Chapter 961: Nothing Goes According to Expectations (15)

Average viewership rating: 0.5%.

That was the typical rating regularly recorded by KNet’s newly reorganized music show, Music K.

The numbers rose a little whenever popular groups like Street Boys or Serenity made a comeback, but in general, the ratings rarely surpassed 1%.

But.

The live real-time rating right now had already exceeded 3%.

– Really looking forward to Rabbit Uncle’s stage

– thump thump

– If you told the me from one year ago that I’d turn on a music show to watch a children’s song, would I have believed it?

– If you said it was NewBlack, probably yes

– Okay that’s fairㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Even before the music show began, idol fans were already crowding the live chat in real time.

Idol fans rubbed the sides of their noses nostalgically.

‘Man. This really takes me back.’

They were remembering the music shows from around 2012 and 2013, back when they still had broad mainstream popularity.

‘Those days were fun.’

Back when people would casually leave music shows on TV even if their favorite idols weren’t appearing, chatting about things like:

“Who’s that rookie?”

“That stage today was pretty good.”

Of course, even back then people complained that music shows were dying because ratings had fallen from 8% to 3% or 4%...

...but nowadays even hitting 1% was considered impressive.

While idol fans smiled warmly, feeling nostalgic for those older vibes—

The fans waiting through the commercial break were in full festival mode.

– The thread’s moving insanely fast

– Tosamie♡

– Explain the fraudulent contract with the Dragon Palaceㅡㅡ I heard he promised them his liver and never paid up

– Didn’t he have some turtle racing scandal? What happened with that?

– The rabbit was actually the victim but the story got twistedㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ People seriously misunderstand it a lot

– The fact that the haters are already crawling out means he’s hotㅎㅎㅎ Our genius rabbit’s gonna become a superstar

The music show debut of rookie idol Rabbit Uncle!

The idol fans, delighted to finally have new material to joke around with, were happily chatting away when photos and videos started getting uploaded one after another.

[Rabbit Uncle leaving-work photos]

Looks like he finished prerecording with the kids and is heading home

Everyone burst into laughter at the sight of NewBlack and the rabbit doll waving goodbye to the children.

– They filmed prerecording with kids???

– Cuteㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– Those babies totally hit the jackpot

– Look at the kids only staring at Tosamie instead of NewBlackㅋㅋㅋ

– They’re probably gonna regret this once they enter elementary schoolㅋㅋㅋ Isn’t NewBlack like elementary-school-president-tier idols?

– Kids, you need to remember those handsome guys standing next to Tosamie... You’ll be seeing them for the rest of your livesㅠㅠㅠ

The idol fans were smiling like proud mothers at the tiny babies—

Then suddenly froze.

‘N-no, this isn’t the time for that!’

They’d gotten distracted by the cuteness and forgotten their true duty.

They hurriedly started typing comments again.

– A rookie leaving work before the seniors finish their live stages?

– This agency’s cross-promotion is insaneㅡㅡ They’re seriously mobilizing NewBlack just to promote a rookie???

– Recruiting truck protest participants (1/100)

And while the idol fans happily played around—

– Oh it’s starting

– thump thump

The stage of a newly debuted rookie girl group ended, and the VCR began.

“Whimper....”

“Whine.”

The NewBlack members wearing animal headbands sniffled dramatically.

“I’m so nervous! Performing is scary meow.”

“I’m tired now~”

While viewers unconsciously muttered, “Sting bee, sting bee,” at Junghyun’s line—

A silhouette appeared walking down the hallway.

A fluffy little hand.

A plump little butt.

– ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– The star power is insane even from the silhouette

– That hip line is crazy

– Tosamieㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Then the face was revealed, and viewers burst into laughter.

Bright eyes.

With eyelashes and full makeup added, Rabbit Uncle’s visuals had been upgraded.

‘Cute!’

Combined with the refreshing rookie idol fashion—

Clack.

The rabbit entered through the door and began offering healing advice to the depressed NewBlack members.

Jiho, wearing fox ears, asked:

“But Uncle, how old are you?”

“Me?”

Tosamie smiled brightly.

“Uncle is nine years old!”

The viewers exploded.

– He’s nine and already acting like a life mentor

– You’re talking harshly to a minorㅡㅡ

– Apparently nine years old in rabbit years is like seventy

– I see..

– We apologize grandfatherㅠㅠㅠ Please live a long life

Meanwhile, Rabbit Uncle and NewBlack introduced the singers appearing on today’s broadcast.

Girls On Top and Monthly Boys, the candidates for first place.

The special stage from KNet’s audition program.

Souffle stroked their chins thoughtfully.

‘You can practically hear KNet grinning all the way from here.’

The global girl-group audition program Flora Project.

Recently KNet had been pouring absurd amounts of promotional resources into it.

So hearing NewBlack personally mention the special stage was enough to make KNet beam with joy.

‘Well. They treated the boys nicely.’

Judging from what had been uploaded onto NewBlack’s SNS, KNet had practically treated them like visiting international superstars.

Souffle narrowed their eyes and let it slide.

‘Let’s see.’

A gigantic loaf-shaped crowd stared at the message board while fiddling with their Dalbongies.

‘Hehe!’

Pop!

A lone anti-fan appeared.

‘In this atmosphere where everyone’s joking around with Rabbit Uncle rival posts, I’ll casually sneak in some NewBlack slander—’

BOOM!

The idol fans froze at the sensation of a massive crater forming.

‘.......’

As if nothing had happened, the idol fans carefully avoided eye contact with Souffle and resumed joking around again.

Souffle smiled after crushing the antis who tried to subtly cross the line.

Then they looked back at the TV.

‘This still feels surreal though....’

No.

More than surreal—it was genuinely bewildering.

Usually, when your favorite idol appears on a childcare variety show, everyone imagines roughly the same kind of scene.

– Hi, kids.

– Pretty oppas!

– Haha, shall we have fun together~? Oppas brought presents too.

The idols spend a day playing with children, it gets edited into a twenty-minute segment, and then articles come out saying things like:

“Babies explode with happiness at handsome oppas’ visuals.”

A wholesome ending.

But instead...

‘No, this guy suddenly learned ventriloquism and made a children’s song....’

‘Then the song suddenly charted on Mango.’

‘What do you mean fastest fifty million views in history... Are we even going to be able to beat this with our next comeback? We can’t lose streaming power to babies.’

Even Souffle, who usually remained unfazed by almost anything, found these numbers shocking.

After pondering for a while, they nodded.

‘Let’s just enjoy it.’

Since things had already turned out this way, they decided to fully support Rabbit Uncle’s promotions.

And at last—

The long-awaited Rabbit Uncle stage began.

[Hot Debut!]

[UNCLE BUNNY]

A colorful logo flashed onto the screen.

Before the stage officially started, a dramatic teaser video showed Rabbit Uncle posing for deadly “photoshoots.”

– ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– Wait a secondㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– What is this???ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– Why is him acting sexy so infuriatingㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Then the performance truly began.

The camera zoomed in close on Rabbit Uncle.

– ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– Why do I feel like the camera director is laughing behind the monitor right now

– Respect to their professionalismㅋㅋㅋ I wouldn’t have survived thisㅋㅋ

– Is the slight camera shaking because the director is laughing?

The rabbit spread both arms wide and shouted:

“Children!”

“Yes!”

“Shall we sing a fun song together with Uncle~?”

Then the camera pulled out into a full-stage shot.

Beside Wooju, who sat at a table controlling the doll, the younger members wearing animal headbands placed their hands on their waists.

Shrug shrug.

Souffle instinctively gasped.

‘Huh?’

‘Wait...?!’

For some reason, the members looked unusually innocent today.

White T-shirts and jeans.

Their styling had intentionally been kept simple so attention would focus on Rabbit Uncle, yet somehow they looked incredibly fresh and pure.

‘This is rare...!’

They’d done a somewhat similar concept for Coin last year, but it was still something fans rarely got to see.

Once idols became massive stars, companies usually stopped giving them styling with such youthful freshness.

But today they were performing a children’s song.

Maybe because of that concept, the members looked especially soft and innocent.

Blush resting atop pale skin.

The members smiling brightly at the children.

Just watching them made Souffle’s lips curl upward.

– Tosamie... thank youㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

– Why are they all so cute today????

– Literally the human embodiment of cuteness

– Jiho please stop being cute

– They’re so cute today it’s hard to breatheㅠㅠㅠㅠ

The entire performance overflowed with cuteness.

The babies singing along in the middle sounded like a chorus of tiny chicks.

The singers laughing helplessly at the children were adorable too.

Even the choreography was cute!

‘Wow.......’

And as soon as the stage ended, videos immediately began flooding online.

– [Relay Dance] Rabbit Uncle & NewBlack – Uncle Bunny (4K)

– [K-Fancam] NewBlack Ri Hyuk Fancam 4K ‘Uncle Bunny’ | @MusicK_2018

– [MusicK Behind] Rabbit Uncle’s commute!

NewBlack dancing with Rabbit Uncle while wearing suspenders and mischievous little caps in the relay dance.

A vertical fancam where Jiho looked especially adorable.

Souffle’s eyes sparkled.

‘This is incredible.......’

Originally, the children’s song Rabbit Uncle had only been created to entertain kids.

Souffle had originally thought, As long as the babies like it, that’s enough~

But now they stared at the unexpected benefits raining down on them, their lips twitching upward.

‘Kyaaar륵!’

‘Kya륵!’

While the children laughed happily, Souffle behind them smiled even brighter than anyone else.

KNet’s music show achieved tremendous success.

“Huh?”

Jiho checked the views and spoke up.

“These numbers are way higher than our usual fancams or relay dances.”

“No way...?”

“It’s true. Look.”

“...It really is?”

Since it had only been a brief children’s-song appearance, we hadn’t expected any major reaction.

But the views were almost double the usual numbers.

“Is it because it’s a children’s song?”

...Except even Souffle were filling the comments with messages about how adorable everything was.

The younger members and I looked through the comments together and sorted them by likes.

– Let’s all work hard in life. Even after becoming that successful, Sun Wooju is still out here waving around a rabbit doll..

The younger members and I burst into laughter.

– Too too cuteㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

– Our Tosamie’s facial acting is amazing? Professional idol Tosamie♡

– It’s been forever since I’ve seen a true all-rounder idolㅠㅠㅠ Nothing lacking in vocals or dance

– A children’s song on a music showㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– Honestly with this level of star power, Billboard seems possibleㅋㅋㅋ

We smiled contentedly at the comments flooding the page with compliments about cuteness.

Then suddenly froze.

“W-wait a second.......”

I stared at the comments.

“Why are there barely any comments about us?”

“T-that’s true.”

Looking at the comment section completely dominated by reactions to rookie idol Tosamie, I felt strangely conflicted.

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at the motionless Rabbit Uncle doll sitting nearby.

Then Biju spoke.

“But apparently the ratings were insane. They said the real-time peak hit 6%.”

“Seriously...?”

“They said it’s the highest rating since 2013.”

“!”

Suddenly Tosamie looked adorable again.

Junghyun tilted his head.

“But when did he start being called Tosamie? Was Rabbit Uncle’s name always Tosamie?”

“No. People just started calling him Tosam.”

“Ah....”

“I never really came up with a name anyway. So it worked out nicely. People even named him for us.”

Watching netizens roleplaying as Tosamie fans made me smile.

After monitoring fan reactions online for a while, I clapped my hands toward the younger members.

“Alright. Then let’s start wrapping up Tosamie’s promotions.”

“Yes~!”

Since we’d appeared on KNet, it was time to appear on the other broadcasting stations’ music shows too.

Like collecting stamps one by one, we briefly filmed at various broadcasting station studios and wrapped up Rabbit Uncle’s activities.

– Rabbit Uncle finishes PBS Music On recording... Music On PD: “You’ll be able to see Rabbit Uncle’s special costume”

– ‘Rabbit Uncle’ surpasses fifty million views in record time... Lemon Entertainment entering children’s business sector soon?

– [Exclusive] Rabbit Uncle shares thoughts on ending promotions... “Every moment spent with children was beautiful”

After finishing an interview with HBS’s entertainment news program, Rabbit Uncle’s schedule was rapidly wrapped up.

When we returned to the company, Seokhwan hyung spoke.

“We’re getting flooded with advertisements right now too.”

“Really?”

“Seriously. Dozens came in over the last few days. I don’t even know how we’re supposed to handle all this.”

“How many?”

“Forty-seven.”

“.......”

And most of them were highly lucrative deals.

Everything from pharmaceutical companies releasing children’s fever medicine and bandages to convenience-store food brands.

“But why are they sending them to me...?”

“Because you’re Rabbit Uncle...?”

“But the rabbit doll technically belongs to that factory owner.”

“Ah.”

Seokhwan hyung spoke.

“That place is our subsidiary now.”

“?”

“...Apparently the owner signed an equity contract directly with the CEO. It’s a really tiny factory, but things suddenly blew up so much that they panicked. I heard they never imagined something on this scale.”

I could practically picture the terrified face of the small rabbit doll factory owner.

Jiho asked,

“But how does this even work? Wooju hyung made the song and created Rabbit Uncle, but.......”

“T-that’s true?”

“.......”

“.......”

All of us slowly turned toward one person.

“Why are you all looking at me?”

“We just thought maybe you’d know.”

“......This is something you ask the legal team. I’m not some robot that spits out answers whenever you ask questions.”

At Ri Hyuk’s complaint, Jiho immediately fired back.

“What family is the sweet potato classified under?”

“A perennial vine belonging to the morning glory family... which I happen to know, but that doesn’t mean I understand legal matters.”

“Tsk. Totally useless. Go study more, hyung.”

“!”

While Ri Hyuk grabbed the maknae and shook him violently, Seokhwan hyung and I stared thoughtfully at Rabbit Uncle.

Back when it was only a children’s song, there hadn’t been any problems.

But now that things had exploded this much, we genuinely didn’t know how to organize everything.

“This is complicated.”

“Should we slowly sort it out? Ask the legal team?”

At least I definitely owned the copyright to the song itself.

But when it came to Rabbit Uncle as a character, things were murkier.

Still, it wasn’t really that important.

Rabbit Uncle was incredibly hot right now, but it wasn’t the kind of topic likely to last forever.

Even the Rabbit Uncle music video had surpassed fifty million views faster than anything before it, but after that, the momentum had slowed somewhat.

“Oh right.”

“Hm?”

Seokhwan hyung glanced at the clock.

“I forgot to mention it. While you guys were filming, the English version of Rabbit Uncle should’ve been uploaded too.”

At that, I checked my phone.

A video had indeed been uploaded onto the MyTube Kids account.

[Uncle Bunny]

Same melody.

Only the lyrics had been changed into English.

After confirming the upload went through properly, we headed toward the TF team office.

“Good work, Tosamie~!”

I gently patted Rabbit Uncle’s cheek.

It was finally time to place Tosamie inside the trophy display case on the sixth floor.

We sat Tosamie down in a soft chair and locked the glass case.

“Now Tosamie will be remembered as part of NewBlack history.”

“Yeah....”

“Rest peacefully now, Mr. Tosam.”

Watching the rabbit doll smiling brightly from inside the glass case, we turned away.

“Hehehe.”

“Hehehehehe.”

“Tosamie. Your era is over.”

“Now it’s NewBlack’s era again......!”

For a brief moment we’d been jealous of Tosamie’s popularity, and now we smiled in satisfaction.

“Kyaaar륵!”

“Kya륵!”

Tosamie silently stared at us.

But we simply laughed happily.

MyTube Kids.

Released in 2015, it was an app created by MyTube for children and parents.

A platform specifically for kids!

“Honey, want Mommy to put on a children’s song?”

“Mm!”

Because of that, parents all over the world used it constantly.

Especially busy parents raising children—many used nothing except MyTube Kids.

“Cindy, what should Mommy put on for you?”

“Dis... rabbit.”

“Rabbit?”

Parents across the globe tilted their heads in confusion.

It was a video that had only recently been uploaded, yet had already amassed millions of views.

[Uncle Bunny]

A cheerful video of a rabbit dancing with animal friends.

This was the moment Rabbit Uncle appeared before viewers who had never paid attention to NewBlack or MyTube due to the chaos of parenting.

‘Should I try playing it?’

The moment they hit play, the children’s song began.

A repetitive rhythm that naturally made people sway along.

The second the song ended, the babies chirped.

“Again!”

“You want me to play it again?”

“Mm.”

Replay.

“Again.”

“Should I just put it on repeat...?”

Replay after replay.

Children sucked on their fingers absentmindedly while staring at the kids content Uncle Bunny.

Children, who had nothing but free time outside of meals, stared at the screen with sparkling eyes.

‘Rabbit Uncle!’

And so the views kept climbing.

+1

+1

+1

..

‘Hehe.’

‘Gud... so gud.’

‘Wanna watch again.’

The babies’ eyes gleamed with pure madness.

“Ah. Good work.”

“Good work~”

After finishing today’s practice session, the younger members and I left the practice room together.

As we approached the elevator while massaging our shoulders—

“!”

The maknae suddenly screamed while looking at his phone.

“H-hyungs!”

“Hm?”

“L-look at this!”

All of us turned toward the phone Jiho held out.

– Rabbit Uncle English version breaks MyTube’s all-time fastest record to reach 100 million views

“?”

“??”

We stared blankly at the article.

Thunk.

A sound came from inside the display case.

Apparently Junghyun hadn’t secured him properly earlier, because the rabbit doll had fallen off the chair with a soft thud.

For some reason, a scene from Annabelle flashed through my mind.

“!”

“!!”

Our eyes met Rabbit Uncle’s as he lay there in an oddly seductive pose.

“It’s just our imagination, right?”

“R-right?”

For some reason, it felt like we could hear a phantom voice whispering from somewhere—

“This is not over yet... hehehe.”