In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 222

Woojoo turned his head and asked, “How many letters did you write?”

“I don’t know. Don’t ask me.”

He covered his eyes like a cat, thinking that it would be okay if he didn’t see it. Woojoo laughed at his sight.

Seokhwan Hyung, who was laughing with him, got to the point.

“It was crazy after you guys went on the show yesterday. Really.”

“Really?”

Seokhwan showed Woojoo his phone. The phone was still ringing.

“Do you know how amazing it was to get 17 percent yesterday? You guys were third in the weekend entertainment show with the Legendary Song Discovery.”

“…The ones above are Around the World With Dice and Mr. Producer?”

It was the story right after TBC’s ‘Around the World with Dice’ and PBS’s ‘Mr. Producer’, which were called the two national entertainment shows.

In other words, it was the best-rated show among the weekend entertainment shows, except for the two insurmountable ones.

“It feels real when you say that.”

“The production team was also flustered. They thought it would be less than 15 percent no matter how well they did, but it was more than that.”

Woojoo could imagine.

They were so excited and ran around the room when they got 11 percent last time, but 17 percent…

But they were just as flustered.

“The PR Team did some public opinion analysis. More than 90 percent of them are showing positive feelings.”

Assistant Manager Hong showed Woojoo the tablet PC. His brothers gathered around him and stretched their necks.

“Wow…”

Woojoo only laughed at the situation where the community was showing friendly reactions to them without hiding anything.

Woojoo pointed to one of them.

“But what is this among the SNS?”

“Oh, that’s where the TNT fans are staying. You don’t have to worry about their reactions. It’s a structure where a few people write a lot of posts…”

“Ah.”

Woojoo understood and moved on.

He said with a smile, “You just have to pay attention to the public reaction now. Most of the idol fans are also showing good reactions to you. The reactions are good online and offline.”

They nodded their heads. They had experienced the offline reactions ourselves.

Seokhwan Hyung said, “I’ve been getting calls from event agencies since this morning. I think there are at least seven of them. I brought this…”

The letters were so dense that Woojoo thought it was a phone book, but it wasn’t. He looked closely.

One by one, they came into his eyes.

‘Sweet potato festival’, ‘Winter festival’, ‘University OT event’, etc.

It seemed like they listed all the events that would take place in the next three months.

“Hyung, what is this?”

“It’s the event booking that came to you in a day after the broadcast.”

“Which one is ours? I don’t see any highlighted ones…”

“What are you talking about?”

He snorted and said, “That’s all yours.”

“…!”

What would it feel like to be hit by lightning?

Woojoo felt the hair on his body stand up and the back of his neck stiffen. He couldn’t speak and his mouth was just ‘wow…’ and he felt goosebumps.

“Are you crazy…”

They all muttered the same thing.

The impatient youngest one rummaged through the paper. The dense event booking list continued to page 4.

He lifted his head blankly without looking.

“Hyung, so this is all…”

“Yeah. They’re all places that want you to come.”

At that, they finally realized and looked at each other.

“Guys…”

“Hyung…”

Woojoo nodded his head.

“Let’s take it out.”

“Go go.”

They all took out their phones and snapped the paper with the event list on their smartphones.

Assistant Manager Hong asked, “Why…?”

“We want to keep it.”

Then, with the serious words of their youngest brother, ‘This is a collector’s item’, the two of them clapped their hands and laughed.

They kept admiring the paper.

“Wow, this is amazing. Rihyuk, can we make copies of this? Let’s keep them.”

“I’ll go to the office later and bring five copies.”

“Please use colored paper, Secretary Seo. You know how to make it red, right?”

Their main vocal stepped on the youngest’s foot when Seokhwan Hyung said, “Of course, you have to take into account that half of them are fake.”

What does that mean?

“The broadcast was yesterday, so the price hasn’t been reflected yet. It’s based on the Masquerade standard, which is not cheap, but considering the popularity from yesterday’s broadcast, and the future situation, it’s low.”

“…”

“Your appearance fee will go up.”

He, who usually said ‘I don’t know’, ‘We’ll see’, and spoke cautiously, said with confidence, “This is not just a lucky break. As the Legendary Song Discovery show continues, the price will only go up. That means the popularity will increase.”

In other words, what they had been doing so far was shining with public recognition.

“More than half of those events are going to hire you at your current pay. That’s why we’re not going. For now, we’re thinking of focusing on big venues or college events.”

He said they should coordinate on that part.

They had to prepare for the third album, and there were a lot of things to do. He wondered if they would have any free time by June.

“Terrestrial broadcasting is good. This is the first time we’ve been invited to so many events since Something. It’s fun to raise the price of the agencies that used to bully us…”

Woojoo thought he shouldn’t mess with Seokhwan Hyung, who smiled coldly.

He pulled out another pile of papers.

“This is the entertainment list I got from the broadcast writers this morning.”

“…”

“By the way, we have to go to the radio and talk show on PBS. The entertainment director and our head talked and said they wanted to get some popularity from PBS’s other entertainment shows.”

When a show had good ratings, the cast appeared as guests on radio, talk shows, and follow-up shows.

They were in the repertoire of sucking the bones dry.

They looked surprised as they scanned the list.

“Oh, this is it, right? Street busking.”

“There’s also something like an escape room. That sounds fun.”

It was a different feeling from when they chose the History Discovery Team.

Unlike the previous cable shows with strong B-grade emotions and dating shows, this time it was a professional show that they had seen in the entertainment field.

It was hard to decide what to choose.

Meanwhile, it seemed that they were not only noticed for their entertainment skills and singing skills yesterday.

“By the way, Woojoo.”

Woojoo looked away from the entertainment list at the manager’s call.

“…Huh?”

“It’s about the OST that Cha Woohyun recommended. There’s some change and I wanted to ask your opinion.”

“What is it?”

“The music director must have liked your arrangement. He looked at other materials after the broadcast.”

The younger ones also looked at Woojoo.

“They originally planned to just sing, but they asked through the production company if you had any thoughts on making the song yourself.”

“Really?”

“I said I’d talk to you, but what do you think? You’re producing the third album and your schedule is…”

“I’ll do it. I have to do this.”

Bijoo whispered in Woojoo’s ear, “Hyung, are you okay? Your schedule is tight.”

“Bijoo, you can’t say no when money comes in.”

There was a chance to add another line to his career, so of course he had to take it.

OST work was something he always wanted to do since he changed his career to a composer.

Events, entertainment, OST.

He felt excited when he thought he would be busier than ever.

Assistant Manager Hong came out.

“Are you done with the director’s talk?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

They turned their eyes to the PR team staff.

They had finished talking with the management team, and wondered what the PR Team had to say.

“Your fandom is growing so fast, we’re thinking of moving up the fan club recruitment for the second generation.”

Usually, when an idol fan club name was decided, the agency recruited members in the first generation.

They paid an annual fee and got pre-booking rights for ticketing for fan meetings and other events, along with goods.

They listened quietly to the news that they were moving up the recruitment for the second generation.

“By then, we’re thinking of opening your solo concert.”

“…Yes?”

They all opened their eyes wide at the unexpected news.

***

Woojoo had dreamed of a concert since he was a trainee.

His grand dream was to start small and gradually increase the scale until he finally reached the gymnastics stadium.

During TJ, the staff of the Rookie Development Team often took the trainees to the senior idol’s concert for motivation.

The waves of light sticks that rippled like the Milky Way.

Gorgeous lighting.

Senior singers shining on stage.

The sound of music that shook the heart and the fans who screamed so loud that they made your ears ache.

They greeted them warmly in the dressing room just before, but they looked like people from another world on stage, so mysterious and envious.

How excited he was to see it.

After becoming a debut group, Woojoo came back from the field trip and talked about the future concert with TNT all night.

Well. Then he was discharged a few weeks later…

Anyway, that was how much a solo concert was for him, a dream and a wish for all idols.

But not everyone could do it.

Basically, it was a company’s job, so it had to make a profit.

In other words, the singer must have mobilization power.

Not a minority elite who bought 10 albums per fan, but really only had a little scale.

That was why the company’s plan to hold a solo concert this summer meant that they had that much ticket power.

“Concert.”

The next day after hearing the story from Assistant Manager Hong.

Seoul Yongsan-gu.

They were waiting for the production team of HBS Sok Sok! History Discovery Team near the National Museum of Korea.

The topic of conversation was definitely a concert.

“If we do it in August, we’ll be doing it in a year and two months after our debut, right, Hyung?”

“That’s right.”

“Wow…”

Considering that there were many groups that took two to three years, it was a pretty short time.

Woojoo was thrilled and excited.

He felt like he had the whole world when he heard the concert story yesterday.

Oh my God, they would perform alone with the Soufflés.

Woojoo rolled his feet and bragged to his grandmother and Nabi for almost an hour.

“Well, don’t get too excited.” Rihyuk said calmly, “What we do is more important, right?”

“Of course, you’re the best in the world at burning, Hyung.”

“Rihyuk is really good at spraying. He’s a master of spraying.”

“If you go to the spraying championship, you’ll get a gold medal, right?”

He was shaking as Woojoo joined in.

“…I have to shut up. These people. Huh? You think I’m easy now, because I write you a letter and stuff?”

“Yes.”

“Yiyi…!”

They teased him, but they all agreed inside.

‘We’re definitely going to have a concert. But the size of the venue will be decided after looking at the 3rd album activity.’

Simply put, it was a foregone conclusion that they would have a concert, but how many seats the venue would have depended on the 3rd album to come.

‘First of all, there’s a problem with your three lists.’

Even if they mobilized Something, the song list to perform was insufficient.

It was a solo concert, but it was weird to cover someone else’s song or play a game like a fan meeting.

For that reason, they decided to expand the 3rd album track list.

A mini album with 10 songs, which was practically equivalent to a regular album.

Fortunately, there were many songs that went up on the chart, such as ‘Fireworks’, ‘Masquerade’, ‘Night Sea’, and they also expanded their network of singers to invite as guests while doing the masterpiece excavation team.

So the important thing was the 3rd album.

It was the key to whether they could successfully perform until the 3rd album in this flow where everything was going well.

If they went to a boy group that the general public knew, but the 3rd album song, which was the main job, didn’t work well…

Uh. He didn’t even want to imagine that.

He had to make it work.

“3rd album preparation is also like that. Just do your best as given…”

As he was talking to his younger brothers, a stranger suddenly came up and talked to him.

“Hmm? New Black! Right?”

“Ah, yes.”

They, who were saying ‘Concert!’, ‘Yo! Concert!’ with five people until just before, showed a calm smile.

Woojoo was sweating inside.

“Wow, I was watching it on the bus with YouTube…”

They also thanked and took pictures with the passerby who greeted them and said they enjoyed the stage.

“Fighting!”

“Thank you! Have a nice day!”

They waved back calmly, but as soon as the passerby disappeared from their sight, they quickly huddled together.

“Hyung, people recognize us.”

“People are greeting us on the street… This must be a sign of good luck for the whole day, right?”

“How do I look? Does my face look swollen?”

“Let’s have a strategy meeting, guys. How should we react when people notice us?”

They each made suggestions from number one to five.

They rejected Rihyuk’s arrogant expression and Junghyun’s terrifying stone face, and decided to go with Bijoo’s friendly expression.

“What about mine?”

“It’s too suggestive.”

“…”

As soon as they reached a conclusion, they had to use it right away.

“Oh my… Is that right?”

“New Black! It’s them! It’s New Black.”

Most people passed by without knowing, but the percentage of those who recognized them was higher than he expected.

Woojoo was curious and asked them, “How did you know?”

“You were easy to spot because you were all together.”

“I see…”

They watched the back of the old lady who just took a picture with them and left, and soon burst into laughter.

“Hey. We’re Shus, Shus.”

“Woah!”

“Bijoo Hyung, what are you searching for? Pfft! He’s searching for the meaning of Shus!”

“No, it’s not me. I just checked. Just checked.”

He was caught because his search was too slow. They laughed again at Bijoo’s gloomy expression.

As they waited, it didn’t take long for the production team of ‘Sok Sok! History Discovery Team’ to arrive.

“Oh, our New Black-nims were waiting!”

“No, how can you come to such a humble place…”

They laughed for a while because of the writers’ jokes.

They told them that they were anxious after seeing the reaction report last week, wondering if they wouldn’t appear on the show anymore.

“Our first broadcast will probably be next week, and we agreed with the broadcasting company to upload it on YouTube as well.”

They originally said that it would cost more to edit separately, and why they would spend the budget to make a children’s program for adults.

But suddenly their attitude changed on Monday morning.

‘Proceed.’

‘What?’

‘New Black, proceed. That.’

They just laughed at the story that the PD told them.

Maybe because it was a small production, ‘Sok Sok! History Exploration Team’ had a comfortable atmosphere from the production team.

Woojoo was reading the script carefully, about today’s topic, ‘Exploring the relics of the Three Kingdoms period’.

“The guests are here!”

Woojoo turned his head at the noisy sound.

A group of elementary school students were walking towards them.

They were a club of elementary school students who were interested in history, and they were going to visit the museum and play games with them today.

“Hello!”

They greeted the shy elementary school students warmly. There weren’t many who recognized them.

“Uh!”

A fifth-grade boy pointed at them and said, “I saw you on TV last week. Hyung… ahjussis?”

“Ahjussis?”

They all got angry.

“Why can’t you call us Hyung? I’m a sophomore in high school.”

The elementary school students laughed at Jiho’s playful glare.

He was the closest to their age, so he quickly showed his friendliness. While they were doing that, there was another one who recognized them.

“Uh!”

A girl who was searching on her smartphone pointed at Woojoo and…

“Bam! You’re Jenmin-bbang, right?”

“No. Jenmin-bbang…”

The managers and the brothers clapped and flipped over. They chatted in the relaxed atmosphere.

Jiho raised his hand and shouted, “Who knows the striped pottery here? If you don’t, I won’t bow to you!”

“We know that stuff too, okay?”

“Then which tomb of the Baekje kings was made of bricks?”

“Muryeongwangneung!”

Jiho looked blankly with his eyes wide open. “How do you know that?”

Woojoo put his hand on his shoulder and said, “They’re in the history club. They probably know more than us.”

“These kids only study these days. When I was young, I used to go to karaoke and PC rooms…”

The managers laughed at the sight of an 18-year-old saying ‘when I was young~’.

While Junghyun was playing a weird game with the kids, where the loser of rock-paper-scissors had to be the piggyback, Woojoo looked over the guests.

Would this get a reaction from the young ones when it aired?

Legendary Song Discovery was possible because of the good ratings, but Woojoo wasn’t sure if this would have the same impact.

It was fun by his standards, though…

Let’s just do our best with what we’re given. Woojoo clapped his hands and said, “Shall we go in then?”

He smiled at the elementary school students who looked up at him.

“Hey, don’t think too hard and just call me Hyung or Oppa. We’re not that far apart in age.”

“Wow. Where did your conscience go? Seriously.”

As soon as Rihyuk finished his sentence, the youngest shouted, “That guy is 23 years old!”

Everyone burst into laughter.

Haha. These guys.

“Junghyun.”

“Yes, Hyung.”

“Take them both.”

“Yes.”

“Let me go!”

“Noooo! Bijoo Hyung, please save me!”

Bijoo waved his hand faintly as he watched the two disappear, caught by the monster.

He smiled brightly at the children who had been staring blankly.

“Well, shall we have some fun with today’s field trip?”

“Yes!”

The elementary school students nodded their heads eagerly.

***

The recording that day ended successfully.

They talked about the relics of the Three Kingdoms period, and also did a history quiz at the end.

Rihyuk and Woojoo carried the show, but as the difficulty level increased, the elementary history club’s performance eventually…

“I’m so embarrassed, really. What’s the point of me doing well alone? We lost to elementary schoolers.”

They all worried.

“Do we have a bad compatibility with elementary schoolers?”

“I guess so. Our record against middle schoolers is not good either. We also lost a game to Guryong Elementary.”

“We also lost the reality debate…”

“From now on, we have to do our best when we face elementary schoolers.”

At Bijoo’s words, Junghyun muttered, “That was my best…”

Dragging their sore bodies, they went to the management team’s office, where Seokhwan Hyung greeted them with a strange expression.

“Hey, Hyung. Why did you call us?”

“It’s about the OST work. They said they would send us the script and synopsis, so I got them…”

Woojoo blinked his eyes as he took the script from Seokhwan Hyung. The younger ones also looked puzzled.

“…?”

There were two different drama scripts there.