Chapter 942: I’m going to buy New Black at the supermarket (13)

The company dinner at the galbi restaurant wrapped up quickly.

“Thank you for the meal, sir!”

“Ah, yes, of course.”

After paying for the dinner with his card, Park Gyuho gave the employees a warm, generous smile.

‘That must’ve cost a lot.’

‘Look at the CEO’s head.’

‘Which side?’

Seeing how the top of his head was soaked with sweat while he paid, it was obvious the bill hadn’t been small.

Glistening.

As he wiped his head with a handkerchief, the CEO let out a slightly regretful expression.

“I was hoping everyone would eat their fill, but somehow you all look like you barely ate.”

“No, sir. We ate really well.”

At our response, he smiled and nodded.

“Good. Then...”

Park Gyuho’s gaze shifted to the executives standing politely nearby.

“You all come have a drink with me, and what about the rest of you? Going somewhere for a second round?”

“Yes, sir.”

Gu Jaeyoung spoke up.

“We’re planning to head to a nearby pub for round two. Just have a beer and watch together.”

“Alright. Good work today. See you again.”

Speaking with the authority of a CEO, he turned his gaze to me.

“I’ll be going.”

“See you again, sir!”

With a shy smile and a small wave, he left with the executives.

The NBS executives glanced back with lingering regret.

They looked like they wanted to join the second round with their staff, but they were being pulled away by our CEO.

Left without their superiors, the NBS working staff smiled contentedly.

“CEO Park Gyuho is really an amazing person...”

“A truly beautiful person...”

With only the New Universe staff and NBS working team remaining, the atmosphere relaxed noticeably.

As their representative, I spoke.

“Shall we move to the next place?”

“Yes!”

The second round was at a nearby pub.

Since New Universe aired at 9 p.m., it wasn’t possible to watch it during dinner.

Chicken and snacks were served, and the staff happily raised their beer glasses.

“Whew...”

But not many people touched the food.

Even with fried chicken right in front of them, they barely reached for it, instead picking at the colorful puffed snacks.

“Aren’t you guys hungry?”

“Huh?”

Oh Taejun, the co-director and number two of New Universe, asked.

“You barely ate the ribs earlier. Just picking at them.”

“I don’t really have an appetite.”

“Yeah...”

“You didn’t eat much either, PD.”

“Nothing goes down. Even the ribs—can’t tell if it tastes like anything at all...”

Other staff chimed in.

“Same here. There was beef right in front of me, but I couldn’t even focus on it.”

“It feels kind of... blocked up.”

“Honestly, I couldn’t even tell if the food was going through my nose or my mouth.”

They had definitely had a company dinner, but no one actually felt full.

If anything, they felt slightly hungry.

“Haa...”

Everyone was tense ahead of the first broadcast.

For us, it was the result of our first solo variety show.

For the production team, it was their first show after leaving the stability of TBC.

For the broadcasting staff, it might become a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Assistant Manager Kim Daemyung from the NBS marketing team downed his beer in one go.

“I can’t do this sober.”

“Same here.”

“Shall we make a toast?”

In the end, the adults chose alcohol.

With NBS playing on the TV, people were emptying a glass of beer roughly every ten minutes.

I just sipped my zero cola.

“Hmm...”

Maybe it was the caffeine, but my heart kept pounding.

Even sitting still, I felt anxious, my heartbeat thudding loudly in my ears.

Before I knew it, I was holding my members’ hands under the table.

“But we’re one thing...”

I looked at the (former) Jusehan team, now the New Universe production crew, who had over ten more years of experience than us.

“Why are you all so nervous...?”

“Honestly, we can’t help but be just as nervous as you.”

Head writer Yang Mihyun spoke.

“TBC gave us so much crap—ah, sorry for the language. They pushed us around so much we just walked out.”

“Mihyun had it easy. Taejun straight-up yelled at the director before leaving. Said we’ll see what happens later.”

“Please stop talking about that, lighting director... I regret it now. I just snapped because they were giving Jaeyoung a hard time...”

We burst into laughter.

Quietly drinking his beer, Gu Jaeyoung smacked the staff on the back.

“Ugh!”

“Cut the whining. Anyone listening would think the show already failed. We don’t even have results yet.”

“PD! Don’t say ‘fail’!”

“When did I say it would fail?”

As the New Universe staff bickered to relieve tension, the slightly tipsy NBS employees spoke up.

“We have high expectations. Just a bit nervous... honestly, we think the results will be very good.”

“Mentions spiked after Wooju made that Antarctica promise.”

“All the visible metrics are strong. Trailer views, social media mentions, search rankings...”

At their reassurance, both we and the production team smiled and took sips of our drinks.

In truth, everyone was just acting nervous—no one really thought it would fail.

One NBS employee asked,

“By the way, how do NewBlack members see it?”

“Us?”

“Yes.”

“We’ve heard prediction numbers here and there, but not your personal expectations.”

“As for our expected ratings...”

I smiled.

“You’ve all seen the pledge, right?”

Everyone burst out laughing.

“Are we hitting 20%?!”

“Wow. If Wooju said that, maybe we actually will. He’s famous for predicting success in the industry.”

“I really hope so...!”

At that moment, Jiho spoke.

“But there’s something more accurate than talking like this.”

“?”

“Junghyun hyung.”

At that, Junghyun pulled something out from his coat.

[JH’s Magic Book]

“It’s here...!”

“That’s the legendary Jelly Bible!”

“I’ve always wanted to see that in person!”

Everyone gathered around as Junghyun held the thick book like scripture.

Even a part-time worker from the pub came closer, standing on tiptoe to watch.

Biju raised a hand to cover Junghyun’s eyes.

“Jelly jelly magic jelly...”

Muttering, Junghyun flipped the book open dramatically.

And then—

Riiip—

A tearing sound rang out.

“??”

“???”

The book split clean in half.

“......”

“......”

As everyone, including Junghyun himself, blinked in silence, one NBS staff member asked,

“What does this mean?”

“We... don’t know either?”

“......”

“......”

As everyone stared at the torn book like it was some cryptic omen, Jiho spoke up first.

“Could it be... this?”

“?”

“That we tore the ratings?”

“!”

“!!”

At the surprisingly convincing interpretation, everyone broke into wide grins.

“I just used too much force...”

“Quiet, Junghyun.”

“Yes.”

Whatever the case, an omen is best taken positively.

Just as we were silently praising the youngest for lifting the mood—

“Oh, it’s starting!”

“It’s starting!”

At someone’s shout, everyone turned toward the TV.

[Up next, the New Universe Project will air.]

Cheers erupted at the narration.

The tense atmosphere melted away, replaced by excitement floating like pink bubbles in the air.

“Hyung.”

Biju spoke.

“This is really our show.”

“Yeah... it’s finally starting.”

We smiled at the TV screen.

The solo variety show we had waited for so long was about to air its first episode.

With Wooju’s Antarctica comment, New Universe had become an even bigger issue.

It wasn’t just variety fans or the general public paying attention.

[Up next, the New Universe Project will air.]

“Wow. It’s finally airing.”

Near the broadcasting station, in bars filled with industry people—

Variety show PDs watched the TV with beer in hand.

“What do you think the ratings will be?”

“Probably at least 5%. The station’s highest was what, 6 or 7%?”

“No way. It’ll go higher than 5%.”

New Universe was the hottest topic among variety PDs.

—Gu Jaeyoung PD is launching a solo variety show with NewBlack!

A new project from the PD who turned Jusehan into a national variety hit.

“But I heard the first special is driving lessons.”

“Driving lessons?”

“They’re bringing in celebrities to teach NewBlack how to drive.”

“...Can that even be funny?”

From a PD’s perspective, driving lessons were a difficult concept to make entertaining.

Individual scenes could be funny.

But variety shows needed narrative—story.

For example:

—Comedians run a food truck and travel to a remote island to cook for residents.

That kind of format naturally builds a story.

But driving lessons...

“There’s no story.”

“Exactly.”

“It’ll just be a sequence of scenes...”

Five cars running driving lessons in parallel—

Driving Lesson 1, Driving Lesson 2, Driving Lesson 3...

It risked becoming boring.

“Well, even if it is a bit boring...”

One PD said, taking a drink.

“That’s our kind of worry. You think people won’t watch when NewBlack’s on?”

“True.”

“Who are we to judge them anyway? They’re the top of the industry.”

As they laughed self-deprecatingly and waited—

“But... when does it start?”

“Yeah?”

Even as the opening had long passed, New Universe showed no sign of beginning.

‘How many ads are there?!’

‘That alone looks like five hundred million...’

The ad revenue alone was staggering.

From telecom commercials starring NewBlack to cosmetic ads—

‘These aren’t ads you’d expect on a new cable channel...’

‘Wow... even on cable, NewBlack is still NewBlack.’

Then, after a long string of commercials—

It finally began.

“Hey, it’s starting.”

“What? Oh! That NewBlack show?”

“Whoa... this is huge.”

All eyes in the bar fixed on the TV.

“Huh?”

“It’s a cartoon?”

A cute animated sequence appeared.

『December 19, 2017.』

With narration, crudely drawn versions of NewBlack gathered around a phone.

[Hyung! The Gallup Entertainer Rankings are out!]

[Really?]

[Are we ranking higher than 7th this time?]

They looked eagerly—

[9th place.]

Thunder crashed.

Laughter erupted.

‘You’re idols.’

The narration continued.

『For NewBlack, who expected a higher ranking than last year, it was a bolt from the blue.』

The crying national idols made everyone laugh.

Then Wooju’s cartoon stood up, clenching his fist.

[Everyone, calm down. This isn’t the time.]

[Waaah!]

[There’s a way to raise our variety ranking.]

[What is it?]

[We’ve only appeared as guests so far. Now we make our own show.]

And so, they hatched a plan.

『Thus, a terrifying scheme was born...』

Scene change.

A crudely drawn Gu Jaeyoung was walking down the street.

Thud thud!

NewBlack appeared on horseback, lassoing and kidnapping him.

[Help me...!]

Laughter exploded again.

Then they revealed themselves.

[PD.]

[Yes...?]

With noir music playing—

[Work with us.]

Narration followed.

『And thus, NBS’s new variety show “New Universe Project” was born.』

Cut.

[What is this?]

Back in the meeting room, NewBlack stared in disbelief.

[PD... what is this?]

[It’s to show viewers how the show was born. Isn’t it cool?]

At Gu Jaeyoung’s shameless reply, everyone laughed.

Within 30 seconds, viewers understood the origin story.

Then naturally, the first special was introduced.

[The program is called New Universe Project.]

[Oooh!]

[You’ll get to do everything you’ve wanted in this show.]

The members listed ideas—

Until it landed on driving licenses.

Most idols their age could already drive—except Junghyun.

Driving scenes flashed quickly.

[※ The safety of participants was our top priority.]

They had passed licensing exams and received professional training.

Viewers nodded.

Then—

[Since this is our launch... shouldn’t we have an opening party?]

Thus began the driving lesson + celebration.

Starting from Lemon Entertainment’s underground parking lot—

Guests boarded the cars.

“Huh? That’s Han Taehyun.”

“Wow... Lee Gyeonwoo too...”

『Han Taehyun | TNT member』

『Lee Gyeonwoo | Actor』

『Jang Sowon | Singer』

Top-tier stars appeared with only simple captions.

PDs were stunned.

“Wow... no introductions?”

“If even one of them appeared on our show, we’d run a full-minute intro...”

Then—

“Editing is insane...”

Even in short scenes, relationships were conveyed effortlessly.

[We said we’d go somewhere back when we were trainees at TJ Entertainment, right?]

[Yeah.]

Without long explanations, everything clicked.

And—

“It’s not boring at all.”

What should have been dull wasn’t.

[PD, since their driving skills differ... won’t arrival times vary?]

Production meeting footage appeared.

Different routes were assigned.

『Routes were designed based on expert driving evaluations.』

Scores appeared.

Wooju ranked 1st, Ri Hyuk 5th.

『Guess who arrives first!』

A mini-map appeared.

Cars moved in real time.

Transitions followed overtakes.

“...This is how you build a story.”

PDs were stunned.

Editing turned structure into narrative.

And then—

“NewBlack really is insane.”

Every cast member delivered.

Laughter filled the room—

Until the highlight.

“Wait.”

“Wait...?”

It wasn’t Wooju.

Not Junghyun.

Not Ri Hyuk.

Not Jiho.

『Meanwhile, in Biju’s car...』

It was—

A beautiful directionless disaster who would get lost after three steps.