Chapter 112
Chapter 112
When you played the "BETTER ME" music video, the first thing you saw was Park Moon-dae’s face staring directly into the camera.
He was wearing a black hoodie with a purple glow in his eyes—his appearance from the trailer.
[…….]
Without a word, Park Moon-dae reached toward the camera.
Then, he manipulated it.
Click.
Zzzzzzt.
The video began to rewind, and scenes from the trailer started flashing backward.
A water tank. A sewer. Mannequins, a falling gun. A biohazard symbol.
Finally, the screen began to show a tattered cloth doll fitted with gears.
The rewind stopped at the very first scene.
Then, the song began.
-Do not trust it
There is no justice
Oooohh….
At that moment, the scene cut to Cha Yu-jin holding a doll that was clean and brand new, rather than the old cloth one.
The camera pulled back, capturing the entire surroundings in a full shot.
It was an ordinary classroom where students were attending a lesson. The TeSTAR members could be seen sitting in various spots throughout the room. The camera caught their everyday expressions and appearances, looking as if they were simply sitting through class.
However, the moment the rhythmic Moombahton accompaniment kicked in, the atmosphere of the classroom shifted entirely.
Glitch.
Every student except for TeSTAR vanished, and an 'X' was spray-painted in glowing graffiti paint on every single desk.
Against the backdrop of the darkened classroom, an intense group choreography sequence began.
-Even looking back, I can’t tell
Umm
What exactly happened
Between the choreography scenes, individual cuts were inserted for each member’s part, showing them alone in distinctive locations like the school’s music room or the gym.
However, each space had been transformed into a bizarre atmosphere related to the individual powers TeSTAR had displayed since "Magical Boy."
Dressed in techwear similar to what was seen in the concept photos, the TeSTAR members looked as if they had established their own domains, like boss rooms in a game.
-Target Target Target
GOT IT
As I run, as I snatch it away
Singing while entwined in their respective spaces, they looked conceptual and weary.
But the moment the thunderous riff melody from the trailer dropped, the mood changed instantly.
DDVVViiiii—!!
Quick cutscenes of TeSTAR fleeing from or lunging at monsters wearing school uniforms flashed by in a frantic blur, before the screen froze on the class motto above the chalkboard.
Harsh red graffiti had been painted over the conventional black letters.
[WINNER-TAKE-ALL : )]
[LOSER? Good bye : (]
Blood splattered over the English words for "Good bye."
Then, the chorus began to flow.
-BUT.
It’s just confusing
Since when was it
I’m just confused
Umm
How far does it go
A desperate survival game, clashing with the melancholic chorus, continued.
Within the music video, the lyrics began to take on a completely concrete meaning.
As the song progressed, TeSTAR’s actions became increasingly radical.
Cutscenes of them fighting became more frequent than scenes of them acting together, and the tension reached its peak the moment the last monster fell.
[……]
The moment Kim Rae-bin turned around and raised an awl, Ryu Cheong-woo shot him in the back.
-Umm
From then on, the music video shifted its focus to more intense performance cuts, interspersed with eerie, indirect flashes of the members hunting one another.
Then came the bridge.
Bae Se-jin, who hadn't received many cuts during the second verse, was shown in a close-up.
In the middle of singing his part, he suddenly stood up and left his space in front of the school’s main entrance.
-Our paradox that we can’t handle
When the line is cut
A bigger Payback
Escaping the reversal I made myself
Bae Se-jin ran down the hallway and stopped in front of the door at the very end.
When he opened the door, a perfectly normal classroom appeared.
However, as the camera panned, it caught red graffiti paint dripping over the class motto.
The moment Bae Se-jin threw something he was holding, the final chorus exploded.
-BUT.
It’s NOT confusing!
Who I am
I’m NOT confused
Oh!
I’ll find the BETTER ME
What had been in Bae Se-jin’s hand was a heavy metal padlock.
The padlock flew in a parabolic arc and smashed the class motto as it fell. The frame of the motto shattering into pieces was captured in slow motion.
The moment the frame hit the floor, the Moombahton accompaniment began to play.
Bae Se-jin gave a smirk.
-BETTER ME
Along with the flashy choreography, the timeline within the video began to be corrected.
Kim Rae-bin’s awl, which he had been raising after the last monster fell, was stopped by a barrage of camera shutters from Park Moon-dae’s smartphone, and the TeSTAR members disbanded while grumbling at each other.
Their faces looked relieved.
Then, the screen returned to the cut of Cha Yu-jin holding the old cloth doll.
[……]
But this time, Cha Yu-jin did not turn the gears.
[♫♪~]
Whistling, Cha Yu-jin tossed the doll into a corner and began to walk down the wrecked hallway.
A fixed camera captured his light footsteps from behind, and the words "BETTER ME" appeared on the screen in white subtitles.
-BETTER ME
The video ended with that final hook.
And the TeSTAR fandom entered an era of unprecedented MV over-interpretation.
“Hyung, what are you watching?”
“A theory video for our MV.”
“Why do they make theories?”
“…Hmm. You want to watch too?”
“Yes!”
It was better to include Cha Yu-jin than to get trapped in an endless cycle of questions and answers.
I connected my phone to the TV and pulled up WeTube.
A plump duck character appeared on the screen.
[Hello, WeTube friends! It’s Haori Potato, the duck who interprets music videos.]
[Today, I’ve prepared an interpretation of the music video for "BETTER ME" by TeSTAR—the group everyone’s talking about, from that game everyone’s talking about!]
[To be honest, I ended up sobbing while playing the game, so please understand that some personal bias might slip into this interpretation ㅠㅠ I ask for your understanding in advance.]
[※ Warning: Spoilers for !]
[Then, let’s begin!]
The duck introduced a brief summary of the "BETTER ME" music video and explained the overall story in detail.
[The monsters in school uniforms that appear in the middle of the music video seem to be the students who were in the same classroom as TeSTAR.]
[All the monsters’ uniforms have name tags on them. You can find name tags of the same color and name in the peaceful classroom cuts.]
It was mostly stuff like that.
‘They have good eyes.’
I listened to the duck’s words with a fair amount of interest.
However, as soon as the duck finished summarizing the music video’s content, it suddenly dropped a bombshell.
[Actually, there’s a TeSTAR universe theory I’ve been secretly speculating on since "Airplane," and after seeing this "BETTER ME" music video, I’m finally certain enough to share it.]
[In the TeSTAR universe, Park Moon-dae and Bae Se-jin are likely the same person.]
“Pfft.”
Bae Se-jin, who was coming out of the kitchen while drinking coffee, choked. Cha Yu-jin’s eyes widened as he waited for the duck’s next words.
[Since "Magical Boy," the two have shown contrasting actions. Park Moon-dae locks the school’s main entrance with a padlock, and Bae Se-jin smashes that door open.]
[And in this "BETTER ME" music video, Park Moon-dae turns the camera to close off time, while Bae Se-jin smashes the class motto frame that symbolizes this terrible time.]
[You might ask why they’re the same person when their abilities are complete opposites. It’s because their abilities are actually on the same spectrum.]
[Both deal with the constraints of time and space, but Park Moon-dae uses his power to impose constraints, while Bae Se-jin uses his to destroy them.]
“What does ‘spectrum’ mean?”
“On the same line. It means they’re connected,” Bae Se-jin answered as he flopped down on the sofa. It seemed he had become interested in the interpretation video.
[As I mentioned in my last video, Park Moon-dae’s magical item is framed as a book, but it’s actually ‘sleep.’ Park Moon-dae returns to the past through sleeping, or actions that symbolize obscuring one’s vision, like sleeping.]
On the screen, scenes of me standing at the school gate and a hand covering and then uncovering the camera were playing.
The video continued to the part where I opened the door and ran into the school.
It was a scene from the "Airplane" music video.
[But doesn’t this cut look familiar? That’s right. It appeared in the "BETTER ME" music video as well.]
[But it’s Bae Se-jin, not Park Moon-dae.]
The cut of Bae Se-jin running down the school hallway was repeated in the video. The composition was definitely identical.
[Furthermore, what was the object Bae Se-jin threw to break the class motto frame? It’s the very same padlock that Park Moon-dae used on the front door in "Magical Boy."]
That was a detail we’d put in specifically for people to notice.
[Based on these points, I’ve formed a hypothesis that these two are actually different personalities of the same person.]
And the evidence continued.
[Did you see that just now? In the "Airplane" music video, there are only six beds in the dormitory. And in the "BETTER ME" music video, Park Moon-dae sits alone in the very back corner. It’s a spot where it wouldn’t be strange if a student wasn’t actually there.]
[And so far, there hasn’t been a single cut where anyone other than Bae Se-jin speaks directly to Park Moon-dae.]
The members marveled.
“Ooh.”
“…That sounds plausible.”
It made sense.
The problem was, it was just a misunderstanding.
The padlock was taken from the front door scene, but that part had been cut for time, and the hallway composition was just something the director happened to like and reused.
As for me not having cuts talking to other members… wait, I don’t think Seon A-hyun had any either?
However, the fans seemed to find this theory quite entertaining, as the view count and comments were incredible.
‘…Should I suggest we just lean into that setting starting from the next album?’
After all, shouldn’t you provide what the buyer wants, rather than just what the creator likes?
Anyway, the music video interpretation concluded the "Park Moon-dae and Bae Se-jin are the same person" theory and returned to explaining the connections within the universe.
[Considering the time travel through Park Moon-dae’s dreams, the timeline goes: "Airplane" -> "Magical Boy" -> "BETTER ME," and then the trailer video "BONUS BOOK."]
[However, it seems they don’t intend to include the trailer video in the official flow, as Bae Se-jin prevented the incident in this "BETTER ME" music video, ending it as an ‘event that didn’t happen.’]
The screen showed a split-view of the trailer where Cha Yu-jin blows up the doll and the current music video where he doesn’t.
‘They guessed that exactly right.’
It was a device we created to avoid becoming too entangled with the game.
We didn’t want to be dragged around by the game’s story, and the game side probably didn’t want their world to be completely overshadowed by our universe either.
‘We treated it as an IF version.’
Looking at people’s reactions to the game now, it seems it was a good choice. …There are already plenty of people losing their minds over it; we couldn’t afford to give them an even bigger shock.
[Considering the ending they face in , you could say this is a good thing… but it’s truly sad that the path to seeing the future of our first companions remains so distant ㅠㅠ]
Then, a subtitle appeared at the bottom: [The duck who sobbed the moment B11 died].
“…….”
It seemed the impact was even stronger than I thought.
[However, since the abilities the members used in the trailer might be reflected in the future universe, this duck is looking forward to it! Quack quack!]
[Well then, everyone, see you in the next music video interpretation~]
“See you~”
“That duck is smart.”
I handed the TV over to Cha Yu-jin and checked the video comments on my smartphone.
-Wow, TeSTAR is seriously insane. The universe is crazy.
-The theory that they’re the same person is definitely real. I’ve got goosebumps.
-Haori Potato-nim, thank you for the high-quality interpretation as always~ Thanks to you, I can watch the music video comfortably without hurting my brain!
-I thought it had a Battle Royale vibe since I first saw Better Me, but seeing it like this makes it even more interesting. I enjoyed the video~ ^^
It looked like this person’s theory had practically become the established canon. Even when sorting by newest comments, no one was criticizing or nitpicking it.
‘Interesting.’
It was fascinating to see things being reinterpreted in a way that fit together perfectly, even the parts no one had intended.
And here and there, I noticed game enthusiasts who had somehow drifted in.
-So, what do I have to do to see B11?
└ Moon-dae comes on SNS often, so it’s good to follow him~ haha
└ No, I’m a gamer, and I was just wondering if Moon-dae-nim did anything else as B11, so I left a comment. Anyway, thanks for the reply ㅠㅠ
└ Ah, okay ㅠㅠ
“Hmm.”
Seeing this reminded me. Come to think of it, there was something else being released later this week.
It was content being released simply as fan service, but surprisingly, it might get a reaction from this side as well.
‘It might be a bit embarrassing.’
I rubbed the back of my neck and turned off my phone.
The next evening at 10:31 PM, another new video was uploaded to TeSTAR’s official WeTube channel.
[TeSTAR ‘BETTER ME’ Dance Practice Video (Late Halloween Ver.)]
It was a choreography video of TeSTAR in Halloween costumes, wearing the outfits of the initial companions from .