Chapter 945: I’m going to buy New Black at the supermarket (16)

Ever since I was young, I’d always had good instincts.

Especially when it came to things that felt off. I could confidently say I was sharper than anyone else in that area.

"Which is exactly why this is suspicious."

"What is?"

"You. You’re suspicious."

Ri Hyuk was extremely suspicious.

"Why are you suddenly avoiding my gaze...?"

"M me?!"

"Ever since you came back from the preliminary meeting for Mission Singer, you keep trying to avoid eye contact with me. There’s definitely something going on here."

"What could possibly be going on? I just went to the meeting and came back normally......."

"Oh? And now you’re stuttering too."

A man whose logical arguments could shred apart anyone’s composure in any situation was suddenly stuttering.

"So something did happen~?"

"Stop fishing for answers. Nothing happened. We just did the outfit fitting, had the meeting, and came back."

"Reaaally~?"

"......."

"Reeeeeally~~?"

I bounced right up against Ri Hyuk.

"You’d better confess honestly. If I find out later and it drives me insane, I’ll take revenge in the pettiest, cheapest way imaginable."

"W what are you going to do?"

"When you fall asleep in the car, I’ll blow air directly into your ear."

"!"

"And I’ll sprinkle potato chip crumbs between the cushions of your private practice room sofa. Then I’ll use your toothpaste and squeeze it right in the middle."

"!!"

In the end, crushed beneath my pressure, Ri Hyuk confessed the truth.

"...I was trying to create a funny character for the show."

"What kind?"

"You know... the usual thing. Making some ridiculous pledge for yourself and then getting trapped by your own stupidity later."

"......."

It wasn’t exactly wrong.

The image of Antarctica flickered before my eyes.

It wasn’t the first or second time I’d burst into tears because I made the wrong pledge.

I was someone who had danced around Myeongdong in the middle of summer wearing a penguin costume.

"So like, if I become King of Singers, then Sun Wooju will perform the Bongsan Mask Dance in Gwanghwamun or something."

"......."

"You don’t have to look at me with that much contempt! Do you think I’m some emotionless person who never gets hurt?"

I stared contemptuously at the shameless younger brother who was now claiming emotional damage himself.

Ri Hyuk asked,

"I mean... it was just for laughs. If you hate it, I won’t do it."

"No. Of course it’s fine."

Stuff like that didn’t matter.

I’d just gotten suspicious because I thought he and Madam Kim Deoksun were secretly filming some VCR segment behind my back.

-Actually, my real grandson is King of Singers Sun Wooju~ You little brats~~

-Kyaaa! Grandma, I love you!

Since it wasn’t something I’d truly been worried about, it was fine.

But still......

"Wouldn’t that kind of pledge clash with my character a little? Maybe you should change it."

"How?"

"If it were really me, I wouldn’t make a pledge about myself dancing."

"?"

"If it were truly me, wouldn’t I make a pledge saying my younger brothers would dance instead? Doesn’t that sound more like me?"

"......."

"I mean, if I can just make the younger ones do it, why would I suffer personally...?"

This time, Ri Hyuk looked at me with contempt.

Today, Lemon Entertainment was overflowing with pink-tinted happiness.

Inside the CEO’s office, the CEO and our group ran toward each other.

"CEO!"

"My boys...!"

"Our variety show succeeded!"

"You all worked so hard!"

Junghyun lifted the CEO straight into the air and spun him around affectionately.

Embarrassed laughter spilled from our spinning CEO’s mouth.

"HAHAHA! HAHAHAHA!"

"Kyaaargh!"

Today was a happy day.

[Episode 1 Average Ratings: 8.9%]

The first episode of New Universe had become such a massive issue that people were calling it a social phenomenon.

The clips uploaded onto portal sites ranked among the highest total views, and MyTube’s trending videos were practically flooded with New Universe clips.

Real-time search rankings were naturally at #1 as well.

And of course, dozens of articles were pouring out every single minute.

-‘Record-Shattering Monster Rookie’ New Universe, “Will They Really Go To Antarctica?”

-‘New Universe’ Premieres At 8.9%, First Place In Its Time Slot

-[TV Review] New Universe, A New Horizon For Variety Shows?

Everything from ratings analysis articles to cultural critiques discussing new broadcast trends.

The smiles never left the faces of our members or the company staff.

Especially because, from the company’s perspective, it was hugely meaningful for the expansion of content production through the NBS channel.

-NBS ‘Moonlit Night’ Episode 5 Breaks Personal Ratings Record “4.3%”

Apparently the drama Moon Painting Night, which aired immediately after New Universe yesterday, nearly doubled its normal ratings.

It was starring Seo Noeul, my senior actor from Our Family Is Alien.

He’d suddenly messaged me yesterday thanking me, and apparently this was why.

"I guess people thought it was a Netplus exclusive drama all this time."

Director Jo Gyuhwan elegantly lifted his teacup from the sofa.

"The drama quality is good, and it’s already doing very well on Netplus, so it’s not surprising. If it had aired on GTV, the peak ratings probably would’ve reached around eight percent already. But...."

A smile spread across the face that resembled a Tibetan fox.

"Without New Universe, there never would’ve been this level of viewer inflow. You did really well."

"It was nothing...."

Even while saying that, we smiled shyly.

Jiho asked,

"Speaking of OTT platforms, aren’t our variety shows going onto one too?"

"Hm?"

"I mean, looking at the online reactions, people are saying it’s the perfect ‘meal buddy’ show."

Meal buddy.

It was a term Jiho had taught me.

-Apparently people who love variety shows use it as the highest compliment.

Normally people turn on OTT platforms or MyTube while eating because they’re bored, and apparently the term referred to the kinds of shows they watched during meals.

I kind of understood.

I also watched performance videos or classical concerts while eating.

"True."

Director Jo nodded.

"It’s the kind of variety show you can comfortably watch. Unlike dramas, you won’t suddenly lose track if you miss a single line of dialogue...."

"So people are saying it’d be nice if it got uploaded to OTT platforms too."

"We did sign a contract with Netplus regarding overseas distribution rights."

He continued.

"They offered extremely favorable conditions. After your documentary film last time, subscriber numbers increased significantly in Southeast Asia. This time too, they offered us very generous terms."

"Ooooh...."

"But domestically, we’re still debating what to do."

Director Jo folded his arms.

"If we release it directly onto OTT platforms right away, people will only watch it there. So we have to carefully control when it gets released. The problem is that New Universe isn’t an OTT original. It’s a variety show produced for the NBS channel."

"Right."

"If it’s produced by NBS but all the viewers flood to OTT instead, we’d just end up making money for someone else."

"Ah... true."

It felt like working hard making fried chicken at your restaurant while the delivery app took all the profits.

Director Jo smiled.

"And before Episode 1 exploded in ratings, domestic OTT platforms were offering us pretty lousy conditions."

"What about Netplus?"

"Netplus isn’t particularly strong with variety content. Honestly, it’s fundamentally a film and drama platform."

"Ah, right......."

So it seemed they’d tried negotiating with domestic OTT services too, but it hadn’t gone smoothly.

I mentally dramatized Director Jo’s explanation.

-Lemon. This New Universe thing is cable TV. Feels like the ratings won’t do well.

-No, they’ll do well.

-No they won’t. From our perspective, getting ratings will be hard. So anyway.......

-?

-Want to sell it cheap? Not super cheap. Just a little cheaper than now~?

-Ptooey.

Apparently negotiations had broken down for exactly that reason.

While we sat there going “Hmm,” Director Jo smiled brightly.

"Well, the situation has completely changed now. We’ll have to play tug-of-war between the OTT companies properly."

At the moment, unless viewers watched reruns on TV, OTT platforms were the only option.

As we listened to all this business talk, Jiho suddenly said,

"CEO! Why don’t we just make our own OTT platform?"

"Hey, Jiho."

"Hahaha."

While the CEO laughed helplessly, the rest of us poked Jiho for saying something so childish.

Ri Hyuk said,

"Making an OTT platform sounds easy when you say it. Then what? You upload New Universe and that’s it? Who’s subscribing to that?"

"Exactly."

"Seriously, Wang Jiho."

We were busy scolding Jiho for suggesting something so ridiculous when—

‘Hm?’

‘Hmmm?’

Something suddenly felt strange.

The moment the conversation turned to OTT platforms, CEO Park Gyuho and Director Jo Gyuhwan had both become unusually quiet.

"Like that would ever be easy."

At Ri Hyuk’s words, the teacup in the CEO’s hand trembled slightly.

Director Jo also silently pretended to sip his tea while clearly pricking up his ears.

We exchanged glances.

‘What?’

‘Why did they suddenly stop talking?’

We hurriedly changed the subject.

"...Well, I mean, it could happen. You never know."

"Right."

The trembling in the CEO’s teacup immediately stopped.

He looked slightly calmer.

"Th that......."

CEO Park Gyuho asked us carefully,

"OTT platforms really would be difficult... right?"

"Hmm......."

"Honestly. Truly honestly. What do you think?"

"Hmmm."

"If our production company and broadcasting station became unbelievably huge three years from now......."

He kept adding oddly specific conditions.

As I carefully chose my words while considering the fragile heart of this delicate middle-aged man, we all slowly turned our heads.

Because there was one person among us perfectly specialized for questions like this.

At our silent prompting, Junghyun nodded thoughtfully before answering honestly.

"Even then, I think it’d still be difficult. My instincts say it’d be kind of......."

"!"

"!!"

And at that exact moment—

The CEO and Director’s faces suddenly lit up brightly at Junghyun’s answer.

Like people who had just gotten approval for a new business venture.

‘What?’

‘Are they actually considering it...?’

As if some brand-new project was steadily beginning behind the scenes, we blinked at each other.

The scale of the company felt like it was growing larger and larger.

After finishing tea time in the CEO’s office, we headed to our next destination.

Before next week’s Arlington and LA concerts, we still had one final domestic schedule remaining.

A variety show production meeting with the New Universe staff.

"PD-nim."

"Ohhh... you’re here!"

Writer Han Juyeon smiled tiredly.

Apparently after we left during the third afterparty yesterday, the production staff had continued through fourth and fifth rounds and basically drank all night.

"Ughhh......."

"Man, we really are getting old. Back during Joo Sehan’s days, we could drink all night and still bounce right up the next morning."

"How long ago was that, PD Oh?"

Watching the production staff warmly laughing while talking about how old they’d become, we sat around the meeting room.

The atmosphere was incredibly good.

Like an Olympic team that had just broken a world record during preliminaries.

Maintaining that momentum would be the important part going forward, but for now, the mood couldn’t have been happier.

"But what were you looking at while laughing?"

"Ah, this. The review post from the owner of the car Biju followed."

"Oh."

We all crowded around the laptop screen.

"Pwahahaha!"

"HAHAHAHA!"

Laughter burst out as we read the post written by the driver Biju had followed.

Apparently he’d been driving to a pension with his college friends when some crazy vehicle suddenly started tailing them, terrifying everyone.

[No joke, my friends and I were literally shaking. Some insane yellow car kept following us]

[The scariest part was that it looked like someone inside was staring at us and smiling]

While we laughed, Biju’s eyes grew moist.

[My friends were panicking like “holy shit what do we do?” We tried to shake them off but they seriously kept following us... Eventually we were like no, we need to drive toward a police station and even set the police station into the GPS]

[Then the car pulled up beside us and rolled down the window...!]

[At that moment I froze. I finally understood what people mean when they say you freeze when you see someone unbelievably handsome and beautiful in real life]

Junghyun frowned at the compliment directed toward his best friend’s appearance.

"It gets boring from here. Stop reading. Gahk...!"

While Junghyun suffered after getting pinched in the side, we laughed at the post calmly dedicating nearly four entire lines to describing Biju’s face.

Honestly, anyone would react like that seeing our members in person.

If someone ever erased my memories for a moment and let me watch one thing again for the first time, I’d watch my younger brothers performing on stage.

-LOL before the reveal this was literally a horror thrillerㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-[OP] But Biju hyung was super kind. When I told him my name was Woojuhyung, he got really excited

-But if your name is Woojuhyung then why do you look like that?? (genuine question)

-[OP] What about you?

-I’m not Woojuhyung

-[OP] ..

-The devastating downvoteㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Be strong, warrior... ugliness is not a crime

"So his name was Woojuhyung?"

"Yeah."

"Wow, that’s amazing."

Since he was a regular person, only a small portion aired on TV, but it really was an unbelievable coincidence.

We asked,

"But if he agreed to appear on broadcast, why didn’t they reveal his name?"

"Ah."

PD Gu Jaeyoung scratched his head.

"It looked too scripted......."

"......."

"A person riding in a car similar to Wooju’s just happened to appear on the road, and the guy inside happened to be named Woojuhyung?"

"Y yeah, when you put it that way, it really does sound fake."

Either detail individually could’ve happened.

But combined together, it felt suspiciously scripted despite being real.

Completely understandable.

Meanwhile, Woojuhyung’s review post continued spreading online.

"So anyway, the current trend is looking extremely good. The teaser views are exploding too... and editing for the later episodes finished really well."

PD Gu Jaeyoung said,

"At this rate, I think we’ll definitely hit thirteen percent."

"!"

"There’s no such thing as absolute certainty in this industry... but as a variety PD, that’s my instinct. I think we could hit thirteen percent with just the driver’s license episode alone."

At those words, PD Oh Taejun added,

"So before discussing the next special theme, we wanted to have a meeting with you guys about promotions first."

"You want to raise ratings as much as possible before moving to the next special?"

"Yeah. Usually when a popular special ends and a new one begins, viewers drop off. We need to hold onto as many as possible before then."

That was why we started discussing promotion strategies.

Mostly the production team shared their prepared ideas while we gave opinions, or we suggested ideas we’d personally thought of before.

"What about this? The guest celebrities all have huge fandoms, right?"

"Yes."

"So we edit the conversations you had inside the cars and upload them separately. Kind of like individual fancams for each car."

"Hmm."

We smiled awkwardly.

"I think that might be a little tricky."

"Really?"

"Yeah. The idea itself is genuinely good... but things don’t really flow well that way."

I could already clearly picture the online posts that would appear.

-New Universe Vehicle Edit View Count Comparison

People would compare views and start talking about which car had more buzz, which guests were higher tier, and all kinds of nonsense.

PD Oh Taejun asked with visible culture shock,

"The idol industry compares people over things like that too?"

"Yeah. Since it’s such a sensitive issue. And a lot of our friends are idols too."

"Then should we upload individual unreleased scenes instead? Stuff we debated whether to include in the main broadcast or not?"

"Yeah. I think that’d be better."

We continued discussing things with the production staff when—

A notification popped up on my phone, making me smile brightly.

"Oh, I think it arrived."

"Hm?"

I turned to the curious production staff.

"Do you happen to know my grandmother?"

"Of course... Madam Kim Deoksun."

"My grandmother said she wanted to give gifts to the production staff."

"Really...? Why?"

It was a gift my grandmother had prepared before the first broadcast aired.

-Those are the people? Joo Sehan?

-Yeah.

-Oh goodness, those wonderful people. How did people like that end up with such a vicious little.......

Hmm. I couldn’t really remember the rest.

"She said she was extremely grateful back during NewBulBaek too, but things were too chaotic then so she couldn’t prepare gifts. She said she’s grateful again this time."

"Ah... that’s really unnecessary."

"Grandma insisted. She said her life changed thanks to you all."

Since we happened to be meeting the staff today, we decided to hand over the gifts directly.

While the production staff chatted curiously, my own eyes sparkled too.

"Why are you excited, hyung?"

"Grandma said she included presents for us too."

"Seriously?!"

Jiho and I gasped while slapping our palms together, and the other members also looked excited.

Then—

The door opened, and an employee pushing carts of deliveries walked in.

After signing for the packages, we all widened our eyes.

"What is all this?"

Boxes stacked like mountains.

We stared in confusion when—

"Huh? This is a clothing brand."

"Really?"

A famous clothing brand name was printed on the boxes.

Junghyun lifted one box onto the table.

Using the box cutter handed over by the staff like a scalpel, I smoothly sliced open the packaging.

Then—

"!"

"!!"

The box opened, revealing clothes wrapped in plastic.

"Oh my god!"

"Wooooow...!"

"Oh my goodness!"

Because they were incredibly expensive clothes.

Thick but lightweight material.

Luxurious design.

"Padded jackets?!"

"They look like those jackets people wear in the Himalayas. Aren’t these insanely expensive?"

"This is crazy...! These cost a fortune!"

Then someone asked,

"Uh... but why padded jackets right now......."

"Good point......?"

Everyone wore puzzled expressions at Madam Kim Deoksun sending winter jackets right before summer.

Then we spotted the card inside the box.

On a card stamped with the logo for Suni’s Home Meals was a short message.

“Congratulations on your huge success~! Have a wonderful trip to Antarctica~!”

It was definitely a gift, so why didn’t it feel like one?

"......."

"......."

While the production staff whispered things like “That’s so like Wooju’s grandmother,” the corners of my mouth trembled.

‘Just you wait, Kim Deoksun!’

For some reason, it felt like I could hear the cackling laughter of a Hong Kong granny ghost somewhere nearby.