Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: Rxel
Chapter 265
“…So you shouldn’t say that, Jiho.”
“Wow.”
The youngest one covered his mouth with his hand.
“Wow. Did I almost cause a controversy?”
“Well, not a controversy, but it’s something you shouldn’t mention. It’s kind of…”
“Got it. I’ll only call him by his name in private from now on.”
Woojoo nodded at their youngest and looked around.“Sniff!”
“Hahaha!”
“Snort! Snort!”
The program staff and their crew were rolling on the floor like they had been attacked by laughing gas.
The MC, who looked like a handsome guy, was now laughing like a comic character, and the manager Hyungs were holding each other and sobbing. The stylists were almost crying too.
Unlike them, who were freaking out in real time, they seemed to have fun.
Woojoo wiped the sweat on the back of his neck, and a bear came walking over from the other side.
“I’m here, guys.”
“Junghyun.”
“Yes. What is it?”
“…Never mind.”
He looked at Woojoo with a calm face.
Junghyun asked them, who had suddenly become flustered, “What was so funny?”
“Well…”
Woojoo wondered where to start explaining. First, he decided to check the word they gave them.
Woojoo saw a word card that said ‘권력’ in Korean.
“…Was that power?”
“Yes. That’s right. Power.”
“It’s not wrong… Pfft! Hahaha!”
They burst into laughter again when Junghyun showed them that pose once more.
He was taken aback.
“…Is this funny?”
He frowned and wondered what the funny point was. Woojoo waved his hand at him.
Jiho whispered to Junghyun, “Hyung, you almost caused an international problem.”
“Really? Me?”
“The other Hyungs said so.”
…When did they say that?
Woojoo wanted to smack his funnel-like mouth. He was the youngest who distorted everything and spread it around.
Bijoo said.
“For now, I think Junghyun shouldn’t do it, Hyung.”
“Yeah. Hyung, you should just match with us.”
“Okay, okay.”
Junghyun agreed cheerfully and Woojoo decided to go to the plate.
Woojoo nodded at the siblings who looked at him with a ‘can you do it?’ expression and stretched his body.
Rihyuk called the MC.
“Let’s change the person who gives the word.”
“Yes… Yes. Please do.”
The MC answered with a voice full of laughter.
He kept laughing whenever he saw Junghyun’s face.
“Alright! Then who will come out?”
“Me.”
Woojoo raised his hand with a smile.
Kunimura, the MC, looked at Woojoo with interest.
‘What is it?’
The atmosphere of the studio changed as soon as Woojoo raised his hand.
It was like a scene from a soccer game.
It seemed like the team and the audience were confident when the coach sent out the team’s ace.
‘…Why do I feel like I’m seeing the Four Heavenly Kings from a manga?’
The four behind him were laughing like the commanders of the Demon King’s castle.
They looked like they were predicting that this guy would sweep the game.
It wasn’t just the members.
The New Black staff who were watching from outside the camera also had eyes full of anticipation.
‘Do they know something I don’t?’
He heard he was an idol who was good at using his body.
He had good reflexes and showed off his skills by kicking trophies on music shows.
But he couldn’t understand how ‘Say It With Your Body’ was related to him.
It was a completely different matter to express words with your body and to have good physical skills.
‘But…’
The members and the staff were smiling as if they had already won.
While New Black was having a strategy meeting, Kunimura, who had stepped back, approached the PD with his arms crossed.
“What about our prize?”
“Prize…?”
“This game of Saying It With Your Body, you said you’d give us 500,000 yen if we get them all right. Will you really give it to them if they succeed?”
“What are you talking about, Kunimura?”
The PD asked with an incredulous expression, “How are they going to get them all right? The questions are hard. They won’t be able to explain them all within the time limit. The prize was just for fun.”
“So it’s impossible. I see.”
“Their chance of success is zero percent. Just try to succeed first. I’ll give you whatever they want, prize or not.”
Kunimura felt a bad feeling as he saw the PD laughing heartily.
He then explained the rules to the New Black members who had finished preparing.
“The time limit is five minutes. You have to get at least 15 out of 30 right to succeed! You have to express everything with your body. You can’t use your fingers to show numbers or anything. And, if you get all 30 perfectly right, you’ll get a whopping 500,000 yen prize!”
“Prize! Prize!”
“Well, then, shall we hear your ambition before the challenge?”
Woojoo stepped forward as the representative.
He looked at the shooting lights with a faint expression, then smiled at the camera.
“To our beloved President Park Kyuho.”
“President-sama!”
“We’ll earn our meal money.”
“We’ll earn it!”
The leader and the members were in perfect sync.
When Woojoo shouted ‘As much as we ate!’, the members replied ‘Let’s earn it!’ and the MC smiled.
‘These guys are full of energy.’
Many Korean idols had been on this program before, but it had been a long time since he saw a group with such a unique teamwork.
He felt good as he watched them.
He understood why they were popular in Korea.
“Well, then, are you ready?”
“Yes.”
Woojoo stretched his body and bent his waist slightly, and the members also took their positions and looked serious.
Kunimura slammed the progress card.
“Then, start!”
The first word was given.
MC swallowed his laughter at the word ‘gold medal’.
‘It’s hard from the start.’
It would be easy if it was just a medal.
It was difficult to guess exactly what a gold medal was without using numbers.
Usually, in this situation, the fun point was to see them go crazy for almost 30 seconds.
“Hmm?”
Something strange happened.
Woojoo took a pose like a short track skater for the first two seconds.
It felt like he was watching a real game. He felt the speed from the posture of leaning back to the start.
Then he raised both hands and cheered as if he had crossed the finish line.
He moved his legs as if he was climbing stairs.
Once. Twice.
He pretended to go up to the podium and then kissed something around his neck.
“Gold medal!”
The New Black members shouted at the same time and Woojoo smiled.
“…”
Kunimura had a blank expression.
What had just happened?
Woojoo had described the word in less than eight seconds and the New Black members had guessed it in the remaining two seconds.
It was unprecedented.
Usually, when a word like gold medal came up, they would say ‘Medal?’ and then ‘Medal!’, and then another member would go crazy and draw an X with his hand and then express the medal again for a long time, wasting 30 seconds.
But now, the first question was over in less than 10 seconds.
‘What the hell is this?’
As he stared blankly, the second word came out.
Roller coaster.
Woojoo leaned his body back and pretended to hold the safety bar with both hands.
It was a pirarucu.
A word that he had no idea how to explain.
It seemed like an animal, but he didn’t know what kind of animal it was.
He hoped that when a difficult word came up, he would just spell it out one letter at a time, like P, I, R, and so on, and waste some time.
But then, a bright smile appeared on Woojoo’s face.
‘He’s smiling?’
‘Why is he smiling?’
‘…What’s going on? This is ominous.’
Woojoo, who had been mimicking a fish swimming in the water with his body, pointed at Rihyuk with his finger.
“Eek…!”
Someone with a face that was stretched to the forehead stumbled, but the other three shouted seriously.
“Pirarucu!”
The staff of New Black burst into laughter, and the program producers looked stunned.
‘What the heck is a pirarucu?’
‘It’s a fish from the Amazon River.’
‘…?’
What did Rihyuk and the unidentified Amazon River fish have to do with each other?
‘…Telepathy?’
Along with someone’s mumbling, the producers fell into a maze.
Only the staff who was in charge of the research realized his mistake and quietly backed away.
Then he made a realistic movement caused by gravity, exhaling loudly.
“Roller coaster!”
Next was the wedding dress.
Woojoo walked carefully with a bouquet in his hand, as if he was wearing a real wedding dress.
‘What is this? Has he ever been married?’
As Kunimura stared blankly, the New Black members asked with skepticism.
“Marriage?”
“Dress?”
Woojoo drew a ‘+’ sign as if to combine the two, and Bijoo clapped his hands and exclaimed.
“Wedding dress!”
The leader made a gesture of high-fiving in the air, and the excited main dancer caught it and clapped from afar.
That was how the seven words ended in less than a minute.
Kunimura looked at the production team, who had done it in a flash.
“…500,000 yen?” the PD muttered with a blank face.
The assistant director nodded and said, ‘It’s 500,000 yen,’ then flinched at the PD’s gaze.
The sound of the production team swallowing their saliva was heard.
“But can we prepare 500,000 yen?” someone asked with a serious face.
“…We have to hope.”
“Hope?”
“The hope that New Black will fail.”
“Really…”
“Really, we’re saying the same thing. We’re screwed.”
Meanwhile, there were some people in the production team who had the same question as him.
“What is his identity?”
“…What is that? Did you see him doing the b-boying move? That’s a hard move to do even if you know it.”
“Oh. But there’s one hard thing that came out.”
The production team had high hopes for the keyword ‘bacteria’.
‘That’s hard.’
…That was what everyone thought, when Woojoo sneezed and mimicked someone’s disgusted expression.
The members laughed brightly at the same time.
“Seo Rihyuk!”
“No! That’s not me!”
“It’s Rihyuk!”
New Black made a fuss, and the leader shook his head and pretended to hold a handkerchief with snot on it.
“Cold?”
The leader showed the imaginary handkerchief and rubbed his hand, then brought it to his eye.
This time, he looked like a scientist studying particles with a microscope.
“Germs!”
“Bacteria!”
Even the slightly difficult ‘bacteria’ took just over 10 seconds.
As they started to solve one problem every eight seconds, 15 out of 30 problems were over in less than two minutes.
The PD smiled with a detached look.
On the other hand, Kunimura watched with interest as if he was watching a fire. After all, the prize money was the production team’s problem.
‘What did he do to become a singer?’
He was amazed every time he saw him.
As soon as he saw the word, he processed it in his head in one second and went straight to the action description.
It usually took a few seconds to think in your head, but he didn’t hesitate at all.
Fast brain rotation.
And his action description was excellent.
As he watched, he wondered if he could make a YouTube video in a snap. A play button flickered like a hallucination above Woojoo’s head.
‘…He wasn’t bluffing.’
He understood why New Black’s manager and stylist were so confident.
They were still smiling happily.
“500,000 yen. 500,000 yen.”
“Woojoo. Hang in there…!”
“Oh, are we having a party today? Woojoooo!”
It was a good thing that he didn’t understand Korean.
And then.
“Oh…!”
“We made it!”
The faces of the production team, who had been deflated, began to brighten.
The 26th word.
Now, the last question.
With a generous one minute left for the time limit, the 30th word came up.
The last word was ‘army.’
Woojoo flinched for a moment when he saw the word ‘army’ written in bold marker.
How did he describe the army?
Woojoo sighed softly and tried to describe the action, but the kids shouted at the same time.
“Army!”
“That’s the army!”
“Army! Army!”
Nearby, one of the producers muttered in a serious tone, ‘Is this telepathy…?’
When he made a dumbfounded expression.
The MC said, ‘Perfect! You did it!’ and the kids ran towards him.
“Woojoo, you’re awesome!”
“Ugh…!”
Who body-slammed him? Was it Kim Junghyun?
As Woojoo gasped for air, the kids’ hands flew at him like puppy paws.
“Hyung! You did great!”
“Let’s eat something delicious today! We!”
“Pirarucu is nasty, but I’ll give you lots of compliments for today.”
Woojoo barely calmed down the kids who were surrounding him and screaming.
“Hey, how did you guess the last one?”
“Oh. The army? You described it really well, Hyung. You always sigh like that when the topic of men going to the army comes up.”
“Oh…”
“I knew it as soon as I saw it, too! Hyung!”
Bijoo smiled brightly and said, ‘Your description was awesome!’
It was like catching a mouse after stumbling backwards, but Woojoo decided to be happy since he succeeded.
“Woohoo!”
“Praise me, you little ones!”
“Seon Woojoo! Seon Woojoo!”
“Milky Seon Woojoo! I love you, Seon Woojoo!”
As the kids lifted Woojoo up and bowed to him like a Buddha statue, he also stretched out his arms and enjoyed the cheers.
Their staff also clapped or gave thumbs up like the audience who saw their team’s home run.
Woojoo went up to the camera with the kids hanging on him and did a ceremony with a bright smile.
‘Manager! I won the prize money!’
‘Yo!’ The kids all danced the dance of affection, or rather, victory, and bounced around.
“Yay~! Yayayaya~!”
“Yayayaya yayaya!”
As the MC covered his mouth with the cue card and laughed, the producers looked at them with gloomy faces.
It would have been perfect if they added a CG of rain falling in the background.
It was a moment of contrast between them bouncing around and the producers drooping.
After a while, Woojoo asked cautiously, ‘By the way… can we really get the prize money?’
‘Yes, we promised.’
The MC glanced at the PD, who nodded his head with a sad face.
Woojoo was worried that they might not get the prize money because it was a special event, but he was relieved.
Tonight, Woojoo had to go out and eat something delicious with his siblings and staff.
“Are we doing any promotion? We are doing promotion, right?”
“Of course you have to.”
Then they each took a microphone and sang Windflower without any choreography, just the vocal version.
They were serious about building the harmony, but the production team’s reaction was strange.
They gasped every time the harmony was added or dispersed, then they looked at their faces and shook their heads. Then they listened to the song again and smiled with a sigh. They repeated this cycle of surprise and admiration.
They looked like they lost their immersion every time they saw their faces.
“Thank you!”
Woojoo finished the song and lined up with his siblings.
At the end of the two-hour recording, they said goodbye to the viewers of the program.
“Good job!”
“Thank you for your hard work!”
The shooting ended in a warm atmosphere.
The PD who shook hands with them one by one said with a smile, “This is the first time someone really takes away 500,000 yen.”
“Hahaha.”
“I’m sad that I have to report this to the higher-ups, but since it’s already done, I might as well do some proper promotion.”
“Promotion?”
“The first idol group to achieve 500,000 yen! That’s the kind of teaser we need!”
He was definitely a pro.
Woojoo was impressed by his explanation of how to use the broadcast for promotion.
“Lately, the ratings have been stagnant. I hope this appearance of New Black will be a turning point. There were so many epic scenes today…”
“Really?” They looked at each other and asked, “Did we get that much footage? We just did as usual.”
“…Is that usual? You’re not in a particularly good condition today?”
“Today is normal…”
Woojoo’s siblings nodded at his words.
The PD grabbed Woojoo’s hand with a serious face and asked them to come back again.
He sent them off outside the studio and told them to look forward to it.
“Look forward to it. The response to today’s broadcast will be really good.”
Woojoo was afraid they wouldn’t give they the prize money because it was an event, but they paid right away.
“Everyone! What day is today!”
“Dinner!”
“Who’s paying?”
“Woojoo! Woojoo!”
They went to a nice restaurant with the staff and spent money generously.
“Woojoo, I’ll fill your glass.”
“Okay.”
The staff filled his glass with zero cola every time he said thank you for your hard work.
They filled their stomachs with lavish food for two days in a row and finished the remaining schedule with momentum.
“Thank you for your cooperation!”
Most of the promotion was interviews with magazines.
If it were in their country, they would have interviewed with entertainment reporters, but he heard that magazines were more important here.
There were over 3,600 types and over 100 categories of classification. Woojoo got the impression that the environment was different in many ways.
And the last and most anticipated schedule was the showcase.
“Hello, everyone! Is this our first time meeting?”
They had a meeting with a thousand fans at a concert hall in Shibuya, Tokyo.
They performed on stage and held a lottery event.
At the end, they sang Starlight with the Soufflés in Japanese, and it felt different from the K-pop concert.
Something warm and cozy came into their hearts.
Something that was not filled at the K-pop concert, it restored their energy as if it was charging.
It was a happy thing that there were fans who looked at them with such sparkling eyes in a foreign country with different language and culture.
This was also the reason why singers could never let go of this job.
They finished the showcase and had a brief interview with a cable TV entertainment information program.
“That’s amazing.” The reporter said, “You have such a fan base even before you start your full-scale activities in Japan…”
According to the agency, the number of applicants for the showcase also exceeded 10,000.
They had a smooth sailing in Japan.
A normal agency would have thought, ‘The response is good, right? Should we stay in Japan for a few months?’.
But their domestic activities were doing so well that they couldn’t afford to do that.
They finished their promotion schedule neatly and got on the plane back home right away.
“Ah, I’m tired…”
Their Japan trip was over with the last free time they had wandering around the bustling streets of Tokyo with his younger siblings.
Woojoo boarded the plane with gifts for his grandmother, the A&R Team, and the company staff.
“…”
“…”
They still had fans following them, but this time they just put on their sun caps and lay down.
Let them take pictures if they want.
Look at his floral glossy sun cap.
“We’re in Korea!”
“Ah, this smell of Korea is so good. The scent of violets.”
“That’s the smell of my shampoo, bro.”
“The smell of Korean shampoo is good…!”
They shouted with joy as they got off at Gimpo Airport.
This time, they had a K-pop concert schedule as well, so they stayed abroad for the longest time ever.
Even though it was the same East Asian culture, it couldn’t compare to Korea.
It definitely gave them mental stability.
The fact that Kim Deoksoon and Woojoo were on the same land.
“You worked hard, guys.”
“You worked hard too-!”
They exchanged tired smiles with the managers.
They did their own stage rehearsals and performances, and these people also went around with the local agency and had meeting after meeting after meeting.
It was a forced march for everyone.
“To the accommodation?”
“Accommodation!”
As Dowon Hyung took the wheel, Woojoo turned his gaze to Seokhwan Hyung.
“Hyung, are you going to the company?”
“I have some things to finish up there.”
“Take a break…”
“That’s what I should say to you. In-ma. You guys go to the accommodation and rest well. Don’t think about anything today.”
“Yes!”
As Incheon Airport quickly faded away, Woojoo and his younger siblings started to nod off.
“By the way, Woojoo.”
“Zzzz. Yes.”
“The promotion team told you to come to the company tomorrow morning.”
“Why?”
“Your lig…”
Whoosh.
At that moment, they all sat up straight like vampires who woke up in the coffin.
“Who is it? Who made the sound of the stick?”
“Light stick, right? Manager. Light stick?”
“Uh… yeah, yeah. The light stick prototype came out, so come tomorrow morning…”
“We can’t do that.”
They shook their heads firmly.
“Turn the car around, Dowon Hyung.”
“We’re going to the company.”
Their faces brightened up at the news of the light stick prototype.
“Finally…!”
“We’ve been waiting for this day.”
They clapped their hands together with a fresh expression.
“Guys, the light stick is out…!”
“I think I’m going to cry, Hyung.”
“Do you want a tissue?”
“This is not the time for that! We should celebrate!”
Jiho turned on the music and they danced happily to the celebration song, and Seokhwan Hyung looked at them with a blank face.
He looked like he was watching a retriever that was still running around after a three-hour walk.
“Don’t you guys rest…?”
“Yeah!”
They were so excited that they danced, and Junghyun scratched his nose and asked, “But, Hyung.”
“Yeah?”
“I feel like I left something behind. There’s something I’m forgetting, but…”
“Me too. It feels like we forgot something…”
Woojoo tried to remember, but nothing came to mind. There was something they were missing, but what?
Woojoo racked his brain, but eventually give up.
It didn’t matter anyway. He couldn’t even remember it.
“Yay!”
He danced again with joy.
Japan.
Three men drank tea with serious faces.
“When will New Black come?”
“Let’s wait and see. We prepared an irresistible offer for them…”
“True. They must have noticed our presence by now.”
Hashimoto and his companions sipped their tea, hoping for New Black to arrive soon.
‘New Black, come on…’
‘Why aren’t they coming?’
‘They have to come. They will, right?’
But while they were praying fervently, New Black was in Korea, singing yodel songs and dancing.