Compared to Choi Jeho wrestling with Allover, practice life at Greenline was heaven.
No one gave me side-eye for being from another company. Thanks to that, I could focus solely on practice.
Still, just taking without giving didn’t sit right with me, so I kept the bare minimum of courtesy where I could.
First: because the company was kindly looking after me too, I would show sincere gratitude.
Second: since Verion respected my minority opinions, I would treat Verion as teammates.
While I was in Greenline’s care, I’d stick to those two rules. That was my resolve.
And honestly, keeping those two pledges wasn’t hard at all.
People should be grateful for what they receive, and they naturally want to maintain good relationships.
‘What’s this? A heat pack?’
‘Yeah. I bought it to use at the dorm, but was it Hee-rang? Their knee didn’t look great. This one’s unopened, so take it if you need it. Our youngest swears this brand is the best.’
So if I had extras, I shared them...
‘I pulled a few songs I thought would suit you—want them?’
‘Songs that would suit us?’
‘I shortlisted them while picking our competition track, but in the end they didn’t match our color. They’ll fit great as solos instead.’
The tracks that got cut during selection, I bundled up and passed along. Honestly, I stumbled across them while working, so even calling it “giving” feels iffy.
Oh, and when I heard they didn’t have a first-aid kit at the dorm, I bought one.
I never want to see a house full of kids with not a single basic medicine again.
Since Verion has foreign members, I slapped big labels in English—HEADACHE, STOMACHACHE, COUGH, CHILLS—on the boxes.
Anyway, that was about the extent of it.
"Are you going straight to sleep when you get back to the dorm? If you’ve got time, come say hi to Hee-rang. They really wanted to greet you."
"Just stay for breakfast before you go. There’s a seriously good soup place in this neighborhood. Boss Moon, bean-sprout soup is healthy, right?"
"Yeah, stay for breakfast. While we wait for delivery, could you show us how you pick songs?"
With the third round right around the corner, these punks weren’t satisfied with getting close to me—they looked ready to introduce me to every last one of their members.
They pulled an all-nighter and they’re not tired? What stamina.
And what—breakfast?
Soup is tempting, but I’m not shameless enough to eat breakfast at another company’s expense.
And when practice ends, I have to head straight back to the dorm. Spark’s brats are waiting for me.
"I can show you my selection method, but I’m not staying for food. It’s not proper for an outsider to linger at the company. I’m sure I’ll have another chance to greet Hee-rang."
I declined nicely and packed fast. All three drooped at once.
At this point, maybe Greenline should’ve assigned an older member to Verion. The kids look like they need a helping hand.
With a sigh, I pulled three powder sticks from the front pocket of my bag—unsweetened pear-balloonflower tea I sometimes make for the Spark boys.
I handed the sticks to Moon Yeongyu and said,
"Make a cup of this when you get to the dorm and go straight to bed. The competition’s soon—hang in there a little longer."
Moon Yeongyu looked moved.
Please don’t be, Mr. Moon.
It’s only because our team’s center warned me he’s going to blow up the stage—in the bad sense—that I feel I’ve got to do my part well...
After no small number of twists and turns, the day of the third competition dawned.
Some rested, some did whatever they wanted, and the result was that Spark—everyone but me—looked flawless. As usual, I was the exception.
"Hyung, are the Verion seniors overworking just you by any chance?"
My dark circles were so heavy that even Jeong Seongbin asked in all seriousness. Thanks to that, I got chewed out the moment I set foot over the salon threshold.
For once, I was half free from outfit-concept planning.
Choi Jeho and Lee Cheonghyeon would wear their unit-matched costumes, and I’d wear what I coordinated with Verion.
With less on my plate, today I poured my attention into the outfits for Jeong Seongbin, Park Juu, and Kang Giyeon.
We went with refined scholar robes that fit Royal Secretariat’s concept and photographed beautifully.
In short: for Park Juu, to highlight the “carefree puppy” keyword, I dressed him in a pale sky-blue set that evoked a white dog. For maximum cuteness, I even bought a stamp with little paw prints and worked it along the sleeves and the coat hem.
For Jeong Seongbin, I considered a royal dragon robe since he’s our team lead, but that would scream favoritism and we’d end up doing another clarification broadcast—so I swapped it for a soft pink set.
And while I was at it, I tried adding a pink blush to project a warmer, “gentle leading man” vibe by Spark’s standards, but...
‘Tsk...’
‘Why does he look like a sheltered young lord who just tried sweet rice wine for the first time and got tipsy?’
...so we reverted to a fresh, tidy scholar. My bad for trying to push their tender side.
Lastly, I put Kang Giyeon in a light-yellow set.
Given his image, purple would suit him, and he’s worn a lot of dark tones so far, but...
Considering the demand for his “youngest” moments, I went with a special "bonus episode: Giyeon in the Chick Class" concept this time. Don’t tell him.
"Do we need the tall black hat too?"
"Why would you wear that! It’ll cast shadows on your face!"
We’ll put him in that shadow-fixing hat for the seasonal greeting shoot. Absolutely not for an indoor Royal Secretariat taping.
Dressed in pastels and lined up neatly on the sofa, they looked like pretty rainbow layer cakes. On their chests, I didn’t forget to pin the Eosa-flower badges from the last competition.
≫ A holiday behind-the-scenes without traditional outfits?
Life is rough
└ If we hold out, they’ll wear them one day
There were so many outfits the Sparklers once yearned to see.
I’ll dress you up as much as I can until I bow out on my own. Keep it up till you’ve worn them all, Spark brats.
While the three non-participants finished their cute spectator looks, the three performers were truly three different flavors.
I wore an explorer-style outfit to match the main story of the animation our protagonists were adventuring through.
I’ve tied a necktie plenty, but tying a scarf felt so foreign. I asked if it looked too much like a Boy Scout, and—as always—the stylist only praised me, saying it looked great.
Of all times, I also had the opening segment, so I had to prep props.
Back in Spark, Jeong Seongbin usually handled things like this. No wonder fans went wild for "opening-scene fairies."
Lee Cheonghyeon was a black attack hound, plain and simple.
Whatever stage he’d planned with Log, head to toe he was in black—on top of that, a black harness and even a leg holster. He piled it on.
He even wore red color contacts today. Someone needs to book this punk for a lens ad.
"Are you guys going for an assassin concept?"
"If this much shocks you, that’s a problem."
Then he shook what he was holding.
"Is that... a muzzle?"
A leather-strap muzzle big enough for a large dog dangled from his hand.
"You little punk, how many times have I begged you not to cover your face—"
"I know! I’ll take it off after the first verse!"
"If you take it off, tilt it up, don’t yank it down. Don’t mess up your nose."
Anyway, there goes his “refreshing” vibe. Bet he would’ve said yes to a cyber-warrior concept too.
As shocking as Lee Cheonghyeon was, Choi Jeho was even more of a bomb.
The slick, flashy waxed hair alone projected enough menace; on top of that, he wore a sheer top under a massive deep-blue cropped jacket, showing off rock-solid muscle. Is it okay to flash something that provocative at teenagers?
"Your hair color looks different too. You had time to dye it?"
"Spray."
Under the fluorescent lights, his hair glowed a subtle violet with a hint of blue.
On a dark stage, it’ll only pop when he hits the highlight. Not a bad choice.
Looking at those two, I felt like I was the only peaceful hero of a cozy exploration game. Rap and dance are terrifying, huh.
In case Royal Secretariat didn’t give us much reaction screen time, we chattered as a group about which unit we were most excited for.
About thirty minutes of chatter later, the curtain rose on Round 3.
The first position battle started with the rap category.
Sticky and Verion’s pairing was pretty good.
Both groups seemed to decide to lean into their strength—bright and cheerful—choosing a singing-rap about a guy freshly in love.
The tempo was slow, but the back-and-forth played well, and the concept was simple, so it was easy to enjoy.
The live reaction was good too. Because they picked something even more pop-friendly than standard hip-hop, plenty of people were singing along despite the rap lyrics.
‘Verion may be hit-or-miss, but their planning is solid.’
Just as Spark sticks stubbornly to a youth concept, Sticky’s unwavering commitment to a lovely crush-boy image stood out.
Then Parte and Allover came out... and they were strong.
In Gothic-style outfits with deliberately heavy makeup, they made a striking visual impression from the jump.
Not only that. You could see the chemistry between members who’d known each other since trainee days, and it showed on stage.
Choosing emo rap to blend Parte’s mythic image with Allover’s dark, aggressive vibe was a good call too.
The earlier stage would be considered solid by Royal Secretariat standards so far, but the next one was far more striking both visually and sonically.
What can you do—blame the matchup luck.
If they’d done that stage back in Round 2, either Sticky or Verion would’ve scored better than they did then.
Parte wasn’t going to keep flopping forever.
Sure enough, after taking second last time, you could see they’d cranked up the grit again.
Excellent. That’s what makes the show fun to watch. If the program does well, Spark gets more famous too.
I was happily watching when a thought jolted me—our team’s youngest, now surely waiting backstage.
‘Lee Cheonghyeon... will he be able to pull it off?’
