In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 293 

“Public Relations Ambassador for Incheon Police Agency?”

“Yeah.”

Seokhwan Hyung told them about the event they were invited to.

“They said you guys raised the external prestige of Incheon Police by performing a counter-terrorism training with the Special Forces at Incheon Airport.”

Junghyun and Woojoo looked at each other.

“Did we?”

“I don’t think we did that much.”

It wasn’t like they had any cool scenes. They just ran around like goblins, screaming ‘Kieeek!’

Seokhwan Hyung laughed and said, “You have to think about the buzz. You have no idea how much publicity they got from this broadcast.”

“So we did a good job…?”

“Oh, come on.”

As their manager smiled as if he couldn’t stop them, they felt their hearts flutter and looked at each other.

“That’s nice. I always wanted to be a public relations ambassador.”

“Me too. I was so jealous of kids like Gilchaekyung at school who said ‘I’m a public relations ambassador for Busan~’”

“We finally get to be public relations ambassadors.”

They had done a lot of commercial ads, but they had never been proper public relations ambassadors for public institutions like the police or the city or county.

They had a lot of requests, but it was because of the principles New Black and their company had set.

The institution had to match their image and there had to be a clear reason for them to be public relations ambassadors.

So they were disappointed.

Now they had a ‘friendly boy next door’ vibe, but when they debuted, they pursued an image like ‘mysterious handsome man’…

“If we had this image back then, we could have been public relations ambassadors for the fruit market.”

“But our image was fixed too late.”

“…Don’t you think you guys changed that image?”

Anyway, they felt warm and happy at the thought of being public relations ambassadors.

“If it’s the police agency, do we get to wear uniforms like honorary police officers? Is that it?”

“Calm down, Number 8.”

At first, his siblings teased Woojoo for being excited, but soon they searched for the uniforms that the police wore at the event and looked even more excited than him.

Meanwhile, Rihyuk, who had been reading the email, broke the news.

“But we’re the only ones who got the request for public relations ambassador.”

“What about Street Boys?”

“No.”

The email said ‘Popular idol group New Black appointed – Seon Woojoo and four others’.

Seokhwan Hyung smiled and said, “I was going to ask you about that part.”

“Why are we the only ones who got in?”

“Well, of course, it’s because you guys are more popular. Well, the biggest reason is that the person in charge over there has no sense.”

“…This makes it awkward to do it even if we want to.”

Woojoo guessed why they chose New Black.

Woojoo had made most of the content in Men Go, and coincidentally, the group he belonged to had risen sharply after Windflower.

It was the best choice for the publicity person to hire them.

But the problem was that their job category was idol.

There was another idol who appeared in Men Go besides them.

It was Hanjo of Street Boys.

Hanjo also got a lot of attention from Men Go.

He played with the dogs in the second part handler training and shouted ‘Kiyathou! Kiyaat!’ and that scene became a hot topic. He also got on the real-time search and got the nickname ‘Men Go Kiyathou guy’.

Street Boys was a rookie group that was doing well enough to win first place on music shows within a year of their debut.

It was just that New Black did too well.

All the idols who were nominated for the Rookie Award in 2014 were doing well. But when they were riding horses and trotting along, New Black rode a sports car and disappeared like a dot.

It was understandable that the publicity person chose New Black.

But.

“It might cause some trouble.”

“I think so too.”

Bijoo nodded as if he agreed.

“Hanjo Hyung also made content with us. It would be better if he, Hyung, and Kim Junghyun were the public relations ambassadors. If he’s left out and we’re the only ones who are popular…”

“It’s asking for trouble.”

Jiho grinned at Junghyun’s words.

“Would we get hate for this?”

“Men Go’s response was so good that it’ll be quiet for a while, but right now we’re in a position where we get hate for breathing.”

“There were people spreading rumors about album manipulation in the comments of the article we saw yesterday.”

There were plenty of people who wanted to make a mountain out of a molehill as a backlash to their success.

Of course, it wouldn’t cause a big fuss if they were the only ones who became public relations ambassadors, but it didn’t look good.

As Bijoo said, it would be fine if it was just Woojoo, Hanjo, and Junghyun.

But Woojoo decided that it was best to avoid any situation that could lead to gossip as much as possible.

“I hope you can tell the police that. We appreciate them inviting us, but if we’re going to do this, shouldn’t the Street Boys join us too?”

“I’ll talk to the person in charge.”

“Thanks, Hyung.”

Woojoo exchanged a look of regret with his siblings.

Fourteen people, including the nine members of the Street Boys.

There was no organization that would appoint that many ambassadors at once.

So they thought that they shouldn’t do this kind of thing that wouldn’t benefit them much…

But then.

“It actually happened.”

“Ta-da!”

“Here we are.”

The Street Boys members got out of the car, took off their sunglasses, and made a V sign.

LB, who had a mischievous face, ran up to Woojoo.

“Boss.”

“Yes.”

“I decided to join your line from today.”

“What line?” Woojoo laughed and asked, and he answered seriously.

“I want to repay this favor, so I’ll be your loyal follower from today.”

“Sorry. I only accept loyal subjects.”

“Then I can’t. I’m a person who can’t speak properly according to the aptitude test…”

When Woojoo asked him what his suitable job was, he said ‘politician’.

They laughed at LB’s witty answer.

Incheon, Namdong-gu.

New Black and the Street Boys walked together in the parking lot of the Incheon Police Station.

Rex, who had neat red hair and a puppy-like impression, said to Woojoo, “We weren’t supposed to join, but you said something, right?”

“If the Street Boys don’t go, we don’t go either!”

LB, who was pretending to be a fictional character, clapped his hands at Woojoo.

Woojoo waved his hand and replied, “It wasn’t like that. I just thought it wouldn’t be fair if we were the only ones…”

As soon as he said that, they immediately said ‘OK!’ and the Street Boys were also hired.

He didn’t expect it to be so easy.

It must have been because Men Go was so popular.

They asked them to keep it a secret, considering that the Street Boys might feel bad, but they already knew everything.

They made fun of them with a cheerful joke.

“Of course, we were annoying to you. Boss, we were annoying to you, right?”

“But actually, this was our plan all along.”

“You think we only eat triangle kimbap? While New Black eats chicken breast, we eat frozen pizza.”

“Hey. Frozen pizza sounds too pitiful.”

Woojoo smiled comfortably at the sight of them talking nonsense.

His siblings also started to chat with their friends, who they hadn’t seen for a while, in a friendly way.

While they were heading to the police building.

“…”

“…”

There was a suffocating silence between Woojoo and Hanjo.

“Uh…”

“…”

He glanced at Woojoo.

Woojoo smiled brightly and said, “The broadcast response was good, right?”

“…”

“You even ranked on the real-time search. Wow, our Hanjo is on fire.”

“…I didn’t want to get famous like this.”

Hanjo brushed his hair as he saw their siblings and the Street Boys shouting ‘Kiyat-ho!’ together.

Then he started to complain.

“It was crazy after the second part aired. My family sent me screenshots laughing, my neighborhood friends’ group chat was on fire. When I went online, they called me ‘the Kiyat-ho guy’.”

“I know how you feel.”

Woojoo gave him a sympathetic look.

He was in the first stage of denial after creating a dark history.

That’s not me, that’s not Hanjo, that’s Haenjo. That was what he was thinking. Woojoo knew it well as an expert.

Hanjo, who had been complaining so much, suddenly blinked his eyes.

“If you hadn’t dragged me here, this wouldn’t have happened. Or at least, you could have told me when I was screaming there…”

“I couldn’t stop you as a friend. You were getting a lot of screen time with your friend on the show. I couldn’t ruin that for you.”

“Friend? Don’t try to appease me with such touching words.”

He caught him.

Woojoo coughed and avoided his gaze, and Hanjo smiled as if he was pretending to be hurt.

“But I decided to think positively. After all, thanks to that, more people got to know Street Boys.”

“That’s right. You have to have that mindset. Infamy is fame too.”

“…”

As Woojoo avoided his gaze like a sinner, Hanjo continued, “It wasn’t that bad. I got some personal ads with animals too.”

“Really?”

“The lines were not to my liking, though…”

Woojoo was glad that he seemed to be moving from the stage of denial to the stage of rationalization.

Then, the younger ones on both sides mimicked the two leaders’ expressions and shouted ‘Huaaak!’ and ‘Kiyaho!’ every time.

Hanjo, who was watching the twelve noisy kids, said as if he had thought of something, “By the way, shouldn’t we drop the formalities by now?”

“Yeah.”

“So…”

They looked at each other’s faces and came to a conclusion.

“Next time.”

“Let’s use informal speech when we meet next time.”

Well. He could use it when he saw him later.

He would see him soon on a radio show or something. Woojoo made that calculation and smiled warmly with him.

“Oh, come on in!”

As they entered the police building, a middle-aged man in uniform greeted them.

He was the Public Relations Officer of the Incheon Police Agency.

They followed him and took a brief tour of the building, including the paintings on the lobby wall.

Then they headed to the dressing room with the clothes they received.

“Wow…”

“Ooh…”

They had to change into uniforms for the public relations ambassador appointment ceremony.

It was a black uniform top with a tie over a white shirt, with gold buttons and epaulets on the shoulders.

It was the uniform that the police wore in movies or dramas when they were promoted.

Everyone changed into their clothes with excited faces.

“Uh…”

There was one hiccup in the middle.

“These pants are too loose.”

“Didn’t they say that was the smallest size? It looks like trumpet pants on Rihyuk.”

“…Sigh, look at how skinny he is. What’s your secret?”

Rihyuk shouted, “Don’t look at me!” like a drill instructor.

But it wasn’t just Rihyuk. The pants provided by the police agency were too big for them.

They seemed to be normal sizes, but they were all too skinny.

“Can we get a smaller size here…?”

“Yes.”

The staff member was amazed by New Black and Street Boys.

He was also shocked to see Rihyuk, who got a size smaller than them.

They changed into their clothes happily and looked at each other.

“Wow, New Black looks awesome in uniforms…”

“Let’s choose uniforms for the next stage outfit, Boss. The fit is amazing.”

“Right? I think so too.”

Woojoo was proud of Street Boys’ compliments.

The fit was indeed good.

Woojoo went to wash his hands and looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. He felt proud of himself in the uniform.

Rihyuk looked like an elite police officer who did forensic investigations.

Junghyun looked like a detective who caught criminals and got rewarded.

Bijoo and Jiho looked like friendly police officers who welcomed others at the police station.

“But they look great in their uniforms, but we look like frauds.”

“We look like gangsters who infiltrated the police.”

“Street Boys, please raise your heads. It’s night time.”

They joked cheerfully that they didn’t suit the uniforms because of their bad looks, but they looked good too.

They all had broad shoulders from working out, so the fit was good.

“Come on, let’s get together!”

They took selfies and souvenir photos for SNS with the help of the youngest professional selfie-taker.

…After taking the picture, it felt like 14 faces were stacked on top of each other.

“Hello, we are New Black!”

“We are Street Boys!”

As they walked around the broadcasting station hallway and greeted people, the police officers smiled.

They followed the PR officer to visit the chief’s office, where they had tea with him and took a picture of ‘us having a chat’.

They gathered in the auditorium on the first floor and held a modest ceremony to appoint them as crime prevention ambassadors.

The first part was a simple performance of the representative songs of New Black and Street Boys.

After ‘Windflower’, a song composed of vocals only, received applause.

Street Boys performed their title song ‘Stronger’.

Broken window

Over the broken window

Running from the siren

It was a song with the atmosphere of a city on fire and glass shattering.

The intention was to convey a message to the society from the teenagers, but it sounded like a challenge to the authority.

“…”

As the performance continued, the police officers looked at each other with a doubtful expression.

They clapped hard while Hanjo’s rap of ‘break the shackles and bars that imprison you’ passed by.

“Wow!”

Their enthusiastic applause made the police officers say ‘oh, that’s a good song’ and clap along.

Then they took pictures.

They went up to the first and second levels and took a group photo, and the chief and Woojoo each held half of the plaque.

‘Good!’ The photographer said as he took the shots.

“Please do a funny pose too!”

“A funny pose?”

“It’s too static right now, so it would be nice if you could do a dynamic pose.”

A dynamic pose.

As everyone had different opinions, Woojoo came up with an idea.

“How about showing your palms like this?”

“Palms?”

Woojoo said to the curious chief, “Like this, say ‘stop it, crime!’”

“Hahaha! Our Woojoo, your idea is a thumbs up!”

The chief, who laughed heartily and raised his thumb, agreed, and they decided to do it together.

“Stop it, crime!”

“Stop it!”

They all raised their palms and shouted.

Woojoo thought it was just a picture.

-Incheon Police Agency, appoints ‘New Black’ and ‘Street Boys’ as crime prevention ambassadors

-New Black, becomes crime prevention ambassador for Incheon Police Agency

-“We became ambassadors! Yay!”…New Black, shows off their friendship with Street Boys on SNS

That afternoon.

As PR articles were posted on the internet, related posts also appeared on the idol community.

‘Today, New Black & Street Boys appointed as police ambassadors.jpg’

(Article photo and SNS selfie photo)

-Look at the temperature differenceㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-It feels like thieves and police are mixedㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Street Boysㅋㅋㅋㅋ they are cute too

-I think there is one thief among us

-Thief (9 people)

-Isn’t it the opposite? / Thief: I think there is a police among us…

-New Black, why do they look so gentleㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Oh, our kids are bagels. There is a video too!

-(Video)

-Crime~~ The tone is hilariousㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Why do they call it so friendly

-Crime~~!

-It sounds like artificial intelligence. Hello, crime?

“Crime!”

“Stop it.”

“Crime~”

“Hey, who told you to call me in Deoksoon’s tone!”

The youngest ran away laughing as Woojoo glared at him.

He held back the urge to shoot an arrow.

“Hyung. Your posture is shaking.”

“I’ll catch it again.”

At Bijoo’s words, Woojoo picked up the bow and aimed at the target.

The arrow hit the center of the 10-point target, and he high-fived Bijoo with a bright smile.

Indoor archery range.

They were practicing archery for the Dolympic that would take place on Tuesday.

They originally planned to participate in only one event, but the broadcasting station insisted that they had to do at least two.

They chose archery and 60-meter sprint.

Junghyun was the runner for the sprint, and Rihyuk, who had a fragile body, decided to stay out of anything physical.

If he made a mistake and got hurt, the concert schedule that they had been working on for over a month would collapse.

“Do you see me as fragile as glass? I can run without getting injured, you know.”

“Jiho, bring out the evidence video.”

“Yes.”

They showed a video of someone collapsing like a dead cicada after finishing the sprint in this year’s New Year’s special.

“…But it’s embarrassing to do nothing while the fans come and watch.”

“It’s okay. The fans don’t want you to hurt yourself either.”

“But I feel like I should do something. I want to do my part too.”

The youngest, who was holding a bow, opened his mouth.

“Ah! Then do that. The thing where you pick up the arrows like a ball boy. What do you call that? Arrow caddy? Arrow picker?”

There was a scary one in the middle.

As they bickered, Woojoo picked up the bow and aimed at the target.

It was 10 points again.

He smiled proudly and took a picture of the target to show off to his grandmother. When he looked at the phone screen, it flashed with an incoming call.

“…?”

Woojoo tried to answer, but the call was cut off.

He blinked at the 30 missed calls from the same name on the call log, and then remembered something.

“Ah.”

Woojoo asked his brothers, “Is the Men Go broadcast on right now?”

“Yes. Probably?” The youngest said, “But it should be over by now.”

“So that’s why.”

Woojoo decided to watch the rerun later, and continued practicing archery.

They asked him, “Why?”

“There’s someone who keeps calling me.”

They laughed at the name that kept flashing on the silent phone screen.

Sum Entertainment’s practice room.

Ha Eunsung, who was engrossed in choreography practice, was caught off guard by the hug from the President who suddenly barged in.

The members were flustered, and so was he.

‘What does he see in that troublemaker?’

‘What’s so pretty about me…?’

Ha Eunsung asked with a bewildered expression, “President?”

“Eunsung!”

The President of Sum Entertainment grabbed his shoulder with an excited face.

“You did well. Really, you got something that I couldn’t get even if I ran around doing sales.”

“Yes?”

“You’re going on Men Go. You did well. You must have begged Woojoo to let you go, right?”

“…Yes?”

Ha Eunsung and the members of APLB didn’t know what was going on.

What happened at the end of Men Go’s third part.

As he spoke, Ha Eunsung’s breathing became rough.

“Eunsung! Congratulations!”

“Huh…”

“Uh… Don’t faint even if you’re happy, Hyung!”

Among the voices that sounded everywhere, Ha Eunsung collapsed like a rotten straw mat.