Chapter 152:

Chapter 152:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 152

When Woojoo returned to his seat with a feeling of ecstasy.

As soon as he sat down, his younger siblings looked at him and simultaneously reached out their hands.

“The trophy.”

“I’m going to touch it first.”

“Let me see that.”

Woojoo was about to give it to Bijoo, who was right next to him, but he gave way to the other members first, saying he would take it last.

Junghyun held the trophy in his hand and stared at it blankly.

His eyes were not as calm as usual, but he looked like he had a lot on his mind.

He did that for 10 seconds.

Junghyun leaned toward Woojoo and whispered softly, “Thank you. Hyung.”

“I’m grateful too, Junghyun. You worked hard.”

Woojoo smiled and patted his shoulder.

They looked at each other with a happy face and nodded.

Then, he pointed at the youngest ones.

“Look at them.”

Bijoo and Junghyun turned their heads and laughed in surprise.

The two youngest ones were sharing the trophy and admiring it.

This was a sight he had never seen before.

They used to get along like cats and dogs, but now they had the trophy with ‘New Artist Award-New Black’ written on it in their eyes.

Woojoo too. And them too.

This trophy seemed to have some magic that made people more emotional than usual.

Now that everyone had finished admiring it and it was Bijoo’s turn to get the trophy.

“I’ll take the trophy.”

The staff on the scene took it away, saying they would keep it for them.

“Uh.”

He was stunned and then quickly saddened.

They comforted and consoled Bijoo, who was sad.

The conversation time was over soon.

The VCR ended and the lights came on, and the stages of other singers began.

These days, even the reactions of the singers watching the stage were uploaded as fancams, so they had to be careful about their behavior.

But they didn’t need to consciously give any reaction.

They just admired it.

Oh, wow, and wow. They said to each other, cool, so cool.

The first stage after the new artist award was Scarlet.

They sincerely admired the girl group of Lemon Entertainment, who debuted two years earlier than them.

They heard that they were talented and saw their videos, but seeing them with their eyes was different.

They looked like minions who were bouncing around just a while ago.

But now they were waving long, black cloths in the air and dancing.

Wow. They were all main dancer level there.

Even though there were only four of them, the stage felt full.

Every time they made delicate gestures, some energy came out of their fingertips and filled the empty space.

Woojoo watched their stage carefully.

Hand movements or steps. Things that they could use later, like stage directing.

The other stages that followed were the same.

Because of the nature of the year-end awards stage, they all prepared with determination.

Woojoo learned practical tips from the senior singers on how to handle the gaze in the spacious auditorium.

He also observed how the ballad singers handled the high notes and how to make them sound better.

He copied the useful movements.

It was a place where they could see the stages of the top singers in Korea directly.

Sometimes when Woojoo was frustrated, he lifted his body slightly and looked at the movements of other senior singers.

If he compared it to a game, it was like real skills were pouring out from everywhere, so he had to collect them quickly.

When they saw Woojoo, the younger ones giggled.

“New Black, get ready.”

They got up from their seats at the call of the staff who came with the intercom.

The awards were divided into three parts.

The performance that ended the first part was their main stage.

***

At the same time.

While New Black was changing their clothes and waiting in the backstage, the idol community was full of live posts.

-Scarlet today, all of them are so pretty

-They’re good too... Honestly, if they weren’t a small girl group, they would have gotten more time in the later order

-Daisy’s rapping voice is really addictive

-Oh, Cha Woohyun is here

-His voice is so good, really...

-I don’t like that their song style is always the same, but they sing well.

As the stage reviews came out after each performance, the topic of New Black, who would be the last act of the first part, came up.

-Are they really good enough to close the first part???

-They’re overhyped, seriously;; They don’t know their limits.

-It’s probably because there are a lot of Lemon actors in the awards lineup this timeᄏᄏᄏ

-Wow, the comments... Grab some chill and leave the rookies alone.

Because TNT’s fans were the most numerous, there were comments saying that New Black was not at the level or skill to close the first part.

The six-minute finale of the first part.

If they added Something, it would be 10 minutes, as if they were doing a gymnastics show, there were sarcastic remarks.

-Oh, it started.

-Fireworks is my favorite song among the recent ones...

-They’re so good at live singing, reallyᄏᄏᄏ

As soon as New Black’s Fireworks appeared on the live streaming screen, positive comments came up.

A stage that minimized the choreography and focused more on the vocals.

As soon as the praise came up, more comments followed.

-They can sing well, sure.

-Honestly, New Black is not a performance group, right?? They should just stick to vocals, not dance;;

-ᄋᄋ Mediocre dance skills.

As they were talking like that.

Fireworks ended and the lights that had been darkened came on again.

[New Black | Masquerade]

Along with the caption that appeared on the screen, the outline of the stage gradually became visible.

The bright red lights that surrounded all sides.

The lights that shot out sinister rays here and there focused on the stage.

Along with the cheers from the audience, twenty-five men who were on the stage took their positions and stood.

As Woojoo fixed his makeup and returned to his seat, he asked, “Rihyuk, do I smell?”

“Your face doesn’t smell, so get it away from me.”

“...”

Woojoo was bothered by the sweaty and pungent smell, but it was okay because the other singers who performed before them were similar.

Woojoo watched the second and third parts of the award show with a comfortable mind.

He was relieved that the stage, which he was most worried about, was over.

It felt like he had lifted a heavy stone off his shoulders.

The stage was the heaviest stone among them.

Because this was their real year-end stage.

Unlike the year-end stages of the three major broadcasters, which ended in a cut of two minutes and a few seconds, this was the only place that guaranteed them more than six minutes of time.

Woojoo felt a lot of pressure to do well, but he thought they did well.

Thanks to that, he enjoyed the atmosphere of the award ceremony with a big smile.

-Yes, the digital song of the year is Something’s Jang Sowon and New Black!

-Thank you. This year really...

Woojoo stood behind Jang Sowon, a senior who was tearful as she spoke her acceptance speech.

Woojoo also learned from watching the performances of popular groups like TNT and Teen Spirit, thinking, ‘That’s how they decorate the stage.’

When they all waved their hands to the audience at the end.

They also had a congratulatory time with TNT, who won the Artist of the Year and the Album of the Year.

Gu Seonwoong, who held a bouquet of flowers, greeted Woojoo with his fish eyes, pouring out tears and snot.

“Thank you. Woojoo. We’re happy that you’re doing well.”

He tried to hug Woojoo with his face covered with snot, so he avoided him carefully and said, “You too, Hyung. Congratulations to everyone. You deserved it.”

“You guys deserved it too. Congratulations to New Black.”

TNT, who had been shut out of the main categories in both award shows last year, was in tears.

Woojoo thought they would have cried too if they had received the awards they should have received last year a year later.

Woojoo also lightly comforted Taehyun, who was tearful as he waved his hand to the fans.

On the other hand, their New Black team was in a cheerful mood overall.

“Hahaha, good job, everyone!”

“Good job, everyone!”

“You all worked really hard today!”

Woojoo took a selfie with the dancers who had shone with them on the stage, and thanked the choreography team leader and the members.

They were so kind to accommodate all their difficult requests without any complaints, so he felt more grateful to them.

The dancers left, chanting “New Black! Meat! New Black! Meat!” as they heard that the company had prepared a dinner for them. The passers-by smiled at their cheerful voices.

The stylists, the managers, and the various company staff.

Woojoo thanked them all, and then they moved to get in the car driven by Dowon.

“Bijoo, are you going to hold that the whole time?”

“I didn’t get to touch it earlier. I’m going to hold it until I go to bed.”

Everyone smiled warmly at Bijoo, who was clutching the trophy in his hand. Woojoo patted the shoulders of his younger brothers and smiled.

“You guys did a great job. Really... I never thought we would win the Rookie Award when we met last year.”

“I know, right. Last year around this time, we were practicing hard for the year-end evaluation.”

“Wow, goosebumps. It’s been more than a year already.”

“Yeah.”

Woojoo felt that time was really fast.

It had been over a year since he met these guys.

“Time is really fast. Too fast to be sad.”

“Yeah,” Bijoo said with a smile. “So I wish we could go a bit slower today.”

“Me too.”

“Me too.”

They looked at the moon in the night sky and admired it for a moment. Then, Junghyun said with a sigh, “We didn’t take a selfie.”

“Oh, right. Let’s take one quickly.”

They gathered around Bijoo, who was holding the trophy, and took a selfie.

About 100 shots in a row.

They decided to play rock-paper-scissors to choose the best one to upload on SNS later, since they were all picky about their looks.

Jiho pouted his lips.

“Wow, Woojoo Hyung won again.”

“Hey, isn’t it weird? I’ve never won against him in rock-paper-scissors. Not even a tie.”

“What’s so weird about that?”

"It’s weird that he always wins. It’s like he knows what I’m going to do... "

Oops.

“Maybe you’re just really bad at it?”

Thanks to the youngest, who chuckled, Woojoo was able to get out of the danger zone.

As they walked like that, they saw the choreography team and the other staff leaving separately.

Jiho swallowed his saliva as he looked at them.

“They’re lucky. They get to eat meat.”

“Just hang in there. We’re done with the music show on Sunday. Let’s grill some pork belly at the dorm then.”

“Yay! Junghyun Hyung, Woojoo Hyung said he’ll buy us meat. Meat! I say go, you say gi!”

“Go.”

“Go!”

They laughed as they watched the youngest run ahead with Junghyun, shoulder to shoulder.

Maybe it was because he secretly gave them snacks during practice.

Jiho’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Junghyun.

Rihyuk said with a tongue click, “That kid. He doesn’t know that we bought those snacks ourselves, right?”

“He doesn’t.”

“It’s better that way, right?”

They smiled as they walked behind them.

The wind was very cold, but it was a beautiful and splendid night.

***

At that moment.

There were people who felt more ups and downs than New Black, and they were the three men who were eating pig’s feet in the office.

“Gyuwan.”

“Yes, boss.”

“I’m asking you again, just to make sure... How much did that stage that Scarlet and New Black did cost in total?”

“About 400 million won.”

“...For 15 minutes?”

“Yes. There were fireworks and flames, too. And the labor cost was huge. They used a hundred dancers for both teams. And then there was the VCR production and the set cost...”

“Wow.”

The director exclaimed without tact.

“Every time those fireworks went off, a hundred million was going up in smoke.”

“To be precise, we burned 440,000 won per second...”

Park Kyuho’s hand trembled as the pork trotter slipped off his chopsticks.

A moment of silence.

“...”

The three men silently devoured the pork trotters. They tasted strangely hollow today.