In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

While NewBlack were flustered,

Soufflés also wore blank looks.

“Where did the special album go.”

When the album pings up at six on the dot, there’s a set order of business. Do stream counts, watch the MV right away, and swat the haters.

Except the haters were flustered too.

Because the song wasn’t coming out.

A notice went up on Mango’s homepage: “We’re sorry. Shortly....” followed by something about abnormal traffic.

Soufflés sighed and turned their gaze.

“You blew up too, huh.”

The Y app live was down as well.

No contact with their bias, music sites dead.

All that remained was MeTube.

“This one won’t crash, right.”

The stuttering MeTube status was concerning, but thankfully the video played.

At 360p.

“Are you kidding me...”

They bumped it to 1080p and the red circle spun and spun, taunting them.

Then the circle vanished and the MV began to play.

Soufflés smiled in rapture, ready to watch—

After one second of playback, the red circle spun again like, getting mad yet?

“Son of a b—...”

They always swore they’d cut down on cursing, but it never worked when they were stanning.

Apparently it wasn’t just Korea.

Overseas fans were unloading in English in the comments.

Maybe the blaze of Soufflé fury flaring up across the globe actually got through.

Soon the video flowed smoothly.

“Finally!”

As in the teaser, a scholar heading to take the state exam spends the night in an empty thatched cottage, and a five-member band of goblins appears.

[Kim Seobang!]

“I am of the Park clan, surname Park...?”

“Isn’t he Kim Seobang? Huh? He really isn’t?”

The goblins whisper cutely among themselves, and the human blinks.

At the same time, they hear that the Kim Seobang the goblins meant left this house long, long ago.

“He left again.”

“Every time we wake up the humans are different.”

“Then who do we play with?”

“......”

The goblins’ eyes turn to the Park scholar.

“Play with us!”

“......”

“Are you good at yut? What about ssireum?”

“I-I can toss the yut a bit.”

Scenes roll of the human and goblins spending one night together and becoming friends.

To chase off a tiger, they pack lots of dried persimmons.

With the goblins’ help, the scholar reaches Hanyang safely and passes the state exam—with top honors, no less, thanks to their blessing.

“Top scorer!”

The young, ambitious scholar’s eyes close up; when the camera pulls back, his black brows have turned white.

Time has passed.

Bedridden with old age, the scholar tells his descendants about the goblins he met in his youth.

“They called themselves ‘Dotgabi’... In my... younger days, from them I received......”

Passing down the treasure he received from the goblins, the Park family’s tale is handed down through the generations.

But as time goes on, the story changes.

From the ancestor’s lived experience into something like a folk tale.

The clothing modernizes little by little, until, at the end, a boy lying with his head on Grandma’s lap asks,

“Grandma.”

“Mm?”

“Then where did all the goblins go?”

“Well... they’re living well somewhere, I’m sure.”

As a 70s-style house fades out of focus, the background shifts to the present.

Brooms abandoned in a now-rotten, ruined thatched cottage wriggle and—poof!—transform into people.

Goblins awakening from a very long sleep look around, bewildered, then go, “Let’s go find the Park family!” and descend from the mountain to the city.

“Ah... it must have been a long time.”

The goblins in the video look a little wistful at first.

“There are more humans now!”

“Twice the fun!”

They giggle at the city right away. Any expectation of sadness is instantly subverted.

It’s like they’re saying, Goblins don’t know sadness.

Then, as goblins adapted to modern life spread their wings, the song begins.

“Hm......?”

Fans nod along to the jaunty intro where gongs and drums beat in a traditional groove—and then blink.

The song doesn’t proceed the way they expected.

Like Falling Blossoms and Nine doing a “nilliri nalliri” dance together, traditional instruments and Western instruments blend.

“The intro is insane......”

The MV rolls on, starting with an addictive traditional rhythm.

The concept seems to be goblins living in the modern day.

They used to mingle with humans; now they hide from them.

Junghyun sits on a palace roof at night wearing a dapo, then leaps and—

“Oh?”

At landing, with a neon-drenched city behind him, his outfit flips into a modernized hanbok.

Sharp, synchronized choreography bursts out.

They ripple their arms like waves, like breaking surf, joyfully riding the groove—the energy explodes off the members.

Gabi gabi dotgabi

Odokabi

Watching the fluttering hems, Soufflés hum the chorus melody.

“It’s definitely different from Falling Blossoms.”

You’d think it might be similar because both are Korea-themed, but it wasn’t at all.

If Falling Blossoms mixes poignancy with solemn beauty, “Goblin” is a hip track exploding with fun.

Traditional rhythms with a pop melody layered on top.

The fusion is exquisite—never tacky, peak trendy.

“Wooju did it again.”

While they smiled proudly, story shots continued.

Goblins beam with childlike glee as they play arcade games or press their faces to a claw machine glass.

They get on a bus short of fare and conjure up money in the hundreds of millions, and to help an elderly person struggling with a kiosk, they just... get rid of the kiosk. They run from the police, cackling.

They’re rascals and troublemakers, but friendly and endearing.

“Kind of sad too, maybe......”

Overall it’s an upbeat song, but looking at the lyrics, there’s a spoonful of melancholy.

They used to live openly among people; at some point they became strange beings who have to hide.

It feels like a message—You and we aren’t so different.

“Whatever. Someone’ll post an interpretation.”

Before a day passes, MeTubers will flood the site with takes like, “Could this be the hidden meaning?”

Thinking that, Soufflés dove into the communities.

[NewBlack — “Goblin” MV]

As expected, comments were exploding in idol-fan hubs.

Maybe because of the unique mood from the traditional fusion, it was polarizing.

There were also “polarized” takes disguised as hate.

But they’d seen it all before, so no one cared much.

“Now to listen through the other tracks......”

Thinking it would be perfect after the rest of the special album, they hopped to other music sites.

But......

“Mango. You Mango......”

The country’s biggest music site was still dead.

Thankfully, Mango and the Y app were back to normal quickly.

“Our showcase live is going to work properly later, right?”

“What if it pops again during the live?”

At our worried faces, Minki hyung smiled.

“No need to worry. They say the mechanism for that live is different from this.”

“Are you sure it’s okay?”

The maknae asked, looking nervous.

“What was it again. They say lightning strikes the same place twice.”

“Huh?”

Biju said,

“Isn’t it the opposite? If it hits once it won’t hit again.”

“I saw a world news bit—someone got hit twice in one minute.”

While the kids talked lightning, I checked the Mango chart again.

Real-time chart as of 7 p.m.

The gray album art labeled “~Gii~” blanketed the top slots starting at number one.

“Gah......”

Gray had never looked so beautiful.

Not just Mango—every domestic music site had a gray wind blowing.

And the star ratings and reviews were fantastic.

I smiled, satisfied at the “dancing in hanbok in the city” vibes.

If this were a free-response exam, I’d give that an A+.

Junghyun asked as I grinned.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t they say a listener’s interpretation is free.”

“No, Junghyun. That doesn’t exist.”

The kids shook their heads as I bark-laughed, “You have to hear it the way I want!”

Ri Hyuk, scanning reactions on a tablet, said,

“Choreo feedback’s really good too.”

“Yeah?”

“Biju hyung, look.”

“Whoaa......!”

Biju clasped his hands at his mouth, delighted.

Since this special album prioritized the music over choreography, we didn’t outsource—the choreo was Biju’s own work.

People were praising the routine Biju agonized over to honor the original lore—goblins with no fixed form.

We all lifted our shoulders in pride beside Biju.

One person’s accomplishment is everyone’s accomplishment.

The chart looked set to stick at number one.

Seeing positive reactions from both the public and fans, a hot breath finally slipped out from deep inside.

“Hooa.......”

We high-fived with faces like we’d survived.

Every time we release an album it feels like tightrope-walking over a pit lined with skewers.

We’d made it across again.

“Alright!”

I clapped and called the kids over.

“We’ve seen enough of the reactions. Time to get ready to hit the stage, lackeys!”

“Gogo!”

It was almost 8 p.m., showcase start time.

In the moments before eight,

Soufflés looked around the unfamiliar venue with a strange feeling.

“So this is what a gugak hall looks like.”

The stage floor was wood like a hanok patio, and the hall’s interior was hanok-style.

“But......”

Their tongues clicked.

“Fewer civilians than expected.”

About 30 percent of the audience were non-fans.

They’d expected roughly half, but the difficulty of the ticket hunt must have had an effect.

It felt more like fake-plés and Soufflés gathered together than true civilians. Odd but nice to have such variety in one place.

A curious camaraderie flowed.

“They all look tough.”

Since it was people who’d pounded pavement all day for the treasure hunt, the overall vibe was lively.

So this is what it’s like when a treasure expedition gathers in one place.

They were the kind who’d sweat and scour every corner of the country like searching for wild ginseng to get here.

And those sitting front and center, radiating presence—

“Those are the...”

“Yeah. The golden bats.”

“Whoa, the aura.”

General fans swallowed exclamations at the golden Soufflés elegantly crossing their legs.

Most were likely fans from 14lol or earlier.

It felt like seeing a Paleozoic ammonite shuffle to life.

“I heard they get special merch too.”

“I’m jealous......”

“But no one knows what it’ll be yet.”

“That’s true.”

As they whispered,

Flash.

“Whoa! That scared me!”

Laughter rippled at a dad’s reaction to Dalbong’s blinding brightness.

Soufflés clustered like fireflies.

“You’ve gotta set ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) that to minimum brightness.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. Adjust it like this......”

“Ah, it’s my son’s and he’s in the restroom right now. I didn’t know. Sorry.”

“No! It’s fine.”

As a chance to leave a good impression of NewBlack, nearby fans smiled kindly.

They moved on to show other audience members who had just bought lightsticks how to use them.

[Ttanttararan!]

With a brassy little BGM, a red-haired cutie popped up on the screen.

It was Wang Jiho’s 2D mini-me, Small Jiho.

“Hello~!!”

And silence.

The mini-me rested hands on hips like “pew.”

“Aren’t you going to say hi?”

“Hi!”

“Yes, thank you.”

As the audience chuckled softly, Jiho’s mini-me shouted,

“We’ll be out in just a bit! Please wait a moment! Right now we’re tuning instruments!”

Like house lights dimming before a film, the hall grew slightly darker.

At the same time, the stage lighting bloomed bright.

The doors opened and the instrumentalists walked out.

“WaaAAAAA—!”

Led by gayageum player Hong Arang, who’d played the session for Falling Blossoms, traditional musicians tiptoed out.

Members of the concert band session who perform live with NewBlack also appeared.

They took a moment to tune for the live.

“Waaaaaaaa!”

At last, the members appeared.

A stunning beauty with blood-red hair waved.

Biju, with fairy-green hair, stepped out with grace.

Another handsome man with ocean-blue hair walked out, sharp features evoking a god of water.

Then Ri Hyuk, newly bleached blond and looking extra prickly, and the lilac-haired maknae copying the eldest’s expression.

“Their faces beat those colors......”

Even dyed in fierce hues, their features held their own and then some.

A fan’s heart swelled.

Outfits with lavish old patterns rendered in a modern way caught the eye.

Add vivid makeup and they really did look like uncanny beings.

“The hardware is truly top tier......”

The software might be a little unique, but in hardware, these biases were the best among current idols.

With rhythmic taps—tak, tak—the members struck the floor, and the first song began.

It was “Eye of the Dragon,” a track blending traditional instrumental sounds.

A lyrical jazz piece closed the opening and—

Fans answered the bright greeting with a roar.

“Waaaaaaaa!”

The leader of NewBlack smiled and asked,

“Yes!”

Biju laughed and took the mic.

“Yes!”

Then Junghyun took the mic.

Everyone burst out laughing.

A promise to talk music and perform freely, unbound by format, set the air buzzing.

Seated in chairs, the members looked around the audience and said,

Fwooooosh!

As Soufflés raised the brightness, the audience glowed bright.

Wooju smiled and asked,

The man who’d mis-set his lightstick earlier answered “Yes” shyly, and Wooju looked beside him.

“Yes!”

“I’m enlisting next week, so I came to spend time with my father.”

Wooju’s face went speechless.

It was a reaction full of sincerity.

Then, like he had a good idea, he went to the traditional musicians and band session behind and whispered something.

Soon he slung on a nearby acoustic guitar.

“What’s he doing?”

Before the Soufflés’ curious eyes, their singer snapped his fingers.

A shimmering, beautiful line flowed out, and an impromptu performance began.

The gong rang—ding!

On stage, the players who looked like they’d served the military began to play with dewy eyes.

As laughter rippled through the seats, the father and son gazed into the distance with wistful smiles.

Soufflés smiled, warmed.

“Who knows what will happen tonight.”

It was a showcase where you couldn’t predict a single step ahead.