Chapter 1011: It Was Beautiful From Far Away.. (23)

“Since ancient times, transporting supplies and manpower through waterways has been one of the key conditions for building a wealthy and powerful nation.”

Someone’s clear voice rang out.

“That’s why the Grand Canal project connecting northern and southern China began during the Sui Dynasty, and one of the reasons early America was able to develop economically so quickly was because it secured the Mississippi River basin. Of course, there are several different theories regarding that....”

“Oh.”

“But fundamentally, transportation by river requires far less effort and cost than transportation over land when moving supplies and people.”

“I see....”

I nodded and asked Ri Hyuk,

“But why are you suddenly talking about that?”

“I was just thinking we picked a really good method of transportation. Junghyun hyung came up with a genuinely good idea for once.”

Junghyun scratched the back of his head and smiled awkwardly.

Meanwhile, the scenery of the Seomjin River swept rapidly past our eyes.

Bwaaaaa—

That’s right.

We were currently traveling along the Seomjin River by boat.

It had all started with one thing Junghyun casually blurted out while we were leaving work yesterday.

-Boat.

-Boat?

-Can’t we just go by boat or something? If we travel over the water, it feels like we’d get there really fast.

At first, all of us burst out laughing.

-What are you talking about, hyung? You want us to take a ferry or something?

-As expected of Kim Junghyun.

-Junghyun-ah. That was a good joke.

...or at least, that was what we were saying.

Then Ri Hyuk, who had been silently deep in thought by himself, suddenly spoke up and changed the entire situation.

-It might actually work.

-!!

-Wait, let me see the map.

The person in charge of our group’s brainpower traced a route along the river with his finger.

A revolutionary reduction in travel time.

Normally, traveling by road would have been better, but this wasn’t a normal situation.

With the roads suffering from horrific traffic congestion, using the waterways really could get us there in record time.

We thought it was a good idea, so we brought it up to the production staff and county officials, and they readily approved it.

And so...

Bwaaaaaaa—

We were currently commuting to work while facing the chilly predawn breeze of the Seomjin River.

Maybe because the boat was moving so quickly, our hair whipped nonstop in the wind.

The female writers with long hair kept accidentally eating their hair while making little “Ptooey!” sounds before finally tying it back.

“Haa....”

Jiho laughed in disbelief.

“We really are trying every possible thing while running this restaurant.”

“Enjoy it. When else are we ever going to cruise down the Seomjin River like this?”

“That’s true.”

I hugged the younger members close while fixing our windblown hair.

The boat wasn’t all that large, so it rocked enough to feel a little scary.

Junghyun and I became the pillars while the underlings huddled together around us.

The maknae stared blankly at the water before speaking.

“Hyungs, should we just swim away and escape right now?”

“Why?”

“Then we wouldn’t have to go to work.”

I burst out laughing.

“I used to think stuff like that when I was at boot camp.”

“Oh, really?”

“There was this pedestrian bridge leading to the training grounds. Trucks would pass underneath it, and I used to imagine jumping down onto one and riding it all the way home.”

“Aigoo....”

Those were the days...

Smiling to myself as I looked out over the river, I muttered,

“Haa... I don’t want to go to work.”

The younger members burst out laughing.

Producer Gu Jaeyoung spoke with a sympathetic expression.

“No, but seriously. It makes sense that you guys are exhausted. This isn’t the kind of workload you’d normally see on a restaurant variety show.”

“Right?”

“But you guys keep pulling it off anyway.”

“.......”

Just as I started thinking maybe it would be nice not to pull it off once in a while—

I gazed at the traffic-clogged roads in the distance and imagined what kind of chaos awaited us today.

Several things had happened last night.

First, there were sasaeng intrusions.

Apparently, there had been three separate incidents, but thankfully the security company that had anticipated something like this immediately caught them and handed them over to the police.

Unlike our heavily secured dorm, it seemed they assumed the accommodations in this area would have weaker security.

And then—

“Paint...?”

“Yeah....”

We also heard that some lunatic had thrown red paint onto the walls of Goblin Restaurant during the night.

Apparently, the culprit happened to run into our security staff, who had been patrolling nearby, panicked the moment he was spotted, and tried to flee before getting caught.

According to the police investigation, the man in his forties claimed his motive was, “I just didn’t like looking at it....”

We heard the staff had already painted over it, so no trace remained now.

Besides that, there were probably plenty of other annoying incidents happening behind the scenes that simply never reached us.

But still...

If a hundred good things happen, then ten bad things happening too is just part of life, isn’t it?

“Let’s focus on the good things.”

“Yeees~”

Life becomes happier when you look at good things and think positive thoughts.

The younger members and I wrapped ourselves into one big hug while listing positive things one by one.

“Sales are going up, so Goblin Street in Gurye County will become more lively~”

“We’re helping the tourism industry~”

“Ah. After suffering through this, it’ll probably really help if we ever play chefs in the future~~”

“Ah~ Happiness~”

After saying all that, conversation abruptly died down again.

Ri Hyuk spoke.

“I think we’re just escaping reality.”

“No speaking facts.”

“No Ri Hyuk speech style allowed.”

“No Ri Hyuk mode.”

“No seriously, what is wrong with you people...!”

While we were talking like that, the dock where we needed to disembark came into view.

The NewUniverse production staff were waiting there for us.

“Underlings.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go. Time for Day 2 business...!”

“Waaaaaaaah......!”

Day 2 of Goblin Restaurant business operations begins energetically—

“Guhk.......”

“Ri Hyuk-ah!”

“I’m okay.... It’s just orthostatic hypotension again.......”

Not energetically.

Painfully!

Day 1 really had been the hardest.

“This is manageable, though?”

“Right??”

After suffering through Day 1, things became much easier starting from Day 2.

Of course, the feedback sessions and meetings we held after the first day helped tremendously.

“Hyungs. While I was washing dishes yesterday, I took pictures of all the leftovers.”

“Hoooh... our maknae!”

“Look at this. I checked what people were leaving behind....”

We quickly reduced portions of vegetables customers weren’t eating much of and improved the menu accordingly.

“Junghyun hyung. Come here for a second.”

“W-Why...?”

“I’m not trying to criticize you. I just wanted to discuss this inefficient traffic flow....”

Ri Hyuk held a loving(?) conversation with Junghyun while improving the movement paths through the dining hall.

Like how concerts are full of mistakes during the opening show but become perfect by the final performance, Goblin Restaurant was also steadily becoming more and more polished.

“Bulgogi Steak is here.”

“Woooooow.......”

“And where is the child?”

At my question, an elementary sixth grader who looked almost like a middle schooler lowered her head and timidly raised her hand.

“M-Me.”

“So you are a twelve-year-old child.”

The girl herself looked mortified while her aunt and parents excitedly shouted,

“Rabbit Uncle!”

“Hey, everyone, {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} get a good look. This is that world-famous rabbit.”

“Mom... Auntie... stop it. I’m embarrassed.”

I raised the Rabbit Uncle puppet.

[Don’t be embarrassed and lift your head! You are still a child!]

“I’m not a child, though.”

[If you still get school vacations, you are still a child.]

I wiggled Rabbit Uncle around and made him put on a gloomy expression.

[Uncle wants school vacations too. But I got trapped by this evil corporation and now I’m— mmph! Mmph......!]

I clamped the puppet’s mouth shut and coldly replied,

“Uncle. That’s enough.”

[Mmph...! Mmph......!]

“It’s time for you to return to the Dragon Palace as promised.”

[Mmph... save me......!]

I wiggled my fingers and made Rabbit Uncle wave a carrot, the universal symbol of “If you’ve been kidnapped, wave a carrot.”

The nearby customers burst out laughing without resistance.

Feeling proud, I waved at the customers like Jerry from Tom and Jerry politely greeting people and gave them a wink.

“If you had fun today, then when Gallup conducts their Entertainer of the Year survey later, please vote for NewBlack.”

“Yes~!”

“And who is this year’s entertainer of the year?”

“NewBlack!”

“Thank you very much. We are NewBlack, tirelessly working day and night running this restaurant in pursuit of first place for Entertainer of the Year~”

As I greeted them, I diligently promoted us to the customers.

Meanwhile, more orders for the children’s Milanesa kept coming in.

Whenever upper elementary school students were present, the adults around them kept ordering the children’s menu regardless of the actual child’s wishes.

“Hyung! Bulgogi Pasta for Table 2!”

“Got it~!”

“They have an egg allergy.”

“I’ll let Biju know.”

Day 2 business operations were an overwhelming success.

Customers packed shoulder to shoulder.

The sound of customers laughing.

Whenever things slowed down enough for us to cool off from the heat of the kitchen or the incoming orders eased up a bit, we’d go out and chat with the guests too.

“Hyung. Hyung. That person over there is famous.”

“Really?”

Maybe because such a wide variety of people had applied, there were quite a few famous guests among the customers too.

I looked at someone eating enough food for five people alone and asked Jiho,

“Who is that?”

“A famous mukbang MyTuber.”

“That... really?”

“I think they have five million subscribers.”

“Oh, that’s impressive.”

The guest ate with a huge smile on their face.

Since filming wasn’t allowed, they’d probably go live on MyTube later and upload something like “Today’s review!”

There were also two teams of celebrity guests.

“Oh? Hello, sunbaenim!”

“Hey~”

It was senior ballad singer The Moon.

We greeted the ordinary-looking singer in thick-rimmed glasses warmly.

Real name Moon Sangcheol.

Back in high school, there had been four students named Moon Sangcheol in his grade including himself, but the other three had been top student Moon Sangcheol, ace baseball player Moon Sangcheol, and piano competition winner Moon Sangcheol, so he supposedly suffered a great deal because of it.

Whenever neighborhood adults asked, “Moon Sangcheol? Which Moon Sangcheol~? The studying one, baseball one, or piano one?” he apparently never even got mentioned.

That resentment eventually led him to choose the stage name The Moon.

“It’s been a while.”

“Yes, it really has been a long time.”

We’d occasionally run into each other on broadcasts ever since meeting on a Chuseok special music quiz show back in 2014.

He was a senior singer famous for his delicate falsetto vocals.

“These are my friends. Do you happen to know them...?”

“Oh, yes. Hello!”

The other well-known ballad singers widened their eyes happily when we told them we listened to their songs often.

“NewBlack listens to my songs...!”

“Hah... I’ve made it. Everyone, are you seeing this?!”

Celebrities gathered around the table ordering Bulgogi Steak and various other dishes.

True to being entertainers, they effortlessly made nearby customers laugh with their quick wit in front of the cameras.

Among them was Kwon Sunghyun, the original singer of one of Ri Hyuk’s competition songs.

“Oh man~ Ri Hyuk 씨! These days, every time I see you, I just start smiling. I’m that happy.”

“It’s not like that, sunbaenim.”

Ri Hyuk smiled politely while serving them.

“The song itself was so good that I think I was the one who benefited more from it.”

“Kyah....”

Kwon Sunghyun smiled contentedly at Ri Hyuk’s comment, especially since Ri Hyuk wasn’t someone who gave empty compliments.

The Moon suddenly jumped into the conversation.

“There’s a rumor going around that Ri Hyuk 씨 sang your song too well and stole it from you.”

“What do you mean stole it~!!”

Kwon Sunghyun immediately protested.

Then he smiled kindly.

“I gave it to him~”

The surrounding people and even us watching from afar burst out laughing.

“Hey. Before Ri Hyuk 씨 sang it, that song made me thirty-seven thousand won a year.”

“Then saying you gave it to him is accurate.”

“Thank you, Ri Hyuk 씨. You’re my savior. For the first time in my life, I even made it onto Mango Real-Time Search.”

The ballad singers continued showing interest in Ri Hyuk.

When dealing with the rest of us, their attitude felt more like, “Oh~ NewBlack~,” with a subtle line drawn between us....

“Wow. Ri Hyuk hyung is getting absolutely adored.”

“Seriously.”

But toward Ri Hyuk, they behaved incredibly warmly, almost like they were treating him as a direct junior within their own field.

Like they were declaring, “Our successor!”

It felt almost like he had received official certification as an authentic singer.

After Mission Singer aired, I think I finally understood how ballad singers viewed Ri Hyuk.

“I’m jealous....”

“Jiho, hyung will adore you too.”

“But I already get tons of love from you guys. I want to get loved like that by other people too.”

“.......”

I jabbed the cheeky maknae in the side before turning my gaze away.

Then I noticed The Moon smiling meaningfully while watching Ri Hyuk serve customers.

“What’s that about...?”

“Hm?”

“Nothing.”

He kept staring at Ri Hyuk while quietly chuckling to himself, as though hinting at something.

Could he be appearing on Mission Singer...?

Seeing the smile of a singer widely considered one of the top vocalists in the ballad industry, I smiled too.

If that really was the case...

“Ri Hyuk-ah.”

“?”

I grinned at Ri Hyuk as he returned with a serving tray tucked against his side.

“Good luck.”

“Did you eat something weird?”

“.......”

I suddenly felt like we might have raised the younger members incorrectly.

Anyway, after the visiting ballad singers caused one round of laughter—

Another celebrity group arrived.

“Oh my. Hello there.”

“Oh...? Hello!”

Huge entertainers entered the restaurant.

People famous for eating a lot.

The cast members of a mukbang program walked in shouting,

“We got selected too~!”

“Alright! Let’s see what this place has got!”

“Oh, nice nice. Let’s do this~!”

The trio of variety entertainer, singer, and actor—each built like professional ssireum wrestlers—absolutely demolished the food.

“.......”

“.......”

That day, Day 2 operations recorded the highest sales yet.

And...

It became the reason a menu item limit per table was introduced.

Anyway, Day 2 ended safely.

And after enduring two more sasaeng intrusion attempts, we successfully completed Day 3 as well.

Most notably, Day 3 was the day we spent with our Souffles.

“This is seriously insane!”

“Woooooow......!”

We served the Souffles while giving fan service to the fans who burst into tears the moment they saw us.

We also chatted with them from time to time.

“There’s a phrase trending among us these days.”

“Hm?”

‘You’ll Never Win the Lottery Anyway.’”

They were talking about how there were simply too many people, making it almost impossible to get tickets for concerts or music shows, and we all burst out laughing together.

After spending an entire day serving the Souffles—

Finally!

The long-awaited final day arrived.

And on the last day of Goblin Restaurant operations, some very special people would also be joining us on Goblin Street.

[Preparations are complete.]

[Everything on my side is prepared as well.]

Chefs who were still staying in Korea doing market research.

Chefs flying back into the country specifically for this.

The chefs we had formed connections with were all heading toward Gurye.

After multiple video calls and meetings with the chefs, we finally completed preparations for the grand finale service day.

Back at the lodging, the younger members who had been resting asked me,

“Hm? Hyung, what are you doing?”

“I’m working.”

“Get some rest. You must be exhausted.”

“It’s the opposite. I’m doing this because I’m exhausted.”

I sat in front of my laptop, sipping cola while waving them off.

Goblin Restaurant had one incredible positive side effect.

-Working... goes really well......!

No.

To put it more accurately—

-I want to work...!

Maybe it was because I had to devote myself entirely to the restaurant for several days.

I was tired, exhausted, and on top of that my contrarian instincts had kicked in, causing a fountain of inspiration to explode inside my head.

Every time I closed my eyes, melodies seemed to ring in my ears.

Even absentminded humming turned into amazing songs.

Click! Click! Click!

I furiously clicked my mouse while focusing on the screen.

Lemon Entertainment conference room.

While NewBlack was completely occupied with Goblin Restaurant—

the TF Team and Producing Team in charge of them had gathered together.

“Uh....”

Producing Team Leader Na Sangyoon scratched the back of his head.

“Isn’t this normally the kind of variety schedule companies love the most? Stuff like Living Together?”

“Exactly.”

Manager Team Leader Yoon Seokhwan and the other managers nodded.

There was one simple reason managers loved shows like NewUniverse or Living Together.

-Drop them off, then pick them up when it’s over.

Once the idols were handed over to the variety production staff, the production team handled almost everything afterward.

Which meant the managers technically shouldn’t have gained any extra work.

The singers went off to film the variety show while they continued their normal duties.

And yet...

“No, but....”

One Producing Team employee shook their head.

“How is this guy writing more songs than when he’s actually at the company...?”

“How many has he sent now?”

“Uh... how many was it? Hyungseop-ah.”

The team’s youngest member, Kim Hyungseop, checked the laptop.

“Twenty-five.”

“.......”

Silence filled the room.

Over the course of three days, Sun Wooju’s inspiration had exploded and he’d sent enough songs to fill an entire album.

Assistant Manager Hong Seoyeong from the TF Team blinked.

“Didn’t he write these in advance?”

“No. He says inspiration just keeps pouring out.”

“.......”

Right as they were saying that—

Kim Hyungseop spoke again.

“Oh, another song just came in. It’s thirty-two now.”

“.......”

Everyone stared blankly into space.

‘The work really must be unbelievably hard.’

‘I hope the restaurant schedule ends soon....’

‘Evil employers.......’

Of course, they normally wouldn’t have held an entire meeting just because Sun Wooju suddenly started flooding them with songs.

But—

“These songs are insane.”

“If we polish them up a little, several could immediately go onto a legendary album.”

“This is seriously crazy.”

That was exactly the problem.

A twenty-six-year-old composer whose inspiration had exploded due to the agony of restaurant work was currently filling their next album entirely with English tracks.

As they listened to the songs one by one, everyone wore dazed expressions.

“We might not even need to hold a submission round with overseas composers.”

“Some of these could even become follow-up singles.”

Everyone looked stunned.

‘Should we be thanking Goblin Restaurant?’

‘No, seriously, how hard is the work over there...?’

An album project that should have taken several months to build was suddenly coming together all at once because of a single variety project.

Sun Wooju was mass-producing songs like a factory manager.

So what were they supposed to do?

“We package it.”

“Let’s package it.”

Their role was packaging the contents.

The melody of the best song among them played alongside lyrics someone had apparently hummed while exhausted.

Run run run~ Run to Deoksun’s heart

Run run run~

The Lemon Entertainment employees tapped away at their laptops.

“It’s a song about cooking, right? The word ‘run’ can also imply something flowing, so what if we associated it with sauces or something like that?”

“When you hear the phrase ‘Run to Deoksun’s Heart,’ you can really feel Wooju 씨’s emotions. Like, ‘I want to run away.’ He wants to escape somewhere because work is too hard.”

“Exactly.”

“And since cooking is the theme, what about the idea of escaping through food? Like healing yourself while eating delicious things.”

“You know how we relieve stress by eating spicy food. Americans might not really do that, but having a slightly Korean flavor to it wouldn’t be bad. That could become the hook.”

“What spicy food is popular in America?”

As they talked, the floral wrapping paper attached to the original version of “Run to Deoksun’s Heart” was ripped away.

And the planning proposal to send back to the composing goblin slowly began taking shape.

[Song Description]

Everyone experiences exhausting and difficult moments in life.

And what comforts us during those times is none other than food.

A warm bowl of chicken soup that soothes your weary body is wonderful, but sometimes, why not escape the ordinary dishes you eat every day and dive into something bold and stimulating instead?

Before you know it, you’ll find yourself falling in love with this spicy and addictive song.

It was the moment the follow-up single to Overcook, titled Hot Sauce, was born.