Chapter 99

Chapter 99

To be honest, I’d known ahead of time that preparations for our second album would go more smoothly than the last since the staff at the agency had gone through hell with our debut album. They wanted to start working on the next one as early as possible.

“We have a pretty good list of possible songs and we’ll be choosing from this list after deciding on the concept for the album. The songs we don’t use will be shuffled to the next album, or dropped entirely,” one of the staff informed us.

“Right.”

The problem was that the director still hadn’t gotten over his obsession with self-production.

“Since we have plenty of time this go around, please discuss among yourselves about the title track and then get back to us.”

“Thank you.”

“All right!”

Just like before, he’d pushed back the production of the title track again.

Maybe our debut album shouldn’t have been such a success... He obviously believed that his ideas were the secret to our doing so well. At least we had more time to work on this album. The deadline was set for over two months from now and the songs were all pretty much finished. The members didn’t look as concerned as they might have otherwise.

“Let’s pick out some amazing songs again.”

“I’m already excited about Raebin’s arrangements.”

“Thank you.”

Even though we hadn’t even decided on a concept yet and we’d been asked to select three out of the twenty candidates for a title track, the members seemed hopeful. It only took a few days for us to realize that self-producing our own music might actually have been better.

***

“A... collaboration?”

“Yes, that!”

I’d already had a bad feeling when the director suddenly asked to see us, but I hadn’t been expecting a curveball like this.

“May I ask... what kind of collaboration you’re talking about?”

“Take a look at this,” the director said, holding out a stack of documents for us to look over, full of unfaltering confidence.

I noticed the large letters printed across the top first.

[New Project Proposal]

[Mobile Game]

[T1 Plays Inc.]

“It’s a game being developed by a venture company that was recently bought up by T1,” the director said. “I have a feeling it’s going to be a hit and the timing couldn’t be better. I can really see some incredible synergy forming between TeSTAR and this game, you see? Since it’s a game, choosing a concept for the album that ties in will be a piece of cake.”

After giving his pitch, he added, wearing a proud expression on his face, “This is an internal document, but I’m showing you, the TeSTAR members, because I trust you. Don’t talk about it with anyone else.”

F*ck it, that’s not what matters right now! A mobile game? I wished someone would appear and tell me all of this was a bad dream.

Chungwoo spoke up from where he was sitting beside me, calm. Maybe he was less shocked by the idea than I was because he wasn’t overly familiar with mobile games. “Uh... What kind of collaboration are you imagining, sir?”

“Think about it. You’ll do a comeback at the same time as the game’s release. If you promote one another, there will be twice the hype.”

Where did this man get all these sh*tty ideas? Maybe his hormonal glands injected spit into his system instead of hormones.

What are you expecting to come from working with a mobile game? Or had he taken some kind of bribe from them? That didn’t seem likely. No game company would desire such a deep connection with an idol group. Maybe they would with an advertisement model, but not with us.

Our popularity will dwarf that of the game. The game had to be nearly done if its release was two months from now. Trying to force a strange idol collaboration would only damage its chances.

If they really want in on this, then all they really want is to take advantage of our fans’ firepower and they’re aiming for a one-hit release before they abandon ship... I could already picture TeSTAR’s brand image tanking in the near future.

We’ll end up drowning in memes about some cheap mobile game. Why did this man think it was even remotely reasonable to promote a game using an idol album, and a mobile game at that? I had no idea if someone had duped him regarding the viability of this idea, or if he was genuinely into it. Whichever it was, I f*cking hated it.

This bastard probably knows nothing about games beyond playing a few hours of some cheap pay-to-win mobile MMO.

“I’ve set up a meeting on Friday afternoon, so be ready, people.”

“Sir, has this... already been decided?”

“I’ve already spoken to the top brass and arranged everything. All you need is to do what you do best, TeSTAR.”

“Right...”

There was no way out. Even if we protested against the decision, the only outcome would be an emotional battle with the agency and we’d be forced to do as they wanted in the end, anyway.

God f*cking damn it! I wondered if we should just plan out an entire album and then get them to approve it at the end next time. This is driving me nuts.

And so we left the director’s office. I checked the other members’ reactions to see if any of them understood what had just happened.

They all look okay with it, except for the Sejins. I’d known Big Sejin would catch on quickly, but Lee Sejin surprised me.

Does he like games, maybe? The other four seemed a little confused but determined to give it their best. They probably thought this was going to be a similar amount of hard work as our debut album.

I’ll leave them be for now… They’d understand once we had the meeting on Friday.

Big Sejin nudged me with his elbow. “Hey. What do you think of this?”

“We’re done for.”

“Haha!” he laughed without any humor, irritation flitting across his face. “This situation is really unfair, huh? It’s not like we can salvage things by putting in our best effort.”

“No.”

“Damn it...” Big Sejin was about to say something more, but he bit his tongue, no doubt realizing his voice had grown a bit too loud.

A wise decision. I turned to check Lee Sejin’s reaction. He was staring wanly at the ground as he walked.

Wait, I’m not sure this is about what the director just said. He hadn’t looked this distraught even during Idol Inc. It didn’t take long for Eugene, walking right next to him, to notice something was wrong and begin to pat him on the back.

“Sejin! Are you ill?”

“N-no... I’m fine.” He sounded okay.

Should I ask? I wondered for a moment but thought better of it. He wasn’t a child. He could probably handle whatever it was that was troubling him. Right now, my biggest priority was coming up with a solution to this disastrous turn of events.

Maybe we can add a single bonus track to use as the game’s theme song... The director was sure to veto that.

Sh*t. I obsessed over the problem the entire trip back to the dorm, but as might be expected, I came up empty. As it happened, however, this game collaboration incident was quickly snowballing into something bigger without his knowing.

It wasn’t only TeSTAR who would suffer because of it.

***

The trouble began when T1 Stars Entertainment was finally registered on the job-seeking site Job Universe and company reviews started to come in. A few former employees who’d left after suffering from burnout during preparations for TeSTAR’s debut album had begun uploading scathing reviews.

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[Perks: The singers are enthusiastic and the food is good.]

[Drawbacks: No system or structure to anything. The top brass know next to nothing about running an entertainment company, and work-life balance doesn’t exist thanks to impossible deadlines.]

[Overall: Changing jobs is the only way to survive. I hope the singers find themselves a new agency as well.]

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That was the most recent review, giving the company only one star out of five. Reviews from well-known agencies garnered a lot of interest and screen captures of this one were quickly posted across various community sites as well.

- Looks like they grind their staff into the ground, too... Maybe it’s even worse because they belong to a large corporation like T1. Lots of ignorant people calling the shots

- Somebody help TeSTAR

- Ugh, this is disgusting

- No wonder the fans were going all-out to support them

└ Isn’t that what destroyed the work-life balance even more?

└ Okay, the fans aren’t mentioned even once in that post. Why are we jumping to conclusions?

└ Accusing the fans out of nowhere?

└ See? You people are so touchy. And you wonder why there was no mention of you in the post?

Because TeSTAR’s debut promotions had been successful, the discussion surrounding this topic was heated. Screen captures of the post even made their way to an anonymous office workers’ forum.

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[I guess entertainment companies are really tough]

: I was interested in looking for a new job at one of them and what I found was frightening. It would be tough for me to get in anyway since my field of expertise is slightly different T_T. Can we hear from people who actually work in one? (Screen capture)

@Entertainment

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- To tell you the truth, they need to pay us more (MS Ent.)

- Well, jobs are all pretty much the same (LeTi Ent.)

- They give you just enough of a starting salary to keep food on the table and the work is fulfilling. Your mileage may vary depending on the division, however (Treasure Ent.)

People began leaving their two cents in the comments, but before the post had been online long enough to be pushed from the first page, someone from the company in question responded.

- LOL that’s where I work. You shouldn’t even consider taking a job here. (T1 Stars Ent.)

└ Whoa, here’s someone who works there for real

└ Is it that hard?

└ Yes (T1 Stars Ent.)

└ T_T Oh man

└ LOL, that’s all we need to know

The short and concise answers implied a lot. People began asking a variety of questions in the comments and the employee slowly grew more and more infuriated in their responses, answering a handful of them before leaving.

- There are lots of weird people in upper management. I’ve seen my share of weirdos, but none like these ones. They nearly ruined the debut album, too, trying to force some strange-ass concept...

- They’ve suggested something equally stupid for the next album. This time it’s been confirmed already, so there’s no changing it... Frankly, I pity the singers who work for this agency.

- I love watching the group T****R perform, but I’ve seen how hard it was for them to convince management to toss out their terrible ideas for their debut album. I pity them a little, and most of all myself for working here LOL

- I don’t think writing more will give my identity away, since most people here think the same thing... But talking about it has made me angry. That’s enough for today. Don’t ever work at this company! (T1 Stars Ent.)

It wasn’t long before the post began trending, and the comments were swiftly deleted. People had already taken screenshots, however, and these circulated on the internet. The fans who’d been eagerly anticipating the next album were naturally appalled.

- What is this about?

- Is this true?

└ Yep. You can’t register for that platform unless you have a company email address.

└ Oh god... This is so f*cked up.

The fans, feeling suddenly deeply anxious, rushed to review the second episode of the reality show. This episode, which appeared to show a heart-warming and enthusiastic creative process, began to take on a different light.

- Wait, that presentation they gave... Were they trying to persuade the management to throw out some other strange idea?

- I think it must have been that director who was responsible. That man in the middle. They’re looking at him as they speak.

- Looks like they had TeSTAR handle Magical Boys and worked on Hi-five themselves. But Raebin participated in the arrangement for the latter, right?

└ Seems like they were trying to convince them about something relating to Hi-five

└ So they were working on both songs at this point? With only a month left before release?

└ LOL they finished the concept photos, the music videos, and even the choreography for both songs in a month? That is bonkers. Did they even sleep during that time?

└ I was pissed when I thought it was just Magical Boys. So they actually did twice the work. What the hell...

The angry fans began to fear what the future had in store.

- The OP said they came up with another weird idea, but that it’s already been finalized.

- No way

- Oh god

- Please, just let them do their own thing and give them plenty of time to do it

The horrified fans began directing inquiries at the agency via phone calls and email. They were asking whether it was true that the concept for TeSTAR’s second album had already been decided, as the internet rumors claimed.

At first, the responses were mechanical and generic, but as the inquiries flooded in, the tone of these replies grew a little more polite, and a few additional details were given.

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[This is T1 Stars Entertainment.

As your question relates to classified information, we unfortunately cannot divulge anything at this time.

However, we assure you that many things are in the works for TeSTAR’s new album and that we respect the opinions of the artists [...]]

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These answers did not reassure the fans. If the concept hadn’t been decided or if TeSTAR was working on it themselves, the company would have just said as much.

- Those comments must have been right

- Oh no

- Just let TeSTAR take over the company, it’ll be better for everyone

The fans decided a more radical method was needed in the end.

- Gwak Singyun was the guy in the meeting on the reality show, right? I think we’ll have to direct our feedback at him directly if we want some kind of response

This decision resulted in an outcome that was nothing short of incredible.