Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: Rxel
Chapter 102
The idol community green room.
In the wee hours of the morning, a post about a rookie idol member was uploaded on the best board.
-An idol member who appeared as a witness on PBS documentary today
-A rookie male idol with a strange background
-A summary of New Black’s Woojoo-related posts.txt
The cause of the incident was an article on the portal main.
The mysterious whereabouts of an idol member were the topic of interest for those who stayed up all weekend.-Wait… So I get that the kid who was famous for being a witness on the college entrance exam last year is an idol now… But how does the timeline work?? He joined the company right after the exam and then Something came out three months later?
-Yeah, that’s right
-Jang Sowon officially co-composed Something
-And he debuted in June? In seven months…??
-What… Is it just me or does this not make sense
There was no one among the idol fans who didn’t know about New Black.
They were the most noteworthy achievers among the idols who debuted this year.
Their hit song Something in spring.
Their debut title ‘Fireworks’ ranked 54th on the July monthly chart.
The music video accumulated 150 million views.
They also appeared on the national variety show and got a school uniform CF.
Apart from the public recognition, they had impressive results in the idol fandom.
There were already predictions that New Black would win the Rookie of the Year Award for boy groups.
But apart from the group’s fame, there was little known about the individual members.
In fact, there was no interest.
It was just ‘they’re handsome’ kind of impression.
But today was different from the usual atmosphere.
-Something is weird…
-Really weird
-Did all this happen in such a short time?ㅋㅋㅋ
He was a student until last year, and then he came out with a song called Something in February.
Then he revealed on Music Cafe that his father was a world-famous pianist.
And then he had a lineup of self-composed songs from Something to Fireworks, and then to Night Sea.
It was ‘oh. That’s amazing’ when heard one by one, but when put together, it was strange.
It was like assembling a puzzle.
They collected the pieces and completed the whole picture, but they were puzzled by the completed picture.
That was why the post by Han Supple, who summarized the information, quickly gained high views.
[Summary of New Black’s Woojoo-related posts.txt]
I brought a summary of New Black’s Woojoo for the curious roommates!
He was a trainee for about 6 years at TJ. He said he was discharged, but I don’t know the details. He doesn’t like to mention it.
He went to the army after being discharged and missed the college entrance exam because he saved an old man.
He got an offer from Lemon Entertainment from a manager he knew on the day of the exam.
He met Jang Sowon, who was a judge at the monthly evaluation, and she picked them up after noticing his arranging skills. (Music Cafe official)
That’s how he made Something with Jang Sowon.
After Something did well, the company gave him a studio and asked him to make some songs for the album… But the song was so good that it became the title. (Fireworks)
He got a chance to appear on a radio show and decided to make a song quickly and went out with a demo song and performed live. It got a good response. This is the Night Sea that is on the music chart right now.
I skipped the rest like Around the World With Dice, CF, documentary, etc. because I think you all know…!
There are so many spoilers for our kids that I want to tell you, but I don’t think you’ll like it… There’s a hidden camera on the live broadcast, a self-made reality show, an episode of filling in for an event… And a penguin promise…
Anyway, there’s a lot
I feel like I wrote a messy post, but I’ll end it with their pictures!! I hope you all look kindly on our New Black kids… _
After the pictures of the New Black members were posted, the comment section was full of excited people.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋWhat
-So this all happened in less than 6 months?
-Is this real?? For real?
-Yeah, it’s real…
-I was so suspicious while reading it…
-It’s like a dictator’s chronicleㅇㅇ Did he make a grenade with a pine cone
-No… It seems like they just wrote the facts dryly, but why don’t I believe it
-What did they do so much?
-They seem to be the busiest among the boy groups who debuted this year. I saw them at a neighborhood event a while agoㅋㅋㅋ They’re amazing in real life. They look different from the camera
-First of all, they don’t have any humiliating photos from their debut.
-He was from TJ… That makes sense. He looked different from the other members when he performed
-ㅇㅇ That’s not a skill you can get in 6 months of training. I was shocked
-Why did they let him out…?
-Hey, Kyuho, if you have any conscience, you should do it three times a day in his direction
-It’s a well-known fact in the academic world that Kyuho’s conscience disappeared along with his hair
The comments broke through 200 in an instant.
It was the first time that a sales post about New Black had such a response.
***
When Woojoo woke up, nothing had changed in the world.
The world was the same.
The only difference was that his popularity had risen among the idol fans.
Woojoo was surprised when he saw the link that the company’s PR team sent him.
There were tons of posts about Woojoo on the idol community.
It was the first time he received such intense attention.
He was not immune to hate comments, so he checked the replies with trembling hands, but most of them were curious or positive. It made him feel good.
But Woojoo wasn’t very happy.
What Woojoo wanted was not Seon Woojoo, but New Black becoming famous.
Idols were a group activity.
Woojoo was already worried about singing Night Sea with Rihyuk alone, but after the ad, the documentary, and Around the World With Dice, the interest in Woojoo only increased, which made him feel a bit regretful.
Woojoo hoped that everyone would get attention in this Around the World With Dice special.
With that thought, Woojoo packed his stuff.
4:30 in the morning.
Woojoo sat in the living room with a dark blue dawn sky as the background and opened his suitcase.
He packed toiletries, underwear, and clothes to change.
“Please put this in, too, Hyung.”
The youngest, who had piled up his socks to his chin, looked at Woojoo.
“What do you want me to put in?”
“My socks.”
“Are you going to sell socks or something?”
“So, are you going to put them in or not?”
“Our youngest, do you see the initials ‘SWJ’ here?”
“Does it stand for ‘Seon Woojoo is awesome’?”
“I’m never going to put yours in.”
Woojoo put them in.
He was dumping all his stuff that didn’t fit in his bag to his Hyungs.
“Ah, I’m nervous.”
Woojoo asked Junghyun, who was putting clothes in his duffel bag.
“Are you nervous, too?”
“Yes. I’m excited to go to the countryside for the first time in a while. The smell of the trees, and the fragrant smell of the soil… I love it.”
“…”
Woojoo ignored him.
He checked the paper after packing.
It was the list that Rihyuk wrote yesterday.
Toothbrush, toilet paper, plastic bags, and what was this? Red pepper paste…? Did he think he was going on an overseas trip?
In fact, it was a trip.
They were packing their bags for the Chuseok Special recording.
They gathered in front of TBC in Sangam and moved to a village in Gyeonggi-do for a two-day shoot.
They had a lot of luggage because they had slept in.
Woojoo locked his suitcase and approached Bijoo, who was making breakfast.
Woojoo smiled at him, seeing the dark circles under his eyes.
“Did you not sleep well?”
“I was too nervous. It’s my first variety show, so I’m worried.”
“I know. It’s a bit tough for a first-timer. You have to shoot for two days with strangers.”
“Yes, so I made up my mind.”
Bijoo looked at Woojoo seriously and said, “I’m going to stick with you today, Hyung.”
“Why does your conclusion sound so weird?”
Woojoo pointed to the youngest, who was playing EDM in the living room and dancing the morning shoulder dance with Junghyun, “But Jiho reserved me last night.”
“Can I get a waiting number then?”
“Rihyuk is number one.”
“…There’s nothing easy here.”
He exchanged smiles with the guy who made a playful sad face.
Bijoo skillfully flipped the fried eggs onto a plate. Then he took out another egg and asked, “Do you want me to cook the egg all the way?”
“No, I’ll have it soft-boiled.”
“Okay. …Oh!”
“Oh.”
The last egg he cracked was a double yolk. They looked at each other with a touched expression.
“A double yolk, this is a sign of luck.”
“Right? Maybe we’ll hit the jackpot today on the show.”
“That’s not it.”
Rihyuk, who was drying his hair with a towel behind them, poured cold water on them.
“Double yolks are caused by stress or hormonal imbalance in chickens. The symbol of luck is nonsense like blood type or zodiac personality… Why are you looking at me so scarily? I’m just telling you.”
***
TBC building in Sangam-dong.
The meeting place was in front of a statue called Mirror Man.
At first, Woojoo wondered where it was, but it was there.
A red square frame and two blue giants facing each other with their fingers.
6 a.m.
When they arrived, the area around the statue was full of busy staff.
Jimmy Jib cameras and various equipment were set up, and the writers, lighting, sound staff, guests, and managers were all there, making it a real mess.
“Hello, we’re New Black!”
They greeted everyone with a smile, but no one responded.
They were all busy and had exhausted faces as if they were about to collapse.
“Hello.”
They also greeted the guests who were already there awkwardly.
A woman in a pink T-shirt and a man in a green polo shirt.
They were Han Yeoreum, a rookie actress who recently appeared as a chaebol daughter in a weekend drama, and Bae Younghoon, a former pro gamer who recently switched to a broadcaster.
They were the most unknown people in each team, just like New Black.
At first, they stood there blankly, but soon they started talking to each other as they saw the managers greeting each other.
After a brief chat, the seven of them became close.
It was because of a strange sense of kinship.
Han Yeoreum brushed her styled hair carefully and said, “They’re making a fuss about promoting the new drama I’m going into. Do you see that manager oppa over there? He’s been nagging me in the car since this morning…”
“I’m in the same boat.” Bae Younghoon adjusted his glasses and said, “They’re so sweet about the variety show I got with difficulty… I had a dream of becoming fried rice last night.”
Everyone laughed at that.
He wasn’t trying to be funny, but his tone was hilarious.
“And after I got cut to a two-minute introduction video, the boss sent me to a gag school.”
“There’s such a school?”
“It’s in Songpa. It’s run by a retired comedian and it costs 300,000 won per session.”
“I’d like to go there if I could afford it.”
“They’re going to close down soon.”
Everyone laughed at his calm remark.
Han Yeoreum handed out throat candies to everyone and said, “I feel a bit more relaxed being with other rookies. It’s going to be so embarrassing later…”
“Later?”
“When more people start to gather soon.”
“…I hate to even imagine it.”
New Black tilted their heads as they watched the two guests shiver.
Baek Younghoon asked them, “Is this your first time doing a variety show?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, I see.”
They nodded.
The former pro-gamer turned broadcaster said with a gloomy face, “You’ll find out soon enough.”
***
As the opening approached, the guests began to arrive one by one.
Every time someone new came, there was a noisy greeting and small talk.
It was a warm atmosphere.
The employees who were going to work at the TBC building sometimes stopped and peeked at the scene, and what they saw was probably something like celebrities smiling brightly or laughing and patting each other’s arms.
Of course, that was far from the truth.
It was a scene of fierce competition.
They scanned each other and quickly approached and marked anyone who seemed successful.
Maybe it was because it was an industry where connections had an overwhelming influence, regardless of the field.
It was intense.
Watching it in real-time, Woojoo couldn’t help but admire how they survived in the entertainment industry.
They made drinking appointments so naturally.
And in this situation, they were making empty greetings.
“Hello, we are New Black!”
They either nodded their heads or barely acknowledged them, making them feel like they were greeting the air.
But they whispered to each other that they hoped they would fail in science, as they watched Rihyuk say that they were greeting 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen.
Meanwhile, the inappropriate socializing continued.
“Didn’t I see you at a drinking party with Director Yoon last time? Here we are again.”
“I had a cameo in that drama, A Million Candles. The voice of the cat ghost. ‘Give me some churu…’ Oh, you know it?”
“I go to the same salon as you. Which stylist do you get your hair done by?”
Woojoo didn’t know if the Korean entertainment industry was so small that you could know everyone by crossing one bridge, or if he should admire the brains of the seniors who found those connections.
Jiho whispered, “I’ve been to a family dinner with my dad and some businessmen, and it’s exactly the same as what I saw there.”
“People are all the same wherever you go.”
“Should we try talking to some other people?”
“Let’s save it. We can talk to them when we start recording.”
The atmosphere right now was not for rookie idols to join in.
If they were careless, they might end up wandering around like the comedian Seo Jihyung over there, getting ‘Don’t you have any sense?’ looks.
Meanwhile, there was another celebrity who was having a mini fan meeting.
“Wow, look at where Lee Gyeonwoo Sunbae-nim is. It’s like a fan sign event.”
Lee Gyeonwoo, the Hallyu star they met at TJ Entertainment, stood out like a star among the celebrities.
He had an unreal appearance, and he was polite to anyone who talked to him.
He looked like the perfect protagonist of a ball if he just held a wine glass.
And in that background, one by one, the nasty villains appeared. And sure enough.
They came.
“Hello, we are Girls on Top!”
A six-member girl group dressed in fancy clothes like airport fashion.
Oh Hyungseok, who was in charge of the old man position in Around the World With Dice, said, “The atmosphere is different when a girl group comes,” and laughter erupted around him.
Girls on Top came in front of New Black.
“Hello, we are New Bla…”
They ignored New Black.
Especially, the youngest member of Girls on Top, Gil Chaekyung, smirked as she looked at Jiho.
“I’ll get revenge later.”
“How?”
“That’s for you guys to figure out. I’m just going to get revenge.”
Woojoo laughed as he watched the youngest member burning with determination.
But he also felt a fire in his heart.
…How dare they ignore their kid? That was the feeling.
Especially, Rihyuk narrowed his eyes.
Girls on Top immediately started to chat with Around the World With Dice members in a friendly way.
They had to socialize like that too, but their team leaders were nowhere to be found.
They were really the late siblings who were called that on the program.
Woojoo looked around and decided to have a calm conversation with each other.
“Three, six, nine, three, six, nine. One.”
“Two.”
“Clap.”
“Four.”
“Five. Ah, Junghyun Hyung. You have to say four, not four. You’re twisting your tongue.”
“Six.”
“…”
“…”
“Woojoo Hyung. The fans might not know, but we won’t fall for that smile. No. You can’t smile like that either.”
They were playing three, six, nine with their mouths because they had nothing to do.
They wanted to do some business, but the people around them didn’t take them well.
They would listen with one ear and scan the surroundings with a hmm… They didn’t seem to like them very much.
It was understandable.
Connections meant ‘If I get close to this person, maybe I’ll get some benefits, right?’ But they had nothing to give them.
New Black was on the real-time search for a few weeks, but there was no one in this place who hadn’t been on the real-time search.
Honestly, it was amazing to be here.
And with that, Woojoo felt a bit strange.
It wasn’t that they deliberately looked down on them or ignored them, but they just floated around naturally.
It was like looking at each other from a distance in the middle of summer, exchanging smiles with Bae Younghoon.
They were all together, and then the three of them who fell as the balloon inflated.
Woojoo decided to do his best today and get some footage.
The main PD, Gu Jaeyoung, picked up the megaphone.
-Okay, let’s gather for the opening soon! Please tidy up your seats!
People started to gather around the five members of Around the World With Dice in the center.
The staff’s voices were heard.
“Where are Heeyeon and Heechan?”
“They had a flat tire on the way and took a taxi. They said they’ll be here in five minutes.”
“What a lie… Hurry up!”
“Heechan just texted me. He said he’ll send a proof shot saying ‘Taejun Hyung will say it’s a lie.’”
“…Why is he making a V in front of the flat tire?”
“He got hit by Heeyeon right away.”
As Woojoo listened to the conversation, he found their seat that the production team had told them in advance.
In the middle of the line on the right, stretched out like Hak Ikjin.
It was a decent position.
But there was someone in their seat.
A comedian with a muscular body and red hair.
Seo Jihyung.
He had a round and likable face, and he stood there as if it was natural.
Did he misunderstand?
Woojoo whispered cautiously to him.
“Um, Sunbae-nim. The seat…”
Seo Jihyung turned his head slightly and looked at Woojoo.
Then he frowned and gestured with his eyes for Woojoo to go away, making sure no one else saw him.
…He knew all along.
Woojoo stared at him in disbelief, and he mouthed the word ‘go’.
What the hell.
Was he trying to push them away just because he had a good opening?
Actually, the seat next to them was better, but there was a scary-looking reggae-haired rapper there, so he must have picked on them, the easy targets.
He turned his head back and smiled as if nothing had happened, and Woojoo’s siblings looked at me.
They had expressions that said, what kind of person is this?
Woojoo was speechless for a moment, too, but then he quickly thought.
And he came to a conclusion.
Woojoo spoke politely, loud enough for the others to hear.
“Oh… I’m sorry, Sunbae-nim. I guess we got the wrong seat. I’ll go ask the writers again.”
The people next to them glanced at them and Seo Jihyung. He noticed their gaze and tried to lighten the mood.
And he laughed heartily.
“Was this your seat? Don’t just stand there, you should have said something sooner. I forgot my seat…”
“Didn’t they stand there the whole time?”
The guest who was standing on the left of Heysion, the famous celeb Maxi, asked. Seo Jihyung pretended not to hear and smiled.
Then he quickly moved his seat.
He glared at Woojoo as he left, and Woojoo just replied with a polite smile.
What a weird person.
Well.
Woojoo was stunned for a moment, but on the other hand, he felt like he learned indirectly what kind of place the entertainment industry was through this experience.
A place where Woojoo had to take care of his own bowl.
That was his first impression of entertainment.