In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe C.209:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 209

Work and Daily Life

Woojoo slept soundly for the first time in a long time.

After finishing the practice time that he had been doing intermittently between naps, he slept for more than eight hours and felt refreshed…

“Huuuh.”

“Ugh.”

But he had to work.

Somehow, everyone was full of colds.

“Ugh, I’m dying.”

“Why is my body so chilly? Is the heater temperature right? Turn it up a bit.”

“Wait a minute.”

Bijoo, who was sitting on the sofa in the studio, wrapped himself in a blanket and called Woojoo.

“Hyung.”

His voice was completely nasal.

“Yeah?”

“Rihyuk is cold, can we turn up the studio temperature a bit…? I’m worried it might bother you while you work.”

“Sure. Turn it up a little more.”

Bijoo immediately reached out and adjusted the temperature.

The warm air flowing from the ceiling.

The siblings wrapped in blankets closed their eyes and smiled happily.

“Temperature.”

“Warm.”

“Humidity.”

“Perfect.”

The guys who wore blankets over their heads sipped their drinks with their noses flared.

The youngest one felt Woojoo’s gaze and asked him as he gulped down the convenience store fish cake soup, “Why? Don’t I look cuter than usual when I’m wrapped in a blanket?”

“That’s not why I looked.”

“…”

“You look like No-Face. All of you.”

“…”

They howled at Woojoo for saying such a harsh thing.

But it was kind of hot. This.

They kept saying they were cold and turned up the temperature, and the studio felt like midsummer.

At first, Woojoo thought about reducing the wind, but the sight of the members annoyed him, so he just decided to take off his hoodie.

Junghyun, who was operating the machine in a T-shirt, gave him a friendly look and said, “You’re hot too, right, Hyung?”

He was the only one with a healthy face.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

“Junghyun, I’m curious, so I’m asking you. Have you ever had a cold since you were born? Or any other disease?”

“Um…”

Junghyun thought for a moment and said, “Ah.”

“I have. I’ve been sick before.”

“…The fact that you have to think about it is amazing.”

“I had enteritis when I was in elementary school because I ate bad raw fish.”

Why did he feel like that raw fish was more amazing?

He admired their sturdy third one as he looked at him.

Woojoo envied his stamina. He was groaning right now.

“Ahh… Achoo!”

Woojoo barely held back his sneeze until he pulled out a tissue, worried that germs might get on the studio equipment.

“Ugh, I’m gonna die.”

“Do you want me to massage your shoulders, Hyung?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Woojoo entrusted his shoulders to their long-lived beetle and sank into his thoughts.

Last night’s events flashed through his mind.

They won the glorious first place in the competition and returned to the waiting room, where they cheered and celebrated with the members and staff for a long time.

Woojoo felt proud of all of them who did it even in the worst condition.

Above all.

-As expected, you have to be number one with my song. You guys did a great job. It was a stage that suited my taste.

Woojoo liked the happy expression of the original songwriter, Teacher Noh Jaehyun.

His face, which was usually pale, turned red with blood, and he joked that he would recover faster from his illness thanks to them.

His wife also smiled constantly behind his wheelchair.

-Teacher, I haven’t seen you smile so big in a long time.

-I feel excited when I hear a good song after a while. I wanted to sing along when I watched it.

He said he had to work hard on exercise and rehabilitation to hold the microphone as soon as possible.

He asked Woojoo to send him some tangerines and gave him his address. Woojoo guessed he wouldn’t get out of his apple addiction for a while once he gots them.

“Ugh…”

But that joy was separate from this.

As soon as the audition ended yesterday, the four of them, except for Junghyun, fell ill together.

They barely held on to their nerves after the Dolympics, but when the audition was over and the tension was gone, the cold virus ran wild like a king who had broken free of his reins.

None of them had a high fever, but they all had sore or cracked throats, and complained of the cold.

So they went to the hospital with their managers and got prescriptions for cold medicine, and each got a vitamin shot, but there was no sign of recovery from the malaise.

“Woojoo Hyung.”

Woojoo turned around and saw Bijoo, who had pulled a blanket over his head, looking down at him.

“Don’t you need to rest too, Hyung?”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

“You don’t look so good. You might get really sick if you slip up.”

“I’m fine right now.”

Bijoo shook his head and called Junghyun.

“Junghyun.”

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“Yeah.”

His hand, full of calluses, rested on Woojoo’s forehead. Then Junghyun said with a serious face, “Feels like 37.3 degrees.”

“37.3… Okay. I’ll check again in an hour. No, you won’t remember anyway, so I’ll tell you.”

“Okay.”

Woojoo just smiled at the sight of them talking like doctors and nurses looking at a chart.

What are you doing? You guys.

As Woojoo returned to his seat, Bijoo kept staring at him with wide eyes.

“Hyung, seriously, tell me if you’re not feeling well. Okay?”

“Yeye.”

“You have to answer properly. Hyung.”

“…Yes.”

He was the second. He was the second.

Woojoo clicked the mouse with a gloomy face and put on his headphones. Music rang in his ears.

A ballad song.

It started with a calm melody and exploded into harmony in the chorus. It was ‘Life’, the song they sang yesterday.

The audition song was scheduled to be released as a source after the first audition, so he were working on the latter part in advance.

He fixed the parts that were subtle or unsatisfactory at the scene yesterday.

But his head was fuzzy because of the cold medicine, and he couldn’t concentrate.

Dazed.

As he looked at it, the drum was a drum, and the cello was a cello.

Eventually, he took off his headphones and tilted his head to look at the ceiling.

“…Ouch.”

He was frustrated because he couldn’t focus. But he couldn’t rest completely either.

Usually, you know your body best.

His worsened condition was the result of the Dolympics recording and the usual two or three hours of sleep.

It wasn’t a problem that could be solved easily in a short period of time.

Rather, if he let go of his nerves and rested today, he might not be able to get out of bed tomorrow.

So he was trying to do something right now.

Because this week’s schedule wasn’t over yet.

“If it weren’t for the recording tomorrow, I would have rolled around in the dorm all day.”

“Me too.”

“Hey. We’re not the only ones tomorrow. What about the events on the weekend?”

“…Crazy. Why did we agree to do that? The manager tried to stop us.”

“We didn’t know it would be this bad…”

Woojoo regretted it too.

Seokhwan Hyung had a doubt, saying, ‘You guys can’t do it, can you? You can’t do it, can you?’ But they agreed to do a few events on the weekend with the attitude of ‘What are you talking about? We’re young and strong’.

And they had to go to PBS to record for the second audition tomorrow.

“…”

Why did he feel like there was moisture in his eyes?

Rihyuk, who was sipping barley tea, looked at Woojoo’s face and said, “Is it because you’re getting old?”

“No. No way.”

Woojoo shook his head as he denied it, and the other guys chuckled.

Jiho, who was lying on the sofa and munching on snacks, said, “I want to eat something spicy. Spicy. When you want to get rid of a cold, you have to eat something spicy.”

“Tteokbokki?”

“No. Today is a day when a hot and spicy flavor suits better than a sweet and spicy one. How about budae-jjigae or gopchang-jeongol?”

“Ah, the broth is good.”

Junghyun nodded his head with a satisfied expression.

They chatted for over 30 minutes about what to eat for dinner, when Jiho asked Woojoo, “Hyung, what do you want to eat?”

“I don’t really have anything today. I don’t have much appetite.”

Junghyun looked puzzled by Woojoo’s words.

Woojoo smiled and said, “I’ll just follow whatever you guys want to eat today.”

“Then…”

As the younger ones were discussing the dinner menu for another 30 minutes, there was a knock on the studio door.

Their manager came in.

“Ah, Dowon Hyung.”

“I stopped by on my way up.”

Dowon looked at their condition and gave a bitter smile.

He handed them a bag full of supplements and vitamin drinks.

He asked them how they were feeling and checked on them with a worried face for a while, then he seemed to remember something and said, “Oh, right. I came out to tell you this. The Director wants you all to come down in a bit.”

“Why?”

“You know how the President said he would buy us meat during the Dolympics.”

“Ah…!”

They had forgotten.

“How can you forget about meat. We?”

“Let’s reflect.”

“So we’re going to eat meat. Now?”

Dowon Hyung nodded his head and added, “Beef.”

“Ooh.”

“Flower sirloin.”

“Ooh ooh!”

Their faces turned red. They were like that just by hearing the keyword meat.

The manager added with a smile, “Scarlet also ate 35 servings of meat this time, and the President said you guys don’t have to worry about money today and eat.”

“President…!”

“I hope you guys don’t get sick after eating… Guys?”

He blinked his eyes at the sight of them getting ready.

The sight of them wrapped in blankets and ‘euiing’ was gone and they were full of energy.

Woojoo was the same.

“Hyung, you said you didn’t have an appetite…?”

“I got it.”

Woojoo shrugged his shoulders and said ‘it’s beef’ and they all gave him a look of understanding.

“So, Hyung, when can we go?”

“Guys. It’s still far away. Relax a bit…”

Woojoo nodded his head and moved his eyes to the monitor.

“Ah, then let’s listen to the song we worked on for this competition…”

“Let’s go. Guys.”

The manager rushed out of the door.

With a cheerful laugh, they ran towards the meat.

***

The next day. PBS main building.

“Hmm? Did you have something good yesterday? You all look a bit brighter.”

“Yes.”

They answered Song Bohyung, who they met in the broadcasting station hallway.

“We had beef for dinner yesterday.”

“…”

“We ate 40 servings for five people.”

At first, he looked blank, but then he burst into laughter at their happy faces.

Woojoo didn’t know what the point was, but he had a face that made them laugh.

They headed to the recording studio with the trot singer they met in the main building hallway.

He muttered, “You guys did really well yesterday. I was watching and saying ‘wow!’ and clapping with the manager, right?”

“Was it a standing ovation?”

“Not that much. I clapped while sitting~”

They laughed at his witty tone.

“But the reaction yesterday was really no joke.”

“Yes, the audience was definitely…”

“No, not the audience. Us.” He said with a smile, “Honestly, you’re all good at singing. I expected that to some extent. Everyone was like ‘Wow, they’re good’ when we first heard you sing. But yesterday’s stage… wow. It gave me goosebumps.”

“Aw, no. We were just lucky yesterday.”

Woojoo waved his hand modestly, but he felt happy.

Song Bohyung, who was watching them, patted Woojoo’s shoulder and laughed.

“There are things that depend on luck and things that don’t. Remember when we gathered after the last stage yesterday? Everyone had the same expression, except for Cha Woohyun. Like this.”

He imitated their faces.

Their eyes were wide and a bitter smile was mixed in. A ‘we lost’ kind of face.

Woojoo didn’t see it himself, but he could guess what the atmosphere was like.

“So…”

He was about to say something more when they ran into an indie band walking towards the main hall.

They stopped.

Jo Yuri, who was walking in front, saw their faces and looked away with a somewhat awkward expression.

Then they quickly walked into the hall, as if to avoid any interaction.

“…?”

Song Bohyung explained to them, “It’s because of the arrangement.”

“The arrangement?”

“Yesterday, there were only two teams that did their own arrangements, besides the composers. New Black and Jo Yuri Band.”

“Oh…”

“They must have felt compared. They looked like they were having a mental breakdown yesterday.”

Jo Yuri Band’s arrangement, which was criticized for killing the original color and singing with only skills.

And their arrangement, which was praised by the composers for keeping both the original and their own colors.

Judging by their reaction just now, they seemed to have hurt their pride. Woojoo felt embarrassed for them.

“Honestly, it’s because New Black did such a good job with the arrangement.”

Their members were proud of his compliment.

Song Bohyung, who had something to say, told them before entering the hall.

“That’s why I decided to join this project again.”

“…?”

“I want to ask you some things before I hand over the arrangement to the composer. I’m looking forward to it. I’m going to stick to you like a leech and ask you.”

He smiled exaggeratedly, as if he was going to follow the successful person.

They smiled back at him.

As they entered the hall, Woojoo said to the trot singer who said ‘I reserved it. Reserved.’

“You don’t have to reserve anything.”

“Hmm…”

He looked at Woojoo as if he didn’t know what he was talking about, then glanced at the siblings next to him.

“Is he always like this? Pretending not to know?”

The siblings answered in unison.

“He’s really mean. He always deceives us.”

“He’s always like this. He’s good at everything, but he acts like he doesn’t know and says ‘Hmm…’ That’s Woojoo’s concept.”

“He lives in his own world.”

“…Guys.”

Woojoo tried to shut their mouths, but Song Bohyung had already burst into laughter.

“I felt sadness in this song. It’s a cheerful atmosphere, but there’s a sense of regret…”

“Sadness.”

“Yes?”

“Never mind. Please continue.”

Lisa gestured with a smile for me to go on.

She muttered ‘sadness’ to herself, as if to remember it. It felt like she wanted to tell the composer later.

Woojoo laughed at first.

But every time a song was selected, they had similar reactions.

“Mo Hoyeon’s song has that melody often, right? It sounds like an accordion reminiscing the past…”

“Accordion sound.”

“Yes, that part seems to be the key.”

Cha Woohyun stroked his chin and said ‘Hmm…’ at Woojoo’s words.

What was with this atmosphere?

It was different from last week.

Today’s songs from 1984 were mostly sad, but even considering that, it was a rather serious atmosphere.

Last time, they listened to Woojoo lightly with a smile, but this time, they seemed to be listening very attentively.

Almost too much.

Song Bohyung, who was sitting on a nearby chair, smiled at Woojoo and said ‘See?’

“…”

The atmosphere had changed drastically, and Woojoo felt nervous at first.

Maybe it was because of yesterday’s performance, but they seemed to regard him as an equal competitor rather than a cute maknae.

Among them, his arranging skills were getting attention.

Woojoo had attracted their eyes with a surprising stage that broke their prejudices, but their singing skills were not that special to them. The five competitors here had similar levels of vocal abilities.

But there was a difference in arranging.

The MC, Baek Sangjung, also mentioned that.

-Wow, Woojoo, you are very popular today.

Woojoo was happy but also a bit embarrassed by this situation, but he soon adapted to the new mood.

Woojoo smiled and exchanged talks about music with the other senior singers.

Except for one group.

The Jo Yuri Band tried to chime in whenever he spoke, but they didn’t fit in well.

Naturally, the broadcast time was getting shorter.

After they continued recording in the changed atmosphere.

“Good job, everyone!”

“Well done.”

Soft greetings came from everywhere.

Not only the singers, but also the staff showed a different reaction overall.

Most of them had friendly eyes.

The doubtful looks that they had when they were cast as ‘idols…?’ were gone.

Instead of being a burden, they felt like promising newcomers who could produce a lot of content.

Especially the main PD who hired them despite many objections looked at them with a pleased expression.

He looked like someone who had succeeded in a risky investment that everyone had discouraged.

As they greeted him, he smiled and said, "The recording from the other day is being edited right now, and you can look forward to the result."

When their managers smiled brightly at his words, he turned his gaze to them and asked, "By the way, you're appearing on another network tomorrow, right?"

"Yes."

They nodded.

Saturday, February 7th.

Tomorrow was the day when the recording of Patisserie Korea, which they had gone to Taiwan for last January, would finally air.

PD Baek Sunghyun said, “I wish it would make some headlines. It’s one of the hottest programs these days…”

The PD shook his head.

“No way. If you went as a guest, there wouldn’t be anything worth mentioning.”

“…”

“Hmm?”

He tilted his head at their strange smiles.

“What happened there?”

There was.

A lot of things…