Chapter 229: Chapter 230:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 230

The sea passed by the car window.

Clay Tyler was watching a choreography video in the car heading to Seoul.

“Hmm…”

He switched between 1.2x and 0.5x speed. His finger moved the playback bar on the tablet PC.

He let out a silent exclamation.

‘Perfect.’

The choreography he created was perfectly reproduced by New Black’s fingertips.

Clay Tyler smiled.

‘This time, it will be much easier.’

He remembered how he felt like a human handkerchief last time.

The New Black members, who had innocent faces and giggled, squeezed him until the last drop came out.

Because of that, he had nightmares for a few days after returning to LA. Every time he fell asleep, he heard ‘Hey, Clay’ in different tones.

Well.

This time, unlike the Masquerade, there was nothing to point out, so that wouldn’t happen.

‘…But is that really the case?’

He had a feeling in his heart that it wouldn’t be, but Clay Tyler shook his head.

No. Not today.

Besides, he had insurance this time.

“Dad?”

“…Hmm?”

“Why are you looking at me like you pity me?”

His daughter, Joy Tyler, who was sitting next to him, stopped taking selfies with her phone and narrowed her eyes.

Clay coughed.

“Uh, it’s nothing.”

Joy started taking selfies again.

She was nineteen this year and one of the best dancers in the studio.

She was his assistant for this choreography coaching, who would help him divert the questions from New Black.

The assistant who came with him last time…

-Hey, Garcia. You’re going to Korea with New Bl…

-I’m going to church that day. Clay.

-You’re an atheist, aren’t you?

The assistant who came with him last time refused to go, and the other dancers who heard the terrible rumor avoided him.

He and his assistant became green after visiting Korea, and as a joke, a new word ‘New-Blacked’ was coined. It meant to come back as Clay.

For that reason, he had to persuade his daughter, who was interested in K-pop, hard.

-It’s a K-pop idol choreography job.

-Hmm… Okay. I’ll go.

I’m sorry. Daughter.

When he was apologizing for the future in his chest, Joy, who was looking around, asked, “I’m curious about something. How big is New Black in Korea? Hailey Blue? Logan Smith? Or higher than that? They must be around there if they hired you.”

Clay stroked his chin at his daughter’s mention of the popular singers in America.

“I don’t know. You know more about K-pop than I do, don’t you?”

“I only watch music videos and performance videos. I don’t hear much about New Black.”

“They’re not that famous yet. They have a lot of potential, though…”

Clay Tyler recalled his last visit.

Were they filming a reality show on MTV?

New Black was not a well-known team in Korea. He thought he heard they won some award like ‘Rookie of the Year’ or something.

Then Joy narrowed her eyes.

“Huh? Dad. Isn’t that New Black?”

“Where?”

“There.”

The car stopped for a moment, and a banner of a clothing brand with New Black as the models caught his eye.

It was as if they were shouting ‘They’re our models!!’

“…?”

Not long after, a similar thing happened again.

A banner of ‘Everdream’ with New Black members in school uniforms was fluttering outside.

Here too, they were shouting ‘They’re our models!!!’

Joy asked with a strange look, “You said they’re not famous?”

“…”

He couldn’t figure out why. It hadn’t been six months since he last saw them, but something had changed.

Then the driver of Lemon Entertainment asked hesitantly, “Mr. Tyler. Shall I take you straight to the hotel?”

“That sounds good.” He asked, “Didn’t New Black say they were coming back today? We already agreed to have lunch together, so it would be better to meet them before going to the hotel.”

“They came back this morning. They’re doing an event in Myeongdong right now.”

“An event?”

“Um… TV show Late Success?”

The other person muttered something in Korean like ‘Ah, what’s the word for ratings in English’, but Clay didn’t understand what it meant.

“Can we go there right away? I’d rather see them as soon as possible. Can you take me there?”

“Sure. Let’s go.”

The car headed towards Myeongdong Street.

Soon after they got out of the car, the father and daughter were shocked by the crowd that filled the street.

“What’s going on? Why are there so many people…”

It felt like they were swept away by the crowd.

It reminded them of Disneyland, which they had visited once. The Tyler father and daughter, who were squeezed in between people like crumpled bills, followed the staff and made their way through the crowd.

They didn’t have to go far to see the people who caused this congestion.

-Yes, I’m really happy that Legendary Song Discovery is getting so much love.

Woojoo was holding a microphone on the other side of the fence, which prevented people from getting closer.

Next to him, the members of New Black were smiling brightly and waving their hands to the pedestrians.

There were also singers with unfamiliar faces.

There was a band with a somewhat chubby expression, and men and women who looked like regular singers. A broadcast camera with PBS written on it was filming them.

Then, one of the staff whispered something in Woojoo’s ear and he grabbed the microphone again.

-We have a lot of people here from overseas, so the producers asked me to give you some information in English.

He then explained in English that they were holding a guerrilla concert in Myeongdong to repay the high ratings.

The admiration doubled as he continued with fluent Chinese.

His daughter also mouthed ‘Wow’ and muttered, “I can barely speak English.”

“…”

Following him, Rihyuk also took the microphone and said something in Japanese.

A tourist shouted ‘Kawaii!’ and his ears turned red, making the people laugh.

“Woah!”

The audience cheered as the performers sang duets or solo songs.

More than a hundred smartphones captured the scene.

People gasped and nodded their heads to the rhythm as the songs continued.

“…Huh?”

Clay looked bewildered for two reasons.

The first was New Black’s skill.

The big guy over there, and the singers here, they all sang with extraordinary talent.

But New Black was not falling behind.

They were almost equal.

He had only known them as ‘the team that dances well’ until now, but it felt like that image was crumbling down.

And there was another surprising thing.

People were talking about ‘New Black’.

He couldn’t understand them well because they were speaking Korean, but he heard them murmuring ‘New Black’. Some people were even laughing just by mentioning their name.

What was more surprising was that their eyes were full of goodwill when they talked about them.

As if they were looking at a familiar person.

‘…Did the K-pop scene change while I wasn’t paying attention?’

But as far as he knew, this was New Black’s third album. They hadn’t done any new music activities since their second album.

Joy looked up at him and asked, “You said they weren’t famous?”

“…Uh, well.”

“If they’re not famous, then the famous ones must be performing at the Super Bowl or something.”

He ignored his daughter who was hitting his bones hard and spoke to the young couple next to him, “Excuse me,” he asked. “What’s the name of that group?”

“Oh. They’re New Black.”

“Are they famous?”

The couple looked at each other for a moment and then answered, “We think they’re famous. We do.”

“Selfie? Just a moment!”

He was out of his mind.

He didn’t know if it was because of the stress from the flight he took at dawn, or because he hadn’t recovered from the Singapore hangover.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Hands reached out and people spoke to him from everywhere. His vision was blurry, but he smiled broadly and responded.

“Oh, really? Did you see us on History Discovery?”

“So funny! Laugh bomb!”

“Did you subscribe yo?”

He gave fan service to the college students who laughed.

Older people recognized them from Legendary Song Discovery, but young people showed interest in them as stars who were popular on SNS and the internet these days. The impact of History Discovery must have been bigger than he thought.

On the other hand, people flocked to them more than other senior singers.

Jo Yuri, who smiled brightly thinking they were coming to them, fell for the fake of the passerby and made a meerkat-like expression.

Of course, there were people who enjoyed it with them.

“Do you know that? I’m friends with New Black!”

Mr. Song Bohyung threw a playful comment and passed by.

“Me too!”

…and Lisa said timidly and passed by, making them laugh.

Dowon Hyung saved them from being surrounded by people.

“We have another schedule. Excuse me.”

While the manager took them to a quiet place, Minki Hyung sensibly consoled the ones who were cut off at the end and secretly handed them the autographs he had written in advance.

They sweated profusely in a corner between the shooting equipment vehicles, drinking water with their siblings.

The youngest spoke with a face full of sweat.

“I thought it was a dream. People were asking me to sign and recognize me. It’s not a dream, right?”

He slapped his arm and said ‘ow!’ and glared at them.

He looked like a cat that hit its head on the corner and vented its anger.

“What did we do to deserve this?”

“I glared at him without thinking because it hurt so much. It really hurts, you know.”

“Does it hurt like a slap?”

Junghyun flicked a bottle cap at the water bottle he was drinking from.

Bang!

The staff who were packing up the equipment nearby were startled for a moment.

“…”

Glug, glug, glug.

Water leaked out of the hole in the plastic bottle. Why did it look like blood to him?

Rihyuk came to a conclusion.

“I think I’d die before it even hurts.”

“…”

They all laughed and swallowed hard, while Woojoo paid attention to the two who were struggling.

“…”

“Ouch…”

Rihyuk closed his eyes and swept his sweaty hair back, and Bijoo was sitting down and resting.

Woojoo sat down with them and matched their eye level.

“Bijoo, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine…”

It was strange.

He was one of the best in terms of stamina among them, but he seems to be more exhausted lately.

Maybe it was because he danced more energetically than usual in front of people earlier.

Woojoo was sweating buckets himself, let alone him.

Of course, the guerrilla concert they did to celebrate the 15% ratings for four consecutive episodes of PBS’s Legendary Song Discovery was not a tough schedule.

It was just that their physical condition itself was at a low point.

Preparing for the competition.

Overseas promotion.

Recording for History Discovery.

OST work.

Album visual work and choreography practice.

And when they added up the miscellaneous events, radio, and entertainment schedules, they had no time to breathe.

On top of that, History Discovery unexpectedly became a hit, and their schedule became even tighter.

The company told them to take it easy, but they insisted that they had to work hard when the water was flowing.

But when they actually did it, it was not easy at all, so Woojoo thought they had to coordinate with Seokhwan Hyung soon.

Bijoo smiled and waved his hand.

“I’m fine, Hyung. I just felt a little dizzy.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes.”

Bijoo smiled brightly and got up.

“Please take care of Rihyuk first, Hyung.”

“The others are taking good care of him.”

“…Really?”

They were whispering ‘Hang’ ‘in’ ‘there’, ‘Our’ ‘Ri’ ‘hyuk’ alternately in his ears, leaning on the wall on both sides of Rihyuk.

Soon, Rihyuk kicked them away, and Jiho and Junghyun were flustered.

“Wow… It doesn’t hurt at all.”

“Rihyuk, you look like you have no strength.”

“Noooo…”

Rihyuk looked like he wanted to cry at the worried hands on both sides.

They were taking a break and walking like zombies.

“Guys!”

They turned their heads at Minki Hyung’s voice and burst into laughter.

No… Dobby had arrived.

“Clay!”

“Hey, guys.”

They greeted him warmly, shaking hands and patting shoulders.

Junghyun leaned his shoulder on him, and he was surprised and said to just shake hands, making them all laugh.

He said he had just watched the performance.

“You guys are stars now.”

“Not yet.” Woojoo said, “We still have a long way to go. We have a new album coming up. Right now, we’ve just taken a successful first step.”

“But you guys were amazing.”

He said he was impressed by their singing and looked at Bijoo. He called him by his nickname, ‘B’, and said, “B, I didn’t know you could sing so well. I was honestly impressed.”

“Thank you, Clay.”

Bijoo smiled sweetly at him.

They teased Clay for his expression, as if he was looking at his favorite person.

“Clay, do you know that Bijoo has an English name now?”

“Do you know James?”

“James! James!”

“…James?”

Clay laughed at the old-fashioned name.

Bijoo glared at them with resentment.

They promised to tell him the behind-the-scenes story later, when they were having fun teasing him.

“Oh, this is my daughter, Joy. She’s going to be my partner in choreographing this time.”

“Hi, nice to meet you.”

Woojoo politely greeted the woman who looked like she was in her late twenties, but it turned out she was two years younger than him.

She was the one who looked surprised when she heard their ages and made a ‘?!’ face.

Especially when she saw Bijoo and Woojoo, she narrowed her eyes and said ‘…?’, and then she widened her eyes and looked at Junghyun with a different meaning and said ‘…!’.

It reminded Woojoo of a meme he saw on the internet.

A famous foreign actor with his eyes wide open and saying ‘???’.

Woojoo smiled smugly at her gaze.

Look at that, Deoksoon. I’m so young-looking.

He suggested they have lunch together at a famous barbecue restaurant in Gangnam, and Joy asked them a question.

“By the way, what does Jenmin mean in Korean? I’ve been hearing people say Jenmin, Jenmin since earlier.”

“…!”

Woojoo’s face turned gloomy as his siblings’ faces brightened up.

They finished their meal and went back to the company right away.

They gave a brief briefing on the new album concept and explained the album promotion plan.

“The title is ‘Windflower’.”

There was a lot of debate over the name of the wildflower that grows in Korea, but it was decided by a vote to be Windflower.

It was to give a connection to the intro ‘wind’ that Junghyun made.

Clay exclaimed in admiration.

“B also composed?”

“James!”

Bijoo lowered his head every time they teased him to call him James Then he said to Clay, “I only danced. The one who made it into a song was Woojoo Hyung.”

“Expressing the melody with dance on the spot. The leader is amazing, but B, all I can say is that your talent is amazing.”

Wow. Woojoo couldn’t believe that could be connected like that.

Woojoo continued to explain.

“…And as you can see, the title track of the third album is pursuing a trendy pop feel. After that, we are considering a follow-up song activity with a more dance-heavy concept.”

Strictly speaking, it was more like a double title than a definite follow-up song activity.

It was a measure that the company came up with because it was burdensome to put all the capital into one song, as it was the album with the largest capital among the singers produced by Lemon Entertainment.

The plan was to go out with two songs when they came back and adjust the activities according to the response.

The follow-up song was also one that Woojoo had composed.

“What I want Clay to see today is that part. I hope you feel that the two songs are on the same line in terms of performance. As if one song has two parts.”

The A&R staff next to Woojoo added some words, but most of the things he had to ask for were said by ihm, the producer.

The Tyler family nodded their heads as they took meticulous notes on their tablet PCs.

They were world-class choreographers and their disciples, and they understood whatever they asked them.

“I think that’s enough for the story.”

When the meeting was nearing its end, Clay Tyler clapped his hands and said, “Well, shall we go practice?”

“Wow…” Joy Tyler exclaimed.

It was different from what she had seen on video.

‘They’re good.’

They were a team of singers, not dancers, but they had no gaps in their performance.

She saw no point to criticize, just as her dad had said.

Even Rihyuk, who was said to be the weakest in dancing, had flawless movements.

“Didn’t you say Rihyuk was lacking?”

“He improved.”

Clay licked his tongue at her whisper.

“He must have practiced a lot. He’s not the same as his last dance skills. You saw the Masquerade choreography practice video, right?”

“Yeah.”

“He came from there to here. He did.”

She couldn’t imagine how much effort he had put in to improve his dancing in such a short time.

And she was amazed that not only the member who had the weakest skills, but also the one who had reached a certain level and had difficulty improving, had shown a step further.

It was Bijoo.

“Wow…”

Bijoo, whom her dad called ‘B’, seemed to dance better than her.

Every time he made a graceful gesture or swept his hair back, it was like a flower that withered and bloomed, according to the concept of the album.

He looked like a beautiful creature, not a human, every time.

She wondered why her dad always showed his videos to other dancers and lectured them.

“…”

Clay, who was standing next to her, nodded his head with a satisfied face.

As expected, they had nothing special to comment on. They just touched on a few technical aspects.

But even so, the New Black members didn’t stop asking questions.

“Clay, which one do you prefer between this and this?”

Bijoo brought six versions of one hand gesture and asked for their opinions.

The leader also asked about the overall movement and the dance moves that matched the lyrics.

But Joy Tyler didn’t feel anything strange.

‘What’s the big deal?’

It wasn’t hard to answer their questions, unlike what he had said when New Black asked them.

Clay smiled awkwardly.

"This can't be happening…"

"What?"

"Last time, it wasn't like this. They wouldn't let me go anywhere and surrounded me."

"Really? It's a totally different vibe now?"

"Well, whatever. It worked out fine."

He thought maybe they had less questions because their skills had improved.

She smiled as she ate snacks from the snack bar set up in a corner of the practice room.

They had asked her questions from time to time.

She suddenly asked, "Hey, what time is it, Dad?"

"Just a sec."

Then Dad blinked his eyes as he looked around.

"What's wrong?"

"It's weird…"

Clay muttered and pointed at the wall. There was only a white circle with a nail left, as if something had been hanging there.

"There was a clock there, you know."

"Oh, really?"

"Just a sec."

Clay raised his hand and blinked his eyes. Joy, who was munching on a snack, asked, "Why again?"

"Since when was there a snack bar here?"

"……?"

The father and daughter looked at the snack collection on the table behind them.

They hadn't felt anything strange until now, but now that they looked closely, they were all American snacks.

There were American drinks in the fridge next to them.

Their eyes met Kim Junghyun, who was sitting like a lighthouse nearby and watching them.

He smiled warmly as their eyes met.

"……"

The things that had been blurry started to become clear.

And then.

"Would you like a cup of tea?"

Bijoo came over with a friendly smile and a note with questions on it.

"……"

The father and daughter looked at each other.

‘Daughter?'

‘Dad?'

…Were we trapped?