In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

“Hoo...”

Wang Jiho slipped his hands into his padding pockets and watched the cars passing by outside the window.

“It’s funny how they say it gets cold on CSAT day. Dress warmly.”

His oldest brother’s words were right.

Even with the heater blasting, he felt a chill seeping into the car. The radio was full of talk about the cold weather.

Do Wonseok, who was behind the wheel, asked, “Are you nervous?”

“No.”

“I noticed your expression was a bit stiff.”

“Oh, I just feel like I need to practice somehow.”

Wang Jiho scratched the back of his head.

“In two days, I have to go to the Mango Chart Awards and go on stage. It almost feels wrong to be heading off to take an exam instead.”

“If you’re going anyway, you might as well take it. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

“That’s true, but...”

While his hyungs were practicing on stage, going off alone to take the exam felt somehow uncomfortable.

“Here.”

His manager handed him a warm canned coffee, probably bought at a convenience store.

Wang Jiho, who had been savoring its warmth, opened the can and took a long sip.

“It’s a ridiculous thought, but...”

“Yeah?”

“I have this feeling that while I’m taking the exam, my hyungs will have improved even more.”

“Don’t joke...”

Do Wonseok’s laughter stopped mid-sentence. He answered with a serious expression.

“...If it were you guys, it really would be possible.”

“Right? They’re crazy people! I mean, I step out for a quick voice lesson and come back, and they’ve leveled up already...!”

“Hahaha.”

“I chase after them like crazy, and it’s like Wooju hyung turns around, going ‘e-be-be-be’ as he runs off.”

Thinking of the leader glancing back calmly while performing stunts and then dashing away made his heart tremble.

Biju hyung was sprinting at the front as if using instant transmission.

Junhyun hyung pounded behind, Ri Hyuk hyung swooped along, moaning.

“You see why I look like I’m going to die even as I go to take the exam...?”

“I understand.”

Wang Jiho, who had been pouting and muttering, stretched out and sank back into his seat.

A cheerful smile appeared on his face.

“Ah, whatever. I’ll just pull an all-nighter later~”

He worried a lot but forgot quickly.

As he doodled “Thursday” on the window with his fingertip, he recalled what his hyungs had told him.

—It’s a busy time, but still, go take the exam.

Wooju hyung had said.

—It’s an exam you only take once. Everyone else’s taking it too. It’s really important, you know? This kind of exam.

—Why is it important?

—It’s one of those good experiences you can only have at that time. You can take exams anytime. But the CSAT you take as a high school senior and the CSAT you take later are different~

Then he spoke seriously.

—But the important thing is...

—...?

—I never took either, so I don’t know what it feels like. Hahaha!

He laughed cheerfully, then his eyes misted over as he ran to Biju, crying “Bijuyaa~!” and sobbing.

He’d been sad about not receiving a mechanical pencil too.

‘I should bring him a souvenir.’

While nodding at that resolution, other hyungs’ faces flashed through his mind.

—Don’t worry too much about practice.

—Just go take it.

—It’s the only day you can legally eat Kim Biju’s lunchbox, so don’t give up.

He felt grateful to the hyungs who told him to go worry-free.

People who cared about the maknae’s welfare this much...

—Jihoiyaa~! Water.

—Get the delivery. Jiho.

—The remote.

His hyungs’ faces spun around in front of him.

“...Ugh.”

He waved his hand and brushed the faces away. Then he pulled an English vocabulary book from his backpack. Do Wonseok’s eyes widened and he asked, “Studying?”

“Yes.”

“But that book...”

“Oh, I bought it yesterday.”

At the sight of «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» him tearing open the plastic wrap on the vocabulary book, the manager burst out laughing.

In front of the test site.

A car stopped at the high school’s main gate just as most examinees had finished entering.

People’s attention gathered on the van, whose appearance was extraordinary even at a glance.

“Who’s coming?”

“Look at how many people are here.”

“Might be a celebrity coming to take the exam.”

“Again? One already went in earlier. They said that one was famous too.”

They thought the crowd would disperse after that idol, who looked incredibly gentle, entered. Instead, more people gathered.

Reporters with cameras and swarming fans.

Soon the door opened, and a handsome young man in padding got out, prompting cheers.

“Oh my.”

Families who had come to see examinees off widened their eyes.

“It’s Jiho. Jiho.”

They felt a sudden warmth, as if seeing their nephew.

Flash— flash—

Through the camera shutters, NewBlack’s youngest, carrying a book, smiled brightly and waved.

“Hello~!”

His loud voice, as if he’d said “Jiho wassup,” and his cheerful smile lifted everyone’s mood, drawing laughter.

When Jiho received the pile of microphones from reporters and prepared to share his thoughts, one asked, “Did you bring your admission ticket?”

“Yes! Of course~”

Despite the eye-smile, his hands in his pockets moved urgently. After a moment, he pulled something out and looked relieved.

“As you can see, it’s right here! The photo came out great! It might be my best photo ever, look. Nice, right~?”

“It’s nice~”

Jiho, proudly showing the photo section of his admission ticket, answered the reporters’ questions.

“You seem a bit nervous. Are you trembling?”

“Yes.”

Jiho gave a worried smile.

“I boasted to my hyungs that I’d do well and come back... I have to keep that promise. So I studied on the way here too! I want to do well!”

He displayed the vocabulary book he’d been holding like a trophy.

Twinkle—

Families of examinees gasped in admiration.

“Oh my...”

“It’s a brand-new book. A new book.”

“The book is glowing.”

“He’s so healthy.”

His vocabulary book glittered in the sunlight like a mirror. If Archimedes saw it, he’d proclaim it a weapon to defeat the Roman army.

Soon Jiho bowed to fans and reporters, hoisted his heavy lunch bag awkwardly, and disappeared inside.

“Do your best!”

When a shout came from the crowd, Jiho turned and waved energetically.

His right hand held the lunch bag that swung heavily along with his flapping backpack.

People smiled.

‘Because he’s healthy...’

Sunlight shone brightly behind the nation’s idol maknae heading to take the exam.

At lunchtime.

Examinees eating lunch together or quietly eating from lunch boxes turned their attention to one spot.

‘Wow...’

Two idols sat facing each other at a single desk.

‘He’s insanely handsome.’

Their visuals were breathtaking: dark eyebrows, clear eyes beneath, a slight upward curve at the corners of their mouths, all laughing.

NewBlack’s youngest, Jiho.

‘He’s different from how he looks on MyTube.’

And the handsome boy across from him was no lightweight.

They said he was from tINSpirit. Sheer name recognition—school girls adored him.

‘They must be close.’

He’d seemed friendly on Jusehaen. Seeing them chatting and eating together looked like real friendship.

More like genuine friends than a staged greeting.

But the sudden fascination with these celebrities didn’t last long.

“...We should look away.”

“Me too.”

The examinees who had stared at NewBlack’s Jiho turned their eyes away.

For some reason, whenever a voice sounded, a song echoed in their heads.

—When the flowers bloom, I will return— return—

—Empire~

—Nine Nine Nine—

‘Aaaah!’

The human CSAT forbidden song had arrived.

Students who studied while playing Mango daily charts shook their heads, looking away.

This was why seniors told them not to study while listening to music.

They glanced—

“Unbelievable...”

“The smell is insane.”

They whispered at the scent wafting from Wang Jiho’s lunchbox.

Filled with rolled omelet, bulgogi, beef ribs, spicy pork, fried items—a massive lunchbox with a shining red dish at its center.

The original NewBulgogi.

A flash from TV’s hellping screens: people screaming “Bulgogi!” with mad eyes.

They gulped.

As they stared at the lunchbox again, a gentle voice called them.

“Um...”

When they turned, Jiho was smiling broadly.

“I have a bit left. Want a bite~?”

“Uh...”

“I’ve noticed you looking.”

He offered cheerfully.

“Please try~”

“Thank you.”

They laughed and accepted the invitation to post online about Jiho’s amazing character.

And the taste of NewBulgogi was...

‘Amazing.’

A depth of flavor beyond convenience-store lunchboxes.

While they savored bulgogi for the first time, tINSpirit’s Ha Hyun sat across with a triumphant expression.

‘I, his neighbor, am the winner.’

Then he looked at his own lunch and scoffed.

‘At least cook it properly.’

His members had grilled pork belly since morning and packed his lunch.

He appreciated the effort but clicked his tongue at the slightly undercooked or charred pork belly. He envied Jiho’s feast.

“Mind if I have a side dish?”

“Go ahead~”

“Lucky you.”

“For what?”

“For having hyungs around.”

At that, Jiho tilted his head and whispered, “You have hyungs too.”

“I do, but it feels like I don’t.”

“You do but you don’t?”

“Yeah, that feeling-feeling?”

“I see.”

Jiho nodded thoughtfully at the tINSpirit members’ words and smiled. At moments like this, being the maknae was nice, as they’d said.

He giggled and asked, “By the way, did you do well on the exam?”

“I don’t know.”

Ha Hyun pulled out his admission ticket and said, “I filled it in on the back. They said you write answers on the back.”

“I wrote them too. But your real name is Ha—”

“Don’t say it. I warned you.”

When Wang Jiho laughed, sending rice puff flying and Ha Hyun narrowed his eyes, the two idols’ gazes fell on the back of Jiho’s ticket.

They exchanged serious looks.

“You solved these, right?”

“Of course I did.”

Ha Hyun said he selected answers seriously, and Jiho nodded with a serious face.

“Take a look.”

The two idols eyed the answer sheets for Korean and Math and began reading the numbers.

“5 3 1 2 4.”

“5 3 1 2 4.”

“...!”

“...!”

Jiho and Ha Hyun, eyes wide, high-fived saying, “This is amazing!”

‘Amazing!’

‘This is perfect!’

They were grinning confidently that the first five were correct.

But then voices reached the ears of these two singers with sensitive hearing.

“Isn’t the first one 4 4 4 4 5?”

“Definitely 4 4 4 4 5. I kept getting 4 and panicked.”

4 4 4 4 5.

Not a single match with 5 3 1 2 4.

“....”

They paused, put down their spoons, and stared out the window.

The sunlight was clear.

A bird chirped somewhere, the world was peaceful, yet their hearts felt like a heavy downpour.

Jiho smiled and said, “Well, maybe some of the others are right~”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Then other voices reached them.

“What did you put for number 27? 2?”

“2.”

“That’s right?”

Their gazes moved to question 27.

They’d written 4 and 5.

“....”

They looked into the distance again and spoke.

“At least we’re better at singing.”

“And dance.”

“Let’s stop. This is depressing.”

“....”

The two idols, eyes moist as they looked at the lunchbox, sighed deeply and then met eyes.

A smile returned quickly to their lips.

‘At least we filled in the sheet.’

If their other members had seen, they’d be pounding their chests in frustration.

In the practice room.

While Jiho was taking the CSAT, we were deep into rehearsals for the Mango Chart Awards.

“Hyung, let’s bring it in a bit faster here.”

“By half a beat?”

“Something like that. Instead of da-da-dan, da-da.”

As Biju clapped to set the rhythm, I showed him the adjusted choreography.

“How is it?”

“Good.”

We’d been practicing for a month, so now it was just fine-tuning the small moves.

Now it was time to focus more on our condition.

While stretching to loosen his tight legs, Junhyun, who was doing a handstand beside me, said, “I think it’s about time Jiho arrives.”

“Already?”

I hadn’t realized without any message, but looking at the clock, it was nearly his arrival time.

Biju smiled brightly.

“No news probably means...”

We all smiled warmly.

‘Just as we expected.’

‘He’s such a good kid.’

Ri Hyuk stared at his phone in concern.

“Well, I hope nothing’s wrong.”

“As long as there’s no cart, it’ll be fine.”

Just as we reassured ourselves he’d be here soon, the door burst open with a bang!

There stood our maknae, cheeks flushed, standing proudly.

“Jiho!”

“Hyungs!”

“How did it go!”

“No good!”

Jiho shouted cheerfully.

“It was a disaster!”

“Proud of you!”

We approached the maknae removing his padding and patted him for working hard.

Still smiling, Jiho rummaged in his pocket and handed me a pink mechanical pencil.

“What’s this?”

“I brought it as a souvenir for you. This year’s CSAT pencil.”

“Oh...!”

Following last year’s pencil that Ri Hyuk gifted, the 2017 CSAT pencil joined the collection.

As we asked what he wanted for dinner, a message arrived with a ding.

Hwiyeon [Everyone]

Hwiyeon [How are your scores]

Only then did we remember the wager we made that morning.

Junhyun stroked his chin.

“Looks like he did well, messaging first so confidently.”

“Is that so? I think my score is about the same as his.”

“It’s neck and neck.”

As he spoke, Ri Hyuk began inputting Jiho’s answers into an online scoring program. The scores appeared with clicks.

Korean section.

“Are you Korean?”

“Tell me honestly. Which country are you from?”

“Jiho, it’s okay.”

Math section.

“Math can do that... You got number one wrong?”

“Eight times a quarter...?”

“Hoo...”

English section.

“Breaking into America won’t be easy.”

“But you’re better than in Korean.”

“They said you went to an English kindergarten. Did you leave midway?”

As we spoke and the maknae gazed off, Biju covered Jiho’s ears.

If anything made us feel better—

“Korean history is a perfect score.”

“Phew.”

“Oh, it was worth taking the test twice.”

When it came to Korean history, the maknae flashed a cheeky V and an impish eye-smile.

Then in the social studies section, he drifted off again. We couldn’t bear to watch further.

Ri Hyuk trembled and said, “I even gave you private lessons... This is a loss. I don’t know how tINSpirit did, but we lost.”

“It’s okay.”

I smiled and said, “Singers speak through the stage.”

“That’s right~!”

As we gave up and high-fived the maknae, laughing, Ri Hyuk sent Jiho’s score. The “1” vanished immediately and, strangely, there was no new score.

“Why is there no answer?”

“I wonder.”

Three minutes later, a message from Hwiyeon arrived.

Hwiyeon [Si-ngers]

Hwiyeon [Speak.. through.. the.. stage.]

We blinked at each other in astonishment.

‘We won?’

‘Did we really win?’

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“As long as we won~”

“That’s right.”

“To celebrate, should we eat something delicious today? What do you want?”

“Hmm...”

As Jiho pondered what to eat, I glanced at the calendar on the wall with a strange feeling.

November.

Only a month left in the year.

And Jiho would soon graduate high school.

“....”

It felt odd to think that the kid we first met in third year middle school was now at the end of his third year high school.

His growth spurt was over, his jawline sharpening.

Seeing him act like an adult made the familiar feel strange yet nice.

“Then I can write songs more freely.”

“Songs? All of a sudden?”

Ri Hyuk asked, and I answered, “I just thought of it. Since Jiho is still a minor, some concepts were tricky to try. Writing lyrics too.”

“Those constraints were limiting.”

“For the next album, let’s try something unique.”

Seeing the maknae and the others fuss over choosing the menu, I asked Biju, “Do you think it’d sound weird if I said I got inspiration from Jiho taking the CSAT?”

“It might sound strange.”

That was true.

I’d need to come up with something suitable later for interviews, then we headed off to dinner.

Two days before our first awards ceremony of the year.