Chapter 1180: Movie Star (8)

Super Bowl.

The championship game of American football, the most popular sport in the United States.

The Super Bowl is so prestigious that the halftime show is considered a stage reserved for the greatest singers in America at the time.

Naturally, the commercials aired during it cost an unbelievable amount of money.

"They say it's five million dollars per thirty seconds."

At Junghyun's words, I was horrified.

"Five million for thirty seconds means... how much is that per second, Gye Hyuk. I mean, Ri Hyuk."

"Just call me a calculator. I've gotten used to it by now."

Our electronic brain, which had been furiously calculating, answered.

"One second would cost around two hundred million won in Korean currency."

"Wow..."

With viewership ratings reaching around 50% in the United States alone, it was an event where every company had no choice but to throw everything they had into it.

Jiho stroked his chin in admiration.

"Wow, I can't believe I'm appearing there. This is insane."

"You should thank your brother, Wang Jiho."

"Of course."

Jiho leaned against me and giggled.

"This is seriously amazing. I was just sitting around doing nothing, then I heard the news that hyung got cast, and I went from a cameo role to a supporting role. Then when the post credits scene came out, I got to film a separate Super Bowl trailer scene too... This is seriously insane."

"You're getting all that for free?"

"Hmm~ Should I give you a kiss as payment?"

"Ew!"

I instinctively pushed Jiho away as he puckered his lips and made exaggerated kissing noises.

The youngest laughed loudly.

Somehow, the younger he got older, the more shameless he seemed to become.

"Well. That's great."

Ri Hyuk said.

"It means the movie trailers will be shown at the most talked-about event in America."

"Exactly."

Jiho and I looked at each other and grinned.

"What is even happening to us?"

"Seriously. What is happening~"

We clapped our hands together and burst into laughter.

It was already wonderful when one member of the family succeeded, but the fact that two of us were seeing things go so well was nothing but happiness.

As the two of us happily rolled around on the practice room floor.

"Here."

Biju, who had brought over a plate of apple pie, turned on the practice room TV with the remote and said,

"To celebrate, let's watch the post credits scene one more time."

"Wooooow!"

"Do we really need to watch it again...?"

Ignoring my words, the younger members plopped down onto the floor.

As Biju tried to play the video on the TV, I let out a groan.

Ri Hyuk, holding a piece of apple pie beside me, asked,

"You monitored the sitcom scenes just fine. Why are you having such a hard time with this?"

"It's just... something like that."

Maybe it was because of the memories I had recalled while acting.

Even when I watched the post credits scene, the emotions I had felt back then would come rushing back, leaving me feeling unsettled.

But to my clueless underlings, it seemed like nothing but a wonderful thing.

"Ah! Hyung's coming out!"

"More amazing than enoki mushrooms. Peng. Huhu."

"Huh? That Peng? Not the Peng from penguin written with Chinese characters?"

"What...?"

While conversations that gave me a headache decorated my ears, the villain on the screen finally turned around, and the younger members applauded.

"Wooooooow!"

"Wooooow!"

"Wow, crying from only one eye..."

As if watching it once wasn't enough, the underlings played it again.

Jiho, who was eating his apple pie messily, asked,

"Hyung, hyung. But how did you do that? Crying from only one eye? Did you learn that from MyTube too?"

"It just happened naturally at the time."

"What was it like back then?"

While Jiho was curious about the secret, Biju asked,

"Right. I was curious too. What emotion did you use when acting that scene?"

"I tried to put as much emotion into it as possible while still holding it back. You know how sometimes when we're sad, we try our best not to cry?"

"Ah..."

It wasn't that I had intentionally tried to make it look cool.

It was a scene that came out because I had desperately tried to hold back my tears.

I told the younger members, who were listening intently,

"The director suddenly called me over and told me to act out losing my family and deciding to take revenge in front of a green screen. He didn't even give me a script. I didn't even know there was a whale in front of me."

"Hmm. Then that would be difficult. You weren't given any situation to work with."

"Yeah. So..."

Looking at the four pairs of eyes staring at me, I hesitated slightly before saying,

"Back then, I thought of you guys."

"?"

"When he told me to imagine losing my family, you guys naturally came to mind. You know how it is. Like, one day I come home and my family is lying on the floor..."

"......"

"Just imagining something like that was so painful..."

But I couldn't finish my sentence.

The four pairs of eyes that had been sparkling just moments ago were now filled with tears.

"Are you guys crying?"

"No. It's just that when I imagined it too..."

The underlings all puffed out their lips, trying to hold back their tears.

Normally, I should have laughed at the sight.

But since they looked like they were about to burst into tears, my own eyes became damp without me realizing it.

Ri Hyuk spoke with reddened eyes.

"Sorry. I didn't know when I said it was hard back then that it was something like this."

"No, it's because I didn't explain it well either."

"I..."

"Come here first."

The younger members, who were about to turn the room into a sea of tears, hugged me and cried their hearts out.

The youngest sobbed loudly.

"Hyung, let's live together forever. I'll really listen well and practice hard."

"Let's live together for a long, long time."

"We're family..."

Maybe it was because we had always believed that the five of us would remain together forever since our debut.

The thought that it might not be possible must have shaken the members just as much as it had shaken me.

After sharing the sadness I had felt back then with the members.

I patted the younger members, who finally calmed down after rubbing their red eyes, and smiled.

"Alright. Then should we watch it one more time with a lighter heart?"

I pressed the remote button.

"Uwaaaaaaah!"

"Ughhhhh!"

The moment they saw me in the post credits scene, the underlings immediately burst into tears again.

I turned off the video.

Maybe it was still a little too soon.

The post credits scene was an enormous success.

If I were to apply to have a record entered into the Guinness Book of World Records, I felt like it would probably be under a category like this.

[Post Credits Scene That Attracted More Viewers Than the Movie Itself]

The buzz surrounding my post credits scene was far greater than that of the movie Black Wizard: The Age of Magic itself.

Because of that, jokes started spreading online that the movie itself was just a post credits scene attached to my appearance.

There were even reviews like this.

Maybe because a Korean actor appeared, Koreans seemed to be the most excited.

The level of interest was so high that once it became a hot topic in Korea, other countries that tended to pay attention whenever something became popular there began reporting on it as well.

"Have you seen this?"

"Huh?"

In the video Ri Hyuk showed me, Japanese TV panelists were discussing my post credits scene.

"Why is Japanese television talking about it now too...?"

"Guess what the topic is."

"Hmm..."

"You really won't be able to imagine it."

Unable to guess what it could possibly be about, I clicked on the video.

[Over ten million views! The post credits scene uploaded by Silver Screen Studios surpassed ten million views in no time.]

[Hee. Amazing.]

While a female celebrity with unusual makeup clapped, footage appeared on screen, followed by a serious-looking expert.

[The message shown in the post credits scene clearly contains an environmental message.]

That was true.

That was the theme of Guardians 2 that the director had told me about.

Humanity's revenge against civilization.

Animals suffering from reckless hunting and animals losing their homes due to environmental pollution appeared in the post credits scene because of that.

As I nodded and listened, the white-haired expert adjusted his glasses with a sharp click.

[However, the scene we truly need to focus on is this one. The scene where the great whale appears.]

The scene where the white whale surrounded by black oil suffers.

The expert asked the panelists,

[Why should we pay attention to the scene where the whale appears?]

[Oh! I think I know!]

A singer wearing a leather jacket raised his hand.

[Whaling, perhaps?]

[Exactly. Japan's whaling issue has long been criticized by environmental activists around the world.]

"Huh?"

[Perhaps this is a message Korea is sending toward Japan. By using a globally influential pop star, they are attempting to bring Japan's whaling issue back into the spotlight.]

"What?"

[It may be a unique aspect of Korean culture, where they smile with their mouths while hiding a knife in their hearts.]

"Uh...?"

It was a video that made me let out various sounds of disbelief throughout.

I asked Ri Hyuk,

"Why are you showing me something like this?"

"I didn't want to be the only one baffled. I looked it up and it was just too ridiculous."

"Ah, then I understand."

But I could understand why Ri Hyuk had shown it to me.

He said there were quite a few netizens in Japan who genuinely believed that was the intention behind the post credits scene and were making a huge fuss over it.

How should I put it?

"I kind of want to tell them something. To prevent excessive self-importance and help them live healthier lives."

"I agree."

I wanted to tell them:

Sorry, but you are not the center of the world.

Either way, the post credits scene was so hot that it had even sparked controversy in a neighboring country.

No.

Since we were in America right now, perhaps I should say a distant country.

"Let's take a five-minute break!"

"Whew."

"Haaa..."

The practice room in Los Angeles, America.

We were in the middle of final preparations for the stage performance of our new song scheduled for release in January.

It was our single, with a thumbnail featuring a sauce bottle that looked incredibly spicy at first glance.

While Overcooked focused on relatively easy choreography and music that was easy to sing along to, Hot Sauce was different.

The addictive melody remained the same, but the core was a passionate and intense performance that no one could easily imitate.

Latin pop.

This was the new color added to our music this time.

It was popular music from Spain and Latin America, or more broadly, the South American region, and held the second-highest status in the global music market after English-language pop.

With the number of South American listeners in America increasing, it had gradually become part of local culture.

In any case, South America was the region we were targeting with .

Originally, we had planned to focus mainly on North America, but because Overcooked became such a huge hit, our schedule was pushed back, and...

What do we do? We can't release Hot Sauce in winter.

Considering the mood of the song, releasing something that felt like summer in winter would obviously be a failure.

That was when our savior and the brain of the TF team, Deputy Manager Hong Seoyoung, appeared.

The Northern Hemisphere's winter is the Southern Hemisphere's summer~!

Oh my goodness!

For that reason, this single's goal was to target the Southern Hemisphere market, including South America.

"It really won't be easy."

"Right."

Breaking into a market was never something that could be achieved through desire alone.

Just because a famous American singer said, "I'm going to target the K-pop market now," didn't mean they could suddenly succeed in Korea. To target a market, countless factors were necessary.

"I'll handle most of the interviews. I've reached advanced Spanish now. My Portuguese is still at a beginner level, but aside from advanced vocabulary, I've reached the point where I can handle most everyday conversations."

"Ri Hyuk. You are my light."

"Huhu."

They also needed to show a deep understanding of that culture.

"I'll answer the music-related interviews. I know the history of their music inside and out."

"Okay."

They needed to explain the essence of that culture embedded in the music they had created.

"We need to use every method available. We need to do plenty of interviews, use social media..."

That didn't mean all South Americans would suddenly shout, "Hola! NewBlack!" and cheer for them, but their goal was to make a strong first step into this market.

At the very least, they wanted to greatly increase their recognition through this opportunity.

"I don't know how famous we are in South America right now, but we should become more successful than we are now..."

"Yes."

"Then what do you think is the most important thing?"

Jiho raised his hand.

"Yes, Jiho."

"We need to create good bait."

"You learned well from me, youngest."

"Hehe."

The foundation of promotion was making people look at you.

Getting attention was extremely important.

Especially the method used to attract that attention.

If someone stood on the street shouting, "Everyone! Please pay attention to me!" people would glance over and walk away.

But if someone quietly said in a café, "My boyfriend cheated on me with my best friend," the employee would lower the café music volume.

We needed something that would make South Americans pay attention to us this time.

"You're the expert in this area."

"Exactly."

I laughed with my younger members.

"For the past twenty six years..."

"Huh? Twenty seven years... Ahhh!"

"For twenty seven years, I've used my experience making Madam Kim Deoksun angry to come up with a way to attract attention. And that is..."

"And that is?"

At my next words, the younger members burst into laughter.

Although they themselves did not realize it, NewBlack was already famous in South America.

It was all thanks to the success of their global songs.

[Overcooked~ Overcooked~]

A flash mob was held in a plaza in Rio, Brazil.

Even neighborhood cafés played Overcooked at least once.

The music video was also receiving explosive views throughout South America.

If NewBlack had previously been seen as K-pop singers who were only popular among those who knew them, after the recent success of Overcooked and their activities in America, they had begun to have an image similar to a famous North American idol band.

To put it simply, they had an image similar to Moonlight, except they were even more famous.

And recently, Sound of the Sun had been added to that.

[Behold!]

[The incredible sun!]

In South America, Sound of the Sun was continuing its successful run.

Just as one action could be worth more than a hundred words, the effect of a single movie was tremendous.

"That NewBlack guy was Sun's son."

"I only found out this time too. The actor in the movie was styled to look incredibly similar to that guy."

"Sun Myungjoo is seriously sexy. Are there lots of men like that in Korea?"

Conversations like that could even be heard occasionally in restaurants.

Naturally, most people did not have a huge interest.

But their recognition had reached the point where, if someone saw them directly, they would react with, "Oh! They're celebrities!"

"Mm. I love this Christmas song."

"This is NewBlack too, right?"

People in South America chatted while listening to at cafés.

However, the conversation carried the typical casual indifference of ordinary people.

It was in that exact atmosphere that NewBlack sent them a declaration.

"Hm?"

"Uh...?"

"Oh."

A video uploaded to MyTube one day.

The video quickly became a trending topic throughout South America, and in it, the NewBlack members were speaking Spanish.

[Hola! Hello, we are NewBlack.]

At first, there was nothing particularly special about it.

[As we will be releasing a song called , we are preparing a South American tour.]

I see.

[While preparing for that, we also prepared a special event. Do you know what South Americans and Koreans have in common?]

I wonder.

[It is that our food is spicy.]

Some viewers watching the video sprinkled spicy sauce over their food and nodded.

I heard Korean food was spicy.

The NewBlack members smiled brightly.

[Yes. We heard South American food was also very spicy, so we tried some in America... but honestly speaking, it wasn't spicy.]

The South Americans watching froze.

What?

What did he say...?

Who just said it wasn't spicy?

The five members on screen smiled annoyingly.

[Korean food seems much spicier. Hahahaha!]

The NewBlack members deliberately spoke in a provocative tone and declared,

[So when we come to South America this time, we will prepare Korea's spiciest foods and have a true showdown. Hahahaha!]

"......"

"......"

[But no matter how we think about it, we are pretty sure we will win! Hahahaha!]

A foreign star from a distant country challenging a region full of pride in its spicy food by saying, Your food isn't spicy at all.

The South Americans smiled warmly.

I won't let this slide.

I want to pour habanero sauce into those guys' mouths right now.

What do you mean it isn't spicy...?

It was an excellent way to get attention.