Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols Chapter 419 - Review Analysis

Finding the location of the accident was a major breakthrough. I even visited it the moment I opened my eyes at dawn. The paint wasn’t as peeled and the telephone poles weren’t as rusted as I remembered.

 

Seeing a banner that said the area had been selected as a ‘great place to live,’ instead of one searching for witnesses of a traffic accident, felt strange.

 

My face, which had taken the full brunt of the winter wind, was red and swollen. Seeing my skin turning white and flaky, I slathered on moisturizing lotion the moment I got into a taxi. Going up on a year-end stage with chapped skin? That was unthinkable for Spark.

 

I recovered some warmth and moisture in the taxi and returned to the dorm. A few lights that I had turned off before leaving were now on.

 

“Where did you go so early in the morning?”

 

“Just a walk.”

 

“Hyung, you really have great stamina. You just finished the concert yesterday.”

 

Kang Kiyeon, the first to wake up among the five, greeted me.

 

“…?”

 

As I walked to the kitchen to drink water, Kiyeon’s gaze followed me tenaciously.

 

“What?”

 

“Did something happen?”

 

His slightly upturned eyes looked sharp. His tone might have been calm, but the atmosphere felt like an interrogation room.

 

The last time he acted like this, he immediately went and reported it to Jeong Seongbin. I had no idea when his instincts got so sharp.

 

“Well, you see.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“I was thinking about how little time we have to prepare for the year-end stages. I wonder how many hours of sleep we’ll get until D-day.”

 

“Don’t think too deeply and just sleep when night comes. If worst comes to worst, I’ll just have the staff set you on a chair on stage.”

 

“So you’re planning to store me away in a corner like that?”

 

“Didn’t you say you’d rather retire with honor than make the members worry about where to store you?”

 

“Your memory has improved. Is it because of the supplements?”

 

“Isn’t it the power of repetitive learning?”

 

Kang Kiyeon didn’t let a single remark slide. The childish conversation ended when Park Joowoo woke up looking like the Grim Reaper.

 

* * *

 

Fortunately, the concert didn’t end as just a self-satisfying event for Spark. The concert we fought so hard to put together received nothing but rave reviews.

 

***

 

≫ When’s the encore concert?

I won’t complain even if you bring the exact same setlist.

Just please hold one.

└ For real. I’d be happy even if the ments were exactly the sameㅠㅠ

└ The setlist was so well-madeㅋㅋㅋ I don’t think the reaction would be bad even if they reused it ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

 

≫ The sound quality is top-tier

I pride myself on having been to many concerts, but somehow Spark’s sound was the best. Then I remembered the agency, and it all made sense.

└ There are so many sound reviewsㅋㅋㅋ. Everyone must be so satisfied

└ Honestly, this is the only reason Sparklers have let UA live this long

└ This level of sound at an idol concert…? You usually only get this at overseas tours…

 

≫ There are many great points, but I hope people also recognize how there were no safety incidents!

We’ve all kind of accepted how concerts lack safety awareness and how security treats fans like criminals, but everyone usually just puts up with it while fuming.

But I realized once again that these are things that can be prevented if the company actually takes the lead…

Let’s stop being pushovers and proudly claim our right to watch safely since we all paid for these shows!!

└ A single flower of hope blooming among managements that acted like fans didn’t have human rights.

└ Even if I get scouting offers from other fan clubs, I’m not going anywhere

 

≫ Right, you have to sing live to be called a singer

I had forgotten such an obvious fact

└ A group that wins with MR, not just AR.

└ The harmonies were so clear… Legend.

 

At this rate, an encore concert might really happen next spring. Next time, we should reshuffle the unit stages. We already did the anonymous note box, so maybe we could prepare some mini-games next.

 

There was also an event outside of work issues: Lee Cheonghyeon’s CSAT results were released.

 

On the day the results came out, he had a schedule in the afternoon, so he quietly went to school, picked up his transcript, and went home. Then, he handed a small piece of paper to me and Jeong Seongbin.

 

≫ To think our kid was a real prodigy

A future scientist with the blood of a STEM student

└ No, I just thought Iwol was being a typical stan when he kept saying his kid was a genius

└ Sorry for doubting you, Iwol. You were just stating facts

 

≫ Lee Cheonghyeon is the real deal

He took… Life Science II… for his science electives…

└ Seeing he took Chem I and Life Sci II, it looks like he went for the pure memorization + calculation route

└ It’s ironic that his dad is a chemistry teacher but he only got a Grade 2 in Chemistry

└ My dad is a geography teacher but I failed geographyㅋㅋㅋ  Academic ability doesn’t always pass down perfectly through generations… ㅎ

 

≫ When Cheonghyeon was traveling, it was hard to carry many bags and he had no time, so he just memorized the answer keys without the workbooks

To think studying like that actually worked… what is his brain structure?

└ I’m realizing once again that not just anyone prepares for Gifted High School admissions.

 

≫ Thinking about it again, Spark is a weird group

The composing member did 2 comebacks + a survival show + a concert all while taking the CSAT and got a 1.2 average

But his CSAT score is only 2nd place in the team

└ At this point, isn’t this a study group?

└ Still, pushing this narrative too much might put Cheonghyeon down ㅠㅠ getting top-tier grades is already amazing!

└ Agreed. We should stick to ‘Cheonghyeon did so well~’ If we say ‘There’s someone who did better than him??’, fans of different members will get their feelings hurt.

└ Exactly, people are already comparing like ‘someone else got rank 1 by only studying, but Cheonghyeon got 1–2 while promoting so he wins’… both are amazing, just leave it at that

 

Lee Cheonghyeon, who worked until he had nosebleeds at the end, finally saw the light. He maintained his performance from the September mock exam. Since he didn’t say anything after taking the test, I thought he messed up and didn’t bother asking. What a cheeky brat.

 

On the day the results came out, the two of us stayed up all night selecting which universities to apply to. He had already narrowed down his majors, so it wasn’t too difficult.

 

“Write down the dates carefully. Don’t wait until the deadline to apply; apply on the very first day if possible.”

 

“Ugh, okay, I got it.”

 

Though he grumbled, Lee Cheonghyeon listened quite well. I wanted to teach him how to handle course registration too, but that might raise suspicion, so I held back. Instead, I promised to pray my hardest for him until the acceptance results came out.

 

“So next year, everyone in our team will be adults?”

 

Lee Cheonghyeon said in an excited voice.

 

“Did you want to be an adult that badly?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because you hyungs are all adults.”

 

“Just because of that? Did it feel like I was treating you like immature beings when I told you to sleep early so you’d grow taller?”

 

“Can you be specific? You didn’t do that to ‘us,’ you only did that to Kang Kiyeon.”

 

He fired back rapidly, then suddenly smiled like a kid.

 

“Younger siblings always think everything their older siblings do looks cool.”

 

As someone with an older sister, it wasn’t a sentiment I couldn’t understand, so I agreed immediately.

 

* * *

 

Ahead of their year-end stage concept, Spark approached the meeting with intense focus. In a setting where the attention of all K-pop fans would be fixed on them, a heated discussion broke out over what they should showcase.

 

“Still, we have what we’ve been building, so wouldn’t it be better to emphasize that?”

 

“Haven’t we established the team image enough? I think it’s time to try something new.”

 

As if they still weren’t satisfied even with the concert approaching—the planning meetings had been going on since before the concert—they brought in a ton of references. One of them even said he wanted to perform using wires.

 

“Guys, let’s first think about what we can do in four minutes.”

 

I reminded them that it wasn’t a solo stage, but…

 

“Hyung, they said our stage time is 11 minutes.”

 

…The Music Festival had carved out over 10 minutes just for us. No collaborations, just a solo stage.

 

The broadcaster’s intent to have us produce something as impactful as the IRREGULAR stage reached us loud and clear. With the chance to do so many things we wanted, the meeting became lively and excited.

 

Additionally, Choi Jeho was invited to a special stage where the centers of various groups would gather. While ‘invited’ might be an inappropriate term for semi-forced participation, I told him to think positively since we couldn’t skip it anyway.

 

After the announcements were finished, I was about to stand up with my journal planner when Jeong Seongbin whispered behind my back.

 

“Minil sunbaenim isn’t coming.”

 

“At all?”

 

I turned around, and Jeong Seongbin nodded.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Weren’t the seniors scheduled to appear, too?”

 

Even though it was just the two of us left, Jeong Seongbin lowered his voice.

 

“They say they’re going to have a period of self-reflection.”

 

“Is that an official statement? Or a guess?”

 

“They said MYTH will post a notice by tomorrow.”

 

It seemed like they were signaling that the agency would handle it internally, asking others not to make a bigger issue out of it.

 

“That’s unusual. Usually, they ignore things unless it’s a massive issue.”

 

“It was a massive issue.”

 

“Didn’t they try to package it as ‘common advice from a senior’ at first?”

 

Parthe’s initial official stance regarding the Music Festival appearance issue was that they would ‘do their best to ensure there is nothing to worry about’. They did separately express apologies to UA, but in their public statement, they focused on apologizing to their own fandom, Naos, for causing discomfort.

 

UA and the Sparklers pushed back strongly. UA especially so.

 

**≫ UAㅋㅋㅋ You can see the rage in the notice

Starting with ‘We express deep regret regarding MYTH’s statement’ ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ Right. Iwol was the one who got all the hate and Sparklers were the ones who requested an apology, so why is Naos the one getting comforted?

└ This is the first time I’ve seen a head-on fight like this, so it’s a bit shocking, but UA… they might be a small company, but they say what needs to be said. It’s not polished, but you can definitely feel the anger

└ Usually, an half-assed apology would suffice, but it’s time for industry practices to change… if you did something wrong, you have to bow your head properly.

 

≫ Write exactly what people are concerned about~~

Write that you are well aware of the concerns that power-tripping senior Parthe might pull sh*t again on victim group Spark, so you’ll keep Parthe on a tight leash~~~

└ They’re treating all complaints as delusionsㅋㅋ Bully Minil harassed them for a whole year; is fans being worried an ‘excessive concern’?

└ Don’t say ‘please trust us’, say ‘on the day of the festival, we will take these measures’. Write it down

 

MYTH, having been snubbed to their faces, ended up receiving twice as much backlash.

 

After that, things went quiet for a while, so I thought they were just waiting for it to die down with time

 

‘Just how many faxes did they receive?’

 

Regardless, it was a joy to no longer have to see that unpleasant face again. I gave Jeong Seongbin a thumbs up.