In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Chapter 146:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 146

It was the first time.

The first time Woojoo saw such a packed schedule.

“Ugh, why are there so many? Variety shows…”

“Jiho.”

Woojoo raised his index finger and the maknae nodded.

They were in a partitioned waiting room where they could hear the conversations of other rookies next to them.

A message notification popped up on Woojoo’s phone screen.

Jiho [Wow!!]

Jiho [Wowwwww!!!]

Rihyuk [What are you saying]

Jiho [I want to scream, but I’m screaming in the chat room]

Bijoo [Oh, me too, me too]

Bijoo [Wow!]

Junghyun [Wow]

Jiho [ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

Rihyuk [Wow!]

Jiho [Just one verse, please.]

After a brief silence in mute mode, they marveled at the schedule in front of them.

It was full.

There was at least one schedule every day.

There were radio appearances every evening, and a list of cable and terrestrial variety shows.

There were some events in between, but most of them were fan signing events, and there were only a few real events.

It was a new feeling.

When Something was hot in March, they were full of events, but now they were full of broadcast schedules.

They all felt proud of the meaning behind it.

It meant that the broadcast station people finally classified New Black from ‘a successfully debuted rookie group’ to ‘a rising group’.

Bijoo [Looking at the schedule, I think we need to take care of our health from today]

Woojoo nodded.

It was a happy but scary, or as their Deoksoon said, a freaking scary schedule.

Of course, it might look doable if you just looked at it, but there were two things omitted from it.

The daily music show recordings and the upcoming year-end stage rehearsals.

-12.11 Mango Chart Award Rookie Award Candidate Stage

After doing the schedule until late at night and coming back, Woojoo felt dizzy thinking about rehearsing at dawn.

But he decided to smile.

Me [Let’s laugh for now]

Me [The ones who suffer are our future selves]

The younger ones agreed.

Junghyun [Oh]

Jiho [That’s right]

Rihyuk [What do you mean that’s right, you guys…]

Bijoo [Then let’s be happy (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و ]

Junghyun [Agreed]

Soon they started to dance with their shoulders in mute mode with the schedule in front of them.

Minki Hyung, who had fallen asleep, looked at them with a drowsy eye for three seconds and then closed it again.

He seemed to think it was a weird dream.

***

After successfully finishing their comeback stage on K-net, they had an exclusive interview with Reporter Oh Sohee from Entertainment IN.

She asked them how they felt and told them things like ‘one million views on the music video in 48 hours’ or ‘the foreign K-pop webzine already mentioned 2014’s ‘best rookie’’.

Woojoo had to work hard to control his expression every time.

After the interview, she said the cliché ‘I really thought New Black would do well’ but he was very grateful to her.

She was someone who had been watching them since their debut.

The article title also came out with a very warm atmosphere.

-[Exclusive] New Black, first interview after comeback “Still nervous… want to be more perfect”

It had been only a day, but they already heard things like ‘you guys will rise soon’, ‘the song will go up more’.

The entertainment industry insiders seemed to see something unusual in the trend.

They also felt that they had really hit the jackpot.

They were nervous until yesterday, but they realized how well they did when they came to the broadcast station.

But as they said in the interview, they didn’t want to settle for the stories they heard.

It wasn’t entirely their own success.

The staff and employees who stayed up every night for three months to make the album, and their Soufflés’ efforts were huge.

And above all, the most important ten spoons, no, drum-sized luck.

This was the result of all the complex factors, so Woojoo was happy, but he also felt more greedy.

They should do better.

He became more greedy every time he heard that they did well.

It wasn’t just him, but the younger ones too.

They couldn’t miss this rare opportunity.

HBS Mokdong Building.

They arrived at the radio center on the 12th floor and greeted the people they had met once before.

“Hello!”

“Oh, welcome.”

They exchanged friendly greetings with the HBS production team that they had appeared on last July and sang ‘Night Sea’ with Rihyuk.

The main writer said he would invite them again for their next comeback, and he kept his promise.

And it was on the day of their comeback.

They bowed their heads repeatedly with their managers in the radio studio.

“Thank you so much. On the day of our comeback…”

“Don’t be too grateful. It’s just that the corner where we invite singers is on Thursday, so it happened like this.”

Woojoo greeted the main writer again, who smiled and spoke.

“We’re so thankful that we brought some gifts along with the album.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to do that.”

“Our youngest bought it.”

“That’s right. So please make us look pretty.”

The production team liked the appearance of their youngest, who popped up over Woojoo’s shoulder and smiled brightly.

Woojoo smiled and said, “But this is radio, Jiho. They can’t see you.”

“Huh? But last time, Rihyuk Hyung and I showed our faces.”

“That was a visible radio.”

“Is it not today?”

“Close your eyes.” Jiho closed his eyes and said, “I closed them.”

“What do you see?”

“Nothing. I only hear your voice, Hyung.”

“Exactly. That’s it.”

“No…”

Everyone laughed at the expression of their youngest, who looked like the world had ended.

Woojoo asked, looking at the guy who went to the corner, “Why is he like that?”

Bijoo said with a smile, “When Rihyuk was on the radio last time, he did really well, and he said he would do twice.”

“Three times.”

“Three times better than that today.”

That was why he was so into his outfit today.

Woojoo wondered why he got up early in the morning and took out and put back clothes from the hanger with fish eyes.

The youngest one grumbled as he sat on the chair.

“I wore such nice clothes.”

“Well, you should have a nicer heart. You can never beat me, Wang Jiho.”

Rihyuk’s face bloomed with a smile as he spoke to Jiho.

Meanwhile, everyone became serious as they started to skim through the script for today’s broadcast.

The reason why they had so many variety shows and broadcast schedules was to promote their new song, Masquerade.

They didn’t care much about the other talks, but they had to do a perfect job with the new song promotion.

“New Black, we’re going in.”

“Yes!”

9 o’clock.

It was time to proceed with the third part of ‘Wonderful Night’, a singer introduction corner called ‘Voice of Thursday Night’, right after the second part ended.

As the commercials started to play and the [On Air] light went off, they entered the booth and greeted the DJ.

“Welcome, our cuties.”

Jang Sowon sunbae hugged them warmly with a bright smile.

Then she said, “You guys grew taller.”

“Wow…”

They sincerely marveled.

“How did you know?”

“I saw it in your interview.”

“Oh.”

They laughed for a long time as they looked at each other.

As they chatted about their recent activities, Jang Sowon Sunbae brought up the topic of the joint stage that was coming soon.

“You have a year-end stage with Mango, right? Something.”

“Ah, yes.”

“We should meet and practice, but you guys won’t have time, right?”

“Um… I think we have to discuss that with our managers. But we’re probably going to have a hard time… Maybe we’ll have to exchange videos of the choreography and the movements.”

“You guys must be really busy. Running around for music shows, promoting.”

“We have to work hard,” Junghyun said seriously. “We have to save up when the money comes in.”

Jang Sowon Sunbae gasped and laughed, and New Black joined in.

Only Junghyun was wondering what was wrong.

The production staff behind the soundproof glass looked curious about what was so funny, but Woojoo was glad they didn’t know the conversation.

As Fireworks played as the opening song for the third part, Jang Sowon Sunbae wiped her tears and said, “Ah, that’s hilarious. I think Junghyun’s face makes me laugh now.”

“We feel the same way,” they said, and then they told her that they had a lot of questions for Junghyun, like the black goat and so on, and that they would ask him later on the broadcast.

They promised to have a storm of chatter on the air.

Then, as they prepared by flipping through the scripts, she said with a smile, “I’m proud. Really. I never thought I’d see our cuties win first place when I met them last year.”

They all clapped their hands.

“We’re not number one yet, Sunbae-nim.”

“No, from what I saw, you’ll definitely get it at least once. Whether it’s the music show or the chart. You’ll surely be a candidate for number one.”

“Yes, I heard about that candidate thing.”

Woojoo heard it from the company.

They said their digital performance and chart trend were good, so they would definitely be a candidate for number one next week.

A candidate for number one.

The word number one still felt unfamiliar to Woojoo, so he used the word ‘that candidate’ instead of ‘number one candidate’ when he talked to their sunbaenim.

Then, as if she remembered something, her face darkened.

“Ah, but you’re overlapping with TNT, right?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Jang Sowon Sunbae-nim scratched her cheek.

“Then it’ll be a bit tough. When I was in a girl group, we overlapped with the most popular group at the time.”

“…”

“I recommend you not to look at the internet for a while. You probably won’t have time anyway.”

“Yes. I’ll do that.”

“Really, it’s essential for your mental health. Essential.”

She made a face as if she was gritting her teeth, and Woojoo felt scared.

Bijoo opened a notepad and wrote something.

Maybe he was adding something new to his to-do list.

Then, the PD’s voice rang out.

-The commercial is ending soon.

They all put on their headphones.

It was time for the broadcast to start.

***

9:05.

With a cheerful BGM, the DJ and the guests’ voices came out.

-Ah, it’s not every day that we have this. Once a week, we invite singers to have a fun time. ‘Thursday night’s~

-Voice!’

-Yes, today we have singers who will give you honey-like voices in your ears!

-Two, three. Hello! We are New Black!

As they clapped and cheered and introduced themselves in the booth, the production team outside was entering the event winners.

-Yes, the answer was New Black’s Fireworks, and congratulations to 5775, 9888, and 3057. We’ll send you a nutrition set.

-Wow, nutrition!

The DJ looked at the New Black members as if they were cute.

-Wow, the reaction is really hot. ‘New Black, that’s awesome’, ‘Why don’t you do a radio show today sob’, ‘The song was good’ and so on. Ouch, my eyes hurt. The scroll is going up too fast, I can’t read it.

-I can read it.

-Oh, really?

-Yes. I have good dynamic vision.

Member Junghyun volunteered to read it confidently.

And then.

-Uh, I read it.

-Yes.

-I forgot.

That was the incredulous voice of Woojoo, who was watching him.

-Aren’t you too confident?

-My eye movement is no joke, but my memory is bad.

Then, Rihyuk stepped in and asked.

-I have a question, Junghyun. What did we eat eight days ago?

-Tofu salad and chicken breast steak.

-…

Next, Bijoo asked.

-Junghyun, then do you remember what I said to you this morning? When you enter the dorm, you have to take off your shoes in the shoe rack…

-Huh? Did you talk to me this morning?

Bijoo snorted with his nose, making everyone clap and laugh.

-Hahaha! I heard the snort.

-We should have done a live radio today. Bijoo’s expression just now was too precious for us to see alone.

-Huh… Then please invite us again next time.

-How about it, PD-nim? Will New Black come back?

The PD, who was watching from outside the booth, nodded his head half-way and cheers came from inside.

The main writer, who was watching them, sipped his coffee and said, “How’s the reaction today?”

“It’s really good,” the sub-writer said, looking at the monitor. “The comments are really good. They seem like fan comments, but even considering that, they are funny and positive.”

“Fans?”

“Yes, look at the chat room. There are a lot more people than last week.”

The engineer looked at the number on the monitor and was surprised.

“When did they grow so much?”

“Maybe it’s because of Around the World With Dice, or maybe we don’t know something.”

“This industry is so dynamic every day. A few months ago, they were like singers only I knew.”

It was a strange sight for those who had seen New Black’s first performance.

“They grow fast, too.”

“Look at him, Rihyuk. He couldn’t speak well and was flustered in July, but now he’s good.”

“Really? He wasn’t good then?”

“No?”

“I just thought his voice was so good…”

“He wasn’t. The leader did almost everything.”

“True. Woojoo’s face changed a lot.”

Their eyes turned to Woojoo, who was next to the DJ.

He was more relaxed and comfortable than when he appeared before.

Maybe it was because of the members who joined and left at the right timing.

-By the way, there was a behind-the-scenes story behind the album title, right?

-Yes. It’s my dark history.

The melody that came out of a pig dream.

And the story of calling the company director at dawn made the chat room laugh.

-So did you eat pork cutlet with the director?

-Yes… He said it was a famous place, and it was really delicious. At first, I wanted to eat a little because of my pride, but I ordered another serving.

-Please tell me, too. That place.

With that, Jang Sowon changed the topic.

-By the way, I felt this before, but Woojoo’s dreams always help a lot at important times.

-Right. That’s why Bijoo, I mean, Hyung.

-Surprise. Be careful with your pronunciation.

-Sorry. I’m in my growth phase.

-That’s right. It’s the time when your tongue grows.

-Yes, anyway, Bijoo Hyung bought a dream interpretation book and said he would interpret Woojoo Hyung’s dreams from now on.

As they talked about the album composition episode, it was time to finish the third part.

-Well, let’s end the third part here and return to the fourth part, ‘My Way Karaoke’ corner.

-Please stay tuned!

With that, Masquerade played as the ending song of the third part.

While they chatted again in the booth, the people outside who listened to the song were amazed again.

“The song is really good.”

“It’s like, you know, there are foreign songs that people like and go up on the charts. That kind of feeling.”

“Yeah, it sounds like a foreign song.”

The PD, who was listening to the song, asked, “What rank is this, now?”

“I searched it this morning and it was 12th or something.”

He nodded silently.

Meanwhile, New Black’s songs had been spreading across the country through the radio waves.

On buses, in reading rooms, in subways, and more.

As everyone quietly listened to the songs, the same thought crossed their minds. The PD parted his lips.

“This will go up. For sure.”

***

The response to their first radio appearance after the comeback was successful.

They didn’t make it to the main screen, but there were quite a few articles about last night’s broadcast.

-Why did New Black members buy a book about lucid dreaming…?

-‘Masquerade’, composed by Woojoo who ‘felt the music in his dream’

-New Black’s comments on ‘Wonderful Night’ spark interest in their comeback song’s composition

There were also some weird things that caught attention.

-New Black’s Woojoo shows off his old-school vibe on ‘Wonderful Night’? ‘All his favorite songs are from the 70s’

-New Black, the youngest’s bold revelation ‘Our leader, his clothes and blankets are all grandma’s style. All floral patterns’

-[Last night’s radio] New Black’s Woojoo, ‘You should live with a grandma too’ makes the listeners laugh out loud

He was never going to visit the fan cafe today. Never.

“Ugh, grumpy…”

“Sigh.”

“Be quiet. You guys.”

Friday dawn.

Despite the fatigue, Woojoo ignored the bare-faced monsters who wanted to tease him and got into the car.

Today’s music show schedule was PBS’s Music On.

It was time to reunite with the old friends once again since last February.