“Puhahahahaha!”

“Hahaha!”

“Hahahaha!”

As everyone burst into laughter, Bijoo egged on the maknae.

“Jinho, do that again. That thing.”

“This?”

“Yes, that.”

With everyone’s expectant eyes on him, the acting maknae cleared his throat and began to compose himself.

“Ahem ahem.”

Then he perfectly impersonated someone.

“Please give lots of love to our Souffle~.”

The kids laughed themselves silly.

I covered my face with both hands. If I died today, my gravestone should probably read [Sun Woo-joo, died of shame].

It hurt. My shame maxed out to the point I wanted to die.

“Wow, it’s exactly the same.”

Bijoo, wiping away tears from laughing so hard, made me feel betrayed.

“Bijoo, what’s exactly the same about it?”

“Huh? It’s totally identical......”

“No, from what I see it’s not the same at all—”

“You never notice yourself, hyung.”

The maknae chimed in.

“If it’s not the same, do you want me to show you a comparison? The Muon clip should be online by now.”

“No, no.”

“If you see it, you’ll want to do it even more.”

I grabbed the maknae’s phone, but it was useless. Junghyun in the seat beside me had already pulled up the video.

On the smartphone screen, amid the applause, the subtitle [1st place Something] appeared.

In the frame, I looked unbearably nervous. With full makeup my pale skin made my features stand out sharply.

Even I thought it looked decent, but that wasn’t the point.

My line, said with tears in my eyes.

–“We at Souffle will work hard from now on......”

As my juniors burst into laughter again, I lamented,

“How well I’ve treated you all this time.”

“Treated us well? Fold your clothes properly, mister.”

“Yeah. You do nothing but lie around, always saying ‘Jinho, get me some water.’”

Seizing the moment, I turned my brightest smile on the maknae.

“Our maknae, you had a lot of complaints about me, huh?”

“Yes, I really hated you. Always tormenting me, making me do chores.”

“I see. I’ve done a terrible wrong.”

“That’s right. Even now, if you’re sorry to me... ow!”

When the maknae flicked his forehead and clutched it, frowning, the members burst out laughing.

Rihyuk, as if savoring the moment, even took a picture.

While everyone laughed, I saw Junghyun next to me solemnly tapping the smartphone screen.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m saving the videos.”

Junghyun replied with a smile.

“These are all memories. We have to keep them on record.”

“No...... you don’t have to keep them.”

I’d already swallowed a lethal dose of shame, and these kids were hammering nails into my coffin.

Yoon Seok-hwan seemed to be enjoying the raucous atmosphere too.

I swept my hair back and said,

“Seok-hwan hyung.”

“What?”

“Can’t we cancel my contract? I want to get away from these ungrateful kids.”

“Woo-joo, endure for seven years.”

At Yoon Seok-hwan’s jest, the kids chimed in.

“Ah, where would you go?”

Bijoo laughed and draped an arm over my shoulder.

“We can’t do without you, hyung.”

“Yeah. Whose composition is this success thanks to?” 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

“And you say that knowing it.”

“Hey, it’s because we like you, hyung. Don’t you get it?”

Seeing the maknae cling to me, feigning annoyance, I couldn’t help but laugh. Somehow I understood how people felt about their pets. I’d be mad if they messed up my place while I was gone, but once they came back and acted cute, I’d forgive them in an instant.

Rihyuk saw my expression and chuckled.

“You’re like a grandpa whose mood is lifted by his grandkids’ antics.”

“Our Rihyuk sure has a way with words.”

“I know that.”

“I wish your heart were as pure as that face of yours.”

“There’s no one kinder than me.”

At that brazen line, Jinho’s expression soured.

“How can someone say that without a thick skin?”

“Shut up, King Jinho.”

“Is it even allowed to tell someone to shut up whenever it suits you?”

As the fourth- and fifth-ranking members of the hierarchy squabbled, the hyungs watched them with amused smiles. No, even the main vocal and sub-vocal—who were actually arguing—wore smiles on their lips. Overall, everyone was riding high. Perhaps this was the best day of our lives. It felt like a weight had been lifted from my chest. Every deep breath seemed to release pent-up tension, and the lukewarm breeze through the open window felt refreshing. Not {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} even billions of won could buy this feeling. The reward for all our hardship was truly sweet. After emerging from an invisible tunnel, seeing the light for the first time, how could anything fail to bring joy?

While I enjoyed the breeze, Junghyun held out his phone.

“Hyung, have you seen this?”

“What is it?”

He showed me the screen.

[NewBlack? Leader looks so natural]

He’d fit in anywhere

–What do you mean natural lol

–Are they crazy lololol

–When he sang, I only watched the guitar player’s face

–As a true vocal stan, I’ll start fangirling from today

Thanks to my 1st-place remarks, my face was a small topic online.

I clicked on a post about my acceptance speech.

–Was Jang Sowon always this pretty?

–Sowon unnie, save me...

–Not rookie-like, the live vocals were good, yeah

–I was eating ramen at home and burst out laughing lol so funny

Most reactions were favorable. Fortunately, the TNT fandom’s response—my biggest worry—wasn’t bad either.

–Oh, he’s the guy who took a picture with Taehyun lol

–I heard he almost debuted in TNT... must feel weird all around

–I’m still skeptical about the chart, but seeing them celebrating when our group’s announcement dropped, it seems to have worked out well

–It’s been a while since I saw Taehyun laugh like that lol they must be real friends

Even those who recently raged about chart manipulation were being kind. It must have been thanks to Taehyun posting photos on social media. No wonder the network kept asking to take more pictures. I had an inkling, but seeing it confirmed made me grateful.

I sent a message back on the number we exchanged earlier.

Han Tae-hyun [^^]

Han Tae-hyun [If you’re grateful, buy me a drink]

Han Tae-hyun [Oh right, you can’t drink]

Han Tae-hyun [Then buy me a meal]

Han Tae-hyun [Let’s get the B team together]

Han Tae-hyun [I’ll make a group chat soon haha]

While typing a rough reply, a strange feeling washed over me. Fifth-year idol Han Tae-hyun. The guy who was even less perceptive than Jinho five years ago had become so quick-witted through his entertainment career. I wondered if our naive maknae would one day change like that too.

Feeling my gaze, Jinho grinned.

“Why?”

“Huh?”

“Why are you looking at me so lovingly?”

“......”

I still have a long way to go.

When we snagged our first 1st place on MusicOn, I thought, I’m really lucky. Although our song kept hitting number one on streaming charts, I wondered if we could defend the top spot against senior groups backed by solid fandoms. I believed that if luck stayed with us, we’d be number one through week two before dropping. But reality went the opposite way.

–“Something”’s wild sprint, three consecutive music show wins

–Rapper Hayson’s comeback, will it end “Something”’s reign?

–Breathtaking March song battle, “Something” is the ultimate victor

Four crowns on music shows. On the three terrestrial stations and music-specialty channels, we clinched first place three weeks in a row. It was unbelievable. Who could have imagined? That a collaboration between an unknown idol and an unpopular singer would top charts in March, when streaming competition is fiercest. It was beyond surprising—it was absurd. For those uninterested in entertainment, weekly music show wins might mean nothing, but for rookie NewBlack it was a phenomenal result. And we felt the impact daily. Suddenly we had schedules. Since the music shows aired, small booking requests poured in everywhere. Some were local festivals featuring potatoes or sweet potatoes I’d never heard of; others were music festivals with recognizable names. But the majority were university events. In preparation for end-of-April college festivals, universities moved quickly to book a live performance of Something. The theme of Something was “some,” the topic college students on SNS cared about most. One music critic even analyzed that Something’s success came from being the first to capture the public theme of “some.” With a relatable topic and addictive melody, Something was set to be the biggest hit of early 2014. Currently the hottest song on campuses was Something. In this environment where every school wanted us, a tense rivalry over Jang Sowon and NewBlack was inevitable. The competition was so fierce that when I heard event fees through Seok-hwan hyung, I couldn’t close my mouth. Startled, Junghyun gripped his can and sprayed soda everywhere, then explained to us cleaning the floor:

“Usually there’s an agency that arranges events. They grade acts like beef. They check how many times you’ve won music shows, where your streaming chart ranks, your recent buzz metrics, then assign tiers. That’s how important music show wins are. Even Scarlet probably doubled their event fee right after hitting number one.”

Yoon Seok-hwan added with a smile,

“You’re popular now, right? Enjoy it while you can. You won’t be able to maintain it, and you shouldn’t.”

His words weren’t sweet talk but a realistic congratulations. Popularity you can’t maintain and shouldn’t maintain. He wasn’t wrong. Our monthly chart-topper status and three straight music-show wins were miracles we might never replicate. For a singer, an album is like a sports match. Just because you were MVP in one game doesn’t guarantee you’ll be MVP in the next. It’s like independent trials learned for the CSAT. A past success doesn’t ensure the next outcome. Something’s popularity was the song’s popularity. From the start, it wasn’t NewBlack’s fame to sustain. So the reason it’s a popularity you shouldn’t maintain is...

–It was all thanks to Jang Sowon lol she was originally a singer-songwriter. The rookie group was just tagging along.

–On music shows NewBlack only comes out for harmonies, except the main vocal.

–No clue why they’re even there.

–It’s adult business lol what do kids know.

–I heard she co-wrote one track.

–In interviews they said it was joint composition.

–That’s Sowon speaking nicely lol honestly what composing does an idol do? The company’s producers do it all.

–Their music success made them rush out even before debut, you can tell..

–Isn’t it that they didn’t practice enough? lol

Even the comments I saw online said that. Our popularity relied on senior Jang Sowon. Most schedules were like that. When event offers came under Sowon’s name from Hwa-i Ent, our management team would share them. All the March schedules—magazine photo shoots and interviews with Sowon, plus most events booked—followed that. Even if someone first contacted us, it was always, “The condition is we appear only if Jang Sowon accompanies us.” What Yoon Seok-hwan meant by popularity you shouldn’t maintain was this: it was never NewBlack’s popularity to begin with. Saying it aloud felt strange. We were insanely popular now, yet it wasn’t our popularity? Of course, someone else might call it a spoiled complaint. We’d be grateful for this level of attention before debut. The members seemed satisfied too. Their happy faces each day were enough to fill me. Still, I felt it wasn’t enough. If the tide’s rising, you row harder, right? This was our chance to cement NewBlack’s first image. I didn’t want the five of us, minus Rihyuk, to be remembered as mere props. I wanted people to see that we had talent as singers.