Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols-Chapter 258: Advertisement Grand Reveal (1)

“Really?”
At the mention of it being a secret item, Choi Jeho swiftly tucked the notebook into the bag.
“Hey, hyung. Can you really do that?”
“He said it’s a secret.”
“Thn wcn jst dt t ltr……”  (TL note: “Then we can just edit it later…”)
With a subtle smile on my face, I gave Choi Jeho a piece of my mind through ventriloquism. Choi Jeho, with a fed-up expression, took the notebook out of the bag again.
“This is a notebook I used to write lyrics when I first started studying rap. As you can see, the bookmark ribbon is very worn out, right?”
Lee Cheonghyeon held the notebook out to the camera and then pulled it back.
“I’m way too embarrassed to show you what’s inside… Even now, when I think of an idea, I first just scribble it down here and then transfer it to the computer!”
“Really? I’ve never seen you use that notebook.”
“Because I write in it while it’s still in my bag, or I only use it on my bed.”
Lee Cheonghyeon replied awkwardly to Kang Kiyeon’s words. It was a rare sight.
“I personally feel that writing songs and writing lyrics are completely different fields, so I went through all sorts of trial and error. All of that history is in here!”
“Then sign it quickly. So we can display it on the 1st floor of UA when you get famous later.”
“How can you say that? Kang Kiyeon, are you planning to display your friend’s dark history for everyone to see in the company lobby?”
Even so, Lee Cheonghyeon dutifully scribbled his signature on the very first page of the notebook.
At this rate, it really might end up in a display case in the UA lobby by the time he filled up the last page of the notebook.
The bag of the last runner, Kang Kiyeon, was ordinary. If the hyungs before him had filmed a chaotic ‘great reveal of their household goods’ show, Kang Kiyeon was truly faithful to the content.
“I also carry a pouch for emergencies. Hey, Lee Cheonghyeon, didn’t we buy this together?”
Kang Kiyeon shook a familiar pouch. It was the same one he’d always carried around.
“That’s right, during our middle school field trip!”
Lee Cheonghyeon’s eyes lit up as he shouted.
“You still have that?”
“Of course. I’ve kept it so well in my drawer.”
Lee Cheonghyeon said, striking a proud pose. He looked so confident, it was like seeing a countryside yellow dog asking for praise for guarding the house well.
“We each bought one when we went on a school trip to Jeju Island. We were originally supposed to move around with our classes, but there was a bit of free time, and that’s when Lee Cheonghyeon came chasing after me.”
“To get matching friendship items, right?”
“You were the only one who wanted to get matching stuff. Don’t make it sound like I was into it too.”
Kang Kiyeon pretended to push Lee Cheonghyeon’s shoulder with his palm, but the sturdily grown Lee Cheonghyeon didn’t budge.
‘That pouch…’
A vinyl pouch of a glaringly bright orange, to the point of being tacky, with stained spots here and there as if to prove it had been carried every day for several years.
At one point, that pouch had been filled with all kinds of calming tonics.
Back then, Kang Kiyeon had calmly explained that he got nervous easily and had introduced all the different calming products he carried.
In the pouch now, which looked just as heavy as it did back then…
“This is the same mist that Iwol hyung uses. It’s from Indenia, and I’m using it portioned out in a small bottle.”
“I was about to buy a new hand cream because I had almost used mine up, but there was a hand cream in the samples Indenia sent. It has a scent I like, so I’m using this these days.”
“Oh, right. I meant to pass this along and totally forgot. Seongbin hyung, a can badge fell out of your bag the other day.”
“A can badge?”
“Isn’t it yours, hyung? It was under your bag.”
“…It must be my dongsaeng’s. I’ll give it to him next time I go home.”
…Completely different things were inside.
‘He doesn’t have to carry it around anymore.’
While Jeong Seongbin carefully picked up the can badge with the cute animal character on it, I found myself swept up in emotions I couldn’t quite place.
Maybe I was getting old. I kept getting sentimental.
With Kang Kiyeon’s bag as the final one, all six bags revealed only clean wholesome items, without a single harmful item like e-cigarettes or lighters. It was truly a relief.
* * *
≫ Indenia’s ad model changed
Check this out
No but frㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Spark is doing itㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ For real?
└ Yeah, it’s real. An article came out
While Won Chaehee was fighting tooth and nail with the assistant manager from the same team over who would do the work, a new piece of content dropped.
She couldn’t spare a second to look it up—her to-do list was burning her alive. But throughout her work, only one thought occupied Won Chaehee’s mind.
‘Spark is doing a cosmetics ad?’
Her idols, whose dorms she’d expect to only reek of men’s toner, were doing a cosmetics ad. She just couldn’t picture it.
‘If it’s Indenia… they must have shot for the basic skincare line.’
Tall, handsome men in white shirts surrounded by fresh greenery, flaunting their visuals? Not a bad concept.
By now, something must have been released, whether it be concept shots or promotional images.
Won Chaehee’s eyes drifted to the bottom right of her monitor. Still three hours till the end of the workday.
‘I really should quit.’
A certain thought enveloped Won Chaehee. But she decided to endure. You need to earn money to be a fan…
Time almost crawled to a halt—until she ended up fighting with her coworker again, which made the rest of the day fly by quickly. For that, she decided to forgive the assistant manager just this once.
Won Chaehee boarded the subway home. She didn’t want to lift a single finger, squeezed by the crowd, but she had to check the news about Spark. With great effort, she pulled out her phone.
Her timeline was already filled with Spark in all colors. Her heart began to pound just from the cropped preview images.
‘This is a jawline, right? Look at that shadow. It’s insane.’
Won Chaehee covered her mouth and tapped on a photo.
Covering her mouth beforehand turned out to be a very good decision.
Fans, as a matter of custom, tend to release individual member photos or information in order of age.
Which meant that what Won Chaehee was currently looking at was Kim Iwol’s individual photoshoot cut.
Suddenly faced with her bias’ sleek new picture, Won Chaehee almost screamed.
In an effort to maintain a minimum of social decency, Won Chaehee raised her phone’s screen brightness, which she had lowered to the max. Kim Iwol’s photoshoot cut shone brightly.
Against a dark grey background—so deep it was nearly black—tiny water droplets streamed down like rain, in perfectly artificial straight lines.
And in front of that stood Kim Iwol’s face.
His well-sculpted face, like porcelain without a single bubble, shone like a calm lake receiving the midday sun. Behind him, the water droplets sparkled like the glitter of sunlight on water.
He held a minimalist-designed toner bottle in one hand. Even the long, pale fingers wrapping around the bottle were beautiful.
The water droplets melted into Kim Iwol’s hair, the nape of his neck, the back of his hand, and the shoulder line of his white shirt.
This didn’t mean his body was wet. The boundary between Kim Iwol and the background was so blurred that its line was ambiguous.
Like a giant mosaic painting, or the shoreline of a wavy beach, or the marbling created by bubbles. As if the toner’s moisture and Kim Iwol had become one.
‘Did they really shoot this for Indenia?’
The photoshoot was so excessively cool that one would believe it if they were told that Indenia, a cost-effective cosmetics brand, had decided to adopt a high-end strategy. Wasn’t this the kind of thing that high-ranking department store brands shot?
His long, dark eyebrows were Kim Iwol’s trademark. Following the line of his tilted head upwards, one could meet Kim Iwol’s impassive downward gaze. Beneath his sharp eyes, the shadows of even finer, longer eyelashes were densely cast.
Moist lips, and—if she dared borrow the style of over-the-top fan gushing—a forehead worthy of display at the Yanggu White Porcelain Museum. Every detail was perfect.
‘F*ck it, I’m going all in on Indenia stock starting today.’
She couldn’t even remember the password to her stock trading app anymore. She vaguely recalled hearing that cosmetic stocks had been on the decline for years. She didn’t even know if Indenia was publicly traded in the first place. Still, Won Chaehee made a firm vow to herself.
* * *
The reaction to Spark’s photoshoot was explosive. Not a single person had a bad shot, and each of their individualities was well highlighted.
≫ Kim Miheon lies asleep here
But for real, not actually asleep. You all have to wake me up when the 2nd photoshoot drops. I believe in you all
└ Miheon-nim was a Kim??
└ I’m moving my family registry under Iwol’s, so I am Kim Miheon from today
≫ You know, Iwol, I’ve thought for a long time that you couldn’t be human, you know?
But I realized it this time. You’re the prince of the toner kingdom
So that’s why you were so interested in the Kingdom comic that Kiyeon watches, I understand now
Since it’s a story about the same kingdom, you couldn’t help but relate. See more
└ Miheon-nim, aren’t you supposed to be preparing for finals?
└ I was going to, but Spark came first
≫ Indenia is killing it
My eyes keep drifting to Choi Jeho’s face, and they cleverly had him hold the oil right next to it
I can’t see the background or anything else, just the emperor’s royal face and the oil he recommends
└ You can’t not see the oil
└ This is that thing. Visual redirection
≫ What is up with Jeong Seongbin’s photoshoot?
Is it okay for him to be alone, wearing a 90s movie-style dress shirt, caressing his face in front of a mirror? A high school student at that?
└ Kim Iwol, didn’t you say on Bubble Pop that Seongbin’s photoshoot was fresh and cute
└ Mr. Iwol needs to study his vocabulary again
└ You’re all being too much. Just because our Seongbin wore a mature shirt and posed under brown-toned lighting in a background straight out of a Hong Kong movie, is that a reason to go this far?
└ Protect Spark’s gentle visual man Jeong Seongbin
≫ Joowoo, noona told you not to come out of Seoraksan Mountain
If you come out carelessly, people will realize you’re the human mineral water of Seoraksan and take you away in PET bottles
Who told you to get caught on camera like this, like a magnificent view only visible to those who go hiking at 5 AM?
└ Wasn’t our Joowoo mountain fog?
└ We’ve decided to lump everything together as water if the ingredients match
≫ Kang Kiyeon, no smearing cream on your face and smiling mischievously
No  flashing that ‘10:10’ angled eyebrow smile like some wholesome guy
No making people’s hearts flutter by showing your aegyo when the corner of your eye is more lifted than mine with super intense eyeliner
└ Ha, I thought he was a cheerful guy, was it false advertising?
└ Our kid is a cheerful guy, but XX there’s just something about him
└ There’s no image more addictive than this… I closed my phone after seeing it, but turned it back on just to see it again…
And the one who undoubtedly became a hot topic was…
Lee Cheonghyeon, whose gap between the camera and real life had at some point shrunk to zero, and whose beauty wasn’t just peaking—it was bursting.