Chapter 992: It Was Beautiful From Far Away.. (4)

The idol rappers hated Sun Wooju.

‘Evil human!’

Imagine this for a second.

There’s a student ranked #1 in the entire country.

He gets perfect grades, excels at sports, has a great reputation, and even serves as student body president.

Then one day, that nationwide #1 student suddenly starts studying art.

The kids preparing for fine arts entrance exams ask him why.

-Why are you studying art?

-I just want a perfect score on my performance assessment~

-......

And then he suddenly starts drawing insanely well.

People whisper among themselves.

-Wow. He’s as good as actual art school applicants. Art must be easy.

-......

Not technically the nationwide #1 student’s fault, but somehow everyone’s blood pressure still skyrockets!

During a break in filming—

In a dark corner, the idol rappers surrounding the crane mask exchanged ominous looks.

Day Z huffed furiously.

‘I’m not letting this slide!’

‘Sunbaenim. Leave it to us.’

Street Boys sent looks that said Just trust us as they called Wooju over.

“Sun Wooju.”

“Commander.”

Even just standing there silently made Street Boys look intimidating as they warned him.

“Commander. Please take it easy.... At this rate you’re gonna wreck your health and collapse.”

“If you keep practicing like that, one day your legs are gonna give out from exhaustion and you’ll collapse on the spot. Is that really what you want?”

“You only get one life, friend. Let’s take care of our health.”

Day Z, who had been shaking the crane mask around together with them, tilted her head.

‘They’re actually being super sweet?’

She blinked at the surprisingly caring concern from Street Boys’ rap line.

Then the crane mask spoke in a voice filled with realization.

[Ah.......]

The crane sounded slightly remorseful.

[So this is why everyone’s upset. You’re worried I’m overworking myself practicing rap and ruining my health, right?]

Everyone nodded.

That wasn’t exactly the reason, but if they wanted to phrase it nicely, then sure.

The crane placed a hand under its chin and flapped its wings.

[But you don’t need to worry at all!]

‘?’

[I take good care of my health while practicing rap! I take five supplements every day and sleep well too!]

“!”

“!!”

“Day Z sunbaenim, calm down. Our Commander is a delicate being.”

“Hanjo hyung, calm down! If you fight him, you’ll lose!”

While Street Boys tried desperately to hold the two back, Wooju slowly removed the mask.

“Ah, I thought I was gonna die from the heat.”

The breathtakingly handsome man wiped away sweat while flashing a grin, causing the idols to freeze.

Swoooosh....

Their anger nearly melted away.

‘No. Don’t be deceived by the shell!’

‘He may look handsome on the outside, but there’s a yokai living inside him.’

‘My friend really is handsome....’

Wooju looked at Hanjo.

“Was I really that good?”

“Yeah.”

“Khh. Guess all that practice paid off.”

“You were too good. Honestly, it’s enough to make me feel threatened.”

Hanjo clicked his tongue.

“How much practice did you even do?”

“I just squeezed it in here and there.”

Wooju shamelessly clung to his friend, who clearly looked like he wanted nothing to do with him.

“Seriously though, was I good? I don’t really get evaluated for rap much, so I honestly couldn’t tell.”

“...Didn’t you get praised a ton for Answer?”

“That was rapping in English.”

Apparently he genuinely hadn’t known whether he was good or not.

After receiving praise from his best friend, Wooju immediately scampered over to his younger member.

“Junghyun-ah~ Hyung did well, right?”

“......Starting today, I’m pulling all-nighters to practice.”

“You’re already good! What more are you gonna do??”

“Hyung doesn’t understand the heart of a main position. Main positions always want to widen the gap with the lead position.”

The main rappers present all nodded solemnly.

When sub-positions practiced hard, main positions smiled brightly and cheered them on with, “Fighting!”

But when the #2 lead position suddenly started practicing like a madman, anxiety naturally crept in.

As Wooju pulled a rice cracker from his pocket to comfort the slightly sulking third member—

“Wow. You were seriously good though.”

The rappers who had fled earlier because of the idols’ wrath returned to compliment him.

Haetion looked genuinely impressed.

“Damn, Wooju. You’re seriously good.”

The other rappers nodded too.

“I thought you were an actual rapper.”

“Must’ve been hard getting bullied by them, huh? Unlike them, we feel no jealousy. We simply wish to release a song with Wooju-nim.”

“How about a collab single?? Doesn’t that sound like the sound of another #1 chart hit~?”

The rappers sweetly tempted him.

Wooju laughed brightly, probably thinking they were joking.

But the rappers were dead serious.

Part of it was wanting to work with a composer who had conquered both K-pop and Billboard—

But mostly—

‘He’s genuinely good.’

They sincerely wanted to release a song with him.

Everyone there stared at him in admiration.

‘Seriously, where did he even find the time?’

The biggest mystery was how Sun Wooju had managed to find time to practice rap at all.

With a schedule that insane, how had he possibly—

“Huh?”

“Whoa!”

At that exact moment—

A thin stream of blood suddenly trickled from Sun Wooju’s nose while he smiled brightly.

“Oppa, you’ve got a nosebleed!”

“Hey, hey! Your nose is bleeding!”

Maybe it was the aftermath of filming the music video all night before rushing straight into filming again this morning.

As Wooju tilted his head back, the others moved frantically.

Junghyun sprinted off to grab tissues while Street Boys’ rap line hovered around anxiously asking, “Are you okay??”

One of the rappers overheard the staff talking and quietly spoke to the others.

“Apparently Wooju-ssi filmed something yesterday—well, technically this morning.”

“Oh, seriously?”

“So right after filming Mission Singer, he immediately went to another schedule...?”

Only then did they notice things the makeup had hidden before.

The dark circles.

The bloodshot eyes.

The rappers slowly came to a realization.

‘He didn’t find spare time inside his busy schedule....’

‘He created time to practice.’

Every singer present felt a surge of human respect.

‘Seriously, this guy’s insane.’

‘This oppa’s mental strength is unreal.......’

‘Honestly, respect.’

Even the rappers who’d been furious moments ago about him threatening their territory now nodded solemnly.

For some reason, they suddenly wanted to cheer him on.

But—

Still, nobody knew the truth yet.

“Uh.......”

Junghyun swallowed his words.

‘The thing Wooju hyung filmed yesterday was the new music video.’

If everyone knew the full story, they wouldn’t be supporting him so warmly.

Because the thing Wooju had filmed yesterday was none other than UBiz’s summer song WAVE.

And once that song released, every singer present here would drop one rank on the charts because of it.......

TBC Mission Singer production office.

“PD-nim.”

“Hm?”

“An email came from Lemon. They asked us to review the NewBlack TV footage they filmed....”

“Really? Let’s take a look.”

PD Park Yeonhee from Mission Singer sat down while the writers gathered around the TV.

Attached to the email was a twenty-minute video.

The youngest writer asked,

“What’s this?”

“Wooju-ssi said he wanted to film something after the broadcast. Since he appeared as Nation’s Top Hip Hop Ri Hyuk, he said he never actually got to show a proper hip hop stage, so he asked if it’d be okay to film something with rappers.”

“Oho.”

“Looks like they’re planning to upload it immediately after the episode airs.”

As they chatted, the video started playing.

“It’s probably just some simple content introducing their label rappers and filming a small medley together.”

“Mmm... huh?”

But as the video continued, the production team slowly wore blank expressions.

“Wait a second.......”

“This lineup is...?”

It was a lineup you’d rarely even see on major network variety shows.

NewBlack’s Junghyun.

Scarlet’s Day Z.

Street Boys’ rap line.

Famous rappers.

The winner and runner-up from the recent hit cable hip hop audition show.

‘Didn’t they say this was a simple video?’

It was truly a very NewBlack kind of casting power.

After staring in shock, the staff slowly came back to their senses.

“Wow... Lemon really isn’t the old Lemon anymore.”

“The company’s size is insane....”

“I heard they’re still in the process of acquiring SNH too. Once that’s done, they’ll get even bigger. They’ll have Daylight too.”

That meant even Daylight—the legendary second-generation national girl group—would join them alongside today’s national idol group, NewBlack.

Plus Autumn Girl and the boy group NOT.

“......Couldn’t Lemon Entertainment hold Dream Concert by themselves at this point?”

“At this rate we should just call it LemonCon.”

It was a video that truly made them feel Lemon Entertainment’s explosive growth instead of merely hearing about it.

-Look how amazing this is? All these people belong to our company.

That was the atmosphere.

“But why are Kim Jihyuk and Gye Hongju there?”

“I saw online that those two are apparently part of Lemon Entertainment and DNS Media’s next debut lineup.”

“Wow... their rookie lineup is stacked too.”

Even their future rookie idols debuting this year or next suddenly felt exciting.

Then the skit ended and the performance began.

A giant party atmosphere as everyone blended together on stage.

The beats were so exciting that it made you want to dance along instinctively while the rap performances continued.

“Wow.......”

“Even Haetion’s label rappers are insane. How many audition winners are there?”

Everyone stared in amazement as the hit-song medley continued.

Then the crane-masked protagonist appeared.

And started rapping.

“!”

“!!”

The production staff looked at one another.

‘He’s good!’

‘Why... is he good?’

The atmosphere was completely different from when he’d been joking around singing nonsense through a voice changer.

Unlike his mid-low singing voice, when he rapped he dropped fully into a deep tone—and it was incredibly attractive.

Projection. Pronunciation. Nothing lacking.

Because of that, the meaning behind the phrase “Nation’s Top Hip Hop Ri Hyuk” gradually started feeling different.

“......”

“......”

A phrase that once sounded funny somehow started feeling serious.

Like the crane on screen was saying this to them:

-You thought I was only good at singing?

The rap section from Nine, which had dominated Mango Charts, exploded powerfully across the stage.

Then the Korean version of Answer flowed gently over a jazz melody, creating perfect control over pacing and intensity.

By the time the production team snapped back to reality, the crane mask had already cleanly caught the microphone it tossed into the air.

The Lemon Entertainment rappers walked backward together with arms around each other’s shoulders, laughing happily.

“......”

“......”

Silence flowed through the room.

One of the veteran writers spoke to the PD.

“PD-nim.”

“Yes?”

“I think our ratings are about to go completely insane.”

Everyone was thinking the same thing.

This Friday’s ratings already looked guaranteed to go crazy.

-King Sun Wooju appears!

And on top of that, the moment Nation’s Top Hip Hop Ri Hyuk appeared, communities and social media would explode in real time.

Then this video would hit MyTube and promote the show even further.

Attention on NewBlack and their label artists’ skills.

Promotion for Lemon Entertainment.

A complete preemptive shutdown of any criticism toward Nation’s Top Hip Hop Ri Hyuk.

And finally, rising ratings.

Watching this massive chessboard where everyone benefitted, the staff felt genuine awe toward the person who had designed it all.

“Uh.......”

Even if someone was freeloading off momentum, this felt too efficient.

It genuinely felt like the broadcasting station should give something back in return.

PD Park Yeonhee asked,

“Shouldn’t we... do something?”

“R-Right.”

“Anyone got ideas?”

“Shouldn’t we maybe send a catered buffet to Ri Hyuk-ssi’s waiting room? Maybe a chocolate fountain or something....”

The production staff immediately began holding an intense discussion.

After finishing UBiz’s music video shoot and the additional content filming—

“Mister.”

“Sssuup.......”

“Hey, mister. Wake up.”

“Sssuuup.......”

When I slowly woke from my daze, I was greeted by an unfamiliar ceiling—

No, an unfamiliar sky.

Behind Ri Hyuk’s sharp face, I could see the airplane window.

“Uh.......”

Rain fell beneath a cloudy sky.

Airport buildings stretched out beyond it.

The kind of splitting headache unique to sleeping too long washed over me.

“Ughhh... did we arrive?”

“Yes. Want some Tylenol or something?”

“Just one.”

Jiho, who had been watching from beside us, looked impressed.

“Wow, hyung didn’t wake up even once.”

“I must’ve been a little tired.”

After battling Ri Hyuk on Mission Singer, filming a music video, and then filming extra content, the fatigue must’ve piled up.

According to the members, I’d slept for fifteen straight hours without waking once.

Because of that, my condition actually felt excellent.

“Alright...!”

I sprang to my feet—

“Uh.......”

“Here it comes! Orthostatic hypotension!”

My vision turned white and I collapsed back into my seat while the members burst out laughing.

After recovering from the headache for a bit—

“Alright! Let’s go!”

“London! London!”

I still felt slightly hazy, but I was in a good mood.

The weather was gloomy and rainy, but this was our very first time visiting England.

Biju spoke excitedly.

“The London Eye, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace.......”

“But we don’t really have time for sightseeing this trip, hyung.”

“Right....”

Biju looked slightly disappointed at Ri Hyuk’s words.

“Anyway, it’s England!”

“England~!”

We’d already visited France for a K-pop joint concert and tours before.

And Germany too.

But England was new.

The moment we got off the plane, security guards holding black umbrellas greeted us.

“There are paparazzi at your eleven o’clock.”

“Yup~”

We casually put on masks and climbed into the waiting vehicles.

“Oh. The steering wheel’s on the right side, hyung.”

“It is.”

Just like Junghyun said, the steering wheel was on the right like in Japan.

I watched the streets of London pass by outside the car window, thinking Ohhh... before eventually concluding, Well, it’s Europe.

After taking some time to rest, we officially began the European tour schedule.

Though “European tour” sounded grander than reality.

It was really just concerts in two countries: England and France.

The venue we’d be performing at in England was—

[The O2 Arena]

An indoor arena.

Roughly thirty-three thousand attendees across two days.

Not a small scale by any means.

Most famous American artists performed at this level.

Cold Brown and the popular singer-songwriter Mandy Spice had both rented the venue before us.

Still, compared to the fact that we were currently touring stadiums all over the world, it felt relatively modest.

“The UK scale is awkward.”

Seokhwan hyung explained.

“There are too many fans for a one-day stadium concert, but not enough for two days.”

“That’s awkward.”

“Next time we come, I think we’ll probably do stadiums though.......”

Compared to other regions, our fandom growth in Europe had been slower.

European countries generally had less interest in K-pop to begin with.

And recently, there was also the new competitor—Moonlight.

“From the atmosphere in Europe, it kind of feels like they’re trying to push Moonlight. Probably because they’re a predominantly white band.”

“Oho.”

“And similarly, Moonlight’s been focusing on Europe the most after America. Since European countries have strong purchasing power, once you break through there, you can basically print money from European tours alone.”

So their strategy seemed to be targeting Europe aggressively—our weaker territory.

I nodded while hearing how Moonlight and Europe’s media industry were working together hand-in-hand.

Seokhwan hyung smiled.

“Of course... who knows what’ll happen if something else blows up again.”

“Could happen....”

I smiled knowingly at the obvious implication toward Overcooked.

“Hufufufu....”

“Hufufufufu.”

I had no idea why the members beside me were also laughing mysteriously.

Anyway, the England concerts went smoothly as planned.

Ri Hyuk’s birthday happened to fall in the middle of the tour, so we held a birthday celebration during the concert and also spent time shopping for birthday presents in London.

“Ri Hyuk-ah. What should I buy you?”

“Hyung! How about this as a gift—your one and only youngest dongsaeng’s love...?! What do you mean ‘Don’t be ridiculous’?!”

After receiving piles of gifts from Junghyun, Biju, and Jiho, Ri Hyuk pouted at me.

“What about you, hyung?”

“Me?”

I asked,

“Haven’t I already given you a present, Ri Hyuk-ah?”

“What present?”

“I appeared as Nation’s Top Hip Hop Ri Hyuk and made you gain more attention.”

“......”

His eyes said he had a lot he wanted to say.

I laughed and added,

“I prepared a separate birthday present too.”

“Really? What is it?”

“I’ll tell you later. It’s not ready yet.”

There was something I thought would make the perfect gift for Ri Hyuk this time.

But it wasn’t fully prepared yet, so I couldn’t reveal it.

“Ahhh, what is it?”

“Secret.”

We also filmed a gourmet special episode of NewUniverse while shopping.

Though the segment ended up being very short.

At the start of filming, Biju confidently shared his philosophy with us.

“Personally, I think people shouldn’t hold prejudices against certain countries’ cuisine. Assuming British food tastes bad is honestly just prejudice. Britain has world-famous chefs too....”

“True.”

“I think it’s wrong to approach things with preconceived bias before trying them yourself.”

At that point, we still didn’t know.

“Wow! Fish and chips...!”

“I’ve really wanted to try this.”

It was basically just fish cutlet and salty fries.

With each dish we tried, the expressions on my members’ faces became increasingly subtle.

“This is the English breakfast once highly praised by the novelist Somerset Maugham...!”

“Oooooh!”

It was basically sausage, eggs, and toast.

Even McDonald’s—which tasted consistently decent everywhere in the world—somehow tasted bad in England.

‘Uh.......’

‘Maybe prejudice is... okay...?’

‘How does even the lemonade taste bad? Is the water the problem?’

We quickly stopped filming and went to eat at a Korean restaurant.

This was supposed to be a gourmet special.

We couldn’t exactly lie to viewers and fake reactions like “Wow... delicious...!”

Even the production crew smiled warmly.

“We expected this....”

“We’ll edit the England section appropriately. France is the main event of Europe anyway.”

After finishing our England schedule, we boarded a plane for Paris, France.

One year after our last visit, the Eiffel Tower seemed to wave hello to us again.

And then—

“Finally...!”

“Everyone! The big one is coming...!”

At long last, the gift we’d spent an entire week waiting for finally arrived.

[NewUniverse – Gourmet Special]

The special episode we’d filmed while traveling from LA through multiple countries finally aired.

And—

[Mission Singer]

The first episode of the competition program where I appeared as Nation’s Top Hip Hop Ri Hyuk finally began broadcasting.