Chapter 1187: Are they tears? No, they are sweat. (7)

Has anyone ever gotten physically affectionate with a large dog?

Anyone who has had one come charging over and leap into their arms will know.

It is exhausting.

The last time I played with the explosive detection dogs at the police tactical unit, I thought my back was going to give out.

Thud—

Except this time, the ones doing it were heavier than dogs.

"Ugh!"

"…Hyung!"

All four of them suddenly lunged at me at once, knocking the breath out of me.

Biju sniffled.

"I'm seriously touched, hyung."

"I'm usually so emotionally dry that I'm practically a sweet potato, so I don't cry much, but…."

"If that was the family photo you meant, you should've said so. I thought you meant your other family photo and got really worried. That one could always be taken again…."

"…."

"Yes. I'm trash with no empathy."

We burst out laughing at Ri Hyuk's breezy response.

The five of us were still hugging, filled with an indescribably emotional feeling, when—

Clap, clap, clap—

We heard applause.

The police chief stroked his mustache and clapped with a satisfied expression. The other officers wore similar looks.

We blinked.

What? Why are they applauding?

I think they misunderstood and think we're overwhelmed because they found our belongings.

….

When we stared at them blankly, they awkwardly lowered their hands.

Their eyes seemed to ask, Was that not it…?

Then one of the officers said something.

"Ah."

The coordinator translated.

"Unfortunately, they still haven't recovered the Uncle Bunny doll. They say they'll interrogate the culprits about it later."

"Ah, that's okay."

"Pardon?"

"We were contacted and told it had been found."

Rabbit Uncle had not been recovered through legal channels.

No.

It had not been found by a legitimate investigative agency, but by an organization connected to us.

"Phew."

Tanned bronze skin.

Sunglasses.

A short man whose body seemed packed solid with muscle stood before us in a Hawaiian shirt.

"My name is Eduardo."

The man, whose hands were lightly stained with dirt, offered us a handshake and fluttered his shirt.

"Go ahead and check."

"All right."

Sitting on the table was the box containing Rabbit Uncle.

Eduardo explained,

"Even while fleeing, those idiots apparently couldn't bring themselves to abandon the Uncle Bunny doll. They buried it deep in the front yard of their hideout. Fortunately, it hadn't been buried long, so the item wasn't damaged."

He added,

"Of course, someone from the insurance company will still need to inspect it…."

"It's fine."

The man explaining everything to us was a kind of fixer assigned by the insurance company.

Naturally, the reason he had recovered Rabbit Uncle was because the doll was insured.

[The world's only original Uncle Bunny.]

…That was how the doll had been listed on the policy.

We had insured it through a foreign insurance company, and the payout we would receive if it was lost was enormous.

Eduardo said,

"If this doll had disappeared, the insurance company would have had to pay you an extremely painful sum."

"I'm glad that won't be necessary."

"So am I. Then I'll be going."

With that, the man strode away… only to come back.

"?"

"Ah, my daughter is a fan. Please write, 'I love you, Mariana.'"

We burst out laughing and signed it for him.

After Eduardo gave us a cheerful thumbs-up and left, we looked at the box containing Rabbit Uncle.

Jiho asked,

"How did he find it? Is he some kind of detective?"

"No. There's a tracking chip in here."

Apparently, the box made by the insurance company had a location-tracking device that activated if it was lost.

I did not know exactly how it worked either.

Ri Hyuk said,

"I don't know how I forgot about that in the first place. It was in the policy terms."

"We all forgot."

"I didn't. I can't believe I forgot something like that. Once we get back, I need to train my memory techniques more."

While we listened, our youngest examined the box in admiration.

"A tracking chip. Insurance companies are seriously ruthless."

"Right? You can feel their determination to avoid any situation where they'd have to pay out."

Everyone was impressed.

Then I turned toward Junghyun, who had been staring silently at Rabbit Uncle.

"What's wrong, Junghyun?"

"It reminded me of the fortune I saw in the jelly book not long ago. You remember what it said, don't you? That what was lost would return."

"…."

The fortune from the jelly book flashed through my mind.

[What is lost will return one day.]

"Gasp."

Jiho covered his mouth with one hand.

"Goosebumps. Gooosebumps."

"Whoa, goosebumps."

"Did Jelly foresee even this?"

We looked back and forth between Rabbit Uncle and the Jelly Bible.

"Jelly was one step ahead of Rabbit Uncle."

"Definitely one step ahead."

The rabbit doll was clearly smiling brightly, yet somehow it felt as though it were cursing us with its eyes.

But Rabbit Uncle could not say anything.

"Cackle! Can't say a word, can you?"

"Your power's off, so you can't say anything, right~? No battery, huh?"

"Cacklecacklecackle!"

We were dancing obnoxiously in front of the rabbit doll and taunting it when—

Click.

Seokhwan hyung opened the hotel room door and came inside.

His eyes met ours as we danced mockingly in front of Rabbit Uncle.

"…."

"…."

Seokhwan hyung gave an awkward smile, closed the door, and went back outside.

What was this?

Why did I feel so humiliated?

Ri Hyuk placed a hand against his burning face.

"The look in our team leader's eyes just now was deeply insulting. It was the gaze of a normal person looking at abnormal people."

"Seriously. Anyone would think we're weird."

As we talked, we calmly gathered around the sofa.

Our voices rapidly died away.

Maybe it was because we were sitting somewhere soft, but as the tension drained from our bodies, the exhaustion we had been holding back came rushing over us.

"Wow."

Jiho lay down with the back of his head against my thigh. I leaned against Biju, while Biju tried to lean against Ri Hyuk, realized it was Junghyun, and pushed his face away.

All tangled together on the sofa, we stared up at the ceiling.

"Wow."

Ri Hyuk rubbed his eyelids.

"I'm seriously exhausted."

"Same."

"Now we can finally rest."

I felt as though I would fall asleep before counting to one hundred, so I told them,

"We can't sleep yet."

"Why not?"

"We need to thank the people who helped us."

"Ah. Right. Things were so hectic that I forgot."

On the way back from the police station, our managers had told us the full story of what happened.

The reason we had recovered our belongings was because of our fans.

The moment they saw my livestream, they had gathered and shared information in real time, helping the police catch the culprits.

Their information had apparently been so precise that the officers who went to the culprits' hideout said it felt as though they had received intelligence from a spy satellite.

"Hello, everyone."

We turned on a livestream from the hotel room and waved at the phone.

"We came because we wanted to share some good news with you. Thanks to your help, we were able to recover our belongings. Thank you so much."

I smiled.

"There were so many precious things in these bags. There were a lot of them, but this photo was the most precious thing to me."

I smiled as I held up the Polaroid.

While the members each expressed their gratitude, comments in various languages flowed across the screen.

Some were translated and others were not, so I could not understand all of them, but I smiled as I read the ones I could.

-I'm so glad.

-(tears) (tears)

-The bastards who ruined your vacation are going to be punished.

-I'm happy we could help. (tears)

-Guys lolololololol bring back Melona when you come home~ lol

Who was the Melona person?

I wanted to see the username, but it was swept away so quickly that I missed it.

Catching the Melona Souffle would probably be harder than catching our thieves.

Then another comment appeared.

-Are you leaving Mexico now?

I looked into the phone camera and said,

"We haven't even properly started our vacation yet. The beginning may have gone a little wrong, but we still want to make good memories in Cancun. According to Ri Hyuk…."

"It is a tourist city certified by the World Tourism Organization."

"Right. We plan to enjoy ourselves before we leave."

After ending the livestream, we got up together.

"What should we do? A museum? An ecological park? Surfing?"

"I'm good with anything."

"Can we go to a museum? Really?"

As we chatted cheerfully, Biju quietly spoke up.

"I'd like to try something a little different."

"Hm?"

"Hyung, you had that photo of us from Eulwangri. How about we take a new picture that all of us can call a family photo? It has been about five years, after all."

"Oh."

"We could all use it as our phone wallpaper, or profile picture, or profile background, or chat room background…."

"Ohooo…."

We looked at one another.

"What do you think?"

"I like it. Even though the trip started badly, it would be meaningful to end it with a good memory."

"I'm in favor too."

"How about taking it on the beach, just like five years ago?"

And so, the first activity of our Cancun vacation became a photo shoot on the beach.

Playa Delfines.

On the beautiful beach with its striking dolphin-shaped sign, we held up a selfie stick.

"All right, one, two, three!"

We tried taking pictures from several angles, but….

"Hmm."

"Mmm…."

We looked at the photos with ambiguous expressions.

They were definitely pictures of all five of us together, but somehow they did not feel complete enough to upload to social media.

We were wondering what we could do to fill in what was missing when—

"Dad! Aaaah!"

An American family ran laughing across the beach at sunset, holding hands.

The others and I watched them, then looked at one another.

"…You're all thinking the same thing as me, right?"

"Yes."

"Let's try a pose."

Soon, our figures appeared on the screen.

Perhaps because of the wind blowing in from the beach, all five of our heads of hair fluttered beneath the sunset-colored sky.

Even as we kept fixing it, the wind blew it out of place again.

"Hyungs, what should we say for the photo?"

"Hmm."

Junghyun made a suggestion.

"Since it's sunset, how about that one?"

"That one?"

"Yes, that one. Hyung, you start and we'll follow."

At that, I smiled brightly at the camera and held out my hand.

"Behold!"

"The freaking awesome sun—!"

On the beach bathed in the dazzling glow of sunset, the shutter clicked amid our cheerful laughter.

A new post appeared on NewBlack's social media account.

The Souffles read the caption.

[January 2019, our new family photo.]

They knew what the words family photo meant.

Wooju had called the picture taken five years earlier a family photo during the livestream.

So they took a new one this time?

…They thought.

Then the people who saw the photo fell silent.

"…."

"…."

It was because of the composition.

Five handsome young men smiled brightly and reached toward the camera.

The sunset and wind already made the image beautiful, but to the Souffles, it was beautiful in another way as well.

"Uh…."

Was it because of the composition?

Their outstretched hands looked as though they were holding the hand of the person taking the photo.

As though they were reaching out to those who were not physically there but whom they always thought of as being with them.

Tears welled in the Souffles' eyes.

What is this?

Of course, the message was not directed at any one particular person.

They knew it referred to the immense, conceptual idea of Souffle that existed in NewBlack's minds.

Even so, the fans heard the message clearly enough.

[January 2019, our new family photo.]

They read the caption over and over again as the image began appearing as phone wallpapers and in countless other places.

It was the moment a meaningful new photograph was born for the Souffles as well.

Meanwhile.

As was always the case with anything involving NewBlack, the butterfly effect of that day's incident was spreading in all directions.

The difference this time was that it had been created by the fans rather than the singers.

[In our next story, NewBlack had their belongings stolen while vacationing in Mexico. With the help of their fans, however, they managed to recover everything safely.]

Millions of fans had gathered in response to a singer's livestream request and helped catch the culprits.

"This is fascinating."

It was an extremely appealing subject to scholars who studied social phenomena.

People with absolutely nothing in common had gathered in a single space solely because they liked the same singers, forming an agora.

There were no rules, yet each person cooperated out of goodwill, shared their knowledge, and worked toward the best possible conclusion.

This would make an excellent new paper.

Scholars began their research with intrigued expressions.

Meanwhile, the story was moving the general public as well.

[What Happened to NewBlack in Mexico Today]

It was a highly unusual flash mob in which individuals gathered in an instant, offered their goodwill, then coolly dispersed without expecting any reward.

-My faith in humanity has been restored.??

-The pure devotion of fans is seriously terrifying lololol

-The way they coolly scattered the second it was over really leaves you feeling strangely emotional.

-Seriously, what were the thieves thinking?

-I'm just glad it ended warmly. In so many foreign tourist cities, the areas outside the tourist zones have terrible public safety.?

Videos about the incident appeared not only on Korean websites but also on MyTube, turning it into a major topic.

And some people took particular interest.

"Pardon?"

The Lemon Entertainment publicity team blinked at inquiries coming in from several OTT platforms.

"You want to make a documentary?"

"Yes."

The representatives' eyes sparkled.

It was exactly the kind of subject they loved.

"We think it could become something truly wonderful. A true story! A compelling incident involving pop stars! Isn't the process fascinating? NewBlack has their belongings stolen while on vacation, then safely recovers them with the help of their fans."

"Hmm."

"It even has the nature of a mystery, so it would be thrilling. We have already decided on possible titles. How does Saving Mr. Bunny or Saving Uncle Bunny sound? In Korean, perhaps something like Operation Uncle Bunny."

"Hmm."

The Lemon Entertainment publicity team smiled at the OTT representatives.

"We'll ask the singers whether they're interested."

"Before you refuse, perhaps you should hear the amount. This is what we're offering."

The publicity team looked at the figure written on the check and smiled seriously.

"We will definitely ask the singers."

"We look forward to good news. Heh heh heh."

As Lemon Entertainment smiled amid the competition between Netflix and various other OTT platforms eager for true-story content, the fan-created phenomenon continued to produce new developments.

At the same time, another butterfly effect created by the singers was unfolding.

It was a completely unexpected result of NewBlack's activities in South America.

The five members had toured several Latin American countries, introducing Korean food and competing against others.

The viewers across Latin America had been presented with spectacular Korean dishes.

And the one that attracted the most attention was….

-That meat looks really delicious.

-Is it spicy?? It doesn't look that spicy, but everyone seems to be struggling.

-If the hosts can eat it safely, it probably isn't as hot as habanero. I'd like to try it.

-Deliciously spicy food is always welcome.

One dish had made a particularly strong impression on Latin Americans, who enjoyed spicy and stimulating food.

It was New Bulgogi Baekban.

"Pardon?"

-Yes, ma'am. That's what has happened.

"You said you're exporting it… where?"

-The response has been overwhelming. We're planning to export New Bulgogi Baekban to Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and other countries.

Kim Deoksun blinked as she took a call from a New Bulgogi Baekban representative in Gunsan.

What in the world?

It felt as though she could hear her grandson laughing somewhere.

-Cackle! The filial Fireworks son has arrived!

No. What in the world…?

-Cacklecacklecackle!

She blinked at empty space, then asked the representative,

"I'm not very familiar with this sort of thing, so what exactly does it mean?"

-What it means is that you're about to be sitting on a pile of money, ma'am.

"Ah…!"

Only then did Kim Deoksun's stiff, blank face slowly relax, blooming into a smile.

"Cackle!"

-Ma'am? What was that strange sound just now?

"Ahem. It was nothing."

Kim Deoksun smiled primly.

Her investment in raising her grandson had been an enormous success.