Chapter 142:

Chapter 142:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 142

Health problems?

Woojoo wondered what was going on and quickly clicked on the news link.

His younger brothers also saw his serious expression and came closer to him.

Rihyuk narrowed his eyes.

“TNT postpones their comeback...? What happened?”

“Let’s read it.”

Woojoo slowly scrolled down the article.

Fortunately, it was not about someone getting seriously injured.

Flu.

It was a story about Seok Jihun, the youngest and main vocal of TNT, who got infected with Type A influenza while juggling drama filming and comeback preparations.

According to TJ Entertainment, they ‘plan to postpone the comeback by a week considering the artist’s condition’.

Bijoo’s eyes were full of sympathy.

“Type A influenza is really painful...”

“Isn’t he the senior we saw before? When we video called with Taehyun. There was a hotel swimming pool then.”

“Right. It was him.”

Jihun was also one of the younger brothers Woojoo got along well with at TJ.

They used to hang out together on their days off, and he taught him some vocal tips as the main vocal back then.

But now they were distant.

They would hug and greet each other warmly when they met at the broadcasting station, but they rarely contacted each other personally.

It felt funny to contact him out of the blue, so Woojoo left a message for Taehyun to wish him a speedy recovery.

On the other hand, after finishing his thoughts about the past connection.

“This is serious.”

Woojoo focused on the problem of reality.

The situation of TNT postponing their comeback.

The younger brothers looked at their smartphones with worried expressions.

Bijoo kept brushing his hair back, Rihyuk scrolled down his smartphone with his eyes squinted.

Jiho rested his chin on Woojoo’s shoulder and bit his lower lip, then took his phone and started searching.

‘What is the difference between Type A influenza that TNT’s Jihun got and Type B influenza?’, ‘Fans are angry... TJ’s excessive schedule is on the chopping board again’ and other headlines popped up.

Heavy silence.

Even Junghyun, who usually sighed briefly while looking at his smartphone, was in a bad mood.

The youngest spoke in a gloomy voice.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah.”

Woojoo answered calmly and the youngest said, “You’ve been working on the second album since August, right? And we all practiced really hard too.”

“We did.”

“What do we do now...?”

The youngest, who usually laughed ‘ehehe’ even when something happened, muttered dejectedly.

TNT’s comeback was pushed back by a week.

So it overlapped with theirs.

Of course, they were not competitors.

If Street Boys had overlapped with their comeback again, it would have been a hassle.

They were their rivals, so the focus would have been on the competition.

But New Black and TNT, who had been in the industry for five years, were in different positions, so they were not in a competitive situation.

The problem was the attention itself.

They were rookies who needed every bit of attention, so they had to promote themselves with teasers or music videos, but if a big group came back at the same time, they would take all the attention.

It didn’t matter how much it actually affected them, it was not a good thing.

But...

Even so, there was no need to be this depressed.

The younger brothers seemed to be very sensitive because they had put a lot of effort into preparing for the second album.

“Uh...”

Of course, Bijoo was rolling his eyes.

He didn’t know what to do.

It was Woojoo’s birthday, so they should have been having fun, but the mood was like this, so he seemed restless.

His face looked sad, frustrated, and not like this.

If Woojoo poked him with a needle, he would probably shed a tear, so he was more nervous.

“Hey, guys.” Bijoo said, “Today is Woojoo Hyung’s birthday...”

“Oops.”

“Ah...”

His other siblings, who were browsing the internet, blinked their eyes like they had just woken up from a dream.

Then they looked at Woojoo with a bewildered expression.

“Uh... uh, Hyung, do you want me to give you a massage...?”

Woojoo couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of the bear fidgeting with his front paws in confusion.

While Junghyun was blinking his eyes, Woojoo tapped his shoulder.Findd new stories at novelhall.com

“It’s okay, no massage.”

“Um. That.”

Rihyuk scratched his cheek and said, “I didn’t want to ruin the mood today since it’s your birthday... but.”

“Sorry?”

“But... unfortunately, the situation is like this... ah, what am I saying. Anyway, I’m sorry for making the mood like this on your birthday.”

“Sorry?”

“I regret it.”

He raised his hands and swept his hair back, but it was obvious that he was trying to cover his ears.

Woojoo quietly held back his laughter.

Then, their youngest lifted his face from Woojoo’s shoulder and said, “Actually, to be honest, I’m upset.”

“What is it?”

“Well... you see. Ever since you gave me this, you’ve been working hard and dreaming.”

Jiho pointed out one by one with his finger.

“You stayed up all night talking to the A&R team staff about the title song, and you came to tell me whenever you found something good on YouTube to help me with my facial expressions...”

“So you’re upset?”

“Yes. I feel like I’m losing my presence.” Jiho added, “Like... this is not TNT Sunbaenim’s fault, but I’m sure he doesn’t want to be sick either, but I still feel upset.”

“He’s not good at talking, but I can relate to him.”

“Yeah. I get what you’re saying.”

Woojoo smiled at his siblings.

They all looked upset.

“Hello, Soufflés” with a powerful greeting.

They wondered what kind of new concept this was and felt bewildered, but soon realized what happened and burst into laughter.

And then they started teasing him as usual.

***

He regretted logging in after hearing from his siblings that a new joke was trending on the fan cafe.

[I can’t wait to see you guys on music shows! So please come back soon...]

He clicked on it with a warm smile at first.

Right.

I miss you too...

-Hello, Soufflés

He blinked his eyes at the post with a picture of him wearing a floral tracksuit attached.

“...”

“Hyung, what are you looking at? Hahaha! Ahh...!”

There were dozens of posts like that.

He sighed as he looked at them.

No wonder Koreans were called the nation of wit.

His Soufflés had created dozens of variations of the joke.

Rihyuk made a satisfied face and said, “Unfortunately, I lost.”

“What?”

“The ranking of making embarrassing history. You’re number one now.”

“Rihyuk. Look at this.”

Woojoo showed him a post with a smug expression.

“...”

Posts that had changed ‘Hello, Soufflés’ to ‘Hello, piraruku’ and ‘Hello, genius’ and so on.

He said he would never go to the fan cafe again, so Woojoo told him to do so.

Then he went to a corner and tapped his phone screen diligently, but it was obvious that he was lurking on the fan cafe.

“...Didn’t you say you would never go there again?”

“It’s a reading cafe!”

“I can see everything in the mirror behind you.”

“Huh?”

Woojoo smiled as he saw his flustered face.

“But there’s no mirror behind you.”

“Oh, really!”

Woojoo laughed as he saw his face turn red.

Lately, he had been teasing his younger brothers as a way of managing his stress.

But unlike the rising stress, the days that passed after his birthday were peaceful as ever.

Practice, sleep, practice, sleep.

A cycle of routine.

Of course, outside the practice room, there were a lot of noisy things going on.

TJ Entertainment was pouring out press releases like crazy.

A dance challenge event, a famous actor’s cameo in the music video, a message from a recovered member, and so on.

It was a big issue in the music industry, which had no other news except for Scarlet’s domination.

Meanwhile, in the entertainment section, there was talk of a movie about a corn farmer who rides a spaceship and goes through a black hole, along with a parenting reality show.

And in the social section, there was a heated debate over the unprecedented water SAT, and winter was showing its face.

The weather suddenly got cold.

The outfits changed to coats or paddings as the lowest temperature ranged between -3 and 1 degrees Celsius.

The blankets in the dorm also changed to thick cotton ones that their parents sent them.

Thanks to the members’ families who took care of Rihyuk, he ended up having four blankets by himself.

And...

“What’s that?”

His thoughts were interrupted by the guy who was dancing in the practice room.

Junghyun was holding a camera, and Jiho was dancing.

“What is he doing?”

Bijoo answered.

“He said it’s a dance to wish for the admission of the high school seniors.”

“No way.”

Their youngest made a triangle with both hands as he danced.

He said as if it was obvious, “It’s an S, you know. A dance to wish for early admission.”

“What about regular admission?”

“Wait a sec.”

He then quickly spread his arms and legs to make a ‘J’ with his whole body, and they burst into laughter.

Junghyun, who was filming with his phone, said, “Your head makes it look like a C.”

“Then I’ll do this.”

They laughed again at the sight of their youngest, who shrunk his neck like a turtle.

Really.

For the sake of their kids’ human rights and the seniors’ eye health, he would never let him upload this.

As he was shrunk like a turtle, Jiho saw Rihyuk and exclaimed, “Ah!”

He then put his hands on his ears and flapped them.

“What’s that...?”

“A red-eared slider.”

“Hey!”

“This is a pirarucu.”

Rihyuk got up with a loud scream as he saw the youngest making an ugly face.

They held their stomachs and laughed.

Soon, a Tom and Jerry chase began in the narrow practice room.

They both got scolded by Bijoo and sat down, but.

“Ah, but when will this be uploaded?”

“They said it’s at 6 o’clock sharp.”

“I hope it came out well this time.”

What they were waiting for today was the group concept photo.

It was the first step of the promotion schedule that would lead to the group photo reveal on Friday and the music video reveal next Wednesday.

The information about their mini album that their seniors were eagerly waiting for on the fan cafe.

Of course, they were also excited and waiting for it.

They did monitor it once at the shooting site, but the photos that were retouched in the studio were different from the originals.

As they waited for the upload at 6 o’clock sharp, they searched for New Black on the internet and surfed the web.

-New Black, mini album promotion schedule revealed... warming up for comeback