In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe-Chapter 156:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 156

Woojoo felt his heart pounding and fluttering as he sat Rihyuk down in front of the electric… no, the lie detector.

Bukbuk looked at Woojoo and asked, You look so excited right now, Woojoo?”

“I’m really looking forward to this. Rihyuk has the second highest share of black history in our team.”

“Wow, second place!”

“But he can’t compare to the first place.”

“…Jiho, please be quiet. Anyway, I’m really curious about his black history. I have so many questions to ask him.”

Woojoo deliberately emphasized the ‘so many’ and his face turned pale as if he was a ghost.

Woojoo approached him and asked teasingly, “Are you nervous?”

“…”

“You should be. Rihyuk.”

“…”

“I’ll give you a chance to repent now. Hurry up and confess your sins to me and beg for forgiveness. It’s hell or heaven for you.”

“That’s right. Hurry up and admit your mistakes.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The members all surrounded Rihyuk and pushed him. The two MCs also joined in with enthusiasm.

Their main vocal, whose cheeks were flushed, looked like a betrayed person.

“What, I’ve been doing so well all this time…! You can’t do this to me!”

“Yes, we can.”

‘Can we?’ Woojoo turned his head to the siblings and they all nodded warmly. He tapped Rihyuk’s hand, which was wrapped with duct tape.

“Now, it’s time to decide. Rihyuk. Before the question corner, apologize to the members for your wrongdoings.”

“What, I didn’t do anything wrong. Why should I apologize?”

“Are you sure?”

At his question, Seri asked with curiosity, “Does Rihyuk make a lot of mistakes and have to apologize?”

“Yes, he always comes in with his shoes not shaken off. He drags me to the shoe rack and scolds me for not shaking them properly.”

“I have trouble opening my eyes in the morning. I accidentally used Rihyuk’s toothbrush once and he was cranky all morning.”

“He eats too little.”

“…Don’t you feel ashamed to say that?”

Rihyuk looked at them with a dumbfounded face and Woojoo gave him a bright smile.

“No. We don’t.”

“…Eek.”

But Woojoo saw a flash of resentment in his sharp eyes.

They were annoying for pushing him when he did nothing wrong, and he was frustrated that he couldn’t get back at them right away.

And in front of him, the electric shocker was smiling and waving his hand.

Finally, Rihyuk made a decision.

“This is like the pragmatic diplomacy of King Gwanghae of the Joseon Dynasty. Just like he did a tug-of-war diplomacy between Ming and Qing without taking sides, this is a decision made from a pragmatic perspective.”

Seri asked, “Are you saying you’re sorry?”

“…Yes.”

“Woohoo!”

They raised their hands and cheered like the soldiers in a historical drama when the general said ‘we won’.

Bijoo smiled happily and said, “I love this atmosphere.”

“What’s so good about it. Hyung.”

“It’s so nice to have this kind of warm and friendly atmosphere.”

Bijoo pretended not to hear and smiled warmly. Woojoo tapped Rihyuk’s shoulder and smiled.

He gave Woojoo a rude look that said ‘take your hand off’.

“…What, what is it now?”

“I appreciate your apology to us. But.”

“…”

“This is a work place, after all. Don’t you think we should separate work and play?”

“Ah! Really!”

“We’ll do our best to burn your hand, Rihyuk. Shall we cheer up?”

“Yes!”

“One, two, fighting!”

Soon, the MCs also joined them and they made a cheer with their hands together. Rihyuk looked at the production staff and said, “What, even the MCs… Isn’t this unfair?”

One camera briefly pointed at the PD.

The PD winked and made an OK sign. Rihyuk lost his words for a moment.

Seri continued the segment.

“Okay, then, Rihyuk! Please introduce yourself truthfully!”

“Uh…”

“You have to smile brightly. You’re only looking at the camera now, but in two weeks, your fans will be watching you.”

At Bukbuk’s words, Rihyuk rubbed his cheeks.

Woojoo thought he heard him grinding his teeth.

“Hello, viewers and fans. As you can see, I’m the main vocal Rihyuk who always gets bullied. My family name is Seo from Dalseong. I’ll be a senior in high school next year.”

“Wow, that was such an uninteresting introduction.”

“Jiho, don’t make Rihyuk lose confidence.”

“Uh-huh… I like singing and keeping things tidy.”

“Woojoo! Don’t you think you’re sugarcoating it? Be honest, don’t you feel ecstatic when you see something messy and think of cleaning it up?”

“Not at all.”

As Seri raised her hand over the button, Bukbuk said, “Only the electric shock detector of truth knows the answer.”

“Oh. Is that the judge with a shocking personality?”

“A judge who gives you a jolt.”

Bad jokes came from everywhere.

Rihyuk answered again and the button was pressed. The judge revealed the truth right away.

Yep. A lie.

“Ahhhh! Zap zap zap!”

Woojoo felt a slight sting, but their sensitive guy had a different reaction.

He danced like a broken cat with the electric shock detector on his hand and screamed in a soprano voice.

His octave went up like an aria.

Bijoo said.

“Ouch… That must hurt. Are you okay, Rihyuk?”

“I’ll get you all! Just wait!”

Seeing his fierce eyes, Junghyun said.

“Oh, I’ve seen a similar look in a historical drama.”

“What drama?”

“Jang Hee Bin.”

Everyone burst into laughter.

“Oh, Hee Bin Seo, huh?”

Another lame joke came.

Except for Bijoo who patted his back sympathetically, everyone else was teasing him. Rihyuk shivered for a moment.

Then he continued his introduction.

“Yes, I like things to be clean. And I feel a little happy when I see something dirty and think of cleaning it up. Just a little bit. Like the leader over there who giggles when he sees the sea.”

“Aha. So the size of the sea, then.”

“It wouldn’t even be a pond. Hyung.”

This time it was Woojoo’s turn.

The MCs and the other younger ones laughed and teased him. He had to suffer for a while.

Rihyuk continued to introduce himself with a smirk.

“I have many nicknames, but unlike others, I like all the nicknames that the fans gave me.”

“That’s because the fans hardly gave you any nicknames. They’re all made by us.”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

“Woojoo! Then I’ll ask you a question. I actually feel kind of good when the members tease me because it feels like they’re paying attention to me.”

“…Ah, why are you asking me that?”

Seri asked them.

“Do you think Rihyuk likes it when you tease him?”

“Yes, he doesn’t show it openly, but he secretly enjoys it. When we monitor at home, he gets upset if we don’t react to his parts. He asks us with a cushion over his body like a turtle. ‘Ahh. That part was really hard to sing…’, ‘Did I improve my dance?’ and so on.”

Jiho perfectly imitated someone’s posture, making everyone clap and laugh out loud.

Rihyuk seemed to lose his words for a moment as he watched and laughed.

Bukbuk asked Bijoo, “Bijoo, you’re just smiling silently right now. How do you feel? Does Rihyuk really like it when you tease him?”

“Uh… Rihyuk? He’s a bit lonely?”

Rihyuk’s eyes shot lasers.

Bijoo made a gap between his thumb and index finger, then narrowed it to a grain of rice under his gaze.

“Not very much. Just a little bit? He’s a friend who likes attention.”

“Ah, why are you doing this to me, Hyung!”

Bijoo avoided his eyes and scratched his cheek, and Woojoo patted his shoulder and said, “As expected, our Bijoo is good at hitting the last shot.”

“Did I do well?”

As they were caught up in the jokes, Rihyuk pointed to his hand and said, “When can I take this off? I think I’ve been doing this for fifteen minutes.”

“Ah, right. Then we forgot to proceed. Well, then, Rihyuk, why don’t you answer the question just now?”

“…Well, it seems like the last question anyway.”

“Who says so?”

There was a brief protest.

But due to time constraints, they decided to end Rihyuk’s question here.

“It might sound obvious, but.”

Rihyuk said casually.

“I’m prone to loneliness…”

“Ehehe!”

As soon as he said the word ‘obvious’, they robotically started to tease him.

Rihyuk looked annoyed and said, “Hey, can’t I say one thing without being interrupted?”

“Go ahead.”

“Anyway, I’ll be honest here. It’s true that I get lonely easily. But hey, isn’t everyone lonely? As they say, there’s loneliness in the crowd. Loneliness is always there, whether there are many people or not.”

They all held their breath at his philosophical words.

He was making another black history.

He was naturally making a remark that he would be ashamed and tormented by in five years.

Unlike the two MCs who looked at him cutely, they had a light smile on the outside, but their hearts were not so light.

They knew his situation roughly.

Rihyuk’s inner story, who had been living apart from his parents since he was a trainee.

They didn’t know the exact reason.

Woojoo wasn’t the type to ask unless it was serious.

Rihyuk wasn’t the type to go around telling stories that would hurt him either.

But they didn’t know that he was lonely.

He would say ‘leave me alone’ as a habit, but his actions seemed to say ‘please look at me’.

When he read a book next to Woojoo, he would glance at Woojoo and get excited when he asked ‘what’s the title of the book?’.

When he didn’t eat, Bijoo would subtly grab his arm and bring him along, and he would pretend to say ‘ah, I’m not hungry’ and eat happily.

That was why he was curious about what Rihyuk had to say when he said he would be honest.

Before they knew it, a ripe persimmon had settled in.

“I get lonely sometimes. But I’m glad to meet the members, just like our leader Woojoo said earlier.”

“So do you like it when we tease you or not? Which is it?”

“…”

“Yeah. Rihyuk.” Woojoo asked. “Are you happy? Or not?”

“…How did I end up meeting these people and this…”

“Mr. Rihyuk, you have to answer.”

“Ah, yes. Sometimes. Very rarely, but when I’m bored, they tease and it’s fun…”

Their heads tilted at the same time.

Fun?

Rihyuk repeated the word ‘fun’.

“It can be nice sometimes.”

“Guys! Rihyuk likes it!”

“He likes it!”

“Woojoo Hyung! We were right!”

“…What do you mean right? You cookie crumbs. Get out of here. Please.”

As they ran around the room, hugging each other’s shoulders, and one of them swept his hair back with a resigned smile.

Bukbuk, who was pressing the lie detector button, tilted his head.

Then he tapped the machine.

“…Huh? Why is it like this?”

“What is it?”

“Sister, this isn’t working.”

“Really? Aren’t you pressing it too softly? Move over. Buk-ah. You have to press it hard like this…”

Seri came over and pressed the button, then blinked.

“It doesn’t work.”

“What did you say?”

Rihyuk’s head snapped 90 degrees toward the two MCs, then another 90 degrees toward the front camera.

The staff immediately came over and tapped the lie detector or checked the machine carefully.

Like a mechanic looking at a precision machine, an old staff member who was changing the spare battery came to a conclusion.

“It’s broken.”

“Hey! Is there no spare detector?”

“…They said no.”

As the whole process was captured on camera, Rihyuk’s face started to turn red with anger.

He looked like he was about to explode.

As white steam came out of his nose and ears like a furious bull, Bijoo comforted him from the side.

Their second child asked cautiously, “Um, then…”

“Let’s just do this corner with Mr. Rihyuk. That would be funnier.”

“…”

For a moment, it seemed like Rihyuk’s soul left his mouth, and then his body slid off the chair like paper.

Thud.

The camera zoomed in on Rihyuk.

“Aaaah!”

As Rihyuk screamed on the floor, the shooting set turned into a sea of laughter.

Woojoo remembered a scene from a drama he had seen before.

It was pouring rain, and the male protagonist, unable to calm his anger, got out of the car and pounded on the hood, shouting “You trash!” at the sky.

The setting was different, but the same scene was unfolding here.

Everyone laughed at the loud scream that he uttered with such force, as if he had a good voice.

The writers had brought something and handed it to the two MCs.

Seri approached their kid, who was leaning on Bijoo’s shoulder and making a face that said “I’m going crazy”, and gave him a prop.

A wary, cat-like look flashed in his eyes.

“…What is this?”

“It’s a jeweled crown that the writers are giving you as a consolation gift.”

“No, I’m a senior in high school…”

“Try it on.”

It was a fake plastic crown that looked like it would be sold at a stationery store, but as soon as he put it on, Rihyuk became docile.

They exchanged glances.

‘He likes it.’

‘He seems to like it, right?’

‘He really likes it. Wearing a crown.’

He must have played princess games at the playground when he was young, because he liked wearing a crown.

To think that he would be appeased by something like this.

Everyone was happy, except for their youngest, who was secretly jealous and said “That’s mine” like a third-rate villain.

In this mess, Seri brushed her hair back.

She had a look of annoyance at the kids these days.

“I haven’t been this exhausted since I raised our kid. Oh, I’m out of sugar.”

“Seri, you really don’t have the stamina you used to. Is it because you’re getting older?”

“…No. It’s because I’m not in good condition these days. Bukbuk, you can’t put me and you on the same level.”

“I’ve been betrayed for 20 years.”

Seri and Bukbuk, who had been chatting with each other, then gave the other three members time to introduce themselves.

It was brief and they moved on to the next corner.

They sat in the detective’s seat at the police station table and spoke to New Black, who were sitting in the suspect’s seat.

“Now we’re going to go deeper. It wouldn’t be fun if we just did it, right?”

“Yes, we have profiles of all of you here.” Bukbuk showed us a file and said, “We’re going to call out each of your crimes. You just have to show us your skills that match them.”

In other words, it was a talent show.

It was time for them to show off their talents.

“The production staff will vote on the spot to determine the ranking. And there’s a penalty for the last place.”

“Come on, show us.”

A staff member brought a hot tteokbokki set. The logo was not hidden, so it was a sponsorship.

But it definitely looked like a sponsorship, if you knew what he meant.

“Wow…!”

The staff brought it closer and waved his hand to make them smell it, as if to say, smell it.

The sweet smell of tteokbokki tickled their noses.

“We heard from the managers that you’re hungry, right? You all came without eating breakfast.”

“Yes. We have to be empty to record well.”

Seri smiled as if she agreed with Woojoo’s answer.

Then she told them the punishment.

“As you might have guessed… the last place can’t eat tteokbokki!”

“That, that’s a punishment…”

“Do you see over there?”

She pointed to the iron bars with a progress card.

“You’ll be locked up in the detention center and only watch the other members eat.”

“Ugh…”

“By the way, that’s really locked. I tried it earlier.”

“Wow…”

Seri and Bukbuk laughed at their reactions, which were like reaction kings.

As they looked at the tteokbokki and lit their will, Woojoo was called as the first player.

Before that, a mini keyboard was set up.

“It says here that Woojoo’s crime is ‘being able to make a song out of any topic’. What is this?”

“I’m in charge of composing among the members.”

Woojoo answered.

“In that sense, how about I make a logo song for you?”

It was agreed upon in the broadcast content, but as soon as he said he would make a logo song for them, the staff members raised their hands shyly even before the voting started.

When the two MCs laughed and made content for the show, the members of New Black smiled warmly as they watched their leader sit in front of the mini keyboard and volunteer to make a logo song.

It was because of the serious look in his eyes, which was different from usual.

‘You must have really wanted to eat a lot of tteokbokki, Woojoo Hyung.’

‘Tteokbokki, huh.’

‘I see something sparkling in your eyes.’

But on the other hand, they were also looking forward to the outcome that would come out soon.

They were curious to see what he would show in a new field of logo song, since he always made music related to idols.

They wondered what would come out in many ways.

“How are you going to make a logo song?”

“Well, first I’m going to express the impression I got from the two MCs in a melody, and then I’m going to make it into a logo song.”

“Wow, I’m excited.”

As he said that, Woojoo paused for a moment and thought about something.

The PD who was watching them on the monitor screen whispered to the assistant director and asked, “Who were our guests for the second episode?”

“It was Daydream.”

“Let’s proceed with the recording as planned. And let’s move them to the third episode with ease.”

“What?”

The PD’s eyes stayed in the center of the studio.

Woojoo, who was immersed in his thoughts, was captured on camera like a picture.

The PD asked the assistant director, who was sending him a puzzled look, “We haven’t even recorded half of it yet. Do you think they can do it in one episode?”

“…Hmm. If we count the corners we prepared for the back, it’s definitely impossible with one episode.”

“Right.”

“If they keep doing this much, we’ll have to squeeze it into two episodes. The foreshadowing is pouring out like dog food…”

“We’ll have to see how it goes in the back, but it’s too much to send out just one episode.”

Seo Minki, the road manager who was watching the two directors whispering to each other from behind, smiled.

Then he proudly said to Seok Dowon as if to make him listen, “See? That’s our kids.”

“…Oh, yes.”

But what the new manager saw right now was the youngest sticking his tongue out at the focused leader and making a bebebebe sound, then getting a smack on the head.