Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols

“Wouldn’t #21 be too dark for Iwol?”

 

“If we go too light, his features will all get washed out. We can’t have that.”

 

“Hmmm… Should we change the makeup for each set?”

 

Three professionals surrounded me, engaged in a heated discussion.

I still hadn’t gotten used to the experience of them applying all these famous-brand cosmetics. As a 29-year-old office worker, this was far more attention than I was comfortable with.

 

On top of that, all three of them looked quite serious, as if there was something wrong with my skin tone.

 

To my eyes, #17 to #23 all looked the same, but the staff members’ eyebrows were all furrowed. With them acting like that, I couldn’t help but feel concerned.

 

“It would be fine if it was just a matter of brightness but Iwol looks a little pale… Iwol, are you sick?”

 

“No, I’m perfectly fine.”

 

The staff member smiled brightly, relieved by my answer.

 

Then she patted my face with something like a sponge.

 

This feeling, this was the second time I experienced it after the profile photoshoot, but I couldn’t seem to get used to it.

 

How many more makeup sessions would I have to go through before my debut? My heart raced for various reasons.

 

The transformative power of makeup was truly remarkable.

 

First, Choi Jeho.

 

This guy was given the role of ‘rough but charming’, so he was given the flashiest style among us.

 

He didn’t bother with a tie, and left two buttons undone, as if he had no idea where his tie went, and his hair was styled dramatically with wax. He even dyed it dark gray.

 

Do high school students use wax these days? I didn’t know because I just had a plain hairstyle for three years.

 

Compared to him, Jeong Seongbin looked like a neat class president.

 

Unlike the other five who you wouldn’t want to meet in the hallways, Jeong Seongbin had a gentler aura, so his hair was dyed a dark brown.

 

A lighter brown probably would have been too soft for his ‘cool on the outside, warm on the inside’ concept, so the darker tone was a good choice.

 

For Park Joowoo, he got a special sky-blue knit vest.

 

That was because Park Joowoo’s birthstone was that color. Fans didn’t miss even these small details.

 

Even for me, who didn’t care about anything Spark wore, Park Joowoo’s knit outfit looked good.

 

I predicted that once the music video was released, there would be comments like, ‘Park Joowoo looks so f*cking awesome in that vest’.

 

They even tousled his hair with a blow dryer to give him a disheveled look, and the final result was surprisingly good. He looked like a kid who just got dragged to the back of the classroom after getting caught napping.

 

Lee Cheonghyeon looked normal but with subtle quirks.

 

For instance, his tie would casually be tucked into his pocket, or he’d wear socks with a splash of colorful paint patterns against his dark school uniform. For the drama scenes, they even planned to smudge some ink on his sleeves.

 

This guy even dyed his hair purple. To match his role in the music video, he created an eccentric scientist look.

 

If you looked closely, unlike Lee Cheonghyeon who looked free-spirited, Kang Kiyeon wore an outfit so tidy that it looked almost suffocating.

 

His shirt was buttoned all the way to the neck and his tie was tied tightly, giving off a strong impression in contrast to his sharp face. He even wore a black turtleneck underneath.

 

Since Choi Jeho was wearing clothes as fancy as his face, they went in the opposite direction with Kang Kiyeon, and it worked just as great.

 

As a bonus, Lee Cheonghyeon and Kang Kiyeon each were given a friendship item that Lee Cheonghyeon loved so much.

 

As I had discussed with the planning team in advance, I put matching straps on Lee Cheonghyeon’s belt hole and Kang Kiyeon’s bracelet. It was in the shape of a cute doll.

 

After organizing the contents up to this point and handing them over to the planning team, all of the ‘three pieces of advice for improving stage quality’ task that had been clinging to me like leeches were met.

 

After all six of us had our makeup done and changed into gray uniforms arranged to match our personalities, the actual filming began.

 

We had rehearsed the choreography so much that our shoes were worn out in the practice room.

 

I even chose the filming location carefully, after staying up all night brainstorming, so it was perfect for gaining exp without complaints from the system.

 

So, just like the recording a while ago, this music video filming would also proceed smoothly.

 

…or so I naively thought. It was a foolish assumption.

 

“Stop filming for a moment.”

 

At the director’s words, the music video set instantly fell silent.

 

I was out of breath after dancing three times in a row, but I couldn’t make a sound.

 

Everyone, from the staff to the manager, gathered around the monitor with serious expressions to review the footage.

 

What could be the problem?

 

Did we not practice how to hold the center of the stage enough, so the axis was tilted to one side?

 

Or was there a member who still had a dark expression?

 

Or worse yet…

 

‘Is it because I’m in it that the picture is different than before?’

 

While I was thinking about all sorts of things, the manager’s gaze turned to us.

 

“Guys, come here for a moment.”

 

At the manager’s call, we cautiously headed toward the monitor.

 

Then the director played the video he had just shot.

 

My embarrassing face kept popping in and out of the screen… no, that was not the point.

 

“…The shape of the lips doesn’t match the lip sync at all.”

 

“You can see it too, Iwol?”

 

Yeah.

 

The Spark members, who had never practiced lip syncing before, were concentrating on the director’s instructions to ‘dance while being conscious of the movement!’, so they just moved their lips slightly.

 

Despite the lyrics playing, some of us had already closed our mouths halfway through the chorus.

 

The tracked clearly showed everyone singing the chorus together, but their mouth shapes were all different.

 

Could you imagine releasing a video like this into the world, where fans captured every frame and share slow-motion clips of even the smallest mistakes?

 

≫ What has one body but six mouths?

 

└ Spark

 

└ Correct answer, I’ll give you this year’s lip-syncing fail GIF as a prize

 

└ Is that really a prize?

 

I didn’t even have to watch the video to know. We’d probably get a humiliating nickname like ‘idols known for their synchronized moves (except when it comes to their lips).’

 

This was all my fault for forgetting that Spark’s debut music video was a sentimental ballad.

 

Back then, everyone was just sitting still and opened their mouths so things didn’t get this bad.

 

Since we couldn’t learn how to lip-sync on the spot, we ended up having to shoot a music video with a live performance that was full of emotion and tension.

 

I just hoped the video team could capture this scene well.

 

* * *

 

After the music video shoot, which seemed to have strained my throat even more than the recording, UA began planning the album.

 

Of course, planning the album wasn’t easy either.

 

That was because Yoo Hansoo had returned, full of determination.

 

“So… you’re saying we should release three versions of the debut album?”

 

“Yes. The idea is to show the flow of a day through three concepts: before school, during class, and after school.”

 

This time, it seemed like he at least understood the concept of a school-themed youth album, but still, it was impossible.

 

Who released three versions of an album right when they made a debut? Especially at a small company like this.

 

If you were me, would you want to buy three albums from kids whose faces and names you hadn’t even memorized yet?

 

It was quite a sight to see him proudly come up with the three ideas.

 

It seemed Yoo Hansoo didn’t know the basic common sense that sometimes the best way for incompetent people to help was by not getting involved.

 

It was at that moment I realized I wasn’t wrong in thinking we needed to get rid of him.

 

Even while I was seriously thinking about how to get rid of Yoo Hansoo, Yoo Hansoo’s mouth didn’t stop.

 

I wasn’t the only one who didn’t pay attention.

 

The planning team that had to work directly with Yoo Hansoo already had no light in their eyes.

 

From what I’d heard, the planning team had been locked in a battle with him for some time.

 

‘The planning team leader had an argument with PD Yoo?’

 

‘Yeah. Since they’ve both been in the field for a long time, I guess they have trouble resolving their differences in opinions.’

 

I didn’t need to hear the rest of the manager’s sentence to know what came next.

 

‘It’s less a difference of opinion and more that one side is trying to block the other’s stubbornness…’ or something like that.

 

What did that guy even know about actual production work?

 

The only reason my own proposal had gone through smoothly with the planning team was, first, because the company didn’t have a clear plan at the time.

 

Second, my age and position as a trainee made my actions looked like ‘the passion of a young trainee’.

 

However, in a situation where a project was in progress, a third party who didn’t even understand the background story came in and started making demands.

 

That would be seen as reckless rather than proactive.

 

So, from the perspective of the planning team who I had worked with so far, Yoo Hansoo must have looked like a troublemaker.

 

Compared to the planning team, I was actually listening to Yoo Hansoo’s nonsense. He should be grateful.

 

In the bleak atmosphere, the PPT that I had to organize all night under Yoo Hansoo’s instructions passed by without anyone paying attention. It was painful to watch.

 

Perhaps noticing everyone’s soulless attitude, Yoo Hansoo stopped his presentation and said.

 

“Everyone, are you even paying attention to what I’m saying right now?”

 

His tone was snarky enough to rival Choi Jeho’s.

 

Still, I commended him for knowing how to keep talking despite being terrible at his job. Not everyone could pull off that kind of shamelessness.

 

“PD Yoo, what exactly do you mean by that?” 

 

The planning team leader asked without hiding his displeasure. Yoo Hansoo answered without hesitation.

 

“Well, everyone seems so blatantly uninterested. How do you expect the person presenting to stay motivated in this environment?”

 

The tension between Yoo Hansoo and the planning team leader as palpable—like a fight was about to break out any second.

 

I hurriedly lowered my gaze to the keyboard where I was flipping through the PPT.

 

Soon, the room was filled with sarcastic remarks from the planning team and blunt retorts from Yoo Hansoo.

 

And that was when it happened. The system appeared above the keyboard.