In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Chapter 154:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 154

When Woojoo was young, he used to fast-forward or skip the scenes he didn’t like when he watched videos.

But now, he wished he could rewind.

Just five seconds.

“Pfft…”

He heard the members of Serenity, who were standing behind him, trying to stifle their laughter in real-time.

The male and female MCs were covering their mouths with the cue cards, but Woojoo could see their smiling lips.

Damn it.

Even the camera directors, who were usually known for not laughing at anything, were twitching their lips. How bad was it?

Woojoo wanted to run off the stage right away, making a dragon roar, but he had to say his thoughts first.

The things he had to say before the live broadcast ended.

“I was so shocked by this unbelievable event that I was speechless for a moment.”

Woojoo tried to act natural, but no one in the audience believed him.

He finished expressing his gratitude to the CEO, the company staff, the family and fans who always supported them.

As the staff roll was broadcasted on the TV screen, the intro of Masquerade played from the amp.

“Congratulations!”

They greeted the singers who bowed and left the stage.

“Congrats, Hyung.”

“Congrats, Woojoo.”

The TNT members also hugged him lightly and went down the stage.

While the audience was leaving, he grabbed the mic and did an encore stage.

At first, he was so embarrassed that he avoided eye contact with the Soufflés who remained in the audience and sang while looking at his siblings, but Bijoo, who was singing next to him, winked at him as if to tell him to look at the audience.

He turned his face to the audience with a sheepish expression and almost forgot his part of the song.

It had been a long time since he saw someone so happy.

***

They won first place on a music show with their song.

And that was only five months after their debut.

The related news appeared on the main page of the portal entertainment news, but Woojoo didn’t have the courage to click on it.

Especially the title of the popular clip on Music On, ‘#Is_This_Real? An idol who is moved by his unbelievable first win’.

Woojoo lost all his motivation.

In the car moving to the next schedule.

“Pwahahaha!”

The siblings laughed and clapped every time they saw something.

“Ah, I think I’m going to cry.”

Bijoo wiped away the tears that came out from laughing too much.

“It’s so funny. Hyung, this…”

“I don’t care. I’m not going to watch it. I didn’t ask.”

“…Hyung, are you crying?”

“No. I’m not crying.”

Woojoo leaned his head against the window and looked at the Yeouido scenery that was getting dark.

They laughed again at his appearance.

Junghyun offered Woojoo a bear jelly.

“Do you want some, Hyung?”

“Give me a lot. I need sugar right now.”

He picked out one jelly of each color and put them in his palm, then handed him the whole bag.

He clenched his fist as if to cheer Woojoo up, and he stopped laughing.

Jiho stuck his head out from the back seat. Woojoo thought he was going to comfort him, but he opened his mouth like a carp.

“Can I have some jelly?”

“Eat them all. All of them.”

Woojoo shoved six jellies into his mouth, but he just chewed them happily, and he felt a fire in his chest.

Rihyuk giggled in the back.

“I have to remember this joke. Mister, do you know?”

“What?”

“The fans have already given you several nicknames. They say you have a first-class license to make black history. And…”

“Aaaaah!”

Woojoo covered his ears and turned his head, but the white crane was chirping excitedly.

“Be quiet. You crane.”

You dress like a crane too, Woojoo retorted, and the other siblings clapped and laughed loudly.

The crane flapped his wings threateningly at him with a fierce look, but Woojoo ignored him.

After about three minutes, Woojoo uncovered his ears.

Bijoo smiled kindly and comforted Woojoo from the seat next to him.

“I sometimes think that.”

He was the only one.

“Sometimes I wonder if God gave you so much talent, and in return, he gave you black history…”

“Bijoo.”

“Yes?”

“Swear. Swear.”

His siblings loved seeing him scream out the window.

They were so excited about the fact that they won first place on a music show for the first time.

Actually, Woojoo felt the same way.

Woojoo was in a better mood than usual and had pointless conversations and jokes with his siblings.

The extreme fatigue was still there, but it disappeared for a while like bugs running away from the bright light.

What moved them now was joy.

How could he explain this?

To someone, this trophy might be nothing more than a rock, but to them, it was more precious than anything.

The first win.

Woojoo didn’t know how their remaining activities would go, but he thought he would never forget this first win.

This feeling of having goosebumps on his spine while his eyes were blurry.

Woojoo finally achieved the goal that he had dreamed of for six years as a trainee and eight years as a singer.

The words ‘MusicOn: New Black 2014.12.12’ engraved on the translucent glass were dyed by the evening sunset.

Every time Woojoo saw it, he felt a lump in his throat.

Along with the satisfaction of getting what he wanted, the lump that had accumulated over time left his body.

And new things filled that space.

The first place on a music show and the Rookie Award, Woojoo wanted to go beyond those and climb higher.

Of course, their youngest was still excited and running around.

“Hyung, let’s do a live broadcast with our fans.”

“Okay.”

More than anything, Woojoo picked up the public phone to send a thank you message to the Soufflés who had suffered as much as they did.

The company gladly allowed them to do it today.

They started the broadcast without notice, but the fans came in quickly.

They all gathered together and waited for the chat window to come up with their hearts pounding.

The first comment came up.

-Congratulations on New Black’s first win!

They smiled brightly and shouted ‘Wow!’ and danced with their shoulders together. Then, the next comments came up.

-I heard that New Black won first place. Is that true?

-Oh, it’s true…?

-They also won the Rookie Award?

-Oh, it’s true…??

Woojoo was stunned by the comments that were swirling in a frenzy, while their siblings were making a fuss.

They were barely holding on until then.

-Is it true that Woojoo can’t play games?

-Oppa is a game noob

When Woojoo expected ‘Oh, it’s true’, a joke came in without blinking and he was seriously hurt.

While he was holding the back of his neck, the reality and the chat window were filled with ‘ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ’.

***

“Yes, this week’s Live Music Camp, the winner is~ yes! New Black’s Masquerade! Congratulations!”

“Who will be the number one singer of the second week of December? Let’s reveal the scores! Yes! Digital score. Album score. Broadcast score, and SNS score and text voting. Congratulations! New Black!”

As it often happens with misfortune, luck also came to them without any warning.

They didn’t just win their first music show in the last week, but they also swept the three major terrestrial channels and became triple crown winners.

“Congratulations!”

As they smiled with dazed eyes, fireworks popped and confetti flew in front of them.

A barbecue restaurant in Gangnam district.

It was a dinner party that the company prepared for them and the staff who won the first place all weekend.

Maybe it was because of the generous words of the CEO who told them to eat as much as they wanted today, or the relief that the music shows were finally over.

The atmosphere of the dinner party was really hot.

“Woojoo! Say something!”

The makeup artists banged their spoons and chopsticks and asked him to speak, while the managers, staff, and his brothers shouted ‘Say something!’ loudly.

Meanwhile, the CEO and his wife brought trays of flower sirloin with happy faces.

Woojoo stood up and the youngest handed him a spoon as if it was a microphone.

“Uh, thank you… Hey, where did you learn this?”

“Dad showed me a video of his company dinner. Dad and his coworkers were singing trot songs and pulling out tissues and throwing them in the air.”

“We can’t do that.”

Bijoo agreed with him and said ‘Yeah, we can’t’.

After thanking the staff, Woojoo exchanged some toast stories with them, and they decided among themselves without saying anything.

“Okay, let’s toast together!”

“Really?”

Some people exclaimed ‘Really?’ as if they were surprised, and Woojoo’s back felt like a rubber band that was stretched.

“Hyung, let’s toast too.”

“If we do the same toast as them, they won’t leave us alone.”

“Then let’s go with ‘they won’t leave us alone’.”

“They won’t leave us alone!”

Damn.

Woojoo laughed and clinked the glass filled with cider with the managers and his brothers.

They had a schedule tomorrow, but everyone drank cider and ate meat for them who couldn’t drink alcohol.

While everyone was eating like crazy, Junghyun and Dowon took care of the meat.

“How is it? Did I grill it well?”

“Oh, awesome. Junghyun.”

“Hmm.”

He smiled proudly with a face full of pride in grilling meat, and Woojoo kept giving him thumbs up.

Meanwhile, Woojoo talked to Seokhwan Hyung about work.

“…Is that true?”

“Really?”

“Uh, yeah.”

He answered while chewing on a wrap.

“They haven’t decided on the program title yet… but the singers have already signed the contracts. We also finished the talk about the appearance yesterday. It’s good to have the title of the number one singer in the first year of debut.”

“Are you really going to be with Cha Woohyun Sunbae or Jo Yuri band?”

“Yeah, they said they’re going to record around January 20th.”

“Wow…”

Woojoo stopped eating and opened his mouth wide.

The schedule that their manager brought was a music competition program on PBS that was going to be recorded in January.

It was a project that they were working on internally.

He said he would show Woojoo the plan that the broadcasting station sent when there was no one in the office.

“And TBC hasn’t given us a clear hint yet, but they might ask for a joint stage. A cover stage.”

“Where is our stage? Sangam? Or Ilsan?”

“Sangam.”

“…It’s going to be cold.”

“But it’s not Imjingak. We have to be grateful.”

Woojoo nodded at Rihyuk’s words.

The TBC year-end music festival, which was held on December 31st, had two stages, and they were chosen to perform on the outdoor stage in front of the Sangam-dong headquarters.

It must be really cold for the audience at night.

Woojoo heard that they used to do live stages at Imjingak, where they rang the bell for the New Year, and he felt a lot of respect for the senior singers.

Jiho, who was munching on a giant wrap that Junghyun made, asked, “By the way, who are we doing the joint stage with?”

“It’s not decided yet.”

They didn’t even tell them the exact details when it was only three weeks away.

Woojoo was annoyed, but he let it go.

It wasn’t the first time that the broadcasting station did this.

Well.

It didn’t matter which team they were with, as long as they did their best.

“Let’s eat first, Hyung.” Junghyun put some meat on my rice and said, “They say even Mount Geumgang is better after a meal.”

“That’s a wise saying.”

Wow, he didn’t even mess up that idiom.

Woojoo admired him as he put the beef in his mouth. He felt happy as he savored the oil, the aroma, and the juice. Then he saw it.

He saw it on his smartphone…

The ‘Korean Encyclopedia: Even Mount Geumgang is better after a meal’.

***

After a perfect weekend of winning the Rookie Award and three music shows, they went back to their schedule.

The first schedule on Monday was the recording of HBS MTV’s ‘Idol Show’.

Idol Show.

It seemed like a program that was made with the rival K-net’s ‘Show Show Show! Idol High School!’ in mind.

Just like Idol High, they invited one idol group and played various games with them, while also getting some fun and talk out of them.

It was a program that targeted the idol fans as the viewers.

They were aiming for the broadcast in early January 2015, and New Black were the lucky ones to be the first guests.

The PD who was in charge of ‘It’s the New Black’ strongly recommended them to the outsourced production team. 

They felt the pressure of being the first guest, but also the determination to do well.

“But the script here is not that tight.”

On the way to the studio, Rihyuk was flipping through the script in the car.

“It just has the MC’s lines, and the rest is up to us, I guess.”

“Well, maybe they want some ad-libs from us.”

Woojoo liked the fact that the format was flexible, but it was also burdensome.

It was a format that required them to create the fun by ourselves.

Bijoo, who was stretching his limbs in all directions, asked, “By the way, how should we address them? Sunbae-nim? Teacher?”

“Sunbae-nim would be better.”

“Yeah, I think they wouldn’t like it if we called them teacher.”

The group name ‘Trend’ popped up on the portal search window.

A 5-member mixed group that debuted in 1994.

They were one of the first generation idol groups that dominated the 90s, and they are still considered as legends.

The MCs for today were the oldest, Seri, and the youngest, Bukbuk.

“Bukbuk Sunbae-nim. Bukbuk Sunbae-nim.”

They practiced among ourselves.

It sounded weird and awkward.

They We shouldn’t laugh, but for some reason, they couldn’t help but smile, so they practiced with serious faces.

Bukbukbukbukbukbuk.

Bukbukbuk.

The sound of ‘bukbukbukbuk’ echoed in the car until they entered the parking lot of the broadcasting station.

“Get used to it.”

As they looked at the stunned expression of Mr. Dowon, who was watching them through the rearview mirror, Woojoo heard Minki Hyung, who was sitting in the passenger seat, speak.

He sounded rather proud.

“That’s our kids.”

***

The idol show was produced by an outside company, so the studio was not located at the broadcasting station, but somewhere else.

Woojoo knew that much, of course.

The problem was.

“…What am I looking at right now?”

“Same here.”

“Let’s try to name one thing we see in front of us.”

“A national flag.”

“A slogan. The reliable staff of the people.”

“A sign for the detective team 4.”

“Steel bars.”

“My teeth reflected in the mirror.”

They looked around with bewildered expressions.

The cubicles and office supplies, the police logos on every wall.

And even a detention center.

This place, which perfectly recreated the scene of a police station, was the studio where they were going to film today.

“Surprised?”

“No.”

Yes, very.

Mr. Ko, the PD who was in charge of the production of today’s program, explained.

“Originally, the scheduled filming location was on the floor above, but it suddenly needed some construction work… Well, there were some complicated circumstances, but I thought this place would be fun too, so I decided to go ahead with it.”

“Oh. Is it a police station special?”

“Of course not. It’s the first episode special.”

“…”

Woojoo wasn’t sure if it was their style of production, but both the director and the PD had a very unique vibe.

The two MCs, who had arrived early and were fixing their makeup, also greeted them.

“Hi!”

Seri smiled warmly and waved her hand with a greeting.

She shook hands and greeted each of them, making them all smile awkwardly.

The other MC, Bukbuk, arrived shortly after with a box of coffee in his hand.

“Nuna, here’s the coffee.”

“Thank you. Our Bookie.”

They looked at each other and smiled, even when the camera was off. They seemed to have a very good relationship.

When their eyes turned to them, New Black also greeted them.

“Hello, we are New Black!”

He, who had kept his round and cute face even in his 30s, smiled at them.

“Hi, do you want some coffee? I didn’t know your preferences, so I searched for some interviews and bought them.”

“Wow…”

He was an angel.

This person was an angel.

Woojoo felt like wings were spreading behind him, and a halo was…

“Watch out for the light!”

It wasn’t, but it was still dazzling.

Their enthusiasm for the broadcast grew even more.

After all the filming equipment was set up, the PD clapped his hands and said, “Okay, then let’s start with the ritual before we shoot!”

“…Yes?”

Immediately, a ritual table was set up with a pig’s head photo on a tablet PC, along with some potato chips and snacks.

…In the middle of the police station set.

When Woojoo was staring blankly, Junghyun whispered to him.

“Hyung, there’s an electric shocker over there too.”

“…What?”

Woojoo was startled and turned around, and saw a lie detector that was placed as a prop for filming.

The one that gave you an electric shock when you lied after putting your hand on it.

Fortunately, it wasn’t an electric shocker.

But…

“Isn’t this show a bit weird?”

Rihyuk’s whisper made them all nod.