NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 8
Chapter 8
━━━━━━━━━━━━
“Everyone, look at this quickly!!!! You’ll regret it if you don’t see it right now!!!”
“I’ve been checking the Newma homepage every day because they’ve been constantly putting up pictures of the trainee idols who changed their affiliations.”
“Crazy, crazy, just look at this, you must see it!!”
http://~>
└ “OMG!!!!!!”
└ “It seems like this was taken on the day of the VLive broadcast.ㅠㅠㅠㅠ”
└ “ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ”
└ “I was worried because they didn’t show Haerang’s face during the VLive. Is this for real?ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ”
└ “Newma deserves a one-day immunity pass for thisㅠㅠ”
└ “Cover. Haerang.ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ”
━━━━━━━━━━━━
***
A few days ago, I remembered the first time I properly looked at Haerang’s face while checking his hair color.
‘How could this face go unnoticed?!’
Until I focused on Iris, Monochrome’s styling wasn’t that bad.
The answer could be seen in his debut photos.
‘His image is a bit different now.’
He debuted at the age of twenty-one. Now he is twenty-six.
From my perspective, he was still young, but over time, his baby fat had disappeared, and whether it was due to exercise, his face had matured into that of a grown man.
Still, the reason he didn’t stand out was… due to his consistently bad styling.
Despite having a handsome face with double eyelids and a high nose bridge, his style overshadowed his features.
“Should we bleach it?”
“No!”
He probably thought I meant to keep the same hairstyle, but the image I had in mind required a big change.
“Let’s cover it with black.”
As per my request, he arrived today with neatly dyed black hair.
My opinion was also reflected in the styling of the other members, but I gave particularly detailed instructions for Haerang’s transformation.
“Have you worked in this field before?”
Even the makeup designer asked me this.
I only gave directions like, “Please do it like this, trim it like that.” The actual implementation was done by the experts.
Watching him stand in front of the camera, I clapped in admiration as if I were a patron at an art exhibition.
“Perfect.”
Anyone would have thought I was overreacting, but no one here would disagree with me.
Haerang had maintained a hairstyle that exposed his forehead for the past few years.
He also often wore a hat, so even the fans wouldn’t have seen him much.
With his bangs down!
Forgetting his past jagged style, his hair was now neatly arranged.
His jet-black hair and dark eyes, along with his languid gaze, created a decadent atmosphere.
And the eyebrows that were suitably visible through his bangs.
There was much to say about those eyebrows too, and I had asked the makeup designer for this:
“Please make it look innocent!”
I wasn’t sure if “innocent” was the right term, but it was the perfect word to describe the image in my head.
Who said rappers always had to stick to a tough image? I certainly didn’t!
Perhaps to counterbalance his languid eyes, Haerang’s eyebrows had previously been sharp and arched, and matched his hair color with a bright red shade.
Now, they were straight and less arched.
“It’s truly art.”
While I admired his face and my precise directions, Woohyung and Han-yi, who had been watching, also clapped.
“We see him every day, but I didn’t realize he was this handsome.”
“Wow… Fans are going to go wild.”
Apparently, my aesthetic sense was also appreciated by others.
Yun-hee, who was filming both video and stills, was also busy.
Haerang, who seemed a bit burdened by the sudden attention, quickly regained his natural expression in front of the camera.
There were no B-cuts in the list of photos that flashed on the monitor.
Meanwhile, Jun-hae, who had just returned from an exam, saw Haerang filming and gaped.
“What the…?”
“You should get ready quickly.”
“No, I want to watch too…”
Woohyung led Jun-hae to the makeup room.
Like the other members, Haerang changed into more casual clothes and continued the shoot.
Even though his outfit changed, he still gave off a cool impression rather than a warm one. Should I call him a cold-hearted beauty?
The other members had softer impressions, so his contrasting look actually balanced well.
Ding.
Immersed in watching, my smartphone suddenly rang. It was a notification from My Enter.
[My Enter: The artist’s charm index has risen. Check it out!]
‘What’s this?!’
I hadn’t seen this notification while playing the game.
Thinking it was related to the current situation, I clicked on the notification, and the artist management screen appeared.
Next to Haerang’s character, an [UP!] sign was flashing.
Touching the character showed each member’s stats. When the experience gauge for each stat was filled, the level would go up.
Among various stats like vocals, rap, and dance, one stat had a two-digit number.
Charm Level 10.
My Enter’s stats didn’t have a limit, implying that human abilities had no bounds.
The highest level I had seen was 18, achieved by a crazy vocal master who trained his idol group member for 40 years.
‘People speculated that 18 had some significance…’
Anyway, level 10 for Haerang wasn’t the maximum, but reaching double digits in any stat was a significant feat. It meant he was almost top-tier and a cheat key level for charm-based events.
‘This is good news.’
Honestly, it felt a bit eerie to be able to see the members’ stats as numbers.
The more I adapted to this world, the more these unrealistic elements sometimes felt like a cold splash of water.
They reminded me of my goal to return to my original reality and that I was an outsider in this world.
I looked at the stats screen with a more sober gaze.
‘…It means their stats can increase based on my actions.’
If the system helped with quest completion, I planned to use it to my advantage.
While I was lost in thought, Jun-hae’s turn for the shoot came.
I glanced around to ensure no one noticed my hardened expression, but fortunately, it seemed no one had.
Everyone was busy taking their own photos with their phones.
“Our Jun-hae is so handsome.”
“Wow. He looks like an angel.”
What the… These guys are overreacting now.
Until a moment ago, I was the one gushing, but now that it was Jun-hae’s turn, the other members were doing it.
‘It’s like watching a first birthday party.’
Jun-hae had beautifully arched double eyelids and plump lips, giving him an overall round appearance.
He’d look like a handsome student, but among the members, he definitely appeared younger. It was hard to tell if he was a high school or college student.
Seeing his hair, tinged with ash, made me understand why they called him an angel.
His fluffy hair reminded me of a cherub in old paintings. Not that it was that curly, though.
“Look here.”
“Ah, don’t bother me!”
Yun-hee diligently captured these moments with the camera.
I chuckled as I watched them. This was the usual atmosphere of Monochrome, I thought.
Yunhwan returned from his schedule, and it was time to take the group photos.
There were two versions of the group photos, and since everyone was wearing the second set of outfits from their individual shoots, the order was reversed this time.
By the time the shoot was completely finished, everyone was in their shirts.
After the verification process, the shoot was entirely over.
‘Whew. It was a fulfilling day.’
Having successfully completed my first schedule, I wiped nonexistent sweat from my forehead and savored the sense of accomplishment.
“Excuse me, Director.”
Hearing Woohyung call from behind, I turned around. He pointed at the smartphone in his hand and spoke.
“Can we do a VLive broadcast?”
“Huh? Do as you like.”
VLive. A live communication broadcast through an app. I was well aware of it.
My first thought upon hearing the question was, ‘Do I need to give permission for that?’
“Actually, artist IDs are often managed by the company.”
Yun-hee explained from the side.
The staff usually managed the dedicated smartphones, discussing with the artists when needed, but Woohyung managed it for Monochrome.
Looking at where the members were gathered, they were all huddled in front of a phone, except for Haerang, who stood separately outside the frame.
Thanks to Yun-hee connecting the link, I could also watch the live broadcast on my phone.
The broadcast title was “Hello, Colors!”
By the way, Colors was the name of Monochrome’s fandom. This was also… a name I came up with.
It symbolized the fans who added color to Monochrome’s black-and-white world. That’s the meaning I gave it, but in reality, it also meant those who suffered along with the members due to my actions.
The chat room was filled with surprise and curiosity about the sudden live broadcast and the members’ fully styled appearances.
[OMG]
[Do you have a schedule?]
[Why are there only four of you?]
[Where did Haerang go?]
“Where is Haerang, you ask?”
“He’s next to us, but we can’t show him right now.”
[???????]
[????]
“Haerang, just say hi.”
“Everyone, today…”
“No, not your face!”
[ㅠㅠㅠㅠ??????]
[Why not his face?]
[Oppas, it’s my birthday today, please congratulate me]
[Show usㅠㅠㅠㅠ]
It seemed the members also wanted to delay revealing Haerang’s style change until the photos were released.
I, too, was looking forward to the reaction when it was revealed.
As soon as the photos arrived, I asked the design team to put them prominently on the homepage.
There were also requests to update the photos on portal sites.
I wanted everyone to feel it. That this was the beginning of a new Monochrome.
***
“Director, have you seen this?”
At Newrain’s planning office, Team Leader Jin Myunghee approached Director Heo Yongseok with a tablet.
“What’s this?”
“Just take a look first.”
These two had been in charge of artist planning at Newma Entertainment until recently. Of course, Monochrome was among the artists they managed.
Heo Yongseok had risen to the position of planning director at the new label, thanks to the success of Iris. But he never expected to see Monochrome’s external reactions here.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
Title: A male idol reconciles with Hemes after 3 years.jpg
(Image)
“Totally handsome”
└ “What was he like before?”
└ (Image)
└ “OMG lol”
└ “Should have posted the old photo together lol, I understand after reading the comments.”
└ “Who is he?”
…
━━━━━━━━━━━━
Although countless celebrities become hot topics on the internet only to fade quickly, the response was quite intense, even to Heo Yongseok’s seasoned eyes.
He scrolled through the comments first and then looked back at the photo in the main post.
“Baek Haerang?”
Of course, he knew him. Just not with this image.
He remembered the red-haired guy who always took off his hat and bowed whenever they met.
“Did they hire new staff?”
“They didn’t hire anyone new. Interestingly, it seems they’ve gone back to working with the shop they used in the early days.”
They switched places only to go back.
‘They must have had a reason to switch.’
They likely switched because something didn’t fit, and returned because the new place didn’t fit either.
Since it wasn’t a breakthrough with a new place, the reason for the change was probably internal rather than external.
Even though they no longer managed Newma, there were still many stories coming through right after the split. There was no news of hiring additional staff.
Except for one person, Director Shin Joo-in, the CEO’s daughter.
The CEO, who was my father in this setting, had gone abroad for Newrain, so he appointed his daughter as director at Newma, probably to exert influence.
Heo Yongseok closely examined the group photo of Monochrome and thought of Iris.
Iris had been actively appearing on music shows since their year-end special stage with a new song.
However, there was a considerable mix of dissatisfaction among fans, not with the song but with their visuals.
Compared to the positive reaction to the year-end stage, there were many opinions that the costumes and makeup didn’t suit them for their subsequent activities.
‘Director Shin Joo-in.’
She came from abroad, but it was unknown what she studied or what she did.
“I should pay her a visit.”
If this photo was the result of her work, she was too talented to remain at Newma.
***
Responding to the knock on my office door, Secretary Choi came in with a message.
“Director, Newrain has contacted us. They’d like to introduce the company and meet with you at your convenience.”
“Why me?”
“They said, since Newrain is practically a subsidiary of Newma Entertainment, they wanted to arrange a greeting.”
They meant that, with the CEO, my supposed father, overseeing both Newma and Newrain, I was also involved.
“If possible, they’d also like to show you the artists’ practice sessions…”
Smack!
I closed the planner I had been diligently writing and erasing in.
‘Finally, the day has come.’
After rejecting the initial meeting and then waiting for a few years… no, a few days…
I replied more solemnly than ever.
“I’ll go.”
It was finally time to see Iris in reality.