boyutpedia Chapter 158:
Chapter 158:
Chapter 158:
The rules were simple.
Pick up a snack bag, open the packaging, and if you could eat without exceeding 70 decibels, you succeeded.
That was the plan.
Woojoo envisioned promoting their new song and returning to the dorm with his brothers in high spirits after that.
But as the practice game began, such thoughts vanished.
Was it because Junghyun’s ‘ASMR’ echoed in his ears like a spell?
Just looking at each other’s faces made them laugh.
“Pfft-!”
There were times like that.
When you were determined not to laugh, strangely, everything you saw afterward made you laugh.
Woojoo held back his laughter at the sight of the youngest’s twitching nose.
Hold it in.
Just hold it in tight.
But despite his resolve, he couldn’t help but laugh at Rihyuk wrestling with a snack bag.
Rihyuk was gripping the edges with his fingers.
Thump, thump, thump.
As sweat trickled down his face and his hands trembled, they all held their breath, watching the decibel meter.
Snap!
The bag burst open, scattering crumbs everywhere.
“...”
Rihyuk’s face was covered in crumbs, and they burst into laughter at his appearance, like he’d set off a flour bomb.
“Pfft!”
“Ah... seriously, don’t laugh! It’s embarrassing!”
“Ha ha ha!”
Every time they played the practice game, someone inevitably laughed.
The two MCs commented like sports announcers.
“Ah, this isn’t easy.”
“They’re about to burst into laughter at the sight of a passing flower. Can New Black really succeed like this...?”
“We never expected such difficulties from the practice game.”
“It’s a pity. If they succeed in the game, New Black can promote their new song.”
...Why are you laughing while saying it’s a pity, sunbae-nims?
They sighed among ourselves.
“Let’s do this right. We have to promote our new song.”
“You’re the problem. You!” Rihyuk said, his face red with frustration. “I keep laughing because you’ve been breathing heavily next to me.”
“Rihyuk. That’s your fault. No matter how I breathe, you have to hold back your laughter. Promoting our new song is important. You need perseverance.”
“Hm?”
Junghyun tilted his head and asked, “Hyung, didn’t you just laugh at Bijoo?”
“...”
Woojoo couldn’t help it.
How could he not laugh when Bijoo seriously bit into a snack, clenching his fists as if saying, ‘You must melt it in your mouth!’?
Bijoo, brushing off the crumbs from his mouth, asked, “Hyung, did you laugh at me?”
“I guess I just can’t help but laugh when I see you.”
“...Really?”
Seeing his bright smile made Woojoo feel guilty, but he couldn’t tell him, ‘You were just too funny a moment ago.’
Woojoo coughed to change the subject.
“Now’s not the time to argue about who’s responsible.”
“Right.”
The youngest and Woojoo, who had laughed the most during the practice game, said that, and the other members half-opened their eyes.
Woojoo said, “Now it’s the real game, and it’s important to stay quiet. Let’s all work together to earn the promotion for our new song.”
“Right. Let’s give it our all.”
Bijoo reached out his hand, and they all cheered together.
While they were strategizing, the two MCs perked up their ears and laughed among themselves, finding them cute.
“Oh my, they’re adorable.”
“They remind me of us at that age, Noona.”
“Right? We were quite cute.”
“...?”
Then their eyes met again.
Just like the first time, they burst into laughter, like startled pheasants and sparrows in season 2.
The pheasants with the cue cards fanned themselves and said, “Hem hem, if the strategy meeting is over, let’s move on to the main game!”
“Yes. That’s right. The practice games so far were just child’s play.”
Wait a minute.
...What else was there?
The production team immediately offered a basket of props.
Looking at the old-fashioned glasses and historical drama beards, they asked with bewildered faces, “What’s this?”
“Ah. It seemed too easy, so we prepared these props in advance. It’d be a waste not to use them, so we decided to go ahead.”
“Really?”
Their practice game was already challenging enough.
“But as compensation, we’ll give you more chances. We’ll increase your attempts from three to five, and you can choose any prop you like.”
After some thought, they accepted.
They quickly picked out props from the basket.
Woojoo grabbed Junghyun’s hand as he reached for a Santa beard.
“Junghyun.”
“...Yes?”
“If you wear that, I’ll die laughing.”
“Hmm. How about this one?”
“Pfft-!”
Woojoo burst into laughter at the sight of Junghyun trying on the historical beard. It just didn’t suit him.
In the end, he chose the cutest one for him.
“Junghyun. How about this? It suits you.”
“Really?”
“Yeah! Wow, our Junghyun looks so good with goblin horns. It’s like a goblin come to life. Right, Jiho?”
“Exactly. Like a handsome corn chip.”
Junghyun, with goblin horns shaped like a corn chip on his head, fiddled with the chin strap, pleased.
Okay. That was one down.
The youngest looked at Woojoo with a headband on.
“How do I look, Hyung? Like Rudolph?”
“You look like you’d pull a sleigh well. Even the horns are as cool as velvet antlers.”
“Wow.”
The youngest, wearing a reindeer antler headband, danced a cheerful shoulder dance. Watching him, Woojoo reached into the basket too.
“Then I’ll take this...”
The kids flinched.
“This seems okay...”
Shake of the head.
“No?”
Nod of the head.
Woojoo aimed for a pink rabbit hat, but every time he reached for it, the younger ones made a ‘maybe not’ face.
Eventually, Woojoo gave up and chose a beauty mark instead.
Like the protagonist of a drama that Mrs. Kim Deoksoon enjoyed, he stuck a dot under his eye.
Bijoo, wearing scuba goggles, clapped his hands in approval.
Soon, Rihyuk also put on a devil horn headband, and they looked at each other with determined faces.
After staring at each other for three seconds with firm resolve.
“Pfft!” They couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the sight of Junghyun’s face.
“Now, looking at Junghyun’s face is enough to make me laugh.”
“You finally understand how we feel, Sunbae-nim.”
“Yes... Haha. I fully understand now. At first, I wondered why everyone laughed just by looking at Junghyun’s face.”
The dignified image of a rhinoceros beetle remained etched in everyone’s minds.
Even among the production crew, there were those who couldn’t help but let out silly laughs.
Producer Ko, too, had exclaimed in excitement earlier, “That guy... he must have the god of variety shows on his side!”
They managed to extract a substantial amount of content, enough to elicit such enthusiastic responses.
“Sigh...”
Why did he keep sighing?
He couldn’t quite pinpoint this subtle sense of emptiness.
Where exactly was their image heading?
Although Woojoo was smiling with a variety-show grin on the outside, he felt somewhat hollow inside.
Bukbuk spoke up.
“So, shall we go ahead and promote the new song as promised?”
“Yes! We’ll show you our Masquerade!”
While the two MCs stepped aside, the five of them formed their positions on stage.
Without any particular order, they casually surveyed the area within the police station that they could use and closed the gaps between them.
After making a decision, Woojoo asked the person in charge of the performance, “Should we reduce it by two steps, Bijoo?”
“Hmm... I think we need to tighten it up a bit more. Hyung, about three steps.”
“Okay, let’s go with that.”
Due to the limited space, it was tricky to fully display the Masquerade choreography, which was meant to bloom like a flower.
After aligning the first move as a demonstration, they all nodded in agreement.
“We’re ready!”
“Alright, let’s enjoy the highlight part of Masquerade!”
The booming speakers played the highlight part of the song. They quickly adapted to the changed spacing and presented their performance.
It was brief, but after the intense choreography, a single drop of sweat formed.
As they stood in their final formation and gazed intently at the camera, the two MCs clapped and laughed.
“Wow! That was so cool! I thought you were someone else!”
“But you finished it off stylishly. Our New Black!”
“Thank you for seeing us in a good light.”
They bowed their heads to the teasing seniors.
As the broadcast was coming to an end, they were asked to leave a comment for the viewers, so he stepped forward as the representative.
“Dear viewers! I really want to thank you for enjoying the show. We still have a lot to improve, but I hope you’ll continue to view us favorably.”
Woojoo continued with a smile.
“And don’t forget about our Soufflés!”
Behind him, his younger members were waving their hands, drawing hearts in the air, and dancing shoulder moves. Woojoo turned back for a moment and laughed.
“I’m not sure if you’ll still like us after seeing such embarrassing antics... Yes, we’re grateful if you still find us endearing despite this. Just so you know, we don’t usually do this, okay? It’s just the excitement of variety shows.”
“Right. That’s how it is.”
“And since this is the first recording after we won first place on the music broadcast, I have something to say.”
Woojoo wanted to say this.
“We’re newcomers. We’re very hungry. So we’ll eat heartily and strive even harder to rise up! Please watch over us!”
“Please watch over us-!”
“And one more thing.”
Woojoo looked into the camera with a serious face and then parted his lips.
“Forget about today’s broadcast...”
His voice trailed off as he gazed into the void, and the people on set burst into genuine laughter.
“Good work!”
“Thank you for your hard work!”
New Black greeted the staff who were cleaning up the set as they left the studio.
The managers were chatting with the PD, and they went down to the first floor to breathe in the outside air.
For about five seconds.
Then, a whooshing winter wind made everyone exclaim “It’s cold!” and scurry back inside.
“Sigh...”
As they looked outside, now bright with midday, white breaths streamed from everyone’s mouths.
It was a sigh.
Rihyuk said, “What on earth did we do today...”
“I wonder. We ran around so energetically, but all that’s left is this wounded feeling.”
“Still, our fans will love watching it.”
“...Will they?”
They looked at each other and laughed hollowly, gazing blankly at the sky. Bijoo tried to lift the mood.
“Well, at least morning recordings are good for this. Even after we finish, it’s still daytime.”
“Yeah. It feels like we’ve made good use of the day.”
“And we’ve made new connections too.”
Perhaps they liked our all-out performance as first-time guests, because the MCs came over and gave them their phone numbers.
‘Contact us if you’re bored. We’ll treat you to a meal,’ they said.
The youngest member said with a contented smile, “Now we have the phone numbers of seniors Seri and Bukbuk in our contacts.”
“...So what? Today we all created dark histories.”
Rihyuk started to say something but stopped.
The one who sent a warning to the cat.
The one whose lie detector broke despite being honest.
The one who was sad for not knowing the new slang.
The one who will soon hear from school friends, ‘Are you in your growth spurt, Wang Jiho? Hahaha!’
And the rhinoceros beetle.
...The last one was the most powerful, but their rapper just stood there, hands in his hoodie pockets, smiling peacefully.
Dark history was only dark history if you thought it was.
But for Junghyun, shame didn’t exist.
His mobile game ID with Jiho was probably ‘Daegil’s friend.’
They whispered among ourselves, watching a naturalist waving at magpies perched on the roadside trees from a distance.
Woojoo said, “Rhinoceros beetles must be happy.”
“I want to live my way like that too.”
“Don’t worry. You’re already on that path, Rihyuk.”
“...Be quiet. Seriously.”
They were chatting and waiting for the managers when Woojoo’s phone vibrated.
“Who is it?”
“Our manager.”
It was a manager, but not just any manager—it was their director.
There was a file sent via messenger.
[Attachment] TBC_Year-End Music Festival_Newcomer_Joint Performance_Outline
The kids crowded around Woojoo.
“What is it?”
“Seokhwan Hyung sent it. Looks like our joint performance for the year-end music festival is finally fixed.”
“Oh, a joint stage?”
“Who is it? Who are we performing with?”
“Just a moment.”
They opened the downloaded file and blinked at a name they hadn’t seen in a while.
They thought it might be a mixed-gender newcomer stage like HBS.
They blinked at the name written in the attached file.
“...Street Boys?”
They were the rival group we had been competing with since last year’s year-end evaluation.