Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols-Chapter 175: Meeting (4)

When the lights came back on, Spark was standing there, now dressed in the school uniforms from the music video they’d just watched.
The venue was filled with the reactions of deeply immersed fans.
“How did you like our first fan song?”
“F*cking awesome!”
One Sparkler, after shouting loudly, quickly covered their mouth. Everyone desperately tried to stifle their laughter.
“We were so nervous backstage. We were worried about what would happen if the reaction wasn’t good.”
Kim Iwol said this with a face that looked like he hadn’t been nervous at all. Yeah, right. He’d probably been observing the audience with hawk-like eyes.
Following Jeong Seongbin’s suggestion to sit down and talk about the fan song, Spark took their seats again.
Perhaps because it was difficult to fix their makeup in such a short time, Choi Jeho and Park Joowoo, who had worn strong stage makeup earlier, looked slightly mismatched in their school uniforms. It was amusing in its own way, so Won Chaehee diligently captured it in photos.
“There’s a reason why the title of our song is ‘Third Letter’, right?”
Kim Iwol started. Jeong Seongbin smoothly picked up the thread.
“As you can see from the lyrics of ‘Flowering’ and ‘With List’, we write all our songs with Sparklers in mind. Although this is our first official fan song, it’s the third story we’re sending to Sparklers, hence the title.”
She had never thought of it that way. People always said Spark was exceptionally devoted to their fans, but it was surprising that they’d maintained that level of dedication since their debut song.
Jeong Seongbin then praised the team’s composer.
“Cheonghyeon worked really hard on this song, everyone.”
“What hard work for a fan song? I had fun working on it!”
“Yeah, it definitely seemed that way.”
Kang Kiyeon’s words further emphasized Lee Cheonghyeon’s sincerity. Perhaps because he’d witnessed the fans’ reactions firsthand when the song was revealed, Lee Cheonghyeon was brimming with energy.
“I think someone else worked hard too.”
Kang Kiyeon said, looking to the side. Kim Iwol and Choi Jeho averted their gazes in turn. Won Chaehee had a feeling some very interesting information was about to be revealed.
Lee Cheonghyeon took the microphone again.
“As all Sparklers know, our hyungs aren’t exactly talented at writing.”
“Just look at their letters from the return gift event…”
Everyone agreed with Park Joowoo’s words. Only Won Chaehee, a relatively new fan who didn’t know such details, shifted her gaze around.
“But this time, we decided to write the lyrics for our own parts, right? The hyungs really struggled~”
“You look way too happy about that, Cheonghyeon.”
Kim Iwol smiled brightly, but shadows loomed under his eyes.
“The hyungs were a bit much.”
“…They kept putting the word ‘lacking’ in their lyrics, making all of us in Spark sound deficient.”
Kang Kiyeon and Park Joowoo, as if airing their grievances, took turns criticizing Choi Jeho.
“I was just trying to highlight how amazing it is that you all pulled through despite that, why don’t you understand my heart? Cute, pretty, and precious Cheonghyeon is getting upset.”
“Yeah, my bad.”
To Won Chaehee, even the constant back-and-forth between Lee Cheonghyeon and Kim Iwol—nicknamed the ‘never-a-day-off daily bickering’—was starting to seem adorable.
Now there was only one thing Won Chaehee could decide for herself: who her bias would be. No one would know until the end of this fan meeting.
* * *
After watching Spark perform ‘Flowering’ in school uniforms and a few cover dances of the latest trending songs, it was time for the Q&A session.
A standing board was brought in, covered in post-it notes with questions written by fans.
At Jeong Seongbin’s suggestion to pick and read the questions one by one, the members flocked to the board. Kang Kiyeon was the first to choose a question.
“‘FrontlineCheering6SecondsStraight’ asks, ‘Do you have any plans to switch roommates?’”
“Come to think of it, we’ve never switched, have we?”
Choi Jeho tilted his head.
“Kang Kiyeon and I switched once. Before that, you and Kang Kiyeon were roommates, hyung.”
“Really?”
He seemed to have no recollection. It was a remarkable level of indifference, in many ways.
“It… might be fun to switch.”
Park Joowoo muttered from behind like a baby hamster. Everyone—even Spark themselves—focused on Park Joowoo’s words.
Even from Won Chaehee’s brief observations, Park Joowoo didn’t seem very sociable.
The fact that such a member was open to changing roommates confirmed that Spark was a close-knit group overall.
Their subsequent conversation further demonstrated how well the members knew each other.
“But Jeho hyung and Joowoo hyung should have separate rooms. Joowoo hyung can’t sleep with the lights on.”
“I bought an eye mask, so it’s okay…!”
Kang Kiyeon was thoughtful of his roommate’s habits, and Park Joowoo was willing to put up with Choi Jeho’s poor night vision…
“Whoever rooms with me or Lee Cheonghyeon needs to be a heavy sleeper.”
“You and Cheonghyeon should just sleep on time. I think we should all be asleep before sunrise, at least.”
Jeong Seongbin, while smiling, sternly scolded Kim Iwol and Lee Cheonghyeon, whose sleep patterns seemed to be completely messed up.
“What combinations do you all want to see? If you tell us now, the company might arrange the roommates for us!”
Lee Cheonghyeon came to the front of the stage, eager to interact with the fans. Requests such as ‘Let the maknaes be roommates’ and ‘Divide them into Miracle Morning and Night Owl groups’ poured in.
“If you divide us like that, I’ll have to sleep in two rooms.”
When Kim Iwol, known for sleeping very little, answered, people complained and told him to just sleep.
Besides the roommate change issue, there were many other questions. Sometimes, conversation topics arose from things other than questions.
“‘SparkSexyDanceRegime1386DaysIn’… Wait a minute, who wrote this?”
Having picked it without looking properly, Choi Jeho read the nickname aloud and belatedly tried to identify the mysterious regime master.
“It hasn’t even been a year since we debuted, and it’s already been 1,386 days…”
“Sparklers emit light. Light is the fastest thing in the world. Even time is slower than the light of a Sparkler.”
“Isn’t that a theory that only applies within the realm of physics?”
The SparkSexyDanceRegime topic now evolved into ‘Can you transcend the limits of time by quickly establishing a regime?’
Jeong Seongbin cut in before the conversation could get completely out of hand, but Kim Iwol and Lee Cheonghyeon showed their tenacity by promising to discuss it later.
“‘MeltedPudding’ asks, ‘Will Spark do a sexy concept?’”
As expected of the leader. She had faith that he would choose a classy question. Won Chaehee, impressed, snapped several pictures of Jeong Seongbin. Everyone around her screamed, the reaction was similar to the fan song.
“Jeho hyung did a sexy concept once, at the IDC.”
“They probably want to see a sexy concept in our official group activities.”
“Hmm.”
At Kang Kiyeon’s reply, Lee Cheonghyeon nodded thoughtfully.
Then, Kim Iwol, who had been sitting at the end of the table, suddenly rushed forward and shielded the other members with his body.
“No, everyone, sexy is not allowed yet!”
“Why?”
“Why not?”
“Even though these guys look like this, they’re still babies! At least wait until their ID cards are issued and the ink dries before even considering it!”
Babies, he said. This, despite knowing full well that their average height was over 180 cm.
Won Chaehee sincerely applauded Kim Iwol’s overprotective hedgehog moment.
The fans also hesitated at Kim Iwol’s firm stance. Although their idols were handsome enough to make frost form in summer and tall enough to block doorways, they were still at an age where ‘hot bar’ was more fitting than ‘hottie’.
“Then the hyungs should take their clothes off instead!”
Someone shouted. Won Chaehee guessed it was the same regime person from earlier.
Moreover, Kim Iwol took this suggestion quite seriously. It seemed he considered it a reasonable compromise.
Kim Iwol patted his own biceps and chest over his uniform shirt. Then he walked towards Choi Jeho and did the same to him. After that, with a look of certainty, he slung an arm around Choi Jeho’s shoulders.
“Jeho.”
“Yeah.”
“Your abs are still there, right?”
Kim Iwol asked with the most innocent smile in the world.
“You’re trying to throw me under the bus again, aren’t you?”
Choi Jeho, as if he’d been through this before, was wary.
Seeing this, Kim Iwol smiled kindly.
“The fans want it.”
“…….”
“Therefore, everyone! When Jeho becomes a bit more mature, we’ll try a sexy concept!”
Kim Iwol’s bold ambition was met with enthusiastic cheers.
But aren’t they mature enough now? At this point, Won Chaehee realized her brain might not be functioning properly anymore.
There were some relatively normal questions as well.
“There’s also a question, ‘If you were to compare Spark members to animals, which animals would you choose?’ This question is so cute!”
Although it was a common question in the K-pop scene, Lee Cheonghyeon still seemed excited.
“Shall we start with the oldest hyung? First, Iwol hyung is…”
“Panda.”
“Eagle.”
“Hissing cat.”
“I get the others, but what’s with the eagle?”
Choi Jeho, Lee Cheonghyeon, and Kang Kiyeon answered almost simultaneously.
At Kim Iwol’s puzzled question, Lee Cheonghyeon, who had proposed the eagle, replied.
“Eagles have a field of vision of about 340 degrees. Hyung also has eyes on the back of his head.”
Apparently so. She couldn’t even fathom how much Kim Iwol observed his members.
Choi Jeho was declared an anaconda. Kim Iwol asked, ‘Is an anaconda okay as an idol’s representative animal?’, but his concern was dismissed. Soon, fan art of Choi Jeho with snake scales on his face would flood the internet.
Jeong Seongbin became a Jindo dog. The reason was that there was no other dog as trustworthy. It was strange that Kim Iwol kept suggesting various breeds, from Retrievers to everything else, but ultimately, Jindo dog was decided.
Park Joowoo was a chinchilla, Lee Cheonghyeon a harpy eagle—strongly insisted upon by Kim Iwol—and Kang Kiyeon a black panther.
The combination was unusual. The atmosphere suddenly felt like a nature documentary, but it was an informative time, revealing that Spark was even more eccentric than she thought.
“Is it okay to have two eagles? Won’t there be any interspecies conflict?”
“It’ll be fine since they live in different habitats.”
A peace agreement was reached between the eagles. It was a beautiful sight.
As the chaotic Q&A session drew to a close,
“There’s a suspicious question here…”
Park Joowoo squatted down and peeled off a post-it note stuck at the very bottom.
“…‘What’s the password for our dorm’s laptop?’”
“Huh?”
A question with no nickname, and one that clearly wasn’t written by a fan, had appeared.
―
Profile
Name: Lee Cheonghyeon
Birthday: January 31st
Birthplace: Seoul, South Korea
Height: 178 cm
MBTI: ENFP
Nicknames: Cutie Pretty Visual, Hyeon-utiful, Gold Face, Human Firecracker
Likes: Composing, rapping, piano, watching cooking vlogs, reading
Dislikes: Concerts, exams, being late
Motto: Let’s enjoy life, we only live once!
Favorite Food: Hanjeongsik
Preferred Scent: Watery scents
Favorite Music Genre: Opera, pop music, hip-hop
Favorite Sport: Baseball
Most Confident Body Part: Eyes
Unique Habit: Habitually tries to memorize anything that interests him