Chapter 1002: It Was Beautiful From Far Away.. (14)

In the folktale Heungbu and Nolbu, the swallow repays kindness by bringing back a gourd seed.

“Whoa... the gourd is growing!”

When Heungbu and his wife sliced the gourd open with a saw, gold and treasure poured out from inside.

Just like the magical gourd seed that completely turned their lives around—

there was now one legendary Mr. Park that every local government in South Korea desperately wanted to get their hands on.

“Ha ha! I’m Park Gyuho from Lemon Entertainment.”

It was none other than Mr. Park from Lemon Entertainment, owner of a forehead as perfectly round as a gourd.

“Well, you see, our boys are planning to open a small restaurant this time around... and if you might be interested...”

At first, only a few tourist destinations were contacted.

But rumors spread through government offices frighteningly fast.

The moment word got out that NewBlack was filming a restaurant variety show, local governments across the entire country erupted into chaos.

Two years ago, those adorable rookie idols had turned highway rest stops into hell with nothing but bulgogi.

So what would happen if present-day NewBlack opened an actual restaurant?

“We have to bring them to our district!”

A brutal bidding war unfolded beneath the surface.

People pulled political strings through district assembly members, produced PPT presentations and promotional videos, and some smaller municipalities even sent out their county governors personally to arrange meetings with Lemon Entertainment’s CEO.

After all, once selected, that tourist destination practically wouldn’t have to worry about yearly revenue anymore.

And amid that fierce competition, the ultimate winner was Gurye County in South Jeolla Province.

“Hehehehe!”

And the secret behind Gurye County’s victory was...

“Huh? Why did we get picked?”

“Apparently NewBlack selected us.”

“But why...? How...? Jeju and Tongyeong had the best presentations though...?”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t that they had fought through the competition.

It was more accurate to say they had been chosen by NewBlack.

There were plenty of places that had performed better than them.

In any case—

after winning what was essentially the greatest jackpot imaginable, Gurye County threw absolutely everything they had into the project.

Their goal was to become the next Yeosu.

Yeosu, which had suddenly exploded in popularity through word of mouth around the Expo and eventually established itself as one of South Jeolla’s premier tourist destinations.

And nearby Suncheon, which had become trendy thanks to its reed fields.

To them, working together with NewBlack sounded like this:

“Kekeke... do you seek power...?”

“Yes!”

“But power cannot be granted to just anyone... Your vessel is still too weak. To contain great power, you require a great vessel. Hehehe...”

And so, in an incredibly short period of time, they prepared as much as humanly possible.

“Even visitors who just come to look around Goblin Restaurant will need proper restroom access. We need additional bathrooms and cleaner facilities overall. This is our chance to improve the county’s image.”

“We’ve already sent official documents to Korail. We’ll organize special bus routes to make transportation easier for visitors...”

“We need everything done as quickly as possible.”

Naturally, the area they invested the most effort into was the restaurant itself.

They carefully reviewed every request NewBlack had passed along through Lemon Entertainment and supported the production staff accordingly.

“We’d like the atmosphere to feel traditional, with tiled roofs and classic Korean architecture.”

“Should we just make all the surrounding buildings tiled roofs too?”

“What color should we use? Since it’s NewBlack... black?”

“Let’s go with a pretty black.”

“We’d like the space to feel a little more open...”

“Tell the production team we found a great building.”

“No, no. We should go with an even bigger one.”

“Hey! Let’s make it so huge their jaws drop the moment they see it!”

“For the signboard, we’d love it if Ri Hyuk’s handwriting could be used to write ‘Goblin Restaurant’ nicely in Korean...”

“Should we put up guide signs one kilometer away so anyone visiting our county can find it?”

“Let’s make the sign gigantic.”

“Throw in a windmill while we’re at it.”

“N-no...”

“Should we just create an entire Goblin Street while we’re at it?”

“We can talk about how Gurye County has historically had lots of goblin folklore...”

“Goblin Street sounds great. Let’s do it.”

Every time the New Universe production staff worked hard setting up the restaurant, the local officials around them kept creating more and more things nearby.

And so, at long last, a traditional Korean-style street was born.

Granted, most of it was still dirt roads for now...

but centered around the massive Goblin Restaurant, the future Goblin Street—where many more buildings would eventually be added—was finally complete.

...or so the behind-the-scenes story went, according to the officials involved.

“Well... we did ask for a spacious area, but isn’t this a little too big...?”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“We just thought that, for NewBlack, it probably needed to be at least this grand.”

The hanok was enormous.

No... it was kind of... chunky.

It looked like the sort of building that would go rolling away if someone tipped it onto its side.

‘This is a hanok...?’

‘How can a hanok look so... beefy?’

There was a famous galbi restaurant in Suwon.

It was so famous that one entire street was filled with Branches 1 through 4 of the same restaurant, and this building resembled the overwhelming grandeur of that place.

“Should we hire extra part-timers or something...”

At my words, Producer Gu Jaeyoung replied,

“It only looks huge from the outside. Inside, it’s not actually that enormous, so it should be manageable.”

“How big is it exactly?”

“If we’re only counting the dining area? About eighty percent the size of your cafeteria.”

Hearing that it was smaller than our company cafeteria eased my worries a little.

Sure, it was still huge...

but if it was around that size, then maybe we could somehow handle it if we worked ourselves to the bone a little.

Jiho spoke up.

“Still, it’s sooo big though...”

Biju trailed off in agreement.

“Yeah... I think it might be a liiittle too big...”

“It really is huge...”

Even Junghyun was saying that when I asked,

“So how did this place end up being selected?”

“Ah.”

One of the county officials—a high-ranking public relations director—explained.

“There’s actually a story behind that.”

“?”

“Originally, we were planning to remodel a small building in a quieter area... but then this building happened to fall into our hands.”

The director began explaining the legend behind the building.

“The original owner paid off overdue taxes through property forfeiture.”

“Ah...”

“And after going through a rather complicated process, it was reborn as Goblin Restaurant.”

At the mention of a building seized over unpaid taxes, both the members and I quietly stared off into the distance.

‘I see.’

‘There was a tragic backstory.’

The officials continued.

“If not for this, it would’ve been a really tiny building. It was also located somewhere remote with terrible transportation access...”

“But in the end, we figured bigger would be better, so we chose this location instead. It was already designed somewhat like a hanok anyway, so there wasn’t much remodeling needed.”

As we listened to the explanation, we headed inside together with the production crew and officials.

After wiping dirt off our shoes on the entry mat and stepping in—

“Whoa...”

“Wooooow...”

Cool air conditioning washed over us.

The construction had only recently finished, so there was still a faint smell of paint, but the interior was unbelievably clean.

It felt like one of those cafés you’d see all over Instagram.

“Waaah...”

The members gathered together and stared around in admiration.

It was beautiful.

The space somehow felt both traditionally Korean and modern at the same time, naturally drawing smiles onto our faces.

Even the menu boards had been beautifully written in Ri Hyuk’s handwriting.

Though...

“There are kind of a lot of tables...”

“You said you wanted to serve as many customers as possible.”

“We did?!”

“Didn’t you say that during the pre-production meeting?”

“I guess we did...”

Thinking about it carefully, I realized we really had said something like that, so I quietly shut my mouth.

Producer Gu Jaeyoung spoke.

“Do you know how many reservation requests there are right now? I think an article just came out about ten minutes ago...”

“How many?”

“930,000...”

“......”

“Of course there’ll be duplicate entries, but I’ve never seen numbers like this for an audience application before.”

The moment I heard 930,000, I understood everything.

“Yeah... it does need to be big.”

“At minimum, this much...”

My head was already starting to hurt.

How should we organize customers?

How should we divide up the work?

How would the waiting lines function...?

Junghyun asked,

“Don’t we seriously need more staff?”

“No. Ri Hyuk and I will think this part through. This is something we should handle ourselves.”

It would definitely be exhausting, but not to the point where the six of us couldn’t manage it. ℯℯ𝑙.

As we talked, we continued inspecting the restaurant interior and kitchen.

“Whoa! Hyungs, look at this! The kitchen’s huge! We could totally film stuff in here.”

“It really is massive.”

“Hyung. Look at Kim Biju’s face.”

Everyone burst out laughing at Biju, who was holding both hands to his mouth with an expression of pure emotional overwhelm.

“This is literally my dream kitchen...”

“Calm down, Biju.”

Together with Biju, who looked ready to break into a celebratory dance at any second, we checked the placement of the various cooking appliances.

“Producer Gu, could we maybe get today’s footage later?”

“I’ll send it over right away.”

We took our own photos of the kitchen layout too, and arranged to receive the production team’s video footage as well.

Now we could use all of it for mental rehearsal training.

There was already so much to prepare.

“What about our accommodations? Are they nearby?”

“We booked a place with good security nearby. The facilities are nice too... probably around thirty minutes away.”

“Thirty minutes...”

“It’s usually used as a corporate training center for company employees, but we rented it out this time. The production staff will all be staying there with you.”

If it was used as a corporate training center, the security was probably nearly as good as a hotel.

And since it wouldn’t just be us staying there, it’d also be safer in case some unidentified weirdo tried sneaking in.

I was smiling in satisfaction when—

“Wait...”

Jiho tilted his head like he’d just remembered something.

“Wasn’t the place we stayed at in Jeju when we saw the ghost also some kind of corporate training center? It had woods around it and everything...”

“......”

“And that security guard guy played peekaboo with us.”

“......”

Biju groaned as painful memories resurfaced.

While Junghyun blinked blankly like, Was it really that scary?, Jiho shuddered dramatically.

“Ughhh... what if we run into something like that again?”

“Jiho.”

“Yes?”

“Why are you so scared? Meeting ghosts is a good thing.”

“......Why?”

I reminded him of the past.

“In the end, what happened to Falling Blossoms after that?”

“It hit number one...?”

“Exactly, Jiho.”

I spoke firmly.

“That person wasn’t a ghost.”

“Th-then what were they...?”

“A benefactor.”

“!!”

Seeing enlightenment dawn upon the members, I continued,

“Honestly, if I ever get the chance, I’d love to meet them again. I never even got to properly thank them last time.”

“...They really were a helpful existence!”

Getting haunted and having your song become a massive hit versus not getting haunted at all.

Come on, the answer was obvious.

Everyone burst into laughter at our conversation.

And while the members and I slowly wrapped up the restaurant inspection, one of the officials asked,

“Shouldn’t we show this to Ri Hyuk too?”

“Ah, that guy’s a little busy with schedules right now...”

Ri Hyuk was currently deep into preparations for the finals of Mission Singer.

Strictly speaking, though, it wasn’t really because he was busy.

It was more because we were managing Ri Hyuk’s mental state.

If we showed him Goblin Restaurant over video call, he’d probably stare at it with a “!!!” expression while his pupils shook violently.

But we obviously couldn’t tell these people he was preparing for the King of Kings round of Mission Singer, so I casually tried to brush it off as a scheduling issue.

That was when everyone present—including the New Universe production team—suddenly widened their eyes.

“Ri Hyuk’s personal schedule...”

“But isn’t Mission Singer filming soon?”

“Oh right.”

“Wait. Wooju is here despite being ‘the top rapper in Korean hip-hop,’ but Ri Hyuk, the current Mask King Sun Wooju, is absent...! Then does that mean the King of Kings result is...?!”

It was a frighteningly accurate deduction.

Of course, I calmly maintained my expression while going, “Hm?” as though nothing was wrong.

But—

Tremble—

Shake shake—

the panicking members beside me completely gave us away.

While our managers desperately asked everyone present to please keep this week’s broadcast confidential—

I laughed as I looked at the people who had accidentally been spoiled on the result of Mission Singer, and finally wrapped up the Goblin Restaurant inspection.

“Thank you for your hard work!”

“You all worked really hard too. We’ll be in your care!”

After exchanging farewells with the officials, we climbed back into the car headed for Seoul.

While organizing materials to show Ri Hyuk later and discussing various plans with the members—

Biju carefully asked,

“But the chefs said we should ask if we ever needed help, right? Should we ask them this time?”

“Hm...”

It was tempting, but I shook my head.

“I think the chefs have already helped us enough. From here on out, let’s try solving things ourselves.”

“True. It kind of goes against the spirit of the project otherwise. If professional chefs help us too much, it’ll become too easy.”

Even if we struggled a bit, I thought it’d be better for us to stumble through things together ourselves.

Of course...

“We should still get help from the chefs eventually.”

Usually, favors had expiration dates.

Which meant we needed to make use of the chefs’ goodwill and gratitude toward us before it faded away.

At that moment, something Jiho had said earlier resurfaced in my mind.

“Whoa! Hyungs, look at this! The kitchen’s huge! We could totally film stuff in here.”

An idea suddenly struck me.

The moment I shared it with the members, they immediately responded enthusiastically.

“That sounds good.”

“I think it’ll work.”

And with all the members agreeing—

inside the vehicle speeding down the Suncheon Wanju Expressway, we all checked online together.

“It should be going up around now, right?”

“Probably.”

It was finally time to reveal the menu items we had kept secret until now.

『 Goblin Restaurant 』

Online site open.

The videos introducing all the secretly developed menu items would soon be released there.

The members and I stared at the clock.

“5... 4... 3...”

And finally—

[502 Bad Gateway]

‘It crashed again.’

‘Yep. Crashed.’

Souffle nodded with satisfied smiles while watching the confused reactions of ordinary netizens.

“Nooooㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ I came to check the restaurant menu and the site’s dead”

“Site crashed lolㅋㅋㅋㅋ”

“The site crashed and so did my sanity”

“Excuse me??? You said you’d show us the menu???”

Nearly 900,000 people had applied for reservations to Goblin Restaurant.

The website crashed the instant it opened.

As people panicked, Souffle kindly informed them—

“Go to MyTube”

“For everyone freaking out because the site’s down, head to MyTube ㄱㄱ”

A trailer had been uploaded to the New Universe account.

‘Why does a restaurant menu even have a teaser trailer?’

‘This company is suspiciously serious about K-pop...’

Technically, it was just a promotional video introducing the menu items.

But it felt more like watching a K-pop teaser.

[Hello! We’re NewBlack!]

The members of NewBlack, dressed in matching black outfits, introduced the menu one by one.

[The main dish we’d like to introduce today is this hamburger steak.]

An insert shot appeared.

The hamburger steak looked so delicious it made viewers swallow reflexively.

When Junghyun cut into the hamburger steak with his knife, a soft-cooked egg yolk spilled out smoothly.

Steam rose warmly from the steak as sauce soaked into the meat.

‘Whoa...’

The NewBlack members chuckled smugly.

[The name of our signature menu item is...]

[Bulgogi Steak!]

Souffle and ordinary viewers burst into laughter at the naming sense, which used the “Bul” from NewBlack.

[It’s served with rice by default! But if you’d rather have bread, then you can enjoy it as a Bulgogi Burger!]

The introductions to various other menu items continued afterward.

Vegetarian options.

The “Rabbit Trio Set” for children.

[Since it’s summer, you want something cold, right?]

[The ace of our group with a heart as cold as ice? The fantasy dessert created by pastry chef Seo Ri Hyuk, the king of poor circulation...!]

[Seo Ri Shaved Ice!]

Even desserts were introduced.

The menu presentation thoughtfully continued for future visitors.

Views climbed higher and higher while articles poured in online in real time.

“This is insaneㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ”

“Wow the food lineup is stacked”

“Which day gives the best odds for reservations??”

“Can you apply multiple times?”

“Damn it I should’ve joined Souffleㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ I’m so jealous”

Everyone envied Souffle.

Because one of the operating days at Goblin Restaurant would be reservation-exclusive for Souffle members only.

But the Souffle fans merely smiled wistfully.

‘Even if there are seats available, do you really think we’ll get in?’

‘Our first-week sales hit two million...’

Even while crying internally, they still carefully submitted their applications.

And things continued moving at a frantic pace.

“Puhhh...”

“Ugh, I’m exhausted.”

There was so much content lately that even fangirling was tiring.

“Charcoals! The Souffle Week content just dropped!”

“WAAAAAH!”

They rushed off to watch the self-produced content uploaded for Souffle Week.

“I think there’s new Woobiz news!”

“!!!”

They also had to keep up with promotions for Woobiz, NewBlack’s first unit.

[Photo presumed to be Goblin Restaurant]

They needed to keep track of New Universe updates posted in online communities too.

And soon there’d even be the upcoming New Universe gourmet special.

There genuinely wasn’t enough time.

It reminded people of that meme online—

the one where cats and dogs looked excited when food first started pouring into the bowl, only to become completely overwhelmed once too much food started flooding in at once.

“There’s too much to watch...”

But despite saying that, smiles never left their faces.

After all, what fan would truly dislike having too much content?

“Please make content for TeenSpiritㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Just because they’re sweet doesn’t mean the company should neglect them”

“Taejun left and Youngjun arrived so I thought spring had come, but it turned out to be a cold snap instead”

“They’ve got twice as much hair as Gyuho and still can’t do half as much”

“At this point just transfer the group to Lemon alreadyㅡㅡ”

Seeing other idol fandoms suffering through content droughts made Souffle feel grateful all over again.

Then they quickly shook their heads.

‘N-no!’

It was because of their favorite idol’s teachings.

‘Ri Hyuk said feeling grateful over stuff like this is “bad happiness.” We can’t think like that.’

And so, correcting their mindset, they continued consuming content with truly thankful hearts—

while nodding {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} knowingly at how restless the online atmosphere felt today because of NewBlack.

‘Today’s finally the day.’

‘It’s here.’

As televisions turned on in households everywhere, Souffle fans heard family members calling them into the living room.

At the same time, heated forum threads and articles flooded online.

“‘Mission Singer’ Mask King Sun Wooju vs Korea’s Top Rapper Seo Ri Hyuk... Who Will Win?”

Today was finally the day of the Mask King showdown between Seo Ri Hyuk and Sun Wooju.