Chapter 270
Chapter 270
The atmosphere among TeSTAR’s individual fandoms was in shambles.
To be honest, a beautiful, magical solution wasn't going to work here.
Was anyone actually expecting the idea of "the members get along, so the fans should have a sense of solidarity and get along too" to stick? That was a pipe dream.
Loving the same person might be a decent start, but in the end, direct experience is what matters most.
In that sense, the recent controversy surrounding Cha Yu-jin was nothing less than a direct experience of the unspoken trust they had barely managed to build since Idol Inc. being utterly pulverized.
‘And I can’t exactly push Cha Yu-jin into the spotlight to make up for it.’
That might make Cha Yu-jin’s individual fans feel better, but the fans who were attacked by his toxic individual fans in the beginning would explode.
-Honestly, it’s not like Cha Yu-jin did anything right, so why give the akgaes ammunition to act all smug?
-I’m so tired... I’m seriously going crazy from the exhaustion.
Comments like that would come pouring in.
Ultimately, you couldn't give one side the nuance that they had "won" over the other.
“…This is difficult.”
A few methods came to mind, but it was hard to narrow them down because setting a balanced standard was tricky.
‘Should I gather more cases?’
I went to open the internet, then stopped.
‘…Maybe it’s better to ask the parties involved.’
Even if I came up with a method, I’d need the group’s consent to use it. It would be easier to proceed if I took their thoughts into account.
I decided to ask the members about the situation.
If I explained the situation too specifically, they might get some distorted hope like, "Our fans will eventually get along!" So, I used a different analogy.
“So, a way for group members whose feelings for each other have soured to the absolute limit to get along?”
“Yeah.”
Keun Se-jin shrugged.
“Isn’t it best to just think, ‘They’re just someone I work with’? You only need to look good when you’re working.”
That was the standard view.
It was a "this sucks, but let's just focus on the goal" kind of answer. The problem was that being in a fandom isn't a job, so the lack of compulsion made it less effective.
Since our fandom’s atmosphere was exactly like that right now… it meant people would soon start looking for an exit.
‘Maintaining the status quo won't work.’
“But Moondae-Moondae, why all of a sudden? Is there a group whose relationship went south?”
“No, just because.”
Even if I explained it in detail to this guy, he’d probably just get stressed, so I’d tell him after I’d organized my thoughts.
I asked the same question to the others.
And I suffered a string of defeats.
“I-I am not entirely sure. Um… perhaps moving forward with an attitude of listening to and respecting each other’s words….”
Pass on Kim Rae-bin.
“…A way to get along?”
“Yes.”
Bae Se-jin asked back with suspicious eyes.
“…Are, are you really asking me?”
“…….”
He meant he had no confidence in his own social skills. Let’s move past him, too.
Ryu Cheong-woo, who happened to be sitting next to him, answered as if there was nothing to think about.
“You get close quickly when you suffer together.”
“……Hmm.”
That’s also a bit…
‘What are you doing to people who have already suffered enough?’
Of course, Ryu Cheong-woo had answered without knowing what the subject was.
Then, with a slightly embarrassed face, he added an explanation on his own.
“Ah, I don’t mean you should just suffer for no reason… but if there’s a reward and you overcome the same obstacles together, you become close. That’s what I meant.”
“Ah.”
It seemed to be from his experience as an athlete.
‘He has a point.’
Rewards and obstacles.
I decided to keep this in mind and move on.
And next, something similar to Ryu Cheong-woo’s answer came up, but it sounded better.
“Me! I know! Do something fun together! Like, sports!”
“Sports.”
“Yes! Run and play together. And if you win together, you become friends!”
It was a usable idea.
‘Certainly… isn’t fan activity similar to a kind of sport?’
In the sense that there are rules, winners and losers, and emotional fulfillment.
The difference would be that it’s less immersive than actually playing the sport yourself.
However, it seemed like a pretty good perspective, so I asked one more time.
“What if they fight more because they can’t coordinate while running together? What if someone acts selfishly to score a goal, or the opponent doesn’t pass the ball?”
[Well… those people would need someone to encourage them!]
Cha Yu-jin answered without hesitation.
[You know, making them feel ashamed of their actions. After that, if they focus more on the game and win, they’ll have no choice but to reflect and become friends!]
“Hmm. Right.”
In the end, that was it.
If they couldn't solve it among themselves, an authoritative third party had to intervene.
But TeSTAR couldn't do that.
‘We can’t lecture the fans.’
It would create a strange dynamic, like a company trying to lecture its customers. They’d find it absurd. I could already see the backlash hitting us.
Then what’s left… an appeal?
‘Do I have to make them feel soft-hearted enough to want to listen to us?’
I frowned at the narrowed-down solution.
…It didn't feel quite right. It was too one-dimensional.
“M-Moondae?”
“Ah.”
When I turned my head, Seon A-hyun was hesitating, unable to enter the kitchen. It seemed I was blocking the way.
Perfect timing.
“Can I ask you something?”
“O-Of course!”
I stepped aside and asked Seon A-hyun the same question.
“What do you think members who have developed terrible feelings for each other should do to make the group work?”
“Huh??”
Seon A-hyun seemed flustered.
Cha Yu-jin looked at him with interested eyes.
“Umm….”
And Seon A-hyun seemed to think quite deeply before giving an unexpected answer.
“I, I think… wouldn’t it be hard?”
“…!”
It was straight to "impossible."
“Because, if their relationship is already that bad… I think there must be a reason. So, for it to suddenly get better… it, it seems like it would be hard.”
It was the most realistic and cold-headed answer.
“O-Of course, other people might think of a good way…. But that’s how I feel.”
“…Right.”
I nodded.
Seon A-hyun laughed awkwardly, and Cha Yu-jin persistently raised his hand.
“But my way is good!”
“Ah, u-um, what way is it…?”
I let the two of them talk and fell into thought.
‘I’ve finished gathering opinions, and if I were to weigh them….’
The conclusion was out.
‘It’s impossible to completely resolve the emotions right now with our strength alone.’
Seon A-hyun was right.
This wasn't something that would be solved immediately in their hearts just because TeSTAR did something right now.
So, let’s throw away vague talk like reconciliation and relationship recovery and go back to the basics.
What moves people?
‘Profit.’
Victory, reward, achievement. Joy—in the end, when those things are given, the process is also justified.
I recalled Ryu Cheong-woo’s words.
—If there’s a reward and you overcome the same obstacles together, you become close.
This, too, was ultimately about the joy of the result making one affirm the "teammates" present in the process.
So, we move on the same principle.
‘I have to clearly show the benefit of each member being in TeSTAR.’
So they can feel all at once that these seven look the best when they’re together, that they’re the most successful, and that they feel like a top-tier group.
So they can know at an instinctive level that maintaining this group is the most beneficial for each individual as well.
The fun gained from maintaining this group, TeSTAR, must be felt more tangibly than the stress received from other individual fandoms they hate to see.
‘And I’ll provide an excuse.’
The emotional part only comes in to help this process go more smoothly.
‘Because the kids are close to each other, and they’re all working so hard… and the group TeSTAR seems so precious.’
It’s to help the fans cite emotional and human reasons instead of the fact that they were blatantly calculating profits and losses.
So they can pretend to be moved by the warm and passionate atmosphere and let the fandom atmosphere calm down.
—Those people would need someone to encourage them!
In a sense, it was just as Cha Yu-jin said.
However, since we couldn't lecture the fans, we had to go in a different direction.
‘So, what needs to be done is….’
Beyond TeSTAR working hard on their idol activities, we had to show that we cherish this group itself very much and are giving it great meaning.
And, come to think of it, if it’s as direct as an appeal, it might actually cool them off.
‘Don’t mention it, but make them feel it deeply.’
After laying the groundwork like that, it’s a picture that makes them swell with pride for TeSTAR.
“Hmm.”
[…I’m telling you, once you do a team match like that, it’ll be solved refreshingly! Why do you think there are so many sports movies?]
“I, I think that could be true…!”
I watched Cha Yu-jin, who was still speaking passionately, and Seon A-hyun, who was being persuaded, then smiled once and left the kitchen.
“Hyung, where are you going?!”
“To wash up.”
Let’s get organized.
There would be a lot to discuss to catch the content, but among them, there was a priority.
‘I should tell them to contact W Live.’
First, I had to reshape the format of the encore concert.
TeSTAR has successfully completed their Japanese dome tour and will hold an encore concert in Korea!
Naturally, it was news everyone would love.
-Finally, life feels worth living.
-Please, let me have a seat this time.
-They’re coming back to Korea just like that? Since when did T1 know how to work?
And this time, the next piece of good news was also waiting.
The moment the ticketing ended, W Live posted an announcement.
[Failed to get tickets for the TeSTAR concert? Don’t worry! Real-time broadcast OPEN on W Live ♡]
It was an internet live broadcast of the concert. It was a scheme to draw as many people as possible to the site, but anyway, those who failed to get tickets were relieved.
-Heol, I guess they put it in because the reaction was good during the charity concert. I love it so much lol.
-Phew, I failed miserably, but this is at least some comfort..ㅠㅠ
“Hmph.”
Kim Rae-bin’s fan snorted after seeing the post.
‘They didn’t even need to broadcast it!’
There was a reason she could be like this. It was because she had proudly succeeded in booking a standing seat for this concert!
That’s why she could be out here at the concert venue now, leisurely scrolling through old posts.
‘Hmm, the atmosphere is good.’
She put down her smartphone and glanced around.
For a while, the atmosphere among individual fans had been like walking on thin ice, but as expected, coming offline, everyone was harmonious and nice.
‘Is the online world really just a world of its own??’
Among the people filled with expectation, she clicked her tongue, but soon nodded after seeing the concert site posts popping up on social media.
-I just gave a Wolf Cheong-woo cookie and got ignored? I looked and it was that fan. Ah, I’m so speechless lol.
It was being shared at a terrifying rate.
‘They’re just not showing it.’
It was a mess. Kim Rae-bin’s fan decided to turn off social media and just watch the concert. If she didn’t, she felt like she’d jump in and say something too.
‘Let’s just watch Kim Rae-bin and Park Moon-dae and go.’
Watching is what remains.
Based on her previous experience, she waited for the concert to start in the left block she had carefully chosen.
One way or another, her heart fluttered at the sight of her idols in person for the first time in a long while.
And a moment later.
[Hello Seoul~!]
Waaaaaaah!!
The stage began with explosive momentum.
The performance, which opened with the latest song, "Drill," overlapped with the previous Seoul concert and sucked the audience in an instant.
‘Next song is Haengcha!!’
Because it was an encore concert, there was almost no change in the composition from the previous Seoul concert, but knowing the setlist also acted as an advantage.
Because there was the taste of expectations being met.
Above all, TeSTAR’s concerts had a power that could only be felt on-site, so even if it was the same taste as on the screen, the concentration was different.
[You, who are stinging,
Swallow to your heart’s content!]
Title tracks, B-sides, and solo performances.
“Waaaaaaah!!!”
They made her scream until her voice went hoarse.
The concert, which pushed forward while skillfully adjusting the pace, passed by in an instant, and soon reached the ending.
[Bye bye~]
The lights on the stage dimmed, returning to the default state.
“Phew!”
Of course, it wasn't the real ending. She already knew they’d do three or four more songs for the encore.
Kim Rae-bin’s fan wiped her forehead.
She had said they were handsome so many times that she felt like she was experiencing semantic satiation!
So she calmly thought about the next song.
‘Was the first encore song a medley?’
During the tour, this was around the part where they’d put in a local song, but originally, they had done a short arrangement of a medley of songs from Idol Inc.
‘It’ll probably be the same.’
Guessing so, Kim Rae-bin’s fan looked around at the people singing the fan song.
Given the recent atmosphere, it seemed like if an Idol Inc. song came out, it wouldn't bring back fond memories but rather remind them of the cutthroat fandom relationships back then.
‘I don’t know. Let’s just live cursing each other out.’
She grumbled and cleared her thoughts, thinking that as long as the results were good, it didn't matter.
“Today I feel good, as if~ something good is going to happen~”
In the meantime, people were singing the first fan song while waiting for the encore.
It was the standard, but seeing the state of social media earlier, she felt a strange sensation because it seemed like a quarter of these people would hate each other.
It was because the fact that everyone looked happy was not a lie.
‘The concert hype is real.’
Even she was currently experiencing the feeling of being an all-fan of the group while singing along.
‘Come out, guys!’
At that moment, the sound and lighting returned to the stage.
Aaaaaaaaah!
Amidst the people’s cheers, the tour promotion VCR that usually came out before the encore….
“Huh?”
It wasn't that.
What was heard from the giant screen wasn't a grand intro, but the thin and warm sound of an acoustic guitar.
The melody of the fan song people were just singing, "Magic is You."
And the one playing that melody on the guitar on the screen was… Kim Rae-bin.
“Waaah…?”
However, Kim Rae-bin’s attire was peculiar.
Pajama pants and a T-shirt.
He was wearing very comfortable pajamas that anyone could see, and even had his hair tied in a ponytail.
“Eh.”
And looking again, the video didn't feel professional or carefully shot; it just looked like a phone camera with a filter.
It felt like a very private video.
[Hmm, hmmm~]
Next to Kim Rae-bin were Cha Yu-jin, who was lying down and humming, and Bae Se-jin, who was perched on the sofa choosing food with a serious expression.
Behind them was Park Moon-dae bringing drinks, and Lee Se-jin, who waved at the camera while looking for a towel after coming out from washing up.
[Hi~ What are we filming?]
[It’s just a memento.]
Ryu Cheong-woo’s laughter was heard. And after panning the camera around as if to record the surroundings, he turned it off.
“Oh.”
And on the black screen, subtitles appeared at the top.
[TeSTAR Documentary]
[Produced by: Ryu Cheong-woo, Bae Se-jin, Seon A-hyun, Lee Se-jin, Park Moon-dae, Cha Yu-jin, Kim Rae-bin]
[Sponsored by: Ryu Cheong-woo! <- Important]
Instead of a failed documentary, it was their tour behind-the-scenes, made by weaving together photos and videos TeSTAR had taken while preparing for the concert.