The boxes were handed out after the music-show pre-recording had ended, just as the fans were filing out.
Thanks to that, everyone ended up opening their boxes on the way home.
The pale lavender boxes, complete with TeSTAR logo stickers, practically screamed,
‘I’m reverse fan support!’
Naturally, all the fans caught on quickly.
‘No wonder they didn’t give us the music-show photocards when we went in…!’
There was probably a photocard for those who had attended the pre-recording inside the box as well.
The fans, who had already received cream bread, coffee, and simple snacks a few times before, simply opened their boxes in delight.
‘I hope there’s dakgangjeong in here.’
‘It’s pretty heavy… Is it a drink this time?’
But what they saw inside was a large, lavishly packaged assortment of twenty-eight macarons.
“……!!”
“Ghk.”
Seven macarons in each of four neat rows made for an overwhelming sight.
People freaked out individually on the subway, on buses, or inside their cars.
Naturally, plenty of them had never had any reason in their lives to buy twenty-eight macarons all at once.
‘There were three hundred of us, and they gave twenty-eight to each person…?’
‘What on earth is going on?’
Some fans even suspected that there had been some kind of mistake with the quantity.
And they weren’t just ordinary off-the-shelf macarons, either.
When they picked them up, they found that the macaron shells had been decorated with icing shaped like animal paws.
‘Holy shit, there are bird feet too!’
‘Is this extra-tiny one a hamster? Is it a hamster?!’
There were even ones shaped like deer hooves.
The fans stomped their feet, slapped their seats, and failed miserably to contain their grins, yet still tried to close the boxes carefully.
‘Let’s just take a proof shot and leave them alone.’
‘I’m going to keep these frozen forever.’
But that wasn’t the end of it.
Something was attached to the inside of the box lid.
There was another small box.
‘No way.’
‘Again?’
The fans pulled the box free and turned it over.
Its identity was revealed.
A beautifully packaged perfume from a luxury brand.
And not a sample size, either, but a full fifty-milliliter bottle.
‘Whoa.’
‘Wait.’
‘Is this some kind of prize box? Don’t tell me they gave this to everyone?’
Some people were beginning to feel bewildered rather than merely delighted.
And in the middle of all that, something else appeared.
Plop.
An envelope wedged between the boxes fell out.
The envelope was… quite thick.
By this point, some fans were starting to get scared.
‘There’s more?’
‘Just how far did they go with this…?’
They swallowed and opened the envelope, revealing a sheet of stationery that looked like a photocopy of a handwritten note.
========================
[To our beloved Loviewers♡]
Thank you for coming to cheer us on at our final music-show recording today.
Actually, we got our first payout this time!
We were thinking about what we could give you, and we wanted to prepare something that could serve as a memento of these promotions, so we worked hard to put this together.
We were in a rush because we wanted to give it to you before promotions ended… so even if there are things we could’ve done better, we’d be grateful if you looked kindly on itㅠㅠ♡
P.S. Each of us chose a scent we liked for the perfume. One of seven scents has been included at random!
========================
The letter ended with a doodled message saying, ‘Loviewers, we love you.’
That part… really did seem to be handwritten.
And inside the envelope the stationery had come from were piles of printed photographs.
They were photos of TeSTAR that looked as though they’d been taken at the dorm.
That was why the envelope had been so thick…!
‘Holy shit!!’
‘These lunatics…! These fucking lunatics!!’
By this point, the overwhelming majority of the fans who had attended the recording were screaming internally.
And SNS began to catch fire.
-Te-Te-TeSTAR gave us TWENTY-EIGHT macarons and perfume and photos aaaaaaagh AAAAAAGH oh my god guys what kind of idol group that hasn’t even reached its first anniversary does reverse fan support like this aaaaaah (photo)
“What??”
Park Moondae’s fansite master rolled straight off the sofa.
She simply couldn’t accept the reality that a huge event had happened at the final music-show recording she’d missed because she’d gotten food poisoning late at night and been rushed to the emergency room.
With trembling hands, she checked her timeline.
…it had been completely plastered with proof shots of the boxes.
‘F*ck!!’
The fansite master slammed her head against the sofa over and over.
Obviously, it wasn’t because she regretted missing out on free macarons and perfume.
There was physical proof of how much her idol loved his fans right before her eyes, and she hadn’t gotten one…!
The injustice of it was unbearable…!
‘I could’ve gone!’
For something like this to happen on the one day she’d missed was so unfair she felt like she was going insane!
And she wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
-F*ck I’m so jealous I could burst, I want to eat strawberry macarons our babies gave us tooㅠㅠ
-Did they give it out because it was the last music show… Ah, my application literally got cut off right in front of me, this is devastating
-If they were going to give four whole sets they could’ve split them up over the music shows during the last week, though obviously it’s up to the kids… sob sob I just want one hamster-paw macaron too…ㅠㅠ
Because it was so obvious how much care had gone into everything, the mood began to slip past simple envy into a faint sense of deprivation.
And the reverse fan support became a fairly hot topic on general entertainment communities as well.
A lot of people took an interest simply because the expense was obvious at a glance.
========================
[TeSTAR’s Popular Music reverse fan support looks seriously expensive.jpg]
: (photo) (photo)
Four sets of macarons plus brand-name perfume.
Macarons seem to be handmade based on each member’s signature motif. Perfumes aren’t all the same scent either; apparently they mixed several scents from the same brand.
=======================
At first, most of the reactions were simply envy toward the fans and admiration for TeSTAR, but soon people trying to analyze the situation appeared.
-This is definitely the company’s pick. Their reverse-support style suddenly changed completely.. With the brand showing like this they probably filmed an ad
└Whoa is that it? I knew something felt off because the package looked way too extravagant lol
-A lot of companies either do reverse support themselves or split the cost and deduct half from the settlement in the first place, but going this far does feel kind of weird lol They could’ve made it a little less obvious
-This isn’t the kind of price range second-year idols prepare, is it? haha Still, their fans must’ve loved it, I’m jealousㅠ I want free macarons and perfume tooㅠ
-Oh, maybe they’re doing a perfume ad? Idol perfume ads are rare, that’s interesting
Whether out of sincerity or malice, misunderstanding piled upon misunderstanding.
But before public opinion could sink into a truly negative quagmire, posts verifying the reverse-support letter began popping up one after another.
-Our kids… apparently got excited because they received their first payout and just went for it… (photo of letter)
It mentioned their payout and even explained that they’d personally chosen the perfumes.
The letter was practically an explicit declaration that TeSTAR had prepared the reverse fan support themselves.
Public opinion on the general communities settled there.
-Holy shit they bought all of it themselves with their payout
-What, all that theorizing was completely wrong lol good grief
-Not an ad, they just slammed down cash themselves. That’s baller as hell lol I’m jealous of that spending power
-It’s hard to get into TeSTAR music-show recordings, right? I’m curious what they’ll give out next promotions, if it’s something even more expensive I wanna try going too lolol
└Me too lololol
└Are you serious?;; That’s crossing a line
-They must’ve gotten paid a shitload if they’re spending like this
└They sold that many albums, it’d be weirder if they didn’t get paid lol
└Who said anything?
└Huh why are you madㅠ Look at TeSTAR’s first-week sales and cheer up♡ It’s 830,000 (screenshot)
With a few trolls successfully driven off, TeSTAR managed to leave behind a pleasantly warm impression with their reverse fan support.
But the fans didn’t stop there.
At last, people began connecting it to the member sightings from several days earlier.
-Holy shit, don’t tell me the dessert-shop tour on Tuesday was because you guys were choosing THIS?ㅠㅠㅠ
└Whoa
└Whoa, I think you’re right?
└This is speculation, can we please stop talking like it’s confirmed…
└Checked the macaron photo. At least the ‘Xgnet Sweet’ written on the wrapper IS one of the shops from the Amunrae sighting reports on Tuesday…. (photo with logo circled)
└Aaaaaaaagh
-That dessert-shop tour… wasn’t them sneaking off for fun during promotions… it was them preparing reverse fan support…?
The story was so excessively touching that the fans were almost shocked by it instead.
-Let’s not overinterpret it, if it turns out not to be true we’ll get psychos trying to hate on them over this again
-Just the fact that they got their payout and gave fans a bunch of delicious stuff is already so cute and wholesomeㅠㅠ
But then a review post appeared on the SNS account of the shop that had made the reverse-support macarons.
-Xgnet Sweet posted a review.. (link)
-The kids wanted to include everything in time for the last week’s music shows… but apparently the reservations were already full so they couldn’tㅠㅠ (InHeart screenshot)
-And they kept saying this place was really delicious, so apparently the owner was ridiculously proud…
That settled it.
Faced with the incredible reality that every bit of it was true, the fans became completely soaked in emotion and wistfulness and started plastering their posts with crying emoticons…….
Read only on MUGEX
-They seriously must’ve scrambled to prepare everything the second they got paid ah my fangirl heart is pounding so hard it feels like it’s going to burst….
-I’ll never let another fandom recruit me no matter what blah blah blah seriously why aren’t you stanning the living genius idols TeSTAR?ㅠ
-Idols who got their first payout… bought mountains of expensive food and packed up even their favorite things for their fans… I’ll stay with you for life
-Whatever, now that I know the macaron shop I can just order them myself and eat them. Guys the taste of reverse fan support is intoxicating…
The fans forgot all about feeling deprived or whatever else and got drunk on pride all the way to the tops of their heads.
Then they began happily posting fierce deduction threads about which perfume represented whose tastes.
On top of that, at exactly this timing, TeSTAR released most of the photographs from the reverse support on SNS.
-TeSTAR is seriously legendary…
-I ordered the macarons and bought the perfume too, now all I have to do is print the photos and I can pretend I got the reverse support myself
It was a delightful period of reverse fan support.
I pushed the screen with my thumb.
“Hmm.”
The photos had uploaded properly.
It was the result of acting on roughly the same principle as at our first fansign.
‘If more people feel left out, it’d be worse than not doing it at all.’
Information and content ought to go to everyone.
After checking the post I’d uploaded once more, I continued monitoring the reactions from the music-show waiting room.
‘…The mood’s good.’
Spending an entire afternoon preparing it had been worth it.
What greater waste of money could there be than spending all that cash on gifts only for the recipients not to like them?
Fortunately, it seemed the money had done its job.
‘Making the perfume one random scent out of seven was a pretty good choice too.’
Thanks to that, even though there had only been sightings of three of us, it didn’t feel strange to put the gifts out under TeSTAR’s name.
‘As expected, starting with the group instead of an individual leaves less room for conflict.’
I didn’t particularly care about footing the bill myself.
‘I don’t have anywhere to spend money in the first place.’
I had no family and no acquaintances, so what did it matter?
It wasn’t as if I immediately needed living expenses or a house, and the settlement payment was so large that it would’ve been ridiculous to complain over this much anyway.
So from the beginning, I’d intended to pay for everything myself and put the group’s name on it.
The company wanted it that way too.
Then an unexpected variable appeared.
The moment he heard about it, Ryu Chungwoo objected.
-Moondae, that won’t do.
-What?
-You gave up even your break time to go choose and buy all of this. Then it should go out as a gift from you.
-No. I’m fine with that. The members more or less chose the items together anyway.
-Even if you’re fine with it, the fans won’t be.
-…!
-Putting someone’s name on a gift when they didn’t contribute anything is a lie. Think how sad the fans would be if they found out the truth.
-…….
-And even if the fans never find out, we won’t feel right about it. Right?
-Yes!
-Th-That’s right!
-Wow, hyungnim, you really know how to put things~
Ryu Chungwoo brought the matter to a firm conclusion.
-At the very least, we should split the cost.
…So, with the members giving their fervent support to the idea, we simply split the entire bill evenly.
I appreciated it, but… I couldn’t help wondering whether there had really been any need to go that far.
‘It wasn’t even because he was worried about the fallout if word got out. It was literally, “It’s wrong, so we can’t do it”…….’
Hmm. Come to think of it, when people were talking about my personality, I vaguely remembered seeing some troll saying you could tell I’d never been loved.
‘That was one hell of a family insult.’
Separate from that, though, maybe the phrase ‘you can tell he was raised well’ referred to guys like Ryu Chungwoo.
‘Should I call it being unwarped?’
The type with good resilience who didn’t veer off onto the wrong path.
As if on cue, the person in question spoke to me.
“Checking the reactions to the gifts?”
“Yes.”
“I looked too. The fans seem to like them. Honestly, since you did practically everything, I feel kind of sorry toward you… and grateful.”
“Well… I was only planning to pay for them.”
“You prepared everything by yourself too. What are you talking about!”
Ryu Chungwoo lightly tapped my shoulder as though joking around.
“Still, next time, let’s do everything together from the preparation stage. You don’t have to try to carry everything on your own. We’re working as a team, so you’ve got to make good use of your teammates.”
“…Right.”
It might have been a proposition worth thinking about if all of my teammates weren’t at least six years younger than me.
Ryu Chungwoo smiled, gave my back a light pat, and walked away.
I rubbed the back of my neck.
‘Well… they are cooperative, at least.’
Even with the fan gifts this time, we’d ended up going beyond splitting the bill and doing the final preparations together.
It had made the whole thing look better too.
Everyone chose perfume themselves, and we discussed the macaron designs together.
I couldn’t deny that collaborating with the guys sitting over there getting their makeup touched up had produced a fairly decent result….
“I believe there are insufficient clues as to who prefers which fragrance. It may be best to leave hints through SNS or some other medium…….”
“I want more macarons.”
“Is your desire for macarons more important than this agenda item?”
“Yeah.”
“W-We could order some on the way back…….”
“Let’s stop giving Eugene more~ The kid’s going to start rolling around.”
“No! I’m cool!”
They certainly had a lot to say with makeup brushes pressed to their faces.
I feel stupid for having been tempted by the idea for even a moment.
…Actually, I’d already taken care of the other gifts by myself anyway.
…That’s right.
There were ‘other gifts.’
While buying Seon Ahyeon’s birthday present at the department store, I’d also picked up some small gifts for the company’s working staff.
‘If you give people something now and then, they’ll pay a little more attention when trouble happens.’
It wasn’t difficult, so there was no harm in doing it in advance while I was already there.
Of course, it wasn’t anything spectacular.
Just something they could use around the office… rather expensive, high-end indoor slippers.
Still, they’d be better than food.
‘Giving these people food only works in the moment.’
Unless I planned to keep supplying it, that was a bad move.
It was better to give them something they could continue using in their working environment.
That way, the effect would last a little longer.
‘It was a reasonable expense in the right place.’
I thought of the amount remaining in my account.
And then… I remembered the final withdrawal too.
‘I… donated some as well.’
I’d given it anonymously to a child welfare foundation.
…Since I’d spent the insurance money that ‘Park Moondae’ had received from his parents, I felt like I should do at least that much.
That was the end of my spending from this settlement.
‘Life really is impossible to predict.’
I massaged the back of my neck and put my smartphone down.
Just then, someone called out.
“Guys, we’re going into standby!”
The final live music show of these promotions was waiting for us.
“TeSTAR, you’re going up!”
“Yes~”
The stage was as fun as ever.
…And I didn’t know about other situations, but up there, having these younger guys around was actually pretty reassuring.
‘…It’s a good team.’
Ryu Chungwoo’s words had lodged themselves in my head more than I’d expected.
I shook off the useless sentiment and came down from the stage.
And just as I was about to think about our next schedule, I made eye contact with our manager, who came thundering toward us from the other side.
‘What is it?’
The manager threw both hands into the air and shouted.
“Guys! They said you made a Billboard chart!”
“……??”
“…?”
“What?”
What kind of nonsense was he talking about when we didn’t even have the numbers for that…?