In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Chapter 53

After the media showcase was over, we returned to the waiting room.

We all looked exhausted, but our expressions were bright.

It was the feeling of relief that comes from finishing a task well. It felt like a weight was lifted off our chests.

“Good job, everyone.”

“Good work, hyung.”

We exchanged glances and patted each other.

It was a rare atmosphere of camaraderie, as if we had gone through a hard ordeal together.

“Don’t you think we did our best ever? We nailed the photo time and the Q&A session.”

“Hey, did you do well? It was this ajusshi who carried us all by himself.”

I intervened between the two, fanning myself with a mini fan.

“Come on, Ri-hyuk. Ji-ho did well too.”

“What did we do? He handled the sound accident by himself, and we just reaped the benefits.”

“Hmm? Don’t you get in trouble if you reap the benefits?”

“Jung-hyun hyung, please stick to the context.”

The rapper was smiling non-stop, despite the main vocal’s scolding.

He looked more cheerful than usual, as if he was in a good mood.

“Thank you, hyung.”

I awkwardly received Jung-hyun’s high five.

Smack!

Ouch, that hurts.

It felt like he hit me softly, but it was like clapping hands with a volleyball player.

Jung-hyun smiled and said.

“Thanks to you, hyung, my jinx is finally over.”

“Jinx? Oh.”

I was so busy with the showcase that I forgot about it.

“Every time I say I have a good feeling, something weird happens. But thanks to you, hyung, it’s broken now. Ah, I feel so relieved.”

“See? I told you it was superstition, that thing.”

“…You do know that right after you said that, the sound accident happened, right?”

“Honestly, it was thanks to Woojoo hyung’s luck that we overcame that. That’s what it was.”

The two youngest ones retorted, but Jung-hyun just smiled contentedly.

He joked that he would say he had a good feeling once a day from now on.

Ri-hyuk suddenly asked, as if he remembered something.

“By the way, what about the acapella you did earlier?”

“Huh, why?”

“When we asked you after the stage, you said you did it unconsciously.”

“That’s right.”

I had brushed off the questions from my curious brothers with vague answers.

“Did you really do it without thinking?”

“Sort of.”

“Come on, you always plan everything meticulously. You even locked us up to analyze our musical preferences when you composed Fireworks.”

“Hey, that’s not locking up.”

…I said, looking around, but Ji-ho and Jung-hyun kindly nodded their heads.

Those useless fools.

“I don’t always think and act, okay? I was also shocked by the sound accident for the first time.”

“Really? You seemed so skilled. It looked so cool…”

“Cool?”

Ri-hyuk stumbled over his words.

“Well, it looked cool to me. I don’t think I could have done that.”

“Just say it was cool, hyung.”

“Agreed. I was amazed, hyung. You were doing the acapella with the choreography, and it looked like you had a halo.”

“That was the lighting, Jung-hyun hyung.”

“Oh, was it?”

“Look at him. His mouth is curling up.”

I tried to act nonchalant and control my expression, but I couldn’t help but smile at their compliments.

It was a mixed smile.

One was the pride I felt from their gratitude and praise.

The other was the embarrassment I felt from knowing that this was not my skill, but my ability.

Well.

I can’t tell them the truth, can I?

It’s more natural to say that my body moved instinctively.

But I have a feeling now.

I guess I can call it an achievement of sorts.

This incident seemed to have peeled off a layer of the secret behind my ability.

The essence of my ability.

I had always thought of this ability as a motion imitation ability, a kind of superpower.

But after experiencing what happened today, it didn’t seem like a mere superpower anymore.

When I first collected information about this ability, I came across a post on an internet blog.

[There are two types of memory: declarative memory and procedural memory.]

Declarative memory is the conscious memory that is used when recalling the day’s events while writing a diary or memorizing English words.

Procedural memory is the unconscious memory that is used for tasks like riding a bike or using chopsticks.

According to my theory, this ability was a phenomenon that occurred when procedural memory was maximized.

The ability to unconsciously acquire the movements in the video just by watching them.

That’s how it had been until now.

But the two incidents that I experienced this time were not procedural memory, but declarative memory that was maximized, as I mentioned earlier.

The ability to vividly recall the events that were dormant in my memory as if they were happening right now.

Looking back, it seemed to have manifested whenever I was in a crisis.

Like a student who suddenly remembers a forgotten formula in his head and solves the problem when there are only five minutes left in the exam.

This ability also appeared when I was in a dire situation.

If I had to say, it was stimulated when I felt extreme stress.

I was under a lot of stress at the university hospital because I had to solve Minjun’s problem, and the sound accident just before was needless to say.

In that situation, my brain moved unconsciously.

It scanned the database in my memory on its own and showed it to me, saying ‘Look! You, the owner!’

Of course, this is still just my hypothesis.

Anyway, when I put all this together, my ability was not limited to motion imitation ability, but spanned a wider range.

A memory ability that encompasses both procedural and declarative memory.

Isn’t it quite logical to think that the act of imitating a movement starts from remembering that movement in the first place?

“Hyung. What are you thinking?”

“Huh?”

“You were smiling by yourself.”

“Oh, I was just thinking about something else. It’s nothing.”

I was letting out a silly laugh, feeling like I had become some kind of superhuman.

I came to my senses and looked around.

“By the way, where are the managers and Bi-ju?”

“Min-ki hyung said he was going to get something from the car with Director Yoon. Bi-ju hyung said he was going to wash his face in the bathroom.”

“Did he go alone?”

“Yes.”

“He won’t get lost again, will he?”

Ri-hyuk laughed.

“Bi-ju hyung is not a kid. The bathroom is right outside. How can he get lost?”

“It’s Bi-ju.”

“True. Bi-ju hyung sometimes gets confused about the direction even in the dorm. I saw it last time. He was holding the food waste and hesitated on his way to the veranda.”

“Don’t worry, hyung. He’ll come back someday.”

I clicked my tongue as I watched my younger siblings act nonchalant.

“Wow. You guys are so heartless. How come I’m the only one who’s worried?”

“You didn’t even notice when he went to the bathroom.”

“…”

Just then, the waiting room door opened and three people came in.

Bi-ju and two managers.

They each carried a large box in their arms and put them on the floor of the waiting room.

The boxes were so heavy that they made a thud sound.

“Huh? What are these?”

As I tilted my head, looking at the contents of the boxes.

Bi-ju said with a smile.

“These are gifts for our fans.”

***

Fan showcase.

It was the last event for us today.

If the media showcase was a business meeting with reporters, the fan showcase was a kind of fan meeting.

It was rare to have a fan showcase from the debut.

The fan showcase was literally a showcase for the fans, but where would the fans be for a rookie who just debuted?

Of course, there were some teams that had fandoms before their debut, but that was not the usual case.

On the other hand, we were a case that made our name known to the public through music shows, events, etc. before our debut.

We also had a decent number of members in our fan cafe.

That’s why the company decided to open a showcase to repay the fans’ support.

Of course.

“Street Boys did it too, so we have to do it too. We can’t lose to them in this kind of thing.”

…I wondered if that was our manager’s true intention.

“Wow. What are all these?”

“Your photo cards, snacks, and some keychains and stuff.”

“Wow.”

We gathered around the boxes like a bunch of meerkats.

The boxes looked pretty heavy.

I felt sorry for Seok-hwan hyung, who was rubbing his back.

“He has a herniated disc, can he carry these? Let me or Jung-hyun do it.”

“I was going to, but your little brother here texted me that he got lost.”

“I’m sorry…”

We all laughed at Bi-ju’s embarrassed expression.

“Did you get lost again?”

“Ah, I was going to buy some drinks for everyone after washing up, because they were having a hard time. But I couldn’t find the vending machine…”

“He was wandering around the equipment alone, I barely found him.”

Yoon Seok-hwan shook his head as if he couldn’t help it.

Bi-ju handed out the drinks he got from the vending machine with a shy look.

They were all a thousand won each, but mine was twelve hundred won. I felt a warm feeling as I sat around the boxes.

We knew what to do without having to say it.

We wrote signatures and greetings on the photo cards for the fans, and packed the other gifts diligently.

The waiting room turned into a cottage industry site in no time.

Jiho, who was putting a handful of chocolate in a plastic bag, burst into laughter.

“Wow, there’s so much. But how many people are coming, manager? There are so many photo cards too.”

“Don’t you know? We did ticketing a while ago.”

“We were busy practicing, we didn’t see it. Every time we tried to rest, someone would come down and nag us to practice.”

At my words, Seok-hwan hyung coughed and changed the subject.

“What do you think, how many people do you think will come?”

“Well…”

“Me, me! I counted all the photo cards, and there are about 50 of our individual cuts. So isn’t it 250 people?”

“What kind of miraculous calculation is that. That’s.”

As I blinked, Jiho explained.

“If we give one each, it’s 250, right? Then 250 people.”

“Oh. That sounds plausible.”

“What’s plausible, Jung-hyun hyung.”

Ri-hyuk snapped at the two who were giggling like fools. And I agreed with Ri-hyuk’s opinion.

“250 is too much, no matter how you look at it.”

“Hyung, you have to dream big.”

“Right. My dad said that if you’re a leader, you have to aim high.”

There seemed to be a strange word in the middle, but let’s ignore it.

“Honestly, I wonder if 50 people will come.”

“Why?”

“No, it’s a weekday. To be honest, I can’t imagine that 200 people would come to see our faces.”

“Didn’t Street Boys have more than 100 people too?”

That’s true.

I heard that almost 100 fans came to Street Boys’ fan showcase a week ago.

For a while, we talked about how many people would come.

I joined the conversation, but soon I felt something was wrong and shook my head.

“Honestly, it doesn’t matter how many fans come. We should be grateful that they come at all.”

“That’s right.”

Bi-ju, who was writing a message on a post-it with care, said.

“I think it’s a success that there are people who come here to see our faces and listen to our songs. Whether one person or a hundred, they are all the same fans.”

“Wow…”

The youngest, who was admiring, said.

“Usually, that kind of cheesy line is Woojoo hyung’s part, but today Bi-ju hyung did it instead. Amazing.”

“Hey.”

“He got it from that old man. Whatever.”

“I guess the saying is true that you become like the ones you love.”

“What a waste. If only Kim Bi-ju had grown as tall as him. Ouch!”

“Shut up, Kim Jung-hyun.”

Jung-hyun said a word and got pinched in the side by Bi-ju.

I smiled as I watched my brothers and wrote ‘Thank you for waiting! We’ll do our best!’ on the post-it.

Really, it didn’t matter how many people came.

I would be overjoyed even if there was only one person in the audience.

The reason I became an idol was because I wanted to see the expressions of the people who liked me and watched my stage.

In that sense, it was a meaningful thing to meet the people who would like my stage and share my songs with them.

It was a thrilling and heartwarming thing to imagine.

I want to see the fans soon.

I thought that and smiled.

***

7 p.m.

We changed into new outfits and waited backstage.

We were excited to meet the fans, but at the same time we looked around nervously.

“Why is it so quiet?”

“I know, right?”

“It’s not like only one person came, right?”

I wanted to see the audience, but the lights were off and I couldn’t see.

I could feel the presence of people, but I had no idea how many there were.

“Let’s go up.”

We followed the signal of the staff and went up to the stage.

I was nervous.

If the media showcase was an event to introduce us to the entertainment industry, this fan showcase was an event to introduce us to the fans.

In some ways, it was a much more important event than the media showcase.

I swallowed and stood on the stage.

“…”

Darkness that I couldn’t see an inch ahead.

The silent silence tormented me.

As I tried to adjust to the darkness and gauge the audience, there was a loud bang and the lights came on brightly.

I squinted at the sudden light for a moment.

As soon as I saw the audience, I was stunned.

…What?

An unexpected situation unfolded before my eyes.

-Wow!

We were literally petrified by the sight we never imagined.