Chapter 1125: Welcome to Alaska (11)

Around the same time...

Souffles in Korea were following the latest news from overseas.

NewBlack Joins American Fans in Alaska Earthquake Recovery Effort

"A Positive Influence"—NewBlack's Work at the Alaska Disaster Site Draws Attention

[World News] NewBlack Participates in Alaska Earthquake Relief...

Every new photo that appeared brought a smile to their faces.

Pictures of NewBlack carrying supplies alongside American Souffles.

Pictures of everyone taking a break together over cups of hot cocoa.

The boys are really doing something wonderful.

The public reaction wasn't much different from the fans'.

They're genuinely good people...

They're younger than me, but they're more mature than I am.

They're already successful, but I hope they become even bigger. 😭

If it were me, I would've flown straight back to Korea. They're incredible.

Reading comments like those, the Souffles took a deep breath and mentally prepared themselves.

About now... the idiots should start showing up.

Sure enough, critical comments about NewBlack were already accumulating with nearly equal numbers of upvotes and downvotes.

Try doing this much in Korea first.

So when disasters happen in Korea, they just donate money, but in America they actually volunteer? Pretty obvious what they're after. lol

There are hungry kids in Korea too, you know.

Korea's national idols... volunteering in America.

People were criticizing them for volunteering overseas instead of at home.

The Souffles immediately felt their tempers flare.

These people didn't even read the article...

NewBlack had personally experienced the earthquake in Alaska.

That was precisely why they'd stayed behind to help.

Yet people were twisting it into "Well, what have they done the rest of the time?"

It was exhausting.

Still...

They decided to let it go.

There had always been people like that online.

...Better to focus on the good things.

With that resolve, the Souffles returned to browsing the volunteer photos, letting themselves be comforted.

Seeing the American fanbase working harder than anyone alongside NewBlack naturally filled them with pride.

Well done, Cloud Division.

For some reason, they couldn't help feeling proud.

We're doing something truly meaningful.

Way to go, Cloud Division!! 😭😭😭😭

Seriously legendary that they all rushed over the moment they heard.

Even the city officials said they've never seen volunteers this organized or this efficient.

Western physiques really are something... Look at the stamina those Cloud Division members have.

The fans smiled contentedly, thinking, Our people are amazing.

Then...

A new post appeared.

[Alaska Souffle Volunteer Controversy.jpg]

Their hearts immediately sank.

Wh-what happened?

Please don't tell me someone did something stupid...

You guys didn't do anything weird, right??

Maybe they'd spent the whole day chasing NewBlack around instead of working.

Maybe they'd been littering everywhere.

After imagining every possible disaster, the Souffles cautiously opened the post.

Then they burst out laughing.

It was a GIF from a Korean television news broadcast featuring an interview with the Mayor of Anchorage.

Margaret Muller | Mayor of Anchorage

"They're incredibly passionate and energetic. They eat three times as much as everyone else... and they work three times faster."

Behind her, the footage showed members of the Cloud Division absolutely demolishing their meals.

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOO

"These young ladies eat THREE SERVINGS!!"

Is that efficient... or not...? 😂😭

Well... as long as they finished quickly...

Wait, they each ate THREE burgers that size??

Which would you pick? A yellow ox that eats once and works all day, or a black ox that eats three times as much and works three times as hard?

No... this is such a weird calculation. 😂

Soon people everywhere were debating the issue.

Feeling just a little embarrassed, the Korean Souffles stared silently into the distance.

...Maybe I'll eat a little less today.

It became one of those days that made people reflect on themselves.

Sweat rolled down my jaw.

Wiping it away with my sleeve, I took off my safety goggles and helmet.

“All finished, ma'am.”

“Oh!”

Mrs. Louise looked at the repaired wall with delight.

She kept shaking my hand, her eyes shimmering with tears.

“Thank you so much. I was so worried. My husband's away, so...”

I smiled softly.

Then crouched down to greet her seven-year-old daughter.

“So? Doesn't your house look nice again?”

“Yes.”

“Listen to your mom, and study hard.”

“Yes.”

The little girl shyly twisted back and forth.

Chuckling, I gently tapped her forehead before standing up.

“Well then, I'll be going.”

“Already? At least have some coffee... Oh! I have cookies. Would you like to take some?”

“I'd love to. Thank you.”

I bowed politely.

Mrs. Louise clasped her hands together gratefully.

With a large bag of cookies tucked under my arm, I stepped outside.

Junghyun had just finished at the neighboring house.

He and the Souffles waved.

“Junghyun. Want a cookie?”

“Yes.”

I tossed one like a boomerang.

Snap.

Junghyun caught it perfectly in his mouth.

Watching that, the Souffles all opened their mouths like baby birds, waiting expectantly.

“Souffles, just eat them normally. Only Junghyun can do that.”

“Aww...”

We munched on cookies together as we walked.

Every one of us looked like a mess.

Paint stained our pants.

None of us had washed our hair, so it had become fluffy and unruly beneath our baseball caps.

Junghyun spoke through a mouthful of cookie.

“Americans really are lucky.”

“How so?”

“They don't wash their hair for a day, and somehow nobody can tell... If I skip one day, it's completely obvious.”

I actually agreed.

When Americans skipped washing their hair, it somehow looked naturally styled.

Like perfectly applied hair wax.

Meanwhile...

We had no such luck.

Hence the baseball caps.

Once we finished our work, we climbed into the work truck and headed back to headquarters.

Rumble...

The truck bounced over the uneven road.

I sat there absentmindedly.

Not the unpleasant kind of absentmindedness.

The pleasant kind.

The kind where all unnecessary thoughts quietly disappeared.

Instead, my head filled with sounds.

Souffles chatting.

Junghyun quietly humming.

The truck radio.

Birdsong.

Children laughing somewhere along the roadside.

All those sounds gradually blended together.

Something stirred inside me.

...

The melody I'd begun while watching the aurora slowly gained more and more flesh.

The sight of smiling Souffles.

The bustling recovery sites.

Watching them, I suddenly realized what this new song wanted to be about.

“Youth...”

“Hm?”

“I was thinking about the theme of the new song. I kept thinking about beauty... and then the word youth suddenly came to me. Something lively. Fresh. Even if the sky becomes cloudy sometimes... clear skies always return.”

“Hmm...”

Junghyun tilted his head thoughtfully.

“I like it.”

“Youth.”

Now that I'd found the theme...

The song suddenly became much clearer.

The magical beauty I'd witnessed beneath the aurora.

For some reason...

I was seeing that same magic here.

People who hadn't even known each other's names a few days ago...

Working together.

Becoming friends.

Creating something miraculous.

Collapsed walls standing once more.

Warm meals reaching hungry people.

Dirty streets becoming spotless.

Smiles blooming across faces that had been filled with worry.

“You get what I mean, right, Junghyun? Not youth as an age... but youth as a state of being.”

“Mmm...”

“I don't think I do.”

“There's just... a feeling.”

I tried to explain.

Then gave up.

Words weren't the right medium.

After all...

A singer expressed feelings through songs, not speeches.

By the time I'd finished arranging the melody inside my head, we'd reached headquarters.

“Hyung.”

The youngest was waiting for me.

He held out a flowerpot containing a beautiful little plant.

His innocent eyes blinked expectantly.

“Thanks.”

“What concept are you doing today?”

“WALL·E.”

I immediately copied EVE's dance.

Jiho spun around with me.

Everyone nearby burst into laughter.

After our little dance, I spotted Ri Hyuk sitting at a table, quietly sipping coffee.

“How's everything going?”

“A few inventory numbers don't match...”

“It's really bothering me.”

“How far off?”

“Three or four items.”

“I'd call that an acceptable margin of error.”

I patted the shoulder of our meticulous oldest member before finding Biju, completely exhausted.

“You holding up?”

“Yeees... I'm fiiine...”

He looked completely drained.

Not surprising.

He'd spent the entire day stirring enormous pots of soup with oversized ladles.

As we sat around headquarters talking about our day...

Alex Corbin arrived together with one of the city officials.

“Dinner.”

“Woooooo!”

Everyone eagerly accepted giant hamburger meal sets.

A famous local Anchorage burger restaurant had donated meals for all the volunteers.

Caramelized onions.

Juicy patties.

Several kinds of perfectly melted cheese.

The result was...

Salty.

Still salty today.

As we enjoyed our delicious—but undeniably salty—burgers, the city official smiled.

“We have good news.”

“What is it?”

“The recovery effort should be finished tomorrow.”

“...In three days?”

We'd cut the original estimate in half.

“Thanks to all of you—and your fans.”

The official paused.

“So we'd like to do something for you in return...”

He scratched his head.

“The mayor told us to grant any reasonable request NewBlack might have.”

“Hmm...”

We exchanged glances.

Truthfully...

There was only one thing we wanted.

“There is something.”

“Yes?”

I smiled.

“Would you happen to be interested...”

Our eyes sparkled.

“...in holding a small festival?”

The following day.

The planes descending from the direction of the Arctic Ocean gradually lowered their altitude.

Inside them, passengers in every imaginable style of dress typed busily on their laptops.

This is going to make a great story.

They were journalists.

Reporters from the Associated Press, CNN, BBC, independent media...

Every one of them had NewBlack's photo open on their screens.

Global Pop Stars Volunteer Alongside Their Fans

At first...

It hadn't seemed like much of a story.

Hollywood celebrities volunteered all the time.

Documentaries about the Amazon rainforest.

Wildfire relief in Hawaii.

Building schools in Africa.

NewBlack volunteering in Alaska initially looked like that sort of news.

Then...

"Did you see this? Six hundred NewBlack fans volunteered alongside them."

"...What?"

Twelve thousand applications.

Six hundred accepted.

An entire fandom volunteering simply because their favorite artists asked.

Nobody had seen anything quite like it.

And the videos spreading across social media proved it wasn't just for publicity.

Ordinary residents were uploading clips showing NewBlack repairing their homes.

"Wooju! Wooju! Could you wave over here?"

"Of course."

Videos of Wooju politely greeting people in his construction helmet.

Biju serving food.

Jiho trudging through the streets looking exhausted while cleaning.

In the evenings...

All five members sitting on random staircases quietly eating hamburgers together.

The more footage appeared...

The more fascinated the journalists became.

This is a story.

Human stories always resonated most deeply.

Especially when the protagonists happened to be the hottest musical act in the world thanks to Overcooked.

“This should be interesting.”

Smiling, they landed at Anchorage Airport.

After grabbing their equipment, they split into groups.

“Let's start by documenting the damage.”

“We should interview residents too.”

“Maybe head for the outskirts first?”

“I think downtown first.”

But once they arrived...

Every reporter looked bewildered.

“Huh?”

“Wait...?”

It didn't matter where they went.

Although traces of the earthquake remained...

The streets looked astonishingly clean.

One reporter stopped a passerby.

“Excuse me. May I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“I heard this area suffered earthquake damage. Was this neighborhood spared? Oh—I should mention I'm a reporter.”

“Oh, there was definitely damage.”

The man pointed around.

“That shop over there was completely wrecked.”

“There were broken windows.”

“That wall cracked.”

“I see...”

“But now...?”

“NewBlack's fans repaired it.”

“...”

“They worked incredibly hard.”

“Wonderful young ladies.”

The journalists simply stared.

It's already finished?

Wait... weren't we supposed to be covering an active disaster site?

They'd come expecting dramatic recovery photos.

Instead...

The recovery was practically over.

Seeing their defeated expressions, the passerby chuckled.

“If you're looking for a story, why not head to the downtown plaza?”

“Why?”

“They're holding a festival today.”

“A festival?”

“To celebrate the recovery.”

“Everyone wanted to lift people's spirits.”

“Honestly, everyone's really excited.”

Now that he mentioned it...

People really did look unusually cheerful.

“What kind of festival?”

“Not sure.”

“I think NewBlack and their fans are celebrating together.”

“My wife and I are planning to go later.”

The reporters regrouped.

“A festival?”

“Let's check it out.”

Soon...

Most of the scattered journalists had gathered downtown.

The plaza.

The moment they arrived...

They stopped in surprise.

It really is a festival.

Not a professionally organized one.

Something much more homemade.

Old Independence Day decorations.

Handmade signs.

A wonderfully improvised atmosphere.

“Oh...”

Yet somehow...

That made it even better.

People laughed while tending barbecue grills.

Some ate together.

Others finished eating before returning to decorate.

A hand-painted banner fluttered overhead.

WELCOME TO THE FESTIVAL

The crowd erupted into cheers.

Even the photographers found themselves smiling.

The happiness was strangely contagious.

NewBlack songs drifted through the air in Korean while reporters interviewed the attendees.

“Me? I'm a Souffle. We're helping decorate before tonight's festival. It feels like Christmas came early!”

“Between the earthquake and winter coming... everyone's spirits had been pretty low. This is exactly what we needed. I came with my wife and two sons.”

Everyone looked genuinely excited.

The recovery had taken only three days.

People laughed as though finally releasing all the stress they'd been carrying.

Others handed out free snacks.

Still others decorated simply because they wanted to.

Watching it all...

The journalists smiled.

This might actually be the better story.

One reporter working on a feature article began typing.

It's difficult to believe an earthquake struck Anchorage only a few days ago. The city is overflowing with energy. Everywhere people speak, laughter follows. And at the center of it all...

Tap.

Tap.

...is NewBlack.

In the distance...

The five members laughed together among the citizens.

The atmosphere truly felt like Christmas had arrived months early.

They are, in many ways, Christmas made human. Overflowing with affection, passion, kindness, and devotion. Wherever they go, smiles follow.

By then...

Even the journalists had put aside their work long enough to help prepare for the festival.

It's been ages since I've enjoyed something like this.

Yeah... I needed this.

People exhausted by the pace of big-city life found themselves unexpectedly healed.

Finally...

As the preparations ended...

The sun went down.

The festival began.

Holding sausages grilled by local chefs in one hand...

Laptops balanced on their knees...

The reporters watched the lights illuminate the small stage.

The citizens of Anchorage and NewBlack's fans erupted into cheers.

“Woooooo!”

“NewBlack! NewBlack!”

Wooju and the others walked onto the stage, waving.

No makeup.

Just thick winter parkas.

They looked exactly like five young men who had simply finished a hard day's work.

That only made them more likable.

Watching NewBlack warmly joke with the audience, the reporters continued typing.

On stage, NewBlack appeared much as they always did, greeting the audience with warm smiles and gentle eyes...

Then...

Harmony filled the air.

The five members who had been laughing moments earlier now faced one another with utterly serious expressions.

They began to sing.

The reporters froze.

Their hands stopped above their keyboards.

Then...

They began typing again.

Across countless laptops, nearly identical words appeared.

But the moment the performance began, NewBlack seemed to become people from an entirely different world. They were...

The breathtaking harmonies of a song composed by a genius washed over them.

And at last...

The reporters found exactly the words they had been searching for.

...nothing less than brilliantly shining stars.