. They were holding in laughter, though. Their formation wasn’t that different from usual, but the quality of their performance was still impressive for a team thrown together on the spot.

How cute. The office worker put quite a bit of effort into taking quality photos, intending to exchange them for shots of Lee Sejin or Park Moondae from different angles.

I’m going to keep my camera on Cha Eugene no matter what. He fetched the highest price, after all. As the random performance unfolded, the fans immersed themselves in the cuteness of it, waving their lightsticks and humming along.

The first verse ended on a happy note.

“Thank you!”

“Thanks.”

When the instrumental break began, the winning team gave ninety-degree bows to signal the end of their performance.

That is adorable! Many people shouted and laughed within the crowd, all while making wicked guesses at what was to come.

If the winners did this song… the losers are doing something more extreme. It’s got to be a sexy concept. New costumes! Fairy wings? As the fans let their wishes run wild, the winning team skipped off the stage. At that moment, the powerful thrum of an electric guitar overpowered the sweet instrumental music.

“…?”

The audience let out strangled laughs in their surprise.

What’s going on?

Amid the confusion, the music smoothly transitioned into a heavy metal track.

“Yeaaaah!”

The losing members jumped out of the giant box of tissues on the left.

“Whoa, whoa!”

They weren’t wearing neat uniforms like the winners. Instead, they had on huge animal heads that were too big for their bodies, with openings in the front where their little faces were peeking out. They were the same animals that appeared on the tissue box.

As the members waddled forward, it was obvious they were meant to be cute, but their costumes were decidedly punk—perfectly in line with the music. While the crowd murmured with confusion, the three members made rock and roll gestures as they rushed to center stage.

Lee Sejin swayed a little because of his large head, only to right himself after a rough shove from either side of him.

Oh, they’re good! The office worker didn’t miss her opportunity to capture this moment.

Lee Sejin wriggled as he danced, apparently waiting for his moment. Then he picked up his hand microphone with a dramatic gesture and began to sing in a high tone.

My friend

He’s so very kind

He may have small hands

But his heart is the biggest one around!

His voice was altered, however, like he’d sucked on helium. It made the singing even more high-pitched.

“No way!”

The crowd laughed loudly, the joyous laughter mingling with his altered voice. Park Moondae soon raised his hand microphone using a heavy animal paw, which seemed to require some effort.

I like my friend

We’re the bestest of friends!

He gave his most adorable smile as his voice, modified using a fancy auto-tune effect applied to the microphones, washed over the audience.

“Ahahaha!”

The fans were howling with laughter, including the office worker. She could even see the person next to her slapping her lightstick so she wouldn’t hit the person beside her in excitement.

Holy sh*t. Their silly performance was as cute as could be.

This is nuts! It was hilarious since their singing was so good, but they sounded so ridiculous. And as was to be expected, it was adorable.

Bestest, bestest

The bestest of friends!

I love you, my friend

Give me a hug!

A low voice came from Kim Raebin’s rabbit head that sounded like it was muttering a curse. Instead of hugging one another, they were slapping each other on the back. Their unwieldy heads caused them to nearly lose their balance, but the three of them helped each other up by grabbing and shoving.

My goodness. As they sang the chorus, they danced casually, and the office worker was hit with a gut feeling.

This is going to explode in popularity… I just know it! The humor and impact behind their little performance all but guaranteed it. She could already picture the trending posts.

[TeSTAR going crazy LOL]

[TeSTAR’s concert has everyone raving (photos in post)]

I need to upload a preview right away, then put up a short video on the way back home! She felt more passionate about uploading content than ever before. The three losing members were matching her energy on stage, performing eagerly.

They were taking off the skull-patterned arm warmers, black jackets, and such accessories and throwing them to the audience. These were disposable props made from paper, though they looked real enough from a distance.

“This is so f*cking incredible!”

“Over here!”

The fans were almost at the point of tears as they cheered. The members on stage were acting like rock stars.

Yeah! Best friends!

They fell to their knees dramatically as they ended their heavy metal version of the children’s song. The three members waddled off the stage, trying to look cool amid the laughter and shouting that filled the air.

The office worker exclaimed in her mind, I’m uploading this as soon as the concert is over! She could already picture her following growing at an incredible speed.

Unlike the office worker, who was busy picking out photos in the interim for her preview post, the other fansite master sitting nearby was a complete mess on the inside.

I’m losing it. It was Park Moondae’s first fansite master. She looked like she’d ridden a roller coaster ten times back-to-back as she stared at the stage, which Moondae had already left. She’d been in this state from the moment she saw Moondae’s solo performance.

Moondae, this is just… My goodness. He had sung while floating in the air, as if he were laying back on nothing at all. She could clearly see how he’d come to hurt his wrists and back.

And that’s precisely the problem. You can’t do all this so soon after your injury, even if you’ve recovered! The fact that he’d gone through with it without making any modifications made her quiver with fear. There was a bigger issue as well.

It was… incredible. The solo performance had been stunningly good, despite all the fansite master’s worries and premonitions of doom.

I don’t think I’ll be able to convince anyone that he needs to be more careful… There would be too many people who enjoyed the performance, and it was likely that most people would just say there was no problem if Moondae was okay with it—even the fansite master had been mesmerized by it, after all.

I can’t believe that the fact he’s too good at what he does is a problem. Dazed, she mechanically recorded the video playing on the screen. She felt similarly regarding the heavy metal children’s song they’d performed just now.

Moondae had only just recovered, but he’d run about wearing that heavy animal head after an intense group performance. She had been so worried about him. At the same time, however, she couldn’t help feeling proud of how adorable he was. All she could do was scream inwardly, Park Moondae, tell me you’re okay! I won’t have to beat myself up after the behind-the-scenes content is uploaded, right?

Moondae smiled and turned away on the screen.

***

“Blargh!”

“Moondae!”

“Are you all right?”

I was fine. I just felt a little dizzy after spinning around in that animal head.

It was probably funny, if nothing else. And that was more than enough for me. I’d found the whole thing hilarious even as I was doing it.

“I’m all right. Can I have some dextrose?”

“Here!”

A staff member quickly handed me a capsule. It was a tablet of dextrose and sodium. I removed the packaging and swallowed the pill along with some water, as a make-up artist came to me and immediately began to dab at the sweat on my face.

Two minutes and thirty seconds to go. It was enough time for me to catch my breath, at least. I’d also taken off the horrible animal head. Big Sejin had just thrown his aside as well.

“Deep breaths,” he said.

“I’m fine.” My breathing trouble had passed long ago. I worried my bottom lip.

I can’t believe the wires pressed against me like that. My solo performance had involved a wire device that lifted me into the air while I leaned back. It would make it seem as though I was being held up by the fabric, and when said fabric came loose, it was meant to give the audience a moment’s pause.

Using the device had accomplished both of these things. Wires weren’t overly hard on the body, since one usually wore safety guards over the back—or at least, they shouldn’t have been if they’d been properly set up.

Something was wrong. It had been fine during the rehearsal. If I had to guess, there had been a mistake when it had been put on me because we were in such a hurry, or someone had messed up when storing the equipment. It had pushed down on my left lung without mercy.

It wasn’t the same place my ribs had cracked, however, and I’d been able to finish the performance without any issues other than a lack of oxygen. I recovered quickly after I’d gotten down, thanks to the use of an oxygen mask.

I still use oxygen masks from time to time, even when there are no accidents. In fact, everyone but Chungwoo and Ahyeon used one occasionally, and even these two had turned to one once or twice. An accident was still an accident, however, and the others seemed to be very shaken up about it.

Ahyeon was swallowing nervously as he asked me, “Y-you said you were in pain?”

“Not really. I don’t feel tired, either.” All I’d done recently was eat, sleep, and practice. I was in good condition.

As for my wrists… I don’t think I’ll need to use them too much, anyway. A bit of rest after the Seoul concert would be all I needed.

I shrugged and gestured with my chin. “Let’s go. We can’t be late. We need to be on standby.”

“R-right…” Chungwoo, who’d been watching me from the side, said, “Moondae, why don’t we talk about this after the concert?”

“Yes. That sounds good.”

I did want to discuss getting someone new to manage the equipment. The other members all spoke up as well.

“Please tell us if you feel unwell,” Bae Sejin said.

“Health is what matters most,” Raebin said.

“Yes. All right.”

I thought it would help me rest better if they didn’t nag me like this, but I wasn’t socially stunted. I was grateful for their concern, so I nodded easily.

“Let’s go!” a staff member cried.

A pretty long pre-recorded video had just finished playing, and it was time for us to go back on stage.

The crowd cheered again, and purple lights filled the stage.

This reminds me of the first concert. This was only natural since this had been their exact intention when planning this part. Listening to the clear beat of the drums in my earpiece, I sang the first part.

I met you tomorrow

But I’ve been thinking of you all day

It was “Magical Boys,” our debut song.

My dreams are as blue as the sky

Tiny glittering orbs began floating toward us from the audience. They were soap bubbles, their round surfaces gleaming in various colors as the purple lighting reflected off them. Every person in the dome was blowing soap bubbles at us, just like at the start of our first concert.

We all remembered it clearly.

[Let’s show ‘em, Loviewers!]

A slogan appeared on the screen, familiar words that had been slightly modified.

Interesting, I thought with a grin.

This is nice… The adrenaline kicked my brain into overdrive. It was like I was high. The remainder of the concert seemed to speed past in the blink of an eye.

***

The concert’s first day ended on a successful note. We heard that people were giving it rave reviews, though anyone willing to come to our concert was probably a fan to begin with. Still, it was satisfying.

Good. Not everything went according to plan, however.

“Why don’t you consider changing things up?”

“…?”

The members, the agency, and the fans each came with a surprise of their own.

Great.