Chapter 1052: Overcooked (5)

Ten seconds before the live broadcast.

The voice of a VMA staff member came through my in-ear monitor.

"Eight seconds until we're live. Seven... six... five..."

Cold and I exchanged a quick glance in the darkness.

Then I rested my hands on the piano.

"Three... two... one."

The legendary jazz trumpeter Buddy Russell began to play.

I smiled and gently swayed with the rhythm.

Each time the veteran musician puffed his cheeks and danced across the valves with astonishing dexterity, the melody of Like The Sun echoed through the hall.

I quietly closed my eyes and began playing.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The cheers shook the venue.

At first, we played a powerful jazz arrangement fitting for Like The Sun, gradually guiding the melody elsewhere.

Now.

I signaled the jazz musicians with a glance.

Then I signaled the performers waiting behind them.

A moment later, the DJ at the turntables and the drummer layered hip-hop rhythms over the melody.

Tonight's outfit theme was jazz formalwear.

Musicians who would normally be wearing oversized T-shirts and gold chains—Cold Brown and the other hip-hop artists included—were dressed in suits and bow ties.

The lighting slowly shifted.

The joyful sound of the musicians tickled my ears.

♩♪♬-♪♪

Two genres moving together as though they'd belonged to the same band from the beginning.

An elderly drummer bounced lively jazz rhythms off his sticks.

A DJ in sunglasses worked the turntables, injecting textures and effects.

A mustached guitarist in a fedora nodded his head to the groove.

Cold Brown spun in a circle with a microphone in hand, playing to the audience.

And by the time the melody had completely transformed into Answer—

Cold Brown shouted:

"What's up, VMA?!"

The crowd roared.

Then he pointed the microphone toward them.

"What Marcus said?"

The audience instantly answered.

"Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be!"

A stadium-sized singalong.

Then the eyes of the audience—and half the celebrities in attendance—shifted toward me.

Do it.

That line.

Their expressions practically begged for it.

I smiled.

"Be one."

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The Souffles screamed.

Artists in the audience danced in their seats.

Five months had passed since the song's release, yet the energy remained explosive.

Driving to work in a Bimmer

I caught my reflection in the rearview mirror

And wondered

What exactly am I doing right now?

Cold Brown, dressed in a suit, bounced energetically toward center stage.

I am the king of the East Coast.

Every gesture from the self-proclaimed king of East Coast hip-hop sent the audience into another frenzy.

The rap carried the song steadily toward the chorus.

So anyway

I think—

My vocal section arrived.

I brought the microphone to my lips.

Softly.

Deeply.

I think I finally know the answer

The answer I searched for so long

You already know it too

As I sang You know the answer—, I rose from the piano bench.

Like a relay baton exchange, Cold sat down to take my place while I walked toward center stage.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Now I could finally see the faces in the audience.

Celebrities in the front rows standing and shouting.

Mandy Spice dancing in her blue dress.

Kelly Nelson clapping beside her.

Big Morgan bouncing enthusiastically enough to make his gold chains swing.

Moonlight sitting farther back, wearing stylish outfits and smiling faintly.

And beyond them—

The Souffles.

Arms around one another.

Singing at the top of their lungs.

Looking happier than anyone else in the building.

I lifted the microphone.

Every day I ask myself the same question

Even in my sleep

Even after tossing and turning all night

Unlike the first verse, the second verse had me rapping while Cold Brown handled the vocals.

I exchanged smiles with Cold at the piano.

Then with the other musicians.

Without people protecting me

Could I become stronger on my own?

This was fun.

Musicians who, at first glance, had absolutely nothing in common sharing the same stage.

A K-pop idol.

A rapper.

A DJ.

Jazz musicians.

A live band.

Different branches of music converging into one performance.

To me, there was no better stage than this.

They say pain makes us stronger, but honestly

Our flesh and blood still bleed

At least until we bathe in the Styx

Gradually shifting from rap into vocals, I continued.

So anyway

I think—

Cold Brown answered from the piano.

I think I finally know the answer

The answer I searched for so long

You already know it too

The second verse became the third.

Then Cold Brown stood up and joined me.

The atmosphere grew even more electric.

Every rap verse triggered another wave of cheers.

Before we knew it, the entire audience was singing along.

Cold and I exchanged the final lines.

Tomorrow morning I'll wake up and ask again

Can I become a better person?

And the answer is—

I winked at the camera.

You already know the answer

Don't you?

A bead of sweat slid down my jawline.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The roar of the crowd crashed over us.

I looked toward the front row and locked eyes with the members.

All five had jumped to their feet and were screaming.

I waved at them.

Then Cold and I bowed together.

"Thank you!"

A thoroughly satisfying performance.

At the same time.

Koreans who had been watching the VMA broadcast since morning clicked their tongues in admiration.

He did it.

Our Wooju actually did it.

The live chat exploded.

Damnㅋㅋㅋㅋ THIS is the good stuff

Every time the camera shows famous singers reacting I get chillsㅋㅋㅋㅋ Is this real???

Journalists are probably counting standing ovations at this point

Most people don't know this, but Buddy Russell is a huge deal. He's literally a living jazz legend.

Tavern Lady: Everyone get out. Tonight I'M the one drinking.

An unreasonable amount of national pride filled the air.

Every time Wooju rapped, global pop stars stood up and danced.

The crowd singing Answer echoed clearly through the broadcast.

So this is what national pride feels like.

It was almost as exciting as watching an Olympic gold medal match.

Of course, there were contrarians too.

NewBlack are basically pop stars nowㅋㅋ

They didn't even become famous through K-pop. Why are people acting patriotic over this? They're just pop starsㅋㅋㅋ

Watching people overdose on national pride like children is hilariousㅋㅋㅋ

But there was a perfect shield against those comments.

Is that you, Yochan?

Immediately, people began bringing up Bang Yochan.

The same person who had once challenged Wooju on a hip-hop survival show by asking whether he was qualified to judge hip-hop.

Yochan must be crying right nowㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Looking back on it now, this is so absurdㅋㅋㅋ He's literally sharing a stage with Cold Brown

(Bang Yochan trying to intimidate Sun Wooju.jpg) Legendary King Yochan

Swag vs Ugh

At this point I almost feel sorry for himㅠ

Why? He's still dissing NewBlack with Black Money Clan these daysㅋㅋㅋ Still hasn't learned

After a brief detour into the tragic saga of a cable-audition-show cautionary tale, the awards continued.

Then Koreans gradually realized something.

Wait.

NewBlack got nominated for a lot of categories.

Both METRO and Answer had appeared across multiple nominations.

And they weren't just nominations.

They were winning.

"The winner of Best Pop is... NewBlack's METRO! Congratulations!"

"And the winner of Best Choreography is... NewBlack!"

Every time an award was announced, NewBlack returned to the stage.

The VMA, after all, was an award show centered heavily around music videos.

METRO's music video continued collecting honors.

Then—

"And the winner of Song of the Year is... Answer by Cold Brown and NewBlack!"

Answer won one of the major categories.

Song of the Year.

Alongside categories like Video of the Year, Artist of the Year, and Best New Artist.

The Korean internet exploded.

HOLY SHIT

WOOJUUUUUUUUUUUUUㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Wooju actually did it

Daewongun-nimㅠㅠ Wooju did itㅠㅠ

Kim Gu: ???

As Wooju stood holding an astronaut trophy and delivered a humble acceptance speech, people chatted excitedly.

"That's a huge award, but he's calmer than I expected."

"Maybe because it's his personal award and not a NewBlack award?"

Nobody knew for sure.

But many Koreans agreed on one thing.

If NewBlack had won the equivalent of a grand prize together, Wooju probably would've cried.

Meanwhile entertainment reporters hammered out headlines.

NewBlack wins three VMA categories... Wooju claims Song of the Year

NewBlack's Wooju achieves historic VMA victory... First Korean artist

Song of the Year category won by Wooju introduced in 2018

Some reporters tried to downplay the achievement by emphasizing that the category had only been introduced that year.

Music fans scoffed.

Did they even look at the nominees?

Haley Blue.

Mandy Spice.

Regina.

Answer had beaten an absurd lineup.

Still, many Koreans struggled to grasp how significant it was.

"It feels weird."

"Yeah."

"The award seems smaller because Answer was already so huge."

Ironically, the song's success had become so overwhelming that it distorted people's perception.

While Koreans watched proudly, the Souffles had mixed feelings.

These people really know how to make me angry and happy at the same time

I'm constantly switching between furious and not furious

They want NewBlack for ratings, but Moonlight is clearly who they want to promote

At least they're repaying NewBlack for debuting their VMA stage here last year

Because the award show's intentions felt obvious.

On the surface, NewBlack was being treated well.

But Moonlight seemed to be receiving all the practical benefits.

The most obvious example:

Moonlight winning Best New Artist.

??? Best New Artist? Their eligibility period doesn't even line up

Anyone know how this award works?

Looked it upㅋㅋㅋ They literally make it up as they go. Votes matter until they don't. Final decision is "chosen by organizers"

Wow. They're really pushing them hard

Moonlight continued collecting trophies.

And Souffles continued staring in disbelief.

Their numbers shouldn't be enough yet.

Everyone knew American media had been pouring resources into Moonlight lately.

Their producer, Terry Austin, was one of Hollywood's most powerful networkers.

Still—

They're not even pretending to hide it.

Award after award.

The message felt obvious.

Souffles!

Your boys already won plenty of awards!

Wouldn't it be fair to give some to their rivals too~?

Under normal circumstances, Moonlight would've been lucky to win one award as rookies.

Instead, they kept collecting them.

The Souffles endured it only because NewBlack themselves seemed happy.

The members sat smiling, enjoying the performances.

Then—

"Our next stage celebrates twenty years of music history and the next generation of boy bands!"

The heavily promoted collaboration stage was finally beginning.

One Shot.

The world-famous boy band that had dominated the late nineties and early 2000s.

And Moonlight.

The Souffles swallowed hard.

Bright lights illuminated the previously dark stage.

Four silhouettes emerged.

The camera focused on Ocean Parker, One Shot's lead singer.

The former teen idol, now in his forties, smiled through a beard and faint wrinkles.

"I love only you—"

The Souffles widened their eyes.

He sounds amazing.

Okay, legends really are legends.

Years away from the stage should have affected him.

It hadn't.

Class remained class.

The Souffles grew nervous.

If the veterans sound this good...

Then Moonlight joined the harmony.

"I love only you—"

"!"

"!!"

The Souffles suffered emotional damage.

Guys. No. You can't do this.

Why is the pitch unstable when you're standing still?

These are our rivals?

Yet on television, Moonlight's fandom was sobbing.

"COLIN!"

"JACOOOOOB!"

Fans screamed names and cried tears of joy.

The Souffles stared blankly.

Then a livestream comment appeared.

A single sentence that perfectly captured the national mood.

? Are they hypnotized?

Almost every Korean agreed.

For a moment, we missed our timing.

Because we were shocked.

"Oh..."

"Ooooh..."

Junghyun awkwardly produced a confused sound.

The second Moonlight began singing, all of us flinched.

They're not stage-ready.

It wasn't a matter of talent.

Moonlight's members were individually skilled.

After all, they had debuted under the concept of being a performance-focused, talent-driven boy band.

The problem was different.

They haven't practiced enough.

Suddenly I remembered something our agent had said.

"I've heard rumors that Moonlight's members were working schedules so intense that some of them collapsed."

Apparently the rumors had been true.

Their promotion schedule must have been so packed that rehearsal time had suffered.

At least Tyrone was holding things together as lead vocalist.

The rest looked dangerously shaky.

Underlings!

Yes?

Facial expressions.

The fandom relationship was already tense.

Even the slightest visible reaction could become a controversy.

So we smiled and applauded.

Beside us, Haley Blue brushed back her blue hair and muttered narcissistically:

"My beautiful fucking ears. You've done nothing wrong, yet you're forced to listen to vocals like this."

Several friends immediately shushed her.

"Language!"

"Watch your mouth!"

As other artists stood up, we stood as well.

Regardless of circumstances, this was still a stage featuring a legendary boy band.

Moonlight's preparation was disappointing.

But the stage wasn't bad.

Actually—

It was good.

Because the One Shot members carrying the performance were excellent.

And because I knew the song extremely well.

All I Want.

The biggest hit of 2000.

A global phenomenon.

A song whose message was basically:

All I want is your love.

"Is that Moonlight's new song?"

Biju whispered.

I nodded.

Ri Hyuk and Jiho exchanged nervous glances while continuing to clap.

I leaned closer.

"The arrangement is incredible."

One Shot's greatest hit.

Reimagined as Moonlight's special single.

It was like a third-generation idol group remaking the most iconic song of a first-generation group.

The members spoke through their eyes.

This won't be easy.

Not easy at all.

Moonlight had timed the release to coincide with our comeback.

And the song was too good to ignore.

They had essentially modernized one of the greatest hits in music history.

The moment I heard it, I wanted to add it to my playlist.

That was the problem.

The public was going to love it too.

And that directly affected our plans.

This time, we're targeting the general public.

As I felt the weight on our shoulders grow heavier—

"By the way..."

Junghyun whispered.

"I don't think that guy can focus."

"You're right."

Colin Evans.

Moonlight's visual member.

Usually the member who stood out most.

Today he felt strangely ordinary.

Then—

"!"

Our eyes met.

And Colin immediately looked away.

Not out of awkwardness.

As if he were actively avoiding me.

What's wrong with him?

No idea.

The members and I exchanged confused looks.

"All I want is one thing~♬"

Bom Gam Za...

Colin Evans closed his eyes and sang.

Nobody on stage was trying harder than he was.

"Nothing but your love~♬"

Then he accidentally made eye contact with Sun Wooju.

And the voices returned.

Bom bom...

Ma SSi Da...!

Kam Zza!

Colin Evans felt like he was losing his mind.