Chapter 175: Symposium (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 175: Symposium (4)
When the lights came up, Spark stood there, having changed into the school uniforms from the music video they had just watched.
The venue erupted with reactions from people who were now fully immersed.
“It’s our first fan song. What do you all think?”
“Fucking good!”
One Sparkler, who had shouted at the top of her lungs, quickly clamped a hand over her mouth. Everyone else desperately stifled their laughter.
“We were so nervous backstage. We were worried you might not like it.”
Kim I-wol spoke with a face that looked like he hadn't been nervous at all. Nervous, my foot—he had clearly been observing the fan seats with his hawk eyes.
Following Jeong Seong-bin’s lead to sit down and talk about the fan song, Spark took their seats again.
Perhaps because it was difficult to touch up makeup in the short span of three minutes, Choi Je-ho and Park Ju-woo, who had been wearing intense stage makeup, looked a bit mismatched with their school uniforms. Since that was funny in its own right, Won Chae-hee worked hard to capture it in photos.
“There’s a reason why the title of this song is 『The Third Letter』, right?”
Kim I-wol started the conversation. Jeong Seong-bin smoothly picked up the cue.
“As you might know from the lyrics of 『Flowering』 and 『With List』, we write all our songs with Sparklers as the listeners. Even though this is our first official fan song, we gave it this title because it’s the third time we’re sending a story to our Sparklers.”
I had never thought of it that way. I knew Spark was famous for their fan love, but it was surprising to realize they had maintained that sentiment since their debut song.
Jeong Seong-bin then went on to praise the team’s composer.
“Cheong-hyeon worked really hard on this one too, everyone.”
“Hard work? Not at all. I had a blast working on it!”
“It certainly looked that way.”
Kang Gi-yeon’s comment added even more weight to Lee Cheong-hyeon’s sincerity. Perhaps it was because he had witnessed the reaction the moment the song was revealed, but Lee Cheong-hyeon’s energy was through the roof.
“I think the person who actually suffered is someone else, though.”
Kang Gi-yeon said, looking to the side. Kim I-wol and Choi Je-ho avoided his gaze one after the other. I had a feeling a very interesting piece of bait was about to be dropped.
Lee Cheong-hyeon grabbed the microphone again.
“As Sparklers probably know, our hyungs aren't exactly gifted when it comes to writing.”
“Just looking at the letters from the Reverse Fan Gifts…”
Everyone agreed with Park Ju-woo’s words. Only Won Chae-hee, who didn't know such detailed information because she was a late fan, just blinked in confusion.
“But this time, we decided that everyone would write the lyrics for their own parts, right? The hyungs really struggled~.”
“You look like you're enjoying this, Cheong-hyeon.”
Kim I-wol smiled brightly, though there were deep shadows under his eyes.
“The hyungs were a bit much.”
“…He kept putting the word ‘lacking’ in the lyrics, making us all look like a ‘lacking’ Spark.”
Kang Gi-yeon and Park Ju-woo took turns rebuking Choi Je-ho as if venting their pent-up frustrations.
“I’m praising you guys for making it this far despite everything, so why don’t you understand my heart? Cute, pretty, and jewel-like Cheong-hyeon is about to get upset, you know?”
“Yeah, my bad.”
In Won Chae-hee’s eyes, even the so-called ‘never-ending bickering’ between Lee Cheong-hyeon and Kim I-wol was starting to look cute.
Now, there was only one thing Won Chae-hee could decide for herself: who her bias would be. No one would know the answer to that until this fan meeting was over.
After watching Spark perform 『Flowering』 in their school uniforms and seeing a few cover dances of the latest hits, it was time for the Q&A session.
A stand brought out according to the program was covered in Post-it notes with questions handwritten by fans.
At Jeong Seong-bin’s suggestion to pick and read them one by one, the members crowded around the stand. The first to pick a question was Kang Gi-yeon.
“‘Fire-Six-Second-Cheer-Blast’ asks, ‘Do you have any plans to change roommates?’”
“Now that you mention it, I don’t think we’ve ever changed, have we?”
Choi Je-ho tilted his head.
“Kang Gyeon and I changed before. You and Kang Gyeon used to share a room.”
“We did?”
He looked like he had no memory of it whatsoever. He was remarkably easygoing in many ways.
“Changing… might be fun.”
Park Ju-woo muttered from behind like a baby hamster. Everyone—even the Spark members themselves—focused on Park Ju-woo’s words.
Even from Won Chae-hee’s brief observation, Park Ju-woo didn't seem like the most social person.
Seeing a member like him say it was okay to change roommates proved that Spark was a group where everyone was close.
The fact that the members knew each other well was also evident in the conversation that followed.
“But Je-ho hyung and Ju-woo hyung shouldn't share a room. Ju-woo hyung can’t sleep if there’s any light.”
“I bought an eye mask, so it’s okay…!”
There was Kang Gi-yeon, who meticulously looked after his roommate’s habits, and Park Ju-woo, who was willing to endure Choi Je-ho’s poor night vision…
“Whoever shares a room with me or Lee Cheong-hyeon probably needs to be a heavy sleeper.”
“You and Cheong-hyeon just need to go to bed on time. I personally think humans should sleep before the sun comes up.”
And then there was Jeong Seong-bin, who scolded Kim I-wol and Lee Cheong-hyeon—whose sleep patterns seemed completely broken—with a smile.
“What combinations do you guys want to see? If you tell us now, the company might actually arrange the roommates for us!”
Lee Cheong-hyeon was busy communicating with fans at the very front of the stage. Requests like ‘Make the Maknae Line roommates’ and ‘Divide them into the Miracle Morning team and the Owl team’ poured in.
“If you divide us like that, everyone, I’d have to split myself between two rooms.”
When Kim I-wol, who was famous for sleeping very little, answered, complaints erupted from all over, telling him to just go to sleep.
There were many questions besides the roommate change. Sometimes, conversation topics arose from things other than the questions themselves.
“‘Spark-Sexy-Dance-Regime-Day-1386’ asks… Wait a minute, who is using this nickname?”
Perhaps he had picked it without looking properly, but Choi Je-ho read the nickname aloud before belatedly trying to track down the unidentified Regime Master.
“We haven't even been debuted for a year, but 1,386 days…”
“Sparklers’ fireworks shine bright. Light is the fastest thing in the world. Even time was slower than the light of a Sparkler.”
“Isn't that a theory that only applies within physical limits?”
The Spark-Sexy-Dance-Regime conversation had now drifted to ‘Can you break the limits of time if you perform the regime fast enough?’
Jeong Seong-bin cut them off before the conversation could spiral out of control, but Kim I-wol and Lee Cheong-hyeon showed their relentless side by promising to talk about it again later.
“This is a question from ‘Melted Pudding.’ ‘Is Spark not going to do a sexy concept?’”
As expected of the leader. I knew he would pick a dignified question. Won Chae-hee clicked her shutter repeatedly at the admirable Jeong Seong-bin. Everyone around her let out screams similar to when the fan song was played.
“Je-ho hyung did a sexy concept once back then. On Awangsil.”
“They probably want a sexy concept for full team activities now.”
“Hmm.”
Lee Cheong-hyeon nodded as if in deep thought at Kang Gi-yeon’s answer.
It was then. Kim I-wol, who was at the end of the table, rushed out and hid the members behind his back.
“No, everyone, a sexy concept is not allowed yet!”
“Why!”
“Why not!”
“Even if they look like this, they’re all still babies! We should only even think about it after their IDs are issued and the ink has dried!”
Babies, he says. What an arrogant statement, considering he knows his team’s average height is over 180cm.
Won Chae-hee sincerely applauded Kim I-wol’s ‘King Hedgehog’ moment.
The fans also hesitated at Kim I-wol’s firm statement. Even if our boys have faces that could make frost fall in summer and are such door-slabs that they hide the door when they stand in front of it, they are still at an age where the word ‘hot bar’ suits them better than ‘hot guy.’
“Then the hyungs should strip instead!”
Someone shouted. Won Chae-hee guessed it was probably the person who had been doing the regime earlier.
Moreover, Kim I-wol took this suggestion quite seriously. He seemed to think it was a reasonably rational middle ground.
Kim I-wol felt his own forearms and chest over his school shirt. Then, he walked purposefully toward Choi Je-ho. After doing the same to Choi Je-ho, he put an arm around his shoulder with an expression of newfound certainty.
“Je-ho.”
“Yeah.”
“Are your abs doing well?”
Kim I-wol asked with the most innocent-looking smile in the world.
“Are you trying to make me the only one doing it again?”
Choi Je-ho’s guard was up, as if he had been victimized before.
Looking at Choi Je-ho, Kim I-wol gave a saintly smile.
“The fans want it.”
“…”
“Therefore, everyone! When Je-ho becomes a bit more mature, we will challenge a sexy concept!”
Kim I-wol’s bold ambition received enthusiastic support.
But isn't he mature enough already? At this point, Won Chae-hee realized her brain wasn't functioning properly.
There were also some relatively normal questions.
“There’s also a question: ‘If you were to compare the Spark members to animals, what animals would be good?’ This question is so cute!”
It was a worn-out question in the idol scene, but Lee Cheong-hyeon found it fun.
“Shall we start with the oldest? First, I-wol hyung is…”
“A panda.”
“An eagle.”
“A hissing cat.”
“I get the others, but what’s with the eagle?”
Choi Je-ho, Lee Cheong-hyeon, and Kang Gi-yeon answered almost simultaneously.
When Kim I-wol asked skeptically, the proposer, Lee Cheong-hyeon, answered.
“They say an eagle’s field of vision is about 340 degrees. You have eyes in the back of your head too, hyung.”
So that was it. I couldn't even fathom how much Kim I-wol was observing the members.
Choi Je-ho became an anaconda. Kim I-wol asked, “Is an anaconda okay as an idol’s representative animal?” but he was ignored. Soon, fan art of Choi Je-ho with snake scales drawn on his face would come pouring in.
Jeong Seong-bin became a Jindo Dog. The reason was that there was no dog more reliable than him. It was strange how Kim I-wol kept suggesting everything from Retrievers to all sorts of breeds in the middle, but in the end, they settled on a Jindo Dog.
Park Ju-woo was a Chinchilla, Lee Cheong-hyeon was a Harpy Eagle—Kim I-wol strongly insisted on this—and Kang Gi-yeon was decided as a Black Panther.
It was an unusual combination. The atmosphere suddenly felt like National Environment, but it was a productive time learning that Spark was even crazier than expected.
“Is it okay to have two eagles? Won’t there be interspecies conflict?”
“It’ll be fine since their habitats are different.”
A peace treaty was even established between the eagles. It was a beautiful sight.
Just as the chaotic Q&A was coming to an end.
“There’s a suspicious question here…”
Park Ju-woo crouched down and peeled off a Post-it that had been stuck at the very bottom.
“…It says, ‘What’s our dorm laptop password?’”
“Huh?”
A question without a nickname, and one that clearly didn't look like it was written by a fan, had appeared.
—
Profile
Name: Lee Cheong-hyeon
Birthday: January 31st
Birthplace: Seoul
Height: 178cm
MBTI: ENFP
Nicknames: Cute Pretty Visually, Hyeon-reum Charm, Gold Face, Human Firework
Likes: Composing, rapping, piano, watching cooking vlogs, reading
Dislikes: Recitals, exams, being late
Motto: You only live once, so let’s enjoy it!
Favorite Food: Hanjeongsik
Preferred Scent: Watery series
Favorite Music Genres: Opera, popular music, hip-hop
Favorite Sport: Baseball
Physical Feature I’m Confident In: Eyes
Personal Habit: Habitually trying to memorize things that interest me