In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 185

“Is there a problem?”

They looked tense. Especially the youngest one, who opened his eyes wide and asked anxiously.

“Are we not allowed to go out? Is that it?”

“No, that’s not it.”

Assistant Manager Hong lowered her hand.

“There’s nothing wrong with your appearance. That’s something that the CP on the other side and our side have agreed on perfectly.”

“Oh, thank goodness…”

“What I’m worried about is the entertainment reporters. The articles and public reactions that will come out soon.”

They moved to the conference room and continued the conversation.

“Do you remember the Around the World With Dice special? When the news came out that you were appearing.”

“It’s still vivid.”

How could they forget?

The national variety show’s Chuseok Special had a rookie idol as a guest, and it got a lot of hate comments.

Woojoo never saw them himself, but he could guess from the expressions of their managers and the likes and dislikes numbers on the articles.

She gave a bitter smile.

“It’s a similar situation. The time slot for this Challenge, Legendary Song Discovery Team is the weekend golden time.”

“…”

“You might not get a feel for it because you’re mostly guest appearances, but this time it’s a really big deal. It’s also a project that the PBS Entertainment Department is working on with all their might.”

It was probably because they were envious of the rival TBC’s hit competition show ‘Patisserie Korea’, but this time PBS was ambitiously preparing a music competition called ‘Challenge, Legendary Song Discovery Team’.

Woojoo spoke as the representative.

“We know it’s an important opportunity.”

This time, five teams would appear on ‘Challenge, Legendary Song Discovery Team’ and show their skills.

It was a competition where they competed with each other’s skills, but the content was a bit different from the usual survival shows.

There were no eliminations here.

Instead, it was a seasonal system where the ‘first-generation’ members led the broadcast for almost two months.

In other words, for two months, their faces would be on terrestrial TV, and on public broadcasting PBS’s weekend time slot.

An amazing opportunity to stamp their eyes on the general public, not just idol fans.

“Right, it’s very important. But it’s not only important to us, but also to the broadcaster. The publicity size is also big. The amount of press releases will be similar to a decent drama.”

They had a calm expression as they guessed what would come next.

“There will be a lot of hate comments.”

“You have to be prepared.” Assistant Manager Hong said with a stern face, “Unfortunately, you’re relatively less famous because of your seniority. The rest of the participants are quite well-known to the public. There will be some unfair things in that regard.”

“We think it can’t be helped. We have to accept it.”

The younger ones nodded.

The singers who participated in this competition were mostly people who the public would say ‘oh, that person’.

On the other hand, they were the rookies of the year, who were making a name for themselves in the idol world, but still lacked public recognition as second-year idols.

And considering the prejudice that the public often had about idol skills…

Woojoo didn’t have to see it to know what reaction it would be.

“Before we go into recording this week, the press release will be released together, and your name will be in there too.”

Assistant Manager Hong gave them a warning.

“We’ll try to avoid press interviews as much as possible, but if you see any reporters or anything, be careful. Don’t say anything wrong and jeopardize your program appearance.”

She then told them what to answer when they were asked questions by reporters.

“We’ll be careful with our mouths.”

“Right, and don’t look at the comments. You promise?”

“Yes, assistant.”

They nodded vigorously at her, who looked at them with worried eyes.

“You don’t have to worry, we really won’t look at the comments. We didn’t even look at them last time during Around the World With Dice.”

“Okay, then let’s leave the talk I brought up out of spite here.”

She changed the subject as if she had relieved a burden.

The rest was about the projects and external events that the publicity team was preparing.

The mood was dampened for a while because of the concern about the hate comments, but it brightened up as they talked about something else.

“…Yes?”

They showed curiosity.

“Emoticons?”

“Yeah, the fans call you meme kings. Especially Woojoo, you’re the tycoon of the meme world.”

“I wish I could be a different tycoon… That’s a sad nickname.”

Woojoo smiled miserably and Assistant Manager Hong them messenger emoticons on her phone.

Emoticons of Scarlet members dancing shoulder to shoulder with ‘Dongshil Dongshil~’ written on them, or Daisy pointing her finger and saying ‘Do you get money if you dig the ground!’.

“Girl groups seem to release them quite a bit. These are animated emoticons when you press them.”

“Oh.”

“So you’re selling yours too… I mean, ahem.”

The other person coughed awkwardly as their eyes narrowed.

“We’re making them to give joy to our fans. We’re also in talks with the messenger side. Hmm, there’s one thing that’s unfortunate though.”

“…?”

“We have to write funny texts for the emoticons, but right now 80 percent of the funny memes are about Woojoo.”

“Ah, oh…”

“We have to balance it out for the fans. We can’t favor a specific member. We’re adjusting it according to the proportion.”

The members said with repentant faces, “We’ll try to make more embarrassing history to help you out.”

“We were too careless, weren’t we?”

“I guess we were relying too much on Woojoo Hyung. We should have made them without being pushed back.”

At that, the assistant manager looked flustered and said no, that’s not it, you’re celebrities who have to manage your image, and kept saying that.

They decided to set a separate day for the emoticons and shoot them at the studio.

“What else is there?”

“There’s also the promotion event we discussed with the children’s education program side. And the cat food ad. And especially the press conference for the Challenge, Legendary Song Discovery Team…”

Wait a minute.

Woojoo had been distracted by the music variety show until now, but there was something strange in there.

“…A cat food ad?”

“Yeah.”

“A cat?”

“Yeah.”

“The one that meows?”

Assistant Manager Hong nodded.

“That’s the cat food.”

“Why do we have such an ad…?”

“The advertiser said they really liked the cat video letter you used on the idol show, Woojoo.”

“…”

Woojoo had a guess of what the ad content would be, so he closed his eyes slightly and put on a resigned expression.

Some time later.

A large mart in Gunsan.

Rattle!

A cart full of stuff passed through the crowd of people.

“…Oh my, why is there so much to eat?”

Mrs. Kim Deoksoon clicked her tongue.

She had come out to do some shopping, but the mart was packed with customers. She dodged every time someone brushed past her.

‘This can’t get scratched.’

She was worried about the bracelet as well as the clothes that Woojoo had bought her.

It was an expensive accessory that her grandson had given her as a first settlement gift.

‘I must be crazy. Why did I wear this and come out… Damn it.’

She came out to show off a bit, but she didn’t expect so many people to be out on a weekday.

‘If I get a scratch here…’

She broke out in a cold sweat just thinking about it.

If he followed her around all day, he would nag her endlessly with a sad face, saying, “Oh, Grandma, you don’t like the gift I bought you, do you? I’m so disappointed, so upset, so devastated.”

The employee who was selling fried dough balls called out to her.

“Hello, Ma’am. Long time no see. Welcome.”

“How’s business?”

“So-so. Try one of these.”

She took a greasy dough ball from the tasting corner and ate it with a skewer.

“How does it taste? Do you want one?”

“Yeah, it’s good. But it’s not my style. I need something a little salty and crunchy here.”

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The employee laughed at her blunt answer.

Then he pointed at the bracelet that was sparkling on Kim Deoksoon’s arm.

“Oh, look at this pretty thing. Who gave it to you?”

“My grandson.”

“The one in Seoul?”

“Yeah, he made some money this time and decided to treat me.”

“What a good boy, what a good boy.”

The employee clapped his hands and looked at her enviously. Kim Deoksoon, who had a smug expression on her face, heard a question in her ear.

“But what does your grandson do in Seoul?”

“Ah, nothing much…”

That was when something caught Kim Deoksoon’s eye. Her mouth, which was moving proudly, stopped.

‘…What?’

At first, she thought she had seen it wrong.

But there was no doubt that what she saw with her sharp eyes of 1.0 vision were the faces of her grandson and his friends.

She widened her eyes at the sight of the five men standing on a panel.

‘Why are they there?’

She knew that her grandson was doing some ads.

He did school uniform models, and some airplane models.

On the ginseng he sent her a while ago, there was a banner that said ‘Happy New Year!’ with a picture of New Black in hanbok.

So she didn’t think it was strange to see his face on a promotional product.

But the corner was weird.

‘Pet food?’

Far away, there was a panel standing at the entrance to the section where animal food was piled up.

In the center, Woojoo was smiling and reaching out his hand.

A familiar pose that made her sick.

On the speech bubble, there was a calligraphic text that said “Nabi. Re.mem.ber. The food is Essential Light.”

The other guys who were smiling warmly behind him were just extras.

“…”

She stared blankly as the other person asked again.

“Ma’am, what does your grandson do in Seoul?”

“…”

Kim Deoksoon couldn’t say a word.

Starting with the cat food ad, the third week of January passed by in a blur.

They had a meeting with the children’s history education program ‘Sok Sok! History Exploration Team’ and stamped the contract.

The PD kept holding their hands and said, “Let’s have a good relationship.”

The production team, including the writer, seemed to like them very much.

They smiled happily at their visuals, and praised the historical knowledge that Rihyuk and Woojoo showed.

And Jiho’s simple improvisation skills.

They said there was no one like them for this job, and they grabbed their hands within five minutes of starting the meeting.

The actual recording started in early February, after the studio setting and script were ready.

Woojoo didn’t know how happy the younger ones were.

It was a children’s program that was hard to call entertainment, but it was another regular program for them.

“I like it.”

There was someone who liked it for a weird reason.

“What an opportunity to teach the growing sprouts how fun history is. Don’t you feel excited and thrilled just thinking about it?”

“…”

“I can raise the future historians with my own hands, hehehe…”

The main vocal, who had a harmless line, was making a harmful expression like a witch.

Woojoo nodded with a smile.

“Junghyun.”

“Yes, Hyung.”

“Drag him away.”

“…Why are you doing this, let go of me!”

Anyway, those were busy days that passed by quickly.

-Congratulations! New Black wins the Rookie Award!

On Thursday, they won the Rookie Award at another award ceremony held at Jamsil Indoor Stadium.

A whopping four crowns.

And the articles poured out accordingly.

-Four-crown ‘hit rookie’ New Black, to appear on PBS’s new music variety show?

-PBS ‘Challenge, Legendary Song Discovery Team’, first lineup revealed

-From skilled ballad singers to rookie idols, PBS’s new variety show ‘Legendary Song Discovery Squad’

Woojoo didn’t know if it was their PR team or PBS’s decision, but the timing of the lineup reveal and their Rookie Award win matched well.

The reaction to the new competition program was hotter than expected.

There were some reactions like ‘Another music variety show?’ because there were already so many music programs, but it was thanks to the solid lineup.

-Wow, awesome. Cha Woohyun is on the competition show?? I’ll definitely watch it live

-Lisa, long time no see on TV

-I hope Lisa does well

-Wow… they gathered all the hot singers these days

Those were the comments that the PR Team showed Woojoo when he said he was curious.

There were no comments about them, filtered out, and that gave him a rough idea of the situation.

Either they had no interest or most of them had negative reactions, so they were cut out on their own.

Objectively speaking, most of them would be closer to the latter.

Woojoo was honestly curious.

He was itching to know what kind of view the public had of them, but he held back.

It was because of what Seokhwan Hyung told him.

-Most of the actors at Lemon Entertainment, who are known for their strong mentality, are shaken by a single malicious comment. It’s human to shrink even if the insults are about the role, not yourself.

An actor played a villain so well that he got a lot of malicious comments about his role, and after seeing that, he shrank when he acted.

Woojoo decided not to look at it.

Anyway, it wasn’t like he could change anything right away by looking at it, or control what people thought.

Woojoo just thought he would let it go as it was.

“We’re almost there.”

Friday morning.

They entered the PBS Broadcasting Station in Yeouido, shaking off the fatigue from the award stage the day before.

They arrived at a spacious large conference room after passing through a rough and old corridor.

“I guess we’re the first ones here.”

They were supposed to meet and greet the other participants before the filming.

They hadn’t met the other cast members yet, as they only had pre-meetings with the production team.

“I hope they’re all nice people.”

“Me too.”

Being the youngest among the cast, they were both excited and nervous about what kind of people the senior singers would be.

They were huddled in a corner of the conference room, killing time by eating dumplings and chanting “dumplings, dumplings, dumplings”.

Suddenly, the door opened and they turned their heads.

“Excuse me…”

A woman peeked her head in cautiously.

She had a gentle face with slightly drooping eyes.

She was wearing a very thick padded jacket, as if she was very sensitive to the cold.

She reminded Woojoo of the tire man drawn on the stack of tires on the shelf that he sometimes passed by.

As soon as their eyes met, they widened them.

“Oh…!”

New Black all got up quickly and greeted her.

“Hello! Sunbae-nim!”

“Oh, hi… hello.”

She greeted them awkwardly as she entered the room.

Woojoo spoke to her as a representative.

“I heard from Jang Sowon Sunbae yesterday.”

“Oh, me too…”

She smiled faintly.

“I heard a lot about you from Sowon.”

Then she brushed her hair back with an awkward expression.

Lisa.

She was a former member of the disbanded girl group Sugarfish.

While Jang Sowon was active as a singer-songwriter, Lisa was working as a musical actress.

She had originally gone to Belgium for a break, but she had recently returned to Korea and was actively working.

Woojoo had seen an article yesterday that said she had entered her second heyday after her comeback, as the musical she starred in for the first time was a huge hit.

He remembered the favor that Jang Sowon had asked him at the award ceremony yesterday.

-My sister is very shy. Please be friendly to her. She’s a very timid and kind sister.

…Woojoo had heard that beforehand, but it felt a bit strange.

When he saw her on TV or musical clips, she acted with confidence and sang with power, but her real personality was the opposite of that.

Maybe Jang Sowon had said something nice to her, because she quickly let go of her guard around them.

They chatted in a comfortable atmosphere.

“…Kind?”

“Yes.”

“Sowon is kind?”

“Yes. She’s very good to me.”

She looked at the air as if she had heard something unbelievable and said, ‘That can’t be…’

They laughed at her expression.

She lowered her eyes and said, “I’m having a hard time because of her.”

“…Yes?”

“I just want to rest at home, but she always comes over and drags me to shopping, or to walk in the park, or to feed me weird lunch boxes. If I say I don’t want to go out, she teases me for being a homebody.”

They held back their laughter.

“And lately, she’s been nagging me to make a duet song with her.”

Woojoo pictured a playful younger sister tormenting an introverted older sister in his head.

So Jang Sowon had that side to her.

They seemed to be very close.

Even though she complained, Lisa’s face was full of affection.

Then Woojoo said, “By the way, Sunbae-nim.”

“Hmm?”

“There’s a fan of yours among our managers.”

“Really?”

There was one person who had cried and rejoiced when Jang Sowon won first place with Something.

He had sobbed, ‘My favorite is Lisa, sob!’

How happy would he be to meet his favorite singer? Woojoo wanted to introduce him to her, but he couldn’t see Minki Hyung.

“Where did he go?”

He looked at Dowon Hyung, who was sitting in the staff seat by the wall.

“Hyung, where did Minki Hyung go?”

“He said he had something to do and left.”

“That’s weird. There’s nothing going on today…”

He had been trying to leave the room with an awkward face since earlier. Maybe he was embarrassed to meet his favorite.

Woojoo asked Lisa for her permission and made a video call.

Minki Hyung’s face appeared on the screen, standing in the hallway of the broadcasting station.

-Hello.

“Hyung, it’s me.”

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Woojoo explained the situation.

“Right now, I’m with Lisa Sunbae that you like. Maybe you can say hello to her face to face…”

-No way!

They laughed as they handed the phone to Lisa, wondering if he was too shy to talk.

The singer coughed and smoothed his hair nervously, trying to greet her fan face to face.

-…

“…?”

Lisa blinked her eyes in confusion and looked startled.

“LisaLover?”

-…

“Why are you there, LisaLover?”

They burst into laughter at the silence that filled the screen.