In truth, when this reality show had first been planned, it had been nothing more than a simple travel-and-healing concept.
Then the division head’s America fever got added to the mix, along with segments where we reacted to American culture, making the whole thing painfully predictable.
Only a handful of fans will watch it, and that’ll be the end of it.
You could see the outcome from a mile away.
All it would show was a string of successful idols relaxing and having a good time. How long could something like that possibly remain a topic of interest among the general public?
That was probably why the reality-show production team had seemed so listless too. They were people who had already gotten a taste for squeezing provocative footage out of tormenting their cast members.
Which actually made them easier to bait.
- Wouldn’t the show be more fun if there were some ups and downs? Like if we had to earn our own travel money…
- Right??
They took the bait immediately.
The division head was already completely preoccupied with the upcoming junior group, so he approved the revised proposal without much trouble.
And just as expected, the reality-show staff began reconstructing the concept of “earning our own money to have fun” in the most provocative way possible.
…Meaning even I hadn’t expected them to blindside us with a bill on the very first day of filming.
“Ah~ We spent way too much that day. It was so hard to make it back.”
“That is correct. I learned the importance of responsible spending….”
“What did we eat back then? Lobster?”
“Lobster and king crab! It was really delicious!”
“Yeah, it was delicious….”
Several of the guys looked wistful at Cha Eugene’s innocent remark.
Understandably so.
Those production bastards deliberately steered us toward the expensive options.
- No, no~ You guys can really go anywhere you want!
That was how they had phrased it.
According to everyone, the implication had sounded like, “If you enjoy yourselves as much as you want on the first day, it’ll motivate you to work hard so you can go have fun again.”
So on the first day, we went to Cape May, a resort town in New Jersey, watched dolphins, ate lobster, and slept at a luxury resort.
Then they presented us with the bill.
“But I really didn’t think they’d charge us the full four thousand dollars.”
“Exactly.”
That was around 4.5 million won.
If we hadn’t argued and pleaded that “we’d have to stay somewhere even if we weren’t going out to have fun,” getting the bill reduced to eighteen hundred dollars, we probably would have still been buried in debt.
It had been an extremely shocking way to start things off, but looking back, I had to admit it probably made for entertaining television.
It wasn’t as if we genuinely didn’t have the money. It was simply a betrayal and shock engineered within a variety show, so it wasn’t particularly sadistic either.
All the staff burst out laughing….
I remembered Bae Sejin staring at them with a face full of betrayal.
Anyway, after that, we worked like oxen and paid off the entire debt in three days, then even managed to save eight hundred dollars for tomorrow’s theme park.
It was a far greater achievement than expected.
…Earning money got addictive, so I got way too absorbed in it.
It felt different when actual cash was changing hands and genuinely ending up in mine.
We did go have fun once more in the middle of all that, but we were so determined to do it as cheaply as possible that all we did was run around the beach eating snacks, so I doubted there would be much impact.
Which means they’ll need a little more excitement this time if they want something good to edit.
“Okay, tomorrow, let’s spend it carefully according to plan.”
“F-Fighting!”
“TeSTAR did great today too~”
As expected, tomorrow’s theme park seemed like a perfect opportunity.
I should make us spend all our savings and go back into debt.
The theme park and safari admission alone would already eat up four hundred and fifty dollars, so as for the remaining three hundred and fifty… spending about fifty thousand won per person would take no time at all.
Easy.
All I had to do was target Cha Eugene.
I untied my apron and hung it beside the sink.
Anyway, I just hoped the show turned out entertaining.
TeSTAR’s reality show was released two episodes at a time each week.
However, only people with a paid membership could watch the follow-up episode immediately. Regular users had to wait another three days before they could view it.
It was a preview structure that practically announced its intention to rake in both money and buzz.
And that intention worked beautifully.
[TeSTAR’s Total-Chaos Working Holiday Reality Show released today lolol]
The response to Episode 1, where TeSTAR was scammed by the production staff from the moment they arrived at the airport and ended up working part-time jobs to repay an interest-free, unsecured loan, was incredibly enthusiastic.
Enough that the percentage of viewers signing up for paid memberships visibly increased.
And mixed into all that was one more little scheme of Park Moondae’s.
The first hint of it appeared in the scene where TeSTAR finally discovered the existence of their debt.
[We rented a tiny~ very modest little shop for you! You just have to make a profit there!]
[Kim Raebin: Huuuurgh.]
[Ryu Chungwoo: I-Is there a specific type of business we have to run? What kind of shop is it?]
[There isn’t one, but if your ingredient costs go over one hundred dollars, we’ll add it to your debt!]
[Lee Sejin: Whoa.]
Then a shameless caption appeared.
[You can sell a~nything you wantㅎㅎ]
Immediately afterward, Park Moondae, who had been calmly listening to the production team without a change in expression, said:
[Park Moondae: Then let’s sell hotteok.]
[????]
[Seon Ahyeon: Hotteok?]
[Lee Sejin: Moondae, do you want hotteok?]
[Park Moondae: No. I think it’ll be competitive because it isn’t an obvious menu choice. The ingredients are cheap, and it tastes good. I think we’ll be fine as long as we’re good at drawing in customers… and I think everyone here can do that.]
His tone was extremely convincing.
Sounds of “Oh,” and “That’s not bad,” began coming from all around.
These were idols who had already been stabbed in the back so many times before debut that they had gotten used to it. They quickly accepted the situation on their own and immediately began carving out a survival route.
The potential weakness of TeSTAR being dragged around too one-sidedly by the production team—which could have become tedious and frustrating—vanished instantly.
Instead, it was the production staff who began to panic.
[Lee Sejin: But will there be somewhere that sells the ingredients?]
[Seon Ahyeon: W-Wouldn’t there be a Korean market nearby…? I think… I heard a lot of Korean people live in New Jersey!]
[Park Moondae: Yeah. And I’m good at making hotteok.]
[Lee Sejin: Oh~ Confidence!]
[Cha Eugene: I’m in! (An expression of confidence)]
[Ryu Chungwoo: Sounds good. Ah, chocolate or ice cream on top would probably go well with it too.]
Even Bae Sejin nodded with a tense expression, and the agreement was reached in an instant.
Ryu Chungwoo cheerfully answered the staff.
[Ryu Chungwoo: Okay. We’ll sell hotteok.]
[PD: Y-You will? Don’t you want to consider anything else? There are plenty of options that don’t even have to be food~]
[Cha Eugene: No!]
Along with the member’s innocent rejection, a cutaway shot showed the PD looking up at the sky.
[Expecting TeSTAR to undergo countless trials and errors,]
[we prepared countless minigames.]
[But in the end, we couldn’t use a single one and shipped them all back to Korea….]
Cheerful country music played comically over a blue sky.
[☆Decision made: TeSTAR Hotteok Shop Opens☆]
[(Took 5 minutes)]
And so, TeSTAR ended up running a hotteok business in a corner of an American beach….
That was how the show framed it.
It was a choice that hit all three pillars of mass appeal: money, food, and national pride.
[That employee is cute!]
[Hotteok? It’s crispy and very delicious.]
Then a brief preview showed them going through all kinds of twists and turns selling hotteok while receiving compliments from foreigners who had no idea who TeSTAR was.
It was hardly strange that people, unable to resist this familiar variety-show flavor, paid for the membership.
Read only on MUGEX
- The production team are actual demons, this is fucking hilariousㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- ㅠㅠTeSTAR being startled is so cute. Please release lots of behind-the-scenes footage too!
- Wow, idol reality shows do this kind of thing too? Fascinating, and it’s insanely funㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- Foreigners reacting to hotteok? This taste… is the taste of Korean national pride!
- I didn’t know it would be this funny. Give us the next episode already
Comments from people brimming with anticipation poured in one after another.
Fortunately, their expectations were not betrayed.
In Episode 2, TeSTAR began operating the shop while displaying some pretty impressive teamwork.
And all the way through Episode 3, where they carved out some time a few days later to visit the beach, the reality show moved along at a cheerful, fast pace.
[What kind of club are you guys? College students? High school students?]
[Something like that! We dance, and sing~]
The scene of Cha Eugene grinning while saying something that was half true perfectly captured the appeal of what people called the “hiding their true strength” trope.
People’s enthusiasm did not cool after Episodes 2 and 3 faithfully delivered the scenes they had been hoping for.
- Hey, these guys are seriously good workers. They’d never starve wherever they wentㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- Handing out samples and drink coupons on the beach for promotion was fucking smart. Lee Sejin really is a genius;
- So Chungwoo is hot even by American standards… I knew it.
- Hotteok with ice cream is actually insane, get delivery going already. Americans aren’t the only ones with mouths, Loviewers have mouths tooㅠ
- Cooking: Park Moondae, Kim Raebin
Orders: Seon Ahyeon, Cha Eugene
Serving: Lee Sejin, Ryu Chungwoo
Hamster: Bae Sejin
The ultimate combination
└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└Why is only Bae Sejin a hamsterㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└Our hamster works hard tooㅠㅠ
As their variety-show personas were discovered, it also had the effect of softening the image of some of the members.
And finally came the moving moment when their sales surpassed one thousand dollars and they went to the theme park.
The scene where TeSTAR’s determination to spend only their carefully saved money completely collapsed became hysterical after editing.
And just as Park Moondae had intended, the trigger was Park Moondae himself.
[Park Moondae: That’s cute.]
[Lee Sejin: Whoa~ Moondae, if we buy something like that, our budget is finished!]
[Park Moondae: …Right. Sorry.]
At the souvenir shop, Park Moondae ended up reacting a little dejectedly to Lee Sejin’s joking little skit.
Countless exclamation marks were edited into the space behind Big Sejin, and then Cha Eugene jumped in.
[Cha Eugene: Buy it! Let’s buy it!]
[Kim Raebin: Huh??]
[Seon Ahyeon: Right, I-I think it’ll be okay…!]
[Cha Eugene: We’ll work again! We’ll earn more!]
[Bae Sejin: W-Well, that’s true, but.]
As it happened, Ryu Chungwoo had stepped away.
At the moment Bae Sejin, the oldest member, became flustered by Cha Eugene’s forceful insistence, Cha Eugene deliberately put on a pitiful act too.
[Cha Eugene: Enjoy today! We work hard, you know….]
[Bae Sejin: …Then, just this once.]
[Cha Eugene: Yeah!]
And so, with the rationalization of “we’ll only buy things this once,” TeSTAR went shopping in the souvenir store.
A gleeful caption from the production team appeared.
[Of course it didn’t end with just this once♡]
That was right.
Once you did it once, doing it again became easy, and TeSTAR began purchasing all kinds of souvenirs and snacks through the same pattern.
Eventually, they even began reaching for production-team financing.
[This much~ You guys could earn this in just three hours of work!]
[Seon Ahyeon: That’s true, but….]
[Cha Eugene: Exactly!]
[Bae Sejin: (confused)]
[There’s no interest either, so what’s the problem? Everyone, this is your first trip to America!]
The result of falling for that little scheme:
[Today’s settlement… wow! Minus 1,012 dollars!]
[!!!!]
That was how it ended.
[Looks like you’ll have to work hard, everyone~]
Episode 4 ended with a rear view of TeSTAR trudging back to their lodging in a daze, their arms overflowing with dolls, cushions, and hats.
- ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅠㅠㅠㅠThey lost all their money, what do we do!!
- Everyone, this is why loan advertisements are dangerous.
- The production team are terrifying bastardsㅋㅋ They won’t let the boys work more than seven hours a day because they say they need to manage their condition for the tour, but then they encourage them to go into debtㅋㅋㅋ
└Even when they beg to sell a little longer because customers are flooding in, they’re like, “It’s for your own good^^.” I’ve never heard something so wickedly kind in my life
└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋfr
And as fate would have it, the week when TeSTAR’s great theme-park spending-spree saga came to an end was the week of the Golden Disc Awards.
In other words, it was the week TeSTAR returned to Korea.
The reality-show viewers were already looking forward to that day.
Because the slightest opportunity would give them something to laugh about.
- Add hotteok to TeSTAR’s fan chant
- I feel like I’m going to laugh just from seeing their faces
- I seriously want to see you guys alreadyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- It would be legendary if they showed off the souvenirs or something
But TeSTAR’s fans were not the only people waiting for their domestic schedules.
“Phew.”
The evening of the day TeSTAR returned to Korea.
The rookie idol sitting in the lobby reserved for company personnel had been waiting quite a long time to meet TeSTAR.
…I heard they were stopping by the company today.
The information had come from their own manager, who had also worked as TeSTAR’s manager, so it was reliable.
The idol clasped both hands together and calmly thought.
Get a grip. I have to say this properly today.
Just then, the automatic doors on the parking-lot side opened.
“…!”
Appearing beyond them were… several tall men wearing hats and masks.
It was TeSTAR.
They’re here…!
The rookie idol sprang to his feet and ran toward them.
“Hello, sunbaenim!”
The rookie from the same company as TeSTAR—the contestant who had debuted in second place on Season 4 of Idol Inc.—bowed deeply to them.
“Pardon? Ah, yes. Hello.”
“Ah, nice to meet you.”
“Yes! I’m terribly sorry, but if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could I possibly speak with you for just a moment…!”
“…….”
The rookie was exceedingly polite and desperate.
It was the exact attitude of a new employee facing a superior at work.
“Uh….”
As the TeSTAR members exchanged slightly flustered glances, Park Moondae was quietly impressed.
Oh.
He had a feeling.
A feeling that this rookie was about to spill something about the division head.