Chapter 86

Chapter 86

[“Ta-da!”]

The item that had been hidden under the cloth was a heavy nameplate, the kind you’d find on a business person’s desk.

- ???

- Huh? What? LOL

It was an expensive-looking one inlaid with mother-of-pearl and featured a single word written in an elegant, flowing script—Loviewer.

Ryu Chungwoo laughed.

[“We decided on this name with our fans in mind, who are always watching us with love.”]

[“It’s love plus reviewer!”] Cha Eugene added, staring down at the giant nameplate with a proud gleam in his eyes.

[“It’s custom-made... We got it custom-made, I think!”]

[“This represents how our fans mean more to us than anything else, including all those who invested in us so far... Oh, and we’ll be sending it to one of our fans after this W Live stream is over!”]

It went without saying that the nameplate was completely unexpected and hilarious to the viewers. Moondae had opposed the idea right until the very end but had eventually given up since the others had voted for it.

The fans simply filled the chat with laughing emojis and hearts, seeing how proud TeSTAR seemed of their idea. It was cute. On social media, on the other hand, a slightly more fierce exchange was going down.

- Everyone, I know you want to tell them to get rid of that old-fashioned nameplate, don’t you? That it has no place on their W Live? But it’s their first stream on the app! Let’s go easy on them, guys T_T

- Just post smiley emojis!

- Read the room guys! No matter what they throw at us, we just have to smile and bear it.

- The fandom name is okay. We can just write the nameplate off as a cute flop, okay?

As a result, the members who ventured near the phone to check what people thought of the new fandom name only saw things like “LOL,” “T_T,” and “love you.”

[“Well! It looks like our fans are happy!”]

[“Th-th-that’s a relief…”]

[“Nice!”]

TeSTAR excitedly moved onto the next segment of their livestream.

[“Now it’s time to present our official color!”]

***

TeSTAR’s first W Live lasted for quite a while. It was originally planned to last for two hours, but the members weren’t satisfied with merely sticking to the script for their first livestream on the app. As a result, the fans learned quite a few new details about their favorite group toward the end of the stream.

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[Here are all the members’ MBTIs, based on what they said on the TeSTAR W Live stream today]

: Ryu Chungwoo - ESFJ / Lee Sejin A - ISFP / Seon Ahyeon - ISFJ / Big Sejin - ENTJ / Park Moondae - INTJ / Kim Raebin - INFP/ Cha Eugene - ENTP

They’ve never done this sort of stream before and it was amazing to see how much fun they were having... With TeSTAR, even the W Live sessions are a blast!

* They didn’t take a proper test or anything, so this is just for fun guys

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

- Wow, not a single duplicate

- T_T They were so cute today. I hope they do more of these lives

- The E’s and I’s are perfectly accurate. Especially for Big Sejin LOL

- The members were so amazed to hear about Chungwoo’s ESFJ traits. They were just like excited kindergarteners learning from their favorite teacher! Cute as hell

- The ones that seem to lack empathy all have T in their results. Makes sense.

└ ?? Is this idiot really criticizing people based on their MBTI?

└ LOL you realize your assessment includes half of the global population, right?

The strongest emotion among the fans, of course, was happiness over finally having a fandom name.

- I didn’t really like the name TeSTAR, tbh, it sounded too much like tester. But they gave the fans the most loving nickname they possibly could have and suddenly I don’t care anymore

└ This. TeSTAR and Loviewer are a match made in heaven. Change my mind

- I’m changing my name to Kim Loview once the courthouse opens tomorrow. It’s a lovely name

└ Are you nuts? LMAO

- They won’t like it if they get the same request twice in a single day. I had the idea first

└ Oh LOL

- I loved how they chose the three different shades the sky turns for our fandom colors, each one for a different time of day. It feels connected with their album’s universe

└ Yeah. Choosing just one color is overrated these days anyway

- Thing is, I’m thinking our light sticks will be extremely conspicuous... Maybe the colors won’t matter so much...

└ Yeah, I know, right? LOL

└ I’m already looking forward to their live performances haha

TeSTAR’s fans spent Sunday relishing the tasty tidbits they’d gleaned from their idol’s first W Live session. In addition, the final fansigns for the promotional cycle were currently underway.

- Can they handle doing fansigns right after their W Live stream? T_T

- The agency has terrible planning skills

They worried for TeSTAR and criticized the agency, but a lot of those who would be attending said they were going to ask questions about the W Live stream. Fans couldn’t help but look forward to this.

Thankfully, the mood at these events seemed to be fantastic and various comments and uploads kept online fans well apprised as to what was going on.

- Someone gave Raebin a maraca shaped like a baseball bat haha. Raebin’s nearly dying from embarrassment LOL (photo)

- I asked Moondae to draw me a puppy. And uh... Well, Moon Puppy said this was a puppy, so that’s what it is. (A drawing that resembles a squished burger patty)

- Ahyeon brought gifts today T_T I’m such a fan of his deer persona. I asked him to sign the gift! (photo)

The TeSTAR members were livelier than ever at the fansigns, feeling that their promotions were coming to a successful end.

***

“Moondae, can you draw the light stick for me right here?”

“Sure... Here?”

“Yes!”

I’d been asked to do this at least ten times today. Trying not to show that I was tired of it, I drew the final version of the light stick next to my signature. Not even I could tell what my drawing was supposed to be, however.

“Oh my gosh! I love it...”

Was it the clumsiness of my sketch that they appreciated?

Or maybe it’s just rare to see such badly drawn doodles. In any case, what mattered was that the fans were happy. I couldn’t help feeling a little like a swindler, however.

I feel like I haven’t done nearly enough to make it worth their while. Finishing the drawing as quickly as possible, I asked again, “Is there anything else you’d like me to write?”

“Oh! Can you write something that will make my heart pound?”

“Uh, something heart pounding...”

Vague requests like this were the hardest since I didn’t have much time to think of something. This particular one, however, came up at least twice at every fansign, so I was getting faster at reacting.

I immediately wrote under the drawing, “Park Moondae’s evening schedule: Thinking about the Loviewer he met at the fansign event.”

“Oh gosh...”

“See you later,” I said.

The fan seemed to be melting into a puddle even as a staff member ushered her away. Because the fan had already resisted leaving when prompted to once, the staff wasn’t taking no for an answer this time.

So it seems it’s most effective to write something specific regarding the person who made the request. Writing something personal would have been better, but I hadn’t been able to think of anything within the twenty seconds I’d had left.

I’ll bet I really will be thinking about her later this evening—worrying over how I could have done better. I rubbed the back of my neck, waiting for the next person to arrive, but it seemed like it would take a while.

“Sejin, do you have a secret to being so good on stage?”

“Hmm. If you can tell me what you like best about me, that’ll be my secret!”

“Oh my gosh!”

Big Sejin was effortlessly dragging the conversation out with his fan. Not even the staff seemed able to intervene.

Looks like I can take a breather... I watched a camera-wielding fan in the audience who was trying to catch Big Sejin’s attention and heard the person who’d just spoken with me move to stand before Ahyeon.

“H-hello.”

“Oh, yes. Hello.”

The fan didn’t seem to be all that interested in Seon Ahyeon, her voice gave it away.

“Wh-what’s your name?” He asked.

“Sorry?” the fan asked, sounding a little confused.

“Uh... Y-y-your name!” Ahyeon repeated, but his voice had gotten smaller and even harder to hear.

The fan sounded a little irritated now. “I can’t really hear you...”

“S-s-sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

I have a bad feeling about this. Ahyeon was quiet after that. I glanced in his direction and saw that he was at least still giving his autograph.

“Hello!”

“Hi!”

Big Sejin seemed to have finally wrapped things up and the next fan moved over to me. I was waiting for her to hand over the album, but she was still waving at Big Sejin. I heard Ahyeon’s voice again from beside me.

“Uh, t-this is for you...”

“Oh.” Ahyeon must have just offered the gift he’d prepared to the fan. She refused it, sounding a little offended. “It’s fine. I don’t need it.”

Then she left Ahyeon’s table without a backward glance. This sort of thing happened sometimes, not all fans were kind. At least she hadn’t cursed him out to his face, so it was something that he could shrug off, even if it was unpleasant. The problem was, I had a hunch something was about to go terribly wrong.

Stuttering, a stranger about his age, a rebuttal... All three of these keywords sent alarm bells ringing in my head. This woman had just executed a masterful dance, hitting every single one of Seon Ahyeon’s triggers. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye and noticed that he was stiff as a board and starting to sweat profusely.

Oh f*ck... It would only be a matter of seconds before people would start to notice. I snatched the gift, a pen, from Ahyeon’s hand and removed the plastic packaging.

“Ahyeon prepared these pens as gifts. Mind if I sign with this for you, too?” I said to the fan sitting in front of me.

“Wow! Sure!”

I started writing away and dragged Ahyeon into our conversation.

“Let me guess your age... a little older than us, I’ll bet. Ahyeon says you can have the pen I’m using and an unopened one as well.”

“Whoa! Really?”

“Sure. Isn’t that right, Ahyeon?”

“Y-yes!” the timid guy said, seeming to regain his composure a little.

He’s not completely paralyzed anymore, at least.

“Oh, I’m so happy! But why am I getting two?”

“This is a thank you for putting up with Big Sejin for so long. Our members are pretty talkative, aren’t they?”

“Hey, that’s mean!” Big Sejin interjected playfully, having overheard.

“Ahahaha!”

The fan was in a great mood and she laughed at everything we said, taking the pens.

“Thank you so much! How’d you guess my age?”

“I heard Big Sejin mentioning it at least ten times.”

“Hahaha!” The fan laughed shyly, then moved on to Ahyeon. To my relief, she looked happy to be speaking with him and he’d gathered himself by the time the next fan got to him.

Crisis averted for the time being. Thankfully, no other emergencies occurred for the rest of the fansign.

***

“Are you all right?” I asked.

“I-I’m okay...” Ahyeon looked much better than he had earlier when we got into the van to return to our dorm. He was still pale, however, and kept apologizing. “S-sorry... I-I nearly ruined everything, d-d-didn’t I?”

“Nah.”

There might have been a pesky controversy, but nothing that would have really hurt the group. The real problem was that he would probably end up breaking down if this sort of thing continued to happen.

He’ll be worried that the same situation might crop up again at future fansigns now. And if his Fortitude trait ever deactivated one day... that could really spell disaster for the entire group. Our dance line, aka our strongest dancers, would totally fall apart without him.

“Would you be interested in going to therapy?” I asked.

“I d-d-don’t have time for that sort of thing...”

“The agency will probably allow it if you tell them. A lot of people these days even go on hiatus to deal with issues like these.”

It’d been four weeks since we started our promotions, which meant that the agency would be lenient if Ahyeon wanted to tap out now.

He quickly shook his head, however. “W-w-we’re getting some time off soon. I-I’ll start counseling then.”

They told us that just so the journalists would report on it. They’ll probably only give us three days off and make a huge fuss about it.

I was about to suggest that he should just do it now when he said, “I... don’t want to right now. Our promotions aren’t over yet and I d-don’t want to miss any of our events.”

He sounded like he wasn’t going to change his mind. I decided not to comment since he was being so firm about it. And besides, this was the first time something like this had happened.

“Hmm... Fine. All right.”

“Okay...”

If he really needs intervention further down the line, I’ll just call his parents. Nobody had overheard our conversation, since we kept our voices low and music was playing in the background. I resorted to using earplugs to escape from the sound of Eugene loudly belting the lyrics to a pop song.

When we finally arrived at our dorm, we found the living room filled with balloons.

“Huh?”