In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Chapter 148:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 148

They were the top candidates.

Among the twenty teams of singers currently active, they were among the top two. There was a moment of silence at that news.

The car was filled with the aftermath.

“Bijoo.”

Woojoo couldn’t help but laugh as he looked at his brothers.

“Why are your eyes so moist?”

“You already did.”

“No, I didn’t. It’s just dust in my eyes.”

Their second youngest’s tear ducts were already moist.

As soon as the tears started to flow, Bijoo lowered his head, and Junghyun handed him a whole tissue box.

“Hey, don’t cry. I’m not crying either.”

“You never cry anyway, Junghyun.”

“That’s true.”

Junghyun nodded.

Bijoo carefully wiped his cheeks and eyes, avoiding his eyeliner, and smiled.

You know how I feel, right, Hyung? His eyes said.

Of course. The endorphins were going crazy right now.

Woojoo looked at the three guys in the back seat.

But…

“Rihyuk, what’s with your face? Are you laughing or crying?”

“Ah. Don’t talk to me right now.”

“What’s going on here?”

The youngest, who was smiling brightly, pointed to the white and sharp triangle next to him and explained, “Rihyuk Hyung was about to cry, but Bijoo Hyung cried first, so he missed the timing.”

“Pfft.”

“Ah, seriously. Don’t laugh!”

“Hmm… But Rihyuk, are you going to cry or not?”

The bear asked seriously, and the triangle glared at him.

“Hyung. Who announces that they’re going to cry before they cry?”

“If you’re not going to cry, then put this tissue box back where it was.”

“…”

Even Bijoo, who was poking his eyes, laughed, and Rihyuk sighed and opened the window.

“Ugh, ugh…!”

He quickly closed it again after getting hit by a blast of wind.

His hair was a mess from the bad combing, and he looked like a doll. They clapped and laughed.

As always, the serious atmosphere quickly dissolved into laughter.

It was a pleasant mood.

The scene of them standing as the top candidates in the music show filled with TNT’s fans.

Or the hate comments on the internet.

They put aside the realistic problems for now and rejoiced.

They were no longer the lucky top candidates like in July, but the real deal. They were happy about that fact.

Woojoo called the road manager who was sitting in the passenger seat with a smile.

“Minki Hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“Can we leave a message on the fan cafe?”

“I was just about to contact the Director because I thought you guys might want to post something or do a live broadcast, but…”

But?

They perked up their ears.

“He said no.”

“Figures.”

“You know how the company wants us to avoid any risky behavior right now.”

“Yes, we know.”

They just wanted to express their gratitude to the Soufflés.

As they tried to soothe their disappointment, the maknae reminded them of something they had forgotten.

“By the way, what are we going to do for our first-place promise?”

“Oh, right.”

They started to discuss it on their way to the next schedule.

“Hey! I have an idea. I saw this on an idol show recently. They do the choreography at double speed…”

“Hey, Bijoo.”

“Yes?”

“Rihyuk is dead.”

“Ah!”

“He’ll probably turn into a pile of dust and disappear.”

“I don’t like either of those expressions, and I have more than a few things I want to point out, but I’ll give you credit for the dance part.”

Woojoo turned his head to Rihyuk.

“Rihyuk, what about you?”

“How about we raise the pitch for each part and do a high note challenge?”

“I like that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I love your idea that has no consideration for the other members.”

“…”

“Right. Rihyuk. I’ve never spoken above a high C.”

The maknae’s curiosity was ignited by Junghyun’s words.

“Ah, what about when you’re hot?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh… So you’re saying that’s the case in any situation?”

“Jiho, don’t try to experiment with weird things.”

Woojoo scolded the maknae and then called Junghyun.

“Junghyun, do you have any opinions?”

“Actually, no matter what we do, we can’t thank the fans enough. So how about we wear animal costumes again?”

“You couldn’t think of anything, could you?”

“Yes.”

Well, that was that.

“Not bad… But do we have to go for Penguin Season 2?”

“I’m against it. It’ll get boring if we do it again.”

“Let’s try a different concept. How about Serenity?”

“Serengeti, you idiot.”

“What do you think of the animals there? We did Antarctica, so now let’s do lions, elephants, giraffes. And we’ll make Rihyuk wear a crocodile costume. Every time he dances, he’ll have to do this with his head…”

He imitated the crocodile’s long snout wobbling and Woojoo burst out laughing.

While the younger ones were fighting, Bijoo asked Woojoo, “Hyung, do you have any ideas?”

“I was thinking of school uniforms…”

“No way.”

“Nope.”

The two youngest stopped fighting and united against him.

“Wow, look at this guy. He’s not thinking of the fans, he’s just trying to satisfy his own selfishness.”

“No, listen to me. The fans would love to see us in school uniforms and masks…”

“If the fans like school uniforms, then me and Rihyuk can just post selfies. We wear them all the time.”

Woojoo looked at Junghyun and Bijoo for help and asked ‘School uniforms, yes?’ but they only gave him a polite smile and a ‘No’ in response.

They were all either still in school or had graduated less than a year ago, so they didn’t like the idea of school uniforms.

Woojoo stuck out his tongue and said, “You’ll see.”

“See what?”

“You’ll all miss your school uniforms someday.”

Woojoo vowed to wait patiently until they felt nostalgic for their school days, but they just laughed and asked if that was a curse.

After laughing for a while, Woojoo said, “Actually, the school uniforms were a joke. I do have another idea that I want to share with you. Do you want to hear it?”

“Oh, sure.”

They all agreed with his idea after he explained it to them.

***

The next day.

They ran into a familiar face at the broadcasting station where they came for the pre-recording of HBS MTV’s ‘Showtime’ on Tuesday.

“Hey, guys!”

“Oh, hello. PD-nim.”

It was Bae Jonggeon, the PD who was in charge of their reality show.

He said he had some good news for them and they were surprised to hear it.

Their reality show was going to be exported.

“To Japan?”

“Ah, I guess only your manager knows about it,” the PD said. “The broadcasting stations decided to exchange programs, and our reality show was selected to air on MTV Japan. We’re also in talks with Taiwan.”

“Wow…”

“Why are you wowing over this?”

He laughed at their amazed faces and patted their shoulders.

“Congratulations on being a first-place candidate. Really. When we started the reality show, you were just a promising rookie, but now you’re a hit sensation.”

Woojoo waved his hand at him as he praised their song, saying that he liked it since the filming.

“Ah, no. We’re not that good.”

“That’s nice. Being humble is good.” The PD looked at them with understanding and asked, “By the way, I wanted to ask you something since you’re here.”

He congratulated them on being number one, but it seemed like this was his main point.

The PD asked them.

“We launched a new idol program and we’re looking for a fresh face with a mask. I stumbled upon it by chance…”

“Wow.”

They almost said ‘we want to do it’ at the mention of TV appearance, but they looked at their managers first.

Seeing their reactions, the PD smiled right away.

“Right. I have to talk to your managers.”

He said that he felt like he had to ask them first because their group always looked like Woojoo was the captain.

While Minki Hyung, who was pleased with the casting offer, took the PD to a cafe to contact the director, they went up to the waiting room in the elevator.

Woojoo muttered as he watched the ground get farther and farther away through the glass, “Wow, this is amazing. Really.”

“We must have made it. Street cast… What do you call this. Rihyuk.”

“Strictly speaking, it’s not street nor casting. It’s more like lobby casting on the first floor of the broadcasting station.”

“Wow. Hyungs. We got our first lobby casting.”

Woojoo had imagined a PD passing by and saying ‘please appear’ once or twice, but he never thought it would actually happen.

Of course, there were no cake fireworks or flower bouquets like in his imagination.

When he was laughing to himself thinking about it, he saw the maknae making fun of the other Hyungs with a fake old sailor voice, using the PD’s captain joke.

Woojoo retaliated right away.

“Ahhh…! I’m going to sue you.”

“Do it. Do it.”

Woojoo could only laugh pitifully at the sight of their maknae spouting some third-rate chaebol lines.

On the other hand, when they got off the elevator and saw the cue sheet on the wall of the waiting room, that smile turned sincere.

“Wow…”

Serenity, who had been behind them and had two special comeback stages each weekend until last week, was ahead of them.

They were from MOP, a powerful agency, so they just accepted it, but the situation changed in the second week.

The ones behind them were either other first-place candidates like Misty or TNT, or senior singers with higher seniority.

They looked at each other with round eyes.

“Hyung.” Bijoo said, “I didn’t realize it until we got to the broadcasting station, but I guess we really became first-place candidates.”

“Me too. I just realized it, this.” Jiho suggested as he looked at the cue sheet on the wall, “We should take a picture of this cue sheet as a souvenir.”

“Yeah. Then… did you mean a selfie?”

They tried to take a picture of the cue sheet with their name as first-place candidates, but the members immediately made a V sign and stood in front of the wall.

Woojoo ended up joining them in selfie mode.

Woojoo was smiling and teasing them as he looked at them while taking the picture.

But when he checked the photo, he was the one smiling the brightest.

***

The day went by busily.

They did a pre-recording with the Soufflés, and a comeback interview rehearsal with the two MCs of Showtime.

During that, they also revealed their promise for the first place.

“Yes, if we win the first place, we will film and upload the choreography of our title song Masquerade in a real masquerade party version.”

It was a typical first-place promise.

At first, Woojoo thought about going with something fun like the younger ones suggested, but he thought it was a rather sensitive issue.

Since they were the first-place candidates for the first time, their Soufflés must have taken it seriously.

And Woojoo thought it was not advisable to do something silly like shouting out anything.

Of course, they were the ones who took the first-place candidacy more seriously than anyone else, but it was strange to ask them to know their true feelings separately by doing the opposite.

They had to be careful since every action had meaning and interpretation at this time.

-So be careful with your facial expressions. Got it?

Before going on stage, Seokhwan Hyung called Woojoo and asked them to be careful.

He also prepared them mentally.

-You guys are the first-place candidates this week, but to be honest, you won’t win.

He said that.

-Next week or the week after, there might be some variables depending on the music scores, but honestly, this week is hard. It’s the first week. And their fandom firepower is more than you can imagine.

He seemed worried that they might be disappointed if they stood with high hopes.

As he said, the probability was extremely low this week.

It was as likely as Rihyuk not washing his hair for two days, and at the same time, Bijoo suddenly swearing and grabbing Woojoo’s collar.

The music scores were higher for them, but not by much, and the difference was too big in other aspects.

The initial sales forecast was 200,000 copies, which was expected to break the record for the highest ever.

Member Seok Jihun was cast as a supporting role in a drama that was sold to China for billions before it aired.

He was the first Korean to appear on the Chinese New Year’s program earlier this year.

For those reasons, the company also predicted that they could aim for it around the third week when the gap in music scores widened.

Woojoo prepared himself after hearing that.

Honestly, he thought it would be enough if they won once.

Woojoo was rather calm.

He was worried about their Soufflés.

He wondered what would happen if they didn’t meet their expectations.

Woojoo was happy but also complicated.

“Hey, do I look like a totem pole to you?”

“I told you, you’re like a megalith.”

“Go away, you’re not getting any.”

Woojoo glared at Rihyuk, who pretended not to hear him, and then smiled at the expressions of their kids.

They looked like they had lit a herb candle.

They seemed to calm their nervousness by smelling the scent that came from Woojoo.

Woojoo silently comforted his siblings with a smile, while looking at the TV.

When he saw the close-up shot of the TNT members, who were smiling leisurely and staring at the camera at the end.

A huge cheer came from the public hall.

The singers gave envious smiles and mouthed ‘wow’ as the staff came in from the hallway.

“Let’s go in now!”

The performers all went into the public hall while the pre-recorded special comeback stage was broadcasted.

TNT members and MCs were standing in the middle.

As New Black and Misty stood on both sides as the first-place candidates, the TNT members greeted them with their eyes and a smile.

Woojoo nodded and greeted them back.

It was not a place to greet them casually, as there were too many eyes watching and it was a formal occasion.

Meanwhile, Woojoo swallowed his saliva with his siblings.

It was because of the number of TNT fans that they saw in the standing and seating areas in front of the stage.

The wave of red glowing light sticks.

The Dynamite Sticks, as they were called, really looked like bombs.

The sight of hundreds of red glowing dynamites shaking in the dark was spectacular.

And then Woojoo spotted the yellow light sticks that shyly sparkled among them.

They were the disposable light sticks that they had given out at the fan meeting.

As they looked at them, the yellow light sticks shook like excited little stars.

They were cute.

Woojoo looked for the fans who came to the scene, whether they had light sticks or not, and greeted them with his eyes.

Woojoo didn’t know why they avoided eye contact.

Woojoo wanted to have more eye contact, but soon the TNT’s pre-recorded segment ended and the red light came on the camera.

The male and female MCs smiled brightly.

-Yes! This is the Korean-Chinese joint music show, Showtime! It’s time to announce the glorious first place of this week!

-Now, show us the scores!

The score table popped up on the screen with the pictures of the three groups.

New Black – Masquerade

TNT – ? (Question)

Misty – Fallin’

They got the highest score in the first category, which was the digital music score, and then the other scores came up.

Broadcast appearances, album sales, SNS indicators.

As one group’s overwhelming score came up, the text voting results followed.

With 70 percent in Korea and 98 percent in China, TNT’s score was announced along with the result.

-Yes, the first place is TNT!

-Congratulations.

Bang! With the bursting of the confetti and a cheer that was loud enough to make Woojoo’s ears ring, the public hall was filled with noise.

“Woooooo!”

“Congratulations on being the first-place candidate.”

“Thank you.”

Woojoo nodded at the congratulatory greeting from Misty, who was also a candidate.

They looked happy as they won the first place for three consecutive weeks and this week was their last broadcast.

In front of the entrance for the performers.

The hallway was buzzing with the voices of the singers waiting as TNT’s title song performance was playing on the TV on the wall.

As if to calm their nerves, the younger ones stuck to Woojoo today.

Woojoo approached TNT, who had just finished their speech while hundreds of Dynamites shook like crazy, and congratulated them.

Everyone had peaceful and happy faces.

“Congratulations. Our Sunbae-nims.”

“Thanks. Hyung.”

Taehyun answered as the representative.

He seemed to have something more to say, but they didn’t have time, so they lightly patted each other’s shoulders and came down.

During that time, the trophy in the leader Gu Seonwoong’s hand caught Woojoo’s eye.

…This felt weird.

Woojoo thought it would be hard to get first place, and he expected the obvious result, but it was different when he actually saw it.

Maybe it was a strange feeling.

It wasn’t a vague jealousy of someone else who was doing well.

Nor was it a childish emotion that said it was theirs.

But it seemed like something in Woojoo’s chest bloomed when he saw the trophy in his hand.

He checked the music chart every day and talked about the first-place candidates since last night, but he felt it for real for the first time.

The feeling that he really made it here.

Woojoo felt a longing when he saw the trophy and the bouquet.

He said it would be hard this week, but he realized how much he wanted to be first after the announcement was over.

And it wasn’t just him who felt that way. The expressions of his brothers who returned to the waiting room were similar.

“You all worked hard today.”

“You too, Hyung.”

Even Bijoo, who was smiling, had a slightly different atmosphere than usual.

Seeing their faces, Woojoo didn’t think they needed a long talk, so he whispered quietly as they walked down the hallway.

“Let’s do everything we can until the music show is over.”

They all nodded.

“We don’t know what will happen. So let’s try everything for a month as if we’re dead.”

It didn’t matter if it worked or not.

It was their new goal.