Chapter 191

Chapter 191

The reality show they were currently filming had actually been a wholesome travel show while in the planning stages. Given the director’s penchant for involving America in everything, there were segments added that had us reacting to American culture. The outcome, had we gone ahead with that content, was quite obvious to me.

Only a few of the fans would watch it, and that would be it. It was simple. Wholesome travel content put out by popular idols wouldn’t stay on people’s radar for long. That was why the production team didn’t seem all that eager about the project either, probably because they’d grown fond of doing more exciting content that often involved stressing the cast out.

This made it easier to bait them.

“Don’t you think there should be a little more challenge to the show? For instance, we could be forced to make the money for the trip ourselves…”

“I think you’re right!”

They went for it, hook, line, and sinker. The agency director happily approved the change, since he was already occupied with the upcoming debut group.

As expected, the production team began to turn the idea of funding our own trip into the most interesting show they possibly could. This meant not even I was able to predict that they’d hit us with a bill following the first day of filming.

“We spent so much money that first day. It was so hard to bounce back,” Big Sejin said.

“You’re right. I learned the importance of responsible spending…”

“What did we eat? Lobsters?”

“Lobsters and king crabs! They were delicious!” Eugene exclaimed.

“Yes, they were, but…”

A few of the members looked wistful, unsurprisingly. The production team lured us in and tricked us into eating expensive food.

“You can really eat whatever you like!” they’d told us.

All the members agreed that they’d made it sound as though we should have as much fun as possible on the first day, as the real work would begin the next day. That was why we’d gone dolphin watching, eaten lobsters, and slept at an expensive resort in Cape May, a resort city in New Jersey. The bill at the end of the day was enormous.

“I didn’t know they’d bill us four thousand dollars for it, though.”

“Exactly.”

That one day had cost us nearly 4.5 million Korean won. We’d argued that accommodation was a necessity and managed to cut it down to 1,800 dollars. If we hadn’t, we’d still have been drowning in debt.

It had been a shocking start to our working vacation, but in hindsight, our reactions to everything had made for pretty hilarious content. It wasn’t like we were really lacking in money—the treachery and our shocked horror existed only within the confines of the show, so it wasn’t actual cruelty on the production team’s part, either.

The staff were laughing their asses off… I remember Bae Sejin looking at them with an expression of utter betrayal on his face. Regardless, we worked our asses off and managed to pay off the debt in only three days. We’d even managed to save up 800 dollars to use at a theme park—it was way more than we’d been expecting to make.

Making money is addictive, and we let ourselves get too into it. Cash changing hands and going into my own pocket really hit differently. We’d taken some time off to play again between time spent working, but all we did was eat snacks and run around on the beach to save money. It had probably had very little impact on our progress.

That means we should put a little more oomph into it this time around to make editing easier.

“All right. Let’s spend our money carefully tomorrow.”

“Y-yeah!”

“We did great today, TeSTAR!”

Tomorrow’s visit to a theme park would be a great opportunity after all. I’d have to push them into using up all our money so we would fall into debt again. It’d be 450 dollars down the drain just buying tickets to the theme park and safari zone. That left 350 dollars… Spending fifty thousand won per person would be easy.

Piece of cake. I’d only have to target Cha Eugene. I undid my apron and hung it in front of the sink. I hope the show turns out fun.

***

Two episodes of TeSTAR’s reality show were released every week. Only those who were paying fanclub members could see the second episode right away, however, and ordinary viewers had to wait three more days to watch it. It was a preview system that was aimed at raking in both popularity and revenue, and it worked quite well.

[TeSTAR’s wild working holiday reality show that released today LOL]

The reactions online to episode one, where TeSTAR was duped by the production team starting at the airport and forced to pay off an interest and collateral-free loan, were extremely positive.

In fact, it led to a noticeable increase in the number of paying fanclub members. Park Moondae had stirred the pot further, which became apparent in the scene where TeSTAR finally realized they were now deeply in debt.

[“We’ve rented out a tiny store for you guys. That’s where you can generate revenue!”]

[Kim Raebin: Oh my god!]

[Ryu Chungwoo: Wh-what are we going to be selling? What kind of store is it?]

[We’re not supplying any products. Anything that costs more than a hundred dollars to make will be added to the tab!]

[Lee Sejin: No way.]

Here came the shameless captions on screen.

[※You can sell LITERALLY whatever you want!※]

Park Moondae, who’d been listening nonchalantly until now, suddenly said,

[Park Moondae: Let’s sell hotteok, then.]

[Seon Ahyeon: hotteok?]

[Lee Sejin: Are you craving those sweet, sweet sugar and nut-filled pancakes, Moondae?]

[Park Moondae: No. It’s not something you see much around here, so it’ll probably sell well. It’s cheap to make and tasty. All we need to do is market it well… but I’m sure we can all handle that.]

Moondae was very persuasive. His group mates, gathered around him, were nodding along and remarking that it was a good idea.

As idols, they had been thrown so many curveballs even before their debut, that they’d gotten used to the rug being pulled out from underneath them. Quickly adapting to any situation, they’d begun digging their own way out.

The potential weakness of the show, which was that it might grow boring and frustrating for TeSTAR to always be at the complete mercy of the production team, had been suddenly nullified. The production team, in fact, was growing dazed in the face of TeSTAR’s whirlwind brainstorming session.

[Lee Sejin: But where do they sell the ingredients?]

[Seon Ahyeon: I think there must be a Korean supermarket nearby… I think I remember hearing that lots of Koreans live in New Jersey!]

[Park Moondae: Yeah. And I’m good at making hotteok.]

[Lee Sejin: Wow! You sound confident!]

[Cha Eugene: I’m in!]

[Ryu Chungwoo: Sounds good. I think we could add chocolate or ice cream as a topping.]

Even Bae Sejin nodded, expression focused, and suddenly the decision was already made. Ryu Chungwoo confidently addressed the production team.

[Ryu Chungwoo: Okay. We’ll sell hotteok.]

[Director: Uh, i-is that right? You’re not going to consider any other options? It doesn’t have to be food, after all!]

[Cha Eugene: Nope!]

With that cheerful refusal, the director stared up at the sky in despair.

[※In anticipation of many trial-and-error moments※]

[※We prepared countless minigames.※]

[※We didn’t get to use a single one, and sent them all back to Korea...※]

Happy country music played with the blue sky as a backdrop.

[☆It’s official: TeSTAR is opening a hotteok shop☆]

[(That took all of five minutes)]

And so TeSTAR began selling hotteok on an American beach. It ticked all the boxes—money, food, and national pride.

[“That employee is cute!”]

[“Hotteok? It’s very crispy and delicious.”]

A short scene showing them selling the honey pancakes, after some difficulty getting the whole thing up off the ground, to foreigners who didn’t know TeSTAR but liked the food, was included as a preview of the next episode.

It wasn’t surprising that this familiar variety show format encouraged people to purchase fanclub membership in order to see the next episode earlier.

- LOL the production team is evil! I’m laughing so hard!

- It’s cute, the way TeSTAR seems so shocked T_T Please release lots of behind-the-scenes footage, too!

- Wow so they do this sort of thing for idol reality shows, too? Amazing. And it’s so freaking fun

- The foreigners are eating hotteok? Wow, I’m so proud of our country’s food

- I didn’t think it would be this fun. Give us the next episode please

Excited viewers left countless comments. Thankfully, their expectations were met. In the second episode, TeSTAR began running their shop, displaying their impressive teamwork. The show moved along at a brisk pace, showing them making some time to play on the beach in episode three.

[“Are you part of a club? College students? High schoolers?”]

[“Something like that! We dance and we sing!”]

Eugene explained with a grin. The scene perfectly encapsulated the charm of there being a secret celebrity hiding in plain sight. Since the second and third episodes had met the fans’ every expectation, excitement over the show did not quickly fade.

- Gosh, this group is just so good. They’ll be raking in the dough long into the future somehow, I’m sure of it

- It was so smart, giving out samples and drink coupons on the beach. Lee Sejin must be a genius

- Chungwoo is hot even in America, huh? I knew he would be.

- The ice cream hotteok looks out of this world. I want to order some. Hey, Loviewers want to eat it, too...

- Cooking: Park Moondae, Kim Raebin

Counter: Seon Ahyeon, Cha Eugene

Waiters: Lee Sejin, Ryu Chungwoo

Hamster: Bae Sejin

It’s the best possible combination

└ LMAO

└ Why is Bae Sejin a hamster? LOL

└ Our hamster is working hard T_T

Some of the members became a little more likable to viewers thanks to the show, as new likenesses and nicknames were born. Next came the touching moment when they finally surpassed a thousand dollars in sales and got to visit a theme park.

The scene where TeSTAR, who’d decided to carefully spend only the money they’d saved up, was defeated became a masterpiece of extreme comedy after some skillful editing. The impetus for this was provided by Moondae, as he’d intended.

[Park Moondae: That’s cute.]

[Lee Sejin: Whoa, Moondae, if we start buying things, we’ll be out of money before we know it!]

[Park Moondae: Right... Sorry.]

Lee Sejin’s humorous scolding at the souvenir shop had been met with a slightly put-out reaction from Park Moondae. Countless exclamation marks appeared above Big Sejin’s head.

Then Eugene intervened.

[Cha Eugene: Let’s buy them! Let’s!]

[Kim Raebin: Huh??]

[Seon Ahyeon: Yeah... I think it’ll be fine!]

[Cha Eugene: We can work more and save more!]

[Bae Sejin: Y-yeah, but...]

Chungwoo wasn’t with them at the moment. The moment Bae Sejin, the oldest member present, seemed taken aback by his eager suggestion, Eugene suddenly pretended to be sad.

[Cha Eugene: Let’s enjoy the day! We’ve been working really hard...]

[Bae Sejin: Right... Just this once.]

[Cha Eugene: Yeah!]

And so TeSTAR justified some one-off spending. The production team gleefully added captions to the scene.

[※This wasn’t the last time, of course♡※]

Indeed, spending money was easy once they started. A similar pattern was repeated multiple times, and they began buying all sorts of souvenirs and snacks. In the end, they even began taking out loans from the production team.

[“Hey guys, you can make back this money in about three hours!”]

[Seon Ahyeon: Yes, but...]

[Cha Eugene: That’s right!]

[Bae Sejin: (Confused)]

[“There’s no interest. What’s the risk? This is your first time traveling in the US!”]

They fell for it.

[“Let’s see, the amount you used today... Wow! You’re 1,012 dollars in the red!”]

[!!!!]

And that was how their day ended.

[“You’ll have to work hard, everyone!”]

Episode four ended with the camera pointing at TeSTAR’s backs as they went back to their lodgings, their faces aghast as they carried armfuls of plush toys, cushions, and hats in their arms.

- LOL they spent it all! What are they going to do now?

- Guys, this is why loans are so dangerous

- The production team is scary LOL. They don’t let the members work more than seven hours per day so they can stay healthy and happy, but they have no qualms about encouraging spending haha

└ The members beg the team to let them sell a little more, since more customers keep coming, but they always refuse, saying it’s for their own health. I’ve never heard anyone sound so evil and nice at the same time

└ LOL yeah for real

As it happened, the week their theme park splurging arc ended was the same week as the Gold Disc Awards. They were returning to Korea.

The reality show’s viewers were already looking forward to that day since it would give them a chance to make inside jokes with the group in person.

- We should add hotteok to the fanchant

- I’m going to laugh the moment I see their faces

- I want to see you guys so bad LOL

- Wouldn’t it be amazing if they showed off their souvenirs?

But TeSTAR’s fans weren’t the only ones waiting for them to return to Korea.

***

“Phew.”

In the evening on the day TeSTAR returned to Korea, a rookie idol could be found sitting in the staff lobby, where she had been waiting for quite a while to see TeSTAR.

They were supposed to come by the agency today. Their manager had previously been TeSTAR’s manager, so the tip was trustworthy. The idol clasped her hands together and thought calmly, I need to stay focused and say the right things.

At that moment the sliding door that led to the parking lot opened. Coming through the doorway were a handful of tall men in face masks and hats. It was TeSTAR.

They’re here! The idol shot to her feet and ran over.

“Hello, TeSTAR!” The contestant from the fourth season of Idol Inc., who’d debuted in second place, bowed to them.

“I’m sorry? Oh, yes. Hello.”

“Oh, nice to meet you.”

“Yes! I’m very sorry, but if you have a moment, I’d like a word with you!” She seemed both very desperate and very polite. In fact, she sounded almost exactly like a new employee speaking to her boss.

“Uh...”

While the members looked at each other in confusion, Moondae was slightly impressed.

Ooh. He had a feeling she was here to talk to them about the director.