Chapter 112

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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When playing the BETTER ME music video, the first thing visible was Park Moondae’s face staring at the camera.

A black hoodie and purple eye-light, it was the appearance from the trailer.

[…….]

Park Moondae reached out toward the camera without a word.

And he operated the camera.

Click.

Zzzzzzzzt.

The video was rewound, and the scenes from the trailer began to pass in reverse.

Water tank. Sewer. Mannequin, falling gun. Biohazard mark.

And the screen finally began to reflect a worn-out cloth doll with gears.

It was Cha Yujin’s hand. At the starting scene of the trailer, the rewinding stopped there.

And the song began.

-Do not trust it
There is no justice
Oooohh….

At that moment, the cut changed to Cha Yujin holding a doll as clean as a new one, not a worn-out cloth doll.

And the screen was pushed far back, capturing the entire surroundings in a full shot.

It was an ordinary classroom where students were listening to a lesson. And TeStar members sitting throughout the classroom were seen.

Routine expressions and appearances, as if they were listening to a class, were captured by the camera.

But immediately after the rhythmic Moombahton accompaniment began to flow, the atmosphere of the classroom completely changed.

Zzzzt.

All students except for TeStar disappeared, and an X was marked on each desk with dripping fluorescent paint for graffiti.

And an intense group dance cut began against the background of the dark classroom.

-Even looking back, I can’t know
Umm
What happened

Between the dance scenes, cuts of the members alone in characteristic places like the school music room and gymnasium for each of their parts were inserted.

However, each space had changed into a strange atmosphere related to each TeStar member’s ability revealed since ‘Magical Boy’.

So TeStar, wearing techwear outfits similar to what was seen in the concept photos, appeared as if they had each created a territory like a mid-boss room in a game.

-Target Target Target
GOT IT
As I run, as I snatch

They, singing while being entwined in their own spaces, looked conceptual and weary.

However. The moment the thunder-like riff melody of the trailer dropped, the atmosphere changed completely.

DDVVViiiii-!!

TeStar’s appearance, escaping from or rushing at monsters wearing school uniforms, passed urgently in quick cutscenes, and the screen stopped at the class motto above the blackboard.

Rough red graffiti was painted over the conventional black letters.

[WINNER-TAKE-ALL :)]
[LOSER? Good bye :(]

Blood splattered over the English word meaning ‘Goodbye’.

And the chorus began to flow.

-BUT,
It’s just confusing
Since when was it
I’m just confused
Umm
How far does it go

A desperate survival game that didn’t match the melancholic chorus continued.

In that music video, the lyrics began to contain completely specific meanings.

And as the song progressed, TeStar’s actions became increasingly radical.

Cutscenes of fighting became more frequent than acting together, and the tension reached its peak the moment the last monster fell.

[…….]

The moment Kim Raebin turned back and lifted an awl, Ryu Chungwoo shot his back.

-Umm

Afterward, the music video changed to a composition where cutscenes of hunting each other popped up indirectly and eerily, centered on more intense performance cuts.

And the bridge of the song.

Bae Sejin, who didn’t receive many cuts while the second verse was in progress, was close-up.

While singing his part, Bae Sejin suddenly stood up and left his space in front of the school entrance.

-Our Paradox that we can’t handle
When cutting the line
A bigger Payback
Escape the reversal made by myself

Bae Sejin ran down the hallway and stood in front of the door at the very end.

When he opened the door, a perfectly fine classroom appeared.

But as the camera turned, red graffiti paint dripping from above the class motto was captured.

The moment Bae Sejin threw something in his hand, the last chorus burst out.

-BUT,
It’s NOT confusing!
Who I am
I’m NOT confused
Oh!
The BETTER ME I’ll find

What was in Bae Sejin’s hand was a heavy metal padlock.

The padlock, which flew in a parabola, fell while smashing the class motto. The class motto frame being shattered into pieces was captured in slow motion.

And the moment the frame fell to the floor, the Moombahton accompaniment began to flow.

Bae Sejin smiled broadly.

-BETTER ME

The timeline in the video began to be fixed along with a brilliant choreography.

Kim Raebin’s awl, which he was lifting after the last monster fell, was deterred by the shower of Park Moondae’s smartphone shutter, and TeStar disbanded while getting annoyed with each other.

Their faces looked relieved.

And again, the screen returned to the cut of Cha Yujin holding the worn-out cloth doll.

[…….]

But this time, Cha Yujin did not turn the gears.

[♬♪~]

Cha Yujin whistled and threw the doll into a corner, then began to walk through the smashed hallway with a steady pace.

As a fixed camera captured that light gait from behind, ‘BETTER ME’ rose as a white subtitle over the screen.

-BETTER ME

The video ended with that last hook.

And the TeStar fandom came to face an era of great MV interpretation that they hadn’t expected.

* * *

“What are you watching, hyung?”

“Our MV interpretation.”

“Why do you do interpretations?”

“…Hmm. Do you want to watch too?”

“Yes!”

It was better to include Cha Yujin than to be trapped in a cycle of endless questions and answers. I connected the WeTube I was watching to the TV and displayed it.

A puffy duck character appeared on the screen.

[Hello, WeTube friends! This is Spiral Potato, the duck who interprets music videos.]

[Today, I have prepared an interpretation of the newly revealed TeStar ‘BETTER ME’ music video of that topic-of-discussion game, that topic-of-discussion group!]

[Actually, I also wailed while playing the game diligently, so I ask for your understanding in advance that some personal opinions might be included in this interpretationㅠㅠ.]

[※Warning: spoilers!]

[Then, let’s begin!]

The duck introduced a simple plot of the ‘BETTER ME’ music video and explained the overall story in detail.

[The monsters wearing school uniforms that appear in the middle of the music video seem to be the students who were in the same classroom as TeStar.]

[All the monsters’ school uniforms had name tags with their names written on them like this. You can confirm name tags of the same color and name in the peaceful classroom cuts.]

It was mostly like this.

‘His powers of observation are good.’

I listened to the duck’s words quite interestedly.

However, as soon as this duck finished summarizing the music video content, it suddenly threw out an enormous statement.

[Actually, there was a TeStar worldview theory I had been inwardly speculating since ‘Airplane’, and seeing this ‘BETTER ME’ music video, I really gained conviction and am telling you.]

[In TeStar’s worldview, Park Moondae and Bae Sejin are probably the same person.]

“Pffft.”

Bae Sejin, who was coming out of the kitchen while drinking coffee, choked. Cha Yujin’s eyes sparkled as he waited for the duck’s next words.

[Since ‘Magical Boy’, the two have shown opposite actions. Park Moondae locked the school entrance door with a padlock, and Bae Sejin smashed that door.]

[And in this ‘BETTER ME’ music video as well, Park Moondae closes time by turning the camera, and Bae Sejin smashes the class motto frame symbolizing this terrible time.]

[You might ask why they are the same person when they have completely opposite abilities like this? That’s because these two’s abilities are actually on the same line.]

[Both are dealing with constraints of time and space, but Park Moondae uses his ability on the side of imposing constraints, and Bae Sejin on the side of destroying constraints.]

“What is ‘seong-sang’?”

“‘Seon-sang’ (on the line). It means being on the same line.”

Bae Sejin answered and flopped down next to the sofa. It seemed he had become interested in the interpretation video.

[As I mentioned in the previous video, Park Moondae’s magical prop is being presented as a book, but it’s actually ‘sleep’. Park Moondae returns to the past through sleeping or actions of obscuring vision symbolized by sleeping.]

On the screen, my hand covering and then uncovering the camera, Park Moondae standing at the school gate, and I were coming out.

And the video continued to the part where he opened the door and ran into the school.

It was a scene from the Airplane music video.

[But isn’t this cut familiar somehow? That’s right. it appeared in this BETTER ME music video as well.]

[But it’s not Park Moondae, it’s Bae Sejin.]

The cut of Bae Sejin running down the school hallway was repeated in the video. The composition was certainly the same.

[Furthermore, what is the object that Bae Sejin threw and broke the class motto frame after this? It is exactly that padlock that Park Moondae locked the entrance with in ‘Magical Boy’.]

That was a detail put in to be noticed.

[Based on these parts, I set up a hypothesis that these two are actually different personalities of the same person.]

And the evidence continued.

[Did you just see it? There are only 6 dormitory beds in the Airplane music video. And in the BETTER ME music video, Park Moondae is sitting alone in the very corner back seat. It’s a position where it wouldn’t be strange even if a student wasn’t there, actually.]

[And there hasn’t been a single cut so far where a person other than Bae Sejin directly talks to Park Moondae.]

The members marveled.

“Ooh.”

“…It’s plausible.”

It was a correct statement.

But the problem was that it was just a misunderstanding.

The padlock was taken from the entrance door but was cut off due to time, and the hallway composition also just happened to be put in identically because the director liked it.

As for not having a cut of me talking with other members… no, I think even Seon Ahyun wasn’t there in the first place?

However, the fans seemed to find this theory quite interesting, as the views and comments were amazing.

‘…Should I suggest just living with that setting from the next album onwards?’

Originally, shouldn’t you put out something the buyer likes rather than what the seller likes?

Anyway, the music video finished the ‘Park Moondae and Bae Sejin same person theory’ and returned to the explanation of the worldview connection.

[When considering the time-slip through Park Moondae’s dreams, the timeline follows the order of ‘Airplane’ -> ‘Magical Boy’ -> ‘BETTER ME’, and finally ‘BONUS BOOK’, which is the trailer video.]

[However, as if they don’t intend to include the trailer video in the official flow, it ended as a ‘thing that doesn’t happen’ as Bae Sejin prevented the incident in this ‘BETTER ME’ music video.]

The screen showed the trailer video where Cha Yujin blew up the doll and this music video where he didn’t blow it up in a split screen.

‘He guessed this accurately.’

It was a device made to not get too entangled with the game.

Because we didn’t want to be dragged around by the game story, and the game side wouldn’t have wanted to be completely drained by our worldview either.

‘We processed it as an IF version.’

Seeing people’s reaction to the game now, it seemed like a good choice. …There were quite a few people who were already dazed, I couldn’t give them a bigger shock.

[Thinking about the ending they face in , it can be said to be a good thing… but it’s really sad that the way to see the future of our first companions in the future is remoteㅠㅠ.]

And as a subtitle below, [Spiral Potato who wailed the moment B11 died] appeared.

“…….”

It seemed the influence was stronger than expected.

[However, I’m also looking forward to it as it seems the members’ abilities used in the trailer can be reflected in the future worldview as well! Quack quack!]

[Then everyone, see you in the next music video interpretation~]

“See you~”

“The duck is smart.”

I handed the TV over to Cha Yujin and checked the video comments with my smartphone.

-Wow, TeStar is really crazy, the worldview is insane
-It seems for real that the two are the same person, I got goosebumps
-Spiral Potato-nim, thank you for the high-quality interpretation always~ Thanks to you, I’m watching music videos comfortably without using my brain!
-I thought it had a battle royale feel since I watched Better Me, but seeing it like this, it’s even more interesting. I enjoyed watching it^^

By the looks of it, this person’s theory seemed to have been solidified as the established theory. Even when sorted by latest comments, there was no one criticizing or pointing things out.

‘It’s interesting.’

It was interesting to see it being interpreted anew as it fell into place cleanly even in parts that no one intended.

And game enthusiasts who happened to flow in occasionally also caught my eye.

-So what do I have to do to see B11?
└Moondae comes to SNS often, so it’s good to follow him~ㅎㅎ
└No, I’m a game enthusiast, and I just commented to ask if Moondae-nim did anything else as B11. Anyway, thank you for the replyㅠㅠ
└Ah, yesㅠㅠ

“Hmm.”

This reminded me. Come to think of it, there was something being released additionally during this week.

It was content being released just as fan service, but unexpectedly, a reaction might come from this side too.

‘It might be a bit embarrassing.’

I touched the back of my neck and turned off my smartphone.

And at 10:31 PM the next evening, another new video was uploaded to TeStar’s official WeTube channel.

[TeStar ‘BETTER ME’ Dance Practice Video Late Halloween Ver]

It was exactly the dance practice video of TeStar wearing the outfits of the initial companions from as Halloween costumes.