Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols-Chapter 237: Our Neighborhood's Study King (3)

“Since this problem is truly a surprise question, there will be no disadvantage to the survivors even if they get it wrong. However, for each person who gets the correct answer, we will revive 10 people!”
“10 people?!”
The venue buzzed at the groundbreaking proposal. I had no idea what kind of question they were planning to ask.
If it were a science question, Lee Cheonghyeon would somehow manage to solve it. If it were a social studies subject, I would rack my brains and cover it from this end. There were only two of us left, and both of us getting it wrong would be pretty humiliating.
“Here comes the question!”
Until a moment ago, the questions were presented via narration. This time, the MC pointed to the front prompter. The teleprompter lit up brightly, revealing a math problem.
[In a coordinate plane, when points P, Q, and R move on the three sides AB, BC, and CA, respectively, of triangle ABC with an area of 27…]
“Gasp.”
Sighs mixed with groans poured out from all directions. The label at the bottom—20XX College Scholastic Ability Test Question—only made the pressure worse.
‘I think I can solve it… but will Lee Cheonghyeon be okay?’
I didn’t come back nine years older than these kids just to show off like, ‘Look how smart I am~ admire my genius~’. That’d just be cheating.
My goal here was only one thing: to shout, ‘Please look at Spark’s genius, all-around talent, Lee Cheonghyeon!’
I was contemplating what would be better for the team: getting it wrong here and hearing people say, ‘Wasn’t Kim Pep’s claim of being a top-tier math student a lie?’ or getting it right and stealing the spotlight Lee Cheonghyeon should receive. Just then, the silhouette in the seat next to me moved. Lee Cheonghyeon was frowning, writing something down.
It was too far to see clearly, but if he could even write half of the formula, that would be as good a defense as any. Worst case, if he wrote a funny comment and got caught on camera, he’d at least grab some attention.
He didn’t even need to be told anymore—he just did what he needed to. I relaxed and started solving the problem.
“That was a tough one, wasn’t it?”
“Yes!”
The idols answered loudly, their voices mixed with resentment. The MC laughed.
“The production team was too harsh. It’s a holiday, but they have no heart, don’t you agree?”
This would be the perfect moment to cut to the production team and add a caption like ‘Vicious Production Team.’ Veteran MCs really were built different.
“But still, we’ve got a job to do! Let’s check the answers. Hold up your boards!”
The answer boards were filled with more apologies than usual.
Some wrote the names of their eliminated colleagues, saying, ‘○○, I’m sorry ㅠㅠㅠ,’ while others, in a state of despair, wrote their own birthdates.
Among them, there was someone who had written the same answer as me.
It was Berion’s Yeo Seongchan!
“Mr. Seongchan, your board is very clean. Did you actually try the problem?”
“Well, they say math short answers are usually 0 or 1, so I guessed one of the two!”
Okay, that was a classic joke.
However, I remembered it didn’t apply much to CSAT math. This could only be described as truly lucky.
While the MC was checking from the back row, I checked the whiteboard Lee Cheonghyeon was holding.
For a moment, I was startled. His answer was the same as mine. Moreover, Lee Cheonghyeon’s board even had the formula written out correctly.
‘How did you solve it?’
When I mouthed the question, Lee Cheonghyeon just grinned silently.
The truth behind the miraculous problem-solving was revealed during his interview with the MC.
“My mom and dad put a lot of effort into their children’s education. I think it’s finally paying off!”
Paying off way too well, honestly. You’re a high school sophomore now. You could take the CSAT right away.
Still, since it allowed Lee Cheonghyeon to fully display his intellectual side, I decided to consider it a good thing.
Thanks to Spark’s math whiz duo and Berion’s power, a whopping thirty people were revived, pushing the loser’s revival round further back.
In the middle of the chaos, I clearly saw it: the stark contrast between the exhausted expressions of the staff—already realizing filming would run longer—and the delighted smile of the PD, happy to have secured more footage.
* * *
After the survivors’ revival cards were activated, a short break was given on the filming set. Berion members approached Lee Cheonghyeon and me as we were wiping shoe marks off our seats with wet wipes.
“Yo, geniuses!”
“Sunbaenim, you’re here.”
“What’s up, Iwol hyung? Why are you suddenly acting so formal!”
“I’m a person who is thorough about public and private distinctions.”
Yeo Seongchan made a sad face. He looked like he’d cry if I joked again, so I quickly told him I was kidding.
“Does Spark get idol tutoring or something? There’s nothing you guys can’t do.”
If such tutoring existed, Spark wouldn’t have disbanded in that state back in the day, would it?
“Yeongyu, you get revived too?”
“Yeah. I was aiming for the loser’s revival round, but thanks to Yeo Seongchan, I got back in early.”
“See? There’s no better friend than me, right?”
Yeo Seongchan winked at Moon Yeongyu. Moon Yeongyu looked disgusted, but Yeo Seongchan’s advances didn’t stop.
Lee Cheonghyeon, who was quietly watching this, asked Berion.
“You guys all talk casually with each other?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. We all did during ‘IDC’.'”
Yeo Seongchan replied. Lee Cheonghyeon looked at me with an incredulous expression.
“Wow, hyung, you’re really too much.”
“What is?”
“Seongbin hyung and Kang Kiyeon still use honorifics with you, hyung, but you’re giving these senior idols special treatment? Aren’t you playing favorites to the sunbaenims?”
“Was it like that?!”
“That’s fake news. Spark aims for equality and no hierarchy.”
“But Seongbin is incredibly polite to you, hyung,”
Moon Yeongyu said.
Well… he’s a special case.
“We were already speaking informally during ‘ISD’. Weren’t you there then?”
“Cheonghyeon didn’t have the leisure to care about such things because he was busy participating in his first-ever billiards match!”
Then Lee Cheonghyeon started saying things that would cause big trouble if anyone heard, demanding I stop discriminating against my own members.
I was the one who told them to drop honorifics and they didn’t! Why are you blaming me!
“Then Mr. Cheonghyeon, do you want to drop formalities with us too? We’re not that far apart in age!”
“Is that okay? Is it alright for you to bestow such grace even upon me?”
And so, Lee Cheonghyeon succeeded in dropping formalities with Berion. If this was going to happen, why did he have to pick a fight with me in the first place?
“Oh, right, tell Mr. Heerang that I enjoyed the balloon flower root and pear sticks. They were delicious.”
“Why don’t you contact him directly? He’d probably prefer it if you contacted him. Didn’t you exchange contact info?”
“Spark’s still not allowed personal phones yet. I’m worried I won’t be able to reply in time.”
“Aha… That place is too conservative.”
Now Yeo Seongchan was the one saying something that could get him in trouble. Moon Yeongyu, who was next to him, hastily covered his mouth.
I briefly left the filming set to throw away the wet wipe I had used to clean the floor.
I had been sticking close to Lee Cheonghyeon because I was worried about him, but thankfully, Berion showed up at a good time. So I asked Moon Yeongyu and Yeo Sungchan to look after our kid and stepped out.
‘Where’s the trash can again…?’
Humming to myself, I looked around, but I couldn’t seem to find a trash can.
Trash cans really should be more conveniently placed. I even went to where the vending machines were gathered, but as luck would have it, the vending machines were out of order, and the trash cans were sealed off with tape as well.
As I wandered aimlessly with the wet tissue in hand, I finally spotted a trash can. I wanted to run like a desert wanderer who had found an oasis. Though, since you shouldn’t run indoors, it was more like fast walking.
I was walking, fully intent on throwing away the wet wipe when I heard someone’s voice leaking from a phone booth that wasn’t closed properly.
There was always someone who didn’t shut the booth door properly. Maybe the door was stiff or something.
Still, eavesdropping on someone’s conversation was a breach of basic etiquette—and my goal was the trash can—so I tried to pass by quietly…
“That’s not what we agreed on. Why was there a question on the test that wasn’t mentioned beforehand?”
…I ended up hearing words I absolutely couldn’t ignore. Moreover, the voice was very familiar.
* * *
Perhaps sensing someone was near the booth, Song Minil’s voice quieted down. The phone booth door also seemed to have been pulled shut tightly from the inside.
However, well, those office-style phone booths, unless they were really expensive, weren’t actually that soundproof.
“The seating is too far back too. There’s no way to stand out, you know?”
I can hear everything…
More importantly, he really wanted to stand out. No wonder the MC always started hosting from the back. It seemed even those details were discussed beforehand.
Wanting to subtly let him know how poor the sound insulation was, I deliberately muttered to myself as I walked past the booth.
“Ugh, there are no trash cans on this floor.”
At the same time, Song Minil’s voice—which had been trailing right behind my ears—abruptly stopped.
I mean, I’m just a powerless junior idol, so I guess it doesn’t matter if I heard, but what if it had been a senior or someone from the industry? Come on, you’re a celebrity—watch yourself.
Fortunately, I was able to throw away the wet wipe before my fingertips got all wrinkly. When I returned, the phone booth was empty.
‘Is he perhaps aiming for first place?’
If MYTH had given him a ‘masterpiece’ beyond the cheat sheet that the broadcasting station distributed to the entire cast, it wasn’t impossible.
The difficulty of the questions presented on set was higher than expected, and if it weren’t for the variable of additional questions being asked because many contestants got eliminated, Song Minil might still have been in the running…
‘Then shouldn’t he have at least made it past the middle round?’
Come on. It’s cheating from the start—but if you got the test questions in advance, all you had to do was memorize them, right?
Don’t tell me he got eliminated in the middle because he couldn’t memorize it? And then, since he had no excuse, he blamed the production team? And the PD conducted a surprise game to save Song Minil?
Even Mr. Gu Jahan, who had a hard time memorizing lines, never once blamed the writers for giving him too many. He just got chewed out for making a lot of NGs, and that was the end of it.
My heart ached thinking about the MYTH staff who had to push a guy like that just because he was popular. Spark was truly fortunate not to have someone like that.
‘That aside…’
It was a bit infuriating thinking he came here after receiving special tutoring alone. Lee Cheonghyeon was competing fair and square with his own brain. I was here grinding my rusty brain, too.
You shouldn’t easily make hardworking people look like fools.
I walked over to Lee Cheonghyeon, who was basically hanging out like he was Berion’s sixth member.
And this time, our roles reversed: I hugged him from behind, ruffled his hair vigorously, and whispered in his ear.
“Lee Cheonghyeon.”
“Yep.”
Noticing the strange atmosphere, the kid switched back to his sharp mode.
“Looking at today’s quiz difficulty, how high do you think you can rank if you go full brain power?”
“What am I, an AI robot? You think I can just adjust my brainpower settings?”
“You’re already controlling your broadcast image to some extent.”
We were both smiling, not knowing which stray camera might catch us, but our tone was dead serious.
“Why so suddenly?”
Lee Cheonghyeon asked.
“Let’s just say I witnessed some cheating, and it threw me off emotionally.”
“Oho.”
Lee Cheonghyeon nodded. Then he looked at me and asked.
“When you say ‘full power,’ to what extent are you referring?”
“Like a bold, headline-grabbing, no-holding-back performance.”
In other words, don’t pretend to think through the whole question—just write down the answer you know in three seconds flat.
The kid, understanding my message, gave an answer after some thought.
“As long as it’s not a CSAT problem like before, I’ll get 2nd place.”
“Even with the CSAT problem, you solved it well. What’s the reason you can’t be sure of 1st place?”
“Because there are always variables in the world.”
Lee Cheonghyeon never made mistakes in calculation battles. And I trusted his abilities.
“When filming starts again, try to show off what you know a bit. Let’s boast about how smart our maknae is.”
At my words, Lee Cheonghyeon gave a sly smile. Anyone watching would’ve thought we were hatching a master plan.