Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols

Sparklers all knew Spark were a little bit of a strange idol group.

At a glance, all six were more than merely well put together—they were absurdly handsome men.

But look even a little closer and each of them had... well... something out of the ordinary.

Take just their center, Choi Jeho—the face of Spark—as an example.

“How do I fix this mark on the dining table?”

“Didn’t we have table mats? You’re supposed to put one underneath.”

“I did, but it punched through the mat too.”

Because he had the ability to destroy, in one go, the contact paper, the mat, and the table, Choi Jeho was treated like a farmhand every time.

Maybe it’s because whenever it was time to chop firewood, teammates would shout, “Choi Jeho, it’s finally your moment to work!” and he’d go swing the axe by himself.

The cold-eyed, tallest center with a steel-like face had been reduced to: beverage-cap opener, firewood maker, human compactor.

And beside that Choi Jeho, there was another member quietly growing into Farmhand No. 2.

“Kang Giyeon, your technique’s improved a lot.”

“Guess there’s a lot I want to cut.”

“Please tell me that doesn’t mean me?”

Compared to Jeho, who shoved all his stat points into Strength, Kang Giyeon had better balance.

But because he was armed with a mind even cooler than Jeho’s, he was getting rougher and rougher in how he handled the members.

“Ah, look at our Seongbin hyung being all fresh!”

“...Huh?”

“He’s so cute I could die. I’m going to slap that photo on huge.”

Being the same age as Kang Giyeon didn’t mean Lee Cheonghyeon treated him well as a hyung.

There was more affection than from Kang Giyeon, but—borrowing the fandom’s phrasing—Lee Cheonghyeon’s way of showing love was a little twisted. Meaning: not normal.

Right now, he was folding his fiftieth paper heart to stick on a slogan, saying that if it’s for hyung, gold foil paper isn’t too precious.

Once he pasted all those hearts, Jeong Seongbin’s photo would turn into a frilled lizard.

“Juu, what are you going to write?”

“...Should I put ‘I’ll support you to the death’?”

“Mm... let’s soften that wording just a little.”

There was also Park Juu, who could deliver outrageous lines in a gentle face and peaceful voice.

He was easygoing about most things, but he showed a serious obsession in strange places.

From all-white bedding to sneakers that were spotless down to the outsoles, you could sense a particular conviction in Park Juu.

“No. This cheap kind of slogan isn’t what I wanted!”

“What slogan did you want, then?”

“A classic that asserts presence even when the camera captures us in a crowd shot.”

“That’s a thing?”

But the strangest of all was still Iwol.

Seeing him briskly making a placard made me feel relieved, like he’d recovered, but Kim Iwol still looked tormented—over nothing more than the slogan not coming out to his liking.

Spark’s official “seasoned drill instructor,” reliable with anything except dance, had a manic fixation on all things idol.

After agonizing, Kim Iwol finally launched into a major operation: changing the three letters of Jeong Seongbin’s name from neon pink to neon lime. It was a sight to move you to tears.

For rough young men to make support gear together was hardship upon hardship.

At one point, Choi Jeho cut a vowel backwards and turned Jeong Seongbin into “Jang Sangbin,” and Park Juu’s placard... radiated such ominous energy it was scrapped.

Spark’s trial-and-error came through vividly to the viewers too.

≫ Choi Jeho, a certified Strength build

└ The man who smashes everything with a wide-eyed innocent face... you’re the best, I’m thrilled

└ A born farmhand face that no pure white rice on a stone plate can overcome

≫ What are you so eager to chop, our baby Giyeon?

Say the word and noona will bring it

└ Giyeon, don’t you lift a finger—noonas will slice everything for you

└ We won’t let a single drop of blood touch our Giyeon’s hands

└ Romantic

≫ Cheonghyeon’s mania outdoes a hardcore Sparkler

└ It’s not easy to show love for the members more than Lee Cheonghyeon does

≫ Juu is kind of that guy—

A model-student obsessive

└ What is that, some slander like “Cheonghyeon whose looks have withered”?

└ Even if my character image doesn’t match yours, shouldn’t you avoid that kind of comparison? I’ll sue and we’ll fight endless court battles

└ I’m sorry, but your character image really doesn’t match—curious how far you’ll take this, I’ll watch

└ = Meaning they’ll covet each other until death

└ Came thinking it was a fight with popcorn, turns out it’s a wedding

Mentions had definitely spiked since Royal Secretariat. Baek Haewon’s heart brimmed with joy.

Even after sending off a placard so stuffed with love it felt aged like fine food, the handcrafted vlog kept rolling.

Professional idols that they were, Spark didn’t forget to keep the chatter going even while focusing on the task.

With a serious face, Kim Iwol said:

“If you take out a loan with Seongbin’s voice as collateral, you could buy a Han River–view apartment.”

“If it’s on the Han River side, LTV regulations kick in, so you can’t borrow much, right?”

“Not a home-mortgage loan—use a Jeong Seongbin–collateral loan.”

“True.”

Lee Cheonghyeon nodded in agreement.

“What’s LTV?”

Hearing a term for the first time, Baek Haewon headed for the sea of information—SNS.

≫ True < Tr—ue...

└ [laughs]

└ But borrow against that voice? LTV 90% easily doable

≫ At first I thought only Kim Iwol was a lunatic, but Lee Cheonghyeon’s a lunatic too

If you look closely, the one backing hyung up is always Lee Cheonghyeon [laughs]

└ The two of them have matching energy [laughs] If weird talk pops up and there’s tiki-taka, it’s those two

└ The Booze-Behavior Duo

└ Too much [laughs][crying]

└ Our kids are sober, okay [laughs]

Out there, cold-hearted working adults were laughing amongst themselves.

Weren’t they the ones who always said the boys are five years younger and ten heavier, so they leave their brains at home? Baek Haewon felt deeply betrayed.

After bouncing around the green search portal, she learned LTV had to do with home-mortgage loans, but she still felt she hadn’t fully grasped what our boys were talking about.

All she got was the useless conclusion: “To laugh along with Spark, I need to study real estate.”

Not that the video was only nonsense, either.

Even amid the artisan-spirit battle that would make viewers tell them to compromise with reality already, there was something that moved the heart.

“Iwol, got more that needs cutting?”

From a spot far from the camera, where he’d been focused on knife work, Kang Giyeon came into the living room and asked.

When Kim Iwol said not really, Kang Giyeon picked up a bundle of contact paper and headed back to the kitchen table.

“Why are you two working over there? Come make it here.”

“We’re coming.”

Facing away from the living room, Kang Giyeon answered lazily.

Then, he briefly appeared in a corner of the frame, hiding the box cutter Jeho and I had been using behind the trash and slipping into a room.

One camera followed him in.

In the corner of the room, he opened a small storage chest.

Under his sleeve, neatly organized tools appeared.

Blades, drivers, small pliers, and the like.

“Man... why is Kang Giyeon this admirable...”

As for the man in question, Kim Iwol seemed unaware that Giyeon and Jeho were deliberately standing in the kitchen and only ferrying over pre-cut materials. That made it even more touching.

Only after turning the living room into a wreck did Spark’s slogan-making episode end.

“If it’s our Seongbin, I believe he’ll do well. Go show them a leader’s grit!”

“You’ll get results as good as you prepared. Fighting.”

“My friend is standing on such a wonderful stage—I’m proud. Congratulations, and I’ll cheer my heart out...!”

“Don’t be too amazing when I’m not there. I’ll get jealous. You know I love you, right? Our hyung is the best! Go crush it!”

“Don’t be nervous and do great. Leader, fighting!”

The members’ warm, overflowing messages played over the end-credits clip.

For the first time in a while, Baek Haewon spent time returning to her spiritual hometown—the world of near-family.

Even in an inactive period, idols don’t rest.

They did local events, appeared on a few MiTube channels or variety shows—schedules kept coming in their own way. Otherwise, they spent time practicing on their own.

Originally, around now I’d planned to push hard and produce a digital single...

“We’ll back you hard this time! Don’t worry!”

...UA said they’d handle all the preliminary work in-house, so I had nothing to do. These days I just sit in on mid-stage meetings.

Of course, even when one task disappears, work doesn’t vanish. A pile of overdue English worksheets, data backups, and missed physical therapy sessions had stacked up.

I was wrangling the tangled schedule when a memo caught my eye.

Acting class needs rescheduling 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

“Right. There was that too.”

An idol in modern society has to be able to do anything. That “anything” includes acting.

UA didn’t skimp on education. Including acting lessons to improve expressiveness. Because of this, you wouldn’t believe how much I suffered between emotional-expression genius Choi Jeho and sponge-like learner Lee Cheonghyeon.

“Come to think of it, hasn’t no one in Spark actually done actor work?”

An idol’s acting ventures are always a hot potato. Among the few issues Spark—who dragged every kind of issue behind them—hadn’t touched was “a fresh challenge as an actor.”

If we weren’t going to act in earnest, maybe this class could be canceled. It felt like spending extra money and time on something dance instructors could cover well enough.

But this acting class tripped me up in a way I °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° didn’t expect at all.

“A drama audition?”

To someone whose only acting skill was “imitating a drunk male department head,” the CEO and my manager dropped a bomb.

Summarized, their story went like this: