Chapter 888: You’ve waited a long time, haven’t you? (17)

The Souffle refreshed the music site and burst into cheers.

"It’s up!"

A red-tinted album thumbnail came into view.

[NewBlack Full Album Vol. 3 : Insomnia]

An album packed with a total of 14 tracks.

"They really worked like oxen. Our boys."

Even recording one track a day would take two weeks.

Imagining how many composers must have been ground down to make this one album, the Souffle smiled with satisfaction.

With every refresh, hundreds of new comments flooded the review section.

"Huuuh...."

The 5-minute chart graph was shooting up like crazy.

NewBlack always broke records with every release, but even considering that, the numbers were overwhelming.

The problem was—

-Mango, Mango, did you die again

-Mango has passed away

-Mango at least let us listen to NewBlack before you die

-You bastard, you can’t die right nowㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Lag. Lag lag.

Every refresh made it stutter more until accessing the site became nearly impossible.

The Souffle swallowed their tears.

"They keep raising prices... but won’t upgrade the servers, these bastards."

Leaving the usual melting Mango behind, the Souffle moved to MyTube.

-MyTube! Hi!

And then—

-...crrk

-MyTube?

-crrk...

-No! At least show us the MV before you die!

MyTube was dead too.

Anyone who has tried course registration or ticketing could relate.

-Server time 18:00

You synced perfectly with server time before entering.

And yet—

[People in queue: 19,872]

[630,782 people ahead of you.]

You definitely clicked the moment the clock hit, yet it felt like the system was mocking you: "You’re way too late lol."

Staring blankly at the screen for five, ten minutes.

Then, with a half-given-up mindset, watching the queue count drop—10, 9...—until you finally got in.

Only to be greeted by completely full slots.

"I can’t take a required course—how am I supposed to graduate?"

"There’s no space."

Then the moment you miraculously find one spot and click—

[Capacity reached.]

[This seat has already been selected!]

"......!"

A system designed from start to finish to piss people off as efficiently as possible.

That was exactly how the Souffle felt right now.

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋthe MV dropped but we can’t watch it

-anyone actually on MyTube right now????ㅠㅠㅠㅠ why can’t I get in

-I can’t get in either

-I’m in but it’s 360p you bastards..

-I searched and it says abnormal traffic detected.. I’m doing crosswalk verification right now

-I have to prove I’m human just to watch the MV

-the person who made these crosswalk tests should be forced to do them when they urgently need the bathroom

-why is watching an MV this hardㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

The MV was out, but they couldn’t watch it.

Paris, Cairo, Cape Town, Sydney, Tokyo, Bangkok—fans from all over the world were flooding MyTube with traffic at the level of a cyberattack.

"You call yourselves a global company!"

Was it really okay for a global company to be this fragile?

The Souffle stomped their feet in frustration.

But not everyone failed to get in.

Just like ticketing, some people got lucky.

"Uh! Uh! Uh!"

"Huh? What is it?"

"I—I got in!"

The Souffle at an offline gathering erupted in cheers.

Puffy-faced fans crowded around the lucky one.

"Hoooo!"

A cyberpunk city glowing with green light.

As the scene zoomed in, boys living together on a rooftop came into view.

Young men in hoodies, like charismatic gang leaders of a back-alley crew.

And—

Just as they tried to see their faces—

Spin spin.

The MyTube loading circle turned, and suddenly the image blurred.

"What is this?"

"It says 180p."

"......."

But then the Souffle gasped.

"I—I can see them!"

"I can see their faces!"

Even at 180p, their faces were clear.

Among them, Wooju looked like 720p quality among 480p siblings.

"That’s insane."

"If I appeared in 180p, I’d look like a masked ghost."

"More like an egg ghost."

But only the faces were clear.

Everything else was blurry.

"This way we can’t see anything."

Someone suggested—

"Since we’re already in... should we try increasing the quality?"

"Yeah. Let’s try."

1080p felt risky, so after discussion, they chose 720p.

That would be enough.

Holding their breath, they selected 720p.

"Please!"

"I’ll study hard starting today, I swear. This is my 219th declaration, but I mean it this time."

"Junghyun! Give me strength!"

The red circle spun once or twice.

Then—

The quality upgraded.

"We did it!"

"It worked!"

It felt like getting LASIK—everything suddenly sharp.

They grinned and prepared to watch the MV.

No.

They tried to.

Spin spin.

The one who suggested changing quality lowered their head like a traitor.

Everyone else stared blankly.

"......."

"......."

In the end, it took another 30 minutes before they could properly access it.

"What is this... this defeated feeling."

Still, good was good.

Escaping the connection disaster, the Souffle re-entered the MV.

"It froze immediately."

Frozen at around 400,000 views.

And yet it already had 1 million likes.

After tapping like, they finally settled in to enjoy it.

[21:03]

A cyberpunk metropolis.

A massive clock tower glowing amid colorful lights.

And—

A slum on the outskirts, far from the dazzling skyscrapers.

Young men in worn hoodies sat there.

"Hm?"

The Souffle tilted their heads.

"That’s not how they look now."

Wooju, Biju, Junghyun—no big difference.

But Ri Hyuk and Jiho looked much younger than now.

"Was this filmed three years ago?"

Unused cuts from the Nine MV seemed to have been reused.

Scenes showing how the teenagers from Nine lived.

A rundown abandoned building.

A campfire instead of a boiler.

Cold and hungry figures.

[Rustle. Rustle.]

Jiho read a book.

An old comic book.

"Did they add CG?"

It looked composited.

After flipping through pages filled with "BOOM!" sound effects—

Jiho crawled under a worn blanket and fell asleep.

And—

"Whoa...."

The background shifted completely.

The electronic clock tower turned into an analog one.

A world even before Nine.

Bright, modern.

But—

"Why is the sun up at night?"

Something was off.

The sun never set.

People stayed awake forever, unable to sleep.

And among them stood NewBlack in suits.

"Guys!"

Dark shadows under their eyes.

A city of endless daylight.

As the song began—

The members dyed their hair in a world where everyone looked the same.

Dressed flamboyantly, boldly expressing themselves.

"Wow...."

A punk rock track started.

The moment the guitar riff hit—

"This is over."

"This is insane."

The song made them smile instantly.

The sense of liberation from Midnight Sun.

Like jumping at a rock festival.

"This is so fun."

"This would be great for karaoke."

There was also a strange thrill.

A song about boldly saying, "This is me."

"The MV is good too."

In a uniform city, suffering insomnia.

But once they revealed their true colors, their expressions brightened—and they began to sleep.

Then they became villains.

Freeing animals from zoos.

Stealing from corrupt tycoons and scattering money into the sky.

Tagging rooftops with paint.

And finally—

Throwing a bomb into the sky to create "night."

In the now-dark city, the third-verse climax choreography began.

"This is what stanning is."

The song, the visuals, the message—

Everything landed.

-It’s okay to step outside a little.

A theme about escaping societal expectations.

Even if it meant being seen as flawed or problematic.

"They must’ve been under a lot of pressure this time."

Constant success.

Rising expectations.

Sleepless nights.

And finding a breakthrough.

"Whether we succeed or not, our value doesn’t change."

"But they succeeded again."

The Souffle smiled warmly.

The comment section was already exploding.

-You see this? This is what happens when geniuses work hard

-This is insane

-All the songs are good

-Hyung is moved again

-If this came out before the Olympics closing, it would’ve been the ending song

-I want to sing this at karaoke but I probably can’t

-Perfect last song at karaoke

Even casual listeners felt the same.

-This really blew up!

Despite aiming for easy listening, Midnight Sun was their most mainstream track yet.

[Real-time Chart]

NewBlack - Midnight Sun

NewBlack - Villains

Kim Hajae - Hangover

NewBlack - BAD

NewBlack - Lullaby

A full chart sweep.

"Hmm."

One song stubbornly holding at #3.

Annoying—but ignorable.

"Whatever."

They moved on.

Release day.

"Hyung! We’re #1!"

"Well, that’s normal. Hahaha!"

They tried not to care about rankings.

But seeing the chart flooded in red—

"...hehe!"

"Stop laughing like that."

"Just laugh normally."

They laughed anyway.

Blew out candles on a #1 cake.

Danced.

Their usual routine.

This time, a new addition.

[NewBlack Fan Signing Event for Lemon Entertainment Employees]

A long line stretched in the cafeteria.

"Hello, Lawyer Kim Hyunjeong, right?"

"Yes!"

"What should I write?"

"Soft Rice Cake—it’s my nickname."

They signed albums.

"Are you comfortable working here?"

"It’s amazing... better than big corporations... I’m so happy..."

"I’m glad."

"My job is catching malicious commenters now—I love it."

They smiled.

Then—

"Please move along."

Park Gyuho guided them.

Fans kept coming.

Fake marriage contracts.

Cactus gifts.

Ri Hyuk in cat ears.

Laughter everywhere.

"Thank you all so much."

Biju spoke into the mic.

"And... we prepared something small..."

He pointed outside.

"Dinner. Beef."

Tears.

They rushed out.

Until—

"There are no seats..."

Shock.

"I forgot to include this constant in my calculations..."

"There’s a word for that, Ri Hyuk."

"What?"

"Smart idiot."

"Traitor."

"Bad person."

In the end—

A NewBlack-less NewBlack after-party.

They watched from outside.

Then ate twice in the cafeteria.

"Comeback plus concert prep isn’t bad."

"Yeah."

"At least we can eat."

They trained.

Ran.

Practiced.

The mood was lighter.

The album succeeded.

"Woohoo."

They checked charts.

#1.

#1.

#1.

Then—

Refresh.

[Real-time Chart]

Kim Hajae - Hangover

NewBlack - Midnight Sun

"Huh?"

China.

A room filled with humming computers.

"What do you mean?"

"They said don’t do anything this week."

"Why?"

"NewBlack comeback. It’ll be obvious."

A broker.

Connecting agencies to manipulation services.

"So we don’t get paid?"

"Not this week."

"That makes no sense."

Call ended.

"Only using us when convenient?"

"Continue as usual."

"But it’ll be obvious."

"So what?"

"...Okay."

They ran the macros.

"What could go wrong?"

Within 24 hours—

They realized they were completely wrong.