Chapter 1053: Overcooked (6)

Moonlight's new song, All I Want.

As the biggest hit song of 2000 made its return, everyone found themselves humming along.

"I only want one thing~"

"Nothing but your love~"

American viewers watching on TV smiled.

"Man, I haven't heard this song in forever."

"I sang this at my high school dance back then... Wow, that's nostalgic. It's really been a while."

Back in the late '90s and early 2000s, if you asked anyone who they stanned, people would immediately shout, "OneShot!"

The boy band had been that hot.

At the time, almost every teenage girl had a poster of them hanging in her room.

That was why their faces felt so welcome.

They've definitely gotten older, though...

Since they had recently reunited after a long hiatus, all of them had clearly worked hard to slim down, but they still carried the warm, comfortable appearance of middle age.

Only Ocean Parker—the lead singer and most popular member—had transformed into something resembling a handsome middle-aged movie star.

"They used to be so cute."

"Yeah... they did."

As former fans wore complicated expressions while feeling the gap between the flower boys they once adored and the men standing before them now, their attention shifted to the seven-member group performing alongside OneShot.

"They're adorable."

"Those kids are seriously good-looking."

"Is that Colin? He's cute."

The fox-like young man held the microphone and sang, prompting delighted murmurs from viewers.

"Oh my."

"Oh my."

Moonlight's performance continued.

Patrick, the Chinese American member chosen for the dance line, launched into a retro '90s dance break, while the group's rapper enthusiastically delivered verses during a uniquely modern section where rap had been added to the song in the style of K-pop.

The audience nodded.

They're not exactly amazing.

But very few people were paying attention to technical skill.

They're a boy band.

After all, audiences generally didn't expect extraordinary musicianship from boy bands.

A group called NewBlack had recently emerged as a boy band, but strictly speaking, NewBlack didn't quite fit the definition most Americans had in mind.

A group of handsome boys singing love songs to teenage girls.

Within that definition, stage skill had never been a particularly important requirement.

"They're really not that great."

"Well, that's boy bands for you."

Most boy bands and girl groups were traditionally built around one exceptional lead vocalist and a collection of supporting members.

"That guy's good, though. Him."

"Let me check Wikipedia. Ah... found him. Tyrone Adley."

The team's only Black member, Tyrone, sang the chorus beautifully, his eyes shining beneath his curls.

He's good.

The song itself is a masterpiece.

As the live audience and viewers sang along to the chorus, the broadcast alternated between nostalgic OneShot fans and ecstatic Moonlight fans.

Then came the collaborative stage featuring both OneShot—the original boy band icons—and Moonlight.

It felt as though they were delivering a message directly to the audience.

See this, everyone?

The rightful heirs to traditional boy bands are standing right here!

It was the climax of a promotional campaign that had spent months touring talk shows declaring:

"We are the successors of the boy band tradition!"

And the message was working.

They're right.

Viewers agreed.

That's what a boy band looks like.

Beautiful young men driving teenage fans into a frenzy.

Not overwhelmingly skilled, perhaps, but undeniably charming. The sort of charm that made you smile simply from watching them.

Youth that sparkled.

Flower-like beauty.

Everything people collectively associated with the term boy band was present.

And there was a reason why this image-building campaign had been so successful in Moonlight's ongoing battle with NewBlack over ownership of the category.

"Now that I think about it, NewBlack feels pretty far removed from boy bands."

"Agreed."

"They're definitely not that type."

The reason Moonlight's image campaign was succeeding was simple.

Far too many strange things had happened recently for people to comfortably place NewBlack inside the boy band category.

Answer becomes one of the longest-running #1 songs in Billboard Hot 100 history.

NewBlack's leader had collaborated with one of hip-hop's greatest artists and was already being predicted as a major Grammy contender.

For a song he personally wrote and composed.

The audience who had watched Wooju open the show with a display of breathtaking musical genius all shared a similar thought.

When he's alone, he looks like a genius singer-songwriter... but when he goes back to his group, he's suddenly a boy band member?

The classification felt odd.

Like a classical pianist who had won an international competition, only to return not to an orchestra but to a rock band and play keyboard.

And that wasn't all.

NewBlack named one of the best-dressed stars of the Met Gala.

At the Met Gala, they looked like fashion icons.

Then, not long afterward, they created Uncle Bunny, arguably the greatest children's song of all time.

Sometimes they looked like models everyone admired.

Sometimes they wore animal costumes and sang children's songs.

At this year's VMA, Wooju had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with legendary jazz musicians and hip-hop icons, performing a song he had written himself.

You really can't pin them down.

Even Americans weren't entirely sure what category NewBlack belonged in anymore.

And that uncertainty was generating positive curiosity.

Because most people already agreed on one thing.

"Doesn't it feel like calling NewBlack a boy band is selling them short?"

"Did you see Like The Sun?"

"Of course. It was insane."

"And apparently he wrote that too."

A genius singer-songwriter leading a group composed entirely of unusually talented members.

Moonlight are the rightful heirs to boy bands.

As producer Terry Austin's relentless promotion strengthened Moonlight's image, NewBlack's became increasingly blurred.

Then what exactly is NewBlack?

Ever since entering North America and Europe through their collaboration with Hailey Blue, NewBlack had been categorized as a boy band.

Now, after remaining rigidly fixed for nearly a year, that image was beginning to soften and melt like wet clay.

Perhaps it was the perfect moment for a new identity to take shape.

"The timing couldn't be better."

Watching Moonlight's performance from the audience, NewBlack's agent D'Angelo Costa smiled.

He turned toward the bespectacled mathematical monster seated beside him.

"What do you think, Team Leader Yoon?"

"I completely agree."

Yoon Seokhwan smiled.

"Our boys have finally been given the opportunity to establish a new image."

Their gaze drifted toward Terry Austin, who sat nearby wearing a triumphant grin.

The silver-haired producer looked intoxicated by victory.

It's understandable.

The explosive reaction to Moonlight's new song.

The VMA's climactic stage, packed with elaborate production elements, explicitly declaring Moonlight to be OneShot's heirs.

Yet the two agents responsible for NewBlack merely smiled quietly.

"We'll have to make sure Overcooked is prepared perfectly."

"This is only the beginning."

Moonlight's offensive had successfully blurred NewBlack's image as a boy band.

But neither the performers on stage nor their applauding producer knew what was coming.

Overcooked~ Overcooked~

The song that would take NewBlack's softened, clay-like image and shape it into a magnificent work of art.

A new song that would cook everyone alive with excitement.

And it was drawing closer.

After OneShot and Moonlight's final stage concluded,

Kelly Nelson—the British singer-songwriter rapidly rising to superstardom—won Video of the Year, bringing the VMA ceremony to a close.

"It's over!"

"Great work, everyone!"

It was already late at night.

After shaking hands with staff members and taking photos with countless people they'd worked alongside throughout the day, they finally prepared to leave.

"Haah... we're finally heading back to the hotel."

NewBlack's only introvert, Mr. Seo, looked like a salmon returning to its spawning grounds.

Normally they would have teased him.

Today, however, they felt exactly the same.

Jiho spoke with the exhausted face of a man whose soul had left his body.

"Wow. This award show seriously drained me. It felt like my MP bar was steadily ticking down in real time."

"It definitely burns a lot of mental energy."

When they'd attended the VMA last year, they had been complete newcomers.

Back then they'd simply gone, Whoa~

Now it felt different.

They had been nominated across multiple categories.

They were one of the night's central figures.

And they were gradually learning something.

American award shows were very different from Korean ones.

In Korea, singers usually sat together throughout the ceremony.

In America, every artist seemed to arrive accompanied by an entire entourage.

Our artist has to win!

The artist might be sitting calmly, but the people around them looked ready to wage war.

Junghyun stretched out on a couch.

"Even I noticed it, and I'm terrible at reading the room."

"When Kelly Nelson won at the end, some of the other nominees' friends looked kind of annoyed. Everyone was trying to keep their expressions under control, but the atmosphere got really stiff for a second."

When they told Hailey about that feeling earlier, she'd simply replied:

Welcome to fucking America.

As expected, she remained wonderfully consistent.

Biju spoke up.

"Hailey said the after-parties are pretty much the same."

"Really?"

"Apparently they're exhausting too. That's why most famous artists just have small private parties with close friends these days."

Just imagining it sounded tiring.

Wooju shook his head.

"Let's just go back to the hotel and have a ramen party."

"Yesss. Ah, I want ramen."

They chatted as they grabbed the dressing room door handle.

Ramen!

We're finally getting ramen!

But the moment the door opened—

"NewBlack!"

"We've been waiting to take pictures together!"

The hallway was packed.

Artists attending the award show.

Their friends.

Their associates.

Everyone.

"..."

"..."

Surrounded by extroverts on all sides, NewBlack smiled with visibly trembling lips.

After spending nearly thirty minutes taking picture after picture after picture and greeting an endless stream of visitors, they finally received a brief visit from OneShot.

Naturally, more photos followed.

"Thanks!"

Ocean Parker, the group's lead singer and most popular member, winked at Wooju.

"We'll probably see each other again soon. Nothing's confirmed yet, but we're thinking about doing a Korea tour this time."

"Really? That's great."

"If anyone interviews me, I'll have to mention that we're friends."

Ocean spoke with easy familiarity.

Wooju smiled politely.

As far as he remembered, OneShot had never performed in Korea before. If this happened, it would be their first time.

As the friendly conversation continued, Wooju noticed Moonlight passing in the distance.

His eyes briefly met Colin Evans', who stood chatting at the center of the group.

"...?"

Whip!

"...??"

Without saying a single word, Colin suddenly snapped his head away like a startled owl and marched off.

Wooju could only tilt his head in confusion.

"Wooju hyung, let's go."

Ri Hyuk poked his arm.

"I think more people are going to show up. We need to leave now."

"You just naturally called me Wooju hyung, Ri Hyuk."

"...Can we just let things like that slide?"

"Your reaction is way too entertaining."

Laughing at Ri Hyuk's horrified expression, Wooju followed the others outside.

After exchanging cheerful farewells with Souffle, who had gathered nearby, they finally climbed into the vehicle heading back.

As they drove alongside the illuminated streets bordering Central Park, Seokhwan smiled.

"Congratulations, Wooju."

"You're the number-one worldwide trend."

"Seriously?"

"It's complete chaos."

Interest in his opening stage with the legendary jazz musician was exploding.

The members smiled together while scrolling through the flood of English reactions online.

"I have no idea what any of this says."

"I'm too tired. English isn't registering."

They agreed to check later.

Meanwhile, Wooju liked Instagram posts from artists who had uploaded photos with NewBlack accompanied by captions like NewBlack! They're amazing!

He left emojis.

Pressed likes.

Engaged in diligent social networking.

Then he uploaded photos he'd taken with other artists throughout the night.

"It's funny."

"It feels like there's more work after the award show than during the award show."

"That's how these things always are."

The first thing he needed to do was thank Souffle.

After that, he sent messages to everyone he'd mentioned—or failed to mention—in his acceptance speeches.

Jiho, whose eyes were beginning to turn bloodshot, groaned.

"Can I just do this tomorrow?"

"You should do it today."

"It feels different from the recipient's perspective."

An artist replying Thank you! immediately after an award ceremony felt completely different from replying the next day to a pile of unanswered messages.

If they were going to respond anyway, they might as well earn some goodwill.

Thinking that, Wooju returned to the hotel and prepared for ramen.

Then—

"Hm?"

While reviewing upcoming Asian tour schedules and considering foreign-language comments he'd need to make, Jiho suddenly called out.

"Hyung, have you seen this?"

"Seen what?"

"Your Instagram is blowing up."

"...The Chinese commenters again? I didn't even wear hanbok this time."

Expecting another flood of Chinese-language comments, he opened the app.

"...What the hell? How many comments are there?"

The number was absurd.

It was a photo of him standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Colin Evans.

The members tilted their heads.

"What's wrong with it?"

"...No clue."

The comments were filled with green snake emojis.

🐍

🐍🐍🐍🐍

Sly.

🐍🐍

Die.

Unable to understand what was happening, Wooju turned to Jiho.

"What are people saying online?"

"Oh, I found it."

The youngest member tapped at his phone before bursting out laughing.

As if he'd just witnessed something completely ridiculous.

"The people leaving those comments are all Moonlight fans."

"?"

"Well... saying they're just toxic fans feels inaccurate considering the numbers involved. Anyway, they're Moonlight fans."

"...Why?"

"They think you deliberately uploaded a photo where you look good and Colin Evans looks ugly."

"...??"

Wooju stared carefully at the image.

"But that's just what he looks like."

Junghyun immediately gave him a benevolent look.

"Very few entertainers can survive standing next to you, hyung."

"Maybe Ronnie Lucas or Lee Gyeonwoo."

"You guys are good-looking too."

"With makeup, sure."

Even as they spoke, the hateful comments continued multiplying in real time.

The reason itself was ridiculous.

There was no way people were genuinely angry about this alone.

More likely, he'd done something else to upset Moonlight's fandom.

But that wasn't particularly important.

"What are you going to do?" Ri Hyuk asked.

"Ignore it?"

"Hmm."

Wooju shook ramen seasoning into a bowl.

"It's not like they're going to calm down on their own."

"So?"

"If they don't like that photo, I'll just upload more."

At the same time.

NewBlack achieves major VMA victory... Wooju wins Song of the Year.

Souffle in Korea had been smiling proudly while reading media coverage of NewBlack's achievements.

Then strange news began appearing online.

Sun Wooju's Instagram is exploding right now.

Souffle immediately clenched their fists.

The Chinese commenters again?!

They assumed another controversy had erupted.

Then they paused.

Wait. He wasn't wearing hanbok today.

What now? Did jazz secretly become Chinese too?

Soon, the truth emerged.

The people flooding Wooju's Instagram with abuse were Sunshine—Moonlight's fandom.

Why?

Confused Souffle members found explanatory comments.

Did they all get heatstroke or something?

Moonlight has a popular member named Colin. His fans are insane. They're claiming Wooju intentionally uploaded an ugly photo of him.

K-pop fans aren't even this dramatic, holy shit.

Isn't it just a few extremists?

There are already ten thousand comments. That's not "a few."

Souffle examined the photo in question.

There's literally nothing wrong with it.

It was simply a picture of a handsome young man standing beside Sun Wooju.

Colin was smiling brightly.

He just somehow looked a little goofy.

...Okay, he doesn't look great.

But if Wooju hadn't uploaded it, they would probably have complained about that too.

Why are there photos with everyone else but not Colin? Is he being ignored?

The atmosphere practically screamed that they had been waiting for an excuse.

They're probably mad because Answer's performance hit #1 worldwide trending.

Seriously, what's wrong with them?

I've been lurking on Twitter all day. They were hyping themselves up nonstop. They really thought Moonlight's stage would become the biggest topic of the night.

It wasn't even that kind of performance lol.

That's hilarious. If a rookie K-pop group won an award with those skills, entertainment forums would have exploded.

Souffle noticed something else.

Moonlight's fandom has gotten a lot bigger.

In the past, Moonlight fans mostly mocked NewBlack from hidden corners of social media.

Now they were openly challenging them.

Come fight us, Souffle!

Reading those sentiments, Souffle smiled.

Do they have a death wish?

Just as they began mobilizing—

"Huh?"

"Oh?"

A new post appeared on Wooju's Instagram.

Without any caption, Wooju uploaded several additional photos he'd taken with Colin Evans.

Souffle stared.

"...Oh."

Moonlight's fandom stared too.

"..."

"..."

No matter how hard they tried to force the issue, the original photo was clearly the most flattering one.

He deliberately selected the best photo...

Moonlight fans were preparing to become even angrier when they noticed an English tweet from a Korean user whose profile picture was a Tibetan fox.

Cover Wooju's face in the photo.

Then read the tweet below this one.

People did as instructed.

They covered Wooju's face.

Suddenly Colin's attractiveness score skyrocketed.

"...?"

"...??"

After examining photos that looked perfectly normal, they removed their hands.

The moment Wooju reappeared beside him, Colin's attractiveness plummeted.

"..."

"..."

Stunned, Sunshine users scrolled down to the next tweet.

(Bald Gyuho vs. Wig Gyuho comparison.jpg)

Which version of NewBlack's CEO looks more handsome? The one on the right.

This demonstrates that human perception is neither objective nor absolute. It is relative.

[Conclusion] Your favorite idol is not ugly. He is merely relatively less handsome.

"!"

"!!"

A Korean netizen had just delivered a devastatingly complete beginning, middle, and end to the argument.