Chapter 94

Chapter 94

“Are you awake?”

“Yes. Sleep well?”

“Yes. I feel refreshed,” I said honestly, which was rare. A long nap and a shower had left me feeling invigorated.

“Now then, everyone smile!” Big Sejin said, gathering the members who were starting to trickle into the living room to take a picture.

“For the social media account?”

“Yeah.”

I didn’t meddle since he seemed to be doing a good enough job of editing the photos without needing to be told. Instead, I took out my phone to keep an eye on the internet’s reactions in real time.

It’s getting pretty slow... I’d chosen what was essentially the cheapest phone on the market and perhaps because I’d been using it for so many hours every day, it was starting to slow down. I didn’t have the money to replace it at the moment, so I decided not to think about it for the time being. In any case, my timeline was full of people waiting for the episode to air.

“Here it goes.”

“Cha Eugene! The reality show’s starting!”

“Okay!”

The show began just as Eugene came running out of the kitchen with an armful of snacks. The first scene to appear showed us excitedly preparing to leave.

[※Ryu Cheongwoo: I wonder if this will be enough?※]

[※Cha Eugene: I love trips!※]

[※Big Sejin: See you later!※]

[※Moments later...※]

A small aircraft typically used for skydiving appeared onscreen, flying slowly through the sky high above. The camera zoomed down to the ground, where we were standing in the middle of some rural neighborhood accompanied by our luggage.

[※Jung (Director): Do you see that plane up there?※]

[※TeSTAR: (confused silence)※]

[※Jung (Director): You’re going to jump from that plane.※]

[※TeSTAR: (shocked)※]

Huge white captions appeared above the dazed members’ faces.

[※Where did all of this start?※]

The screen shifted to the dorm.

[※The TeSTAR dorm, a few days back… ※]

The living room floor was covered with balloons, and the editors drew focus to a huge piece of paper that read TeSTAR goes traveling to celebrate first place using a computer-generated spotlight effect. There was a second caption here, too.

[※* How it all began (spoiler alert)※]

Following this... everything we’d gone through was shown in pretty complete detail.

[※Cha Eugene: A trip!※]

In other words, the way we’d spun the roulette wheel, excited by the prospect of a trip, and then confused by the result, was edited humorously together. In a funny turn of events, they portrayed us onscreen discovering the production team’s deception regarding the rigged wheel.

[※Tada! Extreme trip (again)※]

[※Tada! Extreme trip (again) X2※]

[※TeSTAR: ?!※]

An interview came next.

[※Park Moondae (genius puppy): When the wheel stopped moving, there was a strange clicking sound, so I suspected something weird was going on.※]

[※Park Moondae (duped puppy): I didn’t think I’d actually be right... (at a loss for words)※]

[※Lee Sejin (the Sejin labeled A by Idol Inc.): Not even Idol Inc. rigged things like this!※]

- LMAO

- Lee Sejin is hilarious. Not even Idol Inc did that! LOL

└ He definitely means every word haha

- The peaceful mood so far was obviously gearing up for these travel episodes

- Moondae’s either really good at something or he’s totally horrible at it LOL

└ Examples of things he’s bad at: horror, drawing

└ Looks like we’ll get to see one of those today :)

└ I’m going nuts over here I can’t wait for the haunted house

I stared at the comments.

Why are they... so excited to see something I’m bad at? In any case, we were given thorough instructions prior to skydiving and then all piled onto the plane.

[※TeSTAR: (focused)※]

The members’ different reactions were each individually shown at this point.

- Raebin’s muttering some kind of prayer LOL

└ Kim Rabbit: I’m... totally safe... This is safe...

- Seon Ahyeon’s surprisingly tough. He didn’t even bat an eye. It’s so funny watching him because he can’t seem to understand why the others are scared, but he’s trying to console them anyway. LOL

- But look at them, doing their best even when it comes to things like this... Guys, you can complain if it’s too much for you. This isn’t a survival show T_T

└ Oh... My heart aches all of a sudden...

- Look at the way Ryu Chungwoo jumped. Even the instructor was impressed

I wasn’t shown much since all I’d done was get on the plane, wait a bit, then jump. I did get a caption and an image edited over the footage of my landing.

[※The puppy makes his landing.※]

Footage of a black Welsh Corgi jumping off a platform was overlaid at half opacity over the footage.

“Ahahaha!”

“A puppy! A puppy!”

“Give it a rest...” I muttered grumpily.

And stop slapping the sofa. I have a feeling the production team for this reality show just resorts to editing in puppies whenever they run out of ideas.

Where had they even found that video of a corgi? In any case, the fans were also full of laughter. There were still a few comments stubbornly bringing up Tibetan foxes. I marveled at the long-lasting effects from only one interview with Big Sejin, where he mentioned the resemblance.

[※Big Sejin: It felt like I was flying. Haha! It’s not an experience you can have every day. I liked it.※]

[※Cha Eugene: I want to go again!※]

[※Kim Raebin: It started feeling really good after I jumped.※]

Perhaps to soften the shock of the random skydiving segment, the editing included a handful of interviews with the members saying positive things about the experience.

[※Jung (Director): Now then, please split into teams before you enter!※]

The haunted house segment was up next.

[※Big Sejin: We... we don’t have fond memories of dividing into groups!※]

[※Kim Raebin: We’ll go in together!※]

The fans seemed to both pity us and enjoy the scene as our suggestion was obviously not going to be accepted.

- No fond memories LOL

- They’re talking about Idol Inc., aren’t they? Haha

- Gosh, how scared were they?

- I’ve been waiting for this part all this time. Go on inside, guys (holding popcorn)

Just as the fans desired, the next scene was of us exploring inside the haunted house. For some odd reason, my team got the most screen time.

It must be because we were the three-person group. I had to tell myself this, otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to watch thanks to embarrassment.

[※Big Sejin: Yikes!※]

[※Cha Eugene: Eeeeyaaah!※]

[※Park Moondae: (faints)※]

Faints? I’m obviously walking around just fine, damn it! I was staring at the screen incredulously while Big Sejin and Eugene clapped and laughed.

“Accurate! I really thought you were about to faint!”

“You were totally out of it!” Eugene’s vocabulary seems to have expanded a little if he’s picked up phrases like “out of it.”

“I wasn’t that bad...” I protested.

“Yeah? You think so?” Big Sejin grinned. “Then when we were getting chased, what did the person yell at us?”

Someone had said something?

“You can’t remember, can you? That’s because you were scared silly!” Big Sejin cackled, then said I should be thanking him for putting together a team that was capable of keeping up the conversation without my help.

“Look, this is the part I was talking about!”

When I turned around, an employee was rushing down the corridor toward us. He really seemed to be shouting something.

[※Biiiiird!※]

“See?” Big Sejin crowed triumphantly.

But in the very next scene, Eugene and Big Sejin began to scream even louder, standing on either side of me.

[※Aaaaaah!※]

[※* Please note that we’ve turned the volume down for this scene.※]

It was because of you guys I couldn’t hear anything. A highlight reel of Big Sejin’s quiet exploits was now being shown onscreen.

[※He may be scared, but he doesn’t back down.※]

[※Huh? He’s found something!※]

[※Big Sejin looks after his teammates.※]

[※Keeps the discovery to himself.※]

- Hey, Big Sejin’s pretty amazing!

- Did you see the way he smoothly turned away the moment he saw the ghost?

- He’s just having a good time, isn’t he? Haha. He’s good at searching around, too

- That’s talent

- Moondae’s completely frozen. So cute T_T

- Our puppy can’t even bark, he’s so gentle

I turned to look at Big Sejin, who grinned back at me.

“Wow! Big Sejin got you out of there faster! Moondae should give him some credit, shouldn’t he?” he said.

I knew that it would never be an option given our jobs, but I wished I could punch him in the face just once.

***

The haunted house segment ended with a bit of backstory.

[※What were the photos that TeSTAR took?※]

The storyline was themed around a run-of-the-mill twentieth-century western haunted house with some creepy human sacrifice imagery thrown in, making it pretty scary.

“Oh. So that’s why there was an altar there.”

“That’s kind of sad...”

I couldn’t really understand why the others would find the story sad, but I let it go.

To each their own. The first episode about our trip ended with us feasting on the whole roast pig. It was basically an established tradition to always save some of the food for the staff, too, and we were shown onscreen doing just that.

- It’s so nice to see them eating so well T_T

- Wow. They just devoured an entire pig LOL

- Why aren’t they maintaining their weight? They’re always eating meat every time I see them on TV

└ What are you even talking about? They’re all slim as hell

└ Mind your business

- Please give us a mukbang on W App T_T

Hmm, that last suggestion might be worth considering. With that, it seemed like the reality show would be over next week. Episode seven was basically the final episode, with episode eight being a collection of highlights that would be called something like a director’s cut.

Considering that most idol reality shows ended after only four episodes, this had dragged on for far too long. Things had unfolded in this way thanks to Tnet’s determination to ride the wave of popularity after Idol Inc. had ended, coupled with another broadcaster’s mega-hit drama airing at the same time as the reality show.

The show almost lasted longer than our entire promotional cycle. This week would also be the last week we appeared on any music shows. The promotions for our debut album were, for all intents and purposes, over.

Maybe we should do a W App livestream to celebrate. I went back to my bedroom and logged into our W App account just to check. I was surprised to see that our account’s latest livestream had only been a few hours ago.

[Testing]

The saved video was a minute and two seconds long.

A minute? I had no idea what it was. I hadn’t heard anything about it online, which meant it hadn’t caused controversy of any kind.

Who was it? Big Sejin was the most likely suspect, but he wouldn’t have held a livestream for only a minute. I clicked the black thumbnail. There was some static, then a black screen. Moments later, an arm appeared, filling the screen.

[“Oh... i-is this how…”]

[“Huh?”]

[“Oh no!”]

That was the end of the video.

It was Ahyeon. He’d obviously pressed the wrong button by mistake while trying to figure out how to go live. There were many comments, all exclaiming over how cute he was. Some fans were happily speculating that the real stream would be later at night after he’d figured things out, but that didn’t sound right to me.

Hmm. Given his personality, if it was a mistake he’d likely have uploaded a long apology to our social media account. I hadn’t seen anything of the sort the few times I’d checked the account today.

I was going to do a livestream anyway, so I’ll ask him about it. It was easier to go live with two members anyway, rather than doing it alone. If someone enthusiastic did it with me, I’d feel less burdened. I went to the next room and knocked.

“Can I come in?”

“Y-y-yeah!”

The door quickly opened. Raebin seemed to be in the living room still. Ahyeon was alone in the room.

“Wh-what is it?”

Why does he seem so nervous? He was always a little jumpy, but these days he no longer grew tense just because one of us was talking to him.

Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve heard Ahyeon say a single thing all day. He’d become pretty talkative lately. His tone and attitude in this moment reminded me of when I’d first met him, early on in our Idol Inc. days.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“N-no,” he said firmly.

Uh-oh.

“You’re sweating.”

He stared up at me with large, alarmed eyes.

“If you don’t want to tell me, you should speak with Chungwoo or one of the managers.”

“W-wait.” He forced out, sweat beading on his forehead. “I-I made... a mistake.”

“The W Live stream?”

“Y-you saw?”

“Yes. You turned it on by accident, right? It doesn’t seem to be a problem, though.” I told him the fans in the comments were entertained, but he shook his head vigorously.

“I... I d-didn’t turn it on by mistake.”

I stared at him questioningly.

He gulped and said, “I-I wanted to d-d-do a livestream, but then I turned it off. I was too scared to go on...”