Chapter 630
Chapter 630
TeSTAR’s one-day theme park employee experience.
Actually, I’d been thinking about trying a similar project for a few years now, but it kept getting pushed back as various incidents cropped up.
Doing it domestically carried a high risk of causing a scene or sparking controversy, and doing it abroad was a massive investment, from scouting the theme park to coordinating schedules.
It had been deemed "a bit difficult given the circumstances" and failed to make the priority list.
‘But now, the timing is perfect.’
Everything had aligned. A TeSTAR-themed attraction had just opened at the amusement park, and the members themselves were going to work there?
You couldn't ask for a more entertaining setup.
"Mmm~ Limestone really liked the idea, too."
"There’s no way they wouldn't."
That was why this variety content wasn't going to be uploaded to our channel, but rather to Limestone’s official WeTube channel.
Even though it was a special edition, it was also scheduled to air as a formal variety show on Limestone’s TV channel.
‘Things are going smoothly.’
Two members of the team were native-level English speakers, and three or four others, including myself, were capable of everyday communication.
In many ways, the lineup wasn't one that would struggle with awkwardness or language barriers.
And preparing for the actual official filming was genuinely fun.
"I mean, how did we run into fans right then and there?"
…Indeed.
We were lucky.
"Look at Moondae-Moondae’s smile. His mouth is about to rip open."
"Shut it."
Exaggerations aside, the scene where we ran into fans while riding the attraction wouldn't actually appear on WeTube.
There were portrait rights issues, and we hadn't secured enough footage to justify allocating that much airtime during the preparation process.
‘If the main feature is really boring, they might suggest throwing that in, but…’
That won't happen. We’ve got enough experience for that.
On the way back to Korea after the insane "big event" of meeting her bias at a theme park.
Park Moon-dae’s fansite master was agonizing over it like crazy.
‘Should I… should I post proof of this?’
But what if people misunderstood and Moon-dae got hate for being "buddy-buddy" with a fansite master?!
Yet, she wanted to spread the word about this incident. She wanted to let everyone know that her boy was a crazy guy with such deep "filial piety" toward his fans!
As they say, the answer is often closer than you think.
"I’ll post it!"
"Aaaaah!! Okay!"
Her friend had taken the initiative. That quick judgment—as expected of a former grad student!
With the fansite master’s support, the friend chose an anonymous community with a decent atmosphere and uploaded the post.
[I met TeSTAR at Dreamland ㅠㅠ]
They were covering their faces, so I pretended not to notice in case I bothered them. But it turns out TeSTAR noticed the merch I bought first and realized I was a fan ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
A chance encounter with famous celebrities abroad and riding an attraction together.
Plus the kind and thoughtful attitude of the celebrities.
It was a unique experience that sounded fun and enviable just by hearing it, and it immediately became a trending post.
While all sorts of people expressed envy and interest.
"F*ck."
Kim Rae-bin’s individual fan, who happened to read the post, ground her teeth.
She was dog-tired of being jealous!
‘Even if I go to a fan signing event, I can’t be that close for that long.’
To think this was all just pure luck.
Her insides felt like they were twisting, so she barely managed to take a deep breath.
‘TeSTAR, seriously, stop focusing so much on the US.’
Even though she knew how important global expansion was, it was frustrating to see all the recent "crumbs" and fan service popping up only abroad.
And in the midst of this, a variety show had come out.
On an overseas channel, no less.
[K-POP Star’s Dreamland Work Diary <Limestone Official>]
"Hey!!"
Watching TeSTAR secretly working at the attraction, Kim Rae-bin’s fan eventually fumed.
It looked fun! Which made it even more infuriating!
Park Moon-dae’s fansite master was screaming, "No way, was that employee I saw back then also…?" but this fan was screaming for a different reason.
Just how many heart-wrenchingly enviable situations were they going to create!
Moreover, annoyingly… the content was actually really interesting.
[Dreamland Staff: Good job, everyone~ You’re doing great!]
After a half-day crash course and an introduction to the attraction for TeSTAR.
Finally, it was time for the night opening.
As soon as it was time for TeSTAR to officially start working…
[Lee Se-jin: Ah~ you can just give that to me.]
[Dreamland Staff: ……?]
Lee Se-jin took the duty roster and handed it to Ryu Cheong-woo.
Then, Ryu Cheong-woo shouted to the rest of the members in Korean, without any language stumbles.
{Ryu Cheong-woo: Alright, you all heard the briefing from the senior staff, right? Moondae and I are in Zone A, Lee Se-jin and Rae-bin are in Zone B, Yu-jin and Ah-hyun are at the ticket booth, and finally, Bae Se-jin is at the exit gate.}
{TeSTAR: Yes, sir!}
{Ryu Cheong-woo: Everyone, head to your positions and work as instructed. Report any problems or questions immediately.}
Following the smooth instructions, TeSTAR scattered to their positions in perfect order within 30 seconds and began carrying out their duties with precision.
Perfect division of labor!
A determination not to waste a single second!
[Dreamland Staff: ……!]
It was to the point where the staff working alongside them even clapped during the break.
{Ryu Cheong-woo: I guess we’re doing a decent job.}
{Park Moon-dae: Seems so.}
Before two hours had even passed, TeSTAR reached the point where they were hearing jokes from the regular theme park employees like, "I wouldn't mind if you guys just kept working here permanently."
{Lee Se-jin: Wow~ our members wouldn't starve to death no matter where we go. Right?}
{Seon A-hyun: Yeah, really…!}
And Kim Rae-bin’s fan knew exactly why this was happening.
……Because they had done all sorts of things in their self-produced content, the members had developed a subtle "knack for labor."
An unexpected workforce!
And despite this work sense, the highlight would be TeSTAR breaking a sweat over the sudden situations that cropped up every moment, or TeSTAR breaking through them brilliantly.
‘…Or so I thought.’
There was a problem.
{Bae Se-jin: This… is harder than I thought.}
{Park Moon-dae: ……Yes.}
It wasn't a physical problem.
‘Those guys can pull off concerts for hours on end.’
Since they were members who spent hours intensely running, singing, and dancing, standing for a few hours to guide people didn't even make them blink.
The hard part was… the "concept."
[Dreamland Staff A: Yes~ please pay attention here!]
Park Moon-dae looked up and saw the staff members passionately giving them mid-shift training.
[Staff A: Oh! What kind of robot are you?]
[Staff B: I am an AI for new employee training. Please follow my guidance.]
[Staff A: I don't want to wait in line! I just want to ride the attraction!]
[Staff B: According to KIS regulations, unfortunately, you may be processed for termination.]
After finishing the demonstration dialogue, the staff member smiled brightly at TeSTAR.
[Dreamland Staff A: Now, please always answer the customers from the perspective of an AI employee of the company in the ghost stories!]
[TeSTAR: …….]
It was written in their eyes.
‘Are you serious?’
As expected of the world’s largest theme park franchise, those Dreamland folks had a very clear theme.
A land of dreams and illusions.
The idea was to make people feel as if they had truly teleported into the world of the movies and cartoons they created.
…And they demanded that from the part-timers, too.
{Bae Se-jin: A kid seemed to be asking me if I, the robot employee, could fly, but I don't know how to answer that in English…!}
{Lee Se-jin: Hey~ we agreed to just pretend there’s an error, like saying "Function error."}
{Bae Se-jin: I felt like… that would only work on adults! Since it’s a kid, I should have given an answer that keeps the childhood innocence alive…….}
Bae Se-jin, muttering to himself in confusion, was living proof of that.
Maybe it was because he was an actor, but he was agonizing over it as if he were setting up a character role.
{Bae Se-jin: …Right! Let’s say flight is impossible due to a lack of fuel!}
{Kim Rae-bin: Indeed!}
[Park Moon-dae: (Indeed, my foot)]
Over-immersion was rampant.
Of course, there were members with particularly good quick-wittedness here as well.
[Guest: Oh~ hey man, how many hours a day do you spend at the gym?]
[Ryu Cheong-woo: That is a term I am unfamiliar with. Could you please explain what "gym" means?]
Whenever someone asked a difficult or mischievous question, Ryu Cheong-woo would smoothly deflect it with an AI-like question.
And then there was Keun Se-jin, who was like a fish in water.
[Child Guest: Have this!]
[Lee Se-jin: This is…… cotton candy! I am sorry, but regular employees of KIS cannot digest organic matter like candy.]
The viewers lost it when they saw him nonchalantly telling a child giving him cotton candy, "I’m an AI, so I can’t eat cotton candy."
It was even a pattern he had prepared.
{Lee Se-jin: Hey Yu-jin~ what if I say it like this?}
{Cha Yu-jin: Show me.}
On the screen, a brief shot passed of Lee Se-jin catching Cha Yu-jin in the staff storage room to check his grammar.
He had clearly run several English response simulations in his head.
‘He’s relentless.’
It was enough to make one shake their head at how hard he worked even on things like this, but since he was good at it and it was entertaining, there was nothing to say.
And finally, the two who were close to native English speakers.
[Cha Yu-jin: I didn't know the day would come when I’d actually work at Dreamland, but yes. Today is the day!]
Seon A-hyun and Cha Yu-jin worked as a pair at the ticket booth. Naturally, it was a job that required more conversation than a guiding AI.
Then, the two, burning with a strange sense of mission, went as far as setting up an additional concept.
[Seon A-hyun: How about we… try to emphasize the characteristics of our respective accents? Based on our place of origin.]
[Cha Yu-jin: You know what? That’s the least insane suggestion I’ve heard today.]
The two of them, even doing a sort of diss-battle banter about the location of their production factories, were quite hilarious…….
‘To think Seon A-hyun could be funny voluntarily.’
Kim Rae-bin’s fan occasionally burst out laughing, but then she would turn serious again at the strange sense of dissonance.
And then, her undisputed bias, whom she had been waiting for.
[Kim Rae-bin]
The person she was essentially watching this group’s variety show for, Kim Rae-bin, was….
[Child Tourist: Look over there! It’s a robot!]
Strangely, he was enjoying a cult-like popularity among children.
"……?!"
Kim Rae-bin was the one among TeSTAR who was stronger in Korean than English, so the production team had given him simultaneous interpretation in-ears.
And they had set up a sort of extreme AI concept for him, where he communicated through movements and expressions instead of speaking.
[Early Model AI]
This meant a hologram sign was floating above him.
That strangely worked.
[Child Tourist: Mr. Robot! Lift your head!]
[Child Tourist: There’s a hole in your ear! Doesn't it hurt?! Since you’re a robot, you don't bleed?]
[Kim Rae-bin: (Movement)]
Kim Rae-bin changed the hologram to a smiling face and readily took off his left ear piercing to show them. The kids were absolutely losing it.
[Child Tourist: Kyaaaa!]
It was true magic.
‘Even kids recognize a handsome person.’
Kim Rae-bin’s fan assessed the situation coldly.
And the last member to receive screen time was… Park Moon-dae.
[Park Moon-dae: Welcome.]
Actually, Park Moon-dae spoke English quite well and handled his work cleanly according to the manual, so he almost lacked screen time.
However, his specialized field also came to light….
[Mischievous Guest: Look at that! It says it’s an AI, boo!]
It was handling difficult customers.
[Mischievous Guest: Hey, what are you going to do after you get off work from this tedious place?]
The teenager, smirking and pointing at him, was full of rebelliousness as he asked a provocative question.
It was a clear intention to mock him if he answered according to the concept like the other staff.
‘What?’
And Park Moon-dae quietly looked at the guest, and after a long silence, he answered like this.
[Park Moon-dae: After cooling down, I will be stacked in the employee storage facility.]
A moment of silence fell.
And then, a drawn-on smile mark appeared on Park Moon-dae’s expressionless hologram mask.
:)
[Park Moon-dae: I am sorry. Error. That was an incorrect response.]
The smile mark stared at the teenager.
[Park Moon-dae: I am already cold.]
[Guest: ……!]
The teenage guest flinched as if a bit scared, then eventually grumbled and waited for his turn to board the attraction.
Following that was an interview cut of Park Moon-dae smirking.
[Park Moon-dae: Kids are easy.]
"Whoa."
Had he spent about three years in some "Part-time Job Land"?
Even while wondering if it was scripted, Kim Rae-bin’s fan was impressed.
In that way, TeSTAR’s theme park work variety show seemed to be heading toward success.
It was fun, the cast was charming, and the attraction looked interesting.
Moreover, a special scene was included at the end.
[Guest: Uwaaaaah, damn it!!]
It was working as the Music Box Monster!
Originally, they used animatronic robots, but just once, right before the night opening ended, TeSTAR had secretly gone in instead to scare people.
It seemed they had a scheme not to be the only ones who suffered, but some members seemed to truly and purely enjoy the experience.
{Kim Rae-bin: It was a unique and enjoyable experience!}
Seeing her idol, who looked decadent, dressed up as a ghost and doing that, Kim Rae-bin’s fan repeatedly went from being serious to laughing.
Looking at the WeTube comments, there were even testimonies from the people who had been scared.
Naturally, they were locals.
‘The Americans must love it.’
The fiery meme that had formed after the Glastonbury performance, which established TeSTAR’s image as "hard-boiled gamers," was still vividly alive.
"Why are you guys getting filled with national pride!"
Kim Rae-bin’s fan pressed her forehead.
She enjoyed watching the variety show and had fun looking up the reactions.
Yes, the overseas reaction was good… everything was good.
But that was the problem.
"Isn't this… something only people who know Dreamland can properly enjoy?"
It meant that no matter how much they tried to include everyone, it was perfect for inducing a sense of alienation in those who couldn't go due to time and cost issues.
Especially for those who were far away geographically and culturally.
It was a feeling of expectations being betrayed.
And honestly, Kim Rae-bin’s fan herself was somewhat offended and could partially relate to these opinions.
That was why her heart felt even more unsettled.
‘There’s a high probability they won't be able to catch this!’
It was a minority now, but it was easy for it to spread.
And the moment this kind of tendency spread throughout the fandom, it would become a brutally "no-fun" place.
But it also seemed hard to turn around, which made her feel even more frustrated.
‘Why did they snap up a collab with something as inaccessible as an overseas theme park?’
Was the Limestone name value that good? No, actually, it was good, but….
"Ha, seriously."
After enjoying the variety show, she felt her mood sink for no reason and flopped onto her bed.
Well, she knew that in the grand scheme of things, it was good for the group’s name value and good for Kim Rae-bin’s career, but….
‘Ah, what are you going to do about the fact that I feel bad!’
With a deep sigh, she habitually accessed the album app on her laptop.
[D-7 until the next Hidden Code]
The notification that had been displayed like this had returned to new concept photos and several world-building videos, but they didn't really move her.
Because anyone could see that the main "bait" was the Dreamland attraction. It even felt like they were just checking off boxes to take care of the rest.
In the end, Kim Rae-bin’s fan tapped the screen.
"Give me something, anything."
It was then.
Ding!
A TeSTAR WeTube notification popped up.
"……??"
What was it?
But after seeing the notification, even more question marks filled her head.
[TeSTAR - Bad Feelings Official M/V]
It was the music video for this title track.
So what?
‘Did they upload a duplicate by mistake?’
However, after checking the title in the pop-up window once more, she found a new element attached to the end of the title.
[TeSTAR - Bad Feelings Official M/V (?)]
A question mark, just like her own feelings.
"……?"
What on earth was this?
As if possessed, she clicked on that notification pop-up.