In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

When the viewers burst out laughing, the lights suddenly snapped on and the idol members waved their hands like “Ta-da~.”

“Welcome to the Mafia game~!”

“Waaaah—!”

As eighteen people shouted “Waaaah!” in echoing unison, Wooju glanced at the phone in his hand.

“Wow, the reaction is really hot. I can’t read the comments.”

Sure enough, the comments were pouring in like crazy.

“Mafia lolololol”

“Oppa... who plays Mafia on Chuseok... but I’m here for it”

“Phew... at least it’s not human tower building”

“ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I’m dead”

“ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”

On screen, Wooju caught sight of a comment and laughed.

“Someone in the MeTube chat is asking, ‘What’s Mafia game?’”

“Is there someone who doesn’t know?”

The Teen Spirit members murmured among themselves.

“Even little kids know this.”

“Right—how could you not know?”

Wooju smiled and answered.

“They say they’re fifty-eight years old.”

“S-sorry! We didn’t think it through!”

The teenage boys bowed frantically, and the fans laughed.

Meanwhile, Wooju explained the rules.

“The rules of Mafia are simple. The host points to the Mafia, and at night the Mafia choose a citizen to eliminate.”

As a demonstration, Junhyun pretended to point at Jiho, and Jiho play-acted collapsing backward with a playful “peek-a-boo.”

“Then by day, the citizens debate who the Mafia might be and try to catch them. Of course, it’s possible the real Mafia won’t get caught.”

Biju and Junhyun pointed at Ri Hyuk, and Ri Hyuk looked bewildered.

After explaining the additional roles—police, doctor, etc.—the Mafia game officially began.

“Haah...”

Idol fans’ hearts pounded with excitement.

We hadn’t even started properly, and already this was the most fun ever.

Even though it was a Y-app live, it felt like watching a special Chuseok variety show.

Wooju put a hand on Junhyun’s shoulder and said,

“Since there’s that genius who can sense someone even with eyes closed, I’ll have the Mafia make their choice via phone.”

“Yes!”

“Everyone, hold up your phones! I’ll personally send a message to the five chosen as Mafia.”

No one—even the viewers—knew who the Mafia were. Tension filled the air.

[Tap-tap!]

A cheerful notification rang from Hanjoh’s phone.

“Huh.”

“Puhahaha!”

As viewers and idols alike laughed, Hanjoh looked at Wooju with a “Well... I—” expression.

Wooju touched his forehead and shook his head.

Gi-won sighed.

“Hyung, don’t you know silent mode?” 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

“Sorry. I had my phone off and didn’t realize.”

“Wow, that notification was loud. My mom’s phone isn’t even that loud...”

They voided the selection and chose again.

Wooju typed furiously, tapping out a message, and everyone looked at their phones.

“Oh!”

Kevin gasped. When everyone turned to look, he grinned.

“It’s spam.”

“Oh...”

Some members even struck exaggerated expressions to play up the variety-show effect—was that a real message or not?

With the selection complete, the first day dawned.

Time for citizens to deduce the Mafia.

“All right,” Jiho said seriously, “I’m not it.”

“Huh?”

“Huuh? That’s an acting tone.”

When Seok Jiho—the actor—said that, everyone immediately piled on, and Jiho threw up his hands in panic.

“Hey! Hey!”

“Don’t do suspicious things, Jiho-ssi.”

As Seok Jiho spoke, Teen Spirit’s Yeonhu narrowed his eyes sharply.

“But hyung, your tone just dropped a bit.”

“Right. You sound like you’re acting.”

“He’s acting.”

With Jihanbin and Hantaehyun from the same team closing in, the acting members were the first to be suspected.

Seok Jiho, under suspicion, urgently pointed at Kevin.

“The most suspicious one is over there. Kevin-ssi isn’t usually that quiet, but he’s silent.”

“I was talking...?”

“Really? Didn’t hear it.”

Boisterous laughter erupted.

Fans were delighted by the idols grabbing random people and shouting “You’re the Mafia!”

“Our babies are the cutest.”

“Wow. TJ Entertainment didn’t pick these lads, but NewBlack did.”

“Eunseong, go get discouraged!”

To the fans, the idols looked more like cats fighting than serious detectives. NewBlack’s modest aura glowed warmly.

“So cuteㅋㅋㅋㅋ”

“I can’t really hear what they’re saying because it’s so cuteㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”

“Watching thought: So cute... so cute...”

“Even if it’s boring, please play Mafia for ten hours.”

“But who do you think is the Mafia???”

“I think it’s definitely Kevin and Taehyun... they picked the best for variety.”

“222—they’d at least play police or doctor if not Mafia.”

Meanwhile, on the scene, the first round of mafia deduction was descending into silliness.

“In my opinion,” Junhyun said, pointing at LB and spouting nonsense, “the culprit usually doesn’t wear hats, right?”

“That’s true!”

“No, what do you mean ‘that’s true’?”

When LB jumped up, everyone cackled.

“He jumped—must be Mafia! They say the one who farts usually gets mad.”

“Namuh hyung already looks like a criminal.”

“No, what am I supposed to do about how I look? Can I change it?”

At that, Junhyun and Wooju turned to LB with expressions nobody could see on the viewers’ screens. The idols burst into uproarious laughter.

“What did you do? What did you do?”

LB relented.

“You can change it. Your face.”

“No, but—”

Ri Hyuk cut in.

“I oppose this illogical deduction. Citizens should deduce logically, right?”

“...”

At that sudden, one-hundred-percent serious remark, the idols blinked.

Jiho raised his hand.

“Who wants to kill Ri Hyuk hyung?”

Everyone except Ri Hyuk raised their hands.

“No way! You’d eliminate a vital member like me just like that?”

“That your final plea?”

“If you kill me, you’ll really regret it.”

Ri Hyuk’s stirring words made the idols laugh and give thumbs-up.

Ri Hyuk trembled with fury.

“To accuse me as Mafia!”

When Ri Hyuk leapt up, ears flushed, Wooju said,

“Ri Hyuk-ssi is...!”

“This is too much, everyone. Really....”

“Is Mafia.”

“Good instinct.”

Ri Hyuk, who was shaking, sat back down with a “Hng!” face, and the citizens who had pointed at him were stunned.

“Huh?”

“What? It was real?”

“We just wanted to pick an innocent person...! Why...!”

“Eliminating an innocent citizen in round one isn’t common sense?”

Teen Spirit’s remarks made everyone laugh.

With the Mafia now down to four, the bloody prologue to the real Mafia game began.

“Don’t move! If you move now, you’re the culprit!”

“If you breathe, you’re the Mafia!”

“Look! I checked today’s horoscope—it says Mafia is born in ’95! That’s horoscope science.”

“Ri Hyuk, calm down! Even pseudoscience, please endure!”

Amid nonsensical lines, idol fans laughed. The nonstop madhouse continued.

“Like rival lineups having # Nоvеlight # a grade-school fightㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”

“Elementary student: shakes head”

“Mafia so bad it’s funnierㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”

“They’re all innocent but so adorably dense”

“NewBlack must have rubbed off on themㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”

“Sufle admits it”

Of course, sharp deductions still emerged.

“They seem to be thinking how to protect their accomplice. Uh oh... your expression turned weird.”

“But you had an evil laugh when you attacked just now.”

Most of those deductions came from Teen Spirit. Idol-fans watching live marveled.

“Teen Spirit is so goodㅋㅋㅋㅋ”

“School-lunch crew—they’re pros at Mafia”

“ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”

“They’ve played on school trips more than once”

“Like top Mafia tutors”

“A slight age difference, but kind of like undergrads dominating”

Teen Spirit ran the show, darting about the Mafia game. As viewers wondered at this, MC Wooju asked a fitting question.

“Sunbaenims, you’re really good at Mafia.”

“We always play in the dorms~ We do it with penalties—it’s great stress relief.”

“Aha. So the noise from downstairs was that.”

Wooju’s words made the NewBlack members laugh knowingly. Teen Spirit fans were simply delighted.

“They’re cutely playing Mafia in the dorm!”

“Harmless fun!”

Though in reality chaos reigned, fans were just happy. Then Teen Spirit’s leader Hwiyeon said,

“But, Wooju hyung—”

“Yes?”

“I’ve been curious: there are three Mafia now, right?”

“Yes~”

“Maybe it’s just me, but is one of the three the host...? It isn’t you, right?”

When Wooju tilted his head, puzzled, Hwiyeon nodded sweetly.

“Right. Surely not.”

“Yes. If it was Wooju hyung, you’d never survive.”

“If the host acted like this on a school trip, they’d wrap you in blankets and lock you in the closet~ hahaha!”

At the sweet boys’ words, Wooju looked into the camera with an “Uh...” Then he changed his statement.

“Correction. There are currently two Mafia.”

“What! No way!”

“Sorry. Taehyun, it was me who killed you.”

“I knew it! I told you I’d be killed first!”

Hantaehyun sprang up to protest, and everyone else rose and rushed the MC. Jiho and Ri Hyuk called up “Screen adjustment time” on the scoreboard, and Biju danced elegantly like a ballerino in front of it.

“Ah! Ahhh!”

Only muffled sounds from behind hinted at what was happening. As everyone sat back down with flushed faces, Wooju swept his disheveled hair aside. Straightening his rumpled shirt looked like a picture.

“So annoying. And still handsome.”

At that, someone chuckled, and everyone laughed in agreement. Meanwhile, Wooju carried on the show with a playful grin.

“Wow. He really knows how to MC.”

Since it was live rather than recorded, there were bound to be dull moments—but Wooju filled them with skits and pinpointed what viewers would find interesting. As fans got excited by the TMI...

“All right, now I will reveal the Mafia’s identities...!”

Just as Wooju was about to unveil the two remaining Mafia, tension thickened as the final survivors stared at each other.

“The Mafia are...!”

And at that moment—

“Huh?”

The Y-app live sputtered, “Loading~” like an old TV. Fans subconsciously tapped their phone sides like punching the set, or frantically pressed the screen—but it stayed blank.

Forums and SNS exploded:

“No... no, it’s frozen again??ㅠ???”

“So who was the Mafiaㅠㅠㅠㅠ”

“Tell me too”

“It’s not just me, right???”

After about a minute of lag—

“It’s back!”

Excited, the idol fans saw the live resume. But—

“Huh...?”

Instead of the expected reveal, the idols had returned to their ending pose. Wooju sat in the center, clapping his hands.

“So how was today?”

“It was so fun. I really didn’t expect them to be Mafia.”

Each offered their thoughts and wished everyone a happy Chuseok, smiling. When they saw the chat, the idols laughed.

“Huh?”

Biju said, “Hyung, when we were about to reveal the Mafia at the end, it lagged.”

“Oh?”

“We lagged?”

When they shot managers a “Why didn’t you tell us?” look, the managers replied,

“We were too absorbed watching.”

It was NewBlack manager Lisa-joa’s voice. Satisfied, the idols applauded and cheered. They seemed even closer now than at the start. It was heartwarming—but...

“So who was it...!”

Fans’ curious comments prompted Wooju to grin, glance around at the participants, and wink.

“All right. You know what to do now, right?”

“Yes!”

“To find out who the Mafia were~~”

They all stretched out their hands and said,

“Check it on NewBlack TV~!”

“Hohohot!”

“Happy Chuseok~!”

“Everyone! Have a bountiful Hangawi~! Yeo-yeo-yeo~! Annyoong~!”

As the idols waved and bounced “Waaah!” the Y-app live abruptly cut off.

[The broadcast has ended.]

Fans stared blankly.

After about an hour of live including the freezes, everyone laughed and shouted,

“Great job~!”

“That was fun!”

Applause and excited greetings rang out. Teen Spirit approached once the cameras were off.

“Hyung, great MC work.”

“Are you the ones who slapped my back earlier?”

“...Not us? Really.”

“If you compare handprints, it’ll show.”

“R-really?”

Their bluff worked and Teen Spirit apologized with “Sorry about that~” They looked unusually exhilarated, cheeks flushed, so I asked,

“Did you have a lot of fun?”

“Yes. We always just play among ourselves, but having more people made it so fun.”

“Seriously fun.”

I saw their faces and remembered singing-room nights with close friends as trainees—just that simple joy. As Teen Spirit moved among their members, Taehyun came over.

“Reminds you of old times, right?”

“Yeah. It’s been a while since I’ve had this much fun.”

Although I was the MC, I’d had just as much fun. I’d completely forgotten we’re supposed to be preparing an album. It seemed everyone felt the same. After not being able to play for a long time, it was like a dog taking its first walk after endless rain.

I said to Taehyun,

“I hope we get another chance like this.”

“That’d be great.”

After an intense hour, we had to return to normal life, and our bodies ached, so we rubbed our shoulders. Then someone from the group exchanging numbers, still buzzing, said,

“Let’s make a group chat!”

“Group chat!”

And so it was. With eighteen people, a few messages instantly became +50, which made us laugh.

“Anyway, thanks for coming today.”

“Thanks indeed.”

We thanked TNT’s juniors and all the guests, exchanged holiday well-wishes, and even took a group selfie.

“All together now!”

“Fighting~!”

I thought about grabbing a meal before parting, when LB, looking outside, ran over.

“Crazy—there are so many people out there!”

“So many...?”

“It’s gotta be hundreds.”

Maybe because of a day-long Jusae Han recording, the doors were all open. I heard there were tons of telephoto cameras outside too. Wonseok-hyung scanned the scene and said,

“There are press vans too.”

“...”

“More than ten familiar faces from entertainment reporters.”

“Oh—forgot my mask.”

As that was said, everyone rifled through their bags, and we all locked eyes.

“...”

“...”

A shared chuckle broke out. Hanjoh smiled gently.

“If we’re meeting like this again, let’s pick somewhere quiet.”

“Come to our dorm~”

“Really? Can we?”

“Yeah, Ri Hyuk hyung will clean it up anyway... ahhh!”

As we discussed how to exit outside, the managers began planning with us.

“Ah.”

Taehyun said, “I just thought of something good.”

He clipped the sunglasses he’d meant to wear to his shirt collar and wore a merry smile like our senior.

“Since things turned out like this, let’s have a fun send-off.”