Chapter 253: Chapter 254:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 254

The news of New Black members passing the Korean History Level 1 exam spread quickly.

The idol community was no exception.

“Idols who passed the Korean History First-Class exam today.jpg”

(A photo of New Black members holding their test papers together)

The subject is New Black

They said they passed the Korean History exam today

-What; isn’t that the music show waiting room?

-Yeah, they said they took the exam after the recording

-???

–ㅋㅋㅋthey took the exam while doing the music show??

-Aren’t they rookies? Do they have time to study…?

-They’re amazing

-Wow… I need to reflect. Why am I second-class when I don’t even do music shows

-And what’s with 91 pointsㅋㅋㅋ87 points. I barely passed with 70 points before

-The leader’s friend is surprising 70 points

-But why are there only four of them???

Soon, another photo was attached.

The youngest turned his back and ignored them, while the four of them laughed energetically.

Their bodies were so animated that there were afterimages.

-What’s going on?

-The youngest got 69 points (70 points is first-class)

–ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋwhat’s the file name Second-Class Idolㅋㅋ

-He’s the only one who’s second-class???ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Omgㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-You can’t help but tease him if he got 69 points

-His back turn is so cuteㅋㅋ

The comments said he was cute, like a puppy who avoids eye contact when he was angry.

But as soon as the initial comments ended, the haters started to comment like ghosts.

‘Yeah, right’, ‘Explain the manipulation’ and other comments lined up, turning the comment section into a battlefield, and the fans said ‘Ah. The comments are ruined…’ and pressed the delete button.

The news of New Black’s Korean History First-Class achievement also spread to other places.

[All New Black members pass ‘Korean History First-Class’ … “The youngest Jiho is second-class”]

-I like them more every time I see them^^*

-It’s hard for ordinary people to find time to study and get a certificate… I want to learn from them

-They make a sound every time I see themㅋ

-They look like my nephews because I see them oftenㅋㅋIt’s good to see good news. Fighting!

-I’m ninety years old and I listen to New Black songs these days

As a boy group with a high level of public intimacy among the rookies who were currently active, there were many friendly comments.

Meanwhile, the news that appeared on the main entertainment section also spread to the community where the Korean history exam takers gathered.

-There was an idol among the people who took the Korean History exam today. New Black passed the Korean history exam with first-class (one of them got 69 points)

-69 pointsㅋㅋㅋㅋI don’t know who it is but it must be really unfair

-I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I were himㅋㅋomgㅋㅋ

-I saw a lot of reviews saying they saw an idol earlier, so it was them

-I scoffed at how much they would get when the results came out… but they scored higher than me

-Huh???

Meanwhile, some people who saw the SNS capture screen realized a surprising fact.

-Wait a minute. In the content of that post, wait a minute… Was the summary that was circulating on the internet made by New Black…???

-Yeah

-It was made by the scholar from the History Discovery Team

-Which scholar? The serious scholar or the blond scholar?

-Isn’t it the fan monk?

-The fan monk is the Khitan leader

-Wtf why do they have so many sub-charactersㅋㅋㅋㅋI’m more amazed that I can understand that…

-The serious scholar made it

-What;; Did I not know until now?

-You’re the only one who didn’t know stfu

-I just found out too I’m shocked

-So you guys were mocking them while looking at the material they made…??

-What was mocked was my score

-The legend was my life

-Fact) They’ve only been studying Korean history for about three months

It had been two months since the History Discovery Team started uploading on YouTube.

It was the moment when the unconsciousness of ‘history+idol=New Black’ was engraved in people’s minds.

And then.

‘I guess Jiho got 69 points. Bijoo did well too. Woojoo and Rihyuk have very high scores. Oh. Junghyun is unexpected… Hmm?’

People who saw the SNS photo attached to the article paused and tilted their heads.

‘What? When did I start to know all their names?’

Maybe it was because they always wore costumes with huge letters like ‘Woojoo’ or ‘Bijoo’ on them whenever they appeared on History Discovery Team.

The names of the members were stored in the minds of hundreds of thousands of subscribers who watched History Discovery Team regularly, and the people who saw the memes on SNS.

‘What is this.’

When did that happen?

They were just laughing at the idols dressed like scholars reciting diss poems on YouTube, but when they came to their senses, they remembered their names as if they were familiar.

They felt like they were the neighborhood kids or nephews.

The public who were reading the article of New Black blinked their eyes.

‘That’s amazing.’

Since when?

They used to know all the names of the idols on TV.

But at some point, they didn’t know any of them. Maybe it was since the so-called ‘third generation idols appeared’.

The girl groups who valued popularity were better off, but the boy groups were silent.

Even the top idols like TNT or Teen Spirit were only famous in name.

But now…

They remembered the names of the rookie idols who appeared like comets on YouTube and SNS.

As their thoughts reached that far, they moved their fingers.

Tap, tap, tap.

People scattered around typed ‘New Black’ on their phones.

The situation where familiarity led to curiosity, and curiosity led to New Black’s performance videos and variety shows.

It was not that big yet, and there were not many people who noticed it.

But it was a quiet change that was happening under the surface.

It had been a month since they came back with ‘Windflower’.

Time flew by quickly.

New Black, who got the first-class (Jiho got the second-class) in the Korean history exam, were finishing up their activities with Windflower in the fifth week.

-Yes! And the first place this week is?

-Congratulations, New Black’s ‘Windflower!’

The situation of ‘New Black vs New Black’ ended with a complete victory for Windflower.

Windflower was achieving an unbelievable record.

Five consecutive weeks of Mango Weekly Chart No. 1.

There were already rumors that Windflower would be the best song or the digital music category at this year’s awards ceremony. If this trend continued, it wouldl definitely be in the top five of the year.

It was unprecedented in many ways.

“You have to see it as an exceptional situation. Objectively speaking, it’s hard to hit this kind of jackpot again…”

Everyone agreed with Director Jo Gyuhwan’s words.

The album sales could increase as much as they wanted, but it was hard to achieve this kind of record purely with digital music.

But the positive point was that thanks to the digital music success this time, they could start from a much more advantageous position for the next album.

Woojoo heard from the A&R Team that the composers were eager to work with him.

“They all want to work with you, Woojoo.” Deputy Seo Pilgeun of the A&R Team said with a wicked face every time he met Woojoo, “Please work with them. Woojoo. Please.”

“Why do you seem so excited?”

“No, they all say they want to work with you.”

“Really?”

The other person told Woojoo the situation of the composing world.

“They ask me to introduce you to them every time I meet them, and they ask me if they can have your email address. They look at me like I’m a lucky guy because I did some arrangement for this album…”

“Wasn’t it?”

“Uh…?”

“Did you not like working with me…”

“No, no, no! Who said that! I love working with you the most!”

“Really? Then let’s go do it now.”

“…”

“We have to prepare for the fourth album too.”

It might be too early to say, but if they didn’t start preparing now, they wouldn’t have enough time.

They planned to come back with a repackaged album after the solo concert.

There was no way to make another mini album in such a short time.

They said that the ‘rising’ period when anything they did got a hot response was the busiest, and it was true.

They didn’t miss anything.

They went to a cooking show and clapped hard, they went to a radio show and told stories about History Discovery Team behind the scenes and Jiho’s 69 points.

They did some interviews with reporters in between the music shows.

“…Are you guys okay?”

The reporter from Entertainment IN, Ms. Oh Sohee, looked shocked to see them with dark circles under our eyes.

“We’re fine…”

“We can handle it↗…yeah.”

“Haha. Rihyuk Hyung is out of tune…”

“Hey. How can the main vocal be out of tune↘”

“Woojoo Hyung…”

“Ah, ah…”

They were fine until the third and fourth week, but by the time they started their follow-up song activities, they were all losing their edge.

Their Soufflés were shouting ‘Kyuho’s conscience = root’ at their President, but it was a bit of a gray area.

They had some schedules that they agreed to do even though the company tried to stop them.

Usually, rising meant the process of an idol becoming a complete trend.

A time when everything got a reaction.

That was why most idols grabbed all the schedules that came their way when they reached this point.

The entertainment industry was a really competitive place, and there was no guarantee that the next album would do as well as this one.

“…Guys. Wake up. We’re here.”

Dowon Hyung gently woke them up. The noisy sound from outside the car window.

This was the festival site of a university in Sinchon.

May was the month of festivals, so there were a lot of events.

“I didn’t know there were so many events in our country.”

“Me neither.”

“Ahh, Hyungs. Let’s have tteokbokki after we finish today. Tteokbokki.”

“Yeah. Let’s do that.” Woojoo asked with a smile, “Should we eat six servings or nine servings?”

“How about 69 servings? Hahahat!”

“…”

“Jiho. Jiho. Look at this.”

Woojoo raised his arms and bent them to make a big heart, and Jiho looked at Woojoo with curiosity.

Then he lifted his arms over his head to make a 6, and Junghyun crossed his legs to make a 9, and Jiho shivered.

Bijoo joined in, finding it fun.

“Hey. Junghyun. Let’s do it together.”

“You’re too short to do it.”

“…”

Woojoo walked around the event hall, listening to the sound of someone being pinched in the ribs and groaning.

They were the highlight of the event.

-Wow!

They appeared in the cheers and finished the stage of ‘Windflower’.

Junghyun skillfully shouted the name of the university and handed the microphone, and the cheers came back as a response.

Then it was Woojoo’s turn.

“Two, three…!”

“Hello! We are New Black!”

Now they were used to people saying ‘wow’ to them and calmly smiled.

They say people who had eaten meat ate well, and since they had been training since Something, the event comments flowed smoothly.

“This was one of the events we really wanted to come to. We heard from our senior idols that there’s no place that reacts as well as this one. But the heat is… it’s different when you experience it yourself.”

The cheers came back as an answer.

Woojoo saw the expressions of his younger brothers flickering next to him, and he could see them teasing him after the event, saying ‘the heat is different when you experience it yourself~’.

Woojoo exchanged jokes with his brothers and lifted the mood.

“It’s hot today. Already.”

“We need a cool song for this, right?”

They promoted ‘Fireworks’ from time to time, and as with every event, they wrapped it up with ‘Deoksoon-ah’.

It wasn’t smooth as an outdoor event with many variables, but.

-Kyaa… Ah?

Click.

The MR stopped in the middle of the last stage.

When this happened in the beginning of their debut, they were so nervous that they thought their heart would burst.

But Bijoo smiled and continued singing, and the audience cheered.

They held the microphone and added their voices so that the sound wouldn’t be empty, and Junghyun stepped up.

He clapped his hands over his head and encouraged the applause, and Jiho walked over and took over Bijoo’s part.

“Come on, everyone!”

And Woojoo smiled and handed the microphone.

The audience joined in the chorus of the song, and the sound that was empty was filled with applause and singing.

The five of them worked together like that, and the event atmosphere came back to life surprisingly quickly.

For 10 seconds.

They danced joyfully while the sound returned to normal, boosting the mood of the event.

That day, their reaction to the sound accident was uploaded as a fancam on YouTube.

As they prepared for the follow-up song ‘Flower Dance’, things Woojoo didn’t want started to approach one by one.

-‘New Black’s Woojoo confirmed to appear on ‘Men Go’… “The rest of the members are undecided”

-‘Reserve Idol’ New Black’s leader Woojoo, joins ‘Men Go’

The recording date was not set yet, but as soon as Woojoo’s appearance was confirmed, PD Do Joongi quickly released an article.

“…Hyung, are you okay? Are you crying?”

“No. Something got in my eye…”

It was just a 2-night 3-day trip, but why did he feel like he was re-enlisting.

They wouldn’t make him do guerrilla training or anything like that, right?

Woojoo wished their music show promotions would never end.

It was like the feeling he had when the trainee before him was dancing at the monthly evaluation.

Their Soufflés had a similar reaction.

-Why are you goingㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

-Doesn’t Kyuho have a brain? What if they get hurtㅠ

-Didn’t Sagan get injured last time?

-Yeah… He didn’t get injured… That show is weirdly hard but no one gets injured…

-Ah

-No, that’s not the point, Woojooㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Their Soufflés didn’t know.

They teased Woojoo until recently, saying ‘Are you going to Men Go~?’, but when he actually said he was going, they worried about him getting hurt.

He still couldn’t fully understand the fans’ hearts.

Meanwhile, as the first part of Shintoki’s broadcast approached, Woojoo was more than worried.

He worked hard on his image management, so the public would remember him as a diligent and cool idol.

Wouldn’t they suddenly look at him like a weirdo?

“You’re already weird.”

“Junghyun.”

“Hyung will drag you away.”

He shouted ‘Nooo!’ as Woojoo drew a picture on the A4 paper.

The company lounge.

Late at night, after finishing their schedule and practice. They each had a drink and doodled the design of their light stick.

“Woojoo Hyung. Woojoo Hyung.”

Bijoo smiled and showed Woojoo the A4 paper.

He asked with an excited face, “How is it? The star shape is pretty, right?”

“Bijoo.”

“Do you like it? Hyung?”

“If you swing that around, the person in front of you will lose their head.”

“Ah…”

It was better than the apple shape he drew earlier.

Except for the fact that it was very shiny and pretty, the star stick that Bijoo drew looked like a mace from a historical drama.

“Jiho.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t you want to eat tteokbokki?”

“Wow. How did you know?”

“…That’s because you drew tteokbokki?”

Anyone could tell it was a tteokbokki stick. If it had some red color, it would look like a glow-in-the-dark tteokbokki.

Junghyun asked, “Is it rice cake or wheat cake?”

“Rice cake.”

“Oh. I see.”

…He said ‘I see’ like that.

Woojoo always thought this, but if he left New Black to these guys, this group would be doomed.

At least the design that Rihyuk drew was decent.

“Isn’t the spec too excessive?”

“Excessive?”

“To put in the features you want, you need at least one nuclear reactor inside.”

“…Oh.”

As they commented on each other’s designs, Jiho pouted and said, “Then how well did you make it, Hyung? Let me see.”

“Here.”

As Woojoo handed it to Jiho, the other guys leaned in.

Woojoo asked with an expectant face, “How is it…?”

“…”

“…”

Why was there no answer?

Bijoo pointed at the center of his light stick design.

“Hyung, what is this in the middle of the petals?”

“It’s a Soufflé. A bread.”

Pause.

Rihyuk asked Woojoo, “So, right now, the center part of the light stick is a Soufflé, and the outside is surrounded by five petals, right?”

“That’s right.”

“What are the letters on the five petals?”

“They are color instructions. Red, yellow, green, blue, purple.”

“…”

Woojoo explained eagerly.

“Look. There is a Soufflé in the middle, and we five members are the petals that protect it.”

“…Five petals of different colors?”

“Yeah. And if you press the ‘Air’ button, the petals will spin like a fan.”

“…”

“When it’s hot in the summer, you can press the button and the petals will blow a cool breeze. You can also detach and replace them.”

The more Woojoo talked, the more the expressions of his brothers disappeared.

Jiho looked like he had lost his appetite that he had just a moment ago.

Rihyuk was swallowing his saliva while brushing his hair back, and Bijoo was frozen in a state of “Uh…”.

Junghyun made a face that said “This is too much for me”.

“Why are you like that? Is it that bad?”

“Is it that bad?”

Rihyuk gave a hollow laugh, and Jiho grabbed Woojoo’s arm and pleaded earnestly.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“Hyung, just make songs…”

Everyone nodded seriously.

No.

Was it that bad?

Woojoo asked several times, but every time he got the same reaction.

Lemon Entertainment.

In the conference room where the staff gathered, dozens of light stick designs sent by the members of New Black were displayed.

“Wow.”

As they passed by one by one, some said “Wow” and some said “Uh…”.

They marveled at how human imagination could be expressed in such a way.

Then, Woojoo’s design appeared.

“…”

They felt a chill in their guts at the five-colored petals fan painted in different colors.

“…Who is this?”

“Is it a spy sent by a rival company?”

“It says Woojoo… here.”

“…”

Yoon Seokhwan, the manager, looked at the ceiling silently, and the PR Team staff were shocked by the friendly explanation that said “It spins when you press it”.

For a while, there was silence.

“Let’s scrap it. Scrap it.”

“If the President sees that, he’ll pick it right away.”

“Whew, that was close…”

They unanimously decided to put it away.

The petal fan design that was pushed aside.

Meanwhile, the staff felt a familiar scent from the picture drawn by the leader of New Black.

‘President…?’

They wondered if the President had secretly slipped it in.