In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Chapter 76:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 76

It was a familiar format: ‘Going to the Scene’.

It was like those TV programs that Mrs. Kim Deoksoon, who ran the rice restaurant, used to watch whenever there were no customers.

They would cover topics such as the weather of the week, festivals in some regions, or trendy diseases.

They were programs that delivered news and life information in an entertaining way.

They were not originally scheduled to appear on them.

The reporter who interviewed them that day sent them some footage, and they heard that it was restructured around them because of the positive internal feedback.

It seemed to be possible because it was a cable broadcast that was suffering from chronic lack of material.

Anyway, they felt grateful to the reporter who gave them this opportunity and focused their attention.

A man in a neat suit appeared against the studio background.

[Hello, I’m announcer Kim Seunggwan.]

The MC’s greeting started with a story about summer, and then went on to cover one topic after another.

A typhoon that was ravaging the southern region, a wild boar hunt that appeared in the farms, and a tripe restaurant in the food alley at Gwangmyeong intersection.

Finally, New Black’s story came up.

They rolled their feet at the thumbnail of the familiar venue.

“Uh, I guess it’s coming out now. Why am I so nervous about nothing?”

“Hey, Wang Jiho. Stop making a fuss. You’re shaking the screen.”

“Rihyuk, you’re shaking your legs too.”

“…No, I’m not. The ground is shaking.”

They exchanged light laughter, and Bijoo turned up the volume.

[What word comes to your mind when you hear ‘festival’? Excitement, joy, happiness. Those are the words that pop up in your head, right? The protagonists of the next corner are the ones who stirred up the audience’s enthusiasm at the festival.]

As the thumbnail of the venue changed to New Black, they all covered their eyes with a scream.

It was a different kind of embarrassment from the music cafes.

It was embarrassing enough then, but it was even more embarrassing and shameful to show their faces on a lifestyle information program that had nothing to do with idols, and they wanted to turn it off quickly, but they also wanted to see it.

[Last Friday, the 2014 Moonlight Festival hosted by Icheon City in Gyeonggi Province was held in a heated atmosphere. There were some very special events that day. Let’s meet today’s protagonists, the rookie idol group New Black, and their hilarious festival experience. Let’s watch!]

As they swallowed their saliva, the screen changed at the announcer’s gesture.

[Gyeonggi Province, Icheon, July 18th]

Above such captions, the scene of setting up a special stage appeared.

The stage was erected as the staff moved, and the seats that surrounded it in a semicircle also revealed themselves.

A structure that allowed a clear view from the back seats due to the natural slope.

A humorous voice actor narrated.

[This is Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, where preparations are busy for today’s festival. The staff are busy preparing~]

The busy scenes of the staff passed by.

[And not less than them, the singers are also nervous~]

The folk music group, the rock band, the boy group and the girl group were preparing for something in turn.

And then the video they shot at their company came out.

[No! Who are those five men shining over there?]

A cheesy and childish halo CG made them laugh, and Rihyuk put a water bottle on his flushed face.

Woojoo barely held back the barley tea that almost went through his nose.

[Are we filming right now?]

It was what he said to Minki Hyung, but it looked like he said it to the VJ on the screen.

The day they edited the video at the broadcasting station, they contacted their company separately.

They said they wanted to cover the festival with New Black as the main focus, and asked if they had any separate footage.

It was a precious opportunity to promote for free, no matter what channel it was, so the company didn’t refuse and provided the material.

The result was the flashy caption ‘Rookie Boy Group New Black’ on the screen right now.

[What are you doing right now?]

[We’re warming up our throats.]

[You’re doing it weirdly.]

[It’s the way our main vocal taught us. It works well.]

They all huddled together and warmed up their throats by saying ‘five hundred won, five hundred won’, and fake laughter sounds flowed as BGM.

This was something very embarrassing.

After that, the story flowed naturally.

The scene of New Black cheering before going on stage, the scene of performing Fireworks in the rain, and finally the scene of MC doing a prize event in a chilly atmosphere.

[But, the atmosphere at the scene is strange. The last singer who should have come is not coming. What happened?]

When they talked to the staff of the event agency, or when they were in a hurry to go back, there was no camera nearby, so another person’s interview flowed like a narration under the screen of the prize event.

With a tense BGM.

The site official said that the last singer couldn’t come because of the rainy road.

The reason they kept quiet about that incident was because they didn’t want to be teased by the Teen Spirit fans.

After that voice ended, their interview voice came on.

[We felt like we had to go up there, even though we’re not very skilled.]

There was nothing special about the rest of the content.

They performed back to back in front of the audience who gave them cold stares, singing Night Sea, Something, and a trot song.

At the end, they sang with Mr. Song Bohyung, who appeared last, and the video seemed to end with the atmosphere being lifted…

“Hey, what’s this? It’s not over?”

They thought their interview would end warmly and that would be it, but the scene of them walking down the stage with shaky steps continued.

The screen that was filmed at the broadcasting station followed.

[But then, at that moment. One of the members seemed to notice something and started to act impulsively.]

Junghyun, who was carrying Jiho, moved his steps with a serious expression.

“Huh?”

Junghyun, who was watching the DMB next to Woojoo, blinked and asked, “Did that have to come out too?”

In the screen, Junghyun, who was talking to the director on the scene, soon crouched down and helped with the repair.

His face, wet from the rain, looked cool.

Finally, when the pump started working normally, the staff on the scene sighed with relief.

[I was really surprised.]

When did they interview the director?

[He came up to me and said, ‘I know how to fix it’. I thought he was talking nonsense at first, but he really fixed it. I was shocked. Anyway, today’s performance and the help he gave on the scene… New Black is awesome!]

The man with a scruffy beard gave a thumbs-up with an awkward expression, a contrived production that made them laugh.

Of course, the laughter got bigger.

Their interview came out.

[Junghyun? We’re sometimes surprised too.]

[I’m his friend, but there are more than one or two times when I’m amazed.]

[He’s an amazing guy.]

[He predicted that it would rain earlier. He was looking at the sky alone when the weather was clear and said, ‘It’s going to rain later’.]

As they laughed out loud at the youngest’s imitation of someone, Junghyun scratched his cheek with an embarrassed face.

The DMB screen switched to a solo interview.

[How did you know how to fix it?]

[My dream was to be a farmer.]

Woojoo laughed again at the unexpected answer.

That was what he told the reporter seriously that day.

The handsome man with thick eyebrows scratched his mole on the screen.

[I’ve seen a lot of farming on the internet, and I’ve seen a lot of adults using machines when I went down to my hometown since I was young. It was a coincidence. I saw the same breakdown before…]

His slow speech and naive expression filled the screen, which would appeal to the elders.

He answered the question of what he wanted to say to his hometown people.

[Dad, Mom, I’m doing well like this. Don’t worry, okay?]

As moths kept flying in front of the camera and blocking the view, Junghyun quickly reached out and caught a moth.

The reporter had a bewildered face.

Junghyun, on the other hand, continued to talk with a nonchalant expression, holding the moth in his hand.

[Anyway, I hope your crops do well and you have a good harvest. Oh, and please send me some rice. You know my friend, Bijoo. He has a huge appetite and uses rice like water.]

As their team’s rapper was tormented by the pest in the waiting room, the scene quickly changed.

The question of ‘Who impressed you the most today?’.

[Kim Kyuhyun/Gyeonggi-do, Icheon]

New Black. They were really passionate even though it was raining.

[No Yujung/Gyeonggi-do, Icheon]

I came out to make memories with my mom, and I think the New Black guys are memorable. They sang really well.

[Park Daebok/Gyeonggi-do, Icheon]

I don’t know. The trot singer and the young guys were the best.

The audience praised them with a smile, and the interviews with the related people continued.

[Song Bohyung/Trot singer]

The young kids are amazing. It wasn’t an easy choice to sing trot, but I was very impressed. I hope we have a chance to perform together someday.

After that interview, the scenes that were filmed that day passed by quickly like a zoetrope.

The clichéd narration of ‘We support the dream of the rookie singer New Black’ ended, and the screen returned to the studio.

“…”

They felt a strange feeling.

That day, after everything was over, Woojoo felt a warm and touching sensation slowly rising up in him. Was that the right word to describe it?

It was a cable program that didn’t even make it to the ratings chart, but they had a satisfied smile on their lips as they watched it.

Of course, they didn’t forget to tease someone who was embarrassed by it.

“Hey, isn’t Junghyun a superstar now?”

“He’s totally a big star.”

“Hyung, don’t act like you don’t know us when you get famous.”

“Junghyun, did I use too much rice?”

And the person who was teased just scratched his nape with a shy face.

“I just fixed a pump…”

***

It was long past the time when the morning broadcast of ‘Going to the Scene’ ended.

Sunday night.

When everyone was resting, the TBC Entertainment Department’s meeting room was brightly lit.

‘Who should I choose?’

The man with a baseball cap pulled down low, PD Gu Jaeyoung, stroked his stubbly beard.

He was looking at a pile of documents.

Profiles sent by various agencies.

They were of various kinds.

There were actors, idols, and comedians.

All he had to do was pick one out.

‘Easy to say.’

Having many choices was not always a good thing.

Especially in a special episode like this, where he had to bring in multiple guests, he had to think not only about the guests’ popularity, but also about the combination.

How would they show their chemistry on the broadcast?

‘This is tricky.’

PD Gu was in charge of this year’s TBC Chuseok Special.

There were still two months left until Chuseok, but the actual filming was only a month away.

Moreover, this year, TBC’s flagship holiday entertainment program ‘Idol Sports Day’ was on hiatus, and the higher-ups were worried that the ratings would fall behind other broadcasters.

That was how important this special was, and choosing the guests was also a burden.

“What are you thinking about so hard?”

Sitting in the empty meeting room and looking at the documents, his co-director, PD Oh, popped his head in.

PD Gu licked his dry lips.

“Taejun. Team C.”

“Team C?”

“Who should I fix from here?”

“Daydream or New Black?”

Two profiles of five-member groups were lined up side by side.

One was a rookie, the other was a three-year-old boy group.

PD Oh, who was sipping his americano, said casually, “Just go with Daydream. It’s a Chuseok Special, why risk ruining the atmosphere with rookies?”

“I was thinking that too, but…”

“But?”

“I don’t know, they just rub me the wrong way.”

“New Black?” His junior tilted his head and asked. “There was nothing special when we researched them, right? They debuted with Jang Sowon and Something, and what, one of the members’ father is a congressman. That’s it, there was nothing else to talk about.”

“What about Daydream?”

“Similar, but they have more broadcast experience. Less risk.”

“I see.”

“Are you worried about Lemon’s manager? The one with glasses, he’s been coming by a lot lately.”

“You’re too much. I’ve been in this business for years. Do you think I’d be swayed by a manager?”

It was true that Yoon, the manager of Lemon Entertainment, had been coming by and persistently pitching his group.

Thanks to that, they made it to the final candidates, along with Daydream, who wouldn’t have been considered otherwise.

But it wasn’t just because of that.

He had a feeling that they weren’t bad when he looked at the data that the writers had researched.

A PD’s intuition, if you would.

The problem was that he had no evidence to prove this intuition.

‘After all, rookies are a gamble.’

Even if they had been active since last February, it might be too much to put them in a Chuseok Special of a variety show.

He thought that as he moved New Black’s profile under Daydream’s.

A sub-writer came in with a coffee in one hand and asked, “What were you two talking about?”

PD Oh seemed to have thought of something and said, “Right, Mr. Yang.”

“Yes?”

“You were in charge of the pre-research for the Team C guests, right? You also researched New Black, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Was there anything special?”

“Nothing different from what I gave you before, oh…!”

The two of them turned their heads at the sudden exclamation.

“A junior I know sent me a video during the day. He’s a sub at a cable channel, and he said there were some kids called New Black on their show. He told me to take a look.”

“What video?”

“I haven’t seen it yet.”

She brought her laptop over for the curious duo.

When she clicked on the file saved in her mailbox, a video popped up.

“Going to the Scene, what kind of program is this?”

“It looks like something similar to our Info Express, you know, that kind of thing.”

“Can you both be quiet and watch?”

But before she could say anything, the broadcast started and they shut their mouths.

A five-minute clip.

But by the time it was over, the main PD had a strange expression on his face.

“Wait a minute, can you play that part again?”

“Here?”

He didn’t point out where exactly, but moved the mouse on his own.

The scene where Kim Junghyun fixed the machine and said his dream was to be a farmer after living in the countryside.

His slow and naive tone of voice made some scenes flash in his head.

The main PD, who had been lost in thought, threw a glance at his junior.

“Taejun. We’re going to the countryside for this special, right?”

“Yes, we are.”

“What do you think?”

“Definitely…”

“Doesn’t it look good?”

“Yes, I wasn’t sure before, but now I’m certain.”

When the sub-writer tilted her head, wondering what they were talking about, the main PD nodded.

“Let’s contact them as soon as it gets light.”

A faint smile crossed his face.

Gu Jaeyoung.

He was the main PD of the nation’s most popular variety show ‘Around the World with a Dice’ on TBC Broadcasting.

***

Monday was their official day off.

Of course, that didn’t mean they didn’t do anything and rested.

It meant that they should work on their self-development since they didn’t schedule anything for them.

That was also because the company was considerate of them.

On the other hand, on such a day off, Rihyuk and Woojoo were immersed in the recording hell.

-Rihyuk, I think your tone needs to be a bit lower.

“Okay, I’ll fix it.”

-Woojoo, you’re doing well, but when you say ‘that night, that sea’, I wish you would breathe a little more lightly. Please pay attention to that part.

“I got it.”

The A&R staff members with paper and pen behind the glass window spoke, and they nodded and continued the recording.

The work they were doing was the official recording of ‘Night Sea’.

They were about to release the song soon, so the atmosphere was quite serious and their attitude towards the recording was different.

“Good job, everyone!”

After about two hours of recording, they were left alone in the studio again.

Rihyuk and Woojoo collapsed like exhausted cats.

“Hey, move over.”

“I lay down first.”

“I was born first.”

“Good for you, old man.”

“You have no manners.”

“Old fart.”

They fought over the sweet spot on the sofa, but they eventually agreed to share it half and half.

Rihyuk, who was lying down like a tired cat, groaned.

“I’m dying. Seriously.”

“Are you tired?”

“I guess I still have some cold left. I feel like I need to sleep to get rid of it.”

“Just hang in there. The day after tomorrow, the music show will be over, and we’ll have a day to rest.”

“I wouldn’t have any wishes then.”

Maybe it was because of the fatigue that was creeping up on him.

As their eyelids slowly closed and their voices became more and more drowsy, the door suddenly opened right before they fell asleep.

Huh. What was going on?

Woojoo lifted his head to see who it was and saw his younger siblings.

“Hyungs! Hyungs!”

“What’s up?”

“We have some amazing news!”

At first, Woojoo wondered what it was, but then he guessed.

Seokhwan Hyung had run off to the broadcasting station earlier, saying he had some good news.

Maybe he got a variety show offer.

Woojoo shook off the sleepiness and felt excited.

“Hyung, we…”

But the words that came out of Bijoo’s excited face completely missed his expectations.

“We’re fixed as the first-place candidates for Showtime tomorrow.”

“What?”

Woojoo jumped up without realizing it and Rihyuk fell off him.