HBS’s hit variety show <From Now On, We>.

Its first teaser from that show started sweeping the internet.

[HBS variety teaser that feels very NewBlack being NewBlack again]

Posts with titles like that popped up as netizens grew curious.

"Did they do another ridiculous costume bit?"

Clicking with that thought, netizens blinked.

They tilted their heads at the off-the-wall romance-fantasy opening, and then—when Lady Biju finally appeared—

"...?"

They doubted their eyes and hit the 10-seconds-back button.

"What am I looking at?"

The comment section promptly exploded.

— lolololololololololololol

— have they lost it lol

— what is this? is it a drama?

— no no it’s an escape observation variety

— lololol are they role-playing as royalty in full princess attire??

— peak-level aggro... impossible not to watch this

— what on earth is that situation lolol

It was an absurd teaser with no context to grasp.

A variety where guests get missions and you "observe" them escaping from a series of bizarre set pieces.

What kind of setup would produce... that figure in a dress?

[Real-Time Search Terms]

Biju in a medieval-style dress spread across every community.

[??? : You’re telling me I’m Biju?]

(GIF of Biju in a dress from the teaser)

From now on, please call me "her lead"

— Her Lead likes this post

— lololol what even is this

— masterclass at pulling aggro

— this is the level it takes to be a national idol

— bookmarked; whenever life feels bleak I’ll rewatch... if NewBlack is trying this hard, so can I

— is this NewBlackTV content??

— it says hbs

— oh, so they made up?? when did that happen

— judging from the teaser they might fall out again soon

Public curiosity fixated on HBS and NewBlack "making up."

Most people knew the national idols and HBS hadn’t been on good terms.

Think-pieces regularly dissected why NewBlack didn’t appear on HBS’s year-end stages last year.

Whenever PBS and TBC variety specials hit jackpots, reporters would poke HBS with "HBS all alone with no NewBlack~" trolling headlines.

[Heard from a source in TV: the HBS×NewBlack reconciliation story.ssul]

Heard that back in ’16 when Mister Producer and Jusehan were on fire, HBS kept trying to deal with NewBlack’s company.

But they suggested "call it a draw," and NewBlack’s company basically flip-off flip-off flip-off’d them.

Then this year it wrapped up amicably, from what I know.

ps. The reason History Expedition changed its name from Season 2 onwards is ’cause HBS threw a legal tantrum and threatened to sue.

— sounds like a rumor;

— kinda feels real tho lol I think I heard something like that too

— if true HBS was real dumb lol who agrees to a draw after taking the first swing

— and asking for a draw because the other side is popping off is even lamer lol

— the History Expedition bit sounds on point

No one knew the exact inside story, but outwardly it looked like a reconciliation.

Word spread that NewBlack had started appearing again on HBS’s music show.

And this new variety must be part of that warming trend, netizens nodded.

Meanwhile—

People in real life were talking variety too.

"Seems like NewBlack’s on another variety."

"What is it?"

"Look. In This Life, I Will Be a Lady."

"Pffft!"

That was how explosive Lady Biju’s impact was.

As views shot up, Korean comments began to flood the MeTube page.

A parade of one-liners.

— Lovely... my grandma told me when I was little I’d grow up into that 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

— Thought I’d be a princess but I became a prince (gong)

— If only I’d eaten less fried chicken... could I have become that?

— Ethereal

— I can see Biju’s face right now from overseas clutching his neck at this teaser, opacity 80%

— Work, Wiki-ants, why hasn’t the "dark history" section been added yet

— I am so watching this variety

Replies pledging to watch live started piling up, and HBS’s variety department, monitoring the reaction, was in party mode.

"Finally!"

"Finally we reap NewBlack’s blessings!"

"People care about us!"

They’d been sore every time PBS and TBC posted wins.

Every morning at work their eyes went # Nоvеlight # straight to the ratings chart on the wall.

"Mister Producer seems to have blown up with a NewBlack special."

"Jusehan’s NewBlack special... why are the numbers like that when it’s just grilled pork all day? Is there some magic I don’t know?"

"Why can’t we book NewBlack?"

All of this stemmed from the fumbles of the PD who handled the music show and year-end program.

Thank goodness things finally worked out.

While other stations hoisted up the next national idol and rallied around them, HBS sat alone—like a kid at the playground fiddling with dirt while everyone else played together.

They wanted to join, but mom said no.

— Why not?

— Uh... our family and theirs aren’t on good terms.

— But the variety team wants to play with NewBlack!

— No!

Anyway, since it ended safely, they were getting attention.

The office of <From Now On, We> was in festival mode.

"The buzz is crazy. Look—our search volume grew this much in a day?"

"Insane..."

"I passed the director in the hall earlier. Didn’t know a human face could smile that wide."

"Our PDs are going wild in the edit suite, too."

"Let’s get HBS variety back to #1 in ratings!"—the rah-rah energy was high.

While assistant directors holed up in the edit bay poured their souls into captions and cuts, HBS variety tossed out extra bait.

[Teaser 2] "Welcome to Dragon Castle" (From Now On, We)

HBS gleefully threw more bait.

Souffle clicked their tongues.

"You could’ve treated them well from the start. Now you’re laying it on thick."

They’d barely reconciled, and suddenly HBS was acting like besties.

It wasn’t their favorite look, but the effort to release stills on social media was appreciated, so they looked the other way.

As the weekend variety build-up rolled on, the entertainment pages were blanketed with NewBlack headlines.

— HBS ‘From Now On, We’ teaser heralds NewBlack’s appearance... "Is the genre romance-fantasy?"

— HBS: "NewBlack is on our program!"... 30-second From Now On, We teaser is the talk of the town

— ‘From Now On, We’ teaser opens with a lady... "A special the human race isn’t quite ready for"

At the same time, speculation and curious questions about the special content spread.

— If Biju is the princess, does Wooju become the prince??

— With the Grand Duke of the North there, Wooju will be the second male lead no matter what

— Basically Junhyun smashes everything, Jiho bawls, Ri Hyuk criticizes, Biju is happy, Wooju fixes it all

— Wow I just watched the whole episode in a single comment lol

— The PD said "you’ll see a different side of the members," so I’m hyped

— If it’s a different side, is Ri Hyuk finally using his body?

— (GIF: Ri Hyuk trying to pound rice cakes, wobbling and face-planting under the mallet’s weight) He’s a kid controlled by the mallet

— Let’s just not break the set, Junhyun

Meanwhile—

There was one question on both netizens’ and HBS variety’s minds.

— Why are there so many overseas comments on MeTube??? Was From Now On, We already popular abroad?

— no no it only started recently

It was the foreign comments.

HBS variety staff scratched their heads.

"Isn’t this weird? Why are there so many English comments?"

"Aren’t they NewBlack fans? They’ve got tons of fans in the U.S."

"I dunno... the vibe feels like there are regular folks mixed in, not just fans."

"Really?"

No one could figure it out.

Then someone said,

"Oh! Isn’t it because of that?"

David Schumacher in San Francisco picked up his phone after work to relax.

Maybe he’d watch Netplus.

"Oh?"

A recommendation popped up—a video he didn’t recognize.

"What’s this?"

It had only just been uploaded, but the view count was massive.

He tapped it.

"...?"

He couldn’t tell exactly what it was.

A voice-over in a foreign language played... but the key was the lines on the teaser.

[Accept my love, milady!]

"Would you... like to escape this place with me?"

["Kekekeke! A new prisoner!"]

For some reason, all the lines were on-screen in English.

That made it easy to follow.

He didn’t know the full context, but the frantic dash-for-freedom vibe grabbed his attention.

Hard to put into words...

It looked fun.

"What’s the title—From Now On?"

Hearing it was a Korean comedy program piqued David’s curiosity; he turned on the TV and launched Netplus.

"Probably not there."

He typed a quick search anyway.

"Huh?"

It was there.

A show with a thumbnail tagged [New episode every week].

This stemmed from an HBS executive’s "Let’s go global!" vision speech that led to overseas distribution.

It was a cutdown version for variety—no on-screen Korean captions, just English subtitles.

"Not here."

He wanted to rewatch the teaser he’d just seen, but it wasn’t up yet.

So David set an alert for new episodes and moved on to other content,

waiting for the show’s English episodes to arrive.

"Mmm-hmm-hmm~ now, back to A Strange Tale."

Early to mid-2017.

An era when even "dark histories" went worldwide on streaming.

"I don’t want to go back to Korea..."

"Useless. You think being in America keeps you safe from online reactions? Same whether you’re in LA or Seoul."

At Ri Hyuk’s words, I sighed.

"Ri Hyuk."

"What."

"Let’s recall what we learned in language class—speaker intent. If Person A, who faces a mortifying event in Korea, says he doesn’t want to go to Korea, what is the speaker’s intent? Five points."

"...Saying it like that makes me sound like a psychopath."

No one answered.

Muttering "I hate you, I hate you," Ri Hyuk flipped his neck pillow forward.

Jiho said,

"It gets me every time. He always wears that neck pillow funny."

"Hahaha!"

Ri Hyuk sighed.

"For the record, I kept quiet so you wouldn’t get secondhand embarrassment, but..."

"Mm?"

"Wearing a neck pillow like this is also correct."

"...?"

I hurried to mock him, did a quick search—he wasn’t wrong.

What’s the correct response when I’m the one who’s wrong?

Act like nothing happened.

"...The clouds are pretty."

"Clean, American sky."

Ri Hyuk shook his head, popped in his wireless earbuds, and zoned out—when a murmur drifted over.

"Shit."

A blue-haired star, arms folded, eye mask on, tossed and turned.

"...this giraffe motherf— is strong as hell."

Sounded like she was locked in combat with a giraffe in her dreams.

As Hayley Blue muttered and squirmed, her husband Chris Kyle, in the adjacent seat, smiled.

"She’s kinda always like this."

"Looks like you’re used to it."

"She’s elbowed me in the solar plexus by accident in her sleep, so... this is nothing."

"...That must be tough."

I was just thinking it must be hard being married to such a ferocious star when Chris gave a thumbs-up.

"But she makes a lot of money. An absurd amount."

"..."

Right.

If you’re happy, I’m happy.

Smiling at the husband with 200% job satisfaction, I turned to their daughter across from us.

"Want uncle to help?"

"Yeah."

"What do you like?"

"Snakes!"

I folded a paper snake that wiggled, and Summer lit up.

"Mine now, Dad!" She waved the snake as Dad’s eyes filled with joy.

I almost felt jealous.

— Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

With the captain’s cheerful greeting came the announcement that we’d soon land in Las Vegas.

A little over an hour.

We were aboard Hayley Blue’s private jet from LA to Las Vegas.

The distance is roughly Seoul to Busan, but by bus it’s a six-to-seven-hour haul.

"Mm? We there?"

Hayley finally got up, bleary-eyed, and her husband moved in for a hug with a soft smile.

"Hey, you awake?"

"Mm. Had a trash dream."

Their honey-dripping gazes were sweet to watch.

Squeeze, squeeze.

"Ughhh!"

"Indecent..."

I had no idea why they were groping each other’s butts.

We must’ve made a collective "ugh" face, because Hayley smirked—"Greenhorns."

"See something weird?"

"Not weird, just..."

Private life is private, but it’s not our vibe.

Then her bodyguard approached.

"The paparazzi outside are practically a battalion."

We put sunglasses on little Summer and tidied up, then stepped out.

Maybe because of the Billboard Music Awards, paparazzi were camped at the airport where private jets land.

We followed Hayley’s family down first.

"Haley! Yo!"

From far off, the paparazzi roared—with, oddly, a few shouts for us mixed in.

Junhyun said,

"Pretty sure someone just called us."

"Yeah?"

Not bad, but we decided not to prick up our ears.

Some people will say nasty things just to yank attention—and honestly... not the time with a kid present.

Glancing at the kid, I was relieved to see Summer nestled in Dad’s arms with earbuds in.

"...Good."

I steadied Biju, who was inching down the stairs carefully thanks to fear of heights, and we reached the cars waiting below.

Only once we were inside did we take off our sunglasses and look around.

"Wow..."

Las Vegas, the glittering city in the middle of the desert.

Dust-colored wind shimmered along the runway.

A mountain range loomed in the distance, the city unfurled beneath—flashy and barren all at once.

My first impression of Las Vegas.

"We’ll get you to your destination safely!"

"Yay~!"

The destination was the MGM Grand Hotel.

MGM Grand.

This was the complex housing today’s Billboard Music Awards venue.

In movies about Vegas, that giant green hotel? This one.

"They’ve got over six thousand rooms."

"Ooh..."

We admired it as Ri Hyuk read from Las Vegas at a Glance.

Apparently the big chop-chop boxing match between a Filipino and an American a couple of years ago was held right here.

Plenty of shows I’d wanted to see, too.

"Let’s play a little after the awards."

"Whoaaa!"

Unlike New York or LA, this was our first time in this city; lots to see.

Even the wind felt like desert wind.

As we soaked up the exotic vibe, the car passed the giant lion statue and pulled into the MGM Grand.

It looks emerald in films, but in daylight it’s closer to teal.

"The casino’s huge, too."

"Casino..."

The kids looked at me in unison.

"Not going."

"Whew, thank God."

"We’ll just glance from outside as we walk by."

We checked into the hotel and headed straight to the Grand Garden Arena.

Our rehearsal with Hayley was a bit later, but we wanted to scope the venue.

"So this is the Grand Garden Arena."

The seating capacity was roughly like a gymnastics arena.

Seeing the neon sign [2017 Billboard Music Awards] on the stage felt surreal.

"Wow..."

We actually made it.

We scanned the venue and exchanged silent smiles.

Staff with intercoms buzzed around, and a red-hot star, Mandy Spice, was mid-rehearsal onstage—so we couldn’t get close. Even from afar, though, a strange swell of feeling rose up.

"Mingi, you see this?"

"Yeah."

"We’re going to be on that stage in a bit."

Our managers wore the same moved expressions.

Some people online were sneering that a collab slot means one-and-done.

Regardless, I was choked up—in the best way.

"Life really does throw wild cards."

"Sure does."

We decided to head to our green room after watching Mandy Spice from a distance.

Hunting for the room labeled [The New Black], we turned a corner and ran into Chris Kyle coming the other way.

He greeted us warmly—and he wasn’t alone.

"Still a while until rehearsal, right? This friend wanted to say hi."

And the moment we saw who stood beside him—

"Huh?"

A truly uncanny feeling came over us.