Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: Rxel
Chapter 143
A space with a surreal feeling, where blue and red neon lights contrasted.
They looked even more unreal in it.
Maybe it was because of their slightly darker eye makeup, red lips, and their skin that was paler than usual.
“Wow…”
Woojoo stared at the photos on the laptop monitor in awe.
There were two concept photos that were released.
The background was the same.An old-fashioned room with colorful lights shining on it, creating a strong contrast between blue and red.
They sat around a round wooden table.
Each of them had a different masquerade mask on their seats, and they all faced the front.
Some crossed their legs, some rested their arms on the back of the chair, and some looked at the camera casually.
They had different poses, but the same expressions.
They looked fierce at first glance, but the more you looked, the more you felt they were lifeless or sad.
It was an expression that matched the concept of this mini album, ‘Mask’.
“Man, these turned out great.”
As Woojoo exclaimed sincerely, Rihyuk nodded.
“Of course they did. Do you remember that day? We took hundreds of shots until we got the ones we liked.”
“We sure did.”
Hwang Taesoon, the photographer, had become more friendly than before, but his perfectionism had also increased.
They took a lot longer for the group shots than the individual ones.
It was hard work.
They had air conditioning, but they sweated non-stop in their suits because of the lights.
When they changed clothes later, steam rose from inside their shirts.
And the lights were so bright.
Later, they had afterimages in their eyes from the neon lights.
For almost 30 minutes, they saw black spots everywhere.
Jiho kept bothering me, saying, ‘What if I go blind?’ And that night, he dreamed of red and blue tissues asking him to hire them as tissue men.
The next day, they had a serious conversation with their siblings over dinner, but they couldn’t figure out what tissue men meant.
Anyway, the photos were of very high quality, thanks to their hard work.
Bijoo smiled and said, “I’m glad we took so many and got these good results. Especially…”
Bijoo pointed at somewhere in the photo with his finger.
But they didn’t need anyone to tell them who the MVP of this shoot was.
In the center of the photo.
A person with red hair, sitting on a chair that was turned away from the camera, closest to it.
He looked back over his shoulder, with a blank expression that gave a lonely vibe.
That was his expression under the blue light that looked like turquoise on the left.
On the right, his face was under a red light, and he had the same expression, but it looked like he was smiling faintly.
His face looked like he was wearing a mask, because of the different lights.
He didn’t look like their youngest, but like a prince from a parallel world.
“…”
They all rolled their eyes at the sound of someone breathing heavily by himself.
Jiho was snorting.
His cheeks were flushed.
He looked so happy that he didn’t know what to do, but when they looked at the photo again, they thought he deserved it.
But his expression changed completely when they looked at him.
He should have just shown off, but every time they looked at him, he acted stern and said, ‘Well, this is nothing new to me.’
And he kept glancing at them, as if he was expecting a storm of compliments.
“Ahem.”
When they didn’t say anything, Jiho cleared his throat and ran his fingers through his hair.
“…”
“Ahem!”
Rihyuk turned his head slightly. Woojoo saw his lips curl up in a mocking smile.
“…”
“Uh, I don’t know if this photo is good or not. Is this… good?”
Bijoo pursed his lips and looked away, and Junghyun just blinked.
Woojoo met the eyes of the youngest, who was fidgeting while holding back his laughter.
He realized the situation and shouted, “Hey, really! You guys are mean!”
He whined with a full of resentment.
He looked like a giant red chick.
“No, I’m so proud of how well my photo came out. But you guys don’t even give me a single compliment… I stayed up for days practicing with Woojoo Hyung, and I didn’t even have breakfast that day because of the shoot…”
They laughed and giggled as they watched the youngest one say, ‘My dad said compliments make even whales dance.’
Soon, Bijoo and Woojoo hugged the youngest one, who had a sullen expression on his face, between them.
“Come on, it was just a joke.”
“Yeah, a joke. Your photo came out so well, we wanted to tease you a bit.”
“…Did it really come out well?”
“Of course. It’s very pretty.”
While Bijoo was cooing over their youngest one, Woojoo called out to Rihyuk.
“Hey, the voice of inspiration. Give our youngest one some praise.”
“What?”
Rihyuk glared at Woojoo.
“Why are you asking me?”
“You bought a book the other day, didn’t you? I received the delivery for you. ‘The deadly pose that captures women’s hearts…’”
“The main character of this photo is what I mean.”
Rihyuk, holding a pen, explained it like a cultural heritage.
“He occupies the perfect center of the composition. The pose of putting his hand on the backrest shows his noble elegance…”
The youngest one, lying on Woojoo’s lap, nodded.
“Right. I don’t know what you’re saying, but I have a noble aura, and I’m noble, and cute.”
“Are you a triple noble?”
Everyone clapped their hands like seals and enjoyed Junghyun’s joke.
Meanwhile, Bijoo whispered to Woojoo, ‘That book, right? The deadly pose?’
“I read it secretly.”
Woojoo laughed at his whisper. Actually, he read that book secretly too. When he told him that, Bijoo was very happy.
On the other hand, Woojoo kept throwing exaggerated compliments at Jiho.
“Wow, but our youngest one really came out well. How did you do that? Look at that jawline.”
“Just. I think so too.”
“…”
“Give me more.”
“Ugh, I can’t do it anymore. My stomach is churning.”
Rihyuk stuck out his tongue at the youngest one, who was becoming more and more arrogant.
“You have no conscience. Wang Jiho. If I got compliments like that.”
“Would you be happy?”
“Yeah, happy… not. I don’t get swayed by those compliments.”
Woojoo burst out laughing.
“Rihyuk. What are you, a robot?”
“Ah. Wait a minute.”
At the word robot, Rihyuk frowned as if he remembered something.
“Sorry to change the subject, but when is the robot vacuum coming, Wang Jiho? Is it coming at all?”
“It’s on its way.”
“Hey, just assemble it. That would be faster.”
The youngest one chuckled and asked for a high-five, and Rihyuk looked at them with a disgusted expression.
Bijoo changed the topic to make the atmosphere more harmonious.
“I think we all did really well together. I hope our individual cuts that will be released tomorrow will look this good too.”
“I agree. I hope they turn out well.”
While they were talking about their personal concept photos in the corner of the practice room, Woojoo noticed that it was time to go.
“Let’s check the fans’ reactions now.”
Junghyun scrolled down and said, “Um… the reactions are good. They’re all crying.”
“They’re crying?”
“Junghyun Hyung is saying yuyu. ‘Cry Jiho crazy so pretty yuyu’ something like that.”
Everyone was crying in general.
Maybe it was because their official SNS comments were only from their fans.
Woojoo didn’t know how other idol fans or the public would react, but it was good for now.
The most important thing was that their Soufflés liked it.
“Ah! Since we’re on the topic, how about we turn on our live broadcast? To share our happy feelings.”
“Oh. That sounds good. We can talk with the fans too.”
“I agree.”
“Then it’s decided. Well. Let’s quickly get permission from the PR team… What’s wrong? Why the negative expression?”
“Well, you see. Right now we…”
Woojoo smiled awkwardly as the younger ones were excitedly talking.
Ding-
The laptop with low battery went into sleep mode.
And at that moment.
Their five faces were reflected on the darkened screen.
No makeup, hair soaked with sweat and turned into seaweed, discolored t-shirts and training pants.
The camera wouldn’t capture it, but there was also a sudden smell of sweaty sweat.
The fairies in the pictorial were gone and only the monsters remained.
“Wow, we’re really pathetic. We are,” Rihyuk said sincerely and we all laughed.
Junghyun said with interest, “It would be funny if we broadcast like this.”
“I bet it would make headlines. ‘Shock! New Black’s bare faces revealed’ something like that.”
“I bet the article would say ‘Netizens ‘I’m more embarrassed watching them’’ I’ll bet five hundred won on that. What about you, Bijoo Hyung?”
“I’ll bet five hundred won too.”
“On what?”
“Just betting.”
“…What about you, Hyung ?”
“Well. I don’t know about five hundred won, but I bet five thousand people would leave our fan cafe.”
They burst out laughing at Woojoo’s words.
They had been weird lately.
Maybe it was because they were stuck in the practice room all the time, but they would giggle at each other whenever their clothes touched.
Woojoo said with a smile, “Shall we practice again?”
They all got up without a word.
There was no dignity of human beings in their sticky appearance, but the faces in the mirror were full of passion.
They say the beginning was half the battle.
The promotion of the album.
The first step, the group concept photo, was so good that it gave off a feeling of ‘Ah, this is going to be good.’
From the jacket photoshoot to the music video shoot.
More than that, there was nothing that didn’t have a lot of people’s efforts and capital invested in it.
That was why he had a good feeling.
Woojoo thought this album would do well.
***
For a week after the college entrance exam, New Black’s mini album ‘Five Colors : The Red’ was promoted step by step.
On Friday, the group photo was uploaded to the official SNS account, and on Saturday, the individual concept photos of each member were uploaded.
The black and white photos had a gray city as the background, and only the red objects had color.
They all looked like they were being chased by someone, wearing disheveled white shirts.
Woojoo leaning against a brick wall and looking down at the camera.
Bijoo was crouching down with one knee bent and looking back in an alley.
Junghyun hesitated whether to enter or not in front of a door.
Rihyuk cautiously looked out the window from a dark room.
And somewhere like a ballroom.
Jiho, dressed in a suit alone, looked back at the crowd of a masked ball.
As soon as the concept photos were released on the official SNS, the Soufflés started jumping around with joy.
-Guysㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ I have no regrets even if I die today
-Don’t dieㅠㅠㅠ
-Wow… Wow… The photo quality is insane
-But I felt it since the group shot, don’t you think there is some kind of story behind it?
-Yeah, I think so too. Like the apple, or the red umbrella… There are a lot of hints in it
Along with the comments on the members’ appearances, the concept photos gave the Soufflés a new thrill.
While waiting for the album release, various speculations started to pop up in the fan community.
Meanwhile, New Black’s concept photos received positive feedback from the idol community.
[New Black’s concept photos that fans loved this time (spoiler alert)]
-Wow… I never thought I would see Lemon take good photos in my life
-He grew up… Kyuho-ya…
-They really came out wellㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Look at that red-haired oppa, he’s so handsome
-Maknae Jiho-yaㅇㅇ he’s not an oppa. He’s seventeen
-No, no, if I call him oppa, he will come to me and become my oppa
-Wow. . but they really nailed the concept photos. Aren’t they amazing? At this level?
-I think the music video will be awesome too, since they invested a lot of money… Honestly, if the song is good here, they will blow up
-Hey, they’re gonna make it big
It was a timely moment.
While TNT, who had postponed their comeback and already used up most of their hints, was releasing the same press release, the gap was filled by the news of the rookies’ next album.
MOP’s rookie girl group Serenity’s uniform concept, Lemon’s rookie boy group New Black’s unique mask concept.
Among the two, New Black drew more attention.
‘It was the influence of the reality show.’
Hong Seoyoung, an assistant in the PR team who was monitoring the reaction of the idol community, scrolled down.
No matter which post she clicked, there were favorable responses about New Black.
They also attracted attention with Around the World With Dice’s Chuseok Special, but the reason why they gained such a liking from the idol fandom was because of the reality show.
The kimchi explosion scene and various sitcom-like scenes spread as gifs and videos, and more people seemed to like them.
-Wow… Daegil’s friend’s suit fit is crazy
-also Stu’s fit
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ what is Stu’s fit
-How did he end up looking like that
-Bijoo?? Are you right, where do you live
-Why do you send kimchi?
-They have a real gap…ㅋㅋㅋ they look like the ones I saw in gifs recently
Even though they were rookies, the idol fans knew the members’ names quite well.
‘But…’
She knew that this much of a reaction wouldn’t come from just knowing their names or having a liking for them.
It took two hands to clap.
The fact that these related posts came up with such positive feedback meant that the quality of the concept photos was good.
“What are you looking at?”
She answered the question from Nam, the assistant next to her.
“Monitoring our kids’ photos.”
“Hmm… oh, the response is really good…? Has there been anything like this in the idol community with rookies lately?”
“I didn’t expect it.”
That was why she was so surprised.
They were promoting the album, but the signs were better than they thought.
The premonitions, if you would.
They were so good that they made her nervous.
When they had the Fireworks show, it felt like a canary was chirping. But this time, it was like hundreds of magpies were dancing and telling them that something good was going to happen.
Assistant Manager Hong cautiously calculated the statistics in her head.
The comparison of the mentions of New Black and other groups.
But the group she compared them to was not Serenity, the rookie group that debuted in the same year as them.
“The media articles are incomparable to TNT, but the community mentions are less different.”
There was no accurate indicator to predict the outcome yet, but one thing was certain.
Unlike Serenity, who was swept away by TNT’s comeback, New Black was igniting a spark in the midst of it.
And the signs were better than they expected.
She swallowed her saliva.
As an insider, she already knew the tracks and the quality of the album.
The concept photos that were released were just a part of it.
That was why her heart was strangely pounding.
“If we do well…”
She had a thought in her mind, but she didn’t say it out loud, afraid that it might jinx it.
She just did her job quietly until the album was released.
***
Woojoo always felt this way, but there was no end to practice.
When Woojoo thought it was perfect, he saw something lacking. And when he fixed that, something else came up.
It was like whack-a-mole.
As if they were saying, “Hehe, catch me if you can!” and popping up. And when he hit them, they said, “Next is me!” and jumped out.
So these days, when D-Day was approaching, Woojoo felt like he was playing whack-a-mole with the highest score in front of him.
If only he had a few more days…
Woojoo could make his hand movements more beautiful when he started the choreography, he could show a more splendid expression to the camera.
He felt like he could complete it 100% if he had a little more time.
On the other hand, Woojoo also wanted time to pass quickly so he could have fun with their Soufflés.
And above all, the news Woojoo heard these days was not normal.
“Hyung, did you see this? We have another article.”
They always searched for ‘New Black’ or went to their YouTube channel with their siblings when they ate.
Every time, his heart thumped.
“Wow… why did so many people watch it?”
Their music video teaser that was released on Sunday was already close to hundreds of thousands of views.
It was a teaser, not a music video.
It was not comparable to TNT’s comeback song, which recorded two million views in twelve hours, but it was an exceptional number for a rookie boy group.
The managers and the PR staff seemed to not tell them on purpose, afraid that they might be shaken, but they all looked very nervous when they passed by.
They looked both nervous and excited.
-New Black, the rising rookie, reveals their ‘fatal charm’ in their comeback teaser
-New Black ‘Masquerade’ MV teaser released ‘Charisma+Sexy’
-Already hot… New Black MV teaser views ‘Explosion of interest?’
The unit of the number of articles that came up was different from the first album.
They decided not to look at the internet reactions until the comeback, so they didn’t go to the internet communities or fan cafes, but they instinctively felt that the atmosphere was different from before.
A tense tension.
As if they were waiting for something big to come, they spent their time calmly in that tension.
D-3
The teaser for the new song’s music video was released.
D-2
The preview video containing the highlights of the songs in the album was released.
D-1
The story film and the music video were released at midnight, and the day of the press showcase, November 17th, finally arrived.