Testa’s T1 Stars have escaped.
And they signed with the new company founded by the former label CEO!
They kept the group name!
Of course, the fans loved it. It was like the perfect scenario picked after seeing a thousand possible futures—just the best season-ending recontracting twist.
Even if T1 Stars was no longer a subsidiary of T1, all the crap they’d pulled up until now didn’t just disappear.
The label’s staff went along, too, and finally got to break up with that god-awful agency—pure dream scenario.
The new agency took its name from the old label: Stars Orbit, registered as Stars Orbit Entertainment.
But everyone just called it Orbit.
The fandom was ready to throw a festival, but the real problem was T1 Stars’ pre-departure media move.
[“Independent T1 Stars’ true intention: ‘Returning the name to the artists’”]
Independence from the cozy big corporation, trademark transferred back to the artists.
It was as if Testa had poured cold water on their own planned “good-corporate” relaunch.
Click-bait trolls worked overtime, capturing screenshots of desperate T1 Stars staff posts from anonymous workplace forums to hype up how devastating Testa’s move supposedly was.
Miryuna and Spacer fans panicked and reacted to the trolls—it nearly turned into chaos.
Then, before long, the news hit everyone...
No one saw it coming.
└ “Literally... Orbit Entertainment bought T1 Stars lololol they ate them”
└ “Insane lolllllllll”
└ “What the hell is happening”
[“Testa’s agency” Stars Orbit Entertainment’s shocking first move: Push for M&A of T1 Stars]
The moment the article dropped, forums and SNS flipped.
But nobody knew how to react. It was hilarious, but nobody understood the situation.
Anyway, Miryuna and Spacer fans finally relaxed. Testa fans were a bit confused about what they gained but were mostly relieved the trolls ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ shut up.
It felt like a funny happy ending.
But someone asked the crucial question:
“Wait. If it’s the same label staff, same artists... what’s actually different?”
It got swept up in the shock, but it was the question that mattered.
A new start. A new company.
Testa was now sitting in a fresh conference room discussing strategy.
They decided not to use the old T1 Stars building. At least draw that line.
But since they’d absorbed the subsidiary T1 had cut loose, from T1’s perspective it was just the same people with new nameplates.
“Right... so we’re still completely cut off from T1, right? Like when we were T1 Stars?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded.
‘We’re still in the same shoes—no strings to T1.’
On the surface it looked like spending a bunch of money for nothing, but...
“But now we can make decisions however we want.”
That was the difference.
Now we held the power.
This company was privately held, and we owned a significant share.
‘No more wasting energy persuading some higher-up.’
“Wooooow!!”
Cha Yoo jin whistled.
Forever done with the troll boss.
And knowing that, they wore exhilarated expressions. Bae Sejin looked like he was about to cry.
“...Everyone, you’ve worked so hard. I... never thought something like this was possible. I’m so glad it worked out... this is great.”
“Se-Sejin hyung...”
Ryu Cheong woo nodded and smiled in agreement.
“Really. It feels weird calling it our own company, but I love it.”
“Right? For the next five, ten years, let’s keep this energy going~”
“Yes, I feel more responsible than ever! Thank you!”
“Yeah!”
With everything falling perfectly into place, the mood was electric. I nodded.
Ownership attitude—good.
...Of course, even if T1 Stars’ price had plummeted, we didn’t have that much cash ourselves.
Once the T1 tie was gone, we needed a new backer anyway.
I recalled the message still on my phone—the reply I got after I first reached out.
-VTIC Shin Cheong ryeo sunbae: You reached out.
-VTIC Shin Cheong ryeo sunbae: As expected.
‘As expected,’ my ass.
Naturally, I had no intention of signing with LeTi.
But there was no reason not to stay on good terms and use them when needed.
So... I stripped it down to purely financial terms.
“Sunbae, would you consider just taking ROI without the hassle of setting up a label?”
LeTi contributed substantial capital to our company launch.
Not a majority—gotta prevent them from controlling votes.
But it did put us on the same side as LeTi.
‘Easy platform access, but a bit harder to refuse LeTi requests.’
That was plenty. Cheongryeo would appreciate the surveillance backup and know he could meddle if necessary.
He intended to leverage it as debt, of course.
-VTIC Shin Cheong ryeo sunbae: Feels like I’m the only one helping you here.
-VTIC Shin Cheong ryeo sunbae: What do you think?
I saw it coming.
“Yes. In return, I’ll share valuable intel on other VTIC sunbaenim.”
-VTIC Shin Cheong ryeo sunbae: Hmm?
“Joo Dan sunbaenim is doing well in the military. He asked after you.”
No more chat after that—he called me and we laughed our heads off.
‘Whatever.’
Better that than pretending unilateral help in financial records.
I opened my phone to show him the conversation, and saw other messages that had just come in.
‘Hmm.’
From the group chat of the other T1 Stars members who’d helped plan the escape.
I’d told them we could annul their contracts... this popped up:
That was Spacer Kwon Hee seung—ranked Gold 2.
That was Miryuna Park Min ha.
“...Hmm.”
I folded my arms.
‘Honestly... I expected Miryuna to stay.’
couldn’t really promote due to controversies, and there was no competing female idol position here.
I figured they wouldn’t ditch the staff they’d gotten along with.
But Spacer... is that okay? If schedules clash with Testa, they won’t back down.
I glanced at my phone and anticipated the PR fallout.
“....”
Maybe we should coordinate so neither side loses out.
‘Since it came to this, maybe reposition Spacer... a non-overlapping route with Testa.’
Forced to consider another group’s positioning gave me a frown.
“Mundae Mundae, what’s up? Something on your mind?”
“Nothing. Just... other groups want to stay.”
“...!”
“They weren’t the ones eager to leave?”
I explained the situation briefly.
Most nodded. They were the kind who agreed to rescue people rather than sink with a dying label.
“Right. Good to have them with us.”
“Yes. The staff are the same, so... I would have done the same.”
So basically: “Oh, I see.”
Big Sejin shrugged.
He seemed lukewarm, but after a full acquisition he didn’t want to argue over a variable in another group’s contract.
He did add:
“Right. Let’s keep doing what we’ve been doing~”
Meaning: cross the line, and we’ll push back.
‘Got it.’
I sent messages to Kwon Hee seung and Park Min ha: “Understood—you’re staying.”
Thus ended the convoluted company and other-people business.
“Thank you for your hard work!”
“Thanks everyone~”
With all the headaches behind us, the mood relaxed and the members grinned.
And finally the original topic came up.
“So... shall we start preparing our new album?”
Yes.
Starved for activity, they didn’t care about the environment—just wanted to make an album.
“Great idea!”
“We barely promoted last time! Let’s make it fast and get back out there!”
“...Wait, we’re moving dorms too... hmm, ah, forget it. Alright! Let’s do our best!”
“Woooo!”
Even Bae Sejin, about to hit the brakes, joined in and the conference room went wild.
Me?
“I think we should pick songs right away.”
“Oooh, Mundae~”
“I’ll contact the AR team!”
If we could pick “Magic Boy” in a month from nothing, why not now?
‘Why couldn’t we do it here?’
Short on cash? I can just dump my remaining settlement. We can handle one or two albums.
‘...Of course, some details worry me.’
We’ll check those later—focus on this first.
I stopped trying to be clever and smiled around the room.
Then:
Vzzzz—
A reply came to the message I’d just sent.
‘Kwon Hee seung.’
I expected that.
But the next message surprised me.
‘Seriously.’
Even if you didn’t use the wish ticket, I’ve poured so much money into this company they’re not cutting it loose.
I chuckled and typed “All set.”
Then:
[‘■■■ Shard’ Possessor Confirmed!]
[ Registered]
...my status window popped up.
I leapt from my seat instinctively.
“Mundae?”
“...Get them!”
Pop-ups continued.
[‘Item: ■■■ (ver. Beta)’ Used]
“...!”
No way.
‘That damn system.’
My head went blank. Even then, I instinctively connected Kwon Hee seung’s words to the pop-up.
‘Wish ticket.’
...The system grants wishes. So.
‘No way he used it on me?’
No!
My soul-bound item—how could he use it without permission?
“Cancel!”
But the moment I shouted, the pop-up text changed.
To:
[Searching target....]
[Target: Stars Orbit Ent]
[Company name: Stars Orbit]
Familiarity: C+
Performance: (-)
Profit: (-)
Artists signed: Testa (★★★★★), Miryuna (★★★★), Spacer (★★★) ....
Overall grade: D+
And above it, another pop-up lounged casually.
[Cancel use of ‘Item: ■■■ (ver. Beta)’?]
“.......”
What the hell.
