In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Midnight.

Notifications popped up on phones across North America—from the U.S. to Canada—where netizens were already fiddling with their devices.

“Hailey Blue...?”

On Hailey Blue’s /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ channel, which they all subscribed to, a new music video had just gone live.

True to an account boasting 25 million subscribers, the view count was climbing rapidly.

Even YouTube’s real-time trending list featured Hailey Blue’s newly uploaded MV.

“Did Hailey Blue drop a new single?”

The thumbnail showed a blue-haired girl from behind, standing against an eerie azure backdrop.

The title read Blue Moon.

But something was off.

“Blue Black?”

Instead of the artist’s name being “Hailey Blue,” it showed the unfamiliar moniker “Blue Black.” A mistake?

Curious, they hit play immediately.

[Chirp—Chirp—]

A night filled with the cry of crickets.

A cute blue-haired girl carried an empty basket as she walked through a suburban neighborhood.

“Is this Halloween?”

Children dressed as demons, witches, zombies, and other spooky creatures went door to door for candy.

Bright yellow jack-o’-lanterns hung from houses here and there.

Groups of kids costumed as vampires, zombies, and skeletons roamed the streets in threes and fours.

“But... why does it look so low-res?”

Viewers tapped the “Quality” button. It was set to 1080p—so why did it appear grainy and noisy?

The footage looked as though they were watching an ’80s or ’90s movie on a worn-out videotape.

Now that they thought of it...

“Is it a retro style?”

It featured the kind of nostalgic idiosyncrasies you might expect in the original Thriller video.

[“Stop right there!”]

[“Trick or Treat! Give me candy and I won’t eat you!”]

All the children darting about seemed to celebrate the festival—except the lone girl, who wandered by herself.

Soon, the scene shifted.

After passing crashing waves under a moonlit sky, a distant, hazy light came into view.

It was an amusement park.

Echoes of “Waaah!” from roller coasters shimmered in the distance, and brilliant lights flickered.

[...]

Amid it all, a haunted house stood out, bathed in a strangely forlorn air.

But the girl halted.

Nearby, a seaside manor appeared. An aged, weathered mansion where moonbeams shattered on the waves.

Warm lights glowed from its windows.

She turned her head.

She stood torn between the haunted house in the park and the coastal manor. Then...

“Oh...”

As if offering a choice, two windows appeared on the screen, each leading to a different link:

Viewers smiled, pleasantly surprised.

They’d thought they were watching a straight MV—but it was an interactive video.

“Which one should I pick first?”

Hailey Blue’s fans instinctively chose the Blue version, and the link switched to a new YouTube upload.

At the first frame...

“Finally, it’s HD.”

The ’80s/’90s VHS vibe had given way to crisp 1080p.

“Hello...?”

The girl stepped into the eerie mansion.

Cobwebs draped the walls, and candelabras cast shadows in the pale moonlight.

Then...

[Whoosh—]

Like torches igniting, the candles mounted on the walls flickered to life one by one, as though guiding her in domino fashion.

A violin solo began to play somewhere.

She crept forward until she reached what looked like a parlor. There, a beautiful boy played violin.

“Oh...”

Female viewers gasped in delight.

Under-eye dark circles accentuated his usually gentle, refined features, lending him a decadent aura.

Clad in lace-trimmed noble-style attire, he played elegantly—then abruptly stopped.

And...

[...]

Startled, the girl spun and collided with someone: a handsome youth with a single bolt in his head, like Frankenstein, gazing down impassively.

She sprinted down the corridor in alarm, passing first a zombie boy reading in a study, then a werewolf carefully grooming his hair for transformation.

Then...

“Wow...”

A vampire of uncanny beauty lingered in a dining room, savoring fruit.

In archaic costume, his red lips curled into a seductive smile.

Viewers leaned in.

“Who are they?”

Their faces felt familiar yet entirely new.

Initially, people assumed these were exotic models for Hailey Blue’s video—but it seemed deeper than that.

When they noticed “Black” in “Blue Black”...

“Uh...”

Fleeing monsters cornered her, she tripped, sending a cabinet of potion bottles spinning.

As one shattered, its contents spilled over her.

“It’s Hailey!”

When the unconscious girl revived, she was Hailey Blue as the fans knew her.

They bonded in a series of intimate shots—and then the music began.

An ethereal intro gave way to rhythmic drums in an R&B groove.

The singer’s blue hair cascaded as she slid down a spiral staircase rail.

In the dead of night, ascending to the moon,

You cast your spell on me.

She blew a puff to dust her fingertips, then turned with a beguiling smile.

A vampire extended an elegant hand, taking hers for his verse.

Her pale makeup and red lips were mesmerizing.

Sometimes magic is needed,

Especially beneath this blue moon.

Her smooth, classical-style vocals suited the R&B style perfectly.

Viewers widened their eyes.

“A feature?”

They assumed the vampire was the collaborator. But then the violin boy resumed:

I prepared a dance

That no one will forget.

His archaic diction, sweetly pronounced, charmed them.

What really stood out, though, were the dance moves.

A dancer glided through the manor, executing a flawless pirouette in place.

When he tried to exit into another room, the vampire and Hailey grasped his shoulder, laughing merrily.

“It’s a collab.”

It felt like Hailey Blue had teamed with a K-pop boy band—but it was hard to be sure.

They weren’t mere teen idols overshadowed by a global star—they held their own.

Especially the zombie boy: his pale face hit sonic ranges like an instrument.

Yet...

“These faces must be a boy band.”

Beautiful faces transcend borders. Even a fleeting glimpse uplifts the spirit.

From Frankenstein’s mid-range rap to the werewolf’s charms, each brought something unique.

Under the blue moon, the six gathered for light synchronized choreography.

To Blubers—Hailey Blue’s fans—it was enchanting.

“Hailey’s dancing...?”

Shy about dancing, she moved gracefully with them.

Though she’d done duets, she’d never sung with a group like this.

The genre echoed Hailey Blue’s past works yet felt novel.

“How is the song this good?”

Like pairing fries and a soda with a classic burger—a perfect combo.

“The sound is perfect too!”

Unbeknownst to Blubers, the MV’s vampiric theme was literal: the dancer’s choreography was animated with “blood” from CG office workers.

But fans just swooned, chanting, “She’s a musical genius.” 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

“I love it. How does she keep writing such songs?”

Unique Eastern-instrument timbres tickled their ears against the R&B backdrop.

At roughly three minutes and five seconds, it ended concisely—ideal for streaming, with just enough longing to replay.

“Wow...”

The blue-moon ambiance carried an addictive pull.

As Blubers’ hearts leaped for another hit, the MV concluded.

In the parlor, the six bowed elegantly, like performers taking their final call.

Candles extinguished one by one, and on-screen text appeared:

Haley BLUE & The New BLACK

Emphasis on BLUE and BLACK made clear why the project was named “Blue Black.”

Only then did casual viewers recall Hailey mentioning “New Black” on a livestream.

Nodding fans clicked again:

“I’m watching it again. This time the Black version.”

Some watched the amusement-park version next, while Blubers streamed Blue Moon on their music apps.

“She said ‘New Black’...?”

Curious, they searched YouTube and Google for “NewBlack.”

And then...

“Huh...?”

They blurted in surprise.

On “NewBlack TV,” subscribers numbered in the tens of millions.

A ranking showed them among the global top twenty channels.

“Was I the only one who didn’t know?”

Hailey’s biggest videos topped 100 million views, but her recent uploads usually tallied a few million.

Yet “Empire,” posted weeks ago, already had tens of millions.

“Falling Flowers” neared 100 million views too.

They seemed to be a world-renowned K-pop group—reaction videos in the thousands, comments in English.

“Huh? What is this?”

But the biggest mystery remained their true identity.

Scrolling through search results, nothing seemed consistent:

“Hailey, who did you actually collab with...?”

Wikipedia simply listed “K-pop singer,” far too narrow.

Meanwhile, Twitter Blubers buzzed:

@BlueSociety

“The Hailey Blue × NewBlack collab is pure magic.”

@Truthou

“A Halloween track as a gift—Blue Black is everything. Hailey.” @HaleyBlue_Me

@DreadStone

“Anyone know about NewBlack? Heard their voice today—so sweet.”

As SNS reactions exploded, mentions of Hailey’s song found themselves bewildered:

“Huh...?”

Likes from NewBlack fans surged—ten times the usual rate.

Perhaps the collaborator’s fans? Friendly banter broke out.

Asked “Why so many fans?” Soufflé members claimed:

Blubers blinked.

“No way.”

They seemed more numerous than us... what delusion.

It felt like adults suddenly bawling like babies.

“...”

As fans worldwide toasted the top-tier collab, streams of Blue Moon on YouTube and music platforms continued to climb.

Though local time was early morning, the trend hinted at what was coming.

October 31: Halloween.

For North American listeners outside the mania, it was the day they first heard NewBlack’s name.

Around the same time, commotion stirred in South Korea, NewBlack’s home.

“It’s out...!”

The collab single Blue Moon that Hailey had teased dropped today.

A pop-classified track.

Though the MV was live, fans had no time to watch it first.

“First, let’s stream.”

Antis who’d relentlessly badgered them even over the special single:

It was simply artists collaborating—but rumors flew that the agency was desperate for U.S. success, that they hadn’t solidified their domestic base.

For nearly two weeks, fans endured slander.

“It’s just one single...”

Jealousy and sabotage exploded. The antis fretted more over its success than the fans did.

Since their 610 K first-week sales, scrutiny had only worsened.

Not just insults but falsehoods and rumors, and whispers that the agency was taking action.

Anyway,

Concerned, some fans made a streaming playlist adding Blue Moon.

“The song will be good, right...?”

When the track began with a gayageum-like tone and then an addictive beat, Soufflés beamed.

“As expected of Woo-ju. Performance locked.”

They joked they could beat AI in composition because the AI would glitch.

They heard Hailey Blue co-wrote half of it, so it had a new flair beyond NewBlack’s past.

“But since it’s a collab, it won’t be buried, right?”

They monitored tweets and overseas reactions.

As fans, they tempered hopes; it was an impromptu artist project.

They shot the MV quickly.

In any case, they weren’t expecting a miracle—just hoping Hailey’s U.S. clout might draw new listeners.

What truly concerned them was domestic chart performance.

“If it flops, antis will riot...”

They weren’t the type to wish for that, but the antis always cried “muggle power,” “overseas fandom.”

“Ugh.”

Soufflés shook their heads and listened tensely.

“But... it’ll be fine, right?”

Since it was a collab, promotion had been lighter than for an album.

Sure, people would watch the MV later, but they needed real-time streaming.

“Let’s aim for real-time #1.”

To beat “Empire.”

When the charts updated after release:

“Huh...?”

Soufflés blinked in disbelief.

One hour post-release,

We all gathered around laptops, blinking at the screen.

“Huh...? Hey, what is this?”

“Hyung, you sound like Grandma.”

“Oh.”

“You asked us to tell you this.”

At Biju’s words, I nodded and asked clearly,

“Guys. What’s going on here?”

“I don’t know.”

All eyes turned to our stats-obsessed fourth, who squinted at the data.

“Fourth, how...?”

“I’m not sure.”

We’d expected mostly fans to stream it, so we set low expectations—but it shot to real-time #1.

It had briefly overtaken “Empire.”

And on the trend chart, the line rocketed upward—jaw-dropping.

“No way—do we really have this many Soufflés...?”

“We can’t mess around. One punch each would total hundreds of thousands...”

“Insane...”

“If everyone gasps, we’d suffocate.”

We’d listed regular fan-club signups back in summer, so we roughly knew our numbers.

It seemed new fans had joined since then.

Biju swallowed, staring at the graph.

“I think I see something behind the screen...”

“Me too.”

“Me too...”

Together, we swallowed hard. Though we gazed at the monitor, somehow a looming, club-wielding silhouette shimmered beyond it.

“Wow...”

A huge, fearsome presence we’d never imagined.