Chapter 76

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Keun Sejin grumbled for quite a while.

“No, you’re not accepting it too much. I didn’t even say let’s ask for a female idol’s number.”

“…….”

If you did, something other than glucose would have flown.

Anyway, Keun Sejin seemed to feel better after eating all the candies, and after getting into the car, he joked again.

“Ah, I see. Moondae, you have a female idol you wanted to see?”

None, you bastard.

‘I saw plenty of them at events, so what.’

I gave a smirk and replied.

“What about you?”

“Ah, me? I’m married to the fans~ Female idol? What was that again?”

At Keun Sejin’s innocent words, I heard Ryu Chungwoo laughing.

Kim Raebin chimed in seriously.

“You are right. We must strive not to excessively let our guard down toward other groups, regardless of gender.”

“Eh?”

“Because female idols are also competitors…!”

“……?”

Because Kim Raebin shouted poignantly out of the blue, everyone couldn’t answer for a while.

Whether he took that as some kind of signal, Kim Raebin continued the explanation more seriously.

“Think carefully. Idols are in a long-term competition. However, the people who like idols are limited. Then, as idol groups persist for a long time and try various concepts regardless of gender, the target groups gradually overlap…!”

Seon Ahyun was startled.

“I-I see…!”

“That’s right. Therefore, we should never lower our guard against idol groups whose demand overlaps!”

“…….”

“……Um.”

A silence flowed for a moment.

‘Let’s just… agree with him.’

I opened my mouth with effort.

“Um, you’re right.”

“…!! Right!”

Kim Raebin’s eyes sparkled as if he were savoring the moment of victory for a while. Ryu Chungwoo handled the situation gently.

“Raebin is smart.”

“Thank you!”

Behind Kim Raebin’s energetic voice, I heard Cha Yujin muttering smallly.

“Isn’t he an idiot?”

It was a relationship of ignoring each other among guys who were about the same. I understood well.

* * *

Music show filming proceeded daily until Sunday after that.

After doing the dawn pre-recording, which is prepared in the middle of the night, about every other day, my head started to feel dizzy.

At least for the Friday music show, the pre-recording proceeded from 9 AM, so I took a breath, but it didn’t make a big difference since I went to work at 7 AM.

Since even I, who had the ‘Bacchus 500’ trait, was at that level, the situation of other guys was obvious without looking.

‘Yesterday Lee Sejin almost collapsed.’

Fortunately, he fell inside the car and it ended without getting hurt. Whether the agency was also surprised, the diet, which didn’t have a single bit of oil, became a bit more relaxed after that.

In the midst of this, trying to even take care of the reality content in the evening, it was natural for stamina to be ground away.

‘…To think we have to do this every week.’

The good thing was only that exact moment of doing the stage while hearing the cheering sounds. It was a very great structure that both fans and idols have to endure a time of patience for that moment.

It was even more so when thinking that there are more kids who cry because they couldn’t grab this opportunity.

‘It wrings a person dry.’

I sighed.

“The 1st place on the 3rd week of June Popular Music is… Congratulations, VTIC’s Night Sign!”

Anyway, the last music show of the weekend finally ended. I sent mechanical applause to the 1st place winner.

‘I was able to sleep a bit because they didn’t let us do the pre-recording here.’

From what I overheard, it seemed they acted a bit territorial because we were from a cable audition. No wonder the order was early to mid-part.

Of course, there were pros and cons. Since there was no pre-recording, there were limitations in the stage composition.

Because we have to finish the stage with one live broadcast.

‘For the 1st week of activity… it would be useful to do the pre-recording.’

It’s absurd even as I think about it, but I think it’s better for the result to be good if there’s no work-life balance anyway.

“Shall we take some photos?”

“Good!”

“Moondae, how about a selfie?!”

As soon as we returned to the waiting room, photo requests came in first.

‘It’s for SNS upload.’

I had to take such things. Without a word, I just received the smartphone and turned on the front camera.

And I adjusted the angle so that the upper body costumes of all 7 people came out, and took photos in a burst.

Then they chose well among themselves and uploaded them with excitement.

As expected, guys who were arguing over which photo to upload appeared again.

“Now, isn’t photo No. 3 the best? It’s good to see all 7 people smiling~”

“The mouth is weird. Use the next one!”

“Please don’t listen to him. Using a photo where only one person came out well is an irrational action.”

“A-All the photos came out well…….”

Seon Ahyun’s trying to stop them was naturally not effective at all.

In conclusion, two photos, one chosen by Keun Sejin and one chosen by Cha Yujin, were uploaded. Lee Sejin looked at the process with a fed-up expression, and then shook his head.

He seemed to have cleanly forgotten that he grumbled yesterday because they uploaded a photo where he didn’t come out well.

Anyway, the 1st week of activities seemed to be finishing like this.

I was checking occasionally whenever I had time. Both the number of views and the overall reviews were very decent.

Actually… right before filming the music video, I invested the last remaining point into the dance stat.

Because my stage portion itself was more than I thought, not just vocals. It seemed to be a side effect of the 1st place.

Since the formation where I came out as the center was frequent, I couldn’t not take it.

I agonized with other stats until the last minute, but the judgment leaned toward that compensating for the weakest point was the priority.

Thanks to that, my current dance stat was ‘B-’. It meant I was at the level where people thought I danced quite well.

Since it wasn’t an individual competition anymore, I decided to be satisfied with leaping to a level of contributing to the quality.

…Well, it’s also fun to see fans being joyful in Park Moondae’s individual fancams.

“Everyone worked hard~”

“The 1st week of activities finished safely and well!”

Before leaving the waiting room, members and staff celebrated by themselves with a smile. The manager added a word.

“Congratulations on entering the top 10 in digital music too~”

“Hahahat!”

Right. As the manager said, the digital music is rising encouragingly.

I recalled the capture of today’s 24Hits ranking that was uploaded to the group chat.

[10th place Magical Boy ▲4]
[13th place Hi-five ▲3]

‘It seems there really is such a thing as a music show buff.’

What was slightly surprising was that Magical Boy reversed.

Probably because of the stage, but the fact that the song doesn’t get old easily also played a part.

‘Because the layer who thinks Hi-five is noisy to keep listening to would have found ‘Magical Boy’ fine.’

I was satisfied because my new trait of choosing songs seemed quite effective.

…Of course, VTIC was still well-attached to the 1st place on the digital music chart. They were truly amazing guys.

Looking at the situation, it seemed they would release the next album within this year, and the performance of this album was decent, so it didn’t seem to be to the point of worrying while trembling.

In the first place, it would have been better if this damn situation of sudden death being renewed didn’t exist.

A deep anger I forgot in the busy schedule tried to rise from inside, but I barely suppressed it.

I decided to calm down since the situation didn’t change just because I was angry.

‘…Shall I be satisfied with putting it on a smooth track.’

I shrugged my shoulders and took my bag. Beside me, I heard the manager’s voice answering Ryu Chungwoo’s question.

“Are we going straight to the 숙소 today then?”

“Ah… actually, a meeting was urgently caught today.”

“Pardon?”

“You guys wanted to go on variety shows. It’s a variety show!”

As the manager spoke brightly, several guys were fished even in the midst of being tired.

The manager nodded his head confidently.

“It’s a program called !”

“…?”

“It’s a program newly launched on TVC this time, you know, right? All the variety shows made there were successful~”

“Ooh!”

Several members nodded their heads as if they were interested. The manager added more words.

“It’s a variety show experiencing exotic jobs, and the PD-nim is also a good person, and everyone’s expectation is high. Since he said he surely wants to do it with TeSTAR, let’s work hard!”

“…….”

…Ah, I already get a sense.

‘It was strange from the time the tongue suddenly became long.’

If it’s TVC, it’s a T1 subsidiary broadcasting station. In short, they want to use TeSTAR for buzz because they’re launching a new variety show within their own family.

Moreover, it’s a program I haven’t even heard the name of even coming from 3 years in the future.

‘They put us in because it seems the program will fail.’

Right now, other broadcasting stations seem to be playing a game of nerves with variety show recruitment because it’s ambiguous to send a love call to someone from a cable audition as TeSTAR hasn’t seen 1st place yet.

‘But you use the first variety show special effect here without waiting for that deal?’

Seeing the company guys making a choice with zero productivity for the group because they’re drawing a big picture makes me lose my mind.

But the clueless members are answering the manager brightly and energetically.

“Yes!”

“Understood!”

“……Yes.”

I also eventually nodded.

Right. What was the point of arguing while the camera was rolling?

Since a rookie didn’t have any right to refuse a schedule, I just went and did it without a word.

And I happened to make eye contact with Keun Sejin, who was nodding with a smile.

“…….”

That’s a look that says it’s shitty but what else can we do.

Later, when I asked slightly after getting into the car, it was said the reaction to the 1st episode of , which had been aired just before, was catastrophic.

‘I knew it.’

I thought I had sufficiently discarded my expectations for the company, but it seemed I recovered them unnecessarily while preparing for the album.

Discard more.

* * *

“Hello~”

Whether the talk about the appearance was already finished with the agency, there was a camera at the meeting place with .

‘They already agreed on everything among themselves.’

“We’ll only ask a few preliminary questions first.”

“Yes!”

As if they were in a hurry because the next filming was right in front of them, the meeting ended hurriedly with exchanging about ten questions and answers without even a greeting.

Befitting the title , they were mainly questions asking about what work we wanted to do.

‘…Not working is the best.’

However, since I couldn’t write such an answer due to my current job, I answered with a few unique jobs appropriately.

The production staff gathered all the desired Q&As in a hurry and finished the meeting. It was visible that they were dying from being busy.

Anyway, thanks to that, I was able to get into the car bound for the dorm again before it became completely night.

“Now, everyone please raise your hands~”

While I was waving my hand obligatorily to Keun Sejin who was filming a video saying he would upload it on SNS, a vibration came into my pocket.

‘I have a bad feeling.’

After confirming that Keun Sejin finished filming the video and turned off the camera, I checked the smartphone.

[VTIC Chungryeo Senior: I’m texting first since there was no contact. Is this Park Moondae-ssi’s number?^^]

“…….”

Wow, it’s really unpleasant.

‘Is he subtly feeding me because a rookie didn’t contact him first.’

I know well that he didn’t take the number because he really wanted to become friendly.

Still, since I can’t ignore him due to the hierarchy of years of experience, I sent a reply for now.

[I couldn’t check the smartphone well so the contact was late. I am sorry. Senior.]

Then a reply came in an instant.

[VTIC Chungryeo Senior: Nothing to be sorry about, I just texted to say let’s at least greet each other.]

I’m dying from being tired.

I sent a short reply like ‘Understood, thank you’ and just turned off the smartphone.

‘I can just change the status message saying the talk check is late around tomorrow.’

Anyway, I was starting to feel annoyed because weird bastards kept putting in talks out of the blue, wondering how they found out.

I decided to block the contacts from numbers not in the address book and change the status message too.

‘Anyway, today… is it work-off like this.’

Just as I was about to fall asleep slightly in the car, I heard Ryu Chungwoo’s voice.

“Guys, our choreography beats are starting to differ slightly from each other, shouldn’t we catch them while we have time now?”

“…….”

I was wide awake.

Looking around, everyone had a face that wrote ‘I want to rest’. However, because it was right, no one could dare to refute, so only a silence of implicit agreement flowed.

I suppressed a sigh.

‘…What work-off.’

I had to go to practice.

* * *

While TeSTAR was digesting the murderous 1st week of activity schedule, fans were spending a happy time with overflowing content.

That point also became the dynamic for TeSTAR to follow the schedule quietly.

-The 1st week music show cross-editing popped up on WeTube and it’s really crazy (Link)
-The reality show showcase episode this week was so good! The kids doing their hair are so cute and I cried when they were preparing for the stage seriously, let’s go for a long time TeSTARㅠㅠ
-CQ pictorial and interview behind-the-scenes popped up. The magazines are all sold out for now. (Link)
└Ah…ㅠㅠ I’m late…
└Please print many additional copies please..ㅠㅠ

Since the contract with TeSTAR wasn’t short-term, the agency tried hard to create an atmosphere of liking the group itself first rather than a marketing method of encouraging individual competition among members.

And that effort was about to settle well in the fandom.

The atmosphere of the group using only one SNS and frequently uploading photos of being together was also one without much opposition then.

However, in one field, it couldn’t be like that.

It was the random photo cards included in the album.

As it was an element directly connected to album sales, the photo cards of the members included randomly in the album followed the traditional commercial technique as it was.

Thanks to that, people who wanted to curse at TeSTAR stuck to the related comparison posts in droves and talked excitedly.

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[TeSTAR Photo Card Trading Price Ranking]
: Cha Yujin >= Park Moondae > Seon Ahyun > Kim Raebin = Keun Sejin >= Ryu Chungwoo >> Lee Sejin
+) Tallying from Junggo-World, no denial of reality accepted~ (Link)
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-As expected Cha Yujin is 1stㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Ah give me the Park Moondae ending centerㅋㅋ did you like being 1st by selling your dead parents~
-Lee Sejin is really useless in every place? Does he do anything other than eating up music video screen time?
-Ryu Chungwoo’s bubble finally popped, I knew there would be no core after seeing the final rankingㅋㅋ
-Please stop pretending to be an 인싸, pretending to control the situation, pretending to be a cheerful handsome guy, Keun Sejin-ah, an unpopular member shouldn’t act up like thatㅠㅠ
-Ahyun-ah, seeing that 3rd place is the limit even with that face, as expected it would have been better to choose a job without talking. Not an idol but a pictorial model? Do something like that!

No matter how much fans reported or ignored, there was a limit. The jealousy and anger poured toward the rising star ‘just before becoming successful beyond imagination’ was at a level difficult to understand common-sensically.

Because that mockery was poured on all members in all directions, it conversely formed a strange sympathy among fans.

-Let’s not give food to the crazy guys
-It’s been a while since Ajusa ended, but still hanging on the ranking? They’re absolutely not fans of the kids, probably not even individual fans
└This is it, does it make sense for a true fan to express their identity in such a postㅋㅋ
-No need to be swayed by the psychopaths who add words pretending to know because they watched some Ajusa. We only need to look at the kids and go.
-Right, TeSTAR is doing so well, no need to consume emotions on such a thing, let’s just beat the ignorant agency

Among them, an identity as a ‘group fan’ was slowly being formed, not just as a formality.

And around exactly that time, a special event was approaching.

It was TeSTAR’s first fan signing event.