Chapter 182: Chapter 183:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 183

The Soufflés looked at the stage.

‘What is the surprise gift?’

Woojoo had said during the Q&A session that he had prepared a surprise gift for the fans here.

He even hinted that it would be quite fun, so the fans’ anticipation was soaring.

In the darkened auditorium, they all tapped their feet.

‘I want to see it soon.’

They felt like receiving a box and unwrapping the gift.

And, they were confident that they would be moved by whatever it was.

Even if he gave them a handful of sand and said ‘This is my heart’, they would put it in a glass bottle and cry.

The important thing was that New Black had prepared the gift for them on purpose.

Ta-da!

Finally, the lights came on.

‘Where did the other members go?’

The fans tilted their heads as they looked at the scene on the stage.

Woojoo was sitting on a chair with a guitar around his neck.

But they didn’t wonder for long.

They saw his sweaty, messy hair, and the in-ear that he had taken out and hung on his shoulder.

They all stretched their necks like giraffes and made a brief commotion.

“…”

Woojoo had been closing his eyes slightly.

‘…What is he doing?’

The fans held their breath and watched him.

He was blinking his eyes and tapping his shoe on the stage.

He looked like someone listening to music.

But there was no sound coming from the venue.

“…?”

They all looked puzzled.

They already knew that Woojoo was strange.

They also knew that he had a natural talent for music.

But did he need to make such a big deal out of a simple guitar performance?

Some felt like ‘Just play, why…?’.

Most of them were smiling at the screen, showing him breathing heavily from the sweat.

The singer opened his eyes.

He smiled at the audience and moved his fingers gently.

‘What song is it?’

The acoustic guitar played an unfamiliar melody.

As Woojoo plucked the strings, a quiet and beautiful sound echoed.

The fans were quickly immersed in the improvisation.

‘It sounds familiar, but not really. It’s so mysterious.’

It was a familiar melody, but it was hard to pinpoint what it was.

It was like being shown a picture of a city in East Asia and being asked where it was, but the picture had cultural assets from each country.

‘What song is this?’

One thing was certain.

The performance he was doing now was part of a bigger song.

It was like a pretty corner of a puzzle.

As they listened to the performance, they each fell into their thoughts.

When he finished playing the guitar, Woojoo dropped his hand.

Then he turned his eyes to the audience.

“You were surprised, right?”

The fans relaxed and smiled at the singer’s casual tone.

“You must have been surprised because I came up and played the guitar right away. Before playing, I was acting like a person who was intoxicated, nodding my head.”

Woojoo smiled.

“I’m sorry. I was going to tell you what I was going to do before playing, but I thought this would be more fun. You’ll understand, right?”

The fans smiled warmly.

How could they not understand when he smiled like that?

Woojoo tapped the body of the guitar and started to explain the situation.

“As you saw the song just now…”

“You mean heard it. Music is heard with the ears.”

The fans laughed at Rihyuk’s voice.

That seemed to be the cue for the members backstage to start complaining.

“He’s trying to act cool in front of the fans. He’s such a Jenmin.”

“Yeah. Woo Jenmin.”

“Jenminaaaaaa~~~”

Someone’s voice full of aegyo imitated a voice changer and the fans burst into laughter.

Woojoo’s face slightly widened.

“Uh…”

“Explain quickly, Jenmin. We want to go up.”

“Hao! Hao!”

“Sound director? Can you cut these rude noises, please?”

At Woojoo’s request, who made a gesture of cutting his throat with his hand, the random voices disappeared.

Woojoo smiled contentedly.

“That’s great. Oh, that’s not it. Um… where did I stop? Ah. As you may have noticed, the performance I just played for you was part of a song.”

He then explained.

“Before coming here, I and my brothers in Korea thought a lot about what gift to give to the fans. Should we cover the OST of a popular Taiwanese movie, or the fan song Starlight…”

As he mentioned ‘Starlight’, which had not been released yet, the fans cheered, and Woojoo gave a sheepish smile.

“Yes, I thought about translating the lyrics of Starlight and playing it for you… but that seemed too boring.”

The fans tilted their heads.

It didn’t seem boring at all…

But Woojoo had a different idea.

“So I wanted to add a special melody to it.”

“…?”

“When I was walking around the night market on the first day, yes, that’s right, when I was interviewing Woo Jenmin. I listened carefully to the songs that were playing in the market. What kind of songs are popular in Taiwan, and what kind of songs do people like.”

So he analyzed the structure of the Taiwanese pop songs, and interpreted the impressions he got from them in his own way.

“…”

The fans looked at the singer with a bewildered expression.

A more surprising fact was revealed.

The reason he closed his eyes before strumming the guitar was to calculate the rhythm to mix the improvisation with Starlight.

‘So…’

He played the guitar improvisationally while listening to Starlight in his head.

‘…?’

At first, it sounded like a weird noise, but soon the intro of Starlight began to flow.

“This is where it’s going to mix in.”

At the same time, the guitar melody he had just played blended naturally with Starlight.

As everyone opened their mouths wide, Woojoo gestured to the backstage.

“Come on up, guys.”

As the members of New Black came up cheerfully and lined up in a row, the fans felt a nervous feeling.

The guitar melody that Woojoo had just played and Starlight were perfectly combined.

It was too good to listen to.

It was as if the already excellent song had transformed into a melody optimized for the local fans.

The Soufflés of Taiwan stared blankly at the stage.

‘Is this possible?’

They couldn’t understand how this could be done in such a short time.

It was like seeing a mysterious being that defied their common sense.

Then, Woojoo grabbed the microphone with a smile.

“This is ‘Starlight’, a special gift that I prepared for you, and that you can only see here. Please enjoy it.”

As the melody of the song played, the fans gently waved their glow sticks.

And everyone in this place had the same thought.

‘It’s the best gift ever.’

They thought they would never forget the concert that happened today, even after decades.

With Starlight as the finale, the showcase ended in a heated atmosphere.

At the same time, they boarded the plane to Korea, finishing their three-day promotion schedule in Taiwan.

“Ugh…”

Their bodies were sore.

They laid down on the business seats of Cloud Air, the airline they were advertising for, just like when they came here.

Their bones ached and their muscles were sore.

“We should rest when we get to Seoul, Hyungs.”

“Let’s do that. Seriously.”

“I want to go to a bathhouse.”

The exhausted younger members whined from all directions.

A passing flight attendant suppressed a laugh at the sight of the handsome octopus squad dancing their seduction dance.

They would have cared about their image if they weren’t so tired, but they gave up.

The managers also closed their eyes and shook their heads, and the stylists and makeup artists were already asleep.

But despite the fatigue, everyone’s faces were filled with relief.

They looked out the dark window at the cargo trucks and the shining airport, and Woojoo turned his eyes to Rihyuk next to him.

He was writing something diligently with a pen.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m making a list of things to do when we get to Seoul. I have quite a few things I learned from here… Oh, stop looking. Really.”

“Hey, I’m not looking.”

“You are.”

“I’m not. I’m too mean to look.”

…Woojoo said with a sour expression, but he actually peeked.

He barely held back a smile as he saw his notes, such as ‘Find the name of the disposable shampoo at the hotel’.

He would have blown up at Woojoo for looking at him like that, but he let it slide with a bite of his lip.

Maybe he was more generous than usual because of the happiness of going back to Korea.

Jiho poked his head out from the front seat.

“I guess people should live where they used to live. I never thought I’d miss the dorm so much.”

“I agree. Korea is the best.”

They nodded at Junghyun’s words, who was sucking on a jelly.

They had a good time with the Taiwanese fans, and it was fun to explore Taipei, but.

People should live where they are used to living.

After about three days, they missed Korea like crazy.

“And there are two most important things that we don’t have here.”

“What are they?”

“Kim Deoksoon and the studio.”

“…Didn’t you talk to Grandma every night?”

“The quality is different. The quality.”

The younger members shook their heads at Woojoo, who was talking about the video call quality.

“And we have to make the songs for the third album soon. We have to work with the A&R Team.”

“Hyung. About that.” Junghyun asked Woojoo with a serious face, “Is it really fun, or isn’t it because you don’t have to listen to what the A&R Team says?”

“Huh? Why?”

“Hmm… Never mind. Hyung.”

“Don’t say weird things, Junghyun. I’m so nice to the A&R Team, I even buy them souvenirs. They like me too.”

“Wait, hold on.”

Rihyuk raised his hand and cut Woojoo off.

He took out the earplug case and plugged the orange earplugs into his ears.

“…?”

He smiled and said, “Go ahead and talk. I can’t hear you now.”

“I hate you.”

“I can’t hear you. Try again.”

“I hate you.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know how you feel.”

He teased Woojoo with a smug smile, and the younger members clapped and laughed at Woojoo, who got burned.

“…Wait a minute.”

When did he lose his authority as the eldest brother?

No. Did he ever have it?

Woojoo thought about it, but that wasn’t it.

When he first met them, they acted like he was the older brother and tried to impress him, but he didn’t know when they became like this.

Now they treated him so comfortably.

Were they the weird ones?

When Woojoo was at TJ Entertainment, everyone called him powerful and charismatic…

-Sir?

As if mocking him, the voices of the TNT debut group members passed by as they waved their hands.

Ahem.

Anyway, this was different from the ideal leader he had dreamed of.

But if he had to choose between the two, he liked this one better.

He liked it better when they treated him like a peer rather than being a little scared and dependent on him.

That was his impression from this overseas schedule.

Unlike the debut period when he was anxious, he liked that the more mature members now reached out to him from an equal position.

And…

“Oh, the plane is about to take off.”

As Jiho said that, the younger ones started to move in an orderly manner.

“Hyung, right. Do you want to listen to this song?”

Bijoo offered Woojoo an MP3 player.

“Uh… there’s an extra neck pillow. Do. You. Want. To. Try. It?”

Junghyun put a dinosaur-shaped neck pillow around his neck with crazy acting.

“Let’s go shopping for clothes when we get to Seoul, Hyung. Really. I saw the article about the airport fashion and the fans’ comments. They said you look like a grandma going to the market.”

“…What?”

Jiho deliberately changed the topic with a ridiculous story.

As the plane entered the runway, Rihyuk, who was sitting next to Woojoo, plugged in his earphones and glanced at him .

Woojoo smiled at their subtle attempts to take care of him.

He thought their relationship had changed from before.

It wasn’t one-sided anymore. Now he could lean on them a little too.

That was why he appreciated their attention and awkward help.

“…”

Maybe it was because of that.

This takeoff was a bit more bearable.

It was different from the last time when he was in a perfect panic state. This time, he only broke out in a cold sweat.

It was still scary.

And he thought this part wouldn’t be easily solved in the future.

Trauma was really stubborn.

But he felt a little relieved that he didn’t have to pretend to be okay in front of the younger ones anymore.

Clunk!

He felt the plane soar into the sky as it took off.

“…”

Woojoo opened his eyes that he had tightly closed while gripping the armrest.

The younger ones were doing their usual things.

They seemed to be considerate of him, turning their gaze elsewhere so he wouldn’t feel embarrassed.

“Here, take this.”

Rihyuk handed Woojoo a napkin, pointing at his face. Maybe he thought he was about to cry like a few days ago.

“Thanks, but I’m fine.”

“What?”

“Did you give it to me because you thought I was crying?”

“What are you talking about? I gave it to you to wipe your mouth.”

“…?”

When Woojoo wiped his mouth with the tissue, saliva dripped out.

“…”

Woojoo turned his head and saw his sad face in the window.

How long had he been asleep?

He woke up feeling thirsty.

Oooh.

His ears were stuffy, and the wing of the plane outside the window was flying over dark clouds.

Everyone seemed exhausted, lying down with neck pillows.

Woojoo smiled softly as he saw Junghyun breathing heavily with a snoring prevention device.

Rihyuk was writing something diligently.

“…What are you doing?”

“I’m writing lyrics.”

“Oh, that.”

Then, the keywords ‘third album’, ‘Bijoo song’ floated in his head.

The song that Bijoo and Woojoo made while preparing for the third album at Director Jo’s house. He heard it and said that.

The lyrics, he asked if he could write them.

So Woojoo gave it to him, and he was working on it here.

“You must be tired. Get some sleep. You can do it when you get back to Korea.”

“I can’t sleep. There are too many strangers around, and the plane is noisy. You know I’m sensitive when I sleep.”

He smiled like a grumpy cat.

“So, are you done with the lyrics?”

“I’m almost done. Ah…! Don’t look yet.”

“When are you going to show me?”

“When it’s finished. Just wait a little longer. It should be done by the time we land.”

“What are you, a poet? Are you preparing for a literary debut?”

“…This is a careful work.”

Woojoo stretched and asked him, “Then, can you tell me the theme?”

“The theme of these lyrics is ‘the things that are invisible’.”

“Invisible things?”

“I felt that part when I did the fan signing and the showcase. We didn’t know what was going on in places we couldn’t see. Honestly, I never dreamed that we would have fans overseas.”

“That’s true.”

“But someone was always looking at us and waiting for us in places we couldn’t see.”

Rihyuk’s lips curled up in a short smile as if he was thinking of the fans.

“When I think about it, isn’t that the case for all relationships? Even when we’re not looking at each other, one side is looking at the other. They secretly take care of us, even though we can’t see them in their eyes.”

“Ah…”

“That’s where I got the idea. ‘Even if you feel lonely and alone, there is someone who cares for you in an invisible place.’ I’m trying to write lyrics that are comforting like that.”

“It does match the melody that Bijoo made. It has a hopeful feeling too.”

Woojoo admired Rihyuk’s idea, but his eyes stopped in the middle of the memo.

“So, the theme is that there is love and warmth for us somewhere we can’t see, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Something that exists but we can’t see.”

“Yes.”

“I’m asking just in case.”

Woojoo pointed at the memo.

There was a title that made him gasp.

“You’re not seriously going to name it ‘Dark Matter’, are you?”

“Why?”

“…”

“It fits perfectly. A substance that exists in the space we live in, but we can’t see.”

“Uh…”

“What’s wrong?”

What was wrong?

He looked at Woojoo with a natural face, as if he didn’t know what the problem was.

Woojoo’s back hurt.

He had no choice…

If he left the group to them, it would be a disaster.