Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: Rxel
Chapter 186
There was a ripe red radish here.
“So you were the manager of New Black, LisaLover.”
“Yes…”
“It’s so amazing to see you here. Thank you so much for last time. You came with the others for my first musical performance.”
Lisa was holding onto Minki Hyung and talking happily.
The person who was so shy around them was whispering to her fan.
She looked like a chick who met an old friend and was glad.“When I went to Belgium to learn how to make waffles, I thought of the Korean fans a lot. Oh, right. I used the gift you gave me there very well.”
“Ah, yes…”
Unlike Lisa, Minki Hyung had a face that looked like he was dying.
While he was telling them how much LisaLover was a passionate fan since the beginning of Sugarfish, Minki Hyung closed his eyes with a sad expression as he glanced at them laughing.
He had a face that anticipated what would happen next.
Woojoo thought of the faces of the management team members who would tease him all day long, saying, ‘How are you, Seo-ssi? Are you good? LisaLover?’
“See you later, LisaLover.”
When Lisa went outside with her manager for a moment, Minki Hyung came over almost kneeling.
“Guys,” he said earnestly. “Today’s event is a secret. To the Director and the company people.”
“Don’t worry. We have heavy mouths.”
He looked at them with a timid eye.
“…You guys?”
“Don’t provoke us with that distrustful expression. LisaLover.”
“…”
Minki Hyung muttered, ‘How did I end up like this?’ and they burst out laughing.
His eyes were filled with misty moisture as he looked at the sky.
It was a pity.
If it had happened to their kids, they would have teased him all day long with that. There was a line that they couldn’t cross because he was a manager. Woojoo tried to calm the atmosphere and said, “Don’t worry, Minki Hyung. We won’t tell anyone in the company. Trust us.”
“You’re the only one, Woojoo.”
“Hyung, but it’s unfair for us to do that with our mouths.”
The younger ones nodded their heads, saying, ‘Right, right.’
“…There’s none. I wish there was none.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing. Woojoo-ssi. So what do you need? Should I buy you some delicious snacks?”
“No, no. Don’t do that.”
Woojoo knew how hard and stressful the job of a road manager was, so he didn’t have the conscience to eat him alive.
That was why he cautiously brought up the favor he had been wanting to ask him lately.
“You know the title of the third album we’re working on, right?”
“…Uh-huh.”
“We need a new perspective. You know, the A&R Team and us are experts who only do music all day long, so our tastes and eyes are biased. So we need a popular perspective.”
There was no one better than a person who was a passionate fan of a girl group for idol music.
“Hyung, when you have time, can you give me some feedback on this song…”
“I’ll buy you food. Rather.”
He was uncooperative.
“Wait a minute. Hyung. Your ear.”
Woojoo whispered the magic word in Minki Hyung’s ear like a secret agent.
“LisaLover.”
“…Oh, I’m already itching to hear the song.”
“Thank you, Hyung.”
Woojoo smiled happily as he looked at the new slave he captured. He turned his head to the younger ones.
They all raised their thumbs with satisfied faces.
‘Good job.’
‘Welcome, new slave.’
Then, Woojoo’s eyes met with Dowon Hyung, who was standing blankly.
He flinched.
The giant man over 190 shook his body and desperately avoided Woojoo’s gaze.
“…Tsk.”
‘I’ll capture, I mean, ask him later.’
Then the door opened again and Lisa and her manager came in.
They had coffee boxes and mini cakes in both hands.
Woojoo thought it was prepared for the production staff, but it wasn’t.
“Enjoy.”
It was a snack gift from Lisa. She smiled at Minki Hyung and said to New Black, “LisaLover, I mean, Manager Seo, I always receive gifts from you. This time, I wanted to give something back.”
“Thank you.”
Usually, the celebrities managed by the managers get the benefits, but it was the opposite case, which felt strange.
They had a warm first meeting thanks to the common ground of Jang Sowon Sunbae, but she was still shy. But after she found her LisaLover-nim, she seemed to like them too.
Maybe it was like her fan certification mark.
Well. Woojoo would also want to treat the celebrities managed by their Soufflés well if he were in their shoes.
Woojoo was immersed in admiration as he watched the celebrity and fan taking selfies with happy expressions.
In the distant future, Woojoo would also be like that with fans…
“I’ll take the tiramisu with strawberries!”
“Then dibs.”
Like that with fans…
“Huh? Dibs is what I have to do. Junghyun Hyung.”
“…Sulky.”
“Junghyun, you eat apples with me.”
Woojoo would also be like that with fans in the future…
“By the way, do you all know this? Dibs is derived from an English expression. If you’re going to say it in Korean, it’s better to say ‘jjim’. We’re meeting children now, so we have to be careful with our language.”
“Really? When I play games, the kids swear the best.”
“…Really? The kids also swear?”
“They told me I suck. Last time, some kid cut off our friendship with voice chat because he said I was too bad.”
“Huh? That’s an objective evaluation, isn’t it?”
Woojoo gave up on being immersed in admiration as the endless chatter like a bunch of kids kept coming.
Yeah.
…He would just eat bread.
As the promised time approached, the participants started to arrive one after another.
The third guest to arrive was someone they had met once before.
He was wearing a shiny suit, either because he had just arrived from the event, or because it was his prepared outfit.
He had a smile full of joy on his face, and his expression and voice were full of charm. He was a man in his early thirties.
“Hello~! Song Bohyung is here!”
The trot singer who opened the door and came in looked inside and made a disappointed expression.
“What, there’s no camera.”
“…”
“It doesn’t matter. Hello, elders, I mean, everyone~!”
Song Bohyung, who was still in the mood of the event, came in with his manager, smiling cheerfully.
“Nice to meet you. Lisa.”
“Yes…”
He noticed that she was shy, and he stepped back with a tactful ‘nice to meet you~’. As he kept some distance, Lisa looked more comfortable.
Then he turned his eyes to them.
“Oh, New Black! We met at the festival in Bucheon?”
“That’s right.”
Junghyun and Rihyuk nodded along with Woojoo.
“It’s the Icheon Starlight Festival.”
“Oh, right. I was such a fool to think it was your eyes.”
He laughed cheerfully and they joined him.
Song Bohyung.
He was the trot singer who shared the stage with them when they filled in for Teen Spirit in Icheon.
He sat close to them and struck up a friendly conversation.
“I haven’t seen you since then. How have you been?”
“Good, how about you, Sunbae-nim?”
“Great. As you can see, my price has gone up a lot lately, and so has my glittery outfit.”
He flaunted his shiny clothes and they laughed again. Jiho asked with sparkling eyes, “Wow, that’s so pretty. Can I touch it?”
“Gently, gently.”
“Gently~”
While the youngest imitated his tone and touched it, they also admired his glittery costume.
“Wow…”
Woojoo was especially moved.
Amazing.
The clothes were really pretty.
They were glittery and every time he moved, they reflected the light in rainbow colors. It was like a beautiful sight of a silk carp ascending to heaven and sprinkling five-colored rays.
“Guys.”
Woojoo looked at him dreamily and said, “Can I…”
“No.” Bijoo said firmly, “I can’t allow that.”
“Bijoo, you know what I’m going to say?”
“You want to try it on in casual clothes, right? You can’t, Hyung.”
“Then.”
“You can’t wear the costume either.”
“I gave up the floral pattern for you guys…”
Woojoo drooped his shoulders and made a sullen face. Bijoo hesitated and fiddled with his hands. He thought he had succeeded, but Rihyuk encouraged Bijoo not to give in.
Hmph.
Really hmph.
Then, Lisa, who had been glancing at them from nearby, timidly joined in.
“Can I…”
“Yes, touch it. Touch it.”
Lisa also gently stroked the glitter and widened her eyes.
“Pretty.”
Song Bohyung proudly showed off his hit item.
“Isn’t it tempting? I got it from Italy.”
“Bohyung, that’s the company name.”
They all clapped and burst into laughter. Song Bohyung scratched the back of his head and laughed.
He was as easygoing as ever.
Song Bohyung.
He was a nobody last summer, but now he was a rising star in the trot world.
“So, you see. I thought it was my last album and I just released it, but it hit the jackpot.”
He said it was his last chance when he was wondering if he should continue his life as an unknown singer.
His name went up on the charts, and the trot songs he released afterwards also gained popularity with their addictive melodies. He was one of the most recognized among the young trot singers these days.
Usually, people’s gait and shoulder movements changed at this point, but he was no different from before.
Song Bohyung pointed his index finger and said, “I came to a conclusion. This is a bubble that will pop soon. I shouldn’t be greedy and suck up the honey at times like this.”
The people in the room agreed and laughed at his wise saying that he should be humble and suck up the honey as much as possible.
It was nice.
Lisa and Song Bohyung were both popular with the public.
Of course, if they only looked at the music performance, they also did well with Fireworks and Masquerade.
Especially Masquerade, it was so popular that anyone who was interested in music would know.
The video views, the steady response from the overseas K-pop fandom, and so on.
Recently, Woojoo was surprised by the popularity of Masquerade when he heard about the downloads and streaming counts from the management support team.
-Sir, this looks like a typo. There’s an extra zero.
-That’s right.
-…!
They were the most popular rookie group among the idol fans.
Even in terms of fandom, they had more fans than all the other singers who appeared on this show combined.
It was thanks to their Souffles that they could be here with confidence and dignity, without being ignored.
The power of idols came from their fans, after all.
But despite all these achievements, they were the last in public recognition, which was arguably the most important aspect.
That was why Woojoo was worried that they might get snubbed if they showed up, but luckily they seemed to meet some nice people.
Woojoo didn’t know what kind of people Lisa and Song Bohyung were in reality, but they felt friendly and kind at first impression.
Of course, sadly, not everyone was like that.
“Hello!”
“Yes.”
The four men and women who nodded their heads in response to Lisa and Song Bohyung’s greetings entered the room.
They were wearing leather jackets and had piercings on their faces like dots.
They were Jo Yuri Band, a rock band that was gaining huge popularity with their excellent musical skills and mass appeal.
Their vocal skills were also great, and they were more famous than the three of them combined.
“Hello, Sun…”
Woojoo greeted them cheerfully as they passed by them, but they just walked past them.
They sat down as if they didn’t exist, and Woojoo’s siblings looked at him.
Woojoo smiled and greeted them again.
“Hello, Sunbae-nims.”
“…”
Their eyes turned to them. Their eyes looked squinty because of the smoky makeup.
Why were they staring at them like that?
The man in the middle with a grumpy expression, Jo Yuri, brushed his jacket shoulder and said casually, “Isn’t Sunbae-nim a word you use for someone who works in the same field as you?”
He didn’t say anything else after that.
Woojoo told his siblings to sit down with a smile, as they made embarrassed faces. What could they do if they didn’t want to be treated as seniors?
Woojoo just smiled softly.
Considering that they were the youngest among the cast, he thought it was best to deal with them politely.
“Achoo!”
Then, Song Bohyung, who was watching, sneezed and the four-member band’s eyes turned to him.
Song Bohyung smiled slyly and gave them a wink.
“Sorry. My nose is a bit sensitive to breaking the mood.”
“…”
“I didn’t mean to sneeze, you know.”
The people sitting across from them made uncomfortable expressions, but they didn’t say anything.
Song Bohyung smiled at them.
New Black nodded their heads slightly in gratitude.
“Here, have some snacks, our juniors.”
Lisa emphasized the word ‘juniors’ and handed them some snacks.
She was too timid to say anything, but she gave them snacks with an angry expression that said, ‘They’re Lisa’s fans, you know!’ She was kind of cute.
Woojoo felt proud of himself for being polite and respectful to them.
The two singers seemed to like them more for being calm and composed.
Woojoo thanked her again and turned to his siblings.
‘Are you okay?’
They smiled at his question.
‘Don’t worry.’
They looked unfazed as they munched on cookies.
Woojoo was relieved that they weren’t upset.
For a while, they had a warm time deleting the songs of Jo Yuri Band from their phones, led by Rihyuk.
Woojoo was indifferent, to be honest.
It wasn’t surprising that they treated them badly, since they did the same to the other two established singers.
Woojoo was just curious.
Why did they show hostility to them, whom they met for the first time?
Maybe they hated the idol industry or were immersed in their own world.
But it turned out that they were neither.
“Hello, Sunbae-nim!”
They all snorted when they saw them greeting the the last one to enter, Cha Woohyun.
Their 90-degree bow was impressive.
New Black thought they had no sense of hierarchy, but they only lacked it for the lower ones.
Cha Woohyun only said one bland word to them who greeted him.
“Nice to meet you all.”
Behind the giant of nearly 190 cm and his expressionless face, the production staff came in.
Cha Woohyun, who was chatting with the PD, was the star of this program.
He was one of the top three singers in the country, and he had a lot of experience and hit songs.
He was also very active, so whenever a new drama aired, one of the OSTs would have his song.
He was still in his late 30s, but he had a career that would make him worthy of being called a teacher in 10 years or so.
“…”
Woojoo blinked for a moment when he saw Jo Yuri sticking to Cha Woohyun’s side and talking to him.
Song Bohyung covered his glittering clothes with his tongue, as if they had eyes.
“Hello.”
The PD, who sat in the front seat, smiled at the singers.
“We sincerely welcome you to join our Challenge, Legendary Song Discovery Team. Let’s get along well for the next two months.”
They clapped and introduced ourselves warmly.
Ballad singer, Cha Woohyun.
The rising star of trot, Song Bohyung.
Musical actor, Lisa.
Indie rock band, Jo Yuri Band.
And rookie idol, New Black.
After the five teams greeted each other.
It was time to prepare for the actual shooting, and the cast headed to their assigned waiting rooms.
“Ju Won!”
The PD called the assistant director.
“Where’s the hidden camera we installed in the conference room?”
They all stopped in their tracks.
“It’s over there by the plant.”
“Oh, there. Take it and bring it. We need to edit and put in the part where the cast get to know each other.”
“…”
As someone’s face turned pale with shock, they suddenly felt a surge of excitement.