“Crazy.”
The home-ma could hardly breathe as she waited for the game to finish installing.
Normally, modern people would scroll KakaoTalk or SNS or web browsing during an app install, but she couldn’t focus on that now.
“How on earth did they make something like this, and when?” she thought, with no time for questions or analysis—just excitement, overwhelm, and pounding anticipation.
A moment later.
[Installation complete.]
-Launch now (__)
Without hesitation, she checked the box.
The screen went black, and a logo slid by.
[Ruin Factory Area]
–Stars Orbit
Then a distorted adaptation of TeSTAR’s logo descended from the top, and the title appeared.
[Roll the Dice]
~please enter the code
A faintly eerie, modern remix of the title track’s main melody drifted.
Behind it, a dark attic floor, the board game, and a die were projected.
Perfect quality.
“Waaaah!”
So fully realized?
The home-ma felt near-panic joy, but also a subtle worry.
“But I don’t really play games...”
She’d thought it’d be just fan service, but now she hesitated at whether she could enjoy it properly.
She didn’t know gaming conventions or controls. She’d only ever casually enjoyed the mobile <127 Section> game.
And some people disliked games, so preferences would vary.
“Hmm.”
But built-up anticipation won out—no time to hesitate!
“Let’s go!”
She bravely tapped “New Game”!
The letters vanished as if sucked in, and a die rolled...
A brief loading.
Then the screen brightened.
[2025. 06. 01.]
[PM 07:03]
–Woohoo!
A sports car racing down a sunset-lit road filled the screen.
“...??”
What is this?
Even the people in the car were strangers.
A man and woman wearing sunglasses—neither looked like TeSTAR.
How could she be sure they were game characters?
“It’s live-action?”
It wasn’t CGI.
♪♫♬♬~♪♪♬♪
The sports car thundered through like a movie scene.
She might have thought a defective product had arrived by mistake, but she already knew it was not.
“This is ‘Pose.’”
The song playing in the car was TeSTAR’s previous single, “Pose,” a bouncy dance track perfect for a drive.
“So this is definitely the TeSTAR app.”
She decided to wait a bit.
The sports car continued its run along a winding mountain road glowing red in the sunset.
Then something unexpected appeared.
The road was blocked.
“...?”
A massive yellow-and-black barricade and flashing hazard lights stood in the center.
“What the heck?”
The music softened.
Someone approached the stopped car on foot.
A tall man.
“Excuse me, ma’am.”
“Whoa.”
It was Lee Sejin!
In a neat police uniform, Lee Sejin smiled and leaned toward the car.
The woman in the driver’s seat idly waved her arm.
“Why is this happening?” she asked.
“Ah, the road ahead is closed to traffic. Sorry, but please turn around and use the main road.”
“Where’s the main road? It’d take me thirty more minutes to detour—at least explain why.”
“I’d like to, but I’m on official duty. I can’t give details. Please, ma’am.”
Lee Sejin spoke kindly, smiling warmly.
“He’s handsome...”
His swept-back hair suited him perfectly.
Yet the driver didn’t budge; she eyed Sejin strangely, caught on camera.
“....”
“Sir, please turn around?”
Tension rose.
The BGM shifted.
“What... what.”
“The police officer is so young.”
“Ah, I was just posted here recently. Ha ha.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I know it’s inconvenient, but please.”
Sejin kept smiling and bowed slightly.
Yet the tense BGM and amplified footfalls continued.
thud, thud.
After Sejin walked into the checkpoint bathed in red sunset light,
vroom
the sports car turned and drove away.
“Phew.”
Oddly, the home-ma sighed in relief.
The silent passenger finally spoke.
“Hey? Isn’t this the main road?”
“Huh??”
“If you turn here, it reconnects to the main route # Nоvеlight # straight away, honey.”
“What?”
“We’re going down that blocked road.”
“What??”
The passenger’s shock echoed hers.
“Why there? The cop blocked it.”
“Cop?”
The driver scoffed.
“Have you ever seen a cop be so friendly to a speeding sports car?”
“What?”
“And look at that barricade.”
As the passenger glanced, the camera shifted back to the barricade.
It lingered slowly on screen, intercut with Sejin’s smiling lower face in flashback.
The driver’s voice sounded.
“That barricade isn’t police. It’s private.”
“...!!”
“Looks like that guy isn’t a cop.”
“I see...”
“Look how young he is. Some YouTuber? BJ? Playing a prank with a hidden camera.”
At that moment, the bottom of the sports car’s view darkened slightly, and something popped up on the screen.
▶[That makes sense. -Reassure]
▶[How can you be sure? -Be cautious]
It was a choice menu!
“Right. It’s a game, so choices appear.”
Strange but compelling, she had to pick one.
But...
[00:10:00]
A time limit!
“Ten seconds?!”
Panicked, she trusted her gut and selected the second option.
“How can you be sure?”
Inspired by movie clichés: if someone insists you go down a blocked road, it’ll end badly.
“Sejin said not to go!”
Why go? Does it matter if he’s really a cop?
“Even idols should listen!”
She didn’t know why she was making choices for these strangers, but time pressure forced her.
“Don’t you trust me?”
The driver snapped!
[The other party is displeased.]
“Aaah!”
Wait—should she have soothed him? She was confused, but the game kept going.
“Well, that’s not it...”
“Then don’t just stand there. I’ll get you to your flight on time.”
The driver revved the car and sped off.
The camera pulled back, showing the sports car forcefully entering the road marked “No Entry” via a side path.
And the darkness and eeriness of the mountain road...
“...”
She swallowed, watching like a thriller film.
Then, a moment later.
“That’s random.”
With headlights on, the sports car passed an old building.
A gray concrete structure that looked like a rough factory.
Large, but no signs of life.
“A factory? No?”
“Maybe.”
“Weird to be in the mountains.”
The view slowed, scanning the building’s exterior through the car’s perspective.
It caught one raised inscription on the facade.
[K.I.S]
The home-ma recognized it.
“It was in the MV.”
Yes—the initials on the gray corridor floor.
Were these people entering that prison as players?
“Sure, now it’s first-person.”
She speculated when—
“Oh, that is...”
thud.
The sports car flipped.
“...?!”
Then exploded.
ska-boom!
The screen whirled and tumbled.
“Aaaargh!!”
Insane!
Unconsciously, the home-ma screamed. The camera wobbled, showing the half-destroyed car, then a hand groping along the ground.
And another choice appeared.
▶[Grab the smartphone.]
▶[Call the passenger.]
This—this was it!
“Calling the passenger won’t help! The phone is key!”
First, productive action!
She immediately chose the smartphone.
Happily, the groping hand found the phone!
“Yay!”
Just as she cheered the player dialing 119,
“Aagh!!”
The phone broke.
“Ugh.”
No answer.
She broke into a cold sweat, regretting her choice and considering restarting when a voice called out.
“Are you okay there?!”
The camera swung to show Sejin rushing in.
“Wait!”
“What...?”
Confused as events unfolded, the home-ma watched Sejin extend a hand.
“Give me that.”
He gently removed the phone that was hindering support, then shrugged his shoulder.
Meeting the player’s gaze, he fired a tranquilizer dart.
“...?!”
The view blurred—her screen went hazy.
Silence.
“....”
After a short pause, the view reappeared behind Sejin’s shoulder.
She was slung over him.
“...??”
Still unable to process, she heard Sejin’s voice.
“Ah~ it always works.”
Then the screen shifted again.
A red frame, the distorted metal of the wrecked car, and smoke.
The player was shoved back into the mangled sports car!
“Ahhh?!”
“It’s great when you break the rules for me. I’ve done my job, so no guilt.”
“...!!”
Then Sejin’s neat face appeared outside the car.
He pulled out a notebook.
“Now, again...”
–“’No Entry’ posted... check. ‘Direct notification’ given... check. ‘Courtesy’... check. ‘Repeated emphasis’... check.”
Sejin, like a real cop, tipped his hat and winked.
“I asked you to turn around, right?”
“Ugh...”
“Yep. I knew you wouldn’t listen.”
slam.
The car door shut.
The wrecked red sports car was towed away by a black vehicle.
From the black car, Sejin hummed.
“Hmmmmm~”
A well-known easy-listening track from TeSTAR’s previous album.
Above that eerie dissonance, subtitles appeared.
[Prologue End]
–Welcome to the K.I.S
The home-ma screamed silently.
“What is this!?”
Traumatized, she finally hit Enter thirty seconds later to begin Chapter 1.
She’d been completely convinced by Sejin’s handsomeness.
“Mundae’s going to be gorgeous too...”
And unbeknownst to her, the shocking, thrilling story also hooked her.
“Alright!”
The main game began properly from a member’s perspective.
–Need a ride?
On a rainy autumn day, Bae Sejin, having lost his wallet, got into Ryu Geon woo’s car for the commute.
Then Geon woo made an abrupt request.
–I need something stolen.
“...What?”
–I need a hacker.
That’s right! Bae Sejin was the hacker.
But then...
“...What about Rae bin?”
He'd been in the monitoring room in the MV.
Now he stared at his laptop from the back seat, glasses on.
So the home-ma willingly chose the question option.
–Is he also a hacker?
–No. He’s just strong. Really... strong.
“Ha ha!”
Kim Rae bin peeked over and then looked back down.
By the way, Rae bin heroically proved his brute-force prowess after breaking into the facility, delighting the home-ma.
In any case, Geon woo showed Sejin information about a gem called “tutáculum.”
–Tutáculum?
–In Latin it means protection, shelter. It’s the key to access the facility where this gem is located.
He said he’d received it from a colleague and asked for analysis.
This cut turned into a flashback, then immediately to their infiltration of the facility!
–But I never expected it to be such a weird protective detention site.
From there it was a nail-biting series of hide-and-seek and choices...
“Aaaargh.”
Having been stung in the prologue by Sejin’s sternness, the home-ma refused to be caught—no matter how handsome he was.
She avoided the jailer at all costs, selecting choices that kept her out of his path.
And at this point, another system appeared: the ten-sided die.
roll...
When a wrong choice was made, rolling the die gave a chance to recover if the number was low!
The more severe the mistake, the lower the number required.
“Phew!”
–Oh~ today’s coffee.
She narrowly avoided Sejin’s gaze and hid behind a cabinet, catching her breath.
Not long after... she got to see Mundae’s face.
–Hmm.
“Aaah!”
Mundae was in a laboratory!
The problem was... he had an injector, sweating profusely in pain.
And he begged her not to remove the syringe!
–...No, please don’t.
▶[Break the syringe. -Sympathy]
▶[Leave it alone. -Indifference]
“Aaah!!”
The home-ma controlling Rae bin gasped, but trembled and chose the first option.
“I’m sorry, Mundae...!”
But if she didn’t break the syringe... in movie clichés, Mundae would die!
And sure enough, upon breaking the syringe, Mundae stabilized.
She pressed the capture button through tears at the close-up of Mundae collapsing peacefully.
Rae bin thankfully carried Mundae to safety.
“Thank goodness...”
Overly immersed, the home-ma wiped her sweat.
Afterwards came Seon Ah hyun’s tense standoff in the cell and narrow pursuits by Geon woo, gathering information.
Soon, the phantom thieves deduced that this was a strange facility imprisoning test subjects, and that the “gem” data was part of a baiting experiment.
–We have to escape.
They changed course and, thanks to Yoo jin’s distraction, found the real exit route... but then faced a final trial.
–Just around this outer wall...
–Shh.
“Gasp, Ah hyun!”
thud, thud.
Seon Ah hyun approached—the baton, the gloves, the boots, the gaze—all staged like a film scene.
Ah hyun had appeared calm and composed throughout, in a style that suited him and added unexpected charm.
“Face value...”
The home-ma thought.
And she realized.
“In the MV... it was hinted that Ah hyun subdued Sejin during his escape!”
That must be the clue. Thrilled, she frantically hammered the “hide” option in the choice menu.
–.....
Surprisingly, though it felt correct, a die rolled.
[Target number: 6]
Sixty percent chance!
The home-ma gritted her teeth.
roll...
“Please, please...!”
The die slowly stopped, showing...
[2]
“Yes!!”
Ah hyun calmly disappeared beyond the corridor.
She’d passed the turn safely.
“Phew.”
“Let’s go.”
She sighed, watching Sejin approach the massive door.
The scene from the MV.
Key to the pad, now to enter the code....
“Wait.”
She realized...
[______]
What was the code?
“...”
Game progress halted.
There was no ten-second time limit now—she could enter it anytime.
But what code?
At that moment, Sejin’s narration appeared on screen.
–It’s a code I already know.
–When I received the key from the phantom thief.
Then Geon woo’s voice from earlier played.
–I ask that you analyze the key.
Sejin’s eyes were close-up.
–And I analyzed it.
–I found the information the thief wanted: the location, the gem’s value. But there were also dummy data, seemingly placed to make it harder to find.
–Like padding the file size.
–Among the dummy files I almost skipped was a photo of a man... and on its back, the code.
The narration ended.
“What...?”
Flustered, the home-ma reread the subtitle.
“A photo of a man.”
“...”
Could it be?
“Gasp!”
She jumped up, grabbed the album box where she’d set aside the USB earlier.
Inside was the only remaining item.
A photo card.
On the back of the card showing Kim Rae bin biting a spike, alongside the logo, was the code.
[Roll the Dice]
~please enter the code
[AW23-5DQ2-B25E]
With trembling hands, she entered it.
...As soon as she hit Enter, Sejin’s hand in the game moved over the pad too.
And.
–Success...!
The door opened.
“Yes!”
She reflexively clenched both fists, then realized.
“Wow!”
This made buying the album feel so worthwhile!
She leapt up, sensing a happy ending—unaware she’d just seen the “Normal Ending –3.”
Now she could finally evaluate.
“Immersion was incredible!”
She had no idea how they’d filmed it or how grueling it was for the members—but she wanted to play again and choose different options!
The costumes were perfect, and the acting-action hybrid felt natural, not cheesy.
Honestly, Sejin’s acting was so good it amplified everything.
But one nagging thought...
“They did make it seem like the phantom thieves were protagonists.”
There was some imbalance in screen time, and oddly many events were from the thieves’ viewpoint.
“Ah, Ah hyun’s screen time was too little.”
And the board game itself still felt mysterious and unresolved...
“But the quality was insane.”
She didn’t know what to call it—like watching a movie but choosing what the characters do!
Even fans who didn’t play games would love this.
Having experienced an “interactive movie” properly for the first time, she nodded enthusiastically.
“Even thinking back, the outfits were so good... ah, it was truly amazing.”
She waited for the epilogue to load, finally deciding to use the bathroom.
She naturally grabbed her phone—and then a notification popped up.
–Play the other album versions too! Loyalty, I swear!
“...??”
–Version 2 changes the prologue—prisoner route!
–Three album versions = role choice? Thief, prisoner, jailer?
What?!
–The main stream’s almost identical, just personal events differ.
“...”
Flustered, she dashed from the bathroom toward her delivery boxes.
She opened the second photo card box.
Sliding out the card of Cha Yoo jin with his tongue playfully shown, she yanked out the second USB album.
She swallowed.
“Should I start with this one?”
To see more of Mundae as the prisoner? The home-ma was in a daze when another message lit her screen.
–If you don’t break the syringe, Mundae becomes the phantom thief route.
–Crazy! Park Mundae’s thigh action suit is insane!
“...?!”
What... what is that?
Thus began the labyrinth of album Easter eggs for TeSTAR.
