Not long afterward, the door of one of the two boxes on either side of the stage opened.
[TA-DA!]
It was the box on the right, where the winners of the audience minigame had gone.
Cha Eugene came bounding excitedly out of the box first, and the other members followed him onto the stage, laughing.
They were dressed in something resembling red uniforms, shaped like the sort of toy-soldier outfits that might have come straight out of The Nutcracker.
In other words, they were cute.
“Huuuuugh!!”
Just as people began cheering over the costumes, a melody joined the accompaniment.
‘Ah, this song!’
‘Oh~’
Many audience members recognized it.
It was a famous children’s song that had dominated the 2000s.
However, it had been given a polished, refreshing band arrangement that fit an idol concert perfectly.
Though it was a little excessively cheerful.
The winning members ran onto the stage and waved in every direction before forming a rough formation and beginning the performance.
Their movements matched cleanly.
-My friend
Is very, very cute
My friend doesn’t talk
But has a warm heart
They seemed to be glancing at the prompter now and then, but even while struggling not to laugh as their voices overlapped several times, the winning team divided the parts among themselves and sang surprisingly well.
There were no particular formation changes, but the quality was still far too high to believe the team had been thrown together on the spot.
‘Cute.’
Thinking she could trade the shots for data of Lee Sejin or Park Moondae from a different angle, the office worker took the photos quite diligently.
‘I definitely need to shoot Cha Eugene.’
The one whose data had the highest going rate.
Because the stage was practically just a special event, the fans were able to immerse themselves in the cuteness without any pressure, waving their lightsticks and humming along.
The first verse ended in that warm atmosphere.
[Thank you!]
[Thank you.]
As the instrumental break began, the winning team bowed deeply from the waist and wrapped up their stage.
Cute!
Cheers and laughter spread across the audience.
And deep inside everyone, an intense premonition gleamed slyly.
‘If this is what the winners have to do…… then the losers must have something even worse.’
‘Sexy.’
‘The answer is costumes.’
‘Fairy wings.’
While all kinds of selfish desires surged through the audience, the winning team ran excitedly off the stage.
And at that moment—
ZZZZZZZZING—!!!
A blazing electric-guitar sound suddenly ripped straight through the instrumental break.
“……??”
Strange, laughter-mixed noises of “Huh?” rose here and there.
‘What??’
Amid the confused atmosphere, the formerly cheerful instrumental transitioned smoothly into a heavy-metal sound.
[Huaaaah!]
Then the punished members tore their way out through the tissue box.
“……!!”
“Whoa, whoa!”
Unlike the winners, they weren’t dressed in neat uniforms.
They had pulled enormous animal mascot suits over themselves, much too large for their bodies, with only holes where their faces showed through.
They were the exact creatures that had been drawn on the tissue box.
The animal mascot suits waddling out were blatantly adorable in shape, but their outfits looked straight-up gangster.
Meaning they matched the accompaniment incredibly well.
“Whaaaat??”
While the concert hall fell briefly into chaos—
The three members struck rock-and-roll gestures and stampeded toward the center of the stage.
Lee Sejin wobbled for a moment because of the swaying mascot body, only to be shoved roughly from either side until he stood straight again.
‘He knows what he’s doing……!’
The office worker caught the shot with perfect precision.
After flailing around for a moment and testing the waters with a bit of choreography, Lee Sejin dramatically raised his handheld microphone at exactly the right timing.
Then a high note exploded.
-My friend!
Is really, really kind~
My friend’s hands are small
But their heart is huge!
Except his voice had been altered.
A chattering, helium-like voice came through the speakers.
Which made the high note even higher.
“No!!”
The explosive laughter from the audience mixed with the altered voice.
Then Park Moondae laboriously lifted his handheld microphone using the thick paw of his mascot suit.
-I like my friend~
We’re best friends~
Brilliant autotune enveloped the audience along with his capitalist smile.
“Ahahahaha!!”
The fans were fully howling with laughter now.
The office worker was no exception.
She even saw the person beside her hitting their own lightstick to keep from smacking people around them with it.
‘Insane.’
It could not possibly have been more avant-garde.
‘Insane!!’
It was pointlessly too well done, which made it even funnier.
And naturally, adorable.
-Best friends, best friends
We’re best friends~
My friend, I love you
Give me a biiig hug~
A deep voice that sounded as though it were chanting a curse came from Kim Raebin’s rabbit costume.
And instead of hugging one another, the three of them were sitting there smacking each other on the back.
Because they couldn’t control all that stuffing, all three nearly fell over, then grabbed, shoved, and held onto one another until they managed to stand again.
‘Oh my God.’
Watching the three guys singing the chorus while doing the choreography with perfectly straight faces, the office worker who ran the twin fansite had an instinctive realization.
‘This…… this is absolutely going to blow up!’
This comedy.
This impact.
She could already see the future in which it appeared in real-time trends and popular posts.
[TeSTAR are fucking insane lol]
[TeSTAR concert going crazy in real time.jpg]
‘I need to post previews immediately, then clip a short video and upload it on the way home too!’
The office worker produced data with unprecedented passion.
And onstage, the three members of the losing team were giving an equally passionate performance.
They were generously stripping off the skull-patterned arm warmers, black jackets, and other accessories worn over the mascot suits and throwing them into the audience.
For reference, they were disposable items made from paper.
They only looked convincing.
“They’re seriously insane!”
“Over here!!”
The fans were practically crying with laughter as they cheered.
Every last one of the members had the attitude of a genuine rock star.
-Yeah~ Best friends!!
And with one dramatic drop to their knees, the heavy-metal version of the children’s song came to an end.
Amid piercing laughter and cheers, the three mascot-suited figures waddled offstage while pretending to look cool.
The office worker screamed internally.
‘I’m uploading the second this ends!!’
She could practically see her follower count skyrocketing!
Meanwhile, unlike the office worker busily taking advantage of the interlude to choose pictures from her camera and mark which ones she would use for previews, the inner world of another fansite master nearby was in tatters.
‘I’m losing my mind.’
It was Park Moondae’s first fansite master.
Looking like someone who had ridden a roller coaster ten times in succession, she stared at the stage Park Moondae had already left.
In truth, she had been like this ever since watching Park Moondae’s solo stage.
‘Moondae, what even was that…… Ha.’
Floating upward through the air while lying there with nothing supporting him, all while singing?
She could understand all too clearly how he had managed to injure his wrist and waist.
That was the problem.
‘You haven’t even been fully healed for that long, and you actually did that……!’
The fact that he had really performed it without even modifying it made her heart shrivel with anxiety.
And there was an even bigger problem.
‘……It was incredible.’
The solo stage was genuinely, terrifyingly good.
Despite all of the fansite master’s worries and ominous feelings.
‘It’s going to be hard to make this into a public issue under the banner of protecting the artist…….’
Too many people loved the stage.
It seemed likely that the dominant opinion would become, “If Moondae himself is okay with it, isn’t it fine?”
Even she herself was already being swayed.
‘Being too good is the problem.’
With a vacant expression, the fansite master mechanically photographed the VCR on the opposite side.
In fact, she had felt the same way about the heavy-metal children’s song earlier.
Watching someone who had supposedly only just recovered run around in that heavy mascot suit after breathlessly finishing group songs had made all sorts of thoughts cross her mind.
At the same time, though, she couldn’t help finding it cute, heartwarming, and making her proud.
So all the fansite master could do was scream internally.
‘Park Moondae, you’re really okay, right?! I’m not going to watch the behind-the-scenes video later and end up smashing my head into something, right?!’
Park Moondae on the VCR smiled as he turned around.
Read only on MUGEX
“Urk.”
“Moondae-ssi!”
“Are you okay?”
I’m fine.
My cochlea was just overworked from spinning around in that mascot costume.
‘It was probably funny.’
Then that’s enough.
Honestly, it was funny even while I was doing it.
“I’m fine. Just give me one glucose tablet.”
“Here!”
A staff member hurriedly handed me a capsule.
It was a saline-glucose tablet.
I removed the packaging and swallowed the pill with water.
The makeup artist immediately attached themselves to me and wiped away the sweat and moisture.
‘Two minutes and thirty seconds left.’
That was enough time to catch my breath before going back out.
I’d already stripped off that damn mass of cotton too.
Big Sejin was just taking off his own mascot suit and throwing it aside.
“Try breathing.”
“I’m fine.”
The breathing difficulty had passed ages ago.
I clicked my tongue.
‘Why the hell did that thing have to press down that hard.’
The performance I had prepared for my solo stage used a wire apparatus that let me float while lying horizontally in midair.
The idea was to make it look as though the fabric was holding me up, then surprise people a second time by keeping me suspended even after all the fabric came loose…… and it seemed to have worked well.
In fact, even though it used wires, broad safety equipment was fitted around my waist beneath the costume, so it didn’t put much strain on my body.
As long as it was installed correctly.
‘It was twisted.’
It had been perfectly fine during rehearsal, so either someone had made a mistake because they were rushing while putting it on me, or something had gone wrong during maintenance.
It had pressed mercilessly against my left lung.
Fortunately, it hadn’t compressed the ribs that had been broken, so aside from the lack of oxygen, I had managed to finish everything without any major difficulties.
And once I came down and stayed on an oxygen mask for a while, I recovered almost immediately.
‘We use oxygen masks from time to time even without accidents anyway.’
Actually, everyone except Ryu Chungwoo and Seon Ahyeon uses them.
And even those two have used one once or twice.
Still, an accident was an accident, so the others seemed to have gotten seriously tense about it.
Seon Ahyeon was swallowing nervously as he asked me right now.
“Y-You said there was pain…….”
“There isn’t any particular pain. My stamina’s fine too.”
I’d done nothing but rest, eat, and practice lately, so my physical condition was good.
‘My wrist…… Hmm, it’s not like I’m going to use it violently much anyway.’
This much could be handled with some treatment after the Seoul concerts were over.
I shrugged and jerked my chin.
“Let’s go. We can’t be late. We need to stand by.”
“Y-Yeah…….”
“…….”
Ryu Chungwoo, who had been watching from the side, cut in.
“Moondae. Can we talk again after the concert?”
“Yes. Sure.”
If it was about replacing the equipment staff, I did want to have a more serious conversation.
The others each added something too.
“……If you start feeling worse, make sure you tell us.”
“Above all else, your health is the most important.”
“I will. Yeah.”
I thought letting me stop talking might help me rest more than this would, but I wasn’t some sociopath and I did appreciate the concern, so I agreed appropriately.
“Moving!!”
The fairly long VCR ended.
It was time to go back up into the concert hall.
Waaaaaaah—
Cheers.
And purple light filling the entire venue.
‘This does remind me of the first concert.’
It was supposed to.
We had deliberately arranged it that way.
Listening to the clear percussion ringing through my in-ear monitor, I sang the opening part.
-I think all day today
About the you I’ll meet tomorrow
It was our debut song, “Magic Boy.”
-I dream a dream as blue as daylight
At that moment, tiny glowing things began riding the air up from the audience.
“……!”
They were soap bubbles.
Countless rounded surfaces glittered in every color beneath the purple lights.
“…….”
All these people were firing bubbles together, side by side.
Just like at the beginning of our first concert.
Because we all remembered that scene together.
[Loviewers are showing you something today!]
The slogan appeared on the giant screen.
It was a variation on a familiar phrase.
‘That’s fun.’
I smiled.
‘……Nice.’
I felt like the adrenaline had erased my brain.
Like I’d taken some kind of drug.
The rest of the concert passed in an instant, as if it simply melted away.
And just like that, the first day of the concert ended successfully.
I also heard that it was receiving glowing reviews all over the place.
Of course, anyone willing to attend the concert in the first place probably already liked TeSTAR…….
Still, it was fairly rewarding.
‘Good.’
However, not everything went according to expectations.
“How about reconsidering it?”
“……?”
Because the members, the company, and the fans each showed up carrying one new variable.
This is driving me crazy.