It was obvious what Goldie #1’s agency was thinking.
If they can’t get first place anyway, they’re going to lose in a way that leaves an impact.
No matter how good a song that group brought out right now, getting first place would still be difficult.
Even if their debut song had made a decent impression, that only meant it had become popular among people already interested in idols.
They were male idols who hadn’t come from one of the three major agencies.
Their recognition among the general public was low.
In other words, there were far more people who wouldn’t even try listening to their song.
So it’s worth building a frame around them.
Those guys stood to gain from being connected to TeSTAR in any way possible.
They would emphasize that both groups came from Idol Inc. and work desperately through media play to frame them as challengers to TeSTAR, drawing parallels to the composition when VTIC and TeSTAR promoted at the same time.
It was a gamble worth taking even if they got a few dirty looks and some resistance from TeSTAR’s fans.
There were plenty of people looking for any excuse to take a swipe at TeSTAR, so they would receive support from the opposite side as well.
Of course, if the comeback turned out to be genuinely mediocre, it would end with people laughing at them.
…Looks like they have some confidence in the song.
From Choi Wongil’s case all the way to now, their agency’s work had been excellent.
It would’ve been wonderful if my own agency’s upper management had been that sharp, but from everything I’d experienced, that expectation was laughable.
So I should be grateful for our current situation, where at least the approval bot was still sitting in place.
Bzzzz.
At that moment, my smartphone vibrated as a notification popped up on-screen.
…Speak of the tiger and it comes.
It was a message from Goldie #1.
[Guys, our promotions overlap!]
[Ahem, ahem. I’ll see you on music shows, sunbaenims.]
“……”
He was…
A decent guy.
Even if he had vaguely noticed what was going on around him, he probably hadn’t thought that this situation might actually cause TeSTAR any harm.
He was likely just a little grateful and embarrassed.
And we can’t exactly ignore him anyway.
TeSTAR’s social standing was far above Goldie #1’s right now.
The moment any TeSTAR member showed discomfort toward Goldie #1, I could practically see that agency gleefully slapping an image onto us of discarding people because they’re beneath our level.
Well, should we just let it slide for this promotion?
After this season, they would probably find some other appropriately sized group to pit them against so they could win.
Once you raised a group’s level, you had to give them the taste of victory for the narrative to look nice.
And honestly…
I was confident in TeSTAR’s new album.
We made it well.
I didn’t simply mean its artistic completeness.
I thought we had made it with more than enough appeal as an idol promotion.
For starters, even the teaser that had already been revealed was receiving an extraordinarily good response, exactly as expected.
This feels like a career high.
I had a strong feeling.
I replied appropriately to Goldie #1’s message in the group chat while predicting how this promotion would perform.
And a few days later.
Before we had even begun the prerecorded filming for our first music show appearance, we heard good news in the waiting room.
“Eight hundred and fifty thousand copies?”
“Yeah! You guys hit the jackpot!”
We had already surpassed the previous album’s first-week sales on the fourth day.
If I roughly extrapolated from the trend to estimate future sales…
There was an extremely high probability that first-week sales would surpass one million.
Top tier.
Now we had genuinely reached a level where we could be counted among the top four or five male idol groups in Korea.
Big Sejin seemed to be the only other member who had thought that far, but the others were happy enough anyway.
“My goodness……”
“If I may make a bold conjecture, I believe overseas sales have increased! Since this concept is extremely traditional, it likely appeals to the existing population that prefers K-pop—”
“The album is cool! That’s why!”
Everyone was so excited that it briefly became a group session of simultaneous monologues.
But soon enough, the mood shifted toward motivating ourselves.
“Let’s put on a great comeback stage and show everyone why our album is selling so well.”
“Oooooh!!”
“An excellent statement~”
“I-I want to show them something amazing…!”
They were overflowing with motivation.
Not a bad mood to have right before filming a stage.
“Ah! TeSTAR is going to show you something today!”
“Let’s go!”
That’s basically become an official slogan.
We’d been saying it so often that it was starting not to feel embarrassing anymore.
After shouting it once, we headed onto the filming set.
Waaaaaaaaah!
A familiar roar reached us.
A music-show prerecording.
It felt as though it had been an incredibly long time.
Something about this album is different.
Park Moondae’s fansite master tried to calm herself down.
It was difficult.
The numbers were just too good…!
What is going on with these overseas sales!
It was a happy scream.
And the numbers weren’t limited to album sales.
After TeSTAR became a fairly hot topic in overseas K-pop communities through their American talk-show appearance, Park Moondae’s fansite master had seen her SNS follower count increase faster than usual.
Then, after this comeback, the number of shares on Park Moondae’s photos themselves had nearly doubled.
English subtitles uploaded by users began appearing on all sorts of TeSTAR promotional content on WeTube, and English-language humorous fan videos suddenly shot up in views.
And most of all…
The music video views increased like crazy…!
It had surpassed ten million views in twenty-six hours.
That still wasn’t quite at the level of top domestic boy groups in the same weight class, but it was encouraging.
There even seemed to be word of mouth building, because the view count was still rising considerably.
The teaser’s views were increasing along with it.
I knew it.
The fansite master’s chest swelled as she remembered the music video for the title track, “Procession.”
It’s seriously the best.
It was a little disappointing that Ryu Chungwoo rather than Park Moondae was the center of the music video’s narrative.
But the music video itself had come out so well that she couldn’t complain.
Ryu Chungwoo might climb quite a bit this time??
There was no longer any need to compare the individual members’ rankings, but the fansite master still found herself thinking that out of habit while preparing to cheer.
They’re coming up soon!
The light sticks visible all around her had long ribbons printed with the album-cover pattern tied around them in all sorts of shapes.
They were miniature daenggi accessories meant to decorate light sticks, included as a preorder bonus with the album.
Since the light stick itself looked almost entirely like a magic wand, the accessory seemed designed to make it fit the song a little better while they cheered.
It was very pretty.
Things like this are cute. I like it!
But the fansite master’s moderately satisfied thoughts vanished the moment TeSTAR came onto the stage.
TeSTAR was dressed in suit-style outfits that incorporated tasteful hanbok elements through the clothing ties and patterns.
And fabric ornaments were tied around their wrists, necks, and earrings.
They were the exact same daenggi that the fans had tied onto their light sticks.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
Who is the stylist!
She was genuinely grateful.
Fortunately, either they had some spare time or the filming setup still wasn’t complete, because rather than starting the stage immediately, they gave a few light greeting comments.
[Everyone, did you like the music video……]
“Yeeeeeees!!!”
“Yes!!”
“We loved it!!”
[Haha, good!]
[Should we each talk very briefly about our favorite part? All right, starting with Chungwoo hyungnim, since he brought it up~!]
TeSTAR chatted casually onstage to fill the time.
A year had passed, and compared with their early debut days, they were much more skillful now.
They’re seriously so cute……
The fansite master muttered warmly.
Even so, she couldn’t take her eyes off Park Moondae.
Just as had already been revealed in the music video, Park Moondae’s hairstyle had changed.
Thanks to seeing it in advance, she managed to suppress an excessive scream.
It’s been so long since he had black hair……
The fansite master sank into nostalgic memories of first seeing him at the Idol Inc. production presentation.
Park Moondae’s black hair was noticeably longer than usual.
Not long enough to call it truly long hair, but it had grown just enough for him to brush his bangs lightly to either side, which gave him a subtle classical beauty.
Magnificent…!
The fansite master swallowed all manner of hysterical praise and waved her light stick back at Park Moondae when he waved toward the fans.
[Everyone, you know Moondae’s black hair came about after an incredible amount of deliberation~?]
[I’d appreciate your honest feedback.]
“I love it!!”
“I said I love it so much!!”
The fansite master couldn’t hold back anymore and shouted enthusiastically.
Similar cries came from all around her.
Moondae, who had asked with that indifferent Tibetan-fox expression of his, smiled faintly at the response.
[Thank you.]
The best!!
The fansite master wailed internally that this was why she came to music-show recordings.
But today’s highlight hadn’t even started yet.
The stage.
[Are we going in?]
[Yup.]
After exchanging signals with the staff, TeSTAR finished waving and quickly moved into position.
The members gathered in a semicircle, crouching with both arms hanging downward.
[…….]
On a stage set built from pine trees and black-and-red fabric, the performance began.
Tang-ta-dang, tang-tang-tang, tada-dang—
The instrumental opened with kkwaenggwari and drums, then launched into the song with altered traditional-instrument sounds arranged in an extremely modern structure.
It was trap hip-hop.
At that moment, the choreography unfolded from the floor as the members spread their legs.
It looked like the movement of four-legged beasts.
With those strange movements, they formed a triangular formation.
The intro ended, and Cha Eugene burst forward.
-Even if you struggle, you can’t escape
Today he arrives, making his procession
So another line can be added to the record
Now he arrives, making his procession
It was a rhythmic, groovy song that pushed the quintessential appeal of a K-pop idol dance track to its absolute extreme.
But because it used traditional Korean instruments, the sound carried an unusually distinctive flavor.
-Approaching without a sound
Predator, sharpened Claw
Scratching through this night
Pursuer, just as certain
The clearly defined vocal melodies that appeared here and there were pleasing to the ear.
Contrasting against the intentionally sharp-sounding rap, they made the song feel fuller in every section.
More than anything else, though, no matter whose part it was, the choreography never stopped.
Shouldn’t they revise that… ?
The fansite master reflexively thought that while watching everyone lie down on the floor during Seon Ahyeon’s part, then spring back to their feet using the rebound.
But she forgot about it immediately.
It felt like a waste even to think about anything else.
-Swallowing the world
Melting it down hot
A sound trembling at the tip of your tongue
Ryu Chungwoo stood at the center of the formation, which had returned in the shape of an arrow.
With the chorus, the beat abruptly slowed.
And imposing, static choreography pressed down on the atmosphere.
-Now, he has appeared
Warning after warning
Approaching in a figure eight
Slowly, thrillingly
-Me
With the drop, the instrumental exploded.
-The day that finally came
Procession
At last, here today
(never get away from me ye)
Park Moondae’s high note and Kim Raebin’s low rap overlapped as they passed.
-Even if you lower your head, you can’t run away
Watch closely, now
The thrill follows
Lee Sejin, standing to the side, moved forward while tilting his head.
The dance break began.
-Procession
They had packed the song generously with catchy beat melodies, so even during dance-break sections where the members occasionally spat out only a single word, it remained easy to remember.
But the more extravagant dance break stole the eye even more.
The formation shifted as though a gigantic beast were changing posture, creating a strange sensation alongside the racing sounds of the sogeum and gayageum.
This is insane.
In the music video, the choreography had only appeared in fragments here and there.
So for every fan, this was the first time watching the whole performance from beginning to end.
The impact was enormous.
And once it reached the latter half, they even added vocal acrobatics.
-Stronger
Louder
The approaching sound of my footsteps
The instant Park Moondae unleashed an extremely high note in the bridge, the final dance break began immediately afterward.
-Procession
Is Moondae breathing?!
The fansite master had never imagined they would perform even this part live.
She was rendered speechless by a mixture of emotion and worry.
It reached the point where she genuinely wondered whether he could keep doing this live throughout the promotions.
Now I understand why they prerecorded this one!!
She realized why they had filmed the title track rather than the side track and stared at the stage with her mouth open.
But no mistakes occurred all the way to the end.
The moment the explosive dance break finished, the choreography pulled inward as though being sucked backward in reverse, settling cleanly into formation.
Unlike the beast-like four-legged shape of the opening, the ending looked like a sharply organized military squad.
At the center, Ryu Chungwoo gave a slight nod in time with the sound of a taepyeongso.
The stage ended.
So fucking good!!
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
This was the first time since TeSTAR’s debut that they had made such an openly performance-oriented song the title track on its own.
The fans were thrilled and cheered without restraint.
[Whew… Thank you!]
Even during another take they filmed because it was “a shame to stop,” there was no loss of form.
Especially because Ryu Chungwoo, whose stamina was naturally exceptional, handled both the beginning of the chorus and the ending, the performance looked even more stable.
Now I get why they made him center.
Park Moondae’s share was fine too, so the fansite master could nod without any resentment.
[Please get home safely!]
[Please make sure to eat a sufficient breakfast!]
After three takes, TeSTAR finished the recording and left.
The beginning had been delayed, so they hurried out for the next team and didn’t have a separate ending-comment segment.
But it was still enough.
Because the stage had been amazing!
Ah, this feels so good!!
Thinking she hoped things would keep going smoothly just like this, the fansite master popped one of the yakgwa they’d received as a snack into her mouth on the way out.
It tasted like honey!
May our Moondae’s road ahead be nothing but sweet too!!
Read only on MUGEX
I had a feeling.
Looks like an easy ride is out of the question.
The moment I listened to the chorus of his own group’s title track that Goldie #1 had sent me with the message, Tell me what you think, my instincts screamed at me.
This song…
Was much better than I’d expected.