In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Chapter 61

As soon as the results were announced, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“The winner is New Black. Congratulations!”

The DJ and the other guests clapped their hands with a wow.

I didn’t know what they really felt, but Hanjo and Kiwon also clapped with smiling faces.

I exchanged a glance with Ri-hyuk as I bowed politely.

“As I said before, the winning team’s song will be on the playlist three times next week. Congratulations again. In that sense, let’s listen to New Black’s ‘Fireworks’ and come back to the fourth part. Frequency-”

“-Please fix it!”

We all said the line together and took off our headphones.

I was thrilled.

I came out with a determination to do well in the live corner and the story counseling.

I achieved one of those goals just now.

Of course, it wouldn’t be as amazing as a TV ad.

But it meant a lot to me that my song was played three times on a popular radio show.

As I listened to the intro of Fireworks, Jang So-won, who was organizing the script, opened her lips.

“Fireworks is a really good song. The atmosphere is refreshing too.”

She said with a smile.

“You must have had a hard time making this, leader.”

“Don’t even say that. It was a mess with my eyes.”

“Hey, it wasn’t that bad.”

“No, it was. You should have seen it then. He didn’t even come back to the dorm every day. He was passed out on the sofa in the studio and Junghyun had to carry him down several times.”

“No, senior. That didn’t happen.”

I tried to manage my image hastily, but Jang So-won didn’t seem to believe me.

She just laughed heartily.

“I can’t live, really. How do you guys stay the same every time I see you?”

There was a lot of affection in her eyes looking at us.

She was drawing a line until the ad time, but now she was the Jang So-won I knew.

It must have been because the story counseling corner was over.

The remaining fourth part was a corner where each group had their own time, so there was no room for biased conduct.

Of course, there was a certain line even during the friendly conversation.

It was not only because the broadcast was not over, but also because of the portrait on the opposite side.

Street Boys, who were rummaging through the script with a deflated atmosphere.

There weren’t many lines to do in the fourth part corner, but the reason for rummaging was obvious.

Ri-hyuk’s eyes lingered on Kiwon for a moment.

It was an incomprehensible look.

I tried to read the emotion in his eyes while watching quietly, but Sowon opened her lips.

“Hey, guys.”

The two pairs of hands that were rummaging through the script stopped.

Hanjo and Kiwon blinked their eyes and looked at Jang So-won.

Wondering what she would say, Hanjo straightened his posture nervously and she smiled at him.

“Why are you so gloomy? Are you upset that you lost in the story counseling corner?”

“Uh, no, senior.”

Hanjo waved his hand awkwardly with a smile. Kiwon also said ‘no’ and waved his hand.

The DJ glanced at the camera and pretended to hold his chin and covered his mouth.

“The broadcast is not over yet. Don’t be so gloomy. You have to cheer up and do well in the fourth part. You can’t ruin the live corner just because you lost once in the story corner. Right?”

“…Yes.”

“Yeah. Don’t be down.”

I thought it was amazing.

I don’t think I could do that.

If I were that person, I would have asked them as soon as I met them, ‘You guys, diss rap?’

It’s professional to not get personal feelings involved in business, but it’s not easy to act like that.

Especially when you’re in a better position than the other.

The DJ’s words seemed to have an effect, and the Street Boys looked better than before.

They started to look at the paper with the lyrics like they came to their senses.

Jang So-won turned her eyes to us as she watched them.

“By the way, how did you prepare for the live stage?”

She pointed to the guitar case in the corner of the radio booth with a chin gesture.

“I can tell you prepared something else by bringing that, but did you bring your own song again this time?”

The two on the opposite side perked up their ears at the keyword of self-composed song.

“Yes, it’s a self-composed song. I made it not long ago.”

“What’s the title?”

“It’s called Night Sea, Ri-hyuk wrote the lyrics and I composed the song.”

“I thought so, this was the sheet music.”

I snatched the sheet music that was sticking out from under Ri-hyuk’s script.

At first, he looked at it with curious eyes, but soon his index finger tapped the table.

He was reading the guitar flow.

Maybe it was because he was a singer-songwriter who composed his own songs.

I felt like he quickly caught the essence of what I had made.

“This is your original song, right?”

“Yes.”

“You…”

She stopped what she was about to say.

It was time to start the fourth part after the commercial break.

Ri-hyuk looked at me with a questioning expression, as if asking what her reaction was.

I just shrugged my shoulders.

I didn’t know either.

And.

When I lifted my head, Hanjo and Kiwon were looking at me like I was a bad omen.

I smiled at them.

***

The broadcast that seemed to never end was finally heading towards the end.

The fourth part corner, ‘Let me hear your voice.’

This corner gave each team 15 minutes to talk about their albums or music for 10 minutes and then perform live for the listeners.

As it was during the counseling session, the interview started with Street Boys.

But somehow, they didn’t look comfortable talking.

“The debut title ‘Hunger’ was co-produced by Hanjo and JCM, right? What part did you work on?”

“Well, I wrote the rap…”

Hanjo, who was calm otherwise, couldn’t answer well.

The whole question was about composing, and it seemed like the writers had written it based on Hanjo and my image as composing idols.

They must have assumed that he really composed the song and prepared the question accordingly.

But Hanjo couldn’t give a proper answer.

Was he that shocked by the third part?

The company must have given him the expected questions and answers, but he was too flustered to answer properly.

Of course, if Hanjo really had half of the stake in Hunger, he would have answered without hesitation, and it would have been a good opportunity to plant an image of him as a composer.

I felt sorry for him.

He would have looked really good if he answered well.

But he was still better than the other members who came on the broadcast with him. They were completely lost.

“Kiwon, you’re the main vocal, right? I guess you must have felt a bit disappointed because Hunger has a strong hip-hop color. How are you going to make up for that in the live stage you prepared for today?”

“Uh…”

“You have to answer quickly. The radio is a broadcast accident if you wait for more than three seconds.”

So Won, the senior, skillfully lifted the mood with a cheerful voice, and Hanjo quickly intervened and spoke for him.

But he looked like he was mentally shaken too.

As time went by, they seemed to lose their composure.

They were pushed back by us in terms of broadcast time from the beginning, lost in the counseling session, and couldn’t revive the atmosphere in the last chance, the talk.

They had no choice but to be like that.

Street Boys, who wasted their time like that, were soon facing the live stage.

“…”

Silence filled the air as the commercial came on.

Hanjo, who was unbuttoning his shirt in frustration, looked at the paper with the rap written on it and took care of the members sitting next to him.

He was in the same position as the leader, and his sympathetic look was pitiful even for me, who was on the opposite team.

It would be crazy if your team was like that on the broadcast.

I lowered my head and turned my eyes to the member sitting next to me.

“Ri…”

I stopped calling his name.

His black eyes under his long eyelashes were carefully examining the sheet music.

He was absorbed in something.

Especially when he was about to sing.

He looked like a different person then.

Unlike his usual prickly and nagging self, he felt like a blank sheet of paper that had nothing drawn on it.

Like an actor who adjusts his emotions before acting, Ri-hyuk also adjusted his emotions like this before singing.

He was preparing in advance so that he could immerse himself in the stage right away.

Even now, his face, which was staring at the sheet music with the lyrics, repeated the process of being filled with various emotions and then disappearing.

It was probably the emotion of gratitude that we had talked about earlier.

Now he even had a faint smile on his lips.

Suddenly, a question that I had been curious about for a few days came to my mind.

Who is he really?

The person he is so grateful to.

Thud, thud-

I was staring at Ri-hyuk for a while, then I turned my gaze to the sheet music of Night Sea.

A dull sound broke my reverie.

An empty plastic bottle was rolling on the floor.

“Oh, I’m sorry…”

The one who apologized to me was Kiwon.

He seemed to have dropped it while trying to drink water.

Soon he realized that the bottle had fallen right at Ri-hyuk’s feet, and he looked even more flustered.

Ri-hyuk, who had been looking at the floor blankly, lifted his head and looked at the other person.

Not awkwardly avoiding him like he did in the elevator, but now he was looking at him straight.

With a slightly subtle expression.

For a second.

Then Ri-hyuk’s action was completely out of my expectation.

“Here, take this.”

He handed the other water bottle on the table to him.

With a smile on his lips.

Why am I like this?

The thought that I have every day, and the thought that Yoon Kiwon is having right now.

‘Why am I like this.’

I wanted to do well…

It was the first live broadcast since our debut, so I should have done better, I should have said more, I thought.

Park Manager had been telling me how important this opportunity was all the way here.

-This is not just a radio show. It’s the number one listener rating in the same time slot, and this corner is quite popular. You know who Autumn Girl is, right? The one with the leaf-colored hair, yeah. Na Hyun or something. She did well in the counseling and got posted on the community as a sensible comment. Live and together.

Park Manager laughed heartily.

-New Black? Hey. Honestly, they only have fans because they are half-half, what do they have in substance? You guys can definitely win if you do well. So, act like men and show some fierceness in your eyes. Got it?

I couldn’t understand why he was so hostile to New Black.

Can’t we get along well? Why do we have to compete and fight with New Black?

The most incomprehensible thing was the diss rap.

Why bother people who are minding their own business?

Kiwon looked at Hanjo.

The leader who was checking the lyrics with a stiff face.

‘I want to help too.’

When all the members refused to do the diss rap that the company asked for, he took the villain role as the leader.

For the sake of promotion, he dissed people he had never even talked to properly.

Kiwon’s eyes shifted slightly.

A cold-faced man was sitting across from him.

‘Would it have been different if it was him?’

The memory from a long time ago is still vivid.

When my head was throbbing with blood and pain, the voice that pierced through my sight.

What are you guys doing, he said.

I sometimes wonder how he did that.

I can’t say anything to the company people, but how did he do that then?

‘I wish I could do that too.’

If I could speak up against the company’s burdensome demands, and if I could be confident like him.

How nice that would be.

Unlike me, who kept fumbling and missing the cues, he calmly took care of the broadcast time and also helped the leader who came with him.

He also cheered me up from time to time.

I don’t know what he wrote on the paper, but it was enough to make the other leader smile like a picture.

I should have done that too.

“Kiwon, are you okay?”

He nodded his head without saying a word, avoiding the careful eyes of the person next to him.

He couldn’t look him in the eye.

He felt that sorry.

‘What should I do.’

What if I ruin the stage, he worried, and reached for the water bottle.

Thud-

When he saw the eyes looking at him, he panicked, and then a white hand came in front of him.

“Here, take this.”

“…”

It was the most awkward moment of the day.

Yoon Kiwon awkwardly took the water bottle that the other person handed him.

He must have seen his empty bottle and offered his own water.

Soon, the other person tapped his throat lightly.

“Your throat.”

“…?”

“Your throat, you’re too tense.”

It seemed like he was saying that he was straining his throat muscles too much.

Ah.

That was when Yoon Kiwon opened his lips with a flustered face.

“Tha…”

He meant to say thank you, but it came out as a squeak.

Hanjo, who was next to him, was startled.

He dropped the paper with the rap lyrics that he was looking at, and kept answering that he was fine to the other person who was checking his condition.

He felt a bit dazed.

‘If I had started the live like this…’

It was a terrifying thought.

If he had gone off-key from the first verse, the atmosphere would have been very solemn.

Maybe he would have been compared to the other person’s live and become a laughing stock on the internet.

But luckily, that didn’t happen.

Thanks to the unexpected help from the other person.

‘Is it because of him?’

He didn’t know why he suddenly helped him, but he was sure that it had something to do with the person who came with SeoRi-hyuk.

After helping him, he withdrew his gaze and only looked at that direction.

But it didn’t matter why the other person helped him.

‘Don’t miss this chance.’

Unlike before, when he was flustered, his eyes settled calmly.

The leader was taking care of him, the DJ was encouraging him, and he even got help from the other team at the end.

If he missed this opportunity after all this preparation, it would be really stupid.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I can do this.”

He smiled reassuringly at the other person who looked worried.

He really felt confident.

***

“Ri-hyuk.”

“What.”

“Why are you giving someone else’s water bottle instead of yours.”

“…”

“Ri-hyuk.”

“…”

“Hyung, I’m thirsty.”

“…”

“Ri-hyuk.”

“Ugh, seriously. I’ll buy you a whole box after the broadcast, so stop whispering!”