Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols Chapter 442 - Reappearance (2)

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

 

I asked, pouring out a bucketful of worry. Park Joowoo sat on the floor, silently focusing on packing his bag.

 

“My stomach ulcer is all healed now, okay? I should go. I don’t even get nosebleeds anymore. I’m fine.”

 

To persuade him, I even emphasized how healthy I was. While these guys had been juggling schedules like Tetris, I’d had plenty of rest, so my condition was actually pretty good.

 

Meanwhile, Choi Jeho watched Park Joowoo stuffing a pillow into his bag and commented flatly:

 

“If you take that pillow, they’ll probably just confiscate it anyway.”

 

“Choi Jeho, you stay quiet for a second.”

 

Park Joowoo, who wasn’t listening to a word I said, readily complied with Choi Jeho’s remark. Seeing Park Joowoo obediently pull the stuffed animal out of his bag gave me a throbbing headache. To think the day would come when Choi Jeho’s words carried more weight than mine… it was the end of the world.

 

“Some small scenes get edited out, but the actual conditions are much worse. It’ll be hard to even wash properly.”

 

“I’ve heard plenty from Jeho hyung and Kiyeon. I’ve finished my mental preparations….”

 

“What exactly did you tell the kid?”

 

“That the bugs are huge.”

 

“You should have told him they’re big enough to make him faint!”

 

“They aren’t that big.”

 

“Could you please stop setting the standards of the world to your own?”

 

“Kang Kiyeon was fine, though.”

 

“Setting the world’s standards to you guys… no, never mind. Forget it.”

 

In just 30 seconds, I lost all will to keep arguing with Choi Jeho. It was depressing how likely it was nonsense like that would win an argument.

 

“…You don’t have to worry that much.”

 

Perhaps remembering how I had frothed at the mouth the day Choi Jeho presented his mosaic bag, Park Joowoo spoke while tucking his clothes into travel pouches and zipping them up.

 

“Kiyeon said he’d catch the bugs for me….”

 

“I keep telling you, it’s completely different from dealing with bugs in a confined space!”

 

“Should I bring an electric fly swatter…?”

 

“If they take the pillow, do you think they’ll let you keep a fly swatter?”

 

Even so, Park Joowoo didn’t lose confidence. I was the only one stomping my feet, not knowing what to do.

 

“Give it up, hyung.”

 

Jeong Seongbin, who had came up behind me at some point, spoke with a resigned face.

 

“I offered to go several times myself, but it was no use.”

 

“Because you’re busy, Seongbin….”

 

“It hurts more to watch my friend sleep on bare ground, Joowoo.”

 

“So sleeping on the ground is a given, then.”

 

What a ruthless broadcasting station. If they had just asked for any random pair like last time, we could have neutralized the Festival of Fools at least a little bit. But no, blinded by view counts, they insisted on adding another member, carving not one but two unforgettable black-history moments into someone else’s group. At this rate, Spark’s next concept might as well be ‘Rulers of the Deserted Island’.

 

“Don’t worry too much. I’ll stay strong and make sure I’m not a burden…”

 

“Is that why you’re packing work gloves? To split logs?”

 

“There are lots of gloves on the beach if you walk around.”

 

“Please.”

 

I hadn’t felt like crying this much in a long time. Every word out of Choi Jeho’s mouth was like a black mark on my vision. The future was pitch black.

 

“I’m so anxious I don’t think I can sleep. What should I do?”

 

“Same here.”

 

There wasn’t a hint of a smile on Jeong Seongbin’s face. In an instant, only my and Seongbin’s worlds had collapsed.

 

“What’s wrong with you guys! Joowoo hyung might go and do just fine!”

 

“Cheonghyeon….”

 

For the first time, someone who wasn’t part of the deserted island squad took Park Joowoo’s side, and he looked touched.

 

“Cheonghyeon, you’re just excited because you think the number of funny scenes will increase by 1.5 times.”

 

“Is it that obvious?”

 

“You didn’t even show a shred of will to hide it.”

 

Lee Cheonghyeon cackled. I realized once again: the only person who could understand me right now was Jeong Seongbin.

 

“I told you to monitor Kiyeon packing his bag. Did you?”

 

“Kang Kyeon does fine on his own. It’s the people he’s with that influence him.”

 

Lee Cheonghyeon continued to pour oil onto the fire in my gut. I wanted to go to that deserted island myself. This was the first time in my life I’d ever wanted to go to a place where human civilization hadn’t been built. I wouldn’t care if I had to build a water system from scratch; I just wanted them to send me to that uncharted territory.

 

“No matter how I think about it, I can only picture Joowoo coming back covered in soot.”

 

I raised him so well as a Visual Main Vocal, and now he was set to return as a dusty Joo-derella. What was the point of marketing his image as Dawn Mountain Mist—an ethereal human raised only on pure spring water? The effort I put in for over two years was about to turn into a pile of ash overnight. The word ‘grief-stricken’ should be put in textbooks with this situation as the example.

 

“I really can do this. I even trained.”

 

“What kind of training?”

 

I wasn’t curious at all, but I asked anyway.

 

“Surviving 12 hours drinking only water, sleeping with mosquito buzzing sounds playing…”

 

And I immediately regretted asking. All it did was increase my worries.

 

“I’ll go and catch some octopuses. That’ll do, right?”

 

“Iwol hyung, you of all people seem to have zero intention of keeping the group’s image high-class.”

 

Lee Cheonghyeon shot that down instantly. Choi Jeho kicked us out, saying he had to sleep and that we should disperse. Once Lee Cheonghyeon returned to his room as well, only Jeong Seongbin and I were left in the living room.

 

“…Should we ask to go as a full group?”

 

“No….”

 

The night before ‘Park Joowoo is an elf’ was set to be shattered. We tossed and turned endlessly in our beds, exchanging lines like, ‘Seongbin, aren’t you sleeping?’ and ‘Hyung, aren’t you going to sleep?’ until we greeted the morning with wide-open eyes.

 

* * *

 

“Kiyeon, be careful of injuries. Joowoo, always watch what you eat.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Mhm….”

 

“If Choi Jeho gives you trash to use as a blanket, make sure to check its condition. Check for holes, mold, or smells. Got it?”

 

I went as far as grabbing each of them by the cheeks, force-feeding them basic survival knowledge. Knowing exactly what it meant for me to lay hands on their faces, they widened their eyes and listened to me with forced attention.

 

“Why don’t you just tell them to stay away from me entirely?”

 

Choi Jeho picked a fight from behind. He was wearing a bag that looked as light as a feather.

 

“That would be ideal.”

 

“Hah, really.”

 

Even to the scoffing Choi Jeho, I offered a few words of sincere worry. Please don’t try to chop logs with your bare hands, once was enough for that; fans cropped photos of your hands from the concept photos because they wanted to see them clearly, so imagine them zooming in on splinters stuck in your skin… I shouted with the feeling of coughing up blood, but there wasn’t a hint on his face that he was listening.

 

Jeong Seongbin came packed with motion sickness pills, calming medicene, and allergy meds. Then he split them into two bundles and stuffed them into Park Joowoo’s and Kang Kiyeon’s bags.

 

“They said emergency medicine is allowed, so take these. I’ve already checked that they’re allowed through customs.”

 

“I haven’t taken calming medicene in a while. I could leave this out….”

 

“There’s a psychological difference between having it and not taking it, versus not having it at all. If it’s heavy, ask Joowoo to carry it.”

 

“I’m fine with this much.”

 

At Jeong Seongbin’s explanation, Kang Kiyeon accepted the bundle without complaint. In his bag was also a notebook Lee Cheonghyeon had handed out earlier before leaving for his morning class. I had no idea why he gave that.

 

The time for parting came too quickly. The entryway felt cramped once these guys, each the size of a streetlamp, gathered at the shoe rack. Despite them having the perfect physical frames to survive in a jungle, deep sighs kept escaping me.

 

“First is safety, second is safety, and third is screen time. Don’t forget.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Mhm…!”

 

“Why do those responses sound so half-hearted?”

 

“Whatever, we’re going.”

 

“Fine, go.”

 

With a final wave from Choi Jeho, they set off on their long journey. I stood on the veranda with Jeong Seongbin, gauging where the van might be passing through the underground parking lot.

 

“I don’t ask for much. I just hope they come back looking like human beings.”

 

“Joowoo is with them, so the other two won’t go on a rampage like last time. Since they have some similarities, maybe they’ll get along surprisingly well…?”

 

“You don’t sound very confident in that yourself.”

 

“…….”

 

Jeong Seongbin couldn’t argue. We remained silent.

 

But wait.

 

The three of them… have similar sides?

 

In an instant, something I had briefly overlooked came to mind. The MBTI types they had written for each other in a past self-produced content episode rang like an alarm in my head.

 

“Seongbin.”

 

“Yes, Hyung.”

 

“Weren’t all of them… Introverts?”

 

A biting wind blew through the open veranda window. It felt like a late cold snap had arrived—not just in the dorm, but for Spark’s future as well.

 

***

 

A cold wind blew through the dorm until the Deserted Island Team returned. Everyone shivered (Cheonghyeon was probably shaking from trying not to laugh), hoping there wouldn’t be any more ‘Stone Age incidents’ from them.

 

Fortunately, the shivering Dorm Team didn’t catch a cold.

 

“Hyung, we’re back….”

 

Because Park Joowoo and the others returned looking worse than a burlap sack that had been dragged down a sled hill thirty times. I was fuming so hard that I didn’t even feel the cold.

 

“I told you I didn’t ask for much, just to come back looking like people! What on earth did you do out there?! Why is it that every time you go to an island, you forget civilization and revert to the primitive ages?!”

 

“Hyung….”

 

“I told you guys to be the Spark, not the charcoal! It was enough for the group name to be on fire; why do you keep putting burn holes in your clothes?!  If you’re just going to burn them anyway, what’s the point of wearing vests?! I couldn’t even bear to look at your airport photos!”

 

I wanted to just sit down and wail. After all the effort I’d put into polishing them up, they got dragged into some chaotic variety show setup and ended up fried, tossed around, and covered in flour and chili oil.

 

What had all my effort been for? My dream of turning Choi Jeho into an airport fashion icon, what a futile fantasy it had been!

 

I restrained myself to just clutching my chest out of sheer dignity as an adult, but when Choi Jeho told me to stop messing with my heart, my anger doubled. No exaggeration—80% of the reason my heart is overworked is because of you.

 

Park Joowoo explained that it only looked this way on the outside, and that the island trip was actually more enjoyable and manageable than expected. I truly wanted to believe him.

 

But when a charred metal plate and two work gloves—both for the left hand—came out of Park Joowoo’s bag, I lost my mind.

 

I didn’t remember what I said after that, but I couldn’t forget that when I came to my senses, three hours had passed.