Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols-Chapter 292: Young Masters' Party Preparation

For a whole week, Spark spent the rest of their holidays in the dorm, each doing their own thing.
Choi Jeho went to the gym or the action school, and Jeong Seongbin and Kang Kiyeon spent the whole day watching stage videos of other idols who had recently made a comeback. Park Joowoo, for the first time in ages, went shopping for school supplies, including a backpack and other stuff.
Lee Cheonghyeon spent his days more quietly than usual. Sometimes he would be cooped up in his room all day reading, and other times he would say he was going to the studio and come back at 11:59 PM. At one point, with Park Joowoo at his side, he declared: “Introduce me to the world of rock!”—a statement he regretted within three minutes.
As for me… I just refreshed Dotion in real time for fun. Whichever page I went to, my profile sparkled in the most up-to-date state. Then I found something interesting.
‘Joint self-produced content?’
In the area with the name of a planning team staff member, new words were being typed.
“Hyung, what are you doing?”
“I think we might be shooting a new self-produced content.”
At my words, Jeong Seongbin approached the bed and sat down. I scooted further in and cleared some more space for him to sit.
Jeong Seongbin sighed and said.
“Do the company staff know that you’re spying on Dotion in real time like this, hyung?”
“Of course, they know. The access status appears in real time. And if possible, please call it a hobby rather than spying.”
“That’s scarier.”
Even while saying that, Jeong Seongbin didn’t leave my side. He seemed quite curious about the identity of the first-time joint self-produced content.
Just then, the staff member placed the cursor in one spot and pasted in a block of text, like it had been prepared in advance:
Berion proposed shooting a joint self-produced content with Spark as guests
Due to the large number of people, a separate filming team will be hired (Green Line)
Wants the video to be uploaded to Berion’s Metube channel
I slowly read the contents and then asked.
“Seongbin, is this kind of joint self-produced content common?”
“In the past, rookie groups used to do it a lot to build recognition. But back then, promotion through Metube channels wasn’t as developed as it is now, so I remember they had a regular broadcast with about 6 episodes on a decent cable channel.”
“So this format isn’t recent. What about inviting other groups as guests?”
“It’s common, too. Usually it’s seniors or juniors from the same company, or when both groups are a bit more established. Rookies tend to avoid it because fandoms can be a little competitive.”
I see. I get the gist.
So basically, Spark would appear as guests on Berion’s in-house variety show, but we’d have to be careful not to act so submissive that we upset the Sparklers, and at the same time not provoke Berion’s fandom either. And in a large-cast program, we’d have to make sure to stand out somehow.
Since Spark wasn’t on bad terms with Berion, and they’d be handling the sets and content, it wasn’t really a bad deal. We just had to conduct ourselves well.
“Does Green Line have a lot of money? Enough to fund this kind of content?”
“They probably have more than UA, don’t you think?”
My heart almost stopped at Jeong Seongbin’s sudden black joke. It seemed the kid had shed something after becoming an adult.
I tapped the laptop pad a few times and then added a row at the bottom of the proposal’s table. In the leftmost column, I wrote ‘Other Opinions (Kim Iwol)’ and then quickly wrote down the contents.
Other Opinions (Kim Iwol)
Proposal: If possible, secure a filming crew + also use our existing crew to film separately for Spark/Berion (keep one camera for full shots)
Key Suggestion: Film the content simultaneously, but the base should focus on each group’s appearance, and the videos should be uploaded to each group’s Metube channel with a 1-week interval (to allow both the Berion fandom and Sparklers to flow into both channels)
Then, a new row was created at the bottom. The staff member quickly left a comment.
[Mr. Iwol, why are you logged in?]
[I’m always watching.]
[;;;;;;;;;]
Jeong Seongbin sighed from above my head. Your scalp is going to sink in at this rate, Seongbin.
[We’re all just doing house chores at the dorm, so please feel free to pass it along once the discussion’s done!]
A joint show with Berion, huh.
I was looking forward to it. I wondered what kind of vibe a mid-tier company’s budget would bring to a reality show.
* * *
The joint self-produced content began with a staged scene of a mail being delivered to Spark, who were gathered in the practice room.
“An invitation? For us?”
Jeong Seongbin showcased his amazing acting skills as he received the mail. The old-fashioned outer envelope had a sealing wax stamped with Berion’s group logo.
“Do you think Berion sunbaenims are having a concert?”
“Huh, is it really a concert ticket?”
Since we hadn’t been informed of the content of the self-produced content either, Kang Kiyeon and Lee Cheonghyeon were also able to act naturally.
Jeong Seongbin tore open the envelope and took out the invitation. He slowly read the contents of the invitation.
“Hello, Spark. We invite you to a potluck party held at Berion House to celebrate the new year!”
“What’s a potluck party?”
Choi Jeho asked. For the record, it was also my first time hearing of such a party.
Kang Kiyeon, who was well-versed in various foreign cultures, took charge of the explanation.
“It’s a party where everyone brings food or drinks they’ve made and shares them together. I believe you can either make a dish you’re confident in or prepare a dish that the party host has designated.”
“Then what should we prepare…?”
“Hold on, I’ll keep reading.”
Jeong Seongbin focused on the invitation again.
“Please show off your cooking skills to your heart’s content, Spark! Berion House welcomes you, no matter what you bring. We hope you will attend and grace the party with your presence! P.S., the dress code is ‘medieval nobility.’”
“The dress code isn’t easy.”
“For real.”
Kang Kiyeon and Lee Cheonghyeon couldn’t hide their bewilderment.
More importantly, our cooking skills were also a problem. It was like a Michelin inspector was suddenly coming to Spark’s cooking class, which had been developing at a snail’s pace.
“Guys.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s book a meeting room.”
We stormed out of the practice room to get a large whiteboard. There was a mountain of work to do.
* * *
Understanding what you can do is the most basic of basics. If you don’t understand your own capabilities and try to do something beyond your means, you’re bound to get into trouble.
So, we carefully listed out the dishes we could actually make ourselves.
Fried tofu rice balls, egg drop soup, butter cookies, white porridge, chicken breast salad, French toast, kimchi pancake, seasoned vegetables, skewered jeon, pollock jeon, meatballs, sanjeok, pan-fried tofu…
Choi Jeho, staring at the board, said.
“Isn’t the latter half just ancestral rites food?”
I know. If you don’t like it, you should’ve gotten a cooking license yourself.
“Looks like we’re going to a potluck party with a LocknLock container…”
Lee Cheonghyeon also muttered with a regretful expression.
This wouldn’t do. I asked Kang Kiyeon, who was in the middle of researching party food.
“Kiyeon, what kind of food do people usually bring to parties?”
“Finger foods like canapés, or sandwiches, muffins. There’s also pasta or fried food, but I think the noodles will get soggy on the way.”
Kang Kiyeon quickly captured a photo of a cracker canapé—one of the easier-looking options—and put it up on the screen.
Park Joowoo tried phoning his noona, who was said to be the queen of parties. She graciously offered her precious advice.
─ Don’t go trying something new and difficult, just stick to what’s familiar. Things like kimbap or sweet and spicy fried chicken. Since you’re idols, you can make keto kimbap. Low-carb, high-fat. If you know how to cook a bit, something like gambas would be good too. Oh, and fruit is a must! For cleansing the palate.
Still, the prevailing opinion was that since there were six invited guests, we should bring at least six dishes, so we ended up preparing the following foods.
Muffins, apple crumble pie, keto kimbap, cracker canapés, deviled eggs, shine muscat.
“Wow, it’s really like a party.”
“It would be a problem if it wasn’t. The sunbaenims will be watching.”
While Kang Kiyeon was pasting the food recipe links into the web-cell, Jeong Seongbin divided the whiteboard into three large sections. And at the top of the table, he wrote down the roles. ‘Baking,’ ‘Cooking,’ and ‘Grocery Shopping & Other Party Prep’ were written neatly in block letters.
“Before we assign roles, I’ll take volunteers first. Anyone have a desired field?”
“I’ll go for party prep.”
Lee Cheonghyeon said with a solemn expression. No one objected.
“I’ll do cooking…”
Park Joowoo also quickly found a role he wanted to do. From what I could see, that guy was slowly getting a taste for cooking.
“What about you hyungs?”
Kang Kiyeon, who had finished organizing the web-cell, asked me, Choi Jeho, and Jeong Seongbin.
I didn’t really care what I ended up doing…
“How about we put Choi Jeho on grocery shopping?”
“Why?”
“You almost burst the piping bag when you were making cookies last time.”
Even Park Joowoo had ended up covered in powder, so if Choi Jeho joined the mushy-dough disaster squad too, it would’ve been catastrophic. Choi Jeho accepted his fate without protest. Go carry bags for Cheonghyeon.
“What do you want to do, Seongbin and Kiyeon?”
“Since I looked up the recipes, should I go for cooking?”
At Kang Kiyeon’s suggestion, the baking duty was naturally assigned to me and Jeong Seongbin.
Baking teacher, have you been well? Your students are coming. We will be visiting you soon.
* * *
On the day before the potluck party, the filming team split into two. One side with us going to the baking class, and the other side for grocery shopping. Since cooking could only start when you had the ingredients, that side decided to move together as a group of four until they got their hands on the goods.
Jeong Seongbin and I had a happy reunion with our baking teacher. And immediately fell into the hell of kneading.
“A lot of sugar really goes into this.”
“We can just go to the gym right after the party.”
“Is our concept Cinderella…?”
Jeong Seongbin mashed the butter with a displeased expression.
“Are you two also planning to add toppings or make muffins in different flavors?”
“Nope!”
Through prior research, we had learned that there were no members in Berion who had specific allergies, but just in case, we made the most basic muffins. Because party food should be enjoyable for everyone together.
Unlike the muffins, where everything was done with one batch of dough, the apple crumble pie required much more effort. It was a mistake to pick it just because my noona always ordered it whenever she went to a café.
Cutting up all the apples for 50 servings of apple crumble pie and making the streusel topping was no easy task. It ended up like this because we were also preparing servings for the staff. From the middle of it, I couldn’t tell if I was simmering the apples or if I was being simmered along with the apples.
“Are you going to do the packaging today, too?”
The teacher asked. When I said yes, the teacher brought out a pile of packaging containers from a remote warehouse. The memories of preparing for ‘ISD’ came flooding back.