Chapter 819: Winning or Losing Doesn’t Matter (7)

Bitcoin.

An investment vehicle that has been red-hot this year.

"Ah. I should’ve bought some back when I was watching American dramas!"

According to the maknae, this wasn’t something that had just appeared recently.

"When I was in elementary school, it came up a lot in American shows. In crime series they’d go, ‘Bitcoin, Bitcoin,’ and hackers would say it was the currency of the future..."

"Then you should’ve bought some."

"I know! If I’d bought some back then, I could be living off making you guys work for me."

It felt like I had just heard an extremely rotten statement.

When our elementary-school maknae first learned about Bitcoin from American dramas, our main vocalist—who was a year older than him—had apparently actually mined it.

"Well. Back then it wasn’t worth much."

Ri Hyuk clicked his tongue.

"I just did it for fun, so I forgot about it... and then when I came to my senses, it had become worth that much."

"Wow."

"So I’m telling you not to feel pressured."

But my hands trembled as I received the hard drive from him.

Biju covered his mouth and burst into laughter.

"Look at Wooju hyung’s hands shaking."

"Biju. Then do you want to take it?"

I held out the hand gripping the hard drive.

Biju’s face immediately turned pale.

"Ugh! Don’t hold that out to me, hyung!"

"Then give it to meee. I can take it."

I shoved the maknae’s face away as he leaned in and guarded the hard drive.

Meanwhile, Junhyun slowly shuffled backward using what looked like pure butt muscle power.

"Junhyun. What are you doing?"

"I’m trying to put as much distance between me and that hard drive as possible."

"Good idea. Go about one more meter."

"Yes."

Shuffle shuffle shuffle.

Ri Hyuk scoffed.

"I mean, no matter how much Junhyun hyung breaks things—"

Right then.

As Junhyun stepped back, he bumped into Ri Hyuk’s bookshelf and books came tumbling down.

"......."

Ri Hyuk, who had been about to continue, shut his mouth and fell silent.

I cradled the hard drive safely in my arms like a cat.

"But...."

I asked again.

"Are you really okay with this?"

"With what?"

"I mean, even if you have plenty of money... this amount... it’s beyond that level."

"That’s just how I see things."

Ri Hyuk said,

"If I were in a tough situation right now, it’d be different. But I’m already earning more than enough."

"Still...."

"I think this is money beyond what I personally need. So if anything, I want it to be used for something good."

Embarrassed by the way we were staring at him, Ri Hyuk wrapped his arms around his knees and looked down at the floor.

His white socks with little puppies on them wriggled against the floor.

"Honestly, I’m pretty suspicious by nature."

"You are."

"It’s not just ‘pretty.’ I’ve never even gone into your rooms and you still accuse me of going in."

"You always ask if we stole your diary."

At Jiho and Biju’s pouting replies, I slowly turned my head.

‘Didn’t you go into their rooms and steal their diaries?’

‘Don’t know, don’t know. Underlings don’t remember things they did in the past.’

As I narrowed my eyes at their shameless denial, Ri Hyuk continued.

"...So I haven’t really donated much until now. I’m too suspicious. I’d keep wondering whether the money was actually being delivered properly. I figured I’d just keep worrying even after donating."

Then he looked at me.

"But I think I can trust it. To—"

"To?"

"If it’s a foundation you’re running, hyung."

More than the word hyung, what struck me harder was the word trust.

Why is my face suddenly so warm and tingly?

While I awkwardly scratched my cheek and avoided his gaze, Ri Hyuk cleared his throat.

"That’s why I’m handing it over."

"I see. Th-thank you."

"Yeah."

"......."

"......."

Unable to meet each other’s eyes, we both stared off into the distance while the other three started teasing us.

When a faintly sweet, awkward atmosphere began to settle in, Ri Hyuk spoke up to break it.

"Well. I also thought about the practical side."

"Practical?"

"At first I considered donating it outright, but our influence isn’t exactly small."

"True."

"I figured the side effects wouldn’t be minor."

He didn’t have to spell it out. We all understood.

NewBlack’s Ri Hyuk Donates Entire Bitcoin Investment... “We Want to Help Our Neighbors.”

At first, articles like that would come out.

But people always focus on the amount, not the act of donating.

I could already imagine the follow-ups.

Bitcoin Invested by NewBlack’s Ri Hyuk Gains Spotlight as ‘Next-Generation Currency.’

What Is the Bitcoin That Made Ri Hyuk So Much Money?

[Economic Info] Even the Nation’s Idol Invested in Bitcoin... ‘Now Is the Age of Blockchain.’

Those kinds of headlines would be like throwing gasoline on a fire.

"Wow! Ri Hyuk invested in it!"

"Sir, I’ve got a great investment opportunity for you. You know Ri Hyuk, right? Well, he invested in this and did something good with it."

"Honey, Ri Hyuk invested in this."

"If Ri Hyuk invested, there’s nothing to worry about."

Imagining news like that popping up all over the social pages, I could only nod.

It was a problem born from how big our influence had become.

As cliché as it sounds, with great power comes great responsibility. The bigger the influence, the more carefully we have to move.

"Not to mention, tying our image to money isn’t a good look either."

"I agree."

"So I’m planning to entrust it for the distant future."

I didn’t know when I’d establish the Eunmyeong Foundation named after Mom and Dad, but until then, he wanted to leave the money with me.

"Ri Hyuk has a point."

Nodding, Junhyun looked at me.

"Then what are you going to do, hyung? Even storing that won’t be easy."

"This...."

I didn’t need long to think.

"There’s a place I can leave it."

"Thank you for using our vault service."

The hard drive Ri Hyuk handed me was placed in a secure vault.

The same company that had safely stored my father’s sheet music and videotapes for twenty years.

So there was no need to worry about safekeeping.

If I had it my way, I’d even move the 19th-century gold coins currently stored in a domestic bank there too... but the regulations on exporting historical coins seemed complicated, so I gave up.

We can’t have headlines about Sunny smuggling gold coins.

"If it’s there, I can trust it."

Ri Hyuk looked satisfied when I told him it was stored in my father’s vault.

I smiled.

"Of course. We must store the coins given by our great Sir Ri Hyuk in a safe place, must we not?"

"Heh."

"Aren’t you thirsty?"

"Then pour me a glass."

I poured sparkling water into a wine glass and handed it to him carefully.

The underlings watched with jealous eyes.

"You’re using honorifics only for Ri Hyuk...."

"So hurt."

"Man, if I had coins too, I’d make Wooju hyung work for me with his toes."

I grinned as I carefully massaged Ri Hyuk’s shoulders.

"If you’re jealous, then treat me as well as Ri Hyuk does."

"Not wrong. No one treats you as well as I do."

"Indeed. Hahaha!"

"Uhehehehe!"

At my sycophantic laughter, the underlings only looked more annoyed.

As I worked out the knots in Ri Hyuk’s shoulders, I said,

"Don’t be too jealous. What Ri Hyuk just bought is only a one-day free pass."

"What?"

Ri Hyuk whipped his head around.

"This was a one-day pass?"

"Yeah."

"You said you’d treat me well from now on!"

"I meant I’d treat you well for the rest of today. Hahaha!"

As Ri Hyuk grumbled, the underlings clapped in complete satisfaction.

"That’s more like it."

"Wooju hyung is the icon of ingratitude. Who do you think we learned from? With a firstborn like that, how could we not be a mess?"

"Oh."

Junhyun muttered,

"Isn’t it ‘utter ruin,’ not whatever you just said?"

"Or was it something else...?"

"Wind... something...."

Wind... what was it again?

Like a sudden word-block collapse, I couldn’t remember it. The only thing that came to mind was the crab curry I had in Phuket recently.

As we chattered in that cheerful mood—

"Oh!"

The maknae excitedly pointed out the window.

"I can see the letters now! Stapler Center!"

"You mean Staples Center."

In the distance, the electronic sign was already gleaming.

[STAPLES CENTER]

A sports arena where NBA and hockey games are held—and today, the venue of the Grammy Awards.

We had a connection to it from our two-day world tour stop last year.

Biju murmured in awe.

"We’re back again like this for the Grammys after just a few months."

"Yeah."

I gazed at the venue drawing closer, feeling a strange swell of emotion.

For some reason, I’m especially excited today.

Regardless of whether we win, just attending thrills me.

Maybe it’s how an actor feels attending the Academy Awards for the first time.

The Grammy Awards, a feast of stars.

"Haah...."

At the sudden sound of a deep breath, I turned my head.

Mingi hyung and Wonseok hyung were sitting there, faces full of tension. We burst out laughing.

"Why are you more nervous than we are?"

"It’s the Grammys."

Mingi hyung said, trembling.

"Even back when I only knew about the Billboard charts, I knew about the Grammys. And we’re going there."

"Didn’t think we’d make it this far."

"If you keep shaking like that, we’re going to start shaking too."

At that, Mingi hyung and Wonseok hyung grabbed each other’s hands to calm down—

As if.

Bzzzzzz!

They vibrated like incoming phone calls. We just laughed.

"Y-you guys are okay?"

"We’re going to approach today with a light heart. There’s nothing we can do here that would change whether we win or not."

Jiho grumbled that I kept talking about fishing, since I’d said I learned how to let go of pressure through fishing.

"And it’s Blue Moon, not METRO."

The song we worked on with Hailey Blue in 2016 was the one nominated at this year’s 2018 awards.

There had been predictions that METRO, which we released last year, might also get nominated in the U.S. Its performance alone made that possible.

But true to the Grammys’ history of rarely nominating or awarding boy bands, it didn’t make the cut.

"Let’s not feel burdened."

"Just relax."

It was a collaboration track.

And considering Hailey’s past history of cursing out the organizers, the odds were even lower.

Basically the worst relationship possible.

If I were the one giving the award and the Hashimoto father-and-son duo came up asking, "Are we receiving the award?" I’d probably stuff fireworks into the trophy.

"Pew!"

‘Oh no, the trophy’s flying away!’ I pictured them panicking, and couldn’t help laughing.

Anyway.

For those reasons, we planned to enjoy the awards comfortably today. We didn’t even have a performance scheduled.

Biju nodded.

"It’s already amazing that we’re part of the main ceremony."

"Right."

The important thing was that we were participating in the main Grammy Awards ceremony.

When people think of the Grammys, they usually think only of the main show—but that’s not all there is.

Aren’t there something like eighty categories?

There are so many awards that they can’t present them all during the main ceremony, so most are handled at the Premiere Ceremony.

The winners give speeches there too, and there are congratulatory performances.

The difference is that it’s not televised, so it gets less attention than the main show.

Most nominees in both ceremonies attend only the main ceremony, since they need to prepare for the red carpet before the Premiere Ceremony, which is held a few hours earlier.

"I wanted to see the Premiere Ceremony too...."

Many American singers, engineers, and composers I closely followed would appear there, so it was a shame.

So many top-tier talents we could have kidnapped for our album, and we couldn’t go.

As I smacked my lips in regret—

"We’re almost there."

As the red carpet venue packed with reporters and fans approached, the underlings and I clasped hands.

Bzzzzzz!

As we vibrated together, the two managers who had been hugging and shaking asked,

"You said you’d enjoy it comfortably?"

"......."

We just smiled quietly and kept trembling.

The 60th Grammy Awards.

"Hey!"

"Sunny! Sunny!"

We posed in front of the photo wall filled with the gramophone-shaped Grammy logo.

"The New Black is here!"

Reporters with wide smiles and cameras greeted us with exaggerated reactions.

It was similar to other American award shows we’d experienced.

We answered how it felt to attend the Grammys for the first time, and responded to questions about the recently hot documentary.

"This time, Sunny, do you know that your video has become a huge topic? It’s racking up incredible views on MyTube."

"It’s embarrassing."

"Don’t be shy! You should be proud."

It was the 2013 Good Samaritan video that had spread across social media thanks to the documentary.

In a country where mentioning the word hero can get someone into the National Assembly or into movies, that part drew high interest.

While the members answered warmly—

"How does it feel to attend the Grammys, Sunny? I heard your late father attended as well."

"That’s right."

Dad had been nominated several times in the Grammy jazz category.

Of course, he never won.

Considering how much controversy there had been in recent years about discrimination against Black artists, the 90s must have been...

"Though it’s a different field, I feel truly honored to attend an awards ceremony my father once visited."

After giving the usual lip service about the Grammys being the world’s greatest awards show, we finished the interview.

Soon, we entered the main hall.

"Waaaaaah!"

"Hi, Souffle!"

"Kim Deoksun! Kim Deoksun!"

"As expected of Souffle."

After exchanging greetings with Souffle, we faced the blue-haired fairy sitting at our table.

"It’s been a while, Hailey."

"You’ve been well?"

We hugged lightly and caught up.

It was our first meeting since talking about the song Popsicle! that we featured on at the end of last year.

"Thanks to your feature, I was able to promote like crazy. Now let’s drain the fans’ pocket money together."

"......."

"Hm. Too blunt for greenhouse grass, was it?"

A singer consistent in her personality.

The pop star with the fairy-like face and mischievous smile said,

"Anyway, do your best with the promotion this time."

"Don’t worry, Hailey. We came prepared."

After the Grammys, we planned to sing together at a promotional performance.

As we talked business—

"I find it strange."

I tilted my head.

"They should be arriving around now... but I don’t see many of the attendees."

Several familiar faces were missing.

Famous rappers like Cold Brown and Big Morgan, and even that male rapper in the pink dress we’d seen before.

The hip-hop artists currently dominating the U.S. charts were noticeably absent.

Hailey nodded.

"The Grammys pulled their nonsense again."

"What?"

"Cold got completely snubbed this time."

"You mean Cold Brown?"

A top-charting rapper.

Not just a skilled rapper, but also strong in singing, dance, and overall performance.

And musically respected as well—his album last year was unanimously praised by hip-hop listeners as a masterpiece.

So he had been highly likely to be nominated for Album of the Year.

He wasn’t nominated in the main categories at all.

"You know Cold got snubbed, right?"

"...I didn’t really understand the nomination criteria."

"So the hip-hop crowd said screw this and declared they wouldn’t show up. If this is how you’re going to run it, you can do it yourselves."

It seemed that hip-hop artists and other Black musicians had declared they wouldn’t attend.

That explained why it felt so empty.

As we whispered about it—

"The main ceremony will begin shortly. Please take your seats."

The red lights on the major U.S. network cameras flicked on as the main ceremony began.

The host, a famous comedian, delivered his opening monologue.

Then the opening stage by Kelly Nelson, the British singer-songwriter currently being pushed in the U.S.

And after that—

"Next, we will present Best Pop Duo/Group Performance."

As the presenter for our nominated category walked out, my heart began pounding.

I couldn’t even hear the famous actor’s introduction clearly.

My vision turned white as my heart thudded.

I licked my lips and clasped hands with the members under the table.

"Let’s meet the nominees!"

Our hands twitched beneath the table as we watched the VCR play.

Music clips accompanied by album thumbnails.

The order moved forward.

[Mandy Spice and Regina — Hold Your Breath.]

[The Sailors — Strong Enough.]

And then.

[Hailey Blue and NewBlack — Blue Moon.]

Souffle erupted in massive cheers on site.

In that atmosphere, the presenter returned to the stage and opened the envelope.

Without a hint of tension, two names left his mouth.

"And the Grammy goes to...."