ㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤ

Damn, I don't know what the fuck that crazy bastard is thinking.

He was the one who made a post on his official account to implicitly brand us as shit, so it's very likely that in a few days he'll go crazy again and repeat his tricks.

“Did you call the agency contact number?”

Right now I was in a beauty salon. He was preparing me for the presentation that we would have tonight.

I could see that Kim RaeBin, who was drying her hair next to me, had her eyes wide open. It was obvious that she had also read the lips of the manager.

I was reluctant to take the call because this store was full of all kinds of people.

"I don't know what you could tell me."

In the midst of this, the stylist, who was holding my hair, urged me to take the call.

—Take the call~ Don't worry, I'm almost done.

Perhaps she thought that she was hesitating for fear that she would interfere with fixing my hair.

"I don't want to answer him..."

I held back a sigh and asked the manager.

—...Can you tell him I'll get in touch with him later?

—Oh, but he doesn't know your number. Since he has changed his number, he is calling you this way. MoonDae, you shouldn't answer unknown numbers.

—...

It was evident that he called the agency's number because he couldn't contact me through messages.

"You know I blocked it."

If he said that, there's no way he can help it anymore. It wouldn't look good if he gave the manager excuses not to get the call.

I'll be done with the call quickly.

—Yes, I understand.

I took the manager's phone and put it to my ear.

—I’m Park MoonDae. So, this is your new phone number.

—Oh, you finally answer.

After hearing his voice, I heard his laugh. Should he hang up the call so he wouldn't hear him having fun?

—I just found out you changed your number, I'll save it.

—Yes please. Oh yeah, congratulations on winning the “Rookie of the Year” award.

The hand he held on the chair's handle automatically tightened.

—...The award ceremonies are not over yet, so I don't know if we will achieve the same result. So…

As I was about to finish speaking, CheongRyu interrupted me.

—That is almost decided. Hmm, aren't you curious what happens next?

I don't care about that, bastard.

Anyway, if he interacts with me like this, he won't be able to get proper information about the future.

He hit me in the head and now he wants to try to catch me gently before I hit the ground.

NT: It's an expression that refers to the fact that he attacked him (all TesTAR with his post), but now he wants to convince him that he does care about him and regain confidence to use him again.

—No. Anyway, I'll keep your number safe. I hope you finish your year-end activities well, sunbae-nim.

That means he would end the call right then and there.

—...Oh, so things are like that.

Then suddenly the tone of his voice changed and he sounded a little embarrassed.

—Hmm, I think there's a misunderstanding... I didn't do anything that could harm my hoobaes. I also have my limits.

That sounds like an excuse.

—I see. I understand.

—Since we'll still be seeing each other at the end-of-the-year ceremonies... Hmm, then I'll have to explain it to you in person. It's a bit difficult to do over the phone.

—It would be nice to see you again. Oh, excuse me, I have to hang up because I have to keep to my schedule.

CheongRyu answered me jokingly.

—Okay. Don't accidentally block me again.

—Yes, of course.

I hung up quickly. If I was in a private setting, I wouldn't have put up with it and insulted him, but I put up with it because I was inside a store.

I handed the phone back to the manager.

—Take it, hyung. Thank you.

—You're welcome~ Oh, I'll text you his number.

—...

I can't curse the kindness of a manager who doesn't know the whole story between me and that guy. Holding my breath, I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes.

"It's a hassle."

At first, I thought hanging out with him might be of some benefit to me, but this troll is taking me nowhere.

Also, his attitude changes were unpredictable, he seemed to be really crazy.

"Just as I expected, it's not good to be with him."

I must carefully walk away before he hurts me.

In two years, the future I know will end. I will no longer be useful to him, so our relationship will break.

Until that time comes, it would be good to avoid further involvement with him. Yes, that would be enough.

TeSTAR may be able to reach a higher level when we release the next album, and in case he fails to get his group into a good position, he won't be able to continue to act shamelessly with me.

Aside from being crazy, he seemed to be quite obsessed with his position and status as an idol.

"So what I should do is try to avoid building a relationship where bad feelings build up to the point where we want to kill each other."

Well, at first I was so upset that I was thinking of ignoring it or avoiding it somehow, but now that I've calmed down and thought about it rationally, I think I'm taking too big of a risk.

"I shouldn't risk my life to face that troll."

Just in case, I was just organizing my thoughts to make a preliminary plan on how to run our relationship.

I opened my eyes again and saw RaeBin next to me, who was looking at me with bright eyes.

—... Did you ask about his program…?

—He said it's confidential information.

—Okay…

I'm sorry, but I don't think the day will come when I ask you that.

I handed him a glucose candy seeing him disappointed.

* * *

After some events we had to end the year, the day soon came to perform on the stage of another end of the year music festival.

This time it was KBC Gayo Daechukje.

Since only the singers and idol groups who have been quite active this year were invited, we got relatively better screen time than other festivals and ceremonies from other channels or programs, but…

I had another problem.

—We are going to appear!

—Hul! It's a commercial! The one with Artificial Intelligence!

—Oh God.

...It was an advertisement in the intermediate break between the first and second part of the festival. Its broadcast confirmed that we would receive 350 million won for three months as payment.

The television screen in the waiting room showed us sitting in a white room, holding different decorative accessories.

By the way, I had… a lightstick. It was in the shape of a glowing magic wand.

…I wish you would excuse me, it was not my choice…

Anyway, the artificial intelligence that we had shot this commercial with, it was a little device that could plug in anywhere...

And suddenly, the screen showed an AI speaker that had a strange shape and dubious design.

Cha YooJin smiled and touched the speaker.

Then the loudspeaker suddenly played a low-quality audio track that said “Taking off, the plane has taken off”.

To YooJin's surprise, I, Park MoonDae, appeared with a calm expression. As I waved the lightstick, I smiled.

TeSTAR's song “Airplane” was immediately played.

In addition to clearly noticing the high quality of the broadcast audio, a cut was also shown with the expressions and gestures of the TeSTAR members.

!]

…The commercial ended in a flash when I appeared wearing dog ears and said “Curiosity” while imitating a dog.

And the waiting room was filled with laughter.

—Wahahahahahahahaha!!

—Kujuju.

They… no matter how much you think about it, they laughed relieved that they weren't the ones who had to act like that.

—...

I held it in a sigh. Ryu CheongWoo, who was the first to stop laughing, falsely coughed and began to comfort me.

—Ehem, I think it's because you ranked first in Icorpo. MoonDae-ya, don't you think it's really nice that you get more screen time in this commercial?

—T-that's right…!

—Right, right~ As CheongWoo hyung says, that's very good.

Oh, is that so?

I nodded my head.

—You're right.

—Right?

—Yes. I already want to see your versions soon.

—...??

—Our versions…?

Bae Sejin calmly told the truth to our astonished companions.

—...The contract had written that 7 different contents would be published.

—...!

From now on, every time I watch TV, I will enjoy an exciting Russian roulette to see whose turn it will be to star in the next commercial.

The boys felt nervous and tense as they remembered the scripts they had been given for the upcoming commercials.

Well, they didn't have much time to worry because our performance was due at the end of the second part of the festival.

This was extremely important as it would be our first performance after the SBC festival.

“We need to fully encourage and convince public opinion.”

If we did make a mistake, we don't know what effect it would have... There might be comments that say "I think they just put effort into their previous performance."

We had to do very well.

Thanks to that, we were all engrossed in a different kind of tension.

And before going on stage, we gather and cheer.

—Today, TeSTAR is going to prove something to everyone!

—Yeah come on!

I was wondering if I had to say that word, but... well, the atmosphere is alive, so it's okay.

NT: The answer they said is “가자” (Gaja), a rarely used word that can mean “Yes” or “Let's go”, since it is a formal answer from ancient warriors that connotes trust, passion, and will to fight, it’s now said to fulfill orders from a superior.

TeSTAR took to the stage in an elevator.

—AAAAAAAH!!

From the audience, I could see multiple lights waving from all sides. It took me a while to realize that in reality, each of them indicated the presence of a person.

Still, there was one light that stood out in particular. As expected, it was our lightstick.

…It’s light power was very different from others.

"It looks like a high-powered flashlight surrounded by the twinkling lights of tiny fireflies."

Still, it was nice to be able to recognize our lightsticks right away. Since we're on a live stream, there wasn't much we could do, but we did get to say hi briefly when we got on stage.

Meanwhile, the musical introduction that accompanied us on our entrance was ending.

I walked to the middle of the stage and took a seat.

Then the intro to "Magical Boy" began to flow, arranged for the year-end performance.

It was a live orchestral version.

Along with the violin melody that resounded on the stage, I began to sing the first verse.

The ensemble of string and wind instruments splendidly filled the concert hall because it was music played live.

That means there was absolutely no AR. It might seem very ambitious, but it was to enhance the feeling that he was playing a live band.

"It's comfortable for us because I'm the one who starts the chant."

If the person starting the song couldn't match the pitch and tempo of the orchestra, the performance would turn into a catastrophe. That's why it was good that I started, because I had the least chance of making a mistake.

After me, everyone performed very well and the singing was stable.

In keeping with the splendid performance, some modern dance moves were mixed into the choreography. That gave it an epic fantasy atmosphere rather than a dream world, but it was nice in her own way.

I was embarrassed because the outfits we wear are a bit baggy, but I think the audience will like it.

“Seon AhHyun is flying.”

He seemed to be more excited than usual because he was the one who enjoyed this concept the most. The art was felt in the break dance part, where there was a violin solo and then some percussion touches were added.

At the end of that part, the song flowed naturally into the “Airplane” chorus.

Kiiiiing-!

“These In-Ears really are…”

I heard a loud and clear screech as if a blackboard had been scraped with chalk.

The “In Ear” monitor is supposed to be a headphone that helps you avoid losing the rhythm of the song due to shouting or reverberations on stage that make it difficult for you to concentrate.

Kkii, kkii, kiiiiiiing!!

…Even though these headphones have the volume too high for the song so I can't hear anything from the audience, this is the first time I hear this loud noise that makes me uncomfortable.

"It's making me very angry."

I couldn't take it anymore and abruptly removed the In-Ear from the side where the musical accompaniment came out with noise. It seems that it was a transmission error, because I saw that my colleagues were doing the same thing as me.

“It seems that the transmission of this year-end program is doing very well because it is from a public channel.”

NT: Those screeches he hears in his In-Ears are due to interference from radio and TV signals. This can be caused by some electrical equipment present in a home, venue or set near the concert hall. The staff is in charge of verifying that these problems do not occur in the sound checks, but if it happens in the middle of the event, it is very likely that it is not caused on the set, but in a nearby location that is not under their control (neighboring premises).

But soon something more incredible happened.

During the choreography, by the time we were all lying down, Bae Sejin's In-Ear monitor came loose and was left in the middle of the stage.

I must clarify that it was not Sejin's mistake, but that of the person who helped him place it because he did not fix it properly.

"...You'll have to kick it aside to pick it up later."

But at that moment, AhHyun, who was reaching the center of the formation while dancing, stepped on it and slipped.

He was going to hit his head straight on the ground!

—...!

Reflexively, I reached out with one of my arms to brace his back and was able to break his fall. My eyes met CheongWoo's, who had done the same as me on the other side of AhHyun.

"Let's pick it up and continue."

There was nothing more we could do about it. The decision was made in an instant.

However, when we were about to forcefully push AhHyun's back to get up from him, he jumped up and raised his legs to do a backflip.

—...!

AhHyun, who couldn't have done it due to his inertia, placed both hands on CheongWoo's arm and mine that were holding him from behind and did a graceful backflip.

He landed on his feet, as if he had stepped out of a beautiful, epic art painting, and continued to sing his part.

—...!

Although he modified the choreography that we had practiced, the elegance with which he moved his body caused an amazing sensation. It was a great relief that he was okay.

As soon as she finished singing her verse, we all returned to our original positions.

Sejin sang as he held the microphone to his head so it wouldn't fall off. His face and voice were fine, but his fingers were trembling slightly.

...I want to interlock our hands-

The song ended with a choreography in which the seven of us formed a circle and stretched out our hands towards the sky.

—...

—AAAAAH!!

To the roar of cheers, the light on the camera that was filming us went out.

And after the stage lights were turned off as well, expressions began to appear on our faces that seemed to be wet with cold sweat.

"...Did that look good?"

I wanted to check the performance… No, I should check AhHyun's status first, but…

"What kind of crazy guy falls down and does backflips without rehearsing it first?"

Wasn't it a situation where his head could have been broken if we didn't react in time?

But since the transmission was to continue, there was no time for discussion in this place.

We quickly waved our hands at our fans to say goodbye and walked off the stage.

And since I didn't want to waste my time hearing his excuses, I immediately went to view the presentation monitoring screen.

—...!