Chapter 1185: Are they tears? No, they are sweat. (5)

The arrival of , which had swept across South America!

Naturally, Korean media outlets were reporting on it as well.

-NewBlack's "Hot Sauce" Makes Waves… Sweeps South American Music Charts

The reports announced that it had reached number one on music charts in twelve South American countries and entered the North American charts at high positions as well.

However, unlike the explosive response overseas, its performance on Korean music charts was somewhat ambiguous.

It had initially reached number one, but then steadily declined before settling around seventh to ninth place.

The biggest reason was that the song was in English rather than Korean.

The Latin pop genre, which was unfamiliar to Korean listeners unlike those in North America, also played a part.

The song was certainly addictive and good.

It was delicious, like eating a spicy taco, but no one could eat tacos every single day, could they? Just as people eventually grew tired of constantly eating foreign food, Koreans preferred K-pop songs sung in Korean.

Not only that, unlike the easy-listening approach of , the core of was its brutally intense performance.

"Hmm."

Souffles scratched their chins.

The numbers are a little ambiguous.

Should we still be satisfied with this much?

Ever since NewBlack's massive success in North America, fans had stopped placing much importance on the domestic performance of their English songs.

They merely found it slightly disappointing.

Of course, even that looked like outright mockery to other idol fans.

-You spoiled brats!

They became furious at Souffles for calling seventh place on the daily chart disappointing when most singers could not even dream of achieving it.

What's disappointing about that? We haven't even managed that much.

Seriously, those people…….

There were always kids like that in school. The ones who cried nearby while everyone was checking their scores because they got one question wrong.

Naturally, Souffles did not show it around other idol fans, but anyone could sense that they were murmuring uncertainly to themselves.

But were Souffles truly feeling uncertain?

Absolutely not.

A song's success was not measured only by objective numbers.

"Ahem… Hehehe."

They could not stop grinning.

It was because of the response to the new song.

The reaction is seriously heated.

The response might have been mild among casual listeners, but the situation was completely different within idol fandom circles.

-Remember 2:37, the exact moment Kim Junghyun destroyed my heart

-My heart feels like it's going to explode from the intro

-Seriously the best. There isn't a single styling he can't pull off

-So Latin pop was this amazing… Sexy is the greatest

-I think this is the first time in ages I've seen choreography this intense. It's not easy to have this much fire in your sixth year

-But is this K-pop or Latin pop?? It's good, but I can't clearly divide it either way

-People on Twitter are calling it Katin pop

The lyrics were in English, and musically it borrowed various elements from Latin pop, but fundamentally, was the most K-pop-like of all the English songs NewBlack had released.

A spicy, stimulating melody.

A powerful performance.

Simply put, it was a song aimed directly at fans' hearts.

-The comments are the same in other countries???????

-The American fans' overreactions are hilarious

-What happened??

-Someone pointed out an English mistake and everyone went berserk

A related screenshot appeared beneath the post.

It showed the replies to an American who had pointed out lyrics near the chorus that had been intentionally written incorrectly.

-Sunny isn't wrong. English is wrong

-From this moment onward, English grammar has changed

-If they wanted to criticize that, the British should have made English better

-How dare a lowly human criticize the magnificent sun

As the original commenter quietly shut their mouth and disappeared, Souffles at the main fandom base smiled contentedly.

The fandom is going to grow even bigger.

They could hear the sound of new fans running toward them.

-The timing is seriously incredible too?????

-They gathered tons of casual fans with Overcooked and the carol, and now I think a lot of people are going to start digging deeper

-The timing is genuinely amazing

They could especially feel overseas fans who had been wavering between Moonlight and NewBlack pouring in.

Gyuho, don't miss this opportunity!

As though answering the fans' prayers, the abbot of Lemon Temple did not let the opportunity slip away.

A notice was unfurled before the new fans waiting outside Lemon Temple.

[2019 New Souffle Recruitment Notice]

People surged forward to join Souffle.

Among them were people who had once been active fans, taken a break, and now gathered to become Souffles again.

"Hmm."

The college student whose fandom spirit had reignited after watching the new music video joined the fan club.

Perhaps it was because she had checked the newly added returning-member option.

The doors of Lemon Entertainment opened with a heavy rumble on her monitor.

[Welcome back?]

She received various benefits, including a discount coupon for the merchandise store.

Perks rained down upon her.

As the blessings of fandom poured over her once more, she felt an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.

I've seen this somewhere before…….

It was as though they were showering her with generosity because they were absolutely determined not to lose someone who had returned after a long absence.

Then something flashed through her mind.

【It's been a while, brave hero?】

【A special gift from the GM for returning players! Log in every day to receive fourteen days of extraordinary rewards】

Realizing the source of the déjà vu, her eyes flew open.

A brutally expensive mobile game…!

For some reason, the Lemon Entertainment logo seemed to sparkle with a smile.

After finishing our activities in Brazil.

We continued our South American promotions.

「Waaaaaaaaah!」

「Buenos Aires! We're here!」

Argentina, Peru, Chile, and more.

Since we did not have unlimited time, we mainly visited places where we had previously toured or where the music market was large.

[When we sold milanesa in Korea, the response was incredible. We learned the recipe from Chef Gonzalez here.]

[Haha. They were truly excellent students.]

[Along with Korea's hanwoo beef, I think Argentine beef is among the finest in the world.]

Just as we had in Brazil, we appeared on TV shows and broke out in cold sweats during spicy-food competitions.

We handled all kinds of media interviews.

[Everyone! This is NewBlack's !]

[Waaaaaaaaah!!!]

We also performed celebratory stages at various festivals.

Since the song itself had turned out so well, we could clearly feel the audience response change after its release.

In particular, whenever Junghyun performed his Spanish rap, the crowd passionately sang along.

"We love you!"

At the audience's cries amid the sweltering summer festival, we smiled and raised our microphones.

[Te amamos más. (We love you more.)]

We happily performed amid cheers of "Argggghhhh-!!"

After the festival ended, Biju spoke with an excited expression.

"We really would have regretted it if we hadn't come. We never would have known there were people who would welcome us this passionately."

"Right."

"I really think coming here was the right decision, brother."

We had ended up releasing a song mixed with Latin pop because of the season, but it felt like the right choice.

I also felt my perspective broadening in many ways as we promoted in South America.

"I feel the same. I learned a lot from performing with artists here. Experiencing different kinds of music made me feel like my horizons had opened up."

I smiled proudly and asked my younger members.

"Should we travel around the world a little more diversely this year?"

"Sounds good."

The theme of the album we would soon be releasing was cooking, after all.

Since it was based on dishes from around the world, it contained many songs that could be promoted locally in this way.

Japan, India, Thailand….

We smiled happily as we imagined album tracks we could perform whenever we toured those countries.

After finishing our South American activities.

Our private jet headed toward our final destination in Central America.

"This is the last one."

"You worked hard, guys. Let's hold on just a little longer."

Our final stop was Mexico.

The plan was to finish promoting , make a brief appearance on a talk show in the United States, and then return to Korea.

"Uggggh. Why does this feel like a vacation when we're promoting?"

"Because it practically is a vacation."

For Jiho, who had an intense movie shoot waiting in Korea, and for me, who had award ceremony schedules ahead, our current activities felt like a break.

If you could sleep nearly six hours, it counted as a vacation.

"Once the schedule's over, take some time to rest before leaving."

Seokhwan spoke.

"You'll be running nonstop from then on anyway. Jiho has the movie shoot, and Wooju, you have the Grammys and the Academy Awards……."

"That's nothing."

"You remember where you're going before that, don't you?"

"Ah."

I remembered something I had forgotten because of South America's sweltering summer weather.

-Whoooooosh!

A polar ecosystem where penguins waddled rhythmically.

I realized we would soon have to visit Antarctica for a special shoot.

"Are the preparations going well?"

"We've finished coordinating with the relevant government departments, so all you need to do is go. Honestly, your schedules are so packed that we considered pushing it all the way back to late February."

"Mm-hmm."

"But apparently, the weather in Antarctica becomes dramatically colder from late February onward."

"Oh dear…."

It seemed the current period was Antarctica's summer and therefore the most manageable time to visit.

Once I thought about the Antarctic shoot as well, Seokhwan's suggestion that we rest in Mexico carried even more weight.

I asked my younger members.

"What do you think? Should we rest for a bit before leaving? Is everyone okay with that?"

"I'd like that."

"I agree too."

"There's no reason to object. This is the right time to take at least one break."

And so we decided to finish filming the TV shows in Mexico, then relax at a resort.

[Welcome! You've finally come to Mexico!]

[Yes. We've really been looking forward to this visit.]

[NewBlack may not know this, but do you know one of the things Mexican people take pride in?]

[Having superhuman resistance to spicy food?]

[Ooooh~ Correct!! Then bring out the menu!]

The moment we saw tacos topped with green chilies, we knew.

[Hic!]

[Eek… Wow, this…….]

The heat was strong enough to raise our heart rates and make our faces burn the instant we took a bite.

It was the spiciest food we had encountered in any Latin American country we had visited so far.

After filming ended, we spent a long time gulping down sweet yogurt.

"Ugggggh……."

"Uggggh…."

Even after waking up at the hotel the next morning, we groaned for a long time, suffering as we took stomach medicine, but….

"I'm proud."

"……."

"I'm proud of you, my underlings. We all overcame this trial together."

"You created the trial! You created it!"

"Ri Hyuk, it hurts when you put it like that. The important thing is that we overcame it together, isn't— Ow!"

That morning, I learned that being struck by a cushion someone had thrown could hurt more than expected.

After soothing our heartburn with soup and yogurt from early morning, we visited Cancún, one of Mexico's most famous resort destinations.

"Wooooow."

Transparent water lapped gently beside a beachfront filled with surfboards and magnificent hotels.

The clear, sunny sky and pleasant temperature of twenty-three degrees made it even better.

"Waaaaaaaaah!"

People began gathering as soon as they spotted us, making me suspect peaceful rest would be difficult, but it was still wonderful.

I linked arms with my younger members and smiled brightly.

"Guys. We're really going to rest properly here before we leave."

"Sounds good."

"No music. No thinking about work."

"Absolutely no talking about work!!"

It seemed like a promise we probably would not keep, but merely staring at the sea was healing enough.

How wonderful would it be to lie motionless on a sunbed on the hotel terrace, close my eyes, and bask in the sunlight?

Laughter flowed throughout our meal at a famous restaurant in Cancún.

It truly felt as though we would be happy if we could rest properly for just a day or two.

And we really were happy.

But when we left the restaurant.

"……."

"……."

We all froze when we discovered that the windows of the vehicle we had arrived in were shattered.

TF team employees rushed over with the bodyguards.

"No, this……."

"Everyone, check your things. See if anything's missing."

Everyone examined the inside of the vehicle with stunned expressions.

There was nothing.

Many of the items we had loaded into the vehicle, including our personal bags, had disappeared.

The restaurant owner ran outside.

「Oh no… You've been robbed.」

The local coordinator working with us translated.

"He's asking whether your passports are safe."

"Yes. The passports are…."

Our managers always carried our passports on their persons, so there was no need to worry about those.

My laptop for composing was always stored in a secure safe wherever we went, so that was safe too.

"Still, none of the valuables……."

I was about to say that no valuables had disappeared.

Then I saw Ri Hyuk frantically searching every part of the vehicle.

"It's gone."

"……?"

"It's disappeared."

When Ri Hyuk turned around, his expression was so shocked that I unconsciously swallowed.

"What's gone?"

"Rabbit Uncle."

"What?"

The most important being among everything loaded in the vehicle had vanished.

"Are you sure it's gone? Check again…."

"I've already checked several times. The entire case containing Rabbit Uncle is gone. Wh-what… What are we supposed to do?"

"……."

A quiet silence followed.

I swept back my hair and turned toward the TF team leader.

"Seokhwan. Let's contact the police first."

"All right."

While Seokhwan spoke with the locals, murmurs rose around us.

Tourists and residents of Cancún watched from a distance, curious about what had happened.

Some were already filming us with their phones.

Within a few hours, a headline like "NewBlack's Vehicle Robbed" would probably appear somewhere like Hollywood Report.

"Brother……."

"Let's think calmly. Even if we've been robbed, we can't personally go and find the thief."

My thoughts were tangled.

We were not investigators, so we could not catch the thief ourselves.

I was thinking that we should first determine exactly what had disappeared and then speak with the local police.

That was when—

「Are you okay?」

「What happened? What's going on?!」

Shouts came from a distance.

When I noticed fans looking at us with worried expressions, something flashed through my mind.

Junghyun asked as I took out my phone.

"What is it, brother?"

"This is going to become public anyway, so I'm going to announce it properly and use that."

"……?"

"People kept gathering around us while we were traveling. Someone might have witnessed what happened."

I calmly held up my phone.

"Let's ask people for help."

An Instagram Live notification appeared.

As the idol group with tens of millions of followers began a live broadcast, fans quickly connected.

Oh! What's going on?

But the Wooju they saw was not smiling brightly.

Somehow….

"Uh……."

He looked sad.

Under the bright sky, Wooju looked into the camera with the other members, his eyes sorrowful, before forcing a smile.

What happened?

Wooju waved and greeted them in English.

[Hello, Souffles. We're currently in Cancún, Mexico, for a short vacation. But…….]

The phone camera turned and showed the van with its shattered window.

[Our belongings were stolen. We're currently waiting for the police, but we started this live broadcast because we wanted to ask for your help. If anyone witnessed what happened today or knows where our belongings might be…….]

A desperate look flashed through the handsome man's eyes.

[We'd like to ask for your help. We've lost precious things filled with our memories.]

He even mentioned that they would offer a reward to anyone who had seen something or could provide assistance.

Mexican Souffles watching the live broadcast clenched their fists.

What kind of trash ruined our boys' vacation…?!

We won't let them get away with this.

As people in the nearby area began heading out in person, several others who saw the broadcast lit up with interest.

"Oho……."

"They're offering a reward too?"

"What kind of garbage would dishonor Mexico like this…?"

People began moving after hearing the news.

Unfortunately for the thief…

It was the moment reality's genre began transforming into a manhunt.