In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

At the same time.

Online, news of NewBlack’s showcase was spreading like wildfire.

Watching the comments section blow up with “jackpot!” from non-fans, Soufflés were weeping.

“Gyuho......”

Wasn’t this the kind of thing you’re supposed to restrict to people who actually joined the fan club?

Even so, they could kind of see why.

“Honestly, who would’ve predicted civilians would show interest?”

It wasn’t even a concert. The idea that non-fans would swarm just because there was a showcase ticket hunt was unimaginable.

If this had been early last year, this probably wouldn’t have happened.

It was because their bias had grown way too popular with the general public.

Fans couldn’t decide whether to be proud of that or a little sad.

“Still, looking on the bright side, the promo is working perfectly......”

Humor posts were popping up all over online communities.

[My treasure? If you want it, I’ll give it to you..]

(a meme with the face of a certain comic’s Pirate King composited onto Spaceship’s face.jpg)

Korea has officially entered the era of the Mega Goblin Bat.

While the joke party raged online,

Offline, people were out on full-on treasure hunts.

They followed city-specific clues to track down where the bats might be.

Except...

“Damn.”

Everywhere they went, it was packed.

A Soufflé office worker near Jeonju Hanok Village looked at the crowd gathered there and asked a nearby couple,

“This is... that, right?”

“Yeah. People here for NewBlack’s treasure hunt......”

“This is insane.”

She’d thought she might sneak in a quick look while out on fieldwork, but plenty of people had beaten her to it.

Right then,

From the front of the crowd came a shriek—“Waaah!”

“Fo-Found it!”

Someone must have discovered a giant goblin bat, because a roar went up.

The couple nearby muttered,

“Oppa, is it just me? This feels like that chocolate factory.”

“A golden ticket?”

It was a scene straight out of that famous children’s book where finding a golden ticket gets you a factory tour.

Among idol fans, it was already a circulating meme.

[Live: NewBlack bat discovery on-site]

(utter chaos.gif)

It’s literally Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Korea edition.

[NewBlack and the Composition Factory]

(a child grinning while holding a golden ticket peeking out from chocolate.jpg)

Going... to see the composition... factory!

ps.

Producer Spaceship! Who are those Oompa Loompas crying over there??

???: They’re the producers.

“What good is it if it’s over 300.”

The Soufflé office worker in the Hanok Village pouted at her phone.

“When will I ever get to ride ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) the schedule......”

She could cheer just fine.

She was confident she could chant the names of the Black Crew boss and his lackeys louder than anyone. She could wave the wangbong like a pro.

Feeling a random wave of sadness at missing NewBlack’s second visit to Jeonju in as many years—

“......?”

Walking toward a secluded corner with a heavy heart, something caught her eye.

A tiny toothpick on the ground.

No.

It wasn’t a toothpick.

It was placed exactly so that when someone shuffled off to a corner, dejected after seeing someone else find a ticket, they’d go—ta-da—and spot it...

“!”

She clapped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from blurting out “shi—” and glanced around.

No one.

She carefully lifted the small goblin bat...

“Huh? Why is this...”

Looking closely, there was a small chain attached to the end so it could only be used right there.

It had a serial number and a city code on it.

“Surely no one’s already used it?”

With trembling fingers she opened the event website, where NewBlack’s 2D chibi characters in goblin outfits greeted her.

She entered the serial number and city code and typed her name—ping!—a notification popped.

The pixel characters waved.

[Welcome!]

[We love you!]

Her heart felt like it would burst seeing hearts pop-pop over the mini characters.

“Is this real? Is this really real?”

Her teeth were still chattering.

Only when a text came in—[Your showcase application is complete.]—did her tension finally release.

And then the tears surged.

“Th-There’s one here too!”

The couple she’d spoken to earlier shouted.

“Go-Gol—no, a goblin bat!”

“Waaah!”

People swarmed. Under the wide-eyed gaze of the crowd, the Soufflé felt an odd swell of pride.

When she held up the tiny goblin bat—small as a toothpick—applause burst out here and there.

People watching with envy murmured,

“I heard there are three in the Hanok Village? Where’s the last one?”

“Three for sure? I don’t see it.”

As people hunting for the last one muttered, “Where on earth is it,”

A tree behind them rustled in the wind.

A street tree everyone was passing by without a glance.

Look closely and you’d see the branches and leaves were attached—and that something was disguised as something else.

-No one will ever know this one. Mwahahaha!

A three-meter goblin bat swayed lightly in the breeze.

That evening.

[Gyuho]

(a certified photo taken beside a three-meter goblin bat.jpg)

This fucking,,

Wasn’t a three-meter bat crossing the line

Started in the morning and just found it now

From goblin bats you needed a magnifying glass to see to cheering sticks the size of a utility pole at three meters—

One after another, posts rolled in that made you wonder more how they’d even found them.

“Yo, there are NPCs too”

(a photo holding a goblin bat the size of a pork cutlet mallet)

Was wandering near Busan Station and helped an old man who couldn’t lift his bag

He said I was a good kid and pulled a goblin bat out of the luggage and just coolly walked off

-[OP] He’s the owner of the pork cutlet place NewBlack ate at. He handed me a goblin bat and then carried everything in one hand like a dignified king and left

-[OP] Now I’m going back with my girlfriend to watch together! hahaha Soufflé hit the jackpot

Since each bat allowed one companion, SNS filled with posts recruiting a fellow fan: “Who wants to come with me!”

“Whoa......”

By the end of the day, the remaining goblin bats hit zero.

Right before Soufflés refreshing the status board, all the colorful goblin bat emojis across each city turned gray.

Meaning every last one had been found and registered.

“They actually found them all.”

They were hidden so meticulously you had to pound the pavement all day to track down a ticket.

It was more amazing how people found them at all.

And—

Some people were especially celebrated: the fans who found the golden bats.

[※ Special Quest!]

Find the Golden Goblin Bats! They’re hidden in very special places!

Golden goblin bats promised front-row seats at the showcase and special merch gifts.

Even with no exact hints about where they were hidden, veteran fans unearthed them.

The venue of their first mini fan meeting, the site of their first fansign, the Ichon festival grounds from that rainy day, and so on—golden bats hidden in places meaningful to both NewBlack and their fans.

“Amazing.”

Newer fans watched in awe as longtime fans zeroed in on places they wouldn’t even know yet.

It even made some think, I’ve got a long way to go.

After clicking their tongues at the veteran Soufflés clutching golden bats, fans turned their eyes to MeTube videos.

All the expected spoilers had dropped.

“Hope the album comes out soon.”

The pre-comeback drops were high quality.

And for the general public the special album was targeting, the promotion had been insanely effective.

[Today’s headline topic. National idols NewBlack announced their comeback with a very unconventional event.]

Even the evening news showed people hunting for treasure and featured interviews with local shop owners delighted by the foot traffic.

Offline, you heard it everywhere too.

“That NewBlack thing, they’re doing it. The treasure hunt?”

“Treasure hunt? What, are they salvaging a treasure ship?”

“If you find a ticket, you can go see the performance, they say.”

Maybe because civilians didn’t really know what a showcase was, word on the street had morphed into NewBlack putting on a special performance.

Seeing it pop up now and then in group chats and on SNS, Soufflés could only smile in resignation.

“Not bad. This feeling of stanning together with civilians......”

Fans didn’t even need to push it.

The fact that NewBlack was releasing a special album was already widely known.

So there was only one thing left.

The showcase itself.

Ba-dump, ba-dump.

With hearts thumping, everyone updated the Y app.

“Surely the live won’t crash this time... right?”

Spaceship had personally guaranteed it wouldn’t, and surely the Y app had done a massive prep this time too.

As they waited with those thoughts—

Time flowed and the day of the showcase finally arrived.

The weekend before the showcase.

We won the main awards in both digital and physical at the Golden Disc Awards.

The Golden Disc Awards, held at the start of the new year, are based on the previous year’s performance.

So the grand prizes went to Teen Spirit’s full album, which had the highest cumulative physical sales last year, and to Serenity’s REALITY, which won Song of the Year.

We’d expected as much, so it wasn’t disappointing.

“Fuwaaah......”

I stretched and put my smartphone down.

I’d finished checking what had happened over the past few days, awards included.

I yawned—huhk kyakyak—and got glares.

“Wooju.”

“Yep.”

The makeup artist’s hand moved like brush calligraphy on a blank page, laying a fine color around my brows.

Maybe because our concept was “goblin,” a mysterious blend of violet and burgundy was going on around my eyes.

Above that, my red hair—like a little mermaid—shone.

“I really hope this is the last dye job......”

“Give it up.”

Blond Ri Hyuk snorted.

“If you wanted that, you should’ve picked another job. What idol doesn’t dye their hair?”

“Pipe down, Malfoy.”

Ri Hyuk’s face flushed bright red as he sputtered something, and everyone burst out laughing.

Biju, already done with makeup, said,

“Still, your hair dye hit number one on the trends.”

“Really......?”

That was tempting.

When I widened my eyes, the staff laughed, and Biju lifted his phone camera with a grin.

“It looks like an apple, so every time I look at it I like it. Oh, that expression just now was a poisoned apple! Love it!”

“......”

“Smile, hyung. V~”

I rolled my eyes, then smiled bright for the shutter and flashed a V-sign.

“Did it come out nice?”

“Yeah!”

“Where are you posting it?”

“For personal collection. Wow, but your photos turned out really good.”

He came over to show me and even I had to admit they looked great. I told him to pick a few and send them to Madam Kim Deoksun too.

“All done, Wooju.”

“Thank you.”

I checked my made-up face and flopped onto the waiting room sofa.

The classic hanok interior caught the eye.

This was Seoul Namsangol Gugakdang.

It’s a traditional music performance hall in Namsangol Hanok Village run by the city, and since our title track ties to traditional music, we got the rental approved.

“It’s a real shame we can’t do it outdoors.”

The maknae toyed with his purple hair.

“I wanted to perform outside.”

“Same.”

Originally we wanted to appear like goblins with the hanok as an outdoor backdrop—pew!—but the month was January.

Stand outside for five minutes and you start thinking about the army.

I flashed back to that nightmare era of Eunseong going, “Captain~ I’m gonna freeze to death, I swe—ear~” making a huge fuss.

Anyway.

We searched up and down for a venue with the right Korean vibe and ended up here at Namsangol’s Gugakdang.

“Five hundred won~ five hundred won~ five hundred won~”

Junghyun rolled his tongue as he warmed up his voice.

A sound like a motor thrumming.

He was clearly fussing more than usual before the show.

“Nervous?”

“A little.”

Junghyun scratched the back of his head with a shy smile.

Plenty of people had a hand in the title track, but Junghyun’s help was the biggest in setting the concept and theme.

Maybe he knew that himself, which is why he seemed nervous.

“During rehearsal earlier, hyung.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“The floor’s really weak. It’s wood......”

“Ahh.”

Not that worry, then.

Worried the floor would crack with a “pokak,” Junghyun accepted an extra pair of socks from me.

While our third stood on one leg like a chicken fight to change socks, I clapped and gathered the younger ones.

“Alright.”

Junghyun bounced over on one foot and we all huddled.

I smiled at the lackeys dressed like mischievous goblins and the staff beyond them.

“Everyone who ran for this special album—thank you for your hard work. The schedule must’ve been tight, and you still prepped this whole event. I watched the whole process up close, and it looked like so much work.”

“Thank you for your hard work!”

We all applauded to honor the effort.

“And you know it’s almost six, right?”

“Waaah!”

“Our special album drops then... I’m so nervous. I really hope it does well.”

“For real.”

Biju nodded.

“I just want it to do as well as usual.”

“It will.”

Saying that, I steadied myself.

It was the weight built up by pushing every kind of project a little too hard this time.

We booked variety shows, even did this treasure-hunt promo—if the general public ended up thinking it was just so-so...

“Again.”

Ri Hyuk nudged me, grumbling.

“Rolling into a hopeless future again. By now you should be less anxious, no?”

“Sorry.”

“Think positive.”

“I’ve gotten into the habit of keeping expectations low. Gotta fix that too.”

I smiled back at the kid brothers smiling kindly, and we all sat on the sofa.

The maknae made a suggestion.

“Since we’re nervous anyway, how about watching with the Soufflés?”

“Oh! Love that.”

We set a laptop down and opened the Y app.

Watching the viewer count climb, we waved. The server status was a tiny bit worrying, but still fine for now.

“We turned this on because we’re super nervous!”

“You know our special album drops in a few minutes, right? We’re waiting for that.”

“Whoa... why are the comments so fast. Is there no 0.5x speed setting?”

I blinked at the flood of Korean and English flying by and gave up.

Reading whatever caught our eye and chatting back, time flew.

My watch read:

5:59 p.m.

As the 60-second countdown ticked down, my heart pounded. I felt a touch nauseous.

“10! 9! 8......”

Finally, 18:00.

We all clicked refresh—click—and our eyes went wide.

“Uh......?”

“What.”

At first the page stuttered, then went white.

I wondered if it was our Wi-Fi, but it looked like Mango’s servers were going white-hot and exploding.

“No way...”

We’d only worried about the Y app servers; we hadn’t even imagined this.

We hit refresh a few times and then looked up at the Y app live viewer count.

The number started freezing.

“No! Hold! Y app, hold!”

“Were you always this weak?”

The number stopped climbing, then an error popped and the app died.

“Seriously......”

I felt like a raccoon washing cotton candy in water.

“Everything’s blowing up......”

“What do we even do at times like this.”

With the Y app and Mango servers going down in flames, we and the staff were speechless, staring into space.

“Good grief.”

I spoke with a hollow laugh.

“The track is out, so why can’t anyone listen to it......”

It was a day that made me understand exactly how Kim Cheomji felt after buying seolleongtang and failing to deliver it.