Chapter 1005: It Was Beautiful From Far Away.. (17)

"Alright~ Come on in~"

"Come on in~"

We danced enthusiastically in front of the camera, doing the Rabbit Uncle courtship dance.

Biju shouted brightly.

"Okay~ To the left~"

"Waaaaa~~~"

One wave to the left!

"To the right~"

"Waaaaaaaa~~~"

One wave to the right!

Every time we passionately did the Rabbit Uncle dance, the employees sitting in their chairs cheered and waved their hands at us.

Hyungseop, who had come out as the DJ, was going "Boom boom wiki wiki-" with one hand pressed against his headphones.

"Yes, everyone."

I spoke toward the camera.

"This place is none other than the Lemon Entertainment cafeteria. We've invited company employees as our audience, and today we're going to show you all a very special stage."

Today [N O V E L I G H T] was the final day of Souffle Week.

After thinking about what kind of event we should hold for the fans, the content we ended up choosing was—

[NewBlack Singing Contest!]

It was a showdown to determine superiority through singing skills among ourselves.

We had seen a lot of reactions like this while appearing on Mission Singer this time around.

-Please make it best two out of threeㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

-More

-Show us more stages where the two of them face offㅠㅠ

-King of Singers Sun Wooju vs National Hip-Hop Top Seo Ri Hyuk rematch ㄱㄱㄱㄱ

Maybe because I had been eliminated by such a narrow margin, there were a lot of people who felt really disappointed about my loss.

So this content had been prepared.

"We're going to determine NewBlack's true singing rankings! Fair and square!"

"That's right. Heh heh."

While Ri Hyuk and I emphasized fair competition, Biju and Jiho's faces gradually darkened like they were dying inside.

Smiling, we asked them,

"What's wrong, Mr. Biju? Mr. Jiho?"

"Do you~ have some kind of problem~?"

At the questions from me and the main vocalist, both members quietly shut their eyes.

"Next year we're doing a dance battle. Seriously...."

"If you even try doing an acting competition or something, Wang Jiho Method Acting Technique is going to turn you all into boneless fried chicken."

I nodded before turning back toward the camera.

"Yes! As you can see, this competition was born after overwhelming agreement! And to ensure fair judging, one of our members, Junghyun, has agreed to serve as the referee."

"Please give us a word about how you feel."

Ri Hyuk and I held our microphones toward him.

"Everyone."

Junghyun smiled into the mic.

"I really think rappers have the easiest job."

"!"

At that legendary-level comment, the employees burst into laughter and applause.

Expressions made of one hundred percent pure happiness.

Even though we were right in front of them, the employees were still filming us with their phones, so we asked,

"Are you all excited too?!"

"Yes!"

Some of our company employees had even brought their families to attend the recording.

For some reason, it felt like we were hosting a company bonding event.

Actually, today was also meant to be an event for all the company employees who had worked hard preparing Souffle Week over the past month.

During the prize giveaway event, we gave a Rabbit Uncle plushie to the four-year-old daughter of the PR Team Leader, and we also spun a roulette wheel to hand out all kinds of prizes under the CEO's name to the company employees.

"Wow! I won a kimchi refrigerator!"

"Congratulations! Management Support Team Leader!"

Every time we handed over signs that read [Kimchi Refrigerator] and things like that, laughter spread among the employees.

Then nearby, we could hear CEO Park Gyuho lamenting.

"A refrigerator!"

"Ah, ahhh...."

"An air conditioner!"

"Hohhoi... huh...."

The glow reflecting off the top of CEO Park Gyuho's head gradually dimmed.

Maybe because he still felt bad about causing a scene with us last time, the CEO had generously sponsored the event prizes this time.

As we continued building up the festive atmosphere and checked the livestream viewer count—

"Looks like everyone's mostly in now?"

The director of NewBlack TV gave us an OK sign.

I nodded.

"Alright then, from now on we'll begin the NewBlack Singing Contest—"

Right then, the NewBlack TV writers suddenly crossed their arms into giant X signs.

We asked with our eyes.

"?"

"??"

The writers quickly scribbled something onto a sketchpad and held it up.

[Livestream crashed]

The moment we heard the entire thing had completely died, we asked,

"What about Y app?"

"That one crashed first."

Y app truly was fragile.

We were told it'd take at least thirty minutes for everything to normalize again, so we looked around.

The company employees filling the cafeteria to the brim, all waiting for our performance.

"Hmm."

We raised our hands and asked,

"Anyone want to do another prize giveaway event?"

Everyone raised their hands.

And the CEO burst into tears.

Waiting had already become part of daily life for Souffles.

It had become so common that there was even a widely accepted theory among the fandom called the "Famous Restaurant Theory."

-NewBlack is the world's greatest famous restaurant. Of course there's going to be a waiting line.

Servers crashing and access delays all happened because our boys were too successful, didn't they?

So everyone should humbly wait their turn....

'These trash bastards!'

...Yeah, no.

The Souffles were furious.

-It crashes every single time

-The world's greatest megacorp MyTubeㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-When can I connect alreadyㅡㅡ

-Damn it.. my chicken delivery got here before the streamㅠ

Fortunately, about twenty minutes later, access stabilized again.

The Souffles sighed in relief.

'Looks like the casual viewers showed up too.'

Lately, companies had gotten much better at preparing for this kind of thing, so even for NewBlack, complete meltdowns like this had become relatively rare.

But....

Right now, things were a little insane.

'I wanna watch!'

'Fake Souffles wanna watch too!'

'I'm just a hater but I still wanna see it!'

Just two days ago, Seo Ri Hyuk VS Sun Wooju had exploded Friday night viewership ratings, and now those same people were holding an event match.

That was why the viewer count kept skyrocketing.

As the comment section flew by in chaos—

'Ah. Why are there so many foreigners?'

Thanks to their global popularity, the comments were flooded with English and all kinds of foreign languages, so the Souffles turned their attention toward SNS and online communities instead.

After all, not only them, but other netizens were obviously watching the Souffle Week content too.

'I wonder what the reactions are like... huh?'

Comments started catching the Souffles' eyes.

-Did they seriously make company employees come in on Sunday just to film content???

-As an office worker I'm way too emotionally invested in thisㅠ

-I can't even focus on the content because I keep staring at the employeesㅠㅠ

-Sometimes when you look at top idols, they seem to lack consideration for ordinary people? Like, regardless of whether they're known as nice people in the industry, there's this subtle disconnect from normal common sense...

-Making employees come to work on weekends just to fill the audienceㅋㅋ..

Just as netizens began whipping out the moral outrage over forcing employees to come in on Sunday—

As if he had anticipated the reaction, Wooju raised the microphone.

[For reference, everyone participating in today's audience gets tomorrow off.]

Then footage played of Wooju holding prize drawings and giving Rabbit Uncle plushies to employees' children.

The atmosphere in the comments instantly shifted.

-The pathetic one was me..

-Fuck, why was I worried about them

-I wanna see Rabbit Uncle tooㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

-A chance to watch Seo Ri Hyuk vs Sun Wooju rematch live AND participate in prize drawings?? No way I'd miss thatㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Look at the kids' faces seeing Rabbit Uncleㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ insanely cute

As envy became the dominant reaction, the Souffles nodded.

'Handled perfectly.'

The office workers who had been horrified at the thought of people going to work on Sunday now smiled warmly.

Meanwhile, the antis who had been trying to stir things up clicked their tongues and quietly slithered back into the darkness.

Then the final-day Souffle Week content officially began.

[Alright! For our first act, today's judge and the jewel of the Korean music industry! Please welcome King of Singers Kim Junghyun for a congratulatory stage!]

Junghyun shyly smiled as he stepped forward wearing a teddy bear T-shirt.

The mirror ball sparkled, and a rich trot accompaniment immediately began playing from the karaoke machine.

[This is my grandfather's favorite song.]

Junghyun sang the trot song properly and traditionally, and the现场 went "Waaah—" for a moment before casual viewers began reacting in surprise.

-Oh?? He's good

-Junghyun sings well though..??

-Wow, his vocal tone is naturally good so the song sounds amazing too

-He looks like the kind of youth association president beloved by village elders

-Oh

His vocal projection itself was excellent, and his fundamentals were so solid that he honestly wasn't bad as a vocalist either.

Good enough that he could handle a vocal part without any issue.

Even so, Junghyun scratched the back of his head shyly, like he'd just performed a talent show in front of senior veterans.

'Why's he acting like that? He's good.'

But....

Once the other members' performances really started, people realized that NewBlack's standards for vocals were completely different from ordinary people's.

"Huh?"

"Jiho?"

The Souffles were stunned.

Jiho, who stepped up first, grabbed the microphone and began singing an emotional rock ballad.

'He's good!'

'Jiho can do this...?'

How did NewBlack's vocal rankings work?

Seo Ri Hyuk was first place, Sun Wooju second.

After them came Kim Biju and Wang Jiho.

Excluding Junghyun, who was a rapper, Jiho was effectively dead last among the vocalists, yet he was causing a major upset.

'Oh.'

Even the employees looked surprised as murmurs spread through the cafeteria.

Jiho cleanly handled the song while demonstrating shockingly stable high notes, and SNS immediately exploded.

A NewBlack stan account quickly clipped the performance and uploaded it.

Gorani @deepblack1

(fox emoji): Hyung, I'm not a baby anymore

The Souffles let out impressed groans.

'This is growth.'

'Our baby grew up well. He's not a baby anymore, he's a child now!'

'Jiho really came prepared.'

Even though he had been going, "Ah~ I didn't prepare anything at all~," the Souffles could tell.

Just how much practice he must have put in inside the practice room.

Then, as if answering the maknae's challenge, Wooju began singing Deoksuna, the trot song he'd performed in a past competition.

"!"

"!!"

Unlike Jiho, who had carefully prepared, Wooju was just casually warming up with trot, yet the difference in skill felt overwhelming.

The SNS account that had uploaded Jiho's clip immediately uploaded another video.

Gorani @deepblack1

(fox emoji): Waaah

│Gorani @deepblack1

│(fox emoji): Hyung, I'm not a baby anymore

The maknae was still the maknae after all.

In the end, the sub vocalist got crushed in a single blow by the lead vocalist's warmup performance and tearfully accepted elimination.

Then it was Biju and Ri Hyuk's battle.

'Oh.'

'He's sharper than expected.'

Unlike Jiho and Wooju's one-sided match, Biju came in much more aggressively than expected.

Biju selected Han Taehyun's dance solo track Aurora.

Unlike the original song's slightly sticky and dreamlike atmosphere, Biju sang it with a soft, almost transparent voice that made everyone admire him.

-Biju's no joke eitherㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-But seriously, his vocals are ridiculously solid compared to his physiqueㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ It feels like his entire body is singing

-Biju's core strength is insane

-(Junghyun laughing hysterically while smacking Biju's back but Biju doesn't budge.gif) Junghyun keeps hitting him and he doesn't even moveㅋㅋㅋ

But the admiration only lasted a moment.

Seo Ri Hyuk walked out wearing a toy crown and activated his [I Am the King of Singers] skill.

Biju's gentle breeze-like vocals were instantly swept away like leaves in a storm.

The atmosphere shifted into something like a vast, refreshing ocean filling the space.

-Y... yeah... Ri Hyuk's the king...

-Even Biju looks sick of thisㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Ah, if the King of Singers shows up, obviously he has to be kingㅋㅋㅋ

-W-we present the crown...

-???: I'm already wearing it!

Even the fans watched with slightly exhausted expressions, like, "Y-yeah... we know you're the best already... you don't have to prove it so hard...."

[Sniff...!]

[I told you we shouldn't have done this!]

The main dancer and sub vocalist protested tearfully after taking emotional damage, but everyone simply laughed happily.

The teary-eyed maknae went "Bwaaaah" as he ran toward his second eldest brother.

[Hyung, hug me!]

[Jiho, come here. Let's comfort each other as fellow losers.]

[Hyeooooong~]

[No, Jiho. You're an adult now. We don't cry anymore...!]

As the maknae and second eldest hugged each other dramatically while going "Ueeeeeeng," everyone burst into laughter.

Then Junghyun suddenly interrupted.

[Hm? But now you two need to compete for third and fourth place.]

At those words, Jiho and Biju instantly stopped crying and coldly separated.

Jiho twisted one corner of his mouth into a smirk.

Biju turned away from the maknae with a calm, lowered expression.

[I'll beat you.]

[It won't be easy.]

The atmosphere looked straight out of a sports manga, making the viewers burst into laughter.

Then, after Biju claimed third place with two wins and one loss in the third-place match—

The grand finals between Sun Wooju and Seo Ri Hyuk began.

-ㄷㄱㄷㄱ

-I'm so excitedㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

-Ah, we're finally seeing what the broadcast didn't show us

-The people attending live are insanely lucky..

And so the stage began.

Watching NewBlack's two vocalists perform with the energy of "I'm going to kill you!" made the Souffles smile blissfully.

'My ears are melting. Melting....'

'Khhh.'

'The satisfaction from stanning them is insane.'

Even though it was technically a vocal battle, it felt as thrilling as watching sports.

Round 1 went to Seo Ri Hyuk, who completely crushed Sun Wooju through overwhelming differences in raw fundamentals.

Round 2 went to Sun Wooju, who came in with razor-sharp strategy and caught Seo Ri Hyuk off guard to claim one victory.

Finally, the long-awaited Round 3.

"Ah...."

"Ahhh...."

In the end, the victor was Seo Ri Hyuk.

But....

-Even though he won, it doesn't feel like he wonㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Look at Ri Hyuk's faceㅋㅋㅋ He's drenched in sweat

-Seriously aged ten yearsㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Good work surviving that, Ri Hyuk

Even though he had clearly won, Seo Ri Hyuk looked utterly exhausted, like his soul had left his body.

'Understandable.'

Wooju had targeted nothing but Ri Hyuk's potential weaknesses.

Deliberately forcing his opponent to burn stamina through song choices while calmly maintaining his own pace.

The Souffles came to a realization.

'You should never make an enemy out of Wooju.'

And so, the final-day content of Souffle Week came to an end.

Even though it had started as a fun little event, the physical exhaustion must have been intense, because NewBlack left looking completely drained by the end.

That even led to posts like this appearing online.

[So who actually won today?]

(While the exhausted four members collapse around him, Kim Junghyun sparkles alone.gif)

King of Singers Kim Junghyun, who did absolutely nothing

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-This is facts

-???: I really think rappers have the easiest job

-Profession with 100% sweetness level

-But it isn't even that easy because Wooju is chasing him from behind in a sports carㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-And that's a hyung who already hit Billboard #1 through hip-hop

Posts analyzing NewBlack's vocals began appearing across SNS and online communities.

Fan accounts rapidly edited and uploaded related videos to MyTube.

And while everyone bustled around excitedly, there were also people staring at the charts with miserable expressions....

"No...."

"The charts again...."

Popular singers currently promoting stared at the charts with troubled looks.

'Seriously....'

At the very top of the charts were the Mission Singer competition songs by "National Hip-Hop Top Seo Ri Hyuk."

"I thought Ri Hyuk's songs would be the strongest and the others would just be whatever, but apparently not."

"I guess arrangement really is important."

Night Sea sat at #1.

Below that were Seo Ri Hyuk's competition tracks.

And then—

Sun Wooju's Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter four-part series, rearranged entirely in his own singer-songwriter style, had all entered the top of the charts.

"Ha...."

The singers smiled bitterly.

'Seriously, they've got every genre covered.'

What made Sun Wooju's competition songs so terrifying this time was that there was literally something for every taste.

Folk songs targeting middle-aged listeners.

Youth rock for people who liked rock music.

Lonely rock ballads and fluttering love songs.

It felt like he was saying, "I didn't know what you'd like, so I prepared everything."

Honestly....

Up to this point, people could still more or less accept it.

'Best to avoid a downpour.'

'Nothing we can do.'

But then—

"Hm?"

"Huh?"

The moment NewBlack started their livestream, the realtime charts began fluctuating wildly.

Deoksuna temporarily entered the realtime rankings, and the other songs flooded in alongside it.

"......"

"......"

The singers close to NewBlack smiled sadly.

'It's okay.'

'These things happen.'

By now they were already so used to it that they could only accept it.

And considering the explosive buzz those two had created through Mission Singer, it was only natural.

Even idols too busy to watch ordinary TV programs had been making time to tune in out of curiosity.

And honestly, Mission Singer wasn't even their biggest concern right now.

More importantly—

"Hey. Did you see this?"

"What?"

"Photos of the Goblin Restaurant in Gurye County got uploaded."

"Whoa. Is that a rib restaurant or something?"

The real focus of NewBlack's celebrity friends was the upcoming Goblin Restaurant.

"Can five people really handle this? Cooking's one thing, but no way they can manage the dining hall... Junghyun hyung definitely can't do it alone."

"Exactly."

"They're one hundred percent hiring part-timers...."

"Oh my...?"

Their happy little delusions sparkled brightly.

'Are they... hiring part-timers?'

'I've never worked part-time before, but if they call me, I'll go.'

'They're definitely hiring help for this.'

Idols pressed both hands against their cheeks while squealing excitedly and imagining a future full of dreams and fantasy.

Gurye County.

Goblin Restaurant filming location.

"......"

Producer Gu Jaeyoung blinked.

"Uh... Wooju? Ri Hyuk?"

"Yes."

"What... exactly is this?"

The bewildered head producer of New Universe watched as the two young men held up a tablet PC and began explaining.

"We ran the calculations carefully. Taking the workload into account, we realized it'd be extremely tight for just five people. The kitchen's manageable, but the dining hall workload would be excessive."

"R-right?"

So Producer Gu Jaeyoung had been considering hiring part-timers.

The kitchen required skilled work anyway, but for the dining hall, couldn't they just use guests to help with serving?

But then—

"We found a solution."

"??"

Wooju and Ri Hyuk grinned proudly as they held up the tablet PC.

"Take a look, Producer."

"?"

"Ri Hyuk made a simple program based on my idea. If orders get entered from the dining hall like this...."

Wooju clicked through the menu displayed on the tablet screen and pressed the confirm button.

Ding dong-!

Immediately, the large monitor inside the kitchen displayed which table had ordered what.

[Table 1]

Elapsed Time: 00:09

[Item] 1 Bulgogi Steak

[Item] 2 Seori Shaved Ice

The system even displayed the order in which dishes needed to be sent out, along with how long customers had been waiting.

Producer Gu Jaeyoung stared blankly at the screen.

"That's right, Producer."

The future food service entrepreneurs smiled smugly.

"NewBlack has finally succeeded in digitizing the Goblin Restaurant operating system...!"

"......!"

At that moment, the dreams and hopes of the celebrities hoping to guest on New Universe shattered into pieces.