Chapter 1212: Soaring (12)

Around the same time.

Wonder Comics fans were raising a toast.

[Secret Agent 3 Super Bowl Trailer]

Comments flooded into a post where superhero movie fans had gathered.

-We’re finally getting Nightmare on the big screen. (crying)(crying)(crying) My wish has finally come true. [Likes 335]

-The casting for Nightmare is perfect. His voice has incredible resonance. [Likes 131]

┕He’s a veteran voice actor with years in animation.

┕Completely agree. I was overwhelmed by his charisma.

-Are the producers insane? They killed the heroine in the first movie, killed the heroine in the second, and now they’re going to do it again in the third? If they kill Mia, I swear I won’t let them get away with it. [Likes 22]

┕Exactly. Please don’t turn Edwin into a lone wolf. Doesn’t he deserve happiness by the third movie?

┕The producers must be sociopaths.

-Looks like the director was right when he said this would be the darkest story in the series.

To an ordinary person, the reactions might have raised the question, Are these people actually happy right now?

But translated into fan language, it was essentially a glowing sign that read:

『☆ Deeply emotionally invested. Please do not disturb ★』

Fans talking excitedly enough to spray saliva was an excellent sign.

It proved they were immersed.

There were countless Wonder Comics fans who had already forgotten all about the Super Bowl and were analyzing every frame of the trailer down to the smallest detail.

-Nightmare being imprisoned in a laboratory has to be connected to the secret organization known as the Ring. If you zoom in on the logo printed on the lab coats, there’s a circular shape.

-My personal theory is that the protagonist’s comrades or lover won’t die this time.

┕Then what?

┕I think Edwin will sacrifice himself and die.

┕That’s a demonic idea. But it’s convincing. There have been a lot of rumors that Chris Kyle wants to leave the series.

┕Well, if your wife is Hayley Blue, who cares about movies? He could just live a life of leisure.

-Friends, I’m truly proud that you’re talking about a movie while the Super Bowl is still going on. [Likes 499]

┕Who cares about the ball game played by the bullies who used to torment me? (laughs)

Amid that atmosphere, the person receiving the most attention alongside main villain Nightmare was NewBlack’s sub-vocalist and actor.

Interest was so high that he even got his own thread.

[About Jiho’s Role]

Who do you think he is?

The trailer featured a mysterious character.

Even on IMDb, there was only a casting notice for the NewBlack member, with no role name listed, making it difficult for ordinary viewers to guess.

But the fans had more than a decade of experience behind them.

-I swear on the 1995 limited-edition issue of Secret Agent. He’s Shadow Master. [Likes 694]

-That is one hundred percent Shadow Master. [Likes 311]

Shadow Master.

Secret Agent had originally focused on stories about fighting communist spies, but after the fall of the Soviet Union left the series without suitable villains, he had been one of the characters the publisher hurriedly created to fill the gap.

A gentleman thief with shapeshifting abilities who went around stealing treasures from other villains.

His nationality had never been explicitly established, but he was presumed to be broadly Asian.

He had the vague feel of a villain from somewhere in the Third World, such as China or India, with the details deliberately left indistinct.

-I think the trailer handled it well. Shadow Master and Edwin are always bickering. Their relationship has a bit of an Arsène Lupin and Sherlock Holmes dynamic. [Likes 33] [Dislikes 399]

┕As an aside, please stop pairing Lupin and Holmes. As a Sherlockian, I find it offensive.

-Looks like they adapted him into a Korean character now that Jiho is playing him? It doesn’t feel Japanese samurai-inspired.

-Who cares about nationality? Shadow Master is appearing. That’s what matters!

-Nightmare and Shadow Master together? My chest is going to explode. The third movie is going to be the true highlight of the Wonder Comics saga.

The overall mood was one of excitement.

Nightmare, the new villain appearing in the movie, and Shadow Master were both among the characters beloved by fans of the original Secret Agent comics.

A guaranteed good time!

Every long-running series, whether a comic or drama, had characters like that.

Unlike the protagonist’s allies, who exchanged predictable lines with him, these characters made things entertaining merely by appearing.

Nightmare was popular because he pushed the protagonist to his psychological limits and made the story more gripping.

Shadow Master, meanwhile, delighted readers with his ambiguous relationship with the protagonist, always seeming as if he might cooperate with him but never quite committing.

In any case, the general consensus among the Wonder Comics fans who saw the trailer was as follows.

-I’m looking forward to the end of the year.

-Wonder may have had a few ups and downs lately, but just look at the trailer for the third movie. The age of Wonder will continue forever.

There were also occasional comments about NewBlack’s Jiho, who played Shadow Master.

-Sorry, friend. I apologize for the nasty things I typed when they first announced your casting. [Likes 149]

-I wasn’t insulting him in the first place. If any of you had watched Korean Horror Stories on NetPlus, you would already know what a great actor he is. He was ready for this. [Likes 44]

┕I was about to say the same thing. Damn it. When is season three coming out???

┕Anyone who hasn’t seen it should absolutely watch it. It’s one of the best dramas out there for horror fans.

┕He wore an incredible costume for Halloween not long ago. Best drama ever.

-After seeing Fang in Guardians 2 recently, I thought that guy should have come to our franchise instead, but now I don’t regret anything. [Likes 55]

The fans who had initially watched with skepticism were now giving him a thumbs-up.

Of course, they would not know the specifics of his acting or character portrayal until the movie was released, but for now they were quite satisfied.

While the Wonder Comics fans smiled contentedly,

“……”

“……”

There was another fandom watching from a distance, trembling silently.

Damn it!

I’m jealous!

They were Silver Comics fans.

We know how to enjoy being fans too…

The fandom had recently become highly excited after a post-credits scene for Guardians 2 was released.

They had been thrilled to finally receive a hearty meal after so long, but the problem was the house next door.

Happiness was relative, after all.

What if you were happily eating a piece of bread, only to look through the window and see your neighbor sitting before an entire feast?

They were unbearably jealous, envious, annoyed, and irritated by the confidence with which Wonder had unveiled a trailer during the Super Bowl before a hundred and twenty million viewers, and by the excitement surrounding such a major franchise.

That was why all the fans were already taking old material out of the freezer and reheating it in the microwave.

[Shall We Talk About the Post-Credits Scene Again?]

While the house next door enjoyed a buffet, they were literally nibbling on a single cookie.

They had chewed it so much that they could no longer even taste the sweetness.

But as always, the debate grew heated.

-By the way, what do you think Fang’s power will be in this movie? It would be nice if he could use the abilities of every animal like in the comics, but that could make the movie horribly unbalanced. His combat level would be too high. [Likes 9]

-Maybe his power is controlling animals, like we saw in the post-credits scene. [Likes 11]

-But let’s think about this seriously. I’ll explain my opinion in the replies. [Likes 33]

Someone posted a lengthy response.

┕The grand cinematography of the post-credits scene was overwhelming, but the more I think about it, the more questions I have. Controlling animals is impressive. But there aren’t that many large land mammals like elephants or lions. Humans make up thirty-five percent of all mammalian biomass.

┕On top of that, humans have nuclear weapons, tanks, and other weapons. Even if he mobilized every animal on Earth, it would be difficult to wipe out more than seven billion people.

Some criticized the argument for being overly realistic, but it was still one of the questions the fans themselves had wondered about.

It was the kind of thing that subtly bothered them.

For example, no one thought twice when a superhero movie fired a railgun that did not exist in reality, but if a super soldier took a direct hit from one with bare skin and walked away unharmed, something about the laws of physics suddenly felt wrong.

Even allowing for cinematic license, it was still the sort of thing that made people pause and wonder.

-Aren’t you only thinking about large animals? What if Fang uses smaller creatures like ants or mosquitoes? [Likes 1]

-Mosquitoes carrying malaria would be incredibly dangerous, but from a cinematic standpoint, wouldn’t that look extremely lame?

-That’s true.

-Supervillain: Ha ha! My superpower is controlling mosquitoes to spread disease among humanity!

┕That would genuinely be terrifying, but I absolutely do not want to see it in a movie.

-What about microorganisms?

The fans were busily turning their own mental gears to patch holes in the movie’s setting when someone came rushing in and shouted.

-Everyone!!! Look at the TV! Our trailer is on!

Everyone hurriedly turned toward the television.

They were glad they had left it on just in case.

Boom—

A gray sea.

On an ash-colored beach, a man crouched beside a blue whale.

Ah! It’s that scene!

The final part of the post-credits scene.

To someone unfamiliar with it, the image was intriguing enough to make them wonder what was happening.

[……]

The waves crashed as the man’s profile came into view.

Hair tangled like a beast’s mane.

Bloodshot eyes.

With hands covered in rough scars, he stroked the body of the dying whale.

“Hm?”

“What is this?”

“Is it a movie trailer?”

Ordinary viewers tilted their heads, unsure whether it was an environmental campaign about protecting marine life or a film trailer.

Then the man’s face was revealed, and everyone recognized him.

“Isn’t that Sunny?”

“Oh.”

“Is this a movie trailer? But isn’t he a singer?”

While a hundred and twenty million viewers watched in confusion, the fans’ hearts caught fire.

Thump. Thump.

The villain closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to the whale’s body.

As though trying to ease its pain.

The sight of the dying whale’s empty eyes and the villain sitting before it filled everyone with an inexplicable solemnity.

[……]

With a look of determination, Fang raised his hand and placed it on the whale.

Green light, like the glow of life itself, flowed from his palm and began seeping into the blue whale.

Life returned to its vacant eyes.

Then—

Twitch.

A mutation began.

Like a moth emerging from its cocoon, the whale’s enormous body grew even larger as the sound of transformation echoed.

At the same time, the screen went black.

“……”

“……”

Everyone swallowed under the unexplained tension.

Then Fang’s growling voice echoed across all of North America.

[Rise.]

A massive roar answered him.

A gigantic whale-like monster, Leviathan, soared into the sky and fired a brilliant beam of light like a cannon.

Everyone’s eyes widened.

[THE GUARDIANS II]

Silver Comics fans leapt onto their sofas and screamed in triumph.

The trailer had only lasted thirty seconds.

“What movie was that?”

“Is it a monster movie? That looks exactly like my kind of thing…”

“I think it’s a superhero movie. Two? There was a first one?”

“Is Sunny the villain??? Does anyone know this movie? I need to know who that sexy villain is right now.”

Airing during the Super Bowl before more than a hundred million viewers had certainly delivered the desired promotional effect.

“Wooooooow!”

“Sun Wooju! Sun Wooju!”

I smiled awkwardly amid the cheers of the Hollywood staff.

My younger members were roaring too.

“You did us proud! Our eldest!”

“I contributed about 0.3 percent to raising this man. Heh. If he were a bag of potato chips, that would be enough to write ‘contains Ri Hyuk flavoring’ on the package.”

“I need to get a high-resolution screenshot of that!”

I smiled contentedly among the underlings bouncing around and shouting that their eldest member looked beautiful.

Judging by the real-time online reactions, it was receiving about as much attention as Secret Agent 3.

Until now, even when Silver Comics poured everything into promotion, its films usually received only around thirty percent of the attention Wonder Comics movies did.

Holding its own against the rival studio’s flagship franchise to this extent was undeniably a success.

“What do you think, Jiho?”

I wrapped an arm around the youngest member’s shoulders.

“Tteokbokki? Or tteokbokki with Cheongyang chili peppers?”

“Neither.”

Jiho snorted.

“I can call this a draw. Besides, the whale had more impact in this trailer. I can be jealous of you, but being jealous of a whale would make me look pathetic. Heh.”

What mattered was not which one of us won.

Both superhero movies were generating enormous attention.

Lee Gyeonwoo said,

“I haven’t watched many Silver movies, so I don’t know much about them, but I definitely want to see Guardians 2.”

“I’ll make sure to invite you to the VIP premiere, Senior.”

“No, no. I want to wear a mask and watch it alone in an empty theater during a late-night screening.”

“Kyaha! That’s fine!”

“It’s not fine for me…”

The response must already have been strong, because a message arrived from Director John Edwards.

[I told you, didn’t I? It came out pretty well. (smiling emoji)]

Jiho’s phone kept lighting up too, apparently flooded with messages.

“Wow. I think I’ve gotten over a thousand messages. I’m not joking. It really feels like that many.”

Considering that the Super Bowl had more than a hundred million viewers, it seemed entirely possible.

In any case, it was cause for celebration.

We still had a long way to go, but attracting this much attention so early in the long promotional campaign typical of superhero movies was a very good sign.

“Let’s do our best, Jiho.”

“I’m seriously going to put my soul into it.”

We smiled happily, excited to give it everything we had.

As the commercials ended and the final quarter of the Super Bowl began, my phone lit up.

Jang Hanbyeol [I’ll work hard.]

I blinked at the original underling suddenly declaring his resolve as though he had been eavesdropping beside me.

…What is he talking about now?

Around the same time.

While North America was in an uproar over the Super Bowl, people in Korea were going about their ordinary routines.

News of the trailers featuring two NewBlack members had only begun spreading through a small part of Korean social media, so most people still knew nothing about them.

A different piece of NewBlack news was attracting far more attention.

“Did you see that? Wooju’s house?”

“I did. It was insane.”

It was the news that NewBlack’s Wooju had acquired a house in America.

And he had not bought it himself.

He had received it as a gift.

On Instagram and elsewhere, photos appeared under captions such as [The House Wooju Was Gifted This Time].

“Wow.”

A magnificent chandelier.

A vast dining room.

A rehearsal room.

A fountain.

Various photos taken during parties Cold Brown had held there in the past.

-The Rap Emperor is on another level, seriously lololol

-Forget the magpie repaying kindness. Now we have Cold Brown repaying kindness.

-How much is eight million dollars?

-The upkeep is insane anyway lol. After living there two or three years, he’ll probably spend more than the house cost. Being rich enough to maintain it is the more impressive part.

-Brother, please give me five billion won. That is not a typo.

-He gave him a house and got a Grammy in return, damn. Honestly, that still sounds like the more profitable deal lololol

-The man’s worth eight hundred million dollars, so that house is probably around one percent of his fortune.

Everyone nodded and laughed.

It probably was the more profitable deal.

Cold Brown had undoubtedly shown tremendous generosity, but considering Wooju’s potential and value, it somehow felt understandable.

“I should’ve learned composition when I was young too.”

“Our faces wouldn’t have made the cut. If we’d learned, we’d be standing behind Wooju like that Lemon composer guy.”

“Hey, that would still be an insanely successful life.”

People laughed as they talked.

But there were two people who could not laugh.

“……”

“……”

Two young men stared at their phones from separate locations.

One was a handsome man with sharp features and bright red hair, frowning at the article.

Han Taehyun scratched his cheek.

…An eight-million-dollar house.

In the building across from him, another handsome young man with the refined appearance of a wealthy heir stroked his chin as he stared at his phone.

This won’t be easy.

The two men, both dreaming of repaying Wooju someday, fell into thought for a while before looking toward one another.

Or rather, to be precise, the men inside TJ Entertainment and Lemon Entertainment looked toward each other’s buildings and smiled ambitiously.

I’ll have to become one with that company.

The TJ building. I’m going to buy it someday. Heh heh heh!

Their dreams were alike, yet entirely different.