In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 87

An Ambitious Moment.

When Woojoo asked the two people who came to his studio to watch his acting, they did so with a light heart.

“Um, I’ll show you first.”

He stood in the middle of the studio with an awkward expression.

Bijoo smiled quietly.

He was amazed to see his brother, who flew on the stage, being nervous because of an advertisement acting.

‘…Huh?’

The atmosphere suddenly changed.

The one who was scratching his cheek sheepishly just a moment ago disappeared, and there was someone else in his place.

He had the same face, but his expression was different.

He had a confident, if not arrogant, look.

Not only his face, but also his detailed movements were different from the Seon Woojoo Bijoo usually knew.

He moved leisurely.

He minimized his body movements, as those with high dignity did.

He was good at dancing, so he felt the difference in his gestures more than anyone else.

“Who is that guy, Oppa?” Daisy asked with a thud, but Bijoo had nothing to say.

He saw him for the first time too.

When his head was complicated, Woojoo walked towards the studio wall with a relaxed step.

Then, he stopped upright.

“Hello.”

A pleasant low voice.

Woojoo’s tone was a little lower than usual, but it didn’t sound awkward.

“Are you the transfer student?”

As if he was in a situational play, Woojoo continued his lines towards the air. Naturally, without being embarrassed or anything.

His soft voice carried on the conversation with the transfer student.

Bijoo picked up the advertisement script that was lying on the corner of the sofa.

He carefully recited the lines in his mind, being careful not to tear the worn-out paper end.

“Is this your first time at our school?”

-Yeah, hello.

“What did you come to this school for? Magic? Potion making? Or…”

As he read the dialogue, Bijoo couldn’t help but stick out his tongue.

He didn’t know if he practiced considering the time for the other person to speak, but it was flowing like a real conversation.

Daisy, who had peeked her head in, soon realized the situation and made a strange expression.

Bijoo stared blankly at the person in front of him.

‘…What is this.’

He always thought he was a versatile brother, but he still thought he had some limits.

He thought he would have something he couldn’t do, at least.

And since he recently heard from his own mouth that he ‘got a not bad review for his acting in TJ days’, he thought acting was an exception.

‘I got scammed again.’

A bitter laugh came out.

As expected.

He shouldn’t believe him when he said he couldn’t do something.

“Uh?”

He realized that the two were looking at him with weird faces, and Woojoo’s acting stopped.

Everything went back to normal.

His arrogant expression turned into a relaxed face.

His leisurely steps became light.

His gestures, which imitated someone else, changed flexibly.

When they felt the air of the studio return to normal, Woojoo asked, “Why are you like that?”

Why are you like that?

That was the question they wanted to ask him.

***

“Didn’t you hear that you have talent for acting?”

Daisy asked him as he locked the studio door and came out.

Bijoo nodded his head too.

“Hyung, did you really never learn acting?”

Why were they like this?

“Yes, I heard that I have talent for the first time today. And to answer your question, Bijoo, I learned it once.”

“What did he say?”

“Why didn’t they stop you from becoming an idol?”

“You two get along so well.”

“Answer me first.”

“Hyung, are you asking me seriously?”

Woojoo was about to go outside, but two kids blocked his way.

He laughed.

“No.” He said, after gulping down some water, “What did I do in there that made you both react like that?”

Daisy asked, squinting her eyes, “Are you really asking because you don’t know?”

“Yes.”

“You said it was awkward and you couldn’t do it.”

“It was awkward and I couldn’t do it.”

To be honest, he didn’t know what he did so well.

He just applied what he had learned from imitating various actions.

Did it feel like acting?

It wasn’t anything special. He didn’t put any emotion into it or anything.

What was this?

Woojoo thought for a while and concluded that good was good.

“Well, I’m glad you liked it. I was worried what I would do if I couldn’t do it, but now I have one less thing to worry about when I go to the set.”

They were pounding their chests at his calm response.

That was a bit of an overreaction.

If this was a preparation for a stage like singing or dancing, he might have been very excited by this reaction, but it was just okay.

It was like, ‘Wow, that went well.’

Acting was not his interest.

After being tormented by the kids for a while, he said goodbye to Daisy, who was going back to her studio.

“By the way, I wanted to ask you something, Sunbae.”

“What is it?”

Woojoo asked for a moment of understanding from Bijoo and talked to her alone.

“Scarlet also puts their own songs in every album, right? I know you have about four songs.”

“Five, if you count the mixtape.”

“I’m curious, how do you make your own songs? For example, if you have eight bars of drums and bass, you have to add a song theme or color to it. How do you come up with that idea…”

“Oh, that?”

Daisy looked at me and tilted her head.

“Why do you ask?”

“Well, it seems like you’re asking something obvious.”

“Really?”

“Don’t you have a concept that you and the members want to do?”

Oh.

“Our sisters talk about it together. Let’s go for a cool look with suits this time. Let’s go for a fierce one. Or, I want to be a princess this time. We talk about what we want to do like that.”

“…”

“It’s your own song, right? We’re making it together, so you can do whatever you want.”

Woojoo felt a sudden blankness in his head.

Was he stupid?

That was such an obvious answer.

If the members had any concepts they wanted to try, they could just work on them.

Woojoo felt embarrassed when he thought about how he had been talking about their musical color and pretending to be Beethoven for an hour.

Woojoo smiled and thanked her who was looking at him with a blank expression.

“Thank you. You helped me a lot.”

“If you’re grateful, let go of my words. Oppa.”

“I’ll do that next time we meet.”

Daisy chuckled and closed the door.

Woojoo watched her sit at the studio table and turn on her laptop, and she approached Bijoo who was waiting at the end of the hallway.

“What did you two talk about, Hyung?”

“We have a theme for the B-side track for our second album, right? I asked her for some advice on that.”

“Did Daisy Sunbae say anything weird?”

“She just said that since it’s our own song, we should do what we want.”

They both went down the stairs.

“Bijoo, do you have any concept you want to try?”

“Um… Ah! I do!”

This was the first time Woojoo saw him smile so brightly in a while.

Bijoo took out his phone and showed him a video.

“It’s a video of American dancers. They did a sword dance with motion capture from an animated movie. It's upbeat music, and they all dance together like this, da-da-da, matching every move perfectly. Like this, in sync…”

“Bijoo.”

“…Rihyuk would have a hard time, right?”

“He’d die.” Woojoo narrowed his eyes and said, “And he wouldn’t die easily. He’d kill us all first before he goes.”

“But we’d still go together.”

“Bijoo, don’t make a satisfied face when you hear this. Hyung is scared.”

“I don’t care where I go. As long as we’re together.”

“No, we’re talking about the underworld right now.”

“Oh, I was distracted and heard it wrong.” Bijoo nodded and said, “Let’s live long, Hyung.”

“Sometimes I understand why you’re friends with Junghyun.”

Bijoo glanced at him.

It was a casual look, but it was the best eye roll he could express.

They laughed and left the company.

“Let’s go home, Hyung.”

“Yeah.”

Woojoo was about to end the day on a good note, when Bijoo suddenly remembered something he had forgotten and exclaimed, “Hyung, what was that about 100,000 won?”

***

The next day. Practice room.

They realized why those two were praised so much for their acting.

“They really stand out.”

As everyone gathered around the smartphone, Rihyuk said, “I thought Wang Jiho and they were filming a drama.”

“Wow, they’re really good.”

“Right? I told you Woojoo Hyung was good, but you guys didn’t believe me.”

Bijoo had a very proud expression on his face.

The video they were watching together was their first script-reading recording.

They had to monitor how they looked on camera, so they recorded it with their smartphone.

They made faces as they watched themselves.

They teased and laughed at each other.

In the midst of the cheerful atmosphere, the focus was on Woojoo’s acting.

Every time Woojoo appeared, Junghyun gasped in awe. Rihyuk looked at him as if he was annoyed and changed his exclamation to wow.

Of course, there was a difference in degree, but everyone had their eyes wide open.

When they did the reading practice earlier, they blinked their eyes a lot and Woojoo wondered why, but he understood when he saw himself on the screen.

He looked convincing.

He didn’t know how good his talent for acting was.

He never tried it seriously.

But the expressions and movements that he acquired through his ability made up for his lack of acting skills.

The perfect expression, movement, and voice for the role made him look like a great actor to anyone.

That was why he felt a bit uncomfortable with their admiring reactions.

He felt like he would be exposed if he tried emotional acting.

“Wow, this is amazing even if I watch it again. Junghyun Hyung, can you rewind it a bit?”

“Here?”

“That’s so amazing. How did you make that expression? Can you do it, Hyung?”

“Junghyun, stop it.”

“But Woojoo Hyung, you said you never learned acting?”

Woojoo answered awkwardly to the question that came back to him.

“I didn’t.”

Woojoo winked at the siblings who were admiring him without any tact.

Everyone seemed to understand what he meant, except for Junghyun.

The target he glanced at was the youngest, who was lying on his lap and staring at the scene on the screen.

Woojoo couldn’t see his expression from his angle.

But he could tell by his sly neck, or his arms and legs that were exposed outside his short sleeves, how his muscles were moving.

He pretended to be relaxed, but he was tense inside.

This was trouble.

Every time they praised Woojoo, he felt the head on his knee getting heavier.

He was already saying, ‘I’m better at acting than you guys!’ and if they kept praising him, what would he become?

He had been learning for three years, and they were praising someone who had never learned.

Bijoo and Rihyuk seemed to notice his intention and changed the topic.

“Ah, I hate to admit it, but Wang Jiho is really good. Hey, why are you so good?”

Woojoo nodded to Rihyuk, who asked him how he was.

“But I guess Jiho is the most noticeable because he has acting experience. His diction and vocalization are the best.”

Woojoo nodded to Bijoo as well.

“He’s good, I think I’ll download and watch his drama when it comes out.”

The last one was Junghyun.

He spoke as he felt, because he couldn’t lie, and Jiho was the only one who reacted positively.

When they belatedly realized the youngest’s mood and were restless.

“Wow, this is so fun.”

The youngest got up from his seat with a chuckle.

“We all did well. Rihyuk Hyung is really bad, though.”

“Hey, Wang Jiho.”

“And I was scammed by you, Hyung.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you said you couldn’t act and acted weak. But you’re really good even though you never learned.”

“It was easy because the lines were simple. I wouldn’t have a chance if I had to do emotional acting.”

“I don’t know, I got scammed.”

Everyone was relieved to see the youngest member return as usual, but Woojoo was the only one scratching his cheek.

Something seemed off about him.

He would have preferred if he acted annoyed like he always did when he teased him.

But this was too unexpected.

He was a person full of desire for his own things.

He thought he was the best, and he wanted to make a career out of the field he chose. How would he feel if someone who had never learned anything suddenly entered that field?

He would have been upset.

“What’s wrong, Hyung?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

Woojoo felt uneasy seeing him smile like that.

***

The problem occurred during the acting lesson.

The teacher who claimed to be teaching Jiho just watched them silently as they read the script.

And as soon as they finished, she gave him an ambiguous expression as if asking him how it was.

“Jiho.”

“Yes?”

“Your acting today seemed a bit too forceful. Did you have a reason for that?”

“…No.”

He answered in a flat voice, and the teacher’s gaze turned to Woojoo.

Please.

Woojoo hoped she wouldn’t say anything weird.

“What was your name again?”

“Woojoo, teacher.”

“You did well. You could have gone into acting with that level.”

“…Thank you.”

“Did you really never learn anywhere? I heard it was the first time.”

She then bombarded Woojoo with various questions for five minutes, and he felt like dying since he could see the youngest member right across from him.

But Woojoo was relieved that there was nothing problematic until then.

The acting teacher narrowed her eyes as she looked at the advertisement concept.

“Did you guys divide the roles among yourselves?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Hmm…”

She muttered with a subtle expression.

“I think you chose the wrong lead for this.”

Woojoo panicked and swallowed a gasp.

No.

How could she say that when her own student was right next to her?

If words had shape, he would have shoved them back into the teacher’s mouth, but they had already reached the youngest member’s ears.

When Woojoo turned his head.

The face of the youngest member, who had been cheerful all day, was cracked.

New Black’s dorm.

After the lesson was over, Jiho had to endure a whole day of being surrounded by his Hyungs, who alternated between scolding him for being a bad student and praising him for being the best maknae, every minute.

A night of ambition.

Wang Jiho lifted the curtain and gazed at the full moon. He bathed in the moonlight and fell into a deep thought.

One thought led to another.

And when his thoughts reached a certain point, Jiho put on his tracksuit pants and grabbed his phone, then tiptoed downstairs.

Soon, the door of the dorm closed quietly behind him.

At that moment.

“What the hell.”

His four Hyungs, who were pretending to be asleep, got up at the same time.

“Where is he going?”

***

“Were you awake?”

“What about you, Hyung?”

“None of us slept.”

“No, I saw him pretending to sleep earlier.”

They had been sleeping in the same room for almost six months, so they could tell whether he was really sleeping or faking it without looking.

They all seemed to be worried about what happened earlier, so they just watched him silently.

Rihyuk changed his pants.

“This crazy bastard… Does he not know how scary the world is and ran away!”

“He didn’t run away,” Woojoo said. “He’s too timid to go anywhere.”

“Hyung, I think we should go out and look for him anyway.”

“I was going to do that. Junghyun, you’ve been around the dorm a lot with him, right? Do you know any places he might go?”

“There are a few places, yeah.”

They all grabbed their clothes and ran out of the dorm.

But as they were going down the stairs, they had to stop.

Jiho was sitting on the stairs in front of the first-floor entrance.

They heard him sniffle.

Judging by his breathing and how he rubbed his eyes with his arm, he seemed to be crying.

Woojoo’s heart felt a pang.

Gulp-

Suddenly, they heard a sound and turned their heads.

What was that?

As they were all looking at each other from behind, they heard Jiho cry again.

And then.

Gulp-

We tilted our heads a little and saw what made that sound.

Their maknae was crying and eating convenience store tteokbokki.