Chapter 480
Chapter 480
TeSTAR at Waterbomb absolutely dominated social media.
Reviews, videos, and photos poured out in a relentless flood.
Heat and energy.
Every expression felt as if it were punctuated with an exclamation mark, overflowing with vividness and dynamism. It was a surge of excitement bordering on madness.
And without a doubt, the MVP was…
It was Cha Yu-jin.
Appearing suddenly in the middle of the set, Cha Yu-jin stormed across the stage as if he were going to devour it. His performance was captured from every conceivable angle on phone cameras and uploaded to the internet one after another.
Countless "eye contact" photos and videos were still flooding in.
In that short span of time, it was hard to tell how many dozens or hundreds of people he had locked eyes with; there were hundreds of posts from fans frantically screaming that they had made eye contact with him.
A midsummer night.
With the stage lights shining behind him like a piercing sun, Cha Yu-jin’s eyes gleamed in the backlight, looking as if they would swallow your gaze whole.
Naturally, the wailing among Cha Yu-jin’s individual fans was significant.
Only a few days ago, an announcement had been posted stating that Cha Yu-jin would be absent from schedules for a while due to health reasons. It had become the accepted theory that he would likely miss Waterbomb as well.
But then, on the day of the event.
Without a word of warning, he suddenly burst onto the stage halfway through, charging toward the audience like a madman. Everyone was stunned.
And soon, they were screaming.
However, the voices of complaint from those who had suffered personal losses were far too small to be noticed because…
He was simply too overwhelming.
The glint in Cha Yu-jin’s eyes at Waterbomb was visible even through low-quality screens blurred by water droplets and humidity.
His expressions, his movements, his sheer power.
Of course, if one were to scrutinize every detail, they might have noticed something slightly off.
Like the fact that TeSTAR had allocated unusually few parts for synchronized choreography, or that they had intentionally increased the number of ad-libbed sections to fill the gaps where they usually moved in perfect unison.
Or perhaps that Cha Yu-jin’s vocalization seemed a bit less stable than usual.
But the audience didn't have the mental leeway to care about such things.
It was because of the specific stat that is maximized during festival-style events.
Because of his Star Quality stat, which had been honed to the absolute limit.
That alone completely commanded their attention.
Just posting a short clip with a hashtag on SNS caused the view counts to skyrocket.
The reactions of people online, who were practically beating the ground in regret, were matched by the audience in the videos, who looked like they were losing their minds.
And in reality, they were.
At the Waterbomb site.
"Waaaaaaaah!!"
The stage was racing at a breakneck pace.
[In the pose!]
The third song was their latest track, "Pose," which featured an upbeat 80s American high-school concept.
Originally a song focused on a playful, energetic boyish charm, it had been rearranged for Waterbomb to feel more relaxed and "hot."
Though he didn't comment on it, Steer’s Cha Yu-jin quite liked this song.
That was why he tried not to think too deeply.
He simply executed the choreography he had learned and let loose.
"Whew."
Finally, an interlude arrived between songs.
[Are you guys having fun~!]
He could finally hear the voices of the members hosting the segment.
‘…Wow.’
Catching his breath and brushing his hair back, he saw a steady hand offering him a water bottle.
It was the leader, Ryu Cheong-woo.
“…….”
For a moment, Steer’s Cha Yu-jin almost forgot the situation. It was the adrenaline.
But he soon regained his bearings.
‘It’s okay.’
“Thanks.”
He gulped down half of it and, with a grin, poured the rest over his head. Screams erupted from the audience once again.
Then came Keun Se-jin’s genial voice.
[That’s right, Cha Yu-jin has joined us as a special guest~! Everyone, are you happy to see him?!]
"KYAAAAAA! YES!!"
"YEAH!!"
A chaotic mix of affirmations, cheers, and profanity-laced screams filled the air.
The crowd, the crowd!
‘Oh, damn.’
It was embarrassing to admit, but for a moment, Cha Yu-jin felt a tingling sensation that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
Was it because it had been so long since he’d received this kind of reaction?
And beside him, Park Moon-dae, who was wringing out his jacket only to get hit by another blast of water, noticed Cha Yu-jin’s aura.
‘Is he momentarily overwhelmed?’
Moon-dae knew exactly why.
It was because Steer had not been given an environment like this in a very long time.
Unlike TeSTAR.
‘…TeSTAR is the headliner of the show.’
In other words, the audience at this show was already prepared to give them their full attention.
“…….”
That was an element Steer’s Cha Yu-jin had never possessed, no matter how hard he promoted.
Steer was a group that had already "cooled off."
The public doesn't regain interest in a subject that has been consumed until its sweetness is gone—not until the "cooldown" period has reset.
They don't pay attention.
How terrifying human psychology and prejudice could be.
Those traits had prevented people from even looking at this Cha Yu-jin’s stage.
‘However.’
In that miraculous moment when the public’s attention returned.
The presence of Steer’s Cha Yu-jin, who had ground himself down to the very last bit while waiting for that single moment, displayed an attraction so immense it felt almost violent.
At the very least, Park Moon-dae recognized it, which was why he smiled for several reasons.
‘Right. A proper—’
Until he was hit by another blast of water across his entire body.
"Take it off!!"
“…Yep.”
"WAAAAAAH!!!"
Park Moon-dae gave up on his jacket without regret, surrendering it to the water cannons. An unexpected cheer erupted, regardless of the planned hosting.
[Then, here is our encore song~]
Slowing the tempo slightly, the final song captured the atmosphere of a summer night.
It was a very popular song that everyone could sing along to.
An OST from a Limestone movie.
[Black-hole
Let me swallow it]
"Black Hole."
The deep vocals resonated in his ears.
The voices of the audience sounded like a chorus.
"Oooooh—"
Some excited audience members turned on their smartphone flashes and waved them to match the mood.
Cha Yu-jin moved his body while listening to the unfamiliar yet beautiful song he had practiced for only a few hours.
The cheering deepened again.
Amidst the surging adrenaline, he looked at the audience and listened to the music.
A deep, rich, and unique melody.
And within it, he found a trace he recognized.
The guitar riff.
He remembered the insecure, low voice of his friend when he played it for him.
- For the next album… no, if that’s impossible, I hope I can use it someday…….
‘Kim Rae-bin made this.’
It seemed that in this world, he had been able to turn it into a song as he wished.
But that sentiment was brief. To be lost in such thoughts…
This stage was too long-awaited, and it was too big.
And there were people whose eyes never stopped following him.
As if they were enchanted.
“Cha Yu-jin!”
“Yu-jin-ah!”
Were these people fans of "TeSTAR’s Cha Yu-jin"?
Or was this purely a reaction to his performance?
He couldn't know.
But in this moment…
[Black-hole!]
Because he was the one standing on the stage.
Cha Yu-jin could fully embrace that stimulation.
He moved his body, expressed himself, and embodied the song.
And the viewers reacted!
That thrill.
That was when he realized.
‘Ah.’
So this was why.
[Hit it like a comet]
Giving up cleanly and finding another path.
The reason he couldn't follow that simple principle.
The reason he couldn't give up.
‘It’s fun.’
[Shatter like a shooting star]
He loved this, damn it.
The bed was comfortable.
And the posts I was seeing were quite comfortable as well.
“Hmm.”
I scrolled through the smartphone page with satisfaction.
Half a day after Waterbomb ended.
The posts related to Waterbomb, which were still dominating the real-time trends, were all about TeSTAR.
‘It was a bit of a difficult route, ranging from safety concerns to exposure.’
But the amount of buzz made the bold choice worth the risk.
There were even humorous posts like this popping up.
=========================
[Situation where an idol gave a gift but you don't know if he gave it to the boyfriend or the girlfriend]
(Screenshot) (Link)
A couple who received a jacket from Kim Rae-bin at Waterbomb are reportedly fighting without yielding an inch, both claiming they were the one who received it.
They say a ruling from Kim Rae-bin is urgent LOL
==========================
For the record, the result of asking the person himself was this:
I figured as much.
Anyway, the conclusion is…
‘What else could it be?’
It means it was a massive success.
I let out a small chuckle.
This automatically keeps something else in check.
‘And what about Iter in the meantime?’
When top-tier idols at Waterbomb have hogged all the attention, there’s no room for a rookie group at Summer Pool to even be mentioned.
They just wasted their time doing a cheap gig.
No, on the contrary…
If you sort the comments on WeTube fancams by "Newest First" and look for Korean ones, you can find reactions like these.
In short, because they marketed themselves with such a heavy concept, their weaknesses were slightly exposed when they appeared at a raw, water-splashing event like this.
Lack of experience.
Lack of ability to handle live situations.
‘Hmm.’
I rubbed my chin.
If I play this right… I might be able to turn the tables on them.
‘They were quite cheeky, after all.’
No matter how I look at it, trying to use Cha Yu-jin for reverse viral marketing was going too far.
‘It’s hard to just see that as a "strategy," isn't it?’
But if they insist on calling it a strategy.
I smiled and sat up in bed.
‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I can do the same—’
“Lie down, Park Moon-dae.”
“…….”
Damn it.
I leaned my back against the headboard. Keun Se-jin sat on the edge of the bed with a beaming smile.
“Wow~ Coming down with a cold right after the schedule ends! A fever of 38 degrees!”
“…….”
“As expected of Moon-dae, getting sick only after finishing all the work!”
Stop it.
“But that means you’re going to get some proper rest now, right? Hmm?”
“Yeah.”
But can’t I use my brain while my body rests?
Besides, I’m not the only one who’s down.
If I listen closely.
“Ugh.”
“Haa…….”
Those are the sounds of Kim Rae-bin and Bae Se-jin groaning in their respective rooms.
That’s right. At Waterbomb, only the guys who weren't in the best condition wore jackets.
‘They were the ones who moved around the most during the Cha Yu-jin incident.’
But since they all lost their jackets and ended up running around bare-chested, this was a predictable outcome. It felt like as soon as the tension broke, their bodies became incredibly heavy starting from dawn.
I nodded, then arrived at a very plausible deduction.
We moved around a lot, but the others must have worked just as hard.
‘They stayed up all night, ran around the company, and suffered mentally for days.’
And then they performed while getting hit by streams of water of unknown origin…
“You probably don't feel too great either. Do you?”
“…….”
This punk is avoiding my eyes.
“Go lie down.”
“Yes, sir.”
And two hours later.
Soon, everyone began to suffer from body aches in a stable manner.
“…What?”
That is, everyone except for Steer’s Cha Yu-jin.