Behind Ri Hyuk stood a massive device.
‘A lottery machine?’
To most Koreans it looked exactly like a lottery drawing machine.
The only difference was its enormous scale.
If it were filled to the brim, it could probably hold close to fifty Ri Hyuks.
There was a giant transparent sphere where lottery balls would normally go, mounted on a large base with a monitor attached.
It looked like the kind of machine where you insert a coin and pull a lever to see what cos out.
“Wooooow...”
“What is that? What’s that supposed to be?”
While viewers watching on TV tilted their heads in confusion.
“Oh? Sothing appeared!”
On the monitor beneath the giant sphere, an emoticon appeared.
[ (❁ᴗ͈ ˬ ᴗ͈)⁾⁾ ]
anwhile Ri Hyuk, who actually had a flower tucked into his hair, stood smiling with a microphone like a boy of spring.
While the cara focused on the emoticon, he had already changed into a white shirt and jeans.
So cuteㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Our Ri Hyuk is insanely beautiful
What flower is that???? The blue one is so pretty
My parents said it’s a balloon flower lol
Ri Hyuk had delicately placed the pale blue balloon flower in his hair and held the microphone with both hands.
As the crowd cheered, a refreshing intro began to play.
‘Huh? This...’
It was “I’ll Give You My Star,” Ri Hyuk’s solo track from the full album that also contained Coin.
A song about shy feelings sent toward soone you like.
After the intro ended, Ri Hyuk walked toward the extended stage and raised the microphone.
Always behind your heels
I hide shyly
His fresh visuals and clear voice felt like they cleared the listener’s eyes and ears.
Bright blue lights flooded the stage as Ri Hyuk walked across the extended platform, smiling.
Whenever you turn around
I pretend not to notice and glance
My heart feels like it will burst
My heart goes Boom Boom
When he pointed toward the audience during the “boom boom” part, Souffle waved their light sticks and scread.
This song is so goodㅠㅠㅠㅠ
They didn’t even perform this at the concert
My favorite track from the last albumㅠㅠ
Is this the legendary introvert output stage of Seo Ri Hyuk
The lyrics sound like sothing a shy girl group would sing, but since it’s Ri Hyuk it weirdly works lol
I have decided Seo Ri Hyuk will be my man. No objections accepted. I have decided Seo Ri Hyuk will be my man. No objections accepted Ri Hyukaaaaaa
What is that vocal color lol it’s amazing
Every ti Ri Hyuk moved while singing softly, the audience cheered.
The response in the venue was extrely strong.
tro at the beginning had been a familiar stage.
But the performance Ri Hyuk was showing now felt fresh to them.
‘Ri Hyuk really knows how to control the pacing...’
Recently the main vocalist of NewBlack had been associated with powerful singing, especially with keywords like “Korean Series national anthem.”
But now that sa vocalist ca out strategically with a gentle song.
It naturally drew admiration.
Because it was not a powerful explosive track, his vocal ability stood out even more.
He controlled the tension perfectly, as if playing a push and pull ga with the audience through his voice.
His voice felt as if it might approach but not quite reach them, making the cheers grow louder.
‘It feels like a real concert.’
The singer’s breathing could be heard, and sotis his laughter mixed into the song as he reacted to the audience.
More than ten thousand light sticks waved simultaneously inside the dark Gocheok Do.
As the presence of the main vocalist filled the entire venue.
Here it is, my star
The one ant only for you
My one and only star
While Ri Hyuk raised the pitch and sang the chorus, the audience’s gaze gradually moved behind him.
The machine that looked like a lottery device.
‘...But why is that there?’
Just as people began wondering.
Between the end of the first chorus and the start of the second verse.
While Ri Hyuk held the microphone toward the cheering fans, the emoticon on the monitor changed.
[ (❁ᴗ͈ ˬ ᴗ͈)⁾⁾ ]
It blinked.
Then changed.
[ Thank You !! ]
[ ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶ ]
With the cheerful emoticon smiling brightly, sothing began filling the empty sphere.
Like lottery balls being loaded.
Small gold coin props began popping and bouncing around like popcorn.
“Waaaaaaah!”
The gold coins slowly began piling up.
At first the audience did not understand what it ant.
But as the second verse began, they realized sothing {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} surprising.
When the singer simply sang, nothing changed.
‘Wait... it reacts to cheering?’
Whenever the audience’s cheers grew louder, more gold coins slowly appeared.
“Kyaaaaaah!”
“Waaaaah!”
Souffle cheered louder and louder in response to Ri Hyuk’s gestures.
And the coins kept increasing.
No one knew exactly why, but everyone suddenly wanted to fill the sphere completely.
‘It’s halfway full!’
Their throats grew hoarse from screaming, but it was fun.
When Ri Hyuk’s solo stage ended.
A video ga like BGM imdiately began.
[ ✺◟(∗❛ᴗ❛∗)◞✺ ]
The emoticon changed again.
anwhile a VCR appeared on the giant screen showing colorful coins floating around.
“Waaaaaaah!”
As Ri Hyuk quietly caught his breath in the darkened stage.
The gold coin sphere on stage appeared in close up.
Then suddenly—
Pop!
‘Guys!’
Biju and Jiho popped their heads out from both sides, grinning mischievously.
Then Wooju and Junhyun peeked out behind them like playful kids.
‘So cute!’
They wore outfits reminiscent of 1990s idols.
Ski jackets, hoodies, suspenders.
But reinterpreted in a 2017 style.
Jiho, wearing a white shirt and red padded vest with a baseball cap pulled low, smiled brightly.
Even while walking toward the extended stage with the music, every movent looked like choreography.
‘Coin!’
The song that had been released earlier that year.
One of the biggest hits of 2017.
A refreshing track that felt like a bright cheerful 1990s idol song updated for 2017.
The mbers had painted one cheek with their symbolic color like Indian war paint as an homage.
As they ran across the stage, the cheers grew louder.
Clink! Clink!
[ $__$ ]
The coins in the sphere began filling again.
During the third verse choreography, when Biju perford the cute dance wearing suspenders, cheers exploded.
‘It’s almost full!’
The sphere was almost completely filled.
People expected sothing to happen soon.
But.
‘Huh?’
Even after the Coin stage ended and golden confetti fell from the ceiling, nothing happened.
“What? Wasn’t that thing supposed to explode or sothing?”
“It didn’t explode.”
“So what were the coins for?”
As Souffle murmured during the short break.
Before the excitent of Coin even faded, the lights suddenly went dark again and people rushed onto the stage.
‘Oh? Dancers?’
Dancers wearing masks resembling traditional Korean tal masks appeared.
Ugly masks.
Aristocrat masks.
Scholar masks.
Holding white cloths in both hands, they ran across the stage.
Then a trendy electronic lody with traditional Korean elents began playing.
A lody every Korean knew.
‘But where are the mbers?’
Just as the song seed to begin without them.
One dancer wearing an ugly mask removed it.
‘Biju!’
Originally Ri Hyuk’s part should have started.
But Biju appeared instead.
His brown hair glimred under the lights.
With glitter around his eyes, it looked as if stars shone in his pupils.
Did I take the wrong road
I guess so
Did I wake up at the wrong ti
I guess so
After finishing his part, he quickly put the mask back on and slipped back into the dancers’ formation.
Like mischievous goblins popping their heads out as if saying “I’m here!”
The mbers appeared one by one, sang their parts, and disappeared again.
When the chorus finally arrived, the mbers removed their masks and robes.
They wore the sa modern outfits from Coin.
But that sohow made them look even more like goblins.
“Gabi gabi goblin!”
“Odokkabi!”
Not only Souffle but other idol fans also sang along to the chorus.
And as soon as the first verse ended.
BOOOOM!
With the sound of compressed air firing.
The gold coins inside the sphere shot into the sky.
“WAAAAAAAH!”
It was like a real life magic spell producing gold.
The cheers people shouted seed to return as gold coins.
‘Catch them!’
Fans in the standing area jumped and grabbed the falling coins.
They were light props.
But perfect souvenirs.
As fans ran around happily collecting them.
‘I couldn’t be happier than this!’
Junhyun’s rap part from Dokkaebi began.
The mbers placed their hands on each other’s shoulders like a train.
They bounced playfully toward the extended stage.
Fans right below scread.
‘Ahhh!’
‘Gold coins!’
Junhyun’s deep voice rapped.
Gold appear, abracadabra
Here it cos
Silver appear, abracadabra
Nope
While the mbers tossed gold coins around, caras captured the happy faces of fans.
Then.
As the mbers danced the third verse of Dokkaebi energetically.
More gold coins flew into the sky again.
NewBlack’s promise of showing a “fun stage” had completely worked.
“It feels less like a stage and more like watching a play.”
“That was fun.”
“So this is how young idols perform nowadays.”
Finally the cara captured a handso man in a hoodie, breathing heavily with a bandana tied around his head.
The crowd scread.
“Kyaaaaaaa!”
Souffle scread with hoarse voices.
‘Today was really fun!’
‘I couldn’t go to the Sangam concert, but seeing this stage ans I win.’
It was an eighteen minute stage that perfectly demonstrated what “idol” ant.
“Ah... I’m shaking...”
It was not my heart trembling.
Just.
My legs.
Shaking.
“Hyung... my legs lost strength...”
The youngest leaned against the backstage wall, his legs trembling.
Ri Hyuk was completely drenched in sweat and was already being carried on Junhyun’s back.
“Ri Hyuk.”
“Yes...”
“You did great.”
“My throat hurts so much I thought I was going to die.”
After singing nonstop for eighteen minutes, that was unavoidable.
And there was choreography too.
tro alone was among our top five hardest choreographies.
But Coin and Dokkaebi were not easy either.
Sotis people online said things like:
“NewBlack dances lazily now. They lost their passion.”
But honestly.
You had to try dancing it yourself.
Many people judged choreography difficulty only by speed.
But speed and difficulty were not the sa.
Just because yoga movents are slower than intense sports does not an they are easier.
“Biju, are you okay?”
“Yes... don’t worry about ...”
After patting Biju’s sweat soaked back, I bent down with my hands on my knees.
By the ti we reached the third verse of Dokkaebi, my breathing had nearly given out.
Even when the audience cheered at the end, I barely saw it.
My vision had gone white and was spinning.
“You sohow managed to smile while walking off stage.”
“You did well, guys.”
Mingi and Wonseok patted our shoulders.
I grinned and asked:
“Did we do well?”
“You looked like Artist of the Year.”
“Hehehe.”
Standing up and taking a deep breath, I smiled.
“But it really felt great.”
“Because it was the ending stage?”
“No. That too, but... there are a lot of advantages to being last.”
The youngest answered for .
“Because... at the end... we can use stage equipnt freely...”
“Ah.”
“Since we’re the last, we can fire everything.”
I handed him a bottle of water and nodded.
The privilege of the ending stage.
You could use all stage effects to the maximum.
Fireworks.
Confetti.
Everything.
There was no need to worry about affecting the next performance.
“We really used everything we could.”
“True.”
Smiling at the mbers, our strength gradually returned.
Our legs trembled slightly like after intense exercise, but it was manageable.
After checking the mbers’ condition, I asked:
“Shall we go back?”
“Yes.”
About three minutes had passed.
The comrcial break would be ending soon.
Only the three grand prizes remained.
Song of the Year.
Album of the Year.
Artist of the Year.
“Let’s hurry back.”
We had already asked Mango to extend the comrcial break slightly because our stage would exhaust us.
Even so, we had used a lot of ti.
As we moved quickly, staff adjusted our hair and outfits.
Then Junhyun suddenly smiled.
“So people might be surprised right now.”
“Why?”
“The gold coins.”
“Ah...”
Sothing suddenly ca to mind.
We all burst out laughing.
During the comrcial break after NewBlack’s stage.
Online discussion exploded.
That stage was insane
tro Coin Dokkaebi felt like spicy sweet spicy
They really looked like national idols today
So good
Lately stages have been too intense nonstop, but this one was actually fun lol
I’m amazed NewBlack can produce this quality with their schedule. Do they even sleep
My parents said NewBlack’s stage was fun so I’m happy
It was a perfect stage with no real criticism.
tro showed mature charisma in suits.
Ri Hyuk’s vocal stage delivered powerful live emotion.
Coin showed bright refreshing energy.
And Dokkaebi closed the stage brilliantly.
They truly looked like the Artist of the Year.
Soon attention shifted.
Are they really going to win three grand prizes
I’ve never seen all three go to one artist before
But not giving deserved awards just because it’s rare would be weird lol
If they follow the numbers they’ll win
Maybe Serenity wins Song of the Year, but Album and Artist are definitely NewBlack
With nearly one million first week album sales.
And the impact of performances at major Arican award shows.
They were obvious candidates for a triple crown.
But since there had never been a precedent, fans still felt uncertain.
‘Hurry up and end the comrcials.’
Fans stared at TV screens and live streams.
anwhile.
Souffle at the venue simply looked dreamy.
The mbers’ faces floated through their minds.
‘Guys.’
Ri Hyuk, who looked like a spring boy with a flower in his hair.
Jiho, who looked like the handso baseball team captain everyone secretly liked in high school.
Junhyun, who led the Dokkaebi choreography like a real goblin.
Biju, whose eyes shone brightly during Coin.
And Wooju... was just Wooju.
‘I’m the real winner.’
The Sangam concert with Glenn Davis and Haley Blue had been amazing.
But watching this stage in person made all the regret disappear.
“My voice is gone...”
Even though their throats were hoarse, they did not care.
After seeing a stage like that, what else could matter?
But.
So people had sothing even more important in their hands.
Among the happy fans in the standing section.
A few Souffle looked nervous.
Gulp.
‘This is really...’
Kim Sutbul, nicknad “Osaka Do’s cleanup hitter,” swallowed nervously.
She held two gold coins.
Both were light.
One was a coin she had caught from the sky.
The other...
‘Junhyun gave it to .’
It was the coin Junhyun had flicked toward her with a mischievous goblin like smile.
A very small thin gold coin.
But sothing about it felt different.
‘Could it be...’
Trying to hide her pounding heart, Kim Sutbul carefully turned the coin while no one was watching.
Then she saw the back.
[First Prize Winner!]
‘Th this is...’
Her legs trembled happily.
The cleanup hitter of Osaka Do.
Had just evolved into the catcher of Gocheok Do.
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