Chapter 113

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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For the past few days, in the community, some hard players were analyzing the ‘BETTER ME’ music video.

The reason was that a strange belief had been formed that there would be game-related bait due to the connection with the trailer.

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[I checked the God-star video this time]
: The appearance of the school uniform monsters appearing in the middle is the bait.
If you go to the Gangnam Bookstore dungeon, records of survivors when the meteorite fell appear, and it’s identical to the description of people mutated by the meteorite that appears there (Game screenshot).
In other words, the God-star video is a bait about the point when the meteorite fell 7 years ago.
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-Collaboration infiltration reaching even here?ㄷㄷ
-Hey, it’s plausible
-Do I have to watch a male idol music video to play this game
-Is this what they call an over-immersed otaku?
-Bullshit ㄴㄴ Then it means their faces are the same even though 7 years have passed. The factory perverts don’t miss these things
└What if everyone is already in a post-human state infected by the meteorite? What if God-star is a superpower concept and that superpower is because of the meteorite mutation?
└This guy is smart
└Is your brain mortgaged to the factory? Being smart, my foot, it’s just otaku delusion

But in my ears, as a factory worker, it sounds quite tempting? It doesn’t seem like a bad idea?
└You crazy bastardsㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

It was controversial, but the more people dissected the music video, the more suspicious elements they found.

It was a case of ‘if you wear it on your nose, it’s a nose ring, if you wear it on your ear, it’s an earring’ (arbitrary interpretation), but the trend was to talk about it for now.

-Can you see the calendar behind the classroom? It’s 2030. 127 Section is set in 2037, 7 years before the meteorite incident. It’s a dead giveaway, right? (Capture of blurry MV background)
-God-star fans were pushing the theory that B11 and the Doctor are the same person, and this explains why only B11 has a codename. B11 is a drone-linked android clone
└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋThese guys are really funny

But no big evidence popped up, and since it wasn’t a video designated as an official collaboration, the story hovered around the level of suspicion.

And an atmosphere where people who chanted for the initial companions occasionally appeared continued as usual.

-Ah, I don’t know, just give me back the sniper, you Ruined Factory bastardsㅋㅋㅋ Or sell a companion name change ticket, so I can give him the sniper’s name
└Hieek, otaku…!
└Do you do such things?
-I just started and it’s urgent, so I’m asking, why does everyone die? Give me a strategy for this
└There’s no such thing
└If you go to the official cafe, guys like you appear every hour ㄱㄱ

At a time when the initial companions were still a hot potato like this, TeStar uploaded a late Halloween commemorative dance practice video.

Furthermore, this video started with TeStar all lying on the floor from the thumbnail.

And the moment the prelude of ‘BETTER ME’ flowed, the members who rose smoothly took starting poses different from their original choreography.

It was exactly the pose from the illustration that pops up when entering a battle in the game.

Because they dressed up quite earnestly, the members, who looked identical to the trailer, even made similar expressions, heightening the atmosphere.

Cha Yujin even changed the intro.

-Do you trust me?
It’s ME
Oooohh….

Afterward, every time the most impressive part of their part came out, all the members came out with small props symbolizing their characters and briefly imitated the battle highlight cutscenes.

Most compromised with a hat, a flask, or at most a bunch of small light bulbs to provide light while bringing the choreography to life, so the atmosphere was light and pleasant.

However, Kim Raebin, during the chorus he sang, was flustered after falling while pulling out a mannequin from the camera’s blind spot.

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

From the flustered Kim Raebin to the members holding back laughter and moving the mannequin together, the gloomy lyrics somehow made it sound funny like a meme.

Furthermore, from the members who handled such things very shamelessly to the members who were a bit embarrassed or shy about exaggerated battle motions, it matched the impression the characters showed in the game.

Thanks to that, the over-immersion of people watching the video deepened further, and then reached its peak in the last part.

-Thank you!
-See you again~
-Let’s meet again!!

It was the final dance break where the originally gloomy atmosphere loosened up and reached its climax.

But the moment the members, who danced happily, even said such things while waving their hands, the ending they faced in the game completely overlapped.

The members just acted out of excitement for a somewhat shy and fun filming, but the aftermath was scary.

The comments were full of people crying. It was to the extent that English comments were pushed down in the top exposure.

-ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠEuaaaak!
-We’re seeing each other again, right? Right, guys?ㅠㅠ You’re doing another collaboration, right!?
-Ah, PTSD is coming hard, but what is this happy feeling?
-Guys, wait, I’m going to spend money now. I won’t stop until I get all our kidsㅠㅠ
-Our kids are living well over there, but I was obsessed with the wrong kids in the game… I’ll let them go… and wait until our TeStar returns…

Conflicting opinions were recommended and uploaded to the comments at the same time, and people crying and laughing in the replies broke out one after another.

The atmosphere was the same even in the game community where this video was shared.

-The dead companions came back because it’s Halloween
└Damn
└Don’t leave such a comment, it’s sad
└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋAh, our B11 didn’t die, he’s living fine in my deck. It’s just that I changed his name, what do you mean

-Don’t play such childish pranks when I’m calling you God-star (Emoticon unable to hold back tears)
-God-star is better than those devil-like factory bastards

Thanks to that, even game players who were not fans joined the parade of Loviewers crying and laughing in the comments.

The innocent foreign fans were flustered again without grasping the situation, but after grasping the situation through translations on SNS, it became more painful.

It was because had not yet launched global service…….

-I really want to play that game (Emoticon crying while laughing)
-PURE JEALOUSLY (Flaming emoticon)

Along with the distress of foreign fans who didn’t even get the chance to be sad, the Halloween commemorative dance practice video successfully became an influx channel for game enthusiasts.

The stormy October accompanying the game collaboration ended like that.

* * *

Early November. All the game collaboration content releases were finished.

But naturally, the group schedule became busier. It was because their stock price jumped up significantly as the results of this comeback were better than their debut.

As it happens, I am in the middle of a schedule that is like proof of that.

I mean an advertisement with a high unit price.

“Smile more by lifting the corners of your mouth~”

I tried my best to put on a smile that looked like a smile as much as possible while holding a light stick. Fortunately, the director seemed satisfied, as the next instruction came out.

“Tilt your head here!”

Tilt…….

For reference, I heard that a drawing of dog ears would be synthesized over this.

‘…Isn’t it going too far?’

Even the title of this advertisement was this.

[Magical boy TeStar’s magical artificial intelligence secretary, Curiosity!]

On top of that, since this AI character was a dog, it seemed they intended to use Park Moondae more actively.

I did have a thought of whether it would be okay to be broadcast on TV like this…….

Since it was 350 million won for 3 months, I made up my mind to keep my mouth shut and follow the advertiser’s instructions. They’ll handle it.

“Yes. It’s done~”

“Thank you.”

Anyway, the filming ended smoothly. The members who were waiting expressed the joy of the end of today’s schedule.

However, Big Sejin only waved his hand with a smiling face without taking his eyes off his smartphone.

Hmm, he’s not the type to do that, so somehow the feeling is not good.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, sorry. It’s nothing.”

Big Sejin shrugged his shoulders and put away his smartphone.

And Cha Yujin, who was blankly looking back and forth at me and Big Sejin from the side, said abruptly with sparkling eyes.

“Is it a girlfriend?”

“…!!”
“What?! No, absolutely not! Hey, what are you talking about~!”
“Eueuaak!”
“Don’t you even think about dating!”
“I don’t have any!”

Big Sejin shook Cha Yujin a few times and let him go. Then he smiled broadly and added a proper explanation.

“The guys who debuted before reached out suddenly. Hmm~ is it somehow strange?”

Seon Ahyun marveled from the side.

“Se-Sejin, you have so many friends!”

“Ahaha, well, not exactly friends~ just someone I know?”

Big Sejin smiled broadly and drew a line.

‘It means it’s pathetic that they’re contacting him only now.’

Big Sejin finished his words with a shrug.

“I’m going to see their faces next month anyway~”

“U-Uung?”

“Ah, you mean the year-end award ceremonies?”

At Ryu Chungwoo’s words, Big Sejin nodded his head.

“Yes. There’s less than a month left until our first award ceremony~”

“Wow…….”

“Time has passed like that already.”

At those words, everyone seemed to be lost in afterglow in their own way. They were definitely recalling the eventful year starting from up to this album.

And I had a premonition.

‘The schedule will turn even more crazy.’

It’s a schedule where there is almost no free time except for sleeping time. On top of that, having to parallel the preparation for the year-end award ceremonies?

It was visible that the agency was trying to pick and grab only the most profitable schedules even now.

It would probably be hard to reduce that side further, so they would have to reduce our sleeping time.

Whether I was not the only one who thought that far, Kim Raebin raised his hand and spoke.

“Then the preparation for the year-end award ceremony stage will also start soon.”

“Uu-mm.”

“…Is there a lot to prepare separately?”

To Bae Sejin’s cautious question, who hadn’t had much connection with music award ceremonies, intense reactions burst out from K-pop veterans here and there.

“We do special stages!”

“Presumably, they will probably make about three versions of the arrangement separately. It’s still unknown how much we will participate, but……”

“Ah, the choreography, won’t they make a lot of new ones as well…!”

“…….”

Bae Sejin, who has the lowest stats, already had a fed-up expression, but he soon nodded his head. His face, after grasping the situation, looked solemn.

“…A-Alright. I’ll have to work hard.”

“Right. Let’s work hard and attend many award ceremonies.”

“Awards are good!”

“Ah, it’s really good if we receive them~”

The conversation of the guys who had freshly given up on life continued harmoniously. The problem was that I was the same.

‘I have to care about the Rookie of the Year award.’

Sleep can be caught up on later. I checked the status abnormality once again.

[‘Award or Die’]
: If you fail to receive the Rookie of the Year award at the most prestigious domestic award ceremony within the designated period, death.

As long as the standard for that expression ‘most prestigious’ is ambiguous, it means I should secure the Rookie of the Year award at the three most famous award ceremonies if possible.

‘It’s not directly related to the award ceremony stage on the day, but if the stage is insincere, even the people who were voting will lose energy.’

It means I have to care about the stage as much as possible considering the award ceremony season that will last for a month.

‘Well, in terms of results, there are no competitors.’

I certainly felt more comfortable than before.

“For now, Moondae will take responsibility for our live. Doesn’t it feel so comfortable?”

“Re-Really!”

“Thank you always.”

“……Right. Thanks.”

“Haha!”

While I was organizing my thoughts, it became a conversation topic. Anyway, the team atmosphere was good.

And that night, while being carried in a car and moving, I received a KakaoTalk message.

[VTIC Cheongryeo Sunbaenim: Next is the Rookie of the Year award, right?]

“…….”

Isn’t this bastard still on tour?

Anyway, I have no intention of being hooked. I quickly sent a reply.

[I think I would be really happy to receive any award. I hope you also have good results, sunbaenim.]

A reply came back after some time had passed.

[VTIC Cheongryeo Sunbaenim: Yes^^]

‘I really want to block him.’

I turned off the talk notification and turned on the internet.

And while browsing related to award ceremonies, I found one post that caught my eye.

[Isn’t it a bit much for TeStar to get the Rookie of the Year award?]
?]