Chapter 120:
Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: Rxel
Chapter 120
6 p.m.
At that time, when the yellow full moon was floating in the sky, the highways and terminals across the country were crowded with cars and people.
They smiled briefly as they thought of their families they would meet after a long time, but soon they were exhausted by fatigue.
Some sighed as they looked at the congested highway, while others glanced at the electronic board in the waiting room with their tickets in hand.
Some satisfied their hungry stomachs with the broth of fish cakes in paper cups.
Everyone had their own way of killing time.
Some played games on their smartphones, some exchanged messages with their friends, some stared blankly at the people passing by.
But the most reliable way was TV.
Those who were suffering from their whining children trapped on the highway turned on the DMB, and those who were sitting in the train station or bus terminal waiting room stared at the large TV.
As it was Sunday evening, the channel was naturally set to TBC.
-Roll, roll! Dice!
-Wow!
The celebrities who gathered in front of the broadcasting station clapped and cheered, and the TV viewers chatted with each other.
“Wow, there are so many people. What are they going to do with all of them?”
“I saw the preview. They’re going to some rural area for a mission. I think they’re going to split into teams and compete.”
“Really? Sounds fun.”
While the members of Around the World With Dice introduced the guests, the travelers who watched TV also bloomed their conversations.
“Look at Han Sora’s proportions. She’s crazy.”
“Seo Jihyung is on again. Didn’t he come out last time when they did the mudflat thing? He’s almost a regular at this point.”
“Honey, is that the actor over there? The painter from Memory of the Brush. He’s so handsome. He stands out even among the celebrities.”
As the people who were famous in their fields appeared, the people’s attention was naturally focused.
“What? There’s already an article up.”
“Really?”
It had been less than 10 minutes since the show started, but there was an article on the entertainment section of the portal site.
-Chuseok Special Around the World With Dice, stars gathered
-Lee Gyeonwoo, “I gained 5kg after Memory of the Brush. Please look at me kindly…”
-Heechan & Heeyeon, the late siblings make the cast laugh
It was truly a national variety show.
Even trivial conversations became articles, and the community sites were filled with posts from the viewers who were following the show in real time.
Some people who were just browsing the web were curious enough to turn their eyes to the TV in the waiting room.
And soon they smiled or burst into laughter.
The travelers who were driving listened to the cast’s conversations as if they were listening to the radio.
They laughed at the various skits, ad-libs, funny anecdotes, and inter-vehicle communication using walkie-talkies.
Meanwhile, New Black also appeared briefly, but no one showed interest in them.
“Oh, they’re handsome.”
…That was the extent of the reaction, along with a brief internet search.
As the real-time search terms were filled with the names of Lee Gyeonwoo, Han Sora, and others, people didn’t care who the rookie boy group was.
Most of them only knew TNT when it came to idols.
But as the first mission started, New Black began to enter the people’s eyes little by little.
“Oh, he must have done some housework before.”
“Does he like cleaning that much?”
The idol member who was whining like a squid in the hot weather was sparkling his eyes and cleaning.
His expression was so cold that it seemed like ice chips would fall off, but now he looked so happy.
“Is that a setup?”
“No, look at that… He’s just like his mom. He’s nagging and cleaning.”
His face was blooming.
It was not the smile of capitalism, but the smile of genuine happiness that hung on his cold face.
He smiled brightly and smiled with the spring flowers CG in the background.
Someone who was sitting in the Seoul Station waiting room picked up his smartphone.
“Wow, he was born in '97. He’s a baby. A baby. He’s 10 years younger than me.”
“What about the one next to him?”
“He’s '93.”
As the clichéd story of how young the idols were these days came out, the result of the cleaning followed.
The scenery changed amazingly.
The house looked different even though they only moved the furniture and cleaned up the stuff.
“Wow…”
“The little things make a big difference. The house looks bigger just by moving the furniture.”
“He could start a cleaning company, man.”
As the idol member explained why he arranged the furniture with excitement, the grandmother’s expression of gratitude made them smile involuntarily.
It was a heartwarming scene.
As the scene switched back to the actors of Team A and the singers of Team B, they forgot about New Black in their head.
This time, another member appeared.
A member who looked like an elegant pretty boy was having a worried conversation with Ye Heeyeon in the village hall.
-What do we do, Sunbae-nim? They seem to be so good.
-It’s okay. We can win.
The camera captured the scene of Seo Jihyung and Han Yeoreum cooking.
Seo Jihyung’s cooking skills were extraordinary, as he ran a famous tripe restaurant in Hongdae, and Han Yeoreum was like a god of cooking.
As the caption ‘collaboration of domestic and overseas’ and the BGM of a cooking comic came on, the people who were watching admired.
“Wow, Seo Jihyung is back.”
“Han Yeoreum, right? That person is really good. She’s like a chef in a drama.”
On the other hand, everyone laughed at the sight of Team B burning their food.
Song Jinwoo of Around the World With Dice and Joo Hana of Girls on Top were destroying everything they touched like a gag duo.
Then the screen moved to Team C.
What kind of mess would they show this time?
Ye Heeyeon was famous for being a disaster in cooking, and that refined idol seemed to be a million light-years away from cooking.
But the scene that followed betrayed everyone’s expectations.
Bijoo, who was talking anxiously about the mission, grabbed a knife and cut the carrot in an instant.
“…?”
The people who were watching blinked their eyes, as only the scenes of him being insecure or worried were edited.
Ye Heeyeon on the screen also made the same expression.
-Didn’t you say cooking was your hobby?
-Yes, it is.
Team A also started to raise their faces at the feast of cooking skills that could not be seen as a hobby.
Their relationship had changed over time, and Bijoo’s skillful handling of Yee Heeyeon came out.
-I’m done with this!
-Good job, Sunbae-nim. Try this.
-Oh, thank you… I mean, thank you.
Ye Heeyeon, who was happy to eat the meat given as a compliment, tilted her head as if he was strange.
“He’s a bit weird.”
“I know, right? He seemed timid, but he says everything.”
He looked delicate and weak at first, but he turned out to be a pro housekeeper.
That was how New Black was imprinted in the viewers’ minds.
But although he attracted attention with his unique character, he didn’t give the impression that he was very funny in terms of entertainment.
He just stood out because he looked like a painting and did weird things.
But then.
A scene of the actors of Team A being shocked came on the TV screen.
-Ah! What is that?
With a ‘bang!’ sound effect and a slow screen, a black goat appeared.
As the caption ‘[♂Daegil, 8 years old, anger management disorder]’ came out, the people who were going home laughed and admired.
“It’s huge, that black goat. It looks like a cow.”
“I think I’d faint if I saw that at night. His personality is really…”
The black goat, who seemed to devour everything around him, was threatening.
As the tension rose, Heysion and Junghyun visited Daegil’s house.
The rapper with dreadlocks bowed his knees and smiled at the goat, and the black goat ran wild as if he accepted it as a challenge.
And then.
‘! ! !’ big exclamation marks filled the screen, and the humans in the TV froze.
As the caption ‘[Not a still screen]’ came out, the running started with a shout of ‘Run!’.
The moment the ridiculous scene of the black goat with a stone tied to his leash and the humans chased by him came out.
“Hahaha!”
In the dark car, in the waiting room, in the KTX or bus, the people who were watching Around the World With Dice burst into laughter.
It was the highlight of the day.
They laughed every time the black goat chased them, and the scenes of the cast running away from various places came out like a comedy movie.
Some of them were so amused that they wiped their tears.
“Wow, that’s amazing. Really.”
“It’s so funny. I wouldn’t believe it even if they said they scripted it, man.”
“Oh, my stomach hurts.”
The train they were waiting for or the road in front of them disappeared from their minds, and the scene of the black goat and the humans chasing each other remained in their brains.
The keywords ‘New Black’ and ‘Junghyun’ rose to the real-time search terms then.
After that, Junghyun was the topic of the show.
He wrestled with the goat, called the names of the wildflowers with his straight face and round eyes, and taught his friend of the same age about the orchard at the apple farm.
He was specialized in rural areas.
After he received attention from the show, the eyes that looked at New Black subtly increased.
If the same scene showed multiple guests, they would unconsciously look at New Black, and when New Black appeared in a solo shot, they felt a strange familiarity.
And the more they watched, the more they noticed a member who had not been highlighted until now.
It was Woojoo.
While the other members attracted attention with their unique characters or today’s highlight scenes, Woojoo blended in naturally.
The middle-aged woman who watched him hold hands and chat with the grandmothers like a friend smiled.
When the old man Kang Moonsik, who had not shown his face, came back, he sincerely rejoiced and smiled regardless of the mission’s outcome, and the old man who sat on the terminal bench with a cane stared at the TV screen.
Then, two members of Around the World With Dice, Woo Jaeyong and Yang Okbun, appeared in a scene where they received massages with the elders.
He looked exhausted, but he laughed and enjoyed chatting with the old people.
The camera caught him rubbing his sore hands several times behind his back.
An old person watching TV said, “He’s quite remarkable.”
Their actions suited the theme of this Chuseok Special, ‘filial piety’, and warm eyes followed them.
Then, New Black came out together.
The youngest sang a trot song and showed off his wit, and the other members gave massages instead, making the travelers smile warmly.
It was a healing scene.
The other teams also produced similar emotional codes, and the first part of Around the World With Dice ended warmly.
Then, the preview showed them messing up or doing various missions in a variety show style, but it was also a satisfying part.
When the show ended.
As the news about the Chuseok travel came out, people returned to their daily lives.
Back to boredom, looking for something else to kill time.
And the travelers who enjoyed today’s show naturally moved to the internet.
They wanted to see what other people thought about the scenes they saw today, and if they agreed with them.
Soon, they nodded their heads as they read the posts on SNS or communities filled with the internet.
‘What is this.’
But there was someone who was confused by the internet.
A young man who had not been discharged from the army for a long time, Ha Eunsung, blinked his eyes as he tapped his smartphone.
It was because of the familiar face he saw on TV.
‘What is this, really.’
He was bewildered as he looked at the profile of ‘New Black Woojoo’ on the portal.
The senior he met as an administrative soldier in the army last year was on TV as an idol.
‘Didn’t he go to take the college entrance exam?’
It was a mystery.
***
As New Black’s name rose on the real-time search, entertainment reporters quickly posted articles about them.
Around the World With Dice’s Chuseok Special, which pushed the second place in the same time slot by more than 10 percent with an average viewership rating of 18.8 percent, was a hot topic in every household.
In a country house in Gyeonggi-do.
“New Black? What do they do?”
“They’re idols, I guess. They must be popular among the young kids, right?”
“I’ve never heard of them. Well, I guess you have to know some. Oh, I want to get a massage too.”
“Is it news after this?”
They were having a family meal, with the table full of dishes.
Instead of talking about uncomfortable topics like politics or jobs, they were entertained by the variety show on TV.
And every time the name of New Black came up, along with some comments on the celebrities, there was someone who flinched.
They scooped up some kimchi stew with one hand, while tapping their phone under the table with the other.
-I feel so weird right now??? Watching TV and hearing my family talk about our kids
As soon as they posted that, other Soufflés started to reply as if they were waiting.
-Me too… I feel really strange. I’m happy but also nervous;;
-They’re asking me who New Black is and I want to answer so badly that my tongue and lips are dancing
-My dad asked me and I got tongue-tied and said they’re aliens and I don’t know their names… Ha… My mom is teasing me now, saying I’m so interested in that stuff?? Be quiet, Mom. I even went to their workshop…
-I laughed so hard when I saw it with my relatives ????? Junghyun being chased by the goat was hilarious?????? He’s such a clown
-I never thought I’d talk about New Black with my relatives on Chuseok
-You guys worked so hard?????
Among those comments, someone wrote what all the Soufflés were thinking.
-The reaction is really good, I hope this lasts long??
They remembered when they hit the jackpot with Something.
They went to Jiho’s graduation ceremony and suddenly the entertainment reporters wanted to interview them.
This time, it was their parents who were the interviewees.
“Hello, yes. That’s right. That’s our kid. Amazing, right? I was surprised too when I saw it. Who would have thought our son would do that? Yeah, yeah, the PD must have liked him a lot.”
“Right, I laughed too when Junghyun ran around. What? Why would Junghyun video call with your niece? Stop talking nonsense and hang up.”
“Hello. Oh, is this Sukja? What? You watched the show?”
Their close relatives and friends called them as soon as the show ended.
What’s going on with your son being on TV, is it true, etc.
Their Kim Deoksoon lady was annoyed by the phone calls, but she was smiling cheekily.
The other parents were smiling so brightly that their smiles almost exploded into the sky.
Woojoo felt proud watching them.
It was just one appearance on a show, but the parents looked like there was nothing more glorious in the world.
Some of them were shaking their hands holding their phones.
They were all nervous as well.
Especially, their phones were vibrating non-stop.
“Wow. I’m getting so many messages right now.”
“Me too.”
“Me too, and there are so many names I haven’t heard in a long time.”
Around the World With Dice’s national variety show was indeed a national variety show.
When Woojoo was in the army, my seniors, juniors, peers, trainers, and trainee friends from TJ.
They were calling from everywhere.
Woojoo replied to the messages from Around the World With Dice’s team and Jang Sowon Sunbae, and then turned off his phone.
“…What’s going on. I feel so weird.”
It didn’t feel real.
Woojoo wondered if it made sense to get this much reaction from one show, but he also realized that they had never been on a show properly before.
Bijoo hung up the phone and spoke with a flushed face.
“I feel weird too. It’s like I’m dreaming, not in reality.”
“Should I pinch you?”
“Yes, please. Hyung.”
It wasn’t a dream.
It was just another reminder of how spicy the cooking enthusiast’s food was.
They all had the same expression.
They felt dizzy, even though they hadn’t drunk any alcohol.
Was he crazy for making such a fuss over a variety show, or…
Woojoo didn’t know.
His thoughts were tangled and he couldn’t make a decision.
They seemed to do well on the show, but he had no idea how much impact it had.
Everything was new to him.
“Wow, my heart is pounding.”
Rihyuk shook his hand and spilled his water cup, and Jiho kept sipping his cola as if his throat was burning.
Junghyun, who had been staring at the internet blankly, looked at Woojoo.
“Hyung, what do we do now?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do we have to prepare for interviews? Do we need to get ready for things like I Love You, Celebrity News?”
“Why would you do that?”
Woojoo couldn’t help but laugh.
On the other hand, as his brothers got more excited, Woojoo regained his sanity.
Woojoo thought of the seniors who had risen to fame with variety shows, and at the same time, he thought they had to be careful.
“First, calm down.”
A beep sounded.
Woojoo’s throat was dry.
He grabbed someone’s cola nearby and drank it in one shot.
What was wrong with this? Did it taste weird, or was it just him?
But he didn’t have the mind to think about that.
“Don’t get too excited. You know variety shows, right? Even if the response is good, it usually fades away in a day or two.”
Woojoo said that to comfort his brothers.
When he did.
Seokhwan Hyung, who had finished the call, switched his phone to silent mode and stuck out his tongue.
Then he said to them, “You guys already got an offer from a cable channel.”
“…Now?”
But before Woojoo could think of anything, he swayed.
Why was he so dizzy?
“Hyung, are you okay?”
“Just a sec.”
Woojoo waved his hand at his brothers as if he was fine.
Then he leaned against the wall.
This was what happened when he drank…
Did he drink?
At that moment, an irresistible sleepiness came over him.
***
There was a commotion when Woojoo fell asleep after blinking his eyes for 30 seconds.
“Woojoo Hyung? What’s wrong with you?!”
“Don’t we have to call 119? Wake up!”
Surprised, Rihyuk slapped Woojoo’s cheek repeatedly, while Jiho grabbed his wrist and sobbed.
“Don’t hit Woojoo Hyung! What if something goes wrong?!”
“Stop talking nonsense! He won’t die from this!”
“Woojoo Hyung? Can you hear me? If you can, blink your eyes.”
“Hey, what’s going on?”
“Woojoo Hyung suddenly felt dizzy and fainted.”
As the adults were also startled, Kim Deoksoon ran over with her perm hair flying.
She was shocked for a moment, but soon she bit her tongue as she saw her grandson’s condition.
“He drank alcohol, the bastard.”
“…Alcohol?”
“This guy loses his taste with just a drop of soju on his tongue. The doctor said there’s nothing wrong with him, but he’s like this.”
“But Woojoo Hyung drank cola…”
Then, everyone’s eyes turned to the cola glass that Woojoo had just drunk, and its owner.
“Jiho.”
“…”
“What did you put in there?”
“Well, that…”
Jiho stuttered.
“Well, a little bit of beer…?”
“…”
“And I was curious, so a little bit of soju…”
“…”
“But cola was the most! I haven’t even drunk it yet…”
Jiho, who was held by the three sisters’ hands, was in pain, and Rihyuk was flustered by his brother’s appearance.
Junghyun and Bijoo crouched down as if they were worried and looked after the leader.
“Is he okay? Don’t we have to go to the emergency room?”
“Don’t worry, the doctor said he just needs to sleep.” Kim Deoksoon sat next to him and said, “Oh, this sick bastard. Can’t he tell the difference between alcohol and cola, or soybean paste and shit?”
Kim Deoksoon smiled as she stroked her grandson’s hair, who was sleeping soundly.
The day before Chuseok.
The family gathering that had been heated up by the variety show appearance ended with a ridiculous somaek-cola incident.
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