Chapter 244

Chapter 244

The semi-transparent pop-up appeared with a burst of fireworks.

[A Success!]

You successfully managed to meet an audience of 400,000 people!

Time cap: Satisfied (Successful)

Status Abnormality: “Get That Audience or Die!” removed!

A single free online concert had been enough to shed the status abnormality that required me to find an audience of 400,000. I wasn’t surprised since the vote count had gone up to nearly 300,000 after VTIC had appeared. Because I’d seen the numbers on the screen go up with my own eyes, it had counted as seeing the audience's reactions in person.

I knew this would count. Better still, this platform allowed people to watch without having to sign up for an account. Those looking for an entertaining way to pass the time would probably have just watched without making an account.

There were supposed to be plenty of foreign fans who did not have an account on the site, which probably meant the actual number of viewers had been out of this world. And getting 300,000 people, counting only those who actively voted during the concert, would not have been an easy feat had TeSTAR tried to go at it alone. My plan to involve VTIC had been a resounding success, though the outcome wasn’t quite what I’d been expecting.

Reveal the Truth ☜ Click!

There was no option to choose a coin this time.

I thought I was going to be offered one every time from now on. This meant that the coin offered to me last time was not going to be the norm.

Did I only get it because the system somehow knew I was going to get into an accident? I felt weird about that. The system had known ahead of time that the former manager might do something and had prepared accordingly.

I guess it also makes sense that the status abnormality was essentially a repeat of the last one, just with a bigger target. I’d been offered a coin as an additional option, which made it seem as though I’d had to clear the same status abnormality again just so the system could get back on track. All sorts of status abnormalities had popped up and distorted, before vanishing when I’d received his new status abnormality.

It had to be an error of some sort. So the status window had wanted to award me a coin no matter what it had to do to make it happen, even if it meant causing an error.

But why? I had never seen any trace of emotion or sentience in the system so far. But then there had been the obvious tampering with the draw chance, and the general way events had unfolded… which could be interpreted as goodwill on the system’s part.

I quickly came to a conclusion.

Does it want me to clear the status abnormalities? The status window seemed to exist solely to help me survive this absurd situation. The bastard standing in front of me who didn’t have a status window had died countless times.

“What are you looking at?”

“…!”

I looked up and realized that Cheongryeo was watching me carefully. I responded instantly.

“Oh, I was just thinking.”

“Oh?” he said casually. Then he glanced in the direction I’d been looking briefly—where the status window was.

F*ck. I dismissed the pop-up immediately, but he was simply smiling, seemingly having seen nothing. He’d only followed the direction of my gaze.

How did he manage to do that? I only glanced at the status window. He was very perceptive—I supposed the many lives he’d lived contributed to that.

He asked me if I’d gotten what I wanted. Putting aside the useless tension that had sprung up between us, I answered casually,

“I think it went well. The concert, I mean.”

“All right. That’s good.” He nodded, seeming to understand what I was implying. He held out his hand. “I had fun today.”

“Same here…”

So he’s feeling pretty confident about his performance. I shook his hand. His glove felt cold to the touch.

“Good luck with the remaining performances!”

“You’re doing great!”

The other VTIC members chimed in, grins on their faces. They seemed to think we’d grown closer because of the concert, and a few of TeSTAR’s members obviously felt the same way—for example, Raebin, who’d finally learned what software VTIC used for their arrangements.

“Please have a safe trip back! Thank you for all your advice!” Raebin said.

“Hey now, we didn’t tell you anything special!”

“We’re going overseas, actually, but thank you. See you!”

“Right! Thank you!”

“Thank you!”

Many handshakes were exchanged in congenial goodbyes. We hadn’t fought, and because we were idols working in the same industry who would probably see each other again, there was no reason for us not to be friendly. The problem was that our fandoms did not share in this attitude.

There’s going to be a mess waiting for us on the internet… First of all, both groups had done quite well during the concert. Neither side had won a decisive victory. I was hoping that the worst of it was people saying we’d had a friendly face-off, akin to a staring contest, at a charity event.

“Sejin, we have four minutes til the next vote.”

“Coming!”

Bae Sejin, once informed the next vote was incoming, raced down the corridor. He seemed to feel much lighter now that VTIC was no longer around to get on his nerves. I tried to predict how the public would respond to the next performance, but simply shrugged when I saw his change in attitude.

I should just focus on the remaining performances. The next one required us to spit fake blood from our mouths.

Quality is what matters most. This was a good call, as it soon turned out.

***

TeSTAR’s charity concert was a smash hit.

[This concert has raised]

[!! 252,096,000 won !!]

[Thank you for your love and energy!]

The real-time donations had surpassed 140 million won, and the total number of real-time viewers had passed 1.12 million. This number had caused the platform to sweat, patting themselves on the back for adding additional temporary servers. The general reaction online was overall very pleasant.

- Amazing

- It was so fun LOL

- I donated 10,000 won. I feel so good about it. I got to watch a great concert and did something good for society at the same time T_T

- I wish they’d do this sort of thing more often

- TeSTAR seems amazing. Do they have a social media account I want to follow T_T

Those who’d already seen it were happy with how it had gone down, and they were all the more pleased to hear that every performance would be uploaded to WeTube. There wasn’t even much backlash for selling the VOD of the entire concert for a fee, since each individual performance was still free to watch online.

- Well, they’ve got to make money somehow

- TeSTAR, you did great!

- VTIC was amazing. I hope both groups continue to be friends forever!

The fans wished to see all the little details throughout the entire concert, which meant the VOD sales weren’t bad. TeSTAR had also uploaded something to social media.

[We’re doubling the donation! (Photo)]

[The money will be safely transferred under the name of the concert, “As the Heart Takes Us.”]

TeSTAR had matched the money the viewers had donated. In the photo, TeSTAR was shown sweating, having just completed a performance, and holding up a sign that had the sum they were donating scrawled on it with a marker. It was a neat finish to the event and a move that would silence anyone who tried to criticize the group, accusing them of taking credit for money that didn’t belong to them.

In fact, this additional donation was almost excessively good, seemingly unnecessary even, but there was a very specific reason they’d decided to do this. Communities with a deep interest in idols were talking about VTIC and TeSTAR.

It had all begun with compliments about their performances. Because VTIC had appeared out of nowhere and given such an incredible performance, the ranking posts online had been all but flooded with content about them.

[This is how a nine-year-old idol group covers a song]

[Idol group shows off what makes them top-tier]

[VTIC - “Present”]

There were countless comments, some even making direct comparisons and saying it was better than TeSTAR’s original song, or insisting that TeSTAR’s was still better. But when TeSTAR performed afterward, the mood changed somewhat.

- Wow, TeSTAR’s great

- I love the vibes of this

- They’re both so good. They have such great direction

- That main vocalist… This is why I’m such a huge fan of them T_T

TeSTAR managed to do a fresh take on VTIC’s music while doing away with the idea that they were competing. Instead, they’d managed to make the two performances seem like part of the same cohesive setlist. This silenced the comparisons somewhat, but there were still fans on both sides who’d gotten upset at each other, as well as trolls that had tried to take advantage of the situation.

- Am I the only one who doesn’t like this? VTIC’s music is playing on an old-fashioned radio. It’s almost like they did that on purpose…

└ And you’re not mentioning how they sang along to it LOL? They were obviously showing respect

└ It’s an eighties concept. Their clothes are old-fashioned, too. What are you even talking about?

└ Why are you fans trying to stop me from stating what I noticed?

└ Well, I noticed that you’re a troll

- Frankly, the scale of VTIC’s performance was bigger. But the thing is, it felt like they were trying too hard to win, and that made me uncomfortable.

└ You would have complained that they hadn’t put in enough effort otherwise

└ Sorry. VTIC is so good at their job, I guess TeSTAR fans are upset T_T

└ I’ll try to speak to them at a fansign and tell them not to embarrass younger idols like that from now on!

└ LOL this conversation is stupid

└ Please stop. Both of them did great. What’s the need for this?

All kinds of outlandish theories and guesses about TeSTAR and VTIC’s intentions were going around online. Some people were intentionally trying to stir up trouble between two large fandoms, while others were trying just as hard to keep the peace. The fandoms had already been wary of each other, and they grew increasingly annoyed with the opposing fandom, even as they continued to enjoy the performances.

“Goddamn it!”

For example, there was one college student in particular who had gotten worked up after getting in a fight with a VTIC fan in the comment section of a news article. It was Raebin’s fan, who had finally admitted that Moondae was her bias wrecker.

- TeSTAR shouldn’t have invited the group as guests if they couldn’t handle it… T_T

└ Didn’t VTIC damage their reputation a little? They put on a worse performance than TeSTAR, even if they had dancers with them.

└ What’s wrong with your eyes? It was obvious the guests were far better.

“I know exactly whose fan you are, you bastard,” Raebin’s fan muttered, angrily wondering why VTIC fans were so obvious and crude.

└ It can’t be helped that they’re getting so much flack, since the guests did everything they could to attract more attention. I think it’s amazing that such pathetic behavior was incorporated into the performance.

At the same time, however, it was refreshing to realize that she was writing comments about TeSTAR’s skills again.

Things have changed quite a bit. TeSTAR had been seen as not much more than pitiable victims until recently. Even comments written by those who’d seen them perform before were likely to have contained compliments about their courage, rather than their actual skill. The accident had been a huge talking point, crowding out their role as idols.

The same went for VTIC. Their reputation had taken a turn for the worse after their main vocalist had screwed them over, with many quietly assuming the group was bound to be on that out now.

The charity concert, however, had done away with all of that. The two groups were now hot topics thanks to their actual work as idols. Everyone even remotely interested in them had their own opinion about who had done a better job.

They were being regarded as idols once more. All of the conflicting opinions were just an indication that both groups were at the top of their game and very popular.

While that’s all pretty interesting…

└ LOL it’s pretty obvious you’re a Loviewer!

“Motherf*cker!” Raebin’s fan shouted, immediately taking back what she’d just thought.

So you’re a VTIC fan, then? Still desperate to grow your fandom, huh? You should be ashamed of yourself. She suddenly understood what was going on.

If sh*t goes down now, there will be some serious fighting. Both fandoms were extremely upset with each other. Her gut told her that some people were sure to be eagerly seeking out dirt on the other group.

This is not good! she thought, tutting to herself.

A notification popped up.

[Hello. It’s me, Moondae…]

“…?!”

It was a social media notification from TeSTAR’s account.

“Oh! Park Moondae!”

Kim Raebin’s fan immediately abandoned her online argument and clicked the notification.

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

Hello. It’s me, Moondae (emoji)

It was a fun concert. We took some great photos, and I’ll share some of mine.

Thank you Loviewers for watching, as well as everyone else who attended!

♡

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

The photos attached below the post were of VTIC.

“Hey!” she shouted.

This makes it seem like you’re losing to them! You should wait until VTIC posts first… She was pacified very shortly after. Moondae immediately uploaded a second post, this one including photos of his own group as well.

“Raebin is so good-looking.”

She saved a picture of Raebin giving a clumsy wink while wearing the bandages from their “Nightmare” performance.

Hmm. Yes. It’s more likely that VTIC will be seen as the losers, outdone by a newer idol group. She glanced through VTIC’s photos with a cool eye.

Moondae! Why did you take so many pictures of VTIC? The solo photo of Cheongryeo in particular was better in quality than the pictures a few of his fansites had posted in the past, in fact. This, of course, prevented any VTIC fans from complaining that only the ugly photos had been uploaded on purpose.

He should have just uploaded more selfies, she grumbled. She was looking forward to saving more screenshots enhanced by the fans, however.

Many fans were feeling similarly. They were no longer content with “I’m happy if my idol’s happy,” but the photos did clear the air. People began to come around to the idea that the concert had been so great, that they didn’t want it ruined by quarreling. Moondae even received reluctant acknowledgment from the more shady communities.

- Moondog knows what he’s doing

- He’s a glum dog, but he’s pretty handy when he’s on our side

- Thanks for the photos

The fighting died down momentarily as the fans happily gobbled up the new content. Better still, an announcement was uploaded to the TeSTAR official account regarding the options that hadn’t won the vote at the concert.

[This is for those of you who are curious about the other options.]

[Wednesday night, 11 P.M. on the last week of September. Watch for more content on CVN!]

There were no further details, but it was almost certain that TeSTAR would be dropping a new show!

“They’re pretty good at this idol game, aren’t they?”

Things were going so well that it appeared the agency was letting the group manage their own affairs. Apparently, the agency hadn’t been worth sh*t. It was rare for Raebin’s fan to be at a loss for words, but she certainly was now as she looked at the announcement and Moondae’s photos.

The person behind all of this, however, wasn’t doing his usual comfortable monitoring of the situation online.

“We need to make a choice.”

“Right…”

“What’ll it be? A lawsuit, or another promotional cycle?”

He was deep in discussion with the leader of his group regarding their next steps.