Chapter 144
Chapter 144
TeSTAR stepped down from the stage and took their seats on the guest sofa of the talk show.
However, the one holding the microphone was… Cha Yu-jin.
‘Is this really okay?’
Even though I knew Cha Yu-jin was the most fluent in English, I couldn't help but feel worried.
But Yu-jin was a natural.
[Welcome! What are your first impressions of my show?]
[Hmm, it’s full of color, very cheerful, and you make a great impression, man~ I really like that yellow tie. It’s the 127 Section mark, right!]
[Oh, thank you! This was the very first official merchandise sold on the 127 Section official site back on May 11th. It was hard to get my hands on, and I’m wearing it for the first time today just for this special occasion.]
My younger brother chimed in mockingly.
“Can you even understand them?”
As if. I was just listening to the gist of it.
Still, the atmosphere was good.
‘Cha Yu-jin feels different when he speaks English.’
He seemed much more relaxed and mature.
On the screen, the short small talk was coming to an end.
[That’s right, you really look like a Californian! Now it makes sense. You look like you’d enjoy surfing, right?]
[Haha, is there anyone from San Diego who doesn’t?]
[Uh… in that case, well, you might not be very interested in things like this. Yep.]
The host intentionally hunched his shoulders and glanced around. Laughter erupted from the audience.
[No, no, this is a unique and fun experience. And 127 Section was a fun game!]
[How generous of you~ Great. Then shall we talk a bit about your roles within the game?]
At that, Park Moon-dae, who was sitting next to him, immediately picked up the microphone.
[Actually, we are singers, and most of us have no acting experience. Although it was brief, acting as game characters within the music video was fun and new.]
Clean English flowed out smoothly.
“Huh?”
The university student who was a solo fan of Kim Rae-bin… no, who was now also a fan of Park Moon-dae, almost shook her monitor.
“Whoa, his English is f*cking good?”
“Right?!”
Unlike the student who was excited by the unexpected English skills, Park Moon-dae on the screen calmly continued the conversation.
[Ah, so you guys didn't provide the inspiration for those companions being created?]
[We did create the song after being inspired by those friends. Mainly this friend here. His name is Kim Rae-bin. You can call him Rae-bin.]
[Oh~ …Hello, Rae-bin? You really look like you’d compose music! You have the eyes of a musician!]
[Hello.]
Kim Rae-bin on the screen greeted the host awkwardly.
‘He’s looking out for Rae-bin first.’
Even without knowing the full context, it was clear just from the video and the words. The university student watched the scene with a satisfied smile.
[What parts of the characters inspired you? Whoa! Not a bad word, just a good question! Someone please tell him!]
[Oh, he looks a bit intense, doesn't he? But if you look closely at his eyes, you’ll see he has a very soft soul!]
[Still scary!]
While Cha Yu-jin approached the host—who was fully immersed in his "loser" persona—to playfully defend Kim Rae-bin’s gaze, Kim Rae-bin’s words were interpreted through Seon A-hyun.
[He says their narrative had a big influence. ……It was a tragedy, but he tried to capture the beauty and intensity… of the characters' good intentions.]
A hint of a French accent came through.
‘He feels different when he uses a foreign language, too?’
Just like in recent official appearances, Seon A-hyun hardly stuttered while speaking a foreign language. Any slight hesitation could easily be interpreted as mere shyness.
[Exactly! That’s the feeling I had the whole time I was rewatching the trailer after finishing Chapter 1! Oh, I see your soul now, Rae-bin!]
[Hahaha!]
Kim Rae-bin, perhaps not fully understanding the situation, just tilted his head with a blank expression.
“Ah, so cute!!”
“You think that’s cute? He looks like he’s about to shake someone down for lunch money.”
“Shut up.”
The student ignored her brother and focused on the screen.
[Then, by any chance, are there no plans for a new OST for 127 Section?]
Originally, this question was about "plans for the companion characters to reappear," but it had been modified based on TeSTAR’s previous answer.
Park Moon-dae gave the prepared answer calmly.
[We really enjoyed working on the first one, but even if a new OST comes out, it probably won't be our song.]
[But why?!]
Cha Yu-jin suddenly cut in.
[Because we’re curious to see what kind of OST other artists would compose! Don’t you all feel the same?]
At that positive prompting, a reflexive response came from the audience.
[Yes, yes, of course, but still, it’s a shame! ‘Bonus book’ is such a great song.]
[Thank you.]
[You know what? Man, you really know your stuff! You have excellent taste!]
[Me? Hahaha, I know, right!]
The host laughed at Yu-jin’s compliment, and the talk about the game ended there.
Only then did a few words of self-introduction and greetings pass before they moved toward the conclusion.
[The stage we saw earlier was truly wonderful, but I heard you’ve prepared another performance?]
[Yes. We thought it would be nice to show you the kind of music we usually do.]
[Great, great! Then, if you please. Andrew’s Band~]
As the band made their standby sounds, the TeSTAR members stood up from the sofa with smiles.
And then they started taking off their shoes.
[Oh~]
“Huh??”
“Hey, hey, didn't they just get shorter?”
The university student didn't even have the leisure to hit her brother for talking nonsense.
In the meantime, the TeSTAR members on screen took off their cardigans or jackets and placed them neatly on the sofa. Staff members came out and quickly cleared the sofa away.
Their outfits were now unified: barefoot, wearing jeans and white short-sleeved T-shirts.
Whistle!
At the unexpected, full-scale preparation, reactions could be heard from the audience.
TeSTAR moved smoothly while still holding the microphones they had used for the interview, settling into their choreography formation.
The lights went out.
Uuuu- Uu- Uuuu-
Over the distorted band sound, a slow and melancholic piano melody rose.
And then, movements closer to modern dance began to unfold.
-Slowly sinking
The time, the night
I don’t want to escape
Simple clothing, jazz sounds, a foreign language, and a modern dance choreography performed over a live band.
Everything synergized, making TeSTAR’s stage look more artistic than conceptual.
Elements that might have felt unfamiliar or met with resistance in this setting were instead absorbed and perceived as "high-level."
Furthermore, the strengths of the K-pop genre, which has refined the pleasure of seeing and hearing to the extreme, were undeniable. Especially for a group that could pull it off well.
And TeSTAR was such a group.
-When I met you
Midnight
And next
Thanks to that, the moment the performance ended and the lights came up, the audience was filled with the sound of applause befitting a "great viewing experience."
The host also came running out, clapping.
[That was pure art! That was ‘Midnight, and next’ from TeSTAR’s album . Everyone~ see you in the next segment!]
In that way, their appearance, which began with ‘127 Section,’ concluded as ‘TeSTAR.’
The screen changed to a commercial, but the impression of the stage did not easily fade.
‘They killed it.’
The university student slammed her left hand on the desk and then lifted it.
And this reaction became the general public opinion.
Since we were in the US, various schedules that could be done here were booked. After finishing a few of them, the episode of <The Nerdy Andy Show> we appeared on had aired.
Lying on the hotel bed, I first checked the public opinion in Korea.
A few cliché articles like "Successful appearance, hot response" had popped up, and hmm…
TeSTAR appeared in a video on a popular WeTube channel that reviews overseas reactions.
[(Overseas Reaction) TeSTAR shows Western fans the taste of K-pop! Reaction Compilation with Korean Subs]
‘I guess the reaction wasn't bad.’
Seeing videos like that popping up everywhere, it seemed we weren't just mocked locally.
I looked for the performance video uploaded by <The Nerdy Andy Show>.
‘The view count is quite high.’
Even the one that wasn't the 127 Section version had similar views. It was something I hadn't even expected.
Both videos were flooded with English comments, but it wasn't too difficult to get a general sense of the atmosphere.
It was because I had been studying English whenever I had a spare moment during this promotion.
‘I can’t waste a trait I’ve already gained.’
I was conscious of this.
[Trait: International Student (A)]
- I understand exactly what you mean.
: Foreign language acquisition ability +200%
Since it was a proficiency speed boost, the faster I mastered it, the easier it would be to swap it out when the next trait appeared.
Of course, because time was short, I wasn't at an amazing level, but I had learned enough to say memorized lines without sounding awkward.
‘Still, it was faster than I imagined.’
If I’d had something like this back when I was a university student, I would have buried myself in the library for about six months.
Anyway, I skimmed through the comments.
Excluding the comments about 127 Section, the atmosphere was roughly like this.
However, what I hadn't expected was that ‘Midnight, and next’ would resonate with the viewers of this program.
‘I thought they’d hate it for being too "gay" or something.’
Isn't that a common remark when people in that region watch K-pop? I know it too.
But it seemed the genre of the song helped.
There were many programmers among the viewers of this show, and apparently, this kind of lo-fi jazz was trendy in that circle.
Anyway, overall… it was a huge success.
Just in case, I checked the domestic game communities, and the hostility had completely subsided.
On the contrary, a few people even popped up reminiscing about the early atmosphere of the game.
‘Drawing the line was useful.’
It seemed they regained favor because we didn't look like we were going to overstep with the OST or characters, and we showed a good live performance of the collaboration song.
The TeSTAR fans, who were right on the verge of sharpening their blades against the 127 Section game communities, also calmed down significantly.
“What are you looking at so intently~?”
“The internet.”
“Our stage?? It’s good, right~”
Keun Se-jin, who had just finished showering, flopped down on the bed next to mine.
This guy ended up being my roommate because we were randomly swapping hotel roommates for a WeTube upload.
‘Surprisingly, he’s not annoying.’
He’s a bit bothersome and loud, but our lifestyle patterns were similar.
Keun Se-jin asked in a cheerful voice.
“What do you think, will our next album do even better?”
“I don’t know. We’ll have to see.”
“Hey, in times like this, you’re supposed to say everything will go well~”
Keun Se-jin laughed heartily and started looking at his smartphone.
‘Well, the probability of it going well is high.’
As the video from <The Nerdy Andy Show> received quite a bit of praise, it was noticeable that overseas K-pop fans were rapidly taking an interest in TeSTAR.
It was probably because we were recognized in a field not typically associated with K-pop.
‘That’s just how people’s hearts work.’
At this rate, it seemed okay to look forward to the music video views for the next album.
I shrugged my shoulders and said to Keun Se-jin.
“I’m sleeping.”
“Yeah, you can turn off the light~”
I turned off the light, lay in bed, and checked my smartphone again.
Now that I was done monitoring, I wanted to check how the domestic public opinion was shifting overall.
And then I realized.
While TeSTAR was starting to gobble up the overseas K-pop market share, a stir was also happening domestically.
A debut song by a rookie boy group had become a massive hit on the digital charts.
It was the group of Gold 1, who had finally succeeded in debuting.
‘Oh.’
Checking roughly, they weren't quite at TeSTAR’s level at debut, but they were performing exceptionally well on the digital charts.
The general consensus was that the song was just that good.
‘If they maintain this momentum, they’ll be successful.’
Since Gold 1 is a decent guy, it was a good thing.
And as my thoughts reached that point, they drifted elsewhere.
To my status effect.
If Cheong-ryeo was right, the 4th status effect I would receive this time was my final mission.
And looking at the flow so far, it would surely demand an even higher baseline.
‘…Then is it better to receive the status effect now?’
Seeing the reactions coming from overseas and the followers catching up domestically made me think that.
The thought that the next year or so might be the peak of my career.
Of course, we could continue to grow endlessly like VTIC. But in such an uncertain industry environment, I couldn't be so sure.
Still, it felt almost certain that we would do well this year.
‘Hmm.’
First, I called up the status window pop-up.