Chapter 30 – Billboard, Dynamite, Butter

The host announced the answer.

“The answer is… Number 2, Jeongyakyong-myeon! Checking the correct answerers!”

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep—

At that moment, the lights that had been on at the seats of the participants who got the wrong answer among the 100 seats turned off in quick succession.

“What a pity, more people were eliminated than I thought. But there is a chance for a wild card round later, so please wait a moment!”

The host shared light interviews with a few participants according to the prepared script. And finally, the camera turned toward Geum Nae-yeong.

“The hottest figure online these days! It is Attorney Geum Nae-yeong.”

Geum Nae-yeong, caught by the camera, slightly bowed his head to greet instead of speaking.

“Wow, you are an attorney, yet you are so handsome. Who do you look like?”

Geum Nae-yeong calmly answered the response written in the script, written by the broadcasters.

“My face resembles my mother, and my brilliance resembles my father…”

“Haha, you resemble your mother in appearance. Your mother must be a great beauty. Let’s see how many rounds you go today!”

The announcer wittily handled Geum Nae-yeong’s answer, and the PD nodded.

‘We just need to capture his face well for the thumbnail. That attorney indeed has a good mask.’

The questions continued after that.

“Who is the scholar who discovered the principle of buoyancy in a bathtub and shouted ‘Eureka!’?

Number 1, Archimedes. Number 2, Plato…”

Even before the host finished the explanation of the question, Geum Nae-yeong pressed the correct answer button without hesitation.

Having pressed the answer first, he confidently crossed his arms.

Then, looking around, he tilted his head toward the participants who were agonizing over the answer. His expression was as if to say, ‘What on earth are they worrying about so much?’

At that moment, the camera closed in on Geum Nae-yeong’s face.

His calm smile was shown fully on the screen.

‘It is not difficult. A quiz program is much easier than the morning broadcast.’

The announcer’s quiz progression continued.

“Which celestial body is assumed to have a black hole in our galaxy?

1. Orion C-1. 2. Scorpius X-1. 3. Cygnus X-1…”

As the questions accumulated, people’s expressions gradually changed to trouble. As the difficulty of the questions rose, the people around Geum Nae-yeong’s seat also seemed to worry for a long time.

But this time too, Geum Nae-yeong pressed the answer button first without worry.

Just then, right next to Geum Nae-yeong. A male comedian sitting in seat number 24 glanced at Geum Nae-yeong’s button. It seemed he could not figure out the answer no matter how much he thought.

At this, Geum Nae-yeong immediately stretched out his hand and covered the button with his sleeve.

“Cheating is not allowed.”

At Geum Nae-yeong’s serious attitude, the embarrassed comedian tightly closed his eyes and picked an answer.

And he picked the wrong answer there and was eliminated.

At the point where about 30 people out of 100 remained,

Question 8, which Geum Nae-yeong did not expect, appeared.

“Now, we will give you a slightly relaxing question. It is music.”

‘If it’s music, I have mastered everything from symphonies to jazz.’

Geum Nae-yeong listened with a confident attitude.

A cheerful song flowed in the quiet studio.

“Beyond the cloud moving outside the far fence, it must be a star that no one knows…♪

I’ll be there… with my full heart, crossing this boundary…♪”

“The song you just heard is a part of singer Younha’s song. It is a song containing a message to step forward courageously, compared to a cloud where the outer space probe Voyager, launched by NASA in 1977, is expected to pass.

What is the title of this song?

1. Cumulus Cloud. 2. Aurora Cloud. 3. Oort Cloud…”

“Ah? A popular song…?”

At that time, the people in the Teum law office sat gathered in front of the consultation room TV to watch the scene where Geum Nae-yeong appeared, forgetting to leave work.

When singer Younha’s song flowed out, Office Director Yeom muttered.

“Gosh, this is ruined… How would Attorney Geum know this song? He is a person who has no interest in popular songs or trends. He can’t even use a phone chance right now, right? Oh. Let’s just order chicken and eat.

Ha-yul, do you want to eat chicken? I will order it for you.”

Manager Kim Mi-young also tilted her head.

“Indeed. I also don’t know what song it is… Ha-yul, do you know? This song.”

“Huh? I don’t know either. I know IU though…”

Meanwhile, in the studio, the song just ended.

The live broadcast screen captured Attorney Geum Nae-yeong frowning.

Geum Nae-yeong thought for a moment, then pressed the button without hesitation.

“Now, let’s verify the correct answer. The answer is… Number 3, Oort Cloud!”

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep—

In an instant, the lights at the seats of the eliminated participants turned off all at once.

And only 7 participants remained in the darkness.

The studio was stirred with a mixture of tension and cheering.

Directives for an interview with the correct answerer were given to the announcer. When Geum Nae-yeong, whom he thought would get it wrong, got the correct answer, he spoke to Geum Nae-yeong first.

“Attorney Geum Nae-yeong! I thought attorneys would not know popular songs well. But you got the correct answer. Are you usually a fan of Younha?”

“No. I only listen to classical music. And I enjoy listening to the music of Kang Han-na, who is a cellist and conductor.”

“Haha. I see. Usually, people would have said they are a fan even as a blank word in times like this, but your honesty is truly the best. Hahahahaha…”

“…..”

“Yes. Then how did you get this question right? Did you know this song?”

“No. I knew it by seeing the keywords ‘1977,’ ‘NASA,’ ‘Voyager,’ and ‘cloud.’ The Oort Cloud is a hypothetical group of celestial bodies surrounding the solar system like a shell.”

“Wow, you know it precisely!”

Afterward, the questions continued, and now the only people left were today’s main character Seo Yoon-woo, Geum Nae-yeong, and a psychology professor who recently became famous on YouTube.

“Here is the question. The minimum radius for an object to become a black hole is called the Schwarzschild radius.

Then, if the Earth becomes a black hole, what would its radius be?”

1. 1cm. 2. 1.5cm. 3. 1.8cm. 4. 1.9cm.

When the options ended, actor Seo Yoon-woo tilted his head with a smile as if he did not know well.

The psychology professor also shook his head with a face showing he could not get a feel for it at all, perhaps realizing that this question was just to guess or to eliminate people.

At that moment, Geum Nae-yeong pulled out a pen and a notepad from his inner chest pocket and began to calculate something diligently.

“Now, everyone pressed the answer, right? Let’s check it now.”

Ha-yul, who was watching the broadcast, shouted.

“Huh? Oppa Geum Nae-yeong hasn’t pressed the answer yet?”

“Why isn’t he pressing? As expected of a humanities major, is a science question difficult for him?”

At Office Director Yeom’s words, Attorney Seong Seok-ju spoke as if taking his side.

“It is not difficult, but if it has been a long time since one learned it, one could forget.”

“Then isn’t he going to be eliminated? Here.”

The office was also stirred, and the broadcast comment window also went wild.

└ Why do you give such a question to make it hard for our Yoon-woo?

└ Why do you give a question that even an attorney can’t solve, broadcaster bastards.

└ Hey PD, you also don’t know the answer, right?

└ No winner this week, sigh.

And soon, the announcer announced the correct answer.

“The answer is… Number 1, 1cm! Unfortunately, there is no correct answerer.”

“Ah…”

As the host spoke bitterly, a short sigh flowed in the studio.

“We did not have a winner eventually this week. Well, Yoon-woo. Please tell us your impressions.”

Actor Seo Yoon-woo, who received the microphone, smiled brightly and spoke.

“It was a really fun and new experience today, and our drama on Friday nights at 8:00 PM…”

At that moment—

Behind the actor who was speaking his impressions, the scene of Geum Nae-yeong holding a white paper in both hands and waving it was captured by the camera.

Something was written densely on the paper.

‘What is that person doing?’

The cameraman informed the PD, and the PD directed the host through the intercom.

‘Announcer Kim, you need to interview Geum Nae-yeong. He was caught on screen behind Yoon-woo, so we can’t skip him.’

“Attorney Geum Nae-yeong? You are holding something right now…”

When the microphone was turned on, Geum Nae-yeong replied.

“The answer to the question is incorrect. The Schwarzschild radius formula, Rs, is 2GM divided by c squared.

If you substitute the mass of the Earth, the gravitational constant, and the speed of light here… the numerator is 7.97 times 10 to the 14th power, and the denominator is 8.99 times 10 to the 16th power. Therefore, the result is about 8.87 times 10 to the minus 3rd power meters. That is, 0.89 centimeters.”

Waved by Geum Nae-yeong, the calculation of the Schwarzschild radius formula was written on the paper.

Rs = 2GM / c^2

≈ 8.87×10^-3 m

≈ 0.89 cm

“Hey, writer! Verify it quickly!”

The PD’s shout rang out as a distorted sound through the intercom. The writer’s ears went numb and she hurriedly began to search.

‘Ha… it’s true. It’s 1cm as an approximation, and precisely it’s a decimal… Gosh. I’m dead later…’

A moment later, the writer’s voice flowed through the intercom.

“Precisely, it is about 0.88 to 0.89 cm.”

At the report of a dying voice, the PD quickly gave a correction directive to the announcer.

“Ah, yes. What Attorney Geum Nae-yeong said is correct. Actually, it is ‘about 1cm,’ but we had an error because we omitted ‘about.’

Therefore, we will treat everyone as correct! This is exactly the charm of a live broadcast.

Well, then please give a round of applause to everyone!”

The comment section exploded.

└ Wow, awesome! Attorney Geum Nae-yeong got it right!

└ Oh my, look at the handwriting. He writes so well too.

└ Let’s make our Yoon-woo solve questions again. Thank you Geum Nae-yeong.

└ He is a brain-sexy man, a brain-sexy man!

└ See, they give a question that even the PD can’t solve, and the attorney ends up getting it right. Quit, PD!

The broadcast, which was about to end, was resumed, and the professor and the actor were eliminated one by one in the next question.

As the office family expected, only the final survivor, Attorney Geum Nae-yeong, remained.

“Wow, Attorney Geum Nae-yeong. Your performance today is truly amazing! You became the final survivor. Please give a round of applause!”

The camera closed in on Geum Nae-yeong’s upper body.

“Now, as the final survivor, you will solve the next question. I hope an easy question comes out so that you don’t get too nervous.”

‘Hey, give an easy one first, and then go with high difficulty from the next question.’

According to the PD’s instruction, the writer passed it to the control team.

“Here is the question. Who is the 7-member boy group who became the first Korean singer to rank 1st on the Billboard ‘Hot 100’ chart, sweeping the world with ‘Dynamite,’ ‘Butter,’ and so on?”

Office Director Yeom and Office Director Ju spoke as they tore at the delivered chicken amicably.

“Wow, isn’t it completely easy? Considering the questions so far, it’s practically free, free.”

“Indeed. Is there anyone who doesn’t know BTS? They are probably thinking of giving this and then giving a difficult question next.”

Attorney Seong Seok-ju also nodded.

“After getting this right, the next question will be difficult.”

People expected he would pass it easily, but a strange current flowed in Geum Nae-yeong’s expression.

An unfamiliar emotion he had felt in almost ten years.

‘I can feel cortisol being secreted… I do not know the answer to this question for sure.

I do not know idols, and I do not listen to popular songs. I did not know something like this would come out as a question, and since I said I wouldn’t even look at the past questions… a complete calculation error.’

The camera closed in on his face.

His hesitation over which answer to press was revealed as it was.

“……Don’t tell me he doesn’t know? Really?”

“In all my life, it’s the first time I see Attorney Geum Nae-yeong hesitate.”

“He really doesn’t know? Even just walking on the street, BTS ads are visible.”

“You said you even read the newspaper!”

Geum Nae-yeong concluded firmly inside.

‘Okay, then calmly. Either say I do not know the answer, or deduce it.’

He chewed over the clues in the question.

‘Billboard… two song titles were presented.’

He desperately rummaged through the far side of his memory. Scenes flashed by.

‘If I can just find it, I can know. I definitely saw it somewhere…’

“Now! I will count to three, and then please press the answer. Are you ready?”

But because he did not read the entertainment section well, it took time to retrieve the desired article.

‘Ah… entertainment news… yes, Billboard… Dynamite…’

“3!”

‘Billboard, here it is… I need a bit more time…’

“2!”

Geum Nae-yeong shouts with one second remaining.

“I… I will use a phone chance!”

“Ah, Attorney Geum Nae-yeong? Don’t tell me you don’t know this answer? Haha… Yes, good. Then who would you like to call?”

Geum Nae-yeong picked up the cell phone provided by the broadcasting station and pressed the button.

“Ring… Ring…”

“Hello?”