In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 289

The first part of ‘Men on a Mission’, the show they appeared on, was a huge hit.

-[Oh! Focus] Why ‘Men on a Mission’ Police Special Forces Special is Anticipated

-‘Men on a Mission’ Next Week Preview Sparks Netizens’ Curiosity… ‘The Mystery of Space’

-Netizens’ Interest Explodes for Special Forces Special, Ratings Rise

As soon as the broadcast ended, articles started to pop up like crazy.

It felt like every entertainment reporter in the country was writing about ‘Men on a Mission’.

The top five of the real-time ranking on the portal entertainment section were all articles about ‘Men on a Mission’.

In no time, the comments grew by hundreds and two hundreds.

As soon as Woojoo liked one of the latest comments, it was pushed back to the third page in an instant.

“What did you say?”

Even Seokhwan Hyung, who rarely got excited, called Woojoo and spouted some incomprehensible words.

“Junghyun ate a squid? No, you’re just babbling right now. I didn’t hear it wrong.”

-Junghyun…!

“Hold on.”

Woojoo handed the phone to his younger brothers. The youngest, who was listening intently, showed his amazing hearing ability.

“Earth’s four seasons, Armageddon rolling, soft.”

“Ah.”

Woojoo understood right away.

“Don’t post anything on SNS right now.”

Rihyuk blinked his eyes.

“How did you understand that?”

“I’ve been listening to his voice for over five years.”

Seokhwan Hyung soon calmed down and told them to ‘be careful with SNS, there are a lot of eyes and ears’.

He meant not to act rashly since they were getting national attention.

There was an actor who became a hot topic with a variety show before, and he got drunk with the attention and posted something that broke the mood on SNS.

It was a half-joking post, but the reporters made it into a documentary and buried him.

Woojoo saw that actor on ‘New Star’ and he said he got and lost 10 billion won worth of ads in one day, making a joke of ‘the day of 10 billion’.

Attention was a double-edged sword.

He accepted that the huge positive attention that was drawn to them could turn into the same size of negative emotion in a moment.

Their youngest also turned off his phone.

“Why did you turn off your phone?”

“I feel like I might make a mistake if I talk or text. I’m preventing it in advance.”

“As expected of our youngest. You know yourself so well.”

Woojoo proudly smiled and patted the head of the blanket monster.

They also joined the phone-off club, leaving only the public phone that they used to contact the company and post on the official SNS.

Then they monitored the internet reaction.

“The response is really good.”

“Hyung practically made all the content. The ‘Men on a Mission’ viewers called you a content alchemist.”

Woojoo laughed at the youngest’s words.

The ‘Men on a Mission’ cast and other guests also contributed to the content, but most of the scenes that became the talk of the town were mine.

-‘New Black Woojoo’, the MVP of the Special Forces Special?

-‘Woojoo’, the ultimate athletic genius… Why he was called ‘Jumong’ at the Dolympics?

-[Entertainment in Inside] The secret of Woojoo, who captivated the ‘Men on a Mission’ viewers with his bright energy and positivity

The last one was written by Reporter Oh Sohee.

Their fans called her a Soufflé.

Woojoo felt his limbs go numb at the praise-like article titles, but the response was good.

–ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋI laughed so hard today

-The chemistry with the Special Forces team was amazing. In that sense, one more time…?

┕You’re Satan. Satan

-Instructor: Trainee Number 8. Descend!

┕Woojoo: Aaaah!!! Hueruedulkkuup!! (Perfect posture)

┕Lmao

┕This comment is the best no matter how many times I see it

┕Humanity explosion

-As a critic, I give it five stars. “A delicate balancing act between humanity and silliness.”

–ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋThe army is best in the middle^^ A great saying, but you couldn’t practice it yourself haha

-I’ve felt this since he was on a variety show before, but I feel good when I watch Woojoo

-Yeah, he has that kind of bright energy

The blanket monsters who were resting their faces on Woojoo’s shoulder stopped at the last comment and looked at him.

Their eyes were barely open, as if they were wondering ‘Bright energy? Is there such a thing?’

“Capture this. And this. And this too.”

The most excited main dancer among them was capturing the articles and comments without a break.

Rihyuk asked him, “Why do you need to take screenshots of all these compliments? They’re all the same.”

“No, these are proud moments that I have to keep.”

“Are you that happy?”

“Yeah. I love it when someone praises our members.”

Bijoo smiled happily as he captured the comments on Woojoo’s article.

Junghyun pointed at one comment and said, “Junghyun looks great in his uniform. Here’s my compliment. Are you going to capture it?”

“No.”

He rejected him flatly, and Junghyun pouted.

“I’m hurt.”

“I’ll give you one more sweet potato.”

“Thank you.”

The bear who was happily munching on his sweet potato soon pointed at the screen.

“There’s no end to these articles. It feels like I’m reading a biography of you from volume one to twenty.”

“Seriously. There’s no end to them.”

The articles kept coming up.

When they went to the second page, the articles they saw earlier were pushed to the first page, making it hard to skim through them.

And 90% of them were about Woojoo.

“But didn’t you say that the weird stuff you did was focused on part two?”

“I did.”

“You threw a boomerang and hit the instructor with an ice cream, right?”

“It was a bet. A bet.”

He twisted the truth.

But as Jiho said, if the reaction was this good for part one, there was no need to talk about part two.

“I’m speechless…”

Woojoo was stunned by the endless articles.

It was a good thing that they had finished filming the show. If not, he would have stayed up all night with the pressure.

It felt like people were expecting him to blow something up in the next episode.

He felt overwhelmed by the attention for the first time.

He was usually the type to enjoy it to a certain extent, but it had gone way beyond his limit, so he calmed himself down and took a deep breath.

“…”

This must be how entertainers felt when they got noticed.

He felt a moment of respect.

They had an album preparation period, but the entertainment industry had to keep up the buzz in real time.

“I’m glad I’m a singer.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“I think I would have messed up if I was an entertainer…”

The younger ones looked at each other and shook their heads.

“No way.”

“You would have done great.”

“You would have been the top of the class if there was an entertainment school.”

Woojoo sometimes wondered what they thought of him.

He tried to suppress the pressure he felt in his heart and smiled.

“Well, it’s only for today. It’ll die down tomorrow.”

That was his mistake.

The reaction to the show was unprecedented.

He could tell just by looking at his phone.

There were so many messages that it was impossible to reply to them all. He got 900 on the day of the broadcast and just as many the next day.

“…”

Woojoo wondered if he should write an automatic message like ‘Thank you for your support, I will always work hard with my original intention. Goodbye.’.

Especially since it was a military show, he got a lot of contacts from his friends in the army.

Most of them were like ‘What’s with your body…?’ and he couldn’t blame them.

He was treated like a pretty trash or a fine dust particle whenever he had to use his body because of his terrible athletic skills.

Eunsung [Demanding an explanation from Seon Woojoo]

Eunsung [Explain]

He called out to his army friends, about ten of them, in a group chat and sang ‘Explain’ in chorus.

They accused Woojoo of deceiving them all this time.

They conspired and posted a notice saying [We demand a feast, not the truth].

“…”

Woojoo sent Eunsung a picture of the trash bag he got from Hanjo in a private chat and told him to get in there.

Woojoo ignored his reply.

He barely appeased his army friends by buying them food, but then another enemy appeared.

Your Deoksoon [Who are you?]

Your Deoksoon [I didn’t raise a grandson like that]

Woojoo [Whatever]

Woojoo [I grew up well by myself…!]

Woojoo [๑•‿•๑]

Your Deoksoon [You’re a disaster]

Woojoo [That’s too much]

He decided to change her nickname to Your Deoksoon for a day.

Meanwhile, Woojoo was experiencing the popularity of Men Go not only online but also offline.

“Number 8!”

“It’s Number 8, Number 8!”

“Can you take a picture with me in the repel pose?”

There were quite a few people who recognized him on the street.

They all called him ‘Number 8!’ instead of his name, but he was happy with the flash of fame after the show.

Woojoo had made a name for himself again, with the album and concert preparations ahead.

“Wow, it’s a celebrity.”

“It’s a celebrity.”

“…I’m embarrassed. Guys.”

The band rehearsal studio in Hongdae.

The band members who were participating in their concert as a session teased them, saying ‘You’re a star!’

Junghyun and Jiho became a duo and acted out ‘Number 8 down!’, ‘Ahhhh!’ and everyone laughed holding their stomachs.

The drummer chuckled and said, “It was really amazing. You did a great job.”

“People around us were talking about you guys.”

“Remember the last time we went to the tripe restaurant? There was a table next to us talking about New Black.”

They were happy to hear the band members’ testimonies.

They didn’t know what was going on because they didn’t have time to go out during the album preparation period.

They enjoyed it for a moment, but then they snapped out of it and suppressed the floating feeling.

They had to be more nervous at times like this.

“Shall we start the rehearsal then?”

Woojoo looked at the sheet music and listened to the band’s performance.

In their first concert, the band session played 80 percent of the songs, and they played MR for 20 percent.

They used MR for songs with a strong electro vibe or unreleased songs like Nine, and they filled the rest with a live sound.

“Wouldn’t it be better if the drums came in a little faster here?”

“Yes, half a beat faster.”

“Like this?”

“Yes, that’s it. And Jiho will come in from the other side of the stage at that part, so it would be nice if you could match his movements.”

Every time they gave feedback on the sound, they changed it perfectly and played it for them.

They definitely had the vibe of experienced performers, having done several big shows with other singers. They also told them in advance how the sound would sound depending on the characteristics of the venue.

They were a great help to them, who were nervous about the concert.

As they worked hard on the concert preparations, the PR Team called them.

“There’s good news and bad news.”

“I want to hear the bad news first.”

Assistant Manager Hong smiled awkwardly and said, “The recording date for the Dolympics this year is August 10th.”

“Oh no…”

“The Production Team picked you guys out and said you have to come. They said they would give you a lot of airtime since you made a hit with ‘Men Go’.”

The broadcasting station promised to give them a lot of airtime, but they were not happy at all.

Rihyuk asked, “Isn’t Chuseok at the end of September this year? It will air on the 28th or 29th, but why are they recording from mid-August…”

“I guess they set the schedule a bit early this year.”

“It’s two weeks before the concert on the 10th…”

They had to give up a whole day for the schedule of TBC’s Dolympic.

They didn’t mind it at other times, but they wanted to avoid schedules that could cause injuries before the concert.

It was also a problem for their condition to be locked up in one place for almost 24 hours.

But they couldn’t refuse to appear because TBC was holding the year-end music festival and music shows hostage.

“Of all things, the concert is in the way…”

“But didn’t they say we could skip it?”

They hoped that they would let them skip the Dolympic because they recognized their contribution to raising the ratings with ‘Men Go’.

But their naive thoughts were revealed.

“Even though we expressed our reluctance to attend because of the concert, they said they would give us a lot of airtime and we had to come.”

“…”

“The PD who directs the show is also the music show PD.”

The broadcasting station had a different way of thinking from ordinary people.

(When we put New Black in the show, the ratings went up.) → (But they are hesitating to join the Chuseok Olympics because they are preparing for a concert.) → (We’ll give them less airtime, so they’ll agree if we ask them!) Woojoo was amazed by their logic.

They smiled awkwardly at Assistant Manager Hong, who was smiling sheepishly, and said, “…We need to be more successful.”

They had to grow bigger so that even if they said ‘we’re not going this time’ like TNT, the broadcasting station would say ‘it’s okay…’ and move on.

As Woojoo reaffirmed their goal, he found an alternative for now.

“It’s okay to move our bodies as little as possible, right? We’ll only do archery. No futsal, basketball, or running.”

“That sounds doable.”

“We want to do as few events as possible.”

As they were finding a common ground.

The youngest, who had been thinking about something, said in wonder, “But it’s amazing.”

“What is?”

“We were trying so hard to do one more event when it was New Year’s.”

“Oh, right…?”

It was amazing when they thought about it.

Just six months ago, they were trying to do one more event, but now they were big enough to not care about the Dolympics.

They looked at each other and smiled faintly.

‘We’ve grown up…’

‘We’ve become great singers.’

And the fan seats assigned to them had almost doubled in six months.

They didn’t feel it because they always felt insignificant, but when they saw this, they realized how much they had grown.

They wrapped up the Dolympics talk around then.

“What’s the good news?”

“There are two things… First, you got this much advertising.”

“Wow…!”

Thanks to the popularity of the show, they got a lot of advertising.

The list was full of famous brands that they knew by name, and their eyes sparkled.

“They want to sign a contract quickly before the second season airs. They think it will be more popular then.”

“Oh…”

“Of course, the modeling fee is big now.”

Woojoo had a blank expression for a moment as the numbers flowed out of her mouth.

It was like juice that he had left half-eaten, the numbers tried to enter his ears but flowed down.

“Uh, how much?”

“What do you mean? Assistant Manager Hong?”

They gasped as they heard the sound of billions coming and going.

Assistant Manager Hong said, “Strictly speaking, it’s because your recognition has exploded.”

“But isn’t it better to use TNT or Teen Spirit for this money?”

“Not at all. You have a better advertising effect.”

“…?”

“You’re the top boy group in terms of advertising effect, you know?”

Woojoo almost said, ‘What, what top?’

They stared blankly as she spoke.

“They did a survey on the recognition and likability of boy groups in the advertising industry a while ago, and you were the overall first place.”

“…”

“Your position is very rare. There are many girl groups with mass appeal, but even the top boy groups are not well known by people. They know TNT, but unless it’s a popular member like Han Taehyun, they don’t know. But…”

“They know all of our faces?”

“Adults know you from Legendary Song Discovery, and 2030s know you from the History Discovery Team and various variety shows.”

Even though there were groups with more overwhelming fandoms, they were the most popular among the current boy groups.

What should he say?

His heart was pounding and fluffy.

“So what do you think about the advertising contact?”

“Um…”

Woojoo looked over the list and said, “Most of them are personal ads for me or Junghyun.”

“That’s how it is.”

“I’d rather do something that we can all do together. I’m still not comfortable with personal ads.”

He would definitely benefit from personal activities since he had a contract to take the income individually.

But that wasn’t his goal.

He was already making money from the royalties of the songs, and for now, he wanted their New Black to be higher than now…

“Do it, Hyung.”

“You have to do this. Why aren’t you doing it?”

“If you feel guilty about taking all the money, just shoot it and give us one-nth of it.”

“Huh, then what about our money cushion…?”

Woojoo could only smile at the faces of his siblings who were soaked in capitalism.

They pretended to be tempted by Jiho’s one-nth joke, but they seemed to tell him not to feel burdened and do whatever he wanted.

Woojoo lowered his head and said, “I don’t know if I’ll have time to shoot, but if there’s an ad that we can all do together, I’ll try to ask for that one.”

“You guys are busy too. I’ll just look at the schedule and see what I can do.”

“Thank you. …Oh, by the way, you said there were two good news earlier, what’s the other one?”

“Oh, that?”

The other person tapped on the laptop and turned the screen to Woojoo.

“This.”

“…?”

He saw an SNS screen on the screen.

There was a tweet in English under the logo of a blue bird chirping.

“John Edwards…?”

“Who is this?”

It started with a tweet from a famous Hollywood director.

@John_Edwards ⓥ

(A 17-second video that combines a scene from the movie ‘Codename 17’ with someone in a black suit subduing a Special Forces agent with a strange technique.)

[Translate] Wow. That’s possible.

There was a tweet below that said, ‘We shot it with wires, how did he do it with his bare body?’

There was a familiar account among the retweets.

@Olive_House_Official

(A picture of New Black, the Korean model for Olive House.)

[Translate] He’s our promotional model.

It was a perfect niche promotion.

Anyway, the tweet from John Edwards, who directed many famous movies, spread quickly in the English-speaking world.

It also spread in Korea when Hanmo from TNT retweeted it.

“…What is this.”

“What’s going on here.”

The situation turned really awkward.

At first, John Edwards, who was in LA, asked his agent, ‘Who is he? He’s amazing, find out more about him.’

Soon, the answer came back, ‘He’s Woojoo, a member of a K-pop group.’

“The director seems to be curious and watched some of the performances of New Black and stuff like that.”

“Ah…”

“So he asked me to arrange a meeting.”

The conference room of the movie distributor ‘Forest’.

As Woojoo sat with Seokhwan Hyung, the distributor’s staff explained how they got to have the meeting.

They whispered to each other while eating the snacks they were served.

“Why did he suddenly call us? Maybe a cameo appearance in the movie…?”

“The shooting is over, right?”

“Oh, right.”

The youngest, who was dreaming of a sudden Hollywood debut, looked a little sullen.

The laptop was ready for the video call in the conference room.

As the distributor’s staff and their company’s people sat down, the video call was finally connected.

「How’s the connection… Oh, it’s connected.」

A middle-aged man sitting on a folding chair with his legs crossed appeared in what looked like a shooting site.

He was a Viking-like man with brown hair and a sturdy physique, just like in the photos.

John Edwards smiled and said.

「Nice to meet you.」

「Hello! We are New Black!」

Ouch. His ears.

Their youngest shouted loudly with his eyes sparkling, as if saying ‘Look at me! Look at me!’ The other side laughed.

It was amazing to talk face to face with someone on the other side of the earth.

They had a conversation one by one, slowly, because of the slightly interrupted call.

After a brief exchange of ‘Nice to meet you’ with each other, the other side brought up the main topic.

「I’m shooting a musical movie right now, and the reason I wanted to see New Black is because I want to do a related project.」

Project?

They were about to ask him about it.

Then, a familiar figure came into view between the moving staff behind him.

A dancer with a lean and muscular body walked along to the beat with his daughter.

“Huh…?”

“Isn’t that Clay and Joy?”

“Clay?”

They must have heard them, because they looked up and shouted, ‘Clay! There’s New Black here!’

Whoosh!

In an instant, the Tyler mother and daughter disappeared like the wind.

‘They sure know how to run.’

‘Look at the afterimage on the screen.’

Woojoo wanted to say hello, since he was happy to see them, but they seemed busy.

Well. Too bad, but he would greet them later.

For now, their work came first.

“So.” Woojoo asked the director, who was smiling leisurely, “What is the project that you want to do with us?”