In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe - Chapter 117:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 117

The reason Woojoo chose Jiho as his partner for the so-called Pig Song project was simple.

“It’s because of you that I dreamed of going to a masquerade ball. I thought it would be better to hear from the person who came up with that idea if I wanted to put an image into the song.”

“I shot myself in the foot.”

“Shot yourself in the foot? That’s a weird expression, um… it’s more like winning the lottery.”

“Lottery?”

“The lottery of working with me.”

 

“…”

It had been a long time since Jiho looked at him with such disbelief.

“And you were jealous whenever Junghyun or Rihyuk worked on a song with me.”

“I never did that.”

Jiho shook his head.

“I’m always living happily. I’m satisfied with my role as the youngest.”

“Really?”

Woojoo tilted his head and asked, “That’s strange. I’m sure you said that at McDonald’s while eating fries. ‘When the Hyungs are preparing for the year-end evaluation, or singing, or composing, I don’t have anything to do and just stay in the back.’”

“…You remember that?”

“I don’t ignore what you guys say and keep it all in mind.”

“…”

“So don’t try to run away and have fun working with me.”

Woojoo grabbed the guy who was turning his chair towards the door and pulled him back to the monitor.

He looked nervous as Woojoo loaded the composing program.

Jiho looked like a kidnapped hostage and Woojoo couldn’t help but laugh.

“Jiho, why are you so scared?”

“I keep thinking of Junghyun Hyung and Rihyuk Hyung.”

“What about them?”

“They had nightmares after working with you.”

“…”

“I saw Junghyun Hyung having a nightmare for the first time. He was thrashing around and almost fell off the second floor of the bed. And at the night sea, Rihyuk Hyung was mumbling curses in his sleep.”

“Was it that hard?”

“I’m telling you, their dark circles were no joke.”

Woojoo didn’t really remember.

He was the type to focus on one goal and run towards it, so he was neglectful of the surroundings.

Was it that hard to work with him?

Woojoo thought of Fireworks and Night Sea.

-Junghyun, how was it? It was fun, right?

-Well… but, Hyung. I saw on TV that this kind of creative work should be done alone.

-Hmm.

-Rihyuk. You worked hard.

-…

-Hmmm.

The youngest nodded his head as he watched Woojoo’s changing expressions.

And then Woojoo spoke to the camera.

“Please edit this out, PD-nim.”

“No way. You have to keep this in. And also add a caption like ‘The evil boss who exploits his younger siblings’.”

“Hey, I have an image to maintain too.”

“Then think of your image and do something like ‘The old man who torments children’… Oh! Look at this, this Hyung is a murderer!”

Anyone would think he was hitting the kid.

Woojoo grabbed his cheek and stretched it out, and he was speechless in front of the camera.

Woojoo also looked at the camera and said, “Some of the other siblings seem to have scared the youngest with weird stories, but everyone, today I will show Jiho how fun composing is.”

“Woojoo Hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you let go of my hand now? I won’t run away anymore.”

“Not yet.”

Woojoo smiled brightly at the camera.

 

After finishing the talk for the reality segment, they immediately started working.

The point Woojoo focused on was the color of the song.

If the debut song Fireworks was a song that introduced the color of the group New Black to the fans, this time Woojoo wanted to show more of the individual colors.

Especially this time, the focus was on the youngest, who came up with the idea of a masquerade.

“What kind of music do you like? I don’t really have a preference. I listen to what my friends listen to or what’s popular these days. I usually play Mango Chart 100 on random and have fun.”

“Why do I like games? There’s nothing special about it. It’s fun to spend money and it’s just fun. Are there people who don’t like games?”

“My favorite color is red! There’s no reason for that either. Red is hard to pull off unless you’re really handsome. That’s my special feeling? That’s why I like pink too. Hyung… But what does this have to do with this song?”

It had something to do with it.

What Woojoo intended for this song was to show one of the colors that their group had.

If Fireworks was a mix of everyone’s colors harmoniously, this time it was about highlighting each color.

To do that, Woojoo needed to understand the members.

Right now, he wanted to make a song that showed his color well, with the youngest as the main character.

It was just a matter of timing, but Woojoo had been thinking about it for a long time.

New Black was a group activity.

That was why he wanted their Soufflés to like all of them, not just individual members.

But Woojoo had been getting too much attention lately.

From the Music Cafe to now.

There was a time when this happened.

Woojoo was looking at the posts on the fan cafe, and the board was full of ‘Woojoo’.

It was equal to the sum of the posts of the other siblings.

Woojoo felt a chill in his chest when he saw that.

It was a bad sign.

From his experience of watching senior singers since he was a trainee, it was not a good sign when one member’s personal fans grow disproportionately.

If things went wrong, the fandom could fight and cause trouble from the rookie days.

Woojoo really didn’t want that kind of atmosphere.

What he wanted was not his personal success, but the success of our group that he belonged to.

That was why his goal was to make the other members get attention through this track.

That was also why he accepted the album producing offer from Director Jo Gyuhwan.

But this time…

“Jiho.”

“Yes.”

“Where are you going?”

“…I’m going to drink some water.”

“There’s a water dispenser inside. Why are you going outside? Drink it inside.”

“I want to drink something warm.”

“There’s hot water too.”

“Now that I think about it, my throat feels a bit sore, so I’m going to get a tea bag too.”

“Oh, a tea bag?”

“Yes.”

“Open the second drawer. Bijoo sorted them by type. There’s also honey that Grandpa Kang Moonsik gave us, so drink it with honey if your throat hurts.”

“…”

Woojoo looked at the youngest, who made a ‘ㅠㅠ’ emoticon with his face, and continued his thoughts.

How could he make his charm 100 percent alive on stage?

Jiho’s skills are decent.

No, he was good.

He used to cry and say, ‘I don’t know how to do anything! Waaah!’ But that was only because he was behind them, not because he was bad. If he went to another group, he would be more than enough to be called an ace.

He was what they called a balanced type.

He could dance and sing without any flaws, and above all, his visuals were amazing.

He would be liked by people even if he just stood still.

But it was hard to get attention with just dance or song.

If Woojoo put him in the center while Bijoo and Woojoo dance on both sides, he would be stressed out and couldn’t handle it.

He guessed he had to give him some impact in the bridge section that connected the second and third verses.

…Should he try to highlight his facial expressions?

Woojoo clicked the mouse as he thought.

He played each section and closed his eyes, imagining it in his head.

The stage of PBS public hall.

Jimmy-jib cameras moving on both sides, and the main camera set in front of them. The scene of them standing with their siblings.

Woojoo left the performance part alone and started to plan for each part.

But then.

“Hmm.”

“What’s wrong?”

Woojoo asked the youngest, who was gulping down peppermint tea next to him.

“I think I need to paint the color first. And adjust the overall tone of the song.”

He tilted his head and Woojoo recalled the color that was designated as theirs in the first album.

Of course, the color he thought of was red.

***

-‘Bijoo Hyung’ invited ‘Jiho’.

Bijoo [Jiho]

Bijoo [Are you feeling very upset?]

Jiho [I don’t know]

Jiho [Everyone left me]

-Jiho left the chat room.

-‘Junghyun Hyung’ invited ‘Jiho’

Junghyung Hyung [hi]

Jiho [Don’t invite me]

-Jiho left the chat room.

-‘Junghyun Hyung’ invited ‘Jiho’

Junghyun Hyung [hi]

Jiho [Stop it]

Junghyun Hyung [hi]

Bijoo [Jiho, I want to help you but I’m in a lesson right now]

Jiho [Junghyun Hyung too?]

Junghyun Hyung [no no I’m done]

Junghyun Hyung [good job]

Jiho [wow]

Jiho [wowow]

Jiho [I’m so disappointed]

Jiho [And why doesn’t Rihyuk invite me?]

Rihyuk [ㅋ]

Rihyuk [Why would I invite you?]

Rihyuk [Try being a rookie actor like us and meet someone who cares about you]

Rihyuk [You should go outside and get some cold wind to know what hardship is tsk tsk]

Jiho [yeah genius]

Jiho [f you]

Rihyuk [f you f you f you f you]

Jiho [f you x 200]

Jiho put down his phone.

Then he looked at the person sitting on the studio table with his chin propped up.

Woojoo was staring at the screen as if he was going to pierce it.

He thought he was an amazing Hyung.

It had been two hours already.

He didn’t drink a sip of water, and he was either lost in thought or suddenly clicking the mouse like crazy, or playing the synthesizer keyboard and stroking his chin.

He remembered the chocolate factory he had seen in a movie.

He felt like there were Oompa Loompas running around in his Hyung’s head, operating machines he couldn’t understand.

And then he would make a bunch of songs like that.

“Jiho.”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to listen to this? Which one do you think is better? I’ll play you Version A and Version B.”

“Um… I think B is better. It has a more stylish vibe?”

“Okay.”

Sometimes, when Jiho was distracted and gave a half-hearted answer, he would notice it like a ghost.

“What’s better?”

“A.”

“They were both the same version.”

“…”

“You have to focus, Jiho.”

“Wow, please put this on the show. He even dug a trap and did that.”

Honestly, Jiho didn’t understand how this kind of selection helped.

At first, that was.

But as he listened to the changing song, he felt something different.

Familiarity? Comfort?

The song itself felt like it fit him perfectly.

It was like watching a tailor-made suit being made at a custom tailor shop in real time.

Woojoo smiled at Jiho, who opened his eyes wide after listening to the final version.

“How is it?”

“It feels completely different from before. How did you do this, Hyung?”

“Well… Like in the first album, your symbol is red, right? So I painted the song with color.”

Painting with color?

He explained for Jiho, who tilted his head.

“Everyone feels differently, but sound has color too. For example, when the sound moves like this.”

Woojoo tapped the keyboard of the synthesizer. His long fingers moved gracefully from high to low.

“Can you see the color getting darker? Even if it’s the same color, it’s deeper, and it feels a bit bluish.”

“…”

“Um, if you don’t understand well, I’ll explain it with instruments instead of scales.”

He played the sound of another instrument on the computer.

He clicked a few buttons and a pleasant flute sound came out.

“Well, this is a sound we won’t use in our music, but it’s a flute sound, right? The sound is very clear and faint, right? It reminds me of a clear sky.”

“…?”

“And this drum sound is white or black. When the drum sounds, it feels like black dots are spreading on a white background, right?”

Jiho blinked his eyes as he listened to his serious explanation.

Sound had color?

It sounded ridiculous, but he seemed to see the color in front of his eyes and described it vividly.

Then he remembered the past.

When he made Something, he closed his eyes for 10 minutes and said he knew what to do, or he tapped the car window with his fingers rhythmically and said, ‘Ah, I can make a beat with this’ and hummed a melody along with it.

As Jiho thought about it, he remembered what the other Hyungs said when they came back from working with Woojoo.

-Woojoo Hyung is really… weird.

Junghyun nodded his head as if there was no better expression, and Rihyuk also stuck out his tongue and said.

-Really, he’s a born musician.

When Jiho heard that, he laughed it off as if he was Mozart, but now that he saw him work closely, he felt like he knew why they said that.

As Woojoo explained, Jiho glanced at the camera.

Even the same members found it a bit strange, and he wondered what kind of reaction the fans would have when this came out on the broadcast later.

***

That day, the work that he had made the youngest do was finished smoothly.

At first, he was a guy who looked bored and miserable, but at some point, Woojoo felt that the way he looked at him changed.

He looked starry-eyed.

Woojoo didn’t understand exactly, but anyway, he started to talk more from some point.

-It would be nice if that part was a little shorter. Yes, if you make it short, you can quickly hit and enter when you perform.

-If you think that Bijoo Hyung stands in the center in the chorus, the sound can be a little higher than that.

Thanks to his suggestions like that, the work was done smoothly except for the title.

If it was like this, he thought he could show the finished product to the A&R team right after Chuseok.

The November comeback was the goal, so the schedule was relaxed.

Meanwhile, the beginning of September passed like a flash.

In the entertainment industry, the babies who appeared in the parenting entertainment were receiving the love of the whole nation, and there were many incidents and accidents.

Especially, a famous actor was exposed to have made a marijuana farm in Gyeonggi-do with a gangster, and it was noisy, rising to the social side.

In addition, the list of celebrities who received marijuana was revealed, causing a great shock to the entertainment industry.

It was such a big incident that it caused a lot of waves, but New Black was calm.

Most of them were people they had never met and only seen in pictures, and their interest was in Around the World With Dice, which would be broadcast soon.

“Will it come out well?”

The day before Chuseok.

As usual, Woojoo ate bulgogi for lunch and held an ice cream in his hand, and it was an alleyway to go to the company.

Woojoo answered Junghyun’s question.

“It will come out well.”

“Um, I just thought of it, but it might look weird to roll around with a black goat.”

“You’re thinking of that now, that’s amazing.”

“I’m amazing, aren’t I?”

“Woojoo Hyung is teasing you, Junghyun.”

“Ah.”

As Rihyuk scolded him, Junghyun shrugged his shoulders and said, “Anyway, my parents will watch it with their relatives, so I can’t be embarrassed.”

“But you saved the life of a child, Hyung.”

“That black goat was eight years old. The lifespan of a black goat is usually 12 to 15 years, so it’s middle-aged if you think of it as a person.”

“Then let’s say you saved the life of a middle-aged person.”

They decided to do that with Woojoo’s summary. The story went in a weird direction, but it was their usual conversation.

Bijoo said regretfully, “I wish I could watch TV with my parents on the holiday, but it’s a shame.”

“Me too.”

“Well, we can watch it together anyway. We are also a fa…”

As they turned their eyes to Rihyuk’s words, his ears turned red.

He answered with a cough.

“I’m going.”

As he said that, he walked ahead of them. They laughed among themselves, watching him go.

He was about to say ‘family’, wasn’t he?

Well, it wasn’t so bad to spend this holiday with just them.

Zzzz-

Woojoo told his siblings to go ahead, and followed them with a smile on my face.

“Hello. This is Seon Woojoo, the professional happiness consultant who always brings happiness to the customers~ Kim Deoksoon.”

-You’re sick.

“Ah, really.”

Woojoo frowned.

“You should appreciate this kind of thing.”

-You should be more sincere. Who would like it if you use such a weird voice?

“Our fans love it.”

-Sigh, they are weird too. What’s so good about a guy who only has a decent face?

Woojoo lowered the volume a few notches, seeing the siblings in front of him biting their lips to hold back their laughter.

Anyway, her voice was so loud, their lady Kim Deoksoon.

“Why did you call me all of a sudden, Grandma?”

-What do you mean why? It’s the day before Chuseok, so I called. Oh, can’t a grandma call her grandson?

“It’s just that your tone is strange.”

-What is?

“It’s the tone you use when you’re hiding something.”

-I don’t know. Nothing like that.

…That was what she said, but something felt off.

As Woojoo thought about it, he entered the company building. The door opened with a beep as he scanned his key card.

-So where are you now?

“Well, I’m on my way to practice with the kids.”

-Oh, is that so.

The younger ones were playing among themselves in the basement hallway, as if they were considerate of his phone call.

They walked while dancing, and whenever someone pointed a finger at one of them, they would take over and dance.

When Jiho, who was dragging his body, pointed at Bijoo, Bijoo danced lightly and pointed at Woojoo.

Woojoo also danced while holding the phone and went into the practice room.

It was when the younger ones laughed at his ridiculous break dance.

“Grandma.”

“What.”

…Huh?

Woojoo turned his head sharply at the sound of a loud voice from a corner of the practice room.

At that moment, his whole body stiffened.

“…”

Their members’ families were gathered on the wall side of the practice room, looking at them.

Mrs. Kim Deoksoon clicked her tongue, looking at Woojoo frozen in the same pose as he danced.

“Did you come.”

“…”

His eyes were wide open.

…Why was Grandma here?