Debut or Die-Chapter 339
Mid-April, with only a few weeks of the TeSTAR tour left in the U.S.
“Let’s go to the theater again!”
“There’s no time.”
“Then let’s make time!”
Yoojin was relentless today. Even at the composition camp, he kept begging me to watch the movie again. Because thanks to him, every night in every tour city, we were sneaking off to see Cosmic Gunner like thieves in the night.
‘There’ve even been a bunch of eyewitness accounts.’
We’d finally stopped after fans started camping out, hoping to catch us, but now he acted like he was going through withdrawal.
“Yoojin, it’s not right to keep stealing our sleep for a cameo that lasts only a few seconds...”
“My voice is in it for way longer! And we looked awesome!”
“Ha, yeah. It was pretty cool hearing our song in the end credits.”
True—nobody expected them to adopt our track as a main theme. I suppose the producer’s presence at the last meeting meant he really loved it, despite not giving us extra pay.
‘Those bastards still didn’t up the fee, though.’
Fine, let’s call it promo. Composer’s pretty excited anyway.
“Yes! I thought it was amazing too!”
“Right.”
“Wasn’t it amazing? Rae-bin’s track was so good~”
The MVP got another round of praise, and even Yoojin nodded.
“Kim Rae-bin’s piece was great.”
Rae-bin gave a solemn nod.
“We rushed some parts, so it wasn’t perfect, but after filming we took feedback and polished it. I think it ended up respectable.”
“GOOD~”
Rarely do they agree without fighting.
“The reaction’s huge. Even in the U.S... articles are out.”
“Oh~ really?”
Suna-hyun must’ve even done some searches—look at the results.
She handed me an article and I read aloud:
“The composer of the main insert song for the new Rimestone film is the KPOP boy band... and the identity of those impressive cameo performers has surprised the public.”
“Ooh~”
Articles pop up about anything, but on U.S. anonymous boards I did find some posts bubbling up.
‘The movie’s a smash—that’s beyond our control.’
Lucky for us, but thanks to that buzz, our cameo got attention: even a blurry clip of our scene leaked online.
Funny thing, so many didn’t realize it was a cameo: “I thought they were minor roles, cameos, but they never reappeared—awkward! At least the ending credit song was definitely them, right?”
└ “Yes, cameo—turns out they’re a KPOP band.”
└ “Oh my god.”
Then folks started compiling “Who’s the crazy band in Cosmic Gunner?” I recall comments under that popular thread:
“This is KPOP?”
“Is my stereotype the problem, or are these guys an exception?”
└ “Both! 😂”
“TeSTAR’s one of the most talented KPOP groups I’ve seen—wasn’t surprised.”
└ “Right! I’m sure this track is by member Rae-bin—he’s the one with the keyboard that looks like a red sea urchin :)”
└ “As expected, KPOP fans emerge lol”
Also, recommendations for the variety show where we sold pancakes in the U.S. keep popping up at the bottom.
In short, overseas reaction was better than expected.
“Seriously, the overall reaction’s great.”
“Right.”
And here’s someone quietly soaking it all in—one of the duo who brought in this wave of response alongside Rae-bin.
I turned to him.
“You were amazing in the scene.”
“...ahem.”
It was Bae Sejin. Enough everyone fusses over it that he’s getting shy now. At first he freaked out, but he’s mellowed.
Yoojin cheered.
“Yes! Perfect!”
“Honestly it wasn’t perfect. I tried to match the lines to the situation and the makeup, but pronunciation issues—anyway, thanks! You helped me with pronunciation a lot.”
“I know!”
Sejin stopped there and admitted it. He finally realized being serious would make things awkward—and the flood of praise helped too.
I recalled the glowing comments from day one:
“I thought they were just actors in the film.”
“This is insane.”
“Bae Sejin, what are you? ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) A three-second cameo that captured everyone—Hollywood level, unreal.”
Even I was stunned.
‘No wonder he asked so many questions on set.’
Sejin used Yoojin as interpreter to learn everything he could about script and context.
‘That ad-lib at the end even made it past one take.’
The cameo had only one line of insult humor, yet on the spot we decided that a final quip would be fun—and that became the ad-lib:
“Come hear us again.”
A nod to our song playing again in the battle scene. We never guessed the full track with vocals would play in the credits too.
All told, his acting and charisma blew everyone away. Sure, a few haters popped up:
“Why stick with idols? Shouldn’t Sejin focus on acting? TeSTAR’s stage quality is up and Sejin can do what he does best.”
└ “lol that tone no way”
└ “Sejin’s the cutest pro-idol ever, can’t even quit~”
But fans quashed them. More worryingly, even general viewers and cinephiles said:
“Too good for just a cameo—build his filmography soon.”
“Actors in their 20s are scarce. Guess we trust former child actors.”
They predict he’ll switch careers from idol to actor soon.
‘People still value acting more than idols, huh.’
I shrugged. For now, let them enjoy it.
TeSTAR just scored a major win with awards, so public balance holds. Besides, we’re on the OST, so Sejin’s cameo fits our contract. No one expects him to quit group activities overnight for acting.
‘Still, if he wants both group and solo work, we need to plan.’
Who knows what they’ll prioritize later—but setting options now is safe.
‘Group success across fields is best.’ 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦
And the film project still has unreleased goodies to help.
Coincidentally, a familiar topic resurfaced among the members.
“Hm—hyung, did they say when the full OST will drop?”
Our movie OST, “Black hole,” isn’t officially out yet, but people have extracted and shared it from the trailer. Google autosuggest even shows it.
But we don’t control the rights.
“Not sure of the date... they’ll probably release it per the film studio’s schedule.”
I nodded.
“Right. It’ll appear on their OST album, not ours.”
T1 just has to live with the contract.
...And honestly, I’d have dropped it day one if I could.
‘You gotta release at peak demand.’ I’d have lost my mind and done it.
Plus the biggest reason:
“The Rimestone title will handle it.”
The famous U.S. franchise label.
‘An OST under Rimestone sells itself in America.’
Foreign listeners drop bias when they see the Rimestone logo instead of a KPOP name. Prejudice dissolved—it’s the best payoff.
‘Worth it.’
And there’s booster content too.
“Haha—an American album release, that’s wild.”
“Right... first time we’ve done film music. Good job, Rae-bin...!”
“And thanks to you, Ah-hyun, for smooth communication and performance coaching!”
Watching them enjoy the experience, I mentally ran ROI numbers.
A few days later:
By “thank you for the support,” the OST was released under the Rimestone label—and a short video followed.
“What’s this?”
“Holy shit.”
It was our live performance on the bar set. Turns out Rimestone is releasing it for promo, not just VOD or director’s cut.
On the day the OST and performance video dropped, we were flying back to Korea. On the plane’s Wi-Fi, we watched the clip on a tablet.
“Wow.”
“The editing’s definitely different.”
They reworked camera angles so it felt part of the film, giving it a fresh vibe.
[Black-hole!]
Hands and feet on instruments, the jaw, backlit under neon-like hues—it looked like art.
Avant-garde outfits, rebellious performance, distinct vocals: that band performance captured Cosmic Gunner’s atmosphere perfectly.
Those weird space instruments looked natural—maybe because real players had helped.
[Hit it like a comet!]
At the end, the camera from below captured Yoojin tossing the mic center stage—I nodded.
‘They polished this well.’
Full of American flair but unique, thanks to the film’s strong band image.
And I’m not just biased because we’re in it.
[22,938,704]
Within hours it surpassed twenty-two million views.
Yoojin whistled.
“We’re number two in the U.S.!”
“Ooh~”
“You mean trending real-time video?”
“Exactly!”
So we knew where that traffic came from—our target market.
Perfect.
Movie hype or not, a high-quality performance video racking up views is great. Explaining we’re not a band might take time, but we can turn it into a talk-show story.
‘Killer for awareness.’
While I brainstormed how to maximize this, Sejin, who’d been monitoring reactions, tapped my shoulder.
“Mundae.”
“What?”
“Look at this.”
I checked his phone.
[TeSTAR OST Plagiarism Controversy Comparison]
“...!!”
Plagiarism?
I looked at Rae-bin, then Sejin shook his head and tugged my collar.
“Keep reading.”
“...”
I turned away and read the post:
TeSTAR’s Cosmic Gunner OST “Blackhole” bridge (from 1:30)
vs. Arranger YouTuber “StarryMelodies” 127 Section Time Running remix (from 2:56)
Judge for yourself.
+For reference, StarryMelodies is a studious creator but not amateur; he’s done official game themes before.
“...??”
What is this? Why is our demo account showing up?
I called Rae-bin over and showed him the post.
“...??”
He stared as blankly as I had two minutes ago. I waited patiently for his reaction. Finally Rae-bin exclaimed:
“...! That’s right—we were rushed, and some pre-made samples overlapped!”
“Oh.”
“Sorry. Since it’s the same universe, I must have used a sample I’d made earlier without realizing...”
Summing up his explanation:
‘I grabbed beats and samples I’d pre-made like crazy for the OST. Because it’s the same universe, some overlapped. My fault! I’ll reflect deeply and make countermeasures!’
“Wait a moment.”
I calmed Rae-bin.
“Mundae?”
I signaled Sejin to pause, then first checked StarryMelodies’s channel. Comments were already exploding:
“Sue them, no question.”
“Go StarryMelodies, you’ve got my support.”
“First time I’ve heard it—amazing track. Can’t compare to the alleged copy. Keep it up!”
“Oh.”
They’re excited.
I rubbed my chin. This—I can turn this to our advantage.
