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The logic behind the comments that TeSTAR shouldn't get the “Rookie of the Year” award has become more sophisticated than before.

This is because the focus has shifted not to TeSTAR itself, but to the other groups that just debuted this year.

I really ㅠㅠ I don't like it. If we consider the score that the group that took that award had last year and had faced TeSTAR, I would have already resigned…

TeSTAR has totally disrupted the entertainment industry. Do you think the other rookie groups could get the same amount of points? I don’t believe it

L You are right. Furthermore, in a situation where we also wonder if Icorpo was fair in selecting the debuting members, the idea of ​ ​ taking the “Rookie of the Year” award really pushed the boundaries.

Wow, do you think they crossed the line? I think TeSTAR has been doing sajaegi;

L I think he is much more serious than just the sajaegi

L No, sajaegi is a crime, what are you talking about…?

L Don't you think that more than a simple crime, they did something much more problematic? That's why no one could stop them

Shouldn't we take this opportunity to separate the cases from the groups that get good results quickly? A true rookie group should receive the Rookie of the Year award.

NT: Sajaegi is a term used to refer to chart manipulation; more specifically when companies buy albums from their artists to increase the probability of winning on shows. For example, one day a rookie artist can sell only 12 albums, but the next day he sells 8000 and on the weekend he beats a senior artist who had been in 1st place for weeks. It is so strange that it demands police investigation because economic and information disruption is an illegal action.

“They have laid it out very well.”

Since they can't negatively criticize the level of our group's performances, they use that reason to not want to give us the symbolic award of “Rookie of the Year” because we don't look like “rookies”.

In the event that we don't win that award, they can also use that logic by saying "If they hadn't done that or been like that, they would have won Rookie of the Year."

But that won't happen.

Talking about it has no effect on the official point count criteria for actual awards.

"Well, it is not possible to vote negatively, just like in Icorpo."

In the end, those arguments were caught up in public opinion alone, so the likelihood of us having a problem scoring the judges was low.

While some communities may criticize us for winning the Rookie of the Year award… there is unlikely to be a problem with the award right away.

In fact, that article was shelved as time went on.

Why do they mention the sajaegi? Are they going crazy?

I would have been persuaded if another rookie group appeared out of nowhere that also sold around 200,000 albums in a single day, but that hasn't happened before, so… ; Hahahahaha

I understand how you feel but you guys are reinventing the criteria for Rookie of the Year lol

There were many comments like that.

"Let's practice for the year-end performances."

I stopped monitoring the networks for now. I shouldn't feel unnecessarily affected by everything they say.

"...I hope our fans don't get too stressed."

It was difficult to do anything because we were suspended from communication activities on social networks.

In fact, if I didn't mind that suspension and replied in one of those articles, "So who do you think should get Rookie of the Year instead of TeSTAR?", I could turn the controversy on its head...

But if they found out that it was me, Park MoonDae, who wrote it, there would be a real scandal.

"I'll have to do it the right way."

Finally, my thoughts turned back to rehearsals. I sighed and accepted the conclusion.

—Let's practice one more time.

—Yes.

And soon after, the atmosphere of the practice room turned serious for everyone.

"It's because everyone has already seen it."

It seems that the article that generated controversy has spread enough to the point of seeing our fans wailing.

Thanks to that, the drive to show something superior was almost at the level of when we teamed up in the Icorpo final to make our debut.

Ryu CheongWoo, almost on the verge of exhaustion, muttered as if he was making sure of something he already knew.

—What we are practicing… is it for SBC?

—Yes.

Hearing Kim RaeBin's answer, Bae Sejin muttered with a blank face.

—... I think this is the most difficult.

—Yes! That makes it fun!

—...

Sejin briefly looked at the cheerful Cha YooJin with an expression that seemed to want to punch him in the face.

CheongWoo smiled and clarified the situation.

—It's okay. Let's work hard and demonstrate a fun and enjoyable presentation.

—Y-yes!

—Let's do our best~

Perhaps because the agency was aware of the additional controversies, in November, the outside schedule was slightly shortened, so the practice time was increased.

The year-end award ceremonies started only after all the preparations for each one were made.

The first award ceremony was ToneA.

* * *

ToneA, the self-proclaimed largest global music award ceremony in Asia, was presented by T1.

What this means is that this is an award ceremony organized by our agency's parent company, which was very keen to support TeSTAR.

Of course, TeSTAR won according to its score.

It was the fourth time I heard that today.

We had won the Ususang (Excellence Award), Ingisang (Popularity Award), and even an award for Best Music Video.

And obviously… we won the Bonsang award for “Rookie of the Year”.

Keun SeJin deliberately gave that speech while receiving the “Rookie of the Year” award. He had already discussed it with Ryu CheongWoo in advance.

As for the content of all the thank you speeches we gave, we had also discussed it with the agency and we concluded that it was fine as long as it did not give rise to controversy, that way, the public that disagreed could only curse us, because It wouldn't be reason enough to make a fuss.

…However, the anomaly in my state was not resolved as I thought.

"I didn’t expect that."

Even if ToneA is hailed as Asia's biggest award show, everyone who watches it will know that it doesn't have enough authority.

Anyway, it seems that the boys were quite relieved after the award ceremony was over.

—Good job~

But even though we won the award, it seemed to me that the relief of “We got it” was greater than the joy.

“They must have felt really bad about the explosion of that bomb.”

It didn't feel good at all to miss out on the rewarding moment of happiness when seeing the great results we achieved thanks to our hard work.

—Guys, you did a great job.

—Hehe.

—I-I'm glad it ended well.

—Assessing ourselves as other variables aside, I think we did a good job of delivering our presentation as we prepared it.

There was a moment of silence at RaeBin's words.

"...It's been hard work."

Our presentation lasted eight minutes.

Tnet had required us to put on a performance showcasing our greatest hits, so we did a four-song medley.

Thanks to this, practice was relatively easy as there were few extra moves. The problem is that there was no time to rest in the middle of the medley, so when we got off stage they had to give us portable oxygen respirators.

Still, I think we did well with no mistakes, but the problem... was the cameras.

Monitoring our performance, the cameras did just fine until we got to the second half of the medley, where I wondered what the hell they were doing.

The screen became so dark that I had to focus my eyes to see what we were doing on stage.

"I’m getting angry."

The good thing was that they were allowed in data sellers, so I hope that someone has recorded us very well with his camera. I'll have to look it up on WeTube later.

—...Yes, but it must have been well received by the audience in front of the stage.

—They gave us a lot of good cheer~

We couldn't miss the camera located in the corridor behind the stage, so we were careful when speaking.

We have to bear the disappointment we feel as we still have other performances that we have prepared with greater determination for the following award ceremonies.

"...As soon as we get into the waiting room, I'll get my phone."

I wanted to check if there were any other issues with us, although you may only see one or two popular posts full of curses.

But when we got to our waiting room, we found ourselves in front of someone unexpected who was not happy to see.

—Hello.

—Oh! Sunbae-nim!

—Hello!

…It was CheongRyu.

"Why would the winner of the Daesang be in front of a rookie group's waiting room?"

NT: Daesang (Grand Prize) are the best and most important prizes for artists.

Seeing him there made me think that he came to protest against those in charge of the award ceremony.

"Are you trying to make it hard for me to avoid it?"

Anyway, my companions, embarrassed by the unimaginable situation, nodded their heads to greet him and poured out words of congratulations.

—Congratulations on winning two Daesang, sunbae-nim!

—Congratulations!

—Oh, thank you very much.

He smiled and RaeBin took the opportunity to ask him a question.

—Sunbae-nim, why did you come to our waiting room?

—I came to celebrate, I was thinking of seeing my hoobaes.

CheongRyu looked me in the eye.

—Congratulations on winning the Rookie of the Year award. Though I'm sure it didn't mean much.

...!

—What?

Seeing that RaeBin asked awkwardly as his comment shocked him and lowered his confidence, he added.

—You have won four awards, that means you are too talented to be considered rookies. I look forward to your performance in the future.

—Oh, thank you very much!

—Now that I have seen you, I will retire. I have a schedule to fulfill.

—Alright. I hope you're doing great, sunbae-nim!

CheongRyu gave a small nod of goodbye and smiled.

—Keep up the good work, I'm rooting for you.

He then walked down the hall and disappeared.

I clicked my tongue, annoyed.

"...He specifically mentioned the 'Rookie of the Year' award."

He made it clear that he once had the same goal or else he would make use of his status abnormality. He even said that there was no point in winning that award at ToneA.

"It is very uncomfortable."

The aftertaste was not good as the information seemed to have been passed on unilaterally without him getting any income in return.

“It is possible that I know the list of things that I must do because he already experienced it with his status anomaly.”

As I thought, the boys talked to me.

—Oh~ MoonDae, did you get to know each other better when you participated in that variety show together?

—A-are you... close friends?

I almost take Seon AhHyun's question seriously.

—...We are only “acquaintances”.

—T-then, can you ask him…?!

The last one was not AhHyun, but RaeBin who jumped into the conversation. He seems like he stuttered due to his excessive excitement.

“Come to think of it, he often mentions VTIC a lot.”

While he assumed that he was a fan of his, he pulled himself together and spoke to me seriously with an anxious expression on his face.

—I'm really curious to know what program the VTIC sunbae-nims used to arrange the title track of his latest album...!

—...

He was more interested in the program than in the group.

—I'll ask when I get the chance.

—Thank you!

That chance might never come, but RaeBin didn't mind and was very happy. Well, it's a relief that at least he's having fun.

"Let's check the reaction of the audience."

In the car, on the way back to the practice room, I scrolled through social media and a few communities.

It was good to see more congratulatory comments than sarcastic opinions.

“...The fans are putting up with it.”

They seemed to be trying to ignore the negative comments as much as possible and keep them out of sight by writing us compliments so as not to give us a hard time in some way.

This is because if they get into an emotional fight, only the group with a clear identity will lose image and money.

Of course, this discomfort was felt in the personal accounts of social networks.

In the end, we have to break a record. Just vote and don't worry about the nonsense that the haters say because they will forget everything after half a year.

Oh sht I'm holding back my rage but anything to get through this

There are many bastards who want to hit the stars that are on the rise hahahahaha but I am so proud of my children

Why the hell are they making such a big deal out of my boy just because Muggles picked him to debut? When he was given the lead, the team was ready to fight

From the whole group's fans to the malicious individuals, everyone was complaining because they were tired of having to put up with it for our well-being.

That makes the feeling of debt that I feel towards them increase.

"...I'd rather tell you that you don't need to help us with good comments."

It was bitter having to keep quiet or speak carefully to avoid sudden death.

"But I don't think I'm going to die."

Since public opinion has not rejected us outright, it is possible that by the last award ceremonies, this negative feeling towards us will fade.

“At ToneA they gave us what we deserved.”

I was worried that they would take care of us and promote us too much, but they did it in the right way so that the haters would not notice and launch into criticizing us for it.

Fortunately, the criticism did not rise above the water. It was enough for anyone to mention that for it to become a scandal and the public would stop looking at this award ceremony in a friendly way.

"It's a shame they couldn't make good use of our presentation."

Although this can be resolved to some extent if we wait for the fancams to be released. In addition, we still need to make the next presentation.

"This time it didn't go so well, but there will always be times like this."

When things calm down, I'll have to upload content that helps fans relieve their stress.

I smoothed my hair and turned off my phone.

No, I was going to turn it off… but I had just seen the title of a post that was recorded as the latest most popular article in the community.

—...

I clicked on the title immediately and multiple photos appeared as if they were “card news”.

"Shit."

The bastards done their work.

NT: “Card news” is a representative image format with a short explanatory text, like the advertisements we see daily on official FB business pages.

***

CheongRyu looked at his phone. There was an article that was causing chaos regarding the “Rookie of the Year” award that had been handed out.

—It makes me curious.

—...Eh? What thing?

CheongRyu didn't respond to his groupmate's words. He just opened his personal social media account.

"I wonder what will happen."

He uploaded many photos that they had shared on social media, adding a comment to each of them, but he also chose another photo and added it without explanation, as if it were insignificant.

He pressed the button to upload the post.

And a dangerous wick caught fire.

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———

@izhovvv: this Cheongryu really keeps giving me a bad feeling. I don't like him (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

protecc the boiz!

anyway, I was sick this past 2 days so I haven't been able to update and this chapter enraged me so i'll post 10 more chapters tonight~ (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)