In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

As we entered, a wave of light sticks shook like crazy, along with screams of excitement.

“Did you all come well?”

The Soufflés answered ‘Yes!’ in unison.

“Thank you so much for coming.”

“Really.”

“Bijoo hyung couldn’t sleep last night because he was so nervous. He said he was going to watch a movie with more than 100 people.”

The ‘Ooooh’ reaction made Bijoo smile shyly and grab the microphone.

“Thank you so much for coming. Let’s have a lot of fun today!”

“Woohoo-!”

“How are the popcorn and cola? Are they good?”

“Yes!”

“That’s good.”

The Soufflés who held the popcorn and cola that we bought with our own money laughed and waved their hands.

Then, Junghyun proudly took out something from the basket.

“Ta-da.”

Something that was steaming hot revealed itself.

Thick legs.

It was butter-grilled squid that smelled delicious.

“Ahhhh-!”

“You guys have popcorn, right?”

At Junghyun’s words, we each took one out and held it like a secret agent’s badge.

“We have butter-grilled squid!”

The manager hyungs burst into laughter.

“Wow, that’s so mean-!”

As the youngest and I waved our fans to spread the smell, the Soufflés boiled like they were going to explode.

I raised both hands and said.

“Calm down. We knew this would happen, so we brought five extra butter-grilled squids.”

“…!”

“You filled out a survey before you came in, right? We’ll pick five of them at random and draw them.”

As I waved my hands like magic, the Soufflés’ eyes were fixed on my hands.

“Zing!”

Then, I picked one paper.

“Soufflé sitting in seat K11! Congratulations!”

“Ah, surprise!”

The Soufflé sitting at the very end was startled and shook the popcorn bucket, making the popcorn explode.

At the same time, laughter also exploded.

“You wrote ‘New Black, so mean. Awe. Some.’ in the comment section for us.”

“Hahaha! We really love this kind of thing!”

The Soufflé in K11 waved his hands and said ‘Yay’.

“Yes. We’ll deliver the prize quickly with a quick service. If you have a preferred member and a message, please let us know and we’ll deliver it as soon as possible. By the way, Junghyun is the fastest and Rihyuk is the slowest.” �

“Hey, come on.”

“Who do you want to send?”

The Soufflé in K11 shyly pointed at ‘Rihyuk…’. Rihyuk’s smile exploded right away.

“Me, me?”

The guy with red cheeks on his white face walked up lightly and everyone laughed.

The Soufflé rubbed his hands as if he was receiving a precious item, and Rihyuk also rubbed his hands.

We laughed at the sight of them bowing and exchanging the butter-grilled squid.

Rihyuk came back and gave the youngest a smug look.

“The next person is definitely me! No exceptions!”

As the youngest was jealous, the Soufflés laughed while I continued the drawing.

The survey that the fans filled out before they came in was about the YouTube content.

What they wanted to see, what they liked, feedback, etc.

I smiled as I looked at the survey papers that were filled with writing.

After the drawing, there was a brief etiquette guide from Rihyuk.

“Oh. Right.”

I said with a smile.

“We saw it before we came up from the car. The fans gathered outside on the first floor.”

“…?”

“What were you dancing to?”

“Ahh!”

We laughed at their embarrassed expressions.

But the teasing was short-lived and we were soon counterattacked.

“What! Why didn’t you say hello!”

“Are you ashamed of us?”

He said, lowering his head.

“Of course not. It was just an awkward situation. If we greeted them, they might feel more embarrassed.”

While the souffles were thinking, ‘He’s avoiding them so well…’

“Woojoo hyung was the first one to roll up the window!”

“Jiho.”

“Puhahaha!”

While the other brothers were pushing him, saying, ‘He’s such a bad guy!’, I changed the topic and asked.

“But there’s something I’m really curious about. What was that dance you did with Bongdal… I mean, Dalbong?”

Soon, a grumbling answer came from everywhere.

“What?”

“It’s the Ku dance!”

“What’s Ku?”

Then someone answered loudly.

“It’s the Pirarucu dance!”

“Puhaha!”

We started laughing, holding our stomachs, as we saw him demonstrate the dance, shaking Dalbong up and down.

“K11! Why are you laughing!”

Rihyuk shouted with a red face.

“Don’t laugh! I’m going to take away the butter toast from anyone who laughs now! For real!”

“Huhahaha!”

Soon, the movie screening began.

“Huaaa…”

As the lights in the theater went off, Bijoo covered his mouth with both hands and made a sound like a squeak.

Then he whispered to me.

“Hyung, I love this so much.”

“Me too, I’m excited.”

“There are almost 100 fans here with us right now. I haven’t done this group viewing since middle school.”

“Oh, really?”

Bijoo’s point of excitement was like a elementary school kid who said, ‘So many people came to my birthday party!’.

The other brothers had similar expressions.

Junghyun was happily smiling, munching on butter toast squid.

Rihyuk and Jiho were also happily laughing, fighting over who would get the cola slot.

And I was happy too.

It had been a long time since I came to the theater and watched a movie, let alone with my friends.

The last time I went to the theater was when I watched Harry Potter with Taehyun, Jihun, and Hanbin.

“Oh. It’s starting. It’s starting.”

Our movie buff lit up his eyes with excitement.

As he said, the logos of the movie distributor and producer appeared on the screen of the small theater.

Bam bam-

A huge earth spun around, saying, ‘Hello, are you excited to see me?’ and blasted a majestic BGM.

And then, the lightning background that went ku-kwang-kwang.

“Oh. The movie is fun.”

“That’s the production company logo, Junghyun hyung.”

“Oh.”

“And no talking, please.”

Rihyuk said, reminding him of the manners, and Junghyun nodded.

As Junghyun said, ‘Oh, is this the movie?’ every time, various logos that teased him, saying, ‘This is the production company~’, ‘This is the graphic company~’, passed by.

Finally, the main movie started.

The screen went dark and then bright, and my eyes were momentarily blinded by the white light.

-Square square.

A white snowfield spread out in a park.

There was a statue of a pianist.

A little boy with a hat with alcohol on it and a thick jumper sat on a bench and scribbled something in a notebook.

It was a rather crude drawing.

A close-up of the face of the boy who was drawing a picture similar to Zolaman and a trophy.

The boy smiled and took off one glove and reached out his bare hand.

“…?”

Then he flipped the notebook from the first page.

The Zolaman drawing came to life like an animation.

A child who had received his parents’ happy care since he was a baby, he grew up and sat in front of the piano.

He showed amazing talent and swept trophies and hugged his parents and siblings in a warm scene.

And then one day, they went out to eat together and got in a car.

-Kigigigik! Kwang!

Rihyuk was startled by the sudden loud noise.

“Ah, that scared me.”

Jiho offered him a cola straw as if to calm him down, and Rihyuk was more surprised.

Meanwhile, the last page of the notebook had been fluttering.

The wreckage of the broken car.

And between them, limbs that sprouted like dead branches.

“…”

As silence fell over the audience, the notebook closed with a close-up on the screen.

Then, the leather cover appeared.

The movie title, ‘The Nostalgia’, flashed for a moment.

The notebook opened again.

-Swish swish.

A hospital record with the name ‘Jayden Miller’ written on it.

[Jayden Miller] The caption and the chart with the names of the injuries were briefly introduced.

At the same time, the sound of a phone ringing and people murmuring were inserted in the background.

The nurse who was writing the chart stopped and looked.

The face of a young man, wrapped in bandages all over his body, visible through the glass window.

[Damn.]

Inside the room.

The middle-aged man who was looking at the protagonist who had fallen asleep wiped his tears with one hand and washed his face.

Then he asked the approaching doctor.

[What’s going to happen to him?]

[I have to check the signs first… but it’s not good.]

[Your hand? Can you use your hand?]

[…I won’t be able to play the piano like before anymore.]

[…]

The middle-aged man seemed to be the piano teacher of the protagonist, Jaden.

[I’m sorry. Kid. I’m sorry.]

The teacher, who had been crying for a long time holding the protagonist’s hand, left the hospital room for a moment.

He, who had fallen asleep, slightly opened his eyes.

He started to cry like a whimper, making a groaning sound with his body that was hard to move properly.

It was the tears of a person who had lost his family, his dream, and everything.

Soon after, the protagonist’s time of rehabilitation training was quickly skipped through a few scenes.

The protagonist, who had received the introduction of the teacher, visited a library in a nearby county.

An unmanaged garden.

A huge brick building surrounded by ivy vines that looked like ghosts would come out.

The protagonist opened the door of the library and entered in a creepy atmosphere.

[Hello. Is anyone there?]

A voice that echoed like a cave.

The statues and ancient books in the library passed by in the ominous background music.

-Bang!

He screamed as a book fell in front of him.

[Kyaaak!]

The protagonist, who had a gloomy atmosphere, let out a girlish scream and for the first time, something like laughter came out of the theater.

[Who are you?]

And the old man who was hanging on the ladder near the bookshelf slid down and stood up.

The protagonist said.

[I came with the introduction of Brett, Thomas Brett.]

[Ah.]

White eyebrows and white hair.

The old man looked at the memo with his magnifying glass and nodded his head. Then he smiled, showing his white teeth.

[Welcome. I’m Tom Sawyer, the librarian.]

[Tom Sawyer?]

[It’s an interesting name, isn’t it? Come this way.]

The librarian, who spoke in a gentle voice, introduced the library and the movie Nostalgia began in earnest.

The movie viewing ended in a pleasant atmosphere.

“It’s really fun…”

“I think it’s the most fun movie I’ve seen recently. The actors’ acting is really amazing.”

“It was so much fun. Really.”

We, who were in the car going back to the hostel, started to chat about the movie with a slightly flushed face.

“I thought the librarian was a bad person…”

“Was that a crocodile? It must have been the graphics.”

“I still see the naked king in front of me. A pervert who doesn’t even wear clothes chases like a terminator.”

“Puhaha!”

I didn’t know how time passed during the running time of an hour and 40 minutes.

At first, I wondered why they promoted it so hard when it was so fun.

But then I saw the graphics used in our ‘Thousand Dreams’ and Rupert Dean’s ‘Falling Stars’ in the second half and I was convinced.

“It was so fun. Let’s watch it again when the vod comes out.”

“Yes. Let’s watch it again.”

Bijoo nodded his head at my words.

It was that fun.

It was also very nice that the meaning of ‘Nostalgia’ was revealed at the end.

I also liked that I found out what context the notebook scene at the beginning came from.

It was also nice that the protagonist left to find a new path.

I’ve never experienced that kind of hardship, but there were a lot of things that I could empathize with from my personal experience.

“We should call him by now.”

Rihyuk cleared his throat and drove.

“Falling- falling stars~”

“And I’m not scared~~”

We sang the lyrics of ‘Falling Stars’ and shook our bodies happily in the car.

The transparent seawater shone brightly in blue.

And the moment the protagonist, who was on a boat, stopped rowing.

The scene where thousands of shooting stars fell, implemented with CG, was a masterpiece even when I thought about it again.

When Rihyuk sang the cover video, I thought it was ‘awesome’, but it was more awesome when I saw the video.

The souffles who were watching quietly also let out a realistic exclamation of ‘wow’ at that scene.

And.

“A thousand dreams~~”

“Our song~~”

“Million dreams~~~”

We sang the lyrics of Thousand Dreams and danced excitedly.

Minki, who was sitting in the passenger seat, said.

“It was really touching when that came out in the theater. I heard it beforehand, but it was different when I saw it on the screen.”

“It felt weird, right?”

Won Seok said.

“Our voices came out in a foreign movie.”

“Right? We felt the same way.”

I felt strange when I thought that our voices were recorded in a movie that was released all over the world.

The souffles who watched it in the theater also had a passionate reaction.

We heard that our song would come out, but we didn’t expect it to have such a big weight.

“Thousand stars~ thousand dreams~”

We sang ‘Thousand Dreams’ together for a long time before we parted with the souffles.

It was a noisy and fun atmosphere.

But there was a separate reason why everyone was so excited and thrilled.

Bijoo said.

“Do you think this song will do well when it’s released? I know I shouldn’t get my hopes up, but still…”

“It will do well.”

“Really?”

Junghyun interrupted.

“Yeah. I…”

“If you make a prediction joke right now, I’ll open the door and kick you out. Junghyun.”

I laughed at the sight of him munching on popcorn with a ‘hmph’.

But no matter what Junghyun said about his hunch, our feeling wouldn’t change.

We had a certainty that this would get a 100 percent response.

Even if it wasn’t as widespread as Falling Stars, which was spreading all over the world, we felt like we would have a steady income.

Of course, it could be just our wishful thinking, but one thing was clear.

“Let’s go check the comments for the first time in a while!”

“Let’s go!”

The fact that those who had cursed us for participating in the OST before the release, saying ‘What are idols doing here!’, wouldn’t be able to curse us anymore.

“Thump thump.”

As Junghyun laid down a rap of his heartbeat as a background music, we entered the entertainment section of the portal.

And then we searched for New Black.

-‘Nostalgia’ New Black’s surprise participation in OST… ‘Audience praise’

-Music and film, the fantastic harmony… ‘Nostalgia’ exploded from the opening day

-“I want to listen to it after watching the movie”, when will ‘Nostalgia’ OST be released?

Most of the articles listed by popularity had our name in their titles and contents.

And in a very good way.

After the movie was released.

Ratings apps and various sites started to register reviews about Nostalgia.

「 Nostalgia, 2015 」

-[4.5] Applause for the director’s passion to tell everything about life in an hour and 40 minutes.

-[4.5] I was amazed by the visuals throughout the movie and then cried a storm by the OSTㅠㅠㅠ

-[4.0] The duet stage of Rupert Dean and Bella Page. That alone was perfect for me.

-[4.0] Rupert Dean was really good at acting. The OST was good too.

-[3.5] Average for me. The song is 5 points.

-[4.0] The biggest twist of this movie was the OST that New Black participated in. The aftertaste of Thousand Dreams still moistens my ears.

Among the stories about the actors’ performances and the OST, the mentions of New Black began to increase.

-The song was really

-There was no OST to throw away. The original work was good too, but the original two songs were really good

-The biggest twist was that New Black made and sang Thousand Dreams themselves.

-Why did they get cursed so much???

-They’re doing well, so that’s whyㅋㅋㅋ But after watching the movie, I felt like they were unfairly cursed.

-They seemed to be crazy last weekㅇㅇ

-They never said they were K-pop, but they assumed they were K-pop and cursed them to death.

The negative trend that had been saying ‘What are you doing in a musical movie number?’ had turned 180 degrees.

The idol community, which had the strongest negative atmosphere, was the same.

-I went to see it with my dad today and the song was really goodㅠㅠㅠ

-Why did the director of Nostalgia go nationalistic… I thought this was a boring movie and made a mistake

-New Black’s song was awesome

-22222… I don’t know why they got cursed

-333 The atmosphere was weird thenㅠ The haters were ganging up and cursing them to death

-It was too much. I’m not their fan, but I wanted to capture some and send them to their agency

-22 I was so annoyed these days that I didn’t click on New Black’s title

-ㅋㅋㅋRising was grabbing their hair and beating them up for a day or two

-They’re not big or small rookies, but they rose to the top in two years, so the haters exploded

-They’re still predicting their performance

-Ugh…

Those who had left negative comments about New Black’s OST participation quickly changed the topic.

When the internet boards were full of regret for not being able to get the ‘Thousand Dreams’ song, which was not available.

-New Black looked a bit different this timeㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-ㅇㅇ Me too

-I had a prejudice that they couldn’t compose themselves, but it disappeared this time, I felt like they were real

-I had cognitive dissonance. The special forces who made a song;

As he looked at the atmosphere of those comments, he made a ‘This is it!’ expression.

The broadcast writer who was looking at the monitor called the person sitting on one side of the office.

“PD!”

Nostalgia, which was released during the Chuseok season, hit the jackpot.

The audience increased as it was well promoted and word of mouth spread.

Soon, the news of 1 million came.

Edwards, the director in the US, sent us an email saying ‘What should I say to the Korean people to get the most popularity?’

And then.

“Guys!”

When we were busy preparing for the overseas tour, the practice room door opened and our manager came in with a proud smile.

“We have an opportunity!”

“What opportunity?”

Seokhwan hyung smiled happily.

“We have an opportunity to wash away our crazy image.”

“What image?”

“Crazy.”

“…”

Isn’t that too blunt?

We showed our discomfort and then accepted it with a ‘That’s right’.

“What opportunity is it?”