Chapter 87

If we can't debut, we'll get a deadly disease - Chapter 087

“What is this...”

Lyu Cheongu muttered as he surveyed the living room, which looked like it had been hit by a balloon bomb, then stopped. It was probably because he saw the cameras moving between the balloons.

The familiar reality show cameras were back.

‘Re-shooting starts today, huh.’

Recently, he had hardly been around the dorm, so the reality cameras only appeared briefly when they needed to capture content.

‘We’ve already milked the activity and daily life content to the point where we can’t use them anymore.’

But this was the first time they had seen such a full-scale setup, so the members cautiously entered the living room.

They found a large note among the swaying balloons. It was so big that it took up a quarter of the living room wall.

[Special Feature! Testa's No. 1 Commemorative Trip]

“Huh?”

“...A trip?”

“A trip!”

Cha Yujin kicked the balloons aside in one go and approached the wall. Colorful balloons, clearly chosen from the three official Pantone numbers, flew through the air.

“It’s torn! There’s something inside!”

“Yujin, be careful!”

“Oh.”

Cha Yujin, perhaps recalling the last time she got in trouble, put the note down with a slightly dejected look.

“Let’s check it together.”

“Okay...”

Although it seemed unnecessary, they all tore open the note for the sake of the broadcast.

“One, two, three!”

Then, a giant roulette wheel appeared.

‘...A roulette wheel?’

Just hearing the word made me feel like I was having a flashback.

But the members were excited by the smell of a full-scale travel content.

“Wow! What’s this?”

“Lucky draw?”

“It says ‘Travel Lucky Draw’!”

As Kim Raebin said, the top read ‘Travel Lucky Draw’ in large letters. Below it, the description continued in a moderate font.

“Hmm~ ‘You will spin this roulette wheel together to decide the theme of this trip... a one-night, two-day friendship trip for Testa’! Wow, this is really serious, isn’t it?”

“I love it!”

“Shall we... spin it quickly!?”

Even Seon Ahhyeon, who had been a bit down, got excited and stuck to the roulette wheel. The wheel had seven sections, each with a different theme.

[Healing, Foodie, Adventure, Extreme, Theme Park, History.]

“Oh~”

The keywords were filled with quite distinctive themes.

‘Healing seems best.’

At a glance, it looked like a schedule to go to some mountain and live a rural life. It seemed the easiest and wouldn’t require much physical effort beyond household chores.

“I want Adventure.”

“Healing is good.”

“The foodie theme seems to be for Moon Dae, right?”

Considering the amount of content, they each expressed their preferences for a moment before getting too excited and sticking to the roulette wheel.

“Let’s all grab it and spin it together!”

“Let’s do it. Moon Dae, come over here quickly!”

“...Yes.”

Thanks to this, a bizarre scene of all six of them spinning the roulette wheel together was captured on camera.

‘Please, let it be a warm and fuzzy outcome.’

I muttered my hope and spun the roulette wheel with the members.

“Ohh~”

“It’s spinning!”

‘Of course it’s spinning, what did you expect?’

They must have put a lot of force into it, as the roulette wheel spun for quite a while before finally stopping.

“Theme Park...!”

Despite Kim Raebin’s earnest hope, the wheel went past the purple section for Theme Park... and stopped at the red section.

“Eeeeh!”

And in the bright red section, the theme was written in a bold font.

[Extreme Travel]

“...Extreme?”

“Ah, Extreme!”

Cha Yujin finally realized the meaning of the word and laughed, raising both hands.

‘Cha Yujin likes it?’

It couldn’t be more ominous.

A little while later, a text message from the production team came to Lyu Cheongu’s smartphone.

[Testa’s theme for this trip is Extreme~]

[We will present an exciting theme full of extreme fun! *^^*]

[※No backing out!]

“No... no backing out...?”

“Uh... uh...”

The members’ expressions began to change, as if their survival instincts were kicking in.

“...”

I walked up to the roulette wheel.

“Moon Dae?”

I spun the roulette wheel again.

It spun vigorously... and...

Stopped at Extreme Travel again.

...I spun it again.

It spun... and stopped.

...It’s still Extreme.

The members realized the situation.

“...!!”

“...This is a scam!”

By the way, the next day, when we met the production team, they giggled and said they had to schedule everything in advance and couldn’t possibly have all seven options come up.

‘These guys...’

I could feel their determination to boost ratings with the travel content.

...Really, I had a bad feeling about it.

* * *

[Sorry for the late reply. Congratulations on the No. 1 on Music Show.]

[Thank you, senior.]

As I replied to the text message that had come in as soon as I woke up, I started to feel a bit ridiculous.

Even though I wrote in my status message that I would check it late, they kept sending messages.

By the way, the sender was Cheongrye of VTIC.

‘This guy is really tiring.’

There’s no way he would have checked it late, considering he was also a top contender. Someone in the group must have told him on the day it happened. It’s impossible that the three consecutive public broadcast triple crowns being stopped didn’t come up in conversation.

‘He must have contacted me on purpose to provoke me.’

Sure enough, a reply came soon.

[Next time, I hope you get No. 1 faster.]

It means he wants us to get out of the way so he can get No. 1 without any trouble.

[Thank you. Have a good day, senior.]

‘I can’t just ignore this.’

I turned off the chat notifications. I already find it annoying enough when I meet the manager, and now this guy is bothering me.

“Hey! Hyung! Jun! Bi!”

“M, Moon Dae, did you... pack everything?”

“Yeah, just a moment.”

As soon as I turned off my smartphone, a loud noise began.

‘It’s the departure preparation shooting...’

It was the start of the reality travel content.

“Is that it?”

“Yeah.”

“Will you be okay?”

“Of course.”

I slung a backpack over my shoulder, and people started commenting that I didn’t have enough luggage.

‘It’s just a one-night, two-day trip.’

After all, it’s a package tour where we follow the production team’s instructions. Clothes and a toothbrush should be enough.

“Did you bring snacks?”

“What?”

“Did you bring snacks?”

“...Snacks.”

“Yes!”

“Let’s buy and eat them on the way.”

“Okay...”

It seems I’ve become the snack supplier in Cha Yujin’s eyes.

‘I feel like a snack shuttle.’

I can’t believe I’m getting such a cool title, which I never had in high school.

“Well, then... we’re finally going on our first trip~”

“Wow!!”

“I hope we make lots of good memories!”

At least, the opening in front of the production team’s camera went well. Despite the deception, everyone was clearly excited about the trip.

‘It has been a grueling journey.’

We’ve been running non-stop for about two months since preparing for the debut album.

However, from the moment the production team started grinning at the sight of the members, I should have guessed what was about to happen.

About three hours later.

We arrived at a rural village at the edge of Gyeonggi Province.

“Congratulations, Testa, on arriving at your first travel destination today!”

“Wow!!”

“The scenery is really beautiful!”

Although it was a bit hot, the weather was definitely good. The PD shouted through a megaphone to the members, who were visibly excited about the outdoor activity.

“Your first extreme activity... is skydiving!”

“...!?”

The atmosphere froze.

“Do you see the small plane up there?”

Dudududu...

A black aircraft zipped across the blue sky.

“You’ll be jumping from that.”

“...!!”

And chaos ensued.

“Aaaaaah!!”

“This is completely safe... I’m safe...”

“Hahahahaha!”

“...Is it impossible to quit halfway?”

“Come on, it would be a waste to get on the plane~ We’ve already paid for it?”

“...”

Instructor’s calm response made Lee Sejin’s face turn pale.

‘This is going to be a mess.’

However, the production team did give us a last resort.

-If you really can’t jump, you can just come down. But the next course will be doubled!

‘This is going to get us a lot of hate from the fans.’

If someone really can’t do it and starts crying, it could lead to harsh criticism and a public apology for making the idol reality show unnecessarily sadistic.

But it seemed unlikely to happen.

“Alright, let’s jump one by one!”

“Aaaaaah!”

Because these guys are unexpectedly all tough.

They’re the ones who endured the grueling training at the verysa. It’s only natural.

Anyway, from Kim Raebin, who was muttering in a corner, to Cha Yujin, who was excitedly stomping her feet, everyone jumped without any issues.

Having the instructor behind them probably gave them some courage.

“Alright, let’s go!”

“Yes, yes...!!”

Seon Ahhyeon also jumped without any problems.

‘Next is me.’

I ended up being the last one again. The surprise VCR from the verysa came to mind.

‘I’m not scared of this kind of thing.’

What’s the big deal if I don’t die or get hurt? I just don’t understand the point of paying money to do this.

“Alright, we’ll jump together. Take a deep breath.”

“Yes.”

“Ah, this guy has the strongest heart~ Let’s go!”

Whoosh

The wind hit my face.

“...Ha!”

“Isn’t it great~?”

It was great.

...I never thought it would be.

The sky was a clear blue all around.

The mountains and fields stretched endlessly beyond the blue horizon.

The sun was blinding, but it wasn’t hot. The wind swirled.

“Alright, the parachute~”

Thud, with a sense of pressure, my body slowly stopped in mid-air and started moving with the wind.

It was an incredible sense of liberation.

“Riding it well! Hold this... and push like this!”

“...”

If I had continued living as Lyu Cheongu, would I have ever thought of doing something like this?

‘Absolutely not.’

I would have said, “Why would I pay money to jump from the sky?”

But now, I’m doing it.

And there have been so many such experiences.

Achievement, performances, fans, cheers... the feeling of living life.

‘...It’s strange.’

I didn’t care about any of the abnormalities.

Strangely, I was happy to be Park Moon Dae.

“Alright, landing!”

As I landed on the ground, the others who had gone down first were laughing and waving.

“Moon Dae has arrived~”

...This extreme trip might not be so bad. I smiled and put my feet on the ground.

* * *

Did I say it might not be so bad?

“Alright, the second extreme experience of the day! It’s~ ‘Invitation to a Haunted House’!”

“Aaaaaah!!”

I’m canceling this right now. The production team has no sense of limits.

“Do you see the building ahead?”

“Yes...!”

“I see it...!”

Some members, known for being easily scared, were already crying.

The PD excitedly shouted through the megaphone.

“This is a horror experience set operated by a professional horror-making team that’s in Korea for a limited time!”

“Aaaaaah...”

“It’s only open for this summer, so you can only do it now!”

This detailed explanation... means it’s a product placement.

Lee Sejin muttered with a gloomy face next to me.

“So we just had to survive this summer...”

“...”

Exactly.

“Alright, everyone, please form groups to enter ‘Invitation to a Haunted House’!”

“We...! We have bad memories from forming groups...!”

“We’ll all go in together!”

...But of course, it didn’t work, and Testa started forming entry groups.