Chapter 959: Nothing Goes According to Expectations (13)

A reply arrived from the royal family of the Grand Duchy of Stern almost immediately.

-Her Highness the Princess is extremely delighted.

An official email bearing the royal seal followed, filled top to bottom with formal expressions of gratitude.

"Translator."

"If you’re going to call me something, at least be consistent. One day I’m Calculator, the next I’m Translator."

"This is literally the first time I’ve called you Translator."

"......."

Ri Hyuk frowned before lifting his eyes.

"That’s true, actually. Fair point."

"Now translate, Translator."

"Politely."

"Korean sub plz."

Maybe because it had come from a royal household, the document was difficult to interpret.

It was packed with elegant dictionary-level vocabulary and endless decorative phrases.

Our official interpreter spoke up.

"They are deeply grateful for the devotion you showed to Princess Sophie of the Grand Duchy of Stern...."

As Ri Hyuk translated the email, he added,

"And they say they’d be delighted if we visited the duchy sometime when we have free time. They’re inviting us to the palace."

"Oh, really?"

Jiho brightened before suddenly going, "Ah."

"But maybe this is one of those empty formal invitations. Like when people say, ‘Let’s grab a meal sometime.’"

"It’s probably a genuine invitation. They’re Germanic. People over there usually mean it when they say stuff like that."

"Ooh......."

The maknae’s eyes sparkled as he begged us to visit someday.

I smiled fondly.

"We’ll think about it later. With our schedule, we probably won’t have time for another year. And considering the princess’s age...."

"Age?"

"......Well, there’s a chance the princess might leave the fandom."

"!"

The younger members suddenly looked enlightened while the staff burst into laughter.

The TF team nodded sympathetically.

"True. Kids that age switch interests instantly. My niece loved a certain toy last year, so I bought it again during Lunar New Year this year and she said it was childish now."

Very true.

A child’s heart was like a reed swaying in the wind.

What if we contacted them a year or two later asking, ‘Can we come visit?’ only for Princess Sophie to no longer be a Souffle?

-Princess.... It’s us......! NewBlack, once your favorite idols! Don’t you recognize us?

-Sophie’s heart has turned cold. Royal guards!

-Princess......!

The staff laughed at our imaginary scenario.

Then Ri Hyuk tilted his head while reading the email’s postscript.

"Hm? There’s also a note here asking whether there’s any way they could watch the MV a little earlier."

"That’s impossible."

Apparently somewhere far away in a palace in central Europe, a certain princess was also going, ‘Play the song already!’ just like the children in Korea.

After telling Ri Hyuk to send them the livestream clip of Uncle Bunny—

we looked toward the laptop screen.

[Uncle Bunny]

[Coming Soon]

A realtime countdown video.

While flashy teaser clips from the MV played, a timer ticked downward beneath a release notice reading ‘KST 17:00.’

Junghyun commented,

"This really feels like a K-pop idol debut now."

The comments section had the exact same atmosphere.

-Uncle Bunny when’s your debutㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

-I’ve never seen such a pure, innocent rookie idol before.. how can he look this inhumanly cute

-Recommend intro line) Lalalalala! Happy for you! Hello! I’m Uncle Bunny!

-The teaser’s actually really good

-Company please pay more attention to stylingㅠㅠ he looks cuter when one ear folds down

Looking at the comments alone, it was hard to tell whether this was nursery music or K-pop anymore.

Jiho and Junghyun immediately synchronized.

"There has never been an idol like this before. Is this nursery music, or K-pop?"

"Hello. I’m Uncle Bunny."

Everyone laughed as release time drew closer and closer.

I turned to Seokhwan hyung.

"By the way, who directed the MV?"

"Director Yu Geon."

"......Director Yu Geon?"

The very same director famous in the indie film scene who had filmed our NetPlus documentary.

The man who’d introduced us to Director Kim Bora of Sound of Sun.

He was supposedly fond of us, but he was also known for being extremely picky, so hearing he’d taken charge of a project like this felt surreal.

"How did that even happen? Did he hear it was a movie involving dolls and get interested or something...?"

"Money."

"Ah."

"Director Jo Gyuhwan made an offer he couldn’t refuse."

That made sense.

Hadn’t our maknae and the production company immediately accepted Season 2 of Shinui after hearing NetPlus would invest 150 billion won?

That was simply how the beautiful machinery of capitalism worked.

"Well, even calling it an MV is a stretch. It’s basically just a simple video shoot. It’s not like there were complicated effects involved."

"What about the doll movement?"

"There are professionals who specialize in puppetry and doll performance."

"Ooh......."

As we listened to the behind-the-scenes explanation—

the MV finally released.

And all of us were stunned.

“!”

“!!”

Biju grabbed my arm with a shocked expression.

"Hyung!"

"Biju!"

"My, MyTube is......."

"It’s running normally. Dear god...!"

MyTube, which normally lagged every single time one of our music videos released, was functioning perfectly.

This wasn’t like the old days where pressing 1080p would cause the spinning red loading circle of doom.

There was even footage somewhere of us trying to film a reaction video only to spend thirty minutes praying in front of a black screen while holding hands.

"Ooooooh! Hyungs, it’s starting!"

We all focused on the screen.

『Rabbit Kingdom』

A bright pink kingdom filled the screen.

Uncle Bunny happily wandered around the kingdom.

"But there’s nobody there."

"Yeah...?"

He busily ran around pulling weeds, watering flowers, and smiling while talking to beautiful blossoms.

But aside from Uncle Bunny, the kingdom was completely empty.

After happily sliding down playground slides and playing on swings, Uncle Bunny tripped while running around.

"Oh no... he fell."

"Aigoo."

Uncle Bunny rubbed his injured forehead, looking strangely sad.

That lonely feeling of getting hurt and falling down—

yet nobody being there to notice.

Then in the next scene, as though he’d made up his mind, Uncle Bunny grabbed a suitcase and kicked open the door.

"So cute......."

Leaving Rabbit Kingdom behind, Uncle Bunny traveled to Earth.

He waved hello to his friends in the savanna and crossed Antarctica while snow piled atop his head.

After many twists and turns, Uncle Bunny finally met children.

Smiling brightly—

the song began.

『 Uncle Bunny 』

The MV continued, making all of us burst into laughter.

Meaningful-looking scenes appeared here and there like a K-pop music video while the doll danced adorably.

The song was a nursery rhyme—

but the presentation was unmistakably K-pop.

It felt bizarrely fascinating.

"It’s fun, but......."

I tilted my head.

"Will little kids actually like this?"

"Good question."

We were enjoying it so much ourselves that it was hard to judge how children would react—

when suddenly—

"Wooooow....... Hyungs look at this. Wooooow......."

The maknae was practically glued to the monitor in awe.

Our household’s twenty-one-year-old stared at Uncle Bunny’s movements with sparkling eyes like an actual child.

‘Guess we don’t need to worry about the kids’ reaction.’

Our household baby was already completely captivated.

On the day Uncle Bunny’s MV released—

parents across the country with children under seven years old were all doing roughly the same thing.

"Want to go watch Uncle Bunny?"

"Mhm!"

They opened MyTube on tablets and phones and played the newly uploaded MV for their children.

The kids immediately put down their toys and narrowed their brows in concentration.

Focused expressions.

‘But do they even understand the story?’

The parents alternated between looking at the screen and looking at their children.

"Subin, do you understand what this story is about?"

"Uncle Bunny’s playing all alone on Rabbit Planet. Uncle Bunny’s sad."

‘They understand everything.’

If anything, because there was barely any dialogue, the children seemed even more absorbed.

When Uncle Bunny fell alone and looked sad, the children sympathized.

"Poor thing...."

"Hop hop bunny dance!"

"Where are you going!"

Once the song finally began, the children started singing along while watching the MV.

"Wooooow......."

Their eyes sparkled brightly.

Because they had never seen a nursery song like this before.

“!”

“!!”

The children’s mouths fell open at the nursery song presented like a K-pop MV.

And thanks to Lemon Entertainment’s A&R style bleeding into the production, it even carried a strangely sophisticated feeling.

The idea that babies only liked childish and colorful things was a misconception.

This was—

the first K-pop these children had ever encountered.

"Mom! Mom...!"

"Whyyy......."

"Play it again."

"Hold on, I’ll put it on repeat."

The children watched it over and over and over again.

Only then did the parents finally relax.

‘Thank you. Uncle Bunny and underlings....’

As the children endlessly replayed the MV, the parents collapsed onto their couches in exhaustion.

While children clapped and giggled in delight—

their parents lay sprawled out behind them like defeated soldiers.

Meanwhile, the idol fans who’d taken interest in Uncle Bunny’s debut were laughing hysterically.

[Analyzing Uncle Bunny’s Lore]

[The Hidden Chilling Foreshadowing Behind Uncle Bunny!]

[Uncle Bunny Reaction feat. my nephew]

The MV hadn’t even been up long before K-pop YouTubers started making videos titled things like, “There’s a terrifying detail hidden here....”

-But seriously it actually does feel like there’s loreㅋㅋㅋ

-I’ve been in K-pop fandoms for over ten years.. this is the first nursery-song K-pop I’ve ever seen

-No but why is the MV quality so goodㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Uncle Bunny’s visuals are insane

-Why does a nursery song have loreㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ but.. after reading theories it kinda feels like it does

-Lemon what the hell did you create

It was the result of Director Yu Geon’s signature style from his indie films filled with meaningful exchanges and symbolic imagery.

The props appearing throughout the MV all felt like they had hidden meaning, just like modern K-pop lore videos.

Even the choreography scenes were flawless.

Colorful lighting.

Animal backup dancer dolls dancing behind him.

And under the dazzling lights, Uncle Bunny’s beautiful visuals somehow became the funniest part.

The rabbit doll smiled mysteriously with sparkling clear eyes.

-Ah fuck he’s annoyingly prettyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Why is this making me so madㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Why is him trying to look deadly so funny

-What’s with the shiny teeth effectㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Why is he actually pretty????

-Tosan’s star power is insane.. proving himself through skill once again

Wearing the classic refreshing rookie-idol styling and a cap, Uncle Bunny danced while holding a bug-catching net and basket.

And then there was the fluffy cotton-ball rabbit tail wiggling on his plump little backside.

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-His star power is actually crazy

-I’m losing my mind seriouslyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-They say to become a top star you have to drive both fans and haters crazy.. Tosan, you have top star potential

-Isn’t this more like >>I’m losing my fucking mindㅋㅋㅋ<< kind of crazy

-It’s supposedly a nursery song but only adults are commenting

-The babies are busy infinitely replaying it right now..ㅎ.. I wish I didn’t know that either

Meanwhile—

while Koreans laughed over this bizarre new nursery-song icon—

"What is it...?"

"Apa ini? (What is this?)"

"え...? ニュー・ブラックTVの童歌? (Eh...? A nursery song on NewBlack TV?)"

NewBlack TV subscribers around the world blinked at the suddenly uploaded children’s song.

‘A nursery song?’

Many weren’t hardcore fans constantly consuming every single upload, even if they were Souffles.

Curious viewers clicked the video—

and were stunned.

‘What? It really is a nursery song...?’

While tilting their heads at the unexpected upload—

something suddenly clicked in their minds at the word “nursery song.”

"Kids!"

Children were summoned by parents and siblings alike.

"Why did you call me?"

An opportunity to promote their favorite idols to children!

The Souffles smiled at the children looking up at them and asked:

"Want to listen to a nursery song?"

It was the last smile they would wear....

The response to the nursery song was explosive.

[Mango Realtime Chart]

#89 — Uncle Bunny

Why exactly Uncle Bunny had entered the realtime Mango charts was completely beyond me, but....

Anyway, the response was incredible.

Senior artists around us who were raising children even sent messages saying things like, ‘The kids absolutely love it,’ along with nearly ten attached photos.

Jiho spoke up.

"There’s a ton of Uncle Bunny stuff on SNS too."

"Really?"

"Yep. I can’t really read it because it’s all English, but Uncle_Bunny is trending so everyone must be talking about it."

Since only a few hours had passed since the MV release, it still didn’t feel entirely real yet.

The important thing was that the children loved it.

And also—

that we were having fun.

"Congratulations on the debut of rookie idol Uncle Bunny!"

"Wooooaaaah-!"

The younger members placed party hats on both me and Uncle Bunny before presenting a cake.

[#1]

Biju smiled shyly.

"I wanted to write 89, but they only had the number 1 and 2 candles."

"It’s okay."

Honestly, the real purpose was just using this as an excuse to eat cake anyway.

[Thank you, NewBlack children!]

Using Uncle Bunny, I pretended to blow out the candles—

"Ah! Uncle’s whiskers are burning! Be careful!"

"Huh?!"

One tip of Uncle Bunny’s whiskers curled slightly from the heat.

After blowing out the candles, we started eating cake with wooden chopsticks.

Ri Hyuk glanced at the thick pile of documents on the table.

"What are those?"

"Ah."

I explained.

"They’re from the broadcasting stations."

"Broadcasting stations?"

"Yeah. Somehow Uncle Bunny ended up getting promoted like a debuting rookie idol."

KNet and other music programs had apparently gone, ‘This is a great opportunity!’ and started sending proposals.

Of course, the stations hadn’t thought of it entirely on their own.

-Is Uncle Bunny actually going to debut on music shows too??ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-I need Tosan music show debut♡

-Let’s get him on Music Bank

Apparently the stations saw comments like those online and immediately got ideas.

Music show ratings had been declining year after year.

Their plan was to invite Uncle Bunny onto the shows, upload clips to MyTube, boost ratings, and generate buzz all at once.

The proposals all insisted it could be extremely brief.

Just one hour in the studio would be enough.

"Hmm."

Junghyun asked while eating cake,

"So are we doing it?"

"I don’t know."

I was tempted, but still hesitant.

"I’m not sure whether the public actually wants to see more of this."

"Hmm... true."

"Kids would definitely like it... but going as far as music shows feels a bit...."

Besides, we already had plenty of other things to do.

Uncle Bunny was ultimately just a lucky side project.

Unless it suddenly exploded worldwide or something....

"For now, since overseas reactions seem good, let’s release the English version recording, and after that...."

That was when—

Junghyun suddenly lowered his chopsticks and perked up his ears.

"What?"

"I hear the sixth-floor elevator opening. I think Team Leader Yoon is running up here."

"Really?"

About thirty seconds after Junghyun spoke—

we heard someone sprinting from far away.

Biju cut another slice of cake while I prepared a plate.

Click—

Seokhwan hyung burst through the door, panting heavily.

I handed him water and a plate.

"We were waiting for you. Want some cake?"

"Th-that’s not important right now. Right now...!"

"? "

"Huff... huff......!"

"What’s wrong?"

Still gasping for breath, Seokhwan hyung leaned against the wall.

"Fi... fi......."

"Hotteok? I like those too."

"N-no... not that......."

"Oh, you mean ‘No, that’s not it?’"

Nod nod.

Apparently he had something important to say, but... why run all the way here instead of calling?

He looked too overwhelmed to even think of that.

Seokhwan hyung gulped down water before speaking.

"Fifty million!"

"? "

"Uncle Bunny’s MV... it just broke your fastest record for reaching fifty million views. The internet’s going insane right now."

“!”

The MV had already surpassed fifty million views despite barely being released.

Only then did we check our phones and notice Uncle Bunny sitting at #1 on realtime search rankings.

The younger members and I exchanged looks.

Then—

our gazes slowly shifted toward the proposals sent by the broadcasting stations.

“.......”

“.......”

I slowly opened my mouth.

"Underlings."

"Yes."

"Bring it."

Like a hero equipping a cutting-edge suit, I spread my arms wide.

The younger members immediately ran over and fitted the Uncle Bunny doll onto my hand.

Then the underlings put on their animal headbands.

"Underlings."

"Yes."

"The tide has come in. Time to row."

"Yes!"

Right now, the entire world was saying yes to Uncle Bunny.

Naturally—

that meant it was time for us to row the No.

Another peaceful day in idol fandom culture, where fans casually cursed one another and fought over chart rankings on SNS.

And then—

something strange appeared on their timelines.

-[KNet Music Show Commute Preview]

Normally, pre-broadcast commute photos from KNet music shows weren’t unusual.

The problem was the attached image.

In a famous fansite master’s heavily filtered photo, a rabbit doll waved brightly at the camera.

KNet Commute Preview — Uncle Bunny

#UncleBunny #Commute #UncleBunny #Tosan

“?”

“??”

The idol fans blinked—

then burst into laughter.

‘I’m seriously going insane.’

Inside the photo, the rookie rabbit sparkled brightly.

Uncle Bunny—

the rabbit currently bringing much-needed looseness into the endlessly tense world of idol fandoms.