Chapter 996: It Was Beautiful From Far Away.. (8)

In the end, I won.

A sparkling profile appeared on my phone screen.

KingGodKim Deoksun [Grandson]

Next to the photo of the nation’s top hip-hop artist, Ri Hyuk, the word “Grandson” had finally appeared.

Which meant...

“Heh heh. My victory, Kim Deoksun.”

“...Didn’t you end up sending Grandma a ridiculous amount of allowance money in the end?”

At Junghyun’s comment, I quietly stared off into the distance.

“Seriously, why is changing a single profile picture this hard...?”

“Hyung, let’s just eat breakfast~”

At Jiho’s words, we gathered around the table.

Room service had delivered hamburgers and french fries, freshly baked croissants and baguettes, blueberries and cereal, salad, coffee, and more.

Pour—

As Ri Hyuk tilted an elegant teapot, the scent of black tea slowly spread through the room.

“Did you guys check the internet? Korea’s going crazy right now.”

“Really?”

While eating breakfast with the others, I checked the online reactions.

First up was NewUniverse.

NewUniverse Gourmet Special, “Goblin Restaurant” anticipation boosts ratings... Average viewer rating reaches 11.9%

I’d worried it might get buried under the overwhelming impact of Mission Singer, but those concerns turned out to be meaningless when it pulled such high ratings.

We’d basically just wandered around LA eating food, but viewers were loving it.

And on top of that...

Interest already exploding, where exactly will the NewUniverse restaurant special be filmed?

[Official] NewUniverse “Goblin Restaurant” confirmed to be located in Gurye County, Jeollanam-do

Gurye County: “Expectations are rising for the restaurant project together with national idol group NewBlack...”

Interest was pouring into Gurye County, where our restaurant would eventually open.

According to Seokhwan hyung, construction was already progressing rapidly at the site where the restaurant would be built.

We were planning to visit the location ourselves sometime next week.

Because the restaurant really was about to open soon.

“There’s something I genuinely don’t understand...”

Ri Hyuk asked with a baffled expression.

“We literally just ate food, so why are the ratings this high?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“The hearts of viewers truly are impossible to understand.”

Still, if the viewers liked it, wasn’t that all that mattered?

I checked the comments on the NewUniverse clips that had already surpassed a million views.

The accepted theory now is that Gyuho assembled NewBlack specifically to make variety content

Nothing’s more comfortable and funny than thisㅠㅠㅠ Let’s stay together forever♥

3:47 Wait, is the Plankton restaurant owner insaneㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

I’m already excited for the menu... Meat... It’ll be meat, right? There’ll be meat dishes, right?

Since you guys learned cooking anyway, how about a Chef in Antarctica special?

└ Is this person a genius

└ 222222 Somebody recruit this person to Lemon Entertainment

The smile on my face froze.

“What kind of unforgivable programming idea is this?!”

“Hmph!”

Then I turned to Ri Hyuk.

“...Still, it’s a good idea. Write it down.”

“Sure. Whatever.”

While Ri Hyuk added NewUniverse-related ideas to his memo app, the rest of us smiled happily at the overwhelming interest in the gourmet special.

Then we turned our attention to the main dish of the day.

“Mission Singer” features nation’s top hip-hop artist Ri Hyuk... PD Park Yeonhee: “We’re deeply grateful for the highest ratings in the show’s history... I should bow toward NewBlack’s direction”

Proudly, I held out the screen showing the ratings.

“See this, Ri Hyuk? Your hyung is boosting ratings for you like this. Aren’t you grateful?”

“Stop talking and eat your food.”

“Yes...”

“Now that I think about it again, I’m getting pissed off. Do you know how hard I suffered back then?!”

I shouldn’t have said anything.

I should’ve just stayed quiet.

“Eugh.”

Still, Ri Hyuk’s anger didn’t last long.

At the mention that next week’s ratings would probably hit record-breaking levels, he looked secretly excited.

He acted like that, but he obviously seemed happy.

“Whoa. The views are insane...”

Was it because it was a major broadcast variety show combined with explosive public attention?

Even we, who’d become pretty numb to high view counts, were shocked.

Naturally, the comments were overflowing with praise.

I seriously don’t know how many times I’ve replayed this.. I’ve watched it so much I feel emotionally attached to the audience members nowㅋㅋ

Thanks for giving us such good music, Wooju

Damn it, I’m on my way to work and now I’ve become a woman with a tragic backstoryㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Usually even when rearrangements are good, I still think the original song is better. But this arrangement was genuinely perfect. You can feel both the respect for the senior artist and Wooju’s own musical color.

He absolutely ruined Kim Sehak’s song

Wooju should just debut as singer-songwriter Ri Hyuk already

Apparently the family of the late Kim Sehak had seen it too, because an interview article with them had gone up as well.

They said they’d listened to the song well and were grateful.

I made a mental note to contact them through the company later and thank them for viewing it positively while continuing to browse the reactions.

[NewBlack’s Vocal Growth: Debut Era vs Now]

A post uploaded to an online community.

【Idol Performance Collection】

Nation’s top hip-hop artist Ri Hyuk’s performance right nowㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ

Videos on Facebook pages with hundreds of comments.

There were so many reactions pouring in that it was impossible to check them all individually.

Watching all of it made my smile deepen.

“We did it.”

“We really did.”

We’d accomplished one of the major goals behind appearing as the nation’s top hip-hop artist Ri Hyuk.

Our songs are seriously, seriously good!

It felt satisfying that viewers finally seemed to recognize that.

We’d really spent four years practicing like lunatics just to keep up with Ri Hyuk.

“And I practiced to catch up to you, hyung...”

“I followed Biju hyung. People kept commenting that the maknae lacked stage presence. It’s not that I’m actually bad...!”

“As expected, rappers have it easy.”

At the completely tactless voice cutting in at the end, the others instantly whipped their heads around with hissing noises.

“Easy?”

“You said easy?”

Junghyun shrank back as he spoke.

“Ribbit... ribbit......”

Everyone burst out laughing at the timidly shrinking Junghyun, and I laughed happily too.

What was the number one reason for appearing on Mission Singer this time?

Number one was boosting Ri Hyuk.

Then what was number two?

Make people notice NewBlack’s overall skill level.

Not just Ri Hyuk, but getting people to notice the vocal ability of NewBlack as a whole.

Of course, after Ri Hyuk became King of Singers during the previous competition, people had started paying attention to the group overall too.

‘Oh, I guess everyone in the group is pretty good.’

But it hadn’t had much impact.

Ah! So Ri Hyuk’s just insanely good by himself!

That was basically where most people’s reactions ended.

For people already interested in our performances, it was more like:

‘Wow, even singing next to Ri Hyuk, the others don’t sound lacking at all.’

But for the general public, who didn’t pay much attention to our stages, it simply registered as Ri Hyuk being absurdly talented by himself.

“But if there’s one more really good singer, the story changes.”

“Exactly.”

“When it’s just one person, people don’t connect it to the group. But once there are two, it becomes a completely different conversation.”

An idol group with one King of Singers-level vocalist?

That just meant there was one especially talented member.

Every group had standout main vocals. That didn’t mean everyone else in the group was automatically considered amazing too.

But if there were two King of Singers-level vocalists?

From that point onward, people naturally started paying attention to the entire group.

Biju nodded in agreement.

“The reactions definitely feel different now.”

“Right?”

Last week, all the attention had been focused on Ri Hyuk’s vocals alone.

But this week, people were paying attention to all of us as a group.

They were starting to notice things they’d never consciously paid attention to before.

The atmosphere was basically becoming this:

Huh? But Jiho and Biju are standing right next to him, and I don’t really think they sound bad either...?

Wait, what?

So NewBlack as a whole was just really talented?

Jiho smiled brightly.

“This is seriously sweet. I’m literally sitting still and getting my skills reevaluated.”

“Feels good....”

The underlings giggled happily as they enjoyed the reflected benefits without doing anything.

If we were this happy, I couldn’t imagine how happy Souffle must be.

While spying on Souffle Village in a warm mood, one post caught our attention.

[We’re screwed for ticketing]

My acquaintance wants to go to the NewBlack concert and is joining Souffle

Noooooㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Ah... stop coming in

We’re entering an era where the waiting line for ticketing hits a million instead of first-week sales

[Too many users are currently connected. Please wait.] Your queue number: 1,037,865

Ah, I already wanna throw upㅋㅋㅋ

Everyone keeps spreading rumors that NewBlack concerts are legendaryㅋㅋㅋㅋ큐ㅠㅠ

But even if no casuals came, would we actually succeed at ticketing anyway??

We apologized solemnly.

“Sorry, Souffle...”

“I think this one might actually be our fault.”

Every year, our concert ticketing war became more brutal.

While silently apologizing in my heart to the tearful Souffle fans, we finished monitoring NewUniverse and Mission Singer and shifted our attention elsewhere.

And there...

“Wow......”

A hollow laugh escaped me.

Because of the view count displayed on the screen.

[2.71 million views]

NewBlack TV’s self-produced content had surpassed 2.71 million views in just twelve hours.

Ironically, the highest-viewed video from yesterday’s broadcasts wasn’t one of the variety shows we’d worked so hard filming.

It was just a simple MyTube video we’d casually filmed with the rappers.

[Lemon Entertainment Hip-Hop Division] Special Ep. Nation’s Top Hip-Hop Artist Ri Hyuk Joins the Company

The comments were exploding too.

Give us the next episodeㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Give us the performance

You filmed one episode and then just disbanded???

Ah, this is torture

At the explosive reaction, Jiho said,

“Whoa, the views are insane.”

“I know.”

“Hahaha! Look at this. Someone says we should tell the CEO to hold a LemonCon or something.”

Everyone burst out laughing at the maknae’s words.

But only briefly.

“Uh...?”

“Oh?”

Then we all turned toward Ri Hyuk.

“Ri Hyuk.”

“Yeah. I’ll write it down.”

Honestly, it sounded kind of tempting.

Either way, we’d achieved all the goals we wanted.

“Now let’s finish the concerts safely, go back to Korea, and start opening our restaurant.”

“Go go!”

Beyond the Eiffel Tower outside the window, clouds drifted peacefully through the clear summer sky.

I was smiling happily at the beautiful weather when—

“Hm?”

My ear suddenly started itching.

Junghyun, who was clearing away dishes, asked,

“What’s wrong, hyung?”

“My ear suddenly got really itchy.”

“Maybe somebody’s talking trash about you.”

“Could be.”

I laughed it off at Junghyun’s joke.

Among Alfred Hitchcock’s films, there was one called The Birds.

A classic movie about birds suddenly going insane and attacking humans, praised for its masterful portrayal of unknown terror.

And it also happened to be Chairman Park Taejun’s—no, former Chairman Park Taejun’s—favorite movie.

But—

For the first time in his life, former Chairman Park Taejun hated that film.

“......”

He stared blankly into space.

He felt as though he’d become one of the characters from the movie itself.

A human being attacked by merciless flocks of birds.

It all began with one of Park Taejun’s old internet habits.

Come back, TJㅠㅠㅠㅠ

TJ’s golden age was definitely when Park Taejun was there

Still, Park Taejun’s abilities really were the best

...Every now and then, he’d search his own name online to see if comments like those were still being posted.

Of course, after retirement, mentions of him had become pretty sparse.

But since yesterday, they’d suddenly exploded.

And the reason was simple.

[Today’s Greatest Mystery]

Why exactly did Park Taejun eliminate Sun Wooju?

Can he sing at King of Singers level? (O)

Can he dance well? (O)

Can he act well? (O)

Can he rap well? (O)

Is he handsome? (O)

Can he dress himself? (X)

The post already had hundreds of comments.

Park Taejun gets dragged back every single time Sun Wooju does literally anythingㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

But honestly, it’s deserved

I mean, maybe he just didn’t fit idol standards... no wait, but then what about acting?? Modeling?? Or just becoming a singer??

(Image of hamster character hiding under blanket.jpg) Sure, I guess eliminating him makes sen... no seriously why though???

Chairman Park Taejun’s cheek twitched.

But this was only the beginning.

“Did you watch Mission Singer yesterday?”

“Wooju was insanely good.”

“He honestly could’ve succeeded even just as a singer... But if Wooju used to be at TJ, why’d they eliminate him?”

Conversations he overheard every time he stepped outside.

Grandpa’s pissed, huh?? But there’s nothing he can do about it? Lmaooo

Go somewhere far away, old man

Couldn’t tolerate criticism toward himself even if he tolerated criticism toward his artists. What a cranky old geezer. It wasn’t fun while it lasted.

They eliminated someone who could’ve sold out Jamsil Stadium even as a singer-songwriterㅋㅋㅋ eliminatedㅋㅋㅋ

Posts flooding the internet.

[Why TJ’s chairman is getting cursed out after nation’s top hip-hop artist Ri Hyuk appeared]

MyTube videos spreading the issue everywhere.

Voices everywhere pecked at him like attacking birds.

Why eliminate him?

Sure, maybe there was a reason... no but seriously why eliminate him?

I mean... maybe... no, really why??

The voices spun endlessly in his head.

The middle-aged man grabbed his hair and screamed.

‘Aaaaargh...! Stop it already! I regret it too...!’

He was supposedly enjoying retirement and resting peacefully...

Yet even today, the former head of TJ Entertainment suffered.

This schedule in France was both similar to and slightly different from the others.

“It’s surprisingly relaxed.”

“Really relaxed.”

Unlike the other countries, France had almost no interview schedules packed into our itinerary.

Even though globally trending Uncle Bunny himself had visited, nobody paid much attention to us.

“No one’s really interested in us.”

“To a genuinely shocking degree.”

Other than the Souffle fans who welcomed us at the airport, the reaction was practically nonexistent.

Honestly, it was completely understandable.

“Sorry...”

“......”

“But how was I supposed to know this would happen?”

Seokhwan hyung apologized to us.

“I never imagined France would make it all the way to the World Cup finals...”

“......”

That was right.

France was currently drowning in festival fever.

“Vive la France!”

“France’s football skills are the greatest in the world!”

“Those English bastards acted so arrogant, then got knocked out in the semifinals, huh? Hahaha!”

France already loved football to begin with, so making it all the way to the World Cup finals had sent the entire country into absolute chaos.

[France vs Croatia]

With the match scheduled for Sunday, all of Paris buzzed with excitement.

“Junghyun, which side feels lucky to you?”

“Croatia.”

“So France is winning, huh...”

Since our concert overlapped with the World Cup finals, we couldn’t help worrying.

Even though the shows were fully sold out, we were still anxious people might skip because the finals were happening at the same time.

And unfortunately, the venue was enormous.

Stade de France

The largest stadium in France, and the same venue scheduled to serve as a main stadium during the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The concert scale was 110,000 people across two days.

If London’s O2 Arena had mostly been concerts attended by British fans, then the France concert was more like a gathering point for Souffle fans from all across Europe.

Thankfully...

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“Gwaaaaaaaaaah!”

Our worries proved meaningless.

On concert day, the gigantic stadium became a massive ocean of colorful light sticks.

Maybe because France had won the World Cup—

After France officially secured victory on the second day, we celebrated together with Souffle while continuing the concert.

Waaaaaaaaaaah!

The distant cheers of Parisian citizens echoed faintly from outside the venue.

[Souffle! We can’t lose either!]

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

After finishing the France concert, the final stop of our European tour, we wandered through Paris, still soaked in the lingering heat of celebration.

People still waved flags everywhere, and traces of fireworks littered the streets.

Maybe because of the World Cup victory, everyone seemed unusually friendly.

Even people who normally looked cold and irritated on their commute now greeted strangers cheerfully just from making eye contact.

“This reminds me of Korea reaching the semifinals back in the day.”

“Hyung, look at Jiho and Ri Hyuk.”

Whenever the older members started talking about the 2002 World Cup, the babies born in 1997 and 1998 suddenly went quiet, making us burst into laughter.

“Alright then, let’s wrap up filming.”

“Go go go!”

France was also the final country in the gourmet special.

And today’s guest was...

“Hello, viewers in Korea. I’m Paul Laurent.”

“Waaaaaaaah!”

The guest was Paul Laurent, one of the world’s top five pianists and someone I personally knew.

One of the so-called Seon Myungju Kids who’d received help from my father.

Sweeping back his elegant blond hair, Paul asked us in a solemn voice,

“The promised item...”

“Yes. We brought it.”

When we presented the large package, his eyes lit up immediately.

It was fat macarons.

“Even after returning to France, I kept thinking about them. The flavor from last time just wouldn’t leave my mind...”

Jiho asked,

“So Paul, are you finally admitting K-fat macarons count as macarons now?”

“This is not a macaron.”

The pianist answered with a completely serious face.

Watching the macaron purist reject them on principle because “wrong is wrong” made us burst out laughing.

Either way, with the power of friendship and fat macarons as bribes, filming in France went smoothly.

Unlike North America, our name value in Europe wasn’t particularly high...

“Mr. Laurent! This is an honor for our restaurant!”

“Paul Laurent is in our restaurant— no... wait... and who are... you?”

“Wait, you’re Uncle Bunny...! Honey, bring the kids over! Uncle Bunny’s here!”

France’s beloved national hero, combined with the power of Uncle Bunny, was truly incredible.

Popular French star Paul Laurent, Uncle Bunny, and NewBlack.

“Wow... the ending suddenly escalated hard.”

“Let’s work harder in Europe too.”

After wrapping up the NewUniverse gourmet special in Paris, we boarded the flight back to Korea with exhausted bodies.

But only our bodies were tired.

Thump thump—

Our hearts were excited.

Because important events were approaching soon.

[2018 Souffle Week]

One was NewBlack Friday and the various events we’d prepared for our Souffle fans.

And the other...

Was the project currently being pushed forward through NewUniverse.

[Goblin Restaurant]

With just one week left before opening, it was finally time to begin preparations in earnest.