Chapter 601
Chapter 601
A sunny spring. The news of the massive comeback clash between VTIC and TeSTAR set the internet ablaze. And…
Park Moon-dae’s first fansite master collapsed onto her desk!
Thud.
‘I-I think I’m going to die…’
She felt like she might actually pass away from a stress-induced stomachache.
As Park Moon-dae’s own monitoring had suggested, it wasn’t as if one group was being openly mocked or ridiculed on the trending videos list.
It was a balance between a dragon and a tiger.
But how was that even possible?
‘It’s because everyone is gritting their teeth…’
The balance was only being maintained because the toxic fans on both sides were desperately trying to kill each other…
In the K-Pop world, where machinations and trickery were rife, the naive did not survive. Those who remained were all battle-hardened veterans of a thousand wars.
It was a constant cycle of intentional bashing and overhyping, designed to shave off the opponent’s prestige without leaving a single opening to be counterattacked!
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[Ugh, honestly, this is so lol… hmm… I think the group that just got discharged is going to win.]
The difference in firepower alone will be huge. Since it’s VTIC’s first comeback in 18 months, the fans will have way more disposable cash.
Besides, the junior group has never beaten them when they’ve gone head-to-head.
I guess everyone forgot over the last 18 months lol.
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With people looking several moves ahead in public opinion, it was a chaotic mess where you couldn’t even be sure which side a post was actually trying to undermine!
In the end, anxious regular fans would desperately report the posts, ending the skirmish by getting the threads or accounts blocked…
The fansite master was certain that there were dozens, if not hundreds, of such buried posts every single day.
‘I’m so tired…’
Having just finished blocking another troll trying to use her photos of Moon-dae to spread rumors, the fansite master muttered with hollow eyes.
So, if one were to ask what the ultimate cause of this mess was…
‘It’s because of VTIC, those bastards…!’
Honestly, VTIC could have made their comeback at any time this year!
But TeSTAR… TeSTAR was at a truly critical juncture where their international reception was finally peaking. Why did they have to come along and rain on the parade!
‘If the timing is right, they could even get their military service postponed!’
Did they target this timing on purpose to clear out the competition?!
The fansite master seethed, swallowing her rage. No matter how she looked at it, it felt like a targeted attack.
The Cultural Merit Award.
After VTIC received theirs, there were subtle mentions of teams where people thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be a waste of added value for them to go to the military right now?’ But fundamentally, the Cultural Merit Award was rarely given to those in the popular culture industry.
It was almost exclusively reserved for those in pure arts, and even then, the vast majority went to elderly masters who had spent their lives in their craft.
‘For a pop singer, overwhelming national prestige is the most effective argument…’
That was why they needed to achieve even more impressive global results. But if there was a team openly splitting the pie like this… it felt like the impact would be diluted.
‘The boys must be conscious of it too…’
It was obvious just from the fact that Bae Se-jin’s enlistment schedule hadn’t been announced yet. Naturally, there was a bit of hope for a one or two-year postponement.
‘Whew.’
For some reason, it felt like luck wasn’t on their side this year, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth.
“Ah… seriously, VTIC. Ha.”
It was driving her crazy.
…Of course, VTIC fans were screaming “Those crazy TeSTAR guys!” from the exact opposite perspective.
Regardless, she swallowed a cabbage supplement—good for stomachaches—and made a vow.
‘I’ll do my absolute best to…’
No.
Doing her best wasn’t enough.
‘I’ll do it! I’ll definitely do it!’
If only for Park Moon-dae, who remained so consistently sincere about his main job even past the contract renewal season!
Her heart, which had grown a bit lax while happily consuming tour content, was suddenly filled with the same tension she’d felt during the Idol Inc. finals.
And then, it caught fire.
Sending a message of encouragement to her friend, who had now graduated from grad school, she made a resolution.
The thing a famous fansite master with many eyes on her could do.
Encourage the fans!
‘We’ll get results without being pushed back!’
Motivation brought on an adrenaline rush.
And to reaffirm her resolve, she logged onto WeTube to watch the intro one more time…
…But a certain new video appeared at the top of her feed.
“…??”
It was a variety show trailer with a ‘Pre-release’ tag.
[VTIC, TeSTAR… and T-Holic? Let us in too, the Big Three Boy Groups! | | Going on a group MT]
In the thumbnail, VTIC’s Ju-dan was wearing a newspaper boat hat with an expressionless face, T-Holic’s Ha Jin-tae was acting cute in a sailor uniform…
And Park Moon-dae was floating there with pigtails and a Tibetan fox expression.
“…?!”
She thought it was a fake.
But no matter how many times she checked, this was… the official T-Holic variety channel!!
The fansite master clicked the video, barely breathing.
The first thing she saw was a green field shimmering in the sunlight.
And then, slow-motion shots of handsome people running across it together.
Idols in tracksuits.
But these were people you no longer saw in those mass-participation athletic variety shows because they were now too big for them.
“G-Gasp…”
It really was VTIC and TeSTAR!
[These people]
[You recognize all these faces, right?]
[Are you curious]
[How they all ended up here?]
The cut changed to a conversation between the T-Holic members sitting in a conference room.
[A conference room at an agency located in Sangam]
[T-Holic Yoon: Hyung, the response to our agency MT was really good, right?]
[T-Holic Won-seok: Yeah, yeah. Everyone said it was fun. They said the comment section was great too.]
T-Holic was deep in thought.
The ‘Agency Group MT.’ This promotional content, which had been attempted by several WeTube variety channels, had particularly good synergy with T-Holic’s variety program.
It became even more entertaining because T-Holic, who had long served as the representative face of their agency, hosted it with great banter.
The previous episode, featuring Young-rin’s agency group MT, had also pulled in sweet view counts by throwing well-timed jokes at HaloHe-im without crossing the line.
But… T-Holic was still hungry!
[T-Holic Ha Jin-tae: But… I kind of want to do that as a participant? We can go on an MT too. You know, all noisy and chaotic.]
[T-Holic Won-seok: Hey, you sound like a total old-fart manager.]
[T-Holic Martin: Old people… aren’t allowed?]
[T-Holic Ha Jin-tae: Ha.]
[T-Holic Yoon: Hahaha!]
[T-Holic Yoon: Hyungs, leave me out of this.]
T-Holic was outraged by the youngest’s comment!
[T-Holic Won-seok: Hey!!]
[T-Holic Ha Jin-tae: You’re in your 30s too! Don’t get cocky!]
After dissing each other, T-Holic eventually reached the point of complaining that they wanted to do an agency variety show too.
We want to do hot content, not just be the hosts! We want to!
But as self-dissing ran rampant again, with them saying they were too ‘aged’ and lacked freshness…
[T-Holic Ha Jin-tae: Then… should we try to… seduce some kids who would be fun to join us?]
[T-Holic Yoon: Who?]
[T-Holic Ha Jin-tae: Family~ Our family members who are tied together by capital!]
And then, the bombshell!
[T-Holic Ha Jin-tae: We’re the LeTi line now~]
[T-Holic Won-seok: !!!!]
[T-Holic Martin: Hyung, are you crazy?]
[T-Holic Yoon: Why would they go with us!]
[T-Holic Ha Jin-tae: Also! There are other friends who are in the LeTi line besides us. Orbit’s TeSTAR…]
[T-Holic Won-seok: Wow, please edit this out.]
Everyone objected violently, and the production crew buzzed with excitement, but eventually, they all gave in.
Because if they could actually cast them, it would be a massive hit!
But… of course, it wasn’t easy.
[The arduous casting process]
[VTIC Shin-o: We’re… No-Fun-TIC! (Choking up)]
[LMAOOOOOOOOOO]
Reality was a gutter!
The video cut between VTIC looking depressed and saying they weren’t confident in variety shows, and TeSTAR looking dazed, saying they’d only slept five hours total this week, drawing bursts of laughter.
[TeSTAR Ryu Cheong-woo: We… lost by a majority vote. It’s a shame, but maybe next time…]
[T-Holic Ha Jin-tae: No!!]
[T-Holic is pathetic! T-Holic is persistent!]
And finally, through a triple-visit to the company and the victory of sheer obsession.
[T-Holic Ha Jin-tae: I did it! I did it! I got the okay from both!]
[??: Gyaaaaaaaak!!]
[~~All production staff cheering~~]
It had actually happened.
A ‘one-big-family-of-capital’ party featuring the three male idol groups who had all won Grand Prizes!
[Guys, let’s play!]
And so, cutscenes flashed by showing these famous idols, who had arrived one by one in vans at a scenic MT location, hanging out.
Of course, it wasn’t just heartwarming; it was full of mischief.
[It’s nice now that you’re here, right?]
[TeSTAR Park Moon-dae: It’s been a while since I’ve filmed with so many seniors. This feeling of being the younger one is the best…]
[T-Holic Yoon: Hey, wait a second.]
[❀A burning atmosphere❀]
Amidst funny background music, the screen, now heated with excitement, showed the determined faces of each group’s members staring at each other while clutching balls.
[Just let us beat them…!]
[The lineage of the three major male idols representing South Korea. They… fight! (For real)]
Courage tests, hide-and-seek, superpower tag, cooking king battles… scenes that would spark all sorts of speculation flashed by.
And even a random play dance!
[T-Holic Won-seok: …Do you guys only listen to K-Pop when you eat?]
[A clash of K-Pop over-immersers!]
Furthermore, a caption dropped like a hint.
[Could it be… even a new song performance?]
“……!!”
On the screen.
A shot of Lee Se-jin, smiling as he reached out from the center of TeSTAR’s formation.
And a shot of Cheong-ryeo raising his hand while making eye contact with the camera were edited together.
‘Holy crap!’
[Enjoy all of this at once!]
[T-Holic Martin: Hyung, how on earth did you cast them?]
[T-Holic Ha Jin-tae: Heh.]
Amidst upbeat and grand background music, a majestic caption appeared.
[A chaotic allied MT!]
[T-Holic’s <Just Bring Yourself>, COMING SOON~❀]
[See you soon!]
“…….”
Park Moon-dae’s first fansite master stared blankly as the post-credit scene played.
[Since it’s come to this, can I bring the whole family?]
[!!!!]
The faces of Mirinae, Spacer, and Malang Dalkom getting off a tour bus were shown in close-up, and the heart-pounding BGM exploded.
Ba-dum!
The eventful pre-release video ended just like that.
[~Please look forward to it~]
“…….”
T-Holic, VTIC, TeSTAR, Mirinae, Spacer, Malang Dalkom, LeTi, Orbit…
What… did I just watch?
Late April, with sunlight pouring down.
“Wow! The weather is great!”
“Right? It’s amazing!”
We jumped out of the van and onto the green field where cameras were everywhere.
Cha Yu-jin was the most excited, and while Lee Se-jin was likely intending to look excited, he still seemed to be enjoying himself enough.
“Haha!”
“Hello~ We’re here!”
In front of us, I could see the production crew of the ‘T-Holic’s Show Business’ variety show, all grinning.
That’s right.
TeSTAR had accepted the proposal and ended up appearing on this group variety show.
‘How did it come to this?’
It’s simple.
Because we concluded it would be more beneficial.
I recalled what happened not too long ago.
After T-Holic’s Ha Jin-tae suddenly appeared in the group chat and said the crazy thing, “Want to do a group variety show?”
This was how I reacted.
Of course, while sending that via PC messenger, I was already making a call on my smartphone.
To whom? Cheong-ryeo, obviously.
Do you know what condition I set when I was messing around trying to remove that system fragment or whatever was attached to this guy? It was very modest.
‘It’s exactly this, damn it.’
‘Let’s just not get messy and tied together as one agency between groups.’ That was it.
But then he openly suggests appearing on an agency alliance variety show, the very thing I set as a condition not to do?
‘Is this bastard picking a fight?’
I seriously even thought that.
So, I was planning to block him immediately if he gave me some bullshit like, “Hmm? I didn’t say it myself, a T-Holic member must have mentioned it.”
But… the answer I got back was quite unexpected.
“…….”
So.
In his eyes, it was beneficial, but since he had a deal with me, instead of just pushing ahead, he was asking to keep his word. That was it.
And then he added cleanly.
-
Honestly, I was a bit surprised.
‘This is… a judgment with some character.’
Moreover, to think he’d even admit to the calculation that ‘I thought you’d say okay.’
‘…Has he changed a bit?’
I decided to upgrade Cheong-ryeo’s character rating, which I had downgraded again due to this simultaneous release situation.
Anyway, so I gathered the members and talked for a long time. About what to do.
And what conclusion did we reach?
This was something we could really capitalize on as long as we won.
‘It’s right to grow the scale.’
If it’s announced that two groups in a life-or-death battle are appearing on a variety show together, the buzz will naturally skyrocket.
This kind of interest is hard to maintain unless content keeps coming, and this would serve as that content for several weeks.
‘It’ll be even more so with T-Holic involved.’
Then it becomes a stage where the winner has even more to gain.
Furthermore, it was impossible for VTIC to set up a structure where they won everything within the program and then invited us.
‘The T-Holic guys aren’t pushovers either.’
They wouldn’t take VTIC’s side just because they were bought off by Cheong-ryeo’s parent company, so this was definitely worth a shot.
And honestly.
‘The VTIC guys are no-fun.’
Isn’t this an unspoken truth?
I declare it proudly. TeSTAR is funnier than VTIC.
“Honestly, I don’t think we’ll lose in a variety show.”
“Me too.”
“Ah, our group synergy is a given~”
The other members all thought the same.
Besides, since the condition was that T-Holic would take all the heat from this crazy variety show, the burden was a bit lighter.
‘We’re definitely winning.’
I high-fived a few members.
“Everyone’s gathered~”
“Yes!”
Now, seeing the grass field filled with all the teams that had entered, I nodded.
The members also nodded along with flushed faces.
“TeSTAR, fighting!”
“Oh, should we do one too? Spacer… go go!”
Slogans and cheers started popping up here and there. It was around the time the VTIC guys also started buzzing about doing something.
“Ayy, then there’s no point in an MT.”
“…??”
“Right, right. We should all play together.”
Among the smirking T-Holic members, Ha Jin-tae raised his hand lazily.
“An MT is… to get everyone close, but what if you only get close within your own teams again!”
Wait, no way.
“So, everyone stop with your current teams!”
“Eh??”
“Our four T-Holic members will each pick one person at a time to form four teams, regardless of the group!”
“…!!”
I looked around the field.
At the juniors whose pupils were shaking as they broke into cold sweats, and at VTIC, who had fallen into total chaos.
Even Cheong-ryeo was just smiling silently. It seemed he hadn’t been warned either.
We’re screwed.
‘The performance… is incredible.’
These T-Holic bastards… are truly AOE aggro totems.