Chapter 284:

Chapter 284:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 284

They decided to postpone their trip or amusement park visit for later.

Their schedule was too tight.

It wasn’t that there were no gaps, but after subtracting dance and vocal practice, song production, personal training, and foreign language study, they barely had any time to sleep.

The only place they could go was dreamland.

But they weren’t unhappy with the current situation.

Rather...

“I wish we had one more schedule.”

“Is there nothing else?”

“There’s a water park event near here, can’t we stop by one more place on our way back?”

They were thirsty for more schedules.

They wanted to do more of anything.

It was because they were growing continuously.

Why was that important? Because when their growth slowed down and the position of their group ‘New Black’ was fixed in the idol world, it would be hard to make any changes no matter what they did.

It was all about timing.

Simply put, they were riding an escalator to the top right now.

They were going up and doing well no matter what they did, so they had to go up one more step while they could.

When the escalator stopped, they would have to walk up from then on.

That was why they devoted themselves to schedules, practice, and work more and more as time passed after their debut.

And of course, the most important thing was the album.

“So we have to pour our body and soul into our new title ‘Nine’, you get me?”

“...”

“Hey, kids. Are you listening?”

“Y-yes...”

Woojoo clicked his tongue as he looked at the kids sprawled on the sofa in the studio.

“Geez. You guys are so weak. You’re like this after just a few hours.”

“We did 11 hours, you crazy person. Who else works on production right after dance practice?”

“Me.”

“...”

They narrowed their eyes as Woojoo smirked.

“...Hyung, I’ll give you 500 won if you punch him for me.”

“No.”

“I’ll give you 500 million.”

“...”

Junghyun’s pupils shook as he lay down. He glanced at Woojoo and whispered to Rihyuk, “I’ll do it if you pay in advance.”

“...Junghyun, is that all our brotherhood is worth?”

“I’ll split it with you.”

“Yeah, we’re brothers forever.”

The kids giggled and Woojoo laughed too. Then Woojoo walked over to the sofa and reached out his hand.

“Come on, get up. We have to finish ‘Nine’.”

“Ugh...”

“Quick.”

They got up quickly as Woojoo mimicked the stern expression that Bijoo made when he nagged.

They were struggling because of their drained energy, but they soon joined the work seriously.

Junghyun already knew how to compose, and Bijoo, who had studied on his own, helped out, so it was much easier.

The youngest line worked on the lyrics.

They divided the work like a cottage industry and completed their new title song ‘Nine’.

When they finished, they sent version 1 to the composers, and when version 1.1 came back, Woojoo sent 1.1.1.

Every time a reply came, the version number went up to 2, 3, and so on, so Woojoo also raised the version to 33, and then the answer came back as 33.1.

Woojoo felt they were getting closer to completion.

“It’s a good song.”

Director Jo, who came down to the studio from time to time to check on their progress, also praised the song.

“The verse changed nicely. If you just trim a little bit of the excess here, it’ll be perfect.” He pointed to a part of the song and said, “I like this part. I think it’ll get a good reaction when we reveal it at the concert.”

“I think so too. The members were saying that too.”

“It’s a nice surprise.”

Woojoo smiled.

Then he asked their director, who was famous for his nickname ‘fortune teller’.

“What do you think? Will our song do well?”

“Well, you never know until the song comes out. But...”

“The release date for our song is around late August or early September. And looking at the current situation in the music industry, there won’t be any famous groups or popular singers making a comeback then. Unless TNT or Teen Spirit suddenly come back...”

Come back?

“Well, I think we can easily get the first place.”

“Wow...”

“That’s considering your fandom’s mobilization power. Of course, this is just an assumption, so there might be some deviations depending on the situation... Why are they so happy?”

Director Jo chuckled at the sight of their younger members who were already moved by saying ‘Thank you for the first place!’ while sitting on the sofa.

They then talked about the final version of ‘Nine’, the music video, and the concept photos, which Director Jo gave them the OK sign.

“By the way, what about the budget this time?”

“Just use it as much as you want. I’ll talk to the President.”

“Thank you!”

They smiled brightly and greeted him, and Director Jo smiled back.

Rihyuk took out his notebook and immediately circled ‘computer graphics cost’, ‘special location rental fee’, and so on.

Woojoo silently apologized to the President, who would tear his hair out, no, stroke his hair, in advance.

“Right.” Director Jo said to them as he came out to see them off, “The Promotion Team was looking for you. Do you want to go and talk to them?”

“Talk?”

“They’re preparing a new project, and they seem to have written a lot of proposals. They said they’ll decide what to do after hearing your opinions.”

They tilted their heads and asked, “A new project?”

Promotion Team’s internal meeting room.

Deputy Nam and Assistant Manager Hong handed them the proposals like a pair of partners.

“It’s the summer of 2015.”

“The season of reality has returned.”

They clapped and laughed, and the other side gave them an awkward smile.

Nam Seokwoo, who was in charge of Scarlet, laughed.

“Hey, why are you laughing? Do you know how hard we prepared this?”

“Aw, embarrassing.”

Assistant Manager Hong Seoyoung fanned herself, and Rihyuk brought a paper cup of water and handed it to her.

‘Your face will cool down if you drink cold water,’ he advised, their expert in embarrassment.

They immediately sat around the table and looked over the proposals that the Promotion Team had made.

“Wow, there’s a lot of stuff here?”

“Do we have to do all of this?”

There were almost dozens of different activities and games.

Assistant Manager Hong shook her head.

It was touching.

They joked among themselves that next time they should ask their fans to write a luxury cruise trip.

“At first, I considered going abroad, but the image of overseas travel is...”

“Yeah. It’s not very good.”

Overseas travel reality shows had the image of groups who had accumulated years of experience and were going to take a break for once.

In fact, rookies rarely did travel reality shows because of their image.

By the way, this was awesome.

Woojoo had almost given up on the idea of traveling, but then this opportunity to take a break legally came to them.

He could already see the stone statues saying ‘Welcome’ in his mind.

“I can see the lava cave with my own eyes...!”

“Lava cave!”

They shouted in excitement at Rihyuk’s words, and the staff laughed.

They also laughed at Junghyun’s joke of ‘Diving experience, anyone?’

“But we won’t be able to film the travel reality show until fall, right?”

“Yeah. We’re busy with the concert and the album right now...”

“I think we should just plan what we can do in the current situation. We’ll think about the travel later.”

“Yes!”

They immediately got excited and started looking at the reality show and program proposals.

They prepared the content for YouTube as usual.

And they were looking for something that would suit the new live app that was launching soon.

And before long, they found something that appealed to their taste.

New Black’s rest period while preparing for the album.

It was when the Soufflés were wandering around the fan cafe and the community, feeling unsatisfied with the lack of breadcrumbs.

-I miss them...

-Kyuho-ya... Weᅮ miss you guys

-I heard from Kyuho’s barber that we’ll get some breadcrumbs soon

-Kyuho sees them every day

-I want Kyuho’s eye

-Are they busy with the album preparation these days...?

-I wish they would do a V Live soon; I want to capture Woojoo and Junghyun in black suits

Of course, the members visited the fan cafe regularly and posted things like ‘Do you think I’m cute, do you think Woojoo Hyung is cute. There’s a correct answer [3 points]’.

But the fans always wanted to see more.

Then someone came and asked for news like a reporter.

-Awesome! They’re on Star Live!!!

-Calm down, Soufflé.

-Awesome!!! Soufflé, no, wait a minute

-ᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏCalm down first

-They’re on Star Live!!!

It seemed like they were on the internet live show that was hosted by the largest portal site in the country for the stars.

They were recently calling famous stars to promote the launch of the Y app.

The Soufflés gathered and buzzed at the rare breadcrumb.

The live broadcast started at 8 pm.

Yoo Changhyun, a comedian, sat on a cozy sofa in a cafe decorated with soft lighting and spoke to the camera.

[Yes, this is Real Time Star Live! Today’s guests are the ones who are making the music scene hot these days. They are New Black!]

New Black members came in from outside the screen.

They followed Woojoo like chicks following their mother hen, and their careful steps made them laugh already.

[Two, three. Hello, we are New Black!]

New Black members sat on the plush sofa and relaxed.

Woojoo pointed to the side of the camera with his finger and said.

[That’s the comment window, right?]

[Yes. You can communicate with the viewers there.]

[Can you make the font a little bigger? Like the size that adults use when they look at their phones. Oh, thank you... Who was that who said Woojoo=grandma just now?]

[There’s a visual face below that says mysterious visual too.]

[Hehehe!]

It was a live show that started with a baseless joke.

Yoo Changhyun threw witty remarks as an MC, and New Black also responded skillfully and lifted the mood.

They continued the live talk show like that.

[New Black, I heard you’re also preparing for the Y app content.]

[Yes, we are.]

Woojoo clapped his hands and looked at the camera.

[The Y app is where you ask why about what you’re curious about, right? So we prepared something. The name is...!]

[Ask us anything! ‘Black List!’]

They all stretched out their palms at the same time and made a ‘Bam!’ sound.

While the fans looked curious, Woojoo said.

[Anything is fine. If you have something you’ve been wondering about, feel free to ask us.]

As soon as he finished speaking, the Soufflés started to buzz.

-Does God exist?

-I’m a 7-year-old child. I want to know about the future of quantum mechanics!!

-Who made the first fried egg in Korea?

-What are the chances of survival if you sleep with a fan on? By the way, I survived.

-Who would win if a squid and an octopus fought?

-They say you can survive if you enter a tiger’s den and regain your senses, but do tigers really live in caves? There are tiger dens in games too.

As the jokes and questions continued, the members of New Black made stunned faces and then burst into laughter.

The MC also shook his body while covering his mouth with a cue card.

The main dancer with good flexibility almost fell backwards while laughing, but luckily he was saved by the rapper’s help.

Woojoo spoke with a voice full of laughter.

[You guys are really witty. Those questions are good, but we would appreciate it if you asked us something you are curious about us.]

Soon, a comment from a Soufflé sparkled.

-Anything?

The members answered with a smile.

[Anything.]

[We like everything. We are planning to prepare some content based on the questions you sent us. You can ask us anything.]

[We trust you. Our Soufflés.]

[Who can hold their breath the longest? This is not allowed.]

After the explanation of the Y app content.

The members of New Black smiled brightly and said to the screen.

[Then, on August 1st, the day of the Y app launch, we will see you with new content~]

[We will!]

[Please give us a lot of love and watch!]

As the members smiled brightly and raised their hands to the camera, the Soufflés behind the screen also smiled like a picture.

It was a smile that resembled their favorite singers.

With that warm smile, the fingers in various places started to move right away.