Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols Chapter 494 - After School

Kim Iwol and Choi Jeho even stayed for dinner at the school. The highlight was a scene where Kim Iwol, lifting his spoon, muttered, ‘…How did I do this every single day?’

 

Choi Jeho, true to form, ate two full servings. Once it grew too dark to play soccer, Choi Jeho wrapped himself in a pizza-pattern blanket while Kim Iwol draped the sweater vest he had taken off over one arm, and the two wandered around the athletic field like pieces of sushi on a conveyor belt.

 

During evening self-study, Choi Jeho’s desperate journey to stay awake continued. He endured the grueling time by reading books kept at the back of the classroom. Meanwhile, Kim Iwol, seated directly in front of him, opened a notebook he had probably never expected to see again and diligently reviewed his notes.

 

While most of the cast members secured screen time by engaging in small talk with the students, Kim Iwol didn’t feel the need to do so during self-study. This was because the two of them had already secured plenty of footage by chatting and running around whenever they had a spare moment.

 

≫ CJH is seriously killing me XX

Every teacher who walked in mistook him for an athlete ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ ‘I heard an idol was coming, so why…’ (Teacher’s opening remark)

└ Our boy is indeed a former athlete. But his specialty was the National Training Center’s cafeteria.

└ Truly the Emperor who achieved his dream by getting two servings.

 

≫ You can see the life draining out of them in real-time.

They didn’t look this tired even when they were catching octopuses.

└ It’s because our boys’ true aptitude lies in physical labor.

└ I understand Jeho, but why Iwol? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ Iwol is an extreme extrovert, so if you lock him in an environment where he can’t talk for too long, he withers away.

└ His core is strong, but his interest in academics graduated long ago.

└ Respect for maintaining that posture from first period all the way through evening self-study.

 

≫ Look at the student’s face next to them.

└ What happened to make them look like that??

└ Choi Jeho sat on a chair with a broken leg through all of 1st period, and then when recess started, he confessed, ‘This chair is weird’

└└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ The kids who thought the Deserted Island show was fake during the self-introductions later turned into ‘Hyung, this is what we call an ‘L-shaped folder’ mode. It’s hilarious.

└ You have to watch Kim Iwol’s face at the same time.

└└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I can read his thoughts just by looking at his face.

 

≫ Sparklers, give up your hopes that having an ‘intellectual member’ would make things different whenever Spark goes to the Deserted Island

In my eyes, Iwol isn’t much different.

He’s a smart but physically overpowered Homo Wol-piens

If Iwol goes to a deserted island, he’ll hit a palm tree with a ball to drop coconuts, build a sundial to never miss a mealtime, and go catch fish.

└ I’m reporting you for this

└ I want to refute this, but the A grade they both received in PE Performance Assessment keeps pricking my conscience.

 

Baek Haewon was confident that if she collected all the posts she wrote on SNS while watching the broadcast, they would equal the length of the Tripitaka Koreana.

 

(TL note: The Tripiṭaka Koreana is a Korean collection of the Tripiṭaka (Buddhist scriptures), carved onto 81,352 wooden printing blocks in the 13th century.)

 

Cruelly, time flowed on, and the closing interview filmed against the backdrop of an empty classroom appeared. Following Choi Jeho’s comment about feeling like he had returned to his school days for the first time in a long while, Kim Iwol said he was happy to have made good friends.

 

『Iwol: Looking at the class president reminded me of the friend who was the president of my class back then. I wonder how he’s doing. He helped me a lot.』

『PD: What kind of friend was he?』

『Iwol: He was like the personification of the word ‘cheerful’. He was positive about everything. He would often call me over and include me in soccer…』

 

As she listened to Kim Iwol’s story, Baek Haewon felt a strange sense of déjà vu. It was a very familiar anecdote. But it wasn’t a piece of lore that had come from Spark or Kim Iwol. In other words, it wasn’t something fans had previously heard through official channels.

 

Choi Jeho, sitting next to him, encouraged him to leave a video message. Kim Iwol hesitated but didn’t back out. BGM for an unexplained video letter began to play. Baek Haewon soon realized who Kim Iwol was talking about and the source of the anecdote.

 

『Iwol: Class President, how have you been?』

 

Her jaw dropped. The fact that the good fortune fans could never hope to receive had arrogantly landed in the lap of her own sibling felt like some giant hidden-camera prank. In the midst of this, even the way Kim Iwol protected the person’s real name was so very Kim Iwol that it nearly brought tears to her eyes.

 

『Iwol: I thought of you and the other kids in our class a lot. Thank you for always including me in soccer and basketball back in school. It was fun.』

 

That night, Baek Haewon rode an emotional rollercoaster between Kim Iwol’s warm heart for not forgetting an old friendship and the fact that a mere Baek Haein had dared to be on her bias’s lips. Still, considering the tremendous contribution that ordinary classmate had made, she graciously sent the video link uploaded to MeTube a few days later to Baek Haein himself.

 

[Me]

[You were mentioned on a broadcast]

 

[Name’s not even worth saving]

[???????]

[Whoa????]

 

Baek Haein sent about a million question marks after that. She only passed it on because her bias wanted to send his regards; otherwise, it would never have happened.

 

Baek Haewon left a piece of sincere advice for the sake of her sibling, her bias, and the entire fandom: ‘Don’t you dare go posting on the internet claiming to be that class president’.

 

* * *

 

Spark was famous for chatting whenever they had the chance. The brief breaks during practice were no exception. The guys, who were intensely focused and kept only choreography and formations in their heads during practice, poured out their words as if they had been waiting for the break.

 

The topics were diverse: lunch menus, funny reactions seen while monitoring, cute animal clips—the material was endless.

 

When one person tossed out an opening, the six of them would huddle together and chat. Today’s gossip session was opened by Lee Cheonghyeon. The subject was the variety show starring me and Choi Jeho.

 

“You guys’ school days were fun to watch. You were so close and so wholesome that I actually got envious.”

 

“I won’t get offended, so just be honest.”

 

“I laughed my head off.”

 

Lee Cheonghyeon’s words didn’t have a shred of flattery. I never thought I’d live to see the day I’d earn the humiliating nickname ‘Homo Wol-piens’ as a duo with Choi Jeho. I was confused whether to take comfort in the fact that I was the more evolved human compared to Choi Jeho, or to worry about my reputation which had fallen to this level.

 

“But hyungs really are unfair, you know.”

 

“In what way?”

 

“You taught those students you just met how to buy stylish glasses, but you made us wear floral shirts.”

 

“Did I make you wear those?!”

 

I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t speak properly. Lee Cheonghyeon clutched his stomach and laughed as he watched me just gape at him. I felt like I was about to collapse from a headache.

 

“Fine, let’s ‘say’ you didn’t buy the shirts, hyung.”

 

“It’s not just ‘saying’ it; I really had zero percent stake in those shirts!”

 

“But it’s true you bought the pizza blanket. Do you know what Sparklers are calling Jeho hyung now?”

 

“I don’t want to know.”

 

“But you already do, right?”

 

Lee Cheonghyeon was right. I had already seen how Choi Jeho had gone from his honorable position as ‘Emperor’ past ‘Chunky Dummy Honey-Jar Bear’ to something even further.

 

“Wasn’t it somethig like ‘Topping-Bomb Je-cago Pizza’?”

 

Kang Kiyeon muttered. Choi Jeho, who had been known as a generous pizza shop owner in his ‘Study With Me’ content, had finally become the pizza itself. I shouldn’t have put that blanket in my shopping cart just because it looked funny and soft on the mall site.

 

“It’s strange. I try so hard to build up his dignity, so why does his image keep going on a deep-sea exploration?”

 

“No, hyung. Jeho hyung is still cool…!”

 

Park Joowoo broke into a nervous sweat as he tried to comfort me. His sincerity was touching, but it wasn’t much help. Even if Park Joowoo found Choi Jeho cool, Choi Jeho had long since become one with the pizza on the internet.

 

To be the center when standing on stage but a variety cheat key everywhere else—there was no blessing more overwhelming than this. From school variety shows to becoming a human pizza, the nonstop parade of viral moments was enough to leave anyone dizzy.

 

At least one thing that was better than when Unmanned Rest Area aired was that it wasn’t just Spark’s laborer side being shown.

 

Jeong Seongbin and Lee Cheonghyeon appeared on the new season of Act On, proudly displaying the more intellectual side of the members.

 

≫ A Sparkler and Act On fan lies here deceased

I was worried because season renewals often get messy or sloppy by trying to increase the scale for no reason, but then came the ‘Find the Spy in the Newsroom’ mission…

And then you’re telling me Seongbin is playing a news anchor…? Give me more.

└ A current affairs news anchor is the perfect role for a well-read bookworm whose hobby is watching the news.

└ Finally, a face from our team that could pass the ‘meeting the parents’ test and at least step over the threshold of the front door.

└└ So he can’t make it into the living room yet.

└ His pronunciation is so clear; the anchor role suited him well! Quick, tell me it’s a two-part episode.

 

≫ The production staff really know what they’re doing:

They made Lee Cheonghyeon play an investigative reporter obsessed with traffic clicks.

└ This was genuinely insane. Where else are you ever going to see something like this?

└ His real self is a smart science-track student, so the scene where he cornered other cast members by remembering numbers, data, article headlines, and posting dates went viral ㅋㅋ It really brought his background and the setting to life.

└ How can those silver square-rimmed glasses that look straight out of an ’80s drama be this attractive…

 

≫ (Spoiler Warning) The scene that made me most nervous while watching live:

When they succeeded in finding the script the spy had messed with, correcting it, and putting it on the teleprompter before the live broadcast.

 

And the part that surprised me most:

JSB ignored the teleprompter and broke an exclusive report on corruption.

(Photo)

My face looked exactly like this. JTH’s heart = My heart.

LCH’s quick wits to remember they could force a shutdown and run to the control room were crazy, but JSB beating him to it and locking the equipment was the legendary highlight.

└ I condemn Act On for inciting internal division within a boy group. I condemn them!

└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ Was I the only one who thought the teleprompter was the final trap and that the target was definitely going to lose?

└└ Me too ㅋㅋ People were talking about whether it was unbalanced.

└└└ But then again, the target had to pretend to catch the spy with the others while searching for and memorizing the whistleblowing script, finding the control room password, and changing it… ㅠㅠㅠ I actually thought the rules were tough for the target!

└ What’s even funnier is that Cheonghyeon only wanted to stop the exposé because he wanted to publish the story alone, monopolize the traffic, and collect the bonus money himselfㅋㅋㅋ What a ridiculous character.

 

≫ I didn’t know because the other members don’t do acting, but I was surprised by how well Nen and Cheonggwang immersed themselves.**

It didn’t feel like acting; it felt natural.

└ That’s because they do skits for their self-produced content all the time ㅋㅋㅠ

 

Spark’s variety-show civil war succeeded in captivating both general viewers and Sparklers alike. It was the perfect casting and a great concept.

 

And it wasn’t just these two who became a hot topic. Park Joowoo and Kang Kiyeon achieved the feat of leaving legendary clips and memes everywhere in their own way.