The fansign venue.

Every time a Street Boys member entered one by one, cheers rang out from the fans.

‘Namu! Today you’re a flower tree!’

‘How is my boy’s name literally Han Hyunjo...’

‘Giwon is cute again today.’

They smiled fondly, snapped photos, and enjoyed the members’ adorable faces— but only for a moment.

After the singers entered, a five-member group toddled in behind them, and everyone burst into laughter.

They came in looking self-conscious, like people entering a place they shouldn’t be.

From NewBlack, shuffling in with long spider-legs steps, you could feel the vibe of “please pretend you didn’t see us.”

“It’s NewBlack!”

“New-ha!”

Fans, mischief triggered, even shouted the MeTube chant “New-ha!” to welcome them.

“Hello-o-o...”

Seeing NewBlack’s timid greeting, the Street Boys members who were drinking water cackled.

Concretes’ gazes shifted to NewBlack for a moment.

‘They really are handsome.’

They were faces you sometimes ran into offline when Street Boys were out on schedules.

But they’d only ever watched from a distance near the stage. It was the first time they were seeing NewBlack this close.

‘His head is the size of a pebble. Mine’s a rock...’

‘So that’s why people call him Spaceship, Spaceship.’

‘Biju’s real-life visuals are sharp as a knife.’

Even members who usually looked round and soft thanks to their leader were, in person, almost blade-sharp in their features.

Seeing Ri Hyuk with his chin slightly raised made them think, was he always that handsome?

A fan who’d been gazing dreamily at NewBlack’s main vocal let her eyes come to rest on LB, seated in his chair.

“...”

She clenched her fist.

‘It’s fine! Namu is cuter!’

Maybe sensing that kind of look, the Street Boys tilted their heads askew.

They turned to the fans with a “what, why, what” sulky expression, and the fans returned a “so what are you gonna do about it” sulky face.

Then laughter burst out.

In a mood where the warm bond between singers and fans was palpable, Hanjo took the mic.

“Hello, everyone. We sincerely welcome you to today’s fansign.”

“Wooooo~!”

“Sad it’s only this? We’re sad too. We wish we could do music shows and fansigns every day.”

Joking around, Hanjo turned his head and looked at Wooju, who held his hands together.

“Chief Ju, please book us more music shows next time.”

As Wooju made an OK sign and laughter spilled out, the Concretes started murmuring.

“Chief?”

“Chief Ju?”

The fans tilted their heads, wondering what kind of bit this was, and the Street Boys explained the whole story.

Everyone burst into laughter at the name Ju Sunu.

‘I’m telling the Souffle side about this later.’

Their mouths already itched.

It felt like they were watching the upcoming Lunar New Year special variety together with the fansign, which others would only get to see later on TV.

Stanning and variety at once—two birds with one stone.

“Then should we, instead of just our comments, also hear briefly from the managers~?”

“Yes!”

When the Street Boys went to pass the mic, NewBlack widened their eyes and waved both hands.

Hanjo approached with the mic, and Wooju went don’t come, go over there, as they squabbled.

Then, newly “transformed,” Chief Ju Sunu immediately put on a gentle smile.

“Hello, everyone.”

“It’s Spaceship!”

At someone’s shout, big laughter rolled through.

“Spaceship, you say. I’m Chief Ju Sunu.”

“Eeeeeeh—!”

“Yes, as a newly appointed manager, it’s truly nice to meet the fans. Since we’ve entered this sacred fansign as uninvited guests...”

The boss and his minions smiled.

“We won’t be extra.”

“We’ll stay still.”

“Please think of us as inanimate objects. We know exactly how precious fansign time is...”

At their promise to stay as quiet as possible, since every minute and second of a fansign is precious, the fans burst into laughter.

“Alright. Then let’s begin.”

And so began a curious fansign where NewBlack observed and Street Boys signed.

At the same time,

laughter was breaking out all over online spaces where idol fans gathered.

“[Spaceship’s new nickname revealed]

He says he’s Chief Ju Sunu.

Claims to be the 47th-generation descendant of the Naju Ju clan.”

“lololololololololol”

“I’m dying lolol”

“He’s hooked again”

“Wooju never stops at verse 1 or 2, he goes to verse 58”

“His thing is that he does all 58 verses well”

“lololol but I’m so jealous.. a truly rich fansign where you see your idol and also variety”

“I want to go too TTT”

That kicked off real-time fansign liveblogs.

“[LB bursts into tears at the fansign.twt]

[email protected]_Tree

[170122] Our Namu TTTTT moved to tears by a fan’s ment

(a photo of LB with tear-glossy eyes, and behind him, the NewBlack members tearing up too.jpg)

“What are you doing back there lololol”

“I came in thinking it was a touching story and lost it lololololol”

“I was about to cry, then saw the teary five in the back and collapsed lolol”

“They look like spirits of the fansign”

“Fine... singers and fans... have become one... (disappears)”

“Why are you making the crying kids disappear lolol”

“Check another photo someone posted— hilarious lol they’re dabbing their eyes with tissues the fan manager handed them”

“Soft-hearted singers and even softer-hearted managers..”

“[Today’s fansign was a bit much]

Every time there was a touching ment, the managers got touched behind us too so I couldn’t focus lmao”

“Do they laugh when there’s a funny ment?”

“They love it”

“lololololololol”

“Kinda boosts my confidence like, wow, I’m actually this funny”

“lol that must be hilarious— Street Boys fansigns are already famous as rowdy chaos parties”

“(gif of Street Boys dancing at a fansign with a blinking billboard app that says ‘Come over’)”

“An unforgettable fansign in many ways lol”

It felt like everyone was running a live variety show together in real time.

A weird situation where another first-tier, nationwide idol had wedged into a first-tier boy group’s fansign.

The atmosphere at the venue—where making eye contact alone was funny—spread to the internet as-is.

“[At our Street Boys fansign, we sing NewBlack songs.twt]”

A short video went up: Street Boys bouncing, NewBlack still dazed,

and Concretes following the Souffles’ fanchant perfectly.

“???: From now on, Nine is our song”

“In many ways, today makes me think there’s a reason Street Boys and NewBlack debuted the same year..”

“Didn’t you say Street Boys have more introverts lol”

“They’re the type who are timid alone but become power extroverts with friends”

“This is why I don’t believe MBTI lol”

“What the... why are they so good at the fanchant lol”

“(gif of Junghyeon and Wooju lip-syncing a Street Boys song at an awards show) probably because they exchange songs as singers”

As the generally cheerful fansign wrapped, post-accounts started springing up.

“Hmmm...”

Manager Hong Seoyoung of the NewBlack TF Team and the PR staff, who’d been monitoring, smiled in relief.

“Looks good, doesn’t it? Maybe because they’re known for being close already.”

“Doesn’t seem like there’ll be any issues.”

Manager Hong smiled and closed her laptop.

They hadn’t really expected it, but they’d worried the mood might sour just in case.

Idol fandoms tend to be highly competitive and exclusionary, so they’d worried things might get chilly.

“I think... it’s because they’re not perceiving our boys as idols here. It feels like they’re watching variety.”

“There’s that saying— stan by day, secretly watch NewBlack TV by night.”

It seemed the result of NewBlack’s high public favor, their friendship with the singers, and the Street Boys fandom’s particular vibe.

In any case, it was a relief they had nothing to do from a PR standpoint.

After emailing Team Leader Yoon Seokhwan to report no issues, Manager Hong stretched.

‘Smooth. Smooth.’

These days, aside from the occasional incident where a plastic surgery ad company in China or Thailand illegally uses NewBlack’s image, there wasn’t much that required urgent PR intervention.

A situation any PR team dreams of.

She turned her laptop back on and logged into NewBlack TV.

“[Goblin MV]”

Goblin had surpassed 10 million views in less than half a day and the view count was still climbing fast.

‘...At this rate, it’ll hit a hundred million in a few months.’

Nine from ’15 hit a hundred million in six months.

Goblin looked set to break it in two to three months. And other songs’ views were rising too.

“Where is all this traffic coming from?”

“No idea.”

Another PR staffer spoke.

“I heard traffic from Southeast Asia is going crazy.”

“Southeast Asia?”

“Yeah. The alien family show blew up for real this time. And last year’s runs on the two big national varieties probably helped.”

It seemed countries that watch a lot of Korean variety were now sending traffic like mad.

Then another staffer said,

“Seems like there’s steady traffic from North America too. Even if we say it’s thanks to Hailey Blue, the Blue Moon MV itself drew a lot of attention. That one’s also at a hundred million.”

“Is that so...”

Listening to her colleagues’ guesses, Manager Hong turned her laptop to show them with a subtle look.

Music charts in Norway and Brazil.

Low rankings, but not in some hidden corner— on the main chart, “The New Black” was clearly written.

“Then what about countries like these?”

“...Beats me.”

“I can understand North America and Southeast Asia. But why are our boys’ songs in countries like Norway and Brazil...?”

“...”

“Isn’t that strange?”

It was a phenomenon she couldn’t interpret at all.

It looked like some giant flow, beyond their reach, was guiding NewBlack somewhere.

Like they were stuck to the back of a one-kilometer-long giant Souffle swimming slowly through the deep sea.

“Well. We’ll find out soon enough.”

It wasn’t a flow they could control anyway, so they put analysis on hold.

Soon they’d see visible results.

As they wrapped the meeting with that conversation, a call came in from an unfamiliar number.

“Hello.”

“Is this Manager Hong Seoyoung of the NewBlack TF Team?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, yes. Hello. This is Choi Jooncheol, assistant manager with the DNS Media PR Team.”

A DNS Media PR staffer introduced himself in a calm voice.

While she listened, wondering what needed coordination—

“I’m calling about the Inc appearance this time.”

“Sorry? Our boys?”

“No, no. I’m talking about Street Boys. Wooju secured an Inc appearance this time.”

“Excuse me?”

The Americano she’d been sipping backflowed through her nose and stung, but Manager Hong had no time to care.

“...What did our boy just do?”

“Ah.”

On the road after the fansign,

a text full of laughter from Manager Hong Seoyoung popped up.

The maknae stuck his head out.

“What is it?”

“I forgot to contact Manager Hong.”

“Ah.”

“She’s coordinating press releases with the DNS Media PR Team.”

Watching the TV station and two agencies scurry around on a Sunday evening made me think, as expected, nothing in this field is easy.

I checked my phone to track how things were progressing.

In the vehicle, the rap line members of Street Boys slept with their mouths open, snoring drrrrrrr.

“...The schedule was tough.”

Up since dawn for the pre-recording, then the live music show, then dancing at the fansign after.

I smiled at the members who looked about to collapse.

We usually handle similar schedules, so I empathized, but maybe because this time I was a manager, my feelings were odd.

“This really isn’t an ordinary job.”

“Right.”

The maknae yawned.

“Waiting is seriously hard too. And there’s so much to do...”

Even after just one day as managers, there were a hundred tasks.

After chatting quietly with Jiho about how we’d realized again how precious our manager hyungs are,

I spoke toward the mini-cam silently watching us.

“But we won’t forgive the hyungs.”

“They sold us out...”

Remember this, Souffles. Seo Mingi, Do Wonseok... I whispered to the ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) camera, and the vehicle pulled up at the dorm.

Street Boys, eyes like fish, hopped out of the vehicle shivering.

“Ugh, cold.”

As we all puffed white breath and shivered, the assistant director and the writer also got out.

“Thank you so much for today.”

“Oh no, not at all~!”

A chorus of “not at all~” went around. The assistant director hunched in his padded jacket, brrr, puffing breath.

“It’s really cold. Good work, everyone. Rest fully until tomorrow morning.”

“Yes!”

“We’ve cleared all the cameras in the dorm, so please relax.”

“Thank you for your hard work!”

We bowed to the station staff as they packed up, then all went whoaah! and headed into the villa lobby.

Like our own dorm, this place had good security.

“Good work today.”

“You too~”

As we traded those words and stood in front of the elevator, suddenly—“huh?”—we looked at each other.

A camera-free dorm.

Music show done, relaxed schedule for tomorrow.

Fourteen people left with no one else around.

“...!”

Junghyeon’s eyes went wide.

“It’s time.”

“It is. This is snack party time.”

“!”

We always said let’s all hang out, but it was the first time it had actually come together like this.

Fatigue vanished.

In an instant, excitement spread through our kids. Everyone wiggled their toes, waiting for the elevator.

“There’s no time.”

Ri Hyuk checked his watch.

“From now on, we have to save every single second to play.”

“Right.”

“Should we order food? Or make something?”

While Biju opened his notes app to search for good late-night snacks, the elevator arrived.

“Let’s get on!”

“Yes!”

Rumble-rumble-rumble.

“...”

Fourteen of us couldn’t cram in, so a few stepped back.

“Get the place set up first! No time!”

“Got it!”

We waved at Biju, who went up with the first party.

The next elevator arrived right away and we got on. My heart thumped without me noticing.

“This is like...”

“March is month three.”

At LB’s “Yo,” I signaled to the mint-choco crew with my eyes.

“Gyaaaaaa!”

I picked up the thread of my thoughts again.

This was exactly like getting permission in elementary school to sleep over at a friend’s house.

We’re playing. We’re playing tonight.

We looked at each other with thumping hearts and silly grins, and Ri Hyuk even high-fived Namu in delight.

“We’re playing tonight. Playing...”

“We’re playing...!”

“Finally, we’re playing!”

Excited, we hopped off the elevator and ran for the dorm.

We didn’t even have the presence of mind to hum the Love House BGM like usual— tarararan~— as we went in, prep was already in full swing.

In a living room about the same size as the first floor of our dorm, the grill was already set up.

“You’re here?”

“Waaaaaa!”

Mindful of the late hour, we all raised only our heels and clapped softly.

Focused on the cameras and shooting variety, we hadn’t realized we’d be given free time just for us like this.

Maybe because the feelings we should’ve felt all day were compressed into ten minutes—endorphins were spinning in my head.

“Pork belly!”

“Pork belly!”

Even grilling pork belly felt great.

Catching up on all the stories we’d put off was so much fun. Just chatting about our daily lives was a blast.

We ordered ice cream delivery and played a bit together with their game console.

“I have something to say!”

LB, tipsy on soda, raised his cup high.

“Tonight we’re really staying up all night!”

“Waaaaa!”

“Let’s really do this! The first person to fall asleep is a traitor!”

“Correct!”

“He speaks truth— burn him!”

“Kya-hahahaha!”

Amid clinking cola and soda bottles everywhere, we all made a pact.

“We’re staying up all night!”

“Go till the end!”

A few hours later.

“...”

“...”

When I opened my eyes a crack, shapes that looked like people were strewn across the dark living room.

Ah. Thirsty.

I opened a lukewarm soda bottle rolling nearby and wetted my throat a little.

“...Drrrrrrrr!”

I snickered at Rex’s outlandish snoring and lay back down.

...I’m dead.

Just a couple hours ago we were all bouncing, shouting let’s really play properly! and then when I came to, everyone had collapsed.

I must have closed my eyes from exhaustion without even noticing.

“...”

But who cleaned all this up?

Except for a single bottle that had rolled under the sofa, everything was cleared. Probably Ri Hyuk.

If he sees dust, he can’t sleep. He refuses to witness dust invading his bronchi.

“Good work, our fourth.”

I lightly tapped the leg of Ri Hyuk, who was dozing, sitting on the sofa.

“Mm?”

Come to think of it, he had a blanket on.

Only himself.

“...”

Smiling fondly, I rubbed my body on the warmed floor and was about to lie back down when—

Shuffle-shuffle-shuffle.

Something came crawling toward me like a cockroach.

Shuffle-shuffle.

I felt a shadow spread over me across my closed eyelids.

Like someone determined to give me a jump scare, someone using stealth reached a hand out—

“Heh-heh-heh...”

Sensing a hand approaching with a low laugh, I snapped my eyes open.

I popped up and grabbed the wrist with a chop.

“Peekaboo.”

“Kyaaa!”

Hanjo flinched hard. I raised my index finger to hush him and asked what he wanted.

“What?”

“Ah, crap, th- that startled me.”

“Sorry, but you don’t have a talent for jump scares.”

“No, it’s just...”

Hanjo forgot his words and stammered while people around us went huh and started to stir.

Our younger ones groaned and turned over.

Hanjo held up his phone to me.

“There’s news on the portal about Goblin’s first-week sales.”

At that moment—

“First-week...?”

“First-week...”

Sprong!

Sprong!

At the sight of my younger brothers’ torsos shooting upright like mummies released from a curse, Hanjo jumped out of his skin.