In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Rrrrrrrrr.

As NewBlack rode past in a white corrugated cardboard carriage... no, a cardboard cart, Japanese fans erupted into cheers.

"Waaaaaaaaaa!"

As if royalty were holding a car parade, Souffle screamed.

Click! Click!

Photojournalists who had barely secured spots at the scene captured NewBlack on camera.

"Yes! We are currently at Haneda Airport."

A reporter from a major media outlet held a microphone in front of the camera.

"The globally explosive superstars NewBlack are entering the country. As you can see, they are using a state of the art cardboard cart that utilizes the latest technology! The heat on site is tremendous!"

The camera showed NewBlack riding the cardboard cart.

The reporter relayed the airport’s explanation for why they were using such transportation.

"With as many as four thousand people gathered at Haneda Airport, it is necessary for them to exit quickly and safely. In order to move out at high speed...."

Rrrrrr.

Slowly.

"For safety within the airport... they are running at maximum speed. According to the airport, this shortens transit time, and the cardboard serves as a first line of defense to prevent harm to the artists...."

That was when it happened.

Junhyun, who had been waving at fans, casually placed his hand on the cardboard. He did not even apply force. He merely rested it there.

Crunch!

The poorly shaped cardboard door panel collapsed and fell off.

Laughter rippled through the fans.

"Camera! Turn the camera!"

At the desperate look from the reporter, the cameraman quickly turned the shot.

Meanwhile, as one door panel fell away, the cardboard sheets layered over the cart’s structure began to peel off as well.

With the steel frame fully exposed, NewBlack stood atop the stripped cart, smiling professionally and waving.

"Waaaaaaaaaa-!"

That day, NewBlack’s arrival was handled briefly as a short news item.

"What kind of new technology is that?! What new technology?!"

"Kyaaaak!" Our main vocalist spat fire.

Even long after leaving the airport, Ri Hyuk was still fuming as if coughing up blood.

"You stick a piece of cardboard onto a cart and call it new technology?! Real new technology isn’t something like that...."

"They said it was ergonomically designed."

"Don’t talk nonsense! That’s like covering your eyes and pretending nothing’s wrong."

He must have gotten his hopes up when he heard the phrase new technology, only to be disappointed.

When Ri Hyuk trembled like this, it was best to leave him alone, so I subtly distanced myself.

Shuffle shuffle.

Leaving the "kyaaaak" one alone, the rest of us gathered.

Junhyun looked at his phone and said,

"But Japanese people really like cardboard. I looked it up, and apparently it’s used everywhere."

"Cardboard beds... cardboard partitions...."

According to Seokhwan hyung, a famous politician’s relative runs a cardboard company, though I am not sure if that is true.

Anyway, we decided not to ride cardboard carts again in the future.

"No matter how I think about it, walking would’ve been faster."

"If you look at it positively, it did feel like a car parade, which was nice. It was kind of fun. Souffle had fun too."

"It was definitely fun. I just don’t want to experience it again...."

I smiled as I searched our arrival scene online.

Surrounded by bodyguards and riding a pure white cart, we really did look like a royal parade.

Korean netizens were holding a comment festival online.

I do not know why they call us Attention Seeker King, but....

"Heh heh, heheheh."

Seeing our main vocalist giggle at the history jokes made me feel grateful to the commenters.

"Ri Hyuk, are you feeling better now?"

"Better? When did I say I was angry? Stop talking nonsense."

"There there."

"Hey, don’t look at me like I’m cute!"

Like a chihuahua going "krrr!" and trying to bite, he snapped at us, and we cooed at him.

I did not know how Japan was reacting, but after checking the Korean online responses, I turned off my phone.

It was time to eat before heading to the venue.

"Let’s see. The places Japanese fans recommended...."

From the list Souffle recommended, we drew one by lottery.

A soba restaurant in a neighborhood called Azabujuban, near the Korean Embassy in Japan. Supposedly it had a two hundred year history.

The so called Sarashina soba.

The noodles were white, and they said it was incredibly delicious.

The restaurant, apparently famous among Koreans as well, had a sign reading [Korean Menu Available]. We went in to eat soba, and....

"There are so many people...."

"I feel like the noodles are going to go up my nose...."

As Biju said weakly, Junhyun raised a thumb and laughed.

"I already inhaled mine."

"...."

"Kehng! Kehng! Why won’t it come out? Kehng!"

"Try inhaling hard, hyung. Huuuup! Then it’ll slide back down."

"Okay okay."

Junhyun plugged one nostril and went "huuup!" while Biju covered him with a handkerchief. Not only the customers inside the soba shop, but even people outside the window had gathered to watch.

It felt like we were a rare spectacle.

Yet when we tried to approach and wave, they went "Eee!" and seemed shy, only watching from a distance.

It was the same when we stopped by a convenience store after eating to sweep up Japanese snacks.

People appeared from somewhere and whispered, "NewBlack?" while watching.

"How much coverage did we get...."

"They say since the Billboard Awards you’ve been on every day. During the VMA it was even broadcast live in Japan."

"...."

"If you just consider the name NewBlack, you can think of it as being as famous as in Korea."

At Seokhwan hyung’s words, I clicked my tongue.

Perhaps that was why taxis lined up behind our bus heading to the venue.

Korean and Japanese stalker fans in taxis were chasing us.

It was a sight usually seen during the KMA awards in Hong Kong. I did not know whether to laugh or not, so I shared a bitter smile with the younger ones.

"We’re here!"

We quickly entered the venue, avoiding the cameras of stalker fans.

After refueling with the refreshments provided by the Japanese agency and the pudding and egg sandwiches we bought at the convenience store,

we went straight into rehearsal.

"Hello! Makuhari Messe!"

Makuhari Messe in Chiba, right next to Tokyo, was our first Japanese venue.

With a capacity of about fifteen thousand, we would perform here for three days, then move to Yokohama Arena for two more.

We carefully checked the stage routes

and practiced the Japanese lines flowing from the prompter until they stuck to our tongues. I had studied enough to hold daily conversations, but perhaps because of recent American promotions, Japanese did not sit comfortably in my mouth.

The maknae memorized the prompter lines while striking a pose.

"Everyone! Today I practiced the Hakata dialect for you! It might be a bit random since this isn’t that region, but you’ll still find it cute, right?"

"Sounds good! Jiho, give it a try!"

"Suito yo!"

The local Japanese staff said people did not really use that phrase these days, but Souffle would probably find it cute.

During concert rehearsal, we also practiced the event.

Japanese staff handed us discs and said,

"You can throw these to the fans. Use a wrist snap and just toss them like this!"

"Ah, okay."

"We’ll do a drawing using the numbers written here."

Perhaps wanting to demonstrate once, the staff used a wrist snap and threw a disc far away.

Holding the bundle of discs I received, I asked,

"So we just throw them around the venue, right?"

"Yes, that would be best."

At the gesture telling me to try, I nodded and threw the discs.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Whirr!

Using wrist snaps, I quickly threw them toward Section A, Section B, Section C in turn. The staff’s mouth fell open.

And then.

"What on earth...."

Whirrrrr!

The discs that had flown out drew circles in the air and landed neatly back into my hands.

"Ninja shuriken...?"

At the staff’s mutter as he stared blankly at the discs landing in my hands one by one, I smiled proudly.

The sorrow of being teased for being bad at games melted away.

Doing something I was good at made confidence surge.

"Kyaaa!"

"Hey! Hey! Hikata! Come here. Wooju throws boomerangs insanely well!"

"What? I’m coming to see right now!"

As staff gathered, almost entranced, to watch my disc skills, I felt happy.

"Hyung."

"Hm?"

Biju asked.

"But if you throw them like that, how do we do the drawing...?"

"Huh?"

...Right.

Fortunately, we managed to complete the drawing safely.

Making sure they did not come back was a bit difficult, but ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) I somehow pulled it off.

The reactions were not all positive, though....

@Would_joo_marryme

Wooju’s disc. That curveball he throws... I can’t catch it at all.

@Tezkazone999

Why does the disc heading to Section A suddenly go to Section B? Do discs resemble their owner?!

@Monomi_24

Help. My bias attacked me with a boomerang. Can I end my love for Wooju today?

Ri Hyuk’s weakly thrown disc that fell short. Junhyun’s fastball. Biju’s ballet spin curve with a lifted leg.

And even the maknae who hit himself while throwing a boomerang.

With fiery events like that, the week long concert received extremely good reactions.

It seemed true that a good song works in any country. METRO was achieving good results in Japan as well.

On the U.S. Billboard chart, it ranked No.2 for the second consecutive week.

Thus, after finishing the first half of the noisy Japan tour,

we immediately returned to Korea.

Another schedule was right around the corner.

Paris Fashion Week.

Among the four major fashion weeks in the world, the most prestigious and influential, the largest fashion show on the planet!

"And I’m the one walking it."

"No matter how I think about it, I can’t accept this."

I gave a warm smile to Ri Hyuk, who shook his sharp face.

"Whether you accept it or not, the fact that hyung is walking the runway remains unchanged, Ri Hyuk."

"Ugh."

"Eeeeng!"

"Hey!"

"Sigh!"

Sigh?

Who just sighed?

I turned to identify the culprit, but the younger ones all looked elsewhere innocently.

"Well. I understand your jealousy. Hahaha! If you’re jealous, you should walk a fashion show yourselves."

"No, seriously, if it were anyone else maybe...."

Jiho said gloomily,

"Leaving us, who dress so well, and choosing someone who sets the fashion world on fire...."

"The designer must have discerning eyes."

In a few days I would meet Jimmy Robbins, the chief designer of LeBlanc. My heart was already racing.

When I met him, I would teach him the Korean word flower pattern first.

Thinking of wearing the clothes he handed me and standing for both the opening and closing of the show made something deep in my heart cry out, flower pattern... flower pattern....

Along with the concert, this runway was the schedule I had been most excitedly waiting for.

Truly a beautiful schedule!

But....

Crunch crunch!

Munch munch!

Junhyun rummaging through jelly. Jiho eating chips. Biju chewing an apple.

I could only swallow saliva while watching the younger ones feast on snacks.

"Hehehe."

The maknae held up a chip and waved it in front of me.

"Hyung can’t eat this, right? Can’t eat it?"

"I can’t see it. I don’t see anything."

"The crispy oily smell of freshly fried chips, the crunch when you bite—"

"...."

The downside of the fashion week schedule.

I could not eat snacks.

Even during the Japan tour, I had eaten only enough to maintain concert energy.

"What can I do? They told me to lose weight...."

Since hearing from LeBlanc that my current build looked a bit bloated for the runway, I had been restricting water and food.

Ri Hyuk questioned,

"I don’t understand how this build looks bloated. You don’t even have any extra fat."

"But the models there are all extremely thin. Men and women alike, everyone walking the show with me is super thin." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"If you get any thinner, you’ll be malnourished."

Honestly, I thought I was already thin, but since the brand requested a tighter look, I had no choice.

After expanding into America, I had trained more under a trainer, so my shoulders had broadened. I thought they would like that, but the brand expressed difficulty.

They said I looked too heavy.

So as requested, I was cutting muscle and fat together.

"If I collapse like this, write on my tombstone ‘Fashion genius Sun Wooju, asleep.’"

Munch munch.

Crunch crunch.

"You’re not listening...."

Smiling warmly at them, I looked out the window.

LeBlanc’s show would be held on the 28th, the third day of Paris Fashion Week.

There was a little time before then, and today we planned to use that time to meet a mentor for final practice.

"We’ve arrived!"

At Minsu’s hearty voice, I stepped out of the car.

Today’s destination was KM Entertainment headquarters.

With its clean exterior, KM Entertainment was one of the four major agencies and had recently revived thanks to Wonder Child’s success.

Biju looked around the building.

"This is our second time here. We came last year before coaching trainees on On The Stage, remember? For a meeting."

"Right. The meat was really good."

As I smiled at the memory of the cafeteria chef grilling beef, Junhyun asked,

"But hyung can’t eat it now, right?"

"...Let’s go in."

KM Entertainment was also known for its model agency.

Along with TJ Entertainment, home to famous model Han Sora, it was famous for model planning. Given the circumstances, we chose KM over TJ.

"Aigo!"

The moment we entered the lobby, CEO Heo Gangmin ran toward us like Plankton.

He sprinted nearly ten meters and grabbed my hand.

"Our Sun Wooju spaceship Kim Deokchun Juseonwoo has arrived!"

"It’s been a while, sir!"

"I couldn’t sleep last night knowing NewBlack was coming. I even dreamed you told me the secret to success! Hahaha!"

His bright grin made me feel as if plankton antennae were wiggling above his head.

Linking arms with me, he guided us.

"Shall we start with the buffet I prepared for Wooju?"

"Sir...."

"Yes?"

"I’m fasting because of the runway...."

"Gasp!"

Startled, CEO Heo slapped his own mouth.

"My loose lips! What a mistake!"

"No, it’s fine...."

"What do I do! I’m so tactless...."

I smiled and told the noisy Plankton CEO it was fine.

The younger ones said,

"Sir! Can we eat later?"

"Of course. Haha."

He looked at me as if asking silently whether it was okay to feed them, and I waved to show I was really fine.

Like guiding honored guests, CEO Heo led us through the building.

Greeting people in the hallway, he suddenly pointed exaggeratedly.

"Oh! What a coincidence! Wonder Child is over there! Kids! The visiting singer seniors NewBlack are here!"

"Hello! We are Wonder Child!"

"Long time no see."

We greeted the boy group juniors who debuted through an audition program.

"And over there are our Bling Bling girls!"

"Hello."

"Ah, yes. Hello!"

We also greeted the hip hop girl group that debuted alongside us.

At the suspiciously coincidental encounters, we narrowed our eyes slightly, and CEO Heo gave a shameless smile.

"I just wanted you to say hello...."

His honest answer made us laugh.

Finally, we arrived at the model practice room.

The man and woman waiting there greeted us.

"Oh my! Hello!"

"Hi."

Sharp eyes and a Western nose bridge.

The tall beauty in high heels was Cha Suyeon, once called a legendary Korean model, now retired.

And the handsome man in a neat sky blue shirt was Hong Seok, model and the youngest member of PBS’s popular variety Mister Producer.

These two were the seniors who would advise me on model walking today.

The reason I requested both a male and female model was because of the theme of this Paris Fashion Week.

Genderless.

Since 2016 it had become a hot topic, and this year’s Paris Fashion Week featured boundary breaking shows without gender distinction.

"Then I’ll head off. See you later~"

Winking, the Plankton CEO retreated like a matchmaker.

While the NewBlack TV staff set up cameras for behind the scenes filming, the models asked,

"I heard you’re doing both the opening and closing for LeBlanc."

"Yes."

"Did you practice a lot?"

"I did my best with the limited time. I haven’t brought my skills up to a level I’m fully satisfied with yet...."

"It’s right around the corner though...?"

The two exchanged worried looks.

Cha Suyeon crossed her arms and carefully asked,

"Then before filming starts, shall we see your walk first?"

"Yes!"

Walking in front of famous models.

I smiled awkwardly out of slight embarrassment, but the lackeys beside me began wearing strangely confident smiles.