Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols – Chapter 548 – Resignation (1)

Author: LyraDhani

The ‘Kim Iwol Birthday Advertisement Tour’ project wasn’t easy. My body being in such a trash state made it twice as hard. Still, I managed to visit every single one by digging through the announcements posted on social media. If not now, while my recognition was lowered, when else would I be able to visit them all?

Every single advertisement I looked for was filled with affection. Even though I had suddenly cut off all contact and stopped my activities, the fans’ love for me hadn’t changed. Between the tribute videos for my birthday and the fan vlogs of people doing ‘birthday cafe tours’, my social media timeline was a non-stop festival.

Making even one video took a considerable amount of work. While a company would have to hire an outside agency to complete a single ten-minute vlog, fans willingly crafted twenty or thirty-minute videos for their idol. Not to mention the time spent on every tiny detail inside.

They chose subtitle colors that matched the atmosphere of the video and added annotations or anecdotes as captions to every cut. These high-quality videos, which rivaled the highlight clips of broadcasting stations, had been made entirely through their time and dedication.

『Sparklers whose bias is the man of Gangnam Station, let your spirit soar~!』

『Iwol bias group reacting every time they see a tuxedo kitty (it’s basically a spinal reflex at this point)』

『Birthday cafe quality worthy of the idol world’s one and only ~Out-Design Master Idol with a Photo-Flat Master Fandom~』

『The moment it felt worth it to book a train ticket the second the birthday ad mock-up for J-nim was posted. The first and last chance to see black-haired Iwol with both hands as cat ears on a giant screen!!!』

『No birthday livestream? It’s okay, Sparklers can just do a celebration live among ourselves~』

『Step 3. Ordering jjolmyeon at the snack bar Iwol recommended』

『The owner even put down a table mat for us to take pretty pictures ㅠㅠㅠ An anecdote of leaving behind 100 proof shots』

『Kim Iwol, get well soon… life feels empty without you… (No, you can take your time coming back, so please just rest well and return when you’re ready)』

The passing subtitles caught my eye more than usual today. People who liked me met up with each other to eat delicious food and record their daily lives because they wanted to celebrate my birthday together. Everyone in the videos was smiling and talking about me.

Whenever I saw things like this, I was reminded of just how much I was involved in other people’s lives. I had never really looked deeply into other people’s lives throughout my own life, so even though I knew how difficult something like this must be, I regretted that I couldn’t properly comprehend just how much effort it required.

Now… I was simply happy. Before I knew it, I found myself watching the same videos over and over again. While I felt burdened by how to repay this kindness, I couldn’t take my eyes off the fact that their affection for me was still just as stone.

Spark didn’t miss out on the Kim Iwol birthday celebration either. These guys were busy posting selfies they took in pairs with me on BubblePop, sending messages asking fans to celebrate Kim Iwol’s—Iwol hyung’s—birthday.

Choosing 『Connect』 for their concert setlist, and casually mentioning the member who had disappeared without a trace… I really should make them all recite ‘The Correct Stance to Take When a Member Resigns’ a hundred times.

…No. I had learned by now not to judge their hearts as I please. If I had learned that lesson, I shouldn’t make the same mistake myself.

Thanks to them, this year’s birthday was still a bit complicated, but I received more than enough celebrations. It was undeserved treatment for an idol who had run away one day without warning, leaving nothing but a document.

I felt blessed, but then I paused. It reminded me of how I had been in the past, which wasn’t exactly pessimistic but wasn’t very positive either.

Yet the me of today thought of himself as a lucky guy. I wasn’t anxious about how I could live up to the expectations I had received. It wasn’t, ‘I feel bad, so I should stay away’, but…

‘It would have been nice if I could have shown them that I was working even harder.’

…I felt a sense of greed.

I found myself looking back on what my time spent as a member of Spark meant to me. I wondered when the feeling that I was forcing myself to do this had finally begun to fade, and what choice I would have made if nothing had ever gone wrong.

The answer to the former changed every time. I felt a definite sense of belonging when we won the Daesang, so maybe it was then? But then I thought about when I covered myself with a blanket and poured everything out—maybe it was then, when I acted least like myself. I was certain the sense of unity I felt at the concert where my feet wouldn’t move was the catalyst, yet I could never forget the surprise event the fans gave us in return at our first fan meeting.

There were times I thought I kept looking back because of the people searching for Kim Iwol. It felt like my feet were submerged in water up to my ankles, making it impossible to run away.

I was afraid of the unknown world, so I tried to hide in a cave on the shore. I firmly believed that returning to where I originally belonged was my role.

But when I saw that the answer to ‘When was the first time I felt happy in Spark?’ kept moving further and further back in time, I began to think that perhaps, even if noona hadn’t chosen them, we were fated to be in this kind of relationship once we met.

‘And there’s also the fact that we have a suspiciously large number of things in common. Don’t you think?’

When I asked jokingly, the system chimed in.

[SYSTEM] A work instruction from the ‘Superior’ has arrived.

▶ Your predecessor certainly had a sharp eye for hiring people during the interview.

‘Is this really purely a coincidence?’

[SYSTEM] A work instruction from the ‘Superior’ has arrived.

▶ I’ll admit that there were quite a few things that matched up to an almost uncanny degree. But humans also have a tendency to start looking for similarities with someone once they begin to develop affection for that person. It’s possible that Assistant Manager Kim unconsciously looked for connections to form a bond.

‘So you’re saying you didn’t deliberately force a bunch of similar people into the same group?’

[SYSTEM] A work instruction from the ‘Superior’ has arrived.

▶ It’s true that Assistant Manager Kim was exceptionally unlucky. But when you get down to it, aren’t these things fairly common in the world around us? It’s only because Assistant Manager Kim happened to be standing right in the middle of the intersection that it seemed that way. Some kinds of misfortune are actually quite widespread in society.

[SYSTEM] A work instruction from the ‘Superior’ has arrived.

▶ How many people do you think live without any hardships? Everyone lives with some kind of pain. As you got closer, your colleagues’ circumstances entered your sight, and as information about them accumulated, you simply learned things you didn’t know. That alone makes humans feel close to one another easily.

Think about the old Assistant Manager Kim.

The system hit the nail on the head. There was a clear difference in my attitude when Spark was just a subject for proxy stanning versus when they became my teammates. Whenever they did something I couldn’t understand, I tried to figure out why. I wanted to help solve their problems.

[SYSTEM] A work instruction from the ‘Superior’ has arrived.

▶ Whether or not to empathize was ultimately up to Assistant Manager Kim. If you had feigned ignorance, you and the team members would have remained people without much in common even now.

The PD had said something similar during the filming of ‘Exclusive Report.’ That I was the kind of person who deeply understood others, and that loving humanity was my talent.

At the time, I had simply thought that this quality made me a little less unhappy. I thought they were just reframing a weakness in a positive light.

But even this arrogant system had acknowledged that I had played a part in the change in my relationship with Spark. What an incredible thing.

‘You make me feel regret until the very end.’

A hollow laugh escaped me. It wasn’t an expression of self-mockery. It was a laugh of genuine happiness… born from the fact that there were members and fans who naturally waited for an idol who had disappeared without a trace.

‘Is it too thoughtless of me, after worrying everyone to death like this?’

The system refuted immediately.

[SYSTEM] A work instruction from the ‘Superior’ has arrived.

▶ Who could possibly blame someone who, for the first time in his life, tried thinking for his own sake?

Now even the system was taking my side. My heart was at peace even now, alone, so much that It felt like a lie that there had ever been a time when I felt lonely.

The system flickered. It was as if the person sitting across from me had closed and opened their eyes. The system, which was gradually losing the expressions Manager Nam used, felt like a human being for the first time.

[SYSTEM] A work instruction from the ‘Superior’ has arrived.

▶ Remember when I said our contract would expire once the resignation process was completed? I said I’d give final approval once Assistant Manager Kim understood the contractual relationship and the resignation procedure.

Of course. Is it time now?

[SYSTEM] A work instruction from the ‘Superior’ has arrived.

▶ You should understand well enough by now why the contract was formed in the first place. I’m thinking of moving on to the final stage.

The system displayed a long notice.

[SYSTEM] The ‘Retiree Checklist’ for the final completion of the ‘Resignation Procedure’ is notified.

▷ When the achievement of 100% Synchronization Rate is imminent, ‘Subordinate’ shall faithfully fill out the ‘Retiree Checklist.’

▷ ‘Superior’ shall check for any abnormalities once ‘Subordinate’ fills out the ‘Retiree Checklist’ and approve the resignation.

▷ Immediately upon approval of the resignation, ‘Superior’ shall recover the life reused by ‘Subordinate.’

▷ Thereafter, the contractual relationship between ‘Superior’ and ‘Subordinate’ shall be completely extinguished, and any mutual intervention is strictly prohibited.

After reading to the final sentence, the screen changed. A document with a familiar layout welcomed me.

Retiree Checklist

| Item | Signature |

| :— | :— |

| Do you fully understand the contents of the contract? | |

| Do you understand the purpose of this contract? | |

| Have you been notified of all matters necessary for resignation? | |

I wrote my signature in each box as a sign of agreement. There were more items to check below.

| | |

| :— | :— |

| Have you performed all given tasks? | |

| Have you achieved the final KPI? | |

| Have you overcome your trauma? | |

| Have you recovered your emotional stability? | |

I signed without needing any further explanation. The accumulating signatures meant that, ever since I regressed, I hadn’t wasted a single moment.

Back when I hadn’t realized how profoundly Manager Nam had affected my life, I didn’t even know that I had trauma. There were all sorts of ups and downs before I recognized and accepted it. I thought I would never escape the pit of emotion, but in the end, I pulled myself out of the mire.

I couldn’t say that I had become completely fine emotionally. I still missed my noona, and I still missed those guys.

However, the fact that I felt warmth at times remains unchanged. Simply having experienced what it felt like to be at peace was enough. I was glad I had successfully achieved the final KPI.

| | |

| :— | :— |

| Do you have no record of giving up partway through? | |

| Have you never been disciplined for problematic behavior? | |

Looking at everything together, I realized how much I had blamed and frustrated myself over things that ultimately weren’t such big deals. And in the end, I had stubbornly gotten back up and made it to the finish line.

Looking back, it had been a fierce struggle. It might not have been the best path I could have taken, but I had done my best. Even if I were sent back to the past a few more times, it would be hard to get a better result, so I hoped it wouldn’t use some excuse about penalties to make someone else attempt it again.

The repeated motion of signing stopped before the final question.

Do you agree to the contract expiration and resignation?

The final step for resignation.

Only the last signature remained.