Chapter 221

Chapter 221

A bell rang, and the supervisors began handing the test papers out. However, the young woman who was meant to be focusing on taking the said test was distracted by a variety of questions bouncing around in her head.

Moondae should have silver hair right now. This guy has black hair. How is that possible? Is it a wig? Maybe it’s not him after all. It might not be him, but seeing someone who resembles him so much feels lucky. Wait, I’ll be able to see his face when they check his ID! Actually, that’s it! He’ll look around when the test papers get to him— Ah, wait, no. The supervisors are handing them out.

A few of her theories and ideas were correct, but a few were wrong. Park Moondae had used colored hair spray to hide his silver hair, but he did show his face to the supervisor when they were checking his ID. The woman sitting behind him couldn’t see anything from her angle, however, and the supervisor was an older man who didn’t recognize him on sight and was quite calm as a result.

Ugh! The girl sitting behind him had no choice but to prepare herself to buckle down and scribble away at her test, tormented by curiosity and frustration. An opportunity she hadn’t foreseen came to her before long, however.

“Now, please pass the tests back.”

The people at the front had been given the test papers to pass back. And she was finally going to get her opportunity to confirm the truth for herself.

Oh my god! The man in front of her turned around only slightly, giving her the stack before turning to face the front again. He was wearing a face mask, but she was certain she recognized his large, beautiful eyes.

I-it’s Park Moondae! It really was him. She took the pile of tests from him, feeling as though she might pass out. Her heart was beating so fast, it was almost like she was receiving her album at a fansign rather than taking a GED test. She’d never actually been lucky enough to get into a fansign.

“You can start after the bell rings.”

S-save me! She shouted mentally. She’d sat through too many mock tests, however, to hesitate in picking up her pencil and starting work immediately. Her mind was completely blank. She got her wits about her quickly, though.

If I answer everything fast, I’ll get to stare at Moondae’s back even sooner! The strange thought gave her an odd sense of motivation as she locked eyes on her test, refusing to let herself look up again. She began working diligently away at the questions, and the likelihood that she would fail slipped further away.

Oh, god! Oh, god! Perhaps this would have been surprising to only Moondae, but it wasn’t just the woman sitting behind him who was aware of his identity.

***

Not bad. I wrote all the answers to the Ethics questions, the final elective subject, before finally putting down my pencil. The test had gone pretty well, without any unexpected problems cropping up. Lunchtime had been risky, but thankfully I’d managed to find a secluded corridor and had eaten while looking out the window.

And the porridge was easy to eat quickly. The most important thing was that this year’s exam felt a lot easier than the majority of the sample tests I’d taken. I’d been worried that the problems for Social Studies and Science would be about concepts I’d completely forgotten, but that worry had turned out to be unwarranted.

I think I did pretty well. Fairly confident I’d pass, I stretched a little. I heard a gasp from behind me. Maybe the person sitting behind me was getting distracted by my moving around or something. I lowered my arms without complaint.

So that leaves me… ten minutes? I quietly waited until the time allocated for the test was over. I’d already reserved a taxi for my trip back, so all I needed to do was make my way to the road and hop in.

Looks like I’m all done. After ten minutes had passed, however, I was met with a surprising turn of events. I’d gotten my phone back and was waiting for everyone to leave when someone nearby addressed me.

“Hey there!”

I didn’t react.

“Are you… Moondae? The Moondae who makes hotteok?”

I wondered briefly if I should just shout that they were mistaken and run outside, but there were probably too many witnesses to pull that off. And the middle-aged woman who had approached me was trying to whisper, obviously not wanting to make too much of a fuss.

“Yes. I took the test today.”

“Oh my! I see. That’s lovely… Can I ask for your autograph? My daughter is such a big fan!”

“Of course.” I quickly scribbled my autograph on her test ID slip and tried to make a hasty exit, but it was already too late.

“Oh my god! Can I ask for one, too!”

“Oh, yes.”

“I’m sorry, but can I have one, too?”

The few people still remaining in the classroom had instantly formed a line. They were very orderly, and none of them were causing a huge fuss. I suddenly suspected something.

Did they know it was me from the start? No wonder six or seven people had lingered in the classroom, unwilling to leave. Perhaps it had been because of me. It seems I’d underestimated TeSTAR’s popularity.

I’m starting to sweat. The most surprising part was that all these people hadn’t done anything at all for the duration of the test. If any one of them had made a fuss or spread the information that I was taking the test at this location, there would likely have been controversy online about how I’d disturbed the exam process. I would have had to make a run for it during lunchtime or something.

I guess I was only able to finish my test without any issues thanks to their discretion. I couldn’t leave them high and dry, since they’d basically had my back during the exam. I continued to sign without a word of complaint.

“Thank you!”

“Wow. Thank you…”

After I’d finished giving my autograph to the small crowd who’d gathered around me, I decided to leave.

I need to get out of here before they start requesting pictures. As I picked up my backpack, however, I noticed that the person sitting in the seat behind me hadn’t moved from her seat. Her eyes were glittering as she stared up at me, and when our eyes met, her mouth fell open. This was the same look I’d seen often at many a fansign.

“Would you like my autograph?” I asked.

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes!”

Apparently, it hadn’t just been my overinflated ego at work—she was a fan. That was a relief.

“I-I love you!”

“Thank you.”

I rushed out of the room after signing her ID slip.

“See you!”

“Good luck with your next set of promotions!”

The classroom I’d been assigned to was toward the end of the corridor, so no one from the other classrooms had seen all this going down, which was a huge relief. I shot down the corridor quickly. It was almost empty of people by now.

Will they post about this online? It probably wouldn’t be too big of an issue. I hadn’t stepped on anyone’s toes, so the worst they could do was pity me a little or try to insult my education in some way. Shrugging, I went to the road and got in my taxi.

The trip back to the dorm took no time at all, just like it had in the morning.

“Welcome back!”

“D-did you do okay?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“How was the porridge for lunch?”

“It was great. Thanks.”

Using my test as an excuse, Eugene began strongly advocating for ordering pigs’ feet. Since this particular menu item was almost always consumed with alcohol, I was forced to participate in another toast without getting to actually drink anything.

“Good work on your test today, Moondae… Let’s all rest well until our next promotional cycle and then kill it all over again.”

“Of course!”

“Yup!”

“Let’s prepare thoroughly.”

“W-wait, Moondae, put down your phone right now!” Bae Sejin said.

“This is just a video of a dog eating meat…”

Overall, the day was spent in pretty much the same way as any other day during their hiatus. Dinner tasted pretty good as well.

***

The news that Park Moondae had taken the GED test spread more slowly than expected. None of the people who’d gotten his autograph had taken a picture with him, so many fans were skeptical. Only after three or four people came forward with pictures of their test ID slips was it accepted as truth.

The following post proved to be instrumental in getting to the bottom of the matter.

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[I saw my favorite idol while taking a test yesterday]

Many of you reading this post probably know who I’m talking about, haha. Yes, that’s right, I’m talking about Park Moondae!

(Photo)

I was sitting right behind him. I thought my heart was going to explode in my chest! Even his back was handsome, but I couldn’t even lift my head to stare at him T_T

He sat so straight, and his shoulders are the perfect width. So broad! T_T

[…]

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

It was a post written by the young woman who’d sat behind Moondae. She’d also thoughtfully included an account of events that was meant to head off any trouble.

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

All Moondae did was quietly take his test. He gave autographs to everyone who recognized him after it was all done. I was frozen at my desk, unable to make myself talk to him, but he asked me if I wanted one, too. T_T

I considered not uploading this at all, for fear of it inconveniencing him in some way, but everyone seemed to know about it already… I want everyone to know how nice he was that day. I’m taking this test ID slip with me to my grave! T_T

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

It was a cute, heart-warming account of events. Even the fans who’d felt sorry for Moondae upon hearing he was only now sitting for his GED test enjoyed reading it. It wasn’t an invasion of his privacy, and it helped them to picture what the situation must have been like.

- Our puppy loves people. So he signed for everyone, my goodness T_T

- He asked if OP wanted his autograph? He’s so nice… I’ll bet OP didn’t get any sleep that night

- If Moonpuppy had been around when I took my test, I’d probably have given up entirely and just stared at him the whole time. Gosh, I’m so envious.

The post circulated through various internet communities and social media, only barely managing not to cross into the territory of being an advert for how nice Moondae was. However, as he’d expected, not everyone’s reactions were pleasant. Some were far worse than he’d foreseen they would be, though.

- Park Moondae didn’t need to take that exam, to be honest. He’s just being greedy for attention.

- I guess he really has an inferiority complex about his academic record, huh? Haha

- Good thing the people who took the tests in the same classroom were nice. I mean, what would have happened if there had been a deranged fangirl in there? What was he thinking?

- He wants everyone to think he’s so cool and famous, but he’s still only a high school graduate LOL

- He asked if OP needed an autograph? My god…

They were intentionally making things out to be worse than they were. Because Moondae had always had perfect timing when it came to preventing controversy, his real anti-fans were beyond riled up.

He was never blatant when he headed off drama, however, and it wasn’t necessarily considered a fact that Moondae was very sensitive to public opinion, as some people claimed he was. But believing it made it more fun to curse at him. They wanted him to see their excessively negative comments about him and be on edge.

- Moondog’s always searching the web LOL. I’ll bet he’s reading this thread, too

- Don’t try and make content about your test, either. We’ll give you hell if you do ROFL

- You know trying to get us to shut up isn’t going to get you anywhere, right, Moondog? You’re going to let this slide quietly, right?

- It’d be hilarious if he posted to a site like this. He’d be proving just how stupid he really is haha

Unfortunately for them, Moondae was currently mostly banned from the internet. All he really looked at was fan community sites and WeTube. Whenever he tried to look into much more than that, the members somehow caught onto him with scary accuracy, and Moondae was helpless against them. In other words, the malicious commenters’ nasty vitriol was falling on deaf ears.

In the end, it was the member who infamously didn’t care what the anti-fans had to say who responded on his behalf.

“Moondae! Let’s show the chicken porridge we made to Loviewers!” Cha Eugene shouted.

“Sure,” Moondae said simply, sure that the rumors had already made the rounds.

Eugene immediately uploaded the pictures without any hesitation.

[Moondae took a test, so we ate chicken porridge. We all worked hard to make it together! We have amazing teamwork! (tiger emoji) (photos)]

The photos were casual but told a story—there was one of the members shopping for groceries and another of them cooking, as well as one showing Moondae’s confusion upon seeing the porridge and another of him smiling as he ate.

- ?

- What the?

- So they actually uploaded the pictures?

The malicious netizens were taken aback by this.

“Huh? Eugene, did you upload the pictures?”

“Yes!”

“Oh, cool!”

Big Sejin took a look at the comments and then uploaded the video he’d taken as well.

[Haven’t seen Moondae smile like this in a while… It’s lovely that he’s eating so well! Haha. Have a tasty lunch, Loviewers♡ (video)]

There were very few fans who disliked seeing their favorite group getting along so well. Naturally, the fans were touched and excited to receive this unexpected content.

- These guys are so serious about TeSTAR as a group. Let’s stay together forever! Let’s get that dinner show going!

- I swore never to be taken in by groups using the family angle again… But TeSTAR is family, damn it!

- I’m so touched T_T Thank you guys for this great update

There was a lot to look at, between the photos and the video, and they hadn’t even been shared by Park Moondae himself. As such, the anti-fans struggled to gain traction.

- LOL I see what you’re doing, Moondog

- I’ll bet he asked the others to upload for him. Don’t you feel like an idiot acting this way, though?

- He seems like he’s trying so hard to ignore us. Or is that just me?

They did their best to twist things to suit them, but ultimately accomplished nothing. The awkward lack of reaction to their stirring the pot meant the accusations that Moondae was an obsessive search addict faded away.

In the meantime, Moondae himself was busy watching videos of red pandas.

“Hmm…”

He was suffering through intermittent bouts of boredom, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He was looking forward to one thing, though.

Our break will start the day after tomorrow. A three-day vacation was approaching. Moondae had never been able to enjoy a proper break since starting out as an idol, so this was an extremely meaningful time for him.

I’m going to make sure this vacation is the most amazing one I’ve ever had. His plans were perfect. But whether they would come to fruition remained to be seen.