Chapter 1167: Artist of the Year (10)

The biggest issue in the idol industry right now!

Q. Will Jang Hanbyeol’s album succeed?

Of course, if you were only looking at profits, Jang Hanbyeol’s album could already be considered a success.

He was a superstar in the Chinese speaking world whose fans spent an enormous amount of money celebrating him every year on his birthday.

So no one doubted that the album would sell.

However, that only meant that Chinese fans would buy a lot of albums. It was difficult to call that success in terms of his Korean activities.

‘We need to look at the digital results.’

That was what idol fans thought.

To determine whether Jang Hanbyeol had succeeded as a K pop artist, they needed to look at his public appeal.

While arguments broke out over whether Chinese fans’ influence on Korean charts was appropriate, the overall sentiment among idol fans leaned toward “there’s a high chance of success.”

The reason was extremely simple.

It was because of the producer’s name value.

An album handled by the best producer in current K pop.

That was why, when the album release time arrived, everyone rushed onto music platforms and played the songs.

Then they widened their eyes in surprise.

‘What?’

‘This is really good…?’

It was the perfect ballad to listen to during winter.

At first, it felt a little plain, making people think, “Hmm…” but once they reached the chorus, they found themselves listening again.

It was not an overwhelmingly addictive song, but it was the kind of track people would add to their playlists.

As expected of a good song, praise poured in.

However, there was one thing that made people wonder.

‘It’s a little plain for something composed by Sun Wooju.’

The song was certainly good enough, but there was a moment when people felt that it did not quite match the reputation of Sun Wooju as the songwriter.

[Composer] Na Sangyoon

[Lyricist] Jang Hanbyeol

‘Ah.’

Idol fans nodded in understanding.

‘Is that the guy with the skinny cheeks? The one who gets his energy drained by Sun Wooju.’

‘That exhausted looking guy.’

‘Was his name Mr. Weak?’

Only then did all the mysteries become clear.

Having experienced years of idol fandom, fans nodded knowingly.

‘This will work.’

It was not a song that would create a reverse charting phenomenon, but once it entered the charts, ordinary listeners would naturally keep listening to it.

And the public reacted exactly as they predicted.

“Huh?”

People scrolling through the upper ranks of music charts discovered an unfamiliar song.

The title was unfamiliar, but the name was familiar.

‘Jang Hanbyeol? Oh, him. The one from China this time.’

‘Looks like he released a song.’

After hearing an easy listening song, people added it to their playlists, and the song steadily climbed the charts.

From seventh place to second.

From second place to first.

Maintaining a stable upward trend that anyone could recognize, Jang Hanbyeol’s album was achieving mainstream success.

‘Finally…’

Jang Hanbyeol’s Korean fans held back tears as they eagerly took screenshots.

How long had they waited for this moment?

Just as the singer said in the song, they too had spent a long winter waiting for him.

‘Thank you. Truly, thank you.’

A full eight years.

For fans who had waited from the time a child entered elementary school until they became a middle school student, this mainstream success was the most precious gift imaginable.

The singer who turned on a live broadcast seemed to feel the same way.

[Everyone…! Did you see? My song…!]

Because Hanbyeol himself had never even created a name for his personal fandom in order to prioritize group activities, he simply called them “everyone.”

Hanbyeol started the live broadcast with an excited expression, and he and his fans all shed tears while celebrating the success.

[Thank you so much.]

The singer and the fans felt exactly the same.

There were so many people to thank.

They were grateful to CEO Park Gyuho and Lemon Entertainment for respecting the singer’s desire to gain popularity in Korea rather than simply remaining popular in the Chinese speaking world.

And they wanted to bow a hundred times to the album’s producer.

The fans, truly small enough to be called only a handful, expressed their gratitude everywhere before turning their attention elsewhere.

One of the people they were most grateful for in this situation.

They were Jang Hanbyeol’s Chinese fandom.

Why was Jang Hanbyeol able to release ballads and promote in Korea without worrying about financial pressure?

Because he had that fandom supporting everything he did.

And just as his Korean fans were expressing their gratitude toward the Chinese fans—

“Our main fandom… thank you so, so much—”

“Don’t cry.”

The Chinese fans were firm.

“Is this really the time for you to cry?”

“……”

“Instead of crying, buy another album. From now on, we need to make Jang Liang—no, Jang Hanbyeol—a world star.”

The Chinese fans had truly lost their minds.

‘I can’t see my favorite in my own country…!’

‘Fine. Then I’ll raise him into the greatest K pop star. No, a world star.’

They were doing absolutely anything money could accomplish.

[Congratulations on Jang Hanbyeol’s debut!]

A giant electronic billboard at COEX.

[My star, Jang Hanbyeol]

[I’ll wait for your leap forward, beautiful as a star]

s displayed at subway stations across the country.

[Jang Hanbyeol]

[The one and only star in this world]

Full page advertisements in major newspapers.

Seeing the Chinese fans display their true financial power, Korean idol fans swallowed hard.

With fans gathering all their strength, Jang Hanbyeol continued climbing.

-Jang Hanbyeol becomes the No.1 idol solo artist in first week sales history… “1.5 million albums in two days”

-‘Solo Debut’ Jang Hanbyeol reaches No.1 on music charts… Posts handwritten letter saying “Thank you”

-Jang Hanbyeol achieves huge success with Korean solo debut… How was it possible?

An overwhelming success beyond expectations.

There were many analyses about why he succeeded, not only in album sales but also among the general public.

But the public’s conclusion was simple.

‘The song is good.’

More precisely, they liked the singer who performed it.

Exceptional vocal ability suited for ballads.

Star quality that naturally drew people’s attention.

Seeing that, idol fans who had doubted Jang Hanbyeol’s mainstream success only a short while ago changed their attitudes.

The spectacular return of a prodigal son who had wandered overseas.

With such overwhelming success, Chinese speaking idol members who had unfollowed Jang Hanbyeol quietly followed him again, becoming targets of ridicule and criticism among idol fans.

[…I don’t want to talk about that today.]

Even famous Chinese celebrities who had harshly criticized Jang Hanbyeol and confidently predicted his downfall began avoiding the topic or engaging in self justification.

The representative of the latter was Andrew from Daydream.

[Why do you think Jang Liang was able to achieve that kind of success in Korea? Isn’t it ultimately because of his popularity here?]

Regardless of the circumstances, this was a scenario that went completely against everyone’s expectations.

Chinese netizens who had been waiting to see Jang Hanbyeol cry, apologize for his “mistakes,” or shave his head also began avoiding the topic.

And then, right at that moment.

The leader of NewBlack, who could be considered the starting point of this entire incident, uploaded a video with Jang Hanbyeol on multiple SNS platforms.

Almost as if showing it directly to them.

[Me and my friend :)]

A title meaning exactly that.

In the video, Jang Hanbyeol and Sun Wooju were celebrating the album’s success and dancing happily.

Two idols wearing sun headbands and doing the “Old Man Bukbuk” dance.

[Look!]

Sun Wooju shouted the opening line mischievously.

[Your freaking awesome sun—!]

Jang Hanbyeol sang along and laughed happily.

It was a satisfying laugh, enough to make everyone who had tormented him recently tremble with anger.

Hanbyeol’s album had entered the path of success.

It was an enormous success, reaching 1.89 million first week sales and chasing our Baekya until it was right at its heels.

[Ranking of All Time Domestic Album First Week Sales]

1st. NewBlack - Insomnia

2nd. Jang Hanbyeol - At the End of Waiting

Hanbyeol, a soloist rather than a group member, immediately secured second place.

Among idol fans, discussions were raging over whether it was appropriate to include an album with mostly Chinese sales in domestic rankings.

But regardless, one thing was undeniable.

It was a commercial success.

And it had succeeded in mainstream indicators as well.

Jang Hanbyeol [I’m seriously gratefulㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ]

Jang Hanbyeol [If there’s a building you want, send me the address.]

Jang Hanbyeol [I’ll buy one for you.]

When I jokingly asked him to buy me 63 Building or N Seoul Tower, he replied that I should wait ten years.

We were laughing while exchanging jokes when—

Ding—

“Hmm?”

Jang Hanbyeol [Thirty years.]

Jang Hanbyeol [No, forty years..?]

Jang Hanbyeol [Do I need to obtain citizenship too? Since it’s a landmark, I don’t think they’d ever sell it to an American.]

I laughed and replied.

Me [Just do well on music shows..]

He seemed extremely excited because it was his first music show appearance in a long time.

Naturally, he skipped K Net because of the previous incident, but apparently K Net was now desperately asking him to appear.

The photos he was sending were backstage pictures from terrestrial music shows, and it seemed like the broadcasters were treating him very well.

“How is he?”

The youngest asked.

“Is senior Hanbyeol doing well?”

“Yeah. Looks like the broadcasting stations

°• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •°

are treating him well.”

Strictly speaking, it seemed they had decided he was profitable now.

Well.

Regardless of the reason, one thing was certain.

I no longer had to worry about him.

The youngest muttered while looking at the photos.

“Wow. Thinking about it, our company’s lineup has gotten really strong.”

“?”

“We’re doing well, and didn’t you say the Scarlett members are getting tons of calls to come over to the US lately?”

“Yeah, they are.”

Scarlett, who had steadily expanded their overseas fandom since last year, had recently increased their US activities, including a Billboard interview.

It was less that the company was sending them out and more that requests were coming from the other side.

Various talk shows and smaller stages were asking, “Do you want to perform?!”

Jiho said:

“And now senior Hanbyeol just achieved the best solo results of his career.”

“Hmm… That’s true. And we also have senior Yoon Chanhyuk.”

A ballad powerhouse.

A boy group.

A girl group.

A powerful solo artist.

And when you added subsidiary company idols like Daylight, the legendary second generation girl group, and DNS’s Street Boys, the lineup was much more impressive than expected.

“When did we become like this?”

“Seriously.”

All I could think was how quickly time passed.

While we were talking, there was a knock on the waiting room door, followed by English.

“It’s time to get ready!”

I almost instinctively answered “Yes” in Korean, but we answered in English instead.

Today’s schedule was , held at London’s O2 Arena.

It was a concert hosted every year around Christmas by one of the UK’s biggest radio stations.

Our role was to be the headliner.

“Waaaaaaaaaah!”

“Wooooooah!”

Although our popularity was lower compared to North America, British audiences were just as passionate.

They danced along during Overcooked and sang our October Christmas together at the top of their lungs.

It became another enjoyable memory for all of us.

“Having one Christmas song hit really is great.”

Ri Hyuk smiled.

“In Western countries, it feels like you get halfway there with just one Christmas song. Nobody hates Christmas songs.”

“Exactly.”

Overcooked was great too, but after the success of our Christmas song, the reactions from ordinary audiences definitely felt different.

It felt like they viewed us with a little more affection.

Through the success of October Christmas and our Western promotions, I learned something.

Christmas songs were like extremely cute puppies.

Even someone with a bad personality would smile when they saw a cute puppy, and it became difficult to say harsh things in front of it.

Likewise, it was difficult to say harsh things or discriminate against adorable NewBlack singing Christmas songs filled with holiday spirit.

“Hmm.”

Junghyun spoke.

“That could be useful too. If people boo us because our singing is bad, we could say, ‘We wrote this song while thinking about our grandfather’…”

“Junghyun. That’s just being a terrible person who exploits their family.”

“Oh. True.”

“But I’ll remember it. It’s a good emergency measure.”

“…?”

After finishing the event, we wrapped up radio and interview schedules in the UK before moving to the United States.

Various recorded programs leading into the Christmas season.

[The group behind the October miracle! Introducing NewBlack!]

[The star of the movie , currently causing a sensation in America! The son of Sun himself, right? Come on over!]

[Your father’s movie is receiving a passionate response from North American audiences. It’s also becoming popular as a family film during the Christmas season. How do you feel?]

Including interviews related to my father.

No joke, counting events, recordings, and interviews, I felt like we sang Christmas songs at least a hundred times.

American broadcasters were that serious about Christmas songs before the holiday season.

No matter where we went, Christmas was still some time away, but the atmosphere already felt like we were right in the middle of it.

“Nice.”

While I shared that atmosphere in America with Kim Deoksun through daily video calls—

The news we had been waiting for finally arrived while we were busy preparing year end stages in America and Hot Sauce, which would be released in January.

“Hyung, it’s today!”

Biju said while showing me his phone.

“Today is the day they announce the Grammy nominations.”

“Oh, really?”

I looked at the calendar and nodded.

It felt like only yesterday that we checked the Grammy nominees last December, but somehow another year had already passed.

Overcooked was outside the eligibility period, but this year we had done many activities, including Answer, so I was secretly curious about whether we would receive nominations.

“The Grammy nominee announcement is already here.”

“Yeah.”

“Should we check later?”

“We should~”

While we were talking about it with the members in the practice room—

“?”

I noticed Junghyun standing in one corner of the room.

His eyebrows were furrowed into sharp triangles as he stared intensely at his phone.

He looked like he was reading some incredibly important news, so I asked:

“What’s wrong, Junghyun? What came out today?”

“It’s that thing today.”

Junghyun looked at us and said:

“Gallup’s Entertainer of the Year.”

“!!!”

A tension like the calm before a storm began sweeping through the practice room.