“ first group recording of the day.
In a lineup packed with big names and veterans—no rookies in sight—greetings were exchanged everywhere.
TeSTAR was no exception.
“Wow, it’s been way too long, everyone!”
“Mudi sunbae!”
First up was Mudi.
When we went to greet the singer who’d been a vocal trainer and judge on , she welcomed us warmly.
“Wow, how many years has it been already? You’ve all done so well that now I should be the one getting your autographs!”
“Aww, what are you saying! We’re here to get your signed albums~ We’re begging you, sunbae, please sign them for us!”
“Ahaha! Seriously?”
That Lee Sejin really seems to pick out only the things people want to hear.
—I’ll steer the conversation as best I can, so let’s all keep calm and go with the flow~
By the way, he’s been running almost a daily talk show to fill the void left by leader Ryu Cheong woo, whose memory of TeSTAR completely vanished.
Thanks to that, the mood turned even more convivial.
“Ah hyun is still a flower deer~ Mundae, you can stop sending me ginseng for every holiday! I’ve been talking about it on my radio show!”
“Hahaha!”
Mudi cheerfully offered compliments and jokes to each member one by one, then finally turned her gaze to who she believed was the leader of TeSTAR.
“Cheong woo, long time no see. Must be tough leading the team, right?”
“Haha, thanks to how well the members are doing, I’m doing just fine.”
But Steer Ryu Cheong woo had also participated in and met Mudi as a vocal trainee, so he had no trouble responding.
I checked that he was smiling and chatting with Mudi.
‘Good to go.’
Anyway, it wasn’t by chance that Mudi had been booked.
‘They must have first reached out to big names who had some connection with TeSTAR.’
When you calculate that it’ll help the editing, showing the public a friendly rapport is key.
‘As soon as TeSTAR was contracted, they pushed that angle in the first wave of casting.’
Once a few names rounded out the lineup, they’d expand the contact horizon again.
No wonder Mudi wasn’t the only cast member connected to us.
“Mundae! Oh my goodness!”
As soon as we entered the next waiting room, Malangdalkom’s members waved enthusiastically.
Yes.
The legendary LeTi girl group behind the absurd concept hit “POP☆CON,” just like VTIC.
Malangdalkom was on the show too.
They even brought along one member who had already succeeded as an actress.
“Hello, Sohyun sunbae.”
“Oh my, we meet again like this!”
It was a very unique case: an original lineup reuniting for a survival show.
But it was by no means a foolish choice.
‘They’re smart.’
Since their prime was behind them, there was nothing to lose if they didn’t place high in this roster of big names.
And one member was now a successful actor in a different field, so their image wouldn’t suffer.
As long as they avoided any personality scandals—which these survivors of a bizarre concept surely would—they’d be fine.
Just as I was nodding inwardly, Sohyun patted a Malangdalkom member’s shoulder and said with satisfaction,
“We all know you came because Mundae is on, right? Looking forward to working with you!”
“......?”
“Ahaha, look at Mundae’s face!”
What the hell?
At that moment, Sohyun, laughing heartily, added,
“Mundae is one of our fans, after all! When you know someone will take you seriously, you get the courage.”
Hmm.
It’d been years since I danced Pop☆Con on , so I couldn’t deny it now. I shamelessly nodded.
I’d mention it in the interview.
“It’s an honor.”
“No way, the honor’s ours!”
And just then, in the midst of wrapping up the friendly chatter, a playful question popped up.
“As the leader, what do you think? Is it true that you’re still one of our fans, Mundae?”
‘...!’
Directed at Ryu Cheong woo.
Probably because the question fit the leader, but...
‘No.’
Steer Ryu Cheong woo wouldn’t know whether I’d danced Pop☆Con or Pop’n on .
He wouldn’t even know about the meme that I’m a fan of theirs.
I clenched my fist.
‘I’ll cover for him.’
Big Sejin, filling in as acting leader today, glanced at him and was about to jump in.
“Of course.”
Steer Ryu Cheong woo answered neatly before him.
“Mundae even plays your songs on our live streams.”
“...!!”
“No way? That’s amazing...”
“Thanks, Mundae!”
And the conversation flowed naturally from there.
Steer Ryu Cheong woo smoothly mentioned past TeSTAR activities as he finished his greeting.
Lee Sejin, seeing the mood, decided not to butt in and just smiled.
The rest of us rode that wave and ended the chat well, but inside my head was chaos.
“.......”
No way.
“See you in a bit~”
“Yes, sunbaes!”
Thump.
Leaving Malangdalkom’s waiting room, I looked back at Ryu Cheong woo.
“That answer just now....”
How did you respond?
He scratched his face as if shy, then smiled.
“Well, I saw clips pop up in my feed... Fans had organized all the TeSTAR vids nicely.”
“.......”
“You watched them all? Thank you. Really impressive...!”
“Haha, you don’t have to, but thanks.”
No.
That can’t end with “impressive.”
‘You watched all the performance videos, not just clips?’
His tone made it sound like it happened by accident through an algorithm, but from what he said, it was almost like he’d memorized their fan wiki.
And Ryu Cheong woo isn’t the type to research like that.
He didn’t seem special as Steer; he clearly looked it up on purpose.
‘When did you find the time?’
Did he even sleep?
The fact that he studied all that without being asked was shocking.
Meanwhile, an easygoing question came back around.
“Did I mess up earlier?”
“No. You were perfect.”
“Haha, thanks.”
No, I wasn’t being asked that—I want to ask. What mindset lets you perform like «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» this in an unfamiliar world with no status window?
‘Not a novel protagonist.’
But Steer Ryu Cheong woo calmly continued.
“If there’s anything I’m misunderstanding, tell me. I tend to talk more gently to fans than what actually happened.”
“...Yes.”
Alright. Now I have no idea, damn it.
‘Is this the reason Cha Yoo jin said he was scared of your mindset?’
That was a persuasive point.
After that, the rest of filming went smoothly.
An MBS announcer grandly introduced each cast member as they entered, and within an hour they hit the main topic.
‘Since we were almost last up, that was sweet for us.’
Only the MC’s voice was already a bit hoarse. Poor thing.
“Now, I’ll announce the theme for the first round.”
On the screen, the massive font finally revealed the theme.
[Sing a Different Artist’s Song]
Each contestant would swap and sing another’s track. Traditional, brutal, and intriguing. Not bad.
“And unlike the opening stage, since this is a competition, the live audience will rank your performances.”
A bit of groundwork.
And of course the most provocative line followed:
“And the lowest-ranked performer will unfortunately be eliminated.”
“......!”
Even though they all knew it, each showed a flicker of surprise. The broadcast was perfect.
Amid the tension they’d intentionally created, the contestants drew balls to pick whose song to cover...
“Ah, looking forward to it.”
TeSTAR drew Mudi’s ball.
‘Good.’
An entirely non-overlapping participant. That way, direct comparisons are awkward and it’s harder to pick which angle to edit.
‘I know each other, so great for the edit.’
Still, I’ll have to give lip service in the interview, saying I secretly wished for a Malangdalkom song.
“Whoa?”
By chance, Malangdalkom screamed—they’d drawn TeSTAR’s ball.
‘Congratulations.’
Applause.
I finished the first shoot thinking of safe words for the edit, offering polite reactions.
And the moment we returned to the company, we dove straight into practice.
“Hmm, I think the arrangement could use a completely different backing track...!”
“Right, changing the vibe entirely is appealing~ So just keep the melody?”
“A catchy melody is our strength, so we should keep that! Excellent judgment.”
“Then for the concept... Ah, Mundae Mundae, I knew you’d have something to say~ Go ahead. ...Oh? Yoo jin too?”
“Heehee!”
We picked the song, chose the concept, and without needless chatter, quickly reached a decision.
—A full TeSTAR version of Mudi’s hit from ten years ago!
And with that in mind, Kim Rae bin presented a rough-edited demo of the new arrangement in an hour, which got tossed to those strong in choreography to sketch out the performance.
Years of experience had firmly established role assignments and workflow.
And Steer Ryu Cheong woo watched and absorbed every step, like a seasoned pro newcomer.
“So this is where we need to report and coordinate with the company.”
“Yes. The producers will come to film our rehearsals, so we have to manage that.”
“Got it.”
At this rate, he could fill the leader role in no time.
‘Once the update finishes, his memory will return anyway.’
He’s done so well keeping this up, I feel a bit guilty.
Then this happened.
“...Ryu Cheong woo.”
“...!”
Right after the meeting, as Cha Yoo jin was about to get some water, he beat Steer Ryu Cheong woo to it and offered him a drink.
“Here, drink if you like.”
“.......”
In fact, there was no need to worry about the discrepancy between Steer and TeSTAR Cha Yoo jin anymore.
They’d settled it days ago.
—I need to talk about Sejin sunbae.
—I heard from Yoo jin. Things are different now, right?
After that, Ryu Cheong woo never showed any animosity toward Bae Sejin.
‘Is it real that they understand each other this well?’
Sejin must have sensed the odd vibe and so offered it like a test.
“You look thirsty... If you don’t want it, that’s fine too.”
“.......”
I clearly saw it.
Steer Ryu Cheong woo hesitated for a moment.
But in the end, he didn’t refuse, took the bottle, and opened it with a satisfied smile.
“Thanks. I’ll enjoy it.”
“...! What a thing to say!”
Without a flinch, Ryu Cheong woo even drank from it on the spot.
Bae Sejin seemed relieved, and the mood improved further.
‘Huh.’
It was like watching Steer Cha Yoo jin’s relative kindness score drop in real time...
And the practice continued into the evening in this atmosphere, so Lee Sejin—perhaps genuinely or just to tease—said this:
“Hyung, thank you so much~ You’ve been so good to us, even though our Yoo jin ran away saying he had no memories.”
“Yeah.”
“Haha, really?”
Ryu Cheong woo added in a gentle voice,
“You’re still the same.”
“...?”
“I’m glad you’re doing well now.”
“...Yep.”
For a moment, a strange tension flickered then vanished.
‘Hmm.’
I immediately refocused on the conversation.
The mood was still good. Cha Yoo jin, silent, drank from his own bottle, then casually said,
“And congratulations. If you keep this up, Cheong woo hyung, your memories will come back soon.”
“Huh?”
“When you acknowledged how good that stage was, your memory could return. That might be the trigger? That’s how it feels.”
Cha Yoo jin said it matter-of-factly, as if imparting a tip.
A way to restore Ryu Cheong woo’s TeSTAR memories!
‘He did say something like that.’
I recalled my post-TeSTAR conversation with Cha Yoo jin.
—That “update” might not have finished early by accident. I mean, the timing was too perfect.
—I’d bet my realization—or our honest talk—affected the timing.
The system, for some reason, performed a rollback of members’ memories under the guise of a company update.
So the mental growth of a member could influence the completion of that update.
‘A convincing hypothesis, so I accepted it.’
I’d even shared it with Big Sejin.
And with this Ryu Cheong woo, I’d framed it as “you’re in an amnesiac state,” so it made sense to talk about how to regain memories rather than how to avoid them.
He even asked back with genuine interest.
“Automatically?”
“Well, I asked Mundae hyung. This was what I told him. There’s a weird ghost-like window... a status window?”
Before I could answer, Cha Yoo jin finished.
I furrowed my brows. Fine, do as you will...
“With that, we got our memories back. You’ll do the same.”
“Ah.”
Then came that moment.
Ryu Cheong woo replied in his calm, gentle voice,
“Is that really necessary?”
What?
“Hyung?”
He looked at me, still composed, and said,
“I’m asking if I really need to get my memories back.”
I realized a beat late what he meant.
‘That’s....’
—Do we need to reclaim the original TeSTAR Ryu Cheong woo?
He meant not to summon the original TeSTAR version of himself.
A chill ran down my spine.
