Chapter 185
Chapter 185
Before long, one of the boxes on either side of the stage swung open.
[TA-DA!]
It was the right box, where the winners of the audience mini-game had entered.
Cha Yu-jin was the first to come bounding out of the box in excitement, followed by the other members, who stepped onto the stage with bright smiles.
They were dressed in red uniforms that looked like something straight out of The Nutcracker.
In other words, they looked adorable.
"Uwaaaaah!!"
The moment the crowd cheered for the outfits, a melody began to weave into the accompaniment.
‘Ah, this song!’
‘Oh~’
Many in the audience recognized it immediately. It was a famous children's song that had been a hit in the 2000s.
However, it had been given a sophisticated, refreshing band arrangement, creating an atmosphere perfectly suited for an idol concert—even if it was a bit excessively cheerful.
The winning members ran across the stage, waving to the fans before settling into a loose formation to begin their performance.
Their movements were perfectly synchronized.
—My friend is
Really, really cute
Though they don’t say much
Their heart is so warm
They seemed to be stealing glances at the prompter, but the winning team handled their parts quite well, splitting the lines and singing in harmony while barely suppressing their laughter.
There were no major formation changes, but the quality was far too high to believe they had just thrown the team together on the spot.
‘Cute.’
The office worker fansite master diligently captured the data, planning to trade it later for shots of Lee Se-jin or Park Moon-dae from different angles.
‘I have to focus on Cha Yu-jin.’
He was the one with the highest market value, after all.
Since the stage was clearly a fan-service event, the fans immersed themselves in the cuteness without any pressure, waving their lightsticks and humming along.
The first verse ended in that heartwarming atmosphere.
[Thank you!]
[We appreciate it.]
As the interlude began, the winning team gave a polite 90-degree bow and finished their set.
"So cute!"
Cheers and laughter erupted from all corners of the audience.
And deep inside, a powerful, somewhat wicked premonition began to flicker.
‘If this is what the winners got… what on earth are the losers going to do?’
‘Sexy concept.’
‘The answer is costumes.’
‘Fairy wings.’
Amidst a whirlwind of selfish desires, the winning team skipped off the stage.
And at that moment—
Zzzzzzzzzing—!!!
Suddenly, a streak of electric guitar shredded through the interlude with magnificent violence.
“……??”
Confused, laughter-filled exclamations like “Huh?” broke out everywhere.
‘What is this??’
Amidst the bewildered atmosphere, the once-refreshing interlude seamlessly transitioned into a heavy metal sound.
[Uwaaaaaagh!]
Then, the penalty team burst out, tearing through the tissue boxes.
“……!!!”
“Whoa!”
They weren't wearing neat uniforms like the winners.
They were wearing animal mascot heads—so large they looked disproportionate to their bodies—with only their faces peeping out.
They were the very characters that had been floating on the tissue boxes earlier.
The waddling animal mascots were undeniably cute, but their outfits were straight-up gangster.
Which is to say, they matched the accompaniment perfectly.
“Wha—what??”
While the venue was momentarily plunged into chaos, the three members charged toward the center of the stage, throwing rock-and-roll hand signs.
Lee Se-jin, who wobbled for a second due to the swaying mascot body, regained his balance after being roughly jostled by the members on either side.
‘He knows exactly what he’s doing…!’
The office worker caught that cut instantly.
After flailing about and testing the waters with some rhythmic movements, Lee Se-jin struck a bold pose at the perfect moment and raised his handheld mic.
Then, a high-pitched explosion erupted.
—My friend is!
Really, really kind~
Their hands are small
But their heart is huge!
However, his voice had been modulated.
A chirping voice, as if he had inhaled helium, echoed through the speakers.
It made the high notes sound even more piercing.
“No way!!”
The sound of the audience bursting into laughter mixed with the distorted audio.
Next, Park Moon-dae struggled to lift his handheld mic with his thick mascot paws.
—I like my friend~
We are best buddies~
Accompanied by a capitalist business smile, a flamboyant autotune enveloped the audience.
“Bwahahaha!!”
The fans were now howling with laughter.
The office worker was no exception. She even saw the person next to her hitting their own lightstick just to avoid hitting the people around them in their excitement.
‘This is insane.’
It couldn't have been more avant-garde.
‘Crazy!!’
It was so unnecessarily well-done that it was hilarious.
And, of course, it was adorable.
—Best friends, best friends
We’re best buddies~
Friend, I love you
Give me a big hug~
A low-pitched voice that sounded like it was chanting a curse came out of Kim Rae-bin’s rabbit mascot.
And instead of hugging, they sat there slapping each other’s backs.
Unable to control their fluffy mass, all three of them nearly toppled over, only to stand back up by grabbing and shoving one another.
‘Oh my god.’
Watching the guys perform the chorus with such deadpan choreography, the office worker running the twin fansite had a gut feeling.
‘This… this is definitely going viral!’
This comedy, this impact.
She could already see the future where this dominated real-time trends and popular posts.
[TeSTAR has lost their minds lol]
[TeSTAR concert currently going wild.jpg]
‘I need to drop the previews immediately and post a short video on the way back!’
The office worker generated data with more passion than ever. On stage, the three members of the losing team were also giving the performance of their lives.
They were generously stripping off the skull-patterned arm warmers and black jackets layered over their mascot suits and tossing them into the crowd.
For the record, they were disposable items made of paper.
They just looked the part.
“They’re seriously crazy!”
“Over here!!”
The fans cheered, practically crying from laughter. In terms of attitude alone, they were nothing short of rock stars.
—Yeah~ Best buddies!!
The heavy metal version of the children's song ended with a passionate knee slide.
Watching the three mascots waddle off-stage while still trying to act cool amidst the piercing laughter and cheers, the office worker cried out internally.
‘I’m uploading this the second it’s over!!’
She could already see her follower count skyrocketing!
But unlike the office worker who was busy picking photos for previews during the break, the heart of another fansite master nearby was in shambles.
‘I’m going crazy.’
It was Park Moon-dae’s first fansite master.
Looking like she had just ridden a rollercoaster ten times in a row, she stared at the stage Park Moon-dae had already left.
In truth, she had been in this state since watching Park Moon-dae’s solo stage.
‘Moon-dae, this is… sigh.’
Singing while floating mid-air, lying flat against nothing?
It was a stage that made it all too clear how he had managed to injure his wrists and waist in the past.
And that was the problem.
‘It hasn’t even been that long since you recovered, and you actually did that…!’
The fact that he did it without any modifications to the plan made her heart sink.
And there was an even bigger problem.
‘…It was incredible.’
The solo stage was so good it gave her chills.
Despite all her worries and cold premonitions.
‘It’s going to be hard to make an issue out of artist protection….’
Too many people loved that stage. The prevailing opinion would likely be, ‘If Moon-dae is okay with it, isn’t it fine?’
Even she was currently being swayed by it.
‘The fact that he’s too good is the problem.’
The fansite master mechanically took photos of the VCR on the opposite side with a dazed expression.
This sentiment applied to the heavy metal children's song as well.
Seeing a kid who had just recovered performing group songs breathlessly and then running around in that heavy mascot suit brought all sorts of thoughts to her mind.
But at the same time, she couldn't help but feel he was cute, and she felt a sense of gratification and pride.
Still, she could only wail internally.
‘Park Moon-dae, you’re really okay, right?! I won’t have to bang my head against a wall when the behind-the-scenes footage drops later, right?!’
On the VCR, Park Moon-dae turned around with a smile.
*
“Ugh.”
“Moon-dae!”
“Are you okay?”
I’m fine. My semicircular canals are just overworked from spinning around in a mascot head.
‘It must have been funny, though.’
Then it’s fine. Honestly, it was funny for me too.
“I’m okay. Just give me a glucose tab.”
“Here!”
A staff member hurriedly handed me a capsule.
It was saline glucose.
I stripped the packaging and swallowed the pill with some water. A makeup artist immediately moved in to wipe away the sweat and moisture.
‘Two minutes and thirty seconds left.’
There’s enough time to catch my breath and head out. I’ve already shed that damn pile of cotton, too.
Just then, Keun Se-jin was also tossing aside his mascot head.
“Try to breathe.”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
The shortness of breath passed ages ago. I clicked my tongue.
‘Of all things, why did it have to press down like that?’
The performance I prepared for my solo stage involved a wire device that let me float while lying in mid-air.
It was meant to look like I was floating thanks to the fabric, and then provide another surprise by showing I was still floating even after the fabric was gone…
I was aiming for that effect, and it seemed to have worked.
In reality, even though it’s a wire, there’s wide safety equipment padded around the lower waist under the costume, so it doesn’t put much strain on the body.
As long as it’s installed correctly, that is.
‘It was slightly off.’
It was fine during the rehearsal, but maybe a mistake happened because we were in a rush to put it on, or something went wrong during maintenance.
It was pressing mercilessly against my left lung.
Fortunately, it didn't compress the ribs I had broken before, so I finished it without any major issues other than a lack of oxygen.
And after coming down and using an oxygen mask for a bit, I recovered quickly.
‘We use oxygen masks from time to time anyway, even without accidents.’
Actually, everyone except Ryu Cheong-woo and Seon A-hyun uses them. Even those two have used them once or twice.
But since an accident is an accident, the others seemed to be on high alert.
Seon A-hyun was currently asking me while swallowing hard.
“Y-you said you were in pain….”
“Not particularly. My stamina is fine too.”
My physical condition was good because I’d been doing nothing but eating, sleeping, and practicing.
‘My wrists… well, I won’t be using them violently anyway.’
This much should be fine as long as I get some treatment after the Seoul concert. I shrugged and gestured with my chin.
“Let’s go. We can’t be late. We have to go on standby.”
“Y-yeah….”
“…….”
Ryu Cheong-woo, who had been watching from the side, chimed in.
“Moon-dae. Shall we talk again after the concert?”
“Yes. Sounds good.”
If he wanted to talk about changing the equipment manager, I did want to have a deeper conversation about that.
The others also added their two cents.
“……If you start feeling unwell, you have to tell us.”
“Health is the most important thing, above all else.”
“I will. Sure.”
I thought that letting me stop talking would be more helpful for my rest, but since I’m not a sociopath and I was grateful, I just nodded along.
“Moving out!!”
The fairly long VCR ended, and it was time to head back up to the stage.
Waaaaaaa—
The roar of the crowd.
And the purple lights filling the venue.
‘It does remind me of our first concert.’
It made sense. We had structured it that way on purpose.
Listening to the clear percussion sounds echoing in my in-ears, I sang the first part.
—The you I’ll meet tomorrow
I think of you all day today
It was our debut song, ‘Magical Boy.’
—I dream a dream as blue as the day
At that moment, small, shimmering things began to take flight from the audience, riding the wind into the air.
“……!”
They were bubbles.
Countless round surfaces sparkled in all sorts of colors under the purple lights.
“…….”
All these people were blowing bubbles in unison.
Just like at the start of our first concert.
Because they remembered that scene together.
[Loviewer is going to show you something today!]
A slogan was caught on the electronic screen. A familiar phrase had been modified.
‘Interesting.’
I smiled.
‘……This is good.’
The adrenaline made it feel like my brain had vanished.
It felt like I was on some kind of drug.
The remaining time of the concert passed in an instant, as if it had simply melted away.
*
And so, the first day of the concert concluded successfully.
I heard news that it was receiving rave reviews from all over. Of course, anyone who would come to the concert would already be fond of TeSTAR, but still… it was quite rewarding.
‘Good.’
However, not everything went as expected.
“Why don’t we reconsider?”
“……?”
Because the members, the company, and the fans each showed up with a new variable.
This is going to be a headache.