Debut or Die

When BETTER ME music video was played, Park Moondae’s face was first seen staring at the camera.

Black hood and purple eyes, it was his appearance from the trailer.

[…]

Park Moondae stretched out his hand toward the camera without saying a word.

Then he operated the camera.

Click.

Whoosh.

As the video rewinded, scenes from the trailer began to pass backward.

Water tank. Sewer. Mannequins, falling guns. Biohazard sign.

And the screen finally began to show a worn-out cloth doll with a cogwheel.

The opening scene, where the rewind stopped.

Then the song began.

– Do not trust it

There no justice

Oooohh….

At that moment, the scene changed to Cha Eugene, who was holding a brand new doll instead of an old one.

Then the screen was pushed all the way back, taking a full shot of the whole area.

It was an ordinary classroom where students were taking classes. Testar members were seen sitting all over the classroom. The everyday expressions and the appearances as if they were attending class were caught on camera.

However, as soon as the rhythmic moombahton accompaniment began to flow out, the atmosphere of the classroom completely changed.

Whoosh.

All of the students except Testar disappeared, and an X-shape was drawn on each desk with luminous graffiti.

Then an intense group dance cut began against the backdrop of a dark classroom.

– Looking back, I can’t tell

Umm

What happened.

Between the dance scenes, cuts in which the members were alone in distinctive places such as the school’s music room and gym were inserted for each part of the choreography.

However, each space had changed into a strange atmosphere related to each Testar’s ability that had been revealed since the time of ‘Magical Boy’.

So, similar to what was seen in the concept photo, Testar in techwear outfits seemed to have created their own territories like a mid-level boss game.

– Target Target Target

GOT IT

As you run, as you grab

Singing in their own space, they looked distinctive and bored.

But. As soon as the trailer’s thunderous riff melody fell, the atmosphere changed completely.

DDVVViiiii-!!

The scenes of Testar running away or rushing to escape from the monsters in school uniforms flashed by in a quick cut-scene, and the screen stopped at the class instruction on the blackboard.

Rough red graffiti was painted over the standard black letters.

[WINNER-TAKE-All : )]

[LOSER? Good bye : (]

Blood splattered over the English word that meant ‘goodbye’.

Then the chorus began to flow.

– BUT.

It’s just confusing

Since when

I’m just confused

Umm

How far you’re going.

The desperate game of survival that didn’t match with the melancholy chorus continued.

In the music video, the lyrics began to take on a completely specific meaning.

And as the song progressed, Testar’s moves became more and more extreme.

Fighting cutscenes became more frequent than the acting, and the moment the last monster fell, the tension peaked.

[…]

When Kim Raebin looked back and lifted an awl, Ryu Chongwoo shot him in the back.

– Umm

Afterward, the music video centered on more intense performance cuts, and the cut scenes of hunting each other had been changed to an indirectly creepy composition.

And the song’s bridge.

During the 2nd verse, Bae Sejin, who didn’t get much cut scenes, got a close-up.

While singing his part, Bae Sejin suddenly got up and left the school entrance, his territory.

– That we can’t handle, our Paradox

When cutting the line.

Bigger, Payback.

Get out of self-made twists and turns

Bae Sejin ran down the hallway and stood in front of the door at the end.

When he opened the door, a normal classroom appeared.

However, as the camera turned, the red graffiti paint dripping from the top of his school uniform was captured.

The moment Bae Sejin threw something in his hand, the final chorus burst out.

– BUT.

It’s NOT confusing!

Who am I

I’m NOT confused

Oh!

To find out, BETTER ME

What was in Bae Sejin’s hand was a heavy metal padlock.

The lock flew in a curve and fell, smashing the class instruction board. Shattered frames of the class instruction board were captured in slow motion.

And as soon as the frame fell to the floor, the moombahton accompaniment started playing.

Bae Sejin smiled.

– BETTER ME

Along with the splendid choreography, the timeline in the video began to change.

Kim Raebin’s awl, which was being picked up after the last monster fell, was stopped by Park Moondae’s series of attacks, and Testar disbanded with irritation at each other.

Their faces looked relaxed.

And the screen went back to the cut of Cha Eugene holding an old cloth doll.

[…]

But this time, Cha Eugene didn’t spin the cogwheel.

[♫♪~]

Cha Eugene whistled and tossed the doll into the corner, then he started walking down the smashed hallway.

A fixed camera caught his breezy gait from behind, and ‘BETTER ME’ emerged as a white subtitle on the screen.

– BETTER ME

With that last hook, the video ended.

And Testar fandom faced an unexpected MV grand interpretation era.

* * *

“What are you watching?”

“Interpretation of our music video.”

“Why did it get an interpretation?”

“…Hmm. Do you want to see it, too?”

“Yes!”

It was better to let Cha Eugene join than to be trapped in endless chains of questions and answers.

I connected the WeTube I was watching to the TV and launched it.

A duck character appeared on the screen.

[Hello, WeTube friends! This is the duck that interprets music videos, Haeorigamja.]

[Today’s topic, the popular group! We have prepared an interpretation of Testar’s newly released music video ‘BETTER ME’.]

[In fact, I also cried hard while playing the game, so I may have a little personal opinion in this interpretationㅠㅠ I apologize in advance.]

[※ <Section 127> Spoiler alert!]

[Let’s get started!]

The duck introduced the simple plot of the ‘BETTER ME’ music video and explained the overall story.

[The monsters in school uniforms that appear in the middle of the music video seem to be the students that stayed in the same classroom as Testar.]

[Like this, all the monsters’ school uniforms have name tags with their names on them. You can find name tags of the same color and name in the peaceful classroom cut scene.]

It was mostly like this.

‘Good observation.’

I listened to the duck with some interest.

However, as soon as the contents of the music video were finished, this duck said something tremendous.

[In fact, there was a theory of Testar’s worldview that I had been speculating about since ‘Airplane’, I was really convinced after watching ‘BETTER ME’ music video, so I’m going to tell you.]

[In Testar’s worldview, Park Moondae and Bae Sejin are probably the same person.]

“Cough.”

Bae Sejin, who was leaving the kitchen while drinking coffee, choked. Cha Eugene blinked and waited for the duck’s next words.

[Since ‘Magical Boy’, the two have been on opposite paths. Park Moondae locked the front door of the school and Bae Sejin broke it down.]

[And in this ‘BETTER ME’ music video, Park Moondae turns the camera to close the time, and Bae Sejin breaks the class instruction frame that symbolizes this terrible time.]

[If you look at it like this, their abilities are the complete opposite, so why are they the same person? That’s because these two abilities are actually on the same line.]

[Both deal with time and space constraints, but Park Moondae is the one who imposed the restriction. Bae Sejin used his ability to destroy the restriction.]

“What’s your character?”

“On the same line. We’re on the same line.”

Bae Sejin answered and sat down next to the sofa. It seemed he became interested in the interpretation video.

[As I mentioned in the last video, Park Moondae’s magic props are assorted as if they were books, but they are actually ‘sleep’. Park Moondae goes back to the past by sleeping or blocking the view symbolized by sleeping.]

On the screen, a hand covering and removing the camera, Park Moondae standing at the main gate of the school, and I appeared.

And the video continued until I opened the door and ran into the school.

It was a scene from Airplane music video.

[By the way, isn’t this cut familiar? That’s right. It also appeared in this BETTER ME music video.]

[But it’s Bae Sejin, not Park Moondae.]

The cut of Bae Sejin running down the school hallway was repeated in the video. The composition was certainly the same.

[Besides, what is the object Bae Sejin threw that broke the class instruction board frame? It is the same lock Park Moondae put on the gate in ‘Magical Boy’.]

That was a detail I put in for them to notice.

[Based on these points, I hypothesized that these two are actually different personalities of the same person.]

And the evidence continued.

[Did you just see that? In Airplane music video, there are only six dorm beds. And in BETTER ME music video, Park Moondae sits alone in the back seat in the far corner. In fact, it’s a position that wouldn’t look strange if there are no students.]

[And so far, there has not been a single cut where someone other than Bae Sejin speaks directly to Park Moondae.]

The members were amazed.

“Oh.”

“…It’s plausible.”

It was true.

But the problem was that it was just a misunderstanding.

The lock was taken from the front gate, but this scene was cut off due to the time, and the director just happened to like the composition of the hallway, so he did it the same way.

The fact that there were no cuts of me talking to the other members… No, Seon Ahyeon didn’t seem to be there in the first place.

However, the number of views and comments was great, as if a considerable amount of fans had wondered about this theory.

‘…Should I suggest using that setting from the next album onwards?’

Shouldn’t we offer what the buyer likes, not what the seller likes?

In any case, the music video wrapped up the ‘Park Moondae are Bae Sejin are the same person theory’ and went back to explaining the worldview connection.

[Considering the type slip through Park Moondae’s dream, the timeline continues in the order of ‘Airplane’ -> ‘Magic Boy’ -> ‘BETTER ME’, and the trailer video ‘BONUSBOOK’.]

[However, maybe the trailer video wasn’t going to be included in the official plot. Bae Sejin stopped the incident in this ‘BETTER ME’ music video and ended it with ‘something that didn’t happen’.]

The screen showed the trailer’s clip in which Cha Eugene exploded the doll and the music video clip in which he didn’t.

‘You guess this correctly.’

It was a device made so that the plot wouldn’t get too involved with the game.

We didn’t want to be dragged around by the story of the game, and the game’s side probably didn’t want to be sucked into our worldview.

‘It’s treated as an IF version.’

Looking at the people’s reactions to the game now, I thought it was a good choice. …Even so, there were quite a few people who lost their minds, so we couldn’t give them a bigger shock.

[It’s a good thing considering the ending they fit in <127 Section>, but… It’s really sad that we still have a long way to go to see the future of our first comradesㅠㅠ.]

And a caption [Duck sobbing the moment B11 died] appeared at the bottom.

“…”

It seemed its influence was stronger than expected.

[However, the abilities the members used in the trailer will be reflected in the future worldview, so this duck is looking forward to it! Quack Quack!]

[Then everyone, see you in the next music video interpretation~]

“See you~”

“The duck is smart.”

I handed over the TV to Cha Eugene and checked the video comments on my smartphone.

– Wow, really, Testar is crazy and drives the world insane

– That they’re the same character ㄹㅇI got goosebumps

– Haeorigamja, thank you for your high-quality interpretation~ Thanks to you, I can comfortably watch the music video without using my head!

– I thought it was a battle royale feeling from the moment I saw Baromi, but it’s more interesting to see it this way. I enjoyed watching it~^^

Looking at this, it seemed this person’s theory had already been established. Even if I sort it by the latest comment, no one criticized or pointed it out.

‘It’s fun.’

It was interesting to see it being interpreted in a new way, even the parts that no one intended was neatly fitting.

And game enthusiasts who accidentally joined from time to time were also noticeable.

– So what do I have to do to see Bill?

└You can follow Moondae’s SNS~ㅎㅎ

└No, I’m a game fan, but I was wondering if Moondae-nim did anything else with B11, so I posted a comment. Anyway, thank you for the replyㅠㅠ

└Yesㅠㅠ

“Hmm.”

This reminded me. Come to think of it, there was an additional release this week.

It was just content released as a fan service, but I wasn’t sure if this side would unexpectedly react.

‘It could be a bit embarrassing.’

I turned off my phone while rubbing the back of my neck.

And at 10:31 pm the next day, another new video was uploaded at Testar’s official WeTube channel.

[Testar(TeSTAR) ‘BETTER ME’ choreography video late Halloween Ver]

It was a choreography video of Testar dressed as the initial comrades of <Section 127> in a Halloween costume version.