Chapter 569
Chapter 569
“I’m gonna go get some popcorn.”
“Hold your horses.”
In the early hours of the morning, while the other members were fast asleep, three members of TeSTAR sat in the dimly lit living room, scouring the internet via the TV.
They were looking into the rookie ‘co-ed’ idol group that had supposedly pushed us aside to take the number one spot on the digital charts.
HaloHe-im.
[At this point, I’m not even curious about who came up with this weird name.]
“…….”
Along with the critique from the native speaker, Cha Yu-jin, the debut song of said co-ed group began to play on the screen.
[Now I’m curious about the seat next to me
Your heartbeat
Who is it beating for right now?]
It was an up-tempo, catchy track that felt natural and pleasant to the ear.
A refreshing, atmospheric melody flowed over the accompaniment, the kind of song that would sound perfect playing in a cafe.
“The song is good.”
“I agree.”
However, no matter how good a song is, there are singers every quarter who vanish without ever seeing the light of day.
For a co-ed group to take first place within just a week of release—and not even as a sleeper hit that climbed back up the charts—meant…
“There must be another selling point.”
“Yap.”
With the silent agreement of Keun Se-jin and Cha Yu-jin, I continued the search.
It didn’t take long.
A 40-minute related video with over five million views popped up right next to the music video.
It was a piece of self-produced content. The thumbnail showed several members of HaloHe-im in school uniforms, facing each other with crisscrossing gazes and smiles.
[Is it because I’m a transfer student? <HeartHe-im> Ep.2 / HaloHe-im]
“…….”
The title layout felt somewhat out of place for typical idol content.
Yet, it was a familiar format, something I’d seen often on WeTube.
“Wait.”
I found the first episode of the series and hit play.
A narration began over a backdrop of a lush, green school campus.
[Have you ever wanted to meet someone who is a perfect match for you?]
[Are you the type of person who always clicks on ‘The Type That Suits Me Best’ whenever you take an MBTI, sentence completion, or any kind of psychological test?]
[This is our story—a search for that person.]
“Ah.”
The moment I saw that, I realized what this was. I crossed my arms and let out a low groan.
‘Crazy bastards.’
The people at this agency had blatantly benchmarked a reality dating program.
Co-ed groups are prone to dating rumors?
They had flipped that on its head and built the group’s entire universe around it.
They were essentially telling the viewers to create and analyze their own dramas as they pleased.
[Ji-hyun: Hello. I’m Kang Ji-hyun, born in Busan.]
[Ji-hyun: My personality… I think I’m on the quieter side. Even at school… (Edit) Yeah. I even skipped the school trip on purpose.]
Set in a fictional school, the video first introduced four female students, each with a distinct personality.
Then, the male members appeared, following the concept of ‘transferring’ into the school.
[Male Student 1: Nice to meet you. I’m Go Hyun-woo.]
The students then participated in various school-themed team missions, allowing the audience to learn more about their personalities and behavior patterns.
Everything from science lab projects to cooking classes, performance evaluations, and even courage tests.
And at the end of the day, each person would choose one member of the opposite sex and one member of the same sex they vibed with best and send them an anonymous text.
[Ji-hyun: Um… I liked how Hyun-woo was honest about being scared without acting tough. I’ll try sending one to Hyun-woo.]
[Hyun-woo: Didn’t Ji-hyun seem really reliable today?]
It showed who matched well, who didn’t, and who was developing feelings for whom.
They even displayed a chart showing the chaotic web of arrows representing love and friendship.
“…….”
“…….”
Watching this mess, the three members of TeSTAR couldn’t even muster a reaction.
It was pure culture shock.
‘…It’s a blatant dating reality show.’
It was a "smoke and mirrors" approach.
However, as I pushed through the shock and looked closer, I realized it wasn’t just a mess designed for clickbait. I could see the delicate craftsmanship behind it.
For instance, the ‘school’ setting was handled like the backdrop of a reality show—everyone knew it was fake, but they immersed themselves just enough.
[Jae-bin: This is a school concept, after all.]
[Hugo: That’s why it’s fun. I barely attended school in Korea.]
It felt comfortable, not like they were acting. It made each individual feel much more natural and sincere.
And at the climactic moment of every episode, their debut title track would play like an OST.
[This trembling is still Only in my heart
I can act cool about it]
The highlight melody of the song, which played right before the transition to the preview, fit the mood perfectly.
They were exposing the music in an incredibly natural way.
As time went on, instead of comments screaming, “Are you crazy, doing this with idols?” the top-rated comments were from people who were completely immersed in the show.
It was because the program was well-produced—entertaining and suspenseful.
And that wasn’t all.
“…It says here that if a pair is voted as the ‘Best Match’ by viewers, they’ll get the center positions for the next album.”
“……Wow.”
Keun Se-jin couldn’t even finish his sentence. I understood why.
Still, he managed to squeeze out another thought.
“This… I mean, they won’t be able to manage public opinion like this.”
“Probably not.”
It was a method that would make traditional idol fans recoil in horror.
That’s likely why the view counts were driven primarily by people who already enjoyed dating reality shows.
The problem was that these people were too immersed.
Moving on to Episode 2, I saw one member getting absolutely trashed in the comments. The reason? They had suddenly picked a different person during the home economics practice.
The malicious comments from people who had self-inserted into the position of the "betrayed" partner were way out of line.
Furthermore, the show even aired the members getting heated and arguing after subtly getting on each other's nerves.
‘What a spectacle.’
Using kids barely over twenty as lightning rods for hate is a dirty trick various broadcasting stations have pulled, but seeing it done in an agency’s own self-produced variety show was a whole new level of messed up.
‘Doesn’t this make it impossible for a cohesive group fandom to form?’
Even in our case, the atmosphere is still heavily influenced by the individual fanbases formed during Idol Inc.
The influence of a pre-debut survival program is that strong, so if you do this with kids who have already debuted…
“Usually, they’d just self-destruct.”
That’s how it would normally go.
But.
“But it worked.”
“…….”
This self-produced content, which felt like a clever blend of a web drama and a reality show, seemed to be gaining massive immersion and traction, particularly among their peers in their teens.
Next to join were the viewers of dating shows.
That was a staggering number of people who made up the majority of the current audience.
And what was the benefit of drawing those people in?
“It’s word of mouth.”
The people who were over-immersed were posting about it all over the internet.
Then, the hardcore K-pop listeners who had casually watched the minor survival show Be My Girls joined the fray.
And when global K-pop fans, who already love this kind of content, hopped on…
‘The views just explode.’
Of course, there were clear traces of the storm of criticism, backlash, and controversy.
For starters, how must the fandom of the members who made it through Be My Girls have felt?
‘They must have been miserable.’
They probably thought they’d finally debuted, only for the agency to pull this crap, making them foam at the mouth with rage.
But they couldn’t have been too vocal.
‘There’s already a manipulation controversy attached to them.’
Even if they could argue the members weren’t at fault, the scandal was so big that they would have been cautious about fueling more gossip.
They likely tried to deal with the company quietly, but as the response became hotter and more positive, they must have eventually resigned themselves to it.
‘In that way, even all those negative chemical reactions are consumed as buzz.’
Malicious comments are better than no comments. Because it’s still attention.
As long as you’re confident in the quality of the product you’re selling.
‘Public opinion can be flipped.’
And the agency had set the stage that far.
As the episodes progressed, the member who was getting hate had their misunderstandings cleared up and showed more multi-dimensional traits, gradually recovering their reputation.
By constantly shifting the focus to different members, they drew empathy from similar types of people in every episode.
In the end, they managed to appeal to the romantic charm and character appeal of every single member.
And right at the moment when their likability had ripened.
HaloHe-im’s first music show performance dropped.
That was the winning move.
They performed well.
The viewers reacted as if they were watching the stage of the protagonists from a drama they enjoyed.
The thrill and freshness of seeing a fantasy realized in reality created an unexpected synergy.
One wrong step and the discomfort would have outweighed the interest, but whether through luck or calculation, they broke through it all.
And just like that, the co-ed group launched successfully.
“…….”
In the dark of the early morning, in front of the TV in TeSTAR’s living room.
The three of them, having watched the performance of a rookie group that succeeded in such an unexpected way, fell into thought.
“OK. I get it.”
Cha Yu-jin was the first to shrug.
“This team is good on stage. But we’re better, so it’s fine.”
It was a calm statement.
“What did you think about the mixed genders?”
“Why that?”
“Because in Korea, there have been almost no successful co-ed groups since the 2000s.”
Cha Yu-jin replied with a look that said it was obvious.
“Hey, no trend lasts forever.”
“……!”
“K-pop groups aren’t a tradition either. Trends can change anytime.”
That… was true.
There was no guarantee that the co-ed group trend of the 2000s would never work in the market again.
Even if it worked in a completely unexpected form.
“Our group just needs to keep doing what we do best. Got it?”
“Of course~ Got it.”
As Keun Se-jin replied with a smile, Cha Yu-jin waved his hand and made a quick trip to the kitchen to return his water glass.
However, Keun Se-jin remained on the sofa with a frown until Yu-jin returned.
He seemed lost in thought.
“What is it?”
“No… it’s just, no matter how much I think about it, it’s weird.”
Keun Se-jin muttered while staring at the turned-off TV.
“This isn’t a method they can use long-term.”
“…….”
“Why?”
“Yu-jin, you said no trend lasts forever, right? Well, no couple lasts forever either.”
“…!”
“I don’t know what they’ll do for the next album, but it feels like they’ve burned through their image way too fast. Hmm, I guess you could say it’s very experimental?”
It was true.
It was almost impossible to use that kind of promotion again and get the same effect.
From TeSTAR’s perspective, it felt like if we just waited, they would run out of steam and wouldn’t be able to hold on.
Of course, you can never be sure in this industry.
“Let’s just keep an eye on them for now.”
“Yeah.”
The early morning monitoring session ended there. The three of them quietly tidied up the living room and returned to their respective rooms.
I, too, lay in bed and fell into a brief reverie.
‘A new method, huh.’
It was a promotional style that was short-lived, aggressive, and ground up the members' private lives and personalities.
But then, a thought occurred to me.
—Isn’t the idol group model we’re doing right now also one with a short lifespan?
Even for a successful idol group, the average lifespan was considered to be around seven years. Aside from a few exceptions, most would eventually find their own paths and pivot toward individual activities.
This was due to the burden of group living, the strain of high-intensity choreography, and the issue of reaching a certain age.
‘It’s just that we and VTIC, who want to keep going longer, are the weird ones.’
Considering that.
‘Is this method just another part of the trend of consuming idols even faster…?’
“…….”
I didn’t know. For some reason, I felt gross.
‘The vibe is different.’
Maybe it was because I was from a different age group to begin with, but this felt… almost unpleasant.
The way that company was promoting that co-ed group.
‘They’re encouraging consumption in a fucking bizarre way.’
Especially when I thought about those rookies who were gritting their teeth and performing so well.
“…….”
I decided to just go to sleep.
Instead of worrying about competitors, I should worry about our group, which has a member going to the military next year.
And let’s not forget the insane fact that I have to go to the military twice.
‘…Sigh.’
But strangely, even with those thoughts, my mind wouldn’t settle, and sleep wouldn’t come.
Like an ominous premonition.
Like I was missing something….
“…….”
Just now.
What did I list as the reasons for an idol group’s short lifespan?
Group living, age, and….
‘High-intensity choreography….’
“…….”
Wait.
“…!”
I immediately sat up in bed and grabbed my smartphone.
I dove straight into the undercurrents of the internet—places I hadn’t bothered to monitor because there hadn’t been any particular controversies lately.
The moment I looked with intent, certain phrases jumped out at me.
It felt like I’d been doused with cold water.
‘An idol group’s prime doesn’t last long.’
When that time approaches, they get rid of the dorms, individual activities increase, and the proportion of synchronized dancing decreases.
Many groups have followed this path.
‘This is practically a formula.’
It was a fact that all idol fans knew by now.
So, to these people, TeSTAR’s recent album was taken as a kind of signal.
A sign that TeSTAR was testing the waters to see if they could ditch their old concept and switch to a more comfortable style.
A signal that they no longer intended to live fiercely as a top-tier idol group in their prime.
A sign that the reason they liked TeSTAR in the first place was going to disappear and be replaced.
‘No.’
It’s just that there are people like this talking under the surface right now; usually, people don’t go out of their way to express dissatisfaction.
Because they think it’s a natural progression.
‘They just… slowly start looking for other idols.’
Their activities decrease, and their hearts drift away.
“…….”
If it were Cha Yu-jin, he’d probably say this:
—Let’s just put out a new album quickly. Then there’s no problem.
He’d want to show them that we’re still working hard.
‘That’s the right answer.’
But fuck, the bigger problem is… we can’t do that right now.
‘We already promoted with Epic!’
The fact that it did so well was actually the problem!
The public’s current expectation of us has been formed around that image.
A public-friendly, somewhat comfortable song that’s easy to listen to.
But what if a new album suddenly comes out in this atmosphere? Naturally, they’ll expect another song like that.
‘But we prepared this full-length album to be incredibly intense and conceptual.’
Because we stuck to the path of targeting the global fandom and aiming for a Cultural Merit Award.
Then what happens?
And the moment the digital rankings don’t come out,
‘It’s likely to eat away at both our buzz and our status…….’
“…….”
I buried my face in my hands.
We’re fucked.