Chapter 80

Chapter 80

Even the production team was sure to be extremely careful as we waddled closer to the migratory birds. When we were nearby we were finally able to lift our cameras. Nearby, however, was a relative concept.

“Oh, here?”

“Of course! We shouldn’t get any nearer.”

At this distance, we couldn’t even see the birds properly with the naked eye.

Chungwoo, who’d been staring through his camera beside me, muttered in a troubled voice, “Uh, I mean, I could shoot them from this distance, but...”

I stared at him. That was exactly the sort of thought an archery gold medalist would have. In the meantime, Eugene, who’d been noisily fidgeting with his camera, was now clicking his shutter rapidly.

His camera probably isn’t even in focus. Oh, whatever. The situation was already beyond any hope of recovery. I sighed and held up the camera I’d been given.

Reminds me of old times. I’d had no money during college and had rented some shared equipment from my club in order to take photos. After I’d started making a little money, I’d bought second-hand equipment from an older student who was graduating at a discount.

Aiming the cheap camera, I tried to get the exposure right.

Let’s see, I’ll zoom in a little... The camera didn’t feel bad in my hand and the photo wasn’t coming out blurry. I got a few passable shots of a navy bird with a white belly. It seemed to have a nasty temperament since it was throwing twigs around with its beak. I had no idea what kind of bird it was, though.

I’d prefer guessing the model of this camera than bird species. Trying not to sigh, I approached the ornithologist and asked quietly, “I think I’ve taken a few photos, but I can’t tell what species it is.”

“H-huh? Oh, I see! Yes!” The man’s eyes were wide as he started complimenting me on my speed.

He looked really surprised just now. Before I could think on it any further, though, the others chimed in.

“Wow! That’s Moondae for you!”

“I’d like to have a look, too.”

“W-what’s it like?”

The members gathered around, doing their best to keep their voices low. I handed the camera to them, and they began to marvel at the pictures excitedly.

“Th-that’s a good photo r-right there. It’s so cute.”

“Moondae’s always been great with taking photos.”

“Amazing!”

“Sir, what kind of bird is this?”

The ornithologist pointed his forefinger in the air. “Finding that out is your objective for today!”

“Ah!”

“Once we finish taking our photos, you’ll be given some time to look over them and do a little research. Now then, shall we continue on our way?”

“Huh?”

“We don’t have much time, so let’s try to visit as many spots as we can so we can see a variety of different birds!”

“Right...”

Our march resumed.

Looks like this episode is going to be a flop, too. I couldn’t see how this was going to turn out to be a fun episode. Sighing, I got up and dusted myself off.

Ahyeon, who’d still been looking through my photos, quickly returned my camera. “H-here you go.”

“Hmm.” I took it from him, then took a photo of Ahyeon on a whim.

He stared at me with wide, surprised eyes.

“Looks like it came out pretty good,” I said.

He looked great in natural lighting, that much was indisputable. I’d have to get it from the staff and upload it to our social media account later, on our way back.

“I-I’ll take one for y-you, too...”

“Thanks, but it’s okay. Let’s go.”

“O-okay...”

I was starting to get sleepy again, probably because the excitement I’d managed to summon for today’s shoot was now gone.

I guess we’re just going to keep on walking. I regretted thinking this only a short while later.

“I think... we should be able to get a little closer to that bird over there. Let’s go check it out.”

“Yes!”

Following the ornithologist’s instructions, we approached a huge white bird that was standing near the water. Five seconds later, the bird was flapping its wings and screaming as it rushed at us.

“Wh-what?”

“Oh my god!”

“H-hold on a minute!”

We all scattered as the bird charged at us, crazed, then went after Eugene and Raebin, who’d been standing closest to it.

F*ck. What the hell was going on?

“Sir! What do we do?”

“Help!”

“Birds usually aren’t this aggressive... How interesting!” the ornithologist was saying.

“Aaaaah!”

Eugene looked ready to cry as he scrambled across the ground, trying to get away from the bird. It was absolute pandemonium. Then I realized something.

Wait... that bird... it’s running on its feet. I walked over to the so-called ornithologist and said, “This is a joke, isn’t it?”

“Huh?”

“That’s not a bird.”

The big bird grabbed Eugene and shouted, “Got you!”

The bird’s head fell away, revealing a very human head inside.

“Yikes!”

The bird mask was a little disgusting because it was so realistic, so I didn’t blame Eugene for his reaction.

“Tada! Thanks for watching the prank show by Kwak Jeongwon of Day in the Life!”

“Oh god...”

Eugene collapsed to the ground and the woman who’d been inside the bird costume, now missing its head, shouted, “Oh no! He’s fainted!”

***

A short time later, we were taken to a cafe near the reservoir by a very amused production team. The emcee apologized the moment she took her seat at the table that had been prepared for us.

This sort of thing is a staple in prank shows.

“I chased you two because you seemed to be the bravest... but both of you looked so shocked. I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right...” Raebin said, still in a daze.

“Scary.” Eugene, on the other hand, was sitting as far as he could from the emcee and was hiding behind the other members. I wished he wouldn’t pull on my shirt so hard, though. He was making it hard to breathe.

He seemed fine watching the horror movie. I guess a real-life show is completely different.

In any case, the emcee seemed to think she’d given all the explanation she needed to. She continued on with her script. “As I’m sure you’ve all realized by now, Day in the Life is actually a hidden camera show!”

“Oh...”

TeSTAR clapped, groaning at the revelation, and the emcee guffawed loudly.

“Then what about the first episode?”

“We fooled the audience with that one! The actual title of the show isn’t even Day in the Life. It’s actually... Day in the Prank Life!”

Ahyeon’s jaw dropped, and even I bit my tongue.

I think I’ve heard of that show. Who could have suspected we’d be the first to be pranked into thinking it was a completely different show?

“Now then, how do you feel after experiencing the real Day in the Prank Life show?”

Everyone started talking at once.

“Those banners! You made them like that on purpose!”

“We were wondering why there were so many!”

“So the duck walk was completely unnecessary?”

“Hahaha! Yes, you’re all correct!” the emcee said, laughing and sipping her coffee.

Repressing a sigh, I said, “Was the ornithologist not an actual ornithologist, either?”

“Of course not! He was one of our amazing actors.”

“No wonder he kept talking about Korean Crow-Tits!” Big Sejin cried, and the entire production team burst out laughing.

“This location is only good for filming migratory birds in winter! Nobody comes here to film migratory birds in the summer. They live everywhere, even in Gyeonggi Province!”

“Ah...”

I don’t think Chungwoo had ever looked so embarrassed in his entire life. In the meantime, I silently sipped my drink. Otherwise, I would be reacting just like the others. The agency didn’t seem to be complete idiots, since the emcee went on to make small talk at length about TeSTAR’s album and performances.

Though Chungwoo still looked pained, he answered every question diligently for the sake of promoting our album.

It’s a good thing I’m not the leader. It was further proof that titles that meant nothing but extra hard work were to be avoided at all costs. In any case, we were also able to perform one of our title tracks after we were done with the chit-chat. It was quite a unique experience, dancing in a picturesque countryside cafe to the applause of a few staff.

“My goodness, that was amazing! No wonder you all won the audition show!”

“Phew. Thank you!”

The emcee smiled brightly as we bowed to all the gathered staff. “Thank you for providing a fun start to our show!”

“No, thank you!”

“This was fun!”

The filming ended on a friendly note—which was essential, seeing as this was a variety show.

Even Eugene pulled himself together toward the end and bowed politely.

“Birds are scary.”

“Hahaha!”

The emcee laughed, thinking he was joking, but I had no doubt Eugene was being perfectly serious.

Well, nobody’s going to hold it against him. It’ll be fine. It wouldn’t have helped anything if I told him to get it together, anyway.

That was when the production team signaled to the emcee, and she clapped her hands together.

“Now, everyone! We’ll be paying you as we agreed!”

“Huh?”

“An expensive lunch! It’ll be more than enough to cover today’s hard work!”

“Whoa!”

“No way!”

The staff brought out grills and platters of Korean beef and all our resentment instantly evaporated. Such was the power of beef.

“Eat as much as you like!”

“Th-thank you!”

The members sat down in front of the beef wearing dazed expressions on their faces, suspicious that this was another prank. There was no unpleasant reveal, however, and the sirloin was the best I’d eaten in the last six months.

Not bad. Considering we’d also certainly be paid actual money for appearing on the show, this was a pretty satisfactory ending in my opinion.

Though Eugene might beg to differ, I suppose.

Later though, Eugene leaned close and whispered in my ear, “She’s a good person.”

“Right...” I replied easily to this grave statement from my fellow member, whose belly was now full of meat. I had no idea how all of this ludicrous mess would turn out when the episode was edited.

Oh, whatever. I didn’t really care, as long as people didn’t hate on us for it. I put some more beef in my mouth. The manager was signaling to us that we really needed to stop eating, but nobody except Ahyeon was paying him any attention.

***

Time passed, and soon Sunday afternoon had rolled around. TeSTAR’s second week of music shows was over. The fans were excited over the stage outfits they were wearing at the music shows and various events, since they weren’t the same clothing they’d worn in the music videos, unlike the first week.

- The light pink summer outfits from Music Bomb were legendary... (screenshot)

- Look at how amazing these black baseball uniforms look—ignore the bad camerawork. This is the time to become a TeSTAR fan, people. You won’t even need to buy stocks (video)

- Park Moondae (TeSTAR), corporate event in Oseong (06/30/2X).

They wore the Oseong Bears baseball uniforms! He’s number eleven, too!

There was the occasional complaint about how incompetent the agency was, but people were enjoying all the content for the most part, and there weren’t any unfortunate incidents of note.

Many people seemed eager to see more variety shows, however.

- The reality show is fine and all, but I’d like to see them on some large-scale variety shows, too

- I want them to appear on a talk show and be doted on...

- They all have such different personas, and they’ll be an instant hit. Why isn’t there any news about this T_T

It was at this time that a random variety show nobody had heard of announced they would be featuring TeSTAR.

[TeSTAR, the #1 K-pop stock, to appear in their first variety show—TVC’s new offering, Day in the Life]

[The first guests on Day in the Life will be none other than TeSTAR from Idol Inc.]

- ??

- What kind of show is this?

- Did they upload these articles by mistake?

- A new show?

When people searched out and watched the first episode, which had been uploaded to WeTube, social media platforms were suddenly flooded with angry posts.

- LMAO T1, those idiots. They’re using TeSTAR to promote their own show

- The first episode was sh*t. Have they lost their minds?

- The variety show connoisseurs are already saying it’s a flop T_T

- Surely they could do better? Ha!

This did not last long, of course. Complaining publicly like this would only give malicious commenters something to work with. Only in the closed communities, away from the search engines’ prying eyes, were such complaints found. On the news articles themselves, the comments went something like this:

- Wow! Since TeSTAR is appearing on the show, it’s bound to be a hit!

- So TeSTAR is finally showing up in something that’s not a reality show

- I’m watching this one the moment it airs!

The fans would remember this, however, and their anger would later return in full force. Before the fans’ rage was able to cool, however, the early reveal of the second episode was uploaded that very night.

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

[“Day in the Life” EP 2 (featuring TeSTAR) early reveal]

: It’s up, guys (link)

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

- Already?

- I thought it was supposed to air on Thursday?

When puzzled netizens clicked on the link, they were greeted with the following title.

[Sorry! The entire first episode was a hoax! | Here at Day in the Prank Life, we’re all about the pranks! | Our first guest is TeSTAR! | EP 2 early reveal]

The thumbnail image featured the TeSTAR members looking shocked at the sight of the awful, basic welcome banners.

- ??

- What the hell?

- Huh? ROFL

Despite their confusion, everyone hurriedly pressed play.