Chapter 1114: Lemon Boys... Jump with all your might! (6)

"No."

"No."

"No..."

"No, seriously..."

Hanjo and I downed our paper cups of non-alcoholic wine.

"How is someone born in 2001 already debuting?"

"Exactly. Does that even make sense?"

Jiho and Kiwon, who had been rustling through a bag of chips nearby, looked at us in confusion.

"Huh? Why wouldn't it? Someone born in 2001 is only three years younger than me."

"Yeah."

Hanjo and I slowly turned our heads.

"...!"

"...!!"

The two youngest members immediately shut their mouths and smugly continued munching their snacks.

Still chewing on a Banana Kick, Hanjo looked utterly shell-shocked.

"I seriously can't believe it. Someone born in 2001 is debuting..."

"It's the first digit that gets you. If they'd been born in 1999, I would've just thought, Makes sense. But 2001..."

"Seriously."

Knowing the trainees' ages was one thing.

Actually hearing born in 2001 made my brain stop functioning.

Ri Hyuk spoke up.

"In another year or two, people will probably start calling them fourth-generation idols. The current rookies are already being called Generation 3.5."

"So we've reached that point already."

"Time... time really flies..."

Hanjo and I shook our heads.

It felt strangely surreal.

We'd debuted as rookies, survived four or five hectic years, and somehow become veterans of the idol industry.

Biju sipped his apple drink.

"Come to think of it, we've reached the same seniority that Daylight and TNT had back then. We've climbed higher than I realized."

"Yeah."

Mentioning TNT made me realize why this had hit me so hard.

I'd debuted relatively late.

"Come to think of it, both of us debuted later than most people. The average birth year of the groups that debuted alongside us was 1996."

"That's true."

A question suddenly came to mind.

"How did your debut end up being delayed?"

"I was active in the underground scene before Haetion picked me up. DNS Media asked him if he knew any good rappers, so he recommended me. I joined the company... and one thing led to another."

Hanjo looked at me.

"What about you?"

"I almost debuted with TNT, but I didn't make it."

"There was still a gap after that."

"I had to do my military service."

"Oh, right."

As Hanjo nodded, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

"...Come to think of it."

"Hm?"

"I never have to enlist again."

"That's true."

"But..."

I pointed at my little underlings and the two Street Boys members.

"You guys still do."

"..."

"..."

The atmosphere immediately turned ominous.

"Hehehehehe!"

I'd forgotten my greatest advantage.

While everyone else would eventually have to listen to A Letter from a Private on their way to enlistment, I could continue enjoying civilian life.

"See? Debuting early is nice, but enlisting early is even better. This feels amazing."

"..."

"Hehehehehehe!"

Watching me happily pour myself another cup of non-alcoholic wine, my underlings quietly clenched their fists.

Hanjo suddenly stood up and marched toward the display case.

Toward Rabbit Uncle, who was smiling brightly inside.

"Rabbit Uncle. Rabbit Uncle."

He folded his hands respectfully.

"I have a question. If I attacked that guy right now..."

He pointed at me.

"...would I win?"

Bzzzzz—

Rabbit Uncle slowly raised the NO sign.

Hanjo glared at me.

"I..."

"...?"

"I'm restraining myself."

He sat back down politely.

"Because I'm an adult."

Everyone burst into laughter at the Street Boys leader's dignified retreat.

Our brief stint as judges for the trainee battle between the two agencies ended...

And we immediately began preparing for our final performance schedule of the year.

2018 Insomnia Tour: Finale Concert

Our tour had attracted 2.05 million attendees.

It ranked third among the world's highest-attended tours of 2018.

Ticket sales alone had generated 260 million dollars.

Now it was time for the grand finale of the Insomnia Tour.

And unlike ordinary encore concerts...

Our finale was something entirely different.

"Everyone!"

"This is NewBlack's year in review!"

That was the concept.

Showing Souffle everything we'd accomplished over the course of the year.

It was also why getting tickets was nearly impossible.

Not only our TF team but staff from other departments had helped crack down on ticket scalpers.

Even then, they couldn't catch them all.

Rumor had it resale tickets were reaching prices in the millions of won.

Honestly...

Even we thought that made sense.

The Finale Concert was packed.

"Everyone!"

"Can you believe the year's almost over already?! Remember the Pyeongchang Olympics?!"

"YEEEEES!"

"Then let's relive that excitement together! Are you ready?!"

"YEEEEEEEEES!"

We recreated the Olympic Closing Ceremony, inviting singers like Teacher Noh Jaehyun while replaying my performance of Answer from the Opening Ceremony.

"...People are saying this song will probably finish number one on Billboard's Year-End Chart. Any guesses?"

"It's Answer."

"Instead of Cold... we'll be joined by our own Potato Brown."

Instead of Cold, Junghyun joined me onstage for our collaborative performance of Answer.

Then we rearranged White Night with a live band, turning the stadium into one giant jumping crowd.

We recreated our performances from the Met Gala and the Time 100 Gala.

We reenacted memorable scenes from Newniverse like a fan meeting comedy sketch.

"Any children here today?!"

"YES!"

"There's a baby!"

"Children over here!"

"...Wait."

"The people answering are the children?"

"We're children anyway!"

"Children!"

"...I see."

"Then... are you ready, kids?"

Wearing Rabbit Uncle as a hand puppet, I led the audience through our globally successful children's song Rabbit Uncle.

Then we squeezed in the performances Ri Hyuk and I had done on Mission Singer.

By that point...

We were running out of time.

We'd intentionally started the concert early.

Even then, finishing before the stadium's curfew was a struggle.

"Wow..."

Even our senior guests visiting backstage were stunned.

Taehyun, after looking through the performance schedule, handed me a bouquet.

"Hyung..."

"How are you still alive?"

Hanbyeol, who'd come to visit with him, looked at him in disbelief.

"Hantae... you're really not one to talk."

"As far as I'm concerned, you're just as insane."

"Maybe."

"But I'm still within the limits of a normal human."

He pointed at me.

"This guy isn't."

"How are you not dead yet?"

Taehyun grabbed my wrist and checked my pulse.

"...Your pulse is normal."

He blinked.

"What's your secret? Tell me too~"

"Hmm..."

I smiled benevolently.

"Probably a sense of responsibility toward the audience."

"Love for the fans?"

"The duty of being the nation's idol?"

"..."

"I'm kidding."

I shrugged.

"It's just fun."

And it really was.

Most concerts were like saying—

Ladies and gentlemen... prepare yourselves for the greatest performance of your lives.

The Finale Concert was different.

It was more like—

Everyone! Look! We did this! And this! And this too!

It reminded me of coming home from school and excitedly telling Grandma,

"Grandma! I did this today! And then this happened! And then..."

Taehyun nodded.

"During rehearsal I kept thinking, There's no way all of this will work."

"But once you get onstage..."

"...somehow it just does."

"Exactly."

The experienced seniors all nodded knowingly.

While taking pictures with TNT's younger members, Taehyun suddenly said,

"I heard you're producing Hanbyeol's album."

"Write me a song too."

"I'm not writing songs for him."

"Oh."

He smiled immediately.

"Then never mind."

I laughed before calling over Seok Jihoon, who was busy taking selfies with Jiho.

Lowering my voice, I asked,

"So..."

"You coming?"

"Probably."

Lately, Jihoon admitted, he'd been asking Jiho what Lemon Entertainment was like.

I'd already heard his current agency—the one he'd transferred to after leaving TJ—wasn't taking proper care of him.

"The company keeps saying they're broke."

"But somehow the golf clubs in the CEO's office get replaced every other week."

Managers showed up late.

Nothing got handled properly.

Jihoon sighed.

"I'm practically working alone these days."

"I even went to audition for that Hoho Chicken movie by myself."

"You went alone?"

"Yeah."

"I drove myself."

"My manager was on sick leave, and the company said they didn't have anyone else."

"..."

"My contract expires soon."

"They don't even seem interested in keeping me."

"I think they were mostly hoping to keep making money off my TNT activities."

"The problem is..."

"We're entering our military hiatus soon."

"So there won't be much group activity for a while."

Which meant...

Once his contract expired...

He wanted to explore transferring to our company.

Ji Hanbin whistled.

"At this rate TNT's going to debut under Lemon."

"You want to come too?"

"I'm happy at TJ."

He grinned.

"Unless you're planning to give me the Hanbyeol album you're preparing."

"Oh?"

"Think about it."

He pointed between himself and Hanbyeol.

"We're both J.H.B."

"No one would ever notice."

Everyone burst out laughing.

Only Hanbyeol looked at me nervously.

The Finale Concert ended up attracting an incredible number of guests.

Senior Kwak Sihyun, one of Lemon Entertainment's major shareholders.

Senior Lee Gyeonwoo.

Senior Cha Woohyun.

And countless others.

The guest list practically looked like an awards ceremony.

Apparently our concerts had developed quite a reputation.

'Global Stars' NewBlack Successfully Conclude World Tour; Over 2 Million Fans Attend Worldwide

The reviews that flooded in after the two-day finale were overwhelmingly positive.

The Finale Concert is seriously the best. 😭😭😭😭😭

If you ever feel unmotivated in life, go to a NewBlack Finale Concert lol. Instead of feeling empty afterward, you leave wanting to work harder at life.

Their one year is somehow different from my one year.

I swear NewBlack's Finale Concert feels less like a concert and more like proof they're somehow still alive.

"We're still alive after all these schedules!!!"

I already miss the encore. 😭

Sometimes we'd laugh ourselves silly while eating late-night fried chicken or pizza and reading comments.

Other times we'd come across long fan blogs...

And before we knew it...

We were all crying.

"Look at this."

Jiho held out his phone.

"There are sightings of our trainees too."

"Our trainees?"

"The trainees."

"...Oh."

Hearing Jiho naturally call them our trainees felt oddly heartwarming.

The blurry photo showed our trainees wearing masks.

CEO Park Gyuho was shining conspicuously beside them.

Gyuho, Gyuho. Stop showing us your face and show us the trainees.

Does Lemon never give trainee content??

They say you can judge a tree by its buds. I can only see their eyes and I already see the future of K-pop.

DNS is doing a reality show. Isn't Lemon releasing anything?

They're all the same company now anyway.

I want to see their faces 😭 Please give us handsome rookie boy groups.

MOP is debuting a rookie group soon. Go watch them instead.

We blinked.

"TeenSpirit's juniors?"

"Looks like it."

A quick search confirmed it.

MOP Entertainment would finally debut TeenSpirit's junior boy group...

Six years after TeenSpirit.

I wondered why the gap had been so long.

Then I found the answer.

CEO Park Minoh Interview

"Why such a long gap? We were busy gathering handsome trainees."

Apparently they'd spent years assembling a lineup visually worthy of following TeenSpirit.

I sent our neighbors a message congratulating them on finally getting juniors.

The replies came immediately.

Hwiyeon: Total nonsense.

Hwiyeon: Our stock price dropped. That's why they're debuting them.

Yeonhoo: Things were going great... then everything fell apart.

"Ah."

"So it was the stock price."

"Yep."

Another lesson in the harsh realities of the entertainment business.

For whatever reason, it felt like every major agency was preparing high-profile rookie groups.

Starting this winter...

Next year's chart battles were going to be brutal.

As we continued reading discussions that occasionally mentioned our own trainees, I asked,

"The show won't air for a while, right?"

"I don't think so."

Ri Hyuk checked the calendar.

"It'll probably air after we get back."

"Oh."

"You're right."

Our eyes drifted toward the upcoming schedule.

Normally we'd already be rushing to prepare for the next job.

Instead...

We were relaxing.

Because—

NewBlack's Travel Diary III

Our favorite travel reality show was finally returning.

NewBlack's Travel Diary.

Our travel reality series had begun back in 2016.

Season 1: Jeju Island

Season 2: Australia

And now...

At long last...

Season 3: Alaska

Choosing destinations was actually pretty simple.

Beautiful nature.

And somewhere we wouldn't constantly be recognized.

The second criterion mattered even more than the first.

Which was why we couldn't travel to nearby Asian countries like China or Japan.

So this time we'd dreamed of Northern Europe.

Beautiful scenery.

Very few people who recognized us.

Instead...

"You didn't..."

The younger members all said in English,

"...until you shouted 'Alaska.'"

"...I'm sorry."

I scratched my cheek.

"I never thought we'd actually end up going."

"..."

The younger members stared at the sky.

"Come on."

"Who could've predicted cable ratings would be that good?"

"It was a brand-new channel!"

I'd casually thrown out the idea...

And somehow it'd returned like a meteor screaming,

"I'm coming back! Wheee!"

I raised a fist.

"Anyway! What's done is done!"

"Jiho."

"When your father talks about spilled water, what does he always say?"

"Make sure nobody notices you spilled it?"

"...Well."

"The important thing is that once the water's spilled, you accept it."

I nodded solemnly.

"Think of it this way."

"If the water evaporates..."

"...you won't need to turn on the humidifier."

Thankfully...

Biju immediately played along with my nonsense.

"Exactly."

"We're going now anyway."

"And Alaska sounds amazing."

"I'm extremely happy too."

Even the youngest members, despite complaining with their mouths, couldn't hide the smiles on their faces.

It really had been ages since we'd gotten a proper break.

In fact...

This was practically our first real vacation all year.

While chatting with the others, I watched the bustling airport around us.

Near the production crew stood a tiny flag.

It read—

NewBlack's Travel Diary 3: Alaska Edition!

The staff we'd worked with for the past three years gathered around their cameras.

Glancing toward the airplane waiting on the runway, I asked,

"Everyone ready?"

"One second."

The PD finished checking every last detail, brushed back her long hair, adjusted her baseball cap, and nodded.

"All right."

"We're ready."

"Let's start filming."

"High~ cue!"

We waved at the camera.

"Hello, Souffle—and everyone watching!"

"Welcome back to NewBlack's Travel Diary 3, returning after one whole year!"

"WOOOOOO!"

"Our destination this time..."

"...is Alaska!"

There would probably be a caption explaining why we'd ended up in Alaska.

After that, the PD explained this season's theme.

"Every season of Travel Diary has had its own unique concept."

"They have?"

She cleared her throat.

"Season 1 focused on healing."

"Season 2 was backpacking."

"And now..."

She smiled dramatically.

"The theme of Season 3 is..."

"Is?!"

"Survival."

We nodded.

"At the planning meeting, you all said you wanted to try something unique."

"That was Junghyun."

"And you wanted to experience the land itself instead of visiting typical tourist attractions."

"That was Ri Hyuk."

"So..."

"This season is all about survival."

"We've prepared a special trip that will test your survival skills while letting you experience nature firsthand."

Everything up to this point we'd already heard during the planning meeting.

So we enthusiastically reacted.

"Ooooh!"

Now came the part we'd never heard before.

"The most important element of survival is what?"

"Anyone know?"

"I do."

Ri Hyuk's hand shot up first.

"Cooperation."

"It's humanity's greatest strength."

"Individually we may be weak."

"But as a group..."

"...no other species rivals us when it comes to surviving together."

"Correct!"

"Hyung!"

Jiho complained dramatically.

"You're supposed to get one wrong first!"

Ri Hyuk merely shrugged.

As Biju motioned for them to quiet down, the PD continued.

"And if cooperation is the foundation..."

"...then trust is probably the most important part."

"Right."

"So."

"How much do you trust one another?"

"..."

We all looked at each other.

Onstage...

We trusted one another completely.

But...

"Hmm..."

Still standing around like an unorganized mob, we silently examined each other's faces.

Then...

We slowly looked away.

"..."

"..."

The PD smiled.

"So?"

"Do you trust each other?"

"Well..."

I answered honestly.

"At this point..."

"...isn't it a little too late not to?"

"We've come way too far together..."

We all stared wistfully into space.

The production staff burst into laughter as we looked at each other with expressions of absolute distrust.