Chapter 873: You’ve waited a long time, haven’t you? (2)

"Heh heh heh."

"Heh heh heh heh."

A slippery, unsettling kind of laughter.

It wasn’t coming from us.

"Heh...."

"Heh heh heh heh."

It was coming from our managers.

A group of men in their twenties and thirties huddled together on the lounge sofa on the sixth floor.

Scientifically speaking, these bizarre lifeforms were known as “managers,” and they were wriggling around with tablets in their hands.

"Kids."

Minki, the most senior among them, called out.

"At last, the time of judgment has come."

"Indeed it has, Team Leader."

"Lightning shall strike those who dared challenge our major shareholder. Heh heh heh."

"That’s right, Team Leader."

As the trio of road managers nodded, Wonseok opened the MyTube search bar.

Jiho asked me,

"What are the manager hyungs doing right now?"

"They’re trying to watch the teaser content that got uploaded to MyTube."

It was that video.

The one where I showed up as a surprise judge and handed out Biju’s cookies to the contestants.

Yochan, I’ve been really enjoying the show. Your rap is really good.

Ah, yeah. I know.

I don’t think I heard you properly. What did you say?

I said I already know I’m good at rapping. I didn’t ask to be evaluated.

The clip that contained the moment when a contestant named Bang Yochan picked a fight with me.

I’d only given a rough explanation, but the younger ones already seemed to know.

Jiho recalled the name.

"Ah! That Bang-something guy. The one who acted like a jerk to you?"

"You guys knew about it too?"

I didn’t remember telling them.

Ri Hyuk spoke up.

"The rumors already spread everywhere. We also heard what happened through the managers."

"No wonder something felt weird. I went to the broadcasting station to promote , and suddenly everyone was being so nice to me. I got excited for a second thinking I’d become cuter...! But it turns out it’s because of you. Take responsibility."

Huh? How did that conclusion happen?

Anyway, it seemed like everyone already knew.

Well, if even the broadcasting stations and entertainment reporters were buzzing about it, there was no way they wouldn’t.

"Seriously."

Ri Hyuk jabbed me in the side.

"You really don’t know how to tell us when stuff like this happens."

"I figured I didn’t need to mention something like that. You guys already have a lot to deal with."

"What if I went out and someone treated me like that? What would you do?"

"I’d remember their name."

I couldn’t take revenge, but if the chance came, I’d have to.

Ri Hyuk fumed.

"I was so pissed after hearing about it that I couldn’t sleep."

"You slept perfectly fine like a baby though."

"Hey!"

While the youngest members bickered, Junghyun held out some snacks to me.

"What’s this?"

"A gesture of comfort."

"Then give me two."

As I took two Banana Kicks, Junghyun said,

"If something like this happens, you should still tell us, hyung. I’ll get mad for you instead."

"Thanks."

As we talked, I glanced at Biju.

He was staring at the portal search results, quietly repeating the name as if committing it to memory.

"Bang Yochan...."

"Biju."

"Yes?"

"If you keep doing that, you’re kind of scary...."

"I’ll still remember it."

I laughed at the way he narrowed his eyes.

Judging by his expression, it seemed like he didn’t know about the part where the cookies got thrown in the trash. That was a relief.

"Mm...."

At that moment, Wonseok found the video.

"Here it is."

"You found it?"

"Yeah. It’s here."

Everyone gathered around the tablet.

With ten people breathing warm air into the same space, Wonseok clicked the video.

Next Mission [Episode 5 Preview] OMG Why Is Wooju Here?! #CameToGiveCookies #NewBlack #Legend

Scenes of me handing cookies to contestants in the studio, their eyes widening in surprise.

But...

"Huh?"

"He’s not there at all. That guy, what was his name?"

"You’re right. That Chan-whatever isn’t here."

The scene everyone had been waiting for was completely missing.

Only a full-shot glimpse of the team appeared—everything else had been cut.

Minki tilted his head.

"That’s strange. Didn’t they say the CP changed?"

"They did."

"Even if the CP changed, are they still protecting their own? They cut it out completely."

Jiho scrolled down with his finger.

There weren’t any notable comments either.

As everyone murmured in disappointment, Minki turned to me.

"...Why are you smiling, Wooju?"

"I don’t think it was edited out. I could be wrong, but considering the atmosphere back then, I don’t think the production team would cut it."

"Then?"

"If it wasn’t cut from MyTube, where do you think that footage went?"

At my words, everyone’s gaze shifted in one direction.

To the television showing the K-net channel.

Currently the most popular survival show on K-net, Next Mission.

Next Mission ranks No.1 in non-drama buzz... K-net is smiling

Next Mission’s Gye Hongju, what do we do with this cutie

“Unprecedented buzz” Kim Jihyuk X Heo Idam collaboration surpasses 1 million views

In truth, it wasn’t considered a particularly unique format.

Hip-hop survival shows had become extremely common since the 2010s.

The reason Next Mission stood out was simple.

The contestants are good-looking.

Everyone agreed.

Hands down the best-looking contestants in any hip-hop survival ever

Who’s the genius that decided to gather visuals and make a hip-hop survival show???? Take my praise

Visuals are top-tier

Idamㅠㅠㅠㅠ I emptied my savings for your birthday ads...

Hongju, let’s win first place and debut

With a solid average in visuals and several standout good-looking contestants, Next Mission naturally built a fandom.

Fans promoted the show, and casual viewers started sampling it out of curiosity.

That’s how it rose in popularity.

Of course, not everyone liked it.

Since when was hip-hop about faces

This is a complete mess, Korean hip-hopㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ now it’s all about looks huh

Ugh

I wanna smack the PD

Real men support Millie

Yochanㅠㅠ you’re our light

Honestly only Yochan has real rapper qualitiesㅇㅇ the rest sound like kids

Even those who claimed to hate it still watched.

Because it was provocative—and entertaining.

So the audience ranged from casual viewers to fans to hardcore hip-hop enthusiasts.

But—

"Wow."

Even regular viewers were shocked by how intense today’s atmosphere was.

Every community was flooded with posts like “Anyone watching Next Mission today?” with hundreds of comments.

The live comment section was exploding.

Cold Brown, Wooju appear as special judges... “Dream lineup”

If NewBlack appeared, ratings rose.

Add Cold Brown to that—

Judges who’ve topped Billboardㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ insane

This is way beyond survival show levelㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Unprecedented world-class lineupㅋㅋ

And they’re handsome (important) (highlighted)

Funny how people complaining about idol judges shut up after seeing the names

Ratings skyrocketed naturally.

‘Cold Brown judging Korean hip-hop... I have to watch this.’

‘This is already exciting.’

More ads than usual played.

After the long commercials, the broadcast finally began.

The first thing viewers saw was the preview.

[Today! Someone wins, someone loses.]

Crying and smiling contestants.

Nervous faces waiting for evaluations.

[The arrival of legends...!]

Cold Brown and Wooju appearing, contestants shocked.

"Mm?"

For a brief moment, Wooju’s smiling face went cold.

[A basic courtesy when speaking to someone is to look at them. Please show some manners.]

The internet exploded instantly.

????

I’ve never seen Wooju go serious before

The tension is insane

Who pissed him off that much

Unexpected tension shocked viewers.

"Wait, Wooju got mad?"

"Seriously? What kind of weirdo was there?"

"That Buddha-like guy...."

Messages spread rapidly.

[Hey turn on K-net right now]

[Wooju is pissed for real]

Viewers rushed in.

And just like that—

The ratings shot up.

As the broadcast continued, speculation ran wild.

Who is it?

This show is a mystery genre now

But no one guessed correctly.

Because Bang Yochan had always had a good image.

Until—

[Honestly...]

A red-haired rapper in a hoodie scratched his head casually.

[I don’t respect idol rappers. That’s not hip-hop. It’s just something girls like.]

[Don’t compare them to us. It feels off.]

[If we go on stage, I can crush them all.]

The viewers froze.

‘Yochan...?’

He looked like a completely different person.

Inferiority leaking through his tone.

Then the scene.

That’s Bang Yochan???

What is wrong with him??

Is he insane

The moment escalated.

And then—

[Mr. Yochan.]

Wooju called his name calmly.

[When people talk to each other, it’s polite to face them. Please mind your manners.]

The atmosphere froze instantly.

And just as viewers leaned in—

Flash!

[Continues in 60 seconds!]

A roar of outrage erupted across the nation.