Chapter 71

Chapter 71

The new teaser video began with a cheerful snatch of the song.

- High five!

It was Cha Eugene who shouted the words, and on-screen, he stood waving his hand against the backdrop of a blue sky, on what appeared to be a school field. Behind him were the other members, standing in formation. They were all wearing baseball uniforms tailored perfectly to each of them. The members, who could be seen doing some typical warm-ups, suddenly began to dance to the chorus.

- This pitch

Tang Tang Tang

It’s going to fit right in

- Into your heart

Pang Pang Pang

Like fanfare!

- Bursting all around!

The choreography was exciting, featuring broad movements and a rapid beat. After a single section of the chorus ended, they all froze mid-dance. All the members held the position, their feet extended toward the screen behind them, heads turned to look back.

Then a voiceover called yelled out.

[And... cut!]

[Phew!]

The members sank to the floor at the director’s cry, and white captions appeared on the screen.

[Hi-five Music Video]

[First reveal in episode two of TeSTAR Tests Out Life Together!]

The teaser was humorous and dynamic, in contrast to the Magical Boys teaser that had come before it. The comments section immediately exploded, of course.

- Holy cow, there are two title songs?

- Is this a pre-release? Oh man, it’s so good, too

- They’re really doubling down on the school theme, aren’t they? Haha

- I’ll bet they’re thinking there’s zero chance we’ll hate both of them LOL. For the record, I like both. Nicely done, TeSTAR.

└ LOL you too? Me too!

- Wow, that was just the chorus, but I can already tell this one’s going to be the winner

└ We haven’t even seen the choreography for Magical Boys yet! Give that one a chance! Haha

- The drum roll had my heart pounding... TeSTAR, you guys are walking defibrillators!

Everyone was so excited that the unpleasant incident from before was all but forgotten. However, the fans were still feeling a little puzzled as well. The agency was too good at their job.

- Wait, how’d the agency pull this off during their radio silence? What are they feeding them over there? They made two songs and both of them are this good? How is that possible?

- And the concepts, too. They’re really different, but they still seem to be connected in some way. You remember the baseball glove and baseballs in the previous teaser?

└ No way

└ I’m getting chills

- Based on the teaser for the second episode, I got the impression that the members took an active part in the production process. I’m already really excited

- Let’s aim for five hundred thousand sales in the first week!

The internet went wild once more when the second episode of the reality show aired.

[Here are some reference images, as well as a sample of the arrangement.]

The episode showed in detail the members preparing their presentation in the space of a single day. The process was so neatly edited that the director’s excessive requests and any mentions of VTIC’s simultaneous comeback were nowhere to be seen.

Instead, the TeSTAR members were shown passionately working on the songs.

- What the, why are they so good at this?

- I never even imagined they were capable of picking the songs and a concept themselves

- And they haven’t fought even once, either! They’re calmly persuading each other and smoothing out differences in opinion!

- I guess fans are free to start having super high expectations for these guys...

There were people who were suspicious, of course.

- A completely new group somehow managed to pull this off? Don’t be fooled, it’s all an act!

- They’re just making it look like the members came up with the ideas when in reality all they did was read off a script. Don’t ever trust reality shows like this!

└ I guess the idols you’re into can’t do anything on their own, huh? I pity you...

└ Yeah... Cheer up, dude!

Fans took every single comment of this sort, with the exception of a handful, in stride. They didn’t even seem all that bothered since they already smelled success in the air.

- This is going to be a hit. I just know it.

- Everyone’s super excited already LOL. Even if the teasers turn out to be fake, I know the songs are still going to sell well

- They’re going to release the music video at the end of the episode today, right?

The second episode of the reality show was like a documentary about the song creation process. As they neared the end, however, they included a scene where the members played with the claw machine to add a little bit of reality spice.

These were the cuts that had been left out of episode one, filmed after the horror movie segment. The members were mostly shown being cute as they failed to catch anything with the machine and tried to come up with valid excuses for their continuous failures.

[※You’re right. There’s something wrong with the machine.※]

- LMAO!

- Big Sejin’s so hilarious!

The second episode ended with Lee Sejin winning a rabbit plushie from the machine. Captions appeared onscreen informing viewers that the music video’s reveal was imminent, and those watching tensed all over again.

- It’s starting.

- The music video! It’s coming!

As the interim ad came to an end, the screen faded to black and then a classroom window appeared, the room brightly lit by sunlight.

***

“The music video’s starting.”

“W-wait a second.”

Ahyeon slid into the living room at the exact moment the ad came to an end.

Nice timing. I focused my attention on the screen.

The first scene featured Park Moondae—me—staring out the window. It was sunny outside, the sky blue and clear, and suddenly a piece of paper was being held in Park Moondae’s face.

[Sports Day]

[High school baseball series]

Lee Sejin was holding the paper. Gone was his usual sullen scowl—he looked like an academically-inclined student now, if a little tense.

Park Moondae tilted his head in puzzlement as he stared at the sheet of paper and that was when the prelude began.

The song began with a cheerful whistled melody. Upbeat drums had been combined with the sound of an electric guitar. This was apparently all that was needed to create what was basically disco music with a rock element twist. While I didn’t know much about the technicalities, the tune was exciting, that much was certain.

Because we’d taken Raebin’s suggestion and run with it, the honestly cheap feeling the original song had given off was now gone. It was a relief.

However, we hadn’t had enough time to do much about the lyrics.

Oh! I’ve been doing some thinking

Finally came to a decision, um!

I’m going to pitch today,

pitch myself to you!

I’ll be shooting, shooting me into your heart!

I mean, it’s serviceable enough I guess.

“Our choreography’s on point.”

“It's like Eugene’s got wings!”

“Ehehe.”

The members began to make comments as the group was shown dancing on screen. They were mostly doing it for the reality show cameras, which had been left running to catch our reactions to the music video.

We’ve already seen it and it’s not like there’s anything overly surprising happening. Dance scenes were cut together with clips that furthered the plot as the story unfolded.

To put it simply, the premise of the music video was that Lee Sejin, a model student, was going around recruiting members for a baseball team in order to flesh out his student record. Because he was looking for people who weren’t already taking part in events at the sports day, he was forced to approach the oddballs in his class... or something like that.

“Oh, Moondae’s part of a book club!”

“Th-that suits him.”

I was usually shown holding a book or an ebook reader.

“I want you to try and come off as mysterious, okay?”

That’s what the director had instructed, but I wasn’t so sure I’d pulled it off. It was hard to tell what I was thinking in the music video, at least.

Ahyeon was next. As one might have expected, he was part of the dance club.

“That’s amazing.”

“Of course, he’s a dance major after all!”

“T-thanks,” Ahyeon stammered.

His scene was impressive, that much was true, as he performed a modern dance onscreen. The production team had done a great job of portraying his personality perfectly since he was unable to refuse the request to join the team.

Then it was Chungwoo’s turn.

“There’s our national athlete!”

“Guys, he actually made that shot on camera!”

“Haha. I’ve lost my edge. It’s been so long since I’ve practiced properly.”

Chungwoo was practicing his archery when he was approached, and of course, he looked totally natural while doing so. He was a professional. After that, Eugene and Raebin showed up together. This next part was meant to depict a funny misunderstanding.

Lee Sejin opened the door to the P.E. shed, revealing Raebin and Eugene laying stretched out on the floor, resting. It was pretty obvious to viewers that they were supposed to be the school bad boys as they stared up at Lee Sejin quietly.

There was a long moment where no one said or did anything.

[I’m sorry!]

The door slammed shut before anybody could respond.

“Hahaha!”

“Pfft! That’s hilarious!”

The members burst out laughing. Even I found it funny if I was honest.

It’s probably more entertaining because the role of the bully was given to the two youngest members. They’d come up with the idea themselves.

I think they said they wanted to know what it was like to be on top of the school’s social pyramid... Even if it was just acting. It had been Raebin who’d given that lengthy explanation, followed by a cheerful remark from Eugene.

“It sounds fun!”

In any case, the two could look pretty scary when they wanted to, so they played their parts well. And last but not least, there was Big Sejin, who was brought onto the team on the condition that they’d help him with his campaign to be elected student president.

“He’s got real-life experience with that sort of thing, you know.”

“Oh, I’d have actually been elected in this world!” Big Sejin said playfully, grinning.

It was canny of him to pick that role. There had been talk about his campaign running for student president when the school bullying rumors had started. He’d probably opted to play it like this to erase the rumors from people’s minds once and for all.

In any case, the music video ended humorously, with the motley assortment of students somehow managing to win on sports day. Lee Sejin’s original goal, improving his student record, was shown in a post-credits scene as a neat little twist at the end.

“Wow!”

“That was fun from beginning to end!”

It’d been easy enough to understand while still ensuring there wasn’t so much story that the entire thing was bogged down. This was no doubt aided by the strategically interspersed group dance scenes.

“Good work, everyone!”

“Well done!”

Everyone seemed relieved that the music video had successfully been released.

Chungwoo even went out of his way to say, “And Sejin especially... thank you.”

“That’s right,” Raebin added. “It’s probably because of you, Sejin, that the rest of us did okay despite being amateurs.”

“Whoa, Raebin. So that’s what you think of us? Amateurs?” Big Sejin interjected cheekily.

“N-no, that’s not what I meant...” Raebin stammered, falling for his trap.

Lee Sejin bit his lip, but eventually nodded and said quietly, “Everyone did an amazing job. And by the way... I’m sorry if my attitude came off as unpleasant up until now.”

“N-no, don’t say that...”

“I won’t try to avoid my problems like that in the future. I promise.” Lee Sejin’s fists were clenched tightly in his lap.

Looks like he’s got his act together, now that we were able to deal with the most pressing issue. He seemed to have been stewing over the situation for the past few days.

“I-it’s fine! Y-y-you’re the one who had to endure all that...”

“We’ve only just debuted. There’s going to be a lot of trial and error.”

“Hang in there!”

“Thanks...”

The mood quickly grew comfortable again because of the easy-going members’ quick acceptance of his apology. There had been an awkward atmosphere after the incident regarding Lee Sejin, but the music video seemed to have cleared all that up. Not that we’d suddenly grown any closer than was reasonably expected between coworkers, of course.

“Let’s keep up the good work!”

For example, Big Sejin, who was standing off to the side grinning, still didn’t seem to like Lee Sejin all that much. Honestly, it would be strange if seven very different people all found one other perfectly to their liking. I was fine with how things were, as long as no fights broke out.

The vibes between us seem like they’re going to come across nicely on the show, too. They’d probably edit out the apology without us even having to ask. I stretched, and that was when Chungwoo piped up to gently instruct, “Now then, let’s go back to the practice room.”

There was a brief awkward silence and even Eugene missed a beat before replying, “Okay!”

Everyone was sick of practice after all the hard work we’d been putting in of late, but we all knew we couldn’t just go to bed. There were only three days left until our debut showcase.

“Let’s stick to it guys. It’ll be over soon enough.”

“Sure...”

“L-let’s do this!”

After exchanging a few meaningless words of encouragement, it became clear that we’d be practicing through the night again.

I hoped there would be lots of fans at the showcase, instead of just journalists. At least their presence would be something of a consolation for all the lost sleep. I was massaging my eyes when Lee Sejin addressed me.

“Uh, by the way.”

“Yes?” I said, turning to him just to be polite.

He muttered quietly, “Thanks. For helping me.”

Huh? With what? I was so tired my brain wasn’t working properly. I tried to think of a recent incident that might have earned me his gratitude.

“Oh, you mean the letter?”

“Yeah!” he said, his voice rising suddenly. Inhaling, he appeared to gather himself before continuing, “I really appreciate it. I’ll return the favor one day.”

“Okay... Don’t worry about it too much.”

I’d only thrown out some quick suggestions that any cool-headed person could have come up with. There hadn’t been that much time to find a strategy. I didn’t need his thanks—the only thing I needed from him was to avoid getting caught up in a drug scandal.

I had a gut feeling, though, that the scandal might have been something cooked up by his previous agency.

I hope I don’t turn out to be wrong. I’d been proven incorrect more than once in the past and would have to be careful.

“I’ll definitely pay you back! So... thanks,” Lee Sejin shouted again before rushing out of the dorm. Had he forgotten we’d have to meet up again in all of about thirty seconds?

Both of us have to go to practice, you know. Lack of sleep seemed to be getting to him, too. Shaking my head, I followed after.

***

The fans were very satisfied with TeSTAR’s Hi-five music video. While this might not read like an overly impressive sentence, the implications were huge—the sky-high expectations people had for the group set to debut after winning Idol Inc. had been met.

- I was a bit worried after watching the teasers and hearing there would be two titles instead of one... I thought both of them would turn out to be mediocre. I guess I needn’t have worried LOL

- Did you see that music video? So this is the power of corporate capital!

- Oh my god I’m so excited T_T The Magical Boys video is going to rock, too, I feel it in my bones

- That was a masterpiece. Please release the tracks and take my money already T_T

In other related news, anyone who’d failed to buy a ticket to the showcase event was left feeling extremely sad.

- Those idiots at Idol Inc sold all the tickets in their stock packages it seems T_T They were all sold out before the final episode had even aired!

- Tnet, get your sh*t together! Some people who have tickets are fans of contestants that were disqualified, and they’re scalping them at marked up prices T_T

└ That’s the least of our worries. What if someone malicious attends and ruins the showcase? Damn it...

While the fans who didn’t have tickets were pulling their hair out with worry and frustration, a handful of those whose biases had been disqualified held on to their tickets.

Let’s see if they can actually pull this off. Though there was no knowing if they would end up making a scene at the event, this was certainly a problem that Tnet had failed to consider.

The Magical Boys music video was released on June 18 and the showcase began at 8 P.M. that same evening.