Chapter 79:

Chapter 79:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 79

Are you good at digging?

Woojoo asked the PD, hiding his confusion, “Digging?”

“Um, I just wanted to check that first.”

“I don’t know if I’m good at it, but I’ve done it quite a bit.”

“Really?”

He crossed his arms and fell into his thoughts.

While Seokhwan Hyung went to the counter to order coffee for the PD, Woojoo recalled what happened yesterday.

‘Guys! You’re fixed for the variety show!’

Last night, Seokhwan Hyung called Woojoo with a hoarse voice and rambled on.

He said he had a hard time for a month, he would make them famous, he loved Seon Woojoo, he would be mad if they didn’t work hard, variety shows were difficult, etc.

He had a lot to say, but they only heard two things.

Around the World With Dice.

Chuseok Special.

Woojoo couldn’t believe it and asked him several times.

Around the World With Dice, aka ‘Roda’, was a national variety show that was so popular.

It was the undisputed top in terms of ratings.

If PBS’s ‘Mr. Producer’ was popular among young viewers, Roda was a program that was popular among all age groups.

And they were going to be guests there. It was hard to believe.

At first, Woojoo thought he was joking.

Make some sense.

How could they be on the Chuseok Special of Roda, a program that even Kim Deoksoon, who didn’t know much about TV shows, knew?

Honestly, they were still skeptical.

It was too unbelievable.

But seeing the grim man in front of Woojoo lost in thought, it felt real.

PD Gu Jaeyong.

The star PD who created a national variety show with a very simple format of rolling dice to decide the next filming location and mission.

He was so famous that there were more cafe customers looking at him than New Black.

By the way...

What he said in the interview was true.

Woojoo skimmed through some articles beforehand to get to know him better, and they matched his current appearance.

He said he only thought about the show all day, and he said things that seemed natural to him, but the other person was confused.

“Ah.”

He seemed to snap out of it and smiled when he saw the coffee.

“I’ll enjoy the coffee, sir.”

He looked at them and scratched the back of his head.

“Did you guys get confused?”

“Not at all.”

“I’ve been thinking about the special all day, and I have a rough sketch in my head, but I need someone who can dig well to get the captions and scenes I want.”

“Oh...”

“Anyway, I’m sorry for the late introduction.”

He smiled and greeted them.

“Nice to meet you. New Black friends.”

“Hello! We are New Black!”

They all smiled and bowed their heads.

The atmosphere was friendly.

It was their first meeting, and it was a light occasion to get to know each other over a cup of coffee.

“Do you feel nervous?”

“Yes, really.”

“All the rookie guests have the same expression.”

“I’m especially amazed. I was watching Roda in the army barracks this time last year.”

“Us too. We thought they were lying, sir.”

He laughed and said to Seokhwan Hyung, “Be nice to him. He worked really hard. He came to see me every day with coffee and cake.”

“...I did bother you a lot.”

“Thanks to that, we have this good connection.”

The PD said with a compliment.

“When I meet guests as a PD, I usually get a sense of how they will be on the show. But New Black is especially good. I’m not lying, I feel like something will come out well.”

He rubbed his mustache and looked at Junghyun.

“Junghyun, right? I especially feel something from you.”

“Me?”

Woojoo burst out laughing at his face, which was sniffing his clothes with his head tilted.

The PD, who had been smiling politely until then, showed a genuine grin for the first time and asked them, “Is he always like this?”

“Yes, he’s really hard to control sometimes.”

“Good, good. We need characters like this.”

That seemed to spark his interest, and he started to ask Junghyun various questions.

Where he grew up, whether he worked on a farm, and so on.

As the conversation went on, he drank his coffee less and less.

When he turned to them with questions, he even took out his phone and made notes.

“Bijoo, you said cooking is your specialty?”

“Yes, I learned a lot from blogs, TV, books, you name it. I also love it, and I’ve been used to making my own meals since I was young.”

“Do you know how to make holiday dishes too?”

“Yes, I have a video of me making jeon for Lunar New Year this year.”

Bijoo showed him the evidence on his phone, and he nodded and wrote it down.

“Let’s see, Rihyuk. Singing, quizzes, cleaning...?”

“Yes, yes! I’m the main vocal, so I love cleaning!”

They tried to hold back their laughter at Rihyuk, who was saying anything out of nervousness.

PD Gu Jaeyong frowned.

“Really? You love cleaning?”

“Yes, that’s true...”

“Wow, that’s great. I can picture the scene perfectly.”

While Rihyuk was feeling uneasy in the strange atmosphere, the PD who was thinking hard by himself looked at Jiho.

“I don’t need to ask Jiho.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t think you need to do anything. You’ll be popular with the elders just by standing still.”

He was sharp.

Woojoo was a bit annoyed by the youngest’s expression of pride, saying ‘I’m cute after all’.

“And Woojoo...”

Maybe because of the military, the PD who had been listening to Woojoo about what had happened since last November until now spoke.

“I’ll have a lot to show you, or rather, show you. With Junghyun.”

And then, the emperor penguin walked over and bumped the gentoo penguin with his plump belly, getting his revenge.

The penguins bowed their heads together, holding their wings.

It felt like watching a comedy skit.

The people clapped and laughed loudly.

“Hey, don’t push me!”

“My phone!”

The crowd had grown in no time.

And half of them were filming with their smartphones.

“Excuse me.”

A man with a grim expression appeared, pushing through the crowd. He approached the penguins.

He looked like he was related to them.

‘Are they a dance team?’

The people felt that their identity would be revealed soon.

Most of them thought they were a dance team.

If they were idols or celebrities, they wouldn’t need to wear those costumes.

They would have shown their faces right away.

Then, they must be ordinary people.

But their dance skills were too good to be non-dancers.

That was what everyone thought.

Especially, the noble penguin and the emperor penguin.

No.

Actually, the emperor penguin was the most interesting.

Who was the owner of that posture that looked like a real penguin walking out?

A comedian?

Soon.

The staff appeared and helped them take off their doll heads.

Pop-

And when the faces covered in sweat emerged from the steamy costumes, everyone swallowed their saliva.

Someone exclaimed.

“Wow...”

Inside the costumes were actors.

No.

They were faces so handsome that they could be mistaken for actors.

One by one, as they revealed their faces, cheers erupted.

The atmosphere of the audience changed drastically from the cute one they had before.

The cute baby penguin had a bright smile and a youthful appearance, flapping his wings happily.

The penguin that had a sharp face and was cooling off his sweat with his wings.

The noble penguin and the king penguin had a refined boy and a man with bushy eyebrows, respectively.

And the last one, the most anticipated one.

The emperor penguin who had captivated everyone’s attention throughout the event took off his costume and there was a moment of silence.

“...”

He was wiping his wet hair with his wings, and his face was unrealistically beautiful.

He smiled awkwardly at the audience and admiration flowed out.

‘He was that penguin...?’

‘Hello, we are the rookie idol group New Black!’ Even as they heard the greeting, people were staring blankly at their faces.

When their images were imprinted in their minds like afterimages.

The five members received microphones, as if they were preparing for a new performance.

When they wondered what they were going to do next.

A very refreshing melody flowed out of the amp.

That day, it was a Fireworks song that everyone who was there would never forget.

***

The reaction on the scene was really good.

Woojoo was so happy that he felt like jumping, because it was unexpected.

They prepared this project with the intention of being as cute and funny as possible, since they didn’t have confidence in meeting the expectations of their fans.

Woojoo felt inferior while watching penguin videos on YouTube and imitating their movements, but seeing the response made him think it was worth it.

And their efforts also paid off.

“My name is Woojoo, like the greatest star in the universe, that Woojoo.”

Woojoo explained his name in Chinese characters to a Chinese tourist, and in English to those from the West.

He always wondered when he would use the English and Chinese he learned from TJ.

But he finally felt like it was shining.

With that communication, Woojoo repeated New Black enough to engrave it in the ears of those who came from abroad.

“Did you enjoy it? We are New Black.”

“It was fun, right? It was our first attempt as New Black.”

“Goodbye. We were New Black.”

Woojoo was in charge of interpreting other languages except Japanese, and there was a funny episode when he interpreted Chinese.

“He’s asking if you’re a Chinese descendant?”

“Hyung, what’s a Chinese descendant?”

“I’ll translate it for you.”

Some people were puzzled why Wang, a Chinese surname, couldn’t speak Chinese.

Woojoo decided to explain to Jiho later what an overseas Chinese was.

Meanwhile, Woojoo felt like a Hallyu idol, being in Myeongdong where there were many tourists.

Maybe that was why he was in such a good mood.

After fulfilling their promise for being a first-place candidate, Woojoo felt like they finally wrapped up their music show activities.

Their first album was really over.

Woojoo felt relieved and exhilarated.

It all started when he found a source in May, and it snowballed into this ending.

It was a new feeling.

If he had met his past self and told him this story, would he have believed him?

That the song Woojoo made would rank within the top 100, that the rough sketch of Night Sea that he made back then would receive love as a demo version on the radio.

That Junghyun fixing a pump at an event would lead to a national variety show appearance.

And that they would be lucky enough to be a first-place candidate on a music show.

He would never have believed it.

Woojoo couldn’t help but laugh cheerfully.

Of course, it was only the end of their first album activities, and they still had a long way to go, but he wanted to enjoy this moment for now.

‘You did well, guys.’

As Woojoo looked at his younger brothers who were busy talking to the people around them, he saw the sunset sky behind the crowd.

It was red like fireworks.

Woojoo smiled at the sight.

July 25th, 2014.

With the dance moves of five penguins, their long first album activities came to an end.