Chapter 166: Mind Control (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 166: Mind Control (2)
After receiving help from the system, the cycle of eating and throwing up vanished completely.
I didn't feel particularly bad, nor did I find myself lost in useless thoughts. I was back to the exact state I was in when I first returned to being twenty.
‘I guess my mental state wasn’t that bad right after the regression because my memories weren’t fully intact.’
If I had returned with all those memories, I would have spent every day riddled with self-deprecation. In that sense, the system’s choice was right—as much as I hated to admit it.
Oh, there was one peculiar thing.
“Hyung, do you want to have porridge today?”
“Huh?”
During mealtime, Jeong Seong-bin had suddenly prepared porridge through the manager.
And it wasn’t like he ordered porridge for the whole group; it was just for me.
“Why porridge all of a sudden?”
“It seemed like you haven’t been able to eat much lately. Seeing as you don’t skip meals, it’s not that you don’t have an appetite, so I thought maybe heavy food just wasn’t sitting well with you.”
“What the…?”
“This one is vegetable porridge, and I also have pumpkin porridge and pine nut porridge.”
I was a bit flustered as he laid out three containers of different porridges. Seeing as there was no spicy seafood porridge in sight, it seemed he had specifically ordered things that were easy for a patient to digest.
Considering the effort he put into preparing it, I did my best to eat the vegetable porridge, which seemed the least burdensome.
‘Come to think of it, this kid is surprisingly perceptive about the strangest things.’
Just like how he noticed I was nervous when his parents visited, he really seems to look after people with great care.
In fact, Jeong Seong-bin’s "porridge therapy" helped a lot. No matter how much the system fixed my stomach issues, jumping straight back into regular meals after vomiting every time I ate might have caused trouble. But Jeong Seong-bin kept supplying me with porridge until the moment I finally asked Choi Je-ho to just toast half a slice of bread for me.
“Hyung, meeting time!”
“Coming!”
Thanks to him, I wasn’t just fully recovered; I was heading out with a light step to answer Lee Cheong-hyeon’s hellish summons for a meeting.
This meeting was special. While the dedicated team handled most of the planning meetings, we were the ones leading this one.
It was because our next album was a digital single featuring Spark’s first fan song.
Preparations went smoothly. It was a sight to behold, seeing everything click into place under the direction of Jeong Seong-bin and Lee Cheong-hyeon.
Even if there was a mountain of work to do, how wonderful was it to be able to do what everyone wanted in an environment that supported it?
“You said the timing would coincide with the fan club recruitment?”
“That’s what they said. The exact schedule isn’t out yet, but they’re looking at around the end of October.”
Jeong Seong-bin pulled up a calendar on the screen. It was packed with schedules without a moment’s rest. It really reminded me of my company days.
Since I had only been hearing about Spark’s affairs second-hand for a while, I took a proper look at the schedule, and something caught my eye.
“There’s no mention of hiring a lyricist. Excluding recording and promotion, we have less than a month left. Shouldn’t we check on this?”
“We decided to write the lyrics ourselves. That’s why we prepared the demo today, remember?”
Lee Cheong-hyeon opened the shared drive. A file titled ‘Demo_ForLyricReference_NoGuidelineIncluded’ stood out.
“Ourselves? Us?”
I couldn’t believe it. When on earth did such a momentous and dangerous conversation take place?
Lee Cheong-hyeon, the very person who made the shocking statement, was perfectly nonchalant.
“Yeah. I wrote it in the last meeting minutes. You didn’t check them, did you?”
“You put a password on the shared laptop!”
Jeong Seong-bin calmed me down as I felt like I was about to collapse from a stroke. So, nobody told me about something this important, huh?
Writing lyrics. And for a fan song, no less.
This couldn’t be happening. The only things I knew how to write were job postings and planning proposals.
Sure, I could package a shitty small-time agency like Hanpyeong Industry if I threw my conscience out the window.
But a fan song with lyrics like, ‘I want to keep Sparklers by my side with an annual salary of 1 billion won’? Everyone would definitely leave the fandom the moment they heard it.
Leaving me to deal with the sudden wave of dizziness, Lee Cheong-hyeon played ‘Demo_ForLyricReference_NoGuidelineIncluded.’
A beautiful melody, crafted stitch by stitch by Lee Cheong-hyeon, filled the meeting room. The simple arrangement and classic choice of instruments gave off a fresh, youthful impression.
Just listening to the song brought to mind boys in white school uniforms standing under the shadow of a tree by a wall on a late summer day.
The fact that a picture formed in my head just by listening meant the song’s quality was exceptionally high. Even with just a few more sessions and back vocals added, it would be a track ready for release.
‘What kind of lyrics am I supposed to put over this?’
I didn’t have a clue. I couldn’t even refer to Spark’s fan songs from the past. Those were songs for the Spark and Sparklers of that time.
If I had known it would come to this, I should have taken a creative writing class as an elective. Then I wouldn’t be in such a frantic rush now.
“In keeping with the theme of a fan song, rather than picking a specific concept, I’d like us to write the lyrics with the mindset of honestly saying what we want to tell the fans.”
Jeong Seong-bin summarized the goal. Then, taking advantage of the thirty minutes left in the meeting room reservation, we decided to try some ideation.
I also jotted down a few words that came to mind on the grid paper in the back of my diary.
Appreciation, thank you, Sparkler, support, benefactor, grace, light, debt…
It was hopeless. With these, the best I could write was: ‘Sparklers, who are Spark’s benefactors and light, thank you for always supporting us. We will repay this grace diligently as if paying off a debt.’ It would surely take the proud #1 spot for the worst idol fan song lyrics of all time.
Actually, the first word that came to mind when I thought of Sparklers was…
‘Affection.’
…But. I didn’t have the confidence to dare write or sing that. So, I didn’t write it down.
Wrestling with my thoughts, I raised my hand and asked.
“When is the deadline for this?”
It didn’t seem like an assignment that could be finished easily.
To me, as I sat there clutching my head, Lee Cheong-hyeon replied as if asking why I was even questioning something so obvious.
“ASAP-ly.”
“Right…”
*
With the lyric-writing assignment added to our plates, our workbook studies were pushed back a bit.
Thanks to that, every night after practice, we each sat in our rooms, the kitchen, or the living room with a piece of paper, waiting for the god of creativity who never seemed to arrive.
There was the diligent type like Jeong Seong-bin, who drafted dozens of simple structures and combined them over and over, and then there were those like Choi Je-ho, who sat with blank eyes staring at a white sheet of paper.
As for which side I was on, it was obviously the latter.
“How much did you write?”
Choi Je-ho asked. I replied with a dry voice.
“Not a single word.”
“That’s unusual for you.”
“I guess I have no talent for creativity.”
How could a human being be this powerless? It was lamentable.
Not wanting to suffer alone, I asked Choi Je-ho about his progress.
“What about you?”
“I wrote two lines.”
“Isn’t that like halfway there?”
“I’m about to erase them all.”
The area under Choi Je-ho’s eyes, visible beneath his glasses, was stained dark. Right. You were also the type who was clumsy at every form of expression except for using your body.
But even I, a firm believer in experts, couldn’t actively recommend bringing in a professional this time.
It was a fan song… There was no dilemma quite like this.
While I was busy writing and erasing repeatedly, the manager visited the dorm.
It was a rare occurrence, so we were all a bit surprised. It was to the point where we wondered if something had gone wrong again.
“Is I-wol here?”
“Yes, what’s the matter?”
The manager’s face was flushed. Only ominous thoughts filled my head.
What is it? More work?
UA hasn’t been giving me extra work lately, though?
Don’t tell me the company’s accounting books don’t balance? I’ve forgotten almost everything about accounting; would I even be of help?
Tension hung in the air. The manager let out a bright shout with a wide smile.
“They said you passed the audition!”
“Pardon?”
Words I hadn’t expected at all popped out.
“An audition?”
That audition where I just went, ‘Whatever,’ acted like a hardcore viewer pointing out historical inaccuracies, and then stormed out?
For a moment, I almost couldn’t even remember which audition it was. Too many things had happened since the ‘In My Office’ audition.
This was absurd. Was there really such a lack of talent capable of portraying a world-weary office worker?
But I had no intention of being cast so easily. While an idol’s acting career might be a plus for the idol themselves or the agency, it was a complete minus for the fandom atmosphere, public reputation, and the people working on-site.
It wasn’t that I didn’t understand that vibe. No matter how much people called it ‘business,’ would the professionals in the field really welcome it?
One of the few things the past UA did well was not making Spark pursue acting. They probably got the hint after filming one breakup music video with Lee Cheong-hyeon. They realized that if they weren't careful, they’d end up making a once-in-a-millennium visual into a target for public criticism.
For once, I agreed with the past UA’s policy. Besides, what was the point of standing out even more here?
I should say that I’m very grateful for the kind consideration, but after the audition, I felt my personal lack of capability and would like to decline the offer…
+
[SYSTEM] A ‘New Task’ has been assigned.
▷ Appear in the drama ‘In My Office’
▷ Reward: 0.16% increase in Dance Proficiency per episode appearance (Additional bonus points upon completion of all episodes)
+
“I can’t believe it… It’s truly an honor!”
I wondered what on earth acting had to do with dance proficiency, but it didn’t matter.
I could raise my dance proficiency, which wouldn’t budge no matter what I did? And just by working hard on a minor-minor-minor-minor character with only a few lines?
‘Since In My Office is a 12-episode series, that means I can raise it by almost 2 points.’
It was a golden opportunity handed to me on a silver platter; of course I had to accept. I’ve been muddling through my idol life like this anyway.
Besides, while this fan song was a digital single, a mini-album was scheduled after that. The dedicated team was preparing it with all their heart, and I couldn’t be the only one on the side performing the Dance of the Joyous Wooden Doll.
In that sense, this reward was perfectly appropriate. I decided to conform to reality.
The members surrounded me, looking moved. Everyone congratulated me.
Just you wait, guys. I’ll definitely return as a dancing machine.