In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 227 

The singer tilted his head at the PD’s awkward expression.

“Is there a problem?”

“Um…”

“You told me to show the grandfather and grandson-like relationship. I think this is beyond the age gap friendship.”

“Uh…”

What should he say?

“Can we use another member? Someone you feel comfortable with after Rihyuk…”

“Then it would be the Non-Alcoholic guy.”

“Ah, Woojoo. Then I’ll ask you to connect the phone call to him.”

“Got it.”

Noh Jaehyun made a video call.

Soon, Woojoo’s face filled the screen.

While the writers were saying ‘oh my’ and pinching their cheeks, a trot song saying ‘Deoksoon-ah~~’ flowed out of the screen like a BGM.

“What is that?”

-Ah. I was working on the OST and got a little stuck. I’m healing while listening to Deoksoon-ah.

Woojoo stretched out both hands and sang ‘Deoksoon-ah~’ cheerfully, making the veteran singer laugh.

“You’re still the same.”

-Haha.

Woojoo smiled and asked.

-But, Teacher, what’s up? You always contact Rihyuk first when you call.

When he joked that he was unhappy because of that, Noh Jaehyun coughed.

“Ahem, I just thought of you and wanted to say hello.”

-Aha.

The eyes of Woojoo on the other side narrowed slightly and he asked.

-Is this a broadcast?

“Huh.”

-I can tell by the tone of your voice, Teacher.

The singer widened his eyes.

“Do I give that much of a hint?”

-No. I can see the toe socks at the corner of the screen. The staff at the broadcasting station wear them a lot.

While the cameraman, who had his feet focused on, made a sheepish expression, the singer exclaimed, “What a remarkable observation. Non-Alcoholic guy. You taught me a lesson today.”

-What are you talking about… I have a lot to learn.

Woojoo said seriously.

-Actually, I have something that I need your help with.

“Oh, what is it?”

The PD sent an interested look.

Unlike the sharp criticism that came from the reading discussion, he expected a warm scene where Noh Jaehyun helped and Woojoo thanked him.

-As I told you, I’m working on the OST. Uh…? Mr. Seo, where are you going? You have to stay here.

Woojoo, who was smiling brightly at someone nearby, turned his head quickly.

-And I also want to hear your opinion, Teacher…

“Oops. My hand slipped!”

With awkward acting, Teacher Noh Jaehyun hastily pressed the end button.

He sighed as if he had escaped an impending disaster, making the production staff wonder.

‘Did he make a bomb instead of a song?’

He looked bored even when they brought up the topic of composing.

Noh Jaehyun turned to them.

“What should I do? Should I call the other slackers?”

“Um, I think we can just add narration as we see fit. The expression is more important anyway. This is enough.”

“Good, that’s a relief. Then…”

As he was about to say something, his phone vibrated with the name ‘Kim Bijoo’ on the screen.

“Oh ho.”

The old man’s face brightened.

“I’ll take this call. Bijoo is so sweet, you know. Hahaha.”

Beep.

-It’s me. Teacher.

“Ahhhh!”

He screamed in horror, making the production staff burst into laughter.

***

“Human Documentary – My Life, My Way”

Jeju Island Home

Most of the scenes had narration, except for some dialogues. The warm expressions of the New Black members and Teacher Noh Jaehyun.

[Narration] He has a new joy these days. It’s the conversation with the cute New Black members, who are like his grandchildren.

(Rihyuk) How have you been? How’s your health?

(Noh Jaehyun) I’ve been well. Rihyuk. I received your letter by email.

[Narration] He and New Black became acquainted through the program called Legendary Song Discovery Team. The members always worry about his health first.

(Woojoo) What are you talking about… I have a lot to learn. I need your help with something that came up.

[Narration] He is happy to have a conversation with musicians across the age gap. He says he makes these calls every day. The veteran singer presses the end button cheerfully. Isn’t this happiness?

Broadcast date.

Entertainment news ‘PBS Human Documentary ‘Noh Jaehyun’ episode featuring ‘New Black’ surprise appearance…’ comment section.

-So heartwarming

-He looked so happy when he was video calling. Live long!

-Ugh… This makes me want to call my mom

-New Black members are really nice. It’s not easy to call your parents every day like that.

-Healing videoㅠ It makes me feel warm inside

-Teacherㅋㅋㅋ He looked like he was annoyed and his hand was shaking. Is it just me?

-The person above is totally twisted. Who wouldn’t see this as a heartwarming scene???

***

Woojoo felt the time passing so fast.

It wasn’t long ago that he was making bread in Taiwan as his alter ego Jenmin, but when he came to his senses, it was March.

“Time flies.”

“Right. In nine more months here, you’ll be in your mid-twenties… Aaaaah! Save me!”

What kind of middle schooler was 24 years old? He was talking nonsense.

“I heard it from my brother. If there’s an ‘s’ at the end of four, five, six, then it means you’re in middle school.”

“Then what about three?”

“Uh…?”

Why are you more surprised than me?

“That’s a loophole.”

“It’s not a loophole, it’s absurd. Junghyun, if you’re going to keep making up weird stories, just finish your kid’s drink.”

“It’s delicious. This.”

He licked his tongue as he looked at the drink bottle with a yellow-helmeted penguin posing like a bubble.

“Is it really good?”

“Yes.”

“Then just one sip.”

He poured it into the tumbler that Bijoo gave him as a gift and gulped it down.

Woojoo underestimated it because it was for kids, but it was surprisingly tasty.

It had a nostalgic flavor.

He smiled as he looked at the barren fields passing by the car window in the morning.

Was it because it was early March? It was still cold, so he couldn’t tell the difference from winter.

-Deoksoon-ah~~

He hummed along to the song playing in his earphones.

Today was Friday.

The third round of the competition, where Cha Woohyun won, was over, and it was the morning before the fourth round song draw in the afternoon.

They were on their way to Paju for a cameo appearance on GTV’s ‘Slip’.

Woojoo felt somewhat relaxed.

The OST work that started last week was almost over, and the preparation for the third album was almost done.

Woojoo recorded songs while practicing for the competition stage.

He also agreed on the title of the third album with the A&R Team. Instead of ‘Dark Matter’, they decided to go with one of the names of wildflowers.

‘I saw a pretty flower in the garden of our dorm apartment. I didn’t even know it existed until it caught my eye…’

It was thanks to Bijoo’s suggestion.

‘Someone might feel lonely and alone, but there is someone who watches you from somewhere unseen. Don’t you think wildflowers are in a similar situation?’

Everyone agreed with that opinion.

At first, they thought about going with keywords related to stars or space, but then they realized they already had ‘Starlight’. Since they had dealt with big keywords like ‘sea’ and ‘star’ so far, the idea of going with something cute like flowers was well received by everyone.

Of course, there was one who couldn’t accept it.

‘How about Artificial Satellite? We don’t even know it exists, but it’s working hard to orbit the planet by itself.’

‘It’s a fresh title, but the song has a pretty vibe, so it doesn’t quite match.’

The A&R Team’s reaction was simple.

‘I recently narrowed down the list and posted it, and the President said he liked Artificial Satellite and Dark Matter.’

‘…Wildflower. Any wildflower is fine.’

Rihyuk immediately gave in at the President’s suggestion, who had decided to name Scarlet’s fandom ‘Curtain’.

“…”

He turned his head back at the sound of a faint snoring.

Rihyuk, who had fallen asleep, was leaning on the shaking car.

Next to Woojoo, Bijoo was dozing off, and he couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of them sleeping with their heads together.

Woojoo turned his gaze to his side, after naming each passing tree and rummaging through the jelly with the bear.

Swoosh.

Jiho’s eyes were serious as he silently flipped through the script.

“…Hmm.”

He scratched his cheek and narrowed his eyes. Woojoo could see his pouty lips that he always made when he was focused.

His jet-black hair, drained of its red hue, got in his eyes.

He had dyed his hair and trimmed it for the cameo role he was playing today, not just for the concept photos of their third album that they would shoot soon.

Woojoo’s eyes were drawn to the script that Jiho was reading.

Underneath the crooked handwriting and the post-it notes full of memos, there was a line or two of dialogue.

The role that their maknae had taken was ‘Eugyeong’.

He was the one who asked the protagonist in ‘Slip’, ‘Isn’t this a slip ring?’

It was only a few lines of dialogue, but he had done character research for this. That was their maknae.

-Hyung, can I ask you something about the army?

He used to run away with a ‘bleh!’ whenever the army topic came up, but now he came to Woojoo and asked him this and that. It was surprising, to say the least.

As soon as it was dawn, he would quietly sneak out and practice in the living room.

Because of that, Bijoo had been giving him two more sausages for breakfast lately. Woojoo had five, though.

“Hyung.”

Jiho, who had put down the script, asked him, “Can I do well?”

“Are you nervous?”

“A little…? I’m usually not the type to get nervous, but today I feel like my mental state is like Rihyuk’s. I keep thinking, what if I make a mistake… It’s swirling in my head.”

“That’s a big problem. That.” Woojoo said, teasing him, “But you’re good at live performances. Even if you’re shaking now, you’ll do great once you go on stage. Just like you did at Everdream.”

As Jiho nodded, Woojoo continued, “Weren’t you acting cocky back then? Eating spicy rice cakes on the stairs and saying, ‘Heh, I can act too…’”

“Junghyun, jelly! Put some jelly in his mouth!”

“Ugh!”

Sour and sweet jelly came into his mouth one after another, and he laughed.

The set that had looked so far away was getting closer and closer.

Police station set.

“Hello, this is New Black!”

“Hi…”

The staff looked miserable.

Their faces were so pale that they could pass for zombies in a police station horror movie with just a little makeup.

“We had an all-night shoot yesterday.”

“Oh.”

“The shooting schedule got a bit tight before the broadcast. The director is also more meticulous than usual for this work.”

Director Jo explained to them and the road managers.

He was the head of the actor team, who was well-versed in drama production, and he was here to assist them today.

Following his guidance, they greeted everyone from the chief director to the staff and the extras. Then, they moved to the waiting room to take a photo with the actor from Lemon Entertainment.

Knock, knock.

“We’re coming in, Noeul.”

They heard a faint response from inside.

When they opened the door and entered, they saw a zombie lying on the sofa.

He had a cooling sheet on his forehead and delicate features.

Seo Noeul, who had been resting on the electric blanket, got up.

“Ugh…”

He muttered in a hoarse voice, ‘Oh my…’ His face was pale. He looked at us and said, “Hi…”

“Hello.”

Seo Noeul gave us a faint smile-like expression. It was hard to tell if he was laughing or crying.

“…Hyunwoo.”

He reached out his hand and the road manager who was sitting in the waiting room handed him a jujube juice.

Slurp, slurp.

He drank the jujube juice like a vampire drinking blood to survive.

Then he groaned and barely got up from the sofa. Woojoo almost said, ‘Please sit down.’

“Can’t you adapt?” Director Jo swallowed his laughter and asked. 

He just smiled without saying anything.

Seo Noeul.

He played the role of ‘Kim Minjoo’, who investigated economic crimes, unlike ‘Park Chuljin’, the violent crime detective in GTV’s ‘Slip’.

He had gained popularity as a cheerful second male lead in a rom-com drama recently.

The articles Woojoo searched showed him always smiling brightly, but he looked so tired now.

Woojoo blurted out something.

“Do you drink jujube juice? I drink ginseng.”

“Ah. My mom sent me this and told me to drink it… Cough! Ouch.”

“…Are you okay?”

They didn’t have much conversation.

Woojoo felt sorry for disturbing his rest, so he decided to take a quick SNS photo and leave.

“Okay, then one, two…”

“Three.”

And when they checked the photo, they were surprised.

“What, what is this?”

He had been looking like a zombie all along, but the photo showed a beautiful person smiling brightly in the middle.

He had changed his expression for a split second when he heard the shutter sound.

“…Ah, this is warm.”

They blinked their eyes silently as they watched Seo Noeul go back to the electric blanket and warm up his body.

Drama production must be really hard, Woojoo thought.

“Well, let’s go get ready.”

“Okay.”

It was when they followed Jiho to get his makeup done for the shooting. Director Jo said to them, “You guys should get ready too.”

“Huh?”

They tilted their heads in confusion.

“Don’t we have no roles? We were just here to cheer for Jiho…”

“Well, that was the original plan. But Lee Kangjin insisted that it would be better if all the members of New Black made a cameo appearance since we’re promoting anyway.”

“Really?”

What a grateful thing…!

They asked with sparkling eyes, “What are our cameo roles, Director?”

“Uh, that is…”

“Sit over there, you criminals.”

“Yes…”

The New Black members looked somewhat sad as they sat in a row on the police station chairs in their school uniforms.

“Pfft.”

The youngest covered his mouth with both hands and laughed for a while as he watched them. The managers also leaned against the wall and tried to hold back their laughter from afar.

Zing.

The production staff whispered as they saw the four handsome men in uniforms glaring at them, “They seem to get along really well. I saw Girls on Top before and they didn’t say a word to each other.”

“Well, maybe they were just shy as rookies.”

“They are good-looking. Their facial features are alive even with light makeup.”

When the conversation turned to their appearance, someone asked, “What’s up with their outfits? Why did they change to school uniforms? What happened?”

“We originally wanted to make them a four-member gang of delinquents. But the director saw them and changed it right away.”

“Why?”

“We tried to make them act like bad boys, but none of them suited the masks. They were not threatening at all and too pathetic…”

“…”

“So the setting changed. We downgraded their crimes from delinquent teenagers to…”

“What did they do?”

“They ordered tteokbokki on credit at a PC room, ran away without paying, and got caught.”

‘That was the youngest’s suggestion, by the way.’ As they said that, everyone looked at the youngest of New Black.

He wore a beige top and black pants.

He pulled off the police uniform like a model and smiled brightly as he talked to Lee Kangjin.

“He looks a bit mischievous, doesn’t he? I wonder if he can act properly. It would be bad if he causes NGs because of him.”

“I heard he learned acting for a long time over there.”

“Well, these days idols learn acting before they debut. How hard can it be to say a few lines as a cameo?”

Most of them lost interest in the unfamiliar cameo soon after they appeared on the set.

The staff were too tired to care much about the famous vocal group.

They just hoped they wouldn’t ruin the drama with their funny ‘idol cameo actingㅋㅋ’ memes.

“Are you well prepared?”

“Yes!”

The director gave a brief explanation as he watched Wang Jiho nod his head eagerly.

“Let’s keep the movements simple and get ready. Be natural, both during the rehearsal and the actual shooting. Natural. Don’t overdo it, but don’t be passive either.”

The Director said, “It’s okay to ad-lib, as long as you’re natural and comfortable.”

“Yes, I understand. Director.”

The Director called the assistant director and told him to prepare.

‘I wonder if this is okay.’

It was good for the drama promotion, but he wondered if it was necessary to put an idol as a cameo in such a serious drama.

Well, the agency said he didn’t have to worry about his acting skills.

The Director massaged his tired shoulders and sat on a chair to watch.

The assistant director explained for a while how they should move, and then the rehearsal began.

And then.

“Hmm…?”

The Director narrowed his eyes slightly at the sight of the idol member and the lead actor syncing in front of him.

Interesting things started to catch his eye.

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