The news was that the “Dokkaebi” music video had just hit one hundred million views.

“Huh?”

My younger members and I looked at one another.

“Already?”

“Didn’t we release ‘Dokkaebi’ only recently? I think it dropped in January.”

“To be exact, January 16.”

About two months had passed since then.

60 days.

Hearing that the “Dokkaebi” MV had already reached one hundred million views left me dazed. More than joy, suspicion came first.

“Check it.”

We each grabbed our phones and pulled up the “Dokkaebi” MV on NewBlack TV.

[Views 100,017,251]

[2017.01.16]

Exactly 100,017,251.

Blinking at the date from two months ago printed beside it, I swallowed. It really was one hundred million.

The maknae stared at my phone, eyes wide.

“Uh—uh? This is weird. Wooju and I are seeing different numbers!”

Ri Hyuk tapped the refresh button with his fingertip.

“Oh? Now it’s the same.”

“You...”

“What?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing...”

While Ri Hyuk heaved deep sighs and gazed into the distance, we patted Jiho’s back.

He’s grown up well. That’s what matters.

After confirming the view count really had hit one hundred million, we checked the news on the portal.

— “Record-breaking views”... NewBlack’s “Dokkaebi” passes 100M

We’d known it would reach one hundred million. The company had told us the trajectory looked excellent.

But I hadn’t expected it to happen this fast.

Even in the best case, I thought it would be around May.

“Looks like the Kids’ Choice impact was real. And the choreography-video promotion we shot with the Tourism Board probably helped too.”

I nodded at Ri Hyuk’s comment.

He was right—there were several variables.

“Well.”

Whatever the reason, this was good news, so we decided to celebrate together.

“First things first—congrats. A day like this calls for a drink.”

“I’ll grab it.”

Junhyun poured grape juice from the fridge, one cup each, and we raised a toast.

The sweetness spread through my whole body.

We were dieting ahead of concept photos and MV filming, but honestly, when you hit one hundred million views, not drinking anything would be rude.

“Exactly.”

Biju smiled, pleased.

“Even on a diet, on a day like this you have to have a cup. Little joys matter too.”

“I agree with Kim Biju.”

“Honestly... we should drink a bit. It’s not even alcohol.”

At Ri Hyuk’s words, everyone’s expressions briefly darkened.

—I love you!

—Love you!

—I love my big bros more than anyone in the world! Hehehe!

—Oh my! Did you hear “big bros”? I can’t!

I averted my eyes and shook my head, letting the shameful memories flashing before me pass by.

“Let’s do a quick toast line.”

I lifted my half-finished paper cup again.

“Anyway, thank you, Souffle. Thanks to you, we’re having a drink.”

“Thank you~!”

Sending our gratitude to Souffle, who provided our daily beverage even during a diet, we downed the grape juice.

“Ahhh...”

“Mmm.”

When sugar is banned, liquid fructose tastes like honey.

A faint aftertaste blossomed on the tip of my tongue.

“Hyung.”

Junhyun spoke to me softly.

“About this juice. We should put it back in the fridge... right?”

“Right...”

“It really should go back... right?”

I could read the pleading in my younger members’ eyes.

Just one more sip.

Truly just one... single sip.

Those were the looks they were giving me—like it’d be awkward to say it themselves, begging the eldest to take the lead for them.

“...Still, having another cup just because isn’t a great look.”

The kids wilted.

“True.”

“Yeah. Gotta keep it together.”

“But that grape juice is calling my name. I feel like one more cup would be fine.”

I told them this:

“Then let’s see if we can find any more good news that would justify another cup.”

“...!”

Fingers started tapping-tapping at once, and the kids began shouting.

“After Kids’ Choice, ‘The New Black’ hit #1 on the search trends at a US search site!”

“Then we have to drink!”

“Turns out we hit our 1,000th day since debut a few days ago. We never celebrated that.”

“One more cup!”

“Our concert is next month!”

“A concert is legit.”

Hyped with the kids, we took one sip per piece of good news.

While I savored the lingering sweetness on my tongue, the numbers on the calorie label stuck to the empty bottle caught my eye.

“...”

“...”

Realizing the ultimate enemy of dieting is liquid fructose, we had to skip dinner that night.

While NewBlack sobbed dramatically at their own faces, which had turned into plump grapes,

Souffle were clapping and rejoicing.

First, the one hundred million news for “Dokkaebi.”

— Ahhh

— Lately I’m living on a NewBlack high

— gratz gratz

— Guinness should change its name to NewBlack Book

— omg

— Did the kids’ award show bring in more viewers??? It jumped from the 80-million range to 100M at warp speed

— Was it frozen and then released? It spiked again even past 100M

— This is insane lololol this is my artist, everyone @[email protected]

— The nation: hehe

The unbelievable news—one hundred million in just 60 days—had Souffle dancing jigs.

“Dokkaebi” MV’s trajectory was already insane.

It really did seem that kids’ award show had an effect.

Plus—

“‘Dokkaebi’ had what it needed to jump.”

Musically, it was a song foreigners could like, too.

To make the minor combo of Korean traditional sound and pop easy on the ears, we pushed for extreme easy listening.

[To be honest, during internal screenings the PDs on the producer team and I talked about this. Maybe the song’s a little plain. Maybe we’re going too easy.]

Wooju, the original composer, even said that on Y app—it was that easy.

Experts might find it a bit plain, but for the general public, it was just right.

A primal rhythm.

That seemed to fit foreign fans’ tastes, too.

In Korea, seniors and kids both liked it—so overseas was a given.

“Happy Max~ Happy Max~”

Humming and shoulder-dancing, Souffle logged into MeTube.

They were there to watch something.

They were thrilled about the “Dokkaebi” MV hitting one hundred million today, but the real reason for their happiness lay elsewhere.

[NewBlack’s Travel Diary Season II: Alcohol Is the New Black]

The reality clip fans nicknamed “Booze-Black.”

“Cute.”

On screen, the NewBlack members’ faces had turned rosy.

We’d suspected it from the moment Biju read his letter and sang “What If.” The members kept sipping beer.

Just when you started thinking they should probably stop—

[Huh? The Earth is spinning round and round!]

With milky-pale faces now flushed, the five cranes started dancing.

Through Souffle’s earphones came the staff’s nonstop laughter.

You could feel how much the staff adored the members.

Like a nature-observation show, reactions popped up at the bottom of the screen.

[Yikes. I can’t watch.]

[Ahhhhh!]

[Ugh, why am I like that. I’m a total nuisance.]

[You’re only realizing that now~? Aaaah!]

While the noisy maknaes caused a ruckus and the hyungs placed bets on who would win,

the bottom-right reaction window vanished, leaving only footage of the members wandering a dark beach.

Souffle burst out laughing.

“Idiots. Absolute idiots...”

“Idiot” was exactly the word for what followed.

“Oh no! Why is Earth spinning so fast? Ri Hyuk hyung! The Earth is spinning way too fast!”

“It can’t be helped! It spins at 1,300 km/h.”

“1,300 km/h? Then why does it feel faster?”

“You have to factor in orbital speed too. Whoa—hold on! Endure it!”

Laughter from the staff in the video overlapped with laughter from Souffle in real life. Members flailed on the sand and toppled over, huffing and puffing.

“Hold on!”

“Waaaaa!”

“I’ll help you.”

Still facedown, Junhyun clung tightly to the others, giving it everything he had.

With one hand he went “Hnnng!” and clutched the sand, and with the other he grabbed the members and thrashed.

A cut rolled in at the bottom showing Junhyun rubbing his temples.

“Hyung. I really can’t watch this.”

“It’s okay, Junhyun. I’m on next.”

With Wooju’s soothing voice, the footage shifted to the members calling for Wooju.

“Wooju!”

“Hyung!”

“Help! The Earth is spinning too fast!”

At that, Wooju, who’d been staring at the moon murmuring “Grandma” with a dazed face, snapped out of it.

“Get a grip, Sun Wooju!”

He slapped his own cheeks—smack, smack—then sprinted toward the kids and—fell...

Chop.

It looked like he was about to fall, but he executed two spinning rolls and landed on the sand.

Seeing their leader tumble like a gymnast under the moonlight, the members lit up.

“That’s our hyung! He came to save us!”

“No—he’s caught too.”

The babbling members flailed on the beach, begging for rescue.

“Hyung! Stop the Earth!”

“The Earth is too fast!”

Feeling the weight of that responsibility, Wooju’s expression turned solemn. His previously unfocused eyes suddenly sharpened—pow!

Wooju stretched out his hand.

“Earth! Stop!”

The staff exploded in helpless laughter.

Four people writhing on the sand and Sun Wooju thrusting out his palm yelling, “Stop!”

As Souffle howled at the sight of these adorable fools, it happened—

“Huh?”

“I—it stopped...!”

“As expected of Wooju. He stopped the Earth!”

While Souffle clapped and laughed, the members on the bottom screen covered their faces with their hands.

And then—

In the footage, Booze-Black began hugging one another.

“I love you.”

“Love you~ Love you~ I know I’m not enough for you~”

“As time goes by~”

Arms around shoulders, they sang a ballad and waved toward the Australian sea.

They showered the staff with hugs, too.

They grabbed the hands of the new managers and, with tears in their eyes, said let’s do well together—purehearted young men.

Looking into the camera and slurring “Souffle~,” they put on their drunk antics, and fans dabbed at teary eyes.

— Kids ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

— There’s no other idol like this. Liking NewBlack is probably one of my best choices of my twenties

— They say booze shows your true self lololol why is their true self this funny

— There’s a reason kids love them

— Don’t go sober on us ㅠㅠㅠㅠ Please # Nоvеlight # drink again..

— This kind of drunk behavior is welcome

— Meanwhile why on earth is Sun Wooju drunk lololol he just naturally blends in drunk

— He did sip a little—at 04:17 Biju goes “Wooju hyung...” and if you look, the little lick with his tongue? That’s an empty beer can

— That wasn’t drinking, that was licking lololol

— No other sweethearts like these ㅠㅠㅠ

— I counted “I love you.” Out of 492 instances: #1 (Seo Ri Hyuk, 247 times), #2 (Kim Biju, 102 times).. [More]

— The established theory: Seo Ri Hyuk’s initials SRH stand for “I love you”

It was a common travel reality format, but what people loved was how warm the members’ hearts felt through it.

Like when Biju released “What If” and said:

— How did the five of us end up together like this?

That was exactly it.

Nothing more, nothing less—the perfect five-member combination. Souffle felt newly happy.

Then they started churning out promo posts.

[NewBlack, rumored to have declared sobriety]

[If I don’t laugh in 30 seconds I’m deleting my account (feat. NewBlack)]

[If the words “I love you” were a person, it would be Seo Ri Hyuk]

Maybe because the scenes were so ridiculous and funny, reactions were great everywhere.

Clips were spreading across general forums, too.

— lolololololol so cute

— Is it normal to call twenty-year-old guys cute lol

— Stop, Earth!

— NewBlack TV deserves an award. Their comedy is art

— No wonder they’re up for variety awards lol

While the overall response stayed positive and reporters posted review pieces copy-pasted from forum comments,

late March arrived.

Souffle narrowed their eyes as posts began to decorate idol communities here and there.

“Cooldown time, huh.”

March is when idol fans compare agencies.

It’s when companies publish their previous year’s results.

Starting with TJ Entertainment, the big firms were releasing last year’s revenue one by one.

“If antis show up, we stomp them...”

Souffle blinked.

“Huh?”

They’d expected people who couldn’t attack the results to start spouting nonsense about agency revenue.

But the headline before their eyes wasn’t what they’d imagined at all.

[Lemon Entertainment ranks #2 overall among agencies by revenue... 130 billion]

It said Lemon Entertainment had placed right below MOP Entertainment, which took #1 for 2016 revenue.

Practically neck and neck with TJ Entertainment.

Of that 130 billion, 80 billion was earned by NewBlack—#1 revenue among idol groups. Souffle blinked hard.

“What?”

Maybe that’s why—

They’d expected NewBlack antis to swarm, but instead, unexpected threads were popping up.

[Hot topic among idol fans right now—Is Lemon a major? Yes vs No]

People were suddenly fighting over whether Lemon Entertainment, which had grown rapidly, should be called a “major.”

— “Major,” lol. One NewBlack hit makes them a major??? Revenue’s high but scale-wise they’re still tiny

— What do they have besides NewBlack and Scarlet..?

— Calling them a major is a reach lol the Big 4 spent over a decade building know-how and industry recognition

— They’re prepping another boy group after NewBlack lol until they blow that up too, they’re not a real major

From takes saying Lemon couldn’t be a major—

— Since when did “major” mean history and tradition lol it’s about scale

— At this point we can call them a major?? At this year’s pace Lemon might take #1

— Just from the disclosed size of their artist-festival this year, it’s huge

— “History and tradition,” lol... major pride is hilarious

— None of it matters lol

While people argued, Souffle were left dumbfounded.

“Are we... a major...?”

Just like when the one hundred million news had blindsided them,

the fandom—already grown massively—began to grasp objectively how big they and their artists had become.

“Did our kids... get really big...?” 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

While fans, dazed, checked the revenue,

a certain sharp-eyed CEO at an agency reading a report comparing results with other companies also blinked.

“Director Jo.”

“Yes, CEO.”

“Are we a major now?”

“You could say that.”

“...!”

In the CEO’s office, where CEO Park Gyuho, the division head, and Director Jo Gyuhwan were gathered shoulder-to-shoulder, their gazes met in midair.

Nod.

Nod.

At the sober looks from the executives, the division head lifted his phone.

“Hi, have you left yet? Great—please add liangzhangpi and assorted seafood in brown sauce. And if you haven’t fried the sweet-and-sour pork yet, make it glutinous-rice style...”

Even after NewBlack’s success, the CEO’s office had smelled humbly of jjajangmyeon.

At last, a rich aroma began to drift through the room.

Late March.

As the season slid perfectly into spring, many things began to change.

Not long ago we were wearing coats—now we threw on cardigans...

“Ahhh! A floral cardigan! Where did you even find that? What monstrosity did you bring back from Australia?”

“Grandma in Australia made it.”

“The real monstrosity was my heart.”

“Her family runs a factory, apparently.”

“Hey!”

Anyway, our outfits changed.

In the warm weather, we wrapped concept photos and MV filming without a hitch. It really felt like the comeback was right around the corner.

Soon it would be Jiho’s birthday, and the very next day we were slated to come back with “Coin.”

Of course, it wouldn’t be just a plain comeback this time either.

After the “Dokkaebi” promotion—when the Tourism Board videos and the treasure hunt worked well—we were preparing something unique again.

“So the 12th is Souffle’s 1000th day, right?”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

Back in ’14, we held our first fan meeting on day 100 and did Souffle Week.

This time too, starting Wednesday—the 1000th day of Souffle’s birth—we planned to run 2017’s Souffle Week.

Like every year—releasing a fan song, baking bread, or publishing a NewBlack recipe book—we had something special in store.

And—

Among those, there was an event we were pouring our hearts into most.

“Hehehehe.”

“Hehehehe!”

New Black Friday.