Free Web NovelThe link to the NewBlack game posted on the official SNS.
Thanks to support for multiple languages, fans who played the game flooded social media with their reactions.
@myongmyon_0215
(In the protagonist’s goat POV)
“WTF is this game lol. I thought it was a dating sim, but it was a f**king crazy idol simulation game.”
@ky121vadf
“Today I realized how lucky we are that Lemon Ent is our main agency. Better to have our own agency’s crazy lunatic than someone else’s.”
@3263_dgyy
“I sincerely salute the production team that made this game. And please adjust the difficulty—help me.”
@tnvmffp_tkfkd
“When I went to Japan as an idol:
General public: ‘Ah, it’s the usual idol silence period...’ (They don’t know what we’re doing in Japan.)
Soufflé fans: ‘Ah.’ (They’d rather not know.)”
Japanese fans reacted similarly.
@twi_kokorim
(Illustration of the protagonist chased by magically possessed mops and brooms)
“I thought it was a soothing game, but uh...? What on earth is happening at Lemon Ent?”
@AAAa24
(Suddenly the academy president Gyu-ho appears like a ghost from the dark, illustrated)
“At first I couldn’t stop my heart from racing, but now it won’t stop for a different reason!!! Bald uncle, no thank you!!!”
@ehfnfnKK
(Illustration of an excited Ri-hyeok pointing at the goat-transformed protagonist)
“I’m giving up on my plan to study Korean with this game. Who casually has a storyline like ‘the black goat is using black magic’ in real life?”
@colorrful_ming
“Before I started, I laughed at the ‘Universe difficulty’ explanation by Korean fans, but now I can’t laugh anymore.”
Across the board, the common reaction was, “What the heck is this game?” Meanwhile, every soufflé fan who’d played agreed on one point:
@5959_ricechicken
“But how do you beat this?? I see no way through.”
It ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) was truly insane difficulty. Choose the wrong option once and you hit a bad ending. Early on you only pick between two choices, but as play continues, choices multiply, and eventually you even must enter free-text answers. Fans were creating spreadsheets mapping every route and possibility, only to give up in tears.
Three hours after the link went up, and still no one had reached an ending:
– “Currently trending idol game”
– “You won’t believe it, NewBlack dating-sim idol game released (link included)”
– “Insanely fun idol game trending right now”
Starting in idol communities, the news spread to all kinds of forums and SNS. Some even posted screenshots of early routes and branch points:
– “LOL I’m so embarrassed”
– “This is hilarious”
– “Who makes promo like this for a group going abroad?? LOL”
– “But they put so much effort into the game—art, design—everyone can see it”
– “Only NewBlack could pull off a project like this”
– “Is the black goat route the easiest??”
– “Yeah, that’s the easiest. It’s the easiest way to get a magic item”
– “Why do magic items even appear??”
– “Who’s the final boss?”
– “No one’s reached the identity-reveal route yet, so it’s all speculation”
– “Looks fun, I have to try it”
Soon major portals had “NewBlack game” in real-time search trends, and general public access soared. Connections stalled under the load, but that only sparked more strategy guides:
– “NewBlack Academy 3rd-floor walkthrough (screenshots included)”
– “Never choose the option to depose the president!!! Your character becomes bald and loses all charm!!”
– “Which option gets me hair-growth serum??”
On gaming forums, players who approached casually found themselves hooked:
– “F**k, I keep getting dragged to the workshop, aaargh”
– “How do I avoid going to Universe’s workshop?”
– “Boost your hearing and stamina stats early or you’ll die in the workshop”
– “In the library, don’t pick the option to interrupt Severely Reads History—clicking it sucks you into the book, immediate death”
– “Who clicks that?? LOL”
– “That was me... I’m now reincarnated as Kim Yushin’s horse, terrified AF”
– “Don’t eat Viju’s poisoned apple—hp drains fast”
– “That’s on you. It’s random left/right; if you choose right you get a golden apple and +1 life”
– “Junghyun’s OP—immune to physical attacks”
– “I just woke up and jumped in—did NewBlack release a virus??”
The “Survive at NewBlack Academy” battle had even game-only audiences joining in. Finally, someone succeeded in clearing the game:
[I finally beat it. The NewBlack game.]
(Scene: the academy transformed into a devil’s castle; the protagonist and NewBlack as demon lords ruling the world.) freewёbnoνel.com
“Proof shot. I beat it after five hours of referencing other people’s guides and wracking my brain. The text-input labyrinth was brutal, but I made it. The prize’s merch—I’m letting fans have it. Whew...it was dirty work, let’s never meet again lol.”
– “Please share your walkthrough”
– “Stuck on floor 7—help!”
– “Should I become centaur or minotaur for easier route?”
– “[Author] I don’t know either. I went minotaur.”
– “Minotaur is better? Centaur is easier to run away but only centaur can use the ‘cow moo’ skill”
– “I haven’t even tried—what is this game”
– “Don’t make Seorihyeok the tank—dragon breath from the president wipes the party”
After bizarre in-game lines no non-player could anticipate, fans and other idol communities pooled strategies and finally many cleared the game:
– “I saw the ending”
– “Tears of emotion”
– “Soufflés, I saw the ending too~~”
– “Is a game really this hard?? LOL”
– “Today was insane fun because of this”
– “Beat B ending, now going for A”
– “I got F ending”
– “Prize winner—thanks Lemon Ent”
– “I quit mid-game, just going to buy it”
– “My gut said this was Gyu-ho’s attempt at a character biz project—quality was so good I became a capitalist dog”
Everyone cried tears of joy. Fans who cleared the game rejoiced over the limited merch—badges and phone cases featuring the mini NewBlack characters from the soufflé-bread seals. With our Japanese concerts upcoming, a new merch list began appearing on the official site.
“Ha ha! Ha ha ha!”
On the top floor of some office, someone’s head shone as they cackled with delight. Among netizens who played the NewBlack game, two consensus points emerged. One: the game was fun.
– “Ridiculously fun LOL”
– “Hard difficulty but hilarious—props to whoever made this”
– “Scenario is goofy but game design is superb; the reward and balance systems are surprisingly solid”
– “They made a great game”
– “Who knew a guy-idol game could have multiple endings?”
The second realization:
[American NewBlack stan’s detailed flowchart of all routes and branch points]
(A clean graphic mapping hundreds of web-like routes from early choices onward, with red and green arrows.)
“There’s this American fan Annie who’s famous in the fandom; she and a few others stayed up all night mapping this out.”
While fans worldwide played, American stans turned it into a full spreadsheet. Images showing zoomable detail lists emerged.
– “Wow that’s amazing” freewёbnoνel.com
– “That’s why they say Western stans are top-tier”
– “I can’t read English but I saved it—this is epic”
– “Their analysis is next-level”
– “Wasn’t one of them even planning a NewBlack merch museum?”
– “These sisters stan hardcore”
– “Even their conclusions match—‘I don’t want to play again’ LOL”
Meanwhile, some spotted “Easter Egg” hints in the chart.
– “What’s that Easter Egg?”
– “It’s for people trying to cheat the prize”
– “Like if you try to view code or hack the site, something pops up”
– “Try it—so funny”
Sure enough, some players tried to cheat. Then:
【Blink. Blink.】
The screen flickered, and Seorihyeok’s character appeared, arms folded, looking down.
“Pathetic. You really tried to cheat this game? I’m disappointed.”
Fans burst out laughing at the smug, slightly contemptuous character portrait.
The company’s “Survive at NewBlack Academy” launch.
Fans dubbed it “NewCademy,” and it was a smashing success. One lingering question:
“Why did strangers...?”
Though built as fan service, general audiences also came, enjoyed it, and left. With my brothers, I checked screenshots trending in real time and marvelled at the American flowchart graphic. Reading various “NewBlack game reviews” posts, we laughed.
“Did you see this? After playing, Ri-hyeok becomes insufferable.”
“Hey, King Jiho, you’re no picnic either.”
“At least I play the secret prince in the late game.”
Because it was such an internet sensation, derivative content proliferated. On MTube, famous gaming YouTubers frequently had thumbnails like “Hot NewBlack game—I tried it!” Their reactions were priceless: they’d stare dumbfounded at being trampled by cattle or dying to a broom.
“I think I get why people react this way,” Viju said with a wistful look.
“Matching the poisoned apple and golden apple in the game was so hard—I died three times, hyung.”
“Same here—I died seven times in my workshop.”
“I chose centaur transformation and suffered.”
“I ate ginseng from the garden, got caught by the guard, and got expelled...”
We laughed at Junghyun’s “my HP went up but I got expelled” story.
“Heh, I’m the winner for not playing.” Ri-hyeok smiled arrogantly.
But knowing he’d rage-quit after ten minutes, all we could do was smile warmly.
“Wow, this game is truly addictive—like a drug, with trippy twists.”
“Yeah, it’s fun.”
While we traded impressions, I asked our promotions chief, Section Chief Hong:
“Section Chief, how did this game come about?”
“How it came about?”
“Playing it, it didn’t feel like a light fan-service project.”
“It’s not exactly our in-house game. We wrote the scenario but outsourced it.”
“Outsourced?”
“Director Jo invested in a startup game company; we commissioned them.”
“Jo Director picked them, known for good foresight.”
“They’re preparing it as a mobile game, too, to diversify our character business.”
Hong showed us a collection of SD mini-me characters.
“What are their names?”
“They’re undecided.”
Junghyun waved at his sprite on screen:
“Hello, Mijeong.”
“Junghyun—that’s not Mijeong.”
We all cracked up at our rapper’s innocence—until Ri-hyeok saw the project folder name:
“Why’s the folder called ‘Dooli_Brothers’?”
“...!”
“Section Chief? Where are you going?”
True to form, our TF promotions chief made a swift exit. I smiled warmly:
“This is our TF team.”
“We’re like a sandcastle—solid unity.”
We laughed and carried our outfits to the dressing room. Soon we changed into café-staff uniforms and checked our appearance in the mirror.
Today’s event: for Japanese fans who cleared the game, we’d serve drinks and hand out merch in person.
“Thank you for letting us use your space.”
“No, thank you.”
We exchanged bows with the café owner. The venue: a café run by a Korean owner in an Osaka shopping street. After a briefing on drink preparation, we and our soufflé fans waited.
“I wonder if any fans will show up?”
“They will—people came all the way to the airport.”
“But it’s thirty minutes until start and no one’s here...”
Through the glass, the street looked empty. I felt disappointed—getting to Osaka for a prize event is tough.
Ri-hyeok tapped his phone:
“But the Japanese reaction online has been great.”
“Really?”
“Look—there’s fan art from regular people pouring in.”
We turned to see it and burst out laughing. A muscular, bearded man with pigtails wielded twin axes in school uniform.
“Haha!” Viju’s eyes went wide.
“What is that supposed to be?”
“It’s fan art of our game’s protagonist.”
“That silhouette was never like that...!”
“Players joked that realistically the protagonist’s physique would handle axes like that, so it spread as fan art.”
Even that looked like a positive reaction. But...
“Why is no one here?”
We sat at the café counter, watching through the windows. No passersby—only news crews and tripod-toting reporters zooming in on us.
“If this is how it is, I wish they’d just call us on TV—hate to be on it, but they love covering us.”
“Right?”
We signaled to Manager Won-seok, who lowered the blinds. Since arriving in Japan, every off-site event had been like this: reluctant to invite us on broadcast, yet eager to cover “NewBlack lands in Japan!”
“But why isn’t anyone here...?”
As the event start time drew near—ten minutes to go—and still nothing, we grew anxious. Cameras filmed the empty storefront; staff looked around puzzled.
Clink
Manager Mingi returned, out of breath after rushing through the crowd.
“Pant...pant...open the blinds and get ready to welcome fans...!”
“Eh?”
“Everyone’s pushing through...pant!”
He pointed outside, out of breath. We and Won-seok adjusted our uniforms and stepped out of the café. The instant the door opened—
“Waaaaaah—!”
A thunderous cheer greeted us.
“Hoo...” I exhaled unconsciously.
Though the café front was empty except for media, the alley beyond was packed. Police cars and officers had set up barricades; behind them, a never-ending line of people snaked around the corner. No wonder the area directly in front had been empty.
It was truly a spectacle.
“Hello!” we waved, and the roar answered back. We exchanged smiles—this was our first off-site event since the fan sign, and it was a roaring success from the start.
Then:
“Please enter one by one...Aaah!”
Like a dam bursting, fans poured in wildly. They did form a line, but it was a massive line. Reporters setting up tripods were swept along, too.
“Aaah!”
We saw camera crews and producers stumbling, gear in hand, caught in the rush. It must have felt like commanding a massive ant army, as General Eulji Mundeok once did.
We waved brightly, shouting:
“Be careful~!”
Then, arm-in-arm with my brothers—
“Oof!” I bumped into the door.
“Oooh...” I rubbed my shoulder and slipped inside the café.
Watching the vast tide of soufflé fans file in like an ant army, we dashed to the counter.
It was time for our first promotional event in Japan.
