Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols Chapter 409 - Season’s Greetings (1)

At the end of the year, there was a type of merchandise that idols release almost like an annual tradition. It was the ‘Season’s Greetings’—often shortened to ‘SG’—a box set typically containing a calendar, photocards, a diary, posters, and more.

 

And today, the preview info for Spark’s Season’s Greetings was scheduled to be uploaded. For the past hour, I had been sitting with my hands clasped tight, praying fervently that there wasn’t a single flaw I might have missed.

 

As the weather started getting colder, I kept thinking of the Season’s Greetings UA released long ago. It was now a distant memory, but I still hadn’t forgotten the shock I felt back then.

 

≫ Summary of Spark’s Season’s Greetings

– Wall calendar

– One set of photocards

– Keychain with the group name engraved

– Undated diary

– End.

└ This is f*cking trash.

└ I don’t even know where to start with this…

└ What kind of company only gives 5 photocards in an SG?ㅋㅋㅋ Everyone else gives 20 or 30, and they even include a binder to put them inㅋㅋ

└ An undated diary?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ planning to reuse it next year if there’s leftover stock?

└ Surprisingly, that’s highly likely. Since the cover is plastic… they’ll probably just swap out the paper inside.

└ Toss the wall calendar and give us a desk calendar. My living room wall is already taken by an insurance calendar

└└ The insurance calendar wins in size, font, and delivery speed…

 

≫ We all know the agency’s goal is cost-effective management, but…

Stop making it so obvious.

Who wants to feel like a total sucker while spending money?

What kind of agency publicly makes their own fans look like pushovers?

└ Can’t we just not buy it? We should boycott this.

└ A normal company would come to their senses if sales dropped and either lower the price or fix the contents, but UA isn’t like that. If income drops, they just cut the investment for the next project… This is the result of that cycle.

└ Are other artists’ SG like this too?? This is the first time I’ve seen it this bad.

└ Others are a bit better… I don’t know if they just look down on idol fans or if they’re just spending the budget based on seniority, but none of the other artists under this label had a SG this crappy last year.

└ Not every artist even gets an SG…ㅠ Given how UA usually acts, they’re probably patting themselves on the back thinking, ‘They’re idols, so we gave them a SG! Good job us!’

 

≫ If you hate working that much, just quit

Bought one SG and my New Year already feels like sh*t.

└ Give us a desk calendar or a daily tear-off calendar. Is that so hard to understand????

└ What I’m most curious about is why they even bothered doing a survey if they were going to do this.

└ For real…

 

That was why, this year, every employee on the dedicated team worked themselves to the bone to prepare. Weekly field reports piled up from staff who visited factories to check prototypes and production status.

 

Enormous effort was also put into accumulating photos. Spark spent a full two years preparing for this year’s Season’s Greetings. I couldn’t even count how many arguments I had with the company about this since we were rookies in their first year. I broke out in a cold sweat last year trying to stop them from rushing out merchandise, arguing that we needed more data for a proper SG.

 

‘They already spent a fortune on the double title tracks, and now more expenses? We were lucky both didn’t turn out half-baked.’

 

Fortunately, the situation was different this year. Because the concert was planned since the beginning of the year, the budget had been set aside early, and the last album was released digitally, which significantly reduced production costs. We secured enough funds to upgrade the SG contents at least twice.

 

I understood the company needed to make a profit. But seeing fans purely as consumers—that was something that needed to be avoided. The affection fans sent to idols transcended the loyalty shown by typical customers.

 

Affection for an artist often defied common social logic. Fans willingly endure hardships others would call unnecessary. Furthermore, they even had a tendency to keep quiet even when treated unfairly.

 

≫ If this isn’t a defect, then what is?;;;

I applied for an exchange because of a defect, and this is the new one they sent me.

Should I report them to the Consumer Agency? I’m getting more and more annoyed.

└ Filing a complaint about merch doesn’t really do much ㅠㅠㅠ I guess fans aren’t considered consumers.

└ I paid for this with my own money, but I have to beg them to swap it out. It’s ridiculous;;;;;

 

≫ Why is it my responsibility that the ticket was lost during delivery?

It costs over 100,000 won and disappeared before even reaching me, shouldn’t they resend it? It should all be registered in the system, so is it really that hard to check and note the issue?

Just how incompetent do you have to be to act ‘nothing we can do’ from the moment the ticket is issued??

└ It vanished during delivery and they won’t reissue it?

└ Yeah. I even got the documents proving it was the courier’s fault, and they still said noㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ It must have been a pain just to prove fault, and they still didn’t bother fixing it…?

└ If I had at least touched the ticket, I wouldn’t feel this wrongedㅋㅋㅋ I’m literally crying.

 

≫ Do they even inspect their merch???

The defect rate is insane, and the memo paper smears as soon as you write on it

└ The memo pad can’t perform the function of a memo pad~ ㅋㅋㅋ큐ㅠㅠㅠ

└ These b*stards definitely made it just for display-only after hearing that fangirls hoard merch for collections.

 

Fans who bought low-quality merchandise, fans who bought albums even when they were not satisfied. These actions always ended with ‘doing it for them’ rather than just ‘doing it’.

 

They could choose not to, but they did it for one reason: because they loved their idol.

 

I knew a little bit about how vast that affection was. People became fans of a photographer simply because they edited photos of the same idol; people handed out meticulously handmade props for free without any conditions; and when fans met up just because they shared an interest, they spent days pre-packaging snacks and purposely bringing merch of the other person’s bias member.

 

≫ I’m most amazed by the hommas

Staff search all their bags, and even at venues where filming isn’t banned, there are so many security guards screaming at them—yet their mental strength never wavers + they have the financial power to buy insanely expensive cameras… It’s incredible.

└ There are some extreme cases where people take out loans for cameras, but you don’t become a homma just by having a camera… Following schedules, taking photos, editing them, and holding exhibitions—you can never do any of that without love.

 

≫ ‘Donating in the star’s name’: a meaningful fandom activity gaining attention

It is no longer rare for fans to pool their strength and donate in the name of their favorite star. Many fans choose ‘donation’ as a way to celebrate various anniversaries, such as the star’s birthday or the fan club’s founding date. This tradition… [Want to read more? Click the ad]

 

Anyone who had watched idol fans knew just how far people could go simply because they liked someone. And that there were countless such people.

 

The only thing that made all of this possible was affection. A love that, once it naturally formed one day, became difficult to tear away.

 

Nam Jooah, who had received this unconditional love from her family her whole life, gave unconditional love to Spark and shared an inexhaustible love with her fellow Sparklers, believed that such affection existed in everyone’s heart.

 

Because Dad is a good person, he must be the same way outside. If they are fans, they must genuinely feel happy doing these things. They must feel joy when they see Spark.

 

Some said such illusions clouded her vision and blurred Nam Jooah’s judgment. They questioned how the mere fact of liking the same idol could offset such ridiculous excuses.

 

However, being a proxy fan taught me that there were those who poured out that much love without reason or reward.

 

Once you witness it firsthand, you can’t help but understand. People waiting in the cold night just for a chance to see their idol leave work. Others handing out hot packs to those standing beside them.

 

Once you realize that these things happen very frequently, and as if they are natural, you can never go back to the time before you knew the depth of that affection.

 

Whether I understood it or not didn’t matter. They existed regardless of my understanding.

 

Ironically, that massive love even poured onto me, who was watching from outside the league. So, I simply thought I should give it back.

 

‘I hope that putting in effort becomes the standard in everything, not just for special events. Because no matter what we do, we can’t give back as much as we’ve received.’

 

Knowing it wasn’t easy to repay, I worked even harder. The Season’s Greetings was the result of that—and, perhaps shamelessly, also a request for fans to continue loving Spark next year.

 

Whether all that sincere effort meant something would be decided by the fans’ judgment.

 

* * *

 

Won Chaehee hadn’t bought next year’s calendar yet. She planned to take a look once Spark’s SG info was released before deciding. She had fallen for Spark deeper than expected, so she would likely pay for it regardless, but she held onto a sliver of rationality and waited.

 

‘I wonder what the contents will be.’

 

The worst SG Won Chaehee had ever seen was the ‘Ugly SG’. They had debuted such handsome faces, so why on earth did they release merchandise that threw aesthetic sense out the window, and how did they even think to sell it for money? It was an incident that filled her with prejudice that all entertainment agency people were salary thieves who viewed fans as pushovers.

 

‘If you’re too lazy to work, then at least give up on the money.’

 

You want money but don’t want to work? Then get lost! You want money but don’t want to work? 

 

It was hard to suppress the rising anger that flared up whenever it was time for money to leave her wallet. Perhaps it was because she knew her future self would end up paying for it with trembling hands, even if it turned out to be moderately ugly.

 

As the saying goes—speak of the devil, and he shall appear. The SG info was uploaded at noon that day. The preview image was a light beige overall, giving the impression that while it wasn’t extremely trendy, it would at least nail the basics. Or at least, she hoped so.

 

[Hwaro High School Hobby Discovery Club Activity Souvenir]

 

A title with a mysterious concept appeared—similar to the debut album, yet moving in a slightly different direction.