Chapter 378: Disclosure (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 378: Disclosure (3)
≫ What exactly is happening right now?
So Parte was acting all buddy-buddy with Naos while bashing Spark, but then Parte’s own fans kept shielding them until they finally jumped ship, spilled all the tea, and nuked their accounts??
└ They basically exposed everything they’d been turning a blind eye to.
└ The remaining fans are saying it’s disrespectful to the artist they once loved, but the idols were disrespectful to the fans first lol. I totally get why they did it.
≫ Spark must have been so freaking frustrated.
The bowing controversy → Got bashed because of fake testimonies + media play.
Appearing on Awangsil 2 → It wasn’t their choice, they were practically dragged there. But then they got bashed again for supposedly making the previous season’s winner look bad.
Their concept and stages were all stolen, but because of the other side’s gaslighting and media manipulation, Spark’s fans were the only ones labeled as "overly sensitive." They got bashed again for "acting like they own the youth concept."
└ At this point, their entire promotion period was just one big wave of forced hate.
└ On a side note, it’s actually impressive how they managed to keep succeeding despite being targeted like this so regularly.
└└ Their mental strength is no joke… Except for Banana and Octopus, the rest of them don’t even look that tough.
└└└ Times like this prove that a group needs a solid oldest member or leader to hold the team together for a long run. Look at Naos—the oldest one is doing drugs.
└ This isn't a "miracle of a small agency"; it’s a miracle that a small agency managed to get them. UE should be grateful that Spark belongs to them.
≫ I seriously don’t know what Myth was thinking.
Did they lose all their big-corp pride? Weren't they embarrassed to copy a "nugu" group while relying solely on Kim Peps?
└ The Naos fans are the real deal. Even now, they’re claiming they did nothing wrong and it’s all the agency’s fault for "shamelessly copying a junior idol from a tiny company";;;;
≫ Min-il, if you’re that jealous of UE, just change your stage name to Min I-wol and ask them to take you in.
Who knows? Maybe they’ll let you debut as Spark’s junior group.
└ ???: You’re saying you want to join our company…?
└ LMAO I’m just imagining it and I can already see their disgusted faces lol. That’s so mean lol.
Aside from a few posts saying the sudden shift in public opinion was disgusting or questioning what Spark had done to deserve such praise, the atmosphere had completely flipped.
≫ What’s going on? I’m just sitting here and more tea keeps drifting downstream.
└ A gentleman’s revenge doesn't even take ten years.
The Sparklers, who had been breathing sighs of relief just because "our boys don't do drugs," were left dazed. Once they realized the full story, the Sparklers turned the internet into a festival with all sorts of party memes.
"Thank goodness…"
Park Ju-woo, who had just downed a bottle of Cheongsimwon, let out a long sigh of relief. He hadn't been able to calm down since the pressure from the swarming reporters.
I’m just glad he’s feeling better after resting for a few days. If he hadn't, I would’ve staged a one-man protest in front of the newspaper offices, even if it meant my face ended up plastered all over the internet news. I saw all those agency stickers on the cameras. I saw everything.
"What will happen to Awangsil?" Kang Gi-yeon asked.
"It’ll probably proceed as planned, right? It’s not like a drug offender came out of this current season. The place identified as the 'hub' for the drug exchange was another network’s year-end stage, so that network might be the one skipping their year-end show this year."
Our names have been cleared, so we have nothing to lose. Besides, this show is what we traded our entire second-half comeback for. It would be a loss for us too if it fell through in this ambiguous state.
"The seniors might drop out voluntarily, though."
People in the know would realize that the blame doesn't lie solely with Parte. It was common knowledge that Parte had been promoting without any creative agency of their own, and it’s almost impossible for an agency’s influence to be absent in such matters.
However, the public’s perception is different. To them, it’s simply: "So you’re saying you copied another group’s work!" Nothing more, nothing less. The public opinion they had so happily used as a shield was now acting as a backlash.
It would be great if they dropped out on their own; if they insist on staying until the end, then it becomes a battle between agencies. I was ready to accept either outcome.
To put it simply, Parte did not drop out.
It seemed they felt that quitting the program at this point would look like an admission of guilt. Their international votes weren't looking too bad, either.
Whether it was for comparison, out of spite, or to support them, people watched Parte’s videos so much that the view counts for their position battle fancams were quite high. Han Ga-un, who took first place in the vocal category, gave his acceptance speech with a very heavy expression.
"Thank you for taking good care of Seong-bin."
When I greeted Han Ga-un as he was heading back to the waiting room, he gave me a small, faint smile.
Back at the dorm, after hesitating for a long time, I called Choi Je-ho over.
"What?"
"There’s something I want to ask."
Judging that the conversation wouldn't be short, Choi Je-ho pulled out a chair at the dining table.
I looked at him sitting across from me and asked, "You know that staycation you went on?"
"Yeah."
"Did your sister like it?"
Choi Je-ho’s expression shifted as if wondering why I was asking such a random thing.
"She seemed to like it. She did nag me for spending money on weird things, though."
Even though he didn't know the reason, he answered me sincerely.
"…What, are you planning to go to a hotel?"
Is that the question you managed to squeeze out after looking like you were contemplating all the agonies of the world?
I wanted to ask just how low my credibility was in his eyes, but out of gratitude for the guy who had made a big decision early on for the sake of the team, I answered him kindly.
"If I find my sister, I was thinking of sending her on one."
"…."
"I heard Ju-gyeong went on one with her classmates recently, so it seems like a popular thing to do. I don't know much about that stuff, and I figured a review from someone who’s actually been is the most reliable. You said you go with your friends often, too."
Choi Je-ho, who had been leaning back indifferently, straightened his posture. He asked for my phone, pinned a hotel location on a map app, and handed it back.
"I don't know what floor it’s on, but they said there’s a big pool."
"An infinity pool?"
"I don't know. My mom, my sister, and Choi Mi-ho went, and they said it was good."
"Why didn't you go?"
"Dating rumors start just by me standing in a lobby. What kind of rumors do you think would start if I went to a swimming pool?"
Common sense actually came out of Choi Je-ho’s mouth. I was shocked.
"You’ve become a real celebrity, haven't you?"
"Just how much of a hopeless case do you think I am?"
Choi Je-ho snapped at me. Nevertheless, he provided a detailed review by his standards.
"The bed is good. Easy to fall asleep."
"Is it noisy?"
"I was asleep, so I don't know. Ordering food to the room was a letdown, though."
"Why? Was it too expensive?"
"No matter what you ordered, they gave you portions the size of a fist."
"That must have been disappointing."
I wrote down everything Choi Je-ho said in my diary without missing a single detail. He waited until I finished writing, and once I closed the diary, he left, saying he was going if I was done.
Gu Ja-han Sunbae
[I heard some idols got caught doing drugs?]
Me
[It wasn't many, just a few.]
Gu Ja-han Sunbae
[I heard they were people you were on a program with.]
Me
[We weren't exactly close!]
After the incident settled down, I unexpectedly received a message from Gu Ja-han.
Gu Ja-han Sunbae
[Crazy things happen.]
[There are a lot of insane people out there.]
[Be careful.]
I wondered for a second if he was suspecting me, but fortunately, that wasn't it. Please, don't make my heart drop with texts like that. I check every message three times like I'm playing Bubble Pop because I never know when a screenshot might start circulating.
Still, I couldn't deny that the man was looking out for me in his own way, so I expressed my gratitude with a long message thanking him for his concern.
"Hyung, can we start the meeting?"
Just as I sent the text, Jeong Seong-bin gave the signal to gather. It was time to prepare for that headache of a department store performance. Given the nature of the task, we held an emergency strategy meeting before the broadcast filming.
Despite their passion, the members’ faces were ashen. It seemed everyone had tried to find a solution, but coming up with a plan wasn't easy.
"The dedicated team narrowed down some potential locations for the shoot. They said there are almost no candidates among the department stores in Seoul because this kind of event is mostly done overseas."
"Did they look for global references…?"
Park Ju-woo tried to put a positive spin on it. In my eyes, it was just negligence in data research. I’m certain they just watched a few outdoor performance videos and threw it together.
We looked through the materials the dedicated team had gathered. After the videos finished playing, Kang Gi-yeon spoke in a worried voice.
"If the vocal hyungs hit a high note, I feel like the equipment is going to tear apart."
"If I scream while rapping, the mic will probably explode, right?"
Faced with the shitty audio quality, the boys put their heads together in their own way. Park Ju-woo, who had been watching them quietly, spoke up.
"…Would it be cheating if we just didn't sing at all?"
Following Lee Cheong-hyeon, whose way of thinking had become almost identical to mine, Park Ju-woo had now reached the same conclusion.
One of the things you must do to overcome a poor environment is to strip away unnecessary elements. No matter how great an orchestra is, it’s not easy to hold a concert in the middle of a traditional market. Where would you get all the chairs, and where would you put the instrument cases?
There are many causes for bad audio, but if proper sound support is difficult, it’s right to reduce the factors you need to worry about.
The MR is likely to skip anyway; imagine all six of us using handheld mics. We’d be lucky if we didn't end up in a situation where we had to share a single working mic mid-performance.
"If we’re worried about the MR cutting out, shouldn't we be singing as much as possible? Even if the MR dies, if we keep singing, people will call it 'live proof' instead of a broadcast accident."
"You can prove you're singing live without a broadcast accident. An accident is an accident. I think it’s right to minimize variables as much as possible."
"But we can't ignore the possibility of the MR cutting out. It happens quite often," Jeong Seong-bin said while noting down Lee Cheong-hyeon’s feedback.
"We’ll need a site inspection and some coordination, but… we just need to choose the facility with the lowest probability of failure."
"Don't we have to use the equipment Awangsil provides?"
At Choi Je-ho’s point, Kang Gi-yeon nodded.
"There’s something better than that. It’s easy to operate and can produce a much larger volume."
"What is it?"
I looked at Lee Cheong-hyeon, who was ready to take notes, and answered.
"The department store broadcast center."