Chapter 1040: I knew it (9)

Dwight Goodman's jaw dropped.

"What on earth..."

His eyes were fixed on the MyTube livestream viewer count.

[10.37 million watching]

The audience had already numbered in the millions before the broadcast even began.

Now it had surpassed ten million.

And it wasn't stopping.

The number kept climbing, racing toward eleven million.

[Introducing Ronnie Lucas, who plays Steve McQueen.]

[Hi, guys.]

The actor playing Sun Myungju's closest friend from his school days—a brilliant pianist whose life had been cut tragically short.

A handsome young man waved gently at the camera, wearing a decadent smile that somehow coexisted with the face of a saint.

Dwight Goodman knew him well.

Anyone working in the film industry knew him.

Recently, it had become impossible not to.

Hollywood's hottest rising star.

Hollywood's pool of male actors in their twenties had been suffering from a drought.

Not because there weren't enough actors.

Because there weren't enough stars.

There was a lack of people with the kind of overwhelming charisma that could shake the entire industry.

Then Ronnie Lucas had appeared.

A white actor with sculpted features and extraordinary acting talent.

Hollywood had practically exploded with excitement.

We found him!!

The handsome leading men who had dominated the 1990s were appearing in interviews saying things like:

"Turns out he was my successor all along."

Actresses gushed:

"He's absolutely lethal."

"I just want to bite him!"

These days, famous directors were offering him leading roles without auditions.

Dwight Goodman nodded.

R-right. That's it.

He remembered hearing that Ronnie Lucas had posted about the livestream on Instagram.

Because of Ronnie Lucas' promotion...

The rationalization died halfway through.

No matter how hard he tried, it didn't make sense.

The true source of those numbers was obvious.

@dnwn_sun

46.37 million followers

The leader of NewBlack.

A man with fans all over the world.

And members who referred to themselves as "Sun and his clouds" because they were that devoted to their leader.

The result belonged to them.

Dwight Goodman's pupils trembled.

My God.

What truly shocked him wasn't the viewer count itself.

It was NewBlack's mobilizing power.

There were dozens of people in Hollywood with more followers than NewBlack.

But if any of them posted:

"Watch my livestream."

They still wouldn't break ten million viewers.

Even if Haley Blue—with nearly a hundred million followers—posted:

"Watch my livestream, you idiots."

She'd probably get a million viewers at most.

"W-wait..."

Dwight hurriedly searched for the highest viewer count in MyTube livestream history.

The number one record belonged to an adventurer who had jumped from the edge of space and skydived back to Earth.

Around eight million viewers.

Even accounting for Hollywood stars.

Even accounting for Lee Gyeonwoo's popularity across Southeast Asia.

The numbers made no sense.

[10.89 million watching]

The growth finally slowed.

Perhaps the audience had reached its peak.

"S-so..."

That meant nearly eleven million people across the planet were watching Sun Wooju right now.

Roughly the combined populations of New York City and Los Angeles.

My God.

In North America, NewBlack was often treated as merely an exceptionally successful newcomer.

But in Asia, they were already superstars.

And Dwight Goodman was experiencing the scale of that reality firsthand.

Ordinarily, he would have applauded.

He would have celebrated the movie's promotional success.

But he couldn't smile.

Because of the name displayed beneath the livestream.

[Silver Screen Korea]

Not NewBlack TV.

Not Wooju's personal account.

The film studio's account.

To anyone watching, it looked exactly like Silver Screen was aggressively backing one of its biggest upcoming projects.

And once expectations rose this high, there was only one conclusion people would reach.

Wow! This must be one of the studio's major releases!

They might even need to allocate additional marketing funds.

No.

At this point, they would have to.

For all the bizarre decisions they occasionally made, Silver Screen's executives weren't fools.

These were monsters who had spent their entire lives sniffing out money.

They would see a livestream exceeding ten million viewers and immediately conclude:

Change the plan. Increase the marketing budget. This has enough momentum to be worth pushing.

And then they would notice something.

Hm? The profit-sharing terms changed?

How did that happen?

And why did we hand over so much promotional authority?

Bring me the person responsible.

The other executives had enthusiastically supported his cost-cutting proposal.

But when that moment arrived, every single one of them would change their tune.

They'd claim it had been his idea.

That he'd insisted on it.

They would collectively develop selective amnesia and throw him under the bus.

Damn it.

Cold sweat poured down his body.

His shirt was already damp beneath the arms.

What do I do?

He desperately searched for some way to shift responsibility onto Robert Hwang, who had accompanied him that day.

Nothing came to mind.

Robert worked in accounting.

...Should I have taken another Asian from our department instead?

The fact that thoughts this ridiculous were occurring to him demonstrated just how desperate he had become.

He probably wouldn't be fired over this.

But in a company already riddled with internal power struggles, his faction could be seriously weakened.

"Damn it. Damn it..."

Clutching his hair, he stared at the screen.

The only thing he could still cling to was the possibility that the viewer count would be impressive but the performance itself wouldn't generate much buzz.

"..."

Even he knew that was unlikely.

From the moment the negotiations ended, he had felt as though he'd been tricked.

He had slashed the marketing budget under conditions favorable to the studio.

Then somehow Lemon Entertainment had improved its profit-sharing terms.

And now they were staging a livestream that made the movie look like Silver Screen's biggest priority release.

Please... just become moderately popular...

As he desperately prayed for job security—

Wooju finally began singing.

And Dwight Goodman's hopes collapsed.

We are like stars in the galaxy,

separate, but connected with gravity.

Dwight Goodman dropped back into his chair.

The chair lost the battle against his weight and shot backward.

Crash!

Meanwhile, NewBlack's vocalist continued singing with that beautiful voice.

Looking directly into the camera, he smiled.

Then softly whispered:

And I am the Sun.

I shine like the sun.

A gentle jazz piano accompanied the opening vocals.

When I opened my eyes, all I found was darkness

Floating through empty space

Nothing more than a speck of dust

The lyrics described a small, insignificant existence.

A particle drifting through the cosmos.

Wooju's powerful voice echoed through the room.

Waiting for the light that would someday shine on me

Holding my breath

Believing my time would eventually come

His voice sank lower.

I waited.

And waited.

Onstage, under countless eyes, the singer slowly transformed the atmosphere.

A drumbeat emerged.

Softly at first.

The calm jazz foundation began intertwining with pop elements.

The tension steadily built.

The world told me

If I waited, my chance would come

Even dust would someday stand in the sunlight

Scenes from the screenplay flashed through the actors' minds.

People telling Sun Myungju:

"Not you."

Building walls in front of him.

Telling him to wait.

Telling him the door wasn't open for him yet.

If this is a world where we must wait for light

Then I want no part of that world

The singer looked toward the camera and smiled.

Now it's my turn to shine

So watch quietly

The melody swelled.

More instruments joined.

The actors added harmony and smiled.

Several clapped along rhythmically.

"Yeah!"

Wooju grinned and pushed the pitch higher.

Gather all the light hidden within us

And we can become stars

The voices merged together.

One by one.

Like candles gathering.

Perfect harmony.

Someone who resembled his father sang with fierce conviction.

Don't curl up inside the darkness

We are not dust

Though we may seem small

We were always meant to be stars

The phrase "meant to be stars" echoed through the room.

The heat of a star's birth seemed to sweep across the practice studio.

The actors sang until sweat drenched them.

Wooju played and sang simultaneously.

The film crew recorded with white-knuckled tension.

It's time to show the world our blazing light

Like the sun

The chorus exploded.

Like The Sun.

The heat intensified.

Online viewers stared in amazement.

Whoa...

What is this?

Why is this song so good?

It was an extraordinary musical number.

Had Wooju not revealed that he wrote it himself, many would have assumed it was an already-famous Broadway classic.

Musical fans felt their hearts pounding.

The song truly felt like the birth of a star.

Tiny particles of dust gather together and become a star.

Dust drifting through space.

Pulled together by gravity.

Eventually becoming something beautiful.

Onscreen, Wooju sang with overwhelming force.

For I am like the sun—

Behold

Your newly born sun

Many viewers knew little about Sun Myungju's story.

Yet they understood exactly what the song meant.

Discrimination.

Race.

Gender.

Appearance.

Those treated as minorities gathering together and shining brightly.

The theme was unmistakable.

Particularly because many of the foreign actors were Black.

They sang alongside Wooju as though they had something to say themselves.

Once we shine like the sun, you won't dare look away.

The song carried complete indifference toward society's judgments.

A declaration of self-generated brilliance.

The sun did not ask permission to shine.

People could worship it.

Fear it.

Curse it.

The sun remained the sun.

No matter how many walls the world built below, they were already shining above them.

"Wooooow..."

The chorus swelled.

The audience felt strangely emotional.

Meanwhile, Wooju continued playing quietly.

Then the second verse arrived.

Lee Gyeonwoo stepped forward.

The actor portraying Sun Myungju sang with a magnificent voice.

You can shoot arrows at the sun

But it won't change a thing

Fans stared in disbelief.

Huh?

What?

Did someone possess him?

The actor they had spent years calling tone-deaf was suddenly singing with thunderous projection.

He wasn't Wooju.

But he was more than good enough for a musical film.

Lee Gyeonwoo grinned.

If you want to cage us

You'll need a very large cage indeed

The first verse had been about dust becoming stars.

The second was directed toward those who couldn't stand seeing those stars shine.

Those trying to shoot them down.

Those trying to imprison them.

The message was simple.

Go ahead and try.

Nothing you do will matter.

As Lee Gyeonwoo finished, Willie Jones stepped up.

No wall you build

Can ever block a brilliant light

His deep voice completed the line.

Inside, Willie Jones exhaled in relief.

Whew.

Wooju caught his eye and smiled encouragingly.

Then turned toward Ronnie Lucas.

The actor portraying Steve McQueen—the genius pianist who had introduced Sun Myungju to the music industry.

Now.

Wooju signaled him with his eyes while continuing to play.

Ronnie Lucas swallowed.

They had rehearsed for six hours.

Only six hours.

Yet when the moment came, he sang as naturally as though he had spent his entire life preparing for it.

Not simply because he was talented.

Wow...

He was entranced.

Wooju controlled the atmosphere like a conductor.

Like a sun guiding planets through space.

Once you looked into those shining eyes, you found yourself surrendering to his rhythm.

Everyone felt the same.

So this is what "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" looks like.

Now I understand why the lackeys outsource their brains to him.

My body hurts, but my mind feels peaceful.

Whether it came from years of experience at the Billboard Music Awards and stadium concerts—

Or from natural charisma—

Nobody knew.

At some point, everyone had simply begun following every gesture he made.

Everyone. Now.

Wooju smiled and played the chorus melody.

The cast joined hands.

Then raised their voices together.

We are like the sun—

Behold

Your sun that still shines

As the second chorus ended—

The third verse softened.

Then gradually built.

And finally—

The climax arrived.

Fwoooooosh—

A blazing sunset burst through the windows behind Wooju.

The practice room turned crimson.

The backlighting was breathtaking.

"Wooow..."

Sunset light wrapped around him.

His shadow stretched across the floor.

People watching through their screens could only swallow hard.

Then his voice shattered the air.

For I am like the sun—

Behold

Your brilliantly shining sun

Heat.

Passion.

Actors cheering through their harmonies.

And at the center of it all stood Wooju.

Shining like a sun.

"...!"

Behind the cameras, NewBlack's members' eyes sparkled.

Our hyung...!

None of them knew how to describe the feeling.

It was pride.

Affection.

Something warm and overwhelming.

Biju clasped his hands together, eyes shining with tears.

Ri Hyuk nodded proudly as though praising his student.

Junghyun crossed his arms and swayed gently with the rhythm.

Meanwhile, the youngest member leaned toward a nearby staff member and whispered excitedly:

"That's our hyung."

"...Yes? I assumed so."

As the members smiled proudly—

Director Kim Bora smiled too.

Then clenched her fist.

Yes.

This is it.

Watching the son of Sun Myungju perform with the same dazzling showmanship and overwhelming talent as his father, excitement surged through her.

This was the scene she had wanted.

The scene Korean Americans had wanted.

"..."

"..."

There was a reason Sun Myungju remained so special to them.

Because he had been their protagonist.

The overweight studio executive from Hollywood hadn't been entirely wrong.

The movies we spend money promoting all have something in common. They have star actors. Star directors.

In other words:

Your movie has no protagonist.

Who does Sound of Sun have? There's no one worth spending marketing money on.

Kim Bora had replied:

We don't have stars. But we have star staff. Han Giyoung won cinematography awards. Our writers have won Golden Globes—

And does the public know any of them?

...

In many ways, the film represented Korean Americans themselves.

People who had reached the top of their fields through exceptional ability.

Screenwriters.

Directors.

Artists.

Academy Award winners.

Golden Globe winners.

People respected everywhere they went.

Yet for the longest time, they had lacked a protagonist.

"Hello, world. My name is Sun Myungju."

Until someone appeared.

And after that star left the world—

His son stood here now.

A new protagonist.

Shining brilliantly once again.

Warmth filled their eyes.

Here is our protagonist.

At last, Wooju lifted his hands from the piano and rose to his feet.

"WOOOOOOO!"

"WAAAAAAAH!"

Actors and staff erupted into applause.

Standing before them, Wooju smiled quietly.

Then bowed with the elegance of a gentleman.

"Thank you."

Finally, he winked at the camera.

"This has been Like The Sun from Sound of Sun. Goodbye."

The broadcast ended abruptly.

Like a guerrilla concert disappearing in an instant.

People around the world blinked.

"...?"

"??"

Viewers stared blankly at their phones as though waking from a trance.

Then—

"!"

"!!"

Tap tap tap tap tap—

Fingers began flying across screens all over the world.

And for the first time—

Sound of Sun exploded onto social media trends and top search rankings across the globe.