Chapter 949: Nothing Goes According to Expectations (3)

A long time ago, I once asked a senior girl group from the company something.

“Why do you always change into those pants whenever there’s a company dinner?”

Elegant goddesses who normally wore stylish outfits suddenly showing up in oversized “I♥Curtain” T-shirts and elastic waistband pants whenever it was time for a meal.

“Why? Because you can eat more meat dressed like this.”

“Oho...!”

“Jeans and skirts are terrible choices. At some point, you start feeling your stomach slowly getting squeezed. But this?”

“So it doesn’t put pressure on your stomach!”

“Exactly!”

It had truly been an enlightening revelation.

Ever since then, whenever we knew we had to eat a lot, we started wearing loose-fitting clothes like this.

“Hehehe.”

“Hehehehe.”

The production crew stared blankly at us while we smiled in satisfaction.

PD Gu spoke up.

“Everyone.”

“Yes~!”

“The concept we originally planned for today was a healing variety show. Like NewBlack taking a break during an overseas tour while filming a food vlog. But right now.......”

Watching our clothes flap dramatically in the wind, Gu Jaeyoung PD said,

“No matter how I look at it, this feels more like a food fighter concept.”

We awkwardly laughed.

Jiho brightly chimed in,

“But don’t you think this version would make better footage?”

“Well... yes, but.”

“If people wanted a peaceful healing vlog, why would they watch New Universe? They watch it to see our chaotic adventures, don’t they? Watching us eat until our stomachs burst and roll around on the floor....”

The staff nodded at our words.

“To be honest, we like that direction better too.”

“Right?”

“In that case, should we make it even more variety-show-like? Maybe only the people who win mini-games get to eat.”

“That’s horrifying!”

We shot them accusing looks, and the staff immediately backed down.

“T-then no games.”

“Yes~”

We came out to eat as a way to relax during the tour, so deciding food through games felt absurdly cruel.

The staff explained,

“Actually, we didn’t set a strict concept for today’s shoot. We’re just planning to film freely and see what happens.”

The goal of this New Universe restaurant project:

“Transform foreign food to suit Korean tastes!”

And before that, we first had to try different foreign foods ourselves and decide what menu to make.

That was the point of today’s shoot.

Gu Jaeyoung PD said,

“So I hope you approach this comfortably. You can see there are fewer than five production staff here, right?”

“Yes.”

“And as you can see, we’re even using a tiny 6mm camera. If things go wrong, we can just upload it as MyTube content instead. So relax and treat today like a food tour.”

It was a comment meant to ease our nerves about this unfamiliar “overseas restaurant exploration” content.

Co-director Oh Taejun PD added,

“Sometimes you need days like this. We don’t know what kind of footage we’ll get, but we’ll shoot first and decide later.”

Since this wasn’t the main restaurant-opening content but rather the preliminary process of choosing the menu, the atmosphere was intentionally relaxed.

“In that sense, do you guys have any concept in mind for today?”

“Yes!”

I looked into the camera.

“We’re trying to open a restaurant this time, right?”

“That’s right.”

“I grew up under a grandmother who runs a home-style meal restaurant, so I know how seriously you have to prepare for this kind of business. Running a restaurant might look easy on the outside, but it’s incredibly difficult.”

The members beside me nodded enthusiastically.

“So we want to take even the menu selection process seriously. Like we’re opening a real restaurant.”

Running a food business was genuinely hard.

Of course, since we had the advantage of being on television, we probably wouldn’t suffer from lack of customers or profit.

But that didn’t mean we wanted to approach it lightly.

A lot of our viewers were self-employed too.

And when those viewers watched us, I wanted them to think—

“Hm. Those guys really did their best.”

NewBlack carefully selecting the menu, thoroughly preparing every little detail, doing everything possible.

I continued,

“Isn’t the goal of business to provide the highest quality and service worth the value customers pay for? And then earn profit from that? In that sense, we plan to choose our menu very carefully.”

The lackeys standing beside me introduced themselves one by one.

“First and foremost, taste is important. He may forget promises, but he remembers meals from a year ago—the owner of the absolute palate, Kim Junghyun!”

“But no matter how delicious something is, it’s meaningless if there’s no profit. In that sense, the calculator duo: cost analyst Sun Wooju and calculator Seo Ri Hyuk!”

“And whether or not the dish can actually be made—that will be judged by the master of recipes, Kim Biju!”

“And finally, not only adult customers matter, but children too! Win this kid over, and all the kids and elementary schoolers are yours! The king of baby taste buds who swallows sweet things and spits out bitter ones—Wang Jiho!”

At our introductions, the maknae tilted his head before grinning.

The staff laughed along as we seriously filmed the opening.

“And thus, my final goal.”

“?”

“To become the rival of my grandmother, the Queen of Home Style Meals, Kim Deoksun...!”

“!”

Even though I said it seriously, the production crew burst into laughter.

The members and I dramatically stretched our hands toward the camera.

“We even came up with a name! Presenting—Goblin Restaurant!”

“Please look forward to it, viewers! We, NewBlack, will show you what it truly means to work like oxen!”

“From this moment on, you’ll witness the true nature of NewBlack: singers who suffer when resting and become energized only when working!”

A healing concept had never suited us in the first place.

‘Work!’

‘Work! Nothing but work!’

An idol group with no middle ground.

That was us.

After filming the opening, the production crew handed us a sheet of paper.

“Here’s the list of famous LA restaurants. We narrowed it down to around ten places, so feel free to explore however you want.”

“Okay.”

“Where should we start?”

“Hmmm.......”

I called Biju over.

“Biju.”

“Yes.”

Under the bright LA sky, Biju stood with his hands clasped dramatically over his chest.

Standing in the perfect posture for spinning, he let us rotate him in circles.

“Go forth! Biju Compass!”

After spinning elegantly twice, Biju pointed to the left.

“Guess we should start on the right.”

“Looks that way.”

The production crew burst into laughter.

Soon we headed toward a nearby restaurant with the staff.

Junghyun commented,

“This is one nice thing about America. Hardly anyone recognizes us.”

“Seriously. It’s comfortable.”

If we were in Korea, people would have approached us every few steps.

Here, barely anyone recognized us.

Soon we arrived at our first destination while walking through streets lined with palm trees.

A famous LA hot dog restaurant.

“Wow. That line’s really long.”

“I heard this place is super famous.”

As we lined up, people started whispering.

“That’s NewBlack.”

“Seriously?”

“Why is NewBlack here?”

Americans kept glancing at us, mouthing “Ohhhh!” in excitement, making the corners of my lips twitch.

People standing in front of and behind us asked if they could take photos together, but our bodyguards stopped them with firm “No photos.”

“It’s okay.”

After taking pictures with a few people, we entered the hot dog shop.

“Wow, this place really must be famous.”

“Looks like it.”

Photos of celebrities like Mandy Spice and Hailey Blue posing with the owner hung on the walls.

I was looking at a photo of Cold Brown in a Hawaiian shirt with his arm around the owner when—

“Hyung, what should we order?”

“Let’s focus on the popular items. Two servings each to start lightly.”

Just as we sat at an outdoor parasol table with chili hot dogs and fries—

“What honored guests we have here!”

A penguin-looking owner came waddling toward us.

After taking commemorative photos with the owner, who excitedly declared himself a huge fan and thanked us for visiting his restaurant—

He stayed beside us while we prepared to eat, personally explaining the food.

“The secret to our hot dogs lies in the chili sauce. We use fresh vegetables harvested directly from our farm, and.......”

Like a sommelier introducing wine, the owner passionately explained the secrets behind his hot dogs before asking,

“What kind of show are you filming right now?”

“We’re planning to open a restaurant in Korea for a few days. You know those TV shows where celebrities prepare food trucks?”

“Oh, interesting.”

“We’re going around the best restaurants in LA to learn from them and look for menu ideas we could try ourselves.”

At the phrase “the best restaurants in LA,” the owner laughed proudly.

“If you decide to make hot dogs one of your menu items, contact me anytime. I’ll give you lots of useful tips.”

“Thank you~”

“The honor’s all mine.”

The owner waved as he walked away.

“Now then, thoroughly analyze my restaurant. Hahaha! Good luck!”

“Thank you!”

Finally left alone, we savored the hot dogs together with the staff.

“This is seriously good.”

The basic hot dog was delicious too, with the sweet-and-sour pickles blending perfectly with the salty sausage.

And the chili hot dog, the restaurant’s signature menu, tasted fantastic.

But still—

‘Salty.’

‘Very salty.’

Delicious, but salty.

The staff sitting at the same table seemed to feel the same way.

“It’s good, but kind of salty.”

“Try it with the vanilla shake. It balances out better.”

Every time the saltiness hit, taking a sip of the shake softened it a little—

‘Whoa.’

‘That’s sweet...!’

The excessive sweetness made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

At the same time, I couldn’t help admiring Westerners for surviving while eating this stuff regularly.

“Hm.......”

While eating hot dogs, the members and I analyzed things seriously.

“It’s delicious, but I’m not sure it works as our restaurant menu.”

“I think it’d be hard to exceed customer expectations. We need to deliver something even more impressive than what people anticipate... but with hot dogs, everyone already knows roughly what they’ll taste like.”

“Hmmm, but isn’t being this tasty enough?”

“I don’t think we can make this at our skill level, Junghyun hyung.”

“It’s okay. As long as Kim Biju handles it... actually, sorry. That was truly an unreasonable thing to say.”

While having conversations like that, we carefully observed everything around us.

“How did this place become famous?”

Just as we learned by watching performances from senior K-pop artists, we observed our hot dog seniors with beginner mindsets.

Our maknae said,

“I think they chose the location really well.”

“Oh?”

“There’s lots of foot traffic, plus a huge parking lot so it’s easy for customers to access. Americans eat hot dogs a lot while watching sports, right? There are a bunch of places nearby where you can watch TV and.......”

The older members could only stare in admiration at our maknae conducting sharp market analysis.

Apparently his father had taught baby Jiho things like “Observe that location carefully!” ever since he was little.

‘This feels strange....’

‘Our maknae is too smart. This can’t happen.’

We stuffed an onion ring into the talking maknae’s mouth.

“So because of that... hm?”

“Just eat, Jiho.”

“Tastyyy.......”

We smiled fondly at the grinning maknae before turning our attention elsewhere.

Ri Hyuk, who had been watching the kitchen, spoke up.

“They organized the workflow really well too. The process is designed so they can handle crowds quickly.”

Just as he said, even with customers continuously flooding in, the speed at which food came out remained consistent.

After watching carefully, I asked Biju,

“Biju, hot dogs feel a bit questionable as a menu choice, right?”

“Yes. Like I said earlier, it’d be difficult for us to differentiate the flavor. At least at our level.”

“That’s true.”

“It’s already such a familiar food for Korean tastes. There’s no guarantee people would respond well just because we changed it with a special recipe....”

While listening to him, I started calculating costs in my head too.

“Ri Hyuk.”

“Yes?”

“The ingredient cost sheet.”

“Here.”

I took the sheet from him and quickly began calculating.

The staff looked curious.

“You know how to calculate food costs too?”

“Yes. Before enlistment, I worked at my grandmother’s restaurant. I picked up some experience there....”

My grandmother and I used to discuss how much to charge for new menu items and what we should do to attract more customers.

“Once you calculate ingredient costs, indirect equipment costs... and then apply the ratios.......”

The numbers definitely showed a profit.

Mostly because our labor costs didn’t exist.

“Anyway, this chili sauce is really good. Junghyun, do you know what’s in it?”

“Hmm, give me a second.......”

Our third member chewed thoughtfully while analyzing the ingredients in the chili sauce.

While we seriously held our discussion, the production crew kept bursting into laughter.

“...Why are you laughing?”

“No, it’s just.......”

PD Gu said,

“You guys remind me of something.”

“?”

“...Never mind. It’s nothing.”

The staff shook their heads while snickering, leaving us confused.

NewBlack’s gourmet tour begins with the hot dog shop!

Gu Jaeyoung PD and the small elite production crew hurried through America while chasing after NewBlack.

“Guys! Huff, huff...! We have to move together!”

“PD-nim! Hurry up! At this rate we’re gonna hit break time!”

“Hey!”

NewBlack sprinted ahead, kicking up clouds of dust behind them.

While the production crew struggled to breathe, only the camera director managed to keep pace with the members.

He was the same camera director who once ran as fast as Kim Junghyun while being chased by the black goat Daegil on Please Save Han.

‘But he used to be a track athlete...!’

Whenever the crew finally caught up while gasping for air, NewBlack would already be seated and waiting for them.

It was supposed to be a gourmet variety show, but it felt more like a chase sequence.

Still, despite the physical labor, the filming was going incredibly smoothly.

“Taejun.”

“Yes?”

“Has an overseas shoot ever gone this smoothly before?”

“Nope.”

Usually getting turned away at the door was normal.

But traveling with NewBlack meant filming in absurd luxury.

“Oh my god, NewBlack came to our restaurant?!”

“We’ve waited so long for this. We’ll take proper care of you today! Hey! Prepare the special course!”

“T-this way, please!”

Restaurant owners and chefs personally came out to greet them.

The production crew was amazed by the VIP treatment, practically on the level of Hollywood stars.

‘Their popularity in America is seriously insane.’

It was a level of overseas fame they hadn’t fully realized while in Korea.

They’d heard things like “NewBlack won an award at the Billboard Awards” or “They attended the Grammys,” but—

Here, they were treated like top-tier celebrities.

“You guys suddenly feel huge.”

“Right?”

Wooju grinned.

“This is the power of Sun Wooju, the greatest fashionista of Paris Fashion Week and the man who shook the Met Gala, PD-nim.”

“Fashionista.......”

Even though he was technically stating facts, it still somehow made people want to argue with him.

Even the members quietly stared into the distance while sipping lemonade.

As NewBlack continued filling the audio with chatter, Gu Jaeyoung PD spoke to Oh Taejun PD.

“Which places are left now?”

“After this burger restaurant, only places run by famous chefs remain. Bobby Ross and Dante Cellini.”

“Things are going smoothly.”

“Yes. I think we got really good footage too.”

Gu Jaeyoung nodded while listening to his junior.

‘This might turn out really well.’

Cooking shows and gourmet concepts were trending in variety entertainment lately.

Late-night viewers would absolutely drool over insert shots of dishes from the best restaurants in LA.

Hot dogs overflowing with sauce.

Chicken crispy on the outside but juicy inside.

Spicy tacos.

American seafood dishes.

And more.

‘The purpose is clear too.’

Viewers could watch along and think, “Hmm, that menu’s not great, this one seems better.”

However—

‘Something feels different from what we expected.’

The concept was definitely supposed to be “aspiring restaurateurs visiting famous restaurants to learn techniques and decide their menu.”

“I think they analyzed the business district here really well too. There are lots of big companies nearby.......”

“Definitely seems that way.”

“We should open our restaurant somewhere with a decent location too.”

The members whispered among themselves.

“Junghyun.”

“Yes, hyung?”

“What do you think is in this burger sauce? The owner said he’ll give a special gift if we guess correctly.”

“Hmm.......”

“He said there’s a hint.”

Closing his eyes, Junghyun activated his absolute palate.

“There’s mustard and ketchup mixed in. I can taste a little chili flavor, but I’m not sure if it’s from sauce or powder. Hmm... and Greek yogurt? I wasn’t sure at first, but I think there’s Greek yogurt in it.”

“So it was Greek yogurt!”

“Greek yogurt. I’ve uncovered the secret. Hehehe.......”

NewBlack grinned wickedly after discovering the “secret.”

Right behind them, a sign gleamed.

[Our restaurant’s sauce contains a very special Greek yogurt.]

Watching the grandson of a home-style meal restaurant owner and his henchmen grin sinisterly, Gu Jaeyoung PD struggled not to laugh.

‘They look like hilariously low-level industrial spies.......’

And while thinking about how he’d edit the footage—

Wooju’s eyes sparkled as he asked,

“What do you think, PD-nim?”

“Hm?”

“Our New Universe concept this time is serious aspiring restaurateurs, right? Don’t you think we’ll look kind of cool?”

“Definitely.......”

At that question, a sudden editing idea flashed through Gu Jaeyoung PD’s mind.

‘That’s it!’

Characterization.

He’d just thought of the perfect character angle to attach to the members for this New Universe special.

The variety PD smiled and made a suggestion.

“Could you guys do something for me?”

“What?”

“Could you hold the fish burger like this and make a face like, ‘At last, we’ve uncovered the secret~’?”

“So you can use it for the thumbnail?”

At the members’ question, the PD nodded with innocent eyes.

《New Universe – Restaurant Special》 Preview

The members smiling cutely while holding up fish burgers.

Then antennae CGI appeared above them as Plankton’s voice from SpongeBob played over the scene.

“At last! I’ve finally uncovered the secret formula for the Krabby Patty!”

If the members ever found out, they would absolutely grab the PD by the collar over that edit.