Chapter 55

Bulteora

It was a stroke of luck that Kim Miso got to attend the debut evaluation performance of Hanul Entertainment, but unfortunately, the seat she was given was quite far from the stage.

Although she couldn’t see everything clearly with her eyes, watching on the large screen wasn’t too bad.

Kim Miso naturally tried to focus on the visuals, but the song by her school junior, Ham Iwon, kept ringing in her ears.

“So this is what his singing voice sounds like? Now I understand why he didn’t tell anyone and kept his voice a secret.”

Despite his voice being clear and pure, it had a seductive feel to it. His singing skills were also technically impressive. Kim Miso was busy being amazed by his looks and voice.

The image of water droplets splashing as his damp hair, which looked like he had just finished a shower, swayed with the dance movements was vivid. The flushed eyelids, as if he had just cried, fueled her naughty imagination.

“C… I almost swore.”

He even exuded a sickly charm, looking somewhat frail. The song, which carried a delicate balance between a boy and a man, made him look vulnerable.

It seemed that this wasn’t just Kim Miso’s impression, as the women around her were also moved by Ham Iwon’s small gestures.

The song was too short, leaving her wanting more. Stretching her neck like a turtle didn’t help.

“What can they evaluate in just a few minutes?”

Kim Miso grumbled as she forced herself to move. Her heart was still pounding.

“I’ll be the first to join the fan cafe.”

Even though the group name hadn’t been decided yet, Kim Miso made up her mind. She wasn’t worried at all that Ham Iwon might not make it to the debut lineup.

Because he wouldn’t be useful for anything else.

* * *

Unfortunately, her resolve to be the first to join the fan club couldn’t be kept. She didn’t expect the fan cafe to be created before the group name was even announced.

“How was I supposed to know a fan cafe would be created before the debut?”

She had only dabbled in following actors, so she knew nothing about the world of idol fans.

Regret was fleeting. Kim Miso quickly joined the cafe, uploaded the materials she had, and raised her rank.

Her nickname was ‘Bulteora.’ Perhaps because it was the early days, Bulteora’s rank kept rising, and she eventually secured a staff position.

There were still few fans, but it seemed she received bonus points for sharing rare materials.

After the debut, Teorra’s performance on music shows was nearly perfect. Their seasoned performance, which didn’t look like they were newbies, made her feel proud, thinking, “They’re just waiting to become famous now.” However, their additional schedule was strangely empty.

She found it odd but brushed it off as something that could happen, given the complex nature of the entertainment industry.

“I can understand that, but why no teasers? Are you trying to starve us to death?”

Bulteora grumbled while refreshing the page.

Ding? Ding?

The notification sound for a new SNS post, which she had set to alert only for Teorra-related content, rang out. Bulteora quickly checked her phone.

“I wonder what schedule has come up~.”

She unconsciously added a tone to the end of her sentence and shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t even realize she was doing it.

“It’s a group photo?”

The first photo that appeared was of the Teorra members. It looked like Park Ha had taken it. It seemed to be a casual photo taken during a brief outing among the members, not a special schedule.

【official_teorra Heart-pounding Teorra’s first selfie! Photo expert vs. photo novice! What do you think? #Teorra #TEORRA…】

“I guess they only had photos taken by others until now.”

The photo seemed to have been uploaded at the perfect time, as if they knew she was complaining about the lack of teasers.

Bulteora stared at the group photo as if her eyes were emitting lasers before moving on to the next one.

The second photo was of rapper Jethon. However, the selfie quality was not great.

Bulteora, who thought selfies were meant to show off one’s face, was taken aback by the challenging angle and self-indulgent expression.

“He’s trying to show off his rapper vibe.”

It looked like he had placed his phone on the ground to take it. The sun was behind him, casting a shadow on his face, and only the tip of his nose was visible. Despite this, there was a strangely captivating charm.

“The more I look, the better it seems…?”

Perhaps it was the seriousness expressed by the furrowed brows, or the decadent allure from the deep-set eyes, but the photo gradually started to look cool.

“Maybe he’s actually a genius?”

Shaking her head, she moved on to the next photo, which was a swag-filled rapper-style photo.

It would have fit well as a personal SNS profile picture. It was noted that Park Ha had taken it for him.

The next photo was of the leader, Chorok. The selfie, taken with a gentle smile, made the viewer feel good too.

“This guy’s default expression is a smile, I guess.”

However, since she had seen his face often at school, she wasn’t particularly curious. His features were decent, but he wasn’t her type.

“Besides, Nam Chorok is creepy.”

She slightly regretted not getting closer to Ham Iwon after learning they were in the same group, but she was sure this fox would have quickly seen through her intentions.

“Next, next.”

As she flipped through the photos, her head was filled with question marks. This was definitely Nam Chorok’s face, but it couldn’t look this bad.

It seemed to be taken from below, with the nostrils prominently visible and the eyes not showing at all. The face shape was broad and unattractive.

“Who took this with such bad skills?”

It was Jethon’s work. He seemed to love the angle looking up, but it was clear that the genius quality from the previous selfie was a fluke.

The third photo was of Park Ha. She remembered a post on the fan cafe mentioning that Park Ha was a selfie expert. Her long-term expertise was something even fans wanted to learn.

Since she had seen many of Park Ha’s well-taken selfies, she quickly moved on. Even though the composition was a bit awkward, Park Ha still exuded the epitome of good looks. The photo taken by Seohun wasn’t bad either.

“Huh? I thought the successful and failed photos would alternate?”

Or maybe Park Ha’s face made even the failed photos look successful. Bulteora nodded at this plausible theory.

“What is this…?”

She only recognized the person in the next photo after reading the caption. It was Seohun.

The photo was so blurry that it was hard to believe it was Seohun.

“Compared to Seohun, Jethon is a gentleman.”

Seohun, with his muscular build, could have held his phone for two or three hours, but the blur was likely due to the impatience of a selfie novice.

Photos can get blurry if you can’t resist checking them immediately after taking them.

“Is it his reflexes that are the problem!”

Maybe Seohun reacted so quickly that he couldn’t even wait for the shutter to close.

Seohun’s successful photo was taken by Park Ha. Recognized as the best photographer among the Teorra members, he seemed to have taken on the task of taking photos for the selfie novices.

“This is it.”

His good looks, which had been evident since he was a child actor, hadn’t changed. His features had just become more defined and masculine. The innocent smile in his eyes was the same as in his childhood.

“All the members are uniquely handsome.”

Even though Ham Iwon was her favorite from the beginning, the other members were also worth appreciating.

The fifth member, Olan, seemed to have tried out various selfie skills she had heard about. It looked like he had studied how to take good selfies.

“Cute… really cute….”

Seeing this cute face and adorable expression, and knowing he had put effort into studying selfies, made her repeatedly exclaim, “Cute!”

She understood why Olan’s biggest fans always made such fuss.

After staring at the photos for a while, she noticed her lips were curled up to her ears. Bulteora composed her expression and moved on to the next photo, then burst out laughing.

The composition was so similar to an ID photo that it could have been mistaken for one. The white background made it look like a real photo booth picture. Olan was pouting and staring at the camera, and his puffed cheeks made her want to pinch them.

“This is how you get drawn in… Why is Hong Olan so cute?”

The caption said Ham Iwon had taken it. He had asked Olan to move around, but all the results were the same ID-like photos, which made him frustrated.

“Iwon can’t take good photos. It’s okay. You’re just beautiful. I can take as many photos as you want….”

The final photo was of Ham Iwon. Like Olan’s, it was a front-facing photo, similar to an ID photo.

“To look this good even in a photo like this. Indeed, the original is everything.”

Perhaps it was even better to see his beauty without the distortion of an angle.

His long eyelashes seemed to make a soft rustling sound every time he blinked, and the pink blush on his fair, translucent skin made her want to touch it.

He was lightly made up, but Bulteora knew his skin wasn’t much different from what she saw.

“When is the fan signing event?”

Her memory of seeing Ham Iwon up close was fading. She decided to attend any local event schedule before the university entrance ceremony.

If she didn’t get regular updates on his real appearance, she would surely suffer from withdrawal.

“This must be a failed selfie….”

As she moved her finger to the last photo, Bulteora froze.

“Eh, eh…?”

The beauty was overwhelming. It was so intense that her brain overheated.

She had always considered it a miracle to have met her ideal type, which had shaped her aesthetic preferences in her short twenty years of life. She had been confident that she wouldn’t find a more perfect beauty.

However, a single photo shattered her firmly held belief.

In the photo, Ham Iwon was smiling widely, sprinkling his closed eyes upwards. His eyes were crescent-shaped, and his neat teeth were visible.

She rarely saw him smile at school, and he had never shown such a wide smile in ads or music shows. The sight of him smiling so openly was breathtakingly beautiful.

Moreover, Park Ha had captured the brief moment when he sprinkled his eyes, creating a natural sparkle effect. It gave the illusion that a halo was shining around Ham Iwon.

“Park Ha is a photography master….”

He was skilled not only in selfies but also in taking photos of others. While Ham Iwon was an almost perfect subject, Park Ha’s contribution to this photo was undeniable. It was a masterpiece created by skill, luck, and love for the members.

“This, this photo can’t be enjoyed by me alone! It’s a loss in life if you don’t see this!”

Bulteora spread the masterpiece, which should be passed down for generations, to everyone she knew.

When she later checked the fan cafe, she realized she wasn’t the only one who had taken such action.

“Everyone has such discerning eyes! Yes! The more you look, the more mesmerizing the beauty….”

Bulteora, lost in admiration, kept looking at Ham Iwon’s photo. When she checked the time, she realized several hours had passed.

A full five hours.