In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Soft prelude fills the air as NewBlack’s formation shifts.

The members circle around the main dancer.

Meanwhile Biju’s body sinks gently.

Like a seed drifting on the wind falling to the ground.

At the same moment, as if the earth cradles the seed, the members bend their bodies to form an umbrella around the main dancer.

When the prelude ends, as if their roles are done, the members slip to the sides.

The main dancer, who had been seated alone, rises gracefully.

It’s a simple movement, but fans’ eyes freeze on that elegant gesture.

As he rises, stretching his arms like branches, it feels as though a seed is blossoming into a flower.

“......”

For a moment, Souffle nearly forget their prepared cheers.

Regaining their composure, they begin to cheer, and Biju, eyes closed, grips the microphone.

When the wind subsides

That winter stopped too

As the first lines end, the members join in.

Alternating by member, they softly whisper the lyrics of “Baramkkot.”

At first it feels like a cold winter, but as time passes it gradually resembles the warm hues of spring.

Smiles form on the fans’ lips.

‘So beautiful.’

From the melody to the choreography, it’s a song that feels beautiful.

Yet it’s not overly sentimental or dull.

As the song grows familiar, the underlying sounds shift in unpredictable ways, teasing the ear.

If one heard it by chance in a café, they’d pause with their hand on the laptop and go “Hm?” to listen closer.

Gentle yet powerful.

It’s as though life pulses within the song’s rhythm.

‘...This is really good.’

The narrative of the song strikes deeply.

If “Wind,” sung by Jung-hyun, is the story of the wind cradling a seed, then “Baramkkot” is the tale of the wildflower that seed has bloomed into.

Woo-joo takes the microphone.

Where I am

Is your beginning and end

Watching the performance, the song’s story /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ naturally paints itself in the mind.

A wildflower blooming in an apartment flower bed.

Someone trudging away in the morning, returning weary in the evening—this wildflower watches them.

It’s the flower that says I share the start and end of your day.

But no matter how it watches, people don’t turn to look at the flower in the flower bed.

The rap part follows.

What meets your gaze

Is an endless cell

The freezing night sky

Crushes you heavily

Someone staring at their phone with no messages on the way home, or looking at the night sky in loneliness.

There is no answer to be found anywhere.

To such a person, the starry night sky offers no comfort, the wildflower tells them.

The night sky is cold and dark.

Its vastness only makes you smaller and lonelier.

The main vocalist grabs the mic, the sub-vocalist adds harmony.

No need to look up

No need to turn away

Just gaze down

Instead of the cold night sky, if you look below you’ll see the wildflower swaying in the flower bed.

It tells you you are not alone.

When the chorus hits, the scattered members converge again.

Back to back with Woo-joo, Biju returns to center stage, and each member moves like petals in synchronized dance.

Warm smiles bloom on Souffle’s faces as they watch.

When the performance finally ends, cheers erupt louder than ever.

“Waaa—!”

Seeing the members standing on stage, faces flushed, fans everywhere share the same thought.

This song will linger in memory for a long time.

“How was it? Did you like Baramkkot?”

The simultaneous response stung the eardrums for a moment. It was definitely “yes,” but sounded like “nuaak!”

I exchanged bright smiles with my younger brothers and sisters.

‘They must have liked the song.’

‘Seems everyone enjoyed it...?’

I’d been secretly anxious.

Our primary listeners aren’t the general public but the fans. I was on edge wondering how they’d react.

Seeing happy expressions on faces waving lightsticks filled me with relief.

They were like this during the first round at the Myung-gok-dan competition.

Only then did my tension melt away and I could finally smile with happiness.

“I’m really relieved. I was so nervous whether you’d like Baramkkot or not.”

I added an explanation.

“When preparing an album, even we can’t tell if a song is good or not.”

“Yes, right. We listen to it dozens of times a day.”

From the draft composition through countless revisions we listen hundreds of times.

Once we start performance prep, we hear the title track hundreds of times daily for a month, and our senses go numb.

I’m used to it so I only feel good, but I can’t guess how it sounds to others.

I was inwardly anxious about the reaction, so I’m glad we got sincere feedback.

My siblings breathed a sigh of relief.

Especially Biju, who cried over album worries—his eyes were sparkling.

I took the mic.

“The choreography was really pretty, right?”

Without me saying more, they all agreed.

“Here’s a behind-the-scenes fact: Biju created this choreography.”

“Oh, no. No.”

Biju waved his hands.

“I didn’t do it all. Clay choreographer-nim....”

“Yes. Clay choreographer-nim refined it overall, but the start was Biju’s choreography.”

The dance he showed in Director Jo’s living room in early January became the foundation for this “Baramkkot” choreography.

I calmly continued explaining how much effort Biju put into creating our title track.

“Actually, he studied composition theory every break time so he could talk composition with me....”

After five minutes of proudly boasting about my brother’s diligence and talent, Biju tugged my collar.

“Hyung, stop. I’m so embarrassed.”

“See? Isn’t he humble and admirable? Biju, do you know what ‘bolmae’ means?”

“Bolmae...?”

At his timid logic chain—‘bolmae... bolmakeup... cheek makeup?’—everyone burst into laughter.

“It means ‘the more you see, the more charming.’”

“Oh. I see. I’ll remember that.”

“I think ‘bolmae’ truly suits Biju. And I... I... last time I....”

Excited, I began praising him non-stop again, but why was everyone laughing?

Ri-hyuk grabbed the mic and said,

“You’re such a doting brother.”

“...Doting brother? I just care for my sibling....”

“We deserve praise too. We do. You always favor Biju hyung the most. We’re not your bias, you know?”

“What are you talking about? My only bias is Kim Deok-soon.”

Ji-ho and I bickered, and Ri-hyuk shook his head.

“...We have a five-year age gap, but at times like this we seem on the same level.”

“Guys, please don’t fight because of me.”

Meanwhile, voices of jealousy erupted over praising Biju.

Jung-hyun, who’d been staring at me, grabbed the mic and uttered a low “heung”—the whole place erupted in laughter.

Even our backstage staff laughed against the walls.

Ri-hyuk took the mic again.

“And though it’s been beautifully packaged so far, I’m one of the victims of this album.”

“Victim? Ri-hyuk, you’ve never been a victim.”

“That’s right! That’s right!”

“No, these people....”

Ri-hyuk spoke into the mic.

“I’ll reveal it here. When I first heard the concept for Baramkkot, the hyungs said, ‘Ri-hyuk, this song is vocal-centered.’ I was secretly thinking, Oh, so it’s a song for singing.”

His face expressed that tears might fall any moment.

“But then Biju hyung came with the choreography like ‘ta-da.’ You know that gentle smile? ‘Ri-hyuk, this is our choreography.’ And....”

Laughter burst out. Just looking, Baramkkot’s choreography isn’t easy.

“I panicked and said, ‘Hyung, this is a vocal track’s choreography? This difficulty...?’ He looked genuinely puzzled and said, ‘Hm? Is this hard?’”

“Um.”

Biju spoke in a soft voice.

“Ri-hyuk.”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry....”

At Biju’s apology, we all clapped and laughed. Ri-hyuk smirked and accepted it.

Meanwhile I revealed behind-the-scenes stories of this title track.

I wanted to shout, “Everyone! My brothers are the best in the world!” but held back.

I worried it might sound like bragging to fans.

I couldn’t disclose all the behind-the-scenes for Ri-hyuk’s privacy and Souffle’s mental health—I omitted the ‘dark matter’ story.

Biju kept wanting to say I composed after seeing the choreography, but I hinted him to stop. Even I think that would be overkill.

While Souffle went “Oooh” at my explanation, my siblings who worked on the album smiled proudly.

I felt great seeing that.

This is what I wanted to show.

When fans love the songs we made ourselves, this good feeling I’ve felt all along.

“I’m so happy we can finally show you this album we’ve been preparing for so long. Thank you for waiting.”

I swallowed the rest—“We’ll come back a bit sooner next time”—but I think the meaning was clear.

In the heated concert hall I locked eyes with Souffle.

“Now, it’s time for the last song.”

Amid regretful cheers, we performed our final stage.

Our next song, “Flower Dance.”

With petals raining down as a stage effect, we took a commemorative photo with fans on stage and closed the fan showcase.

And at the same moment,

Our title track “Baramkkot” remained at number one.

Offline idol fans often feel two things: relief at waiting so long only for the event to end quickly, or sometimes a sense of fulfillment as they go home.

Late at night,

Most leaving the venue felt the latter.

“Did you see Biju’s eyelashes trembling earlier? That was amazing!”

“Look at this. They’re so pretty.”

“The song is really good. Think it’ll stay at number one as is? People online are saying ‘muggle pick, muggle pick.’”

Some gossiped excitedly with friends they met on SNS, others quietly headed to the subway, looking at their phones.

They all looked different, but shared the same joy.

– NewBlack “Baramkkot” sweeps all seven music charts

– Beyond a trend, now top? NewBlack’s power in their tenth month since debut

– NewBlack’s momentum is unusual... Will they dominate April’s music charts?

Entertainment reporters were abuzz about “Baramkkot” refusing to drop from number one.

Idol communities buzzed too.

– These days even male idols find a chart-entry at number one hard... insane

– Just heard the song, it’s awesome lol

– Listening on my commute home, it feels great

– Not just entry, it feels huge. People around me are asking if NewBlack has a new song, unreal

– Weren’t they rookies? How did this happen so fast???

– They got known from Myung-gok-dan + History Exploration Team combo

The unprecedented success of NewBlack, unimagined even by the members and fans, ignited attention everywhere.

An undeniable triumph.

Articles analyzing reasons for this album’s success were already up, the atmosphere felt different.

Souffle instinctively felt this success would elevate their idols to a new level.

They sensed many things would change from today.

Thinking that, some longtime fans felt a subtle emotion.

Like a small star in their arms suddenly shining brightly and moving far away.

At that moment, Souffle’s smartphones, scattered everywhere, began to vibrate.

【 thenewblack.official started a live broadcast. Watch now! 】

A notification from the SNS app.

Tapping it, faces of NewBlack members appeared on the screen.

“We got bored so we came back again!”

Seeing them shouting “Wow! Wow!” made me laugh first.

They say they came because they were bored, but anyone could tell why they really came.

After a day of press and fan showcases, they’d have to wake up early tomorrow.

They couldn’t be bored in such exhausted states.

“Let’s see~ everyone in the country, Souffle, what are you doing right now?”

“If I ask people watching this, what can they say? Of course they’re watching it.”

“Oh, Ri-hyuk~ that’s persuasive....”

They all shouted “Here!” and giggled, making Ri-hyuk’s cheek tremble on screen.

Woo-joo scrolled comments and said,

“Lots of comments telling us to go to bed early. But we can’t do that.”

“Yes. We’ll stay until you all rest well at home.”

Jung-hyun read the flowing comments.

“Someone says they’re programming all night at work. They’ll sleep in the overnight room. Oh, someone came to the showcase but lives in Gwangju....”

“From Los Angeles, California... oh, they want to live there?”

“Someone lives in Hawaii too?”

At the “Bugok Hawaii” joke, Woo-joo clapped and laughed uproariously. The other members looked bewildered.

“What’s Bugok Hawaii, hyung?”

“Huh? You don’t know?”

He nodded.

“...It’s this thing.”

“Someone said they’re the same age as me in the comments.”

“Same age? Who would that be? It’s like blowing into a pen, right? How did they know that?”

At the mention of a known keyword, the hyung line lit up.

“I tried blowing into a pen too! I drew a rabbit with it.”

“I tried drinking it upside down.”

“You can’t drink it that way. Jung-hyun.”

“But it came out.”

“...?”

“...?”

Silence fell, then they burst into laughter again.

After chatting for a while, Woo-joo clapped and smiled at his phone.

“Actually, we wanted to say thank you again, so we came live. Really, thank you.”

“Thank you!”

“We always say we’re grateful, but we’re not sure how it feels. So whenever we have time, we want to say it like this. Everyone, thank you. We love you.”

Like pressing a pen to write, Woo-joo spoke each word carefully with emphasis.

The other members offered their thanks cautiously too.

Souffle, scattered far and wide, watched quietly.

After chatting for a while, the NewBlack members cleared their throats for farewell.

“Shall we sing a song before we go? Our song sounds amazing at night.”

“It’s top-notch.”

Soon their gentle voices sang “Baramkkot” beautifully.

At home or elsewhere, people watching the live on their earphones heard the soft melody of “Baramkkot” ripple through.

And quiet smiles appeared on their faces.

Last night when we went to sleep, we were the number one artists and joked about being hot and laughing “hot hot hot!” before drifting off.

“Ughhh....”

Waking at three a.m. felt like being a zombie.

Zombies logging onto music sites as soon as they wake.

People with puffy morning eyes pulled baseball caps low and grinned as they got into cars—quite a sight.

At the shop, hair stylists greeted us with congratulations on sight.

“Congrats on number one.”

“Thank you... ugh, ugh, ugh.”

Answering in a hoarse voice, they just laughed and told us to get some rest.

We dozed off holding a curling iron, drifted to sleep holding a cup of water, and each time we woke we checked the music site again.

“Ugh ugh ugh...!”

“Ugh grr...!”

Won-seok hyung looked at us as if to ask, Are these guys really okay?

After finishing makeup in the early dawn, we dozed and woke and laughed and dozed again.

“We’re here, guys.”

The massive K-Net building in Sangam-dong came into view.

In the cool dawn.

Our pre-recording schedule was early today so we were on standby quickly. Seeing the dimly lit broadcast station exterior made our comeback feel real.

K-Net.

This network airs music broadcasts on Thursdays and is usually the first stop for idols debuting or comebacking.

They’re fixated on first reveals.

They even blackball agencies that don’t debut first on their show. They clashed heavily with TJ not long ago.

I heard they’re not on good terms with Lemon Entertainment either, though I don’t know why.

So we usually do reality or idol shows with rival HBS MTV.

“Isn’t it amazing we’re doing two comeback stages here?”

Whispered Biju, and we all nodded.

Indeed, we’d gotten known enough that at Maskerade we were cut to a few seconds, but today we had two comeback stages—“Baramkkot” and “Flower Dance.”

We hadn’t expected this special treatment, it felt surreal.

Ah, this is why success matters....

“Hyung, hyung!”

Inside the station, we screamed.

“Oh! Oh!”

“Room!”

“Is it a room?”

“It is!”

My goodness.

We all stared in astonishment at the name on the waiting room door.

『 NewBlack 』

We all exhaled in disbelief.

“Ro—!”

“Ro—!”

Our waiting room is a room.

A room!