Chapter 573
Chapter 573
A concert ticket.
The former grad student stared at the ticket Ryu Cheong-woo held out to her on the screen as if she were being sucked into it.
It was a gold-leafed invitation with a punched hole.
From the moment she first saw the ticket, she had thought the design had a somewhat vintage concept. Now that it was placed within a video that perfectly matched that era, it looked incredibly natural. At the same time, the impact of a real-world object suddenly appearing created a mysterious, lingering impression.
As the ticket drew closer and closer on the screen, the significant atmosphere reaching its peak…
The video ended.
"Huh?"
The former grad student blinked, staring at the screen that had turned black, leaving only a replay icon.
That was it?
She felt… empty somehow.
‘I mean, it was fun, but…’
It felt like it had been cut off in the middle. The things that hadn't been explained or clarified left a nagging, uncomfortable feeling in her gut.
‘Hmm, maybe it’s just me.’
She tentatively clicked on the comments.
And then she saw it.
Gasp.
Without reading further, she immediately scrolled past the comment section.
That was definitely a hint.
‘There’s something more!’
Her heart began to thud.
She clicked the replay icon on the video and began to watch from the beginning with intense focus.
The scene where Ryu Cheong-woo spoke to her and walked to the lobby doors.
‘It’s the same up to here.’
There was certainly nothing unusual in the beginning.
As Ryu Cheong-woo stopped walking and began to speak to her, she started scouring the screen even more thoroughly.
[Come to think of it… there’s something a staff member asked me to give to you.]
And then, she found it.
"Oh…?"
[Z9nIgQhLdw]
In the serial number box of the ticket being shown in a close-up, there were clearly visible characters printed.
Click.
Reflexively, she paused the screen and looked at the characters.
Just as she was about to write them down, an idea flashed through her mind, and she clicked the "Show More" description box of the video.
“…!”
As expected, the code was also listed in the video description, provided so it could be easily copied.
‘I knew it!’
This was it.
Certain of her discovery, she racked her brain for where she could use this code.
It didn't look like computer code or an error code.
In that case… if it was a code related to the video…
The former grad student stared at the screen, and the moment her eyes hit the very top, she realized.
‘It’s an address!’
Wasn't there a long string attached to the address bar of the video she was currently watching? Random characters similar to this code, right after the slash!
With a racing heart, she deleted those characters and pasted the code she had found into the address bar.
[https://wetu.be/Z9nIgQhLdw]
After typing it in, she hit Enter.
Tap.
The page connected.
“Whoa!”
She found it!
The thrill, like solving a difficult riddle and winning a prize, made her clench her fists.
And then, a new video began to play.
[HUNTING CIRCUS]
The tour ticket she had seen in the previous video appeared on the screen.
But soon, it vanished from sight, as if the hand holding it had lowered it. Then, the scenery the ticket had been obscuring was revealed.
It was a roller coaster.
The perspective made it feel as if the ‘protagonist’ was sitting in the very first car.
“Oh?”
As the screen, which had been showing the nose of the red roller coaster, moved as if lifting its head, a dark tent with swirling orange stripes came into view directly ahead.
‘A circus tent!’
At that moment, the roller coaster launched!
“Oh!”
The tent in front of her opened, and as the roller coaster was sucked inside…
It was a whole new world.
—Welcome.
Inside a massive circus tent.
Greeting her from the dark stage was Kim Rae-bin, dressed in a classic suit. Shining spotlights crisscrossed around him.
Lightbulbs twinkled atop temporary structures built with colorful fabrics and steel frames in the background.
Against a backdrop of exploding flower petals, Kim Rae-bin seemed to give a polite bow under the spotlight, but then…
With a gesture of grabbing his chin, hands reached out from the darkness behind him.
The tingling sound of an accordion played.
The hands moved as gracefully as spiders, following his gestures.
—The tables have turned
Today, you are the sheep
A collective gesture of fingers pointing at the person beyond the camera.
Gun barrels popped out from both sides of the roller coaster and fired at the screen.
“…!”
As if teasing, confetti crackers exploded instead of bullets, sparkling in the light.
—Run further, go ahead
How fun, doing acrobatics
As a slightly eerie minor-key brass sounded, the roller coaster moved as if escaping, circling halfway around the stage.
In sync with that, TeSTAR’s formation changed direction as if chasing the roller coaster.
“Gasp.”
At the very front of TeSTAR’s diagonal line, Ryu Cheong-woo turned and sat down with a flick of his chin.
—(Run, Run!)
Round and round below the stage
Back to where we started, Come on
The wild choreography, mixed with a bit of tutting, was brought to life by an exquisite control of intensity.
It was a completely different arrangement from the original version of Hunting.
‘Holy crap.’
Not just the arrangement, but the choreography had changed too.
Originally, Hunting was a wild song with a heavier feel and a synchronized dance that was almost terrifyingly sharp.
But now, it felt more playful and mischievous.
—Show must go on, just like me
You can’t leave either
You’re the one who said it, Just enjoy it
The full-body movements became more rhythmical.
Cha Yu-jin, the center, stepped forward with a smirk. The choreography that seemed to bounce off the tips of his limbs reached right up to the nose of the roller coaster, guiding the viewer's gaze with his fingertips.
The more glamorous and classically rearranged Hunting thundered in her ears.
And the flashy choreography, which had as many intricate beats as the arrangement, fell perfectly into place, capturing her eyes.
—Just enjoy it
“Ha…”
It was clear they had taken all the elements of the existing song and adjusted them boldly yet delicately.
It was that intense and that good.
And so, the viewer naturally came to a realization.
‘This is the real promotional video for the tour!’
However, TeSTAR didn't openly display this stage—which looked like it had tons of money and time poured into it—begging people to watch. Instead, they hid it.
—A night of reversals
It’s hunting season (Yea-h)
If you left the hotel satisfied with a happy ending, you wouldn't see it.
Only those who stayed with TeSTAR until the end, thinking and experiencing things for themselves, could reach this through their own efforts.
To this thrilling performance video, given like a reward at the very end.
The maximization of a sense of achievement.
—Call up, it's hunting season
“Oh…”
The chorus. With Seon A-hyun as the center, a flashy and technical circus-like choreography unfolded as if chasing the camera's movement.
Pop.
Fireworks and lights exploded, and before she knew it, the roller coaster stopped again at the front of the stage.
The lights grew even brighter.
—Wooo!
A finale that rushed in to match.
To the arrangement that grew faster like an acrobatics show, the final dance break filled the screen in a full shot.
Hands clad in white gloves and the movement of black shoes filled even the edges of the camera's frame with power.
The performance, racing toward its climax to the explosive solo of drums and brass instruments, met its end with an intense close-up.
Following the final accompaniment and a thumping drum roll, the TeSTAR members took turns giving polite bows with slight time intervals.
And finally, the moment center Lee Se-jin bowed, the spotlights cut out.
BAMMM!
It was the ending.
“Whew!”
The former grad student realized she was leaning forward in a posture perfect for getting a turtle neck from staring so obsessively at the screen, and she hurriedly corrected her posture.
‘That was so good…’
But the video wasn't over yet.
[…….]
The first-person perspective of the video looked down from the darkened stage to see the nose of the roller coaster again.
It was as silent as a dead mouse.
But soon, with a vibration-like tremor, the engine started.
‘Oh.’
And when the camera, confirming the engine was running again, turned its gaze back to the stage…
[It’ll be even more fun this time.]
Seon A-hyun, whom she had met in the elevator, was looking at her with a smile.
“…!”
On that screen, where only small subtitles and his mouth movements appeared without sound, Seon A-hyun reached out a hand and pulled the camera toward him.
‘Huh?’
And the moment he suddenly let go of the camera.
Whoooooosh—!
The roller coaster went into reverse and exited the tent with a thud.
Then, the lights came on in the closed circus tent once more, and finally, a massive subtitle appeared over it.
[Prologue: Welcome to the Hunt House]
“…….”
The credits rolled as a version of Hunting rearranged with an accordion played like background music.
The former grad student realized.
This wasn't just a hidden ending.
This was the final destination of those complex choices.
And one more thing.
‘It was a prologue.’
She realized that all of this was a preface, an introduction to the background setting.
And presumably, the main chapter would begin at the place one visits with that invitation.
The concert venue!
[Is TeSTAR insane?]
Without any anger at all, I clicked on the post.
====================
They already sold out all the concert tickets, so what the hell is this? Aren't they just pretending to give me a ticket and then having a blast among themselves? T_T Isn't this deception? I'm gonna sue.
====================
Below it were comments of agreement and lamentation.
I nodded.
Oh.
‘Looks like they enjoyed it immensely.’
That’s right.
TeSTAR’s tour promotion video had properly achieved its goal.
Namely, stimulating the fans' interest… and proving our roots.
Public opinion flipped the very day it was released. I watched it while having a draft beer.
‘It was clean.’
Once the intense performance was visible to the eye, the amount of mentions increased like wildfire.
Ah, the desperate attempts to change the atmosphere didn't work, as expected.
‘They’re working hard.’
And actually, these undercurrent reactions were just for tracking the flow… I was just satisfied because the visible fan reaction was good.
Meeting expectations gave a thrilling sense of accomplishment.
‘Good.’
However, the interesting part was that it didn't end here.
People who weren't fans started trying it out.
Even though this was content strictly targeted at the existing fanbase.
In fact, since we used it as an excuse to dump content rather than with the goal of selling more tickets, we didn't even sell additional concert tickets.
To be honest, I hadn't even expected it to have such a ripple effect.
‘Since we hid the performance video that much.’
It was because only those with a strong will to actively dig up content could properly enjoy it.
Since it wasn't an official music video, we didn't have to worry about view counts, which is why we could choose this method.
But… it seems that actually piqued people's appetites.
‘Should I call this the sentiment of lining up at a restaurant that’s hard to get into?’
The desire for a challenge.
Furthermore, there was another factor lowering the barrier to entry.
‘It’s not paid.’
Since accessibility was good, unlike during ‘Roll the Dice’ where you had to buy the album to legally play with it, it seemed like people who were genuinely bored were clicking on it easily.
The fact that it was a series of short WeTube videos also seemed to have played a part in lowering the psychological barrier.
And so…
…Surprisingly, additional demand actually appeared!
“Um, what if we… scheduled a few more… concert dates?”
It was to the point where even Seon A-hyun felt it and said something like this.
Of course, we couldn't just blindly increase the number of shows because getting excited and adding performances could mess up the entire schedule…
‘But I think we can satisfy the demand in other ways.’
I quickly drew up a few plans.
However, there was something to do before realizing these plans.
TeSTAR had their existing schedule, after all.
“Moon-dae, you know we have a joint concert in Singapore next week, right?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Do you want to perform the newly rearranged version of Hunting there too?”
A joint K-POP overseas concert hosted by a major network was just around the corner. Since we were already on that track, I had said okay, thinking we should appear at least once.
It was supposedly to commemorate the 50th anniversary of an exchange with that broadcasting station, but that wasn't really important.
Well, as long as we did well…
“I think that would be fine.”
This joint concert featured that new co-ed rookie group.
HaloHe-im.
The new group made of Be My Girls members, who were originally under this agency.
And… Young-rin, who was said to have produced that group.
So, a few days later, TeSTAR would finally meet that much-talked-about group and their staff in person.