Chapter 176: Chapter 177:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 177

Woojoo could roughly guess what they were thinking.

(He’s a Korean idol) → (Huh? He writes in Chinese, but he speaks like a Taiwanese) → (Ah! He must be a Taiwanese member).

Woojoo smiled at the boss who tilted her head and said, “I’m Korean.”

“…?”

“I’m not Taiwanese, I’m Korean.”

“Oh.”

She finally understood.

Just as Woojoo was about to say, ‘Yes, I just studied Chinese hard’, she clapped her hands and exclaimed, “Then are your parents Taiwanese?”

…Why did the conversation jump like that?

“No. They’re both Korean…”

“That can’t be. Your pronunciation is exactly like a Taiwanese. Honey! Come here and see. This Korean celebrity speaks better than you.”

“What?”

Her husband came over with a sour face and exchanged a few words with him.

Then he gave Woojoo a thumbs-up.

“Respect.”

That was the end of the happening.

Woojoo was worried that they might take back the service, but they brought him one more instead.

They seemed to appreciate that a foreigner had studied their language to this level.

Woojoo explained the whole story to the people who were looking confused.

Soon, everyone clapped and burst into laughter.

“Hahaha!”

Chef Park Jaewoo asked, “How do you speak so well that you’re mistaken for a local?”

“I know, right? I was surprised too.”

“Are you sure this is your first time abroad? You’re so fluent, it’s weird. Are you a genius of languages, Woojoo?”

Yoo Changhyun chimed in. “Exactly. What’s your secret, Woojoo? Let’s hear your language secret while the food is coming out.”

“…There’s no secret, really.”

There was.

It was just that he couldn’t talk about it on the show.

The reason why he was mistaken for a local here was thanks to two things.

One was that he mastered Chinese during his trainee days.

The other was that he learned the pronunciation and gestures of Taiwanese people by watching YouTube and TV shows with his ability.

But he couldn’t say here, ‘Actually, I can imitate the pronunciation perfectly by watching how people use their lips and throat muscles’.

Before he could even try to explain, his younger brothers started talking excitedly.

“Ahem, Woojoo Hyung is good at everything. He does everything perfectly, no matter what.”

“He speaks well too.”

“And he’s super smart. He just uses his smart brain to torment us all the time.”

Woojoo felt ridiculous as he looked at their proud faces.

Why are you guys so proud?

As if to answer him, their warm eyes came back.

‘You are our property.’

‘The happiness of the slave is the happiness of the master.’

…Woojoo vowed not to let them go when the camera was off.

The recording went smoothly.

They had a light meal at this place, then went to another place for another meal.

The format of the show was simple.

When the food came out, Chef Park Jaewoo ate a bite and commented.

“Taiwanese beef noodles are definitely less greasy and cleaner than the ones in the mainland. The meat is also tender and not chewy at all.”

He smiled happily.

The cook gave him a gentle smile and handed him another chopstick of noodles.

The steamy noodles and rich broth were captured by the camera, making everyone sigh.

“It’s no wonder that beef noodles are called the soul food of the Chinese-speaking world. I can tell by just one bite.”

He savored the food with a satisfied face and told the story of the origin and recipe of the beef noodles in a pleasant voice.

They were interesting stories that made them perk up their ears.

There were also questions in between.

“What do you think is in here?”

While everyone was eating and saying, ‘Hmm? It’s just delicious’, there was one person who answered quickly, and that was Bijoo.

His partner put down the chopsticks gently and said, “It tastes like garlic, and I think they stir-fried onion and ginger and added them. The rest is unfamiliar and confusing, but is this the taste of bean sprouts and bok choy that I see here?”

“Bijoo has a good sense of taste, huh?”

“Yes, I love this dish. Chef.”

The two of them immediately started to chat.

The excited chef talked about the dish, and Bijoo answered with a smile.

“Our Bijoo has a great sense of taste!”

“I admire you, Chef!”

The chef and the singer looked at each other and smiled broadly.

…What a perfect couple.

While the two of them were filming Patisserie Korea live, the rest of them enjoyed the meal.

Min Sejin’s round face trembled.

“It’s so delicious, awesome.”

“Sejin, shouldn’t you join the cooking conversation over there? That kid is taking the chef away right now.”

“I’m fine, I’m a dessert specialist. And if the chef fall for this and changes his disciple…”

As they were talking, Park Jaewoo, the chef who was having a lively conversation, suddenly grabbed Bijoo’s hand.

“Look at your hand. This is a cook’s hand. It’s not a callus from eating knife rice for a year or two.”

“Is my hand a cook’s hand?”

“This kind of hand should cook…”

Clay Tyler did the same, and Chef Park seemed to like their partner quite a bit.

Yoo Changhyun teased Min Sejin, “It looks like you’ve already lost.”

“It’s not over yet. When we go to the mango shaved ice shop later, the situation will change. Just wait and see.”

They all laughed at the pastry chef who made a face like a concubine who had lost the king to a harem member.

They did their assigned roles faithfully.

Park Jaewoo, the chef, and Min Sejin, the pastry chef, showed off their knowledge and passion, and Yoo Changhyun played the comedian next to them.

The role given to New Black, the guest, was reaction.

“Wow, awesome. It’s so delicious. It’s a taste that you wouldn’t know even if you die together!”

“Hmm?” Junghyun asked, “But if they both die, isn’t the food weird?”

“Oh, you’re right. Hyung. It’s creepy. Goosebumps!”

“Goosebumps.”

Min Sejin, who was sitting across from him, laughed and choked.

Junghyun kindly handed her a tissue. With a serious word.

“Tissue.”

She spat out the noodles again.

“Pfft!”

And then she started to laugh almost like crying.

“Khh! Kk!”

The pastry chef covered her swollen face with both hands and laughed, shaking her body. She wasn’t the only one.

They all dropped their chopsticks and laughed, half-turned over.

“…I’m going crazy, really.”

The person who caused the laughter was just eating beef noodles with a peaceful smile.

They always exchanged jokes and showed enthusiastic reactions like ‘Wow! This is the taste!’ whenever they ate together.

The writers seemed satisfied with their performance, as they smiled with their gums.

“Wow, but our New Black really eats well.”

Yoo Changhyun, who was looking at the stacked plates, asked with his tongue out, “Do you always eat like this?”

“Yes, we eat a lot like cows grazing on grass. We eat a lot except when we’re preparing for an album.”

“That’s right.” Rihyuk put down his chopsticks and said, “I’m the one who eats the least among the members.”

“…?”

“So I’m worried.”

This time, Bijoo said, “Rihyuk always picks at his food.”

“Is this the amount of the person who eats the least? Rihyuk ate more than the three of us.”

“Yes, isn’t it too little? He’s in his growth spurt…”

“That’s right. Rihyuk needs to grow taller too.”

As they looked at their son with his ears red, Bijoo and Woojoo made a worried expression. The regular cast looked dumbfounded.

Min Sejin said with a blank face, “…I feel like I witnessed something going wrong.”

“Seriously, it’s like seeing my grandmother. She always tells me to gain weight because I’m skinny.”

They just ate as they normally do, but the others looked disgusted.

Minki Hyung, who was standing nearby, whispered something to Dowon Hyung with a warm smile.

Then, the store owner came out with a large plate. It had freshly fried eggplant fritters.

「It’s a service.」

The three of them were surprised and asked, “Another service? Did you become Taiwanese again?”

“No. I heard that you are from a Korean TV program, so I’m giving you more service. Please promote it a lot.”

“What do we do? We can’t eat anymore…”

“Don’t worry.”

Woojoo smiled confidently.

“We can handle it.”

As the regular cast looked at them with ‘wow’ eyes, Rihyuk, who was next to him, licked his tongue.

“Please, don’t say anything cool for no reason.”

“That’s right. It’s a waste of face.”

“Anyway. Woojoo Hyung is good at cheesy lines.”

As Woojoo turned around and glared at them, Yoo Changhyun looked curious.

“But New Black looks really full right now. Can you eat all these eggplant fritters?”

“Yes, we can. We have a way.”

The three of them focused on them.

Woojoo gave his siblings a look and they nodded. They looked like athletes having a strategy time.

‘Is that the way?’

‘Yes. That’s the way.’

After the eye contact was over, Woojoo said seriously, “Let’s loosen up.”

The five idols who unbuckled their belts in a flash made the people around them laugh and fall back.

Xiaolongbao, beef noodles, castella, mango shaved ice.

They quickly recorded and quickly captured the famous food in Taiwan.

They showed off their amazing stomachs from the beef noodle shop, and everyone was sincerely impressed by them.

Yoo Changhyun joked that they would get the title of ‘well-eating idol’ when the broadcast came out.

They went into street promotion after finishing the mango shaved ice shop that was on CNN.

“One, two, fighting!”

They gathered their hands and shouted fighting, then went out to the street with promotional materials.

As personal cameras followed them, they laughed and loosened their bodies.

“The weather is really nice.”

“Right. It’s warmer than I thought.”

Most of the people walking on the street were wearing coats or thin padding.

The weather in Taiwan, which exceeded 15 degrees on average in January, was like a cold spring day.

It felt warm because they hadn’t left Korea for long.

It was like a Russian who arrived in Korea in winter and said, ‘Huh, it’s trivial.’

They were in Yongkang Street.

It was called Hongdae of Taiwan, but it felt like Yeonnam-dong except for the signs full of Chinese characters and the unusual street food.

“Hello!”

Woojoo approached everyone who passed by with a shy smile.

“We’re opening a one-day cafe near here tomorrow! If you have time, would you please come and visit?”

“Oh… sure. But what channel are you from?”

“We’re from TBC.”

“…A Korean channel?”

They all took the promotional materials with a nervous expression.

Almost no one recognized them.

But some people seemed to know that they were celebrities and occasionally asked if they could take a picture with them.

They shook hands and took photos.

They promoted their cafe with bright smiles to everyone, as if they were having a street fan meeting.

Then something amazing happened.

“I know you guys!”

They were tourists from another Asian country, and they pointed at them with excited faces.

“…New Black!”

When they asked how they knew them, they said they were K-pop fans.

They especially loved their videos on YouTube. Woojoo’s younger brothers were moved to tears by their words.

“Hyungs, we famous!”

“We become star!”

Woojoo chuckled at their brothers’ Konglish, but the foreign Soufflés laughed along.

They showed them a simple dance as a fan service and took a picture together.

“Hmm…”

They asked them to take the picture again several times because they thought they looked ugly.

They nodded their heads sadly after talking among themselves. But they still smiled happily when they saw the picture with New Black.

As the broadcasting station camera watched them, the foreign Soufflés who were leaving them pointed at Junghyun and said, “You’re my bias, goat man.”

Junghyun looked at Woojoo with a tilted head and Woojoo translated it for him right away.

“You’re my favorite, goat man.”

“Ooh. Me too. You are my Soufflés.”

Junghyun blew a kiss from afar as a fan service, and they all laughed at the ‘goat man’ story.

Maybe it was because they worked so hard to sell.

“We ran out of promotional materials!”

They used up all the promotional materials in less than two hours.

The writer smiled happily and said that they even used up the spare supplies.

They all smiled brightly.

They had a good feeling.

The half-day broadcast shooting was over.

“Good job, everyone!”

“Thank you, see you tomorrow.”

The TBC Patisserie Korea production team and regular cast members decided to move separately to prepare for the cafe tomorrow.

They also had their own afternoon schedule to follow.

They had some free time later that night, but they were not here to have fun in Taiwan. They were here to work.

Their first schedule was an interview with Taiwan’s famous entertainment magazine ‘HIT!’.

“Hello.”

The editor of HIT! who came out as the interviewer was fluent in Korean.

The interview conducted in the studio flowed smoothly in a friendly atmosphere.

They were also being nice to them, and the editor asked mostly favorable questions.

But just in case, Woojoo answered the interview carefully.

And their managers were also recording the interview content to prevent any malicious editing.

As the five of them sat together on a comfortable sofa, the editor who sat separately crossed her legs.

And then she asked a question.

“You haven’t started your overseas activities yet, but New Black has already made fans in Taiwan. I think it’s because of your charm as singer-songwriters. Do you listen to a lot of songs when you compose?”

“Yes, I listen to all kinds of songs from different countries.”

“Do you listen to Taiwanese songs too?”

“Yes.”

As Woojoo talked about the famous singer-songwriters of Taiwan and their latest songs, the other’s eyes sparkled.

“Then, what do you think of Taiwanese music, Woojoo?”

This was a tricky question.

If he said something wrong, it could be reported as ‘K-pop idol New Black, what do they think of Taiwanese music~’.

Even if it was a compliment, it could be taken the wrong way if a singer from another country commented on their music.

So he did what he always did and smiled softly.

“I’m not at the level where I can evaluate the songs of my seniors. I’m listening hard.”

“…I see.”

That was how he avoided any awkward questions that came up.

After the interview, Woojoo shook hands with the editor and smiled.

“You did a great interview.”

“Thank you. It’s because you asked good questions.”

The other just laughed at Woojoo’s humble gesture.

“I’m looking forward to the photo shoot.”

While their managers were socializing with the editor and the magazine staff, they changed their outfits.

It was for the photo shoot that would be published in the magazine.

But…

“Hmm.”

They dressed up neatly in suits and looked at the ties in their hands.

“The color is a bit…”

“It’s too revealing.”

They all looked uncomfortable with the colorful ties that matched their personal colors.

“Maybe it’s because it’s a foreign magazine and they have a different aesthetic sense than us…”

Blue or red would have been better, but the rest of the colors were a problem.

Woojoo also scratched his cheek with the purple tie in his hand.

Well, what could he do?

Woojoo gently put on the tie, and their stylists fixed their makeup and clothes.

“Woojoo, you go first for the shooting.”

“Yes, Hyung.”

Woojoo followed Dowon Hyung to the studio. He stood in front of a wall with a white background and checked the camera position.

The photographer spoke in English.

“Let’s start with any comfortable pose!”

Woojoo pushed his leg slightly to take a relaxed pose, but before he was even ready, the other pressed the shutter.

Click!