Chapter 1090: I am New Black, Class of ’18 (14)

After finishing the album meeting with Hanbyul, I boarded a flight to Osaka and began reviewing documents.

"Wow..."

"What? What is it?"

The maknae leaned over with naked curiosity.

"Demand projections for Hanbyul's album."

"...? How high could the numb— Huuuuuh...!"

"Big, right?"

"Wow. That's actually insane."

Part of it was because Hanbyul was a top star in Greater China.

The other part was that the market itself was enormous.

Closing the book he'd been reading, Ri Hyuk commented,

"Purchasing power is one of the major factors that determine market size. That's why the United States, China, and Japan are such massive markets."

"Still, it's bigger than I imagined."

Now I understood why TJ Entertainment had insisted on including at least one Chinese-speaking member when they assembled TNT's debut lineup.

Though that was mostly a thing of the past now.

These days, China viewed Korean culture with increasing suspicion and had blocked access from practically every direction.

Jiho chimed in.

"I heard something recently. Korean movies can't even premiere there anymore. A director mentioned it during a film meeting. Apparently people making Korean movies nowadays don't even consider the Chinese market."

"Ah, I heard that too."

I'd heard the same thing during Sound of the Sun meetings.

One of the reasons Silver Screen Pictures had initially reacted negatively was precisely because a Chinese release was impossible.

That was why they'd suggested making the lead actor Chinese.

"Hmm..."

The idea of a huge market existing yet being completely inaccessible felt a little unfortunate.

But I quickly dismissed the thought.

Even without one of the Big Three markets, we were still doing well in the other two.

One was the United States, where Overcooked had become a massive hit.

The other was Japan.

The place we were heading right now.

"Haa..."

The entire flight, I kept searching different venue names.

Tokyo Dome

Nagoya Dome

Fukuoka Dome

Especially those three words.

Tokyo Dome.

My eyes lit up every time I saw them.

Biju spoke excitedly.

"I'm really looking forward to Tokyo Dome."

"Me too."

It was one of the dream venues for countless idols, ourselves included.

Of course, purely in terms of capacity, some of the stadiums we'd performed at in America were much larger.

But the meaning was different.

Making it into Tokyo Dome was widely considered proof that you'd reached the very top of the Japanese market.

Among recent Korean artists, only the second-generation queen group Daylight, TNT, and TeenSpirit had achieved it.

Yeonhu [Tokyo Dome is f***ing huge]

Yeonhu [Meeting fans there feels amazing lol]

Hahyun [And Yeonhu's pants exploded too~]

Yeonhu [You bastard]

Even friends had been messaging us.

Tokyo Dome? Congratulations!

Han Taehyun [Congrats on the dome]

Han Taehyun [But why are you only producing Jang Hanbyul's album]

Han Taehyun [Do mine too]

Me [I'll do it if you transfer to our company]

Han Taehyun [Okay. Give me 15 years]

Me [I don't mean bring the company with you, Taehyun]

Me [Let's think rationally]

Even Daylight, the first girl group ever to perform at Tokyo Dome, had sent congratulatory messages.

Daylight's leader, Lee Ann, sent a bowing emoji.

Lee Ann Sunbae [Congratulations, boss~~~~]

Me [Sunbae, I'm not the boss...]

Lee Ann Sunbae [Chairman~~~]

I could only stare silently out the window as the veteran idol relentlessly teased me.

She was probably making fun of me because the acquisition of SNH Entertainment had recently been finalized.

Junghyun spoke up.

"Honestly, it doesn't feel all that real."

"Hm?"

"It just feels like we're under the same company umbrella now."

"Well, that's because it's a label structure."

At present, Lemon Entertainment's subsidiaries were DNS Media and SNH Entertainment.

But acquiring shares didn't mean interfering with management.

Both labels would continue operating independently.

That had been the entire point of the label acquisitions, according to Director Jo Gyuhwan.

"To be honest, there's no guarantee another idol group like you will ever appear. Scarlet succeeded. You succeeded. But that doesn't mean future groups will. That's why you diversify."

Apparently that was why they had acquired companies famous for strong planning capabilities.

Even if our own junior groups failed, a massive success might emerge from one of the independent labels.

"...A lot is changing."

Lately, I'd been feeling that more and more.

Pulling out my phone, I opened the Japanese daily music charts.

Overcooked was currently number one in over fifty countries worldwide.

Naturally, I was curious where it ranked here.

"Hoooo..."

Placing a hand over my heart, I asked the guys,

"It's number one by now, right?"

"I feel like it should be."

Considering how enormous the song had become globally, surely Japan had embraced it too.

The chart loaded.

#2. The New Black — Overcooked

"Ah..."

"Still number two."

The same position as before.

Still stuck behind the soundtrack of a famous anime movie.

At that moment, our member with the strongest Japanese reading ability suddenly pointed.

"Wait!"

"What?"

"We're looking at the wrong chart. This is the real-time chart."

"Seriously?!"

"Check the daily chart!"

"R-Right!"

Everyone leaned forward expectantly.

Tap.

The page refreshed.

#4. The New Black — Overcooked

The ranking dropped even further.

"..."

"..."

Number one remained unchanged.

Number two belonged to a comeback track from a famous Japanese band.

The song at number three was unfamiliar.

I asked,

"Jiho. This one looks like anime too. Know what it is?"

"This? No clue. I can't read Japanese."

Ri Hyuk read the title and typed it into a search engine.

Poster images immediately appeared.

A group of magical girls making V-signs.

Magic Girls, But We're Idols

An anime about girls who worked as idols by day and magical girls fighting villains by night.

The managers burst out laughing.

Meanwhile, we stared blankly.

"...The Japanese market isn't easy."

NewBlack had lost to the world's first idol magical-girl anime.

Japan.

North and South America had been rising rapidly in recent years.

But traditionally, alongside Southeast Asia, Japan remained one of K-pop's primary overseas markets.

No—

If you measured revenue alone, Japan had always been the undisputed number-one foreign market.

Back during the second generation, agency rankings could literally change depending on who dominated Japan.

And there was something very peculiar about the Japanese market.

"Huh? Global success? I don't really care."

The market stubbornly walked its own path.

Which was exactly why K-pop artists released Japanese singles.

You had to sing in Japanese to get a response.

The groups that entered first had paved the road so well that extensive promotion wasn't strictly necessary anymore.

But back in the second-generation era, artists would sometimes stay in Japan for two or three months straight.

"That's why you guys are such a weird case."

Seokhwan hyung spoke.

"You've never released a Japanese single."

"True."

"The really strange thing is that you've climbed this high without Japanese promotions. No Japanese members. No Japanese singles. Other artists would feel cheated."

"That's true."

"Running a Four Dome Tour with almost no Japanese promotion outside of MyTube? That's basically a miracle."

In that sense, NewBlack had been incredibly fortunate.

We became national idols in Korea.

That built a Japanese fandom.

Then we succeeded in America.

And the fandom grew even larger.

But...

Once we'd reached a certain scale, growth seemed to have slowed somewhat.

Jiho said,

"TeenSpirit definitely owns Japan."

Seokhwan nodded.

"Sort of. But the gap isn't huge."

Even Overcooked, which had exploded everywhere else, was only performing moderately well here.

Japan definitely had its own unique ecosystem.

Everywhere else, NewBlack occupied first place among K-pop idols.

Here, we were listed second.

TeenSpirit

The New Black

Serenity

I could practically hear a voice in my ear.

"Try harder, hyungs."

I turned to Seokhwan.

"Anywhere we can appear?"

"Huh?"

"Anything. Put us on something famous."

"...Okay."

And so, upon arriving in Osaka, we immediately began a relentless campaign.

Naturally, it started with a morning television program.

"The superstars taking the world by storm! NewBlack has joined us today! Woooooo!"

We appeared on a popular morning show to promote Overcooked.

One panelist politely clasped his hands together.

"You recently made a huge impact during Super Nova Dodgeball, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"I heard you watched Flaming Pitcher Touga. Is it true that you referenced Danpei's signature throw?"

Apparently everyone was very interested in our American success.

Japanese viewers wanted to know about meeting the First Ladies.

What American audiences had been like.

Everything.

"You mentioned that next year's international album will be themed around food. Will there be songs inspired by Japanese cuisine?"

"We haven't finalized the track list yet. But it's certainly possible. We're planning to explore cuisines from all over the world, including Korean food, Thai food, and many others."

After performing Overcooked on the morning show, we headed to Osaka Dome for rehearsal.

On the way, we squeezed in a local variety show recording.

Seokhwan explained.

"This program is really popular in the Kansai region. Remember Food Before Sightseeing? The one where you and Biju walked around talking to locals and visiting restaurants?"

"Yeah."

"Think of this as something similar."

Apparently the show had survived for decades.

And the host was someone we knew.

"Maeda-sensei!"

"Ah... um..."

Standing awkwardly in a residential Osaka neighborhood was a middle-aged man.

Maeda Shin

A singer who had dominated Japan during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

And the very first guest we'd ever invited onto our Japanese MyTube promotions.

We hadn't spent much time together.

Yet he had left a stronger impression than almost any celebrity we'd ever met.

"Beauty never comes back—!!!"

I vividly remembered him passionately screaming that idols must take care of their appearance or end up like him.

The clip had become so famous among idol fans that people nicknamed it The Gospel of Maeda.

With a fedora perched atop his bald head and a long mustache dangling below, Maeda-sensei cleared his throat.

"Y-You've arrived."

"What is this?!"

Jiho's eyes widened.

"Why are you acting like we're strangers?!"

"Well..."

Maeda-sensei gazed at a distant mountain.

"Japanese people suffer from a condition where they can't maintain eye contact with opponents who are too powerful."

"Hahahahaha!"

"I'm not joking! Farmers who made eye contact with samurai all died!"

We burst out laughing.

The TV staff merely sighed.

Maeda-sensei is saying nonsense again.

Apparently this was completely normal.

"We'll attach your microphones now!"

The staff approached.

Their hands were visibly trembling.

The atmosphere was almost embarrassing.

Like they were thinking:

Global superstars...!

The PD bowed ninety degrees.

"Maeda-sensei, thank you for today."

"Let's do our best, Akiyama-kun."

He'd apparently hosted this program for over a year already.

The atmosphere felt very different from Korean variety shows.

In Korea, after filming together for a few weeks, there was usually a comfortable familiarity between cast and crew.

Here, the distance between talent and production staff felt enormous.

Remembering Gu Jaeyoung PD's request to observe Japanese variety-show culture, I looked around carefully.

"Shall we begin?"

And so began our leisurely neighborhood stroll through Osaka alongside Maeda-sensei.

A healing-style variety program.

Visiting bakeries.

Interviewing pedestrians.

Exploring quiet suburban streets.

Maeda-sensei pointed.

"How about that couple? They look interviewable."

"Oh! Should we ask them?"

Jiho stepped directly into their path.

"Halt."

"...Eh?"

The contrast between his bright smile and the intimidating word choice sent everyone into hysterics.

Maeda-sensei shouted,

"That's completely the wrong phrase—!! That's what delinquents say when they're extorting money!"

"I didn't know how else to stop them..."

"You can just say 'Excuse me!' What you just said sounded like a demon general stopping a hero on the fourth floor of the Demon King's castle!"

As we laughed, the couple we'd stopped suddenly covered their mouths.

"...Eh?"

"Hello! We're NewBlack!"

The stunned couple proceeded to give an interview.

Later, when we entered a neighborhood restaurant, the owner standing outside immediately screamed.

"Kyaaaaaaah!"

Restaurant owners came pouring out.

"Thieves?!"

"...No, thankfully. I wasn't confident I could defeat them."

"It's Osaka TV filming."

"With Maeda-san and... EH?!"

Then they noticed us.

And completely froze.

If nothing else, it became abundantly clear that ordinary Japanese people knew exactly who we were.

At least recognition wasn't a problem.

We ate at local restaurants, signed autographs, took selfies, and continued filming.

"If you could leave an autograph for our restaurant, we'd be incredibly grateful!"

"My daughter is a huuuuuuge fan! She'll be so happy!"

"Looking at you young men reminds me of my husband. Maybe because he's ugly. Young ladies watching at home should remember this. Handsome men and ugly men cheat at exactly the same rate."

Now I understood why the program was popular.

The content practically created itself through ordinary conversations.

People often said Osaka residents were entertaining.

I was starting to see why.

Just as we finished our meal, the PD quietly approached.

"I think we'll have to stop filming here."

"Huh?"

"The fans are gathering in enormous numbers."

Word had spread.

Souffles were flooding the area.

Filming ended earlier than planned.

After greeting fans on the streets and saying goodbye to Maeda-sensei, we headed back.

Ri Hyuk suddenly said,

"Honestly, I don't think we needed to do variety shows."

"True."

"Everyone already knows who we are."

"They know our songs too."

We all smiled.

And simultaneously realized the same thing.

So that's what it was.

The song just wasn't Japan's taste.

That's all.

It was an unexpectedly profound revelation.

Having learned our lesson, we concluded that this amount of variety promotion was sufficient.

Then returned to what really mattered.

The concerts.

"Osaka! We're back!"

"Jumping is absolutely forbidden! If we jump, the gas reserves beneath the dome will explode!"

"Ri Hyuk gets scared easily. He panics whenever he sees a portable gas burner."

Three days in Osaka Dome.

"Nagoya!!"

"Today's outfits are special! We're introducing Korea's Chuseok holiday to everyone!"

"And today is Junghyun's birthday!!"

Two days in Nagoya Dome.

Spending Chuseok overseas was unfortunate.

But Japanese Souffles seemed delighted to see us wearing hanbok.

After wrapping up the first phase of our Japanese schedule, we boarded another plane.

Destination:

New York.

SNL

We were scheduled to appear as the musical guest for the opening episode of the 2018–2019 season.

The equivalent of performing a new song during the first episode of Living Together or Mister Producer.

Normally, musical guests simply performed.

This time, however, there was a possibility we'd participate in a sketch.

"SNL..."

Ri Hyuk still sounded unconvinced.

"I genuinely can't believe I'm appearing on this show. It's like when we appeared on Living Together."

Even Ri Hyuk, who had lived in America, was overwhelmed by the significance.

While he carefully reviewed the sketch script for anything racially insensitive or potentially controversial, I searched our name online.

"'Global Sensation' NewBlack to Appear on SNL... Scheduled to Perform Overcooked"

As usual, I monitored public reactions.

Would people criticize us for spending Chuseok in Japan?

Would there be backlash?

I was checking various responses when—

"Hm?"

The online atmosphere seemed strangely chaotic.

Especially on idol-related forums.

Everyone was grabbing each other by the collar and fighting.

It felt like standing inside a burning house while holding a pizza.

"What happened?"

Jiho suddenly snapped his fingers.

"It's probably that."

"What?"

"Idolympics aired."

"...!"

The reason the internet was in complete chaos.

The cause was none other than the event currently turning the idol industry into a blazing inferno.