In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

“Wow!”

“Welcome to Lemon Entertainment!”

We sang ‘Congratulations’ and danced cheerfully, making everyone laugh.

The A&R team clapped and giggled.

The composers smiled nostalgically at the sign that said ‘Producing Team’.

“Welcome to our company.”

President Park Kyuho greeted the composers with a kind smile.

We gave them bouquets of flowers as they shook hands and thanked him.

He suggested having a meal together sometime.

“…!”

Oh. What a surprise.

He walked so fast, like a ghost from a horror movie. His face got closer and closer.

At the same time, his kind smile turned into a capitalist grin.

He looked like he was so happy to see my face that he didn’t know what to do.

“Woojoo!”

He grabbed my hand tightly.

“…Yes?”

“You worked really hard on this album. Look at you. Your face is half gone. You need some medicine.”

“I’m fine, President. I’m taking ginseng…”

“Ginseng? That’s not enough. I just got some deer antler at home. I should make you some.”

He said that to the other members too. He was like ‘You’re half gone!’ as he pressed Jiho’s face with both hands and sighed. Then he looked at Jung-hyun.

“Right. Jung-hyun is also half…”

“…”

His pupils shook at the sight of his warm and rock-like face.

“Your face…”

“Yes.”

“It’s about… eighty-three percent gone.”

“That’s right. President.”

He paused for a moment in front of our healthy kid.

He grabbed our hands and teared up.

“You all worked hard preparing for the concert. It must have been hard taking pictures for the goods too…”

We exchanged glances.

‘The concert was a huge success.’

‘The goods sold like crazy.’

He wiped his tears with a handkerchief and then his forehead.

While Director Jo cleared his throat behind him, we desperately thought of something else.

“You all participated in producing, right? You did a great job. There are quite a few self-composed songs in the album.”

“Yes, Jung-hyun and Bijoo’s self-composed songs are in it.”

“You all worked hard…”

We exchanged glances again.

‘The album is selling really well right now.’

‘The digital sales are good too.’

He grabbed my hand again as a tear rolled down his cheek.

“I feel like Woojoo is always working hard composing… That’s why I created this producing team.”

“Yes. I know.”

I answered with a smile.

Scarlet also had Daisy who could write and compose songs, but she only had a small part in the mixtape or the bonus tracks.

So the A&R team staff could help her out.

But I had so many songs that I composed myself, starting from the title track, that I needed a lot of help.

The biggest reason why the producing team was created was to help me with my song work.

“So, what I’m trying to say is…”

He asked me seriously.

“Is there anything else you need?”

“Need?”

“Anything that bothers you when you practice or work. Just tell me. We can remodel the practice room too…”

He seemed to have already decided on spending money. His hand was trembling.

He looked like he was breaking millions in his head.

“Um, need…”

We looked at each other, and his hand started to shake.

“We don’t need anything right now.”

“Phew…”

My hands finally stopped shaking.

“Ha ha. I see.”

“Thank you for your concern.”

They had spent a fortune on the music video.

And the president had spared no expense on making our album, as if we were from one of the top four agencies.

What more could we ask for?

We were getting paid well, too. The TNT members would be shocked by our earnings.

I felt grateful to the president, who asked us if we needed anything else.

“If you need anything, just let me know. Anytime.”

Then he disappeared, heading towards the director and the manager who were talking to the composers.

I muttered to myself as I watched him go.

“…We’ve made it.”

“It’s not just that we’ve made it. We’ve hit the jackpot.”

“And a huge one at that.”

I could feel how our status had changed in the company.

The president was a nice person, but he was also a businessman who valued profits above all.

He had decided to create a new producing team for one of our members, and had invested millions in one music video. That was only possible because we were bringing in revenue.

If we had been doing poorly, that would have been unthinkable.

“Well. We just have to work harder.”

“Right.”

I felt a bit strange, but I thought positively.

If he had decided to support us like this, we should be thankful and work harder.

We smiled and approached the composers.

“We look forward to working with you. PDs.”

“Same here.”

The composers smiled and replied.

The staff of the new producing team were called PDs, short for producers.

“I’m happy, but it’s a bit weird.”

Na Sang-yoon PD scratched the back of his head.

“We got the position, but we don’t have much work to do for a while. It feels a bit awkward.”

“I know. I thought we’d start working right away.”

“We don’t have a chance to earn our keep.”

Scarlet and I felt awkward, too. We didn’t have a new album for a while.

Of course, they would work on some projects from outside, but there wasn’t much to do in the company.

Except for the solo album of our senior Yoon Chan-hyuk, which would come out in winter.

We laughed and replied.

“Honestly, you haven’t slept properly for over a month. You’ve worked hard, so you should take it easy.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, of course.”

Na Sang-yoon PD smiled and replied.

“But if you need anything, just let me know.”

“Okay.”

I smiled brightly and replied.

“But there won’t be anything for a while.”

“Ha ha, really?”

“Yes, because I’ve finished everything I needed to do. Unless something new comes up…”

The composers who had become the staff of the producing team laughed happily.

They said that, but they were happy and excited to think that they could relax for a while.

“Ha ha ha!”

“Hot hot!”

We all burst into laughter.

Hollywood, LA, USA.

A few people were sitting in a studio filled with a huge mixing console and recording equipment.

“Hmm…”

John Edwards, the director of the musical movie ‘Nostalgia’, listened to the song and stroked his chin.

“Stop it.”

The audio staff pressed pause, and Edwards asked the person next to him.

“Sarah, what do you think? About this song.”

“It’s not bad, but it’s not good for the global version.”

“I agree.”

Edwards crossed out the name of the pianist Hashimoto Kenji on the list, following Sarah Bloom’s opinion.

“Rupert, you too?”

“Yes.”

The brown-haired, blue-eyed young man, the lead actor Rupert Dean, answered.

“The intro seems too grandiose for nothing. The content is nothing special, but it’s all dressed up.”

“Okay.”

The song was dropped from the list by the unanimous opinion of the three.

“Then let’s use this one only for the theatrical version that will be released in Japan… and let’s listen to the rest.”

The work of selecting songs was underway, with the general director, the music director, and the lead actor sitting together.

What they were doing now was choosing a song that would be inserted into a scene in the movie.

A library where books come alive by magic and run wild, and a song that appeared in the foreign books corner.

-Who are you?

-Why are you here?

-Did you come to see something exotic? If that’s the case, you’ve come to the right place!

The books that circled around the protagonist like fairies sang in foreign languages.

The song would be sung in different languages in each country that had a large share of the global movie market.

It was a kind of fan service.

On the other hand, there was a plan to send out a separate version called ‘international version’ to the United States and other countries.

And choosing the song that would be included in that version was exactly what they were doing now.

“Hmm…”

But their expressions were not bright.

They wanted to find a song that would suit the atmosphere of various countries, including the United States, but there was not much that fit.

Most of them had a strong color of that country.

It might not seem so important to have a song for one short scene, but as a musical movie, the production team of Nostalgia put a lot of effort into every sound.

‘What should I do…’

The list of remaining songs was getting smaller and smaller, but there was no suitable candidate.

Without saying anything else, they drank water or beverages and waited for the last song.

“This is the last song. It’s from Korea.”

“Korea?”

“It’s from a singer called The New Black.”

“Oh.”

Director Edwards nodded.

He had seen the face of the K-pop singer last month when he had a video meeting.

“Korea is one of the major countries, right? Why did you put this off until the end?”

“It’s a bit long.”

“Long?”

“Yes, they sent two versions… one is the highlight part, and the other is the full version that’s over three minutes.”

“…?”

“They said to pick the part you like.”

The lead actor and the music director frowned at the words that they sent a full version that was over three minutes.

But soon they nodded.

It was strange, but not a bad thing. They could cut it and use it as they pleased.

“Let’s listen to it.”

At the words of Director Edwards, the song was played.

And then.

“…”

“…”

Exactly three seconds.

Their backs, which had been slouching, straightened up, and their eyes, which had been dull, opened wide.

They looked at each other and smiled brightly.

‘This is it…!’

Director Edwards swallowed his saliva.

A song that would be included in the Korean version, but also worthy of being included in the international version, had appeared.

A perfect song that matched the overall atmosphere of the movie.

‘It feels like the fairies are popping out.’

It was a lovely song, as if the books that surrounded the protagonist sang like fairies.

It also matched the scene that they had watched dozens of times.

‘Amazing.’

Rupert Dean admired.

‘How did they make it so perfectly fit, when they only heard the description of the movie scene?’

A person across the Pacific Ocean made a song that matched so well with just imagination.

It was a song like a tree where fairies danced under the star-filled Milky Way.

‘I’m curious. Who is this person?’

The lead actor showed curiosity.

‘I don’t know who made this song, but they must be great. I should search for them later.’

Rupert imagined a beautiful artist with a noble character in his head.

Of course, the price he was talking about was playing with the members and eating dumplings in Korea at the same time.

“How do you all like it?”

After the song ended, the director asked for their opinions, and they all agreed unanimously.

“Let’s go with this one.”

“It took us until the very end to find a song like this. I can’t imagine any other song that would fit better.”

“I agree.”

The three of them smiled brightly and nodded. They had finally found the right candidate after listening to dozens of songs.

But they soon faced a new dilemma.

“It’s not hard to cut and use it.”

Director Edwards said.

“We just need to trim the parts we need and use them. But after listening to the full version…”

“It’s too good to waste, isn’t it?”

“Exactly. I was wondering why they sent us a song that’s over three minutes long, but this one had to be like that.”

Music director Sarah Bloom also nodded.

“The sound is amazing. The engineers must have worked their hardest to polish it. They must have hired quite a few people.”

That was true.

“Anyway, I agree with the idea of keeping the full version, John.”

“So do I.”

After they reached a consensus.

They soon started a meeting on how to best utilize the full version.

When the meeting was over after several hours.

“What about this?”

The idea that John Edwards came up with made the other two nod their heads repeatedly.

It was a good idea.

After they made a concrete plan, John Edwards smiled and clapped his hands.

“Well, then, shall we contact Korea?”

The producing team staff were bewildered by the sudden situation.

“A Hollywood musical movie…?”

“Yes.”

“Woojoo, your song is going to be used almost in its full version?”

“Yes. Isn’t that great?”

Woojoo nodded with a flushed face.

The producing team staff also cheered with happy expressions.

“Congratulations!”

“Wow, that’s awesome. Way to go, Woojoo!”

“Thank you.”

Woojoo smiled awkwardly at the praise. Then he coughed.

“Ahem…”

As the atmosphere calmed down, Woojoo opened his mouth.

“But there are a few things we need to change.”

“Like what?”

“They asked us to change the lyrics to English. Not the Korean version, but the international version.”

“Oh, I see.”

“But if we change the lyrics, the tone will change too, so we need to adjust it again.”

“…”

They felt it.

This was work.

Unconsciously, they looked at the door that was opening, and Junghyun, who came in with his arms crossed, looked like the gatekeeper of hell.

And the three miserable dogs sitting in front of him looked like a three-headed Cerberus.

“Let me briefly explain…”

Woojoo smiled brightly.

“I thought we had no work.”

“…”

“We did.”

It was a splendid summary.

On an afternoon when the album work and concert arrangement work had just finished.

‘We hit the jackpot.’

‘Hahaha!’

‘I’m happy. It’s a happy thing.’

The PDs of the producing team looked at the ceiling and smiled brightly.

After they gave the new work to the producing team.

“Phew…”

The music video of ‘Nine’ had surpassed 7 million views on Thursday morning, the fourth day.

Freezing, they called it.

When the views suddenly skyrocketed, YouTube would temporarily freeze the views and wonder, ‘What’s up with this kid?’

I heard that our music video for Nine had been frozen several times.

It was because of the word-of-mouth among the overseas fans, who made the views skyrocket repeatedly.

That’s why the views that were clearly four million a few hours ago suddenly became five million.

“I still can’t believe it.”

“Do you think the director is doing this?”

The youngest raised the conspiracy theory of Yoon Seokhwan.

“Maybe this screen is fake. Maybe the director is typing numbers in his office to make us happy.”

“Then what about the freezing?”

“The director needs a break too.”

The manager hyungs burst into laughter at Jiho’s hypothesis, which had some persuasive power despite being absurd.

We also laughed along, while Junghyun looked excited.

“Alright, let’s get ready to get off.”

At my words, the brothers unbuckled their seat belts one by one.

Rumble-

The door opened and Wonseok hyung got off, followed by us with bright smiles on our faces.

“Hello!”

We waved our hands at the dozens of camera lenses that were aimed at us.

We shook hands with some people who took off their masks, and greeted them with smiles, as well as the phone cameras.

“Bijoo!”

When our kid almost ran off to a different direction by himself, I grabbed him and dragged him like a parent, which made everyone laugh.

We had a hard time at the handball court too, whether it was Junghyun, me, or the other kids.

Bijoo still didn’t know why his hair turned red before the concert, because it was easy to find out.

We passed through the glass door and laughed like fools with the brothers.

“Why does it seem like there are more cameras every time we go?”

“Right?”

This place was the K-Net building in Sangam-dong.

We were walking down the hallway with light steps, looking forward to our first comeback on the music show.

“Hello!”

Every time we bowed to the people passing by, the tired staffs of the broadcasting station greeted us with a smile for a moment.

And there was something unexpected.

‘That person is smiling…’

‘They can smile too.’

The staff who usually greeted us with a frown when we came to K-net smiled and said ‘hello’ as they passed by.

They were the same person who greeted us with a ‘what do you want’ expression when we came for Baramkkot.

It must have been because of the home run we hit this time.

The digital song for Nine, which was released on Monday, was currently maintaining the first place on the daily chart for three consecutive days.

It was also staying at the top of the real-time chart.

We didn’t know how our song sounded in the outside world, but we heard Nine on the radio on the way here.

-This is a refreshing song that will clear your stuffy chest. The new song of New Black, Nine!

As we recalled the comment we heard on the radio, we unpacked our luggage with the staffs in the large waiting room.

“Wow, it’s bigger.”

“We can practice our choreography here, right?”

“It’s nice to have more space. Hey.”

We smiled contentedly as we watched the staffs joking and unpacking in the spacious waiting room.

The stylists hung the stage costumes on the hanger, while we fixed our clothes.

We had a pre-recording for the stage later, but we had a content shooting before that.

The music show on K-Net had a lot of mini games and other contents besides the stage.

Today’s content was a corner where we exchanged songs with other singers and learned about each other’s songs.

“Ahem…”

I cleared my throat and asked the brothers.

“Shall we go?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s not be nervous.”

They all nodded seriously.

My heart was pounding as I thought of the scary people we would meet in a few minutes.

The lawless teenagers of Jilpoongnodo, who made us feel scared with their intimidating words and actions.

We passed a few doors and looked at the paper that said ‘Teen Spirit’ on the front of another waiting room.

Knock knock.

-Who is it?

I whispered in a stern expression at the rough voice.

“It’s us… New Black…”

The brothers behind me started to laugh silently.

Soon the door opened wide, and chubby-faced boys appeared.

They had expressions full of complaints about the authority, school, society, and so on, which made us shrink a little.

“…”

There was a moment of silence.

“Welcome.”

“…”

“We’ve been waiting for you.”

Twinkle twinkle.

The chubby faces smiled at the same time, showing their white teeth.