Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols-Chapter 300: 1st Anniversary (1)

Lee Cheonghyeon’s innocent gaze was fixed on me. If I were to fall for that innocence and answer honestly, I would be walking a tightrope where one wrong step could give me a nosebleed.
Lying wasn’t my style. I never knew when I might slip up, and at the core, I just didn’t like deceiving people.
But the situation was a bit tricky. If I were to speak my conscience, I would have to say I’d been playing for 10 years, but then wouldn’t that mean I’d been playing the bass since I was an elementary school student?
With even my real name changed, I couldn’t be sure how my past had changed, so I wanted to avoid talking about it as much as possible. I’d already made enough slip-ups, like the time my back scars got exposed.
The video was still playing on Lee Cheonghyeon’s phone. The subtitle read, ‘If he reached this level in just a few years? This person is a genius.’
Should I become a mad prodigy who had been holding a bass since elementary school, or a genius who saw the light through self-study? All the choices were overwhelming.
After a long deliberation, I answered with the feeling of squeezing my eyes shut.
“Only seriously for one year. If you count when I just dabbled after joining UA, three years.”
“Three years?”
“Yeah.”
Hearing that, Lee Cheonghyeon rewound the video. He turned up the volume, and the voice of the bespectacled man, whose words I’d only seen in subtitles earlier, rang out.
『“If he reached this level in a few years? This person is a genius.』
Lee Cheonghyeon’s pupils turned to me. It was a gaze that looked like it would pounce on me at any moment and say, ‘Hyung, you must be a genius! A genius of the bass! I have to that you’ll be participating in the next album session right away!’
“Cheonghyeon, if it’s three years ago from last year, how old was I then?”
“Nineteen.”
“Right. And what grade would that be?”
“Senior in high school.”
Lee Cheonghyeon answered. I placed a hand on each of his shoulders and said.
“That’s right.”
“……?”
“There is nothing impossible for a high school senior.”
A high school senior was someone who, if they broke their ankle playing soccer, would kick the ball with a crutch. A high school senior was someone who, even if they fall while running to the cafeteria today and scrape their knees, would run again when tomorrow came, and who, even after watching an overseas soccer broadcast until 4 AM the previous night, would go to school at 8 AM. Senior-year Korean high school students had terrifying stamina and potential.
“Because they want to turn a blind eye to a very big life task.”
“Aha.”
Lee Cheonghyeon nodded his head as if he had understood. If you understand, then go now.
“Then, you know, hyung.”
What now!
I sharply turned my head and looked at the guy. Lee Cheonghyeon was looking at me with dark eyes.
“So you played the bass like that when you were a high school senior and still got a percentile of 97.81 on the college entrance exam?”
Ah.
Twisted. I really shouldn’t have lied in the first place.
I tried my best to explain things to him. Lee Cheonghyeon didn’t seem to be convinced, but because his and his brothers’ grades were so good, in the end, he made a shocking remark, ‘Well, I guess it’s not impossible,’ and left.
* * *
Until just a while ago, Spark had been holding meeting after meeting.
‘Now commencing the XXth meeting to brainstorm ideas for the 1st Anniversary self-produced content.’
After Jeong Seongbin rattled off the opening line like a vending machine, Park Joowoo clicked the mouse and spoke.
‘Here are the ideas the members submitted in the group chat… The estimated preparation time has been filled out by the relevant departments, and we’ve marked the top twenty ideas in yellow…’
Lee Cheonghyeon, who was carefully looking at the data, raised his hand.
‘There seems to be a slight difference between the yellow-highlighted data and the preference scores we gave. Are we prioritizing feasibility over preference?’
‘The table sorted by preference score is on the next sheet. Joowoo hyung, please copy and paste the table from the third sheet.’
The table Kang Kiyeon had prepared in advance was immediately pasted next to the raw data.
‘The items at the top are not bad. Since the number of contents we can show is limited, let’s discuss this after excluding the ideas that have been used within the last two weeks.’
At my words, Park Joowoo applied a filter and hid all the data that had received a low score in the ‘rarity’ category.
After submitting the items, only Choi Jeho, who had completely entrusted the decision-making to the members, watched the series of events with an interested (?) expression, his arms crossed.
These were the same guys who once agonized over being told to come up with twenty self-content ideas each. Now, once the theme was set, they could brainstorm freely and pull out materials they’d kept on hand.
And so, after countless meetings, all the content for “Congratu☆lations! Spark 1st Anniversary Self-Content ☆Celebration” was finalized.
The time spent preparing for the self-produced content was enormous. With Lee Cheonghyeon’s birthday and mine falling in the middle, and regular schedules on top of that, things only got busier.
We were like hamsters obsessed with fitness, endlessly spinning in a wheel.
In the morning, Jeong Seongbin and Park Joowoo, whose reins were loosened as soon as the entrance exams were over, devoted themselves wholeheartedly to upgrading the members’ vocal skills.
In the afternoons, Lee Cheonghyeon and I pushed the guys hard on cover song practice. Then by evening, Choi Jeho and Kang Kiyeon, pent-up from stress all day, put us through the wringer.
Meetings during breaks, meetings during lunch, and more meetings during travel time. Here’s a riddle: what animal has meetings with staff in the morning, with coworkers at lunch, and with the system at night? Answer, Kim Iwol. ← My head was in this state all the time.
But all suffering always came to an end eventually.
The end of Spark’s sprint for an awesome 1st-anniversary celebration was also beginning to be seen.
In other words, the filming had begun.
* * *
The ‘Congratu☆lations! Spark 1st Anniversary Self-Content ☆Celebration’ scheduled to go up at 2 a.m. was made up of lively, cute, whimsical clips. And in the evening, we planned to hold a live show for the anniversary.
There were also those who raised objections. Mainly, those with a delicate sensibility would point out these parts. For example, someone like Jeong Seongbin.
‘Wouldn’t emotional content be better for a late-night upload?’
Just as I was about to answer, Kang Kiyeon raised his hand and said.
‘As long as it’s not overly noisy, I think it’s actually good to put something bright up at night.’
‘Why?’
‘Because you can watch moderately enjoyable content quickly and go to sleep, but content that makes you think deeply will make you stay up all night mulling it over.’
From the side, Lee Cheonghyeon asked, ‘Kang Kiyeon, is that from experience?’ Kang Kiyeon did not answer.
I, too, was of the same opinion as Kang Kiyeon. The fans were vulnerable to stimulating content. Just during the cover-up festival incident, the year-end stage ended at 1 AM, but new posts continued to come up until 7 AM. People kept saying they had work but couldn’t sleep.
We should at least let Sparklers get some sleep. So we decided to put relatively light content in the self-produced content.
‘But.’
For once, Choi Jeho also opened his mouth.
‘Is the ‘Under Bar’ Challenge really what you’d call light content?’
The guy pointed out the challenge video that Park Joowoo and I had uploaded a while ago.
We were in an era where shorts content was flooding. Spark couldn’t ignore the trend either, so whenever we had spare time, we filmed challenges inspired by performances that had really impressed us.
Among them, the ‘No. 1 challenge that fans want all of Spark do’ was that very challenge.
The song ‘Under Bar’ told the story of a bartender and customer whose relationship turned into romance. Thanks to the song’s mood, its music video, and its sensual choreography, it stood out from the flashy-movement-heavy challenges and caused a stir with its different vibe.
Choi Jeho and Kang Kiyeon had been busy taking on the challenge from a senior idol group known for ‘anyone who can dance will try this’.
And since Jeong Seongbin and Lee Cheonghyeon had a lot to do as the leader and a composing member respectively, Park Joowoo, who had relatively more free time, and I, who had the stamina, had filmed the video…
≫ When did the baby chinchilla become an adult squirrel? I thought for sure he would grow up to be a chipmunk?? I protest. Show me the full 3-hour version of the chinchilla’s growth process
└ What is this, a Wallet Monster evolution line, Chinchilla evolving into a chipmunk?
└ The song is less than 4 minutes long, how can you show a 3-hour version? ㅋㅋㅋ
└ Everyone be quiet, can’t you see I’m trying to get a video of baby Joowoo???? Anyway, UA, guarantee it
≫ Since Spark’s sexy rep is Emperor Jeho, I often forget
But every time, Kim Iwol would always come out way too strong and beat the amnesia out of me
That’s right, Iwol, Spark actually has two eldest hyungs. I underestimated you. I’m sorry
└ Even during the Do Younghwan era, when he was in a suit that a modern generation would wear, I thought I was going to die, but now that he’s in a slim-fit outfit and dancing a sexy dance, I’m losing my mind
└ And the fact that Joowoo was the one who taught him this? Too much. Way too much
≫ Starting today, I will not call Iwol and Joowoo the Angel Clayz
They are the Little Devil Mudz. They shred people’s hearts to ribbons, then cling like mud that won’t wash off, leaving only scars as they dry into sand and blow away. I’m the only one left in tatters
In short, the verdict was: all the members should do the Under Bar Challenge
…That was what happened. So we decided to film the challenge together, dressed as bartenders. With Jeong Seongbin and Park Joowoo, who became adults this year, at the forefront.
‘If you go as the center, the community will turn into a sea of fire again, but Seongbin and Joowoo will be fine.’
‘I’m sorry, hyung… We don’t have as much of an impact as Jeho hyung…’
‘No, that’s not what I meant!’
It took some time to soothe the dejected Jeong Seongbin. But this agenda was passed smoothly.
Considering the background of the song, it would have been better to rent a cocktail bar, but since Lee Cheonghyeon and Kang Kiyeon were still minors, we rented a studio.
While we were wearing the outfits prepared by the stylists, Lee Cheonghyeon showed interest in the apron.
“What’s this? Do bartenders wear aprons?”
“Depends, case by case.”
Following his lead, Kang Kiyeon poked through the aprons too.
“That’s for you guys.”
“Just the two of us?”
“Yeah.”
Even if we were doing a sexy dance, there was no need to force every detail onto the youngest members. To them, chicken tenders were probably more familiar than bartenders.
Kang Kiyeon’s expression turned sullen. He must be worried that the apron would cover his dance lines.
“Don’t worry too much, Kiyeon.”
“What?”
“The response to your dance lines has already been great. A measly apron won’t ever hide the majesty of our main dancer.”
“Yes, yes.”
Kang Kiyeon answered half-heartedly. Geez, here I was, giving him a fact-based reassurance backed by all the monitoring data I’d collected…
The filming was conducted under a mystical purple light in an all-white studio. A neon-like light filled the space. We also adjusted the lighting so that a white light would be on their face—it was to keep them from turning purple. I was satisfied.
By the time we got through even the floor-sweeping choreography to match the title ‘Under Bar (_),’ Spark was a total mess, like bartenders wrecked from fishing cards out from under the counter.
In addition, we took several videos in the studio to be inserted in the middle of the self-produced content.
After filming the dance members’ amazing individual performances, Lee Cheonghyeon’s solo rap, all the members’ cover song, and the ‘Spark Title Compilation’ choreography compilation video that would be played at the end of the self-produced content, everyone had lost 0.5kg in just a few hours. Who knew we still had that many calories left to burn.