Chapter 68

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“…….”

A silence like a lie flowed for a while.

The general manager asked back as if he had heard an out-of-the-blue joke.

“…Magical girl? You mean the thing kids watch? Like Luna Moon?”

“Yes.”

Park Moondae quickly organized the situation before the general manager could feel unpleasant.

Tack.

“Of course, it doesn’t mean a truly child-oriented magical girl.”

As one more PPT page was flipped, prop cuts with dreamy colors were seen.

A classroom window sparkling in the sunset light.

A sky wallpaper of a cracked feature phone.

A classroom clock with purple effects billowing.

…….

“However, if we only took the symbolic motifs that the genre had and reconstructed them, it was a field that was sufficiently competitive. As retro sensitivity was popular recently, it was also a choice that could catch both public appeal and foresight.”

“……Mmm.”

Park Moondae put several cases of retro marketing on the PPT. Among them, there was an SNS viral conducted by T1, the parent company of the agency.

“Also, if the dreamy song atmosphere and the keywords ‘youth’ and ‘magic’ harmonized, I thought it could sufficiently bring artistic value with the composition of an art film, etc.”

Art.

It was a sharp poke into the weak point of a high-ranking person like the general manager.

When the general manager was talking about self-produced idols, Park Moondae realized what kind of image he expected from this agency business.

‘He wanted to look impressive, so it can only work well.’

Since he had talked a lot about public appeal in front, he had made enough excuses for commerciality.

“These are the related image references and arrangement drafts.”

Park Moondae flipped the PPT and showed additional image materials selected together with the members.

And finally, he briefly played song No. 7.

It was the chorus part.

However, the feeling was different from the demo.

“…!”

“We plan to proceed with the overall arrangement in this direction.”

Kim Raebin, who stood together and looked at the presentation material, nodded his head slightly.

Seeing the person who led the arrangement being satisfied gave a strange comfort, so the other members also felt slightly relieved.

‘We didn’t sleep a wink because of that.’

It was fortunate for them that Ryu Chungwoo had a car and a driver’s license. Because they could go to the workroom after just sending a text message to the manager.

Of course, the manager who woke up in the morning and saw the text was terrified.

“Oh…….”

The general manager made a strange exclamation and then soon nodded his head.

And he clapped.

“Ah, indeed, there should be young and talented friends. Preparing like this in just one day, including the presentation~”

‘He liked it.’

Park Moondae suppressed a snort.

The general manager bragged to the working-level staff with a compliment that didn’t even sound like a compliment, saying ‘I think they’re better than the kids who join the company these days,’ and then finally talked about the main point.

“Good~ try proceeding like this.”

“…!”

“Thank you!”

“Ah, I’m okaying this because it’s me. Other general managers, old people, don’t know this kind of thing well~”

Park Moondae looked at the general manager who was acting high and mighty and gave a sound smile as much as possible. It was the vibe of dealing with a professor.

For reference, the members who saw that sight were exchanging glances from behind, saying ‘Exactly how much did he want to do No. 7’.

“Right. Believing in you, general manager, there is one more thing I want to tell you.”

“Hmm?”

Park Moondae flipped one more PPT page that was thought to be finished.

“It was the opinion about the song that the company had prepared.”

“……?”

“Ah, we also really liked the concept of the baseball club. Right?”

“Of course!”

“I really wanted to try it once.”

“I heard you decided on it, general manager. Thank you!”

Park Moondae and the members enthusiastically exchanged the already scheduled responses.

‘Finish it before the company people come to their senses.’

“So, so that we can save the traditional baseball club feeling more, how about we add another genre instead of disco.”

“W-What?”

Park Moondae smiled faintly.

“How about using Rock?”

“…!”

* * *

Two weeks before the debut date of TeSTAR, which the agency had officially announced.

Articles were posted on portal sites.

[ TeSTAR makes a sudden debut on June 18th]

[TeSTAR, a large rookie from an audition, countdown to debut]

[Even TeSTAR appears… June music world upheaval]

It was a date about five days later than the deadline originally set for the debut period, but still, the reaction of the fans was hot.

Because there had been no news for the past half month.

-Ah, finally

-It seems something was in progress. Phew…

-20 days left. Finally, I can wait with a peace of mind.

-Nothing was uploaded on the kids’ SNS except for the first postㅠㅠ Guys, you said you’d look forward to working with us! You’re all busy preparing for the album, right?ㅠㅠ

-The reality schedule was also set, I hope the trailer pops up soon

Some fans were slightly worried about the schedule overlapping with VTIC, but since they couldn’t ask to delay the debut that already had a date, they were satisfied with the reality.

-The kids will like itㅋㅋ There were quite a few members who said they respect VTIC, right?

-Well, as it is, it’s not a complete simultaneous release and there will be about a week’s difference, so it’ll be okay.

-I can see Moondae meeting Chungryeo-nim again

└Thinking about it already makes me smile

Fans talked about various things using a single line of news as bait.

There were fans who expressed dissatisfaction, but the reaction that let’s wait for now was the majority.

And one week later.

Less than two weeks left until the comeback.

-Why is nothing coming out?

People exploded.

-Is the agency not working

-It’s time for teaser images to come out, why aren’t they popping up? The kids’ SNS is also silent

-No, how can there be no bait to this extent? Seriously, it doesn’t make sense

-They didn’t just put out an article and put the kids on some island, right?;; No sightings either

-They aren’t just neglecting the kids and eating the agency’s investment money, right? I won’t let it go.

There was a scary prelude to a battle as if they would announce a statement at any moment. The hurriedly made agency homepage was already in a state of being inaccessible due to traffic over.

On that day, just before the anger that exploded could tear the LAN cable.

The teaser popped up at midnight on that day.

* * *

[TeSTAR ‘Magical Boy’ Official Teaser]

“…….”

On the thumbnail, two hands reaching for the sky were floating. The sky, where yellow and purple were mysteriously mixed, caught the eye.

But when clicking play, a black screen suddenly appeared.

Click.

An English narration flowed with subtitles.

[When I was a child, I always went back home before the sun set.]

[There was no night with the moon up in that daily life.]

[And now]

[I look out the window in the classroom.]

[The sun was setting.]

Chrrrrrr- Click.

The sound of a film being played was heard.

At that moment, the sunset sky filled the screen.

Golden, magenta, and red sunlight collided dazzlingly.

The sound of a music box rang.

♬♪♩♪- ♬♪♬♪- ♪♩-

As the two scales soaked the screen like water droplets, they colored it dreamily.

Before I knew it, the camera began to move back gradually. A white border surrounded the fantastic colored sky.

It was a window frame with curtains fluttering.

And, an ivory person leaning on the window frame and sleeping was seen.

[…….]

The back of a black-haired boy wearing a white summer school uniform.

Around him, a worn-out glove and a baseball were scattered.

The boy tossed and turned slightly. Through that, the sunset light poured in.

♬♪♩♪- ♬♪♬♪- ♪♩-

The moment the boy’s white school uniform was colored pink by the sunset.

The fluttering curtain seemed to unfold greatly, and then it shone white and crumbled like crystals.

Pas-s-s-s…….

Those transparent crystal pieces poured onto the boy’s back, spraying the purple sunset in all directions.

It was a feast of ecstatic colors.

And.

The screen turned black.

[Magical Boy]

[06.18. 00:00]

“…….”

The short 30-second video was the end of it.

But the terrifying number of views proved the reaction.

[Views: 5,191,045]

It was a crazy momentum.

It was said that it hadn’t even taken a day to reach three million.

Considering that TeSTAR had no particular foundation overseas, it was an astonishing level.

“How is it?”

“D-Do people… like it?”

I nodded.

“Yeah.”

“T-Thank God…!”

Several members who were doing a digital detox for their mental state ahead of the debut sat down on the floor.

It seemed the fatigue made their eyes go dark as the tension was released.

‘It’s understandable.’

Honestly, if the reaction had been bad, my mental state would have melted slowly too.

Because I had been working like a cow with insomnia for 25 days then….

‘…Still, the date is tight.’

Actually, the teaser was scheduled to be released later. Since the editing of the ‘Magical Boy’ music video wasn’t even finished yet.

But since it seemed that the people who were waiting would vomit blood from stress if we left it any longer, everyone put in quite an effort to move it forward.

‘The agency seemed to finally get scared.’

Anyway, the reaction was overwhelmingly… good.

-Crazy, what’s with this quality

-My goodness, how could they have such a concept;; I’m really flustered, please call out your account number

-Guys, it’s already fun, it’s already a god-song

-What? Magical Boy? You are my magic… Aaaaah

-So that’s why there was no news, they were making such a thing… then I can’t help it, okay I understand

-My wallet belongs to TeSTAR. Reserved by the teaser.

Not a single comment scratching the fans’ nerves caught my eye. It meant the reviews were so good that the dislikes were all pushed away.

To my eyes too, the teaser came out well. They picked the parts to be revealed from the song well, and the direction was appropriate.

‘Making it so that people don’t know who appeared by showing only the back was also a good choice.’

If we had made it so that only one person was clearly shown in a teaser for a group debuting through a survival, we wouldn’t have known what kind of things would have happened.

And above all, the visual beauty into which capital was poured was superb. Although it was a form of making up for the lack of time with money.

‘It seems people’s expectations have become too large… but since the song is good, we should be able to cover it somehow.’

Since additional content would continue to pop up within a few days, fans wouldn’t be anxious.

“…Guys, let’s pull ourselves together and prepare again.”

“Yes……”

At Ryu Chungwoo’s tired voice, the members rose up like zombies, swaying.

I also threw the smartphone roughly and joined.

“Good work. Now the music video… it’s over once we finish filming this song.”

“Wow……”

“The schedule will turn around choreography practice.”

“…….”

It was a march of ordeal.

“Yes!”

In the terrible silence, only Cha Yujin’s answer rang out excitedly.

At that moment, a staff member approached.

“Setting is finished~”

“Yes!”

The second music video filming was finishing up slowly.

In fact, considering that filming usually started at least a month before, it was a crazy schedule.

‘…It means all officials are confirmed to stay up all night.’

For reference, the director who filmed ‘Magical Boy’ was also filming this.

‘This company, the working-level staff are definitely good at their work.’

I wondered where they had pulled the music video director from; they had recruited a famous emerging director in an instant. It seemed they had hijacked him in the middle through connections.

It was an action worthy of the experienced staff gathered ambitiously at T1.

…The problem was that the general manager, who only had motivation, and the haphazard company system were unexploded bombs that didn’t know when they would explode.

Especially, I wanted the higher-up who had been hitting articles about the debut within a month because he was blinded by the media play that ‘TeSTAR’s agency is here’ to resign right away.

……I decided to erase this from my head for then. I was only getting stressed unnecessarily when I had to work.

“Did everyone master their own filming portion?”

“I didn’t have anything particularly to master.”

“Me too!”

“Ah, right~ we didn’t particularly have anything. It seemed Sejin hyung-nim would suffer though?”

“…Not really.”

Lee Sejin answered bluntly, but he didn’t look uncooperative.

Since story lines were included in both music videos we were filming by chance, we decided to use the existing former child actor well.

‘Hmm, it wouldn’t be bad to put some wind into him to make him work harder.’

I spoke to Lee Sejin.

“Actually, I was quite impressed while watching. …You were really good.”

“…….”

It wasn’t a complete empty word. Surely the experience doesn’t go anywhere. Among us, he was the only one who didn’t look like an amateur even in a single cut in an unedited state.

“I understand Moondae’s feeling. He’s a guy who gets embarrassed about the cut where only the back of his head comes out in the teaser saying it’s a solo shot~”

Nonsense came back from an unexpected guy.

Keun Sejin immediately turned his gaze away and feigned ignorance when I looked back. This bastard really….

“…I should do well if I’m going to make a living with that.”

“Eh?”

Lee Sejin didn’t answer further. He just followed the staff with a somewhat sunken face.

‘Even if I praise him, he’s like that.’

I suppressed a sigh. Even the stamina to be annoyed was a waste.

“Now, we’ll go in from the group choreography scene~”

“Yes!”

I took a pose according to the choreography formation and rearranged the schedule in my head.

Originally, concept photos should have popped up first, but as the schedule was delayed because of releasing teaser videos, they were scheduled to be released around the time the album was released.

‘Then probably… reality will be released first.’

Actually, I had thought the video trailer would pop up by the previous week at the latest, but it felt quite late even then. Since there were only a few days left until the main broadcast.

And as expected, the reality trailer was uploaded on this night.

[TeSTAR’s Living Together TEST]

[June 8th Friday 7 PM Grand Opening!]