Chapter 159:

Chapter 159:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 159

Street Boys.

That was the name of the boy group that had been constantly linked to them as rivals. They nodded calmly at the mention of them.

They went outside to talk, so that no one else could hear them.

They huddled together in the alley, wearing their padded jackets.

“Well, it’s not bad,” Rihyuk said, blowing out his breath. “They have solid skills, you know. If we can match well with them, we can pull off a decent stage.”

“Yeah, they’re good. They beat us a lot.”

“...Don’t hurt our feelings. Jiho.”

Bijoo poked the youngest’s side and smiled.

They said they lost to Street Boys every time they had a joint evaluation before Woojoo joined.

The younger ones had bitter smiles.

It was as if the history of their long defeat flashed before their eyes.

They looked into the air with distant eyes.

Then.

They all turned their heads and looked at Woojoo.

“...”

Their gazes were all subtle.

As if they were looking at something adorable...

An object?

Guys?

“...What’s with these rude stares?”

“It’s nothing,” Bijoo said, shaking his head. Then he grabbed Woojoo’s shoulder with a serious face. “Hyung, you’re a treasure.”

“...”

Rihyuk added, “A totem-like existence. A totem for making songs.”

“...”

“Yeah, Hyung is the egg in the cold noodles.”

Junghyun’s final blow made Woojoo grab the back of his neck, and the younger ones giggled.

It was a shame that he couldn’t film this. He should show it to the Souffles.

Everyone. Look.

They were only fairies on the outside, but their hearts were goblins.

“It’s really amazing.”

The youngest rested his head on Woojoo’s shoulder.

“We used to be so eager to beat the Street Boys Hyungs. They seemed like an insurmountable wall.”

“And now they’re not?”

“Nah, it feels a bit different since Hyung came. Like, we can do it?”

“Hmm...”

There was definitely more ease in their expressions.

They were ahead in various indicators, and more importantly, their recent opponent was a worthy one.

After competing with TNT, any other group would seem relatively weak.

But that didn’t mean they could take other groups lightly.

The entertainment industry was a different place every day.

Even if they were ahead for now, it wouldn’t be strange if a competitor suddenly rose up with a hit fancam tomorrow.

Woojoo carefully looked at the younger ones’ faces.

He hoped they weren’t feeling too relaxed because they were doing better.

The source of confidence should be in something that didn’t change.

If you based your confidence on the results that could change at any time, you wouldn’t be able to handle your mental state when it got reversed.

That was a lesson Woojoo learned from elementary school when he started as a trainee.

Of course, their kids weren’t like that, but he felt a bit worried as a leader.

Woojoo was about to gently talk to them.

“Ah, geez. Wang Jiho.”

Rihyuk clicked his tongue.

“Since when did you become so arrogant because we did better? Geez. You’re full of yourself.”

“I know, okay?”

The youngest who had his chin on Woojoo’s shoulder pursed his lips.

“I just wanted to have some fun. And get some cuddles from Woojoo Hyung.”

“Cuddles?”

Woojoo turned his head in disbelief and he stuck out his hand and tickled his chin, saying “cuddles”.

Everyone burst into laughter.

While Woojoo grabbed the youngest’s collar and jokingly scolded him, saying “you little brat”, Bijoo scolded him more seriously.

“You know we were lucky, right, Jiho?”

“...Yeah, Hyung,” Jiho said with a deflated face. “No, I’m not stupid, I’m just immature. I know that too. We were lucky.”

He then made a whining sound.

“I just said one thing and you’re already nagging me. At least today Woojoo Hyung smiled warmly and didn’t say ‘Jiho, get your act together’.”

Woojoo pretended not to be embarrassed.

“...Ahem.”

But inside, he felt relieved.

Because ever since they won the Rookie Award and the music show first place, he had been feeling relaxed.

Woojoo snapped out of it right away, but he was tempted for a moment.

So he worried about the others too.

What if they thought they got these results because they were good.

Even their youngest, who was the most immature, thought they were lucky. That meant the other members didn’t need to be told.

Junghyun didn’t say anything, but...

He covered his mouth with his hand and made a ‘coo coo’ sound at the magpies.

“What is he doing?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he’s trying to summon magpies. As if they would answer him...”

Caw! Caw!

“...”

They all smiled warmly and went back to reading the document.

“The duration is about 2 minutes and 10 seconds...”

“That’s tight.”

They expected that.

They weren’t just doing a joint stage at the TBC year-end music festival.

Even if they excluded Something, they had a 2 minute and 30 second version of Masquerade prepared.

Maybe if they were from one of the big four agencies.

But no matter how popular a rookie they were, the broadcasters wouldn’t give them more than 5 minutes.

What should they show in that limited time?

As they pondered how to use the penalty, their eyes reached the topic.

“Cover songs from the 90s?”

“This is trendy these days. They do these stages on TV.”

It was the entertainment trend of December.

They brought back the singers from the 90s or the early 2000s who had made a name for themselves and reunited them. And the viewers cried and laughed with them as they performed.

It started with Around the World With Dice’s nostalgia trip special.

“Shouldn’t we ban the kids from using their phones, like other agencies do? That’s what they were saying.”

They perked up their ears at this new piece of information.

“So what happened?”

“It was rejected right away.”

“Why?”

Seokhwan Hyung chuckled as he recalled the reason.

“Because you guys work too hard.”

“...?”

“Usually, when they give you some break time, you should at least have some fun. But you guys were crazy. You came to the company every day off to practice. When they didn’t let you in, you went to the nearby karaoke to practice.”

“We did work hard.”

They smiled proudly.

Maybe the company was touched by their dedication.

They expected a heartwarming story about how they let them use their phones, even though they thought they were pathetic. Yo, you losers! Something like that.

“We were really amazing, huh.”

“That’s not it...”

Seokhwan Hyung laughed.

“It’s because you guys live boring lives.”

“...?”

“That’s what they said. They don’t know what you do for fun on your days off. You just sleep in the dorm. You already live so dull, it would be inhumane to take away your phones too...”

They blinked at the unexpected truth.

There was a moment of silence.

“...They gave us phones out of pity?”

“No. It’s not pity, but more like...”

“...”

“Um...”

Seokhwan Hyung tried to salvage the situation.

“Of course, there’s also the fact that you guys are amazing. They wanted to reward you for working hard, something like that...”

“...”

But it was too late.

Realizing that nothing he said could cheer them up, the manager took a drastic measure.

“Food.”

“...Food?”

“I’ll order something expensive for dinner.”

“As if we would...”

But they couldn’t help but smile.

“Close your mouths before you talk. Kids.”

Seokhwan Hyung gave a hollow laugh as he saw their gloomy faces brighten up again.

After eating the sweet and sour pork and black bean noodles that their beloved manager ordered for them, they returned to the studio with warm faces.

The youngest, who was eating an apple that Bijoo peeled for him, said, “But I still can’t agree.”

“With what?”

“Who else can have as much fun as we do?”

Woojoo heard voices agreeing from all over the place. Rihyuk, who was reading an advanced Japanese textbook, said, “Well, do we really need to conform to other people’s standards? As long as I’m having fun, that’s all that matters.”

“Wow. Rihyuk is making sense for once.”

“I’m always right, you know.”

Woojoo smiled at the arrogant guy.

While he turned on his laptop and searched for 90s songs, he asked his siblings who were huddled on the sofa.

Something suddenly came to his mind.

“Hey, guys.”

“...?”

“What do we usually do for fun?”

There was a brief silence.

“...”

Woojoo searched his memory hard, but it wasn’t just him. Everyone else was the same.

“What’s wrong? Why can’t I remember...?”

“Oh, there was that time. That time.” Bijoo raised his hand and said, “We all got together with our family for Chuseok, remember?”

“When Woojoo collapsed and we all had to go back to the hotel without even having a party? When we had to nurse him by sticking close to his bed?”

“That was tough.”

“...”

They talked about this and that for a while, but there was nothing special except for the time they spent with their family.

Then Woojoo realized.

“...We were really boring, weren’t we?”

“But our activities were fun, right?”

As they were having this conversation, Rihyuk said with a nervous face, “But even if we had fun, it wouldn’t make much difference, would it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Tell me what you would do if you had a day off.”

Everyone said one thing.

“Play games all day.”

“Does it have to be something I can’t do at work? Then... I’d go to a famous cafe and have dessert.”

“Gardening.”

“I’d lie down and listen to music all day. Rihyuk, what about you?”

“I’d go to a bookstore and pick out books.”

After a moment of silence, they all realized with shocked faces.

“We were doomed from the start...”

They looked at each other with pity and contempt, then they nodded their heads with warm smiles.

“Let’s just work since we’re doomed anyway.”

“Yeah. I guess we’re born to work.”

It was about time anyway.

It was almost 7 p.m.

It was time to contact the Street Boys about the joint stage.

As Woojoo was looking through his phone’s contacts, the youngest one said with a worried tone, “How are we supposed to talk to the Street Boys? They don’t think we’re totally boring, do they?”

“I know, right?”

“This is bad. Really bad.”

Everyone looked worried.

At the same time.

Street Boys’ dorm.

Nine people sat in a circle, with a phone in the middle, wearing serious expressions.

“We’re in trouble.”

“What do we do? Hey, what should we say when we talk to the New Black people?”

“Exactly. They don’t think we’re boring, do they?”

Sighs filled the air.

“They all seemed so good at talking and having fun...”

“This is bad, bad. What should we say? Seriously.”

“What if they find out we’re no fun?”

The members were making needless worries.