In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

The last to appear, Malaysia’s ‘One Hit,’ danced as if they owned the stage.

Wow!

For the first time, cheers erupted from the audience.

As people from twenty countries danced in unison to ‘Nine,’ One Hit took center stage, leading the choreography.

“Huh? They’re good.”

Baek Yoo-jin of La Rose’s eyes widened in surprise.

“They’re really good. The best among them, right?”

“That’s true. They are good.”

Baek Sang-jung agreed, then turned to me.

“Yes.”

No.

“They’re naturally talented, so we just gave them a few tips. Haha.”

The dance world’s mother-in-law taught them how to dance.

“Ah, I see.”

…Baek Yoo-jin nodded while Baek Sang-jung squinted his eyes.

Perhaps it was because they had seen each other for quite some time while he was the MC for the music group.

He asked with a skeptical look.

“Just a few tips?”

“…”

“You guys?”

“Yes. Really.”

“Wasn’t it during your third competition? You practiced in the hallway for an hour because one hand movement was off?”

The one who doubted now asked.

“How long did you teach them?”

“Well…”

“…?”

“It’s not a matter of minutes, but hours.”

Finally, the other person chuckled, realizing what had happened, and I made an embarrassed face.

The girl group member serving as the assistant MC was the only one looking confused.

It was fortunate.

Others wouldn’t know if their intense gaze while dancing was because of us.

“It seems to be almost over.”

Baek Sang-jung caught the signal from a staff member in the distance and gestured for us to get ready.

Baek Yoo-jin and I nodded and picked up the microphone.

As the participants from twenty countries finished their group dance to TNT’s hit song with an ending pose, cheers flowed.

Wow-

Meanwhile, we walked towards the stage.

“Yes, it was a truly spectacular opening stage.”

“Participants, please line up here.”

I relayed the proceedings to the participants in English through the microphone.

While teams from Nigeria, Thailand, and the Philippines passed by, their eyes sparkling.

“…”

I quickly passed by the Malaysian team, whose eyes had turned into triangles, as if asking, ‘How was it, Master?’

“Now, shall we have each participant introduce themselves? Starting with the participant from Germany, please.”

While Daniela from Bonn, Germany, introduced herself in English, the interpreter’s voice echoed.

“I’ve had a beautiful time in Korea over the past few days. Being a long-time fan of K-pop, I really wanted to come.”

After each introduction.

Passing by the smiling Filipino team, the microphone was handed to the Malaysian team.

“Hehehe.”

A laugh with a distinctly different tone.

While everyone was dreaming of ‘Korea!’, the dancers laughed like villains newly inducted into an evil organization.

Dark circles not fully covered by makeup caught my eye.

“Nice to meet you. We are ‘One Hit’ from Malaysia.”

The dance team, who had been cheerfully talking about their impressions of Korea, shared their ambitions.

Leader JJ said with a robotic face.

“We will win today. We learned to dance directly from New Black. They remade us.”

Laughter leaked from the audience at the voice that sounded like a robot saying, ‘Our manufacturer is New Black. Beep beep.’

Pretending not to notice, I glanced at the cue cards.

The dancers from the Malaysian team were giving me intense looks, nodding their heads.

“…”

It seemed too late to pretend not to notice.

The K-pop festival proceeded swiftly.

Amateur teams from various countries graced the stage with their songs and dances, interspersed with performances by professional singers.

Each time, the cheers of ten thousand spectators thundered through the Changwon Sports Complex.

After the Philippine team’s cover performance ended, the anticipation built.

“Yes! The team you’ve all been waiting for. The trendsetters of the moment.”

“Oh my, what time is it now?”

No sooner had the co-host finished speaking than a resounding “Nine o’clock!” echoed from the Suples, shaking the stadium.

We, waiting on the lift, were so startled by the roar that we exchanged smiles.

Performing on such a grand stage after so long brought a pleasant tension.

Thump, thump, thump.

I turned to see Rihyuk, crouched and trembling, and called out to Junghyun.

“Junghyun.”

“Yes, hyung.”

“Lift him up.”

Like lifting a glass jar, Junghyun gently raised Rihyuk with both hands.

The staff, holding a microphone next to the lift, pursed their lips at the sight, resembling a phone vibrating in mid-air.

The MCs’ rousing words ended, and the lift began its slow ascent.

A cool night breeze.

And in contrast, a wave of heat and cheers surged from the entire stadium.

As the intro music played, we spread out into our dance formation, and the chants resonated powerfully.

“Sunwooju, Kim Bijoo, Kim Junghyun, Seo Rihyuk, Wang Jiho!”

The impact of the cheers sent shivers down my arms.

A stadium filled with ten thousand spectators.

It was astonishing how loud the cheers were, gathering fans from various groups.

It seemed like half were fans of Teen Spirit, and the other half were ours, the Suples.

As we walked onto the protruding stage, a massive cheer erupted.

The sea of lightsticks in the audience.

Every time I glanced around, I saw slogans like “Jiho, Jiho” or “Sunwoo, walk the flower path, not the floral pattern.”

“What’s this? What’s this?”

Even backstage, we exchanged excited smiles with our younger members.

“Can you believe how many Suples are here?”

“Is this the first time we’ve felt it so directly?”

Rihyuk, wiping sweat, remarked.

“I don’t remember the cheers being this loud before.”

“Right? I thought we were at a concert for a moment. They even sang along to the lyrics.”

“It seemed like even the general public joined in earlier.”

We exchanged high-fives, reveling in the taste of popularity.

Never before, even at joint concerts, had we felt so much like the main event.

Recalling the audience’s puzzled looks at last year’s DreamCon made me feel the passage of time.

“Damn.”

Amidst these feelings, a sudden curse turned our heads.

Teenage high schoolers approached, sniffling and shivering in their airy outfits.

Teen Spirit greeted us.

“Hello…”

“I’m not cold. Not cold at all. Damn. Who said this would work? It doesn’t.”

“The love of the fans envelops me… envelops me…”

We joked with them, wrapped in self-convincing warmth.

“Are you very cold?”

“Eh?”

Their startled reaction made us pause, confused.

“Why do you say that?”

“Don’t.”

The pretty boys waved their hands as if to say stop.

“You shouldn’t use such language.”

“That’s right. It’s not okay.”

“Swearing breaks the image we have of you.”

I was reminded of a senior soldier who told me not to learn such things while puffing out smoke.

Bijoo asked with a smile.

“Do we have an image?”

“Yes.”

Teen Spirit looked into the air and said.

“Like strong tofu.”

“…”

“Tofu that would break a brick if they collided…?”

We all nodded in agreement, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

What on earth is strong tofu?

While admiring the teenagers’ expressiveness, I handed a hot pack to the sneezing Teen Spirit.

“Ah. So warm…”

They asked, still sniffling.

“Wasn’t the cheering incredibly loud earlier?”

“Right?”

“Yes, we were surprised. We thought it was our turn already.”

We smiled proudly, telling them the cheers seemed as loud as when they were on stage.

“It wasn’t just our imagination.”

“How delightful.”

Just then, Teen Spirit’s manager called them.

“We’ll be going now.”

“Thanks for the hot pack. We’ll repay you later.”

They fluttered away in their flowing outfits, like young birds taking flight, their steps becoming more reserved as they prepared for their transformation on stage. 𝐑

As I admired their professionalism, the crowd roared once more.

The cheers that had filled the stadium until now seemed like just a taste of what was to come, as a thunderous roar erupted, making us blink in astonishment.

“…”

It was a day that reminded me how far we still had to go.

After the finale of the K-pop festival, I changed into my MC outfit and stepped back onto the stage. It was time for the awards.

“The Excellence Award goes to… the team from Nigeria!”

The judges’ scores were tallied with the live votes, and the awards ceremony continued.

Each winner held a plaque inscribed with phrases like “Prize Money: 5 Million Won” when…

“And now, for the grand prize of 20 Million Won, who will be the honored recipient?”

While Baek Sang-jun whipped up excitement, I took the envelope and called out the name.

“Congratulations! One Hit from Malaysia!”

“Wow!”

Only then did the Malaysian cover dance team embrace each other with human-like expressions, jumping joyously.

The other cover teams clapped in what seemed like respect.

Soon, One Hit, with tears streaming down their faces, took the microphone and said,

“Thank you.”

Their words were filled with the satisfaction of their hard practice paying off.

“Of course, there were tough times too…”

As they said this and looked out at the audience, their gaze lingered near me, and they burst into tears.

What’s going on?

Why are they crying at this moment?

“It was truly a meaningful experience. I don’t think I’ll ever forget what happened here in Korea.”

As everyone clapped, celebrating the winners, the festival came to an end. The participants hugged each other and wiped away tears.

“Hello!”

“How have you been?”

We went to congratulate the Malaysian team.

Seeing our faces, they were once again overwhelmed with emotion and burst into tears.

“Thank you so much.”

The quartet said, rubbing their swollen eyes.

“We never imagined we could win when we first started preparing for the competition…”

We asked with a smile,

“Did we help you in any way?”

“Yes, really. We won this award thanks to New Black.”

“That’s not true.”

We said,

“You practiced a lot and performed well. That’s why you won, not because of us.”

“Sob!”

Bijoo said with a smile,

“You practiced everything we taught you. We were so proud watching you.”

“Th-thank you.”

At those words, the waiting room once again became a sea of tears.

During this time, PBS’s special documentary team filmed us.

As the cameramen bustled around, we threw out a comment,

“Wasn’t it fun?”

“Yes.”

“Then you’ll come again next year, right?”

“…”

Their expressions vanished abruptly.

“Thank you, New Black.”

“It looks like there’s a group photo shoot. We should go.”

“Thank you!”

They waved at us and ran off.

As the cameramen followed them, Jung-hyun mused,

“Usually, fans of other idols are afraid of time passing. They don’t want to leave.”

“That’s true.”

“So why do our fans run away from us?”

“…”

October passed, and finally, November arrived.

Winter.

The end-of-year stages and award ceremonies were slowly approaching.

In early December, we were invited for the first time to Hong Kong’s KMA, and closer in time was the Mango Chart Awards in early November.

“New Black, Girls on Top, and others confirmed for the 2015 MCA first lineup.”

“TNT, Teen Spirit, New Black to perform at the 2015 Mango Chart Awards… The trendsetters gather.”

“New Black to appear at MCA, ‘Billboard Hot 100’ at 65th place.”

Every day, articles about the award ceremonies were published.

Compared to last year’s ceremonies, the volume of articles was incomparable, reflecting our changed status.

Our recent OST, ‘Thousand Dreams,’ had also contributed, achieving respectable positions on the Billboard Hot 100 and OST charts.

Our OST, which initially entered the charts in the 70s, was gradually climbing.

“Wow. Have you guys seen this?”

There were many surprising developments.

“Hailey Swan covered our song.”

“Really?”

“And some famous American country singer covered it too.”

Although it wasn’t comparable to Falling Stars, covers of Thousand Dreams by famous American artists were emerging.

Famous teenage singers were covering it.

And every time I saw a video on Mitube of an American middle-aged country singer playing the guitar and covering our song, I felt amazed.

These were people who had won at the Billboard or Grammy Awards.

“Wow…”

Needless to say, the domestic response was overwhelming.

Shin Joo-young of TNT also made covers with songs adapted to the domestic version.

The senior girl group, Daylight, gathered to shoot a cover video that was uploaded as a popular video on MyTube.

“Bro, have you seen this too?”

“What is it?”

“It’s the trainees from TJ. They shot a cover video.”

I felt a strange emotion when I heard that the trainees from TJ Entertainment covered our song.

I had imagined such a scenario when we just debuted.

Me, debuting as a singer, and the junior trainees using my song for their monthly evaluations or shooting cover videos.

Although the situation has changed, when it actually happened, I was overwhelmed by an indescribable feeling.

And as a reflection of the song’s popularity, our work became busier.

“It seems TBC wants us to perform the OST on stage at their year-end music festival.”

“Really?”

“They asked if we could prepare for it.”

As the year-end stage approached in late December, the broadcasting stations were requesting a performance of the OST.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

It felt like they were already reserving us in advance.

“We’re busy. So busy.”

“It seems like we won’t have any free time until early next year.”

“There are no empty days on the calendar.”

Our schedule was so packed it felt like our eyebrows would fly off from running around.

Finishing the remaining overseas tour and various award schedules.

The closest upcoming event was none other than the Mango Chart Awards.

“By the way.”

During a break from award stage practice, the youngest member looking at his phone spoke to us.

“Do you think we’ll receive any awards this time?”

“Aren’t we getting the TOP 10?”

The award given to the top ten performers with the most respectable chart performance and popularity of the year.

We knew we were confirmed for the Top 10 through the news.

We also heard that we were ranked about third, following TNT and Teen Spirit in the popularity vote.

“Not that one.”

“Hmm. I wonder what else there could be.”

We were nominated for various awards, but it was hard to predict which ones we might win.

Our interests had shifted significantly from last year.

“I don’t know. Last year, I only had eyes for the Rookie Award, but this year there are so many awards.”

“Getting even one of them would be great.”

Apart from the success of ‘Something,’ we hadn’t won any major awards at music ceremonies, so it was hard to gauge.

Of course, we heard that we were nominated for the grand prize this year…

But the actual awarding was uncertain.

Especially since this year, not only did we make a splash, but Teen Spirit and TNT also achieved record-breaking success.

“…I really don’t know.”

It was a confusing feeling, as if something might or might not happen.

“We’re all over the place.”

“Indeed.”

“In times like these, there’s only one thing we can rely on.”

There was only one thing we could trust.

“Junghyun.”

“Yes?”

“How do you feel? Do you think it will go well?”

“Um…”

And with the answer that followed, we were able to continue practicing with happier faces than anyone else.

At the same time.

In a dark office, a man shone his head and asked.

“Is everything going well with the preparations?”

“Yes.”

Director Yoon Seokhwan answered.

“We’re preparing as diligently as possible.”

“It needs to be thorough.”

CEO Park Gyu-ho said.

“From the clothes for the first red carpet event of the Mango Chart Awards to the stage costumes and set.”

“Yes, CEO.”

“And the stage VCR. The dancers.”

He spoke earnestly.

“Make sure to use the best experts in each field. Everyone should be amazed when they see the stage.”

“Yes, CEO.”

“You can use the budget generously.”

CEO Park Gyu-ho smiled kindly.

“Our kids are worth that much investment.”

“Yes, CEO.”

“Let me know if you need anything.”

After Director Yoon Seokhwan bowed and left the CEO’s office.

CEO Park Gyu-ho, who had been sitting in his chair, relaxed his stern expression and kicked his feet up, spinning the chair around.

In his hand was a document.

“Ha-ha! Ha-ha!”

It was a report detailing the profits from the overseas tour in October, and CEO Park Gyu-ho burst into laughter.

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