Chapter 957: Nothing Goes According to Expectations (11)

I fiddled with the rabbit doll in my hands as I looked at the tablet.

Comments were pouring in nonstop.

-What is it?????? Did I miss something??

-New hi

-Oh, they’re live

-Hi

-Can you tell us when Uncle Bunny is going to sing? I want my kid to hear it before I put them to bedㅠㅠ

The chat was bustling with Souffles, fake Souffles, Hoils, and parents all mixed together.

First, we decided to get things under control.

Biju, wearing deer antlers, spoke to the rabbit doll.

"Uncle, I think you should say a few words to the children first."

[You’re right!]

The Uncle Bunny in my hands wriggled around.

[Children, would you promise Uncle just one thing?]

"Okay!"

Jiho, wearing fox ears, shouted brightly.

"If you’re good children, you absolutely must not break your promise with Uncle Bunny!"

"I agree, bear."

"To put it more seriously, failing to keep a promise is technically a form of contract violation, children. Going forward, you should remem—"

We all glared at the cat ears rambling on and on.

The cat ears drooped pitifully.

"I just meant I hope you’ll keep your promise, meow...."

[Exactly!]

As I spoke, I wiggled the rabbit’s thumb and pinky finger dramatically.

Uncle Bunny’s lively movements.

[So promise Uncle this. After listening to the song, you have to brush your teeth and go right to bed, okay?]

As if answering me, the comments exploded.

-Yesh!

-I’m very good at keeping promises hohohot

-I’m forty years old... exactly the age to miss Uncle Bunny

-Goo goo ga ga I’m thirty seven

-Wooju, isn’t auntie cute~~??

-Isn’t Uncle cute too~~~?? (wink)

No, seriously, these people...!

While the company staff burst into laughter, I looked warmly into the camera.

"What do you think? Has Uncle Bunny’s message been properly delivered to the children in every household? Now then, good little Souffles, temporary mute~!"

As the Souffles politely quieted down, comments from the parents began appearing.

The atmosphere felt like secret agents exchanging radio transmissions.

-This is Manchon dong, Suseong District, Daegu. Message received. Target is nodding politely while sitting upright

-5 year old daughter. Temporary ceasefire on labor exploitation against mother

-Signal strength excellent.. child’s eyes become extremely alert whenever Uncle Bunny speaks.. please continue talking

-Kshhh.. this is Sky Beetle.. both children have agreed.. thank you..

We exchanged glances with each other.

'Sing first?'

'Sing first.'

Seo Jun Lives at the Supermarket normally wasn’t a variety show that aired this late.

But since they’d broadcast two episodes back to back today, it had gotten pretty late.

For children, it was about time to fall asleep.

So we decided to hurry and sing the nursery rhyme first.

[Now then! Animal friends! Please prepare the music!]

"Yes!"

The audio for Uncle Bunny soon began playing through the cafeteria speakers.

I moved Uncle Bunny and signaled the staff.

[Ready! Cue!]

A melody filled with the playful sound effects unique to nursery songs began to play.

While the underlings in animal headbands bounced along beside me, I made Uncle Bunny dance energetically.

Laughter exploded through the comments.

Hop hop bunny dance!

Where are you going~♪

The younger members harmonized with Uncle Bunny’s voice.

Sparkling, sparkling sunlight

So dazzling~♬

The completed nursery song really was high quality.

Unlike the days when we casually strummed a ukulele, now it genuinely sounded like a real children’s song.

While the A&R team, who had been finely ground down like millstones, smiled nostalgically, the producing team nodded in admiration. Then they walked over to pat the A&R team on the shoulders or hug them.

The A&R team members really had suffered for this.

Even if they weren’t quite industry-top composers like the producing team, the reason Uncle Bunny had turned out this wonderfully was because the A&R team had spent two whole weeks thoroughly researching and studying children’s music.

Maybe because of that, the atmosphere in the comments was great too.

-I am a foreign Souffle. I don’t know what’s happening but I have discovered that I like this song

-It’s good??????

-Is this the final version?? It’s even better

-Kukuku,, the childlike innocence inside me is running wild,,

-I miss the days when I listened to nursery songsㅠㅠ

I didn’t know why all these adults were commenting, but....

As soon as the song ended, I borrowed Uncle Bunny’s voice again.

[Now then! Good children have to keep their promise with Uncle, right? Make sure to brush your teeth~ and get under your blankets in bed!]

As I said that, I looked toward the comments.

While Junghyun shushed the Souffles and requested mute mode, comments from parents appeared.

-Kids..

"Yes!"

-Thank you..

And with that, the parents began leaving the chat.

Everyone burst out laughing at the sight, like spirits peacefully passing on.

-Thank you.. I’ll never forget this kindness

-Thank you so much

-Goodbye everyone~~! I cast aside all the freedom and happiness in this world and depart toward childcare! At least you all stay happy~~!!!

-Ah, happiness at last..

-I survived another day safely.. only 15 more years to raise them..

-Thank you kids.. no actually I don’t know if this is something I should be thankful for but..

We laughed and waved goodbye to the parents disappearing like fading No Face spirits.

And after all the parents across the country had left—

"Then we should also—"

Just as we were about to say "Good night!" to the remaining viewers—

-Don’t goㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

-Adults want to see Uncle Bunny tooㅠㅠ

-Don’t leave

-Love from Brazil♥

-Ga Zi Ma

The Souffles, fake Souffles, and Hoils clung to our sleeves.

Only then did the viewer count catch my eye.

Despite starting without prior notice, and despite us rarely doing MyTube lives, hundreds of thousands of people were watching.

After exchanging glances with the younger members, I asked the doll.

"Uncle, should we chat a little longer then?"

[That sounds nice!]

We decided to continue the livestream with the Souffles a bit longer.

For the international Souffles who were probably wondering, 'Why are they suddenly holding dolls and doing this?', I explained through Uncle Bunny’s voice.

[Hmm... but what should we do?]

"Good question."

"Hmm......."

As we wondered what to do with Uncle Bunny, who’d been created for kids’ content—

Junghyun spoke up.

"Since we’re already thinking about things, how about an advice segment?"

"!"

"!!"

It was an excellent idea.

Our household cat and fox brought over a folding chalkboard and opened it behind us.

『☆Uncle Bunny’s Advice Corner★』

『☏ Phone inquiries also welcome』

While the maknae adorably drew a rabbit on the board, I signaled the staff behind the camera.

'We’ll wrap things up ourselves.'

'We’re heading out~'

The employees waved goodbye and left to continue their work.

Meanwhile, I picked one concern flowing through the comments.

-Lately I have no appetite and every time I go to work just seeing my department manager’s face annoys meㅠㅠㅠ what should I do

[So you’re a child who doesn’t want to go to work. But having no appetite is a very serious matter! Whatever shall we do?]

As I moved Uncle Bunny’s hand to stroke his whiskers—

Biju whispered into my ear.

"I know a recipe that boosts your appetite."

"Really?"

"I’ll tell you."

While Biju whispered into my ear, I moved Uncle Bunny’s mouth.

[Unfortunately, Uncle can’t solve your problem! But I’ll tell you a recipe that improves your appetite, so write this down!]

We provided a fantastic special recipe using soy sauce and eggs to stimulate the appetite.

[When life is hard, delicious food is best!]

Soon after, the original commenter replied with thanks.

-Thank youㅠㅠㅠ Uncleㅠㅠㅠ

Then countless concerns poured in afterward.

People worried about not being able to sleep lately, not wanting to go to cram school even though their parents insisted, not wanting to study for the college entrance exam—

We answered them one by one.

Every time a concern appeared, the younger members whispered into my ears, and I used Uncle Bunny’s voice to give advice.

Of course....

Whenever opinions split regarding a story, my ears suffered for it.

"This one is A’s fault."

"I think B is the one at fault. B upset A first."

"Still, A was kind of...."

The constant debate whispered directly into my ears by the underlings made my head pound.

"I’m telling you, A made the mistake."

"No. This is B’s—"

The viewers kept laughing at the sight of the younger members whisper-fighting on both sides of me.

I looked at the comments and asked:

"Commenter, are you A or B?"

When they answered B, I immediately reached a conclusion and moved Uncle Bunny.

[Then this is A’s fault!]

"!"

Junghyun and Jiho, who’d sided with A, groaned while Biju and Ri Hyuk nodded with smiles.

Just as Junghyun and Jiho hurriedly tried whispering into my ears again—

I moved Uncle Bunny and smacked the underlings’ faces with his plush paws.

[You cheeky brats! Uncle is not your puppet!!]

"Ack...! Sorryyy!"

"Wow, my face feels cool."

After glaring at the two underlings, I turned back toward the comments again.

The advice session continued.

-I’m a kindergarten senior preparing for the college entrance exam.. Uncle Bunny please tell me to get my life togetherㅠㅠ

[Butterflies need time before they can emerge from their cocoons. If you endure just a little longer, someday you’ll be able to spread your wings too. So hang in there just a bit more, okay?]

-I’m a kindergartener who already completed military service. I’m worried because I don’t have any dreamsㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Finding a dream isn’t easy. Uncle can’t really give proper advice, but maybe there’s one thing worth remembering. Your dream doesn’t necessarily have to be your job. Uncle Bunny’s dream is to own a house made of chocolate!]

Since I was living as a singer myself, these were areas where I couldn’t recklessly give advice, so I mostly just tried hard to offer encouragement.

I only gave hesitant bits of advice while recalling the time I’d briefly worked at Grandma’s store after being cut from a debut lineup, or the social experiences I’d had during military service.

Still, the response to the advice segment wasn’t bad at all.

-Thank you Uncleㅠㅠㅠㅠ

-This was healingㅠㅠㅠ so cute

-Honestly I was just watching because Uncle talking was cuter than the actual adviceㅠㅠㅠ

-Uncle please wave your hand one more time

...So they just thought moving Uncle Bunny was cute.

Well, he definitely was cute.

Bright, sparkling eyes.

And beneath the long ears, an adorably designed Uncle Bunny... though honestly, he looked too young to even be called "uncle."

I wriggled Uncle Bunny around while responding to fanservice requests.

"Sing! Sing!"

I spun Uncle Bunny around and attacked the underlings.

"Uncle! Bite them!"

[Rawr!]

"I was wrong! Hahaha!"

The underlings burst into laughter every time Uncle Bunny bit them because it tickled.

-But Souffles want to hear songs tooㅠㅠ

-I’m thirty nine years old.. exactly the age to want Uncle Bunny songs..

-Sing!

-Clap!

-Sing

-Thump clap clap

-Sing from Brazil♥

Well, if the fans wanted to hear it, we had to do it.

We ended the livestream by singing a K-pop medley in Uncle Bunny’s voice.

Looking at the cafeteria clock, Jiho gasped.

"Wow, it’s really late."

"Seriously."

It didn’t matter much anyway since we’d already planned on pulling an all-nighter tonight.

I stretched and yawned when I noticed Ri Hyuk erasing the first consonant from the word [Advice Center] written on the chalkboard.

"Oh."

Come to think of it....

"Do you guys have any worries these days?"

"Worries?"

"After giving advice to the Souffles, I suddenly wondered whether you guys had any worries yourselves...."

"I don’t know. What about you, hyung? Don’t you have any worries lately?"

At that question, we looked at each other before staring blankly into space.

"Hmm......."

"Hmmmm......."

No matter how much we thought about it, nothing came to mind.

We looked at one another and smiled warmly.

"Guess we don’t have any worries...."

"We haven’t even had time to develop any."

Our schedules were so packed and there was always so much to do that there simply hadn’t been room for worries.

As everyone smiled awkwardly, Jiho raised his hand.

"Ah, me!"

"?"

"It’s not exactly a worry, but there’s something I need your help with. Remember how I said I got movie scripts? They’ve narrowed it down to the final candidates now, so help me choose."

"Okay."

Apparently it wasn’t a worry, just something he needed help with.

As soon as the maknae finished speaking, the others started talking too.

"Please check my vocals for Mission Singer. The trainer says it’s good... but he always says it’s good. I need an objective opinion."

"Hyung, please look over my mixtape."

Requests suddenly burst out one after another.

I nodded at the younger members who were finally asking for favors they normally couldn’t because I always looked too busy.

Then I turned toward Biju, who was simply smiling brightly in silence.

"What about you, Biju? Nothing?"

"Nope. I already achieved my wish."

"?"

"I’m releasing a unit song with you, remember?"

"Ah. Right."

Biju smiled.

"And now it’s time to go practice."

"......."

I’d forgotten.

Even this late at night, Biju’s eyes sparkled happily at the thought of dancing as he held out an apple flavored candy to me.

Seeing my pleading look for help, Jiho picked up the Uncle Bunny doll.

[Don’t worry! Wooju child! Humans don’t die that easilㄷ... Aaaagh!]

"Hey, are you okay? Your face looks especially pale today."

"I practiced all night...."

"What practice?"

"WAVE practice...."

At my answer, Seokhwan hyung laughed knowingly.

Beside me, while I smiled like a dirt-covered sweet potato, Biju sparkled with happiness.

The A&R team employees entering the meeting room burst out laughing the moment they saw my face.

"Hahahaha! Serves you right! Hahahaha!"

"......."

"Sorry...."

At my chilly stare, the A&R team members quietly gathered around the table.

This was the large conference room.

Everyone had gathered to discuss the release and strategy for Uncle Bunny, which had appeared on yesterday’s parenting variety show.

"Jiho, you should probably go wash your face."

"Yesss."

After sending the nodding-off maknae to wash up, I looked around at the company staff.

Overall, everyone seemed to be in high spirits.

"Congratulations, guys. I heard yesterday’s ratings were insane."

"Yeah, we saw."

The show had apparently recorded the highest ratings for a parenting variety show in the past five years, reaching numbers comparable to its golden age.

Even now, related articles were still plastered all over the portal sites’ main pages.

-‘Seo Jun’ Children Explode with Excitement Over NewBlack’s Nursery Song: “Uncle Bunny Has Arrived”

-‘Seo Jun’ Yeoul’s Three Siblings Completely Captivated by NewBlack’s Charm... ‘Supermarket Uncles’

-[Replay] Why NewBlack Became ‘Supermarket Uncles,’ the National Idols Loved at the Supermarket

Manager Hong Seoyeong from the TF team spoke up.

"Not just portal rankings. The online communities are going crazy too. The impact of the supermarket uncles was huge, but especially Wooju, your ventriloquism with the rabbit doll got an incredible response."

All sorts of posts were circulating.

Some talked about how seeing usually mature Yeoul playing around like an ordinary child brought out maternal smiles.

Others attached clips of our supermarket uncle videos, and so on.

"There’s even a comment from an actual professional ventriloquist under Seo Jun’s MyTube video that’s become a hot topic. Did you see it yet?"

"No. Not yet."

Manager Hong Seoyeong immediately showed us the comment.

[...The level of detail is genuinely impressive. First of all, the smiling expression stood out. Pulling the lips horizontally while appropriately separating the upper and lower teeth...]

[...Most impressive of all was the improvisation. Sixty percent of ventriloquism acting is performed through improvisation without a script. You must control unpredictable situations and communicate with children at the same time. In that regard, Wooju demonstrated remarkable instincts...]

I smiled at the ventriloquist’s lengthy thousand-character review.

[...Though I still don’t understand why Wooju is using a technique that went obsolete a hundred years ago...]

I stared off into the distance with a guilty expression.

It was black and white, so I hadn’t realized the guy was from a hundred years ago....

While we chatted about that, Director Jo Gyuhwan entered and the meeting officially began.

"As expected, the response to the nursery song seems extremely positive."

Everyone nodded and smiled at Director Jo Gyuhwan’s words.

The reason today’s atmosphere was even better than usual—

was because the response to the nursery song Uncle Bunny had been phenomenal.

The live performance clip from yesterday’s MyTube stream had already surpassed one million views.

"First of all, the main issue we need to coordinate is probably...."

Director Jo Gyuhwan spoke.

"When should we release Uncle Bunny? The response is extremely positive, so when do you think would be best?"

"I think releasing it immediately would be premature."

Seokhwan hyung spoke up.

"Even if we release it right away, I don’t think public backlash would be severe... but minimizing it as much as possible would still be better."

Everyone nodded.

People who watched the broadcast would probably just think, Ah, I see.

But to people who hadn’t watched it, the optics were a little awkward.

Appearing on a parenting variety show and then releasing a nursery song the very next day.

Even if that wasn’t the intention, it could easily look like we’d gone on the show specifically to sell children’s music.

"...With that in mind, I think it’d be good to wait a few days before releasing it, while the buzz still hasn’t fully died down. Even if it’s only a few days apart, the entertainment industry moves so fast that the public’s perception of time is completely different."

Everyone agreed with the opinion.

The primary purpose behind releasing the nursery song was for NewBlack to connect with children.

Director Jo seemed to have several new ideas in mind, but that was still the core objective.

Since this wasn’t something where we urgently needed immediate profit, we decided to approach it more leisurely.

We asked:

"How’s the promotion prep going?"

"Hmm... honestly, we’re still thinking about how to handle it. We made a lot of plans, but we’ve never released a nursery song before...."

"True."

"Do you guys have any good ideas?"

At the question of whether we had a good way to maximize the impact of Uncle Bunny’s release, we thought for a moment.

"But do we really need to approach it differently? Even if it’s a nursery song, it’s still just a song."

"Right?"

"I don’t think we need to overcomplicate things just because it’s children’s music. Shouldn’t we just handle it the same way we normally do?"

"Oho...."

The staff looked intrigued.

A little while later—

Ding dong—

At the notification announcing a new upload, subscribers to NewBlack TV instinctively tapped the popup.

The video immediately appeared.

In a brightly colored, bouncy, kitschy video—

a doll suddenly popped onto the screen.

[Hop hop bunny dance!]

[Where are you going~♪]

The Uncle Bunny doll danced energetically like a K-pop music video teaser before striking a pose with a pop.

Immediately afterward, a fluffy cotton-candy-like logo appeared onscreen.

[Uncle Bunny]

[Coming Soon]

The entire thing felt exactly like the debut teaser for a rookie idol group.

'Huh?'

'What is this?'

Confused viewers moved their fingers and looked toward the title.

Only then did they finally notice it.

-“Uncle Bunny” M/V Teaser

The viewers staring blankly at the screen soon burst into loud laughter.