Chapter 138

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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When she clicked on the music video, the video title caught her eye before the 5-second advertisement.

[TeSTAR ‘Midnight, and Next (00:01)’ Official MV]

[Views: 22,147,586]

‘Heok, it became twenty-two million.’

When she saw it a while ago, it was twenty million, and although it had been a week since the release, the speed at which views were being added was quite fast.

The time it took to reach 10 million was also a new record for the group itself.

‘I’m also watching it again, so it’s no wonder.’

Saying it was understandable, the graduate student shrugged her shoulders.

Because TeStar’s music video this time was of a different grain from the previous ones.

“Ah, it’s starting.”

At that moment, the advertisement ended and the music video began.

[…….]

A classic gramophone covered in dust and cobwebs was caught on the screen.

A white hand suddenly came out from a corner and pressed the needle of the gramophone.

Tududuk.

As the cobwebs were broken, a slow and crackling melody began to flow out.

It was Lo-fi jazz that felt as if the sound quality was intentionally lowered.

A romantic and sorrowful piano rang out.

Soon, the screen cut to the entrance of a grand mansion.

Although old, the structure still showed traces of luxury and showcased tremendous visual beauty in the frames captured.

And in the middle.

Under a chandelier shining while covered in dust, the focus was caught on the seven members sitting in a formation.

The song began.

-Slowly being locked in
The time, the night
I don’t want to escape

-Quiet now
The song, the dream
Forget it all, it’s midnight here,
Your Midnight

The choreography unfolded.

The colors of modern dance and waltz were prominent. It was an elegant and complex choreography with many movements using the whole body and supporting each other.

Long sleeves fluttered.

There were no repetitive movements that were easy to follow or easy to memorize. It was purely a movement aimed at making one watch with an open mouth.

Those structural lines were captured long under the chandelier light.

-Even if the clock’s second hand runs and calls me
I can’t pull myself up today either
I am here, your midnight
Your Midnight

The video changed its background from the old and luxurious entrance to a dignified study where rain was falling, to a huge dining table lined with only rusty birdcages, and to a bathroom filled with red scented candles.

Each time, the hair and costumes also changed their shapes and colors, naturally assimilating with the background in an instant.

It was a crazy visual beauty.

And the background soon came to a bedroom where golden blue butterflies were flying around.

The evolution of the costumes, which seemed endless based on fancy suits, also came to the end.

It was a classic-style light shirt.

Between those shoulders, on the spine, a rotating dark brown clockwork was seen.

-Spreading Midnight
The distorted focus
Shakes and torments the time

The choreography that blooms in the final chorus.

The butterflies gathered every time the formation changed and sat on the clockwork like birds sitting on a perch.

The shadows on the floor lengthened, casting long butterfly wings.

-Overflowing Midnight
The collapsed Shape
Torn and a new day comes

There were no meaningful cutscenes, acting, or protruding narratives.

The video, consisting only of choreography and appropriate close-up shots, instantly swallowed time and passed by.

It was a music video where a song that fit as if clinging together with beautiful and ecstatic visual beauty flowed.

-The midnight
I met you
And the next

The lyrics ended like that. All sounds stopped for a moment.

The final accompaniment began faintly again.

While the piano and contrabass flowed thumping, a white hand appeared like the first scene. However, this time the camera went up along the arm.

The owner of the white hand was Seon Ahyun.

Seon Ahyun, who moved out of the choreography formation, headed toward a grandfather clock on one side of the bedroom.

And he tore off the bottom right wing of a blue stuffed butterfly hanging on the clock.

From the glass under the wing, a crack running diagonally was revealed.

[00:01]

An elegant cursive subtitle appeared over the grandfather clock caught again from the front, and the video ended.

‘Whew!’

It was so good even seeing it again!

The graduate student couldn’t control the corners of her mouth and rewound the last verse where Moondae’s close-up was caught.

The face of Park Moondae, with blue butterflies flying near his temples and a color rising while gazing slightly upward, was truly the best.

And there was also a finishing touch.

‘A choker on the neck!!’

Although the material and atmosphere were completely different, it was even better because it reminded her of the 2nd team match where she first saw Park Moondae.

The graduate student took another capture of that scene even though she had already done it.

‘Ah, I really love this music video! The song is also just good to listen to!’

It was exactly her taste to let her enjoy ecstatic visual beauty and an easy-to-listen song for 4 minutes without unnecessarily making question marks pop up in her head.

And that point was revealed right from the thumbnail.

Originally, TeStar had used narrative and meaningful thumbnails like hands, landscapes, or props since the ‘Magic Boy’ days.

But this time, they openly hung a member’s upper body close-up on the thumbnail.

It was Kim Raebin.

“Ummm.”

It was a shame it wasn’t Moondae, and since it was Kim Raebin, whose impression as the fan she first met was not very good, the graduate student felt a subtle feeling.

However, the cut itself was art.

‘……Raebin is handsome.’

The cut of Kim Raebin, moist with a corset choker on his neck and a blue butterfly visible under his chin, was great.

And he was also a person who perfectly matched this song.

Since it was a very languid and luxurious concept, Kim Raebin, who had a slightly decadent impression, suited it well.

The music video was also like a bombing of sight and hearing regardless of world-building or whatever.

‘Ah, it skipped.’

While she was lost in thought for a moment, the video that flowed again ended and a related video was played through auto-play.

It was the first stage of ‘Midnight, and Next’ performed at the concert.

[Aaaaaaaak!!!]
[Uwaaaak!!]

The singing was barely audible because of the screams.

‘Ah right! Everyone was like this!’

She chuckled while recalling the situation at that time.

She had forgotten because the link to her own fancam video sent by her fansite master friend had even cleanly edited the audio.

According to what she heard from her friend, it was even more of a mess because there wasn’t even a hint in the concept photos disclosed until just before.

‘Hmm, come to think of it, it was just like “the photos are pretty! I’m looking forward to it!” kind of feeling.’

That’s right.

For a more dramatic first stage impact, TeStar and the company accepted Park Moondae’s opinion and took the concept photos and teasers in a plain way.

They just produced moderately good-to-look cuts using suitable suits and a mansion.

-Came after hearing the news that Syeom-byeol finally escaped being concept-chus
└Uh, it became so boring
└Still, the kids are pretty so that’s enough

-Ah, something is a bit disappointing

-Are they skipping a turn this time? Since it’s a full album, there’s a lot to work on and the concert overlaps, so aren’t they going safely
└The hope circuit is strong, sorting waste will be difficult

-The initial intention is all dead, he’ll probably gain weight soon

The graduate student didn’t know well, but the raw reactions under the surface were about this much.

But the moment the concert came out, everything was flipped.

Even TeStar, thinking that it was okay to be a bit excessive since it was a concert costume, even came out with a butterfly model attached to the clockwork like a tail.

Since capital was poured in, the costume was not awkward even if it was that excessive.

-The Syeom-byeol bastards are sincere about concepts

-Who on earth gave the opinion for that shirt with the corset choker, humanly give them a performance bonus

-♡Butterfly boy I like it so much♡

The school worldview, which has had all its sweetness sucked out, is now a has-been, let’s push this.

-Fan girl initial intention fully charged

-As expected, boy groups are about sexy

After that, adding special photos that took the concept of the music video exactly for the album, and even uploading some on TeStar’s SNS, was perfect.

However, without necessarily needing to know such detailed calculations, the graduate student was just happy.

‘Right, let’s watch Moondae’s fancam too!’

The graduate student excitedly put in Wetube search terms and found the music broadcast fancam of Park Moondae’s new song this time.

The hairstyle that revealed only half of the forehead and the loose stage suit suited him really well.

‘Blonde is the best…!’

While she was happily watching the video, she suddenly opened the comment section.

Of course, she knew from experience that the best comments were plastered in English, but it was nice when she found one or two Korean comments.

When she saw those flattering comments, she also wanted to leave something as a reply.

“Ahem~”

While happily scrolling down the comment section, the graduate student finally found a Korean comment.

However… it wasn’t a comment with the feeling she was thinking of.

-Park Moondae fighting~ I like your energetic and cool appearance
-Moondae, do well! I hope you don’t have a hard time ㅠㅠ

“……?”

…A sense of incongruity was felt.

This concept was based on splendor and elegance and was even slightly sexy… and it was felt that they cared about artistry in every element.

And Park Moondae was a genius idol who assimilated that concept perfectly, neither too much nor too little!

‘But why is this kind of thing at the top instead of talk about the stage…?’

Of course, it wasn’t a bad feeling because it was good words.

However… a bit, the excitement cooled down.

“Ummm.”

The graduate student just skipped the comments and scrolled down. Fortunately, she soon found a flattering comment that exactly matched her heart and was able to press the heart.

-Every time Moondae blinks his eyes, the world blinks, this is exactly a total solar eclipse

‘This is it!’

The graduate student chuckled and was joyful.

The sense of incongruity was soon forgotten, but now she also seemed to slightly know what the point her friend was uneasy about was.

‘They are more interested in Moondae being kind than in Moondae himself…….’

Of course, it doesn’t mean the majority of people are like that, but the fact that such a current was created was no longer joyful.

‘I want to watch Moondae’s variety show soon.’

While waiting for the variety show, the graduate student rewound and watched the unit stage preparation video and unit stage fancam from the past concert whenever she had spare time.

And on the day of the broadcast.

She choked from the first appearance scene of Park Moondae and Big Sejin.

“Ku-heop!!”

Because Park Moondae and Big Sejin… were wearing pink fairy wings for infants quite meticulously.

“…??”

The two began to dance perfectly on the 80s music café-style stage to the music.

[Dancing magic! Soaring stocks! Two shining stars of TeStar have descended to the ground!]

That appearance wearing overalls was of course cute and handsome.

But the pink fairy wings snatched the viewer’s sight.

Subtitles also appeared.

[As if about to fly to the sky any moment…]
[The dance movements of a dream!]
[Is it a fairy or a human]

It was the DJ’s new remark.

‘Why… why did they wear such a thing?’

While looking at the screen in confusion, the graduate student soon realized.

“Ah, butterfly!”

It seemed they were conscious of the new song being implicitly called ‘Butterfly Boy’ among fans!

‘So cute!’

It was a big picture for both gag and promotion, but anyway, the fan who watched was joyful.

“Ahahaha!!”

The graduate student burst into laughter and turned up the volume.

And at the same time, TeStar was doing the same thing.

* * *

“Uahahahaha!!”
“Ke, ke-hem!”

The guys who gathered in the living room, saying they would monitor for us, burst into laughter.

‘I knew it would be like this.’

It was a bit embarrassing… but haven’t I experienced all sorts of bizarre and monstrous things so far for my composure to be broken by such a thing?

“Is it that funny?”
“Yes!!”

When Cha Yujin answered, Bae Sejin collapsed next to him. That answer seemed to be funny too.

‘…Let’s endure.’

I turned my eyes that were heading toward the remote control.

……But when the scene of me and Big Sejin surrounding the DJ booth and dancing came out, I couldn’t endure it anymore.

Me on the screen shouted.

[Wow, the best national MC!]

Tik.

I pressed the mute button.

“Eh??”
“Hey, why~”
“Moondae-ya, it’s fun! It’s okay!”

It’s not okay.

I looked at the screen with bitter eyes.

The latter half of the filming is truly… something to look forward to.