Chapter 1123: Welcome to Alaska (9)

Up until now, I'd only ever seen earthquakes in movies and TV dramas.

The ground shaking.

Buildings collapsing.

But experiencing one in person...

This was my first time.

"...!"

My mind went completely blank.

I was so startled that my heart seemed to drop into my stomach, leaving me frozen for half a second.

First...

The first thing I thought was that I had to protect someone smaller than me.

Squeeze.

Something I vaguely remembered from a middle school earthquake safety lesson surfaced in my mind.

I pulled one of the younger members into my arms and crouched down.

Then I covered my head with both hands to shield myself from falling debris.

Rumble...!

Several bags of chips thumped down onto my back.

How much time passed?

The shaking finally stopped.

I slowly raised my head.

"...?"

Someone had their arms wrapped around my waist.

Junghyun had his eyes tightly shut as he held me, shielding me with his own body.

"Junghyun?"

"Hyung... are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

Then I looked at the person I had been holding from behind.

Beneath sweat-soaked blond hair, Biju stared back at me with wide, frightened eyes.

"Hyung?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. The others..."

Apparently, in all the confusion, I'd instinctively grabbed Biju.

And Biju had been shielding Jiho.

Jiho, meanwhile, was hugging Ri Hyuk.

We looked like a human train, each one wrapped around the next.

"..."

This absolutely wasn't a situation where I should have laughed.

But a tiny chuckle escaped anyway.

I picked up a bottle of water that had rolled across the floor and handed it to Ri Hyuk, who was still tucked inside our youngest member's arms.

"Drink this first."

"We need to pay for it."

"I'll pay for it ten times over if I have to. Just drink some water, Ri Hyuk. You're really shaken up."

His pupils were hugely dilated, and cold sweat trickled down his temples.

Maybe he'd gone into a brief panic attack.

After he slowly took a few drinks, I asked,

"How do you feel? Better?"

"Yeah."

Once I'd confirmed he was okay, I turned to the others.

"Is everyone all right? Nobody got hit by anything?"

"I'm fine."

"Me too. Just a little scrape from crouching down too fast..."

Everyone checked out.

Only then did I notice the camera directors.

They were still crouched on the floor, clutching something precious against their chests.

"Directors."

"..."

"Directors, it's over now."

"It's over?"

They looked as though they were protecting something more valuable than their own lives.

"What are you doing?"

"Protecting the cameras."

"Directors... the cameras aren't what's important. You are."

"If the footage you kids worked so hard to film gets destroyed, that'd be a disaster."

"..."

Still hugging their cameras and memory cards, the directors slowly stood up.

Even though falling debris could have hit them, they'd protected the equipment before protecting themselves.

I honestly couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry.

One of the directors grinned.

"Kid, don't go worrying about us adults."

"But..."

"Are you all okay?"

We nodded.

"We're fine. What about the PD and everyone else...?"

"We're all good."

Looking around, I saw the PD and the rest of the staff making their way toward us.

Instead of checking themselves, every single one of them came over to make sure we were okay first.

"All right..."

I looked around.

At some point, the supermarket had gone completely dark.

The power had apparently gone out after the earthquake.

Cold air still drifted from the refrigerated drink cases, though they were already warming.

Products littered the floor everywhere.

It would have been easy to trip.

"Uh..."

I didn't have any reliable data stored in my brain for dealing with this sort of situation.

So naturally, I turned toward the expert.

"Ri Hyu—"

I stopped mid-sentence.

"...You've already prepared."

"I've always been prepared for situations like this."

Ri Hyuk calmly tightened the chinstrap of his helmet.

A white safety helmet.

A fluorescent safety vest.

A flashlight.

A folding knife clipped to his belt.

For the first time, we discovered what he'd been carrying in the emergency bag he always brought on trips.

"I only have my own gear right now. The others are still back at the hotel. I'll give them to you once we get there."

"R-right."

Honestly...

I wasn't sure I wanted to wear any of it.

We followed Ri Hyuk as he switched on his flashlight and led us through the supermarket.

"There could be aftershocks. Everyone stay alert."

For some reason...

Those narrow shoulders, the smallest among us, suddenly looked as broad as the Pacific Ocean.

As we followed the beam of light, Jiho spoke up.

"This reminds me of a movie I watched recently."

"What movie?"

"It's about people trapped inside a supermarket."

"There are monsters outside, and inside this weird cult lady starts a new religion."

One of the directors laughed.

"I don't think we'd have to worry."

"Junghyun would take care of the monsters."

"And Wooju would start the cult."

"Oh, true."

"What do you mean, 'true'?"

I lightly smacked Jiho as the group laughed.

Then I heard voices.

A crowd had gathered around the checkout area.

If only one person had been speaking, I could've understood.

But dozens of overlapping English conversations blended together until I couldn't make sense of anything.

Then someone spotted us.

"Hey!"

A middle-aged man.

"You've got a flashlight. Are you all right?"

"Yes."

"I'm Tom. I own the supermarket."

"You all must've been terrified."

"Nice to meet you, Tom."

"I'm Wooju."

Seeing him squint under the flashlight's glare, Ri Hyuk immediately switched it off.

I asked,

"There was just an earthquake... do you know what's going on?"

"Not really."

"It wasn't a particularly major quake..."

"That's a relief."

"I'm sure we'll hear something on the radio or television soon."

At that moment, someone else's eyes adjusted to the darkness.

"Wait..."

"...Huh?"

"Are you NewBlack?"

"Yes."

A ripple of excitement spread through the crowd.

"It's NewBlack!"

That reaction reassured me a little.

If the situation had truly been catastrophic, nobody would've cared that celebrities were standing there.

Someone joked,

"It's lucky you're here."

"Even if things had gotten really bad, rescue teams would've shown up."

"...For us?"

I couldn't imagine rescue teams being dispatched for a bunch of {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Korean singers.

Then the man smiled.

"Your fans would've come to rescue you."

"...Oh."

Somehow...

That sounded strangely believable.

I could practically picture Souffle flying in aboard helicopters and rappelling dramatically to the ground.

Everyone laughed softly.

Amid the Americans' easygoing humor, Tom continued,

"Don't worry too much, everyone."

"It's probably just a temporary power outa—"

Click.

The fluorescent lights flickered.

Then they burst back to life.

Electricity had returned.

"Wooooo!"

Cheers erupted throughout the supermarket.

Then...

Everyone turned toward us.

Or rather...

Toward Ri Hyuk.

Still standing there in his white safety helmet and fluorescent safety vest.

"..."

"..."

Our main vocalist's face—and even his ears—slowly turned the color of tomatoes.

As the rest of us quietly edged farther away from him, Ri Hyuk stared at us.

"...Where are you going?"

"We don't know that person..." ℴ

"Hey!"

Not long afterward, we learned more from the news.

The State of Alaska and the City of Anchorage held an official press conference.

The earthquake originated approximately ten kilometers northwest of Anchorage...

Magnitude 5.3.

Fortunately, aside from a few minor injuries and limited property damage, there had been no major casualties.

It wasn't insignificant.

But it also wasn't a large-scale disaster.

Still...

"...What a day."

The moment I found a signal and switched my phone back on, messages and calls exploded nonstop.

The very first person I called back was—

"Grandma."

"Are you okay?!"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

The instant she saw my face over the video call, she let out a long sigh and nearly collapsed into her chair.

Beside her, Nabi let out a soft meow.

"Thank goodness... Thank you, Buddha... Thank you, Bodhisattva..."

"Seriously, nothing happened."

"I was just startled."

"..."

"You must've been really worried."

"Wouldn't you be?!"

"I thought I was going to..."

She stopped herself.

Probably because she'd almost said she thought she'd be arranging another funeral.

I smiled.

"Look."

"I'm perfectly fine."

"My handsome face is still intact."

"My body's fine."

"The younger members are all fine too."

I turned the camera so she could see everyone else video-calling their own families.

Only after carefully checking every member did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Then the scolding began.

"Out of all the places in the world, why did you have to go somewhere that's freezing cold and where the ground shakes? If you're going to travel, at least go somewhere safe! And after you went around saying on television that you wanted to visit Antarctica..."

Why Alaska?

Why somewhere with earthquakes?

For nearly twenty minutes she alternated between worry and complaints.

Only then did she finally calm down.

Normally I would've begged her to stop nagging me.

Today...

I quietly listened.

If our roles had been reversed, I would've reacted exactly the same way.

"You feeling better now?"

"Yeah."

"Are you coming straight back to Korea?"

"Don't waste time."

"Not immediately."

"There are a few things we need to think about first."

Then something occurred to me.

"Grandma."

"How did you even hear about the earthquake?"

"Did someone tell you?"

"It was on TV."

"...TV?"

The truth became clear after I ended the call.

As soon as I searched online—

Huge headlines filled the screen.

Magnitude 5.3 Earthquake Strikes Alaska During Visit by Korea's National Idol Group

Earthquake Hits While NewBlack Films in Alaska—Agency: 'Currently Confirming Details'

Apparently, because we were involved, coverage was unusually extensive despite the earthquake happening overseas.

Messages from friends and acquaintances continued flooding in.

"Are you okay????"

There were so many that it felt as though I should just create one giant group chat with three hundred people.

Souffle had also flooded social media asking if we were safe.

After discussing it with the members, we reached a decision.

"Let's change our messenger status to 'We're okay' first."

"Okay."

After updating our status messages...

We decided to reassure Souffle through a live broadcast on the Y app and social media.

"Even though there weren't any fatalities, an earthquake is still an earthquake."

"I know everyone wants to see us smiling, but let's not overdo it."

"Right."

"We should treat this seriously."

The news was already reporting property damage throughout Anchorage.

Cheerfully laughing and saying, We're totally fine! Haha! would've been completely inappropriate.

"We'll remember."

"Good."

The members nodded seriously.

Then I continued.

"This is just my opinion..."

"Anchorage has suffered real damage."

"Yeah."

"What do you think about delaying our flight home a little?"

Technically, this wasn't even our country.

It wasn't our responsibility.

But after spending the entire trip here...

Leaving immediately after the earthquake with a cheerful, Thanks for having us! didn't sit right with me.

Junghyun asked,

"What are you thinking?"

"My idea is..."

After hearing it, every member immediately agreed.

The Korean task force agreed as well.

Sounds good to us.

"Really?"

Do whatever you think is right.

We'll rearrange the schedule.

After coordinating with the task force and the reality show's production staff, we finalized the plan.

Thirty minutes later, the City of Anchorage officially approved it as well.

Once everything had been arranged, we started the live broadcast.

The viewer count shot into the hundreds of thousands...

Then millions.

"Hello, everyone."

I greeted our fans calmly.

Watching the comments race past too quickly to read, I spoke.

"I'm sure all of you were shocked by today's earthquake in Anchorage."

"First of all..."

"All of us, along with the program staff, are completely safe."

"And thankfully, we've also been told that there were no fatalities in Anchorage."

I continued carefully.

"We'd like to express our deepest sympathy to everyone in Anchorage who suffered losses because of today's earthquake."

"We sincerely hope the residents can return to their normal lives as soon as possible."

"Thank you."

Ri Hyuk translated everything into English.

When he finished, I continued in English myself.

"We, NewBlack, will be making a donation and participating directly in the recovery effort here in Anchorage."

The city estimated that full restoration would take around ten days.

We decided to stay and help for two.

Smiling gently at Souffle, I added,

"If any of our Alaskan Souffle have the time and ability to help..."

"We'd be honored if you'd join us."

"Thank you."

That concluded the broadcast.

"Think that's enough?"

"Yeah."

Alaska had given us so much during this trip.

It only felt right to give something back.

Helping the people of Anchorage alongside Souffle seemed like the least we could do.

"Then let's head over to city hall."

"Okay."

Determined to use whatever influence we had for something worthwhile, we left together.

At that very moment...

Across airports throughout the United States...

Airline employees found themselves blinking in confusion.

"Where did you say you're flying?"

"Anchorage."

"Just a moment..."

"I'm afraid every flight is currently fully booked..."

"Not even one seat?"

"Not a single one?"

The same situation was unfolding at both major airlines and smaller regional carriers.

Managers couldn't understand it.

Why...?

Alaska wasn't normally a high-demand destination.

During the summer tourist season, maybe.

But winter was just beginning.

This was the off-season.

Flights were usually easy to book.

Yet now...

Demand had exploded.

Phones rang nonstop.

News spread online that every flight to Anchorage had sold out.

Passengers kept arriving at airport counters dragging suitcases behind them.

One airline employee finally asked,

"May I ask why you're all trying to go to Anchorage?"

"You do know things are pretty chaotic because of the earthquake?"

"We know."

The women standing beside their suitcases answered firmly.

"We're going because of the earthquake."

"...Because of it?"

"We volunteered to help with Anchorage's recovery effort."

The airline employee couldn't help admiring them.

They're doing something truly wonderful.

One by one...

Souffle members who'd secured seats boarded flights bound for Alaska.

Every one of them held the same video on their phone.

"If any of our Alaskan Souffle have the time and ability to help... we'd be honored if you'd join us."

Reflected in the airplane windows, they silently steeled themselves.

Their favorite artists were trying to do something good.

As fans...

There was no way they could stay behind.

Let's do some good.

Let's help.

Hang in there, Anchorage.

We're on our way.

Determined to contribute however little they could, countless Souffle quietly clenched their fists.

And while those countless fists tightened with resolve...

The thunderous roar of dozens of aircraft engines echoed across the skies as plane after plane flew toward Alaska.