Chapter 1054: Overcooked (7)

At that same moment.

The Korean netizen's tweet rapidly spread across countless online communities.

[Korean User Absolutely Destroys Moonlight Fandom in Real Time.twt]

The blunt observation—

Beauty is relative, and your favorite idol is simply relatively less attractive—

sent Korean netizens into hysterics.

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ah, that was so satisfying.

They're actually idiots lol. Wooju posted the photo where Colin looked the best and they still threw a fit, only to expose his visuals even harder.

Ppui ppui ppui lol vvv

At the same time, people found themselves admiring CEO Park Gyuho's appearance in the comparison image.

But honestly, seeing Gyuho with a wig in that tweet... he's actually a pretty handsome middle-aged guy.

What do you all think?? Hair-up Gyuho vs Bald Gyuho

Bald Gyuho is insane LMAOOOOOOOO

Satan: Please show some restraint.

After laughing themselves silly, the netizens turned their attention elsewhere.

They were curious how Moonlight's fandom had responded.

Wow. Look at the quote-tweet count.

The original tweet had plenty of likes.

But Colin Evans' fans were flooding the replies and quote tweets with abuse.

Exactly what you'd expect from a country poisoned by lookism. You should be ashamed.

How can anyone look at Colin and use the word "ugly"? I'm literally shaking with anger right now.

Koreans disgust me.

(Korean appearance statistics from a Japanese TV program.jpg) To understand this statement, you need to understand Korean lookism. This is simply an ignorant comment born from their obsession with appearance.

The Korean netizens blinked.

...What?

The same people who had been screaming because their favorite supposedly looked bad in a photo were suddenly talking about educating Koreans on lookism.

Some were even accusing the original poster of racism against Colin Evans and attempting to cyberbully him.

This is so ridiculous lol.

Racism?? LMAOOOOOO

Excuse me, even if our country has discrimination issues, we're not exactly known for discriminating against first-world white people lol.

Why are they suddenly talking about lookism? If your favorite's ugly, just accept it and move on.

The Korean netizens snorted.

They're in full cognitive dissonance mode.

To people seasoned by years of online wars and keyboard battles, the psychology was painfully obvious.

Consciously, they knew the tweet was right.

Emotionally, they couldn't accept it.

The moment Korean netizens realized that, new posts began appearing.

[American Fandom Currently Insulting Koreans All Over Twitter]

Moonlight fans translated the aggressive remarks made by Korean users into English and began spreading claims that their favorite artist had been subjected to racism by Koreans.

The issue started growing.

What began in entertainment communities spread to sports forums, gaming communities, hobby groups, and every corner of the Korean internet.

[Sun Wooju's Instagram Currently Under Attack]

Netizens immediately became angry.

China again?!

Then they clicked the post.

...Oh. Never mind.

Like every good Korean internet user, they immediately skipped the explanation and went straight to the three-line summary.

Three-Line Summary

There's an American boy group called Moonlight that's been heavily promoted lately. They've been acting like NewBlack's rivals.

After the VMA, Wooju uploaded a photo with one of their popular members. Moonlight's fandom claimed the photo made their favorite look ugly and started attacking his Instagram.

A Korean netizen pointed out that their favorite wasn't ugly, just relatively less attractive, and now they're accusing Koreans of racism.

Everyone wore the same bewildered expression.

People are losing their minds over a single photo?

As confused readers stared, another lengthy explanation appeared.

[Why Moonlight's Fandom Is Melting Down Right Now (Long Post)]

The Korean readers once again ignored the wall of text and skipped directly to the summary.

So basically they spent all day bragging that Moonlight's performance would dominate the conversation, but NewBlack ended up taking all the attention instead.

Apparently seeing social media flooded with praise for Wooju's stage and NewBlack's VMA outfits had left them frustrated.

Then Wooju uploaded a photo where Colin looked slightly awkward, and their victim complex exploded.

(eggplant) (eggplant)

What kind of insane fandom is this?

Colin's fans are famous for being extreme lol. They were already throwing fits about him not getting enough attention despite ranking first.

Yeah. Even Moonlight's other member fandoms apparently don't want anything to do with them.

This goes way beyond normal solo-stan behavior.

As Souffle members and Korean netizens exchanged information about the American entertainment industry, one reaction kept appearing.

Wait. Who the hell is Moonlight?

Until now, NewBlack's American activities had looked like a smooth voyage from Korea's perspective.

People saw Billboard headlines and thought:

Good for them. So when are they coming back to Korea?

Now, however, they had discovered an obstacle in the water.

I literally didn't know Moonlight existed until today.

I thought it was some random nobody fandom causing trouble, but they're actually huge in America??

They can't even sing lol.

For the first time, Koreans became aware of a group that seemed determined to harass NewBlack.

[Moonlight]

As people searched online, information about NewBlack's self-proclaimed rival gradually surfaced.

[A famous producer launched an audition program specifically targeting NewBlack after their expansion into North America.]

[A former K-Net producer—now discarded by the industry—joined the production team. The resulting audition show combined American and K-pop elements and became a massive hit.]

[They're currently one of the hottest groups in America. Based purely on boy-band metrics, they've already reached roughly two-thirds of NewBlack's North American performance in less than six months.]

A fandom that copied Souffle's strategies.

Fans who pushed songs up the Billboard Hot 100 and devoted themselves with near-religious intensity.

Wow...

Even at a glance, their influence looked significant.

And genuinely threatening.

Unlike NewBlack, they didn't carry the handicap of being foreign artists in the English-speaking market.

Sure, their skills weren't remotely comparable to NewBlack's.

But from the public's perspective, fandom power mattered more than talent.

Their fandom power is crazy.

The moment NewBlack proved profitable, America immediately made a copycat version lol.

Thought they were complete nobodies, but they're actually huge.

I live in America. They're popular in white neighborhoods lol. Adults subtly encourage kids to like them instead of NewBlack.

I live in LA. They're on every talk show lately.

As information that had previously escaped Korean attention spread across the internet, Souffle began analyzing the situation.

This is annoying.

Not because Moonlight's fandom was large.

Boy-band fandoms had natural limits.

No matter how much Moonlight grew, they were unlikely to surpass NewBlack.

We have way more people.

North America and Europe had stronger purchasing power.

But in terms of sheer population, NewBlack's Asian fanbase existed on a completely different scale.

The real problem was something else.

Sigh... these people look like they've never stanned an idol before.

This is giving me a headache.

How do you even deal with this?

Most of Moonlight's fandom appeared to be experiencing idol fandom culture for the very first time.

The Korean idol scene had spent two decades gradually developing its own etiquette.

No matter how vicious the fights became, certain unspoken rules always existed.

But—

America hasn't had a real boy band for fifteen years.

After OneShot and their imitators disappeared in the early 2000s, America effectively stopped producing boy bands.

Ocean Five—the five handsome brothers from the Ocean family—had enjoyed popularity, but they appealed mainly to elementary school children.

Moonlight was effectively America's first true boy band in fifteen years.

It was one of the reasons NewBlack had been placed into the boy-band category so easily in the first place.

And because of that—

An entire generation showed up without knowing A through Z of fandom etiquette.

The ultimate final form had appeared.

Today's incident demonstrated that perfectly.

Our favorite looked ugly in that picture! Die!

In Korea's idol scene, behavior like that would have been mocked immediately.

"Haaah..."

"Seriously..."

Souffle rubbed the backs of their heads.

If Korean fandom wars were like a boxing match with unspoken rules—

No weapons in the ring, okay?

—then this felt different.

This is a straight-up street fight.

No rules.

No boundaries.

Just people swinging wildly.

Even worse, every time Souffle and Sunshine fought, both fandoms looked worse by association.

Hollywood gossip media were already covering the incident.

"A shocking conflict has erupted between Colin Evans' fans and Wooju's fans! Colin Evans' fans expressed outrage over a photo uploaded to Instagram..."

"...Meanwhile, Moonlight fans are demanding an apology for racist language allegedly used by NewBlack fans..."

Despite the fact that one side had clearly started the conflict, the coverage framed it as:

A says this. B says that.

As though both parties were equally responsible.

Hmm...

After much deliberation, Souffle issued a full mobilization order.

If they were going to look ridiculous regardless, they might as well be the victorious idiots.

Souffles of the world.

YES, UNNIE!

Souffle, assemble.

Just as they were preparing to storm the castle where Moonlight's fandom had gathered—

Unnie!

What?

More people are coming!

Souffle blinked.

Then—

Hehehehehe.

The Three Brothers appeared.

The infamous Three Brothers of the Korean internet.

The rulers of the great community kingdoms.

And behind them came every major online community imaginable.

Fuck, I'm pissed.

Moonlight, huh? Quite interestingwwww

Let's burn everything down first. Then pretend we're Japanese.

Souffle-nim, what target would you like us to eliminate?

NewBlack, stay back. Hyungs will handle this.

Ahahaha. Time to show them the power of Koreans.

The male-dominated communities.

Never stanned an idol before, but I've thrown plenty of rocks lol.

Sorry, but your Colin looks like broccoli.

You mean Border Collie?

No. Broccoli.

Aww. Americans really work hard complimenting ordinary people and calling them handsome. What a shortage of beautiful men.

The female-dominated communities.

People who normally cursed each other on sight had somehow united.

Internet-wide alliance omg.

Left-wing and right-wing coalition lmaoooo.

Teacher Yeo Unhyeong, are you watching? We finally did it.

Moonlight's greatest achievement: uniting Korea lol.

The assembled masses turned toward Souffle, eyes shining.

Go?

Souffle hesitated.

Uh... there are some genuinely insane people mixed in there...

Watching these lunatics practically vibrate with excitement felt like opening a cage full of rabid dogs.

Souffle squeezed their eyes shut.

Then nodded.

Go.

RUMBLE—

Like the anti-Dong Zhuo coalition marching to war in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Korean netizens surged forward.

That day.

Moonlight's fandom experienced the most bitter defeat of their entire fandom lives.

After the VMA ended and NewBlack completed their American media interviews, they briefly stopped in Korea for a press conference at Gimpo Airport before immediately departing for their Asian tour.

"Whew. This schedule is brutal."

The tour itinerary was packed.

Singapore.

Malaysia.

Indonesia.

And more.

With the exception of Thailand, most stops were one-day concerts, which meant endless flights.

Granted, each "one-day concert" was being held in stadiums seating nearly fifty thousand people.

Even so, it wasn't a tour the company had strongly encouraged.

"Honestly, the Asian tour isn't essential anymore."

"We think it would be better for you to rest and recover."

Compared to North America, where ticket prices and spending power were significantly higher, Asia was becoming less attractive financially.

But abandoning Asia entirely after becoming successful felt wrong.

They couldn't just skip straight to Japan, North America, and Europe.

That was why the company had planned a condensed stadium tour focused on major regional hubs.

The first stop was Singapore.

"The nice thing about Singapore is that we can just use English."

Ri Hyuk nodded.

"It's a good place to start after America."

"Exactly."

When they landed, humid tropical air greeted them.

Fwoooooosh—

Wooju suddenly remembered something.

Right. It's August.

The city sat barely one degree north of the equator.

The sun seemed to grin directly overhead.

Fortunately, most of their schedules involved air-conditioned buildings.

That made life bearable.

"We're truly honored to experience the cuisine of Singapore, often called the crossroads of East and West! Somehow even the roast beef I ate in England tastes better here."

"Singapore's culture is number one!"

"And Singapore's fans are among the most passionate in the world! More than forty thousand people gathered at the National Stadium despite this heat!"

While they carried out their concert schedule, news of something they had nearly forgotten resurfaced.

"Hyung, remember those Instagram comments?"

"Huh? Oh. Right. That."

Since hateful comments were practically permanent residents of their social media accounts, Wooju had already forgotten about them.

Junghyun rotated his phone.

"You know how Souffle and their fandom started fighting?"

"Yeah."

"They settled it."

"Really?"

"Koreans won."

"...What?"

Completely confused, Wooju looked at the screen.

A moment later, he and the members burst out laughing.

[Results of the Musul Incident]

We won.

Apparently someone had named it after the historical French Campaign Against Korea, except modified because the current year was the Year of the Dog.

Looking into it further—

"Apparently all Koreans joined the fight."

Not just Souffle.

Ordinary Korean netizens had joined as well and started blasting away.

Internet wars rarely had clear winners and losers.

But Moonlight fans had eventually retreated, declaring:

"This is beneath us. We're done engaging."

Ri Hyuk sighed.

"I still don't understand how any of this started."

"What kind of fans launch a comment attack because their favorite looked bad in a picture?"

"Well..."

Biju spoke carefully.

"I can sort of understand it."

"What?"

"If there were a photographer who always posted bad photos of a singer I liked..."

"...?"

"...Maybe I'd leave one comment."

"...??"

"Not hate comments! Just... constructive criticism."

"..."

"Actually, never mind."

For a brief moment Biju looked deeply invested in the topic.

Then he quickly turned away and stared into the distance.

The others exchanged confused glances.

In any case, the photo incident was finally over.

And then—

"Have you seen this?"

"Seen what?"

The incident had somehow made its way onto multiple American talk shows.

Apparently Americans found it fascinating that people could wage war over a single photograph.

Manager Hong Seoyoung had sent them a link.

It was a daytime talk show featuring four middle-aged women seated around a table discussing the photo of Wooju and Colin Evans.

"So fans of these two stars started fighting over which one is more handsome, right?"

(Audience laughter.)

"What do you all think? Which one's cuter?"

"Colin's cuter. Wooju is more... hmm... if I were twenty years younger, I'd want to date him."

"I think Wooju's cuter."

Watching them casually debate his attractiveness on national television, Wooju slowly nodded.

D'Angelo Costa's words came back to him.

"The American entertainment industry is simple."

"The people who stay in the conversation win."

"As long as it's not a scandal that destroys your fandom or gets you mocked by the media, exposure is always good."

From that perspective, being discussed like this wasn't necessarily bad.

As a Korean, Wooju still found it difficult to believe.

But D'Angelo was the expert.

So perhaps it was true.

In mainstream media, the story had been sanitized into:

"Fans are arguing over which star is more handsome!"

Meanwhile, American social media had begun producing memes mocking Moonlight's fandom.

Images of people ignoring major issues while firing laser beams from their eyes the moment their favorite appeared in an unflattering photo.

Jiho munched on snacks and delivered his verdict.

"Whatever America's reaction is, this does make me appreciate being a national idol."

"How so?"

"When something unfair happens to us, people actually defend us."

"That's exactly why we're building the NewUniverse."

"Huh?"

"I thought we were doing it so we could rank number one on Gallup's entertainer survey."

"Well... that too."

After watching yet another wave of memes appear online, they returned to work.

No matter what happened on the internet, there were more urgent matters to handle.

One of those was the university festival special they had been preparing for NewUniverse.

"Hello, boys."

Because Singapore was only one hour behind Korea, the video call with Gu Jaeyoung PD was smooth.

The producer, who looked like an unusually intelligent mountain bandit, wore an awkward expression.

"Uh... guys..."

"Yes?"

"We might need to film an additional segment for the university festival special."

"Sure. What kind of content?"

Gu Jaeyoung sighed.

"You remember how we asked event agencies to submit applications?"

"We do..."

"Well."

He rubbed his forehead.

"Things escalated."

"..."

"I think we should conduct preliminary screenings and then hold presentations with the finalists."

"Presentations?"

Writer Yang Mihyeon shuffled through a stack of documents and held them up.

We invite NewBlack to our university festival!

Junghyun-nim, are you interested in Korea's number-one agricultural university? We're very good at rice planting.

"Rice planting!"

"Calm down, Junghyun."

PowerPoint presentations.

Event proposals.

Applications from university festival committees across the country.

The members blinked.

"Weren't we just collecting submissions?"

"That was the plan."

Gu Jaeyoung laughed weakly.

"Then it became a national project."

Ri Hyuk raised a hand.

"How many schools applied?"

"The number itself isn't meaningful."

"Why?"

"Because every university holding an autumn festival applied."

"..."

"Some universities even said they'll create an autumn festival from scratch if it means booking NewBlack."

"..."

"..."

The members stared blankly.

Somehow, during the short time they'd looked away, NewUniverse's university festival special had transformed into a massive nationwide project.