Chapter 149: Chapter 150:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 150

After the weekend, they received a thank-you message from the distributor of ‘The Little Witch’s Big Adventure’.

They said that thanks to their word-of-mouth, the movie ticket reservations were increasing.

They seemed to expect a bigger profit than they originally anticipated.

“They asked me to tell you that you saved their lives,” Seokhwan Hyung said with a smile. “They said it was like saving a person. They were so grateful that they said they would send us a gift, and I couldn’t even refuse.”

“It’s nothing. Don’t mention it.”

What they did that day was nothing special.

They just comforted a crying child, and luckily it became a hot topic.

Their manager looked excited by this outcome.

“Do you know how many ambassador offers we got over the weekend?”

“How many?”

“54. A total of 54 organizations contacted us for ambassador inquiries. There were sports, food, charities, and more.”

He recited the list.

Most of them were places Woojoo had never heard of before, but there were some familiar ones.

The reason why they wanted to hire them as ambassadors must have been different for each one, but he said it was probably because of their attitude.

The biggest problem when hiring celebrities for ambassadors or advertisements was whether they actually did their role in promoting.

For example, wearing jeans from another brand after shooting a jeans ad.

Or receiving millions of won to become an ambassador, but having no interest or sincerity in the field they were supposed to promote.

In the entertainment industry, where such situations were common, they liked them because they studied their characters enough to do a play on the spot, even for a one or two hour event.

Seokhwan Hyung gave them a piece of paper and asked them to check if there was any field they liked before reviewing it internally.

Everyone’s eyes lit up right away.

“Hey, Wang Jiho. Do you want a vacuum cleaner, a vacuum cleaner?”

“Wait a minute. I’m checking if there’s anything to eat with Junghyun Hyung. Ugh, broccoli… I can’t do this even if a knife goes into my body.”

“You have to do it if a knife goes in. Jiho.”

“Huh? Rihyuk, there’s an air purifier here.”

“Really? Hurry up and circle it big. In red.”

They talked to each other and circled the things they liked or could do well on the list.

Looking at it, most of them were food.

Seokhwan Hyung took the paper and laughed.

“You guys really like eating.”

“In that sense, how about burgers for dinner?”

“No. I’m busy.”

“You’re so busy these days.”

Seokhwan Hyung put the paper in his briefcase and chuckled.

“Of course. The busier you are, the busier I am. That’s my job. If I’m free, you’ll be very sad.”

“That’s scary in its own way.”

They laughed as they saw their manager who was flying around like a swallow to do business these days.

Then Woojoo remembered their original purpose.

“By the way, you said they were going to send us a gift. Did they say anything?”

“Well. I think they’re planning to send us a food truck or a coffee truck to the studio. Of course, they want us to take a picture in front of the movie poster and promote it again.”

“There’s no such thing as a perfect freebie in the world.”

Woojoo asked, “Can we send it to the fans instead?”

“The fans?”

“Yeah, I think it would be much better for our Soufflés to eat and drink than the broadcast staff. If we receive it on the day of the mini fan meeting, the fans can eat too, and we can take a promotional picture in front of it.”

“That’s right.”

Bijoo nodded.

“I’ve been watching closely every time we filmed, and there were more than a few people who were sniffling.”

Maybe it was because of the cold weather.

As they went back and forth between the cold outside and the indoor studio, they saw a lot of fans who were suffering from the temperature difference.

Woojoo felt uncomfortable every time he heard the sound of sniffling.

They joked that they should make a Soufflé-only waiting room near the broadcasting station when they made a lot of money later.

Seokhwan Hyung listened to their opinion and handled it skillfully.

He left only one thing.

“Let me know if you have a menu you want.”

“Like coffee, or something like that?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“I have one thing in mind, but wait a minute.”

It took them less than a minute to exchange opinions with each other.

As soon as the words left Woojoo’s mouth, Seokhwan Hyung burst into laughter.

***

A while later, on SNS.

@Soufflé_from_Hell

(Photo)

I just came out of the studio

And lo and behold

There’s fish cake soup

What a treasure

#Expressing_my_feelings_with_a_haiku #There’s_also_tteokbokki

When the fans were sipping the fish cake broth from paper cups and making ‘eugh’ noises.

The Soufflés who were admiring the photo of tteokbokki and fish cake soup on the monitor were drooling.

-Why do they come out when I’m not thereㅠㅠㅠㅠ

-I’m going into the monitor

-ㅋ I was there and it was hilarious. At first, the kids hesitated to put it in the paper cups with their faces on them, but after one bite, they all devoured it…

-Sorry guys… I need the broth more right now

-You guys only post food pictures, but that was sent by the movie company! ㅋㅋ They must have sent it to thank us for the promotion last time… The kids will also come to the mini fan meeting later and take pictures with you

As the board was filled with the beautiful sight of tteokbokki, Jiho’s selfie was completely buried.

Soon after, on the free board.

[Everyone! I posted a selfie!]

Soon, every 10 minutes, posts like ‘My selfie!’ Selfie!!!’ came up.

But the fans ignored him and enjoyed it, and the maknae’s posts piled up.

[I… posted a picture…]

[Is it broken?? Can’t you see me???]

[Secret reveal…!! Woojoo Hyung’s expression when he stalks the fan cafe : へ(￣∇￣へ)]

-What? Woojoo Hyung can see the post!!!

[Since you guys don’t show interest in my selfie, I’ll communicate with the title…]

-[Re] Lol Jiho, be sweet

Only then did the fans start to comment on Jiho’s selfie, complimenting his new hair color.

Wang Jiho was excited and fiddled with his fingers.

He clicked on the comment 14, a warm number.

[You do not have permission]

He pressed it again.

[You do not have permission]

[Please upgrade to a regular member~~^^]

He blinked and looked at his inbox. There was a message from the fan cafe administrator.

[You have been demoted for violating the rules (reason: spamming more than 5 consecutive posts)]

Wang Jiho turned his head.

One of the fan cafe administrators, Seon Woojoo, was sipping banana milk with a graceful expression next to him.

“…”

He vowed to get revenge someday.

***

-TNT wins first place on all music shows for two weeks in a row

-First week of December, ‘No surprise’… TNT sweeps ‘four crowns’ for two weeks in a row

-[Music Hot! Issue] New Black ranks third on the music chart… Will they continue their momentum this month?

TNT is continuing their dominance for the third week, just like they did for the second week.

PD Baek, a producer from PBS Entertainment, parted his lips as he looked at his tablet PC.

“It’s weird how the situation is turning out. TNT keeps winning first place on the music shows, but their music chart ranking keeps dropping. On the other hand, New Black is holding strong on the music chart.”

“Well, I think our kids are getting recognition from the public in terms of popularity.”

Director Yoon Seokhwan answered cautiously.

It was then that he heard a familiar intro somewhere. Through the cafe speaker, New Black’s Masquerade started playing.

PD Baek chuckled lightly.

“I heard it on the radio on my way to work. These days, I hear New Black’s songs wherever I go.”

He continued.

“It’s such a pity. If they didn’t overlap with TNT, they would have been touring around all the music shows with first place by now.”

“But I think there are pros and cons to this. Honestly, it helps them in terms of creating buzz.”

“That’s true.”

The PD nodded as if he agreed.

As it was the third week of promotion for TNT and New Black in the first week of December, they started to show some differences from before.

Unlike New Black, who stayed within the top five on the music chart, TNT’s music fell down and settled between the 10th and 20th place.

Because of that, the gap between New Black and TNT, which was huge in the second week, was narrowing down in the third week.

If the distance was 100 meters before, now it was about 10 meters.

And it was expected to get even closer next week.

Of course, for now, New Black still easily beat TNT in the music score, but TNT won first place with the score that their fandom made up for in the rest.

But even that had its limit, so even within the TNT fandom, there were some who said that they should prepare themselves for the worst.

On the other hand, as Director Yoon Seokhwan said, this situation of competing head-to-head on the music shows had a big advantage in creating buzz.

Even though they didn’t win first place, they gained more recognition by matching up with an overwhelming top-class singer.

After all, the entertainment industry was a place where who you dated and who you hung out with determined your status.

That was why New Black, who would have been recognized as a well-doing rookie 1 at best, was forming a higher image by being linked to TNT in a rivalry.

New Black was already in a different category in the minds of the idol fandoms than Street Boys, who they were paired up with in a rivalry in June.

PD Baek still sounded regretful.

“But it would be nice if they won first place once… It would help them with broadcasting promotion and all that.”

“We’re doing our best on our side.”

“I know, I know. I’ve heard a lot of stories and seen the stages myself, but the higher-ups are suspicious. There are so many famous and powerful idol groups, and they want to send out a rookie group that just debuted to a competition program.”

PD Baek was the director of a PBS music competition program that started recording in January, and he was the one who cast New Black.

He had reserved a spot for one idol group among the many famous singers he cast.

That was why he seemed to get some worried looks from the higher-ups.

He sipped his coffee and said, “By the way, you’re not going to the Hong Kong KMA this week, are you?”

“We didn’t get invited.”

“New Black?”

“Yes, Jang Sowon also has a personal schedule and can’t attend. We didn’t make it to the Rookie Award nomination. Our comeback was in November, so we missed the counting period.”

“That’s too bad…”

“But we’re going to the Mango Chart Award next week.”

“That’s good. Anything is precious at this time when you need some buzz.”

He wished them a good stage and talked about the program that was recording in two months.

Soon after the meeting ended.

“Then I’ll get going.”

“Yes, take care.”

As he saw off the PD who was leaving, Yoon Seokhwan cleared his seat and left with his coffee.

Then he stopped in his tracks.

He looked around the cafe inside the PBS building and snickered.

This was the place where he used to annoy the PDs and writers by following them around, but now he could sit down and talk comfortably with the PD.

He smiled as he looked at his phone lock screen with the pictures of New Black members and managers.

“Hey, are you the director of New Black?”

Someone grabbed him.

He looked at the face and immediately bowed his head with a bright smile.

“Yes, hello. PD-nim.”

“Wow. Your song is doing well these days, huh? You’ll be a hit soon at this rate.”

Yoon Seokhwan smiled as he looked at the person who was talking to him in a friendly manner.

He was the writer who had invited New Black to an outdoor event and then made them wait for a long time before canceling their appearance.

He seemed to think that New Black would do better in the future and kept talking to him for a while. Yoon Seokhwan nodded along and smiled brightly at him.

“By the way, do you have a business card?”

“Here you go.”

He had shoved it into his pocket with a ‘Yeah, whatever.’ when he gave it to him last time, but now he took it politely and left. Yoon Seokhwan chuckled to himself.

‘Wow, what a world.’

He hoped that this trend would continue next year as he walked to his car parked outside.

His phone vibrated.

Ding dong-

He pressed the button to see the new message.

Woojoo [Seokhwan]

Woojoo [What are you doing?]

…Seokhwan?

Woojoo [nwmhmmd]

Woojoo [This is not me, it’s not really Hyung]

Woojoo [Jiho took my phone to get revenge on the fan cafe… Ah, really]

Woojoo [Anyway, our Seokhwan is doing so well, it’s thrilling, always new, you’re the best]

Along with that, a coffee drink and a waffle gift arrived.

He felt a slight boost in his mood that had been slightly down at the broadcasting station and opened the car door.

***

December.

It was time for the year-end settlement.

It was an important month for everyone, but especially for singers.

It was a time to check the results of the year and let go of everything.

Two awards and three year-end stages.

Especially for rookies, it was enough to hear ‘You really made it this year’ if they appeared in one of them.

But they were invited to four of them.

“All three of them…?”

-Yeah, man. You’ll do your own stage in the other two places besides PBS.

Unlike the PBS year-end music festival where they only sang Something, they were guaranteed individual stages in the other two broadcasting stations.

It was hard for small and medium-sized agencies to get out of the year-end music stage unless they were very successful.

Because usually, only five teams of rookies would go up, and there were 64 idol groups that debuted this year.

Among them, excluding the rookies from the four major agencies, there were only two spots left, and one of them was theirs.

“Wow-!”

They were practicing for the award stage and collapsed, but they came back to life like a mummy when they heard the news and danced with their shoulders with their siblings.

But then they quickly exhausted and collapsed.

Anyway, they did their best to prepare for the upcoming award stage with the strength of that news.

At the KMA held in Hong Kong on the 3rd, TNT won the grand prize, and Blink won the Rookie Award instead of Street Boys, who were first in the vote. The news came from everywhere.

Woojoo practiced whenever he had time.

But there was a limit to the absolute time, so the only thing they could do was to reduce their sleep.

So after finishing his schedule, Woojoo had a lesson with his trainer from midnight, and then practiced until dawn.

And finally.

December 11th, the day they had been waiting for by burning the midnight oil every day, was approaching.

“Hyung, how do I look?”

Inside the car heading to the Olympic Gymnastics Arena where the award ceremony was held.

Bijoo, who was lighting up his face with his phone, asked, “Does it look like I covered my dark circles well?”

“Yeah. I can’t see them at all. The cover was good.”

As Bijoo relaxed, the youngest one stuck his face out from the back seat and said, “Huh… Look how old I got in a few days. I had such smooth skin.”

“Did you?”

“Today, it’s just smooth.”

Should Woojoo get rid of him?

Every time he went to the dermatologist, he heard the teachers say, ‘Woojoo… That good skin, are you going to take care of it like that?’

Jiho said as if he had made up his mind, “I’m going to sleep like a baby when I get back from the award today. What time will it be when we get home?”

“Twelve o’clock.”

“Tomorrow is Music On, so I have to get up at three thirty… Ugh, I can hear the sound of my sweet sleep plan falling apart already! Ugh!”

“Stop yelling, Wang Jiho. You’re making my head ache…”

Rihyuk, who was sitting next to him, groaned.

Unlike their energetic youngest, their main vocal with poor stamina was almost like a zombie.

He would probably smile brightly like a businessman when he got out of the car.

Junghyun pointed to the buildings in the distance and said, “Oh, we’re almost there.”

They made a loud noise in the cold car with the heater turned down low.

They had no choice.

Soon, they were going to walk on the red carpet, the pre-event of the award ceremony, which was the first time they had ever experienced since they were born.

Me [Grandma channel fixed]

Me [Fixed]

Woojoo only sent fixed repeatedly and got a reply.

Grandma [Sick]

Grandma [You fix it]

Grandma [The man should have a big belly,]

Grandma [Rice-like]

When Woojoo showed it to his brothers, they all laughed out loud.

Wait. Kim Deoksoon.

He would show her a white face like rice, not rice-like.

While Teen Spirit, who walked on the red carpet before them, was being interviewed, the field staff controlled the car.

In the meantime, they discussed among ourselves.

“I want to get off first. Hand.”

“…”

“Why are you only looking at me?”

After several rounds of tug-of-war, they finally agreed that Woojoo would get off first.

As the field staff told them to go in, the car moved.

“Ugh!”

They shook their hands and feet to calm their nervousness.

“We’re here. Guys.”

Outside the tinted car window, a huge crowd of fans, cameras, and the red carpet came into view.

He was nervous.

Before the door opened, Woojoo looked around at his brothers and couldn’t help but laugh.

They looked serious as if they had never screamed.

Squeak-

And the moment the door opened.

Woojoo couldn’t come to his senses as a fierce flash baptism flew in from all sides.