Chapter 909: Hey, where is this? Yes. This is Newniverse. (9)

Souffle screamed in unison.

“Waaaaaaah—!”

Fans waved their light sticks wildly in excitement.

Their hearts pounded.

‘I saw White Night right in front of me.’

‘White Night...!’

A distance of less than five meters.

Seeing White Night up close—close enough to hear the singers’ breathing—was truly shocking.

‘This feels completely different from watching it on camera!’

There was a vividness they had never felt through music show broadcasts.

On top of that, the raw, live voices of the singers.

“Waaaaaaah......”

As fans covered their mouths, teared up, or clapped—

The NewBlack members, having finished the White Night stage, wiped their sweat and dropped down onto the floor.

“Ahh, man.”

“Everyone, this is harder than it looks.”

The members took bottles of water handed to them by the staff and quenched their thirst.

After gulping down water, Wooju looked at the fans and asked,

“How is it? Seeing it up close?”

“It’s amazing!”

“Right? It’s insane, isn’t it?”

Jiho spoke.

“We talk about this all the time among ourselves. That it’d be great if fans could see our stage up close like this.”

“It really feels different compared to watching through a camera.”

The fans nodded in agreement with Ri Hyuk’s words.

Then Wooju, as if struck by a good idea, asked,

“Should we do performances like this sometimes? Like our small theater tour back in 2016—select fans by lottery and hold shows like this occasionally. Performances where you can see NewBlack right up close.”

“That sounds great!”

“Sounds like a good idea, right? It’s been a long time since we did something like a mini fan meeting.”

Every time NewBlack tried to hold a mini fan meeting near a broadcasting station, nearly a thousand people would gather, making it impossible.

There simply wasn’t a venue that could accommodate that many people.

To even attempt one, they would need a venue the size of Jangchung Gymnasium at minimum.

“Maybe we should ask the TF team—”

Just as Wooju was saying that—

He suddenly stopped, as if the staff had signaled something.

Souffle also turned their heads toward Gu Jaeyoung PD, who was seated in front of the camera.

“Um...”

Gu Jaeyoung PD spoke carefully.

“Could the fans turn off their light sticks for a moment?”

The fans realized at once.

“Oh...!”

“Yes!”

“Ah, right... these are really bright...”

Souffle were used to what people jokingly called “light blast,” but ordinary people weren’t.

Gu Jaeyoung PD smiled.

“It’s not that our eyes hurt. We work under stage lights all the time, so we’re used to that level of brightness. The problem is...”

He pointed outside the window.

“The local residents were quite startled.”

“......”

“You can hear it now, right? The dogs barking outside.”

Everyone fell silent and listened.

Faint barking sounds—woof, woof!—could be heard, and Souffle made awkward expressions.

“One resident said they thought there was a lighthouse. It’s dark out there, but something’s shining so brightly...”

Everyone, including NewBlack, burst into laughter.

After the lively laughter died down—

“Alright.”

Wooju looked around at the fans.

“We’re going to sit down now... can you still see us in the back? Let’s spread out a bit.”

“We’ll adjust the seating a little.”

Souffle had a fairly balanced gender ratio.

Roughly 40% male, 60% female.

Taller fans moved to the back, while shorter ones sat in front.

“Can you see well? First row?”

“Yes!”

“Second row?”

“Yes!”

They sat in two rows, forming a semicircle around NewBlack.

Meanwhile, Wooju received instrument cases from the manager.

‘That’s a lot...?’

As fans watched with sparkling eyes, Wooju pulled out a guitar.

His pale, slender fingers gently plucked the strings as he spoke.

“You’re probably wondering why you’re here, right?”

“Yes.”

“It must’ve seemed strange. We said it was a driver’s license special, but there’s barely anything related to driving, right?”

Everyone nodded.

They hadn’t actually been taught how to drive, nor had there been a long drive.

NewBlack nodded as well.

“That’s right. Everyone—driving was just a pretext.”

“We used the driver’s license theme as an excuse to meet you.”

Souffle burst into laughter.

Wooju continued.

“That’s literally it. Driving was just an excuse—this shoot was planned because we wanted to meet you.”

His gaze slowly swept across the fans.

“Thanks to you, we’ve been achieving incredible results, right? But as time goes on, it’s getting harder to meet you. And by that, I mean...”

His eyes sparkled as he searched for the right words.

“I mean it’s getting harder to spend time face-to-face like this.”

It was the dilemma of a popular artist.

The more popular they became, the larger their concerts grew, and the harder it became to communicate directly with fans.

NewBlack, after all, drew millions of viewers just by going live.

“I’m someone who always prefers meeting people in person when it comes to work. For example, if there’s a designer involved, I meet them first before working together. I need to know what kind of person they are.”

“That’s difficult for me.”

Ri Hyuk added, and Souffle laughed.

Wooju continued.

“I really love communicating. But... once the number of people exceeds a certain point, it becomes hard to make it truly two-way. It turns into one person talking to everyone.”

As he spoke, Souffle began to understand why this special had been planned.

‘He wanted to talk to us.’

What fans usually thought.

How they felt watching the performances.

Conversations that couldn’t happen through brief fan signings or online interactions.

Wooju grinned.

“Of course, we can’t leave out music, right?”

He snapped his fingers, and a soft guitar melody flowed out.

The members of NewBlack smiled brightly.

“We’re taking requests!”

“Really, anything is fine. Songs from other idols, trot, even children’s songs.”

As he said that, Ri Hyuk raised his hand.

Wooju turned.

“What?”

“I want to give instructions first.”

Ri Hyuk pulled out an A4 sheet.

It was neatly organized like a blueprint.

“Emergency exit instructions.”

Seeing that, Wooju went “Oh!” and started strumming.

To the familiar tune of a cinema safety announcement, the members added background vocals—“lalalala~”—making everyone laugh.

While Ri Hyuk explained emergency procedures—

“Ah.”

Biju spoke.

“If anyone needs to go to the restroom, you can quietly step out and come back.”

“We’ll pretend not to notice!”

Sensitive fans visibly relaxed.

‘That’s a relief.’

They had been worried about what to do if they needed to leave midway.

After finishing the instructions, Wooju asked again,

“You’ve had enough time to think of requests, right? We’ll play everything you want to hear!”

Soon, song requests poured in.

Especially for Ri Hyuk.

“That star, that wind!”

“Goblin Fire from Ghost Flower OST!”

Many of them were drama OSTs.

An unspoken consensus formed among Souffle.

‘We need to hear songs that only had audio releases—live!’

Ri Hyuk was a vocalist recognized even by top-tier seniors like Cha Woohyun and Yoon Chanhyuk.

He was highly active in the OST scene.

The problem was—most of those songs had never been performed live.

Even music videos only featured drama leads with the track playing.

That was why they wanted to see it live through this opportunity.

“Uh...”

As requests flooded in, the whiteboard quickly filled up.

The writing started large, then gradually became smaller.

Eventually, they had to squeeze tiny letters into the corners.

Junghyun asked,

“Are you all planning not to go home?”

Fans laughed awkwardly.

‘Did we overdo it?’

There were nearly fifty songs.

At three minutes per song, that would be two and a half hours non-stop.

Wooju clapped and offered a compromise.

“I can tell what you want. You want to see songs that never had a stage before, right?”

“Yes!”

“Then... we’ll perform some of these now, and for the rest—especially the ones without stages—we’ll upload separate videos on NewBlack TV.”

“Whoa...!”

“You know N Live, right? We’ll upload them there.”

It was one of NewBlack TV’s content formats.

A live performance filmed in a set designed to match the song’s concept.

‘This is insane...’

‘Live versions of songs without stages...’

Seeing their reaction, Wooju smiled.

“I didn’t realize you’d like this so much.”

“We love it!”

“Honestly, from our perspective, we wondered if anyone would even be curious about those songs. We didn’t expect this kind of response. We’ve learned something important today.”

He winked.

“Another reason why we need to meet you like this, right?”

“Yes!”

“Alright then—NewBlack’s talk concert! Starting now—”

“Let’s go!”

The members and fans shouted together as the performance began.

“Let’s start with harmonizing.”

The five members began with acapella harmonies.

Ah~ Ah~ Ah~ Ah~

The pitch rose by octaves.

“Good morning~ dun dun dun~”

“Pa pa pa pa pa~ pa pa pa~”

An unexpected song made everyone burst out laughing.

After warming up with a sweet morning tune, NewBlack began the concert in earnest.

Shhhhhh—

Rain fell outside.

Inside, soft voices filled the air.

It’s a rainy night

Are you doing well

Maybe it’s because of the rain—

The moisture in the air seemed to deepen and lower their voices.

Souffle waved their hands and smiled as they listened.

‘This is... incredible.’

The reason so many people loved NewBlack—

It was their identity as true artists who created their own music.

Watching them sing songs they had written and composed themselves stirred indescribable emotions.

“Wow...”

Some songs brought tears.

“HAHAHAHA!”

Others brought laughter—like Jiho’s legendary “Jiho, Jiho” song.

The members impressed everyone by sharing behind-the-scenes stories like radio DJs.

Junghyun rapped live versions of tracks released under his alias Sweet Potato.

Biju made the music feel alive even with minimal gestures.

Jiho revealed powerful vocals in his solo songs.

Ri Hyuk, as the main vocalist, needed no explanation.

And then—

‘Wooju really takes after his father.’

It wasn’t just a vague impression.

“Alright, next song.”

Wooju scanned the whiteboard and instantly formed a setlist.

He seemed to fully grasp the flow of a performance.

Cry.

Yes!

Laugh.

Yes!

The fans found themselves responding exactly as he led them.

What amazed them most—

The setlist wasn’t pre-planned.

He read the crowd in real time.

‘When did he learn violin...?’

‘No wonder people say Sun Wooju has clones.’

‘He’s even good at harmonica...’

From harmonica performances to violin pieces he learned while studying film scoring—

He inspired awe beyond just being an idol.

“Wooju is amazing, right? Even we’re amazed.”

“Other than eating and sleeping, he’s always doing something. His hobby is basically work and practice.”

The members agreed, making fans laugh.

As the atmosphere warmed—

“Getting bored of just listening to songs?”

“No!”

“Hm... the rain still hasn’t stopped.”

Jiho suddenly cut in.

“Everyone—want to hear a ghost story?”

“Ooooh!”

The lights dimmed.

Wooju picked up another instrument.

‘A bamboo flute?’

“When did he learn that too?”

Wooju smiled shyly.

“I only learned it as a hobby, so I’m not that good.”

But as he played—

A haunting melody like a classic horror OST filled the room.

Fans closed their eyes.

‘I’ll study harder when I get home.’

‘I need to reflect... even someone earning royalties like him works this hard...’

“I’ll live more diligently from now on.”

Somehow, they felt reflective.

Meanwhile—

“It was the summer of 2017...”

Rain fell softly.

A dark room.

A chilling flute melody.

Everyone held their breath.

With sound effects and storytelling, the horror intensified—

Until—

“It was... dental floss.”

The punchline made everyone burst into laughter.

After about two hours—

“Ahh...”

Their throats were sore from talking so much.

As Wooju rolled a throat candy in his mouth—

A screen wall was set up on the second floor of the community hall.

A banner read:

[Souffle Hearing!]

[Ask Each Other Anything!]

This was one of the main reasons for the event.

—What do fans usually think?

With Souffle growing so large, it had become hard to understand them.

Concepts, events, music preferences—

There were countless questions.

And the fans likely felt the same.

—What do the artists think?

A rare chance for mutual dialogue.

[Ahh.]

With a screen separating them—

Souffle began speaking, their voices altered.

[Wow, anonymity!]

[Lololol!]

The cheerful laughter made the members smile.

“Ready?”

“Yes!”

“Then let’s begin the Q&A!”

They started with light questions.

“Why is my emoji a cactus?”

Fans answered:

[Because it matches your initials!]

“Ah...”

Then—

Wooju asked,

“Is my Instagram ID really that bad?”

Instant chaos.

[It’s terrible!]

[So bad!]

[Top 5 worst I’ve ever seen!]

“...I just followed my friend’s advice...”

[That works for him, not you!]

After debate—

They settled on a new ID:

@dnwn_sun

Then—

“About my casual fashion—”

The hall exploded.

“...Hey. It’s not that bad, is it...? Where are you all going?”

The stylists and members silently moved to sit among the fans.