Lemon Entertainment PR Team.

Deputy Manager Hong Seo-young sat at her desk, clicking her mouse.

She was checking to see if the press releases had been published correctly.

– New Black confirmed for first solo reality show, first broadcast October 3

– “Rising rookies” New Black to release their first reality show on the 3rd of next month (Official)

– Solo reality “It’s the New Black” to air first episode on the 3rd [Official Statement]

She scrolled through dozens of similarly titled articles, checking for any odd content.

The articles all said essentially the same thing.

That rookie boy group New Black, who had drawn attention through variety shows, would debut their eight-episode solo reality show starting October 3.

Though ordinary readers aside from fans wouldn’t even click, she inspected the content carefully.

Then she raised her eyes a little.

“Our kids have really gained a lot of fans.”

Whether via links from the fan café or not, within ten minutes of the articles going up there were already a few comments.

– New Black fighting..!

– Ooh ooh reality @[email protected] looking forward to it!!!

– I hope our cuties do well..^^

An article that would once have vanished without a single comment now showed subtle but clear change.

Of course, not all changes were positive.

Recently malicious posts had even been turned into news articles, and other fandoms had launched attacks on social media.

But it wasn’t all bad. Where there’s light, there’s shadow; as New Black suddenly drew buzz through variety shows, some backlash was inevitable.

And on the other hand, if people disliked them, it meant that even more people liked them.

The noticeable metrics proved it.

“The MeTube views have jumped, too.”

All the videos under New Black on Lemon Ent’s channel were seeing steep increases in view counts.

And even English comments.

Sure enough, on overseas K-pop fan sites there were posts linking to New Black videos.

– First time seeing them, who are they?

– Their dance lines are really beautiful. The penguin is so cute.

– A performance team? What’s their name?

– It’s New Black. It’s in the title.

– Ah, sorry. I just thought “hot” was part of the headline.

“How did they even find out about us?”

It was strange. It had come up as an agenda item at the last PR meeting.

Why had foreign comments suddenly shot up?

No one knew the exact cause. They only guessed it might be the influence of Girls on Top.

Overseas K-pop fans often watch Korean variety shows featuring idols, and since they had appeared with Girls on Top, who had many foreign fans, attention had turned to New Black.

In any case, once views of their own reality and performance videos rose and English comments like “OMG” began to appear, the English subtitles proved their worth.

“Adding subtitles was a godsend.”

With English subtitles available, foreign /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ viewership visibly increased.

And those showing interest in New Black weren’t just overseas fans.

– How did I not know about these kids?

– T_T Their voices are really my type

– I looked up Joo Se-han and now I’m watching the reality show in a trance

People who watched the variety show then searched for related videos on MeTube were now binge-watching New Black’s training clips, fancams, and reality show videos.

Naturally, this interest also affected fan café membership numbers.

“I can’t adapt, I can’t adapt.”

She clicked her tongue at the rising member count.

Growth had slowed now, but right after the broadcast it had been incredible. Previously, it had felt like a small neighborhood meeting where a few soufflés gathered and went “wow!”—now it felt like a big block party.

Still, she worried.

“Will it be okay?”

When a fandom suddenly grows, that’s when you have to be most careful. Actions that were acceptable when the fandom was small can suddenly look like clique behavior and spark controversy; a single casual post by a member on the fan café can send the fandom into a tailspin.

“It happened with Scarlet, too.”

But oddly enough, she wasn’t worried.

Probably because the member leading New Black’s interaction with fans was more thoughtful than anyone.

“The problem is us.”

“What?”

From the partition next to her, Deputy Nam peeked his head out.

“What else is the problem, Deputy Hong?”

“The fan meeting venue. If we go with the location as is....”

“As is?”

“We’re going to get roasted.”

“Where is it?”

“At Art in Hongdae, a small theater near Sinchon. I booked it three months ago....”

“Let me see. Maximum capacity 300 people?”

Deputy Nam scoffed and sipped his coffee.

“Announce this venue as is. It’ll be fun. They’ll be like, ‘Are you crazy, the showcase had two hundred seats, how can you handle three hundred?’”

“Exactly.”

With their first official fan meeting coming up, the original plan had been for an intimate gathering. Around their 100-day debut anniversary they’d meet in a small theater, blow out cake candles, clap lightly—a cozy atmosphere.

At that time, that had seemed fine.

“Who could’ve known fans would grow like this....”

The small theater they’d booked danced before her eyes, but she pictured herself being overwhelmed by angry soufflés and decided to cancel the reservation.

“It’s still a happy problem to have. Tell anyone complaining that our kids’ fandom grew bigger and they’ll only praise us.”

“If you’re not calling for me, hush.”

Deputy Hong glared at Deputy Nam, then smiled.

He wasn’t wrong. In a way, this was a happy problem.

Lifting the phone, she thought of the person whose actions had led to all this.

“For that reason, the fan meeting planned for late September has been postponed. The earliest available venues won’t open up until mid-October.”

Lemon Ent conference room.

Deputy Hong Seo-young explained to the group gathered around.

“This is the venue we’re looking to fix.”

On her tablet PC a photo of the live hall run by an online bookstore appeared.

I asked, “What’s the capacity?”

“Around a thousand?”

“Whaaat....”

We looked at each other in shock.

“Did you hear? A thousand people.”

“A t-t-thousand people? A thousand coming to see us?”

“Deputy, are we really having a fan meeting there?”

As voices rose one by one, Ri-hyeok secretly pinched his own thigh next to me. When he looked around and caught my eye, I gave him a warm smile.

His sneaker stomped on my shoe.

Ouch.

So this is real.

A thousand...

Why did it feel unbelievable? A thousand coming to see us?

Director Jo Gyu-hwan laughed.

“Why, you don’t believe it?”

“It feels surreal. A thousand... I don’t think I’d come to see me.”

“That’s true.”

When I tapped Ri-hyeok, I gave the maknae’s foot a firm step in return.

Director Jo continued, smiling.

“You might not believe it, but that still might not be enough. The fan café membership has grown more than you think.”

That was true.

“Anyway, want to review the dates? Preparing an official fan meeting is pretty tight, so I wanted to give you the choice.”

The younger members immediately took the tablet and studied the calendar.

Bi-ju asked, “Hyung, what day would be suitable?”

“Just a sec.”

I pulled out my phone and unlocked it. Jung-hyeon peeked over.

“What are you looking at?”

“Hold on, Jung-hyeon.”

“Okay.”

Checking the date on my home screen, I counted on the tablet with my finger, then stopped on the 25th.

“That one. Saturday the 25th.”

The staff across from me tilted their heads.

“I use an anniversary app on my home screen. The 25th is exactly 100 days since the soufflés were born.”

They laughed as they saw my phone screen reading “63 days with our soufflé!”

Not understanding, they looked puzzled until Seok-hwan hyung clicked his tongue.

“I’ve never seen anyone use a dating app like that.”

“You’re so quirky.”

I wanted to protest, but seeing other entries—“269 days until Kim Deok-soon’s next birthday” and “92 days since our debut”—I quietly put away my phone.

Then I spoke the thought that came to me.

“When we name the fan meeting, what about something like “Soufflé Day” or “Soufflé 100-Day Festival”?”

“Wow, I love 100-Day Festival.”

Bi-ju eagerly agreed. Her sensibilities matched mine.

Deputy Hong muttered, twirling her pen.

“100-Day Festival sounds a bit old-fashioned....”

“....”

“Soufflé Day. That’s good. I’ll include it in the proposal.”

She jotted it in her notebook.

After some minor talk about the fan meeting, Director Jo changed the subject.

“Now, onto the album. The comeback is set for November 20, so keep that in mind.”

He continued, “We could move it up a week, but then the showcase would be the day before the CSAT, and the music show would start on exam day. Obviously....”

“Right, our fans need to study for the CSAT.”

I nodded, and the younger members agreed.

“Exactly. We shouldn’t interfere with their exam prep with our showcase or music show.”

“That’s true.”

“They need study time.”

Hearing us, the adults across the table dropped their pens and laughed.

One staffer scratched his sideburns and said, “We were talking from a revenue perspective. If we release on CSAT day, hype drops and it’s not great.”

“Oh, that’s right. I wanted to mention that.”

They laughed again at my remark.

It felt less like a meeting and more like a gathering to coo over us.

Maybe because recent activities had gone well.

But Director Jo, with a calm face, brought back the meeting vibe.

“A five-month comeback gap might seem long, but it’ll be fine. We’ll keep interest by showing your album prep and daily lives through the reality show. When those eight episodes finish, it’s exactly 21 days until November 20.”

“Oh, so we’ll start music shows right after the reality ends.”

“Right. And do the fan meeting a month before that.”

Perfect timing.

It really was a coincidence. Scarlet had promoted music shows in October, so the principle was to avoid overlap with other company idols.

The A&R team leader said, “By the way, the title track’s structure is mostly set. Stick around after this and I’ll play it for you.”

Director Jo turned to us.

“You all know Woo-joo is co-producing this album, right? You’ll be seeing a lot of me from now on. So help out as much as you can.”

“Yes, we will.”

“And Woo-joo, you said you had something to show?”

“Oh, yes.”

I stood up, took a USB drive, and connected it to the laptop linked to the projector.

At the same time, Bi-ju and Ri-hyeok pulled prints from my bag and began distributing them.

It looked like a tiny startup office, and the staff smiled approvingly.

Deputy Hong asked in a cheerful voice, “You even prepared a presentation?”

“Yes, while preparing materials....”

I smiled as I stood before the staff and members.

Soon the PPT title “2nd Album Proposal” appeared on the screen, and everyone chuckled.

Meanwhile, the male staff, looking uneasy, asked, “This font seems really familiar. What is it?”

“Oh, I’m a former admin corporal, so I used the same one we used in the army....”

“Aha, that familiar smell of enlisted days. No wonder it matches the copyright notice we got from the association a few days ago.”

One staffer fiddled with a Post-it wrapped like a band around the stapler, then laughed.

“You’ve really learned the job properly.”

“Right? Way better than our team intern.”

Someone joked that they should film this with the reality cameras, and I laughed along before starting the presentation.

These were ideas I’d thought up ever since I was told I’d be producing the album—might as well go all out.

Maybe that spirit came through, because those who’d listened playfully at first quietly flipped through the handouts as the presentation continued.

The younger members also listened seriously.

I wasn’t sure how many suggestions would be adopted, but judging by the staff’s reactions it seemed successful. Questions flew from all directions as soon as I finished.

“One, two, three.”

“Hello, we’re New Black!”

“Woah...!”

Inside the car heading to HBS Broadcasting Station.

We waved at the phone on the selfie stick for our SNS live.

It was our first live stream in a while. Since we’d done it without notice, I thought few would tune in, but quite a few fans joined in real time.

“Wow, so many comments. I can’t read them all. Oh, I can read this one. Is that—‘nihao’?”

“There are noticeably more English comments.”

Most were in Korean, but the proportion of English felt much higher.

Amazing. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

I waved again with a smile.

“We’re on our way to film episode 1 of New Black’s reality ‘It’s the New Black.’”

“We usually announce these in advance, but today we just wanted to see you, so we turned it on.”

“I dreamed of soufflés last night, too.”

“Really?”

“Yes, hyung. I dreamed I shook hands with a soufflé. Its hand was made of bread, and every time we shook hands crumbs fell....”

We burst out laughing, and fans typed “ㅋㅋㅋㅋ” in the chat.

“Oh, right.”

I clapped my hands and said, “Did you know I just finished reservist training? I’ve got so many episodes saved up to share with you.”

“Here we go again. Army stories. Cover your ears, everyone.”

“Aren’t you tired of the same stories every meal?”

Ignoring the protests, I continued, “When I shot for the first time, I hit a perfect score. I’m known for being uncoordinated, so this was my first time trying to aim at a target. In the past I always hit the person next to me....”

I rummaged in my bag for the target sheet to show off, and the younger members sneered.

Just you wait, kids. In a few years you won’t mock me—especially you, Seo Ri-hyeok.

“Is shooting really that hard? It seemed easy.”

“Where have you shot a gun?”

“In Sudden Attack.”

“Ah, my neck... I’m really....”

As I rubbed my neck, Bi-ju offered me a packet of red ginseng.

“Thanks.”

I nibbled the ginseng and preached its greatness to the fans.

“I feel alive. Since I started eating ginseng, I wake up easily at dawn. It’s great.”

“Why are you advertising ginseng all of a sudden?”

“A fan just commented that me eating ginseng reminds them of their grandfather.”

“Who? Identify yourself.”

My quivering appearance drew more “ㅋㅋㅋ” in the chat.

We happily interacted with comments from our soufflés.

“There’ll be good news soon. See you later, byong!”

“Byong!”

...And we ended the live around the basement parking lot of the HBS building.

Meeting the fans face-to-face again gave me energy. I looked brighter because of it.

Arriving at the studio, the PD greeted us, “Hey. You guys seem in a good mood today.”

“Yes. We’re fully charged.”

“Okay. Go in and get used to the studio. Setting up the equipment will take some time.”

The set for HBS MTV’s “It’s the New Black” had a very distinctive atmosphere.

A plush three-seater sofa in the center, two single sofas on the sides.

The table held various snacks, and the set had bookshelves and vases.

It looked like the living room of a high-end house with good lighting.

“Wow, it feels like coming home. I haven’t seen an atmosphere like this in ages.”

“The sofa is really soft. Hyung, when we move dorms, should we get one?”

“Shall we?”

Bi-ju and I checked the sponsored sofa’s product name online, and when we saw the price we nodded.

She saved the item in her notes under the title “Someday.”

Meanwhile, the more I looked, the more the set felt familiar.

It rang a bell.

I asked Min-gi hyung, who was coming back from talking with staff, “Hyung, what was the PD’s previous program?”

“He did a beauty salon show, a cable beauty program.”

“A beauty program?”

I nodded, then flinched.

“A beauty program?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Nothing, never mind.”

Maybe it was my imagination, but I had a feeling this reality concept would be extraordinary.