Chapter 172
Chapter 172
To explain exactly what kind of mess this was, here’s the situation.
TeSTAR’s new roommate assignments were being decided through a board game—essentially a game of territory grabbing disguised as a card game.
“Alright, alright! Yeouido now belongs to my ‘Red Radish Coin Faction’! Everyone, hand over one coin each~”
“…Wh-what? Already??”
“So soon? Se-jin, you’re really good at this.”
“Haha~ Thank you!”
For the record, the rules of this unfamiliar game were complicated, the playtime was long, and most importantly, it had absolutely nothing to do with assigning roommates.
As it turned out, it was a new board game using the IP of 127 Section, the game we had previously collaborated with.
‘It’s probably PPL pushed by T1.’
I was used to it by now.
Anyway, to somehow tie this into the roommate reshuffling, the production crew allowed us to choose our roommates in the order of our final game rankings.
And here was the result.
“And the winner is… Yu-jin’s ‘Flaming Bikers’ with 36 spaces!”
“Yeah!!”
“Aw~ So close!”
Cha Yu-jin had pulled off a come-from-behind victory at the very last second.
‘Rolling three sixes in a row… seriously?’
Faced with Cha Yu-jin’s insane luck, everyone had given up on winning and ended up just sitting there shouting like they were watching a high-stakes gambling match.
And this guy, Cha Yu-jin… he pointed at me to be his roommate without a moment’s hesitation.
“Moon-dae Hyung, be a good roommate! I look forward to working with you!”
‘But why?’
Since when did we become close enough for this?
Even the option of bringing in a third person to dilute the responsibility was blocked.
“Ahem, then for our first-place winner Yu-jin’s choice of room…”
“Room 1!!”
It was a room for two.
“Oh~ Moon-dae is returning to Room 1? Congratulations~”
“…Oh.”
I wasn't happy about it at all.
Of course, I had no intention of doing something as crazy as expressing that openly.
While I couldn't bring myself to say anything enthusiastic, I was giving Cha Yu-jin plenty of positive physical signals, like high-fives and pats on the shoulder.
‘I can’t provoke Cha Yu-jin’s fans.’
They wouldn't take this as a joke; they’d tear me apart and label me a bully who picks on the youngest member.
So, let’s stay calm and think about the benefits of sharing a room with this guy…
…Are there any?
“Then, what is our second-place winner Se-jin’s choice?”
“Yep! My choice is… drumroll, please. It’s our cool guy, Rae-bin!”
“Ah, thank you!”
“Haha! Hey, I think it would be great if we went for the three-person room?”
“Hmm, Moon-dae was third, so we’ll skip him… and since Rae-bin was fourth, it’s his turn to pick a roommate. Rae-bin, what do you want to do?”
“I would like Seon A-hyun Hyung to join us as the final roommate!”
“…! M-me?”
“Yes! There are several things I’ve wanted to ask you since our last time as roommates….”
I tried to think of an advantage while the others were being paired off one by one, but nothing came to mind.
However, I did realize one thing.
“Eat some jelly!”
“Sure.”
I wasn't going to get a good night's sleep anytime soon.
And that judgment proved to be correct.
A few days later, in the waiting room of a music broadcast. The stylist, who was pinning down my costume accessories, asked, “Moon-dae, are you okay? You look a bit out of it.”
“I’m fine.”
Though I wouldn't have been fine without Bacchus.
‘That crazy Cha Yu-jin didn’t go to sleep until 2 AM last night.’
That much was fine. Everyone has a different lifestyle.
The problem was that he was incredibly active until 2 AM.
While constantly talking to me.
“…Phew.”
Actually, I had already taken the initiative and given Cha Yu-jin a few warnings.
—I’ve been trying to manage my stamina lately… so outside of workout times, I’d like to just lie down and rest as much as possible.
—Oh… Hyung, are you tired?
—It’s not that I’m tired. I’m just trying to save up energy, so please try to let me stay in bed.
—Got it!
And Cha Yu-jin, making my worries about a barrage of questions seem pointless, gave a clean "Okay" and really did try to be careful after that.
I mean… he was careful about the part where I could "stay in bed."
—Wow! Look at this, Hyung!
—……
Cha Yu-jin was holding his smartphone out for me to see while I only poked my head out from the covers. It was a video of a Siberian Husky having a conversation with a baby through strange howls.
—[Isn’t it so cute and funny?? A baby and a puppy. They always make my day happy.]
—Yeah. It’s nice.
When I gave him that positive response, I had no idea this similar pattern would repeat until 2 AM.
Even though we had a pre-recording for a music show the very next day, on Friday…
—Hyung, Hyung! This hippo…
—Stop.
In the end, it was only after I told him to "be quiet and go to sleep" about three times that Cha Yu-jin finally went to bed.
If he had gone on any longer, I might have been tempted to knock him out just to get some sleep.
‘This is driving me crazy.’
Of course, it’s not like this every time.
There are times when Cha Yu-jin goes to bed early, but the problem is that it’s entirely up to his whim.
Still, looking at his attitude, it seems like he’s trying to follow my words in his own way. The issue is that he’s the type who can’t store things in his head if he deems them "no big deal," so he forgets every single time.
‘Should I try scaring him?’
I was joking, of course. The moment Cha Yu-jin looks even slightly intimidated in front of the cameras, it’ll be fuel for discord rumors.
Normally, I could just ignore it, but the problem was that only a few months ago, I had left behind footage that made me look uncooperative toward Ryu Cheong-woo.
That Summer Package video.
‘Not good.’
Therefore, for now… I endure.
However, based on past trends, these roommate assignments will likely be fixed for at least half a year. I’m not sure if I can go that long without showing even a hint of discomfort toward this guy.
‘How did Ryu Cheong-woo survive being his roommate at first?’
Well, come to think of it, Keun Se-jin was there, so he probably drew all of Cha Yu-jin’s aggro.
“Hyung! Cookie? Cookie?”
“I’m okay.”
“It’s delicious!”
“You have plenty.”
Lately, the frequency of Cha Yu-jin talking to me outside the dorm has increased significantly as well. If he’s doing this because he feels a sense of closeness as roommates, I’d like to decline.
“TeSTAR, please move to standby now~!”
“Yes!”
Anyway, we were up next. Roommates are roommates, but for now, I had to focus on work.
Waaaaaaaah—!
I heard the cheers through my in-ears.
The sound vibrating through the small parts that were supposed to block noise had a strange way of pumping a person up.
‘It’s like all distracting thoughts disappear.’
Especially for songs with complex and tight performances, the feeling of adrenaline surging was quite helpful.
But for a song like this one, which was loosely structured in places, it was better to force myself to think a bit.
If I just let it flow, it often ended up looking bland.
Because it was easy, I had to pay more attention to make sure it didn't look dull.
‘Wait a bit here… then the gesture.’
—Cool breeze, sweet coffee
Add lots of syrup
Just like me, yeah
Take a seat
The movement of resting my chin on my hand was caught perfectly by the camera with the red light on.
‘It’s strangely easy.’
The delay between thought and expression felt shorter than before.
‘Is this the power of the Star Quality stat?’
It was actually quite fun.
I added a few expressions and movements I hadn't originally planned—changing my facial expression or making a "glasses" shape with one hand—and I was able to time them perfectly without any hesitation.
‘Oh.’
Interesting.
—Now wait comfortably
(Hold on a second)
I’m coming to get you now
The stage ended with us standing or sitting back-to-back.
“Thank you!”
“Thanks everyone!”
The guys’ faces looked perfectly fine as they bowed and headed offstage.
“Monitoring, monitoring~”
“Watch the cables there!”
There was a somewhat lively dance break at the end, but it wasn't so intense that it felt like our lungs were going to burst.
‘The sub-track is a ballad, too.’
What was interesting was that, contrary to the lower difficulty of the promotions, the digital results were better than ever.
Even the manager ran over as soon as the monitoring was over and shouted:
“Guys! Picnic rose again! It’s 7th on 24Hits!”
“Whoa!”
It was an incredible feat for the fifth day after release.
In a system where a single person’s repeated listens only count once every 24 hours, we were the first male idol group besides VTIC to reach such a rank this year.
‘It’s doing more than double the numbers of our previous album, Haengcha.’
Since it was moving at a similar pace to Young-rin, who has much better public appeal, it meant the song was truly a well-made "easy-listening" track.
Keun Se-jin chimed in.
“It’s because Rae-bin did such a great job with the arrangement~”
“Th-that’s right. The song is really good…!”
“Ah, no! I believe this result was possible thanks to the excellent demo and the great opinions from the team members!”
He sounded like he was giving an acceptance speech.
‘His face has brightened up.’
Kim Rae-bin was beaming with a much more relaxed expression than a few days ago. Well, he still looked a bit fierce, though.
“Make lots of songs! Give them to me.”
“Songs aren't something you can just churn out; you need a certain kind of inspiration to work on them…”
“Inspiration? Are you an old man?”
“You dummy! Not that, um…”
I sighed.
“…Inspiration.”
“Ah, thank you, Moon-dae Hyung!”
“Thank you!”
…Looking at the crowns of these two guys’ heads as they bowed, I began to suspect that Cha Yu-jin had picked me as his roommate just to use me as a translator.
It was a convincing theory.
“Guys, ending stage!”
“Ah, yes!”
Anyway, in the midst of a hectic comeback week schedule, the timing to organize my thoughts didn't come easily.
So, it was only a few days later, during free time right before bed, that I learned Cha Yu-jin’s true intentions.
—It doesn't matter what the weather forecast says~ It's a day I want to see you.
Late Monday night, during a rare bit of free time.
I was lying in bed watching a fancam.
It was the official vertical fancam uploaded from that music show on Friday.
[(K-cam) TeSTAR Park Moon-dae Fancam ‘Picnic’ 2X1018]
The thumbnail was a close-up of me resting my chin on my hand, and it already had a decent number of views.
It seemed to have become a minor hot topic on community sites, with people comparing it to my first Idol Inc. fancam.
The one from the Shining Star grade evaluation.
I skimmed through the comments, which were filled with things like "Park Moon-dae is a deep-learning AI puppy," feeling slightly embarrassed, and finished watching my fancam.
‘It definitely got better.’
The control of strength and weakness was clear, and while the intended vibe was distinct, it didn't feel awkward or forced.
‘Hmm.’
I felt like I could indulge in a bit of self-praise; even the old me would have looked at this guy and thought he’d make money.
But that thought was temporarily dismissed as the next video auto-played.
[(K-cam) TeSTAR Cha Yu-jin Fancam ‘Picnic’ 2X1018]
It was Cha Yu-jin’s fancam from the same day.
‘This guy is a real monster.’
It wasn't just naturally good; he gave a strange, unique feel to every single movement.
‘Hmm, snappy and fluid?’
That kind of description seemed to fit. It wasn't just that he was good at dancing; he really brought the movements to life.
‘It’ll be worth analyzing.’
I left Cha Yu-jin’s fancam playing for a moment. Then, a head suddenly popped up next to mine.
“Hyung! Are you watching my video??”
“Yeah. You’re good.”
“Hehe.”
Cha Yu-jin looked excited and poured out words in English.
—[How is it? I mean, are you watching it because it’s fun?]
“That, and also to compare it with mine and do some research.”
“Oh!”
Cha Yu-jin’s eyes sparkled, and he patted my bed excitedly.
—[Hyung! Then I think we can share some tips! If you teach me about singing, I’ll teach you about dancing!]
“Really?”
“Yes!”
Just as I was thinking I shouldn't expect much since he didn't seem like the type with a talent for teaching, Cha Yu-jin got to his main point.
—[And how about we do a unit performance? At the next concert!]
Oh, is that so?