Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols Chapter 530 - Partners of the Soul

Lee Cheonghyeon turned his back on Choi Jeho, who was being led back to his room by Park Joowoo. He headed straight for Kim Iwol’s room. Half of the room was still empty, as though he had only moved out part of his belongings. On the screen, the handover document remained open, as if to prove that what they were seeing wasn’t some illusion.

 

Don’t try to do too much in one day. It will be night when you get back from filming, so everyone just go to sleep for now.

You guys don’t have any schedules for the next two days, right? I’ve made a guideline, so check it when you have time.

 

The main text was absurd enough, but the comments were even worse. How could someone be so deeply human when dealing with others, yet try to settle everything involving himself with such cold, mechanical precision?

 

Lee Cheonghyeon’s head burned with heat. Resentment flared up in his chest.

 

He knew Kim Iwol was the type to draw lines. That was why he had felt so relieved when that shameless, rigid man finally admitted, ‘I’ve never thought of the members as a burden’. Lee Cheonghyeon had even told Kim Iwol directly how much those words had meant to him.

 

‘Now, there’s no reason to be anxious. I can see that the members cherish the team.’

 

‘Now, my dream is for us to promote together for a long, long time.’

 

‘We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing! All together, working hard!’

 

How often, how many times had Lee Cheonghyeon expressed his feelings and his own resolutions in front of Kim Iwol?

 

Revealing the thoughts he had kept buried was itself a sign of how much he trusted the other person. It was his way of opening the door to their relationship. It was a declaration that he intended to treat the team with total sincerity.

 

‘Don’t you know that the basic rule for idols is to be a full group?’

 

But Kim Iwol had never answered that. He hadn’t opened his door in return. He had locked the windows, drawn the curtains, and hidden in the darkness until no one could tell if he was even there.

 

Lee Cheonghyeon grabbed the mouse. He scrolled down further through the ridiculous repackage album proposal. Inside the document format Iwol had created was the ‘Planning Intent’ Kim Iwol himself must have typed.

 

[Planning Intent]

To reorganize the existing narrative in order to firmly establish the group’s image as a restructured five-member group among both the fandom and the general public.

 

He typed this with his own hands? No one in their right mind could do such a thing.

 

From Flowering to Scene, throughout every one of Spark’s promotions, the group had always assigned indispensable roles to all six members. Those roles had never been limited to a single song.

 

Sometimes they connected to the stories of other music videos, or left traces as Easter eggs everywhere.

 

Kim Iwol was telling them to scrap all of that. It seemed as though he wanted not merely to bury the past, but to erase it altogether.

 

There was no way that could possibly work in any sane world. When a member leaves a group that is performing well, conflict inevitably breaks out between those who support the old full group and those who wish to support only the remaining members.

 

‘Is he telling us to wipe it all away and start from scratch? As if we were never six?’

 

It was nonsense. Lee Cheonghyeon scoffed.

 

However, the moment he opened an unfamiliar folder, he realized that even a hollow laugh was a luxury.

 

Inside the folder titled ‘(XX.11.02.) Handover_File Collection_Author_Kim Iwol,’ there were sub-folders packed tight.

 

Among them, the ‘3rd Full-Length Album’ folder was particularly large. When he unzipped the ‘Photo Material (Past Activities)’ file inside, folders named after their title tracks poured out in a row.

 

[Flowering]

[With List]

[The Third Letter]

[MISSION]

[Winter Night]

.

.

.

 

Flowering was such a precious debut album that they hadn’t even touched its imagery when making the slogan to support Jeong Seongbin’s appearance on Genre Switch. Even without knowing what was inside, Lee Cheonghyeon couldn’t bring himself to open the Flowering folder.

 

Instead, he opened the With List folder right below it. Photos from the bright amusement park, in front of the colorful Ferris wheel at night, from the waiting rooms, and concept shots flooded the screen.

 

Kim Iwol was nowhere to be found. Not even in the group photos. The Spark in the folder looked so much like a five-member group that someone could genuinely believe it had always consisted of five people.

 

Kim Iwol probably didn’t expect them to actually print these photos in the new album.It was Kim Iwol’s own belief that new content needed new material and new clues.

 

This meant these were data strictly intended for ‘fleeting reference footage’. In broadcasts, it was common for members who caused trouble or left a group to be blurred out or pixelated in past footage. He was telling them to submit these photos when that time came.

 

The thought that every one of the numerous folders would be like this made Lee Cheonghyeon feel dizzy. He couldn’t even fathom how long Kim Iwol had been preparing this.

 

He was irritated. He was angry. He felt sorrowful and stifled. The image of Kim Iwol, who had stubbornly refused to answer when told to ‘take good care of the dorm’ was vivid in his mind.

 

‘You said everything was fine now.’

 

He said he didn’t want to cause worry, then pulled this stunt and vanished. The indescribable mixture of emotions made his stomach churn.

 

‘You said it was thanks to us.’

 

Lee Cheonghyeon lowered his head.

 

‘Then what the hell was all that crying when we won the Grand Prize…?

 

He felt suffocated. He felt like he was going to throw up.

 

 ***

 

To Kang Kiyeon, the series of events had struck like a sudden disaster.

 

Kim Iwol, who had greeted him just fine in the morning, had vanished without a trace in half a day. There were limits to what an individual could do with resources like CCTV, and there was no way to request cooperation from the relevant parties. Even social media remained eerily quiet, without so much as a single common sighting report.

 

Kim Iwol’s disappearance wasn’t the only problem.

 

Kim Iwol had explicitly stated his desire to terminate his contract. He had even tried to settle all their financial matters. If they failed to respect the person’s wishes at this point, there was no telling what might happen between the company and Kim Iwol.

 

‘The company might actually accept hyung’s proposal.’

 

Realistically, the company was highly likely to accept Kim Iwol’s offer. That way, they could at least recover some of the money. The anxiety that the team might be reorganized without any warning paralyzed Kang Kiyeon’s thoughts.

 

Kim Iwol was never careless with his words or actions. To ensure he didn’t easily reverse a decision, he wouldn’t voice an opinion until he had accumulated enough evidence. He was cautious in everything, and once he made a decision, he acted as if there was no looking back.

 

And that Kim Iwol had deliberately brought up leaving the group. The man who insisted on filling every image slot on SNS and prepared every photo in multiples of four was serious enough to leave a handwritten letter over five pages long.

 

He cleared out every single personal item. He settled the contract cleanly.

 

After going this far, they had to assume that, at least as far as the person himself was concerned, he had absolutely no intention of returning.

 

This was why everyone’s mental state had crumbled. The event happened in an instant, leaving no room for recovery.

 

What was the point of just sitting here and waiting in a situation like this? But did they really have any other option?

 

Kang Kiyeon was confused. His inner self, which he thought had grown stronger through various crises, wavered pathetically without resistance. He felt miserable.

 

Unable to simply stand by and wait, Kang Kiyeon bolted up from his seat. He felt as though he wouldn’t be satisfied unless he did something—anything.

 

Stepping into the living room, Kang Kiyeon saw Lee Cheonghyeon sitting in front of the laptop through the open doorway.

 

Kiyeon placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. Lee Cheonghyeon slowly turned his head.

 

“…Kang Kyeon”

 

Not a single spark of light could be seen in those once-twinkling eyes.

 

Since they were young, Kang Kiyeon had always wondered how Lee Cheonghyeon was always able to notice whenever he was going through a difficult time and pull him back out of it.

 

Looking into Lee Cheonghyeon’s eyes, Kang Kiyeon finally found the answer to his long-standing question. Some emotions could tell you, simply through the atmosphere they created, just how precariously someone was hanging on.

 

Even in a situation like this, cruelly enough, Kim Iwol was the first person Kang Kiyeon thought of. The remark he had half-heartedly listened to came back to him.

 

‘Take him with you next time.’

 

Kim Iwol had definitely said that in front of the black night sea.

 

‘Go together, holding hands. It’s lonely being alone.’

 

Kang Kiyeon had wondered why Kim Iwol would say that, especially since Kim Iwol had been the one to take Lee Cheonghyeon all the way to Busan when he had been struggling with music production.

 

At the time, Kang Kiyeon had replied, ‘Lee Cheonghyeon might need some time alone, too,’ but…

 

“Get up.”

 

“……Huh?”

 

Now that his friend had actually collapsed, he couldn’t bring up things like ‘time alone’.

 

“Let’s go out.”

 

Kang Kiyeon’s voice trembled.

 

Lee Cheonghyeon had walked the neighborhood with him at dawn before every evaluation.

Now, it was Kang Kiyeon’s turn to pull Cheonghyeon out.

 

 ***

 

Kang Kiyeon actually informed Jeong Seongbin that they were going out for a bit.

 

Jeong Seongbin hesitated. The situation was too chaotic.

 

However, seeing Lee Cheonghyeon’s expression and hearing Kang Kiyeon’s promise that they wouldn’t do anything to harm the team, he reluctantly gave his permission.

 

Immediately, Kang Kiyeon called a taxi and shoved Lee Cheonghyeon into the back seat. After driving for a little under an hour, the scenery changed. As they got out of the car, the smell of the sea hit them.

 

Lee Cheonghyeon asked why they were at the sea. The sea breeze was sharper than on land. Their hair whipped around violently.

 

“…How much was the taxi fare?”

 

“Are you curious?”

 

Instead of telling him the fare, Kang Kiyeon led Lee Cheonghyeon toward a wooden boardwalk. The little-known walking path was deserted. Whenever the wind blew, they could hear the boats at the pier bumping against one another.

 

Whenever Kang Kiyeon trembled with nerves before an evaluation, Lee Cheonghyeon would chatter beside him without stopping. His constant stream of conversation would leave no room for stray thoughts to creep into Kang Kiyeon’s mind.

 

If that was effective, Kiyeon was willing to chatter as much as needed. There were plenty of things to talk about with Lee Cheonghyeon. It didn’t have to be about work. They could easily giggle and chat for over an hour just about a game that only had its release info leaked.

 

But Kang Kiyeon said nothing. Because his friend was different from him; when truly depressed, he needed time to think.

 

The two walked very slowly. The sound of waves occasionally drifted toward them.

 

“…Iwol hyung.”

 

Cheonghyeon broke the silence.

 

“He left after writing a repackage album proposal?”

 

“……”

 

“He must know it’s something that’ll get him absolutely cursed at. So why did a smart guy like him do that?”

 

“Maybe it’s because he judged that even if he got cursed at, it was important to emphasize a five-member spArk?” 

 

Lee Cheonghyeon asked and answered himself.

 

“Where could he have gone? I called Gu Jahan sunbaenim and Woo Yoonjae sunbaenim, but they said they don’t know anything.”

 

While the managers were at the police station and Jeong Seongbin was checking the CCTV, the remaining members had also been making calls everywhere. None of them had heard anything about Kim Iwol’s whereabouts.

 

“I don’t know what the other members think, but I feel betrayed.” 

 

Lee Cheonghyeon said as he walked ahead. 

 

“I told him so many times that I like being all together.”

 

Lee Cheonghyeon’s love for the group was exceptional. If Kim Iwol had poured his body and time into Spark, Lee Cheonghyeon regarded Spark as though it were a part of himself.

 

Even when their seniors casually advised them that idols needed to maintain a certain degree of business-mindedness if they wanted to last, it made no difference. Everyone knew more than well enough how hard Lee Cheonghyeon had worked to never miss group schedules, even when his individual schedule was packed.

 

“But more than that.”

 

Lee Cheonghyeon, who had been walking with his back to Kang Kiyeon, stopped. Beyond the observation deck stretched the vast night sea.

 

“I really thought of him as a real brother.”

 

Waves surged over the surface of the water.

 

“It makes me feel so sorry that I couldn’t be a younger brother he felt comfortable talking to.”

 

Lee Cheonghyeon’s voice grew faint.

 

“It didn’t look like something he prepared in a day or two. He must have spent so much time worrying over it.”

 

“……”

 

“He wouldn’t have wanted to leave without saying anything either…”

 

Lee Cheonghyeon covered his face with both hands. His palms became wet.