Chapter 357: Image Transformation (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 357: Image Transformation (2)
To Ham I-seo, the brief glimpse she’d caught of Cheon Yun-seong was the definition of perfection.
Even when she asked her seniors on the social affairs desk, they told her that the Cheonju Group—and Cheon Yun-seong in particular—was so squeaky clean that not a single speck of dust would come off him if shaken.
He was the treasure and the future of the Cheonju Group, raised under the protection of every executive to ensure he could fulfill that role.
“That’s why it’s even weirder. Can a truly perfect person even exist in this world?”
“They’re just hard to create. Once a good image is established, it doesn’t change easily.”
“Isn’t it the opposite?”
“A reaction like ‘I knew they’d do that’ only comes when someone looks like the type to commit such an act. But if someone who seems like they’d never do such a thing commits a crime, people tend to…”
Gong Ji-chan spoke while fiddling with his worn leather watch. The watch, which he’d mentioned was a memento from his father, was heavily weathered by time.
“…say there must have been an unavoidable reason.”
News about Cheon Yun-seong played on the TV. Ham I-seo and Gong Ji-chan watched the screen in silence.
At the same time, sitting in the back of a luxury foreign car, Cheon Yun-seong called out to his division chief.
“Chief, is there anyone in the secretarial team with a moment to spare?”
“What task should I assign them?”
Cheon Yun-seong replied while gazing at the scenery outside the window.
“That female reporter who was at the ceremony. The one with her hair tied back, wearing a light blue blouse and white pants.”
Cheon Yun-seong’s memory was extraordinary. And the Cheonju Group possessed the power to resolve matters with only the smallest fragments of information.
Thus, Cheon Yun-seong never asked if something was ‘possible.’ To him, the word ‘impossible’ did not exist.
“I’d like to know who she is.”
“I will take measures so you can confirm her identity by the end of the day.”
Cheon Yun-seong replied with a thank you, his eyes crinkling into a smile. The black vehicle cut through the city center.
*
From Episode 3 onward, Cheon Yun-seong looked shady as if he’d been drawn that way.
He didn’t seem like a character who would sink by falling for a scheme due to low intelligence or petty emotions, but the actual script gave him an even greater presence than that. I had no idea why they had cast me for this.
The scariest person is the one who says things while smiling.
One day, after Department Head Nam had pulled some ridiculous stunt, Supervisor Song—who usually returned looking depressed—came back unusually calm.
The moment she sat down, she burst into laughter. It was likely a hollow, cynical laugh.
Assistant Manager Hwang and I were on edge, wondering if she was about to request a resignation interview. On our messenger app, the ‘friendship-fueled buck-passing’ of “Manager, you try talking to her” repeated like a parrot. The smile of someone harboring such venom is truly terrifying.
I tried to encourage myself by remembering how Kang Gi-yeon said my first impression was scary, but I wondered if it was working. Seeing as no NG signs were given, I figured it wasn't completely unusable, yet I couldn't shake the possibility that the director had simply given up because there was no room for improvement.
I hesitated before approaching the PD.
“Um, PD-nim.”
“What is it?”
“By any chance… were there no NGs…?”
I used the most pathetic ‘praying with both hands’ posture possible. Fortunately, the PD’s expression was bright.
“Don’t worry. From this episode on, you look like a total dark mastermind, I-wol!”
Unbelievable.
I, who should be aiming for the ‘youthful idol’ image… have become a classic dark mastermind character…? And my very next schedule is to serve up some top-tier Oriental Youth vibes…?
I was flustered. Meanwhile, everyone around me showered me with praise and encouragement.
“How’s the villain acting going?”
“It’s going smoothly. I feel like I’m headed for prison soon.”
“As long as you’re out before ‘Awangsil,’ it’s fine.”
“Sometimes I really don’t understand the context of your conversations with him.”
Kang Gi-yeon spoke as if he found us absurd.
However, there was a reason we were talking nonsense at the crack of dawn.
Today was the first filming day for Idol Dynasty Annals Season 2.
As his fellow passengers, Lee Cheong-hyeon and I had to help ease the nerves of Kang Gi-yeon, who was set to be the center of the Self-PR stage.
Leading up to the first stage, Kang Gi-yeon had spent a long time in deep thought. He sought advice from his former teacher and scoured traditional markets and Dongmyo like a man on a mission to find the specific fan he wanted. After obtaining the best bamboo fan, he and Manager Dae-yeon spent time spray-painting it.
While Kang Gi-yeon took the lead in conceptualizing the stage, I had to receive dance lessons from Choi Je-ho again…
I’ve completely erased that time from my mind. Only the memory that it was long and arduous remains.
“How much rehearsal time do you think they’ll give us? I want to run through it at least three times.”
“Won’t they give us more than last time?”
Kang Gi-yeon and Lee Cheong-hyeon continued their serious discussion. They looked like they were having fun, so I decided to leave the two of them to it.
While moving to the filming site, I double-checked the participant lineup.
First, there was Parte, who earned their spot as the winners of Season 1.
An eight-member boy group from the major agency MYTH, their center, Song Min-il, had previously landed on my bad side for making backhanded remarks about Lee Cheong-hyeon on a variety show.
In the previous season, Parte had exposed MYTH’s lack of planning ability to the world with their half-hearted stage concepts. I was curious to see what kind of image they would return with this time.
Next were Terkit, Slay, On-deu, and Blaider. They were groups of five, nine, eight, and seven members, respectively.
All the participating groups were Spark’s seniors. Excluding Parte, there was a career gap of at least two to three years between them and Spark.
Perhaps because of that, while the main vibe of Season 1 was a sort of fresh-faced energy with different nuances, the Season 2 cast consisted of many groups with distinct personalities built on the images they had accumulated over the years.
There were two teams that caught my eye: On-deu and Blaider.
On-deu was the first team to have their pre-interview released among the Season 2 groups. In that interview, On-deu picked Spark as the group they were most looking forward to.
『We found Spark’s performances really impressive.』
『I’m a fan of Je-ho!』
『If we end up doing a position battle, they’re the group I definitely want to be on the same team with.』
『Wait, what if we end up facing them in a team battle? No, if I say it, it’ll actually happen. Please edit this out…!』
『Why! I want to try singing a Spark song!』
I couldn’t shake the suspicion that the production team had intentionally released the interview mentioning Spark first to combat the ‘Spark’s late joining, is it broadcasting station power-tripping?’ controversy, but it was an undeniable fact that they had spoken well of us. Their sincerity showed on their faces, so I decided to accept it gratefully.
Blaider was a group I couldn’t help but be mindful of for a different reason.
Among the older generation of idols, they were the group that had first taken the ‘physical idol’ route that Spark was currently walking.
In terms of average height and physical build, Spark had a slight advantage. However, don’t early pioneers always shine everywhere?
≫ The original door-slabs are coming
Guys, I’ve filled my wallet and I’m waiting
≫ Yes… this was the taste
I was so blinded by the new that I forgot the familiar
≫ Everyone was stanning MYTH boy groups, but I was the only one stanning Blaider
Looking back, my choice wasn’t wrong
└ Respect for that insane foresight
≫ Back in the Blaider days, live vocals were a must
There’s a reason the kids who survived that era have legendary grit
└ I agree with this, I still haven’t seen a main vocal who can pull off that crisp tone…
└ It was the golden age of idols, no argument there ㅠㅠ I still can’t get over this era lol
└ Is Blaider really that old of a group? Why do they feel like a group that debuted recently to me?
└ People are saying things like “Back in the Blaider days~” so don’t misunderstand, they’ve only been around for 5 years. People are talking like they’re 2nd gen or something. Do you think Terkit rose from a coffin?
Under equal conditions, the side with nostalgia is bound to pull ahead. Though their period of glory wasn't long, the news that Blaider—who had been everyone’s idols, even if only for a moment—was returning through a survival program spread like wildfire.
In fact, Blaider was the group that reportedly agonized over joining until the very end. Thanks to that, Blaider and Spark were named as the final participants of Awangsil Season 2 one after another.
≫ The Awangsil screen is gonna be packed
There won’t be any empty space on the Blaider-Spark side
└ Truly… groups with no gaps
└ Lololol
≫ Former Door-slab Idols vs. Current Door-slab Idols
It’ll be fun no matter who you root for. At least for me.
└ Look how transparent the OP’s taste is lol
└ You… your taste is consistent
≫ It seems like a lot of people who stanned Blaider moved to Spark
Looking at the posts coming up after the lineup reveal
└ Isn’t the Sparkler age group itself a bit high? Because all the people who used to be fans flowed in there
└└ Why?? Is it because their ‘pursued aesthetic’ is similar???
└└└ When you stan idols for a while, there’s a point where you get burnt out, but Spark avoids that really well… Should I say they don’t give fans much fatigue? There are a lot of people who quit being fans and then started again with Spark
└└└└└ Didn’t Spark have quite a few issues? Even I, a non-fan, heard a few things
└└└└└└ The kids didn’t do anything wrong… hehe
└ I’m the opposite of this post lol. I’m slightly tempted by Blaider. I’ve been consuming Blaider content since yesterday
└└ If you dig deep, there are slight differences, but the impression they give on the surface seems similar!
It was a stroke of luck that our participation wasn't announced at the same time. If it had been, Spark might have been called a copycat group instead of a junior group carrying on a specific lineage.
“Hyung, we just have to go in and be polite, right?”
Lee Cheong-hyeon asked, poking his head between the driver and passenger seats.
In Season 1, everything was a problem, but at least in this season, we only had to be careful of Parte. I had already shared this with the members long ago.
“Yeah. As long as you don’t get so happy meeting new seniors that you don’t come back to our waiting room at all, you can do whatever you want.”
“This hyung is funny. My waiting room is comfortable too, okay? I’m gonna play outside all I want and then sleep in my own home, got it?”
He then laughed happily. For someone who was supposed to be the busiest guy in the world, he seemed full of energy.
“Sure, don’t forget those words later.”
I recalled the video of Lee Cheong-hyeon’s first online housewarming party after he had been the first to leave the dorm in the past.
Would Lee Cheong-hyeon look for a new house shortly after becoming an adult this time too?
Would he refuse to bring anyone but Kang Gi-yeon to that house? Just like back then.
‘If it’s the current Lee Cheong-hyeon… he might at least have a housewarming party.’
By the time I had narrowed down about three candidates for housewarming gifts, the surroundings grew dark. The now-familiar parking lot of the broadcasting station welcomed us.