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.
Knock knock, Mango, Mango you little jerk, get it together
Mango, what happened to the servers
Anyone know why Mango’s servers are borked right now??
NewBlack’s song drops today
A h...
At this point it’d be faster for the Soufflés to just buy the servers
What’s the point of Mango existing anyway
A notice went up on Mango’s hopage: “We’re sorry. Shortly....” followed by sothing about abnormal traffic.
Soufflés sighed and turned their gaze.
“You blew up too, huh.”
The Y app live was down as well.
I was watching a reality on the Y app and why is the status like this??
They’re doing a NewBlack coback commorative live
Didn’t they say they added more Y app servers—where did all that money go
Glassfish servers
C’mon, even if you add all the Soufflés together, how many could there be lol
That’s not it.
It isn’t..?
Nah
No contact with their bias, music sites dead.
All that remained was Tube.
“This one won’t crash, right.”
The stuttering Tube status was concerning, but thankfully the video played.
At 360p.
“Are you kidding ...”
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 comnts.
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-mber band of goblins appears.
[Kim Seobang!]
“I am of the Park clan, surna Park...?”
“Isn’t he Kim Seobang? Huh? He really isn’t?”
The goblins whisper cutely among themselves, and the human blinks.
At the sa ti, they hear that the Kim Seobang the goblins ant left this house long, long ago.
“He left again.”
“Every ti 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 cara pulls back, his black brows have turned white.
Ti has passed.
Bedridden with old age, the scholar tells his descendants about the goblins he t 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 ti goes on, the story changes.
From the ancestor’s lived experience into sothing 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 sowhere, 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 ti.”
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 instrunts and Western instrunts 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 mbers.
Gabi gabi dotgabi
Odokabi
Watching the fluttering hems, Soufflés hum the chorus lody.
“It’s definitely different from Falling Blossoms.”
You’d think it might be similar because both are Korea-thed, 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 lody 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 gas 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 lancholy.
They used to live openly among people; at so point they beca strange beings who have to hide.
It feels like a ssage—You and we aren’t so different.
“Whatever. Soone’ll post an interpretation.”
Before a day passes, Tubers will flood the site with takes like, “Could this be the hidden aning?”
Thinking that, Soufflés dove into the communities.
[NewBlack — “Goblin” MV]
As expected, comnts were exploding in idol-fan hubs.
Junghyun’s voice is so good
I freaking love it ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
NewBlack pulled off a great song after a while
The choreo isn’t even that hard but it’s so watchable lol probably because they can all actually dance
Makeup’s too heavy for , don’t like,,
Unique but too unique
Ah.. I don’t get it, it’s too weird
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 chanism 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 sa 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—soone got hit twice in one minute.”
While the kids talked lightning, I checked the Mango chart again.
Real-ti 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 dostic music site had a gray wind blowing.
And the star ratings and reviews were fantastic.
So this is Joseon-pop
If you just hear the beat it’s 21st-century hot-people, but there’s a lingering whiff of Gyeongbokgung sohow
Feels like dancing in hanbok in Bukchon with the city skyline in the back
As a major, I’m pleased—this shows a further-evolved use of traditional music than Falling Blossoms. I went “oh” at the opening taepyeongso sampling, then slapped the floor at the later part where they properly used the drums. That hurt like hell..
Why does Junghyun rapping in pansori rhythm sound so good
Feels like the ancestors ca out to inject tension into loose K-pop
Hip. Extrely hip
Wooju builds basslines so well.. He knows exactly what makes people lose it
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.
Choreo is insane ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅜ
Standing still all poised at the start and then when they move, the accent is perfect.. feels like an inanimate broom cos to life and slowly starts to move
Agree, the song is great but the choreo really sells it
The chorus choreo feels like goblins morphing into all kinds of shapes lol fascinating
This kind of mischievous-style choreo can look like awkward flirting if you ss it up, but they nailed it
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 accomplishnt is everyone’s accomplishnt.
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 ti 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. Ti to get ready to hit the stage, lackeys!”
“Gogo!”
It was almost 8 p.m., showcase start ti.
In the monts 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 pavent 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 rch too.”
“I’m jealous......”
“But no one knows what it’ll be yet.”
“That’s true.”
As they whispered,
Flash.
“Whoa! That scared !”
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 mbers 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-, Small Jiho.
“Hello~!!”
And silence.
The mini- 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- shouted,
“We’ll be out in just a bit! Please wait a mont! Right now we’re tuning instrunts!”
Like house lights dimming before a film, the hall grew slightly darker.
At the sa ti, the stage lighting blood bright.
The doors opened and the instruntalists walked out.
“WaaAAAAA—!”
Led by gayageum player Hong Arang, who’d played the session for Falling Blossoms, traditional musicians tiptoed out.
mbers of the concert band session who perform live with NewBlack also appeared.
They took a mont to tune for the live.
“Waaaaaaaa!”
At last, the mbers appeared.
A stunning beauty with blood-red hair waved.
Biju, with fairy-green hair, stepped out with grace.
Another handso 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 so.
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 mbers struck the floor, and the first song began.
It was “Eye of the Dragon,” a track blending traditional instruntal sounds.
A lyrical jazz piece closed the opening and—
Two, three!
Hello! We are NewBlack!
Fans answered the bright greeting with a roar.
Welco to the showcase of NewBlack’s special album “Gii,” coming to you with a global live on the Y app!
“Waaaaaaaa!”
We sincerely want to say: everyone who made it here, you worked so hard.
The leader of NewBlack smiled and asked,
Tough hunt for the treasure, right?
“Yes!”
Thank you for your effort. Sohow this turned into a nationwide event... such a variety of people are here.
Biju laughed and took the mic.
Thank you so much for coming to the showcase today. Are you all ready to have fun?
“Yes!”
We hope you enjoy our stage. Since the purpose of a special album is to try the music we’ve been wanting to attempt... today we’ll run this showcase with a free vibe.
Then Junghyun took the mic.
Which ans we’ll do whatever we want.
Everyone burst out laughing.
A promise to talk music and perform freely, unbound by format, set the air buzzing.
Seated in chairs, the mbers looked around the audience and said,
First, we want to see your faces once—could you raise your lightstick brightness?
Fwooooosh!
As Soufflés raised the brightness, the audience glowed bright.
That’s good. Oh, I’m gonna cry.
Wooju smiled and asked,
Such a diverse crowd. Sir, did you co with your son?
The man who’d mis-set his lightstick earlier answered “Yes” shyly, and Wooju looked beside him.
Then, son, are you a Soufflé?
“Yes!”
Thank you for coming. How did you end up coming together?
“I’m enlisting next week, so I ca to spend ti with my father.”
You’re going to the army?
Wooju’s face went speechless.
Oh, man......
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 sothing.
Soon he slung on a nearby acoustic guitar.
“What’s he doing?”
Before the Soufflés’ curious eyes, their singer snapped his fingers.
A shimring, beautiful line flowed out, and an impromptu performance began.
You’re leaving to protect the country for two years—we can’t just send you off. We prepared this for our Soufflé!
The gong rang—ding!
On stage, the players who looked like they’d served the military began to play with dewy eyes.
We dedicate this to you. “A Private’s Letter.”
As laughter rippled through the seats, the father and son gazed into the distance with wistful smiles.
Soufflés smiled, ward.
“Who knows what will happen tonight.”
It was a showcase where you couldn’t predict a single step ahead.
User Comments
0 comments from readers