Chapter 1169: Artist of the Year (12)

Amid the uproarious laughter, I discreetly checked my brothers' reactions.

"……."

"……."

They looked dazed.

Like little kids who had just had the shrimp crackers in their hands snatched away by a seagull with a sharp chomp.

"This really is complicated."

Junghyun blinked and spoke to the others.

"If someone other than Wooju had taken first place, I think I would've just been happy. Like, wow, we're singers and we still came in second."

"Right."

"But since Wooju came in first, it's kind of… uh……."

"That feeling, right, Junghyun?"

Ri Hyuk nodded as he answered.

"To succeed as the variety group NewBlack, we let carp slap us in the face, drove on the highway… suffered through a parenting show, and even opened a restaurant that made twenty million won in sales."

"We ran around like crazy at university festivals and all worked hard together in Alaska."

The others nodded, reminiscing about the past.

"We did."

"We really worked hard……."

"Wow. We really did work hard together."

At that moment, Ri Hyuk sharply turned his head and pointed at me.

"But the one who took all the glory was the face of our group."

"Exactly."

"That face."

I gave the members glaring at me with gloomy expressions a pitiful smile.

Biju said firmly,

"I'm trying to glare at you right now. You can't make a handsome expression."

"Got it."

And so, I decided to shamelessly brazen it out.

"Come on, the public voted. Why are you taking it out on me?"

"That's true, but……."

As the others trailed off, our youngest asked,

"But how did this happen? How did Wooju come in first and we came in second?"

"Ah, my theory is……."

Ri Hyuk explained.

-One Month Earlier-

"Hello."

[Yes, hello. This is the Gallup Korea polling institute. Excuse me, but would you have a moment to speak?]

"Yes."

[Every year at the end of the year, we select the people of the year. May we ask for your opinion?]

The people who received the calls diligently answered the questions.

"Artist of the year is obviously NewBlack. Song of the year is Like The Sun. You know, the song from the Sun Myungju movie."

"Song of the year? Coin? NewBlack's Bitcoin song."

"Hmm. For actor… Lee Gyeonwoo?"

"I think was the most entertaining drama, and actor of the year is Lee Gyeonwoo. Sound of the Sun."

"Sports star of the year is Song Yoonho. He's going to the major leagues this time."

After they voted like that, the final question came.

[Then who do you consider the entertainer of the year?]

A few people answered immediately.

"NewBlack."

"NewBlack."

"I choose NewBlack."

They were viewers of New Universe, including the Souffles.

There was an unspoken agreement among them.

-NewBlack for first place!

Hadn't NewBlack mentioned it every chance they got on New Universe?

[Yes. Seventh place in Gallup Korea's 2016 Entertainer of the Year, and ninth place in 2017!]

[We, NewBlack, have a grand dream of becoming the best entertainers of 2018.]

[Every single vote from all of you is incredibly precious to us. Heh heh heh!]

That was why those people shouted NewBlack before the interviewer even finished saying, "Entertainer of the ye—"

But that was limited to viewers of New Universe and people who took a strong interest in NewBlack.

"Huh? What? Entertainer of the… what?"

A hard-of-hearing man in his seventies.

"Entertainer of the year? Uh… I don't really watch variety shows. You still want me to pick someone?"

A person with little interest in variety shows.

"I'm a high school senior, so I haven't watched much variety lately."

People who had not had the time, and so on.

For them, Entertainer of the Year was almost the same as a name-recognition survey.

In other words, they chose the entertainer who had made the biggest splash that year, the one they had seen the most in media coverage.

Then that's NewBlack.

The absurd variety idols who had transformed a cable channel pulling single-digit ratings into one that reached twenty percent in one stroke.

The people who had naturally been about to answer NewBlack hesitated.

Ah. NewBlack isn't an individual.

The keyword "entertainer of the year" in the interviewer's question had caught their attention.

It was singular, not plural.

So they naturally picked the member of NewBlack who was most famous for variety shows.

"Ah, you know, that one~ Wooju."

[Do you mean Sun Wooju?]

"Yeah, that's him~"

The others were the same.

"NewBlack's Wooju."

"Wooju?"

"I'll go with Wooju."

Had New Universe viewers been asked to choose one of the five NewBlack members, most of them would have picked Junghyun.

Junghyun ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) is the variety character.

Each member had his own specialty.

Biju handled dance and cooking, Ri Hyuk handled vocals and brains, and the youngest handled acting and cuteness.

In terms of image, Junghyun was in charge of rap and variety.

He was the perfect variety-show talent, funny just standing there and capable of getting huge laughs without even saying much.

Wooju was also considered a variety member, but rather than being constantly funny like Junghyun, he was closer to someone who produced scenes with enormous impact.

-Heh heh! Accept the lady's sword, Your Grace!

Scenes like swinging a sword while wearing a dress.

Of course, Wooju had tremendous presence on variety shows too, but how should one put it? Sun Wooju's position in NewBlack was closer to that of an all-rounder.

An all-purpose issue maker who could create buzz in fashion, music, acting, or anything else.

People who knew that would have chosen Junghyun as the variety character, but to the general public, presence mattered more.

-Hahahahahahahaha!

-Wooju, you look like you're about to stop breathing.

-Hahaha… cough! Cough! Guh-hehk! Cough! I have no regrets left… cough!

The protagonist of The Old Man and the Sea, who attained enlightenment after catching a sailfish on <Honey, Let's Fish> early that year.

-I'm Rabbit Uncle! La la la la~!

The creator of a legendary children's song on a parenting variety show.

-This is the greatest name in Korean hip-hop, Seo Ri Hyuk! Kiyoooooot! Everyone, are you ready to appreciate my rhymes?!

The man who had gone completely wild during the King of Singers competition.

And then.

-From this moment forward, NewBlack Town will adopt the gold standard.

-Waaaaaaaah!

Even the Alaska version of deranged SimCity he was currently showing on <NewBlack's Travel Diary 3>.

And so, the results were decided.

[Entertainer of the Year]

1st. Sun Wooju

2nd. NewBlack

"…So that's my theory."

"That makes sense."

It was extremely convincing.

Everyone else accepted Ri Hyuk's explanation as well.

Sound of the Sun's casting director, John Deokgyu Choi, said,

"Ah, I see. Because 'entertainer' is singular, not plural. They were asked to choose one person, so they chose Wooju."

"Oh. Now I get it."

As everyone nodded with expressions of understanding, I quickly jumped in.

"Honestly, I was only chosen as the group's representative. If you combine the two, we're basically first place anyway."

"That's right."

Biju agreed.

"I think all of us came in first."

"But isn't the number written here a two?"

Seo Ri Hyuk!!!

I smiled brightly while flying into a towering rage inside.

Jiho said,

"Anyway, next time we should call Gallup and ask them to combine NewBlack into one."

"Let's do that."

It wasn't as though I was happy about coming in first alone.

"Hee hee…. Ahem."

Actually, I was.

But it still wasn't the right moment to tease my brothers about it, so I was holding back.

I changed the subject for my dejected brothers.

"Let's look at the other rankings."

In the singer rankings, Serenity, the next most popular girl group after us, had taken second place, and Junghyun had also slipped in at eighth.

"Ooooooh."

"Haha."

Junghyun scratched the back of his head and laughed like a cartoon kid.

"Guess Potato Friend made a big impact."

"Seems that way. Eighth place… ooooh."

Unlike the WooBies, who were outside the rankings, our Sweet Potato had taken eighth place.

Moving past the singer rankings, senior Lee Gyeonwoo, the lead actor of the ten-million-viewer film , had taken first place in the actor rankings.

"Jiho! Your name's here!"

"Oh!"

"Ooooooh!"

Our youngest, who had starred in the Netplus drama <God's Will>, had ranked fourth among the actors of the year.

"What? What is this?"

Our youngest raised a hand to his mouth and shrieked.

"What?! I'm really fourth?"

"Yeah. Look here."

"Wooooow!!!!!!! Guys! I'm fourth!!"

"Well done! That's our youngest!!"

The star of a drama that had received a great response worldwide, with roughly one hundred billion won already confirmed for the production budget of season two.

That was my little brother.

"Heh heh heh. A younger brother's success is naturally his older brother's success."

"Then does that mean my older brothers' success is my success too?!"

"No."

We answered firmly.

"An older brother's accomplishments belong to him."

"Indeed."

"That's a remarkably shameless logic. I agree."

Our youngest, who had been pretending to sulk, burst out laughing with us as we high-fived one another.

Jiho asked,

"That was a joke just now, right?"

"……."

"It was… a joke, right?"

"Hee hee!"

We moved past the actor rankings and smiled at , which had taken first place among the works that had defined the year.

There was also our first- and second-place finish in the entertainer rankings.

The results of this public-opinion survey seemed to be telling us something.

-Celebrities of the year.

Good entertainers who had made people laugh and cry.

After spending about thirty minutes laughing and chatting, my brothers and I quickly regained our composure and raised our glasses of cola in a toast.

"Oh, right. Junghyun."

Junghyun turned at my call.

"There was one more thing to celebrate. Your friend who took first place in the sports category."

"Yoonho?"

"Yeah."

The baseball player who had taught us how to throw the ceremonial first pitch for the KG Dragons, and Junghyun's old elementary school classmate.

I smiled brightly and congratulated him.

"I heard he's going to the major leagues. That's great."

"Yes. It really is good news, but…."

"Hm?"

A shadow fell over Junghyun's face as he stared into the distance.

"He was the KG Dragons' only hope……."

"I see…."

At the same time.

Korea was in an uproar.

"Wow."

"Wooow."

There was one reason the entire public was reacting in much the same way.

It was NewBlack.

"Did you see this? Wooju got nominated for a Grammy grand prize."

"Wow, really?"

Murmurs filled an office elevator.

Customers at a café began searching on their phones after overhearing the table next to them discussing the Grammys.

An old man on the subway pursed his lips and stared intently as he played the news at full volume, while people hearing the report on the radio picked up their phones.

-NewBlack's Wooju Nominated for Major Grammy Award… "Answer Makes History"

Strictly speaking, it was not a grand prize.

It was simply one of the four categories in what the Grammys called the General Field: Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist.

But in terms of prestige, it was fair to view it as one.

Koreans stared in astonishment.

This is insane… They're saying he has a strong chance of winning too?

It was not even a token nomination. People were saying that his odds of winning were genuinely high.

Koreans carefully read the post.

[Why Wooju Has a Strong Chance of Winning a Grammy This Time]

There was a post explaining the current atmosphere in the United States.

The massive success of .

The Grammys' long history of discriminating against hip-hop and Black musicians, to the point that they had been called the White Grammys.

With the discrimination Sun Myungju had faced in the past, as well as what Cold Brown had experienced, now becoming major issues, the Grammys had no choice but to be conscious of public opinion.

Above all, had proven itself commercially by taking first place on the year-end Billboard chart.

-holyshitholyshitholyshit

-the 3,194th summoning of Kim Gu

-he'd probably come happily today

-wow lololol a major Grammy category lololol wouldn't it be insane if he actually wins???

-amazingㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

-congratulations seriously

Some people were outraged as well.

-those bastards are racist as hell lololol and Overcook still didn't get nominated

-Overcook missed the eligibility period!

-ah.. lol got it

The excitement over the strong Grammy nomination had only just begun when another piece of news touched every Korean deeply.

-Sun Myungju to Receive Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award Next Year

It seemed that the explosive North American success of had convinced them to give Sun Myungju an award.

People clicked their tongues, yet smiled warmly.

"Oh, what good does it do to give someone an award after they're dead?"

"It's still better that he gets one."

"That's true. Wooju must be so happy. That poor kid must've suffered so much since he was young."

Predictions were widespread that it would not stop with the Grammys, and that achievement awards would pour in for Sun Myungju the following year.

Watching the wave coming from North America, someone posted a comment that represented how Koreans felt.

-wow lololol now I get why people say movies have the greatest impact

They could feel why film actors held such high status in the entertainment industries of every country.

It was because of the mass appeal of film.

Famous Hollywood actors were recognized wherever they went in the world, and even people who had never watched an American television series would still see at least one major Hollywood film every year.

Koreans were now witnessing in real time what happened when a movie with that level of mass appeal became a hit.

[Waaaaaaaaah-]

[Behold! The damn incredible sun!]

Moviegoers singing along to the songs from at a theater somewhere in North America.

[In our next story, the film continues its record-breaking run in Japan.]

News that it was expected to surpass one hundred million dollars in Japan, along with reports that Genji Hashimoto, who had been clinging on stubbornly for the past several years, had been instantly crushed by a single movie.

[We are here in Paris, France.]

[In London, England…….]

[At movie theaters in Singapore, the film …….]

And more news of its worldwide success.

-Film Sound of the Sun Nominated in Five Golden Globe Categories… "A Prelude to the Academy Awards?"

-Lee Gyeonwoo Nominated for Golden Globe Best Actor… Historic First for Korean Actor

-NewBlack's Wooju-Penned Like The Sun Nominated for Golden Globe Best Original Song… "Behold! Your Sun!"

There were even nominations from the famous American film awards said to be a preview of the Academy Awards.

-what is this am I dreaming right now

-if someone is showing me hallucinations, they're doing a good job. keep showing me scenes like this

-wow lololololol this actually happened

-it really happened lololol

Amid the resurgence of Wooju's habitual phrase, "It actually worked," there was another piece of news drawing attention in entertainment communities, though it did not receive much interest from the general public.

The news that Sun Wooju had taken first place and NewBlack second in the entertainer rankings.

[???: Second place in entertainer rankings… Work harder, NewBlack]

(Photo of Wooju raising a glass.jpg)

???: For the record, I'm also in NewBlack

-lolololololololololol

-damn it this pisses me off so much lololololololol

-he's so damn smug lololol

-first and second is insane lololol this is making me so petty

-is this real

-NewBlack clearly came in first but somehow it doesn't feel like first place

-no one can stand in the way of my brothers. only I can stand in the way of my brothers lololol

-ㄴif I were NewBlack, I'd see nothing but darkness ahead

Everyone immediately understood what had happened.

The general public just picked Wooju.

It seemed they had assumed they needed to give a singular answer rather than a plural one and chosen Wooju.

But even though Wooju had been voted first above the group itself, no one criticized him.

[A Look Back at the Achievements of This Year's No. 1 Entertainer]

A video uploaded by a NewBlack fan channel.

It showed him catching a sailfish on <Honey, Let's Fish> at the beginning of 2018, making a huge impact as the owner of Goblin Restaurant on New Universe, creating a children's song on a parenting variety show that amassed hundreds of millions of global views, and even winning MVP at some bizarre dodgeball tournament in the United States.

-does time seriously work differently for him than it does for me.. how was all of this this year

-even looking back later, 2018 is seriously going to feel like a legendary year lololol

-Sun Wooju is insane in the best possible way lololol

-how did he do all that

-any one of those would be enough for entertainer of the year and one person did all of it holy crap

NewBlack's leader had stood out more than ever that year.

A rising star in fashion, his father's film, a nomination in a major Grammy category, and now Entertainer of the Year.

At any other time, people might have complained that one person was far too dominant, but no one said that.

This really is…….

Because the public knew that without Wooju, NewBlack's success would not have been possible, and conversely, without NewBlack's success, Wooju could never have achieved this much.

And Wooju himself knew that better than anyone.

[This year really was… a year when I achieved so much together with my brothers.]

Wooju smiled warmly during a livestream as he shared his thoughts on 2018 drawing to a close.

[In 2019, we'll continue our activities as an even warmer NewBlack. Thank you so much.]

Christmas Day.

The red-carpet interview area for the .

I flashed a V sign and greeted the camera.

"Hee hee hee! Hello, everyone! I'm Sun Wooju, the number one entertainer of the year~!!"

This absolute piece of trash…!

Didn't he say NewBlack would be warmer in 2019?!

Hee hee!

It's still 2018~! My underlings!