“First, we decided to just play it.
‘They say it’s better to get hit first and ask questions later~’
‘Stop hesitating and hit play already. Co on.’
I glared at the maknae mbers who were snickering as if it wasn’t their problem, then took a deep breath to calm myself.
I stopped Junghyun, who was reaching for the play button.
“I’ll do it.”
I took another deep breath, put my finger down... then hesitated again.
“Ugh... what even is this...?”
“Just play it. Hurry!”
The two on either side of were itching to see it, urging on.
With a heavy sigh, I pressed play.
[Hello, I’m Han Tae-hyeon of TNT.]
A non-skippable, thirty-second charity campaign ad played. I muted it and waited.
At last, the actual footage began.
At first, it was exactly as I rembered: the concept eting scene. The A-TEN mbers, struggling over what concept to choose for their debut song, suddenly lighting up as soone found “the one.”
[How about a sexy concept? It’s at least doable, right?]
[What if we go for sexy with mature charm?]
I voiced my objections, and Bi-ju stood up to demonstrate the choreography.
“Here’s our C-level Bi-ju teacher!”
“C-level! C-level!”
We all burst out laughing at Bi-ju’s embarrassed face—and then the solo dance began.
Because of the editing. Sultry captions like “This is sexy” and “Provocative gaze” appeared, and the cara swayed flirtatiously.
Bi-ju covered his face with his hands and groaned, “Ugh... why do I look like I’m trying to be all fatal?”
“It’s okay. It’s fine.”
“I’m so embarrassed I can’t watch this... but I didn’t screw up the choreography, did I?”
“Not a single step. You nailed it.”
We giggled and patted him, as if comforting an avatar of sex appeal.
But my laughter died the mont the next scene started.
[I thought this would be the easiest part...]
I stroked my chin and stared at the Mister Producer cast on-screen. By accident, the angle made it look like I was giving them a disdainful once-over.
With a drumroll, A-TEN’s tense faces were blown up in close-up.
Then, as if I were a tenured professor of “Sexy Studies” eyeing a freshman, my face was slamd onto the screen.
[Can you do it? SEXY..?]
My smirk appeared with a teasing pink caption drifting up in fluffy letters. I was speechless.
Pink CG clouds billowed across the screen. The cast, eyes wide with sudden enlightennt, gasped and I smiled benevolently.
The practice room erupted in laughter.
“Ha-ha-haha!”
“Kyah-haha! Ha!”
“Omg, my abs...! Ha-ha!”
Ri-hyuk clutched his stomach laughing, like his abs were about to give out. Bi-ju tapped my arm, laughing, and Junghyun’s laughter made the whole room shake against the wall.
Ji-ho rolled on the floor, giggling.
“This scene wasn’t even that funny,” I muttered.
“Ha-ha-ha!”
I knew the next episode would have all the viral monts: Ji-seok’s vocal training noises, Junghyun’s arm-wrestling. But I never expected that pink-cloud “Can you do it?” clip to top the charts.
Unsurprisingly, the comnt section was flooded with “ㅋㅋㅋ.”
“-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I laughed so hard at the arm-wrestling yesterday, then cried at this part.”
“-Watching it with my family and LOL’ed so hard here.”
“-That pink cloud CG is insaneㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
“-They probably wanted to do it, but clearly had zero ability—and that one expression says it all.”
“-Like a professor looking at a student who chose the wrong thesis topic...ㅠ”
“-Omg U-ju ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
“-Clicked for the gif, but the video is even funnier.”
“Gif?”
My heart sank.
“...There’s a gif of it too?”
“Soone made a gif?”
“Who? Who turned that into a gif?”
My siblings, who’d looked it up out of curiosity, burst out laughing together. Understandable—seeing it as a looping gif made it feel legendary. “Can you do it?” was already sweeping through as a .
“...”
“Ha-ha-ha! At least you didn’t look ugly. You looked super cute~”
“That’s not the point...”
I felt like I was drowning. Thankfully, I’d set my status to “Don’t ssage ,” because my group chats were exploding.
Our Min-cho fandom mbers were ecstatic.
Hanj o: [Can you do it?]
Rex: [S]
Yu-geon: [E]
LB: [OMG so funny]
Yu-geon: [Doesn’t Tree-ssi have any tact?]
They quickly decided to roast Mr. Tree, and I was grateful for small rcies. From the Mister Producer cast to everyone I knew, people were flooding with that gif. ssages piled up non-stop.
“Hey—who sent the gif to Mrs. Kim Deok-soon? Own up.”
“Ha-ha-hat!”
“Why did it even go that far...?”
“Haha-ha-ha!”
“And when did y’all change your profile pics again?”
“As if! We’re keeping them forever~”
As Mrs. Kim Deok-soon would say, it was total chaos. And to make matters worse, the ratings were through the roof.
Mister Producer hits 21.9%, highest in six months
‘MiP’ idol project reclaims weekend variety crown... ‘Box office buzz’
From training to composition, ntors of a lifeti... ‘Can you do it? Highest ratings..♡’
Getting over 10% is a struggle these days—22% was almost unheard of. Especially since MiP is popular with twenty-sothings who watch re-runs or download episodes. It felt like the whole country was watching.
Of course, hot reactions are good for us, but as the one in the clip, it was mortifying.
Especially when...
“U-ju!”
“Hello, Deputy Manager.”
“This ti, my cousins want an autograph... You think we can?”
“...”
“Ha-ha-hat!”
“You’re too cruel. I even got Ha-yeon a first-birthday gift.”
My coworkers seed positively desperate to drop the “Can you do it?” joke every ti they saw . I asked Ji-ho if it was really that funny; he said it felt new every single day.
I wanted to hate everyone, but since they were enjoying it, I decided it was for the best. And in truth, it was.
TF-team’s Manager Hong reported back positive monitoring.
“Reactions to the broadcast are even better than last ti.”
“Really?”
“Your composing scene and Ri-hyuk’s vocal coaching were especially morable.”
“Mm...”
I ignored Ri-hyuk, who was bracing for praise, and listened on.
“Training scenes usually co off dull, but they made it fun—that’s another plus.”
“Ooh...”
“And you don’t need to ntion the sexy part, right...?”
“Manager.”
I trembled, eyes squeezed shut, while Manager Hong and my siblings cackled like a coven.
“Anyway, when next week hits, reactions will be even hotter. And ‘Attention’ will drop.”
“Ah...”
“All that’s left is for it to keep climbing.”
Next week was the episode where I’d appear by spaceship to give ‘Attention.’ The teaser only showed the cast’s shocked faces—no shot of . Maybe they cut saying, “Soone else should take the title...” so stubbornly in episode two.
Viewers were already speculating who’d gotten the title, since my face didn’t appear. Manager Hong said I ranked seventh in their poll.
I’m guessing that episode will do great numbers.
“We’re working hard on the concert rehearsals. TF-team will keep you posted on reactions.”
“Thank you!”
“Heading to Producing Team now?”
“Yeah, I need to check a few things about the MR remixes.”
I’d heard that Hyung-seop had joined us, and the Producing Team had tweaked so of the concert’s MR tracks. Our steps toward their office were light, humming a tune, feeling great—especially because soone who comforted awaited.
After episode two aired, there was one person getting reactions as hot as mine.
“Hey, PD-nim~”
“Oh, you guys...”
PD Na Sang-yun greeted us, looking worn out.
“PD-nim!”
We bead at him.
“How did your mom like it? Did she see the video ssage we sent?”
“...”
“Ha-ha-hat!”
The Producing Team staff watching nearby edged closer, having hit their cooldown.
“Co on, PD—tell us! What’d your mom say?”
“I wanna know too.”
“Even your high-school friends called—what’d they say?”
Soone bolted, and even Hyung-seop laughed.
PD Na was one of the biggest victims of MiP episode two.
After “Can you do it?” ca clip number two in views: “Mom, I’m on MiP~!” He ran away with a sad face.
After Mister Producer episode two aired, the Suffle was in full festival mode.
“-It was so funnyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
“-Watching with my family and we were laughing like sobbing.”
“-I thought Bi-ju’s impact last ti would tone it down, but I was so wrong.”
“-Let’s get serious—our kids are up against this.”
“-The ‘finding your voice’ part? LOL.”
“-Link to the arm-wrestling with Nam Do-hun and Junghyunㅋㅋㅋㅋ It’s my new favorite.”
Episode two was just as packed with great monts as episode one. The moving-TV training scenes were hilarious again, but the main-vocal coaching had living rooms everywhere in stitches.
[Senior, let’s step outside for a mont.]
After dragging Ji-seok, who was struggling to find his voice, out of the practice room...
With a scream of “Ah! Aaaah!” he found his sound—and that bit made our Best 5 of the day.
The caption [Finding Our Voice] appeared in rustic lettering. No one knew what was happening outside—which was the punchline. Even non-fans cracked up.
“-What was that?? What did they do??”
“-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ The blank expression with the caption ‘We found Senior’s voice’—so funny.”
“-That group is crazy.”
“-I was watching quietly thinking ‘Such sweet trainees,’ then BOOM.”
“-Idols hiding their true colors.”
“-Storyti: I had no voice, then I beca a master singer.”
anwhile, the arm-wrestling scene—where Do-hun worried dieting would weaken his muscles—also blew up. He reassured everyone, “Junghyun’s tired and starving,” which was hilarious.
“-Isn’t that the most dangerous mont??ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
“-Starved beast vs. well-fed beast—no contestㅋㅋㅋ”
“-Nam Do-hun’s faceㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ So unlucky x100”
“-Weight classes are so different, but maybe strength is genetic...?”
The PBS wildlife-doc narration over the arm-wrestling had everyone in tears.
[A duel unfolds between two n over dieting.]
[Nam Do-hun is seasoned and massive, but the young challenger’s spirit is fierce.]
[As expected, Do-hun dominates... but wait! The young challenger strikes back.]
After the thrilling BGM, Do-hun strode off like a lion at sunset. Countless great s were born from that editing.
But viewers also praised the tiny details.
“-Great na choiceㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
“-A-TEN just rolls off the tongue.”
“-I wondered if they’d handle everything, but NewBlack really does it allㅋㅋㅋ”
“-I thought professionals would co in, but NewBlack is the professionals.”
“-They dug deep into vocal theory—insane.”
“-If an academy taught everything from A to Z like that, I’d sign up too.”
“-No such instructors exist in real life.”
They were talking about NewBlack’s producing. Episode one touched on it briefly, but seeing all the details left viewers amazed. Even casual viewers could tell NewBlack’s mbers were anything but average.
[Pull your sound up higher.]
One mont, they pinpointed a breathing issue and corrected posture; the next, they fixed minor facial expressions. It felt fresh. They knew their craft inside out—though sotis their jargon flew over people’s heads.
[Like in Daydream sunbae’s ‘Rodeo’ intro...]
[U-ju, sorry, but we don’t know songs like you do.]
[Ah, then...]
U-ju cited everything from idol hits to old classics as references. Even middle-aged viewers wondered, “Was that song a thing?”
His composing skills matched his knowledge. On a whim, he offered to write the show’s fan song and, after a few keystrokes, whipped up a piece that had viewers wowed.
“-Coming back to watch thisㅋㅋ”
“-One of the coolest montsㅋㅋ At first I was like huh? but by the end the song was done.”
“-Composer trolling funㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
“-I’ll always rember Na Sang-yun writing that video letter to his mom and disappearing.”
“-Curious what the final song will be... I’m tone-deaf but it sounded good.”
By the end, “He composes well” lodged itself in everyone’s mind. NewBlack’s image shifted solidly from “funny guys” to “funny experts.” Their artistic side strengthened, yet their silly monts kept them relatable.
And...
“I feel like sothing big is coming...”
Even viewers who’d only seen episodes one and two sensed that sothing huge was brewing. Though the project’s blueprint was just erging, a palpable excitent was rising.
By Monday, conversation about Mister Producer had seeped back into people’s daily lives.
“Did you watch MiP? This ti...”
“They’re so good. Blew my mind—nothing like I expected.”
“Like when they make songs...”
Everywhere, conversations ended with the sa question.
“Who’s that composer in the teaser?”
“Isn’t it supposed to be a mystery?”
“Isn’t it U-ju?”
“No way. He refused—said it was too much pressure. They said a different composer’s song would drop this ti.”
“Maybe Gang-min?”
People wondered how amazing the song must be to provoke that reaction.
And...
“What’s so funny...?”
Those who’d been quietly observing variety chatter thought, “Maybe I should tune in for episode three.” With episodes one and two as buildup, interest in episode three was swelling beneath the surface.
And the fascination extended beyond Korea. After episode two aired, as Korea’s most-popular variety show overseas, English-subbed videos were uploaded.
Mr. Producer Ep.406 (ENG SUB) 14/05/2016
Chinese and Southeast Asian sites added local subtitles. Even in South Arica, fans watching A-TEN’s K-pop debut journey started asking about the ntors.
“...NewBlack?”
Anyone into Korean culture knew that na. They hadn’t known much before, but after episode two, curiosity blossod. “I wonder...”
NewBlack looked as handso as the cast said, and their casual dance and singing skills seed impressive. Overseas viewers searched “NewBlack” and were overwheld by the flood of information. On NewBlackTV, they scrolled through the video list with eager eyes.
“Oh...?”
They clicked the ‘Nine’ MV—100 million views. That was the beginning. Auto-plays kept dazzlling their eyes and ears. Cute dance clips led into funny videos, then into serious live performances. A perfect sweet-and-salty mix.
“One more. Just one more.”
Fans who first t NewBlack on Mister Producer were sucked in like used toilet paper down a drain.
A newly uploaded teaser caught them, too.
[NewBlack – Nakhwa (落花) M/V Teaser]
Falling petals drifted across the screen. Scenes of the mbers appeared, then U-ju, wearing a black durumagi, stared into the cara, holding out swaths of white cloth. The brush-written characters ‘Nakhwa’ appeared on a white backdrop. “Wow...”
Once you saw it, it lodged in your brain. The emotional gaze made you hit replay. Slowly, the teaser’s views began to climb—a change stirring beneath the surface.
The day before the concert—Thursday. ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) We arrived at Olympic Park for rehearsal and marveled at our surroundings.
“Whoa...”
Mid-May must be why the sky was clear and spring blossoms scented the air. Gazing at the handball arena where we’d perford before, I was filled with emotion.
“Hey, check this out!”
Following the maknae’s pointing finger, we bead. A massive banner covered the front of the gymnastics arena.
[The New Black: On Parade]
Bright, carnival-like colors. As we passed the arena and explored the venue, our smiles grew.
It felt like real life—inhaling felt like my chest was about to burst. A breeze brought fluttering glimpses of our concert banners all over Olympic Park.
“This really is a concert.”
“...It’s really starting now.”
Our long-awaited second concert stood just ahead.
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