Chapter 83
Chapter 83
The resentment toward the agency—which ‘still hasn’t provided a fandom name, official colors, or even an official lightstick’—escalated like a rising tide.
‘Well, things have reached a point where it’s only natural for them to be fed up.’
Honestly, it wouldn’t have been strange if it had blown up sooner. It seemed the fans had been holding back, worried that making a scene might negatively affect the group’s momentum since the song was doing so well.
Regardless, it looked like a red light had finally flashed for the company’s planning department.
TeSTAR’s scheduled company-related activities for tonight were canceled.
“Congratulations!”
Instead, a modest 1st-place party was held at the dorm. It was a small-scale affair, consisting of a few boxes of chicken ordered using the authorized corporate card.
The unexpected element was the presence of alcohol.
“Since it’s to celebrate our first win, I thought a little beer would be okay. Let’s just drink enough to enjoy ourselves without getting drunk, then clean up.”
“Yes!”
Ryu Cheong-woo, who had secured permission, spoke cheerfully before downing his beer in one go. He looked like someone who could hold his liquor, so it wasn't surprising.
Of course, the two minors were given soda.
Perhaps feeling like they were being left out, Seon A-hyun uncharacteristically struck up a conversation with them.
“L-let’s definitely drink together next year...!”
Cha Yu-jin replied with a paper cup clamped in his teeth. He seemed completely preoccupied with the soda, which he hadn't been allowed to have for a while due to weight management.
“I can’t drink...”
“...H-huh?”
“He’s a Korean-American, so he can only drink starting from age twenty-one.”
Keun Se-jin chimed in with a grin as he cracked open a beer.
“Hahaha, what does that matter? He’s going to drink in Korea anyway!”
“...!”
Both Kim Rae-bin and Cha Yu-jin looked as if they had just experienced a great epiphany.
‘They’re having a good time.’
I held a beer in one hand and operated my smartphone with the other. It was time to check the situation.
‘How on earth did we get first place?’
When I checked a few days ago, it had seemed like an impossible situation. I hadn't looked into it since then because the tracking period for this week’s rankings had already ended.
“...”
A moment later, I realized what had happened.
‘Three factors overlapped.’
First was the variety show pre-release. The influx of viewers to the music video and digital streaming acted as a small detonator, causing our chart ranking to climb steadily.
Second... was the fansign events.
Because of the applications for the additional fansignings, album sales were still remarkably high.
‘...The cut-off went up even more.’
Seeing that the fansign cut-off had reached 180 albums made me break into a cold sweat. Let’s think about that later. I don’t even have a clue what I’d have to do to be worth that much money...
Anyway, while these two factors were coincidentally creating synergy, it seemed the fans noticed the situation first and poured their efforts into voting. It also helped that VTIC’s music show promotions had ended, causing their voting momentum to drop slightly.
On top of that, a decisive third factor came into play. Popular Music, which airs on Sundays, had recently revamped its ranking system.
In the process, the tracking deadline—which was originally Monday—was pushed back to Wednesday, allowing all of our increased digital points to be reflected.
As for album sales, TeSTAR’s fansign boost was fully accounted for, while VTIC’s points were spread thin due to the shifted tracking period, widening the gap.
‘It was pure luck.’
That was how we narrowly beat VTIC.
To give you an idea of how close it was, the difference was only seven points.
“...”
I found myself gulping down my beer. I couldn't believe we had actually pulled it off.
Of course, I had worked my soul off. Perhaps because of that, the sense of reward was incredibly thrilling now that we’d succeeded.
Plus, my little experiment was a success.
“...Want another one?”
“Yeah.”
I took another can of beer from Lee Se-jin and summoned the status window.
“Kyahaha!”
Laughter filled the room. It seemed they were watching the encore video with subtitles on the TV.
In contrast to the guys who were laughing and enjoying themselves despite the embarrassment, the cold, clean status window popup caught my eye.
[Successful 1st Place!]
You have successfully taken 1st place on the public broadcast music show <Popular Music>!
!Time Limit: Met (Great Success)
!Status Effect: ‘Death if Not 1st Place’ removed!
: Truth Verification ☜ Click!
Because I hadn't claimed the reward, the status effect hadn't been removed yet.
In other words, the contents of the popup wouldn't be applied until I accepted the reward.
‘I was worried about this.’
The sooner I removed a status effect, the shorter the interval until a new one appeared. If that kept happening, the difficulty would skyrocket while the risk of sudden death remained the same.
Therefore, it was better to stall for as much time as possible within the deadline.
Based on previous cases, I had been pondering how to do that, and I was relieved that my simplest hypothesis worked.
‘I feel much more at ease.’
The biggest reason was that I could now observe the situation for about 300 days without being chased by a deadline.
Secondly, it strengthened my theory that this status window wasn't some sentient being with fluid malice, but a rigid system.
‘If it were malicious, it would have already threatened me with a popup to claim it or forced the reward on me.’
Since that didn't happen, there was a high probability that these status effects had an end. Games usually have endings, after all.
‘Well, it’s just a hopeful guess.’
Now that one problem was solved and alcohol was in my system, I found myself interpreting the situation positively.
Anyway, since I’d put the popup on hold, I could take my time examining the status window and the current situation. I took another long swig of my beer.
“M-Moon-dae.”
“Yeah.”
“I-I don’t think drinking that fast... is g-good for you...”
“Ah. You’re right.”
Maybe finishing a can in one go was a bit much. I clicked my tongue, put the beer aside, and grabbed a piece of chicken.
“I-I saw that you like... chicken.”
“Me? Ah, from that fansign.”
“Y-yeah!”
Seon A-hyun nodded with a smile.
“E-eat a lot!”
“I will.”
“Eat a lot... A lot!”
“...”
‘I think this guy is a little drunk.’
Seeing him get tipsy before even finishing a single can, it seemed he didn't know his own limit. Had he never drunk before?
I handed Seon A-hyun a soda. Then, I bit into the chicken while thinking about the fansite master I met at the first fansign.
‘Her color correction was really good.’
She was someone who posted a lot of content during Idol Inc., so I felt a bit of a debt to her. Next time I see her, I should allocate more time to her camera.
“Ooooh!”
“Hey, what are we going to do? We look so stupid here! Pffft.”
The others had moved on from the encore video and were now playing the broadcast clip of Humans Who Know When to Stop on the TV.
[Hieeeek!]
The screen showed a close-up of Cha Yu-jin screaming at the sight of the decapitated bird mask.
“Uhahaha!!”
Even the man himself was doubled over in laughter, tears in his eyes.
‘It really is funny.’
They had edited it well to avoid any controversy over sadism. Plus, they captured the final beef scene perfectly, giving it a heartwarming touch.
[You must have been startled, so eat plenty before you go]
[On this day, TeSTAR]
[Ate 5kg of Korean Beef...☆]
[It was worth the production costs - From the entire production crew]
The members were shocked.
“Whoa.”
“5... 5kg...”
“No wonder my weight went up a bit the next day...”
“It’s fine. You lost it all because of the schedule anyway.”
“That’s true.”
Even in the midst of this, a few of the more worried members were muttering.
“Still, I didn't know we ate as much as 5kg.”
“The cost must have been quite high.”
“...It’s probably fine.”
The captions made it sound like they took a loss, but no broadcast truly loses money.
I snatched the remote from Keun Se-jin and pulled up a related video.
[TeSTAR’s 5kg Hanwoo Mukbang | Unedited | <Humans Who Know When to Stop> ep.2]
“They probably already made back the cost of the meat with that.”
“...!”
The view count had already surpassed a million. The members nodded with impressed expressions.
“How about we try doing a mukbang? I think we could try all the things we usually want to eat.”
“Let’s make Moon-dae the center!”
“C-center!”
Who gave Seon A-hyun more beer?
Fortunately, the topic changed quickly.
“I want to keep watching!”
“Ah, right! Let’s restart from the part where Moon-dae barged in!”
The excited guys chattered away as they resumed the video.
‘Now that I look at them, they all seem a bit drunk.’
Even the two minors were drunk on the atmosphere. Well... they looked happy, so I’d leave them be. We were at the dorm anyway, so it didn't matter if they got drunk.
I decided to catch up on monitoring using my phone.
“...”
Looking at the profile of that last one... it was a private account belonging to one of Seon A-hyun’s photographers.
And I remembered taking that attached photo of Seon A-hyun a few days ago. I didn't expect to find it on the internet.
Just then, the related content appeared on the TV after the beef mukbang ended.
[Boom!]
[※Cookie Video※]
First, a short cut showed the TeSTAR members clumsily holding cameras and taking photos here and there.
[The result of this action]
A flood of disastrous photos followed: a bird that looked like a cryptid because of the shaking, a shot of only running feet because the camera was dropped, a random photo of the sky, and a crooked shot of the water.
Then, a caption appeared.
[They were unrecognizable...]
“Ahahaha!”
“It was my first time using one!”
“What a waste of film.”
While the culprits each added a comment, a new caption appeared on the screen.
[There is an exception]
A black bird taking flight from the water, a blue bird fluttering through branches, and a few scenic shots of the reservoir passed by. They were clean shots that stood in stark contrast to the previous photos.
And the last one to appear was Seon A-hyun smiling brightly under the sunlight. That was the original version of the edited photo Seon A-hyun’s fansite master had posted earlier.
“Huh?”
“...Must be Park Moon-dae.”
Just as Lee Se-jin flatly predicted, a caption immediately followed.
[These photos all came from the same camera.]
[↓ The person who took them]
Footage of Park Moon-dae taking photos of Seon A-hyun was shown. Then, the voice of a staff member, whose face was blurred with the caption ‘Camera Director,’ was inserted.
[How did he take such good shots...?]
[This kid is really good at this. (Flustered)]
The screen showed the staff members looking into the camera with exclamations of “Oh~”.
[Park Moon-dae: Mysterious Golden Hands (Confirmed by the Camera Director)]
[※ Verified in <Humans Who Know When to Stop>]
A stamp effect appeared over the caption, and the video ended.
“...”
I didn't expect them to turn even that into content.
Beside me, Keun Se-jin began to act as if he were deeply hurt.
“Sigh... this is so disappointing. Is Moon-dae discriminating among his friends? Isn't he taking too much care of only A-hyun? If you have another friend who treats you this well, shouldn't you take photos of him often and upload them to prove your friendship?”
“...”
“The more Moon-dae stays silent, the more my disappointed self will talk, right? Wouldn't it be easier for Moon-dae to just give up and promise to upload photos...?”
“I’ll take some and post them tomorrow, so stop it.”
“Okay~”
A drunk person doesn't know when to quit. I’d better pretend to look at my phone before he tries to talk to me again.
The edited photo of Seon A-hyun I had pulled up earlier was still on the screen.
‘Anyway, it came out well, just as I expected.’
Honestly, if I were to sell this, it’s a photo that should fetch a higher price than the market rate. I had forgotten about it after returning the camera, so I didn't expect to see it like this.
‘Well, being recognized is good.’
There’s nothing wrong with being good at taking photos. I continued checking social media with a relaxed mind.
Then, I saw a popular post from a Park Moon-dae fan.
“...”
Is it because I haven't taken many...?
Come to think of it, taking photos of others only benefits them. I should research how to take good photos of myself.