In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

At Hwiyeon’s suggestion, “How about doing a live broadcast?” I looked around at my juniors.

“How about you guys?”

“I think it would be fun?”

Everyone, including Jiho whose eyes were sparkling, seemed to agree.

I didn’t know how the fans would react, but it seemed like a really fun idea.

When I turned my gaze to our managers standing nearby, they nodded as if to say, “You decide.”

“Then,”

Taehyun said with a grin, “let’s all get permission from the company first.”

Immediately, everyone pulled out their phones. While each of us tried to reach our person in charge, we also called Manager Hong Seoyeong in the TF team office.

“Today at Jusae Han we ran into some idol groups we’re close with—can we do a joint live broadcast?”

“Of course~ Who do you want to do it with?”

“With Street Boys.”

“Okay.”

“And TNT, Teen Spirit... and do you know Kevin from APLB?”

“......”

“Manager?”

There was no answer on the other end.

Then came the sound of a chair sliding, and it sounded like Manager Hong Seoyeong had sprung up from her seat.

“Who did you say...?”

“Oh, the groups are TNT, Teen Spirit, Street Boys, and Kevin from APLB.”

“With all of them together?”

“Yes.” 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Silence again from Manager Hong.

I tilted my head, wondering if this was a bad idea, when she spoke urgently.

“Wait, guys. Hold on. Before doing this live broadcast, let me call the other companies. This is breaking news...!”

The call cut off as she asked for a moment.

It wasn’t just us—other idol members were in the same boat. All around, you could hear hurried breaths and requests for a little time.

Hanjoh said in a daze, “This seems to be getting bigger than we thought....”

“They said to stand by until our managers arrive? Then we can do the live broadcast or whatever next,” LB said, marveling at the reaction.

We realized our casual plan to have some fun was much larger in scope than expected. Of course—it made sense. The combined annual album sales of all the boy groups assembled here would account for nearly half the market.

“Wow.”

At my expression, the younger line from TNT erupted in applause.

“Finally this hyung realized how great we are.”

“You only just noticed?”

“Now that you know, treat us well.”

I smiled warmly and nodded.

“Yes, we will work hard, sunbaenim.”

“Ah...! Really, su-neu-beu-neu-meu-reul-ge heu-jeu-meu-reu-ge!”

The TNT members recoiled at the senior’s nickname, and the juniors giggled knowingly.

Meanwhile, the live broadcast was turning into a big deal—some companies looked very worried.

First up:

“Ah... Director, more nagging. I guess my true feelings slipped out,” Eunseong said, receiving a storm of worry and scolding from the Soop Entertainer director. Her fox-like eyes drooped like withered flowers.

“You know me. I’m terrible at picking up hints, but I have amazing intuition. Don’t worry too much. Okay? I won’t act out. Really~ But you don’t need to worry, right? I’m number two on this variety show!”

As Eunseong assured the director she’d do well, Teen Spirit’s six members were also on the receiving end of advice.

“Director, we’re not going to swear~!”

“You don’t trust us? We swear we won’t.”

“You know how respectfully we follow seniority, and—it’s because you built our image as pure that we’re like this!”

At the earnest words from the MOP Entertainer director across from them, Teen Spirit curtly nodded. Their eyes flicked toward our side as they listened to the advice.

“All right, all right.”

Yeonhu replied. “We’ll stick right next to the NewBlack hyungs, so don’t worry.”

“We swear we won’t do it. Even swear words.”

“We’re not that un... un....”

Ri Hyuk mouthed, “reliable,” to Teen Spirit, who was struggling to find the word.

“Do you not find us reliable?”

The anxious MOP director and Teen Spirit’s curt but ultimately acquiescent responses made me laugh.

By then, each group’s managers had arrived. As we all took our seats around an empty dining table, phones mounted on stands were set up.

“Hyung, give us a rundown of the situation.”

At Taehyun’s prompt, I nodded.

“All right. We’re going to do the live broadcast on our phones. That camera over there is for NewBlack TV, and we’ll use it to film the live stream.”

“That’s our camera~!”

At first I didn’t know why Manager Hong asked for time, but it seemed she was negotiating the content for NewBlack TV. I bet the thumbnail would read “Finally Together.”

“All right!”

With everyone drumming the table in anticipation, I smiled and said, “Shall we start the broadcast?”

At the same time, the prelude to the massive disruption that baffled idol fans nationwide began.

“Huh?”

A live broadcast notification popped up on the Y app.

[Surprise Live Starting!]

NewBlack: Yeo

What kind of notification was this?

Idol fans who were visiting relatives over the holiday or lounging at home tapped the alert.

“Yeo?”

Our cheeky kids.

As the fans tapped the alert in delight, similar notifications appeared for other groups’ fandoms. But the most bewildered were the multi-fandom stans.

“Huh...?”

Their phones buzzed incessantly.

[NewBlack: Yeo]

[TNT: Leo]

[Teen Spirit: Bun]

[Street Boys: Ann]

[APLB: Yeonghaseyo. I’m Kevin. I won’t be on long but I came because I missed you guys☆ I’m Kevin and right now I’m with my respected sunbaenims...]

What on earth was happening?

Feeling stunned, they tapped the first live broadcast alert. All idol fans felt a moment of horror.

“Uh...?”

It was our kids. But the other groups’ kids were there, too.

“Oh! We’re connected~!”

“Hello everyone! We’re NewBlack~!”

“We’re TNT!”

“This is Teen Spirit~!”

The phone camera panned over eighteen idols seated in a circle around NewBlack at the center.

‘...Is this some kind of dollympics?’

No stage could arrange such a lineup.

As fans tried to comment, their comments scrolled in a frenzy, and the viewer count shot up as the idols let out cries of excitement.

On SNS and online forums, a frenzy erupted.

– [Breaking] Right now TenTen News joint live broadcast (not an April Fool’s joke)

– Turn on the Y app now!!!

– I can’t believe my eyes

– WTF WTF WTF joint live broadcast ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ now

– What day is it today..?

– Are they live streaming from Jusae Han??

Those who thought this was the morning’s Jusae Han news began asking questions. As comments kept pouring in, the idols blinked at the screen. Junhyun stepped forward, his incredible peripheral vision catching comments.

“How did we all get together? If you can’t see comments, tell Junhyun hyung. Just remember—over twenty characters and I can’t keep track.”

Everyone burst into laughter at Ri Hyuk’s words. To explain to viewers, Wooju clapped his hands.

“The reason we got together is...”

As his voice rang out across all five groups’ live broadcasts, Wooju continued, “We... we... we... we...”

He repeated “we” to a rhythm that could have been set to “Gangnam Style.”

But on-screen, Wooju suddenly stopped speaking. Idol fans seethed.

‘So why are we together...?!’

In the sudden pause, some turned the app off and back on, tapped the broadcast—but only saw a black screen. The red [LIVE] badge only fueled their frustration.

‘It’s not just me, right?’

Those lucky enough to reconnect laughed with delight, reassuring others in forums.

– Y app idiots

– I keep telling them to upgrade servers; they should throttle paychecks when they broadcast

– [Info] They’re in the red because of server costs

– Oh, sorry then

– But the dols must be panicking too lol

– I’ve never seen a server crash like this

As fans pounded “Retry” at the “[Temporary error occurred]” alert, Twitter trends shot up: “Please upgrade Y app servers,” “Why can’t I watch the live stream?” Meanwhile...

“....”

Y app admins stared at the viewer counts—domestic and overseas fans pushed the number into the millions. They looked stunned, as if the server itself were screaming for help.

‘What is happening....’

‘The server’s a wreck.’

‘What do we do?’

It was a dizzying first for everyone.

“The server crashed,” I muttered, and Teen Spirit applauded.

“Wow!”

“I personally think this is amazing!”

When Hanbin from TNT looked as if he’d rather not be clapping, Teen Spirit mock-apologized, nodding. Biju said, “I expected something like this, but I didn’t think it would actually crash.”

“So what do we do? We can’t connect at all...?”

As everyone tapped the Y app icon worriedly, the juniors looked at me with bright eyes.

“Cheer up, brain.”

“Our hands and feet are ready to follow the head’s orders.”

At the juniors’ words, Teen Spirit cheered. “Hands and feet!” “We’ll help too! Hands and feet!” “Wow, hands and feet!”

TNT’s Seok Jiho spat out water and started coughing. That became the spark—no, why do only these words come to mind? Anyway, that was the start, and everyone looked at me expectantly.

‘Give me a solution.’

There were seventeen other heads here, but none seemed willing to think.

“Hmmm...”

I pondered, then decided on one of the alternatives I had prepared.

“Then... let’s do the live on MeTube.”

Everyone agreed at once.

“Oh...!”

“That works.”

“MeTube’s servers are much more stable than Y app’s.”

With those warm smiles, we restarted the live broadcast on NewBlack TV.

Y app was still down.

‘Ah, the fans are waiting.’

For the restless fans, a beam of light appeared.

[*LIVE] NewBlack TV

We’ve moved here~!

Today’s guests: TNT, Teen Spirit, Street Boys, Kevin

A notification popped up in the NewBlack TV subscription window. As Sufle urgently tapped it, other idol fans followed and shared the news.

– [Breaking] Moved to NewBlack TV

– Everyone switch to NewBlack TV

– Is this 1TV or 2TV???

– 1TV

– At least MeTube’s servers are solidㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Fans happily tuned in, then blinked in surprise.

‘Is this God’s-eye view?’

Since the camera was set farther back to capture eighteen idols, their faces appeared small. Worse, the connection surge meant poor video quality.

“Huh?”

Only one face stood out in high definition as they spoke.

“Hello~”

“You guys! We’ve escaped to MeTube~!”

“Can’t see us well? One moment.”

They arranged the other idols behind them in a group-photo formation. As the camera moved closer, faces came into view: three rows of six. Fans frantically tapped “1080p,” and the live resumed.

“Sigh.”

Everyone caught their breath. Han Taehyun said, “We planned a joint live broadcast, but we didn’t expect the servers to go down like that.”

“No, we really didn’t.”

As Ji Hanbin and Seok Jiho added comments, Wooju said, “Shall we introduce ourselves? Hello, NewBlack TV viewers— we’re Teen Spirit!”

“Ahahaha~!”

After Teen Spirit’s introductions...

“Yes, we debuted the same year. We’re SBO,”

Street Boys said.

“Hello~!”

Then Kevin, known as an entertainer idol, introduced himself.

The strange lineup looked like Picasso, Michelangelo, and Da Vinci gathering in one place—odd in the extreme. Fans watched, bewildered.

“But the comments aren’t coming through? Why is it blank?”

“Yeah. Junhyun hyung, look at this.”

At Teen Spirit’s remark, Junhyun narrowed his eyes, then shook his head as if nothing was there.

“You don’t have to say it, but... why isn’t it working?”

It seemed the sheer number of viewers caused the chat failure. As viewers seethed in silence...

“For now, we’ll continue the broadcast without live chat,” said Wooju, stepping into an MC role.

“First, you must be wondering why we’re together. Some of you may have heard, but we’re appearing on Jusae Han.”

He explained clearly how we gathered and our friendships. “We didn’t meet for anything special—we wanted to greet you all during the holiday since we happen to be together.”

Everyone stood and bowed with belly-button greetings, giggling.

“Happy Chuseok~!”

“Enjoy your holiday~!”

“Have a plentiful Hangawi~!”

The multiple audio feeds overlapped, and fans blinked in surprise.

“Ekdhdl xdpl!”

“Twatta ttta!”

Wooju raised a hand, and the room fell silent.

“Okay... each group, one line, please.”

After those warm greetings...

“We love you, Sufle!”

“Soul! We love you madly~!”

“Together~!”

Alien-like sounds followed. While the holiday greetings continued, NewBlack TV’s audience wasn’t just idol fans.

“Huh...?”

Domestic subscribers to NewBlack TV.

“Oh, what’s this?”

Overseas subscribers were curious, too—NewBlack TV seldom did live streams on MeTube. Ten minutes later...

“...Hm?”

Just as the real talk was about to start, the screen froze. Fans blinked.

“Wait, MeTube...!”

“Tube, where did you go?”

“No... no... did it cut out here??”

“Why is it so hard to watch a live stream?”

“MeTube died”

“That was a good MeTube while it lasted...”

Even the sturdy MeTube servers crashed, and fans shouted in frustration.

A loading circle spun endlessly on the dark screen.

“Huh?”

I stared, stunned.

“Why did it freeze again?”

“...”

“This server shouldn’t crash like this...”

As I spoke, Taehyun stared at the viewer count, eyes wide. It wasn’t his usual smug expression—it was genuine shock.

“What is it?”

“Hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“How many subscribers did you say NewBlack TV has?”

I looked at the juniors. “Hey, wasn’t it tens of millions?”

“I don’t know. I forgot to count.”

“You have to add 1TV and 2TV to know.”

Silence fell around us. TNT, Teen Spirit, Street Boys, and Eunseong stared blankly.

‘Why are they like that?’

‘Right?’

Taehyun said, “So we told tens of millions of people, ‘We’re live streaming~’”

“Uh...?”

“Combined, idol fans nationwide are less than ten million.”

“Oh...!”

Only then did we realize our miscalculation. Y app was for idol fans, but MeTube included general subscribers.

“Look at this,” LB held out his phone.

“Whoa...”

Real-time search terms were flooded with “NewBlack live broadcast,” “Teen Spirit,” “TNT,” and hundreds of news articles by entertainment reporters. On SNS, fans were furiously cursing MeTube’s servers. Teen Spirit smiled smugly.

‘Our fans are the best at swearing.’

But it wasn’t a good situation.

“We need to change the plan...”

“Yeah, we do.”

Originally, we planned a 30-minute Chuseok greeting—“Hi everyone~”—and that would be it. But after two crashes, the fans were furious. We couldn’t just say, “Thanks for coming in—we’re done!”

“What should we do?”

We looked at our fellow artists, prompting ideas. Then—

“How about this?”

Our school friends offered a great suggestion.

A few minutes later.

News came in that the Y app server was fully restored. Notifications announced that broadcasts resumed on both NewBlack TV and Y app, and fans and subscribers flocked back.

“Finally...!”

Everyone cheered at the smoothly running servers. But the screen stayed dark.

“????”

“Another error??”

“Open Y app funding~”

“I want to see their facesㅠㅠㅠㅠ”

“It’s just a black screen”

“Is it just me?”

“Even SBO’s screen is black”

“As a Soul, this looks like my future”

As everyone reported the same issue, a flash of light illuminated the idols seated in a circle. MC Wooju grabbed Dalbong as if it were a microphone, and in that moment, a sentence familiar to the entire nation rang out.

“Night has fallen. Mafia, please raise your heads.”

Fans watching the live stream spat out whatever they were drinking.