Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: MESS
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Creatin cast aside all their questions and focused on preparing for the variety show shoot.
“Hey, guys. How are you feeling about the first shoot tomorrow?”
On the way back to the dorm after another day at the practice studio, the manager asked casually.
“I’m not sure yet. It just doesn’t feel real.”
“Don’t stay up late tonight because you’re nervous. Got it?”
“Yeah.”
The manager stressed this point several times.
“Guys.”
“Yeah.”
“I said this is a chance for us to do well, but let’s just focus on working hard.”
The inside of the van suddenly grew quiet.
“Just having the entire group on a fixed variety show is a huge deal. And the company promised they’d give you a comeback in the second half of this year, no matter what.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’m telling you this so you don’t feel too much pressure.”
The manager had brought it up because he didn’t want the members to carry too heavy a burden on their shoulders.
“Thanks, man.”
“You have to stick with us for a long time.”
“I will.”
Amid the heartwarming atmosphere, the van continued its steady journey toward the dorm.
***
The day of the music video release arrived.
“Let’s all watch it together.”
“Sounds good.”
We gathered in the living room to watch the music video together.
“I’m a little nervous.”
“Me too.”
I took a few light breaths to calm my nerves.
“Here it is.”
Haru fiddled with the remote and found our music video.
[RE-V – MESS]
The thumbnail showed us in fluorescent green tops.
“I’m playing it now, okay?”
“Yeah.”
At our response, Haru firmly pressed the button on the remote.
[MESS]
The title briefly appeared on the black screen before fading away.
The scene then changed.
A streetlight flickered on a desolate street.
With a loud noise, the flickering light turned red.
—you messed up
everything is a mess
Even for me
Jung Eun-woo, who kicked off the song, sat on a set of stone stairs, covering his face with his hands.
—Let's go somewhere
As the next part began, Haru appeared.
He walked slowly through a place strewn with what looked like construction debris.
Then he reached a dead end.
Haru stopped, leaned against the wall, and sighed. The camera moved dramatically, and the scene transitioned.
“It’s amazing how what we filmed in front of that green screen turned into this.”
“I know, right?”
Lee Ho-jun was struggling desperately, his leg pinned under something.
It was a thick steel pipe, and no matter how hard he pushed, it wouldn't budge.
“That was a prop, right? But how did it not move at all?”
“A staff member was holding it from behind.”
Jung Eun-woo answered Lee Ho-jun’s question.
“That’s incredible.”
After a dazzling camera movement that made it seem like he was using magic to clear a path, the shot stopped on a rooftop.
Park Ji-ham looked precarious, as if he could fall to the ground at any moment.
—You make me dizzy
And throw me into confusion
This time, it was my turn.
On screen, I was trapped in a room barely larger than a few square feet, crouched down and sighing repeatedly.
Then I buried my head in my knees.
—woo
While we were talking, the music video showed the group choreography.
“All those retakes were worth it.”
Park Ji-ham watched the music video with a pleased smile.
Just as he said, the result was well worth filming the dance sequence over and over again.
—You slowly eat away at me
And when I’m useless, you’ll toss me aside
Just like gum
Before we knew it, the first verse was ending.
As the second verse began, Haru appeared again.
A small shadow fell over him as he sat in despair.
Haru looked up with a puzzled expression.
The camera followed his gaze.
The source of the shadow was none other than a gray hamster.
“I thought the hamster would look a little cheesy, but it doesn’t.”
Haru said, his voice laced with admiration.
“Yeah.”
“It’s amazing.”
The hamster was so exquisitely rendered that you wouldn’t know it was CG unless someone told you.
“This could cause an animal abuse controversy if they’re not careful.”
I said playfully.
“On set, they just tied a string to a hamster doll and dragged it around.”
“Hyung, I had a snake doll wrapped around my neck and arms.”
I hadn’t seen it since I was changing clothes, so I tried to picture it in my head.
A laugh escaped me automatically.
“What, are you saying you’re the only one who got to film with a live animal?”
Lee Ho-jun nudged my arm playfully.
Among the members, I was the only one who had filmed with a real animal.
They couldn’t bring a white tiger to the set, and while they could bring a cat, the chances of it cooperating were slim.
Since the concept required the animals to guide us, it couldn’t be helped.
The hamster climbed up Haru’s body and tugged at his clothes.
It was as if it was telling him to follow.
As Haru followed the hamster off-screen, Jung Eun-woo walked in with a snake draped around his neck.
“The snake looks real too.”
“The way it moves is seriously creepy.”
The camera moved again, returning to the rooftop where Park Ji-ham was.
A cat appeared and showed him a safe way down from the roof.
Park Ji-ham slowly followed the cat and got off the roof.
—You said the pain is only temporary
The part changed, and the scene showed me trapped in the room.
The firmly shut door shook and then burst open.
A Golden Retriever rushed in.
“No way. Was it specially trained? How did it know to grab your clothes right away?”
Everyone was amazed by the dog’s flawless performance.
“They put a treat in there.”
To film the scene where the dog pulled on my sleeve, the stylist had deliberately sewn a treat pouch into it.
As a result, the dog, eager for the treat, rushed toward me without a moment's hesitation and anxiously tugged at my arm.
‘Since it was a trained dog, it didn’t bite or attack me. It was fluffy and cute, too.’
—You swallow me whole into despair
Lee Ho-jun was still pinned under the steel pipe.
Just then, a white tiger appeared and moved the pipe away.
Lee Ho-jun stared at the white tiger with a bewildered expression.
The tiger slowly approached him and nuzzled its face against his hand.
“The white tiger looks cool. What did they use as a substitute for it during filming?”
“Hyung. You’ll be surprised when you hear this.”
“Why?”
Lee Ho-jun hesitated for a moment before finally speaking.
“A person.”
“Huh?”
We all stared at Lee Ho-jun, signaling that we needed more of an explanation.
“The white tiger is big, right? So they said there was nothing to use as a stand-in… A person in a green suit acted it out.”
It was to the point where I wanted to applaud Lee Ho-jun’s acting skills.
I had unintentionally made fun of him.
“I’m sorry, hyung.”
At my apology, Lee Ho-jun patted my shoulder with a look of resignation.
“The result is good, so it all worked out.”
The screen flipped, showing us in monochrome outfits with light accents, standing on cracked ground.
Then, it briefly showed how we ended up in the places from the beginning of the video.
We had all been standing together when the ground shook violently, scattering us.
“That was heart-stoppingly surprising, but it’s such a short part of the video.”
“I know.”
They kept surprising us without any prior warning, completely draining us, yet the screen time was far too short.
“I feel like I’ve used up several years’ worth of being startled.”
“A horror movie would’ve been better. At least with those, you go in expecting ghosts to pop out.”
“True.”
—pretty things like you drive me crazy
Following the animals, we all gathered in one place.
It was the same spot where we had been before being scattered.
The animals mended the cracked ground and cleared away dangerous-looking objects.
“This is actually kind of touching.”
“If you ignore the lyrics, doesn’t it feel less like gaslighting and more like a story of getting back up with someone’s help in a tough situation?”
I agreed with what Park Ji-ham said.
“Hearing it like that, it sounds like our story.”
Our story.
Only then did I think I understood why Creatin’s song had been passed to RE-V.
‘There must have been many ways to make RE-V a success even without one of Leon’s songs. The reason they took the song from Creatin, who were in the middle of comeback preparations, was for this. The narrative. It’s true that Creatin tasted failure, but compared to RE-V, it would be considered trivial.’
If Creatin had made a comeback with the song “MESS,” comments like, ‘Don’t you think this would have been more impactful if RE-V sang it?’ would have started to surface.
Constant comparisons would lead to friction between the fandoms, which would undoubtedly be a loss for the company.
When fans of artists from the same agency fight, the company receives a lot of complaints, and people get tired of the constant fighting and end up leaving the fandom.
‘Right. It wouldn’t make sense for a senior artist like Leon to have his song taken away. He must have anticipated this whole situation and passed it on.’