Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols-Chapter 227: Everyone Has a First Time, But

Lee Cheonghyeon thrust a small hand mirror covered in sparkly yellow jewels right up to my nose.
He was right. My undereye area was as white as if I’d applied concealer.
“Is this… me?”
“Maybe the problem was that we weren’t exercising enough? Should we at least have a sports day among ourselves once a month?”
Wouldn’t that land us in the Taereung National Training Center instead of on a year-end stage?
Lee Cheonghyeon’s face also radiated a natural glow. Before, it was just a halo, but now he was shining from all angles. That system, despite its infuriating processes, definitely delivered on its rewards.
“You’ve all worked hard today, so don’t push yourselves any further. Go back and rest. We have a salon appointment tomorrow morning, so set your alarms!”
“Yes!”
Everyone responded energetically to the manager’s words. I answered too, then pulled my planner out of my bag and opened it. It was packed with schedules, from mini fan meetings to self-cam recordings and variety show appearances.
The mini fan meeting would be attended mostly by people who were already fans of Spark, there wouldn’t be many people completely indifferent to Kim Iwol. Fortunately—or unfortunately—most Sparklers were all-member fans. Besides, as the oldest, it would be unthinkable for me to try to steal attention from my younger members and their fans.
Self-cams and variety shows were my only chance to appeal to those unfamiliar with Kim Iwol, but the content wasn’t ideal.
Idols making holiday food? Would anyone actively seek that out, especially during a long holiday weekend overflowing with content, unless they were already a fan? Not unless it went viral.
Of course, my fantastic skewer-flipping skills could be blessed by the MeTube algorithm. But it was unlikely to turn viewers into Iwol fans. Maybe…  They’d just get inspired to eat another skewer.
Lost in thought, I arrived back at the dorm and sat at the dining table, still pondering the mysterious Starlight Smile. I jotted down words on a blank page in my planner, trying to organize my thoughts.
When I smiled at Lee Cheonghyeon, the message didn’t appear—but it did show up during the interview. It hadn’t popped up in front of the production crew either.
The same was true in our waiting room. None of the stylists or coordinators triggered the Starlight Smile prompt with my smiles.
People who came to cheer, not for work. People interested in idols. A large audience. People with varying levels of affection for the teams they were supporting…
The pieces started to fall into place.
‘…Does the guide only appear when I smile at someone with the potential to become a fan?’
That would make sense. The members and existing Sparklers weren’t potential ‘customers’. The production team was way too busy to even consider falling for an idol
Besides, people’s hearts could change easily. Even those who had passionately cheered for the group at the beginning of ‘ISD’ could get disillusioned over small issues.
≫ I came to see my idols, not some other idols
Thanks to that, I had a good view of fan event. Everyone’s handsome. F***
└ You can only defend someone being shy for so long, you know. XX… Just dropping off lunchboxes and leaving—seriously? And half the fans didn’t even get their coffee until after they finished eating
└ I really don’t understand. Is interacting with fans in the audience that difficult?
└ If I were an idol, I’d have already offered up lunchboxes, sandwiches, and fish-shaped buns as a full-course meal and buttered them up like crazy. Just making sure fans are fed and talking to them is enough to keep your image intact—so why do they keep messing that up and making it an issue every single time?
That was why so many Sparklers had left the fandom back in the day.
It wouldn’t have been surprising if fans of other groups had switched allegiances by the middle of ISD after experiencing something like this. Although, whether that person ended up taking an interest in me was another story.
The system probably meant to encourage me to work harder and gain new fans whenever the guide appeared. But even taking care of my existing fans was already overwhelming.
‘Well, I have to do what it tells me…’
Gaining 10,000 new fans was no easy feat. Especially for someone like me, who attracted both praise and criticism in equal measure.  Most people preferred peaceful, drama-free fandom experiences.
After much thought, I decided to approach this with a more solid plan.
Starlight Smile… I would master it within a week, using everything I learned in acting class.
But I never got the chance to test the Starlight Smile within that week.
Because exactly a week after I started working in earnest with our new manager, I lost every single smile I had—just like a cruel joke.
***
Mr. Unseop, our new manager, spent his first few weeks shadowing Manager Chanyeol.
‘They’re generally well-behaved and don’t cause much trouble. You just have to keep an eye on them when they get riled up about something and get noisy amongst themselves.’
Hearing Manager Chanyeol describe Spark like that felt a bit strange, but it wasn’t entirely wrong, so I couldn’t argue.
Manager Chanyeol, now promoted to team leader, continued to handle sensitive matters, like Kang Kiyeon’s hospital visits and communication with the leader, Jeong Seongbin. Pick-up arrangements were to be communicated on a case-by-case basis.
On the other hand, since I had a lot of solo schedules, I ended up interacting with Manager Unseop more frequently.
And now, having officially started working together…
─ Iwol, do you still have the external hard drive?
“The blue one? I gave it to you last week, Manager Unseop. Didn’t you receive it?”
─ Last week…?
…I’m suffocating.  Literally.
After discussions with the company, I’d decided to continue producing work. The system had designated me as the producing member, and I didn’t want to get penalized for breach of contract if I slacked off just because we now had a dedicated team.
I had also tasted the sweetness of planning fees. Receiving compensation for my work gave me a sense of satisfaction.
The work itself wasn’t so dreadful that I wanted to tear my hair out, and I still believed I knew best how to present Spark to the public, so I continued.
Things went smoothly. Thanks to the groundwork I laid during our debut, the meetings and processes were now streamlined.
With all the members becoming Dotion masters—Well, Choi Jeho still insisted others to include his opinions when they left comments—decision-making was swift.
But not everyone could keep up at the same pace, especially latecomers.
Manager Unseop was one such case. UA and I didn’t have a problem being understanding about that.
Still, there was a difference between being unfamiliar with tools or operations and just not having a knack for the job. The managers weren’t required to use Dotion anyway. The problem was that Manager Unseop fell into the latter category.
‘Manager-nim! I heard Ms. Jookyung sent you the list. Can I see it now?’
‘List?’
‘Yes, the list of self-cam ideas for the fourth quarter. She said she’d give it to you today.’
‘Was there such a thing…? I’ll ask Ms. Jukyung. One moment.’
The list was found crumpled in the bag Manager Unseop had brought to work two days prior.  Jeong Seongbin just laughed it off, saying it was still readable, but I was a little annoyed. There was no way Ms. Min Jukyung would have handed him a loose sheet of paper without a clear file.
Manager Unseop’s ‘I forgot’ medley continued for the next week. There were mishaps everywhere, from basic things like schedule notifications to meal orders and member pick-ups.
Having worked in an office myself, I knew how difficult it was to manage schedules and order meals for others. Spark were also grateful for the efforts of those around them, so they didn’t complain.
Instead, Manager Unseop was constantly scolded by Manager Chanyeol.
‘There are six members, why did you only order five lunch boxes? It’s not like there are a ton of them, you should’ve double-checked.’
‘The salon appointment is at 3, but you’re notifying them at 2? When are they supposed to sleep? I told you to notify them as soon as the schedule is confirmed.’
‘Why are the fan letters still not moved to the dorm? Didn’t you say three days ago you’d take care of it?’
He probably intended to speak privately, but I overheard everything while explaining a proposal to the Planning Team Leader at the UA office.
I told you to use a calendar app on your phone. It even has a memo function!
Unfortunately, Manager Unseop was also stubborn. He’d insisted on using the Olympic Expressway during the evening rush hour, ignoring my suggestion to use an alternate route, and we almost missed a radio schedule because of it. He also gave banana-flavored milk to Park Joowoo, who only took plain milk. Jeong Seongbin ended up drinking it.
Watching the manager reminded me of some people from my Hanpyeong Industry days.
The newbie who started speaking informally the moment they found out their mentor was younger than them; the one who didn’t take notes during handover, then claimed they’d never been told; the employee who forgot to send an email and blasted it out to everyone at midnight; the boss who wrote meeting times on a calendar but never looked at it; the employee who would clam up if something displeased them…
I suppressed a deep sigh. Manager Unseop wasn’t that bad yet.
Everyone needed time to adjust to a new environment and job. I decided to consider it an adjustment period.
“And Iwol, I’m asking this just in case.”
“Yes, Team Leader-nim.”
As the meeting concluded, the Planning Team Leader changed the subject.
“I sent you some printed references for the concept you wanted to try through Manager Unseop.  Since you share devices, I figured a file wouldn’t be convenient to view in the car. Did you receive them?”
“I’m sorry, this is the first I’ve heard of it!”
The team leader gave a wry chuckle.
UA really sucks at hiring. Next time you post a job ad, don’t waste money—just hire me. I’ll do it as a side hustle.
Author's Thoughts
It's been a long time since I feel the uneasiness typically associated with Manager Nam and Yoo Hansoo.