Free Web NovelAs Jusehan’s live broadcast began, viewers began tuning in nonstop.
It was inevitable.
News that famous top stars, including Lee Gyeonu, would appear made their fans turn on their TVs.
Fans of TNT, TeenSpirit, and Street Boys—who had done the live joint broadcast with NewBlack that day—were eagerly awaiting the broadcast.
While idol fans flipped between TBC and HBS, most ordinary viewers pointed their remotes at Jusehan.
‘What was that crazy incident at the rest area about?’
No one knew the details, but everyone had heard about the huge commotion at some rest area in Chungbuk over the weekend.
“Remind me, what was the name again? Haelpyeong?”
“That’s a weird name. Haelpyeong Rest Area. Why would anyone name it that?”
They’d heard that NewBlack’s business had been a huge hit and that it was featured on Jusehan.
Curious viewers started picking up their remotes.
“Oh.”
In the control room, TBC staff watching the real-time ratings graph noticed something.
‘Word of mouth must have been massive.’
The live ratings for the popular audition program On The Stage hadn’t changed much, but Jusehan—recently bumped to second place—was seeing its ratings rise sharply.
And viewers who tuned in for Jusehan’s NewBlack collaboration special early on couldn’t change the channel after seeing...
‘Junhyun...?’
Kim Junhyun smiling warmly as he ran alongside a car.
Whatever the full story, it seemed to have happened right after the first recording of this special.
It felt like Jusehan’s PD was whispering, “Not watching this? Not even now...?”
With that striking opening, Jusehan’s NewBlack collaboration special began rapid-fire storytelling.
The first scene was NewBlack chatting amiably with the production team in the pre-meeting.
‘Wow....’
Seeing that made the Souffles beam with pride.
‘They didn’t even introduce us.’
Normally they’d enter with “NewBlack!” and show stage or variety clips, but the tone here was “You all know who we are, right?”
Next, a speedy montage showed Jusehan’s members preparing an old-fashioned pork cutlet menu.
‘That looks so good.’
Every time they showed the cutlet heaped with western-style sauce, my mouth watered.
While pork cutlet restaurants nationwide were moved by the sudden wave of delivery orders.
[Hello~!]
[Ju-ha!]
This time, NewBlack appeared.
NewBlack huddled in the kitchen, struggling to devise a new menu.
Then each member took a turn.
[Clatter bang bang!]
[Oof!]
[Clang clang-!]
[Gasp-!]
Viewers burst out laughing at the clumsy kitchen skills of the members.
The most shocking moment came when Ri Hyuk, while NewBulBaek was in progress, decided to try his own cooking.
Wearing oven mitts, Ri Hyuk brought in a frying pan.
[Oh.]
Everyone gasped at the sight of a mysterious lump of charcoal inside.
Junhyun gave a thumbs up.
[You made charcoal well.]
[What’s this called, hyung? Twisted underworld charcoal?]
[...No, that’s a pancake.]
[Most people call things like this charcoal, Ri Hyuk. ...But how does a pancake turn out like this? Did you use alchemy?]
Wooju’s sly diss made Ri Hyuk’s face flush red.
Meanwhile, Wooju suggested to the others struggling with recipes the very menu everyone knows: NewBulBaek.
‘Wow....’
But what surprised viewers before that was Wooju’s knife skills.
Usually Biju is the cook in NewBlack, but Wooju’s slicing was no joke.
With each “tatata”—ingredients were chopped in a flash.
Then a close-up of Biju’s betrayed expression.
As the bulbaek cooked, the behind-the-scenes of the recipe came to light.
“Grandma runs a haejangguk restaurant.”
“Oh my, look. They’re wearing matching floral dresses.”
That moment revealed who passed the floral obsession gene to Sun Wooju.
Souffles sighed in unison.
“Anyway, where is that place?”
“I looked it up; it’s a famous haejangguk restaurant in Gunsan. Apparently it caused a commotion when they sold at a rest area last time too.”
“In that case, take the KTX to Iksan and get off there...?”
As food-crazy Koreans searched for the original haejangguk restaurant in Gunsan, NewBulBaek was finally completed on screen.
“Waaaah.”
The visuals alone made mouths water.
The meat, crisped to perfection and glistening with reddish chili oil, looked as though you could smell it from here.
Swallow.
“....”
Following the pork cutlet craze, pig bulbaek restaurants nationwide started happily screaming as orders flooded in.
As “Gunsan bulbaek” and “Wooju bulbaek” trended in real time.
Finally, NewBlack and the Jusehan members gathered together.
Meanwhile, the production’s gift prepared for NewBlack became the talk of the show.
[Baaaah—]
The once-villainous black goat reappeared with an evil glare.
Two years ago, villagers who had worked with NewBlack on Jusehan reappeared, and the atmosphere was warm.
Next, a meeting of the chefs planning how to sell NewBulBaek alongside the old-fashioned cutlet.
But since it was all entertainers, they cracked jokes and improvised skits nonstop whenever eyes met.
Then came the highlight of Episode 1: the tasting event the day before Chuseok.
‘Finally...!’
Viewers watching HBS’s On The Stage switched channels at the news that the idols would appear.
“They’re coming!”
The first guest for the tasting event arrived.
[Who’s there?]
[Really?]
The Yeo siblings and NewBlack hid behind a partition and jumped out at the incoming TNT members.
[Waaaah!]
Startled, TNT fell on their butts, and viewers laughed.
Being on screen together with NewBlack felt different from their usual image.
‘They’re so relatable.’
They’d seemed distant as “Asia’s stars,” “top idols,” but talking like peers was refreshing. As soon as they saw Wooju, TNT’s expressions relaxed visibly.
Soon, Wooju posed with a V-sign for the TNT members taking food photos, got scolded, and offered a dish to the fleeing TNT.
Other guests then appeared one by one.
Among those guests, TeenSpirit received the biggest welcome from idol fans.
Viewers buzzed at the sight of the bright-eyed boys.
“Aww, they’re cute.”
“So those are TeenSpirit? I’ve never seen their faces before.”
“They look so gentle. How will they survive in this industry?”
They did.
Monitoring real-time comments, some boys furrowed their brows at each other.
‘Cute? You assholes...?’
‘Do viewers have three eyes?’
‘The packaging is new but the contents are moldy.’
TeenSpirit members exchanged glances and shook their heads.
Meanwhile at Street Boys’ dorm, screams rose as they watched the expanding lineup.
“Waaah...! Waaahaa!”
“Seriously, it’s so unfair they went as a trio!”
“You didn’t go!”
LB, Gi-won, and Hanjo turned around in disbelief while the others fumed.
‘We should have gone...!’
They’d said they wouldn’t appear as guests on a show recording, so they lazily declined.
But it was Jusehan—and NewBulBaek was there along with TNT, TeenSpirit, and other top stars.
‘We wash dishes well too...!’
Street Boys members, regret on their faces as they watched Hanjo and LB texting in the group chat, spoke resolutely.
“From now on, if NewBlack calls, we go.”
“Even if they don’t call, we’ll go.”
“If they don’t call us, we’ll show up and make them call us.”
“We’re too shy to say anything to the leader when we actually see him....”
LB—who was speaking sense—suddenly burst into flames like kindling.
With the participants engrossed in the excitement. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
“Gyeonu hyung, aren’t you watching this?”
“I can’t watch myself.”
“Hyung, you do know your job is being an entertainer...?”
As an introverted actor dodged his manager’s phone offering the script.
Viewers leaned in closer.
‘This is fun!’
The chemistry between Jusehan members and NewBlack stabilized, guests kept appearing, and the fun multiplied.
Thanks in large part to PD Gu Jaeyoung’s specialty.
His knack for creating simple fun from walks, mini-games, small missions, extracting everyday enjoyment.
[Shall I show you something amazing?]
[Aaaah! Don’t do that...!]
...Though it was a bit far from “everyday,” it captured the original concept of a healing restaurant special well.
“Oh, it’s been a while since I’ve seen that person.”
A star rarely seen on TV appeared, eating old pork cutlet with NewBlack and sharing their recent news.
“...That person’s on here?”
Hot stars from the ad world appeared and shared small talk, captivating viewers.
Between sparkling banter and meals, guests left...
‘But why don’t they go?’ freewēbnoveℓ.com
Guests didn’t leave.
The dishes piled up and ingredients dwindled.
And customers began buying ingredients and bringing them in.
[Why aren’t the customers leaving?]
[Why aren’t they going?]
As NewBlack and Jusehan members’ eyes filled with growing fear, Episode 1 came to a close.
The next-week preview showed complete chaos—and it was hilarious already.
[Yeah, party tonight!]
[Everyone! Having fun~!]
With EDM blasting, guests danced and played mini-games in a scene of chaos and destruction.
Kevin, like a DJ, raised his hand making puffs.
NewBlack members—usually the destroyers—were shown gently massaging each other’s temples.
‘Screenshot. This is a screenshot.’
When A&R and production teams at Lemon Entertainment happily saved the photo of Wooju in distress and shared it in the chat.
After the broadcast, idol fans talked about Jusehan rather than On The Stage for the first time in a while.
[That meme I thought of after seeing today’s Jusehan opening]
(Photo1: Junhyun waving to members from afar, Photo2: walking and talking with members)
Q. Spot the oddity in the photos. (3 points)
A. The interval between the two photos is one shutter click
Along with that striking opening, photos of idol friendships from today’s show circulated.
[Praise makes whales dance and EunKevin makes Wooju pissed]
[Jusehan TeenSpirit appearance praised for cuteness]
[A trending GIF of Han Taehyun doing dishes wearing an apron]
Fans chanted for their favorites, but the biggest buzz was the behind-the-scenes video on TBC’s MyTube channel.
Junhyun, TNT, and TeenSpirit members, overcome by temptation, sampling at the market.
Frozen dumplings, dakgalbi, pork belly, donggeurangttaeng, and more.
Like hamsters on a food expedition, they nibbled nonstop, cracking everyone up.
Even the brand’s marketing team was cheering.
‘This publicity is insane...!’
Though blurred, consumers watching the grocery scene could tell exactly which brands they were.
Idols eating like divine chefs—hiring them would cost nearly 10 billion won in endorsements.
While companies rejoiced at the unexpected publicity.
The public watching tonight’s broadcast had one burning question.
They were eager to know where NewBulBaek would debut.
‘Where will it come out?’
People were already excited.
9 p.m.
“Phew....”
We flopped onto the floor, clothes soaked in sweat, after hours of continuous choreography practice.
Everyone pulled out their phones.
“The reaction seems pretty good, right?”
“Yeah, not bad.”
Articles were popping up one after another.
During the live broadcast, we were practicing and couldn’t watch, but the response to Episode 1 of the Let’s Do Business special was positive.
Above all...
“They’re excited, aren’t they.”
The group chat buzzed as TeenSpirit squealed with joy, +999 unread messages showing.
Too lazy to read them all.
“Wow, NewBulBaek is trending again. Here’s another article.”
“Aren’t articles normal...?”
“It’s on the lifestyle section.”
We laughed at the news on the portal main page: “NewBulBaek release imminent...”
The youngest said:
“I thought only we liked to eat, but other people are really serious about food too.”
Thanks to that, NewBulBaek was going into release prep.
After Grandma’s approval, they immediately began preparations based on that recipe; I heard company staff were working busily every day to release it before the broadcast buzz died.
Kim Deoksun [So many customersㅎah]
Kim Deoksun [@#$%]
Thanks to NewBulBaek’s effect, my grandmother’s restaurant was packed.
I gently suggested she take a break and travel, but she said she wanted to keep working.
I expected that—her shop was like the foundation she’d nurtured for decades.
While sending her a selfie.
“It’s officially break time now.”
“Waaah—!”
“Just one hour. One hour.”
When Biju said that, we cheered, free at last from practice for a moment.
A dreamlike break.
“Shall we get ready?”
The youngest pressed the remote, and the wheeled TV in the corner of the practice room rolled over with a whirr.
It was a gift from the CEO after the Jungpyeong Rest Area incident.
The TV turned on to the TBC channel.
We planned to use our break to monitor Episode 7 of Our Family Is Alien, which I appeared in.
“Waaaah~”
As we ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) sprawled out watching.
“Hmm...?”
One message I hadn’t checked caught my eye.
It was labeled “logo draft,” apparently a product logo design for NewBulBaek.
“NewBulBaek logo probably came out?”
“Seriously?”
As my brothers’ eyes lit up rolling toward me.
When I opened the logo image file on my phone, laughter erupted.
“...!”
NEWBULBAEK in Gothic font.
And behind our beaming cartoon selves, Ms Kim Deoksun spread her arms like a great demon king.
