Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols-Chapter 272: The Importance of Practice

“Hyung, your headband is really something else.”
Lee Cheonghyeon muttered, looking at the fluorescent pink cat ear headband fixed on my head with bobby pins. At the overflowing compliment, I also responded in kind.
“Your hat’s not bad either.”
The hot pink beanie with two perked-up ears was quite cute. The sky-blue hair peeking out from under the hat was eye-catching.
“Weren’t you supposed to put a badge on your hat? Why is it still the same?”
“They said they could embroider it. With a black X.”
“That’s nice.”
While Lee Cheonghyeon and I were showing off who was more pink in front of the mirror, a human embodiment of pink walked over from a distance. It was Kang Kiyeon, who was about to transform into an adorable pink boy for the year-end stage.
“Are we really going on stage like this?”
Kang Kiyeon asked with a face that seemed to say, ‘Isn’t something wrong?’
His hair was a perfect light pink, around his neck was a choker with a silver chain and a pink ribbon layered, his clothes were pink capri pants, and his shoes were glossy pink platform shoes.
There wasn’t a single thing different from what we had been told in advance. Even the white, rabbit-shaped socks and the transparent pink goggles were accurate.
“Why? It’s exactly as the draft showed.”
“Now that I’ve actually put it on, it’s too pink from head to toe…”
Kang Kiyeon, standing in front of the mirror, adjusted his clothes with a displeased face. Even so, the color scheme didn’t change.
“Mr. Kiyeon, you look like that, you know. Strawberry chocolate-flavored snack.”
“Ah…!”
At the incredibly fitting analogy, Park Joowoo couldn’t contain his admiration. From under the sleeves of Park Joowoo’s oversized hoodie, black nail tips peeked out. Because black nails were the essence of rock spirit, of course.
“What about you, Joowoo? Are the clothes okay?”
“Other than the pants flapping too much, it’s fine…”
Park Joowoo grabbed one side of his pants with both hands and spread them out. It was wide enough for two of Park Joowoo’s legs to fit with room to spare.
But that’s fashion, they say. Endure it well, whatever you do.
Meanwhile, there was another person who couldn’t adapt to the new fashion, and that was Jeong Seongbin.
He was personally experiencing the fashion revolution of wearing an oversized shirt untucked instead of tucked into his pants.
“Is this the right way to button it?”
Jeong Seongbin asked, fiddling with a button that was clearly buttoned wrong.
That’s fashion… they call it an unbalanced look… Endure it…
“Have some confidence, hyung! It looks good on you!”
“I’m not lying, I’ve never seen anyone dress like this except Jeong Seongjun.”
Despite wearing heart-shaped sunglasses that looked like they were melting, Jeong Seongbin spoke gloomily. Even though anyone could see that he was the biggest fashion revolutionary here.
“Seongjun hyung must be a fashionista. As expected of an artist.”
Lee Cheonghyeon earnestly comforted Jeong Seongbin, who seemed to have no confidence at all. It didn’t seem very effective.
Behind the completely disheartened leader, another star appeared.
“Does a sleeveless shirt in the middle of winter make sense?”
It was Choi Jeho, wearing a black sleeveless shirt, hot pink cargo pants, and a headband that matched his pants.
“Why wouldn’t it make sense? Kiyeon has his whole knees out.”
“And Lee Cheonghyeon is wearing arm warmers?”
“Are you jealous? Want me to put them on you too?”
“No thanks.”
Choi Jeho retorted bluntly. Seriously, what kind of answer is that when I offer you something?
“But you, where’s your inner shirt?”
Just as I was thinking something looked empty, Choi Jeho’s bare neck caught my eye.
“Inner shirt?”
“The mesh one. The one you were supposed to wear under the sleeveless shirt. Wasn’t it on the hanger?”
At my words, Choi Jeho stared at me blankly.
“Ah.”
“Ah?”
“I thought it was a net.”
And then he just walked back into the storage room. I was about to be burned to a crisp.
That mesh is the point of that outfit! Without the inner shirt, what’s the difference between your sleeveless shirt and the IDC basketball uniform! Don’t you know my principle is to always show a new Spark to the Sparklers?
“At this rate, Choi Jeho’s gonna be the death of me.”
“Hyung, let’s not say things like that.”
“I’m sorry.”
At Jeong Seongbin’s words, I immediately threw in an apology. And I just waited for Choi Jeho to come out properly dressed.
* * *
Spark didn’t usually wear shoes with heels.
This was due to my strong request to protect their knees as much as possible until their growth plates closed, and also because the members’ heights were sufficient even without heels.
But now, Spark had painstakingly matched every single prop to become one with the Pink Carrot sunbaenims’ stage outfits, and…
“Wow, did you hear that just now!”
“Isn’t the floor going to collapse…?”
…they had the once-in-a-lifetime experience of the basement thudding with every step they matched. The shoes weren’t even heavy, but since the soles were hard, the sound of their footsteps was no joke.
Would the beat of their steps get picked up by the microphones at the Music Festival? With it matching this well, someone could probably just crank up the footstep sounds and post them. Should I just make an account for that?
While I was having all sorts of thoughts, the kids huddled together, having their own discussion about how to make the performance even better.
“The choker keeps turning, what should I do about this? Is there no choice but to keep turning it back in the middle?”
“Joowoo hyung, your nails have to be very visible to be cute, you know? When you grab the mic during your part, let’s make sure your hand is facing forward.”
“The side of my sleeveless shirt is short, so it keeps riding up, is this right?”
“That’s probably the point of that sleeveless shirt.”
“Why are there so many damn points?”
While today’s scribe, Jeong Seongbin, was noting things down as everyone gave their input, the practice room door opened. Teacher Oh Eun was standing there, holding a convenience store bag.
Seeing her six disciples in their gaudy attire, the teacher, for the first time since I had ever seen her, burst into a loud laugh.
* * *
Won Chaehee failed to get tickets for the Music Festival.
The reason was simple. Because a fan never got lucky with lotteries.
It felt like just yesterday that she had succeeded in getting fan meeting tickets with beginner’s luck, but the current Spark had grown so much that she couldn’t go see them with her outdated laptop.
‘Right, at my age, what’s the point of going in person anyway.’
In a way that belied her actions of having followed them all the way to ISD, Won Chaehee attempted to console herself.
It’s the end of the year, so I’m tired from all the work anyway, why bother, it just costs money to go back and forth, it might be better to watch from home… and so on. There wasn’t a single bad reason to watch from home.
‘It’s not like there’s only one or two events.’
Even though they were rookies, Spark had secured a spot at all three major year-end music festivals. They weren’t a guaranteed mainstay, yet they’d made it into the lineup with pride, and that made Won Chaehee proud.
After confirming that she would be watching from home, all Won Chaehee had to do was choose the alcohol and snacks she would have that day. Won Chaehee wanted to be separated from the secular world and enjoy only Spark in the best possible condition.
‘I’ll check what meal kits they have at the store on my way home from work.’
Just as she was roughly organizing her schedule and closing her laptop, her colleagues who had gone out for lunch started returning to the office one by one.
“Ms. Chaehee, did you finish that thing you said you had to do?”
“Yes. Did you enjoy your lunch?”
Even though she had made an excuse that she had work and would eat separately today, her colleague, Assistant Manager Cheon, insisted on talking to her.
To an outsider, it might seem like he was being nice and looking out for a coworker who skipped lunch, but Won Chaehee couldn’t bring herself to like this assistant manager.
“Did you do that again today? Ticketing?”
“No. I had some documents to submit online.”
“Come on, I should check if Ms. Chaehee has applied for any days off.”
An overbearing busybody. The type who offered no real help but had way too much interest in other people’s business. Won Chaehee hated this type.
‘I shouldn’t have mentioned I liked idols in the first place.’
She’d casually used ‘following idols around’ as an excuse to dodge his half-hearted interest, and it had backfired. Since that day, the assistant manager had been making sarcastic remarks every time Won Chaehee did something.
‘Then do you also chase after them in a taxi to take their pictures, Ms. Chaehee? Do you stay up all night in front of their dorm?’
‘They say if you like idols, you end up maxing out your credit cards to buy albums. Is that why you’re not eating lunch, Ms. Chaehee?’
‘You’re taking next Tuesday off? I’ll have to check if your idols have a schedule that day. Then I’ll know where you are, Ms. Chaehee.’
Every word was openly offensive, but she couldn’t show it. She just moderately ignored it on her own.
Even with such efforts, there were days when she was annoyed. That was today.
“Do those guys even know fans like you are throwing away their lives to support them?”
‘That bastard is crossing the line.’
Won Chaehee was a person who firmly believed that ‘sasaengs are not fans,’ managed her finances responsibly, and thought that anyone, including herself, was free to use their personal vacation days as they wished.
‘There’s a limit to how much you can provoke someone.’
Unable to listen any longer, Won Chaehee turned her chair towards the assistant manager.
And at almost the same time…
“Assistant Manager Cheon, wasn’t that an inappropriate thing to say to Assistant Manager Won just now?”
…their senior intervened.
Assistant Manager Yeo.
Unlike Won Chaehee or Assistant Manager Cheon, who had just become assistant managers, Assistant Manager Yeo, who was on the verge of being promoted to manager, was a person with a lot to learn from in various aspects.
Assistant Manager Yeo had many strengths. Among them, her personality was acknowledged by everyone.
She handled roles requiring communication with many people, were well-connected socially, and yet, unless someone was a real piece of work, nobody had anything bad to say about Assistant Manager Yeo.
Assistant Manager Cheon hurriedly made an excuse, but it didn’t work on Assistant Manager Yeo.
“If you’re going to make an excuse, you should make it to Assistant Manager Won. Not to me.”
“……”
“I’m not talking about just this one incident. Assistant Manager Cheon, I think you need to reflect on your words and actions.”
At Assistant Manager Yeo’s words, Assistant Manager Cheon muttered something under his breath and practically fled. He should be glad that there weren’t many people in the office since it was lunchtime. Won Chaehee clicked her tongue inwardly.
‘…Or maybe not.’
Perhaps Assistant Manager Yeo spoke openly because there weren’t many people around.
When Won Chaehee looked up, she met Assistant Manager Yeo’s gaze, and Assistant Manager Yeo smiled.
“Did I butt in for no reason? Sorry if I made things awkward.”
“Not at all. Thanks to you, I was able to get out of a difficult situation.”
“Then I’m glad.”
Assistant Manager Yeo pulled Assistant Manager Cheon’s chair and sat down.
“Assistant Manager Cheon does that a lot, huh?”
“Sometimes.”
“If he starts talking like that again, let me know. You’re not saying much because it’s awkward to talk to the department manager about something like this, aren’t you, Ms. Chaehee?”
That was true. Even though it was just a hobby, liking idols was still something that often carried a negative stigma.
‘Assistant Manager Cheon is picking a fight with Assistant Manager Won for liking idols? Does Assistant Manager Won still like idols at her age?’ It would be a relief if the story didn’t flow in such a way. By now, Won Chaehee had moved past resignation into near-complete detachment on the matter.
“For those tricky situations, just tell me. Got it?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Won Chaehee answered with a smile. Not the fake, forced one you’d use in corporate life, but a genuine smile.
“Oh, right. The idol you like, Ms. Chaehee, did they recently shoot a cosmetics ad?”
“Yes. It’s Indenia… how did you know?”
“There was a huge poster on my way home. I thought it looked familiar.”
Assistant Manager Yeo clapped her hands as if pleasantly surprised.
“If you have a favorite song by them, recommend me one. I’m curious about what kind of music you like.”
“Yes, I’ll send you a message.”
At Won Chaehee’s answer, Assistant Manager Yeo tidied up Assistant Manager Cheon’s chair with a satisfied expression and went back.
What song would be the best to recommend to a muggle… Won Chaehee’s head, which had been on the verge of post-lunch drowsiness, started to spin briskly.
Tl note: I am actually not sure about the assistant managers’ genders. It might change in the future.