Debut or Die

The high school student was a little dissatisfied, but he kept watching the video, thinking that he should finish watching it now that he’d already played the video.

There were Korean subtitles that the fans had attached.

[A super special KPOP group is here!]

[Korea’s national idol, Testar]

And Testar’s history and achievements, intertwined with music videos and award ceremony scenes, quickly got on the broadcast.

[Their album sales this time reached 1.1 million!]

[What could be the secret to the charm of 7 people and 7 colors formed through a survival audition?]

[We asked Hallyu fans at Shin-Okubo!]

And interviews with KPOP fans on the streets around Korean Town briefly passed by.

[As expected, I feel like they have the most momentum lately?]

[My favorite is Moondae. A cute puppy who’s good at singing!]

[Everyone has a different favorite.]

[It’s touching to see them working so hard and they are so cute.]

‘Oh… They’re popular in Japan, too?’

The high school student straightened his sullen face.

The video finally foreshadowed Testar’s appearance, along with a sparkling effect.

[Korea’s super-class idol group]

[Entering the studio right now!]

Du-du-du-dum!

With some stark effect, Testar entered against the backdrop of four or two clapping panels on the pastel-tone set.

They were dressed in navy blue suits that appropriately matched their traditional accessories.

‘Look at the length of their legs.’

While the high school student felt vicarious satisfaction, Testar smiled and greeted politely without showing any signs of nervousness.

[Hello, Take your STAR, we’re Testar!]

[Wow!]

[Welcome. Please introduce yourself!]

[Yes!]

At the MC’s request, the self-introduction continued by mixing very simple Japanese or using English.

They knew that they didn’t have much time, so they added a little bit of their own characteristics.

[Hello. I am Testar’s leader, Ryu Chungwoo. I was in the archery national team before.]

[Gasp!]

[Really?]

[Yes, I was a gold medalist.]

Then he smiled and passed the microphone to the next person without hesitation.

A stronger reaction was shown on purpose.

[So cool! Dangerous!]

[That must be his charming point!]

The person who produced the subtitles even carried out the sound of panels whispering in the background in small color subtitles.

Whenever a member was caught smiling, ‘cool’ and ‘cute’ burst out.

[I’m Bae Sejin. I used to be a child actor…]

[He’s definitely a tsundere!]

[…!]

Lee Sejin interrupted Bae Sejin, who hesitated a little when he was about to finish.

[Tsundere??]

[Ahaha!]

Drawing laughter with Bae Sejin’s dumbfounded expression, Lee Sejin continued his introduction with a smile.

[My name is Lee Sejin, and I have the same name as the tsundere hyung-nim here, so I got the nickname Keun Sejin.]

[Keun?]

[‘Keun’ means big in Korean~ Yes. I’m in charge of dancing in the team!]

Thanks to the education he had received as a trainee, he spoke Japanese fluently.

[…Hello, I’m… Seon Ahyeon. I majored in dance. …I look forward to… your kind cooperation.]

[I am Park Moondae. You can think of my image between a singing puppy and a Tibetan fox however you want.]

[HELLO GUYS, I’m Eugene. Please remember me! Thanks!]

Like this, the turn came to Kim Raebin, who was standing at the end.

However, this time, a question came from the panel. It caught their attention that the ornament on Kim Raebin’s foot, which he had been wearing cleverly as an ornament, was a protector.

[Aren’t you uncomfortable with that leg?]

[Yes, but there’s no problem with showing the performance.]

When the interpreter translated Kim Raebin’s smart answer, the panels nodded and admired him, saying, ‘Being confident is good’.

‘The dance was so f*cking hard. What are you going to do?’

The high school student watched, feeling somewhat skeptical.

[Testar’s stage will follow soon~]

Originally, there should be an here, but because it was a cut scene, the stage followed immediately in the video.

On the platform of the clean set, the stage began with Japanese subtitles as the lights rotated.

– So that you can’t escape even if you struggle

You come today, you go

Let’s stick one more to the record

Now come, come, go

‘They’re in perfect sync.’

The choreography was smooth because they had practiced their movements without Kim Raebin.

In addition, thanks to Cha Eugene, who was full of spirits for having the whole group for the first time in a long time, the opening boasted a great level of immersion.

Even the extremely static camera showed the details of the dynamic performance.

The high school student unwittingly kept his mouth shut and concentrated on the stage.

– He appears

‘But he’s not appearing?‘

However, the man who had a leg injury didn’t appear on the stage until the first verse. The high school student was a bit puzzled, but he quickly erased the thought from his head.

‘I think Groom is doubling throughout the chorus. Kuh, why are my ears listening so well?’

Because he was busy watching the stage.

In fact, it was the first time he properly watched the stage of ‘present’, so he just watched the intro of verses 1 and 2 absent-mindedly.

And right before entering the last pre-chorus.

The high school student managed to notice Kim Raebin walking slowly from behind.

‘What are you trying to do?’

Just as he thought that the form might cool down, the choreography formation moved cleverly and suddenly fell out like a low tide and lifted Kim Raebin.

“…!”

Kim Raebin started his part while riding on the backs and arms of the other members, as if riding on a palanquin, with bright eyes.

– No, someone who came in the middle of the night

The broken and torn doorknob

bang bang bang

The rolling and splashing sound

And at the same time, the formation changed.

– He appears

Warning again warning

Approaching with one’s life

Sow and thrilling

Riding the arms and upper bodies connected to the floor, Kim Raebin slid forward slightly as if landing, supporting himself with his arms.

And he stood in the front center and stared at the camera.

– Me

“Wow!”

Regardless of the high school student’s admiration, Kim Raebin never stopped rapping.

Like that, he continued until the next part came.

‘Huh?’

Only then did the high school student realize.

Testar appropriately removed similar parts from the first half and second half and rearranged them, then they gave all of the second half to Kim Raebin.

‘Wow, his energy is terrifying.’

Because the song had a large proportion of rap, Kim Raebin’s momentum was terrifying.

Kim Raebin, who walked forward, didn’t have a separate choreography, but it looked like a performance thanks to the members around him moving as if they were his hands and feet.

And as if taking over the momentum, Park Moondae’s vocals rose sharply at the climax of the second half.

‘This is it!!’

The last dance break.

After Kim Raebin, who had fallen behind, made a spectacular move that made him invisible, Testar deliberately pulled the formation back.

So after they joined Kim Raebin. The ending cut came.

[Present]

“It’s great.”

The high school student unwittingly hit the desk. On the screen, the faces of the panelists were getting a close-up after the stage was over.

Their eyes were widening.

‘Hey, the thumbnail’s from here.’

The high school student chuckled.

Testar in the video got up and straightened their clothes. And they immediately smiled and greeted the camera.

[Thank you!]

[This is Testar’s parade~]

The video ended there.

And the high school student was convinced.

‘Honesty, they tore it up.’

He could understand why it had so many views. Just by looking at it, his pride in the country excessively swelled up.

When he read the comments because it was fun, he was also excited by fans and Koreans who were also having fun.

-Taste a little bit of Testar, but not too much. We don’t have enough spaceㅠㅠ

– It must have felt eye-opening, we know the feeling

-It’s a waste for Testar to go to Japan. The agency should think carefully and focus more on the U.S

– Our kpop idols~ I’m so proud of you!^^

– Huh, Testar is not at the level to show up at morning shows. It’s good to earn foreign currency, but let’s take care of our pride

└In Japan, the status of such morning programs is much higher than in Korea, and they have good viewership ratings too~ Testar is truly amazingㅋ

└Oh, I seeㄱㅅㄱㅅ

“Oh…”

It turned out to be a popular program. The high school student shrugged his shoulders.

‘Is there anything else fun?’

As he watched the related videos with excitement, he saw a lot of reviews of Japanese reactions to Testar.

[Japanese broadcasters who can’t keep their mouths shut at Testar’s traditional Korean performance!]

[The Japanese broadcast is going crazy at Testar’s performance]

‘The gukppong channels are excited.’

High school students usually didn’t watch things like this because it was embarrassing, but he clicked on one, thinking he could let this one slide because he was bored.

By the way, at the same time, Park Moondae was also monitoring.

* * *

– I spilled my milk because I was so amazed by Testar’s performance

– Who’s this kid? Who the hell is he? No matter how you look at him, he’s an angel (Seon Ahyeon’s photo taken directly from the TV screen)

– He majored in ballet? I thought he was somehow elegant. He has a pretty face and an angel’s gesture(* ´ ω｀ )

– Another Korean idol appeared on the morning show. But the level of dance is amazing.

– Someone, please tell me the name of the member with the leg injury! Scary face, cool voice, and sweet personality? What kind of cartoon character is this ww

– I am worried about Sejin, I can’t stand that his character is the opposite of him…

– It’s an oriental song, so powerful(︶‿︶✿)

– Anyone can tell that he’s a cute Neko-chan, but why is his nickname Tibetan fox? I can’t understand Korea WWW (Park Moondae’s photo)

‘Did I select only the good responses?’

I felt like it might have been a little distorted. I shoved the room service into my mouth and skipped through the video at high speed.

It was annoying because the content that could have been posted as an article came out as a video, which doubled the time looking.

‘Still, I’m busy learning English, but learning Japanese is too much.’

It must have been entirely thanks to my characteristic that I could learn how to properly greet and talk in two weeks.

I shrugged my shoulders and roughly organized the content I collected from fans’ SNS and WeTube channels.

‘Seon Ahyeon got good responses.’

Kim Raebin got a lot of responses because being the center in the second half was impressive, and the rest of the members were fine as well.

‘… There are more mentions of me than I thought.’

I didn’t know how they got into it, but it seemed the feeling of being a 4D character made it work.

‘Whatever.’

Anyway, the conclusion was that the overall response was very good.

Of course, the fact that the reactions were big enough to be a result meant that we didn’t only get good responses.

[Japan’s Internet rightist is mad at Testar’s popularity]

This video content could be seen as an example.

– Who’s Testar?W Never heard of them. They’re like Zainichi Koreans^[1]Zainichi Korean = Koreans who live in Japan. anyway

– Another anti-Japanese group? If you want Japanese money so much, get your bearings right

– These guys got plastic surgeries

– It’s a Korean-style concept. How far does the Korean government’s national policy go?

– It’s just a grandiose trick, but the song is noisy enough to be trashWWWWWWWWW

Below that, there was a comment from the video uploader that mocked and disproved this statement.

‘Typical.’

It seemed the K-Pop group, which was slightly well-known in Japan, had taken care of all of this nonsense. I guessed the response was good.

I shrugged and finished monitoring.

And sure enough, a few days later, I heard the news from the company.

“Official broadcast in Japan?”

“Oh! I heard that the broadcasting station bought it because the reactions were good!”

Right away <Re-listed Idol Inc.> was officially aired in Japan.

‘…Will it be okay?’

The content was so stimulating that it could work in Japan, but I wasn’t sure if a survival program that had already reached a conclusion would be popular.

“Hey~ I remember those times!”

“T-That’s right.”

“It was difficult, but it was so rewarding.”

Several members talked about their feelings regarding the topic of Idol Inc’s broadcasting which was mentioned for the first time in a long time.

Since they debuted after winning in that show, some of them talked as if they were recalling a difficult exam.

Of course, there were some who didn’t.

“…It should have been abolished.”

It was Bae Sejin.

Anyway, the news about <Idol Inc> didn’t end there.

“Oh, come to think of it, you guys know that <Idol Inc.> is going to have a new season, right?”

“Heol, really?”

“It will, eventually.”

“I see~”

The manager took his chance.

“That’s why~ They said they’ll do it if you show up there.”

I knew it would be like this.

• 1. Zainichi Korean = Koreans who live in Japan.