LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 22
Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: Rxel
Chapter 22
They watched as Gil Chaekyung sat next to Wang Jiho.
What was she up to?
The atmosphere that had been revolving around Wang Jiho changed in an instant.
The girl who was smiling brightly received friendly responses from everywhere whenever she said something.
Seon Woojoo couldn’t see Wang Jiho’s expression since he had his back to them.
They were tense and attentive when it happened.
Gil Chaekyung said something and a murmur started to spread.
It was like throwing a stone into a pond and the waves spreading out in all directions.
And the eyes that turned to them.
“Why are they staring?”
“Wow. What’s going on?”
Unlike the confused kids, Seon Woojoo stroked his chin.
Gil Chaekyung looked slightly flustered.
The only thing he could guess was that she failed to diss Wang Jiho.
The only way she could use to diss them or Wang Jiho was the difference in popularity.
She failed.
Then the reason why the students were looking at them was probably because they knew who they were.
When Seon Woojoo completed that inference, he called out to Seo Rihyuk.
“Seo Rihyuk.”
“Yes?”
“Search our names on the search engine.”
“Do you not have hands?”
Seo Rihyuk took out his smartphone and moved his fingers quickly.
“…Hm?”
He searched for New Black on the search engine and frowned as he skimmed through the articles.
His eyes widened.
Kim Bijoo and Kim Junghyun, who were watching, also turned their heads to him.
Unlike Seon Woojoo, who had a hunch, they seemed nervous by his unusual reaction.
“Rihyuk, what’s wrong?”
“Did something happen to us?”
Seo Rihyuk didn’t answer and moved his fingers.
The familiar yellow color and the screen of the music site Mango appeared.
“…Huh?”
He was so surprised that he dropped his phone.
Seon Woojoo eyes caught that scene as he was yawning.
The smartphone slipped out of his loosened fingers and fell.
Seon Woojoo’s body moved automatically and lifted his heel.
Thud.
The smartphone bounced up as it hit his heel like a hacky sack.
He caught it and handed it to Seo Rihyuk.
“Wow.”
Kim Junghyun, who was next to Seon Woojoo, widened his eyes and sent him an admiring look.
Seon Woojoo had been practicing acrobatic moves whenever he had a chance using his action imitation ability, so it was a natural move for him.
Seon Woojoo came back to reality and called out to Seo Rihyuk, who was still in shock.
“Rihyuk.”
“…….”
“Seo Rihyuk.”
“Yes?”
“Take your phone.”
“Guys.”
Seo Rihyuk met Seon Woojoo’s eyes and muttered with a half-frozen face, “We hit the jackpot.”
“Jackpot? What do you mean?”
“Look.”
Seo Rihyuk held up his smartphone and showed it to us.
[Mango Chart Real-Time Ranking]
Jang SowonXNew Black – Something
TNT – Blink
TNT – Don’t Smile
TNT – Pretender
Teen Spirit – Nana
Something’s real-time chart ranking was first.
***
They traced the cause through internet searches.
The event that started it all was a weekend variety show.
Their song was used as the background music for a scene where the virtual couple confirmed their feelings for each other.
Was this what Seokhwan Hyung had begged the PD to use?
Until then, people didn’t pay much attention to them.
The TV viewers just said, ‘Nice song.’ and moved on.
The real start was when the highlight scene was edited and circulated on SNS.
-Woobin and Jieun’s hug!
-So sweet… This is the best ㅜㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-But does anyone know the title of this BGM?
-I’m curious too. I’ve been hearing it on the radio and cafes lately.
-This is Jang Sowon’s single song! The title is Something
They gained some recognition, but it wasn’t enough.
But then, a video changed everything.
An internet broadcast BJ sang a duet cover of Something with another BJ, and the video spread on SNS.
The word of mouth spread like a virus.
Thanks to the video that was shared on SNS, their song received a lot of interest, and since yesterday night, the ranking kept rising until this morning, when it finally reached the first place.
They must have refreshed the page a hundred times during the graduation ceremony.
“Is this a dream?”
“Should I pinch you?”
“You pinch yourself first.”
Kim Bijoo and Seon Woojoo pinched each other’s sides, but only pain remained.
Honestly, what if it was a dream?
It was such a good dream that he didn’t want to wake up.
Even Kim Junghyun, who was not easily surprised by anything, blinked his eyes like a bear that had woken up from hibernation.
Seo Rihyuk shrank his shoulders and put his hand on his chest.
“Wow, my heart is pounding.”
“Are you okay?”
“It feels like the floor is shaking. My legs are trembling. Hyung, do you feel it too?”
“It doesn’t feel real when you suddenly call me Hyung.”
Seo Rihyuk glared at Seon Woojoo.
When they were smiling, Kim Bijoo asked Seon Woojoo, “By the way, Hyung. The company must be in chaos right now, right?”
***
Lemon Entertainment’s PR team.
It was as if a fire had broken out, with phones ringing everywhere.
“Hey! Someone answer the phone!”
“Yes, I’m on it!”
“How’s the press release coming along?”
“I’ve finished the draft for the reporters. I can finish it in 30 minutes.”
“Good. Hurry up.”
“Do they need to send someone to Wang Jiho’s graduation ceremony?”
“I don’t think the reporters are that interested in our kids yet?”
“No way. There must be some fans of Girls on Top there, right?”
“What?”
“Boss, didn’t you know? Gil Chaekyung is in the same class as Wang Jiho and Seoil.”
The PR team leader hastily grabbed his phone.
“Hey! Someone go to the graduation ceremony right now! Talk to the reporters and make sure our kids don’t mess up! Especially Wang Jiho, he’s a ticking bomb.”
“Boss! Director Yoon from the Management Department has already left.”
“When?”
“He rushed there as soon as he heard the news.”
“Okay. I can breathe a sigh of relief with Director Yoon there. What’s going on here? Seriously.”
The chaotic PR team.
They only realized the situation after the ranking skyrocketed.
Who would have expected a singer whose best record was in the 30s to top the chart with a solo song?
There was no sign of it for the past two weeks, so no one could imagine it.
“These days, the teens are all about internet broadcasting, internet broadcasting. We underestimated them, huh? They totally boosted the song.”
“It’s a hit song, alright.”
“Honestly, the song was amazing. It’s just that they lacked capital.”
“Don’t get too excited. It’s common for a flash-in-the-pan hit to drop quickly.”
“Boss.”
Someone who was looking at the chart opened his lips.
“It doesn’t seem to want to go down, though?”
***
The one who brought them back to reality in this surreal situation was the youngest.
“Hyungs!”
The youngest ran towards them like a retriever, holding a bunch of flowers at the entrance of the auditorium.
“I’m not a middle schooler anymore!”
“Wow, you’ve grown up.”
“Did you see? Our chart ranking?”
They all nodded at the youngest’s words.
“they saw it.”
They saw it, alright.
He looked at them with a cute expression and pulled out a card.
“What should they eat, Hyungs? I got this card from Dad and it’s a no-limit card. Mom said I can spend up to 1 million won on anything.”
Look at the scale.
They were excited about what to eat, having achieved a good result on the music chart and finished the graduation ceremony.
“Hey, Wang Jiho.”
They turned their heads and saw the students of this school.
They couldn’t approach them when they were four, but they came closer when they saw Wang Jiho, who was familiar to them.
Well.
Seon Woojoo admitted, they looked pretty awkward.
“Can they take a picture with you?”
“Me too!”
“Me too!”
They took selfies with them.
It was a bit awkward at first, but after dozens of times, they started to smile naturally.
The students asked them if they could post them on SNS.
They were busy responding to the unexpected photo requests when another group of people found them.
“You’re New Black, right?”
“Yes?”
“Hello, I’m a reporter from Star Daily.”
The ones who had just finished interviewing Gil Chaekyung all flocked to them.
They must have thought they were newsworthy.
They suddenly shoved their cameras in their faces and they were speechless.
“Excuse me.”
Someone intervened with a soft voice.
Yoon Seokhwan.
Their manager, whom they hadn’t seen for a while.
“These kids are new to interviews.”
He explained the situation to the reporters and stood by their side.
He helped them by cutting off difficult questions or coaching them from the side.
They managed to finish well, thanks to him, but they felt uneasy.
It was bewildering.
They threw questions at them out of the blue and their minds went blank.
To be honest, it was not an experience Seon Woojoo wanted to repeat.
But there was a silver lining.
Gil Chaekyung, who was looking at them from afar.
She smiled and agreed to take pictures with them, but if you looked closely, you could see her lips trembling.
She had lost all the attention that should have been hers.
She hovered around the entertainment reporters, as if to say, “Look at me,” but no one paid attention to her, except for a few.
It was inevitable.
The graduation ceremony that had already been covered was less interesting than the song that suddenly blew up on SNS.
Seon Woojoo smiled as he watched Gil Chaekyung kick the sand and leave the field.
She deserved it.
***
It was a magical time that started in mid-February.
Everything changed after they topped the music chart.
-‘Something’ hits the jackpot… Weekly chart No. 1
-Jang Sowon’s dazzling comeback
-‘Something’s chart run, will it spark a collaboration boom in the music industry?
Their song was requested every time a love story came up on the radio, and TV was no different.
Their song was everywhere, from variety shows, streets, to cafes.
It was a strange feeling.
Seon Woojoo couldn’t believe it when he saw their song playing as background music on a famous TV program, or when the guests hummed their song.
In a clip that Jang Sowon posted on the group chat, the guests were talking about their song.
Inside a car with a camera installed.
-I want to hold your hand, but it slips away~
-What song is that, sir?
-Hey! Jinyu! Don’t you know this? It’s the hottest song these days, this is.
-Really?
They were on the most popular variety show,
Seon Woojoo thought they made a good song, but he never dreamed it would be such a hit.
Of course, the song’s success and their popularity were unrelated.
-Who are the rookie singers who sang ‘Something’ with Jang Sowon?
-Jang Sowon, “New Black are really talented friends”
-Lemon Entertainment, “they are flooded with inquiries about New Black”
There were some articles that were curious about them, but they were few and far between.
Honestly, there weren’t many people who looked up the singers just because they liked the song.
Most people didn’t know the name of the singer even if they sang along to a famous movie OST.
Once, Seon Woojoo asked Seokhwan Hyung out of curiosity, “Are we really getting a lot of inquiries?”
His answer was simple.
“Do you think so?”
“…”
They didn’t care about the gap between popularity and recognition.
They were so happy with the success of the song itself.
They even enjoyed this gap, you could say.
Whenever a song came out of the cell phone store, Seon Woojoo would record a video of himself singing along to that part, and when he stopped by the convenience store and their song came on, he would ask, ‘Whose song is this?’ pretending not to know.
Every day was fun.
Especially for Seon Woojoo.
When Director Jo Gyuhwan told him the estimated royalty income of the management support team, Seon Woojoo opened his mouth wide in shock.
“Why are you so surprised?”
“Di-Director… Is it that much?”
“Of course.”
Director Jo smiled softly.
“You may not know this, but Something is a once-in-a-lifetime song for a composer. You were lucky to get it.”
“My heart is pounding.”
“Congratulations. You’re a real composer now.”
Even after splitting the ratio with Senior Jang Sowon, Seon Woojoo still got that much royalty income.
Director Jo said this was just the beginning.
At this rate, it would be a hit song throughout the first half of the year, and if he added up the income from karaoke and music downloads, he could buy a foreign car.
It was hard to believe anyway.
Every day was a thrilling, happy, and bewildering moment.
Of course, as the world goes, there were also those who sent envious eyes to their sudden success.
-Don’t you think Something’s music chart is rigged? The trend is weird too.
There were people who constantly posted such comments on the internet.
But they didn’t get much response.
-The article is really malicious.
-It could be rigged, but if you look at it from this perspective, all the music is rigged.
-I’m not buying a rigged bird.
-The problem is that the music is too good to say that.
-Yeah, me too. I sing this these days when I go to karaoke with people around me.
-The problem is that Lemon and Hwai are not those kinds of companies. Lemon is too proud to do that kind of thing, and Hwai is just wtf.. Let me say it…
-LoLLoLLoLLoLLoLLoL Hwa-i rigged? The same Hwai that stuttered when Joo Hana was there? These guys are too stupid to rig as smartly as you say.
-Oh, I was scrolling down and got cold from Hwai.
Seon Woojoo was worried that it might be a problem, but these stories only circulated in some corners of the internet and had no effect on the offline world.
And finally.
The day Seon Woojoo had been waiting for came.
Director Yoon Seokhwan came down to the basement practice room where they were practicing like crazy.
“Guys.”
He said with a face that said it had arrived.
“You’re going to be on a music show.”
And as a candidate for first place.