Chapter 132: All-Company Workshop (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 132: All-Company Workshop (1)
It was nearly 3:00 AM.
The Spark dorm was in utter pandemonium. Everyone had their suitcases splayed out, preparing content for a "packing vlog." To an outsider, it would have looked exactly like a group of people preparing to run away from home together.
When I warned them that packing haphazardly like this would ruin the shoot and everything else, the Spark members decided to take turns packing and filming their segments.
"Considering the time allotted per group, we won't need that much footage. Let's film three people at a time, based on your roommates."
"Should we start with our room?"
"Sure. Seong-bin, you check if Gi-yeon and Ju-woo have decent bags first."
A moment later, after being told they were ready, I headed to Jeong Seong-bin’s room with a camcorder.
Three suitcases were squeezed onto the narrow floor.
One of them stood out remarkably.
It was a neon green suitcase covered in cute character stickers.
"Whose... 'unique' suitcase is that?"
I asked, thinking it might belong to Kang Gi-yeon since he likes cartoons, but to my surprise, it was Jeong Seong-bin’s. Apparently, he had borrowed it from Jeong Seong-jun again. At this point, I wondered if Seong-jun had any household goods left in his own home.
"What have you packed so far?"
"Extra clothes and toiletries. Do we pack our own pajamas? Or should we bring the group practice outfits?"
"If the dorm's AC is centrally controlled, it might get cold. Pack one set of short sleeves and one set of long sleeves."
At my words, Kang Gi-yeon nodded and tucked a black tracksuit and a training set into his suitcase.
"I'll take care of everyone's vitamins!"
Jeong Seong-bin meticulously packed supplements for all the members. He was so thorough even without being asked. What would these guys do without Jeong Seong-bin?
"Guys, packing is fine, but please look up. Your faces are completely backlit."
"Okay...!"
I squeezed myself into the corner of the room, trying my best to get good shots of their faces and bags.
I hoped the Idol Dynasty Annals production crew would realize how desperately I was filming this. Camera directors, hang in there.
I did a final check of the three boys' luggage.
"Gi-yeon, pack a separate heating pad. Ju-woo, put in a honey stick just in case. Seong-bin, do we have a Polaroid camera at the dorm?"
"We do. Should I bring it?"
"Yeah. I doubt we'll have much downtime to take photos, but just in case."
It’s better to be over-prepared than to be caught lacking. There’s a reason over-packers survive, you know.
On the flip side, Kang Gi-yeon took over filming for our room.
"No matter when I come in here, there’s really nothing in this room," Gi-yeon remarked.
Lee Cheong-hyeon gave a sly grin and shrugged.
"Both hyungs are minimalists. It’s great for me because I have plenty of space for my stuff."
Just as Lee Cheong-hyeon said, Choi Je-ho’s suitcase was practically empty. I wondered if he’d even packed a change of clothes.
"Are you... a one-suit gentleman?"
"I put them in the front pocket."
"All your clothes fit in there?"
Was he only bringing underwear?
Well, surely he knew what he was doing. He’s twenty-one, after all.
Wait, but shouldn't I tell him to pack a jacket just in case?
In that brief moment, I agonized dozens of times.
Then, I made a decision.
"Repack your clothes in front of me."
I decided to use the camera as an excuse to be bossy.
As expected, Choi Je-ho couldn't resist. It was worth brainwashing him to act as gentle as a newborn lamb in front of the camera.
As soon as he finished packing his clothes, Choi Je-ho hurried out of the room. When he returned, he was holding a mood lamp.
"You're packing that now?"
"Yeah. You said it's an overnight shoot."
"Then what about tonight? If you pack it now, you can't use it tonight."
"Ah."
Ah? Ah?
What on earth did Department Head Nam’s daughter see in a guy like this?
Aside from his exotic face, shoulders wider than a keyboard, inverted triangle torso, and the smooth line running from his thighs to his knees, that is.
I’ve lived with Choi Je-ho for over a year, and I still don't get it.
"Hyung, what did you pack?"
Gi-yeon asked, approaching my suitcase.
My old suitcase, given to me by the System, contained a few sets of clothes, a diary, and various skincare products.
"This is the shared toner, and this is the toner Ju-woo uses..."
"You're bringing two bottles of toner?"
"Ju-woo has sensitive skin, so he can't just use anything."
In the past, during one of our few precious outdoor shoots, Park Ju-woo used the wrong sunscreen and his skin broke out completely. So many Sparklers were heartbroken.
My finger joints almost gave out from all the retouching I had to do on those photos. I would never let anyone suffer that pain again.
"Hyung, your bag is going to be heavy. You're packing emergency medicine too, right? If there's no room, you can put it in mine!"
"Let's say Cheong-hyeon’s hand starts gushing blood right this second. Which would be faster: opening a suitcase or opening a sub-bag?"
"...I'll go get a sub-bag!"
"Good boy."
Only after making the immature Lee Cheong-hyeon pack everything from various medicines to motion sickness pills did the packing content filming finally end.
I lay down on my bed, hoping the dorm wouldn't be too far away, after confirming the footage was safely recorded on the camcorder.
The day of the workshop dawned.
I didn't have a great feeling about it. I’d been seeing things since morning.
In the upper right corner of my vision, a small number '3' was floating. No matter how much I rubbed my eyes, the number wouldn't disappear.
I wondered if it was the System's influence, but it felt different from the System I knew.
Is it an update?
Sometimes the dev team would put weird things on the homepage while updating. Since the person giving the final approval was a time-waster like Department Head Nam, it wouldn't be surprising if they made an error.
I couldn't exactly go to an eye doctor right before filming, so I decided to ignore it for now.
The weather was also insanely hot. I went to the salon and said, "Please put two layers of sunscreen on these guys!" only for the stylist to tell me, "I-wol, you should go get a tan!"
It’s because they encourage idols to tan that Lee Cheong-hyeon burns his skin to a crisp every vacation, making the fans worry and my mental state go up in flames...
I swear, if the community hadn't been flooded with positive posts the day before, I would have grilled these guys like sesame seeds.
≫ Spark was legendary today
The stage was seriously soooooo pretty...
└ Is it for real that this was a competition stage? ㅠㅠㅠ I thought it was a concert.
≫ The survival stage that felt like a fairy tale today
Was Spark’s "Starlight."
The hair, makeup, coordi + props + stage direction were perfect.
It felt like watching an MV even though it was a live stage!
└ I think the arrangement was great. The stage was pretty too.
└ I was worried because the original song is such a masterpiece, but my jaw dropped at the direction at the end.
└ I loved how they changed the theme from love for a partner to affection for a research subject ㅠ
≫ During the planning meeting, I wondered what kind of stage they were going to do.
But they did it like this hahahaha
Our babies are geniuses of geniuses, no doubt.
If you disagree, you're wrong.
Thanks to that, I had a truly enjoyable time monitoring. I even shared a few posts in the group chat. Everyone had crashed after packing, so they only checked them in the morning.
"Should we wait here?"
Jeong Seong-bin double-checked the waiting area with the camera director.
Since it wasn't a studio shoot, a tour bus from the broadcasting station was picking up teams starting from the closest one.
Because the Spark dorm was on the very outskirts of Seoul, we ended up being the last to board. It was a relief they were idols and not office workers who had to commute every day.
There must have been a delay with the previous teams, as the bus arrived 20 minutes later than scheduled. I nearly died trying to fill the airtime so there wouldn't be any gaps in the footage.
The bus we finally greeted had a large banner attached to it.
It read: '~Let's Go, Baekjung Festival~'...
Instead of calling it a unity contest, it seemed they wanted to do something befitting the name Idol Dynasty Annals for once. It was a bit early for the season, but by the time this episode aired, the dates would roughly align.
As I boarded the 45-seater bus, I saw it was almost full. Curiously, there were empty seats scattered here and there.
Wait, is there a seating chart?
Sure enough, small slips of paper were taped to the seats.
I only have two ears, but it looked like I’d have to listen to five different people making useless comments from their respective seats. I was already tired.
But if there had to be a seating chart, I’d rather sit with Parte or All-over.
Of all people, the seat next to Song Min-il was empty.
Why him? If it were Han Ga-un, we could at least talk about music.
I was cursing inwardly when someone far off raised their hand high.
"I-wol! I-wol, your seat is here!"
It was actually a member of All-over. Specifically, the member who had formed a unit with Choi Je-ho—and the member who would go to prison in the future.
For a moment, I wanted to scream that I had severe motion sickness and collapse on the floor.
The atmosphere inside the bus quickly became harmonious.
The cast members, paired up in their seats, were busy chatting about this and that.
Even that Choi Je-ho was talking to someone.
And...
"I-wol, do you want to drink this?"
"No, I'm fine. Thank you for the offer."
...Only Seo Yun-seop of All-over and I were engaged in a hellish battle of wits.
I knew that staying silent in front of the camera was a sin. I knew.
But this guy is going to get caught doing drugs, you know? And he doesn't just do it alone; he gets dragged in as a distributor for encouraging his colleagues!
I’d rather get beaten up than get tangled in an Idol Dynasty Annals drug cartel by talking to a guy like this.
It might not be the time yet, but honestly, I was even suspicious of what might be mixed in that drink. I’d rather eat hardtack without water.
"I-wol, what do you do to relieve stress?"
"I don't really get stressed."
Normally, it’s polite to ask the other person back when asked a question like that, but I wasn't going to. This guy was going to relieve his stress with drugs soon enough.
I’d already been pegged as an ill-mannered brat who didn't even greet his seniors properly, so I figured adding "spacing out in the corner of a tour bus" to my list of crimes wouldn't make much difference. I stayed still, but Seo Yun-seop spoke to me again.
"I heard Cheong-hyeon is the one who composes in Spark?"
"Yes. Cheong-hyeon is also arranging the competition songs."
"I see. That's impressive. Isn't he still quite young?"
He is impressive.
Even though he’d done music before, Lee Cheong-hyeon’s growth was remarkable. Every time others recognized this, I felt Cheong-hyeon’s genius.
Compared to those achievements, he was...
"He's very young."
A few rows ahead, I could see the top of Lee Cheong-hyeon’s head poking up. He was chatting and laughing brightly with his invisible seatmate, looking incredibly excited.
"It must be a lot of pressure to be composing at such a young age."
"Fortunately, he seems to be enjoying it for now."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
I doubted there were many idols who composed despite music not suiting them, but I only gave that brief answer because I didn't want to put in any effort. He should be grateful I was even smiling and maintaining social graces.
Despite my unenthusiastic attitude, Seo Yun-seop was quite persistent in continuing the conversation.
"Still, creation can't be easy. Inspiration isn't infinite, after all. Right?"
"Haha, I suppose so."
I’m a member of the ignorant masses who knows jack-all about creation, so I wouldn't know.
So, I’d appreciate it if you’d stop taking an interest in another group's member...
Wait.
I felt a chill down my spine.
I looked back and forth between Seo Yun-seop next to me and Lee Cheong-hyeon, who was grinning up ahead.
Then, a blind item I’d read in passing flashed through my mind.
≫ Is it true that LCH is a drug addict?
The issue that had once caused Lee Cheong-hyeon to be dropped from all his advertisements—the one that had fizzled out after he was booked by the police but tested negative.