Debut or Die

Loud sirens rang out over the dark stage.

Wee-oww Wee-oww Wee-oww

And with a cheerful burst of a glass breaking, the sound of the siren became a beat melody.

[HaHaHa!]

As soon as the sound of a child’s laughter entered the sampling, the dazzling lights came on, revealing the seven members sitting on the stage.

They were Testar in glossy black zip-up hoodies.

Various emoticons painted in white and red were randomly covering the zip-up.

Then, Cha Eugene jumped out like lightning and the intro began.

[Look here~]

At the child’s narration, Cha Eugene placed his hand in a V form on his chin.

[Every time I sing it

My hands are burning on the mic

Today, I’ll show you the real thing

Please wish me good luck]

Cha Eugene playfully showed his fangs and snapped the melody to the beat.

Joining the formation two by two in line with Cha Eugene’s movement, Testar clapped their hands and performed a rough group dance.

It showed a relaxed and spirited twist.

Cha Eugene gestured at the camera as Testar grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him behind them.

[Groaning (that’s a disease too)

Mm, such an obvious statement

Don’t think about useless things

A lot of cheers for me

Shout out Shout out loud]

When Keun Sejin winked and raised his hand, the two members on both of his sides crossed the air with martial arts-like movements.

Then each of them gave a light wink to the currently running camera and jumped in.

[Shout out to me

Gratitude only takes an all-at-once payment]

The comments were filled with delighted bewilderment.

Those who knew the original song and those who didn’t know were mixed together, and each expressed their impression, but there was only one conclusion.

‘It’s fun.’

– It’s so much fun.

– Wow nice

– Right, this is how it’s fun to watch

– Is their class different? I feel like they’re little different from the other ones

– Look at them searching for the camera;;

– This was supposed to be a bullying, but that f*cker Cha Eugene did well

– They’re really good?

– Heol, they really didn’t do any arrangements.

– The original song’s performance was so cringy… Heol… Why is it so good? Even the outfits are almost the same.

Leaving behind the comments that were pouring out in excitement, the stage continued.

Whoosh.

Park Moondae, who was grabbed by the members and cut through the air, came to the front of the stage and held a hand microphone.

[To pass here

There’s an advance payment

Don’t just go, sit here

Enjoy this performance]

The sound of the pre-chorus, which suddenly rose, came out of Park Moondae’s mouth as if it was nothing.

At that moment, the formation changed and the members circled the floor and got up.

They took turns taking camera shots from the side of Park Moondae’s face as if they were intervening, and then moved away as if they were being pushed out.

They all looked like fun pranksters, but somehow it was showing now.

Glaring at the members one by one, Park Moondae smiled and pointed his finger at the camera.

[Let only those who enjoy it

Shout out to me

Take an all-at-once payment only]

It was a high-pitched sound that cooly scratched your neck.

A clear voice resonated over the deliberately small and obvious AR, enhancing the taste of live music.

– He plays really well.

– I can’t be quiet about this

– Park Moondae’s singing is so f*cking good, for real

– Ha, so refreshing.

– I think AR was crushed to death by the volumeㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– They didn’t rearrange it, right? What’s this? Why does it seem like there’s such a big difference?

– It’s just like their song.

In the meantime, the highlight of the song was unfolding on the stage.

[Shout out to me]

[Shout out to me]

As the song was dropped, the siren sound was transformed into a Middle Eastern riff melody on top of the slightly relaxed and heavy beat, flowing splendidly and loudly.

It was a strong chorus.

[Enjoying it is the way to live

Shout out to me]

There were many lingering beats and complicated leg movements, followed by jumping choreography.

Not forgetting to get into the rhythm and livening up the atmosphere, the members had fun while smoothing out difficult movements.

The excited bad boy aura was splashed all over the stage.

And people realized.

– Right, they’re chosen because they are that goodㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– Their performance skills are amazing.

– It’s so refreshing.

– Yes, this is it. This is the taste.

– I really can’t take my eyes off it

People who watched <Idol Inc.> but were not interested enough to watch music shows or clips, watched Testar’s performance again due to the special end-of-the-year program on public TV.

And the fact that the first stage happened to be a song by another rumored rookie made people gossip more.

– Does anyone know the original performance of this song? I just thought it was a great song.

– Testar didn’t arrange it, right? Does the original song feel like this?

Then, at the choreography climax, something was shaking on the hoodies of the members who were jumping up and shaking their heads.

It was an animal ear.

Testar’s hoodie had a piece of cloth similar to the animal ears that symbolized each of them on the head of the hood.

It flapped around in response to the intense chorus choreography, revealing its shape and showing off its presence.

– Heol, What’s that

– Animal earsㅠㅠ There are ears on the hood.

– Look at the idea.

– So f*cking cute

– Ah, right, idols should taste like this

– Cute animal gangster…?

– Is this Testar’s new song? Why is it coming out in part 1?

The overly strong and burdensome concept was slightly neutralized with cuteness mixed at the end.

[HaHaHa!]

And the climax at the end of the song continued.

It was a part where the choreography became faster and faster by putting different movements one by one in the chorus without vocal parts, in the middle of the choreography.

The song ended with the impressive image of Testar not being able to control themselves whenever a solo shot came in while performing the group dance.

[Shout out to me]

The cut ended with Kim Raebin sitting at the center yawning and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

And the camera was switched to broadcast Onyx’s stage, but in the comments, the response to Testar’s stage was exploding.

– Crazy.

– They’re good, I don’t know what else to say

– What’s this, why is it so short?

– They cut it off in the first verse. I guess it’s because it’s a special stageㅠ

– The kids before only did the first verse, but look at people’s reactionsㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– This isn’t Testar’s song, is it?

– I’ll go watch Onyx

– I thought about leaving comments, but I forgot because I was looking at the screen.

And the moment Onyx’s stage was broadcasted, the atmosphere became ambiguous.

Onyx also chose Testar’s debut song, ‘Magical Boy’, but… the stage was too bland.

– Mmm

– They’re not well-prepared

– I can’t stand it.

– How much did they lower the key for Magical Boy? The song has no charm at all.

– It seems to be lip sync? Ah, is the AR too big?

– I don’t know. It’s no funㅠㅠ

People’s excitement cooled down in an instant.

At the same time, more and more people were looking for the original performance of Onyx’s song performed by Testar.

The moment they saw Onyx’s next stage, they felt it.

‘Is Testar’s much better than Onyx’s performance of the original song?’

Most of the people who watched Onyx’s <The One Who Enjoys> performance lamented, while some of them were posting and screaming.

* * *

As soon as the first part of the Music Awards Festival ended, clips of the special stage were uploaded on various communities and SNS.

[SBC Rookies Special Stage]

: I also attached the original performance!

(video) (video)

And in an instant, the comments were filled with talks about Testar and Onyx.

These were the words that were already spoken throughout the special stage.

The response to the complete one-on-one match without any arrangements was stark.

– Hey, what happened? Testar’s is better than Onyx’s performance of their own song

– ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– Ah, shareholders have a good eye! All that sh*t about being an entertainment show was f*cking bullshitㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– The huge difference in their skills is so embarrassing

– Testar shouldn’t have a lot of time to practice, wow…

– Why do you put it like that? The person who wrote this article is so cruelㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– There was a reason why Idol Inc was f*king successful. The stage was inevitably successful because these punks were thereㅋㅋㅋ

Moreover, it wasn’t just a difference in skills. There was a deep difference in the interpretation of the song.

Onyx’s debut song, <The One Who Enjoys>, was a powerful hip-hop-style song that was made for an intense performance.

Usually, rookies practiced their debut songs for several months if the period was short or more than half a year if the period was long.

And, naturally, Onyx practiced this song with a sense of solemnity and tension at the thought of just debuting.

It wasn’t an unsuitable emotion for the song, so it was easily skipped over, but the feeling of the song was more playful and violent than that, closer to a high-spirited feeling.

And Testar interpreted the song exactly that way.

– Testar’s expressiveness is real? They’re the ones who’d been through the crazy Idol Inc mayhem

– I’m sorry to say this, but… To be honest, Testar’s performance feels more like the original song…

└That’s why Onyx’s stage feels like they just covered a song of a respected seniorㅋㅋ

└They didn’t bring out the chewy taste of the original song, but I feel like I’m seeing friends who are working hard

└Perfect descriptionㅋㅋㅋ

Because Onyx’s fandom layer was shallow, people were more willing to express their appreciation.

Of course, not all the people who were obsessed with Testar’s controversy disappeared with just one performance.

– Ugh, rushing in here not knowing how to give up…

– Still, how come you don’t know that it’s unfair for an entertainment project group to receive the rookie award?

– It’s embarrassing to bite and drag down a rookie like thisㅠ

– No matter how hard the fans try, muggles will feel uncomfortable about Testar.

However, when an absolute advantage came out from openly comparing them like this, the previous discourse was bound to become ridiculous.

In this rare situation where the winner and loser were obvious, entertained people gathered around and laughed at the aggro.

– Hey, muggles have eyes. You guys are funnyㅋㅋㅋ

– They cut off their rank insignia and won. That’s enough. It’s uglyㅋㅋㅋ

– Aren’t you guys the ones who swarm inㅋㅋㅋ

– Yes, I bet everything. I am not Testar’s fan but Onyx’s original song is sh*t~ Testar, take me in

└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– Hey, the one who did well should get itㅋㅋ

– Now that I look at it, even if they debuted without Idol Inc, I think Testar would have won the Rookie Awardㅋ

└That’s right. They even produced their debut albumㅋㅋㅋ

Then the direction changed a little.

– They’re too much… Didn’t they purposefully aim for this without the arrangement?

But this didn’t work either.

└If it was done on purpose, isn’t that even more embarrassing?

└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋReallyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└It’s not that Testar is bad, it’s that Onyx is just not good at it

└Someone who sees this might think that Testar broke Onyx’s legs so that they couldn’t performㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Even if you sorted the comments on Onyx’s original performance video by the latest order, it was filled with cries of people who came after watching the Music Awards Festival.

Testar’s <The One Who Enjoys> official video hadn’t been uploaded yet, so they were people who came to see chickens instead of pheasants.

– Ah, this isn’t it… That… There’s no leisure feeling of being nimble and naughty… I don’t feel that vibeㅠㅠ

– Ah.. You’ve worked hardㅠㅠ

– I like this version too! Cheer up!

– It feels like a stranger on the way to meet the hottest kid at school and pretend to know them

└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– Your voice isn’t cool… ㅅㄱ

Cruel comments from the general public, not the fans, clearly showed the public opinion.

It didn’t have to be confirmed. It was Testar’s K.O victory.

And the next day, Park Moondae received an unexpected congratulatory gift.