The Toxic Member Has Returned! Episode 181
* * *
The start of promotions meant the official teaser schedule had been released.
And sure enough.
Mun Yunha, who had won a passionate verbal brawl with the old fart and secured an extra week as her spoils of war, did not disappoint people’s expectations this time either.
[Notice! The whole story of the incident > http//:targetofjenon.com]
Another teaser website appeared following “Hide-and-Seek.”
The site, where the dog leash that had once sat there all alone still remained, had its title changed to “The Whole Story of the Incident” and was revealed to the public once more.
The website’s layout wasn’t much different from before.
Unlike during “Hide-and-Seek,” when the fluorescent spray on the dog harness only revealed itself after night fell, this time the image appeared from the very beginning.
At the top, as before, was a calendar announcing the song’s release date, with Easter eggs hidden here and there once again.
However, someone who simply reused what they had already done would never be called an aesthetic maniac.
The people who had been looking at the site with indifferent expressions, thinking, “She must’ve been short on time and brought over the old format,” had to open their eyes wide the moment static appeared five seconds after they entered the site.
Was it Mongolia, or America?
A desert, or a town?
That place, which they couldn’t be certain of, suddenly…
[Hey, Did you miss me?]
…
Turned into the middle of a dazzling city.
Under glittering neon signs, the dog harness sat all alone, sprayed with paint, sparkling as if demanding to be clicked at once.
[What is this? What is this? What is this? Why did it suddenly turn cyberpunk?]
[⎿No, please, hurry up and click the leash. Mun Yunha has thoughts. She has a plan.]
[⎿Is this like a parallel world or something?]
[⎿⎿No, you’ll know if you watch it ㅠㅠ You still haven’t seen it? Sell me your brain. I want to watch it again with a clean brain that hasn’t seen this yet and feel moved all over again.]
Adding cyberpunk on top of mystery gunslinger Boy Scouts could, in a way, have felt excessive or hard to understand.
After all, what Mun Yunha had emphasized throughout the preparation of this repackaged album was “casualness.”
But once you lost to the temptation of that sparkle and clicked the harness, you immediately understood what she meant by casual.
[Scout Recruitment! Target: Xenon]
The profiles shot on the day Sin Giho visited a few days ago unfolded one after another like newspaper articles.
And at the end, the image stamped with “Wanted” was something else.
[Son Jaeha’s face is a painting, a masterpiece, a gift from heaven.]
[⎿Is his face all you can see right now? Last time they told us to find Xenia, and this time they’re telling us to find TOJ. I’m losing my mind too.]
[Last time it was black-and-white and vintage, but this time it’s fluorescent full-color… This is what a proper repackaged album should be, damn.]
[No, and meanwhile, the compositions are each exactly the same as the previous concept, so I’m genuinely moved. My eyes are still flashing.]
Last time, we searched for you, so this time, you search for us.
In a new world that was similar, yet different.
[Top Male Idol Instructor @Mega_Sky11
Hello? This is Top Male Idol Instructor. With the idol world running very hot these days, I’ve come to you once again with talk of another group. Today’s topic is TOJ, who have splendidly made their name known again with their repackaged album teaser.]
[⎿To be honest… I was a little worried about TOJ’s repackaged album schedule ^^;; Because it seemed to be coming out somewhat later compared to WIZ, their hottest rival at the time.]
[⎿So I had a lot of concerns over whether AG was still inexperienced at idol management, and whether they were bad at timing. But after seeing this teaser site, I understood.
TOJ needed time to prepare for perfection.]
[⎿First, let’s talk about the concept. This time, it’s cyberpunk. But it’s casual. And it strongly feels like an extension of the previous “Hide-and-Seek.” That’s because it inherits a lot of the previous format.]
[⎿But it’s new. If you simply say “cyberpunk,” there’s a typical image that remains in people’s minds, but by inheriting the previous concept, they broke away from that kind of stereotype.]
[⎿People always want something new. They seem to want nostalgia for the past, but if that doesn’t approach them as a different kind of stimulus, they don’t like it. For that reason, I think choosing a route that is the same as before but different was an extremely excellent decision.]
[⎿With the concept already achieving an overwhelming victory, what we must now watch carefully is the timing and quality of the song’s release, as well as the other groups promoting at that time.]
[⎿I think there will be a lot of debate on this point. Because their opponent is none other than Sledix, also one of the groups I personally adore most. In my next post, I will return with an analysis of Sledix’s “Dream Within a Dream” concept.]
[On SNS, Top Male Idol Instructor < Who the hell is this bastard and why is he always acting like he knows everything? Does he think he’s somebody? He pretends to be such an expert but didn’t say a single thing about Serenia, who just broke the first-week sales record for girl groups ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[⎿Hey, his nickname is literally Top Male Idol Instructor… leave him alone ;;]
The outline of the concept, which even TOJ themselves hadn’t guessed until the shoot, was revealed like that, and SNS and communities that had been warmed up with self-produced content began exploding with talk about TOJ.
The idol scene was already blazing hot thanks to the prominent seniors currently active, so it was like pouring oil on the fire.
[Siyeon Is Yeyin @Sereeeslover
ㅇㅅㅇ… Yeah, but Serenia is overwhelmingly number one on the charts, right? Male idols can’t do anything if it’s not album sales, right?]
[⎿Please, I’m begging you, don’t put Siyeon and Yeyin’s names in your nickname and make posts like this. Why are you keeping a boy group that hasn’t even been debuted for three months in check ㅠㅠ]
[So right now it’s Serenia
- Choi Gaon
- Sledix
- TOJ, in that order?? Wow, I don’t know if Sledix delaying their regular album comeback by a week was a stroke of genius or a mistake. Is this okay?]
[⎿Do you think a first-tier male idol group is a joke?]
[⎿⎿Why? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ WIZ’s results were fine even sandwiched between Choi Gaon and Sledix, so what reason is there that TOJ can’t do well?]
The oil had been poured very properly indeed.
“…
Oh.”
As Kim Chunyong held his phone for the first time in quite a while and looked through SNS and communities, a small sound escaped his mouth, impossible to tell whether it was a sigh or an exclamation.
Well, everyone else was busy slandering, insulting, and belittling others in order to raise up the idols they liked.
But to Kim Chunyong, the person directly involved, that wasn’t what mattered.
“Mm? Chunyong, I feel like it’s been a really long time since I’ve seen you lying down and using your phone like that.”
“Ah, Jaeha hyung. …
Is that so?”
“Yeah. Before, whenever you came back to the dorm, you were always holding your phone with such a serious look, so I was a little worried… But now it seems a bit better.”
“Haha, well… It’s just, playing card games together is more fun than only staring at my phone.”
“Mm, I’m glad. Don’t do it too much in the future either. I’ll take care of contacting the company and Hobin hyung.”
“…
Hyung, don’t overdo it either.”
Kim Chunyong looked for a moment at Son Jaeha, who lay down on the bed beside his, then scratched his cheek awkwardly.
Had I really been on my phone that much all this time? he thought.
Honestly, it couldn’t be helped.
In the early days after debut, every single reaction on SNS and in communities had been important, and especially communication with X was something he couldn’t miss.
But, well…
Since the goal in front of him was clearly something he could only achieve by using his body, that kind of behavior had naturally decreased.
And just then, messages poured in from someone else who had noticed Kim Chunyong’s changed attitude.
- X: Chunyong Chunyong
- X: You’ve been quite~ neglectful of me lately, haven’t you?
- X: Do you know how much I’ve done for you, and yet you leave me like this!
- X: No matter how busy you are or how much you have to do ㅡㅡ isn’t the phone the companion of modern life, no matter what?
- X: Hey, I’m your companion!! Respect me!!
- X: In the end, you getting first place and winning Rookie of the Year are all connected to me, aren’t they?
- X: And if we have another close conversation, I might feel better and go, hmm, even though this is a trial I gave him, maybe I’ll help him a little~ wouldn’t I!!
Certainly, after Kim Chunyong had told X, “If I get first place without your help, then feel better,” the conversations between X and Kim Chunyong had decreased significantly.
On top of that, when it wasn’t an active promotion period, there were relatively fewer occasions to use skills or whatever else.
So Kim Chunyong had thought it was only natural that they would grow neglectful of each other…
- X: Hey, I mean, I kind of, huh? Torment you, but also, huh? Help you, and, huh?
- X: What do you call it… I want to maintain a prett-tty decent? relationship
- X: Cooperate a little! Are we just some ordinary relationship? Hm?
Well. Seeing messages like this, only one thought came to Kim Chunyong’s mind.
‘…
What is this? Is he sulking, of all things?’
Like someone sulking at their partner in the middle of a romance.
- X: Are you insane? Even if you don’t reply, I can read everything you’re thinking, you know?
- X: “A romance,” my ass. Bleeeeegh.
- X: I’m not interested in men. Are you crazy? I like Serenia’s Yeyin!!!
- X: Ah, Lex-trash, your self-importance is really piercing the sky these days. Get lost, seriously.
And perhaps because X had read Kim Chunyong’s mind with precision once again, furious messages poured in from him.
If it wasn’t true, it wasn’t true; if it was true, it was true. Why react so sensitively?
- Kim Chunyong: Why are you getting that angry? You could just take it with a grain of salt…
- Kim Chunyong: If I reacted to every single harsh thing you said to me, we would’ve fought more than a hundred times by now.
- X: Oh? Ohhh? Hey, it’s different. I’m the superior party! You’re the subordinate party!
- X: Didn’t you see that it was written in the contract that we’re the superior party and you’re the subordinate party? Tsk, tsk.
- X: Anyway, anyway, well… I do admit I acted a little petty with you. It was kind of fun whenever I watched you suffer and get annoyed.
- X: Tsk, still, unlike the other guys, our compatibility is probably pretty good, you know?
- X: I put up with you snapping at me! And I get annoyed at you too!
- X: That means we have a healthy relationship hehe
When it came down to it, he was just packaging his own nuisance as “we’re close, so we’re comfortable with each other.”
Of course, Kim Chunyong knew that too, and he was fully prepared to counterattack with, “Throughout the entire preparation for this repackaged album, what did you do for me besides threaten me to get first place?” but…
Among the messages X had sent without much thought, one phrase caught Kim Chunyong’s eye.
“…….”
Tap, tap.
Before he knew it, Kim Chunyong had half-risen from the bed and was quickly tapping his phone screen.
Just like himself, who had returned to atone after putting an end to his life as Lex-trash…
- Kim Chunyong: Other guys?
- Kim Chunyong: There are other guys?
Because he had seen a hint that there might be other guys who had returned.
[X is typing a message….]
At Kim Chunyong’s slightly tense message, no reply came from X for a while.
As if he were hesitating, as if he were thinking.
As if the thing that was neither angel nor devil were laughing, or crying, just like when it had first met Kim Chunyong.
- X: Huh, did I not tell you? hehe
- X: Hehe ㅋㅋ Actually, it couldn’t be helped. It’s confidential until a certain period.
- X: If you win Rookie of the Year this time and properly take a step into the biggest goal of our contract, becoming the greatest idol in K-pop history < then I’ll tell you!
Or perhaps, as if he had been waiting for this very moment.
“…….”
Goosebumps crawled up Kim Chunyong’s spine.
The thought that he wasn’t the only one who had returned.
And the anxiety that, if in that process there was someone better than him, he might not be able to fulfill the terms of the contract.
Beyond that…
- X: As a bonus
- X: I’ll tell you why the accident happened to you and your family too hehe
- X: Have you never thought about that?
- X: Why did that accident happen all of a sudden?
The fear and rage that the sharp edge of some unavoidable ill-fated connection might have been aimed at him.
“…
Ha.”
Unable to send any reply to the still-flippant X, Kim Chunyong had no choice but to let the phone slip from his hand.
Ten days remained until the release of the repackaged album.
And a little over a month remained until the year-end awards ceremony—where, just before the accident, Kim Chunyong and ARROWS had won Rookie of the Year—properly began.