In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 287

“Okay, good job everyone!”

“Thank you for your hard work!”

They finished shooting the music video for Nine smoothly.

Of course, it wasn’t completely over.

They still had to shoot on location in Busan to create a cyberpunk vibe with neon signs, and they also had some scenes left to film in an empty subway and station.

What they shot today was the set shooting for the CG effects.

They would have to wait for the post-production to see the actual results, but Woojoo had a very good feeling about it.

“Hmm, this music video…” Junghyun said with a serious expression, “I have no idea how it’s going to turn out.”

“It’s going to be a hit!”

“Junghyun Hyung said he doesn’t know. Our music video is going to be a huge success this time.”

The villain of intuition said, and they forgot their fatigue and jumped around.

The music video production team asked them why that was a good sign, and they explained the situation to them.

“Oh, it’s a total flop then?”

“No, it’s not. I have a good feeling about it.”

Junghyun tried to protest with his eyes wide open, but they shook their heads.

Then they asked him.

“Junghyun, what do you think the weather is like outside right now? Tell us your intuition.”

“It feels like it’s going to be very nice.”

“…”

Woojoo turned his head and asked, “Did we bring umbrellas?”

“No, we didn’t. It was sunny when we came. The weather forecast said it was going to be nice today.”

While they were murmuring, the assistant director laughed and said that didn’t make sense.

Then he went outside the building to check the weather and came back.

He looked like a piece of wood that had been drowned and rescued.

“Huff… Huff…” The staff who was soaked in water said, “It’s raining like crazy. I didn’t even go out, but I got wet like this by the wind.”

“…”

“What kind of shower is this…”

At that, the music video director opened his eyes wide and said, “Oh…”

He was from the US and he said he didn’t believe in superstitions.

As they said ‘See?’, the music video production team started to take out their wallets.

“I bought this lottery ticket, can you take a look?”

“This guy is the one who wants to marry my sister, what do you think of his face? I don’t have a good feeling about it.”

“I bought this today, do you think it will go up to the limit?”

They looked like people who were in front of a shaman, asking with reverence.

They laughed and said, “We tried it too, but we shouldn’t be greedy.”

“We lost 20 lottery tickets.”

They had a bad intention of ‘Let’s move to a new place with the lottery winnings!’ and tried it before, but they failed.

They all chuckled and laughed when they told them their stories.

While the rain was pounding the building outside, they were all stuck in the set because of the sudden shower.

The director said to watch the footage again.

“Junghyun said this music video is going to be good, right?”

“Yes.”

“But we think so too. There’s something about this.”

The footage played again.

Every time Woojoo danced, something flashed behind him, and the younger ones slapped their cheeks at that part.

The director pointed to the green screen for the CG and said, “This part will have the city background synthesized. It will look something like this with the references.”

Various images popped up on the screen.

Blue and purple neon lights made the city look somewhat mysterious.

They opened their eyes wide and exclaimed, “It’s going to be really pretty when it’s synthesized.”

“It’s not just pretty, it’s amazing.” The director smiled. “It’s going to be a great shot. Your dance and song also match the near-future atmosphere very well.”

“Really?”

“Trust me. I’ve been shooting music videos for 10 years.”

They exchanged excited glances with each other at the expert’s affirmation.

The company people behind them also nodded their heads as they looked at them standing in front of the green screen and the cyberpunk background.

The director laughed and asked, “Do you have fans abroad too?”

“Yes, we do.”

“They’ll love this music video. North America and Europe really like this kind of image.”

“…Really?”

They all looked at each other, but they were all Koreans who had lived in Korea.

They watched the footage and said ‘wow’ at the expected quality, but they weren’t sure if there was anything special that would appeal more to the foreign fans.

They just took his word for it, since he had lived abroad.

“We appreciate the foreign fans, but we’d prefer it if you could make it feel more like something the Korean fans would like, Director.”

“That’s my top priority, of course.”

Seokhwan Hyung smiled and said that, and they smiled and replied.

As they continued the conversation about the music video, they kept watching it over and over.

They were looking for any areas that needed improvement.

They followed the video along, drawing the content in their heads and comparing it to what was written in the script.

“Hmm…”

It looked like it would be really cool when the images were added, as the director said.

But it felt a bit bland.

It was flashy from start to finish, like a hundred out of a hundred.

It would be stimulating at first and make them go ‘ooh’, but they had some doubts about whether it would have enough momentum to explode until the third verse.

It wasn’t bad to leave it as it was, but it felt flashy and yet bland.

Maybe it was because the same background was repeated.

It would be nice if something else was added.

They were chatting with each other for a while, discussing that part.

Then they heard the rain outside.

‘This is it!’

‘That’s it.’

They all smiled brightly as if a light bulb had turned on.

They quickly agreed on their opinion and approached the director to cautiously suggest it.

“Director.”

“…Yeah?”

“Here, what if we get wet in the rain?”

“Oh.”

The director clicked his mouse a few times with a curious look on his face and asked them which point they meant.

They pointed to a part of the script.

The director, who had been tapping the table, opened his eyes wide.

“…That’s not bad?”

“That’s good, right?”

“No, that’s not just good, that’s a great idea.”

They smiled brightly at the director’s answer.

Then they smiled at each other, as if to praise each other for coming up with such an idea.

It was a brilliant idea, even if they said so themselves.

Busan.

A water truck was spraying rain in a quiet alley with neon signs.

Swoosh.

As the scene was controlled, passers-by stopped and watched with curiosity.

‘Are they filming a movie? There are so many cameras.’

‘It looks like it’s really raining when they do that.’

‘Who is it? Which celebrity is here?’

They wanted to watch, but the filming was taking place deep in the alley, and the staff were blocking the outside.

They could only see the busy movement of the jib camera from afar.

‘Who is it?’

‘Oh, they’re coming out.’

The water from the truck stopped and they saw something moving between the staff.

‘Blankets…?’

They saw a group of five moving in a trot with blankets over their heads.

They only showed their faces, wrapped from head to toe in large blankets, but they saw their small faces.

‘Wow…!’

Their beauty was dazzling even from afar….

“Ha ha ha choo!”

“Choo choo!”

…They were the sneezing fairies.

They felt like laughing at the sight of their cute faces, sneezing on and off.

The people who saw the blanket monsters with different looks soon realized who they were.

Under the bright shooting lights, their wet faces shone.

‘It’s New Black.’

‘Wow, it’s New Black. How amazing.’

The people they had seen on TV were alive in front of them…

“Achoo!”

Woojoo sneezed.

While they were watching them, a sturdy blanket monster turned its body around.

A stern face revealed under the black blanket.

It seemed to notice the people far away and approached the other four to say something.

“…”

The four changed their expressions and took off their blankets and draped them over their shoulders.

Then they shook their heads and elegantly started to sip tea from their thermoses.

The pedestrians admired them.

‘They’re managing their image.’

‘It seems like they already failed…’

The New Black members lifted their heads with a ‘huh?’ expression and looked at the pedestrians.

They tried to act like they had just discovered them by chance, but they moved so mechanically that it didn’t look like that at all.

They looked like meerkats who had found their predators.

The New Black members smiled brightly and waved their hands at the pedestrians, who also waved back with a ‘wow’.

‘They’re handsome.’

Their features stood out even though they were wet, with their colorful hair.

Especially the member with gray hair who was drinking a hot canned drink and tapping his feet in the middle drew their attention.

The blanket he loosely wore looked like a cape.

One of the people who were watching the scene tapped their phone on top of their smartphone.

[I’m a current Busan resident and I’m watching an idol right now]

I’m watching the New Black kids filming a music video…

They’re so handsome

I don’t know who the gray-haired one is, but… I keep looking at him

He looks like a sparkling grandpa

-Sparkling grandpaㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋIsn’t he Woojoo

-New Black members always get comments about their looks when it’s Woojoo

-What… Am I the only one who doesn’t know New Black? Why do you all know their names;

-You can’t not know them if you listen to their songs these days

-But where did the sparkling grandpa come from;;

-[Author] It’s hard to express, but he has wet gray hair and his eyes are sparkling

The author tried hard to express their feelings, but the people were already focused on the sparkling grandpa.

Soon, the post was captured and spread to the idol community and the site where the New Black fans gathered.

The Soufflés also laughed.

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋWhat is a sparkling grandpa

-Is it a compliment or an insult

-I want to see the sparkling grandpa too

-Woojoo dyed his hair gray, good for him

-Ah I’m from Busan tooㅠㅠㅠ Why can’t I see them

-I’m curious from the eyewitness accounts… What is the concept of this music video

-They even used a water truck to film… Wow, Kyuho is really putting his all into this

-The man who is the most sincere about New Black, King Kyuho

-Kyuho is sincere about New Black. It’s just that his sincerity is not always pleasing…

-But there’s also the Olympics and the concert is not far away, isn’t filming a scene in the rain overdoing it??

-Yeah, I agree

Meanwhile, the people who had the most passionate reaction to the rain scene were none other than.

New Black, who were howling in the rain while filming.

“What a brilliant idea, my ass!”

“Ughhhhh!”

“Who suggested getting rained on in the first place! Ahh! I got water in my nose!”

“Kamdok-nim! Water truck, water truck! Turn it down please!”

New Black members, who didn’t learn their lesson from the water tank filming, were wailing and flailing in the rain.

While they were suffering, the director who was watching the monitor burst into laughter.

‘This is awesome. This is a hit!’

The more New Black suffered, the more cool scenes were created.

A scene from 『New Black ‘Nine’ (Official MV)』.

A rainy alley in the city.

The misty moisture reflected the bright neon signs, creating a strange and mysterious sight.

A picture drawn with light.

Four young men, exhausted from running away, gasped for breath and silently screamed at the sky.

The music faded for a moment, as if muted.

Someone’s footsteps were close-up.

The back of a rapper from New Black, walking in a hoodie.

The four tired eyes followed him, and he quietly walked over and took off his hood.

At the same time, a hand reached out.

The music that had been quiet turned up the volume again, and the rapper’s part flowed out in a fierce trap beat.

Following his movement, the heavy rain that had been pouring down stopped in that state and then started to rise up one drop at a time.

Meanwhile, the members’ harmonies were added one by one and the atmosphere was heightened.

The screen switched from the story part of the music video to the dance part, and the highlight choreography of the third verse came out.

Forget the rain you’ve already been hit by

The important thing is now

Let’s regret it later

New Black members, with their faces full of anger, performed the dance.

They regretted it.

“Why did we decide to shoot a scene of running around in the rain?”

“Why do we always repeat such stupid things?”

“Why did we all make the suggestion together so that we can’t blame anyone?”

As the blanket monsters discussed seriously, a white-faced ghost opened his mouth.

“People learn from their past experiences, but why didn’t we learn anything from the underwater shooting?”

“Learn?”

“Learn. Learn…”

Woojoo handed a tissue to Rihyuk, who was about to sneeze.

Jiho teased Rihyuk next to him, saying “Learn, learn, learn, Gangnam style…” and got hit by Rihyuk’s sneeze.

Bijoo and Woojoo shivered as they watched their younger brothers rolling around in blankets.

“Ah, it’s really cold.”

“I feel like water has gotten into my bones. Hyung.”

Then Woojoo turned his eyes to Junghyun, who was eating jelly next to him.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

“You look like it.”

While the rest were shivering and saying “It’s cold, it’s cold”, he was the only one munching on jelly.

‘Pain? What is that?’ kind of feeling.

The only thing that could hurt Junghyun was spoiled food like old kimbap.

Bijoo said, “It has to be really spoiled, though. Hyung.”

“Really?”

“You can’t knock him down with anything. At school, when everyone else was suffering from food poisoning, he was alone at the cafeteria, singing lalala.”

“Not lalala.” Junghyun objected. “Lala.”

“No. It was closer to lalala.”

“Lala.”

“Lalala.”

Woojoo didn’t know what the difference was between the two, but he felt them clash with each other in body and words and lay down in the middle of the sofa.

Woojoo pushed away the two youngest blanket monsters and they rolled on the floor.

Today was Sunday.

They finished the Busan location shooting yesterday and had a day off.

Maybe it was because they got a lot of rain, but they felt a slight fever in their bodies.

They all put a cooling sheet on their foreheads and went to work, saying they were fine, but the trainer who saw their condition told them to go back.

They were supposed to rest for the day, so they ended up rolling around in the dorm.

Woojoo fixed the TV channel to TBC and fiddled with his phone.

-Continuing the trend? “New Black” comeback in early September, concert at the end of August

-New Black, first solo concert at the handball stadium

-New Black returns with mini album ‘Neon Black’… “Expectations high”

Woojoo didn’t know if it was because the company’s PR Team had sprinkled a lot of press releases, or because their popularity had increased.

There were a lot of articles.

It felt like hundreds of them with almost the same title.

The articles about their fourth album, and their third mini album, ‘Neon Black’, were copied and pasted.

Neon was an element that was named after the Greek word ‘neos’, which meant ‘new’ in English.

In other words, it was New Black.

Woojoo smiled as he saw the Soufflés leaving comments like ‘New Black fighting!’ on every article with high views.

He was about to open the camera app to take a selfie for the fan cafe later.

“…”

He turned it off.

His hair was a mess.

It looked great when the hair stylists did their magic, but in its natural state, it was like a bunch of gray straw.

Woojoo let out a sad laugh as he touched his dry and gray hair.

“What are you looking at?”

“Our article.”

“Oh.”

The youngest one leaned in and started tapping on the article as if it was his own phone.

“Hey, we have a Men Go article too.”

“Yeah.”

It was an article that said ‘New Black, who appeared on Men Go, will make a comeback soon’.

There were a lot of comments, but Woojoo didn’t click on them. Sometimes he got hurt by reading the comments on entertainment-related articles.

“Let’s watch this later after the broadcast.”

“Okay.”

It was almost time for the broadcast to start anyway.

Today was the day when the first episode of ‘Men on a Mission – Police Special Forces Special’ that Woojoo and Junghyun appeared on was aired.

He hoped that he wouldn’t look too weird on the screen.

The screen flashed.

Han Taehyun [I’m on Happy Together, can’t watch the broadcast]

Han Taehyun [I’ll watch it on vodㅋㅋ]

Woojoo [Go on tour]

Han Taehyun [I can’t miss you rolling around ~.~]

Han Taehyun [I’m going to watch it with Hanbin]

Woojoo [Go abroad forever like a ghost ship]

Woojoo sent him a picture of a ghost ship and a squid captain from a pirate movie and said ‘You’, and he replied with a fierce message.

Woojoo [By the way]

Woojoo [I strongly recommended you to the PD to call you again]

Han Taehyun [Hey]

He started to send Woojoo angry messages with the newly released New Black emoticons.

They chatted while the opening of ‘Men on a Mission’ with a chaotic army vibe was playing.

He got a lot of messages from his acquaintances because he had a Men Go broadcast ahead of him.

Eunsung [Sergeant~]

Eunsung [ㅋㅋI heard you’re on the army show again]

Eunsung [Is that true~?]

Woojoo [You should practice more instead of wasting time]

Woojoo [Your mind is not right]

Eunsung [I have no schedule because of the rumorsㅠ]

Woojoo paused his finger. What should he reply to him?

…Then he had a good idea.

Woojoo [You’ll have one soon]

Eunsung [?]

Woojoo [Soon… a schedule for you will come]

Woojoo [Only for you…]

He omitted the part where he said the PD would cast a spell on him, and he went crazy asking Woojoo what it was.

He didn’t bother to answer.

He would find out when he watched the broadcast. Whatever.

Woojoo put away his phone after briefly replying to the messages from here and there.

He grabbed a boiled sweet potato each with his brothers and looked at the TV.

“Ah, I’m hungry.”

“Why are there so many food commercials? I get angry every time I see people eating delicious food.”

“This is not a sweet potato. It’s a potato.”

They shivered as they watched the chicken and pizza commercials on TV.

“…Huh?”

Something unexpected came on.

“It’s us.”

“It’s us.”

An Olive House commercial was playing.

The mouth-watering visual of the steak.

It was a scene where Bijoo stabbed the steak with a fork and took a bite, enjoying the aroma.

As Bijoo on the screen went ‘Mmm~’, their eyes narrowed.

“…”

“…”

Bijoo, who was unfairly blamed, said with a resentful expression, “It’s not my fault. That’s me on TV.”

“…”

Soon, the scene of the New Black mini-mes eating cutely while saying ‘Meat!’ came on.

Finally, New Black, wearing uniforms and lifting pills, said ‘Come to Olive House!’.

“Really mean.”

“I want to hit them.”

“It’s not too late. Jiho, raise your hand and hit them.”

While they were looking at their past selves with resentment, another ad came on.

“…It’s us again?”

There were two in one time slot.

It seemed like the advertiser had picked this time because New Black was in it, but this time it was a lens ad.

The contrast between the campus life with bright smiles and the blanket ghosts eating sweet potatoes on TV.

“This time they’re eating cafeteria food.”

“That looks delicious. Cafeteria food…”

“That was good.”

They were eating the boiled sweet potatoes gloomily while watching the five college students concept of them eating the cafeteria food heartily.

“Oh, it’s starting. It’s starting.”

The screen went off and the main broadcast of ‘Men Go’ began.