The stage opened on a graceful piano line.
Lee Cheonghyeon moved his hands as if playing an unseen piano.
As the piano sound merged into the original accompaniment, the movements flowed naturally into choreography.
A windy field
A gentle sky
I’m standing there
Waiting for the stars to rise
For this stage, Lee Cheonghyeon didn’t include a single bar of rap. Instead, he joined as a vocalist.
He’s always been decent at singing, but after months of rap practice he had to know it could be a risk—still, he wouldn’t budge.
When I told him there was no need to throw away his strengths for polish, he said:
‘I just don’t want to be afraid of a challenge.’
The faint smile he wore then lingered on his face now.
If his falsetto hadn’t been smooth, I wouldn’t have allowed it. Just this once, I’ll let it slide.
You don’t know
How much time
Flows riding the Milky Way
With a small lift of his glasses, Park Juu handled his part beautifully.
Why is it that the night sky
Shines so dazzlingly bright—
Because darkness
Glows this beautifully
I hooked an arm over his shoulder.
With my other hand I made a telescope, brought it to my eye, and looked up.
So I can’t help
But dive
With a deep heart
Jeong Seongbin gazed into the dark audience with shining eyes.
Glitter sparkling on his cheeks contrasted with low-chroma outfits that felt vintage, heightening the air of mystery.
While we carried the original, the six of us huddled to think, or lifted our heads together to the sky.
And when the second verse ended—
A passage from the third movement of Piano Concerto No. 5, the piece Lee Cheonghyeon chose himself, began to flow.
He owned this part too.
While he stepped back toward the edge of the stage, he lifted a plastic bulb he’d stashed and prepped in advance.
At the flick of a switch—rigged to open with the lightest touch—the bulb burst at his fingertips.
Gold confetti crammed inside scattered over his face...
The LED walls and floor were swallowed by a cosmos.
Between white-bright stars, multicolored rivers of light streamed.
It was the moment the long-sought stars finally appeared before our eyes.
The media art we’d blown a three-stage budget on paid off. I’d seen it in simulation, in approvals, even through rehearsal, but it was breathtaking all over again.
Amid the shower of paper stars, Lee Cheonghyeon beamed.
That expression was exactly what made me decide he had to stand at center.
It was the smile he wore when he finished this arrangement.
If that isn’t rapture, if that isn’t ecstasy, what is?
I don’t know what he realized, but right now, among Spark, he’s the closest to an “ardent scientist who’s discovered an uncharted planet.”
I just hope that joy reaches the audience too.
After that, orchestral sections that weren’t originally connected dovetailed with uncanny precision.
It was the cue for a near-modern-dance ensemble led by Choi Jeho and Kang Giyeon.
‘I don’t know classical well, so I’m cautious.’
‘Mm?’
‘But this piece feels unique.’
That’s what I said when I first heard the track Cheonghyeon picked.
When he asked why, I think I fumbled through it like this:
‘It doesn’t feel like one lead instrument—it feels like they’re trading with each other. Especially the third movement.’
‘Right?’
What I wanted was splendor and flow.
But Cheonghyeon seemed to have something more to say.
‘That’s why I like this piece.’
He stroked the corner of the monitor—like he was handling something truly precious.
‘Because it feels like everyone’s making the song together.’
I don’t know if performing with us now is letting him feel that old sense of unity again.
But I hope he won’t regret it.
I wanted him to make music with genuine joy.
There was no upset.
Spark took first in the second round as well. Parte came in a close second right behind us.
Inside UA... what is there to say. It was a festival.
Even the production team, ground down like a millstone, heard the news and turned it back on us—told us we’d worked hard.
With overall stage quality rising, this vote was fiercer than the last. The gaps between ranks weren’t big.
UA seemed proud that Spark snatched first even in that environment.
This is probably Spark’s last chance to take first on the Annals show. Round 4 has a special format, and the final round will factor in online voting.
We don’t have much of a chance in those two. Especially not in the final, the first and last time online voting comes in.
So it’s fine to let them enjoy it this time. I happily watched my Spark brats get showered with praise from staff.
And then, the system slid in between me and my boys.
▶ Deputy Kim, standing out isn’t everything in society.
But it was strange. One short line, and an outsized dread.
My bad feeling didn’t miss.
.
.
.
▷ If actions are found to diverge excessively from established history, “B” is deemed to have breached the duty of fairness.
▷ Depending on the degree to which “B” altered history, sanctions may be imposed using the environment surrounding “B.”
[SYSTEM] “B” is hereby notified of sanctions for “Internal Policy Violation.”
▷ Content: Reputation score flagged and set to review block
▷ Reason: Appearance and performance on “Idol Annals of the Dynasty”
Alongside dishonorable words like team hazing and workplace power abuse.
Turns out people carry a reputation score, like star ratings for a service planet. Which explains that old notice about my attendance score being high and deserving a good evaluation.
And the system, like a corporation, can “flag” a person’s public reputation and hide the reviews, putting them under moderation.
Up to now I hadn’t done anything to nitpick. So my reputation probably wasn’t bad.
But after that “reputation score review block,” posts about me started skewing negative, like a company page with its good reviews scrubbed.
≫ Am I the only one who notices Kim Iwol drilling them?
└ For #1 lol it’s not like Iwol was pressuring them—they just looked over and fixed it, why rip his hair out for that
└ Then how do you explain #3 lmao
└ Classic mindless shielders: run away when someone makes a solid point
≫ I had a bad feeling even before the “disrespecting seniors” rumor
Maybe because he’s oldest and on producing?
Leader is Jeong Seongbin but he uses his speaking power to steer the team mood
└ Fr if you’ve never been on the receiving end you don’t get how crappy that is
└ He keeps checking Jeho too lol? Been acting extra snippy to Jeho forever, I’ve never liked that
≫ They always say he’s the hyung who nags the most
But honestly, does he even have the chops to nag anyone? ㅠㅠ
Iwol, look at your fancam views...
└ The kids were sending distress signals
└ Are the fancam view gaps really that big?
└ Kinda similar, but Kim Pep is always near the bottom
└ Don’t fancams only do well for dance members or the center?
└ Nah, not really related
└ How is it ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) not related when people watch fancams for dance lol are you thick
The reaction was brutal. Enough fair points that even I found myself half-convinced.
So I was going to bow out quickly, but the system is... not helping me here.
Even so, up to posts like these it was fine. From the day I ended up an idol, I’d braced for not-so-nice things.
But this was only the beginning.
Things went downhill fast that night.
We were sketching out who would compete in the position battle for Round 3, per the Annals team’s instructions, when—rarely—the dorm phone rang.
At four in the morning, the caller was our manager.
— Iwol, have you been online? Public sentiment’s bad... I think you need to check.
I hung up, said I’d look and call back.
SNS was a literal firestorm.
≫ Inside UA his character’s already notorious
Ignores staff and does whatever he wants, people talked a lot about it and now it blew up
The CEO is pushing him hard I hear
└ Word is he clashed with the PDs a lot too
└ If he trained only a year and still debuted, yeah someone’s pushing
≫ Why do you think they booked that member solo variety first, skipping the center and the leader, use your heads
He’s getting special treatment and because your fave is hogging the push the other members are getting sidelined, that’s the fact;; please look at reality
└ Every time I confirm one of these I just cry for the others... there are kids who trained way longer and are more skilled, but politics is making them get treated like leftovers, it hurts so much
└ Exactly ㅠㅠ My baby says they love their members so I can’t say anything, but I wish they’d make sure they got their own share properly ㅠㅠㅠ
From agency chatter close to the truth to an actual solo variety we filmed—once they added meat to the bones, the hypotheses sounded convincing.
It wasn’t like I went on some drinking show alone just to bump my self-PR score.
And if anyone should’ve gone on that, it should’ve been Choi Jeho, for ****’s sake...
I tore at my hair and opened a few more posts.
The bulldozer-style controversy was bad enough, but our manager wouldn’t call at dawn over just that.
After a few more minutes of digging, I ran into the kind of issue I hadn’t even imagined.
≫ Fans hype Kim Iwol as a model student, but
his school life was peak delinquent, which is the joke lol
Exempt from group trips like class outings, got a special study room only top scorers used even though ranks didn’t count—tons of talk about special treatment
Came from money and teachers doted on him
He knew he was hot stuff and had zero social grace, didn’t even talk to classmates
I’d never in my life been hit with a “special privileges” scandal.
