Archive of Our Own

It was quiet in the dressing room as the two brothers waited for the three Testar members to finish their respective work for the day. Raebin and Eugene hyung had a different schedule elsewhere, accompanied by another manager. Chungwoo hyung just finished removing makeup and Gunwoo—he didn’t have class today—was busy scrolling on his phone, as per usual.

Then out of nowhere…

“Gunwoo, you should get a hobby.” Chungwoo hyung advised him so suddenly.

That made his head snap up with an inaudible gasp. What an impeccable timing to roast him. Was this synonymous for when Americans type ‘touch some grass’ on the internet? Just when Gunwoo was busily looking for prey through the shamebyul hashtag too.

After several seconds and Gunwoo didn’t reply, hyung continued in a frustrated tone, “Seriously, Gunwoo. I’m worried about your internet addiction. But it’s not even a normal internet addiction.” Hyung’s arms was crossed and was fully focused on him. Then his brother’s defeated face became stern. What the heck was that all about?

Everyone, including his guardians, had already reprimanded him because of what he did, and forbade him from accessing dangerous websites. Hyung even installed parental monitoring apps on all of his devices… that Gunwoo secretly adjusted—he did it for everybody’s peace of mind. But currently, he’s confused on what’s bothering his brother.

“I’m only browsing SNS. Totally normal stuff.”

Hyung looked at him with suspicion. “You were scrolling through negative posts about Testar again, weren’t you?”

Gunwoo turned his head away and rubbed the back of his neck. He’ll need to double-check if his key searches were being logged.

“Have some faith in your hyungs. We’re adults. We can handle ourselves.”

He inwardly sighed and put his phone out of the way. This conversation would be over quickly once Chungwoo hyung’s need to feel like a responsible grownup was fulfilled.

“What do you suggest, hyung?”

“Well, what do you enjoy doing?”

Gunwoo opened his mouth to say—

“Aside from doing you know what.” Hyung scored a smirk that made Gunwoo shut his mouth. Freaky. Okay…

“Hmm… eating, I guess?”

“That’s a hobby? You don’t even eat much. Why not singing? You’re really good at it. Or why not enroll in dance classes. That would be fun.”

Those were extra-curricular activities, not hobbies. Chungwoo hyung sounded so eager. Was his brother talking to that guy?

“Singing and dancing is your job. Why would I make them my hobby?” He said in a very dry tone.

Hyung chuckled and sat down next to him. “What about sports?”

Ugh. This would take a while…

But it didn’t, because the door opened. Then an upset Seon Ahyun, followed by two troubled Sejins walked in. Bae Sejin hyung gently closed the door. This doesn’t look good.

Ahyun hyung’s eyes welled up. “I-I… I’m… I—” The man squeezed his eyes shut and inhaled deeply to force himself to relax. Tears fell and left tracks across his cheeks. “I’m fine.”

Like hell that’s true. Gunwoo swiftly switched the tags he needed to search, fingers tapping rapidly on the screen.

“What happened?” Chungwoo hyung worriedly asked.

Keun Sejin hyung opened his mouth and took about half a second to respond, he sounded pained when he did. “They changed the script last minute.”

...

...

They were in the van, caught in traffic on the way back to the dorm.

“I-I… practiced. B-b-but it doesn’t e-even matter.”

Someone had already uploaded a clip of the incident.

“T-then I panicked on s-stage and the two scripts… m-mixed in my head.” Ahyun hyung was crying again. “It was my f-fault I couldn’t… say a-anything.” He was being consoled by Keun Sejin hyung by rubbing his back.

Gunwoo was done watching the clip even before the group got into the van and left the studio compound.

Seon Ahyun was the main brand ambassador for a popular vitamin candy that all of them consumed regularly. And the event was to introduce the new apple flavored variant to a select number of fans, advertisers and promoters before it comes out in the market. For the past few weeks, they’ve all heard how hard Ahyun hyung practiced his lines so many times that the manager was even mouthing to it in-sync at some point.

“It’s not so bad.” Bae Sejin hyung lied to comfort the upset hyung. “Everyone will forget about it.” His troubled face betrayed what he truly believed though, probably saw the start of the impeding disaster online. Gunwoo wished hamster hyung remembered his acting skills at a time like this.

To be frank, it was bad. After the awesome dance number, Ahyun hyung stammered and stuttered for about a minute and a half before the emcee cut him off. The antis were already making a meme out of it, irritating the fans on purpose. Gunwoo had no doubt some bastard will use this weakness in the future.

“Yeah~ Don’t worry too much about it, they like you!” Keun Sejin hyung reassured with his signature smile.

Gunwoo silently handed over a vitamin candy sampler to Ahyun hyung which the man gratefully accepted.

“There’s always next time.” Chungwoo hyung helpfully added. “The team manager said everything’s fine and your contract with them isn’t affected at all.”

“Y-yes… I-I’ll… I’ll try harder next time.” Ahyun hyung wiped away the tears on his sleeve and tried to look optimistic as the man unwrapped the candy. Then the conversation shifted to another topic.

Gunwoo looked out the window. He doesn’t know what to do. Chungwoo hyung tapped him on the shoulder and subtly shook his head with firmly pressed lips. Gunwoo just raised his eyebrows and tilted his head in question.

“So, Gunwoo, about what we’ve been talking earlier…”

...

...

Back in his bedroom, Gunwoo was looking through a list of possible hobbies. Before they dropped him off, his hyung managed to pull a promise out of him, that he’ll look for a worthwhile hobby. Chungwoo hyung’s standard of a ‘worthwhile hobby,’ not Gunwoo’s. It was specifically pointed out! When did that man became a comedian?

With a yawn, Gunwoo crossed out one of hyung’s suggestions.

Watching horror movies. And to get him started on this wonderful horrifying journey, Chungwoo hyung attached an additional list of the classics.

Why?! …honestly. Hyung’s probably trolling him.

Then he crossed out all kinds of starting a collection as a possible hobby. From books, to stamps and pokémon cards. Most of it was Bae Sejin’s suggestion. He knew how Bae Sejin hyung like to collect anything that has a hamster on it. No offense to that hyung but Gunwoo doesn’t want to develop hoarding tendencies.

He re-examined the list. So much progress already! He happily tossed the pad-paper back on his desk and looked at the clock. He laid down and hugged the soft puppy plushie. Although, if he were to start a collection, it would have to be something cute. Hamster hyung got that right.

He yawned again. Browsing SNS a little bit before bed would be nice. He felt bad about Ahyun hyung but he’s stuck on what he could do for him.

A silly thought about sleeping as a hobby passed by… No. What nonsense. Then he fell asleep reading Testar’s official SNS post about the lottery winners for tomorrow morning’s fancall.

...

...

Next day at school…

Gunwoo was eating lunch alone in an empty hallway, while watching individual unedited vids of Testar’s recorded fancall that happened a few of hours ago. They were saved in the company server along with the other Testar stock footage. Some of them made him chuckle. The hyungs were always great at making the loviewers happy.

Keun Sejin opened up the convo with jokes and so much aegyo that the fan blushed into incoherence. But it was the opposite for Bae Sejin, who got a die-hard fan that followed his career since he became a child actor. Hamster hyung became a teary eyed thank you bot.

Cha Eugene was very happy to get an English speaking fan. They talked a lot about games when the fan said he was a gamer and that they met in a local server before. Eugene hyung was borderline antagonistic when talks about a head-shot came up and using bots. Gunwoo regretfully cannot understand most of it. There were no subtitles yet. And they looked like they were having fun too.

Kim Raebin’s vid was hilarious because that hyung got too deeply technical about music creation that his fan became a blinking statue. Raebin thought the video chat froze and panicked for a bit. Chungwoo hyung was always professional though, he sounded like he was talking to a journalist about a war movie he co-produced, then promoted Testar albums and upcoming activities to a fan who was still in middle school.

But then at the next video, Gunwoo unconsciously dropped his chopsticks because of what he saw, and got too angry to even finish eating.

...

...

He wished he could skip afternoon classes but alas, he’s stuck with math. While trying not to attract the teacher’s attention, Gunwoo hid what he’s currently doing behind the open book standing on his desk.

The ‘fan’ that won Ahyun’s slot wasn’t a fan at all, but an insecure shithead that felt the need to belittle someone publicly just to feel good about himself! Gunwoo struggled to not to throw his phone across the room. He might accidentally hit the teacher.

Of all the people that won the lottery. He wanted that person to rot in hell! But, wait. This was too much of a bad luck. Fake fan was prepared and certain that he’ll be picked.

After Ahyun connected the video call, parts of the vitamin candy incident was replayed back on the other line from another phone. Then fake fan exaggeratedly impersonated Ahyun’s onstage stutter before saying it was just a prank.

Ahyun hyung didn’t react, so fake fan proceeded on showing Ahyun ‘how it’s done’ by repeating the dance moves and confidently saying the lines afterwards. Shithead then ended the call with a smug look on his face.

Gunwoo seethed in anger just thinking back on it. But he also felt stupid for not catching the gimmick beforehand.

Fake fan was using Ahyun hyung. That high-def camera with good lighting and setup. The angle and blocking. That clear crisp sound! Gunwoo wanted to bang his head on the desk. From the start, it was unmistakable that the guy wasn’t an ordinary fan who wanted to meet their favorite Testar. Fake fan clearly knew what he was doing and wanted to farm the aggro. Gunwoo wondered how much it took to convince someone from the production staff, just so that this jerk could do this stunt.

After reading the comments, it was easy to know who shithead was. Fake fan was a social media influencer with around 30k subscribers and climbing. Judging from those clickbait thumbnails, he’s a troll. The worst of them all. His content was to ‘prank’ anyone who have fans or an online following, in many, mostly offensive, ways.

It doesn’t matter if he get bashed because hate generate impressions, views, and comments. And those feed the algorithm, possibly widening his reach. From how high the views were with his Ahyun ‘prank’ video, considering the day haven’t even ended yet, the troll got what he wanted. What’s more annoying was that Testar and Ahyun haters were cheering this guy on in different social media platforms.

He sighed heavily. The troll had hit the jackpot. Gunwoo wondered if Ahyun hyung’s popularity and recent incident was the only factor that attracted this parasite to sabotage the fancall. But wasn’t it too fast?

As he pondered about it, a bored classmate noticed that Gunwoo was secretly using a phone. The genius thought it would be fun to start kicking Gunwoo’s desk and make the book topple and fall. When he glared back, his classmate grinned at him and stopped kicking. He rolled his eyes and returned to his train of thought.

Where was he… Oh, yeah! Gunwoo wanted to know why the influencer troll picked Seon Ahyun as his target. From the past, the troll only targeted other online content creators. What made him bold enough to shit on a famous idol?

Making sure that the volume was turned off and the subtitles on, he selected a video to play—

But the kicks started again and the book fell over. Gunwoo managed to hid the phone before the noise caught the teacher’s attention. He was then called to the board to solve a problem. Gunwoo glared daggers at the snickering pest as he got on his feet. He really wanted to get out of this class, being stuck here was a waste of time.

The math equation was easy and took only a few seconds to answer. Walking actually took longer. He’s still annoyed so… When he got back to his seat, he purposely stepped on his classmate’s foot, putting weight on it. Of course, the kid cried out loud. And while his classmate was causing a racket, a thought came to him. Maybe he could use this chance.

Teacher. Incoming.

Gunwoo leaned close to his bawling classmate while wearing the smarmiest smirk to annoy the kid further, then said, “What a baby. I bet you hit like one too.” And he gladly welcomed the punch to his face.

He fell on purpose… pretended to be unconscious… oh look, sleeping as a hobby came in handy after all.

...

...

In the school infirmary, with a closed curtain around his bed, Gunwoo cherished being alone at last. He tapped the camera app to look at his face. Just a little bruise on his jaw. His classmate really does hit like a baby.

Alright. Back to business.

He watched at twice the playing speed and skipped some parts because it was giving him a headache. People find this funny? He sighed. After several videos, Gunwoo still can’t figure out why the troll chose a different type of victim. That was until he reached the older vids with a different style of content and low viewer count.

It was partly vlogs and partly documentary. The troll mainly filmed about his, probably disbanded, indie rock band as they performed in bars and night clubs. Their sound was generic. The jokes were distasteful and rude. Troll even got slapped by a lady once and was proud to show it. But the editing and camera quality was professional grade. Such a waste of resources for a garbage content.

And during that time, troll influencer had nabbed a rare sponsor, the vitamin candy brand. But it had an outdated and bland graphic design back then, unlike the cute eye-catching style they had now.

What’s more, Gunwoo found out that the troll composed and had written the lyrics of the vitamin candy’s jingle. It was still used today, albeit with a more pop and modern sounds than the original’s punchy drums, bass, and subpar electric guitar. A total flip of the brand image.

Huh.

Then the curtain was pulled wide open and a worried face of Chungwoo hyung greeted him.

...

...

Clearly, bitterness and spite was what fueled the troll influencer’s dumb decision to target someone innocent. And with how successful the video’s metrics were—the prank fancall was currently trending, while some loser made a parody skit already—Gunwoo worried that this might not be the end.

So he had to end it.

Gunwoo won’t forgive this shithead for what he did, so—

Ah!! …his phone… was taken away from him.

“Why were you looking through this guy’s InHeart account and saving his pictures?” Chungwoo hyung asked incredulously, keeping Gunwoo’s phone out of reach.

They were inside Testar’s van on the way back to the dorm. Nobody was at the Ryu household yet and hyung wanted to keep an eye on him because of a possible concussion. The fangirling school nurse was incompetent. Gunwoo said he was okay and he didn’t really pass out from a weak punch. He wasn’t concussed, he only took a short nap to skip a boring class. But his brother doesn’t want to listen to him.

Seon Ahyun was with them in the car, but the man was silent and haven’t said anything even though Gunwoo greeted him and asked if he’s okay. Gunwoo only received a nod and a smile. Chungwoo hyung said Ahyun wanted to rest and canceled all his appointments for the day.

“Gunwoo.” Hyung snapped his fingers a couple of times in front of Gunwoo’s face.

“Oh.” He blinked. He can’t think of any excuse at the moment. Better tell the truth. There’s nothing dangerous with it anyway and it could help the group. “’Cuz of the high resolution. He takes good quality pictures.”

“What for? Wait… I know this guy.” Hyung flipped through several saved photos while avoiding Gunwoo’s air swipes.

“Yep. He’s the bully.” Ugh. His head hurt a bit if he moved too much. It really sucks that hyung’s taking advantage of his long, gold medalist idol limbs. “I was looking at the reflection in his eyes because I wanted to know where he lives.”

When hyung’s arm had gotten closer, Gunwoo pulled it towards him and tapped the screen. He then zoomed in at one of the photos his brother was looking at. The amount of captured detail was so good that he’s kind of jealous not having a camera like this.

“And I think he lives across a hardware store for how frequent that place pops up in his ‘woke up like this’ selfies. He takes them by the open window because of the lighting.”

And because of that, the store’s sign outside the window could be seen. Well… after some flipping and a little bit of work on the saturation levels and curves. Pair that up with the location tag at InHeart and anyone could pinpoint this guy’s exact whereabouts.

But after showing the results, Chungwoo hyung face-palmed.

Gunwoo bit his lip. What else could he add that could help? “The local cafe with the very unique interior. It would be easier to catch him there. He always eat lunch at that place and likes to document himself. He’s very vain, you know.”

Ahyun hyung also ended up in a face-palm.

What’s with these two?

...

...

Chungwoo hyung had gone out for work again and asked Ahyun to look after him. Oh, and Gunwoo was banned from taking any further actions about the troll influencer. Hyung said the guy haven’t committed a crime.

Yet!

And who knows…

Anyway. Ahyun hyung was being pretty weird today. Instead of conversing, hyung would just shrug, nod, or shake his head like in the van. The one time the man opened his mouth, he closed it again after some thought.

“Tomorrow’s rescheduled fancall is still on?” Gunwoo asked hyung who was busy doing crochet, but what he really wanted to ask was… if hyung would be okay.

The silent hyung blinked at him, then nodded with a smile. Gunwoo agreed that a true fan deserve to win Ahyun’s slot, but wasn’t it a bit too early for that? Hyung went back to his craft and Gunwoo stared a bit more. Ahyun hyung will probably be okay… hopefully…

Anyhow. He had some hobby testing to do. This one was suggested by Ahyun hyung. Gunwoo pulled out a sketch pad and a pencil from his bag, then looked around for something he could draw. Nothing inspired him so he decided to search a reference photo on the internet instead.

...

...

After some time had passed…

Drawing was a lot harder than he thought. But he was kind of happy with the current sketch he finished. He had to erase a lot but being heavy handed left deep impressions on the paper, the lines could still be seen. But to Gunwoo, those ghost marks weren’t mistakes but proof that he worked hard. He was satisfied with it.

He nodded to himself and shown his latest sketch to Ahyun hyung. Hyung smiled and gave him two thumbs up. Nice. Gunwoo took a photo of his hard work so he could send it to his personal chat with Chungwoo hyung.

[Trying out drawing as a potential hobby.

(Attached image ‘attmpt9.jpg’)]

His hyung replied right away. He must be on a break.

[Still life?]

He hesitated for a bit because he used pictures from the internet and didn’t know if the subject applied to the ‘Still Life’ terminology. Technically it does. The reference picture was still and didn’t move, so… Anyway. It didn’t really matter. He shrugged and Gunwoo replied with…

[Yes.]

Chungwoo hyung was taking some time. Ahyun had almost finished crocheting a loofah. Gunwoo tapped his pencil on the coffee table while he observed the loading dots in the chat. Then the message popped up and his hyung’s reply was…

[We have apples?

Spare us some, haha.

Your sketch looks great btw!

But why was the apple shaking? Is it dancing?

I’m going to show the others.]

Ah…

Gunwoo slowly rose from his seat, went towards the window and stared at the scenery outside. It’s peaceful. Weather’s great and the late afternoon sky looked lovely. The absence of chaos outside Testar’s dorm felt like a mockery to his sanity.

Stop.

He’s not turning into some emo online edgelord! This disappointment would pass, so he replied with the truth, even if it hurts.

[It’s a puppy.

He’s sleeping.]

Attmpt9.jpg was the best result. The first few sketches had holes on them because he erased so hard he damaged the paper. He admit its not good but his puppy doesn’t look like a fruit!

Oh… He was put on read.

Gunwoo started to feel withdrawal-like symptoms of ‘not ruining the lives of bad people online’. Then he felt a tap on his shoulder and Ahyun hyung held out an apple to him. Hyung pointed at Gunwoo’s sketch then back at the apple and beamed at him.

His phone pinged.

Instead of trying to figure out what he would say to the personified ‘world peace,’ Gunwoo checked Chungwoo’s reply. There was an audio message and he played it… It wasn’t his hyung that replied.

Keun Sejin stole Chungwoo hyung’s phone, recorded an obnoxious laugh—BWAHAHAHAHA!!!—and uploaded it as a voice mail in his hyung’s private chat.

[What a masterpiece! ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡]

And sent an annoying message too.

An idea came up. He sent a picture of a Tibetan fox in the chat and went offline.

While Gunwoo and Ahyun munched on some apples, he ‘accidentally’ leaked the troll’s address on the internet. Then he planned on using up all the apples in the pantry later to make milkshakes and smoothies for the guards and staff that was staying with them. He also super glued the slippers to the ceiling.

Ahyun hyung seemed to like his dancing apple sketch so he wrote, ‘You can do it Ahyun hyung! I believe in you!’ by the top corner of the sketch and gave it to him.

He wanted to cross out ‘drawing’ from the hobby list but maybe he’ll gave it another chance. Someday his puppy will become majestic.

...

...

The next day…

According to everyone that had seen his face that morning, the bruise looked terrible, so Chungwoo hyung didn’t let him go to school today. Bae Sejin helped cover and patch it up which Gunwoo thought was rather excessive. But the plaster have cute animal prints on it so it’s okay.

Gunwoo also spent the night at the dorm and still haven’t come home. He kind of heard from Chungwoo hyung that one of his guardians would meet with the teacher or another parent today, but Gunwoo wasn’t really listening. He was watching Ahyun hyung and the staff setup for the fancall in the dining area.

They’re all crazy. Since yesterday, Seon Ahyun had not said a single word, and they all decided to still do this?

The atmosphere was thick with anticipation. He could feel how nervous and worried everyone was. At least Chungwoo hyung found the staff responsible for allowing the troll to sabotage Ahyun’s previous fancall. The head producer ended up suspending that staff for six months without pay. Should’ve been fired in Gunwoo’s opinion.

A staff signaled for them all to quiet down, stay on standby, and began to count down. Phone’s tripod secured. The lights were ready. The cameras were on. Then the video connected with the phone app.

“Kyaaaaa!!! Hello! Ohmygod—OHMYGOD! TeSTAR Seon Ahyun! Hiiii!!!” The hysterical fan was wearing cute e-girl makeup, deer antlers, and was waving a light stick frantically at the camera.

Ahyun hyung smiled wobbly and nervously twisted his fingers. He was opening and closing his mouth as if to say something but words weren’t coming out. Color started to drain from his face as he tried to look at anyone except the phone’s camera.

Gunwoo couldn’t take it anymore. He took his sketchpad and quickly crawled under the table.

Everyone, including the fan and Ahyun, was startled when Gunwoo’s head suddenly popped from underneath the table, beside the idol’s arm.

“Hello, loviewer.” Gunwoo bowed in greeting and shoved the sketchpad towards Ahyun hyung. “I will be the translator for today because hyung has a sore throat.”

Ahyun looked shocked for a moment then he coughed weakly and massaged his throat as he nodded at the camera phone.

“Hyung will write his answers down—” Kim Raebin who was with the crew, threw a marker in panic that bounced on Gunwoo’s head. Gunwoo ignored it and continued in a deadpan, “—And I will read them aloud.”

Keun Sejin picked up the fallen pen from the floor and handed it to the flustered Ahyun. Then Sejin winked and pointed finger-guns at the camera as he left the screen.

“Sorry! Sorry.” Raebin hyung shouted while hiding behind the snickering staff.

“We hope noona wouldn’t mind.” Gunwoo bowed again at the camera and Ahyun followed suit.

“Of course it’s fine. It’s fine! Aww!!! SOCUTE!”

...

...

And so the fancall continued this way…

The deadpan delivery of the child with a band-aid beside the very expressive Seon Ahyun was a hit for the gushing fan.

It was extra funny for her because Ahyun’s answers to her questions and requests were very positive, sincere, and full of hopeful enthusiasm. The kind of answers one would expect to have sparkles or flower filters edited on screen. Handsome deer prince was just too kind and pure for this world!

Seon Ahyun’s eyes sparkled and his hands were clasped, fingers laced in a prayer-like pose. “Then as your prince, I hope you will have a wonderful dream tonight, dear loviewer.” It truly felt like her sweet prince charming really wished for the fan to have a good night’s sleep!

But because her idol has a sore throat, it was just acted out. The fluffy and cute phrase seemed like a threat instead.

“Then as your prince, I hope you will have a wonderful dream tonight, dear loviewer.” As if Band-aid kid sent an assassin to finish her off when she got to bed.

The fan can’t help it. The contrast was too much! She bursts out laughing when she heard him say it like that beside idol Bambi.

And some of the longer written reply was badly summarized by the tiny translator while Ahyun displayed a sweet innocent smile on screen.

“Tears and sweat.”

Sometimes even down to one word that implied a whole different meaning.

“Torture.”

“Torture?! Ahyun’s detailed explanation about his diet was summarized to torture?” An off the screen commentary shout from someone, accompanied by several spiels of laughter.

The fan had never seen Seon Ahyun blush that much, or got so flustered that he had to hide his face so many times while his shoulders shook with mirth. It also helped that the kid would show the lovely written response by turning the sketchpad over to the camera. Deer prince’s handwriting was so pretty!

It was like interacting with a comedy sketch improv that her side hurt from laughing too much. And then off screen commentaries would trigger more giggles from her. It was the best! She had too much fun in such a short time that she forgot to ask the name of band-aid kid before the time was up.

Then it was over. Her phone was off and the fan sighed in pure satisfaction. She was lucky to have won. Although, she was worried that the past incident and the viral prank video would negatively affect her idol. But she shouldn’t have. Ahyun’s fan was very happy to see him well!

...

...

But Seon Ahyun wasn’t doing very well.

Everyone was frozen at practice. The spotlight felt oppressive. The hand that gripped the mic shook. The part he was supposed to sing had passed by without him singing a single syllable. No sound came out from Ahyun’s mouth when he opened it.

...

...

From the parent-teacher conference, Gunwoo’s guardians found out that he started the fight in the middle of class and got grounded. His devices were taken from him. Though, they still gave him an old phone for emergency reasons. It had way too many buttons. Unfortunately, this ancient artifact couldn’t connect to the internet. He felt claustrophobic.

At least they felt bad enough that they allowed him to visit Testar’s dorm after class a few days later.

...

...

With a freshly filled mug on one hand and a backpack leaning on his leg, Gunwoo knocked on hyung’s door.

“Everyone’s out, huh?” He asked the empty hallway.

He already heard what happened at practice and the next sessions after that from the gossiping staff. Some even talked about the company’s suggestion about hiring a ghost singer. Currently, Testar adopted the sore throat excuse as other people searched for a good fitting therapist, because Seon Ahyun refused to go back to his old one.

The bedroom door opened just a little bit, but he could see the quiet hyung with a blanket draped around the shoulders.

“Did I wake you?”

Hyung shook his head and gave Gunwoo a wistful smile. Then the man showed a magazine, with a thumb stuck between colorful pages of knitting patterns.

“Tea?” He offered the steaming mug of lavender earl gray and received a much wider smile after that. The man accepted, took a sip and invited him in. But Gunwoo stayed where he stood and fidgeted with the strap of his bag.

“I brought some books because… I’m still not allowed on the internet. Can I read them here?”

Gunwoo smiled when Ahyun nodded.

...

...

“Pondscum. Ooh, I like this one.”

Ahyun flinched so bad that he dropped the magazine and their gazes locked.

“Uh, I’m learning English vocabulary. I’m sorry if I’m being noisy, hyung.” Gunwoo smiled politely as Ahyun looked at the books the child was poring over.

There was an open book… a novel, no, a memoir in English language next to a Korean printed manuscript, that seemed to be a machine translated version of the said book. Then a pocket Korean to English dictionary in the child’s hand. Ahyun have so many questions but waved for the boy to go on with his questionable studies.

It wasn’t his business after all, the child’s Ryu Chungwoo’s little brother. Their leader. Besides, he’s a pathetic adult. What could he even say to a capable child like Gunwoo, who at times felt more like an unpredictable storm condensed into a tiny human form? Ahyun literally doesn’t even have a voice at the moment. It’s futile, no one could hear him when the rain falls.

He sighed at the bittersweet thought then took a sip of tea…

“Cocks*cker.”

… which was a clear mistake because he almost choked. The tea burned through his air ways and felt like it would come out of his nose.

What in heavens name was wrong with this child?!

“Are you okay, hyung?”

It took Ahyun longer than a minute to stop coughing out his lungs. He opened his mouth to say he’s fine but words escaped him. Ahyun just grimaced then smiled awkwardly. He’s… really pathetic.

“I’ll just read in the living room if I’m bothering you.”

He shook his head repeatedly. For one thing, he’s the only host at the moment and Gunwoo’s a guest. Ahyun laments that he’s not doing a very good job of it.

“You sure?”

And the other… he doesn’t really mind the company. For how much he wished for silence, the thoughts that lingered in his head was deafening. It was lonely being alone in the room. So he nodded.

“Okay.”

They went back to their respective reading materials. He flipped the pages to look at the knitting pattern that interested him earlier, and took note of the corresponding serial number for the color of the yarns he had to order. He’d have to check his current stock if he already have some of them stored.

“Do… doo-chey… dow-chi… du-shee-bag? Hmm.” The child scratched at his head. “This one’s hard. I don’t even know what it meant. This would be easy if I could just search it on the internet.”

Ahyun closed his eyes and slowly curled into himself. He had almost torn the page he was reading when his mind inevitably answered what word the child was trying to read. Did Gunwoo meant douchebag? For goodness sake. What kind of novel was the child reading?!

The boy then took out a spiral-bound notebook from the bag and started jotting those words down. Ahyun thought this was not something a child should be taking notes of. This was wrong. So very wrong!

“Hyung, what does village asshole mean?” Gunwoo blinked at him and Ahyun blinked right back. After a few seconds of shocked silence… “I’ll write it down for now.”

He can’t believe those words… had come out of that child’s mouth.

Then… theshared room was at peace for some time. He welcomed the sounds of pen gliding smoothly on paper, and the lazily flipped pages that lulled him into alackadaisical state.He felt like starting a new project but at the same time, he didn’t want to move.

The afternoon sunlight had cast off soothing colors, and the subtle breeze played soft tinkling sounds on the metal chimes by the window. He wished he could stay at this moment. No career paths to worry about. No more being a burden. No more digging up painful memories so that he could once again become a jester, while the world only write hurtful jokes about him.

Ahyun finished his tea, he was finally starting to relax…

“Motherf*cker.”

… And Ahyun… didn’t meant to slam the ceramic mug hard on the side table.

Head bowed down. His clenched fists shook. A moment’s breath, then he was on his feet charging at the kid. But he stopped and only stood in front of Ryu Gunwoo. Enough was enough. He crouched down, gently placed tense hands on the child’s shoulder, and said…

“N-n… n-no more… No more bad words, Ryu Gunwoo!”

And the child smiled sweetly at him like a saint.

“It’s nice to hear your voice again, hyung.”

...

...

Hours later…

Muffled voices could be heard from the door.

“Peter pie-ker pika pepper… Ugh. This is so hard, Ahyun hyung!” Whined a child that was obviously Gunwoo but it was uncharacteristic for him to do so.

Then the sound of Ahyun’s laugh, followed by the words, “D-do it again!” had stunned the group.

“I can’t! I don’t want to learn English anymore.”

“Y-you can! You can do it… I-I believe in you!”

The weary Testar members standing by the doorway felt rejuvenated in that instant and exchanged glances with excited faces.

“Was that—”

“Did Ahyun just—”

“Oh my god, let’s just go!”

...

...

After the boys shared heartfelt hugs, happy back-slaps, whoops, and excitedly shaking of Ahyun like huge maracas…

“You’re talking again! Can you sing again, hyung?!”

“Y-yes!”

“Then sing!!!”

Ahyun sung happy birthday out of panic because the ecstatic Eugene won’t let go of him until he sings a song.

…They’ve ordered a bunch of different foods like dakgangjeong, bulgogi, and even baked BBQ beef ribs for dinner. Those who were old enough had popped-open a can of beer and the rest had sodas. And about half-way through their impromptu celebration, Seon Ahyun had something to declare to the group.

“I… I want to… l-look back at my mistakes with joy… and laughter. To… to be able to move on.” Ahyun looked at his team members with determination. “I d-don’t want to be… defeated by the prank anymore.”

“You have something in mind that you want to do?” Their leader asked with a relaxed expression, shaking a can of beer to see if there’s still some liquid in it.

Ahyun nodded with conviction. “Gunwoo has… an idea. I… I think it’s great.” And all of them looked expectantly at the little boy who was nibbling on a crispy fried chicken.

“If it could grow legs, then sure, yeah. It could be great…” The kid took another piece of chicken and bit on it. “It’s not guaranteed, you know…” Gunwoo took his sweet time chewing, then swallowing. The suspense was killing them. Ahyun just smiled patiently like Buddha beside the kid.

“I mean… I’d show you…” The child took a tissue paper from the takeout bag, damped it a bit with the condensation from his glass and wiped off some sticky sauce that dripped on his finger.

“But I don’t have my phone.” Then Gunwoo gulped his Coke down. Burped. And finally finished with, “And I’m not allowed on the internet, hyung.” As the kid said pointedly at Ryu Chungwoo.

“Fine! Fine. But just this once, alright?” Chungwoo slid his smartphone over the table towards his brother, while the others jokingly displayed different levels of exasperation. It was evidently all in good fun.

“Then you’re back on being grounded, mister!” Someone from the group said in a mock whisper.

The kid took the phone in hand and started tapping quickly without saying a word. When he placed it back down on the table where everyone could see, a chain video meme started playing.

A video of an orange cat drinking milk messily on a spoon played first, creating a ‘num num’ melody.

“Aw. Look, Eugene, it’s you.”

“No it’s not. That’s a cat. I’m a tiger.”

Then somebody started hitting a beat, someone else added cymbals and a snare, then horns, bass, and even an accordion joined in. As this went on, other musicians added their piece, playing different kinds of instruments that created a merry jaunty tune.

Then singers came in, dropping in lyrics, inserting a little bit of story out of nowhere. There was even a rapper that added a deeper layer to the lyrical substance of a song that all started with a silly little cat meme. With enough showmanship that could be gained in this format, the rapper and the rest of the musicians, finished the song with a flourish.

All in all, it was a creative mashup that started with an unusual sound as a catalyst. A famous meme on the internet that reach millions of views worldwide. Testar was awed. They thought it was cool. But that was that, and the rest of the group still doesn’t understand what Ahyun and the boy wanted to say.

Then Gunwoo opened his mouth and said, “Why not fight a viral video with another viral video?”

...

...

It was early in the evening and Ahyun's fan was busy creating digital maps for her campaign, when someone from the chat room had committed a grave sin. They @'ted her.

She could see from the thumbnail of the attached video to her username that it was Seon Ahyun from the event incident. Immediately, she felt her blood pressure rise.

She angrily typed on her keyboard...

[Do you want to die?]

The immediate response was...

[No! You'll like it, I promise.]

[I don't want to see my deer prince hurt again.

If this is another video trashing him

I swear to god I will torture you.]

[...in the campaign, right?]

Then someone butted in.

[Just watch it. You won't regret it.]

"Fine!" She sighed and clicked the video, expecting the worst.

It was indeed Seon Ahyun from the candy event incident, the moment when he blanked out, fidgeted on stage and was not able to say anything. Also, it was edited. The frames were chopped, some were flipped to look at the other way then back again, and then all of it was rearranged together in a loop.

"This is just sad."

It was as if the Ahyun in the edited clip was rigidly dancing, to a comical piano tune at that. He looked ridiculous.

"I can't... They're bullying him again..."

She was about to stop the video but then another frame popped-up beside it, splitting the screen. In it was a person wearing a hoodie, large enough that the shadows obscured the face. That person did the same steps in the edited clip beside it but with more grace and finesse.

"Is this guy just gonna mock—"

Then the person went on to do something different.

"What?"

Still mimicking the movement from the chopped-up clip, the person in the hoodie added tap dancing to the mix. But the most surprising part of the video was when the dancer pulled down his hood to reveal who he was.

"OMG! It's BAMBI!!!"

She screamed on top of her lungs.

Then the tap dancing Ahyun finished his dance with peace signs, then a heart, and giggled cutely as he ran towards to camera to stop recording.

Ahyun's fan didn't remember standing up.

"Wait... he can tap dance?! What is this? WHAT IS GOING ON?"

Her friend messaged her again.

[You done watching yet?

If you are, then you'll enjoy this too.]

She could only respond with...

[There's more?!]

In the next video, the tap dancing part was also edited. She could hear the sound of the heel clicks and taps were boosted, and some parts were added to have more oomph. The timing was also improved with cuts to provide a proper song rhythm.

Then a bunch of different musicians, young and old, in their bedrooms or what not, had began showing up and playing. But then a familiar clip was added in.

"Oh my god. No. Nooooo..."

She was disappointed to find the prank vid got included.

But.

It was also edited, chopped...

~It-it, it was just-ta, prank, bro

It was just a…

It was just ahhh…~

... and arranged melodiously.

The audio was pitch corrected, auto-tuned, and timed well enough to blend harmoniously with the synths and band instruments.

Though, seeing that jerk's face made her want to punch something.

But, almost at the same time, that was when Ahyun's fan realized the melody was quite familiar. She knew this song! It was at the tip of her tongue! But it didn't matter to her because the next clip that popped-up was...

"Deer prince!!!"

It was Ahyun...

"...and Testar?"

Ahyun was holding the phone, filming himself sitting on a sofa. In the background, the fan could see Testar's dorm living room. And the members were just casually hanging around.

At the moment, behind her prince's beautiful face, she could see Cha Eugene playing a game with Kim Raebin on their huge TV, while Lee Sejin A reclined on the other side of Ahyun's sofa, reading a book.

Then Bambi held the headphone mic wire near his open mouth and sang...

~I remember the ‘me’ I used to know

Beyond the shining and dazzling seasons

Until the days of tiredness and weakness~

Ahyun's fan screamed incomprehensibly, then she began to cry.

~Even at the end of the endless days

The thing that captures the broken me, oh—

Only me

Yeah, It’s me~

"He's singing again… oh my god…"

She had read strange rumors on the internet. One of them was Testar dropping Seon Ahyun for health reasons. Of course she didn't believe it! But seeing those posts still made her depressed.

Back to the video, the tap dancing part and the prank clip became slightly bigger again, then switched with some of the musician's squares, emphasizing the instrumentals.

"Oh yeah, that… T-Holic solo..." Ahyun's fan sniffed while she half-laughed and half-cried. She can't remember the title at the moment.

At Testar's portion of the split screen, the camera moved as Ahyun leaned back. Ryu Chungwoo and Lee Sejin B could be seen behind the sofa, carrying a bowl of popcorn and drinks as they walk towards somewhere off screen.

The instrumental section was done and Ahyun entered the pre-chorus.

~That’s why, I

I have to memorialize myself

I must never forget again

Now, remember

Until now~

Bambi's face brightened up as he sang, looking at something off-screen. Her prince excitedly tapped the space next to him, as if calling someone to sit beside him. Then somebody did came and sit.

"It's band-aid kid!" Looking as if he just came home from school, he was wearing a uniform and a backpack. Little translator doesn't have a band-aid on this face anymore but the cute band-aid was stuck in her mind.

Then Ahyun went on to sing the chorus.

~I’ve always lived today~

He was nudging band-aid kid for something...

~With an amazing miracle~

And then the boy opened his mouth to sing together with Ahyun.

~Don’t forget. Don’t erase~

It wasn't just Ahyun's fan who was surprised to hear the little boy's voice. She could see that Bambi was delightedly shocked as well, as the two continued to sing in a duet.

~So congratulations

Memorialize this moment~

["WHAT! What?! No way!"]

Several distant exclamations could be heard in the video that was said on top of each other.

~That’s the party in me

As if every day is a PARTY, Ooh-let’s PARTY~

The kid stretched out the high notes where Ahyun, who stopped singing by then, was left giggling beside him.

But instead of the song going into the second verse, Lee Sejin A slid into the frame and went on to sing the bridge while looking at the kid as if asking for a fight.

"Ah... he's slightly off mic..."

The other video squares was slowly falling away one by one, their audio fading out into the background.

And with that look he gave, the band-aid kid had obviously accepted Sejin A's challenge. When the bridge passed, the little boy's voice rose an octave higher as the chorus rolled again...

~I’ve always lived today

With an amazing miracle

Don’t forget. Don’t erase~

The rest of Testar leaned closer, perched on the back of the sofa by their elbows.

~So congratulations

Memorialize this moment

That’s the party in meeeee…~

The high-pitched voice wasn't shrill nor sharp even if the kid was only using the low quality mic in Ahyun's wired headphone. It didn't pierce the fan's ears at all and was surprisingly pleasant to listen to even without the background music.

~The ‘me’… I used to know~

The song ended and the kid received exhilarated applause and shouted praises from Testar members. Some looked very surprised but some of them were glancing at each other, looking very smug.

["Hyung, you're going to delete that right?" Asked band-aid kid.

"D-delete what?"]

And the next moment, like a snap, the video turned into a blurry dizzy mess, where Testar played basketball with the device, passing to one another, trying to keep the kid away from the phone, while it was still recording.

~It was just a—it was just a

It was just ahhh…~

The music pumped back up, blasting wild tunes closer to EDM that was still distinctly 'Party In Me', along with the chaos of Testar's vid. It somewhat helped that the video squares of the musicians were back, keeping Testar's square small enough to not induce nausea.

The prank bit blared and was prominent here though. But it didn’t really annoy the fan much anymore. In fact, it just added to the fun.

~Prank, prank, prank, prank, prank, prank,

Bro

Puh-pr-prank, Puh-pr-prank, Puh-pr-prank, prank, prank,

Bro~

The few seconds before the video ended, the camera was flying in slow-mo and was about to be caught by Kim Raebin, who could be seen smiling up at it. But instead of landing onto his outstretched hand, the phone smacked his face. Then the screen turned to black.

Ahyun's fan saw her stunned reflection on the monitor. Her hair in disarray.

"Crazy... Testar's crazy."

She spent the rest of the night watching different versions of Testar's video chain while chatting with her friends about it. Her DnD preparation was completely forgotten.

...

...

Afterwards…

Ahyun hyung found a much more suitable therapist and was back in doing regular Testar activities with the team. Gunwoo’s punishment had also ended, although, he was currently in the process of negotiating the hours he could immerse himself online.

He was pleased to note that the troll influencer had posted an apology video. In it he said that he didn’t realize how hurtful his actions were and said he’ll be taking a break from posting. Apparently, the accidental leakage of his address had become fruitful. Random people had been ‘pranking’ the guy everyday.

Although Gunwoo wasn’t certain that Testar’s video meme would become viral—because to him cute animal vids were unbeatable in the viral video hemisphere—he had underestimated the power of the fans. Aside from that, different versions of it was shared and edited to become reaction memes, emotes and chat stickers. And soon enough, the most complete version of it in his opinion, had surpassed the troll guy’s prank vid. Actually, that guy’s vid had fallen into irrelevancy. Most of his channel really.

What’s important was that Ahyun hyung and the fans had won and could finally move on from this headache.

Gunwoo was totally ignoring the several SNS posts asking who the kid in the vid was. They’ll get tired of it, eventually.

Another thing that Testar had won was the vitamin candy contract. Because Seon Ahyun and Testar had become viral recently—and because their previous jingle composer’s reputation had plummeted, they decided to hire Testar to create a new jingle for them. Which, ended up as a whole song because Kim Raebin’s energy was unstoppable.

Seon Ahyun was still their main brand ambassador, so he was the main vocalist for the vitamin candy song but the whole group performed. There was even a music vid for it where other Testar members did a cameo. It was alright. Kind of surreal. Very pop. And Gunwoo hated the familiar looking sleeping puppy dancing apple pattern in the background that was animated like a gif at some point of the vid.

Though, some unfortunate side-effect of Seon Ahyun talking was that… Well, Ahyun hyung had talked.

For every bad word Ahyun heard back then, and for everyone else in the future, it’ll be one day of no internet for Gunwoo. He can’t understand it. Why can’t they just use swear jars and let him put money in it?

Anyway. It wasn’t the only thing that Ahyun told Chungwoo hyung…

“So… Ahyun said you have a funny book with you.” Hyung’s smile said that he wasn’t asking for a joke book though.

It was one of those rare occasions where his brother was back in the Ryu household and not at the dorm or at a hotel somewhere. Having this confrontation in his bedroom felt like Chungwoo hyung was a warden looking for a contraband inside a prisoner’s cell.

“Funny? Hm. I don’t know. I guess so?” Jordan Belfort’s a funny fellow.

“Can I take a look at it?”

“Sure.” He gave the original to his hyung.

“And the translated printout?”

Gunwoo hesitated. “It’s atrocious. Your head will hurt trying to make sense of it.”

His hyung wiped his mouth in thought, before leaning closer to Gunwoo.

“If you give me those, I’ll exchange them for the whole set of Harry Potter.”

“Really?” He narrowed his eyes.

“Yes!” Hyung exclaimed with a nod.

“… okay.”

The book and the printout was secured in Chungwoo hyung’s arms. “Please don’t read books like these anymore.”

Gunwoo shrugged. “Sure.” He’s not that interested in stock exchange fraud. And he was done reading it ages ago anyway.

Then hyung’s gone back to his own room to rest.

His guardians had imposed ‘online hours’ inside the house and changing those times were still a work-in-progress. Gunwoo wasn’t sleepy yet though. So he pulled out another book and another terrible machine translated printout he had prepared.

It was about the music industry so it got him interested. About several minutes in, he got so impatient and looked at the ending.

“This is shit.”

The next day before school, while his hyung was in the shower, Gunwoo left ‘Kill Your Friends’ on Chungwoo hyung’s bed with a sticky note: ‘Lemony Snicket books for this?’

And it caused a little bit of panic at the dorm when Chungwoo hyung said Gunwoo gave it to him. They thought he was mad at them.