Chapter 122:

Chapter 122:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 122

Woojoo greeted the celebrities and the ordinary participants as he climbed up the stairs to the auditorium seats.

There were veteran comedians, ballad singers, music students, and more.

They greeted him back with various voices, but their group had only one thing on their minds.

As soon as they sat down, Bijoo whispered to Woojoo, covering his mouth, “Hyung, do you think they really recognize us? Is this for real?”

“I don’t know. In my opinion...” Jiho whispered back, “Maybe they are from our fan cafe?”

“That could be possible.”

“Hey, if you want to talk, do it between yourselves. Don’t whisper in my ears.”

It was like they were talking through a tin can phone with a string. The two of them put Woojoo in the middle and murmured.

“It’s possible.”

Another one joined in. From behind Woojoo, Ryuk whispered logically.

“They said the ratings for yesterday’s show were 18.8 percent. That’s not as high as the old dramas that got 50 percent, but statistically, 20 percent is a very significant number.”

“Right. The internet is going crazy right now.”

“True. I’m very proud to say this, but it’s a fact.”

Left, right, up. His brothers whispered in surround sound.

Woojoo remembered the sound of the ghost mother from a horror movie.

His ears tickled, so he quietly got up and sat three seats away.

Then the four of them moved to the same spot.

It was back to square one.

“Do you think they really recognized us? Not as fans, but as ordinary people?”

“Hyung, that’s obvious. Why would they know our names otherwise?”

“No.” Woojoo couldn’t stand it anymore and whispered back, “Why don’t you just ask them? Why are you having a debate over this?”

“Then I’ll ask them.”

Junghyun jumped up, and the four of them grabbed him and made him sit down.

“Shh! Junghyun, sit down.”

“Sit down, Hyung!”

“Sit down, sit down, Kim Junghyun. That’s right.”

“Ugh, other people are looking at us.”

The people in front of them turned their heads at their commotion.

They were so out of sync.

The four of them awkwardly looked down at their phones.

Woojoo decided.

He should never do anything that requires hiding with these guys.

While he was sighing at their clumsy behavior, the two college students laughed to themselves.

Then they leaned back and spoke to them.

“Excuse me.”

“...Yes?”

“Can we take a picture with you?”

“A picture?”

“Yes, for proof. To show our friends. They’re curious because we saw you on the show yesterday.”

A picture. That wasn’t possible right now.

The staff at the broadcasting station were very sensitive about taking pictures inside the studio.

If they make a click sound here, they would be immediately branded as criminals.

“Just a moment.”

Woojoo called Minki Hyung, who was nearby, and asked him if they could take a picture. He politely declined on their behalf.

It was a tip Woojoo learned from living in this industry.

It was a completely different story if you rejected them directly or if you wanted to do it but your manager stopped you.

“How about we take it after the show? We’ll have more time then.”

“Oh, sure.”

Their disappointed faces brightened up.

Then they started chatting right away.

“I really enjoyed watching the show yesterday. I watched it with my mom and dad, and it was awesome when the goat came out...”

“The black goat was awesome. How was it for you?”

“Huh, who were you? You looked really cute, though.”

“...”

They held back their laughter at the youngest’s gloomy face. Well, he did have the least impact in this Chuseok Special.

While the two people in front of them and his brothers were having a conversation, Woojoo felt a strange feeling.

Woojoo thought of the fake gold coins that appeared in a novel.

They were things that fairies sprinkled from the sky, but they disappeared after a few hours.

Woojoo had been in disbelief all the way, even as he looked at the articles and internet reactions about Around the World With Dice.

Is this really true? Is this not fake? That kind of feeling.

That was why when the ordinary participants acted like they knew them, Woojoo was so incredulous that he was having this kind of debate...

But now he was starting to feel a bit convinced.

That the gold coin that rolled into his hand was not fake but real.

***

11:40 a.m.

“Ten seconds to live! Five, four, three, two, one!”

The assistant director with a headset shouted the countdown in a loud voice.

The male and female announcers in hanbok smiled brightly and exclaimed.

“Neither more nor less, only like Chuseok! Chuseok Special, Challenge! 2080 Music Quiz Show, hosted by announcer Yang Seokjun.”

“Kim Hyeryung here.”

As the two announcers skillfully led the show, the cast members clapped and cheered enthusiastically.

The assistant director waved the script and prompted the reaction from behind the camera.

A semi-circular set.

There was a podium with a touch screen in front of the participants, like a quiz show.

[PBS Challenge! 2080 Music Quiz Show]

Looking at the touch screen with the logo floating around, Junghyun and Jiho had restless expressions.

Bijoo and Woojoo held their arms.

“Today’s quiz show is not only for the participants, but also for the viewers who can guess the answers.”

“There will also be prizes given by lottery.”

***

Live broadcast.

They were all determined to win the quiz that had a premium beef set as the prize.

‘I have to win.’

They were confident about their knowledge of Korean music history, more than general knowledge.

Hwang Hocheol, who knew the hit songs and debut singers by year, smiled, and The Moon, a ballad singer, adjusted his horn-rimmed glasses and cautiously eyed his competitors.

They were nervous because it was their first broadcast, but the ordinary participants were also not to be underestimated when it came to music.

Especially, the college students from a club who had made a cheat sheet and expected questions were burning with resolve.

As the first round of the quiz began, they each glanced at the people who could be their rivals, but New Black was not anyone’s target.

It was understandable.

‘...They’re really handsome.’

Their faces had been on almost every internet site last night, and their real appearance was also amazing.

The camera definitely couldn’t capture their real beauty. Their facial features, which looked flat on the screen, were so three-dimensional that they were overwhelming.

Especially, the member named Woojoo attracted people’s attention naturally.

‘I see why they came out.’

The participants naturally inferred the reason why New Black was cast.

Usually, the program would send out one or two good-looking participants to attract attention.

They thought they were one of those cases.

“Okay, I’ll give you the crossword puzzle for the horizontal 1.”

“Here’s the question. What is the title of the third track on Eun Sera’s fourth album ‘Your Flower is My Heart’, released in 1989? I’ll play the song for a hint.”

“Hwang Hocheol, correct! The Flower of Innocence!”

“Yes, that’s correct!”

As the pop music critic, Hwang Hocheol answered correctly. The score of [10] appeared on the electronic board in front of him.

The participants clapped and admired the critic who answered before the hint came out.

Then, a fierce competition began.

“Seoul National University, correct! The movie Seopyeonje!”

“Oh my! The answer is! That... that thing! Bae Byungho’s Love’s Sailboat!”

“The Moon, the song by the band Vector and Scalar, The Law of Multiplication.”

The pop music critic Hwang Hocheol and the ballad singer The Moon were leading, while the ordinary people were also chasing them.

But as the middle of the crossword puzzle, the questions with higher scores appeared, something unexpected happened.

A question that only played 3 seconds of the song.

“New Black! The song that just played is Woo Jooho’s folk song, ‘If There is a Barrier to Love’.”

“Yes, that’s correct!”

“...”

How did he answer after listening to it for only 3 seconds?

The member Woojoo gave a humble interview that he had listened to various songs while studying composition.

And right after that.

“That song was not on the 6th album, but on the 7th album, and it was not 1998, but 1999. So the number that goes in the blank is seventy-nine. I was seven years old then. It’s very vivid.”

What was vivid?

“It’s a song by Gu Jaehak, and I think it’s a great song. I don’t think I’m the only one who knows it, I think a lot of people in our generation know it too. The guitar sound is really beautiful.”

The members standing next to Woojoo had bewildered faces.

Even Hwang Hocheol, a popular music critic, laughed incredulously.

“Tell me honestly. How old are you?”

The studio erupted in laughter.

The announcers exchanged witty remarks, and New Black’s streak of correct answers continued.

As the bizarre trio of a ballad singer, a critic, and a rookie idol competed, Woojoo did his best.

But his younger brothers were not idle either.

When familiar music with gayageum blended in came out, Jiho raised his hand excitedly.

“Jiho, this is the subway transfer song!”

“You have to be more specific.”

“New Black, correct.”

At that, Junghyun raised his hand and asked cautiously. He looked like a bear opening a honey jar and looking around.

“The 2nd line transfer song...?”

“Wrong.”

A loud laughter broke out in the studio, and Woojoo looked at the distance with moist eyes.

Then he gave the correct answer.

“It’s Eolssi-gu-ya, made by the National Gugak Center. You asked me to name two of the instruments used, so I’ll say gayageum and janggu.”

“Yes, that’s correct!”

***

They came in third place in today’s live quiz show.

They tied for a while, but the high-difficulty questions in the latter half with high scores were taken by Critic Hwang Hocheol and Deomoon.

The critic who won the beef set shook hands with them and said it was a good match, and that he looked forward to the music on their next album.

After taking pictures with the participants and the cast, they left the PBS station.

As soon as they got in the car, the youngest wiped the sweat off his forehead.

“Phew, that was a close one.”

“It was tough.”

“Hey, what did you guys do? Hmph, ahem. Are you worried that I won’t let go of this ginseng? This is mine only.”

Woojoo hugged the box of ginseng jelly that they received as a third prize.

Woojoo fended off his brothers who looked at him like a pack of hyenas, and protected the cute ginseng character waving his hand and saying ‘Hi~’.

Rihyuk stuck out his tongue.

“You’re like Scrooge.”

“Hey.”

“Rihyuk Hyung, you should worry about yourself. What was that quiz? I’ll save you all~”

“Puhaha!”

“The fans must have gone crazy because of that.”

Bijoo turned on his smartphone with curiosity and logged into the fan cafe.

They also leaned in to see.

They were laughing happily, but soon their expressions hardened as if they had poured cold water on themselves.

“Hyung, why is the board like this...?”

The atmosphere of the posts was not good.

While they were doing the live show, something had happened that they didn’t know about.