In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Chapter 38

That was the moment.

A week ago, on the way back from Gangwon-do, his face looked exactly like that.

He plugged in his earphones that didn’t play any music and stared out the window gloomily, lost in his own thoughts.

I didn’t think much of it then.

He soon returned to his usual calm expression.

But now it seemed different.

His face looked much more serious than before.

What was wrong with him?

As I pondered, I caught a glimpse of Ji-ho and Ri-hyuk’s uniforms.

Blue jackets and red ties.

The famous high school uniforms that many idols attended. 

They looked slightly disheveled today, unlike usual.

Well, I could understand Ji-ho’s uniform. He was always running around like a puppy.

He came home with dirt on him every day.

But Ri-hyuk’s uniform looked similar to Ji-ho’s today.

Why am I talking about this? 

It’s because our main dancer would wake up early and iron their uniforms every time they went to school.

Bi-ju didn’t iron them today.

I thought I missed it because I woke up late, but I guess not.

Not only the youngest, but also the quiet Ri-hyuk had wrinkled uniforms.

As I thought that far, I noticed some strange things.

Bi-ju’s recent odd behavior.

He was fine when everyone was around, but when he had some time alone, he would space out.

Like someone who had something on his mind.

What should I do with him?

If it was someone else, I would just go and wrap my arm around his neck and joke, “Do you have any worries? Do you want me to give you some advice?”

But he seemed awkward for that.

He had a nice personality, but not an easygoing vibe.

He had an aura that made me feel like I shouldn’t be careless.

And the reason was that I couldn’t follow his emotions.

For almost five months, from last December to now, I watched them and figured out their characters.

Especially Jung-hyun, Ri-hyuk, and Ji-ho. 

They were easy to understand.

But I still didn’t know what kind of person Bi-ju was.

He seemed to have a lot of thoughts in that small head, but he never said anything.

“Hey, what are you doing? Aren’t you eating?”

Ri-hyuk, who was sitting across from me, looked at me.

I came to my senses and saw that everyone was eating.

Bi-ju had returned to his normal expression, as if he never had that face.

He laughed and played along with Ji-ho’s tantrums, and comforted him.

Was it my imagination?

He looked so fine that I wondered if I had seen something wrong, but it wasn’t.

No one noticed it right now, but Bi-ju was holding his chopsticks upside down and eating.

He was the one who always organized the fridge in order. He wasn’t normal.

Well. Anyway, let’s eat first.

We have somewhere to go today.

It was also the day to decide the direction of our work.

But when I looked at the meat, there was less than usual. It had been 1.5 times more since we went to the music cafe.

I didn’t need to look for the culprit.

The sauce that fell from the bulgogi plate was like ants chasing sugar, gradually heading to one place.

“…”

Ji-ho, who met my eyes, flinched with his cheeks full of food.

Then he defended himself confidently.

“I’m still in my growth period, hyung. Ouch!”

I grabbed his cheek like cheese.

****

After finishing our meal, we picked up an ice cream each from the convenience store and walked along the alley, watching the sunset.

“Hyung, are you not angry anymore?”

“A little.”

Not a little, but completely.

Unlike the younger ones who held a bar each, I had an expensive Haagen-Dazs bar in my hand.

I enjoyed the crunchy feeling of hazelnut.

As I seemed to feel better, the youngest quickly stuck to me like an excited puppy and chattered.

“I was really tired. They teased me all day long because I kept smiling.”

“Then don’t smile.”

“You’re a celebrity now, bro. You have to manage your image.”

He makes a mature expression with his flushed face, which makes me laugh.

If he’s going to say that, he should at least take out the Chupa Chups he’s holding in his hand.

“And I hate it when Gil Chaekyung acts friendly but subtly disses me, you know how cunning she is…”

“Gil Chaekyung?”

It’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time.

The day we went to work at Hwai Entertainment, the youngest member of Girls On Top who blatantly ignored us.

She was the girl group member who became my mortal enemy after she rejected Ji-ho’s confession in elementary school, saying he was ugly.

“You’re in the same school as her again?”

“Now we’re in the same class as vocal majors. Anyway, she led the teasing by posting screenshots in the class chat room since Friday morning.”

“If you were in the same school in middle school, and now you’re in the same class, it’s almost like you’re destined to get married.”

“Bro, are you crazy?”

Ji-ho shakes his head vigorously.

“I don’t even want to imagine it. I’d rather have dirt in my eyes than that.”

“You have to do it if you have dirt in your eyes.”

Jung-hyun, who was quietly listening to my words, put down his red bean ice cream. Then he asked seriously.

“Ji-ho, what if she has a hundred billion in assets? Would you do it then?”

“What are you talking about, bro? My dad has a hundred billion too.”

“What about a trillion?”

Ri-hyuk threw his ice cream stick into the street trash can and joined in.

“Jung-hyun bro. If you had a trillion in assets, would you marry someone like Wang Ji-ho? I’d rather go for that guy over there.”

“With Woojoo bro?”

“Well, he doesn’t do any housework, but at least he has a good visual. It would be fun to look at his face.”

“That’s true, I agree.”

I nodded my head as I listened.

“Okay, Jung-hyun. I’ll go for a trillion.”

We made a fuss like high school students who were talking nonsense. 

The youngest’s eyes turned into triangles.

We cheered up the youngest who was tormented.

“Do you hate being teased?”

“I should be the one teasing others, not being teased by them.”

“You have a rotten mind from the root. I admire you.”

I patted the youngest’s shoulder and said.

And then I realized something again.

The audio is missing again.

I turned my head and saw Bi-ju walking alone in a distant place.

His eyes were far away in the sky.

He was looking at the evening sky that had turned red.

I thought his brown hair looked like gold in the sunset. Ri-hyuk came to my side and asked.

“Why is he like that since earlier? He even picked up the chopsticks the wrong way.”

“Did you see that too?”

“Of course I did. I wanted to point it out, but he seemed to be in a bad mood.”

“Me too. Bi-ju bro was totally weird today. He even tore my uniform… Ouch!”

I felt like I was going to get addicted to the feel of his cheeks.

They were so soft that they stretched like rice cakes when I pulled them.

“Grow up, will you? Is Bi-ju your mother?”

Ri-hyuk tilted his head at my words.

“Didn’t Bi-ju bro do your laundry for you a few days ago? You pretended to sleep on the sofa after the work was done because you were tired.”

“I don’t remember that.”

“Really?”

“…I always feel sorry for Bi-ju. That’s why I work hard on the work.”

I ignored the eyes of the older brothers who were scolding me and changed the subject.

“Jung-hyun.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t you know anything? You and Bi-ju are the closest.”

“Ah.”

But Jung-hyun’s reaction was strange.

He looked like a computer.

It was as if a [loading] message and a gauge showing how many percent it had progressed would appear on his face.

“Well, you know. Everyone has some problems they can’t tell anyone.”

At his sudden words, Ji-ho, Ri-hyuk, and I exchanged glances.

“Is he sick?”

“No. It’s not that.”

“Then what is it?”

“Um…”

One thing I know for sure.

I will never tell Jung-hyun about any secrets I might have in the future.

How can he be so bad at hiding his expressions?

“Uh…”

“Let’s just stop here, hyung. It seems like it’s none of our business, judging by your reaction.”

“Why? I’m curious.”

The youngest, who had no sense of the situation, glanced at Ri-hyuk, who looked at me as if asking for my opinion.

I nodded.

“Well, let’s save that for later.”

Only then did Jung-hyun visibly relax.

He was like a hard granite a moment ago, but now he’s like a soft plastic lump.

“Let’s focus on the work first. That’s urgent.”

“Oh, I forgot about that.”

Ri-hyuk asked.

“So what’s the method you’re going to use on us today?”

****

The New Black studio on the second floor of the company.

We had only received the studio a few weeks ago, but thanks to our team’s housewife’s interior design, it had changed neatly.

There were toothbrushes and other living supplies.

The cabinets were neatly organized.

It was a very modern feel compared to the Scarlet studio next door. 

They had a pink sofa with leopard print cushions.

Standing in front of the sofa, Ri-hyuk asked me and Jung-hyun.

“So what are we doing now?”

“It’s nothing special.”

Jung-hyun answered for me.

“We’re going to play some music for you. Just listen. You don’t have to do anything special, just sit still and listen.”

“So how long is it?”

“Hyung, how many songs do we have?”

I clicked on the folder icon on the laptop screen.

And I calculated the time based on an average of three minutes per song.

“Well, not much. About five hours.”

“Wait, what? Five hours?”

I smiled at the youngest, who was eyeing the entrance. I used the evil smile I learned from our manager.

I locked the door with a bang.

“Any more questions?”

I laughed as I saw my brothers close their eyes and resign themselves to their fate.

“I knew it.”

***

The premise of the experiment that Jung-hyun and I were doing was simple.

The musical color that we liked the most would be our color and our identity as a group.

I thought that while watching the music cafe.

Just like the expressions of my brothers watching Between, we would have music that we unconsciously liked and disliked.

So I thought that if there was a musical color that we all liked, that would be our group’s identity.

Of course, everyone’s tastes would be different.

But if we looked for the music that we all liked and wanted to do, there would surely be an intersection.

If you pass light through a prism, it splits into different colors depending on the wavelength.

If you think of light as a genre of music, then if you look closely, there will be a song that can contain all of our colors.

This is the process of passing light through a prism.

The differences between us are not a problem at all.

As long as we know the musical foundation, the rest is easy.

For example, if Jung-hyun likes hip-hop, we can make a song with Jung-hyun as the center under the overall direction.

We just need to add hip-hop elements to the music that we like and want to do.

That’s why Jung-hyun and I searched the Billboard charts and various music sites in our country and selected the music.

About 300 songs, roughly by genre, mood, and emotion.

It was also a hassle to classify them, so we asked for advice from the A&R team. 

They were skeptical about why we were doing this, but well.

There’s no harm in trying.

“Let’s start now.”

We set up a camera and sat together on the sofa.

And we played the music.

One song, two songs, three songs.

The songs continued, and we skipped the ones that didn’t get any reaction from the intro.

Most of them were heavy metal songs that made ‘wooo’ noises.

I had expected it to take five hours, but we had to take breaks every two hours because Ji-ho complained of hearing hallucinations.

I don’t know how long it took.

We finished the experiment and collapsed on the sofa with exhausted bodies.

“…Do you really think this will work?”

“We’ll have to find out.”

I heard the damp voice of Ri-hyuk, who had sunk like a wet cotton, and I also lifted my heavy body.

Then I asked Bi-ju, who was lying next to me.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fineee…”

“I didn’t ask you, but I’m not okay, hyung.”

I felt sorry as I looked at the younger ones who had become ragged.

It seemed like a good idea before I thought about it, but now that I did it, I felt like a fool.

Should I have just discussed the musical color with them?

“…I’m sorry, guys.”

I said that and sat down at the studio table.

Jung-hyun came rolling his chair while chewing a banana.

“Shall we monitor it now?”

“You’re going to help me, right?”

“…”

“Don’t mumble your answer while eating a banana.”

“Ugh, why is my throat so dry?”

He drank some water and looked at the sofa where the others were lying and then at me, and came to me with resignation.

“Play it, hyung.”

That’s when the analysis work began.

At first, Jung-hyun and I sat at the table and quickly flipped through the videos, checking O, X, and so on.

This one is liked by four of us, but one doesn’t like it.

This one is liked by two of us, but three don’t like it.

As we made a checklist like that, we noticed something strange.

“Hey, this…”

“It works?”

Songs that all five of us preferred and liked.

As those songs appeared one by one, we saw some patterns.

The emotions, atmosphere, and narrative that those songs shared.

Our common theme of preference was love.

Not limited to the love between men and women that kills each other, but a broad sense of humanity.

Not a concept that is bound by gender, but the affection between parents and children, friends and friends.

Our favorite atmosphere was warmth.

Even Ri-hyuk, who seemed to prefer a cold atmosphere, liked a warm one.

Not just a refreshing song, but the tone of the song.

A song that looks at people from a warm perspective was our taste.

A warm song with a broad theme of love.

Finally, our favorite emotion was joy.

There was no limit to this.

We liked both the lively joy of dancing and the calm joy.

“I think it’s starting to take shape. Don’t you see it?”

“Yes, I do.”

Jung-hyun and I combined the Untitled we had worked on and the results we had analyzed in our heads.

Our goal was a refreshing summer atmosphere.

The musical direction we wanted to do was a warm and joyful song with a broad theme of love.

I could roughly picture it.

Five boys who had fun all day, and at night, they lit a bonfire on the beach and sang and chatted happily.

I imagined the atmosphere of Jules Verne’s <15 Boys Adrift>.

Then the pieces clicked in my head.

It was perfectly conceived, as if it had been blocked before.

I couldn’t even imagine standing on stage with this before.

Now I could even draw the audience’s expressions.

“Jung-hyun, look at this.”

I quickly pulled out an A4 paper and turned on the composing program.

As I did, I drew shapes and explained excitedly.

“Move this part back a little, and move this one forward. The chorus goes a little longer than now.”

“Oh.”

“Then it’s perfect, right?”

After thinking for 10 minutes, Jung-hyun and I looked at the paper as if it was a treasure.

“Did we do it? It seems like we did it?”

“It seems like we did.”

We opened our eyes in a daze.

Then we looked at each other’s faces and smiled.

I felt a surge of affection for Jung-hyun, who was in front of me.

About 0.3 Kim Deoksoon’s worth.

Everything seemed beautiful now that our worries were gone. It was a moment of joy for Jung-hyun and me.

“What’s going on? Are you done?”

We turned around and saw Bi-ju rubbing his eyes behind us. Ri-hyuk and Ji-ho also came over, blinking like goldfish that had just woken up.

Jung-hyun and I excitedly explained what had happened.

We told them how we had struggled, what had blocked us, and how we had solved it.

They looked confused, as if they couldn’t understand our rambling.

That’s when I decided to explain the experiment from the beginning, step by step.

And their expressions gradually changed to something strange.

What’s wrong with them?

As I wondered, Ri-hyuk burst into a shaky laugh.

“Guys, you know what? You didn’t have to do all this. You could have just asked each other for your favorite music lists and compared them.”

“Huh?”

“Isn’t that an easier way to find common ground?”

Jung-hyun and I looked at each other.

“Oh, right.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Ri-hyuk’s face twisted like a demon.

“Oh, right? You guys are unbelievable!”

Our happiness of finding a title for ‘Untitled’ was short-lived.

That day, Jung-hyun and I got scolded by our siblings for almost an hour.