In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

A boy group that debuted in 2012, in their fourth year.

They are singers who boast outstanding visuals even in MOP, which has ‘visuals only’ as its motto.

As they say, they are a group of pretty boys with different vibes.

There’s the leader Hwiyeon, who looks like an internet novel protagonist, and Yeonhu, who has a refined impression that makes him seem good at art.

There were various faces gathered there.

And then…

“Hey, we need to make room for the guests. Who spilled potato chips on the sofa? I’ll give you 10 seconds. Confess.”

“It’s not me. It’s Yeonhu.”

“Clean it up if you ate it. Are you a kid?”

They all had rough mouths.

We awkwardly laughed at the sight of them exchanging harsh words while looking for the culprit who spilled the potato chips.

At that moment, when we were trembling while listening to them swearing left and right.

“Do you want this?”

Woo-bin, who looked like he could write ‘100 ways to skip school’, offered us candy.

“It’s glucose candy.”

“Oh.”

“It’s blueberry flavor, just like that. Apollo. You looked like you were having a hard time with the choreography. This will hit the spot.”

He smiled slyly with his rough face.

I momentarily wondered if that hit the spot meant it would go straight to the goal.

‘It’s delicious.’

‘It’s actually good in this situation.’

We said ‘oh’ while feeling the candy melt in our mouths, and the chaos continued.

“Ugh…”

Woo-bin clicked his tongue while looking at his hyungs who were asking ‘who spilled the potato chips!’.

Unlike our youngest, who looked well-behaved but was the most troublemaker, the youngest of Teenspirit, who had a rough impression, was the most well-behaved.

When I looked back at Jiho, the youngest who was hiding behind my back stuck out his head.

“What?”

“Nothing…”

“Why are you looking at me with such a pitiful eye?”

I nodded my head with a warm smile, and on the other side, Yeonhu was protesting his innocence.

“It’s not me. I’m so wronged. Why don’t you guys understand me?”

“…Really?”

“It’s not!”

The Teenspirit members who were briefly glancing at him soon started to say ‘hey, sorry. Calm down…’.

While they were warmly reconciling and saying ‘sorry for misunderstanding you’, the Wonseok hyung who was standing next to us looked at the pretty boys with a culture-shocked face.

“…”

My siblings and I nodded our heads with a pleased smile.

Meanwhile, the Teenspirit managers greeted us with expressions that looked like they were about to die.

One of the road managers spoke to us with a resigned face.

“They’re not usually like this, bickering in front of the guests… I hope you understand. They’re all very sensitive these days.”

“…?”

“They’re going through puberty…”

I barely held back the laughter that was about to burst out.

“They’re at the age when their emotions are very delicate…”

He pointed at the members who were hugging each other with moist eyes and saying ‘I’m so sorry!’, ‘I’m more sorry!’.

We looked away and held back our laughter.

They were a senior group that debuted two years earlier than us, but they were going through puberty now.

But on the other hand, it made sense.

Except for Hwiyeon, who was twenty, all the other members were high school students.

They must have been middle school students when they debuted.

I remembered the article I saw when I was in the army, ‘Average age 15.4, crazy youngest idol appeared’.

It was an article that said that MOP Entertainment hastily sent out young trainees to prevent the stock price from falling, as the senior group Daydream had poor results.

I muttered.

“It’s amazing.”

“What is?”

“That we’re meeting like this here.”

“…?”

I smiled at Bijoo, who tilted his head.

When I was in the army, I laughed and said, ‘Oh, these kids are already debuting…’.

It was strange to meet those kids who had grown up as our juniors and seniors.

“I’ll clean up.”

“No, I’ll do it.”

The Teen Spirit members, who had quickly made up and were happily tidying up, waved at us to come over.

Hwiyeon gestured to us.

“Have a seat.”

“Uh, okay.”

We sat awkwardly on the sofa surrounded by Teen Spirit.

Hwiyeon opened his mouth.

“We were so excited to meet New Black, but when we saw the potato chips on the sofa, we suddenly got angry…”

“That’s understandable.”

It’s puberty. We nodded our heads.

“Ah, what was it?”

Hwiyeon scratched the back of his head.

“K-Net is sending a camera crew. I just heard that they’re running about 30 minutes late.”

“…Really?”

“What do you want to do?”

“What should we do?”

We answered politely with our legs crossed, while our younger siblings tried to hold back their laughter.

“Yeah, what should we do?”

“Do you want to play board games?”

“…Board games?”

One of the other Teen Spirit members showed us his backpack.

What the hell. Why is there a Halli Galli in there?

“We also have Jenga.”

“…Oh.”

We wondered how to kill the 30 minutes until the production team arrived, and decided to just chat for a while.

“Oh, right. We watched your Nine music video.”

“It was so cool, guys.”

“It was awesome. We’re jealous. We haven’t done anything like that since Gunflower.”

They looked at us with sparkling eyes and said, ‘You guys are amazing!’

The youngest, who quickly became friends with his peers, asked.

“Why? Why don’t you do a strong concept?”

“Ah. We were going to, but the executives saw the choreography and immediately rejected it.”

“…Why?”

“They said the fans like us fresh. We look too bad. They said we should wait until we get older if we want to do something strong.”

“Ouch…”

It was a completely different reason from ours.

We couldn’t do it because we were like flowers in a greenhouse, but they couldn’t do it because they were too perfect for it.

“We could totally smash a police car.”

“Yeah. And protest too.”

We laughed as we watched the teenage dreamers who dreamed of challenging the authority.

The atmosphere gradually became more comfortable.

We thought it would be the most awkward group to be left alone with, but surprisingly, we got along well.

We smiled when we saw Yeonhu, who had been eyeing Junghyun since the soccer match at the Dollympics.

“…?”

I felt something had changed.

At first, I thought we were doing well and now we were comfortable with the senior group, but that wasn’t it.

It wasn’t us, but them who felt a bit different.

“Wow. That’s crazy. So all your title songs are self-composed? Both Windflower and Nine?”

“How did you subdue the snake instructor in the special forces? That was amazing.”

“What do you do for exercise, hyung?”

The Teen Spirit members poured questions at me with shining eyes, and I blinked.

And it wasn’t just me.

“How did you do the choreography in Dance? Your flexibility was amazing.”

“Hyung, what protein do you take?”

They looked at Bijoo and Junghyun.

The Teen Spirit’s eyes were gentle and round as they looked at Rihyuk and Jiho, who were similar in age.

It was like middle school students listening to high school stories and saying, ‘Wow…’

“…”

What’s going on?

When we first met, they seemed to say, ‘Who the hell are you guys’, but now they changed to ‘You guys are awesome’.

“Hello! We are Teen Spirit!”

“Two, three~ Hello! We are New Black!”

“Wow!”

The members of Teen Spirit, who had returned as refreshing pretty boys, started clapping and smiling brightly.

The members of New Black also smiled and applauded.

“Wow, the atmosphere is so good!”

“It’s visual versus visual. It feels like we’re in a flower garden, doesn’t it?”

The two members of Wild, who were in charge of the intern MC, exchanged comments like ‘the atmosphere is great’ and lifted the mood.

“Today, we have Teen Spirit and New Black as our special guests!”

“Now, please introduce yourselves to each other!”

New Black started the introduction time.

“Hello. I’m Jiho, the cute maknae and sub-vocal of New Black! Please take good care of me~!”

“Wow!”

The members of Teen Spirit clapped and cheered ‘wow’.

They looked at New Black with ‘oh’ eyes as they introduced themselves.

Something like a halo seemed to be felt behind the members of New Black.

“Hehehe!”

“Hehe!”

Teen Spirit admired New Black, who were laughing like fools and exchanging jokes.

‘Those guys are so cool even though they look like that…’

They were amazing people every time they saw them.

“Hehe!”

“Kyahaha!”

New Black.

They were a five-member idol group from Lemon Entertainment that debuted last June.

If they counted their previous career as Something, they were rookies who had debuted for about a year and seven months.

Teen Spirit’s first memory of them was the music show last year.

‘Our album was totally buried then.’

They coincided with TNT, and because of the comet-like appearance of ‘Something’, they couldn’t even get second place, let alone third place.

-Hey! Hey! I heard that a rookie who hasn’t debuted yet is on the list of candidates for first place tomorrow.

-That’s nonsense again. The cooldown is over.

-It’s true. Look at this. It says New Black…!

-Lemon? Aren’t there Scarlet unnies here?

They only remembered that they were from a company with scary unnies.

When they went to greet them in the waiting room, they saw a group of five who were all over the place with Jang Sowon and thought ‘ah, those rookies’.

They vaguely remembered that TNT’s hyungs were shouting ‘Awesome! Sunwooju is here! Sunwooju!’ and making a fuss…

But that was it.

They only remembered laughing because of someone who said ‘Please love our souffle…’.

That’s where the memory ended.

The next time they met was the day of the event where New Black filled in for them.

-Who’s the black that’s filling in? Who is it?

-What’s that, that souffle nim?

They only remembered the group name properly after they arrived at the venue and saw their faces.

-Thank you so much.

-No, it’s nothing. What.

They still remembered the smile of the New Black members who were soaked in the rain and pale.

They started to enter their sight from then on.

And after that, it was really amazing.

-Did you see this?

Someone’s figure chasing a black goat in Jusehan’s Chuseok special clip.

-Did you see the chart? It’s crazy. TNT lost in the music score this time.

The new song ‘Masquerade’ that the rookie group released was competing with the top idols in the music score.

They even won first place at the end.

They admired ‘awesome…’ even when they swept the rookie awards, but that wasn’t the end.

-That white triangle, that person is so fast…

-You should have seen Daegil hyung playing futsal. He looked like a Buddha statue with eight hundred arms.

-What? Do you only shoot arrows after eating?

-Are you from the basketball club…? What is it?

They were the ones who gave shock and horror to the idols at the Seol Olympics.

And this spring, they set a new record with ‘Wind Flower’.

-Hey. What song is this that doesn’t go down from first place…?

-It’s worth it. The song is so good.

-Wow. The public is streaming here.

-That’s the public’s pick. You idiot.

The undisputed chart-topper of the first half of 2015.

It was Windflower, who was considered 100% sure to win the grand prize in the music category at this year’s year-end awards.

Along with them, New Black’s image was gradually changing from ‘rookie’ to ‘popular idol’.

It was amazing to see their every move.

They had taken three years to reach just below TNT after their debut.

New Black was catching up with them in just a year.

‘…How did they do it?’

After ‘Nine’ was another success, Teen Spirit searched for them on their own.

And every time they looked, they felt awe.

‘How can they beat this goat?’

‘They act so well.’

‘Their dance lines are crazy. They can’t do this even if they only eat and dance.’

‘What’s wrong with their lung capacity? Do they have gills for singing?’

Each member had high skills.

And the biggest thing that surprised them was.

‘All of that was self-composed…?’

It was New Black’s leader who composed them.

No matter how perfect the conditions were, if the song wasn’t good, they couldn’t make it. A good song was the most important thing for a singer.

And New Black had someone who supplied them with such songs.

“Woojoo, I heard you composed Nine with your members. What’s the meaning behind the title?”

Woojoo smiled and answered the MC’s question.

“9 is the last number, right? I wanted to convey the meaning of having fun as if burning the last, you know.”

Teen Spirit members widened their eyes.

“Oh, that’s what it means…”

“Wow. That’s really deep.”

“I thought it was Nine because of the nine-year-old’s mind.”

The youngest Woobin’s remark made Woojoo and the members gasp for a moment and then laugh out loud.

“That’s right. Actually, that was also the meaning.”

New Black members saved the joke that could have been cheap.

They were really good at the entertainment field.

In a soft atmosphere, the corner of ‘singing each other’s songs’ began.

And then.

“It’s easy, right?”

A New Black member who smiled kindly showed a high-level choreography that anyone could see.

Then they remembered.

‘That’s the one that Clay teacher is afraid of…’

They remembered Clay Tyler’s warning, ‘You’re New Black, right? Be careful of B among them.’

He looked strong for sure.

He smiled kindly, but if he made a mistake, he would say, ‘What are you trying to do with me?’ with a smile.

Soon, Teen Spirit members learned the choreography of Nine and performed it.

“Wow…!”

“It’s amazing. It’s exactly the same as the original feeling of ‘Nine’ that we imagined!”

“It suits them so well…”

New Black members praised them exaggeratedly and lifted them up.

Their eyes sparkled.

Then they started to dance ‘Feel So Good’ that they learned from Teen Spirit members.

“…”

They showed their skills by perfectly expressing the feeling.

It wasn’t a skill that could come out in a few minutes of learning.

‘Wow…’

‘They practiced it.’

‘Did you practice our song choreography from the day before?’

The waves of emotion passed through their eyes as they looked at New Black.

‘They’re such nice brothers…’

The first week of the comeback was successfully finished.

The pre-recorded stages with Soufflés also ended in a warm and cozy atmosphere.

Everyone was in a festive mood because of the successful atmosphere of this album.

On Monday of the next week, after going through K-Net and the three major music broadcasts.

We looked around YouTube and smiled proudly.

“Wow…”

We had a dazed expression as we looked at the music video views that exceeded 10 million in seven days.

The stage videos that came back this week also boasted high views.

And one of the most talked about things among them was the content that we did with Teen Spirit on K-Net.

-Awesome… Pros are different; look at how Teen Spirit and New Black change their expressions

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋTeen Spirit is perfect for them

-22222 I didn’t feel any awkwardness

-They both switched parts and it was so funny. Neon Black suited the refreshing concept well, and Teen Spirit was amazing.

-Teen Spirit’s facial expressions were so good

-I was impressed by Hwiyeon’s face every time he was caught on camera

-That’s why they are pros. Our teens must have had a hard time doing the strong concept, but they pulled it off well.

-Exactly. Our sweetiesㅠㅠㅠㅠ I want to hug them

-Both groups are so cuteㅋㅋㅋㅋ They seem to be in awe of each other

-You can tell Neon Black practiced a lotㅋㅋㅋㅋ They are adorable

The content we did with Teen Spirit seemed to get a good response from the idol fans.

“Thank goodness.”

“Right? We were so scared that we might mess up and get criticized, so we practiced a lot.”

“Do you think Teen Spirit seniors were satisfied too?”

It was worth it to practice with the choreography analysis beforehand.

It was a win-win for both sides.

Our sincere effort to prepare the seniors’ choreography seemed to be well received.

If we had bragged about how much we practiced, they would have said ‘Who do you think you are?’, but it was effective to learn quietly from the start.

And thanks to that, Teen Spirit gave us their contact information after the recording.

I don’t know the exact reason, but they seemed to like us.

“By the way, is that going up now?”

“What?”

“Yeah, that.”

We had prepared a special video to express our gratitude for the 10 million views.

It was a video of us dancing to the original song ‘Meat Song’ by Nine, with the average 9-year-old kids who participated in the Olive House ad.

…I wonder how the Soufflés would react to that video.

‘They won’t notice, right?’

‘Nah, no way.’

We smiled and nodded at each other.

They would think it was a video we prepared separately.

With that thought, we looked around the MewTube content.

“Shall we go up then?”

Today was Monday.

It was time to go and hear from our manager how ‘Neon Black’ album did.

As we nodded and got up from the floor.

“Hmm…?”

Our youngest widened his eyes as he found something unusual on the internet.

“Hyungs, did you see this?”