Chapter 318: Chapter 319:

The audience laughed every time we sang a verse.

I spoke into the microphone.

Thank you

Thanks to you, I composed

This song

Then I passed the next verse to Rihyuk.

I’ll remember

Today’s ringtone

I’ll look forward to

Tomorrow’s silent mode

The song that became an etiquette song made the hall burst into laughter.

As I played the keyboard, I turned my head slightly and saw the couple covering their faces with both hands in the middle of the laughing audience.

Then they soon started laughing hard as if they found it funny too.

Bijoo, who held the microphone, sang as if humming.

Are you a couple

Or a family

I’m asking just in case

The man mouthed ‘couple’ as an answer.

Then our youngest got excited and grabbed the microphone.

Have a beautiful love (beautiful love-)

And remember

The three letters New. Bl. Ack.

As I tapped the keyboard staccato-like, the siblings added harmony by saying ‘New’, ‘Bl’, ‘Ack’.

Then I finished the song by sliding my fingers on the keyboard.

-Wow-!

As we stood up and bowed like a stage greeting, the decibel of the cheers from the audience rose even more.

It was an atmosphere that acknowledged our impromptu composition.

Ha Seung-ju, who was watching from one side of the stage, came over with a smile full of laughter.

“That’s awesome, right? Right, everyone?”

-Yes!

“Actually, until just now, when New Black said they were composing on the spot, your eyes were like this.”

Ha Seung-ju crossed his arms and made a ‘hmm’ gesture.

“They’re broadcasting anyway, so they’re probably just playing it. Some of you might have thought that. But this is…”

He looked at me with a happy face.

“It’s been a while since a memorable scene came out.”

“Thank you.”

“It was so nice because it was an unexpected moment. Impromptu composition with a ringtone. Where are those people from earlier?”

The couple raised their hands with shy faces.

The MC smiled and said.

“Thanks to your ringtone, a fun scene came out on Muka for a long time. Don’t just go later. Come over here and get a gift from the production team.”

As the two opened their eyes wide and rejoiced, the people clapped and said ‘oh’.

The MC, who was considerate of the audience couple, winked at me.

I immediately picked up the microphone.

“That’s right. This is also a fate, so let’s take a proof shot with us later.”

“Thanks to you, we made a song!”

“We’ll give you some chocolate we bought from Malaysia.”

The couple nodded their heads and smiled at us, who expressed our gratitude by waving our hands.

Looking at their expressions, it seemed like they would cherish today’s event for a long time.

As Junghyun sent them a stern finger heart, the audience laughed.

The MC glanced at the clock in the hall and said.

“Now it’s time to send New Black off.”

“It’s time to go.”

We agreed.

The audience, who didn’t know anything and sparkled their eyes saying ‘wow’ because of our constant laughter, was quite late.

A middle-aged man with his arms crossed was nodding off.

“Before we go, how about Woojoo say a few words as the representative?”

“I want to sincerely thank all of you who made this wonderful time today.”

I asked.

“We came out to change our image.”

“Woojoo, give up on that.”

“…How do you feel? Our image has changed a lot from the beginning, right?”

The audience unanimously said ‘yes!’.

The manager hyungs in the backstage nodded their heads with a warm smile.

The siblings smiled contentedly, and I smiled too.

“Yes. Please tell a lot of people around you about the changed image you witnessed today!”

“Please!”

“We were really nervous when we came out, but thank you for giving us a lot of response.”

The audience, who were cheering, stopped and made a ‘what do you mean?’ expression at Bijoo’s words.

The MC also wiped his glasses and put them back on.

He smiled at the soufflés that appeared in the middle of the audience along with the words of gratitude.

‘Thank you.’

I hoped the meaning would be conveyed and looked into their eyes.

The fans who held the New Black slogan and the others who pretended to be ordinary people flinched and opened their eyes wide.

At first they were surprised, but soon they smiled brightly.

“Well, shall we hear about the last stage?”

“Yes.”

I grabbed the microphone and said.

“I heard that the 90s songs are popular again these days. For the last song, we prepared a medley of the 80s and 90s hit songs.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

After Ha Seung-ju said goodbye to the audience with ‘This was Music Cafe’.

“Thank you!”

As we greeted, the intro flowed.

The exciting saxophone sound and the cheerful drum sound.

It was a song selection that considered the most tired age group at this time.

The eyes of the middle-aged man who was nodding off to the modernly arranged melody of the 80s hit song opened wide.

Clap- clap-

The sound of rhythmic applause.

The middle-aged audience, who had been watching the stage with a somewhat bland expression, began to shake their shoulders.

We danced to the sound.

Jiho, who was cheering up the audience with a ‘up up’ gesture toward the audience, walked to the protruding part of the stage.

Neon burning street-

10 p.m.

The audience responded with a thrilling cheer in the blinking green light.

It was a successful finish.

Yeouido PBS Broadcasting Station.

The audience wrapped their coats in the chilly autumn night weather.

“Is there a place to call a taxi?”

“Hey, how many buses do we have to take?”

“I’m hungry. Should I go home and eat chicken?”

People who frowned at the map app or glanced at the passing taxis in front of the trees.

After getting on the vehicle to go home.

They started talking about the program they watched today.

“Wasn’t it really funny today?”

“Puhaha! I still remember. That button.”

“They were called separately after the ringtone couple ended. Did you take a picture? I was totally into it.”

Subway, bus, taxi.

The people who were talking about ‘Music Cafe’ had a search window with ‘New Black’ written on their phones.

‘It’s amazing.’

It was a face I knew, but it felt different when I looked at the profile again.

It felt like a popular idol these days.

“It looks different after seeing it.”

“That’s right.”

“They are all real-life bombs. Did you get famous because you were handsome?”

“Maybe he did something weird with that face and got famous.”

“It’s convincing.”

“But it really looks like a different person.”

It was hard to say exactly what it was…

“Is it different from what I imagined?”

“My words.”

Every time New Black talked about music or showed their skills, they felt very unfamiliar.

Especially, the part where Woojoo improvised and composed with a ringtone was a very fresh shock.

‘He’s quick-witted, and how does he deal with it like that?’

‘He’s really composing properly.’

‘They are really kids who do music’ and the perception that changed slightly changed to improvisation.

An improvised song that anyone would listen to.

The people who looked at the broadcast as a show and looked at it cynically also thought that this was real.

Meanwhile, some of them clicked on the related search term ‘Seon Myung-ju’ and accepted it.

“He was very famous.”

“Really?”

“He went to the US in the 90s and played the piano. He was always on the news. Oh, then he’s the son of that person?”

While some of them heard such stories from their parents.

In the minds of the audience who remembered the scenes they saw during the recording today, the lump of ‘New Black’ began to change.

Between idol groups, singer-songwriters, and entertainers.

New Black began to take its place as a third category that was hard to classify either way.

It was like being in the middle of three vertices.

If the New Black members knew that, they would have been happy saying ‘Image transformation success!’.

‘Why do I only think of buttons.’

‘Was the one who picked up the sponsorship Bijoo?’

‘Button missile…’

The most impactful thing was none other than the button.

Along with that, all kinds of laughter bombs that I witnessed today began to swirl in my head.

‘…If I had to classify it, it would be close to an entertainer.’

The word ‘idol’ was about to change its word order with ‘stone’ coming to the front.

A boy group that I don’t know how to classify.

But one thing was certain.

“It was really fun today.”

People who came without thinking because they won also sincerely enjoyed it.

Ambitious night.

Fingers all over the place were raising the number of views on articles and videos about New Black.

The day after the Music Cafe recording.

“Yay!”

Good news came to us.

“Guys!”

“PD!”

“It’s number one!”

The producing team PDs who hugged us and ran around had cell phones in their hands.

Mango real-time chart window.

It was the same screen as we were looking at on our phones.

1st. New Black – Thousand Dreams (Movie ‘Nostalgia’ OST)

Two OSTs that entered the real-time chart 100 with Falling Stars in second place.

Now, thanks to the souffles, the ranking was good, so maybe Falling Stars would go up more as time passed.

It’s a song that’s popular worldwide.

But that doesn’t mean ‘Thousand Dreams’ was pushed back a lot.

A little difference.

Besides, Nostalgia was a hit all over the world, so the expected trend of overseas performance was good.

“Are you going to hit 4 million in Korea soon? They say the popularity overseas is no joke.”

“Yes. That’s right.”

I answered with a smile.

“I had a video call with Rupert a while ago, and he said Nostalgia was a hit in the US right now.”

“Ah, that cheeky bastard?”

“…Please forget the painful memories.”

He spoke faintly, looking at the distance, and the production team staff laughed and said.

“Hey, have you seen this? There are some English sites going around, and there are a lot of reviews for Nostalgia OST.”

“Really?”

“Look at the ones with five stars on top.”

PD Nasangyoon handed me his phone. The screen was shaking up and down, probably because he was so excited.

“Here.”

“Wow.”

Junghyun moved his head up and down as he read the text and said.

“I don’t understand any of it.”

He then read the praises for ‘Thousand Dreams’ from the foreign critics and smiled.

The production team staff said enthusiastically, ‘How is it?’

“It seems like the reaction is really good, right?”

I wondered why they were so excited, and then I heard PD Saltman’s explanation.

“They say this might get into the Billboard chart.”

“Really?”

“It’s too early to judge, but it’s the most popular after Falling Stars. That’s what they’re saying.”

“Wow…!”

Maybe it was because of the possibility that the song they participated in could enter the famous chart overseas.

They all seemed very excited.

We also exchanged a brief smile of excitement.

“It’s awesome. It’s thanks to the movie, but it’s still good.”

“Yeah. The mango chart of the US…”

“Shall we congratulate in advance? Fried chicken with cheese powder today?”

“Cheese powder sounds good.”

The staff laughed at our conversation.

“You’re surprisingly calm. I thought you’d be jumping around.”

“Well, this is enough for now?”

We bounced around with our feet and they burst into laughter.

We were showing a calm reaction.

We were happy, but it felt similar to when we released the song ‘Something’ before.

If it was our album, we would have screamed and cried.

It seemed to be because of the nature of the American movie OST.

The movie had a dot on it.

Of course, in Korea, they were showing interest, saying, ‘New Black’s song was on the Hollywood movie OST!’

But even if the OST was a big success, it wouldn’t all be converted into interest in the singer. We knew that well from our experience with the collaboration song. Ṟ

PD Nasangyoon agreed.

“That’s true. It’s not like the singer gets a big break just because the movie OST did well.”

“Right.”

Of course, it would be a great thing if it went well, but it was best to accept it calmly.

“So we’re trying to take it easy.”

“That’s a good idea.”

“Yes. If it goes well this time, we’ll think of it as a way to make our name known overseas.”

The production team staff also agreed and said.

“We were too excited. Instead of getting carried away by the movie OST, we should think calmly like you.”

“Hehe.”

“Woojoo?”

“Ah, no. Nothing…hehe!”

I couldn’t help but laugh and covered my mouth.

The production team staff narrowed their eyes.

“You’re laughing right now. Sun Woojoo.”

“No?”

“Come on. Put your hand down.”

As I shook my head with my hand on my mouth, the siblings looked at me with pity.

“You said you’d be calm, but why do you seem the most excited?”

“Right. You just said you’d take it calmly as a way to make your name known overseas.”

“Oh, look at you liking it.”

…the trio with their hands on their mouths glared at me.

Next to them, a bear with round eyes asked, ‘Who’s paying for the cheese powder?’

The production team staff said.

“Put your hands down, all of you.”

“…”

“The last one to put it down pays for the chicken. One, two, three!”

At the moment they all put their hands down.

Sparkle sparkle.

The faces of the five of them with bright smiles were revealed.

“Oh, you guys are so dishonest.”

“Haha!”

I nodded and answered.

“It’s actually good. Amazing…hehe!”

“Hahaha!”

As I looked at the siblings with a ‘hehe’, they also nodded and replied with a ‘hehehe’.

Soon, we all started laughing like fools.

“Hahaha!”

After all, a good thing is a good thing. We were united in that mindset.

And.

“Shall we order the cheese powder?”

Junghyun held his phone and asked with an excited face.

As we expected, ‘Thousand Dreams’ dropped to second place soon.

And then it stayed in the rank.

It was a moment to feel the popularity of Nostalgia, which was said to be the first musical movie to surpass ten million.

Meanwhile, the popularity of the OST was not limited to Korea.

-Nostalgia, movie and OST both popular

-New Black ‘Thousand Dreams’, a hit overseas ‘entered 15 countries’ music charts’

With four songs on the weekly chart, ‘New Black’ is now beyond ‘music gangsters’ and at the level of ‘music bosses’.

We heard the news that ‘Thousand Dreams’ was doing well on the music charts in Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, and other countries.

They were mostly places where nostalgia was very popular.

It felt strange to think that our voices were spreading to countries we never expected.

Anyway, the foreign praise seemed to attract the attention of the domestic media and the press.

But we didn’t have much time to feel it.

“Good evening, Hong Kong!”

“สวัสด

We had concerts in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Thailand one after another.

Time flew by quickly.

Especially in Thailand, where we visited for the first time, we stayed for a few days and had a busy schedule for promotion.

We went to music shows and had fan signings.

The most memorable thing was the local TV recording we did with the cooperation of the Thai Tourism Authority.

It was about meeting animals at Thai tourist attractions.

We skewered chickens on sticks and fed them to the crocodiles in the lake.

“Ahhhh!”

“Rihyuk, calm down! That crocodile is not interested in you!”

“I don’t know! It bit my chicken!”

We got plenty of airtime thanks to the screaming bird who was terrified of crocodiles.

“Geez. Why is Rihyuk so scared of that?”

“Right? He’s such a coward.”

“Rihyuk~ Were you that scared of the crocodile?”

It was a fun time.

Until the next corner.

“But what’s next… What, what?”

“The interpreter said, we have to take a two-shot with a tiger.”

“…”

“Look at that tiger’s arm. It looks like we’re going to die in one shot, not two. Us.”

In the end, only Junghyun agreed to do it.

While our rapper was taking a friendly photo with the tiger, we all huddled together and shivered.

“But it doesn’t look that scary from a distance, does it?”

“Yeah. It won’t eat us if we give it a rice cake~ Something like that…”

Grrrr-

“Ahhhh!”

“…”

When we saw it in the movies, we said ‘Ha ha ha, a tiger!’ But when we heard it for real, we got goosebumps.

The local guide smiled warmly as he saw the three guys hiding behind me.

If we kept this up, we would be known as ‘the New Black guys, the cowards’ to the Thai people, so I observed the gestures and expressions of the trainer.

Then I pretended to be bold and followed him.

Grrrr-

The giant feline animal started to get hungry again.

“Oh, Woo Joo. The trainer said the tiger friend is showing interest in you.”

“…”

“He said it’s a close to a friendly reaction, and he’s amazed?”

The younger ones pushed me to take a picture quickly.

The bad guys. They were the ones who would play sky bounce on the back of a person hanging on a cliff.

The picture came out decently.

Me sitting upright with my hand on the tiger’s head and the tiger rubbing its face on my back.

After it was posted on the official SNS.

It spread to various communities with the title ‘Sergeant Ho and Private Sun.jpg’ and I suffered in many ways.

Anyway, we finished the second schedule of the overseas tour in three countries and boarded the plane to Incheon.

“Woo Joo.”

“Hmm?”

Seok Hwan, who was writing a work report titled ‘Woo Joo – Fun with Animals’, asked me.

“Are you okay when you go back to Korea?”

“What do you mean?”

“The Music Cafe live broadcast.”

“Oh.”

The manager asked me with a worried expression.

“I heard the gist of it from Minki and Won Seok, but I’m not sure.”

“Don’t worry too much.”

“…”

“I’ve changed my image for real this time.”

Seok Hwan’s eyes were filled with countless words that disappeared.

“Well, no…”

“What is it?”

He smiled kindly like a person who transcended everything.

The youngest popped his head out.

“But how will the live broadcast turn out?”

“Right? How will the button explode?”

“Will it go bang- and have graphics?”

Rihyuk, who was conscious of the passengers around us, handed us a note one by one.

They were notes with ‘ㅗ’ drawn on them.

Maybe it was because it was a music program we appeared on after a long time.

We were curious about the reaction of the viewers, when the plane arrived at Incheon.

“…Huh?”

Seok Hwan, who was looking at the text message, told us.

“Guys.”

“Yeah?”

“They said you have to come and get your award.”

“Award…?”

We blinked our eyes at the unexpected news.