The first W Live after a while started with Cha Yujin and Keun Sejin's faces with glimmering eyes.

[Is it working?]

[It appeared!]

The two chattered and pushed the camera back after they noticed excited people starting to post comments.

Then, the professional attire the two were wearing caught people's eyes.

It was an apron and latex gloves for professional cooks.

[Hello, Loviewers!]

[Hello!]

The two bowed their heads and checked the screen. Cha Yujin froze to check the Korean comments and waved his hand.

[Nice to meet you, too!]

[Haha, me too! And the reason we turned on W Live today is... to cook this chicken!]

As Keun Sejin adjusted the camera,  two white raw chickens were caught on camera for a while with the selfie filter.

[Now, do you see this chicken? It's actually the chicken I ordered as a birthday present for Moondae!]

[It's chicken soup for the soul! Chicken soup!]

- What is this

- You're going to cook that?

- Will you be able to do it? ㅜㅜ

- So the chicken soup for the soul wasn't a joke ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Despite the worrying comments, the two laughed heartily.

[If it doesn't come out good then we eat it, and Moondae and the other members will order something delicious!]

[But this time we'll do well!]

The comments were more anxious about Cha Yujin's unfounded confidence.

- Call for Moondae

- Guys, I don't think this is it.

- It's cute, but I'm scared

The two, who were definitely at the top of the team in terms of their strong interpersonal relationships and mentality, filtered out bad comments such as 'not fun' and 'don't get ahead of yourself ㅜㅜ' and just accepted the responses from the fans.

[Aha, Moondae hyung! The hyungs will join soon!]

[That's right~ They're a little late because of the schedule. We are going to prepare the main dish first and the simple ones together!]

For reference, that was a lie.

It was just that the choreography was slightly modified so the members had to stay for additional practice for an hour or two. The two guys, who were able to learn it the fastest were able to ask for the others' understanding to return home early to turn on W Live at the scheduled time.

However, the rest of the members had no idea that these two would do cooking content on W Live...

[Now, let's start!]

[This is the best!]

And the cooking of the two steadily failed.

Cha Yujin, who learned from the experience of the 'scorched soup for the soul' with Seon Ahyun last time, controlled the fire quite well, but the problem broke out elsewhere.

[Wow! Next is... cumin!]

[Huh? Cumin? Unfortunately, there are no such exotic spices in our dorm. Let's add hot pepper powder!]

[Okay! Let's add honey too!]

[Honey it is!]

The two abandoned the perfectly fine recipe and added additional ingredients according to however they felt.

The comments were full of confusion, bewilderment, and laughter.

- This isn't it.

- Throw away the honey

- Don't you have any chicken stocks? Guys! ㅠㅠㅠ

- Right, food delivery is also good these days

- The comments are going up so fast that I'm dizzy ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

And as expected by fans, the result was an oddly flavored chicken broth.

[Oh, complete!]

[Now, let's taste...]

[...]

[...]

The two, who tasted it with excitement, both looked speechless.

The comments were filled with people bursting out laughing.

The two of them smiled and nodded with the kind of expression people who tasted ruined dishes would have.

And Keun Sejin blocked the reactions of wasting food like a knife before they could come out by pretending to be heartbroken.

[Haha, we'll eat everything of this taste of defeat so please don't worry...]

[It's fine to eat.]

After checking the comments that wanted to stop him or were laughing, Keun Sejin shrugged and began communicating again.

[Then, first of all, fried chicken home delivery...]

And at that moment, with the sound of the front door opening, the members returned.

[They're here!]

[Welcome home!]

The moment Cha Yujin ran out, Keun Sejin gestured to the camera by placing his finger in front of his lip.

Then, he quickly hid the pot and attempted to destroy the evidence.

Obviously, that wasn't possible.

[What are you doing?]

[Oh? Haha! The W Live of course! Say hello to the Loviewers Moondae!]

[Ah.]

Park Moondae stopped the questioning and lowered his face toward the screen.

[How has everyone been?]

In an instant, numerous greetings passed through the comments. Park Moondae smiled faintly and nodded his head.

[Yes, hello.]

[This is Moondae!]

[...]

It was an excellent choice of timing.

Park Moondae looked at Keun Sejin, who burst out laughing after imitating his speaking habits on social media, with narrow eyes.

Several members, who came into the kitchen, hurriedly covered their mouths and lowered their heads to suppress their laughter.

'This bastard, seriously.'

Unlike Park Moondae's inner thoughts, the comments were all positive.

Looking at the chat window plastered with 'ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ' and puppy emojis, Park Moondae decided to hold it in.

'The bargain is good.'

And instead, he decided to check the pot properly.

[Everyone, what did they do?]

The comments fluctuated between those who covered for them to match the atmosphere and a handful of snitching.

- They played together!

- Talk~

- They were just talking

- Yujin showed some aegyoㅠㅠ Moondae, do some aegyo too

- Cooking ㅋㅋㅋ

- Sejin was- mph mph mph

- They didn't do anything ㅋㅋ

Keun Sejin slyly slapped Park Moondae on the back and turned the camera angle.

[Us? We were just having a light conversation~ Right, Yujin-ah?]

[That's right!]

Cha Yujin added brightly.

[And we cooked!]

[Ahh.]

Keun Sejin sank.

And Kim Raebin muttered with a blank face that said he could not understand the situation at all.

[You were wearing an apron, and you expected a situation where you wouldn't be caught...?]

Fans burst into laughter.

Then Park Moondae immediately checked the pot that Keun Sejin had put down.

[...Could this be chicken soup?]

[Yes.]

[It's the end of the year, and I was going to cook chicken to celebrate your birthday... but I'll just order fried chicken. We'll eat all of that!]

[We'll eat that!]

[...]

Park Moondae made a peculiar expression and tasted the contents of the pot.

And he laughed.

[You didn't do the one that Cha Yujin's mother gave, did you?]

[We tried to be creative.]

[I added honey.]

[Yeah. It seems to be like that.]

Park Moondae clicked his tongue, and eventually grabbed the pot and put it back on the countertop.

Then he took more ingredients out of the fridge and began to add them to the pot.

[Oh Moondae!]

[Please make it delicious!]

Keun Sejin and Cha Yujin grasped the situation and immediately went into worship mode.

[I-I'll help too...!]

[...Really? Then have a taste of this.]

[Y-yeah!]

Seon Ahyun, not noticing Park Moondae's euphemistic refusal, took a spoon and tasted the soup with sincerity.

And a reaction, that became a question mark and exclamation mark, alternatively appeared.

[I-it's delicious! B-but... that taste...]

[Is it like braised spicy chicken?]

[Uh-uhhuh! It is!]

That's right.

The chicken soup was nowhere to be found, and the food in the pot was now braised spicy chicken...!

The shocking statement stirred up the fans' comments again. However, the person who was cooking it was calm.

[That's good.]

Park Moondae turned towards the smartphone where the W Live was streamed and kindly explained.

[With honey and hot pepper powder included in there... I just added soy sauce and red pepper paste and made it into a Korean dish. The broth boiled down a lot so I thought that doing it like this was right.]

[Woah, it's good! Everyone, this tastes really good. How did you do it? Just what are you, Park Moondae?]

[Wow, cooking success!]

[...]

Park Moondae temporarily gained the full trust of the two. Of course, not that he asked for it.

Even so, it was far from enough to cook dinner for everyone with just that pot alone, so naturally, the members brought out a grill and grilled pork belly.

[This time I can do this really well!]

[I'm good at grilling meat!]

Surprisingly Cha Yujin and Keun Sejin were really good at grilling meat, so they smoothly made up for the previously ruined dish.

[...Tasty.]

[This really feels like an end-of-the-year party. It's nice!]

The two eldest members, who voluntarily cleaned up the kitchen, also gave praises. And both felt like something was out of place the whole time they ate the dish in the pot which was supposed to be chicken soup. The pasta noodles that went in there were a bit awkward, but it was fine again once they considered it as sujebi.

//TN: Sujebi = Korean traditional hand-pulled noodle soup

[The chicken soup...]

[You made that again.]

At that significat word, the commenters began to cry out for them to let them know what the members meant by 'again'.

- There's a story for sure

- Explain the chicken soup and this intimate vibe

- ㅠㅠㅠ Please share with us

[Ah, of course, we have to tell you!]

[It happened on the 15th, on the day of Moondae hyung's birthday.]

Thanks to this, TeStar could leave out the parts that needed to be appropriately left out, and happily talked about the episode on Moondae's birthday.

It was a very authentic atmosphere of real-time interaction with fans, which had been rare for TeStar, who went through many ups and downs.

After hearing the gossip, even the casual fans got online, and the viewers continued to gather.

And at the point when more than two and a half hours had passed since they had started, the members finally brought up the 'question'.

[Then the next question... Oh, this one. 'Was Ahyun's tumble on KBC the original choreography or ad-libbing?']

In fact, this question had already come up several times since the beginning.

However, Cha Yujin had been extremely focused on cooking, and he couldn't read the long Korean comments that went by quickly. And Keun Sejin deliberately pretended not to see it.

It was because answering when everyone was together had a bigger impact and the picture would look better even if the shared video captures of the stream started to go around.

Ryu Chungwoo, who got drunk with the nice atmosphere and became slightly cheerful, replied with a smile.

[Ah, yes, it was an ad-lib. It was really great!]

[It was amazing!]

[Ah, the details of the situation? At that time, there was a problem with our in-ear...]

TeStar members happily explained the situation at the time in detail, and in the middle of it, Park Moondae and Keun Sejin drew a line of precaution just in case.

[Those two grabbed Ahyun's back! So, what was it like, Ahyun-ssi?]

[S-somehow I felt like I could do it... S-so, I tried jumping...!]

[It was a really great sight, but it was never our intention. Ahyun also said that from now on, he will try it only when it's definitely safe. Right?]

[Y-yeah! B-because your health is important...!]

TeStar soon wrapped up the topic and then ended the broadcast after another small talk for about half an hour, but of course, this part of the live stream was first to be captured and shared.

=========================

[TeSTAR's accident ad-lib presumption was right]

: They personally confirmed it themself on W App

(Video capture with captions)

=========================

- So it was all true

- Did Seon Ahyun do any kind of training?

- What are the people who ridiculed the fans as delusional are gonna do now? ㅋㅋㅋ

- Seon Ahyun, is he a rookie?

- I thought it was already amazing that they dealt with it, but what's with this unreal situation...

- Woah it wasn't even a backup plan but improvisation;

- Is it possible that they lied since this became a hot topic?

└ Why would they lie about it when there are so many staff members who have seen their rehearsals

└ Do you think TeStar is at a level where they need to do something like that ㅋㅋㅋ

└ Leave them alone. This person must not know better since they're sucking on pebbles like Onyx

People were stunned by the conclusion that went in the most extraordinary direction. And the news spread across WeTube and FaceReader.

[Resolving TeStar's accident, was the absurd guess true?]

[The power of the surviving idol stock is scary]

[IdolCo's 3rd place member's astounding dance skills]

The unfair image and the controversies associated with TeStar had lost their power. TeStar was able to shake off the scraps with this topic.

As such, the controversy over the Rookie of the Year award had completely disappeared over time, to the point that it would be awkward to even mention it.

- Our kids are geniuses...

- As expected, it's fun to watch idol performances but TeStar is so cute that I can't help but love them

- I'll paddle when the water comes in. I want to sell cuteness too. ㅠㅠ

TeStar's fans, who were full of excitement, tried to share the warm tidbits from the W Live, but it didn't have much effect.

This was because people had already become accustomed to more stimulating topics created by TeStar...

The fans stopped talking about the chicken soup, a little embarrassed.

In any case, winning the Rookie of the Year Award at the big awards ceremonies in January was practically confirmed.

TeStar, who was transfused with a perfectly talented image, was expected to do a New Year's greeting at the broadcasting station as befits an idol with a good record.

However, they also met an unexpectedly welcome face there.

* * *

December 31st at MBS Gayo Daejejeon.

"Thank you!"

Time flew by as soon as we finished our first performance.

This was because the MBS live broadcast lasted for as much as 4 hours, and TeStar's performance was scattered in the 1st and 3rd parts.

Of course, it didn't mean that they let us sing two songs. The performance we did just now was a cover of the first verse of an idol boy group's song from the early 2000s.

Moreover, we had to cut the second verse on the 3rd part's performance since we were only given three minutes.

Hmm, considering TeStar's results this year, this was a perfect example of neglect.

'I wonder if I should view this as discrimination against background or agency.'

It was probably both.

"Still, it's good that we have plenty of time to change clothes. This is nice~"

I nodded my head.

'On the bright side, we avoided the worst.'

By that, I meant the Imjingak stage.

//TN: I think it's a performance hall where MBC Gayo Daejejeon is filmed on New Year's Eve.

"That's right. We don't have to be outside either."

"Th-that's right."

Wearing a summer school uniform and performing outdoors in this winter weather would have been a great sight to see.

It was when we were crossing the corridor of the broadcasting station chattering with each other like that...

Suddenly, someone greeted us.

"Wow, it's TeStar! Please, give me an autograph!"

It was a familiar voice.

And the members' eyes widened, almost popping out, when they turned their heads to check the person talking.

"...Oh my god!"

"Hyung!"

To our surprise, the person, who greeted us... was Gold 1, Ha Iljoon.

"Woah, how have you been?"

Gold 1 waved eagerly among a group of people. Several members approached with delight.

And I found another familiar face next to Gold 1.

"...Oh."

It was Choi Wongil.

//TN: What a timely chapter for this New Year