The Status Abnormality related to the Rookie Award disappeared faster than I had expected.
‘I thought this would last until February.’
The fact that it cleared the instant we received an award at the final major awards ceremony… probably meant current public opinion was that overwhelmingly in our favor.
It must have been an effect of confronting the Rookie Award controversy head-on when everything had been a complete mess. I hadn’t expected that to affect even the timing of the Status Abnormality being lifted.
‘Well, being able to check sooner is a good thing.’
I wasn’t planning to click ‘Check the Truth’ for a while anyway, so the fact that I had fulfilled the condition early didn’t mean I would get hit with a new Status Abnormality too soon.
“Thank you!”
While I was thinking, Big Sejin finished his acceptance speech and moved aside, giving up the place in front of the standing microphone.
That meant it was my turn.
I walked forward slowly and stood in front of the microphone.
The glittering waves ahead of me dazzled my vision.
Their glow was conspicuous even from far away.
They were TeSTAR’s light sticks.
‘…There are overwhelmingly more of them than at the other awards shows.’
It was probably because VTIC wasn’t attending.
Taking in the sight, I brought my mouth to the microphone.
“First, I’d also like to begin my remarks by saying thank you.”
It wasn’t that I disliked giving acceptance speeches, but I had never particularly felt like volunteering to give one, either.
‘I only did them because we took turns.’
But looking at it now… as a way of expressing gratitude, maybe it was pretty decent.
“…TeSTAR is not a group that spent a long time preparing together as one team. For us, who had never been tested as a team, to debut as a group after such a short preparation period, we put a great deal of thought and effort into it.”
Of course, thinking wasn’t all we did. We also cursed the company.
But either way, it was the unvarnished truth.
And so was what came next.
“And I think the driving force behind that… was the fact that there were people waiting for us.”
……It wasn’t only about preparing for our debut.
It had been the same during this Rookie Award controversy. Because we knew there were people who would respond immediately if the situation turned around… we had been able to choose such a direct, almost primitive method in the first place.
Wasn’t it a strange and incredible thing to have people waiting to like what you made, as long as you managed to put out something good?
“Thank you for trusting us and waiting for us, and for looking forward to us.”
I was grateful that even amid exhausting public discourse and irritating circumstances, they hadn’t given up their expectations.
“When you think about TeSTAR’s tomorrow, we will continue to do our best without forgetting how we feel now, so that we can become a group that gives you more excitement than worry. Thank you.”
I bowed my head.
And for a little longer than usual, I remained bowed.
Brilliant cheers poured down over my head. The sound was every bit as powerful as the glow of the light sticks, and somehow, it felt hot.
Then I felt hands patting my back.
‘Probably the members.’
Just as I was trying to think positively that it would make for a good shot, I heard slightly flustered whispers too.
‘M-Moondae, are you okay?’
‘Are you crying?’
I’m not crying.
Another bastard whispered seriously.
‘If it’s hard to raise your head right away, cover your face and turn around.’
Why the hell do they think I’m too embarrassed to raise my head because I’m crying?
‘Isn’t it more normal to think my bow got longer because I was moved and grateful?’
Holding back a sigh, I raised my head.
Countless light sticks, as brilliant as the cheers, rippled and waved before me.
Somehow, they seemed even more enormous than before.
Like the Milky Way.
“……”
‘That was close.’
If I had raised my damn head without thinking, I might actually have gotten carried away all by myself and ended up shedding a tear.
Thanks to the bastards who misunderstood and asked if I was crying, I had cooled right off. Their misunderstanding had neutralized me enough that I had actually managed to avoid making a ridiculous spectacle of myself.
‘I’m breaking out in a cold sweat.’
And at the same time, I remembered a Trait I had discarded on sight a few months ago.
[Trait: Faucet Beneath the Eyes (B)]
-Open and close with ease!
ability MAX
A slight chill ran down my spine.
‘…There’s no way I’m actually going to need that, right?’
For a moment, I wondered whether it would end up like Unshakable Heart, which I had needed immediately after throwing it away… but soon shook my head internally.
‘Even so, I can’t give up another Trait just for something like this.’
Worst-case scenario, I’d just embarrass myself a little. That was all.
And besides, how often could something like that really happen? Today had only been like this because so many different circumstances had piled up at once.
‘Let’s just wave.’
Alongside the bastards who kept trying to jab me in the ribs as if to say, ‘I thought you were crying!’, I waved toward the audience and bowed my head briefly.
The lights still felt hot.
After awards season finally came to an end, preparations for the concert began in earnest.
Those preparations naturally included the process of preparing the unit stages in front of the cameras.
[Magical Boy TeSTAR’s Magical AI Assistant!]
“Now you’re even appearing on WeTube?”
“It’s Chungwoo hyung!”
Just as Cha Eugene said, Ryu Chungwoo was appearing on the television screen connected to WeTube.
With an illustration of bird wings composited over his shoulders, Ryu Chungwoo smiled, winked, and made a small shooting gesture with his index finger and thumb.
[Catch, Curious!]
It was an extremely normal advertisement scene featuring Ryu Chungwoo as a cheerful, handsome man.
“What!”
“Why does only hyung get to do something cool!?”
“……It’s not an animal?”
Bae Sejin’s final question sounded almost eerie.
But apparently even Ryu Chungwoo found this embarrassing, because all he did was laugh and ruffle his hair.
“Ha ha, it’s not exactly cool… The fans compare me to a ‘bird’ a lot, so I guess they tried to match that, and this was what they came up with.”
But the members’ reactions were cold.
“They could’ve made you a peeping little chick, but you got something cool instead.”
“I was going to press skip for you, but there wasn’t even any need.”
“No, it’s not like I decided it myself, guys!”
Ryu Chungwoo looked momentarily flustered, but apparently realized that their reactions only came from mild indignation. He laughed and let it pass, looking at the whole situation fondly.
‘…Must be nice having a hawk for your image animal.’
Someone else had tried to push the puppy image and ended up like that.
I quickly shoved the image of my own advertisement cut out of my mind and focused on the video playing.
Read only on MUGEX
[Je te donne des fleurs que…….]
A slow, beautiful chanson was playing from the screen.
It was the unit song Kim Raebin and Ryu Chungwoo had chosen.
Big Sejin reacted with habitual admiration and asked,
“Oh, you’re going to use that song?”
“Yes.”
Kim Raebin nodded, his eyes sparkling.
“I believe the melody suits Chungwoo hyung’s vocal tone very well. If we leave only the keyboard instruments and change the rhythm into something kitschy, it should become an extremely stylish Inst…!”
“Right. Raebin seems to be having fun with it, so I’m looking forward to it too.”
Ryu Chungwoo gave a hearty laugh and nodded.
I could roughly guess what kind of atmosphere this team was working in.
‘They’re just letting Kim Raebin run wild.’
Since it was only one unit stage anyway, Ryu Chungwoo apparently wasn’t making his usual conservative judgments and was instead accepting Kim Raebin’s ideas wholesale.
‘This should make for an interesting picture.’
It was pretty intriguing.
Next, Cha Eugene excitedly searched for a video and played it.
An old pop song began playing over a brown album cover.
‘…A pop song, of all things?’
I wondered whether that song choice was too advantageous for Cha Eugene, who was Korean-American, but quickly realized that couldn’t possibly be the case.
Big Sejin had probably made sure the overall setup was considerate toward Cha Eugene, then picked the song he himself wanted.
‘If that bastard gave way in a situation like this, I’ll change my surname.’
My surname had already changed once, but I was willing to bet it again.
When Big Sejin’s eyes met mine, he gave an almost imperceptible twitch of one eyebrow.
Apparently, he really had been the one who steered them toward that pop song.
“I love this song! I’m super excited!”
“Right, let’s make an awesome stage~”
“Let’s make it!”
Cha Eugene raised his hand excitedly, and Big Sejin responded with an equally enthusiastic high five.
‘Well, if they’re both satisfied, that’s fine.’
So far, there didn’t seem to be any particular problem.
“Th-Then… we’ll play the song we chose…!”
“Oooh~”
Last came the group consisting of me, Bae Sejin, and Seon Ahyeon.
Following the script, Seon Ahyeon stepped forward and operated the WeTube screen.
A tacky, laid-back band accompaniment began to play.
[Ooh! I can hear your heart~]
“Huh?”
Seeing the members of the other units looking slightly bewildered, I smiled and explained.
“It’s Miso sunbaenim’s You’re Amazing.”
It was a song by a female solo singer who had been extremely active in the late eighties.
Moderately bright and moderately sentimental.
The refrain that went, ‘Oooooh~ Amazing!’ was probably recognizable enough that even teenagers and people in their twenties had heard it at least once on some variety show or another.
But that was exactly all it had going for it.
As a song to use at a modern concert, both its impact and its overall atmosphere probably seemed completely unsuitable.
Ryu Chungwoo looked slightly shocked.
“All three of you are doing this song?”
“Yes.”
I nodded calmly, and the other two members of my unit also answered in the affirmative, looking slightly flushed with excitement.
After looking over the three of us, Ryu Chungwoo finally managed to nod.
“Right… Moondae picked it, didn’t you?”
“…? No. Ahyeon and Sejin hyung chose it.”
The two of them had put it on the candidate list first, and after discussing it, the three of us had chosen it together.
“……Mm. I see.”
Ryu Chungwoo immediately nodded, but I could tell he was trying to hide his concern.
‘If the cameras weren’t here, he would’ve already asked us whether we were really sure about this.’
Seon Ahyeon, who failed to notice any of that, simply murmured with an excited expression.
“I-I think it’ll suit us really well, so I’m already looking forward to it!”
Bae Sejin also looked as though he was debating whether to say anything, but eventually turned toward the camera and opened his mouth.
“…I think it’s going to be a great stage, so I think you can look forward to it.”
As Ryu Chungwoo watched those two, who rarely expressed their opinions this actively, his face gradually relaxed.
They were so enthusiastic about it that even if he personally didn’t understand, he must have decided there was some sort of appeal to the song that he was missing.
Ryu Chungwoo gave me one final glance.
Then, with an expression that seemed to be looking for one last bit of reassurance, he asked,
“…And you’re confident too, Moondae?”
“It’s difficult to be absolutely confident about any stage. We’ll do our best and finish it properly.”
“……”
“Let’s all do our best!”
“Let’s!”
“TeSTAR, fighting!”
The instant filming ended, Ryu Chungwoo asked us whether we were ‘really sure about this’ around three times, and I nodded all three times.
Only then did Ryu Chungwoo look somewhat reassured and disappear to make coffee.
‘Maybe I shouldn’t have messed with him.’
I had only intended to tease him a little because he had been the sole member to escape the advertisement Russian roulette, but he was so ridiculously responsible that it had worked better than expected.
‘Actually, what I’m worried about is something else.’
What I was worried about…
Was the new-song stage.
‘Performing them for the first time at the concert before the digital release is even out.’
The title track and the B-side.
We had to make the audience enjoy two songs that were unfamiliar to them and hadn’t even been tested on the public yet.
It would be important to keep things moving so the atmosphere didn’t sag.
“……Hmm.”
After thinking about it, I came up with a short, clear answer.
‘Let’s pour money into it.’
Fortunately, the company had plenty.
While TeSTAR was fully immersed in preparations for the concert and the new album—
At last, the concert dates were announced.
========================
[Concert announcement is up]
: March 30–31, both weekend days
(Announcement image)
========================
-Crazy crazy crazy finally a concert
-Aaaaaagh
-Holy shit, so that venue-booking rumor was true
-Ah please just let me have one seatㅠㅠ
-A concert only nine months after debut, oh my god, what is happening with our boys
-I’m not asking for much, I swear, I just want to be able to goㅠㅠ
-I’m already imagining myself waving my light stick and singing the fan song
The fans had already quietly confirmed that the agency had booked the Gymnastics Arena, so they had been brimming with anticipation.
And the moment those expectations became reality, people screamed with joy and immediately began preparing for ticketing.
-Loviewers coming in from out of town for the concert, hurry up and book your accommodations first. If you take your time, reservations will fill up fast and the prices will shoot way upㅠㅠ
-Where do I check Afterpark’s server time?
-Is there anything I need to prepare separately for the fan-club presale?
-I want standing tickets. I want them so desperately
But before they could even calmly begin preparing for ticketing, new information came flooding in.
-Holy shit, they say preorders for our new album start next month? (Announcement link)
└?? What
└Out of nowhere?
└They’re already announcing an April 1 comeback?
└Holy shit, that’s the day after the concert
└A comeback immediately after the concert? I mean, I’m happy we’re getting so much content… uh…
The fans were already bewildered at that point, but the news wasn’t finished yet.
-An article just came out… Apparently they’re revealing the new songs for the first time at the concert (Article link)
└Excuse me…?
└No, what the hell is going on
└So they’re doing the first performance at the concert before the music video even comes out?
└Holy shit, if I can’t go to the concert I’m going to lose my mind…
There was more.
-TeSTAR will be performing unit stages at their first concert, and the production process for the stages will be released on WeTube as reality content. (Interview link)
└What?
└Wait, suddenly there are way too many things happening lmaoooo
└They’re doing unit stages AND making a reality show about them?
└I’m so happy that I can’t stop being suspicious. There’s no way T1 would actually do its job…?
Even as the fans desperately struggled to process the flood of news, there was one fact that was becoming firmly cemented in all their minds.
‘The competition for concert tickets is going to be completely insane!’
And in the middle of that vortex of confusion and tension, TeSTAR uploaded a post to SNS.
========================
[TeSTAR is finally holding our first concert! >_< Will you all come see us?ㅠㅠ We’re going to try getting concert tickets together with Loviewers too!]
========================
It was nothing short of a declaration of war.