SCT-Novel Chapter 364
Chapter 364
“Is this for industrial use?”
“Not industrial?”
“No, this is...”
As I pondered how to explain, Junghyun lifted the light stick for me to see.
“This is a cheering light.”
“Cheering?”
“Yes. It’s meant to be waved to give strength during work.”
“At the factory...”
Before I could finish, Rihyuk gasped for air, and Jiho chuckled.
It wasn’t exactly wrong, but...
I could see the old man across from us conjuring up the wrong image.
“Just what odd uses you have for it...”
He seemed to imagine the light stick being waved vigorously in a factory with conveyor belts running.
The fisherman, scratching his forehead with his fingers, said,
“Now that I look at you, your faces seem familiar.”
“Yes, it’s us.”
As the five of us pulled down our masks and smiled, the man let out a sound of realization.
“Ah, you’re New Black.”
“Yes.”
“With the weather freezing enough to solidify squid, why are you out here so early in the morning? It’s cold.”
“We’re here to make a wish.”
“Oh, you should just make wishes at home~”
We laughed, sharing a warm conversation like neighbors.
One advantage and disadvantage of collaborating with ‘Now, My Hometown’ was that the elders no longer seemed surprised to see us. We felt like grandchildren raised by the whole neighborhood. ⱤäƝO͍ꞖÊs
“So, this is a cheering stick?”
Jiho spoke to the fisherman who was fiddling with the light stick.
“Yes, when we sing, fans wave it to encourage us, shouting ‘Go on, give it your all!’”
“Oho...”
“Of course, this isn’t for sale. It’s specially made by us.”
We began to rummage through our bags.
Bijoo suddenly asked,
“Brother, I’m suddenly confused about the name of this cheering stick. Is it... Moon Stick?”
“No. Kim Won Bong?”
“That’s a freedom fighter. No, it’s not Kim Sun... nor Kim Bong Dal! It’s Dal Bong!”
“Ah. Dal Bong.”
We barely managed to recall the original name, avoiding a near catastrophe.
We explained to the fisherman.
“This is the version for sale.”
“Oho, what stick is it?”
“It’s Kim Dal Bong.”
He turned up the brightness to the maximum and seemed pleased with its usefulness.
“It’s different from a regular light; the way it spreads is nice. Like a lantern.”
“Yes, yes.”
“And it’s cheap. Where can I buy one?”
“We have a merchandise shop. Shall I give you the address?”
Jiho tapped the address into his phone and handed it over.
While Wonseok looked on, puzzled by the conversation,
“Hey, Mr. Kim!”
“Why again?”
“Come quickly! Look! There’s something truly marvelous here!”
He gestured to the other fishermen nearby.
Soon, the other fishermen also showed interest, murmuring ‘Wow.’
Curious, we asked,
“But where will you use this? For squid fishing?”
“Can’t use it on the boat. Even the machines made to withstand seawater break down all the time.”
“Then...?”
“It’s terrifying to walk the island paths at night.”
The rough-looking men nodded, as if to say ‘the night paths are too scary...’
Even the light from a phone can be frightening at times.
Meanwhile,
The fishermen who had taken the address for our merchandise shop were most intrigued by,
“Wow...!”
“Where can I buy this?”
“Look at this! The light spins around! Who needs a karaoke room!”
It was the majestic light stick, fit for a king.
Especially, it seemed that the self-powered handle at the very bottom stirred the old men’s dreams.
“Wow...!”
Each time I explained a feature or function, the people gathered around couldn’t help but express their amazement.
There was definitely something about the ‘Wangbong’ that triggered people’s desire to possess.
Even the boss had made two and taken one for himself.
“This is not for sale.”
The fishermen, looking dejected, asked me to let them know if it ever went on sale, and I responded with a smile.
Even as they headed towards the boat, they kept looking back, as if they couldn’t quite let go of the ‘Wangbong.’
We cheered them on, shouting, “Catch lots of fish!” as we waved goodbye.
“Bro, should we talk about the ‘Wangbong’ when we get back to the company?” Jung-hyun suggested.
“The Soufflés have always wanted one badly, even though it’s useless. They said they’d like to have at least one.”
“Right. Should we really bring it up?”
“We might have to downgrade the performance to make it affordable.”
While we were discussing the potential sale of the ‘Wangbong,’ which had always been in demand among the Soufflés, I spotted a seagull flying across the blue sky.
“Wow, the weather is really nice.”
“Isn’t it?”
And then, in that moment, silence enveloped us.
“Is the sky getting brighter...?”
“It does seem brighter, doesn’t it...?”
“...”
“...”
We were so captivated by the ‘Wangbong’ that we hadn’t noticed the sun had already risen high.
The managers had been muttering to themselves with their hands clasped since earlier.
“Wow, these sly people.”
When the corners of Minki and Wonseok’s mouths twitched slightly upward, we quickly clasped our hands together too.
“Hey, hey! Make a wish! A wish!”
We looked sideways at the already high sun and made our wishes in the bright light that seemed to combine all the ‘Wangbongs’ in the world.
After wishing for our families’ eternal health and the Soufflés’ longevity...
“Since we’re making wishes, let’s go big.”
We all nodded and clasped our hands together.
“Please make our album a hit, selling ten million copies.”
“Sun, someday help us hold a concert at the main stadium.”
“I heard from Rihyuk that you have to be specific when making a wish. Please make the title track of New Black’s album number one on the global charts within ten years. Like this.”
At Jung-hyun’s words, Bijoo and I tilted our heads in confusion.
“But isn’t that a bit too arrogant for a wish? It’s not like we’ve left our wishes in someone’s care.”
“Hmm. Is it?”
As we debated whether it was okay to offend the sun with our wishes, the others made their wishes too.
Silver Guy: “Why did I even learn to sing?”
Me: “A guy who sings well and is funny > Just a funny guy.”
Silver Guy: “Oh? Is it time for self-introductions?”
...The times when we teased each other were the best.
This guy’s wit was getting unnecessarily sharp as he did more variety shows.
He warned me that after establishing himself in the variety world, he’d pave a thorny path for me. I wasn’t worried at all.
Meanwhile, I spent the first holiday of 2016 on schedule, immediately preparing for the upcoming tour in Japan.
“Arghhh...!”
“Weren’t the days when we just sang better?”
“Argh. Argh...”
Even during the small theater tour, we practiced in the hotel, aligning our movements.
But once we started preparing for the concert under the guidance of the main dancer, it felt like my body was falling apart.
“About this concert in Japan,” the sweat-drenched youngest member asked while gulping down water.
“Isn’t it much bigger than we thought?”
“Exactly,” Beejoo nodded.
“I keep thinking, huh? Huh?”
“Me too. I can’t quite believe it. Do you know anything, sir?”
“No, not really...”
I was bewildered when I first heard about the size of the venue.
Because we hadn’t done anything significant.
In Japan, our promotion was limited to a K-pop concert in Saitama Prefecture last year, fan signings, and album promotions.
Though I was surprised by the crowds at the airport and offline events, there wasn’t much else.
“...Then what’s this?”
We tilted our heads, comparing the list of venues with actual photos.
Still huge.
Curious about what was happening, it seemed even the company people couldn’t pinpoint the reason.
“We’ll have to check it out in Japan.”
We chatted about this during our break.
“Hm?”
Junghyun pushed his phone towards us.
“Did you see this, hyung?”
“What is it?”
“We made it into the American news.”
“What?”
We leaned in to look.
In Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
At a certain restaurant.
‘Wow...’
21 years old.
Annie, a student at the University of Nebraska and a K-pop fan, tapped on her tablet PC.
“Ah...”
Nibbling on the omelet that came with breakfast, I watched the NewBlack members beaming on the screen.
It was like a daily challenge, watching ‘Nine’ before moving on to another video.
Originally a fan of various idols, I had recently become a fan of NewBlack.
“Every day feels so new.”
Thanks to the overwhelming amount of content on MeTube, there was always more of my favorite videos to watch, even daily.
It was like opening an incredibly entertaining life novel, where the pages I needed to read increased every day.
With one earbud in, I set the subtitles to English and watched a reality show video.
“Ha ha ha!”
The video I was watching was a compilation made by a K-pop fan of NewBlack.
Lately, with the growing number of NewBlack fans, it was easy to find English subtitles for any video.
When RiHyuk looked disdainfully at the other members, holding his breath, a subtitle that read [(Pause)] appeared.
“I want to share this.”
I wanted to grab the attention of the patrons in the diner and exclaim, “Look at this, it’s a whole new world!”
Just as I was entertaining that thought...
“Ha ha ha!”
The distinctive, trivial laughter of NewBlack reached my ears.
From outside my earbuds.
“...?”
I removed my earbuds and looked up.
The laughter of NewBlack was leaking from the TV installed in the diner.
“That can’t be right?”
Following the gaze of the other customers, I looked at the TV, which was tuned to a news channel, and tilted my head in confusion.
A famous news channel.
The screen was split, with an anchor on the left and a reporter on the right.
The gray-haired anchor asked with a smile, “I hear we have an interesting international topic prepared for today?”
“Yes, it’s a video that recently became a hot topic on MeTube. It’s something everyone can enjoy.”
“Please introduce it.”
“It’s a video of a K-pop singer performing the song ‘Thousand Dreams’ from the OST of Nostalgia.”
It was indeed NewBlack.
Annie’s eyes widened in shock.
“What is this?”
My heart pounded.
As I wondered what the news was...
“Nooo...”
A “Nooo...” slipped from my lips.
No, no.
As Annie shook her head, looking for a way to change the channel...
In a video with the Korean caption ‘My Hometown’ on PBS, a young man took deep breaths...
Moo-oo-oo-
It was a scene of him making a cow’s sound.
“Pfft!”
“Ha ha ha!”
Amidst the cheerful laughter filling the diner, the anchor and reporter continued their talk as more videos played.
“These are videos that went up like a challenge after the original went viral. Let’s watch them together.”
It was a scene of farmers in the central United States playing the video for their cows.
The cows, each busy with their own thing, stopped and gathered as they heard the cow sounds from a Korean singer through the amplifier speakers.
The cows and dairy cows murmured, “Moo-oo-oo-.”
As the anchor and reporter burst into laughter on TV, a boisterous laughter also filled the diner.
“...”
While Annie was swallowing her breath, the owner with a coffee pot asked, “More coffee?”
“No!”
“What’s that video you’ve been watching?”
“It’s nothing.”
Annie hurriedly closed her tablet PC to hide the NewBlack video she had been watching.
Meanwhile, news about that very video was being discussed around her.
On TV, the original segment continued, explaining the context of the video.
“It’s a group known as ‘NewBlack,’ famous K-pop singers from Korea.”
As a brief explanation, including the Nostalgia OST, flowed, the customers’ attention remained on the TV.
Though their interest soon waned, a few diners began discussing the recent video.
“It’s nice in a way, but this awkward feeling...”
I was a foreign fan, somehow embarrassed as my favorite singers gained recognition.