Chapter 172

Let me explain what the hell this was about.

Testar’s roommate assignment this time was set as a board game disguised as a card game.

“Now, Yeouido is my ‘Blushing Coin Power’ land! Everyone, give me a coin~”

“…H-Huh??”

“Already? Sejin is very good.”

“Haha, thank you!”

For reference, this unfamiliar game had complicated rules, a long playtime, and, crucially, had little to do with roommate assignments.

It turned out to be a new board game that used the IP of ‘127 Section’ that we had collaborated with.

‘It must be PPL from T1.’

I was used to it now.

Anyway, the production team somehow managed to fit this into the roommates’ re-arrangement, allowing us to choose roommates in the order of the top players in the game.

And here was the result.

“It’s Eugene’s group…The ‘Flame Gang’ won first place with 36 squares!”

“Yeah!”

“Oh~ That’s too bad!”

Cha Eugene made a comeback victory and won last minute.

‘I can’t believe he got dice number six three times in a row.’

Thanks to his crazy luck, Cha Eugene triumphed and afterward, they all sat there screaming as if they were watching some kind of gambling game.

And Cha Eugene… He pointed me as his roommate without hesitation.

“Moondae hyung, you’re a good roommate! Please take good care of me!”

‘Just why.’

When did we get close?

Even the option to distribute the responsibility by inserting another guy was blocked.

“Hmmm, then room choice of the first-place winner Eugene…”

“Number 1!”

It was a room for two people.

“Oh~ Moondae is returning to room number 1? Congratulations!”

“…Yeah.”

It didn’t make me happy at all.

Of course, I had no intention of doing anything crazy like expressing this openly.

I couldn’t say anything positive, but I still gave Cha Eugene positive body signals such as high-fives and shoulder taps.

‘I shouldn’t provoke Cha Eugene’s fans.’

Those people wouldn’t pass this off as a gag, they’d squeeze me out and turn me into the maknae’s bully.

So calm down, let’s share a room with this guy and think of the benefits…

…Is there any?

“Then, what is the choice of the second-place winner Sejin?”

“Yes, my choice is… Da-dum-da-dum. It’s our cool Raebin!”

“Ah, thank you!”

“Haha! I think it would be nice if we can have the three-people room.”

“Well, the third-place winner is Moondae, so let’s skip him… Coincidentally, it’s Raebin’s turn to pick roommates since he won fourth place. What do you think, Raebin?”

“I want Seon Ahyeon hyung to join as the last roommate!”

“…! M-Me?”

“Yes! I’d like to ask you a few questions since we were roommates last time…”

I thought about it as the others were picking roommates one after another, but I couldn’t think of any good points.

But I knew one thing.

“Eat the jelly!”

“Okay.”

It would be difficult to sleep early for a while.

And this judgment was not wrong.

* * *

A few days later, in the music show waiting room. The stylist who was fixing the costume props asked.

“Moondae, are you okay? You look drained.”

“I am fine.”

But without Bacchus, I wouldn’t have been fine.

‘Cha Eugene, that crazy bastard didn’t sleep until 2 am yesterday.’

It was fine up to that point. Everyone could have different styles.

However, the problem was that he was active until 2 am.

Talking to me.

“…Sigh.”

In fact, I had made a few requests to Cha Eugene in advance.

– Recently, I’ve been taking care of my physical strength… Outside of exercise time, I want to lie down and rest whenever possible.

– Oh… Are you having a hard time?

– I am not. I’m trying to save some energy, so please don’t get me out of bed as much as possible.

– Got it!

And Cha Eugene said okay so neatly that I was worried a question bomb would come flying, but from then on he really paid attention.

…Only to the words ‘don’t get me out of bed’.

– Wow! Look at this, hyung!

– …

A video of a Siberian husky talking with a baby in a strange howl was playing on Cha Eugene’s smartphone, which he checked by moving his head away from the bed.

– [Isn’t it cute and funny?? A baby and a puppy. They always make my day happy]

– Yeah. It’s great.

I didn’t know that this similar pattern would repeat itself until 2:00 in the morning until I gave a positive response.

We had a pre-recording for a music show tomorrow Friday…

– Hyung, hyung! This hippo…

– Stop.

In the end, Cha Eugene went to sleep after I said ‘Let’s be quiet and get some sleep’ three times.

If it had gone for any longer, I would have hit the back of his head and forced him to sleep.

‘I’m going crazy.’

Of course, it wasn’t always like this.

There were times when Cha Eugene went to bed early, but the problem was that it was all up to him.

Still, looking at his attitude, it seemed he was trying to keep his word, but the problem was, he was the kind of person who wouldn’t store things in his head if he thought it wasn’t a big deal by his standard, so he forgot every time.

‘Should I scare him?’

Of course, it was a joke. The moment Cha Eugene showed a timid look in front of the camera, there would be rumors of discord.

I usually could ignore it, but the problem was, I had left a video where I had an uncooperative appearance with Ryu Chungwoo just a few months ago.

The summer package.

‘That’s not good.’

So for now… I would put up with it.

However, based on the trend so far, this roommate would be set for more than half a year, but I wasn’t sure if it would be possible for me to not show any slightest sign of discomfort to this bastard.

‘How did Ryu Chungwoo endure being his roommate in the first place?’

Well, come to think of it, Keun Sejin was there, so Cha Eugene’s aggro must have jumped at him.

“Hyung! Cookies, cookies?”

“No, thank you.”

“It’s delicious!”

“Eat a lot.”

Now, even outside the dorm, the frequency of Cha Eugene talking to me had increased. If he wanted to get closer as a roommate, I’d like to decline.

“Testar, let’s stand by right away~”

“Yes!”

Anyway, the next stage was our turn. Roommates were roommates, let’s focus on work now.

Woooow!

I heard people shouting over the in-ear.

The buzzing sound through the small device that acted as sound insulation had a strangely uplifting taste.

‘It’s like my thoughts disappear.’

In particular, the feeling of adrenaline soaring helped a lot in a complex and thorough performance.

However, for a song that was loosely organized, it would be better to think a bit.

If I just let it spill out, it often seemed lacking.

As easy as it was, I had to pay more attention so that it didn’t look plain.

‘Wait here for a bit… Gesture.’

– Cool wind, sweet coffee

Add a lot of syrup

Same as me, yes

Take a seat

The chin-resting motion was well captured by the lit-up camera.

‘It’s strangely easy.’

It seemed that the delay or the sensory difference from thinking to expressing had decreased compared to before.

‘Is this the power of talent stat?’

It was quite fun.

I added a couple of unplanned expressions–such as changing facial expressions or setting up glasses with one hand–but I was able to get the timing right without hesitation.

‘Oh.’

It was interesting.

– Now, take it easy and wait

(Hold on a second)

I’ll pick you up now

The stage ended with the performers standing or sitting with their backs to each other.

“Thanks!”

“Thank you!”

The faces of the guys who bowed and came down from the stage were great.

“Monitoring, monitoring~”

“Watch out there!”

There was a bit of a witty dance break at the end, but it didn’t particularly make me breathless enough to have my lungs burst out.

‘The b-side is also a ballad.’

It was interesting that, unlike the reduced difficulty level of this activity, the music was doing well.

As soon as the stage monitoring was over, the manager ran over and shouted.

“Guys! Picnic goes up again! 7th on 24Hits!”

“Wow!”

It was an unbelievable feat for a song on the fifth day of its release.

In a format where it would only be counted once within 24 hours if one person listened repeatedly, we were the first other than VTIC to rank like this among boy idol groups this year.

‘Right now, it’s better than the double score of our previous album, Present.’

The speed was similar to that of Youngrin, who had much better popularity on the music chart, which meant our song must be really catchy.

Keun Sejin sneakily packed it up.

“It’s because Raebin is good at arranging~”

“T-That’s right. The song is really good…!”

“Ah, no! I think we got this result thanks to the team members’ good demonstration and feedback!”

It sounded like an award speech.

‘Your face straightens.”

Kim Raebin smiled broadly with a much more relaxed face than a few days ago. Hmm, it still looked fierce though.

“You make a lot of songs! Give one to me.”

“Songs don’t come out randomly like that. I need some kind of inspiration to work on them…”

“Old man? Are you a grandpa?”

(TL notes: Cha Eugene mistook inspiration (영감이) as old man (영감님).)

“You idiot! That’s not it, um…”

I sighed.

“…Inspiration.”

“Ah, thank you, Moondae hyung!”

“Thank you!”

…Looking at those two bowing their head, I wondered if Cha Eugene actually took me as his roommate to use me as an interpreter.

It was a convincing explanation.

“Guys, the ending performance!”

“Ah, yes!”

Anyway, the time to organize my thoughts didn’t come easily in a hectic schedule because it was the comeback week.

So, it was only a few days later, during my free time right before going to bed, that I found out Cha Eugene’s intentions.

* * *

[The weather forecast doesn’t matter~ It’s the day I want to meet you.]

It was late Monday night when I had some free time.

I was lying on the bed and watching a fancam.

It was the official vertical fancam that was uploaded by the music show filmed on Friday.

[(K-cam) Testar (TeSTAR) Park Moondae’s fancam ‘Picnic’ 2X1018]

The thumbnail was a close-up shot of me resting my chin, and it had already received quite a few views.

It seemed to have become a hot topic in the community, comparing it to my first idol Inc fancam.

It… It was the fancam for the rating of <It’s Me>.

I watched all of my fancams, going through the comments that were plastered with words like ‘Park Moondae is a deep learning AI puppy’ a little bashfully.

‘It definitely got better.’

It was good to have clear control of strength and dynamics and to have a clear expression of what I felt, without feeling awkward or pressured.

‘Hmm.’

Even if I look at it from my old self’s perspective, this guy was good enough to make money from the filming, I thought it would be okay to praise myself a little.

However, this idea was temporarily dismissed as the next video played out automatically.

[(K-cam) Testar (TeSTAR) Cha Eugene’s fancam ‘Picnic’ 2X1018]

It was Cha Eugene’s fancam from the same day.

‘This bastard is a real monster.’

It wasn’t just at the level of looking natural and great. Each of his movements gave a strange feeling.

‘Hmm, it’s kind of gooey?’

I thought that description suited him. He didn’t just dance well, he did a great job.

‘He’s worth being analyzed.’

I played Cha Eugene’s fancam for a while. Then, a head suddenly popped in beside me.

“Hyung! Are you watching my video??”

“Yeah. You’re good.”

“Hehe.”

Cha Eugene poured out words in English with an excited expression.

[What do you think? Are you watching it because it’s fun?]

“There’s that, and I want to compare it with mine and do some research.”

“Oh!”

Cha Eugene’s eyes flashed, and he hit my bed.

[Hyung! I think we can share some tips? If you teach me how to sing, I’ll teach you how to dance!]

“Really?”

“Yes!”

Just when I thought that I shouldn’t expect much because he didn’t seem to have the skills to teach, Cha Eugene brought out the main point.

[And how about we make a unit performance? At the next concert!]

Huh?