Chapter 127

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The status abnormality related to the Rookie of the Year award was lifted faster than expected.

‘I thought I would have to wait until February.’

The fact that it was lifted as soon as they received the award at the last large-scale award ceremony… probably meant that the current public opinion was overwhelming.

It was likely the influence of pushing through head-on when things were a mess due to the Rookie of the Year controversy. He hadn’t expected this to affect even the timing of the status abnormality’s removal.

‘Well, being able to check it quickly is a good thing.’

In any case, he hadn’t planned on clicking ‘Confirm Truth’ for a while, so even if it was achieved early, he wouldn’t be hit with a new status abnormality too soon.

“Thank you!”

While he was thinking, Big Sejin, who had finished his speech, stepped aside and gave up the spot in front of the stand microphone.

It meant it was his turn.

Park Moondae walked out slowly and stood in front of the microphone.

The flashing waves in front of him blurred his vision.

The luminous power that stood out even from a distance—they were Testa’s lightsticks.

‘…There are overwhelmingly more than at other award ceremonies.’

It was probably because VTIC was absent. Moondae checked the sight and put his mouth to the microphone.

“First of all, I would also like to start my speech by saying thank you.”

There was no reason to be reluctant to give an acceptance speech, but he had never felt like he wanted to step forward and do it either.

‘I only did it because we were taking turns.’

But looking at it now… as a way to express gratitude, it seemed like a decent method.

“…Testa is not a group that prepared as a team for a long time. To debut as a group after a short preparation period, when we hadn’t been verified as a team, we put in a lot of thought and effort.”

Of course, they didn’t just worry; they also cursed at the company, but anyway, it was the truth without lies.

And the next words were the same.

“And I think the driving force… was the fact that there were people waiting for us.”

……It wasn’t just the preparation for the debut.

It was the same in this Rookie of the Year controversy. Because he knew that if the situation reversed, there would be people who would immediately respond… he was able to choose such a primitive method.

Isn’t it a very strange and wonderful thing that there are people waiting to like it as long as a good result is put out?

“Thank you for believing and waiting, and for looking forward to us.”

He was grateful that they didn’t give up their expectations even in the tiring public opinion and annoying situations.

“To become a group that can give you excitement rather than worry when you think of Testa’s tomorrow, we will continue to do our best without forgetting our current hearts. Thank you.”

Moondae bowed his head. And for a bit longer, he continued his greeting.

Brilliant cheers poured down over his head. That sound, as powerful as the light of the lightsticks, felt hot for some reason.

And he felt hands patting his back.

‘It must be the members.’

Just as he was trying to think positively that it would be a good picture, he also heard slightly flustered whispers.

‘M-Moondae, are you okay?’

‘Are you crying?’

He wasn’t crying.

Another guy whispered seriously.

‘If it’s hard to raise your head right away, cover your face and turn around.’

Why on earth do you think I can’t raise my head because I’m embarrassed of crying?

‘Isn’t it normal to think the greeting is getting longer due to emotion and gratitude?’

Moondae held back a sigh and raised his head.

Then, countless brilliant lightsticks, as bright as the cheers, flickered and waved.

For some reason, it looked even bigger than before, like the Milky Way.

“…….”

‘That was close.’

If he had raised his head without thinking, he might have actually shed tears because he was so touched on his own.

Thanks to the guys who misunderstood that he was crying, he cooled down and it was neutralized, so he avoided a funny situation instead.

‘I’m even breaking out in a cold sweat.’

And at the same time, he thought of a trait he had discarded as soon as he saw it a few months ago.

[Trait: Faucet Under the Eyes (B)]
– Open and close it comfortably!
: Tear control ability MAX

He felt a slight chill down his spine.

‘…No way it’ll become necessary, right?’

He briefly suspected that it would end up like the Imperturbability case, which became necessary as soon as he discarded it… but soon shook his head inwardly.

‘Even so, I can’t give up other traits for something like this.’

If the worst comes to the worst, he just has to be a little embarrassed.

And well, would such a thing happen often? It was only on a day like today where complex circumstances overlapped.

‘Let’s just wave.’

Moondae waved his hand toward the audience and bowed his head along with the guys who were trying to poke his side with an attitude that seemed to say, “I thought you were crying!”

The lights were still hot.

* * *

After the award ceremony season was all wrapped up, the concert preparations began in earnest.

Among them, of course, was the unit stage preparation process with cameras.

[Magical Boy Testa’s magic-like AI Secretary!]

“Is it even coming out on Wetube now?”

“It’s Chungwoo hyung!”

As Cha Yujin said, Ryu Chungwoo was appearing on the TV screen connected to Wetube.

Ryu Chungwoo, with a new wing graphic edited onto his shoulders, smiled and winked while making a slight shooting motion with his index finger and thumb.

[Catch, Curious!]

It was a very normal commercial scene where Ryu Chungwoo appeared as a cheerful, handsome man.

“What!”

“Why is only hyung doing something cool!?”

“……It’s not… an animal?”

Bae Sejin’s last question sounded almost sinister.

But Ryu Chungwoo just ran his hand through his hair with a smile, as if even this was embarrassing.

“Haha, it’s not that it’s cool… The fans compare me to a ‘bird’ a lot, so I think it ended up like this while trying to match that.”

However, the members’ reactions were cold.

“You could have done it as a cheep-cheep chick, but you did something cool.”

“I was going to press skip for you, but there was no need for that.”

“No, I didn’t decide it either, guys!”

Ryu Chungwoo was flustered for a moment, but soon realizing that it was a reaction born from light unfairness, he smiled and watched the situation cutely.

‘…It must be nice that his image animal is a hawk.’

While someone else ended up in that state after pushing for a puppy.

Moondae quickly shook off his own commercial cut that came to mind and focused on the video being played.

[Je te donne des fleurs que…….]

A slow and beautiful chanson was flowing on the screen. It was the unit song chosen by Kim Raebin and Ryu Chungwoo.

Big Sejin asked as he habitually admired it.

“Oh, you’re going to use that song?”

“Yes.”

Kim Raebin nodded, his eyes sparkling.

“I think it’s a melody that goes well with Chungwoo hyung’s vocal color. If we leave only the keyboard instrument sounds and change the rhythm to be kitschy, it will become a very sensible Inst…!”

“Yeah. I’m looking forward to it too because Raebin seems to find it fun.”

Ryu Chungwoo chuckled and nodded.

He could guess what kind of atmosphere this team was proceeding with.

‘He’s just letting Kim Raebin run wild.’

Since it was just one unit stage, Ryu Chungwoo didn’t seem to judge conservatively and was fully accepting Kim Raebin’s ideas.

‘A fun picture will come out.’

It was quite interesting.

And next, Cha Yujin excitedly searched for a video and played it.

An old pop song flowed out based on a brown album cover.

‘…Pop song of all things?’

He thought it might be a song selection that was too advantageous for Cha Yujin, who was a Korean-American, but he soon realized that couldn’t be the case.

Big Sejin probably picked the song he wanted after only taking care of the dynamic of being considerate of Cha Yujin.

‘I’ll change my last name if that guy made a concession in this field.’

His last name was already changed, but he tried betting it once more.

When Big Sejin met his eyes, he twitched his eyebrows almost imperceptibly. It seemed that the pop song was indeed a song he had induced.

“I like this song! I’m totally looking forward to it!”

“Right, let’s make a cool stage~”

“Let’s make it!”

When Cha Yujin excitedly raised his hand, Big Sejin responded with an exciting high-five.

‘Well, if both are satisfied, then it’s fine.’

It didn’t look like there were any big problems so far.

“T-Then… we will play the song we chose…!”

“Ooh~”

The last was the group consisting of Moondae, Bae Sejin, and Seon Ahyun.

Seon Ahyun came forward according to the script and operated the Wetube screen.

Then, a tacky and relaxed band accompaniment began to flow.

[Woo! I can hear your heart~]

“Huh?”

Looking at the slightly flustered guys from the other groups, Moondae explained with a smile.

“It’s ‘You’re Amazing’ by Miso sunbaenim.”

It was a song by a female solo singer who was active in the late 80s. Moderately bright, and moderately emotional.

The chorus of this song, ‘Woo woo woo~ Amazing!’, was famous enough that even teenagers or those in their 20s had probably heard it at least once on variety shows or elsewhere.

But that was all.

It probably looked like neither the impact nor the atmosphere suited a song to be used in a recent concert.

Ryu Chungwoo had a slightly shocked face.

“You three are going to do this song?”

“Yes.”

Moondae nodded nonchalantly, and the other two team members also affirmed with slightly flushed faces.

After scanning those faces, Ryu Chungwoo finally nodded.

“Okay… Moondae, you picked it?”

“…? No. Seon Ahyun and Sejin hyung picked it.”

The two of them had put it on the candidate list first, and they chose it together after consultation.

“……Hmm. I see.”

Ryu Chungwoo nodded immediately, but Moondae could feel him hiding his worry.

‘If the cameras hadn’t been there, he would have already asked if this was really okay.’

Seon Ahyun, who hadn’t noticed that sign, just muttered with an excited face.

“I-I thought it would suit us well, so I’m already looking forward to it!”

Bae Sejin also looked hesitant about whether to speak or not, but eventually opened his mouth while looking at the camera.

“…I think it will be a cool stage, so I think you can look forward to it.”

Watching the two of them express their opinions actively, which was rare, Ryu Chungwoo’s face gradually became comfortable.

Since they liked it so much, he thought there might be some charm in this song that he didn’t know about.

Ryu Chungwoo finally glanced at Moondae. And he asked with a face that seemed to want a final reassurance.

“…Moondae, you’re confident too?”

“It’s hard to be unconditionally confident in any stage. I’ll do my best to complete it.”

“……”

“Let’s all work hard!”

“Let’s work hard!”

“Testa, fighting!”

As soon as the filming ended, Ryu Chungwoo asked about three times if it would really be okay, and Moondae nodded all three times.

Only then did Ryu Chungwoo disappear to brew coffee with a somewhat relieved face.

‘Did I play a prank for nothing?’

He had intended to tease him a bit since he was the only one who avoided the commercial Russian roulette, but because he was a guy with a strong sense of responsibility, it worked better than expected.

‘Actually, what I’m worried about is a different part.’

Moondae’s worry… was the new song stage.

‘The first stage at a concert before the digital track is even released.’

The title track and the sub-track. He had to make the audience enjoy two songs that were unfamiliar to them and hadn’t been verified by the public.

It was important to keep the atmosphere from sagging.

“……Hmm.”

After pondering, Moondae came up with a short and clear answer.

‘Let’s pour capital into it.’

Fortunately, the company had a lot of money.

* * *

At the time when Testa was focusing on preparing for the concert and the new album.

The concert date was finally announced.

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[Concert announcement is up]
: March 30th~31st, weekend schedule for both days
(Announcement image)
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– Crazy, crazy, finally a concert
– Uaaaaagh
– Hull, so the news about the venue rental was true
– Ah, please, just one seat for me ㅠㅠ
– A concert only 9 months after debut, my god, what’s going on with our kids
– I won’t ask for much, I’d really be happy if I could just go ㅠㅠ
– Already imagining holding the lightstick and singing the fan song

Since the fans had already confirmed through word of mouth that the agency had rented the Gymnasium, they were filled with expectation.

And the moment the expectation became reality, people screamed with joy and immediately started preparing for ticketing.

– Loviewers from the provinces who are going to the concert, quickly book your accommodations first. If you’re relaxed, the reservations will fill up quickly and the prices will go up a lot ㅠㅠ
– Where do you check the After Park server time?
– Is there anything else to prepare for the fan club pre-sale?
– I want to grab a standing spot, I’m really desperate

But even before they could calmly start preparing for ticketing, new news poured in.

– Hull, they say pre-orders for our new album start next month? (Announcement link)
└ ?? What
└ Suddenly?
└ Announcing the April 1st comeback already?
└ Hull, it’s the day after the concert
└ A comeback as soon as the concert ends? It’s good that there’s a lot of content but… uh…

The fans were already flustered by that, but the news was not over yet.

– The article is out… they say they’ll reveal the new song for the first time at the concert (Article link)
└ What…?
└ No, what’s going on
└ Then they’re doing the first stage at the concert even before the music video comes out?
└ Hull, crazy, I think I’ll go insane if I can’t go to the concert…

There was more.

– They’re doing unit stages at Testa’s first concert, and the stage production process will be released as reality content on Wetube. (Interview link)
└ What?
└ Wait, so many things all of a sudden ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ They’re doing unit stages and even making a reality show for it?
└ I’m so happy that I can’t stop being suspicious. There’s no way T1 would work…?

While the fans were struggling to digest the news frantically, they were firmly establishing one fact.

‘The competition for the concert will be insanely high!’

And in this whirlpool of confusion and tension. Testa posts an SNS post.

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[Testa is finally having its first concert! >_< Is everyone coming to see us? ㅠㅠ We're also going to try to challenge the concert reservation with Loviewers!]
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It was nothing short of a challenge.