Chapter 258: The Big Ad Reveal (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 258: The Big Ad Reveal (1)
“Is that so?”
At the mention of it being a secret item, Choi Je-ho promptly shoved the notebook back into the bag.
“Wait, Hyung. Is that okay?”
“He said it was a secret.”
“Y’knw, y’cn jst edt tht p’rt ltr…”
I gave Choi Je-ho a piece of my mind through a faint smile and some ventriloquism. With a look of utter exasperation, Choi Je-ho pulled the notebook out of the bag again.
“This is the notebook I used to write lyrics in when I first started studying rap. If you look at the ribbon marker, it’s pretty worn out, right?”
Lee Cheong-hyeon held the notebook up to the camera before pulling it back.
“I’m too embarrassed to show the contents… but even these days, if I get a sudden idea, I’ll jot it down here first before moving it to the computer!”
“Really? I’ve never seen you use that notebook.”
“That’s because I keep it in my bag when I use it, or I only use it on my bed,” Lee Cheong-hyeon replied sheepishly to Kang Gi-yeon’s comment. It was a rare sight to see him so flustered.
“I personally feel like writing songs and writing lyrics are completely different fields, so I went through all sorts of trial and error. All that history is in here!”
“Then hurry up and sign it. So when you get famous later, we can display it on the first floor of the UA building.”
“How can you say that? Kang Gyeon, are you really planning on putting your friend’s dark past on full display in the company lobby?”
Despite his protest, Lee Cheong-hyeon diligently scribbled his signature on the very first page.
No matter how I looked at it, the day he finishes that notebook, it really is going to end up in a glass display case in the UA lobby.
The bag of the final runner, Kang Gi-yeon, was ordinary. While the older members had filmed a chaotic "show-and-tell" of their household goods earlier, Kang Gi-yeon stayed true to the content’s purpose.
“I also carry a pouch for emergencies. Did I buy this with you, Lee Cheong-hyeon?”
Kang Gi-yeon shook a familiar pouch. It was the same one he had always carried in the past.
“Right! On our middle school field trip!” Lee Cheong-hyeon shouted, his eyes sparkling. “You still have that?”
“Of course. I’ve kept it safe in my drawer.”
Lee Cheong-hyeon struck a proud pose. He looked so dignified that he reminded me of a golden retriever in the countryside waiting for praise for guarding the house well.
“We each bought one when we went to Jeju Island for our field trip. We were originally moving with our classes, but we had a bit of free time, and that’s when Lee Cheong-hyeon came running over.”
“To get matching friendship items, right?”
“You were the only one who said you wanted matching friendship items. Don’t make it sound like I agreed to it.”
Kang Gi-yeon made a show of pushing Lee Cheong-hyeon’s shoulder with his palm. However, the steadily growing Lee Cheong-hyeon didn’t budge an inch.
‘That pouch…’
It was a vinyl pouch in a garishly bright orange, stained in places as if to prove it had been carried every day for years.
Once upon a time, that pouch had been filled with various types of drinkable Cheongsimwon.
With a stoic face, Kang Gi-yeon used to introduce all the different kinds of Cheongsimwon, explaining that he was the type to get very nervous.
In that pouch, which looked just as heavy now as it did then…
“This is the same mist that I-wol Hyung uses. It’s from Indenia, and I’ve been decanting it into a smaller bottle.”
“I was about to buy a new hand cream because I’m almost out, but there was a hand cream in the samples Indenia sent over. It has a scent I like, so I’ve been using it lately.”
“Oh, right. I forgot to give this to you. Seong-bin Hyung, this tin badge fell out of your bag a while ago.”
“A tin badge?”
“Isn’t it yours? It was stuck under your bag.”
“…It must be my younger sibling’s. I’ll give it to them next time I go home.”
…It contained completely different things now.
‘He doesn’t have to carry those anymore.’
As Jeong Seong-bin tucked away the tin badge featuring a cute animal character, I felt a wave of unnecessary emotion.
I must be getting old. I’m getting sentimental over everything.
Starting with Kang Gi-yeon’s bag and ending with the others, all six bags were clean, containing no harmful items like electronic cigarettes or lighters. It was a relief.
*
≫ Indenia’s ad models changed
Title says it all.
But lol, Spark is doing it? Hahaha.
└ Is this for real?
└ Yeah, it’s real. An article just came out.
While Won Chae-hee was fighting tooth and nail with her team’s assistant manager over who would do what task, new "bait" had dropped.
Since her own feet were currently being scorched by the fires of work, she couldn’t look anything up immediately, but throughout her shift, only one thought occupied her mind.
‘Spark is doing a cosmetics ad?’
My idols, who looked like they’d only smell like men’s aftershave in their dorm, were doing a cosmetics ad. She could hardly imagine it.
‘If it’s Indenia… they probably filmed for the basic skincare line.’
Tall, handsome men in white shirts showing off their beauty among fresh green trees? That wouldn’t be bad.
By now, concept shots or promotional images should have been released.
Won Chae-hee’s eyes rolled toward the bottom right of her monitor. There were still three hours left until she could clock out.
‘I really need to quit.’
A dark thought enveloped her. But she decided to endure. One must earn money to be a fan…
Time felt like it wouldn’t pass, but thanks to another dogfight with the assistant manager, it flew by in an instant. Won Chae-hee decided to forgive the assistant manager just this once.
Won Chae-hee boarded the subway for her commute home. She was squeezed between people and didn’t want to lift a finger, but she had to see the news about Spark. She struggled to pull out her phone.
Her timeline was already filled with a colorful array of Spark. Her heart began to race just from the cropped preview images.
‘Is that a jawline? Look at that shadow. This is insane.’
Won Chae-hee covered her mouth as she tapped on a photo.
As it turned out, covering her mouth in advance was a very wise move.
Usually, out of custom, fans tend to release individual photos or information of members in order of age.
That meant what Won Chae-hee was looking at right now was Kim I-wol’s individual pictorial cut.
Faced with a sudden, sexy new shot of her bias, Won Chae-hee almost screamed.
To maintain a minimum level of social decorum, she had lowered her phone’s brightness, but now she cranked it up to the maximum. Kim I-wol’s pictorial cut shone brilliantly.
Against a dark grey wall that was almost black, small droplets of water fell like rain, but in artificial, straight lines.
In front of that was Kim I-wol’s face.
His face, as well-crafted as porcelain without a single bubble, shone like a calm lake reflecting the midday sun. Behind him, the water droplets sparkled like shimmering ripples.
Kim I-wol was holding a toner in a simple case with one hand. His long, white fingers wrapped around the toner case were also beautiful.
The water droplets melted onto Kim I-wol’s hair, the nape of his neck, the back of his hand, and the shoulder line of his white shirt.
It didn’t mean his body was wet. The boundary between Kim I-wol and the background was blurred to the point of being indistinguishable.
Like a giant mosaic painting, a coastline with crashing waves, or the marbling created by bubbles. It was as if the moisture of the toner and Kim I-wol had become one.
‘Did they really film an ad for Indenia?’
The pictorial was so stunning that one could believe Indenia, a budget-friendly cosmetics brand, had decided to adopt a luxury strategy. Weren’t these the kinds of shots usually taken by high-end brands found in department stores?
Long, black eyebrows were Kim I-wol’s trademark. Following his slightly tilted head, one could meet his gaze, which was calmly cast downward. Beneath his sharp eyes, the shadows of even longer and finer eyelashes fell densely.
From his moisture-laden lips to his forehead—which, to borrow a bit of Kim I-wol-style hyperbole, could be displayed in the lobby of the Yanggu White Porcelain Museum—everything was perfect.
‘Fuck, I’m going all-in on Indenia starting today.’
She couldn’t even remember the password to her brokerage app. She felt like she’d been hearing that cosmetic stocks were on a downward trend for years. She didn’t even know if Indenia was a listed company. But Won Chae-hee made a silent vow.
*
The reaction to Spark’s pictorial was explosive. Not a single person looked bad, and their individual charms were well-highlighted.
≫ Kim Mi-heon rests here
I’m not actually dead, but someone please wake me up when the second set of photos drops. I’m counting on you all.
└ Was Mi-heon-nim’s surname always Kim??
└ I’m moving my name under I-wol’s family registry, so I’ve decided to be Kim Mi-heon starting today.
≫ I-wol, I’ve always thought you weren’t human, you know?
But this time I realized it. You’re the Prince of the Toner Kingdom.
That’s why I finally understand why you were so interested in the King Terra dress-up Gi-yeon was watching.
Since it’s a story about the same kingdom, you couldn’t help but relate… (See more)
└ Mi-heon-nim, didn’t you say you were studying for finals?
└ I was going to, but Spark came first.
≫ Indenia is doing a great job.
My eyes keep going to Choi Je-ho’s face, and they put the oil right next to it.
I can’t see the background or anything else, just the Emperor’s countenance and the oil he recommends.
└ You can’t help but look at the oil.
└ This is what you call visual guidance.
≫ What is going on with Jeong Seong-bin’s pictorial?
Is a high schooler allowed to wear a 90s-movie-style suit shirt and touch up his face in front of a mirror?
└ Kim I-wol, you said on Bubble Pop that Seong-bin’s pictorial was fresh and cute.
└ I think I-wol needs to study his vocabulary again.
└ You guys are being too much. Just because our Seong-bin is wearing a mature shirt, touching his face in a setting that looks like it’s from a Hong Kong movie, and bathed in brown-toned lighting, do you really have to gang up on him like this?
└ Protect Spark’s "Warm-Handsome" Jeong Seong-bin.
≫ Ju-woo, didn’t Noona tell you not to come down from Mt. Seorak?
If you just come out like that, people will realize you’re the human spring water of Mt. Seorak and try to bottle you up.
Who told you to go around getting caught on camera looking like a breathtaking view that only someone who went hiking at 5 AM could see?
└ Wasn’t our Ju-woo mountain mist?
└ If the components are the same, we’ve decided to lump it all together as water.
≫ Kang Gi-yeon, stop smiling like a rascal with cream on your face.
Stop smiling like a cool guy when your eyebrows are at a 10:10 angle.
Stop making people’s hearts flutter by showing your aegyo-sal when the corners of your eyes are tilted higher than mine even after I’ve drawn my eyeliner like crazy.
└ Ha, I thought he was a cool guy, but was it false advertising?
└ Our kid is a cool guy, but… damn, there’s just something about him.
└ There’s no legendary clip like this… I clearly saw the photo and turned off my phone, but I turned it back on just to see this photo again…
And the one that undoubtedly became the biggest topic of conversation…
Was Lee Cheong-hyeon, whose beauty had reached a point where the distance between the camera and reality had shrunk to zero, his looks not just peaking, but practically overflowing.