Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols

“Thank you for your hard work!” 

“Thank you!”

 

As soon as the sound of ‘cut’ was heard, I bent over and loudly expressed my thanks. Another recording for a music show had just ended.

 

This was already the third music show.

 

As I gathered up today’s prop, the so-called ‘Lee Cheonghyeon’s must-have’ pen with a stuffed doll attached, I thought to myself:

 

‘How many more music shows do I have to do…?’

 

When the first music show ended, the system had definitely appeared before my eyes.

 

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[SYSTEM] Work instructions from the ‘Superior’ have arrived.

 

▶ Assistant Manager Kim, I saw the draft you submitted! But I have too much work to do today. It isn’t urgent, is it? I’ll definitely see it this week, Assistant Manager Kim, please understand. Okay?

 

+

 

It was so urgent.

 

My heart felt like it would explode, like when a worker ran to the bank during lunch break only to find out the expected wait time was 50 minutes.

 

Because of this, I had stayed up all night with my eyes wide open, afraid that I might miss the system’s mission completion alarm while sleeping.

 

After all, Spark’s hot debut happened last week.

 

Even if a review period was needed, it should’ve been done long ago.

 

‘F*ck, it was lying about seeing it!’

 

I had let my guard down. There was no way a guy who spoke like Manager Nam would see the draft on time.

 

Even though I was just a subordinate, this was just too much. Did the world the system come from not have a ministry of labor?

 

‘…I was planning to start writing the handover document from today.’

 

Spark’s first activity period was 4 weeks.

 

These four weeks were the optimal time to raise Spark’s recognition, something I had fought for with the UA.

 

From the beginning, I had planned to finish at least one promotion activity before leaving the team, but I would only feel relieved once the system processed my resignation letter.

 

I shook the ballpoint pen anxiously. The carrot doll attached to the end dangled violently.

 

Manager Nam… No, the system, I had blocked any chance of them suddenly saying something like, ‘Assistant Manager Kim, your performance is too poor. You’ll need to keep working for a while longer.’

 

The number of views for Spark’s music video alone had more than doubled compared to their debut days.

 

It was partly because Spark’s performance was bad in the past, but in the community monitoring that I did every day, Spark’s name was definitely being known step by step in a positive way.

 

≫ The assignment distribution is perfect

 

Delinquent who sleeps as soon as he gets to school → Model student who stayed up all night doing homework.

 

Delinquent who brings tools to school → Model student who brought all the materials.

 

Delinquent who looks like a real villain → Group leader.

 

Mysterious outsider → Safety monitor.

 

That guy who goofs off in class → Diligent, skilled student.

 

Delinquent with a messy uniform → Model student who takes care of all the hard tasks.

 

└ They’re the dream team

 

≫ Where did they sell the doll’s head?

 

All of them pretending to write with a pen during the music show ending, but one boy hastily hides his pen.gif

 

└ What’s the name of the kid who hides the ballpoint pen??

 

└ Spark’s Jeho~

 

≫ Who knew six high school boys working on an assignment could be so addictive?

 

I can’t stop watching

 

└ The homework looks really fun, especially with those students’ faces

 

≫ Evolution of the stage-ending props.zip

 

Group assignment lottery > ruler > pen lol I wonder what they’ll bring out nextㅋㅋㅋ I’m looking forward to what they’ll come up with next

 

└ I’m seriously worried they might bring out a gourd and smash it on someone’s head during the final show…

 

└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

 

Of course we wouldn’t bring any. Anything that could harm their faces was strictly prohibited.

 

This was the post I liked the most out of all the ones I had read so far.

 

≫ I thought another sacrificial lamb would come out of this mess, but…

 

They’re killing it on stage… seems like good genes run in the family.

 

Of course, not all the feedback was favorable.

 

From criticism disguised as insults to blunt negative comments, there was a wide range of reactions.

 

But I didn’t bother paying attention.

 

About half of them were about my fancams where my skills were noticeably inferior to those of the other members, and the other half were aggro-like comments that any celebrities dealt with.

 

Just hold on a little longer, everyone. The klutz Kim Iwol, a thorn in the group’s side, will be gone soon…

 

My grade had improved compared to before, and I’d already planned what I needed to 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 changing its mind.

 

“Hyung, I’ll post a notice about our live!”

 

Alright.

 

Let’s just finish tomorrow’s live broadcast smoothly.

 

* * *

 

Baek Haewon had been completely immersed in MiTube for the past few days.

 

It was all because of a recently debuted idol group.

 

Why were their performances so good, and why was there so much content to consume?

 

Baek Haewon, who had been swimming in the sea of ​​content for 4 hours without stopping, had to admit. That she had fallen for Spark.

 

‘I should’ve waited until they got more popular before getting into them… then at least I’d have some fan friends. No, no, they say the sooner you join, the better…’

 

Baek Haewon’s head was filled with agony.

 

Even though she was exhausted, the reason Baek Haewon was still clutching her phone was, of course, because of that idol group.

 

After the music show yesterday, a live broadcast notice was posted on the official SNS of the newly-established group ‘Spark’.

 

≫ ★ Announcement ★

 

Hey guys, our presentation is coming up…

 

Is everyone free tomorrow evening?

 

Let’s prepare together at my place!

 

Don’t forget to bring your phones!

 

It was a simple but shockingly on-brand announcement. Could any other group make such a normal yet unique post?

 

And so, the much-anticipated live broadcast was fast approaching as Baek Haewon scrolled through SNS, chatting with friends.

 

[Spark] (2X02XX) Group project presentation starts now!

 

‘They even put the date in the broadcast title… makes it easy for fans to archive this.’

 

Baek Haewon, not yet thinking of herself as one of those fans, pressed the broadcast button.

 

Then a screen revealed six people sitting together wearing identical black training suits.

 

『Manager, is the broadcast on?』

 

Kim Iwol, who was looking at a tablet, quietly asked someone off-camera. Of course, Baek Haewon, with her supersonic hearing, picked up every word.

 

‘First of all, his manner passed.’

 

Personality was crucial when deciding whether to become a fan.

 

Once you started liking someone, you might overlook a lot of things, so it was better to set things right from the beginning. That was Baek Haewon’s philosophy after years of experience in the fandom world.

 

An idol with a terrible personality on camera?

 

They existed. Not that Baek Haewon’s former bias group was like that or anything…

 

Actually, yeah, they were like that, f*ck.

 

‘Oh, no. Focus, focus!’

 

It would be a hundred times better to focus on the Spark in front of her rather than thinking about those m*****s who were buried in the industry.

 

The members, having confirmed that the connection was stable, began the broadcast with a group greeting.

 

‘We’re finally having our first live broadcast since our debut. Let’s give an applause!’

 

When the leader, Jeong Seongbin, spoke up, everyone clapped along with Jeong Seongbin.

 

The only thought that entered Baek Haewon’s mind upon seeing this was:

 

‘Our Seongbin… how is he going to survive in this cold-looking group with a face that soft?’

 

To Seongbin’s left and right sat Kang Kiyeon and Lee Cheonghyeon, both of whom exuded intense energy, while behind them sat the older members, looking like they’d just come from collecting debts.

 

Fortunately, the older brothers’ speech was very gentle.

 

『Choi Jeho, do you want to read the comments?』

 

『Okay, I’ll read them.』

 

One of them seemed a bit like a cyborg, but well. He might be nervous on his first broadcast.

 

『Since it’s our first broadcast, we really wanted to talk about a lot of things… Iwol hyung, could you bring that out for me?』

 

『Yeah.』

 

At Jeong Seongbin’s request, Kim Iwol took out a large foam board from behind the sofa.

     

The topics of today’s conversation were written down in order.

 

‘Isn’t that the same board they used during their member introductions in their self-produced content?’

 

The familiar color and recognizable size that briefly caught her eye made Baek Haewon unable to stop her reasonable suspicion. Reusing props? These guys were quite eco-friendly…

 

But more importantly, what was this TMI? Was it really something worth discussing so seriously?

 

Baek Haewon felt a bit confused.

 

However, unaware of this, Spark, attached a red star shape that seemed to be made of non-woven fabric to ‘1. Thoughts on debut’ and talked about the joy and gratitude of debuting.

 

Lee Cheonghyeon’s accusation that Kim Iwol couldn’t sleep for several days after his debut was quite interesting.

 

In their previous content, he had seemed like a perfectly wound-up FM (field manual) type.

 

After they each took turns sharing their thoughts on debuting, the topic shifted to the music video’s behind-the-scenes.

 

『We can’t leave this out when talking about the music video. The Goldberg!』

 

Lee Cheonghyeon pulled out a printed scene from the music video from under the table. How many visual aids had they hidden beneath the camera?

 

At that moment, Jeong Seongbin said something surprising.

 

『This entire Goldberg machine was made by Cheonghyeon.』

 

『Well, Iwol hyung planned it, and I only designed it! All the members helped build it!』

 

So, in the end, Lee Cheonghyeon himself had constructed that massive contraption.

 

『Cheonghyun worked really hard…』

 

Park Joowoo said with a smile. It seemed Baek Haewon was the only one surprised by the situation.

 

Was it really easy for everything to fit together so perfectly, like stop-motion? She didn’t know much about it, but you’d need precise calculations for it to work.

 

Just then, Kang Kiyeon pointed this out.

 

『We failed a lot in the middle. We went through a lot of trial and error.』

 

『Really. At one point, we considered filming in cuts, but Cheonghyeon insisted on doing it in one take.』

 

『That’s why it came out great! I love our members who helped!』

 

After the back and forth between Kang Kiyeon and Jeong Seongbin, Lee Cheonghyeon winked and made hearts in all directions.

 

At that moment, Kim Iwol kindly adjusted Cheonghyeon’s position so he faced the camera directly. Thank you, Speedy Iwol!

 

『It was tough using my brain after a long time, but I had fun! I think I won’t need to study math for a while!』

 

『But Lee Cheonghyeon, don’t you have exams in two months?』

 

『Ah, Jeho hyung…!』

 

Their playful banter was so endearing. It felt like being in a class full of boys at school.

 

‘It’s like they come straight out of a slice-of-life high school drama…’

 

During the live broadcast, when she briefly checked the SNS timeline, she saw similar people stating similar opinions.

 

Baek Haewon thought about chatting in fan group chats after the broadcast ended, but then the discussion moved on to the third topic.

 

TMI probably meant talking about what they ate today or some snack they saw at a convenience store.

 

Baek Haewon put her phone down for a moment, thinking she would take advantage of this opportunity to get some snacks.

 

But she didn’t get up. Instead, she was busy questioning her ears

.

On screen, Kim Iwol was clearly talking about what they ate today, a very ordinary topic.

 

『Choi Jeho had a steak and egg salad. The sauce was mustard, but he didn’t really feel like it today, so he used the oriental sauce that Joowoo didn’t eat. He left the yolk, didn’t he? Seongbin had…』

 

The level of detail was almost like how she used to jot down notes, trying to replicate how her favorite idol ate their meals.