Although TeStar was performing well in Korea, it was only an issue within Korea.

Just looking at the number of views on WeTube, it was sometimes beaten by groups that were in the top 50 on music charts.

It meant that TeStar was relatively less well-known overseas than other groups from large entertainment agencies.

'But it's suddenly on Billboard?'

Could it be on the world album chart? I thought that one would be at least realistic.

But no.

"Alternative Digital Song Sales chart?"

"That's right!"

This was the first time in my life I had heard of it.

Everyone reflexively looked at Cha Yujin who was a native English speaker.

Hmm, likewise, he had a face that said he had never heard of it before.

"Oh, my! Wait a moment."

The manager, who was supposed to explain, got a call from the company and ran out again.

'This is chaotic.'

As we headed back to the waiting room, we asked Cha Yujin the question.

"Do you know about the chart earlier?"

"I know the 'Alternative Songs Chart'... That one, I don't know."

Except for Kim Raebin, everyone had a vague expression.

"That... alternay... chart, what is it?"

"There's only Alternative Rock. I like it!"

"Ah."

It seems to be a kind of rock genre. He seemed to be referring to the chart by genre.

'Then did the words 'digital sales' at the end of the chart's name... mean that it was a chart that purely measured only by the sales of digital music?'

As soon as I found my smartphone in the waiting room, I checked what kind of chart it was.

It was a minor subgenre detailed chart that only listed up to 25th place.

'It even has a charged membership.'

Next to me, Kim Raebin was muttering with a stiff expression.

"But there is no alternative rock in the title songs..."

Firstly, I checked the previous chart using the saved pages of the last search engine.

"Oh, is it that one?"

Keun Sejin interjected and swiped down the screen.

"Hey."

"Haha! We can just tell by looking for the album...?"

As a result of browsing down, TeStar's album art... was not there.

"...?"

What was this?

"It's this!"

At that moment, even Cha Yujin's hand invaded my smartphone screen. Then he swiped around and pointed out a song.

"...!!"

"Wow."

"It's our game song!"

That's right.

The song of , the game with no dreams and hopes that we collaborated with while releasing our second album, entered the charts.

The experience of dressing up as the companion characters, who got massacred in chapter one, automatically came to my mind.

"But that's not our album though?"

As Keun Sejin said, the album art was different.

I immediately found the song on Spatify.

'...It's a game OST album.'

The situation was cleared up only after the manager returned to tell us the news while we were moving in the car.

"A global launch of the game?"

"Yeah! And it seemed to have gone very well. It was a commotion!"

This time, had a global launch centered around the UK and North America, and it became a huge success.

The manager chuckled.

"That's why they released an OST album for the game, and your songs got on the charts there! I guess the song was listened to because it's good..."

"Is that so?"

"Th-that's a good thing!"

The members, who roughly grasped the situation, smiled and relaxed. Since the news was rather good.

'That's why we suddenly got the news on a Sunday.'

The Billboard charts must have been updated on Wednesday.

Strictly speaking, the results were the game's achievement and not TeStar's.

It must have taken a few days for the news to reach the managers as the issue wasn't really big or urgent, whether it affected the agency or the fans.

'T1 must be happy.'

In other words, the small game company that they acquired became a jackpot. The capital would obviously be heavily poured in.

Anyway, the fact that the OST went well was a good thing for us as well. It was also a song that had a lot to do with our album.

'Did it work out since everything was in English except for a few verses?'

There was no sign of the song in the main chart and it only showed up in the lower ranks of a minor chart, but it was still interesting and good news.

I shrugged my shoulders and put on a neck pillow, suddenly feeling like something was out of place.

'Even so, a game OST would enter the charts...?'

I thought it was because it was a minor chart, but even in that case, was it possible when it wasn't even a movie OST but a game OST? And it was a mobile game that had just launched at that?

In addition, I wasn't even sure on what basis it was classified as alternative rock. I thought the song was just K-pop with some rock elements.

'It's a bit strange.'

I needed to check what the hell happened.

I browsed around the gaming community sites on my phone for the first time in a while. And I figured out the situation.

'TeStar's comeback trailer was used as a game commercial again.'

seemed to have carried out advertisements on WeTube and overseas billboards in line with its global launch, and it seemed that our trailer video was actively used here.

'The quality was really good.'

It was at the level of a cinematic trailer. Even someone like me would have recycled it.

In any case, the British and American foreigners, who saw this advertisement seemed to think that TeStar members appearing in the trailer were just advertisement actors playing a character in the game.

'Since we didn't dance or sing, and only acted.'

If you were a gamer who wasn't interested in K-pop, it was worth considering.

It wasn't like we were as well-known overseas as VTIC.

Anyway, since the response to the trailer advertisement was good... the game company took a step further.

In the global version of the game, a part of the trailer was even inserted on the waiting screen for when the additional data was downloaded within the app.

Thanks to this, it seemed that the overseas users naturally got to taste the spicy experience of 'seemingly important characters being massacred immediately at the end of the first chapter'.

And it was said that it was a trend among gaming streamers to upload shocked reaction videos after playing chapter 1. When I searched for it, I came up with videos with dozen hundreds of views and even millions of views.

Thumbnails were foreigners wearing headsets, crying, shouting, or with their eyes bulging.

'This really is a commotion.'

Anyway, based on its popularity, was receiving great reviews for its storyline and the user interface, and was doing quite well in the US and UK... was the summary.

'The game UI and the visuals would bring out that kind of sentiment.'

It seemed to be comparable to some famous indie games that were recognized for their workmanship and worldbuilding. Even mentions of Game of the Year were already coming out.

However, unlike the thriving global market, the domestic game community was in chaos.

Once I searched it up on anonymous sites...

"...Hmm."

It... was not good. The responses were at a level that would make Seon Ahyun and Bae Sejin faint if they saw it.

'It's quite disgusting.'

So I looked for a less aggressive community site that was very mild.

There were traces of disputes in some posts on the bulletin board referring to the production team.

"Hmm."

I roughly understood it after looking at a few more posts and the flow of the popular posts.

'It sure cooled down.'

To put it bluntly, the hype was gone.

At first, money and recognition were invested in the new game of a game company that could have gone bankrupt, so the opinions were rapidly favorable. Since the success of the launch was urgent.

'Things heated up since the results were really good.'

Besides, the death of the early companions must have made people more excited because of the impact.

There were many fans of TeStar that got introduced to the game through TeStar's promotions, so the atmosphere must have gone accordingly to some extent.

However, the characters had already died and exited the game. Of course, TeStar's fans didn't feel the incentive to continue, so people fell out in no time.

In this way, the story of the early companions' massacre became public and the number of people who became interested in the 'exciting mobile game' increased, and the usual flow of players was re-established.

'This is why they're not interested in idols.'

Meaning that they didn't want uninteresting and disparate guys to be brought into their favorite game content.

In addition, since the game company saw the intense responses to the early companions, it seemed that they had continued to sprinkle easter eggs about the early companions even in the updated content.

However, since TeStar advertisements were also appearing in this global version, it was understandable that they were worried that there would be another collaboration.

'Then there's only one thing.'

As long as we didn't get tangled up with this. I turned off my smartphone and sorted it out.

We saw our group name on the Billboard chart all of a sudden so let's end it in a fun way.

And sure enough, a subtle request came from the company not long after.

"Guys, by any chance, have you thought of doing the game collaboration once more..."

"Nope. I don't think so."

"We have to prepare for the next album~"

"...?? Guys?"

The manager was taken aback by the clear refusal.

'I knew this would happen so I gathered the guys and gave a short briefing.'

There were some who were a little disappointed, but everyone agreed anyway. Also, the fact that doing it would just make it tiring seemed to have resonated with them.

Ever since the controversy about the Rookie of the Year award, it was just exhausting to be the subject of controversy on the Internet.

So, for the first time since the group's formation, the refusal of doing a project occurred.

'Have we been too compliant?'

The company felt like it was a waste and tried to convince us a few more times, but because TeStar has performed so well lately, the right for the group to speak up has become stronger, so the topic was safely dispelled.

And one day while preparing for the new album and for a festival schedule in May...

This time, a different topic emerged.

"Performing in the US?"

"Yes! And it's a popular program these days! Here! It's a bit small and mainly on WeTube but there's a clear audience base..."

The company staff talked excitedly, then cleared their throat.

'...They seem self-conscious?'

I had a bad feeling.

"But... umm, that, they're asking you to sing the game collaboration song."

Ah, as I expected.