Chapter 120
Chapter 120
Before long, the problematic part began to play on the monitoring screen.
The cut where the members, including myself, pulled out our in-ears passed, and then came the moment.
‘…I hope the slip doesn’t stand out too much.’
Seon A-hyun had pulled off something so incredible I wasn't sure if "fixing the situation" was even the right way to describe it, but how the footage captured the moments before and after was a different story.
However, my worries were unnecessary.
“……!”
“Whoa.”
The sight of Seon A-hyun performing a backflip while the two on either side of him supported his back… looked like a completely intentional part of the performance.
‘Is it a matter of proficiency?’
It was at a level that was hard to believe they had done it without practice.
The impression left by the mid-air flip was so powerful that the preceding slip looked like just another part of the choreography.
The fact that the floor was dark, making the in-ear monitor caught under his foot hard to see, also played a part.
Furthermore, because the camera happened to switch to a wide frontal shot of the full choreography at that exact moment, their frozen, startled expressions weren't very visible.
…Let’s just ignore the fact that that specific part was originally supposed to be a brief pause in the dance for a close-up.
‘Anyway, it came out well.’
It was the best possible result. Keun Se-jin let out a whistle.
“Oh~ A-hyun, nice quick thinking!”
“That was awesome!”
Seon A-hyun’s face turned bright red.
“That was truly magnificent! Did you prepare that move in advance just in case a problem like this occurred?”
“N-no, it wasn’t like that. I, I just…… thought I shouldn’t fall, so I just tried it…!”
“You’re amazing!”
Seon A-hyun couldn't hide his joy, his face flushed from the continuous praise.
Hmm, I should probably add a compliment too.
“It looked intentional. I think it looked even cooler than our original choreography.”
“…! I-it’s not that much, but… th-thank you, I’ll work harder…!”
“Round of applause~”
The members showered him with applause.
When even a few nearby staff members smiled and joined in, Seon A-hyun looked like he was losing his mind from a mix of embarrassment and pride.
‘I’ll let him enjoy it a bit longer.’
I intentionally spent a little more time in the waiting room.
Then, once things settled down, I spoke to Seon A-hyun again.
“Seon A-hyun.”
“Y-yes?”
“I’m really grateful you fixed the situation earlier, but I don’t think you need to go that far in the future.”
Seon A-hyun’s face immediately went pale.
“Wh-why…?”
His reaction was more sensitive than I expected.
I thought he’d be fine since he just received an overflow of praise.
‘I need to choose my words carefully.’
“Because you could have been seriously injured. It seems too dangerous to do something like that on impulse.”
At that, Ryu Cheong-woo, who had been wearing a complicated expression, finally chimed in.
“He’s right, A-hyun. We’re really grateful and you did a great job, but…… let’s be careful about injuries. It could have been a disaster if you hit your head.”
Having retired once due to the aftereffects of an injury, he seemed particularly concerned.
“I-I’m sorry.”
Seon A-hyun replied in a trembling voice. His excitement vanished instantly, replaced by a look of self-reproach. Ryu Cheong-woo looked flustered.
“It’s not something to apologize for! A-hyun, we’re just saying it because we’re worried.”
Keun Se-jin, who had been observing the situation, jumped in.
“Hmm~ is there really a need to go that far? A-hyun was a dance major~ I’m sure he did it after checking his own body. Right?”
“…Y-yes.”
I doubt it.
Seon A-hyun had a tendency to push himself self-destructively when he felt pressured. This time, too, he probably just thought he had to fix it and went with the move that seemed the coolest without considering the risks.
But it was time to soothe him. After a moment of thought, I spoke up.
“…Of course, you did better than anyone could have imagined this time. I’m just saying it because I’m worried. …It’s better if we can do this together for a long time in good health.”
“……! Y-y-yes! I’ll be c-careful!”
“Good.”
Fortunately, once I focused on the word ‘worried,’ Seon A-hyun seemed to switch over to being touched. It was a relief that he was the type to be moved by small interpersonal gestures.
But this time, Bae Se-jin apologized to the team with a dark expression.
‘Now what’s wrong with you?’
“…I’m sorry. It’s because I dropped my in-ear.”
I had a feeling this would happen.
“That was an accident! You must have been startled, but you finished well, Se-jin.”
“He is correct. Since it was a matter of poor fastening, I believe it was entirely within the realm of luck.”
“Hyung, your in-ear cord was weird. The in-ear should apologize, not hyung!”
“Th-that’s right! The in-ear should apol……?”
A flustered Seon A-hyun tried to agree but got caught up in Cha Yu-jin’s grammatical error.
And as if he was getting annoyed by this flow, Keun Se-jin cut the conversation short.
“Haha, why don’t we just celebrate the fact that we handled it well and move on? It ended well, so why is the atmosphere like this~”
He had a point.
Ryu Cheong-woo smiled and picked up the thread.
“Right, everyone did so well today! Let’s keep doing our best while taking care of ourselves. Five years is a long time.”
“A-hem~ Hyung-nim, weren’t we going all the way to contract renewal together? Let’s do ten years, ten years~”
“Haha! You’re right. Let’s do well for ten years!”
“Yes!”
“I like that!”
While saying things that would normally make Bae Se-jin freak out, the members ended the conversation on a celebratory note.
And I was satisfied too.
‘Anyway, the stage was good.’
I figured this would settle the internet reaction for now.
It would probably conclude with something like, ‘As expected, TeSTAR is great on stage.’
With those expectations, I prepared to head out for the ending stage. It was a group performance with all the cast members and a veteran singer.
“This is a song my grandmother loves!”
I’ll just mention that Kim Rae-bin was exceptionally excited.
And then, after the broadcast ended, close to midnight.
The internet sentiment I checked after getting into the car was heading in a rather interesting direction.
Immediately after TeSTAR’s KBC stage ended, the reaction was full of praise, just as Park Moon-dae had expected.
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[TeSTAR’s KBC Music Festival Magical Boy + Airplane stage that just ended]
(Video)
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-Wow, the live vocals.
-They’re even good at this kind of concept?
-I gasped when I saw the backflip in the middle.
-That was insane. It’s just amazing that they can do that completely live;
-Wait, is it lip-synced?
└ No way, not with an orchestral live.
└ What are you talking about? You can layer AR even over live accompaniment.
└ Oh, really? Then it might be lip-synced~ thanks for the info.
└ Cha Yu-jin intentionally enters the rap a beat late in the middle, what kind of nonsense is this? People are just leaving comments without even watching the videoㅋㅋㅋ
└ At this point, it seems like there’s a different team called TeSTAR in these psychos' delusions.
-They’re so damn good.
-What is up with Seon A-hyun’s somersault?
-This is the best out of all the year-end arrangements. I wish they’d release the digital track.
-I knew our A-hyun was an angel, but I didn't know he'd prove it on national TV like this. To think he can fly… it’s official now.
└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Look at this simping.
-Bae Se-jin is disappointing every time. They shouldn't have given him the ending.
└ Huh? Didn't he do well this time?
└ I was actually surprised because his live was better than I expected;
└ It’s just that Se-jin has few parts, but he’s never failed to deliver on his own parts ㅠㅠ
The occasional attempts to drag them down were cleanly shut out. It was a complete solidification of their reputation.
However, the one thing Park Moon-dae hadn't expected was that the reaction to pulling out the in-ears would be so good.
Extremely good, in fact.
-The in-ear pulling is seriously heart-fluttering. They don't look like rookies; it feels so professional ㅋㅋㅋ
-If you go on SNS right now, there are probably 50 billion different edited clips of it ㅋㅋㅋ
└ For real ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-I’m going to watch every single member’s version ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ It’s already showing up on my timeline even though I’m not a fan… Park Moon-dae is handsome. I’m putting him in my pocket.
└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ f*ck.
-Each of them has a slightly different vibe, so I keep watching ㅋㅋㅋ
└ Exactly! ㅋㅋㅋ
-My pick is the tall member who pulls it out while smiling with a slight squint. His eye smile is so charming ㅋㅋㅋ Can someone tell me his name?
└ Keun Se-jin.
└ ??? Is there a Mr. Keun…?
└ Haha!, It’s Lee Se-jin! Our kid is big and cute, so his nickname is Keun Se-jin. Thanks for liking him! (Photo of Keun Se-jin)
The scenes of the TeSTAR members grabbing and pulling out one side of their in-ears were mostly captured clearly on camera, providing great content.
Because it was during the chorus choreography of ‘Airplane,’ all the members were caught on screen fairly equally.
And for the first time in a while, the fans were having a pleasant and relaxed time.
-KBC, release the individual fancams. I need to see the in-ear pulling from other angles ㅠ
-Do you want to see a genius idol live that beats bad audio? You’ve come to the right place (Video)
-I really love the KBC stage concept. It feels like a large-scale fairy tale, so if you put it next to the slick SBC stage, it’s a narrative generator (Comparison clip)
-When transitioning from Magical Boy to Airplane, there’s a move where Moon-dae and Bae-Se look at each other and shake their heads. Could this be a spoiler for the next album? (Clip)
-Moon-dae’s outfit on the way to KBC is a full certification of his birthday support from head to toe… Oh my god (Summary photo)
Fans were beyond delighted with this atmosphere where no one was picking fights or making sarcastic remarks.
It was right around then that people re-watching the stage video discovered something strange.
It started with a fan’s casual account used for editing video materials.
-I found this while making close-up GIFs, but it looks like A-hyun slipped before the somersault… Wait a sec.
└ ??
└ Teacher?
└ What is it?
-I just went back and re-watched it… I think I’m right. There was something under A-hyun’s foot, and Cheong-woo and Moon-dae caught him as he almost tripped. (Capture)
-A-hyun did the somersault right there to make up for almost slipping. If you look, both Cheong-woo and Moon-dae’s expressions freeze. (Capture)
└ Holy Shit.
└ That was an accident recovery…?
In an instant, fans began to analyze the video, re-watching even the tiniest details.
And before long, they even discovered the cause of the problem.
-Bae-Se’s in-ear fell out… It looks like the staff didn't fasten it properly (Floor capture)
└ Oh my god.
└ Ah, I’m getting goosebumps, but at the same time, I’m so pissed. What if the kids got hurt…
└ If you look closely, Se-jin’s hand is shaking at the ending. Ah ㅠㅠㅠ
└ Crazy. Then A-hyun’s somersault was an ad-lib?;; Is that even humanly possible?
The news from the frantic fans soon spread to general entertainment communities.
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[Looks like there was a stage accident during TeSTAR’s KBC performance]
: (Link to summary post)
One-line summary: Everything from ‘In-ear ~ Ending’ was the result of TeSTAR fixing a stage accident.
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-Heol.
-What? Is this for real?
-It feels like they’re just forcing pieces to fit…
-If they handled it so calmly that even the fans are only noticing now, that’s truly amazing.
-What male idol does a somersault to fix a stage mistake? It was probably just the choreography ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ It wasn't a mistake; it was an accident. And looking at TeSTAR’s track record since Idol Inc., they seem like the type who could definitely do that…
└ If the in-ear fell on the floor while they were pulling it out, it’s a mistake. Please wake up from your fan delusions ㅋㅋㅋ
└ Just a fan of another group passing by, but it’s normal for in-ears not to fall to the floor even if you take them out. This is a prop accident.
-Are you sure that’s an in-ear on the floor? It looks like an optical illusion…
└ It’s an in-ear. Here (Capture with adjusted brightness)
└ Whoa, it really is.
└ Crazy, he really almost tripped on it.
-Looking at the members' expressions, I think it’s true??
-I think Seon A-hyun’s backflip was original choreography. It’s true he handled it calmly, though.
└ I vote for this too.
└ But the members start the movement to catch him before he falls. It’s hard to say the timing just happened to match.
Opinions like ‘It’s true’ and ‘It’s not’ flooded every SNS and related community, turning them into a battlefield.
-Aaaaah, I’m going crazy. Someone quickly ask on TeSTAR’s account ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-There’s no conclusion ㅋㅋㅋ
And interestingly enough, a real-time communication channel with TeSTAR opened immediately after.
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[Whoa, TeSTAR is on W Live]
: (Link)
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It was TeSTAR’s W Live.
The first real-time communication in a long time since the Rookie of the Year controversy began with a grand title.
[TeSTAR’s Year-End Commemorative Dinner Making! Today’s Menu: Chicken Soup for the Soul (Cat Emoji)]