This is definitely a plot.
There’s no doubt about it—an elaborate sche to humiliate and kill with embarrassnt. A plot by Mr. Wangmo and his shadowy cohorts to sar .......
"Ha ha ha ha ha!"
Ugh. Disgusting.
Ignoring the lackeys chattering happily while checking online reactions, I cranked up the TV volu.
[All right! Preliminary Group 2 match is starting!]
On the screen, Teen Spirit’s Yeonhu and Hahyun were competing in the solo round.
The beautiful boys wore headsets with serious expressions, clicking their mice.
"Heh heh heh heh."
"Why are you laughing?"
"I’m getting ready to laugh at them in advance."
They always get called lazy, but even while cursing and grumbling, those neighbor boys are the ones who still head to work at the crack of dawn every day.
Diligence doesn’t guarantee success, but among successful people, there are none who aren’t diligent. Teen Spirit is genuinely hardworking. Guys who cheer each other on with, “You idiot, hang in there!” and live earnestly.
"They live that diligently—when would they even have ti to practice gas? They’ll probably lose right away, just like —"
That was the mont.
[Hahyun is flying right now! This is real gaplay!]
[The quality is completely different from Group 1. This is practically a different ga. See? The movent is different.]
The comnters on the TV began to murmur.
-He’s good
-This is what real gaming looks like
-I thought it was a cody because of Seonmo
-Wooju is crying... he’s just crying
On screen, Hahyun’s cute character, fully ard, was wiping out nearby players.
"......What? Why is he good?"
"Hahyun is insanely good at gas. Gaming is his hobby too."
The maknae said.
"Teen Spirit is good at gas overall. I play with them sotis, and their tiers are super high."
"......."
"Hyung, you’re like a rare Pokémon. A legendary ga-illiterate."
Hahyun and Yeonhu advanced to the main round with ease.
The two boys high-fived each other and put on business smiles.
[Soul! We’re going to the main round!]
[For our Souls, I’ll definitely get first place!]
The bright-eyed, well-behaved kids went offstage.
And I kept watching the Dorlympics, searching for hope.
"No. It’s not too late yet. Surely there’ll be at least one person worse than . There’s no way......."
That was when Lee Hyeonjo showed up in the kart racing ga.
I felt hopeful.
"Hahaha! It’s Hanjo! Hanjo!"
"Hey, mister, I’m really curious."
Ri Hyuk asked, puzzled.
"Why do you think Hanjo would be worse?"
"Because I’m better at everything except rap."
"Well, obviously you’d beat a rapper at everything except rap...... Sure. You probably need that kind of delusional belief to preserve your ntal health."
Ignoring Ri Hyuk, I kept watching.
But contrary to my expectations, the kart with Hanjo’s big-headed character started showing insane movent.
-F1 racer Lee Hyeonjo
-Kart master lol
-Marseille turn holy crap insane judgnt
-You can steal items like that?
-Damn... one friend is filming flying cars, this one’s filming F1
The comntators exclaid in admiration at Hanjo finishing the preliminaries in first place.
[Isn’t it well known that Hanjo and Wooju are the sa age and close friends? They’re just too different!]
[At this point, they’re practically different species!]
[To be honest, Wooju is a rare case. With that sharp judgnt and incredible physical sense, the fact that he’s bad at gas.......]
The lackeys clapped and burst out laughing.
"......."
As the kart racing preliminaries ended and the Dorlympics prelim episode was about to wrap up.
Hanjo stepped out for the first-place interview, surrounded by the comntators.
His neat, handso face looked especially annoying today.
[Hanjo!]
[Yes.]
[That was incredibly impressive. It really felt like, ‘I am Lee Hyeonjo!’ How are you so good?]
The people who hadn’t complinted even once were showering him with praise.
Tremble.
My body shook like reeds in a marsh.
[Well.]
Hanjo smiled softly.
[I’ve played this ga since I was young, so I guess it’s still in my body.]
[That was amazing.]
When they asked him to say a word to the cara, Hanjo went, “Hmm...” and said,
[I think Sun Wooju is probably watching this right now. He monitors every broadcast he appears on, so I’m sure he’s watching.]
"I’m not. I’m not watching."
"Hyungs, Wooju hyung has finally lost his reason to jealousy!"
[I heard he got eliminated in the preliminaries. Haha. I’ve been teased a lot lately, so this feels kind of refreshing.]
[Oh! Is that a provocation!]
[A great provocation! But Wooju can’t comnt on that!]
[Sealing the opponent’s mouth and striking! Truly a strategist, Hanjo!]
As the comntators egged him on, Hanjo gave a wink like a magical princess.
[My friend. I’m going to the main round.]
[Hahaha!]
[To a place you can’t reach.]
"Aaaaargh!"
"Pwahahahahaha!"
The lackeys piled onto , laughing hysterically as I hugged a cushion and rolled around in frustration.
"Lee Hyeonjooooo!"
Like hell I’m ever buying you a magic wand again!
"Our country’s ga pride is way too intense."
"Yes, yes."
"Treating soone like an idiot just because they’re bad at gas... I an, I lose one ga and my grandma calls to mock , my friend mocks on TV, and now even the neighbors are coming over to tease ."
"We did?"
They looked at with sulky faces and tilted their heads.
They asked each other.
"Did you tease Wooju hyung?"
"No. Did you?"
"I didn’t either."
"If it’s not you or , then who? Seems like nobody teased him."
Then they nodded.
"We only laughed at hyung’s gaming skills. We didn’t tease you."
"Right."
"Just that you’re really bad."
"‘Really’ isn’t strong enough. You need a crazy-strong prefix. Like ‘catastrophically.’ Catastrophically bad."
......That’s what you call teasing.
As I trembled again like reeds in a marsh, Biju’s bright voice rang out.
"Guys. The at is burning."
"Yes!"
They were absurdly cheerful among themselves.
They flipped the beef on the grill set up in the dorm living room, everyone happy together.
This was a at party between neighbors for the Chuseok holiday.
"This at is really good. It’s the best I’ve had recently."
"It’s Korean beef from Pyeongchang County. They sent it to us to cheer us on since we’re Olympic ambassadors."
"Wow."
Teen Spirit spoke while chewing with their chopsticks.
"That’s crazy. We’re ambassadors too—why didn’t we get any?"
"It’s NewBlack. We’re not the sa."
"True. You guys go on stage."
I sat there with a sad face, waiting for soone to pay attention to , but no one looked my way.
In the end, I soothed my disappointnt and picked up so at.
"By the way, I heard you’re performing with TNT seniors this ti? Together with Daylight seniors."
"Huh? How did you know?"
"Word gets around."
Huiyeon said as he stole lettuce ant for his younger brothers. His innocent face chewed like a rabbit.
"We wanted to perform together too, but they said no. There were already three idol teams, so it’d be too many."
"I heard they’re minimizing the K-pop side."
"Yeah, it’s a sha, but if it’s TNT seniors, it’s understandable. They’re legends from what people call the second generation these days."
That was true—TNT and Sixty Seconds had been the top two.
Hahyun said,
"Ah, but I’m jealous. The Olympic closing ceremony."
"Jealous, right? Hehehe!"
The maknae shouted eagerly.
We smiled quietly instead of answering that there was nothing to be jealous about. Ri Hyuk firmly stepped on the maknae’s foot.
‘As expected, our kid has no sense.......’
Teen Spirit’s maknae, Woobin, changed the subject.
"Oh, right. Wooju hyung, I really enjoyed your fashion show this ti. The clothes were seriously beautiful."
"Really?"
My mouth spread into a grin without realizing it.
"It was good, right?"
"Not just good—like, wow. Seriously insane. The fashion show was no joke."
"Hahaha. It was nothing."
Maybe I really did look decent on the runway, because the other Teen Spirit mbers gave thumbs up without complaint.
Soon, the topic shifted to French bread.
Were French baguettes really that good, what foods had I tried in France, what was the Eiffel Tower like in person, and so on.
After swapping stories, the topic moved to NBS.
"So we’re going to show the fashion show runway behind-the-scenes on TV too."
"Ah!"
The neighbor boys snapped their fingers.
"That! That! What was it again?"
"NBS."
At Ri Hyuk’s words, Teen Spirit nodded.
"That’s the one we sent a congratulatory ssage to, right? For the launch."
"Yeah."
"Wow. It’s finally opening."
"Since it ca up, want to watch a bit? We haven’t seen it yet either."
Soon, Junhyun grabbed the remote, and the TV on wheels rolled over nacingly.
"Let’s see. NBS......."
It wasn’t near the front, so he had to scroll up a bit.
Soon, the channel appeared.
Our NBS, wedged between a cooking channel popular with homakers and a channel specializing in Japanese dramas.
"It stands for NewBlack and Scarlet. NBS."
Yeonhu snorted and waved his hand.
"Hyung, do you think we’re idiots? That we’d fall for that? Just because we fell for your static electricity magic once......."
It’s true though.......
And you guys are idiots—no, never mind.
"Oh."
Watching the newly launched channel felt strange.
A new business venture for a company just learning to walk.
Maybe because it ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) was still in its early stages, the channel looked a bit small-scale. You could tell just from the ads.
-Non-dividend life insurance!
-Ah, I don’t know how to put this, but it’s really good for n!
-Call now. 1577......
-Perfect for stomach health!
-Silla unified the Three Kingdoms. Then who unified sashimi? Yes. That would be Silla Sashimi Restaurant!
They were the kind of ads I used to see when I had the TV on all day in Gunsan after getting cut from the debut lineup.
As Junhyun and Teen Spirit’s rapper kids rapped along to the insurance riders delivered at machine-gun speed.
A yellow background with the NBS logo appeared.
"Looks like launch congratulatory ssages."
"Oh!"
It seed they were airing congratulatory ssages from stars.
Right away, [Teen Spirit] appeared first, and the kids waved their chopsticks.
"Huh! We’re first?"
"What?"
"Shouldn’t we be last, given our level?"
Biju smiled and soothed them.
"Impact matters, so they probably put you first."
"Ah. Right?"
That was when it happened.
After Teen Spirit, Senior Lee Geonwoo appeared imdiately.
"......."
"......."
Then Hailey Blue appeared, smiling primly, blue hair tucked behind her ear, wearing a hanbok.
"Th-that person! That senior who curses really well......!"
"Wow, the lineup is insane. We were the weakest."
As Hollywood stars followed, saying, “NBS! Congratulations!” Teen Spirit quietly set down their chopsticks.
"......."
"......."
Huiyeon said with a resolute face,
"I thought we’d climbed pretty far... but now my desire to challenge is overflowing."
"We’re still... that thing. What was it. The baby fish?"
"Minnow?"
"Right. Minnow. Damn."
Then they slung arms around each other and hyped themselves up.
"Let’s keep living hard, you bastards. We’ve got a long way to go."
"Let’s do well, you scraps."
As Ri Hyuk scolded them for using the word ‘scraps’ while eating, I turned my eyes back to the TV.
A caption appeared in the top-right corner.
[NewBlack TV Behind the Scenes: Special Broadcast]
[NewBlack Visits the VMA!]
I’d heard this was content prepared for the channel launch.
They’d air the full version on TV first, then upload it to MyTube afterward—a look at our behind-the-scenes.
From the U.S. VMA awards everyone was curious about to the most recent fashion week.
"Wow."
Yeonhu said as he finely sprinkled MSG over the beef on the grill.
"Your company’s editors are really competent."
"They probably get the highest salaries at our company."
"Seriously agreed."
Even I was impressed by the clean editing, on par with terrestrial or comprehensive channels.
It was only a small channel in scale.
The polished captions, music choices, and cuts made it look like a full-fledged variety show.
We exchanged satisfied smiles with the younger mbers.
‘The future is bright.’
While chatting with Teen Spirit and eating at, I searched the internet.
-Lemon Entertainnt launches ‘NBS,’ a bold challenge in entertainnt begins
-NBS launch, ‘Chuseok NewBlack special broadcast planned... please look forward to it’
-Lemon Entertainnt schedules new drama on NBS... “Will it succeed?”
It looked like coverage matched exactly the press releases that had gone out.
Compared to terrestrial broadcasters or other big channels, the buzz was definitely lower. Even with our na attached, it was the sa.
Souffles seed to be watching diligently, though.
To really get known, it would probably take so ti.
‘I hope it does well.’
We smiled at each other.
Everyone was probably thinking the sa thing.
The maknae, who’d been nodding at , held out his phone with a satisfied smile.
"Hyung."
"Yeah?"
"Want to see this? It’s a humor post about your gaming."
"......."
A vein popped on my forehead.
Yeonhu offered the wrap he’d been about to eat.
"Eat this, hyung."
"......?"
"They say eating vegetables makes you less angry. If you only eat at, you get angry easily."
"Who says sothing that ridiculous?"
"My mom."
I swallowed.
"Oh. I thought it was sothing weird professors say."
"She is a professor......."
"I’m sorry. I’m just sorry."
"But she’s in applied music, so it’s fine."
"......."
Everyone burst out laughing at the sight of clutching my chest in shock.
Lively laughter floated over the grill.
It was a bit noisy, but being in a kitchen full of people’s warmth during Chuseok week felt good.
After eating, we spent the holiday playing gas together on PlayStation or Xbox.
"Heading out?"
"Yeah. We should go."
Teen Spirit said as they grabbed their jackets.
"You guys are busy preparing for the Osaka concert, and we’re preparing for our album too."
"Your album’s coming out."
"In November. A repackage. And... ah, right."
Huiyeon said,
"Hyung, please take good care of us during recording."
"Got it."
"When you visit our company, we’ll treat you to a full course."
"Oh!"
The maknae rested his chin on my shoulder and asked,
"Hyung Huiyeon, can I co too?"
"Yeah, you can co."
We waved at each other, deciding to all hang out together.
At the doorway, Yeonhu, stuffing his sneakers on, pulled his cap down and made a mischievous face.
"Oh, right. There was sothing we wanted to tell Mr. Ri Hyuk."
"......?"
"You’re doing an Osaka Do concert this weekend, right?"
At that, Teen Spirit started giggling.
Why are they like that?
What’s at Osaka Do?
"Hahaha! We should tell them about that too. The Osaka Do thing."
"Hurry, tell them."
As we tilted our heads, Teen Spirit cleared their throats and said,
"We’ve toured quite a few Japanese dos, so we’re do experts, okay? There’s a rule about dos, and Osaka Do is a bit special."
"......?"
"We’ll tell you sothing important. Heh heh heh."
Teen Spirit whispered with evil grins.
Japan’s five major dos.
The venues often used as symbols of popularity when Korean idols or famous singers tour Japan.
Tokyo Do.
Osaka’s Kyocera Do.
Nagoya Do.
Fukuoka Do.
And Sapporo Do.
There are larger venues, of course, but performing here gets you the evaluation of, ‘So you’re a top-tier popular singer in Japan?’
Massive venues with capacities exceeding 50,000.
"......."
Kyocera Do in Osaka.
The final stop of our 2017 Japan tour—and our first Japanese do concert—stood before us in all its grandeur.
Staring up at it like a giant, we swallowed.
"......It was real."
The words Teen Spirit had said echoed in my ears.
-It’s hard to believe, but Osaka Do has a ‘no jumping’ rule.
-No jumping?
-Yeah. We don’t know the details, but if tens of thousands of people jump at once, it registers as a magnitude three or four—enough to freak out nearby residents. Tokyo Do used to cause a fuss too.
-Ah.
We asked, enlightened,
-Because it’s a country sensitive to earthquakes, right?
-Well, sothing like that, but there’s a specific reason you can’t jump at Osaka Do.
-Why?
Back in the present, Seokhwan explained,
"When they were building Osaka Do, there was no land available. So after searching everywhere, they ended up building it here."
"So that’s why."
"Yeah."
"......."
"......."
We turned our gaze from the do to the side.
A massive sphere.
Three enormous, round gas tanks stood there. Like three lackeys next to Junhyun.
Ri Hyuk asked with a face like he was about to faint,
"So those are gas storage tanks, right?"
"Yeah......."
Because there was no land, Osaka Do had been built on a gas plant site.
And the ground there was weak, making it vulnerable to impact.
As we heard that jumping simultaneously could be dangerous, Teen Spirit’s words ca back to .
-If you want to die, then jump. Hahaha!
We stared uneasily at the gas tanks.
"It’ll be fine, right?"
"It’ll be fine. Surely nothing will......."
Suddenly, the image of lively Souffles popped into my head.
Their soft, bread-like bodies jumping—and us becoming stars in the sky as we vanished.
"......."
"......."
"Lackeys. Co here."
"Yes, sir."
We all hugged each other and trembled, screaming, "Aaaah!"
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