In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 282

After asking the director for some time to discuss, they gathered around.

Rihyuk showed them the storyboard and said, “Let’s go over the concept of the ad first.”

“Okay.”

“We’re having a birthday party here, and we smell the steak and reminisce about the old days, right?”

The ad content was simple.

Friends who had been close since childhood gathered at Olive House for a birthday party.

‘No way. This scent of memories…!’

They said, ‘We used to come to Olive House when we were young. It was so nice back then.’ and remembered the past.

They danced and shouted ‘Olive House rocks!’ after finding the joy of their childhood.

Rihyuk explained, “You see, there’s a poetic phrase at the beginning of the ad. It says, ‘Scent revives memories.’”

“Yeah.”

“When I see this phrase, I think of Marcel Proust’s novel ‘In Search of Lost Time’. There, the protagonist recalls his memories from the smell of madeleines…”

“Hyung.”

Jiho cut him off with his hand.

“Summarize it in three sentences, Hyung.”

“Fair enough.”

“Rihyuk, we’re all starving here. Are you giving us a literature lecture?”

Rihyuk blushed and grumbled at their protest.

“Anyway, I’m the one who understands the intention of this ad the best.”

“So you want to taste it?”

He didn’t say it, but he seemed to want to. Woojoo smiled at his siblings and said, “Let’s exclude him.”

“Agreed.”

“I’m in.”

Rihyuk tried to resist, saying ‘No’, but he was pushed out by their backs.

He came back and cried, ‘Let me in! Please!’ but they firmly blocked him with a scrum.

“Rihyuk, you have to win by eating, not by talking.”

“Right. You shoot an ad with your body, not your head. How can you eat it all by yourself?”

“No way~”

They all said ‘No way~’ and snapped their fingers, making the crane flap his wings in anger.

“Wow. You guys are so mean. I’ll remember this and get revenge in 10 years.”

“Rihyuk, eat something sweet. Something sweet.”

Dowon Hyung gave him a protein bar and calmed him down.

The rest of them had a serious discussion.

“Let’s leave it to fate. Rock-paper-scissors.”

“Eh-heh.”

The siblings glared at Woojoo with their eyes wide open.

“Come on, rock-paper-scissors is random. Didn’t you see me lose to an elementary school kid Soufflé in Japan?”

“That’s because he was an elementary school kid, Hyung.”

“True.”

They didn’t buy it.

Ever since Woojoo threw a dart to pick who to take to Men Go, no one believed in random anymore.

Jiho suggested, “Then how about this? We each act like we’re eating, and the one who does it best gets the meat.”

“Sounds good.”

“Um, then I’ll give it a try…”

They asked the director to pick the best eater, and he gladly agreed.

Then the president of Olive House Korea, the advertiser, chimed in.

“How about we make it a contest?”

“A contest?”

“We have plenty of time for shooting, so why don’t we try a contest format? We can also film the behind-the-scenes.”

He was a businessman indeed.

He seemed to have in mind not only the TV ad, but also the behind-the-scenes video to promote.

Of course, they agreed.

The advertiser smiled and nodded. He was clearly the boss of this place, and everyone felt more comfortable with him.

“Alright, then let’s do it.”

They each sat at a table and pretended to eat with an empty plate.

The assistant director filmed the behind-the-scenes while the staff gathered around.

The Olive House Headquarters employees who were making food in the kitchen also came out and watched with their aprons on.

Woojoo wondered if they should hang a banner that said ‘The First Eating Contest’.

“That’s because you’re a kid, Hyung.”

“Yeah.”

“Number 1, Kim Junghyun.”

Junghyun stretched out his hands in the air and said, “Come on, everyone clap, clap.”

He prompted applause like a stage performer and the Olive House advertiser and employees clapped and laughed.

Then Junghyun sat in front of the camera and started to eat with a fork and knife.

Someone muttered.

“Oh…… That looks delicious.”

“What’s delicious? You can’t see anything.”

“It’s the vibe?”

The staff exclaimed ‘wow’ as Junghyun sucked in the imaginary steak.

The advertiser stroked his chin with satisfaction at his serious eating performance.

But he wasn’t chosen.

“Hmm…….”

“He eats well, but…….”

“He looks like he’s eating rice soup.”

It was because of the old-fashioned vibe.

He was eating steak, but somehow he looked like he was eating a warm bone broth soup, which was unsuitable for a family restaurant.

Junghyun came back with a sullen face after finishing his act.

“I look sad, right? Hyung.”

“Yeah.”

“Will this expression arouse sympathy?”

“I’ll just buy you a steak later.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

He quickly cheered up and turned back into a cuddly bear. Woojoo smiled at him.

Okay. One competitor eliminated.

Meanwhile, their second one walked out quietly.

“Hello. I’m Kim Bijoo, 21 years old, from Dongjak-gu, Seoul.”

They burst out laughing.

Why was he auditioning?

He looked nervous like an audition participant who was taking a camera test and did his eating performance.

His warm smile was praised, but.

“Wow…….”

Unfortunately, he was overshadowed by the youngest who came next.

“Sebin, look at that. That Hyung is pretending to eat.”

“Wow…….”

“Watch how he does it and try it later.”

The mothers who were holding their arms behind the child actors pointed at our youngest and whispered.

It was understandable.

As expected, Jiho had no match when it came to facial expressions.

He nailed the concept of the advertisement. He was almost like a human Olive House, doing method acting.

He joked and laughed with the person next to him while cutting the steak, and everyone admired ‘oh…….’

“Director, please remember me… Ahh!”

The youngest member, who was winking and appealing to the director, walked over and bumped his face into Junghyun’s back.

Then he whispered to Woojoo, who was next in line, “Hoo…”

“Jiho.”

“Yes.”

“Do you think you can shake my mental by blowing some wind in my ear?”

“Hey.”

The youngest member made a disappointed expression as his foul play failed.

Woojoo stretched and walked to the table as the last one. Then he said to the director who was looking at him, “I haven’t eaten since last night, Director.”

“Huh…”

“I only drank two glasses of water this morning.”

The other brothers hit the ground and regretted that they should have done that.

“Hoo…”

Woojoo controlled his emotions and acted.

He thought of meeting his old friends for 10 years and cut the steak with a nostalgic feeling.

He improvised and played background music that would suit the scene in his head.

While the piggy pig played a song like ‘Auld Lang Syne’ with a recorder, he cut the imaginary steak.

“Wow…”

“You’re good. There are two good actors here.”

“It feels like a memory trip.”

After finishing the short improvisation, Woojoo reminded the director again that he hadn’t eaten since last night.

While Junghyun smiled as if he couldn’t help it, and Rihyuk cursed and muttered ‘let them all fail’.

Ignoring the managers’ voices that laughed and said ‘what is steak…’, Woojoo stood in front of the director.

Jiho asked with a bright eye, “How is it, Director? I’m better, right?”

“No way. If you want to go on a memory trip, I think I’m more suitable as the oldest. Jiho is still making memories in real time. He’s only 17 years old.”

“Shouldn’t we consider the brand image and choose a younger person?”

“Uh… that’s too arbitrary…”

The director made an awkward face and said ‘hmm’, and the advertiser next to him looked at them alternately and pondered, The final winner came from an unexpected place.

“Director, I have a question.”

Woojoo turned his head and saw Bijoo holding a script.

“The concept of the ad is a birthday party, but isn’t it weird that someone other than the birthday person eats it?”

“Uh…?”

“Oh, right…!”

“Wow.”

Everyone agreed and the advertiser and the director nodded to Bijoo and said ‘right!’.

“Then let’s go with Bijoo! Hahaha!”

Everyone laughed and said ‘it’s decided!’ in a moment, and Jiho and Woojoo looked at each other blankly.

They felt like two dogs who chased a chicken.

“…”

When they collapsed in a daze, the chicken came to them quietly. They heard a kind voice to them who were depressed.

“Hyung, I asked the advertiser, and he said he would give us steak for lunch later.”

“Huh…”

“Really?”

Jiho and Woojoo brightened up.

“Jiho!”

“Hyung!”

“Steak…!”

They shared their joy and said ‘koo’.

Then they thanked Bijoo who spoke for them.

“No problem. We should all eat together.”

Bijoo answered with a bright smile.

▶ ‘Olive House’ TV ad: ‘About Memory’

A poetic phrase appeared on the black screen.

[Scent revives memory.]

At a point where people who were changing channels in a static flow would stop for a moment and wonder ‘what is this?’, the screen changed.

Inside Olive House.

Handsome men in casual outfits are sitting around a table.

They chatted with each other along with the BGM that came out when one walked in a healing variety show.

They were saying something with their mouths, but they looked very happy.

The star of the birthday party, a handsome boy in a striped shirt and a top hat, picked up a piece of steak.

Bijoo closed his eyes at the smell of the food.

When he opened them again, there were little kids in the same clothes sitting where they were.

-Wow!

As if expressing their return to childhood, the child versions of New Black and the adult New Black ran around and laughed.

It was an advertisement that lived up to Olive House’s motto of ‘the taste that always makes you happy’.

At the end, the New Black members smiled brightly in the Olive House staff uniforms.

-The taste that grows as you share!

-Let’s do it together at Olive House!

It was an advertisement that gave the impression that there were such staff members if you came to the store.

Meanwhile, a small caption saying ‘the above image may differ from reality’ ran across the bottom of the screen.

Thanks to the thought of having steak for lunch, they maintained a cheerful atmosphere throughout the shooting.

“Hahaha! Steak!”

“Steak is steak in English!”

“When steak dies, it becomes steak!”

“Wow~ Woojoo Hyung. Hahaha! So cute.”

“Hahahaha! I love this kind of thing!”

Since the sound didn’t matter, they chatted happily among themselves as they were told to have any conversation.

The method was simple.

They shot the scenes they needed and then the child actors came in and shot them similarly.

After finishing the morning shoot, they sat around an empty table and enjoyed the steak.

Tears welled up in their eyes at the savory smell and the juicy meat.

“Wow, I think I’m going to cry. It’s so delicious.”

“Good…”

“Now that we’re going to start preparing for the fourth album, this might be the last time we have proper meat, so let’s remember this taste.”

“We’ll remember~!”

They held up the meat they stabbed with a fork to the behind-the-scenes camera and shouted, ‘Olive House, let’s be together forever’.

The advertiser who was watching from afar smiled with his gums.

They signed a one-year contract as advertising models this time, but somehow it felt like it would be extended next year.

“Excuse me…”

Woojoo turned his head and saw the mothers bringing the child actors.

“Can our kids join you? There’s no place to sit over there because of the equipment.”

“Yes. Of course.”

“Thank you.”

The children, who were dragged by the mothers’ hands, looked at them nervously.

Woojoo gestured with his hand and tapped the chair next to him.

“Little Woojoo. Come here. Sit next to your Hyung.”

“Our Jiho, come on.”

“Junghyun Junior. Come here.”

They looked like their mini-mes because they were cast to look similar and wore the same clothes. They were so cute.

They talked to the children as they ate steak next to them.

“What’s your name?”

“Who’s the most handsome among these? By the way, there’s a right answer!”

“Ah. You’re going to choke if you eat like that. Everyone, please restrain yourselves. Do you like meat?”

They laughed at the sight of Rihyuk, who made a fat face at them and then smiled brightly at the children.

Because the space was cramped, the mothers chatted at another table while they played with the children.

They were probably in the lower grades of elementary school.

Fortunately, they had similar mental ages and became friends quickly. It wasn’t that they were young, but that they were mature.

“You’ve been acting for three years?”

“Yes.”

“That’s amazing. Jiho. Junhyuk is your senior.”

Jiho bowed his belly at Woojoo’s words.

“Hello. Sunbae-nim.”

“Hello.”

“Even your speech is more polite than Jiho’s.”

“Agreed.”

Junghyun agreed and they all giggled, and Jiho glared at them with his axe eyes.

But he soon smiled with delight.

“I saw Slip!”

“Me too!”

“Yeah? Is that something kids can watch?”

“Yes. I watched it to study acting.”

Jiho’s eyes sparkled non-stop as he received compliments from the child actors who were good at acting.

They looked like best friends already, high-fiving and taking selfies together.

Meanwhile, Woojoo expressed his own interest.

He sipped the iced chocolate that came out as dessert and asked the kids, “What kind of songs are popular these days?”

“Wow. Your speech is like a textbook.”

As Woojoo glanced at Jiho, the kids answered.

“We listen to that.”

“What is that?”

“Mango Chart 100.”

Woojoo thought they would say something like nursery rhymes or cartoon theme songs. But the kids’ expressions were serious.

“…Oh, I see.”

“It’s nice to hear the trending songs when you press it.”

Woojoo was slightly taken aback.

When he was their age, he used to sing cartoon songs like ‘I am Uzumon~!’ and run around with hel-le-le pa-le-le. But these days, with things like YouTube or smartphones, it seemed different from his time.

Bijoo smiled and said, “Then you must know our song too?”

“Yes! Totally!”

“We know it very well. Your song comes out all the time when we press the chart.”

“We like Windflower.”

They exchanged glances and smiled.

‘Elementary school students know us!’

‘New Black, successful.’

It felt strange but good to meet listeners in an unexpected place.

Woojoo didn’t think they would know them until the lower grades of elementary school.

It was when Woojoo asked them what song they liked among their songs while doing market research.

“Huh…?”

The thought that was going on in his head stopped abruptly in an unintended place. Rihyuk, who was sipping coffee, asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I’m thinking about doing something exciting. Don’t you think we should ask these kids?”

“You actually made a decent idea?”

Woojoo smiled contentedly at Rihyuk’s best compliment.

The other brothers also agreed that it was a good idea.

“It’s not bad.”

“Really. They might have a better sense of what the public likes than we do.”

“Good idea. Let’s ask them.”

While the staff were preparing for the next scene, they gathered the kids around them.

They gave them each a snack and turned on the piano app on the tablet PC.

“We want to get a general feel for the song. We have different opinions on what kind of song is exciting.”

“Ah…”

“Can you tell us if you feel good when you listen to it?”

Woojoo moved his fingers gently.

“Wow!”

The kids opened their eyes wide and looked amazed.

“Hmm…”

Why did he feel so proud?

It felt like his nephews saying ‘Uncle, you’re awesome!’ for something trivial.

They looked like spectators watching a magician as he played variations on the virtual piano keyboard.

“Wow…”

“…”

“Please do it again. Hyung. Again.”

Why are you guys admiring too?

On top of the faces that were full of curiosity, the small faces were making the same expressions as the elementary school students.

Woojoo couldn’t help but laugh.

He played some common melodies with variations to get a rough idea.

“Oh…”

He moved a little bit towards the direction that got a good reaction.

Like a person walking in a dark cave, he turned the direction one by one to the side where a good sound came out.

As if looking for the light that came in from the exit.

“Oh!”

“Oh oh!”

“Oh oh oh oh!”

When he finally reached the end, the little ones nodded their heads at the sound he composed.

The big kids were also bouncing their shoulders.

‘This is it.’

‘Here it is. Hyung!’

They exchanged excited glances among the elementary school kids.

They had finally found what they wanted.

Of course, this wasn’t everything.

They only had the feeling, so they still had to make the melody separately, but the important thing was that they had caught the feeling.

Once they had that, everything would go smoothly from now on.

“Hey, kids.”

“Yes?”

“What do you want us to buy you after this?”

They asked them with happy faces, ‘What do you want us to buy you?’ The child actors blinked their eyes and said ‘Yes!’ with bright smiles.

Woojoo smiled at them and asked them what he was curious about.

“By the way, how old are you guys?”

“Nine?”

Lemon entered the conference room.

The A&R manager looked at Woojoo and the members sitting in front of him and asked, “That’s an unusual title. And you’ve already finished it?”

“It’s not finished, it’s a test version. I just wanted to hear your opinion first.”

“Oh…”

The manager stroked his beard and asked, “But why is the title Nine?”

“Nine is 9 in English, right?”

“Ah, that Nine.”

Woojoo smiled softly and said, “Nine is the last number among 1 to 9, right? It’s also the last number before entering a new age group for people. Nineteen. Twenty-nine. Like that. The theme is to have fun together in the last moment before moving on to a new year, a new day.”

“Wow…”

He thought it was just a light test song, but it looked like something.

“That’s a good idea. How did you come up with it?”

“That’s a secret.”

Woojoo and the members smiled mysteriously somewhere.

While the A&R manager and the staff sent out exclamations of admiration and stroked their chins, the members exchanged glances.

‘We can’t tell.’

‘It’s a song that a kid made for us.’

‘This secret is going to our graves.’

It was a secret that they could never tell.

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