In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 10

8:30 a.m.

Seon Woojoo declared that the arrangement was complete in front of the gathered trainees.

“What did you say?”

Seo Rihyuk had a doubtful expression on his face, as if he didn’t trust his ears.

“How did you do that in one night?”

“Well.”

“…”

“I’m kidding. It just happened as I did it.”

He looked speechless and asked.

“Are you sure you did it right?”

“You’ll know when you listen to it.”

The youngest one chimed in with a smirk.

“If you messed it up, it’s invalid. You have to buy us snacks.”

“Hey, is snacks the most important thing in this situation?”

“Why, Hyung? They say a well-fed ghost has a good temper. Of course, eating is important.”

While the youngest and the main vocal were bickering, Kim Junghyun and Kim Bijoo, the high school seniors, were talking among themselves.

It sounded like something along the lines of ‘He finished it already?’, ‘I don’t know, let’s just listen to it.’

Seon Woojoo took the USB that he got from the Director and plugged it into the speaker.

Seon Woojoo was a bit nervous.

The Director said he did some computer work, but he never actually heard it.

Seon Woojoo made such a bold claim, but what if it suddenly sounded like a mess?

“Okay, I’m going to play it now.”

They all looked skeptical.

How high could the quality of an arrangement that was done in a hurry in one day be?

But the atmosphere changed as soon as the accompaniment started.

Kim Junghyun made an ‘o’ shape with his mouth at the neat introduction. He nodded his head, and Kim Bijoo also nodded.

The youngest one stopped chewing his chocolate and listened attentively.

Seo Rihyuk also listened seriously.

The first 30 seconds were the time for evaluation.

But after 30 seconds, the trainees were fully immersed in the song.

Two different songs.

The part where the melody that connected the middle of the song came out, which went straight from the first verse to the second verse.

They tilted their heads in confusion at the somewhat unfamiliar section.

“This is where Junghyun will rap.”

They all nodded, and especially the rapper Junghyun smiled with satisfaction.

He said it was a good melody for writing lyrics.

Soon, the rap part ended and the second verse began.

The second verse was composed of a different music from the first verse.

They all listened with nervousness, but they all marveled at the smooth transition.

“How was it?”

Seon Woojoo asked for their opinions after the song ended.

“It’s amazing. I was a bit skeptical when you said you’d do it in one day, but I didn’t expect it to be this good.”

“I like the rap part. It fits well.”

“I’m sad about the snacks, but I like it too.”

They all seemed genuinely satisfied.

Seon Woojoo was relieved.

To be honest, he wasn’t confident.

It was the first time he did an arrangement in two years, and he made it hastily overnight, so he was worried about the reaction, but it was better than he expected.

“Well…”

Seo Rihyuk opened his lips last.

“Let’s say you won the bet.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m conceding because the quality is good.”

He looked reluctant but helpless, and Seon Woojoo smiled at him.

Now he got what he wanted.

Seon Woojoo didn’t rely on his age or trainee experience, but he gained their trust naturally through his arranging skills.

“As promised, I’ll have full authority over the performance.”

Seon Woojoo recalled what he had planned in advance.

“Let’s start with the role assignment.”

***

The choreography was done by the main dancer, Kim Bijoo.

The vocal directing was done by the main vocal, Seo Rihyuk.

Kim Junghyun, the only rapper in the group, naturally took charge of the rap part.

“What about me?”

“Uh… well.”

Seon Woojoo was momentarily at a loss as he looked at the youngest member, who was staring at him with wide eyes.

It was hard to say he was useless.

Seon Woojoo couldn’t say anything bad to a budding sprout, so he came up with a good excuse.

“You’ll be in charge of supplies.”

“Huh? What are supplies?”

“It’s taking care of snacks so that no one goes hungry.”

“Oh, I’m confident in that.”

The youngest nodded his head as if to say he could handle it.

“By the way, Woojoo Hyung.”

Kim Bijoo took out something from his bag.

It was a spring notebook.

He flipped open the notebook that said practice notes and skimmed through the densely written words until he reached the middle.

“What’s this?”

“I heard your plan yesterday and I roughly sketched out some choreography. What do you think of this if you haven’t divided the parts yet?”

“Really? Let me see.”

On several pages, there were crude drawings of figures moving along different paths.

The drawings were rough, but they conveyed what he wanted to do well.

As Seon Woojoo looked at them, he saw him with new eyes.

“You made this in one night?”

“Yes.”

“You’re amazing.”

It was a sincere compliment.

When Seon Woojoo was at TJ Entertainment, he had to make choreography for the monthly group evaluation, so he knew how hard it was to make choreography.

And he did it in one night.

And the quality was better than Seon Woojoo expected.

No wonder he had dark circles under his eyes.

He was different from the other trainees. Why did he have shadows under his eyes? It turned out he went home alone and made this.

“Okay, then let’s go with this…”

Seon Woojoo was about to continue when he stopped.

Huh?

Seon Woojoo noticed something strange as he looked at the choreography distribution that Kim Bijoo made.

It was too natural that he didn’t notice it.

“Wait a minute, I divided the parts yesterday.”

Part distribution.

The first thing to do when doing a group performance was to divide the parts of the song.

And then you had to make the choreography.

Seon Woojoo took out the part distribution outline that he saved on his phone and compared it with Kim Bijoo’s choreography distribution.

“Wow.”

“What’s wrong?”

The youngest, who couldn’t stand his curiosity, joined in.

“Look at this.”

Seon Woojoo handed him his phone, and the four of them gathered around to look.

Just like Seon Woojoo, they looked back and forth between Kim Bijoo’s choreography distribution and his part distribution, and then blinked their eyes.

“What? Why are they the same?”

Kim Bijoo’s choreography distribution and Seon Woojoo’s part distribution matched almost 90 percent.

It was an unrealistic thing.

It was as if they had telepathy.

It was hard for Kim Bijoo, who divided the choreography by himself on the bed, and Seon Woojoo, who arranged the song in the practice room, to have the same frequency of thought.

“…”

At that moment, they all felt a strange conviction.

It was like a sign before a big hit.

They all nodded quietly as they looked at each other, feeling that everything was falling into place.

“Shall we go with this then?”

They all nodded at Seon Woojoo’s question.

It was the moment when the part distribution, choreography distribution, and role allocation were decided in less than a day.

That meant that the basic framework was completed.

“By the way, what are we going to call our team?”

“Team name?”

Kim Bijoo smiled at Seon Woojoo’s question.

“As we belong to different agencies, we have to make a team name before we debut. We also have a new member, so we want to change it.”

“What was your previous name?”

“Lemon Boys.”

Why did his face feel hot?

“It’s a bit weird, right?”

“It’s not a bit, it’s very weird. Who came up with that?”

“The CEO did.”

“Now that I hear it again, it’s a nice name.”

The trainees chuckled at Seon Woojoo’s change of attitude.

Even though it was temporary, making a team name was a difficult task.

Devils, Yellow Green, Five Star, and all kinds of nonsense came out, but none of them stuck.

It was like choosing a late-night snack.

Seon Woojoo needed something that would capture his appetite, but nothing came to mind.

“Let’s just decide on something. It’s only temporary, right?”

“How about Five Star?”

“Not that one, Junghyun.”

Seon Woojoo shook his head at Kim Junghyun, who had been insisting on Five Star.

He looked at the others with pleading eyes, but soon deflated at their unanimous rejection.

Seo Rihyuk delivered the final blow.

“Just go with Five Star.”

“Really?”

“I can always quit.”

“…”

Seon Woojoo never thought choosing a name would be so hard, after they had arranged the song, divided the parts, and learned the choreography.

As they were struggling, the youngest spoke up.

“Woojoo Hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“Hyung, where did you buy that sweatshirt?”

“This one? K-mart.”

Seon Woojoo asked with a smile, “Do you like it?”

“No, I only wear expensive stuff,” Wang Jiho said sarcastically, pointing at his sweatshirt. “Hyung, there’s something written on your sweatshirt.”

“This?”

“Yeah, what does it say? Junghyun Hyung, read it for us.”

“Chicken is the new black.”

Seon Woojoo looked at the words on his sweatshirt, hearing Kim Junghyun’s fluent English pronunciation.

Wang Jiho said, “How about that? New Black.”

“New Black?”

“How is it?”

Every time a name came up, there was always some criticism, but surprisingly, there was no objection this time.

It was decent.

Seon Woojoo even searched the internet to make sure it didn’t have any weird meaning in English, but it seemed fine.

‘The New Black.’

An expression used to mean a new trend.

“Who agrees to go with New Black?”

Everyone raised their hands at Seon Woojoo’s question.

That was how their temporary team name ‘New Black’ was decided.

All that was left was practice.

***

December 2013.

While everyone was busy wrapping up the year, they were also immersed in preparing for the end-of-year evaluation.

Thankfully, all the members of Team New Black did their jobs well.

“Okay, let’s check the choreography first.”

Kim Bijoo came up with an amazing choreography in a few days.

It might not be impressive to an expert, but it suited their taste.

But because of the higher difficulty than expected, the other members, except Seon Woojoo, were dying every day as if they had entered hell.

Especially Seo Rihyuk, who was a dance hole, his face turned paler by the day, but he was like a fish in water in his own field.

“The vocal tone is not clear, Bijoo Hyung. You told me to do it as usual. You’re not using your voice properly.”

“Sorry. I think I messed up the breathing at the beginning.”

“I’ll go back to the beat.”

It was a terrifying directing, more so than any tiger teacher.

They had to improve their skills by force, because if they made even a slight mistake, they would get sharp criticism.

“Hyung, can you listen to my rap?”

Kim Junghyun, the rapper, also did his role well.

His lyrics had a rhythm that made Seon Woojoo nod his head, and his flow was full of rhythm and rhyme.

When the rap was over, the youngest came over like a paramedic and gave Kim Junghyun a chocolate.

It was a cute scene every time Seon Woojoo saw it.

They were all doing their best in our own areas.

December 28th.

For the upcoming final battle.

***

On December 27th, the day before the year-end evaluation.

Seon Woojoo wanted to hear her voice after a long time, so he called his grandmother.

After a few rings, a Busan-like voice and a cheerful voice rang in his ears.

-Is it Woojoo?

“Yes, Grandma. It’s me.”

-What are you doing at this time?

“When did I ever call you for a reason?” Seon Woojoo answered with a smile. “Ah, I just wanted to hear your voice, Grandma.”

-You’re sick.

“Don’t curse.”

-You deserve it for doing such things.

“That’s too much, really. I called you because I missed you, Grandma.”

Seon Woojoo smiled at the grumbling that came from the other side of the phone.

“Are you ready to come tomorrow?”

-I’m all set.

“If you’re not feeling well, just stay home. It’s not a big deal to come all the way to Seoul.”

-I have to go, then.

“Right?”

-Yes. If I don’t go, you’ll regret it later, right? You’ll say, ‘Grandma, I was sad back then, how could you not come?’

Well. That wasn’t wrong.

“Actually, I’d be happy if you came to see me, Grandma.”

-Right?

“Yeah, yeah, that’s why I prepared a gift for you this time. To give it to you, Grandma.”

-What? Did you buy me another nutrition cream or something?

“No, something else.”

Seon Woojoo had bought clothes for his grandmother at a department store a while ago.

Of course, it was a secret until tomorrow.

“How about the nutrition cream I gave you last month? Are you using it well?”

-I’m saving it. It’s good because it’s foreign.

Seon Woojoo felt proud at the sound of her liking it.

“Tell me if you want to buy anything else. I got a signing bonus this time, so I’m rich.”

-You’re sick again.

“It’s true. Buy a lot of cosmetics, too. Then you can get date requests from grandpas at the senior center.”

-Enough, you. If I were a man, I’d be sick of you. You don’t know how much I suffered, bleeding and crying, until your grandfather died…

Seon Woojoo guessed he chose the wrong topic.

His grandmother’s voice, spitting out her complaints about his late grandfather like a machine gun.

“Grandma, I think I have to go now.”

-Why? Don’t you want to listen?

“No, it’s time for practice. The kids are calling me.”

That was true.

The youngest was running towards Seon Woojoo like a puppy from afar, while he was talking on the phone in the hallway.

“See you tomorrow, Grandma.”

With that, he hung up the phone.

***

Mrs. Kim Deoksoon sighed after hanging up the phone.

“Ugh, what a sick kid.”

It was pitiful that he had to do this until this time.

An idol, huh.

What was that, that he was clinging and crying like that?

She was secretly happy when he said he would give up.

But then he said he would do it again.

‘What can I do? He’s twisting his own fate.’

Ever since he was young, he dreamed of being an idol.

And now, he finally made it this far.

Tomorrow was the day of the evaluation.

What was it called again?

Mrs. Kim Deoksoon laid out the clothes she would wear tomorrow and applied some skin cream on her face before going to bed. Then, she suddenly remembered something.

Something in her vanity drawer.

In the second drawer, there was an old picture.

An aged paper that showed the passage of time.

[Seon Woojoo, 2nd grade, class 1]

Under the clumsy handwriting, there was a drawing.

A child was playing the piano and singing under a yellow spotlight.

[Future dream: Universe Superstar]

[Teacher, I will be the most famous person in the world]

Mrs. Kim Deoksoon looked at it and prayed deeply in her heart.

Dear Buddha in heaven.

Please.

Please let my grandson succeed this time.