I flicked down the page.
It’s already started popping up.
The kind of bait I’d expected ever since the first week’s footage aired had begun running rampant online.
This sort of thing usually starts by tossing out a harmless little feeler.
As though it were a compliment.
Found one.
I clicked the post.
========================
[What do you think it’d be like if Park Moondae went solo?]
: He came first on Idol Inc., so his fandom’s huge, he’s a main vocalist, and he’s really good at pulling off different concepts, so I think he’d be good as a soloist. Male soloists are pretty rare too, but I feel like Park Moondae could do well lolol
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Normally, bait like this would be shut down quickly by fans, but things were playing out a little differently now.
His favorability with the public had just about reached its peak thanks to the variety show, so ordinary viewers who weren’t particularly familiar with idol fandom culture were openly responding positively.
-After seeing him on My Singer, I think he’d be pretty good
-Will he promote solo later?? I’m kinda looking forward to it lol
-I want to hear him sing more, and that concept? or whatever was cool tooㅠㅠ
-Honestly I don’t think he’d flop lololol
At a glance, that looked good.
The problem was that the reaction was noticeably better than usual.
Must’ve made excellent kindling.
For posts like this one that came afterward.
========================
[TeSTAR member making it painfully obvious he wants to go solo]
: Park Moondae, obviously
Skipped schedules for an entire month right before his solo variety show using his health as an excuse + gave zero reactions during all sorts of group schedules
(W Live absence notice)
(Summer package GIF)
But even during all that, he sure worked hard whenever he was filming something by himself lololol
(Interview video)
It wasn’t just once or twice, he was like this for the whole month, so tons of fans said something felt off, and then everything exploded once My Singer aired lol
The established theory now is that lately he visibly puts his entire soul into anything he does solo, so it’s basically undeniable
And his fans can’t even hide it
(Screenshot)
Pretending you’re other-group fans, pretending you don’t care, while chanting for a solo career—please stop, it’s obvious (praying hands emoji)
========================
They’d take screenshots of the reactions from those “Park Moondae solo” feeler posts, stitch them together nicely, and upload them alongside posts like this.
And the main issue they were pushing was his attitude.
…It had been bothering me anyway.
I’d known the content filmed while I was in bad condition could become ammunition eventually.
This post was practically the textbook example of how to use it.
But the truth was, the target here wasn’t general public opinion.
To put it crudely, whether I go solo or not isn’t that big a problem.
If I actually debuted solo and the results were bad, then maybe people would mock me.
But now, when I was getting more positive attention than ever, most people would defend me unless I did something particularly egregious.
Like this.
-??? Why can’t Park Moondae go solo? lolol He’s good too, what kind of ridiculous crap is this lol
-Getting this jealous over a kid who was sick is seriously pathetic. I heard TeSTAR’s solo stans were full of psychos and wow, they really are…
-Why are you all so desperate to tear Park Moondae apart just because he’s doing well? If your health goes bad, sometimes it takes a month to recover
-If I were in a group with akgaes like this, I’d want to go solo too, fuck lololol
-Every single post about TeSTAR is exhausting as hell. Please stop putting this shit on display and fight among yourselves
The comments might grow long from all the fighting and the post might get pushed into the popular section, but public opinion itself wouldn’t turn against me.
Which meant the real target here was…
Internal conflict within TeSTAR’s fandom.
They were trying to stiffen the atmosphere among fans who liked the group as a whole, creating the sort of environment where each member’s toxic solo fans could easily keep one another in check and sabotage each other.
And then they brought in another argument.
The fact that the second episode of Park Moondae’s The Singer I Made had aired on the exact same day as TeSTAR’s first anniversary.
-It’s our first anniversary and people are flooding everything with Park Moondae posts, that’s seriously too much. Do they have no tact or are they just pretending not to see?
-I don’t care if he’s the Groom of May or the Bride of May, just don’t let it interfere with group content, you bear-brain
-Park Moondae looked miserable every time the others did anything throughout the entire summer package. It honestly hurt my feelings just watching it. Especially with Chungwoo—why are you acting like that toward him? Do you hate looking at him even more because he’s the leader?
-Couldn’t they have scheduled it so it didn’t overlap? I didn’t know they’d be this inconsiderate lololol
If we’d known The Singer I Made would get this good a reaction, we probably would have.
…We were just aiming for something fans would find moderately entertaining.
Who could have known it would become a bigger topic than the group’s first anniversary?
I’d expected it to be two good things happening at once.
Anyway, after a little more time passed, the controversy broadened into something more general.
They started encouraging disillusionment with group activities themselves.
-Moondae, do you want to go solo? lololol Where did your rookie mindset go? You’ve caught that artist-complex disease, what a great job you’re doing. Please get a grip
-Seon Ahyeon’s been shooting solo commercials lately too, and I was wondering why everyone suddenly had more individual schedules. Guess Park Moondae set the toneㅎ
-At this point just go your separate ways. Make separate SNS accounts too, seriously… I’m sick of hearing news about people I don’t even care about
If their first anniversary mattered that much to them, they wouldn’t be posting about how the members should all split up starting the day after it.
Which means the people posting this weren’t group fans to begin with.
Of course, TeSTAR had shed quite a lot of the baggage that came with being formed through a survival show where people voted for individual contestants.
In other words, through the albums’ overarching universe and all sorts of content, our identity as a group had become much more firmly established.
But there were still plenty of solo fans, and if someone shook things up like this, there would definitely be people who got shaken with it.
…All of which was obvious to anyone paying attention.
So naturally, any functional member of society would have countermeasures prepared.
I switched my smartphone screen over to a call.
“Yes, hello. …Yes. Thank you. Actually, I had something I wanted to ask about.”
After a brief conversation with the company, I spoke to the person in question, who happened to be sitting right next to me.
“Raebin.”
“Yes?”
Kim Raebin, who had been completely absorbed in listening to his own song, flinched and turned around.
“The interview’s going up tonight.”
Just as scheduled.
“Ah!”
Kim Raebin’s face lit up instantly.
Hmm.
He still looked intimidating.
“It was an extremely meaningful interview, so I’m already looking forward to it!”
“Same.”
I leaned back against the seat.
This didn’t even qualify as something worth worrying about.
Read only on MUGEX
That evening, Park Moondae’s public recognition was still elevated thanks to the “Groom of May,” while bait accounts were running wild inside the fandom.
An interview appeared on WeTube.
It was interview content run by an affiliated WeTube channel belonging to MBS, the network that had produced The Singer I Made.
[We brought the marriage registration form…☆ We invited the producers behind the Groom of May! 《Titi’s Sweeterview》 EP.47 by MBS2]
Park Moondae appeared in the thumbnail…
Alongside Kim Raebin.
Kim Raebin?
Package deal…?
The people who clicked, slightly confused by the sudden appearance of another member, soon learned the full story.
First came the predictable, heartwarming story about how Kim Raebin had given Park Moondae advice on the arrangement during each round.
Then came the real point.
[Titi: Wow! Then was that song from the finals composed by you, Raebin??]
[Raebin: Yes. Of course, it is not the case that I independently handled every step of the production process by myself. However, it is true that I attempted to take the lead in overseeing the work overall. As a result, my share of the copyright is the largest, which allowed me to give it to Moondae hyung as a birthday present…]
[He doesn’t stop…!]
Apparently even the editors couldn’t take any more, because the footage fast-forwarded.
Even the fans would have understood.
Then huge captions appeared.
[Raebin… apparently born to TMI]
[Summary: Raebin took the lead composing it, and it was a birthday present for Moondae]
Either way, the important information had gotten across.
The song the “Groom of May” sang in the finals had been composed by a TeSTAR member.
In other words, it was an unreleased self-composed song.
Then why had the song been unreleased?
[Moondae: Actually, we’re making a comeback soon… and it’s a song from that album.]
[Titi: GAAAAASP!!]
That was right.
The song, “Flower Dark Moon,” was one of the tracks on TeSTAR’s next album.
[Moondae: This album includes solo songs for each member, and they’re all really great songs, so I wanted to introduce them quickly… and I had the chance to sing mine.]
[Titi: Wow! Then once the album comes out, we’ll be able to hear a slightly different recorded version of the song that’s already up on music sites right now?]
[Moondae: That’s right.]
[Titi showing the skill of a seasoned PPL veteran]
In short, I’d sung the song partly to promote the group album.
[Moondae: Actually, all the other members’ songs are really good too. I happened to get the chance to sing mine first… Right?]
[Raebin: Objectively speaking, because Moondae hyung possesses the strongest singing ability, if one were simply comparing the audio tracks, his would have the advantage…]
[Moondae: (hurriedly) Yes. Please look forward to the other songs on our upcoming album as well.]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
The captions burst into laughter at Park Moondae’s desperate struggle.
[Titi: Ah~ You two are so funny! I laughed so hard!]
[Raebin: Thank you! (bright)]
[Moondae: Thank you. (Tibetan fox)]
The interview continued in a light, humorous way without crossing the line into rudeness, drawing out a reasonable amount of personal chatter as well.
[Titi: Ah, I heard you were quite sick before appearing on My Singer…?]
[Moondae: Yes…. I failed to manage my condition properly for about a month after leaving the country, so I felt extremely sorry because the members took such good care of me. That’s why appearing on My Singer was especially meaningful. It had been a while since I’d been able to contribute something to the group….]
[Raebin: Hyung…]
[Titi: What is this, what is this, why did it suddenly get so touching! You’re definitely okay now, right, Moondae-ssi?]
[Moondae: I could not possibly be healthier.]
[Strong Puppy Moondae]
Actually, this part wasn’t something Park Moondae had specifically aimed for.
It was simply a question we’d included to reassure anyone who might have worried about me for the past month, but it turned into an unexpected jackpot.
In any case, after the guests and interviewer casually cleared away that topic and exchanged a few more questions and answers, the short twelve-minute interview came to an end.
[Moondae: Next time, all of TeSTAR will appear together.]
[Raebin: I’m already looking forward to it. I believe it will be extremely harmonious.]
[Titi: Yaaay~~! Then, while I look forward to interviewing Big Sejin, my twin soul~ we’ll end the interview here! Make sure you take the marriage registration form with you, Groom!]
[Moondae: Gladly.]
The interview ended with Park Moondae smiling as he picked up the marriage registration form.
And at the same time, articles started popping up everywhere.
Half of them had been prepared in advance, and half were reacting to the interview.
[TeSTAR Comeback Countdown Begins… “Groom of May” Park Moondae’s Song Was an Album Preview]
[TeSTAR’s Summer Comeback. Is the Concept Horror?]
[Trending Group TeSTAR’s Comeback: “The Schedule Is Already Set”]
Needless to say, the comeback news instantly reclaimed the fans’ attention.
-Aaaaaah TeSTAR comeback!!
-Holy shit Moondae’s song is on the new album holy shit
-Moondae always has a plan
-Are you kidding, that was Raebin’s song?? No wonder my heart was pounding, it recognized its owner
-Don’t tell me the whole album has that kind of atmosphere? This is insane. Holding my breath until TeSTAR comes back
And as the finishing touch, TeSTAR uploaded photos of their first-anniversary party to the group account.
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Our Loviewers♡ Thank you for spending an entire 365 days with TeSTAR!
Please keep being Loviewers from now on too♡ We’re going to keep being TeSTAR too♡ Forever us☆
(The cake in the photo was sponsored by leader hyungnim and the maknaes. It was delicious.)
(Photo)
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It was meant to show off, We’re so close that even when it wasn’t part of a schedule, we separately bought a first-anniversary cake and ate it together.
-What am I supposed to do with how sweet our boys areㅠㅠ
-A group built on thoughtfulness and bonds. Let’s stay together for a long time, my stars. (edited photo)
-Moondae thinking about promoting the album as soon as he got better, and the members taking care of him when he was sick, seriously making me cry. Loviewer life is the best
The interview teaser had gone up fairly early on SNS, so attempts to insist that we had filmed it as an excuse to “cover up the controversy” weren’t likely to go anywhere either.
-Open the damn preorders already, you T1 bastards!!
And so the controversy, which had been nothing more than a tempest in a teacup from the start, rapidly died down under the excitement of people thrilled by the comeback news.
Just as Park Moondae had predicted, the attention generated by the “Groom of May” wasn’t significantly exhausted, and instead flowed smoothly into anticipation for TeSTAR’s comeback.
And Park Moondae, the person directly involved in all of this, was in the middle of a new schedule.
“Long time no see, hoobae.”