In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Chapter 54

Am I seeing things?

The concert hall was filled with fans who came to see us, under the bright lights.

There were so many of them that the seats were not enough, and some people were standing in the back.

I was stunned.

“What is going on…?”

I was speechless. I looked at the audience who were cheering for us, then at my brothers.

Their faces were wide-eyed.

Ri-hyuk was so scared that he hid behind Ji-ho’s arm.

I couldn’t blame him.

Were these really our fans who came to watch our showcase?

We should have greeted them as soon as we came out, but we were all flustered and panicked.

The MC grabbed the microphone and smiled.

-Oh, our New Black friends are very surprised, aren’t they? They can’t even speak. How about we say hello to the fans first, even though we’re nervous?

“Yes, yes!”

I finally came to my senses and signaled to my brothers.

“One, two, three.”

-Hello! We are New Black!

We bowed our heads to the fans, and another round of cheers flew to us.

We were still nervous.

“Is this real? Not a hidden camera or something.”

Everyone laughed at my words.

The MC relayed what Yoon Seok-hwan said from below the stage.

-The manager in charge said that it would cost too much to do a hidden camera with this scale, so don’t worry.

The fans and we burst into laughter.

We were so tense, but after laughing like this, our hearts felt lighter.

It was all thanks to our fans, right?

The hall was spacious when there were reporters earlier, but now it was so packed that there was no room to step on.

But there was something more surprising.

Their expressions.

Hundreds of pairs of eyes were sparkling like stars in the night sky. And they were looking at us.

The MC exclaimed.

-I’ve been to many showcases and hosted them, but this is the first time I’ve seen so many fans at a debut showcase. Wow, my ears are tingling from the fans’ screams.

He asked with a smile.

-How many people did you say came, manager? Ah. Yes. He said 239 people came. I don’t know the exact number, but I think this would be among the top six in the history of debut showcase attendance.

My brothers and I looked at each other in shock.

239 people?

Street Boys, who attracted fans with their reality show before their debut, had only a little over 100 people.

Twice as much.

Was this possible?

If Seok-hwan hyung had told me before he went on stage that more than 200 people would come to see our stage, I would never have believed him.

But there were people in front of me.

Fans who were holding slogans that said [You worked hard] or [Let’s walk together] and sending us cheers.

Their warmth reached our skin.

“…”

I didn’t know how to describe this feeling.

My tear ducts were hot and I blinked my eyes. 

The tremor that rose from under my chin spread throughout my body.

I bit my lip.

Otherwise, I felt like I would cry.

My heart was beating so hard that it seemed like I could hear it in my ears.

Bi-ju looked at the audience with a choked expression.

-Are you really here to see us? We…

He didn’t finish his sentence, but I think I knew what he meant.

‘What are we to have so many of you…’ Maybe. We understood his feelings 100 percent and smiled silently.

The MC said surprisingly.

-I thought the members would know how many fans were coming, but it seems like they had no idea.

-The manager didn’t tell us.

Jung-hyun grabbed the microphone.

-And… we were very worried, but thank you. We thought this. No matter how many fans come, even if one person comes, we are grateful.

Was it because of his pleasant low voice?

The fans screamed.

Jung-hyun stopped talking and tilted his head.

The expression on his bear-like face was like saying, ‘What? Why are people cheering for me when I’m talking?’

Jung-hyun then seemed to remember something and said.

-Ah, the remark that we’re grateful even if one person comes was said by Woojoo hyung.

-Jung-hyun. That was not Woojoo hyung, that was me.

-Ah. It was you?

The fans laughed at the expression of our team’s rapper, who blinked his eyes. Jung-hyun looked at the audience and corrected himself.

-That’s what he said.

-No, I’m telling you, it was me.

-Well. If you say so, it must be true.

-No, wait…

Everyone laughed at the sight of Bi-ju’s frantic expression.

I thought Jung-hyun would get a lot of scolding from Bi-ju and grabbed the microphone.

It was time to greet them properly.

The MC, who noticed, skillfully threw a cue.

-You must have something to say to the fans, right? Let’s hear from each of you, starting with Woojoo.

“Yes. Hello, everyone. I’m Woojoo.”

Standing up there, I could see the expressions of the people clearly.

All kinds of colors.

They were all faces I had never seen before, but they all showed me the same look.

Infinite affection.

I had been on music shows and event stages, but it was the first time I saw the eyes of the fans who came to see us purely.

I had dreamed of this moment.

But when I actually received such a look, it was really…

“Thank you.”

The passionate response came back to my trembling voice.

“It’s been about three months since Something, right?”

-Yes!

“I really don’t know how to thank you. I feel embarrassed. I’m still nervous. I wonder if I deserve to receive so much love from so many people, but I also feel grateful for this moment itself. I’m asking you again with no ill will, but are you really our fans?”

There were pleasant laughs here and there.

“I feel so good that it’s hard to believe. I’ve been on music shows since before my debut, but I never imagined that there would be so many fans. This is also the first time I’ve seen the fans offline. So how do I feel right now? Well…”

-You feel like you can’t breathe, Woojoo hyung.

The fans and the other members laughed as I took a deep breath at Jung-hyun’s words.

I thought for 3 seconds.

I was thinking of how to express what I felt right now. And I found a suitable sentence.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, today was the best day of my life.”

I smiled brightly at the scream that flew right away.

Really.

It was the best day of my life.

In the car on the way back to the dorm after the showcase.

“We did it! We did it!”

“Ow, my ears. Hey, Wang Ji-ho. Keep it down.”

“Why? I’m excited. I know you are too, Ri-hyuk. You can’t hide your smile, can you?”

“…Let go of me.”

The youngest of our group was poking Ri-hyuk’s chin with his finger, making him laugh. The older members joined in the laughter.

He gave me a displeased look.

“Hey, don’t just laugh. Help me out. He always picks on me and you just watch.”

“Hmm. Do I?”

I called out to Ji-ho.

“Ji-ho.”

“Yes?”

“Good job. Keep it up.”

“Ah, come on!”

Ri-hyuk closed his eyes in annoyance as the eldest and the youngest laughed together.

I elbowed his shoulder and said.

“Hey. Remember when you guys played with the souffle while I was on the radio show? This is nothing compared to that.”

“That was so fun.”

“I can do that again this time.”

“No, don’t.”

“You were quiet when I was being teased? Hey, Wang Ji-ho. Do it quickly.”

“Okay, just a sec!”

Our youngest brother was always good at imitating.

He cleared his throat and composed himself.

He made a dramatic expression, furrowing his eyebrows as if copying someone.

“Thanks to you, today was the best day of my life.”

“Pffft!”

“You didn’t say it like that, did you? Hey, you guys are really…”

The manager and the driver, who were sitting in the front seat, burst into laughter.

I looked at Bi-ju, who was laughing so hard that he had tears in his eyes, and asked with a wronged expression.

“Did I really say it like that?”

“It’s okay, hyung. The fans loved it.”

Bi-ju said, and Gom, who was rummaging through a snack bag, nodded.

He offered me a snack.

“What is it?”

“It’s a consolation.”

“…You seem to be enjoying this.”

“Ah. Do you want me to feed you?”

He smiled sweetly and put a snack in my mouth.

I couldn’t help but laugh at our team’s rapper.

“But I’m really happy. We used to say that it would be great to have fans when we were doing music cafes and events. But it feels even better than I imagined.”

“Me too. It feels like I’m flying.”

“I still can’t believe it. 239 people. I thought it was a hidden camera prank by the director.”

The manager laughed.

“He said he couldn’t afford it. He spent all the money on making your album. Do you think he has money for that? To be honest, I didn’t expect the 250-seat venue to be sold out either, when we first started ticketing. I’ve never seen anything like this at a debut showcase.”

“We’re still in shock. Where did the fans come from?”

“We did a lot of things, you know. We were on the top of the music charts for a month, we did music cafes, we went to a lot of events.”

“Is that so?”

“Or maybe it’s because of the Street Boys? I think the fan cafe reactions got a lot better after they dissed us.”

Ri-hyuk said that, and we suddenly remembered something we had forgotten.

“Oh. Right! Our song is released today.”

Our official debut date is tomorrow, but the company decided to release the song at 8 p.m. today.

The current time is 9:30 p.m.

We were curious about the reactions to the song that was released.

We took out our smartphones.

As we did, I saw Yoon Seokhwan’s eyes smiling through the rearview mirror.

“Let me check the chart.”

We gathered around Bi-ju’s phone and started to scan the chart from the first to the hundredth place.

As expected, there was nothing from 1st to 50th place.

And when we turned to the 50th to 100th place page, our eyes went down and stopped at a certain point.

They went up and down several times.

[98th. New Black – Fireworks]

We blinked at the number on the screen.

“…Is this right?”

“It seems right.”

“Is it real?”

“Of course it’s real.”

The members stared at each other.

“…”

Soon, we cheered as the car drove away.

***

DNS Media headquarters.

It was late, but the conference room was full of employees.

All of them had serious faces.

Especially the middle-aged man sitting at the head of the table. His face was ashen.

On the laptop he was looking at, there was a music chart with a yellow mango symbol.

[88th. New Black – Fireworks]

New Black’s debut song, which entered the 98th place at 10 p.m., was now up to 88th as midnight approached.

The CEO of DNS Media, Lim Hyun-sik, scanned the chart.

[24th. Jang So-won X New Black – Something]

[88th. New Black – Fireworks]

[97th. Street Boys – Hunger]

As the already grim-faced Lim’s expression hardened, the employees in the conference room swallowed their saliva.

Meanwhile, the head of the PR team continued his explanation.

“It seems that our promotion had the opposite effect. We succeeded in creating a rival situation, but after that, Hunger’s diss rap and Han-jo’s genius remark rallied their fandom. The light-hearted ones seemed to have joined the active fan base.”

“…”

“We underestimated the size of New Black’s fandom, which had quite a lot of potential fans from music cafes, events, and broadcast appearances. The fan inflow rate was similar to Street Boys, but there was a difference in scale…”

“So.”

Lim rubbed his temples as if he had a headache.

“Are you saying that everything we did ended up doing Lemon Enter a favor?”

“…It seems so.”

A heavy silence hung in the air.

It was a completely different atmosphere from a week ago, when they had fired celebratory shots for entering the chart within the top 100.

The department heads started to speak up.

“Our A&R told you not to change the song…”

“We told you from the PR team’s perspective. Noise marketing could backfire…”

“From the manager’s point of view who runs the field…”

“No, wasn’t it the 2nd team’s opinion to put in the diss lyrics that weren’t even in the song? You even wrote a script for the interview and now you’re backing off…”

As they raised their voices and shifted the blame to each other, Lim Hyun-sik rubbed his temples.

He had a headache.

It’s not that Street Boys’ performance would get worse if New Black did well.

But everything in the entertainment industry is relative.

If there’s a drama that gets 20% ratings on a regular basis, that drama would be considered a success.

But what if there’s a 50% one at the same time slot?

Could you call that a success?

A boy group from a small agency, and their self-composed song charted in the 80s on the first day.

It was unimaginable how much more they would rise.

Then, the smartphone screen flashed.

Baldy [Park Kyu-ho sent you a gifticon.]

Baldy [^^]

Lim Hyun-sik resisted the urge to throw his phone and sent a short reply of congratulations.

‘Damn it.’

He had never felt the expression ‘giving a dog a bone’ more than today.