Chapter 1091: I am New Black, Class of ’18 (15)

The K idol scene was a ruthless battlefield with neither blood nor tears.

After the hiatuses of Sixty Seconds and TNT, there had emerged one unrivaled power that united the Warring States era that followed.

Its name was—

Souffle! (Clap!) Souffle! (Clap!)

Souffle.

Normally, they were a fandom that spent its days rolling around lazily and feeding on content scraps, but when it came time to fight, every fandom in South Korea lowered its voice.

Today, however, was an exception.

"Uh..."

"Uhhh..."

Souffles who had been browsing online communities and posting NewBlack content as usual suddenly froze.

This atmosphere is insane.

They might have been the undisputed number one fandom in the idol world, but even they could tell that today was a day to keep their heads down.

The reason was Idolympics.

TBC's ambitious new program designed to determine the idol industry's true skill rankings through vocals, dance, and rap.

[Who is truly the strongest idol?!]

On paper, the concept sounded reasonable.

The old Idolympics had gathered idols—people whose actual jobs revolved around singing and dancing—only to make them compete in track and field, rhythmic gymnastics, or esports every year.

The show was infamous for forcing idols and fans alike through all-day recordings, and every year new abuse-of-power controversies surfaced. Among idol fans, if someone asked which program was the absolute worst, Idolympics remained the undisputed champion.

The biggest problem was injuries.

NYX's Muri suffers ankle ligament injury at Idolympics ahead of Japanese concert... TBC: "We deeply regret it... but there was no negligence in safety management."

One injury could paralyze an idol's schedule for a month.

The problem was that because the broadcaster was a major terrestrial network, idols couldn't protest even when they got hurt. And unless they were top stars, they couldn't even make excuses to skip participation.

In that regard, this year's Idolympics had a genuinely admirable goal.

We've been thinking about this all wrong. If you're gathering idols together, obviously you should make them compete in what they're actually supposed to do!

The intention was right.

But that wasn't why idol fans were horrified.

Another ranking category has been added!

Why did fan wars break out every single day?

Rankings.

Who are the three top-tier idol groups?

What's the first-week album sales ranking? (excluding Chinese group orders)

What about total album sales?

What's each member's photocard market value?

What are the MyTube view rankings? (excluding major Southeast Asian countries)

For some reason, every year magically produced a brand-new topic for fandom wars.

Nowadays people accepted first-week sales rankings as a normal thing, but there were still fans who hated them.

Look at that. Why did we have to import something people only cared about in Japan...?

And these ranking battles inevitably produced enormous amounts of rivalry, malicious comments, and fan wars.

Then a major television network poured gasoline onto the fire.

As expected.

The idol world had already gone completely insane.

[Idolympics Rankings (Male Division)]

Vocals

(Gold) APLB Kevin

(Silver) Iris Red

(Bronze) Wonder Child Seunghan

Dance

(Gold) Trickster Seo Woong

(Silver) TeenSpirit Yeonhoo

(Bronze) APLB Haru

Rap

(Gold) Street Boys LB

(Silver) Street Boys Hanjo

(Bronze) Street Boys Yugeon

The idols who performed poorly were already being buried under waves of malicious comments.

I knew your oppas were finished the moment they started smoking and drinking lol

Wow, that level of skill with that popularity??? If I were from a flop group I'd be crying blood watching this stage

Without audio correction their real skills got exposed lol

Ahhh... seeing that awkward expression after trying to sing live is giving me secondhand embarrassment

Honestly track and field would've been better for their image lol. I'm embarrassed for them

Mockery overflowed everywhere.

The biggest reason was TBC's song selection policy.

No time to prepare? Fine. Sing your own songs.

As if they wanted to eliminate every possible excuse, contestants were required to perform songs from their own groups.

Naturally, the internet exploded.

If you can't sing your own group's song then what can you sing lol

Wasn't this person supposed to be the "talent member" according to the fans??

Kinda disappointing

At that many years into their career I'd say there's no hope... only the fans are still in denial

What the hell have they been doing for six years lol

Girl groups seem better overall though

Amid the flood of comments, idol fans felt dizzy.

The entire industry has lost its mind.

Both the attackers and defenders were typing with equally deranged expressions.

Posts on the Best Board were advancing by a full page every thirty minutes.

The quicker-witted fans looked at the situation and sighed.

Ah... this is bad. We shouldn't be giving it this much attention.

Just like the endless idol survival audition shows that kept appearing because people watched them while complaining...

This level of attention meant only one thing.

This means they're going to do it every year from now on.

From an idol fan's perspective, that meant a yearly festival season filled with warfare.

While chaos consumed the internet, the Souffles remained quiet.

Let's just stay out of it.

NewBlack hadn't even appeared on the show, so they quietly entertained themselves with discussions about the group's upcoming SNL appearance.

But then—

"Hm?"

"Huh?"

NewBlack's members started appearing on all the tier lists flooding the internet.

[My Vocal Tier List]

*If you disagree, you're probably right

S: Ri Hyuk

A+: Wooju

A: Kevin, Red, Seunghan

The members of NewBlack were being placed in the highest ranks of idol fans' homemade tier lists.

It was inevitable.

Ri Hyuk had recently faced Cha Woohyun on Mission Singer.

Biju held the record for the most victories on I Move, and the first- and third-place winners in this dance competition were both former I Move contestants.

And Junghyun was being placed alongside the Street Boys trio in the S-tier for rap.

Of course, Junghyun had never actually appeared anywhere specifically to prove his rap skills.

But—

It's because Wooju released a song with Cold Brown.

Wooju had collaborated with one of the world's greatest rappers. Since Junghyun was generally considered an even stronger rapper than Wooju, people couldn't exactly rank him lower.

Which meant the real debate became—

Shouldn't Wooju be S-tier for vocals??? This feels like underrating him... wasn't Kevin basically Wooju's student?

Jiho's vocals are better than that.

Isn't Wang Jiho more of an all-rounder type?

No, but he's basically the acting member lol. In another group he'd be a main vocalist, not just pulling his weight.

Fans from various fandoms engaged in fierce logic battles over where Jiho and Wooju belonged.

But whether it was S or A hardly mattered.

The Souffles blinked as they looked at their favorites, who always ended up somewhere near the very top.

What is happening...?

NewBlack hadn't even participated.

Yet other fandoms were practically awarding them medals above gold.

Thanks to the impact of Mission Singer and Supernova Dodgeball, everyone seemed to regard NewBlack as the untouchable number one.

Hey, Charcoalheads! Take this! Platinum medal!

???

Since you're already number one, don't bother showing up at Idolympics.

The Souffles stared blankly as other fandoms draped imaginary medals around their necks.

"???"

For some reason, it felt as though the back of each medal carried a hidden message.

Take this and stay far away from us.

Around the same time.

Entertainment companies were in chaos as well.

TBC Idolympics records highest ratings in the past three years

The concept of idols battling through vocals, dance, and rap during the holiday season had driven ratings through the roof.

Naturally, some celebrated while others mourned.

"We did pretty well."

"There don't seem to be many malicious comments online either. The fans are defending them well."

"At this point, that's good enough."

Companies whose groups had performed respectably breathed sighs of relief.

"CEO. Our kids are trending number one."

"Really?!"

"They're saying we should make the main vocalist practice singing..."

"..."

"...Should we look into some vocal lessons?"

Others found themselves receiving attention for all the wrong reasons.

But for every group in tears, another was smiling.

"Unnie! Look! You're number one on the search rankings!"

"Really?!"

Seolha, the main vocalist of top girl group Serenity—a singer who had constantly been criticized as all visuals and no skill—squealed with her members and clapped excitedly.

"Hehehehe."

"The undisputed kings of hip-hop. Street Boys."

"And the top persimmon tree among Street Boys—AAAGH!"

Street Boys, who had swept the rap rankings after starting in the underground scene, celebrated in their own ridiculous fashion.

"Still, aren't we the only top-tier group that won a vocal medal? The senior groups all got fourth or fifth."

"You did great. Seriously."

The members of Wonder Child congratulated themselves.

Thanks to Idolympics attracting so much public attention, the idols who had demonstrated genuine skill were receiving significant recognition.

Unlike idol fans, who scrutinized every tiny detail, ordinary viewers mostly focused on the positives.

Wow... there are more talented idols than I expected lol

Korea really does have an incredible talent pool

They said all the future solo stars ended up becoming idols and honestly they were right lol. The overall level is crazy

Kevin...? You're not supposed to be that good

The talented ones are really talented lol

I hope skilled artists become successful

And amid all of this, there were people crying tears of joy.

"Guys!"

"CEO!"

"Have you seen this?! You're trending!"

The members of APLB threw their arms around their CEO and cried.

Perhaps because they had won first place in vocals, the group song Ha Eunsung had performed on stage was suddenly climbing the charts.

"Hm? Eunsung hyung?"

"..."

Instead of his usual bright grin, Ha Eunsung stared at his phone with tear-filled eyes.

This actually worked...

The group's recognition was skyrocketing.

Even variety shows where they had worked themselves to exhaustion had never attracted this much attention.

"..."

"Hyung, are you crying?"

The members looked flustered as Ha Eunsung covered his eyes with both hands and sobbed.

After crying for a long while, he finally muttered, "That's good..."

His reddened eyes triggered another round of cheering.

For a group that had debuted in 2015 and spent years achieving roughly the same results over and over, it felt like the breakthrough they had been waiting for had finally arrived.

And.

The silver medalists in the vocal category, the boy group Iris, experienced something similar.

-[TV Review] The Reason Behind Iris's Sudden Resurgence

The members sat together in their living room, hugging each other and crying.

"So it wasn't over."

"It really wasn't over..."

The seven-member boy group had been quietly drifting toward disbandment.

Several members had already started looking into civil service exams and professional certifications.

What they had assumed would be one final schedule had instead completely changed their future.

The public encouraged them.

People wanted talented idols to succeed.

Thank you. Seriously.

As those who had been given a second chance cried with gratitude—

A new trend began sweeping through entertainment agencies.

This is a schedule we actually need to prepare for properly!

Watching songs climb back up the charts because of Idolympics, companies suddenly realized something.

Every holiday season now included one more major event that required serious preparation.

And naturally.

The effect spread to trainees as well.

"What?"

You came to audition before, right?

"Yes... I did."

Would you be willing to come in again?

The idol industry had always aggressively recruited strong main vocalists.

But there were plenty of people who could sing brilliantly yet had been rejected because, like Wooju in the past, their dancing wasn't good enough.

Now opportunities were opening up for them.

"Can... can I audition again?"

Of course.

"...!"

The aspiring trainee ended the call and screamed with joy.

The butterfly effect created by NewBlack's leader was rescuing people who had once stood in the same position he had.

...Though the man himself knew absolutely nothing about it.

Ding-dong!

Ha Eunsung: [Thank you, hyung.]

A notification appeared on my phone just after we landed in New York.

Smiling, I sent a reply.

Me: [Eunsung, you're filming right now?]

Me: [What's the mission??]

When I asked what kind of response he wanted, he immediately replied with an angry sparrow emoji.

[Seriously thank you!!!!]

Laughing, I told him we'd talk later.

Biju looked interested.

"Who was that?"

"Eunsung. He sent a thank-you message."

"Ah~"

Biju smiled.

"I'm really happy things worked out for them. I sent Haru a congratulations message earlier too because of the chart reversal."

"Yeah. It's nice."

They were one of those groups that always deserved more attention than they got.

And aside from being friendly with Eunsung, I also knew Jo Dongwan, the CEO of Sum Entertainment.

"That guy spent nearly ten years fighting uphill battles."

He had once been considered one of the executives expected to lead TJ Entertainment into the future.

Then he'd left to build his own company and struggled for years before finally seeing results.

"Hmm. That's good."

After briefly looking over the still-chaotic Idolympics news from Korea, I turned my attention elsewhere.

We had work to do too.

"Wow, it's chilly."

Late September in New York already carried a cool bite in the air.

After dropping our luggage at the hotel, we immediately headed for 30 Rockefeller Plaza in the heart of Manhattan.

If you'd ever watched American movies or TV shows, you'd probably seen scenes of people laughing while ice skating beneath the giant Christmas tree.

That was Rockefeller Center.

And 30 Rockefeller Plaza was part of that complex—the building that housed one of America's major broadcast studios.

The same place where today's SNL recording would take place.

[SNL]

A program that had remained at the pinnacle of television comedy for nearly forty years.

At first I hadn't really understood its status.

Then I'd seen countless Instagram videos of young American celebrities breaking down in tears and shouting, "Oh my God! SNL mentioned me!"

That helped put things into perspective.

Apparently, countless entertainers dreamed of appearing there as a host.

Jiho tilted his head.

"I'm a little confused. So the host is basically the actor?"

"Pretty much."

"I'm jealous. They build the entire show around that person."

One defining feature of SNL was that the host changed every week.

The comedy cast created sketches centered around that week's host.

Meanwhile, musical guests like us were essentially invited performers.

The promotions usually looked something like this:

[Today's host is Alec West! Musical guest: Haley Blue!]

Normally, a musical guest just performed a couple of songs.

But apparently, every now and then SNL would approach artists like us and say:

"Hey, you're the musical guest! Want to try a sketch?"

All of us burst out laughing inside the van.

"Comedy is actually the highest form of language activity. When we watch American comedy we don't laugh because we don't fully understand it. The fact that they invited us means they've acknowledged our English ability. Hehehehe."

Our main vocalist was delighted for an extremely strange reason.

"Acting! Acting! I'm going to do comedy acting...!"

The youngest member was thrilled at the chance to tackle a new genre.

"Hehehe! At last, the time has come to introduce Americans to the flavor of Korean variety shows."

Even I was excited because I was essentially getting to do my real specialty.

Junghyun quietly leaned toward Biju.

"Sometimes I think we're the most normal people in this group."

"You don't get to say that, Kim Junghyun."

"That was harsh. Want some pumpkin pie? Or apple pie?"

"Apple."

Munch.

Everyone was in high spirits as we arrived at Studio 8H, where SNL was filmed.

As the name suggested, it was a studio located on the eighth floor.

"You got here early!"

An SNL staff member welcomed us enthusiastically.

"Welcome to Studio 8H! Since it's your first time on SNL, you probably have lots of questions."

The NewBlack TV crew filming our content and SNL's behind-the-scenes team followed us with cameras.

The footage would probably be uploaded later under a title like:

"Studio 8H Tour with NewBlack!"

"This is where the main recording takes place!"

"Oh..."

The studio we'd only seen through MyTube clips now stood right in front of us.

And our collective reaction was—

It's tiny!

Way smaller than I expected.

If it weren't for the fact that this was one of America's most famous comedy programs, the place might have felt more like:

What's with this old studio...?

Biju, always the master of elegant phrasing, smiled.

"It has the quiet charm of a small theater. You can really feel the tradition and history contained within these walls."

"Exactly! It has seventy years of history!"

The staff member brightened visibly at Biju's comment and continued guiding us around.

The control room.

The dressing rooms.

The costume department.

People were rushing everywhere as preparations for the live broadcast continued, so we only exchanged quick greetings before moving on.

"Your waiting room is this way."

We were heading toward our assigned room when—

A commotion erupted from one of the nearby rooms.

"What's going on?"

"Ah... looks like one of the animals being used in today's sketch is causing trouble."

"...?"

The nearby SNL staff scratched the backs of their heads with troubled expressions.

When they noticed us looking, they greeted us with a casual "Hi."

Curious, we wandered over.

And then we saw it.

"Wow...!"

Our youngest member exclaimed.

"A rabbit!"

A fluffy white rabbit sat inside the room.

The staff explained.

"It needs to appear in a sketch later, but it's been acting up. It suddenly started getting aggressive..."

"This adorable rabbit?"

Jiho tilted his head and met the rabbit's gaze.

SCREEEEEEEEE!

The rabbit immediately puffed itself up and glared at him.

Startled, Jiho jumped behind me.

"Mommy! No, nuna! No, Wooju hyung!"

"Jiho, maybe call your father once in a while too."

"Lots of people call Dad's name already, so it's fine. More importantly, hyung, do something about that thing."

"Why?"

"It's staring at me. The oldest brother has a responsibility to protect the youngest."

While Jiho was making his case, one of the SNL staff members sighed.

"Anyway, it's becoming a problem. Filming starts soon, but it won't eat, and it's been throwing tantrums all day..."

Even when they offered cabbage leaves, the rabbit stubbornly refused and continued acting hostile.

Then—

"...?"

The rabbit and I made eye contact.

Not wanting to alarm it, I slowly raised both hands and smiled gently.

And suddenly—

"Hm?"

"Huh...?"

For some reason, the rabbit immediately calmed down.

An SNL staff member blinked and handed me a cabbage leaf.

"Sunny. If it's not too much trouble, could you maybe try...?"

"Me? Sure."

I held out the cabbage leaf.

The rabbit immediately adopted a perfectly gentle posture and began nibbling away.

I tilted my head.

"He's actually pretty docile."

"..."

For some reason, it felt like all my members were silently insulting me with their eyes.