Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols – Chapter 505 – Chat Time (5)

Author: LyraDhani

After spending the night together at the lodging, Spark dove right back into another packed filming schedule the next morning. They stumbled awake with sleepy, half-open eyes for an unexpected wake-up mission, then immediately started exposing each other’s secrets in exchange for breakfast, and recorded their closing comments while eating ice cream that had frozen into a bizarre shape after melting.

“Seongbin hyung is seriously ruthless. How could you sell out the top-secret intel that Iwol hyung hates bitter things before your eyes were even fully open? We were all working together to push his image as the ultimate cool-water, iced-Americano-even-in-winter guy, and now look what happened!”

“It’s not that I hate them…”

“I told you guys from the start that Seongbin hyung is no ordinary guy.”

“It’s true that Seongbin isn’t ordinary, but I truly don’t hate bitter things…”

I explained myself with the utmost sincerity, but no one listened. Jeong Seongbin, the one who had spread the exaggerated claim, looked like he had no intention of correcting the facts even after seeing my reaction.

“Well, it’s true you don’t prefer bitter tastes, hyung… even though your image makes it look like you’d eat bitter stuff just fine.”

“Joowoo?”

Park Joowoo said the exact same thing, just with softer phrasing. I felt truly wronged.

“As someone who drinks pear-balloon flower tea like water, I claim this is a very unfair suspicion. You do know that if you search for balloon flower root, one of the related search terms is ‘how to remove the bitterness,’ right?”

“So the pear and honey are just decorations?”

Even today, Choi Jeho never got tired of picking a fight with me. What an annoying fellow. Did he even know the ratio of pear and honey in my tea to be saying that?

“You really don’t like bitter things, hyung.”

“I don’t?”

“When we take our throat medicine, your expression is the worst after Joowoo’s.”

A shocking testimony emerged. It was a fact I was learning for the first time. It was startling to realize these guys weren’t straining to keep their brows from furrowing like I was; they actually thought the medicine was edible.

“…They are bitter.”

Without meeting anyone’s eyes, Park Joowoo quietly took my side. After receiving advice that the medicine in question was better taken with warm water, I decided to take it with hot water instead of cold from now on.

* * *

The photos of Spark playing in the water, which they uploaded as fan service in their own casual clothes rather than for a shoot, caused a massive sensation.

≫ Iwol, I’m sorry I told you to stop wearing black.

You were just gathering energy all this time for that all-black rash guard look.

Sparklers are so sorry for not understanding your grand plan.

└ I can’t believe his abs can be that visible even through clothes.

└ He’s wearing tight clothes and they’re soaking wet, so his collarbones and muscle definition are all visible… I think this is the legendary GOAT.

└ A goat?

└ Choi Jeho, get out.

≫ CJH is crazy. We told him to button up and instead he’s out there walking around with his shirt open where Sparklers can’t see.

We told you to be careful where others are looking, we never said you should do a water show only when we aren’t around. This is a betrayal.

└ Jeho fans are so indignant and wronged they can’t even sleep. At least, I can’t.

└ How can his imperial authority still be intact after becoming Je-cago Pizza…?

└ I guess that’s the talent of a center.

≫ What is up with our leader’s back???

When did our little Jindo dog become a Muscular Jindo…?

└ Our Seongbin went from being a sweet, cozy, warm-handsome-type leader to a sportswear model.

└ Wet-shirt Jeong Seongbin? Thumbs up.

└ The soft vibe definitely disappears when his hair is wet, he looks so cold… Definitely a member of Spark.

└ He’s the leader of Spark. Of course he’s basically the Grand Duke of the North.

≫ Who wants to see Joowoo sweeping his hair back with both hands?

Actually, all of you get out. Only I get to see.

└ Hand it over while I’m asking nicely.

└ Hand it over.

└ Who wants to see Joowoo wringing out his shirt?

└ You hand it over too.

└ Did Joowoo bulk up?? What’s up with his upper body?

≫ Did you see the comment Iwol left on the photo Cheonghyeon posted?

(Photo)

The greatest legendary simp in this fandom is still going strong.

└ He beat all the 30-year veteran fan-girls and proudly won with his wordplay.

└ He said he’s transferring 500 won to Cheonghyeon every time he looks at the photo and I wondered what he meant ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Turns out it’s a ‘viewing fee’ ㅋㅋㅋ

└ But with a face like that, it’s completely understandable

└ Lee Cheonghyeon, you are my summer.

≫ The truly amazing thing about Kim Iwol:

(Photo)

He brainwashed a man like this into being the King of Cuteness Kang Kiyeon.

All the fans believe without a doubt that Kiyeon is part of the Cute-faction.

└ Whoa, what the.

└ Every time I see how well Kang Kiyeon dresses in his casual shots, my heart hurts… I think there should be regulations against him flirting like this unless he’s going to date me.

└ An 180cm maknae who looks like he should be driving a yacht? Cute.

Every single post burned as hot as this summer’s sun. At this rate, it seemed we didn’t have to worry about the official Season’s Greetings shoot being called underwhelming.

The concert photos and reviews also had a great response. Since expectations had climbed this high, we’d have to make sure the domestic concert measured up as well to avoid any complaints later. I silently prayed that both the god of good contractor selection and the god of art direction would smile upon our newly established business division.

Having reviewed everything I needed to check, I was about to turn off my phone when a notification popped up. The sender was Mr. Polo.

[Hellas Polo sunbaenim]

[How is traveling around?]

[It must be hard since it’s your first overseas tour.]

It was a warm message from a senior artist who now belonged to the same company.

[Me]

[It’s smooth sailing thanks to everyone looking out for us!]

[Hellas Polo sunbaenim]

[You’re too modest.]

[I heard you don’t have a show this week, is that right?]

[Me]

[Yes!]

[I was actually resting just now, so if there’s anything you’d like to talk about, feel free to message me anytime!]

Well-wishes were common between people, but for a senior to specifically look up a junior’s concert schedule? That almost certainly meant they had something specific they wanted to ask.

[Hellas Polo sunbaenim]

[As expected of Mr. Iwol.]

[You’re really quick-witted…]

Mr. Polo sent a character sticker of a person breaking into a cold sweat. Since all I had were the default emoticons and Spark emoticons, I suddenly became a strange junior who sent his senior a sticker of a fellow member giving a thumbs-up.

Only after confirming several times that it was really okay to ask did Mr. Polo finally get to the point.

[Hellas Polo sunbaenim]

[We’re about to start discussions regarding Hellas’s comeback.]

[The company told us to tell them any requests or wishes we have.]

[What is the usual scope of these wishes here…?]

It wasn’t a difficult question, but it was an important agenda for a new hire. Anyone with workplace experience knew how important it was to understand the atmosphere from the very beginning. Moreover, for Hellas, who were veterans in the entertainment industry, it was natural for them to be cautious about their first collaboration.

Still, with Hellas’s years of experience, they should know how the industry worked. Was there really a difference significant enough to warrant asking someone?

Furthermore, the term ‘wishes’ covered too broad a range. It was ambiguous whether he was referring to song selection, or the concept and promotion. Thus, I sent a reply requesting more details to narrow down the conversation.

[Me]

[I’ve only ever been with one company since I was a trainee, so I’m not very familiar with how other companies handle the process.]

[Conversely, at what stage do MYTH or other agencies share opinions while preparing for a comeback? Even a brief explanation would help me better understand what you’re curious about!]

[Hellas Polo sunbaenim]

[Hmm.]

[For teams without a member who composes, it’s mostly similar.]

[The company brings in several songs, and we choose which ones we like and decide on the title track.]

[Then we talk about wanting a certain style of outfit or which variety shows we want to go on.]

It was significantly different from the Spark-style comeback, where the idols themselves led everything from the ideas, songs, and MV concepts to the album concepts and outfits.

‘No wonder they might not know how much input they’re supposed to give.’

Most of the existing UA artists were established veterans. Many were singer-songwriters, so most artists contributed a lot of opinions during the album production process. Since their production schedules were much longer than an idol album’s, there was plenty of time for discussion, and having the artist take the lead was simply the default.

Because the existing work system was like this, UA easily accepted my aggressive presentations and Spark’s proactive comeback preparations.

However, judging by Mr. Polo’s words, it seemed the K-pop market generally operated the opposite way. The company secured the songs and choreography, producers specializing in idol albums built the overall framework, and the idols then refined it through feedback.

No wonder Hellas was flustered by UtopiA’s proposal. To be told to speak their minds when there weren’t even any song samples yet must have sounded confusing. The employees who came over from MYTH were likely trying to fully respect Hellas’s wishes since they were now executives, and thus they also ended up in an ‘if you have opinions, please tell us’ state.

That wasn’t to say the company was sitting around doing nothing. I saw a new document created in Dotion regarding the planning of Hellas’s album. I was fairly certain everyone simply wanted to reflect the members’ preferences as much as possible before getting started.

[Me]

[Spark usually decides exactly what concept we want to do and what image we want to show before the comeback prep even starts, and we tell them first.]

[Similarly, I think they’re just trying to check if you seniors have any concepts you want first, so you can comfortably share anything you definitely want to see reflected.]

[If the way you discussed things at MYTH is more comfortable for you, you can say so! They’ll do their best to accommodate you.]

[Hellas Polo sunbaenim]

[Aha.]

[So it’s like a survey conducted before holding an event?]

[Me]

[Exactly! Except the answer box is a short-answer format…]

[Hellas Polo sunbaenim]

[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[How can they collect opinions so casually without knowing what we might say?]

[Me]

[They’re pretty good at granting approval no matter what you ask for.]

[Hellas Polo sunbaenim]