Chapter 81
Chapter 81
A pre-release teaser for the second episode of Humans at Work suddenly dropped.
Upon pressing play, the first thing that could be heard was the sound of a music box.
♫♪♩♪-♫♪♫♪-♪♩-
Indeed, it was TeSTAR’s "Magical Boy."
However, because it had been strangely distorted, it sounded like some clunky, comedic BGM.
[Ding↘ De-ring↗ Ding-ding Di↘di-ding↗]
Over the music, a close-up of a colorful banner was overlaid with the blank, soul-drained faces of the TeSTAR members.
[Keun Se-jin: ...Am I awake right now?]
As soon as he finished speaking, a massive caption appeared.
[↑ Planning to make them constantly doubt reality]
Immediately after, a bird researcher appeared. Behind her benevolent, smiling face, a CG of hellfire was superimposed.
[Bird Researcher: Today, you’ll be filming migratory birds with me!]
[TeSTAR: ????]
Over the bewildered TeSTAR members, aggressively shaking captions poured down accompanied by heavy metal sound effects.
[A random expert appears out of nowhere! (※ Fake)]
[Filming migratory birds starts without warning! (※ Fake)]
It was clearly designed to make people laugh.
But as the cut changed, the atmosphere became solemn.
[But TeSTAR is no pushover!]
Under a flashing red caption, a short scene was overlaid.
[Former National Archer Ryu Cheong-woo: I could do it if we were shooting (the birds) down.]
[Seon A-hyun: (Pupils shaking)]
At Ryu Cheong-woo’s nonchalant remark, the camera slowly zoomed in on Seon A-hyun’s face as he clutched his camera tight in horror.
Then, once again out of nowhere, a cut popped up showing the TeSTAR members collectively and seriously scurrying into a crouch.
[Bird Researcher: Let’s approach quietly~]
[TeSTAR: Clatter (Quite serious about the filming)]
The sight of the large boys holding their breath and moving in a duck-walk continued without any BGM.
[(In a state of total immersion)]
Then, a scene of Park Moon-dae carefully lifting his camera and snapping a photo was naturally inserted.
[Park Moon-dae: (Click)]
But when the camera zoomed out, he wasn't photographing a bird; he was photographing Seon A-hyun.
[……??]
The caption looked flustered.
And in that quiet cut, another scene suddenly exploded—TeSTAR screaming and fleeing like madmen.
[TeSTAR: Aaaaaaaah!!!]
[Bird Researcher: How fascinating, haha.]
[TeSTAR: Gyaaaaak!! (Roughly translates to: "I'm going to kill those broadcasting bastards")]
The handheld cams shook violently.
[Cha Yu-jin: Help!! (Help!!)]
The captions flashed. It was practically a disaster movie.
[The first variety show filming that should have been peaceful!]
[A senseless disaster strikes TeSTAR!]
[What will be TeSTAR’s fate?]
A distorted voice flowed from the silhouetted figure of a mosaic-covered MC.
[??: Oh my, I’m sorry!]
Then, on a black screen, a massive golden caption appeared with a thud.
[Created by an MC and production crew who are dead serious about pranks!]
[<Humans at Work>]
[<Humans Who Know When to Stop>]
[Thursday, July 5th, 11 PM!]
The distorted, clunky version of "Magical Boy" played again as the screen came to a grand conclusion.
“…….”
These guys... they aren't sane either.
“Pffft, hahaha!”
Keun Se-jin, who had been watching over my shoulder, started rolling around the living room floor.
This guy had been bursting into laughter since the stupidly rearranged "Magical Boy" BGM started, and he finally ended up like this.
I had to admit it, though.
‘...It is funny.’
The editing here was creating context out of nothing, just like in Idol Inc., but since it wasn't my first time dealing with this, I gave up.
‘The structure isn't something that would cause a controversy, so it should be fine.’
They just seemed like people who were dead serious about being funny.
It was still ridiculous that the agency had used our first variety show appearance as a "buy-one-get-one-free" deal instead of a proper negotiation, but separately from that, it looked like the fans would enjoy it.
‘As long as we maintain our form, we can break into major network variety shows later.’
Thinking that it was roughly a passing grade, I skimmed through the current reactions.
When I clicked the GIF attached to the last reaction, a meme played of a goose inhaling deeply and then firing a laser.
For the record, lasers were shooting out of its eyes too.
“…….”
In a sense... you could say they made a very intuitive prediction.
Because Cha Yu-jin looked exactly like that when the bird’s neck snapped.
“Hahaha!! Our fans are so cute!”
Keun Se-jin, who had stood up at some point and poked his head in, was grinning ear to ear as he read the comments.
Then, he took the liberty of tapping the screen to select a related video.
...This is a shared tablet for sponsorships.
Let’s be patient.
“Hey, let’s watch this too. This is hilarious.”
“What is it?”
Because he shoved the screen right in front of my face, I ended up checking the video.
[TeSTAR Animal Kingdom: Park Moon-dae Edition | Moon-deng-deng’s Life Study ZIP | <TeSTAR’s Living Together TEST> EP.3]
“…….”
In the meantime, the 5-second ad naturally ended, and the main content began.
[Woo-ha~ Woo-ha~]
A tacky opening that looked like it belonged in a 90s animal variety show passed by, parodied with TeSTAR members.
What appeared immediately after... was Park Moon-dae wearing puppy pajamas.
……Since I received them as a gift, I wear them occasionally when all my other pajamas are in the wash.
‘...It’s a bit much seeing it on screen.’
Regardless of my embarrassment, a voice frequently heard in dubbed foreign documentaries flowed from the video.
[Wild wolves hunt in packs. They are social animals that live in nuclear family units.]
[However, here, this individual is not a wolf, but a puppy.]
[Living with humans, he has adapted to the habits of the cold city.]
The screen showed a time-lapse of Park Moon-dae in his pajamas sitting blankly on the living room sofa.
Even as various housemates busily moved back and forth around him, he didn't budge.
Even when Cha Yu-jin and Keun Se-jin approached, waved, sat next to him, and turned on the TV, he remained in that exact posture.
[This individual has evolved to not waste energy on trivial social interactions.]
‘...I’m pretty sure I answered all of them, though?’
I was probably just staying still because I was exhausted after barely finding time to exercise and shower. The familiar scent of fabrication was quite nostalgic.
[However, like a puppy, he likes humans. He is especially favorable toward humans of the same pack.]
“...?”
What kind of nonsense is this now?
On the screen, Park Moon-dae suddenly stood up and disappeared into the kitchen.
Then he reappeared with a carbonated drink.
[Let’s see if his goodwill is successfully conveyed.]
Park Moon-dae first showed the plastic bottle to Ryu Cheong-woo, who was passing by, but was politely rejected.
[The first attempt is a failure.]
‘I was just asking if he wanted some...?’
Was there a need to call it a failure?
No, wouldn't any sane adult make at least that much of a gesture?
But regardless of my troubled feelings, the narration diligently added more bullshit.
The Park Moon-dae on screen trudged back to the living room with the bottle, and after being welcomed by Cha Yu-jin and Keun Se-jin, he handed over the drink.
An emphasized cut edit was inserted, making it look like a successful hunt.
[Ah, he succeeded this time.]
[He receives the humans' gratitude.]
The video ended with a cut of Park Moon-dae taking back the bottle, which was more than half empty, and putting it to his mouth.
[This was a moment in the life of the TeSTAR-type canine, Park Moon-dae, inhabiting Seoul.]
[Dun-dun!]
“…….”
I was speechless.
Since we were too busy to film separate reality content, they were airing stuff like this once the music video filming footage ran out.
Keun Se-jin cackled again.
“Funny, right? Honestly, it’s funny, isn't it?”
Yeah. Everyone sure is having a good laugh.
The first best comment was this:
There were 4,000 likes on that string of "lol"s.
Below it, there were numerous comments bursting with laughter. Everyone looked truly happy.
Of course, not everyone was like that. Let’s look at some other top comments.
“…….”
The image-making I had done to survive the survival show was being enthusiastically distorted into the image that Park Moon-dae himself was obsessed with being a puppy... I could almost hear the soul of my 29-year-old civil service student self screaming.
‘...Well, if people like it, I guess it’s fine.’
I even wore moving puppy ears at a fan sign a few days ago. It’s about time that civil service student guy gave up.
“Moon-dae, you’re not mad, right? Right? Oh, right, I’ll play my video too, to be fair.”
Keun Se-jin chuckled beside me and set the next video to auto-play.
The title gave a blatant hint about the content.
[TeSTAR Animal Kingdom: Lee Se-jin B Edition | Keun-se-gom is an ‘Insider’ ZIP | <TeSTAR’s Living Together TEST> EP.3]
‘Insider.’
The content was basically a special on Keun Se-jin, showing how he gets along well with everyone regardless of who they are.
It was edited with a good balance of humor and heartwarming moments.
“But honestly, yours is the funniest... Hey, hey!”
This jerk got a good one for himself and is making fun of me.
I shoved the tablet back to him and lay down on the bed.
I should use my hard-earned rest time more productively; I shouldn't waste it watching stuff like that.
“Hey, monitor mine too~ Are you going to sleep after only watching yours?”
What do you mean "monitor," you just sat there laughing at Park Moon-dae’s video.
“Yeah. You should go to sleep too.”
“Aw~ I can sleep in the car. When you get time like this, you have to use it well~”
I have no idea where he gets his stamina from, especially since he doesn't have a status window. I’m certain he only slept three hours yesterday too.
Just then, support came from my roommate for once.
“...He said he’s going to sleep. Get out. You’re being noisy.”
Lee Se-jin, who was already lying down to sleep, threw out a word. It was clear he had been holding it in.
Keun Se-jin stared at his namesake without answering, then just laughed.
“Ah, sure thing. Sleep well, hyung-nim~”
Then, when our eyes met, he made a gesture of shaking his head, shrugged his shoulders, and left the room.
‘He looks a bit pissed off too.’
It was obvious he had intentionally brushed it off lightly to avoid fighting while the reality cameras were rolling.
‘They really don't seem to understand each other.’
They seemed to be a terrible match. Even if we change rooms later, we shouldn't put those two together.
Just as I thought that, a notification popped up on my smartphone.
[Keun Se-jin: Come out! Now is the only time!]
“…….”
[Go to sleep.]
I sent a short reply and turned off my phone. Then, I began my deep sleep.
At this time, I had no idea what would happen with TeSTAR’s first variety show video.
[TeSTAR’s first variety show video is insane lolol]
[Humans at Work Ep. 2 Pre-release (feat. Trippy editing)]
[The variety show TeSTAR appeared on where everything was a fake]
The crazily edited pre-release video naturally became a trending post on entertainment communities.
It was only natural, as a variety show that was expected to fail showed a plot twist, and it featured idols from the hottest recent audition program.
Furthermore, the video itself was just too funny.
Thanks to that, word of mouth spread even outside of entertainment communities or social media.
[The identity of the new variety show TeSTAR is appearing in? A full-blown prank show!]
[The variety show that is dead serious about tricking TeSTAR]
[TVC’s new variety show, skyrocketing thanks to TeSTAR?]
The video, filled with the poorly drawn bird banner and "Prank" keywords, drew massive attention and racked up views at a frightening pace.
And before long, it was chosen.
It was the choice of the famous ‘WeTube Algorithm.’