Chapter 74: Scheduled Resignation Date
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 74: Scheduled Resignation Date
“Great work, everyone!”
“Thank you!”
The moment the director yelled "cut," I bowed deeply and greeted everyone at the top of my lungs. Another music show recording had finally come to an end.
This was already my third music show.
I gathered the props for the day—the so-called ‘Lee Cheong-hyeon’s It-Item’ pens with dolls attached to them—as a thought crossed my mind.
‘How many more of these music shows do I have to do…?’
The moment the first music show ended, the System had definitely appeared before my eyes.
+
[SYSTEM] A work directive from the ‘Person in Charge’ has arrived.
▶ Assistant Manager Kim, I saw the draft you submitted! But I have way too much on my plate today. Yours isn't urgent, right? I’ll make sure to look at it within the week, so please be understanding. Got it?
+
It’s fucking urgent.
My heart was pounding as hard as an office worker who ran to the bank during their lunch break only to be told the estimated wait time was 50 minutes.
Because of this, I was staying up all night with my eyes wide open, terrified that I might miss the System’s mission completion notification while asleep.
In the first place, Spark’s hot debut was already last week.
Even if it needed a week-long verification period, it should have been over ages ago.
‘Shit, saying he "saw it" was a lie too!’
I was too naive. There was no way a guy who talked exactly like Department Head Nam would check a draft on time.
I know I’m Party B here, but this is too much. Is there no Ministry of Employment and Labor in System Land?
‘…I was really planning to start writing the handover document today.’
Spark’s first promotion period was six weeks.
These six weeks were the optimal window I had fought UA for to raise Spark’s recognition even by a little bit.
I had intended to finish at least one round of promotions before leaving the team, but I felt I could only truly relax once my resignation was processed by the System.
I nervously shook the pen. The carrot doll at the end of it dangled violently.
I had completely blocked off any reason for Department Head Nam… no, the System, to suddenly say, ‘Assistant Manager Kim, the performance is too poor. I’m going to need you to work a bit more.’
This was because the view count for Spark’s music video alone was more than double what it had been during their original debut.
While it helped that Spark’s past records were abysmal, the group was definitely making a name for itself in a good way through word of mouth on the community boards I monitored daily.
≫ The assignment distribution is perfect lol
The delinquent who sleeps as soon as he gets to school → The model student who stayed up all night doing homework
The delinquent who brings "tools" to school → The model student who brought all his supplies
The delinquent who looks like a total mastermind → The group leader
The outsider with a mysterious aura → The safety monitor
The kid who only messes around in class → The talented model student who’s dedicated to the assignment
The delinquent with the messy uniform → The model student who takes on all the hard work
└ It was a dream team all along
≫ Where did you sell the doll’s head?
The male idol who hurriedly hides his pen while everyone else is pretending to write with them during the music show ending.gif
└ What’s the name of the kid hiding the pen??
└ They say it’s Spark’s Je-ho~
≫ Was watching six high school boys doing an assignment at school always this addictive?
I can’t stop replaying it
└ It looks like a really fun assignment, especially the students' faces
≫ Evolution of Stage Ending Items.zip
Group project lots > Ruler > Pen lolol I’m excited to see what they bring out next
└ I’m seriously worried they’re going to bring a gourd and smash it on their heads for the last broadcast…
└ LOLOLOLOL
Of course, we aren't smashing any gourds. I’ve strictly forbidden any actions that could harm those punks' faces.
Out of everything I’d read so far, this post was my favorite:
≫ I thought we were getting another victim of a shitty small agency
But they’re fucking good on stage… I guess the original agency's genes don't go anywhere.
Of course, there weren't only positive reviews.
There were all sorts of posts, ranging from "criticism" that was actually just insults to crude belittling.
But I didn't pay them much mind.
About half of them were about my fancams—noting how my skills were significantly lower than the other members—and the other half were just the usual attention-seeking posts that follow any celebrity.
Just bear with it a little longer, dear public. Kim I-wol, the clumsy person who’s such an eyesore, will be out of your way soon….
The results were better than before, and I’d already decided what they should do for the next year or so.
I resolved to start writing the handover document as soon as possible to prevent the System from secretly trying to change its mind.
“Hyung, we’re going to post the notice for the Live!”
Right.
Just as soon as I finish tomorrow’s Live without a hitch.
Baek Hae-won had spent the last few days glued to MeTube.
It was all because of an idol group that had debuted just the day before yesterday.
How could a group that just debuted be so good on stage, and why was there so much content to consume?
After swimming in a sea of content for four hours straight, Baek Hae-won had to admit it with a heavy heart. She had fallen for Spark.
‘I should have stanned them after they got a bit more famous… then I’d at least have some fan friends…. No, they say the earlier you stan, the better….’
Baek Hae-won’s mind was a mess of inner conflict.
The reason she was still clutching her phone despite being physically and mentally exhausted was also because of those damn idols.
After yesterday’s music show, a notice for a live broadcast was posted on the newly created official SNS of the group ‘Spark.’
≫ ★ Notice ★
Hey guys, our presentation is coming up soon…
Is everyone free tomorrow evening?
Let’s prepare together at our place!
Don’t forget to bring your phones!
It was an incredibly simple yet intensely conceptual notice. Was there ever a notice so ordinary yet so full of personality?
And that long-awaited Live finally arrived for Baek Hae-won while she was chatting with acquaintances on social media.
[Spark] (2X0227) The group project presentation begins!
‘They even put the date in the broadcast title… it’ll be easy for fans to back it up….’
Without even realizing she was becoming one of those fans, Baek Hae-won clicked the broadcast button.
The screen showed six people sitting together, all wearing matching black tracksuits of the same design.
『Manager-nim, I think the broadcast is on. Is that right?』
Kim I-wol, who was looking at a tablet, asked someone off-camera in a small voice. Of course, Baek Hae-won heard everything with her bionic ears.
‘First of all, his manners pass.’
Personality was crucial in deciding whether to stan someone.
Baek Hae-won’s philosophy, forged through years of ups and downs, was that once you start liking someone, you might end up turning a blind eye to almost anything—so it was best to start off on the right foot.
You ask where you’d find an idol with a bad personality in front of a camera?
There are plenty. Not that her former ultimate bias was like that….
Actually, he was. Fuck.
‘Ah, no. Focus, focus!’
It would be a hundred times more beneficial to focus on the Spark members in front of her than to think about those bastards who were blacklisted from the industry.
Once the members felt the connection was stable, they began the broadcast with a group greeting.
『We’re finally doing our first live broadcast since our debut. Everyone, clap!』
When the leader, Jeong Seong-bin, spoke, everyone followed his lead and clapped.
Watching this, only one thought filled Baek Hae-won’s head.
‘Our Seong-bin… he looks so soft. How does he survive in this cold-hearted group…?’
With the soft-looking Jeong Seong-bin in the center, he was flanked by Gi-yeon on the left and Cheong-hyeon on the right, both of whom looked incredibly intimidating. In the back row sat the hyungs who looked like they had just come back from collecting debts.
Fortunately, the hyungs' way of speaking was very kind.
『Choi Je-ho, do you want to look at the comments?』
『Sure, I’ll read them.』
One of them was a bit like a cyborg, but whatever. It was their first broadcast; he could be nervous.
『Since it’s our first broadcast, there were so many things we wanted to talk about… I-wol hyung, could you bring that out?』
『Yeah.』
At Jeong Seong-bin’s request, Kim I-wol pulled a large foam board from behind the sofa.
The topics for today’s conversation were written in order.
‘Isn’t that the board they used to introduce the members in their self-produced content?’
Seeing the familiar colors and size, Baek Hae-won couldn't help but have a reasonable suspicion. Recycling props… you guys are quite eco-friendly….
More importantly, what’s with the TMI? Is that really a topic worth discussing so formally?
Baek Hae-won was a bit confused.
Unaware of this, the Spark members attached a red star shape—seemingly made of felt—to ‘1. Debut Thoughts’ and talked about the joy and gratitude of their debut.
Lee Cheong-hyeon’s revelation that Kim I-wol hadn't been able to sleep for several days after the debut was quite interesting.
In their self-produced content, he had seemed like a "by-the-book" type with a screw loose.
The reflections on their debut ended with each member sharing a brief thought. Next was the music video behind-the-scenes.
『We can’t leave this out when talking about this music video. The Goldberg machine!』
Lee Cheong-hyeon pulled out a piece of paper with a scene from the music video printed on it from under the table. It was a mystery how many visual aids they had hidden under the camera.
Then, Jeong Seong-bin said something surprising.
『Cheong-hyeon made this entire Goldberg device himself.』
『Ah, I-wol hyung did the planning, and I just did the design! All the members helped build it together!』
So, in the end, it meant Lee Cheong-hyeon himself had designed that massive contraption.
『Cheong-hyeon worked really hard….』
Park Ju-woo said with a smile. It seemed Baek Hae-won was the only one surprised by this.
Was it really that easy to make every movement line up perfectly like stop-motion? She didn't know much, but she figured the calculations had to be spot on.
Right on cue, Kang Gi-yeon pointed this out.
『We failed a lot in the middle. There was a lot of trial and error.』
『Really. We even suggested filming it in separate cuts, but Cheong-hyeon said he wanted to do it in one take.』
『And that’s why it turned out so cool! I love our members for helping me!』
After the back-and-forth between the Kang Gi-yeon and Jeong Seong-bin duo, Lee Cheong-hyeon blew hearts and winks in every direction.
Then, Kim I-wol kindly turned Lee Cheong-hyeon’s body back toward the front of the camera. Thank you, Speed I-wol!
『It was hard using my brain for the first time in a while, but it was fun! I don't think I'll need to study math for a while!』
『Even so, won't it be exam period for you in about two months, Lee Cheong-hyeon?』
『Ah, Je-ho hyung…!』
Even their bickering was so wholesome. It felt like stepping into a boys' classroom at Baek Hae-won’s school.
‘It’s like a slice-of-life high-teen concept….’
Similar comments were popping up on the social media timeline she glanced at during the Live.
Baek Hae-won was thinking about joining the fan talk after the broadcast when the topic moved to the third item.
TMI would probably just be about what they ate today or what snacks they saw at the convenience store.
Baek Hae-won put her phone down for a moment, planning to grab some chips.
However, she couldn't make it out to get the chips. Instead, she was busy doubting her own ears.
On the screen, Kim I-wol was clearly saying something very ordinary—about what they had eaten today.
『Choi Je-ho had a steak egg salad. The sauce was mustard, but he said he wasn't feeling it today, so he used the oriental dressing that Ju-woo had set aside. You left the yolk, right? And Seong-bin…』
The level of detail was almost identical to how she used to write down exactly how her bias mixed his rice so she could copy it.