Chapter 237: Chapter 238:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 238

Woojoo swallowed his regret and sang the last verse of ‘Deoksoon-ah’.

Deoksoon-ah-

His voice echoed softly along with the fading drum sound.

‘Deoksoon-ah’ drifted away through the public hall.

Woojoo felt a pang of sadness as he lowered the microphone.

He wanted to sing more.

If this was a real concert encore stage, he would have sung a ‘Deoksoon-ah’ medley for over 30 minutes. He had prepared many versions in advance. He even had a death metal version of ‘Deoksoon-ah’ on his work laptop.

“Thank you!”

A loud applause and cheer erupted. Woojoo exchanged smiles and glances with his members.

‘Well done.’

It was a good stage that was worthy of a grand finale, even though he still felt some regret.

The panels stood up and clapped, making a fuss, and the judges smiled with satisfaction.

Next to Jo Yuri Band, who was awkwardly smiling with their mouths only, the TNT gang was covering their mouths and going ‘wow’.

The following comments were all praises.

-I’m really sorry that today is not a competition day.

Composer Pyo Hyungwon’s comment was impressive.

-It was the most perfect performance among the special stages today. If this was a competition, New Black would have won the first place. I was looking for the remote control while watching. I wanted to vote.

The audience agreed with the judge’s joke.

They thanked them with a proud smile, and a comedian chimed in.

-You said you wanted to vote for Cha Woohyun’s stage earlier!

-That’s right.

-Choose one. You always say that.

The judge who always said he wanted to vote whenever a good stage came out casually replied.

-My opinion is consistent. One person, two votes. I always say that when I meet the PD.

The comedians’ banter continued for a while, and the panels’ comments were also mixed in between.

MC Baek Sangjung changed the topic.

-Today we have some idol guests as panels. Shall we ask them too? How was it, TNT and NYX?

The faces of the TNT trio appeared on the big screen first. They all grabbed the microphone at the same time and said ‘I’ in unison.

The people laughed.

They played a game of wits again and glared at each other, saying ‘I…!’ This time, even New Black laughed.

Han Taehyun, who won among the three, took the microphone.

-Uh, that ‘Deoksoon-ah’, ahem, it was… huff.

He was barely holding back his laughter.

The TNT kids knew about Woojoo’s love for his grandmother, so they had no choice.

Their members also suppressed their cheeks whenever they heard the keyword ‘Deoksoon-ah’.

-It was the most perfect song I’ve heard recently. In my opinion, New Black is one of the top five vocal teams among idols.

-Who are the other four?

-We’re in for sure.

The witty remark of the six-year-old top idol drew a sympathetic laugh from the audience.

Ji Hanbin and Seok Jihun also gave their comments. They all had one thing in common.

-I’m a fan of ‘Deoksoon-ah’, huh!

-It’s a hidden gem, but today’s ‘Deoksoon-ah’, cough!

They twitched their bodies whenever they said the title ‘Deoksoon-ah’.

The people seemed to think that they were just laughing a lot today.

“Thank you, Sunbae-nims.”

Woojoo said with a slight emphasis on the word Sunbae-nims, and they all lowered their hands that they raised to their foreheads at the same time.

This was kind of fun.

Then NYX also gave their comments. There was not enough time for all six of them, so the leader Muri spoke on behalf of them.

-I feel like my shoulders are getting heavier already. You all did so well, we have to work hard to fit in that spot.

“Thank you,” Woojoo replied with a smile.

After another round of comments from the comedians, the microphone went to the original singer.

-Maybe he’s the most important guest today. How did you feel, Mr. Yoo Myeongdeok, who wrote and composed the original song ‘Deoksoon-ah’?

-…

-Sir?

The MC paused with his neck slightly stretched, and the face of the middle-aged singer appeared on the screen.

-Huh, huh…

The original singer, Yoo Myeongdeok pushed his glasses up to his forehead and dabbed his eyes with a handkerchief.

Everyone was stunned.

He was just pursing his lips and looking up at the ceiling until a moment ago, but now he was crying.

‘Uh uh uh-’ A don’t cry reaction flowed from the audience, and the middle-aged singer swallowed his tears and took the microphone.

-Yes, New Black. Thank you so much.

Teacher Yoo Myeongdeok looked at each of them.

-Woojoo, Bijoong, Junghyuk, Rihyun, Jihoo.

He got all the names wrong except mine.

It was a scene where the close-up shots of Woojoo’s siblings’ shocked faces were interspersed every time he called their names on the live broadcast.

Along with the buzzer sound of the quiz being wrong, the subtitles below the flustered faces said [Bijoong(X) → Bijoo(O)].

When the MC told him the truth, the middle-aged singer was embarrassed.

-Oh, I’m sorry. I searched on my smartphone in a hurry… I have presbyopia.

Everyone smiled at the round face of the senior singer who prepared to call each of their names.

Teacher Yoo Myeongdeok, who was speaking with a tearful voice at first, spoke with his characteristic hoarse voice.

-I was really moved. Moved, and moved again. How can these young kids sing so well? This was the best song I wanted to give a thumbs-up to among the songs I heard in the fifth act of my life. I was moved to tears by the code progression that showed how much effort you put into the arrangement. There was nothing missing in singing, and this perfect performance…

The middle-aged singer, who had the nickname of talk machine gun in entertainment, kept on praising us without a break.

-Teacher, I’m now…

-Just wait a bit. MC teacher. Let me talk some more.

Everyone burst into laughter as he spewed out compliments for almost five minutes, and New Black gladly accepted them.

But the more they heard the compliments, the less they could laugh.

‘Teacher seems to have misunderstood something.’

‘He was really moved.’

As Woojoo and his siblings shook their eyes, Teacher Yoo Myeongdeok, who was laughing heartily, said.

-These days, they call it the volcano of emotion, right? I was really a volcano. How can the respect and mission for the song burn so fiercely in the hearts of these young friends? If I talk about that part…

He wrapped up the arrangement and completion of ‘Deoksoon-ah’ with his love for the old song.

The TNT group sitting behind them was trying their best to control their expressions, and Woojoo smiled while hiding his embarrassment.

-Anyway, you’re the best, the best! Always be victorious! New Black!

“Thank you!”

The audience also clapped together.

As the middle-aged singer said, they all reacted like ‘How can they have so much love for the song!’.

Except for a few people in the public hall, no one knew the truth and sent applause mixed with emotion.

Woojoo should never talk about Kim Deoksoon’s buff. Never.

When the MC saw the writer’s comment that came out on the prompter screen, he asked a follow-up question.

-I heard from the writers that Woojoo’s grandmother’s name is Kim, Deok-ja Soon-ja, the same as ‘Deoksoon-ah’?

“Yes, that’s right.”

-It must have been very hard to immerse yourself. ‘Deoksoon-ah’ is about the love and passion for the lover, but your grandmother’s name is the same.

Woojoo grabbed the microphone and smiled.

“It was a bit difficult in some aspects.”

At that moment, the eyes of the panelists and the ones next to him flew in.

‘Look at him lying.’

‘He was full of love and passion more than anyone…’

‘It wasn’t immersion, it was oneness.’

Woojoo ignored them and talked about immersion. It wasn’t a lie to say that immersion was hard in some ways.

Teacher Yoo Myeongdeok’s ‘Deoksoon-ah’ was a fresh and lively spring girl, while his grandmother was a tough and fierce woman who said ‘fresh and what, damn it’.

The MC made a suggestion.

-When the broadcast goes out, your grandmother will see it too, so can you say a word of greeting to your grandmother as the last comment?

Woojoo nodded and smiled at the front camera.

“Grandma-”

The elderly audience laughed at the friendly voice.

“I’m sorry I called your name a bit rudely. But you know I love you, right?”

-We do too. Hehe!

-I love you too!

-Ahem, I, I also a little…

Woojoo frowned and turned his head.

“Guys, she’s my grandma. My grand-ma.”

Was ‘my grand-ma’ that funny?

The audience who were watching the video letter seriously burst into laughter, but Woojoo expressed his affection to the camera.

“Anyway, the most lovely and beautiful grandmother in the world. I’ll call you right after the recording is over. I love you. Deok-”

When Woojoo winked at his siblings, they all sensibly picked up the microphone and harmonized.

Deoksoon-ah-ah-

The audience clapped and laughed.

At the MC’s request to say goodbye, they finished promoting the third album and went down the stage.

The applause didn’t stop until they all went down.

They made a resolution together at the company after they came back from the special stage of the hit song group.

“Okay, from today on, we’re not going to look at the internet.”

“Sounds good.”

They concluded that it was better not to see people’s reactions to cope with the comeback anxiety.

There was nothing they could do anyway.

They felt like they wouldn’t be able to do anything if they saw how people reacted every time a comeback promotion was released.

They didn’t have much time to look at it in the first place.

The preparation for the ‘Deoksoon-ah’ stage took up a lot of time, and they didn’t have enough time to work on the quality of the title stage.

It was a time when every minute and second was precious.

“We’ll see how people react after the song is released. For now, let’s delete the internet apps from our smartphones.”

“I can’t delete them. They’re basic apps, Hyung.”

“Oh.”

Then they agreed to erase them from their minds.

They told the managers that they wanted to practice without any outside news for a while, and they agreed.

Instead, every time Minki Hyung and Dowon Hyung came to give them chicken breast lunch boxes, they handed them post-its with the headlines of ‘Today’s Major News’.

That was how they prepared for the showcase with the determination to either sleep or practice until the day of the comeback.

D-4

They helped Junhyun with his solo stage preparation while the tracklist was opened.

D-3

When the music video teaser was opened, they suggested giving Rihyuk, who had choked on his food, a hand and foot massage, but he said he didn’t believe in such pseudoscience.

In the end, they all took care of one arm and leg each and rubbed them hard to make sure his blood circulation was good.

D-2

When the second music video teaser was released, Bijoo didn’t eat anything and practiced the choreography until he vomited.

Woojoo took the younger ones to the emergency exit.

D-1

They were so anxious that they all laid down blankets in the living room and slept.

And finally, D-Day arrived.

April 15, 2015.

The reporters started to take their seats at the showcase venue.

Each of them opened their laptops and wrote articles in various versions, and they chatted with the people they knew.

“Wow.”

Someone exclaimed with admiration, “There are so many people today.”

“I know. Last time they released their second album, it wasn’t like this.”

“Wow…”

It looked like twice as many people as the media showcase that took place last November.

It was no exaggeration to say that almost every entertainment department of the media came out.

“I think we need to give them a little more Q&A time than usual. Can we handle all these people?”

Some of them looked at the big screen with a sour taste in their mouths. The concept photos and teasers of the mini second album were playing.

“By the way, did you listen to the album preview that came out yesterday? And the music video?”

“I saw them all.”

“I wrote the articles in advance, dividing them into ‘hit’ and ‘medium’ versions, and then I watched the music video. As soon as I saw it, I uploaded the ‘hit’ version.”

They laughed.

“The visuals were amazing. It was like a movie.”

“They said they were working on a worldview, and I wondered what they were doing at first, but I think they built it quite successfully.”

“But I still don’t know what the story is about.”

Just like the mini first album Masquerade, this time they also released a story film along with the music video.

The story film was titled ‘Prologue: Before the Story Begins’.

A huge library appeared, and five books of different colors, red, yellow, etc., were lit up one by one.

A red book fell off, and an illustration of people wearing masks standing in a gloomy city flowed out.

Suddenly, a fire broke out by someone who lit a fire.

That was how the library, which had turned into ashes, collapsed, and Scarlet’s Daisy picked up five books in her hand. That was the last scene.

“Their fans posted an analysis, and they said that they are characters from different genres of books. And every time one of them goes back to their own book, the other four save them.”

“Oh, so that’s why this time too.”

If the mini first album was a story of saving Red from a masked ball-like world, this time the music video was a story of meeting Yellow, who was the only survivor on a planet that seemed to have been destroyed.

“What about the song?”

“Well.”

One reporter answered.

“Their songs are always good, aren’t they?”

“Honestly, whether they hit or not is more important, the quality of New Black’s songs has always been consistent.”

“One thing is for sure, unless something goes wrong, we’ll never fail.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, while a reporter who came to New Black’s showcase for the first time asked a question.

“Why do you say that?”

“Well, look at the views of their music video yesterday, and the size of their fandom. They’re huge, so they won’t fail. And…”

The reporter who answered trailed off and said, “Besides, even we are talking about their music video content. That shows how much buzz they have.”

“Oh…”

The reporters who came to the showcase only skimmed through the press release and wrote their articles were the entertainment reporters.

But even they were discussing how their music video was, how their singing group activities were, and so on. That was proof of how much interest they had in New Black.

“The quality of their songs is always good. The only thing left is whether they’ll rise or not.”

“But that’s the most important thing, isn’t it?”

Someone said, “They’re one of the most popular boy groups in terms of public recognition, but their album sales and achievements are far behind.”

“Right. That’s why the idol communities were on fire for the past week. They were arguing about where New Black stands.”

“They’re the ones who fight over whether they like sauce or not.”

“Anyway, for New Black, this is a turning point. Whether they go up or stay as a boy group with high public recognition but low performance.”

Meanwhile, the reporters who had been following New Black since their debut single shrugged.

“Wow, I can’t get used to this atmosphere. Everything was so small last June, but now they’re doing better than the rookies from the big four agencies.”

“Even for their second album, the reporters here barely knew their names.”

“It feels like yesterday when they fixed the sound mistake at the showcase. Time is…”

“That’s right. It’s like when you go to the countryside and see the dogs. They were babies at New Year’s, but they’re big when you go back at Chuseok.”

New Black had achieved amazing results in just over a year since their debut.

“They really made it. Look at the questions the other reporters prepared.”

“But look at that reporter over there. She’s so relaxed.”

Oh Sohee, a reporter from Entertainment IN, was clicking her mouse with a smile. She was watching New Black’s music video.

“She’s been almost a fan of them since the beginning.”

“That’s why she’s close with Lemon. She got a lot of exclusive interviews…”

She was met with envious eyes. Someone’s murmur summed up everyone’s feelings.

“I should have been nicer to them when they were rookies.”

The day they had been waiting for, their comeback.

Before they went on stage, they were surprised by the number of reporters who gathered.

“Wow…”

“There are more people in the back.”

“Eek.”

The media showcase was held in a heated atmosphere, much more than their second album. Even while they were performing, they thought, ‘What is this? There are so many people…’

They were nervous.

They didn’t know there were so many people who were interested in their album.

The Q&A session was over before they knew it.

The strange thing was, the number of reporters increased, but the number of weird questions decreased.

“That’s because they don’t need to use you as bait to get views anymore.” Seokhwan Hyung explained, “Before, they had to write provocative titles to get more views, but now people just click when they see ‘New Black’. So the content is more important.”

It was a change that was hard to adapt to.

Of course, there were still some people who asked weird questions.

They mostly asked Jiho about his acting in ‘Slip’, and his plans for solo activities. And then they asked them how they felt about their youngest doing acting. It seemed like they wanted to create some discord among them.

Thankfully, the comedian, Kim Chul, who was hosting the showcase cut them all off, so they didn’t have to answer.

“Good job, everyone!”

“Thank you for your hard work!”

After the media showcase, they only had the fan showcase left at 8 p.m.

“Guys.”

“Hyung.”

Woojoo exchanged serious looks with his brothers.

6 p.m.

It was time to check the release of their mini third album, including the title song ‘Windflower’, on the music sites.