It was past 10 p.m., but most of us still couldn’t get to bed.
Jeong Seongbin and Lee Cheonghyeon were busy checking the song charts in real time, and Kang Giyeon shut himself in the closet room to “mind control” before our first broadcast, attempting meditation.
After only the chronically unflappable Choi Jeho and Park Juu had drifted off to dreamland first,
I opened my laptop at a distance from the two punks pressing their foreheads together, gravely analyzing the charts.
If our inflow rate hadn’t hit rock bottom, there should’ve been a decent pile of reactions to the self-content by now.
And thankfully, the Mitube video had quite a lot of comments.
The first one that caught my eye was pretty memorable.
≫ The thumbnail is truly savage and hilarious.
I could believe it if you told me a bunch of gang uncles hid in the mountains to avoid getting arrested.
└ Why are you being like this to our kids ㅠㅠㅠ
└ But... it was a very reasonable suspicion
└ No. 1 group you wouldn’t believe is mostly minors
Mm, this group’s face value really is a bit much.
Rather than “high face value,” “they all look like they’ve got a temper” might fit better—but either way.
Still, the thumbnail was a bit much too. Even to me it looked like shoulder-broad uncles went to the countryside to help out at some hyung’s homestead.
This is all because of Choi Jeho. If not for that punk, we might’ve managed to pass for at least a fresh youth crowd.
≫ The two eldest are an rj d-level two-headed beast
└ At least you won’t have to worry about refunds anywhere
Or not? Whatever.
Plenty of new posts followed underneath.
What was unusual this time was that a fair number of them were about me.
≫ What do you think of a guy whose forearm veins pop while he’s scrubbing a pot lid
As title says
└ Iwol, if you have vicious veins with such an innocent face, you’re getting sued under Some-Section-of-Some-Law
└ Let’s admit it ㅠ honestly his face isn’t that innocent ㅠ
└ What are you saying?? Our Iwol is a freaking baby kitty himself
└ He’s 0.3 seconds before the kitty hissing, though [laughs]
≫ No patience for nonsense but will permit anything for cuteness: Spark’s Iwol
When another member told him to pull scallions and he brought onions:
“Jeho, have you ever bought scallions at a store? Have you been eating onions with your eyes closed this whole time?”
When a dongsaeng wanted to make rabbit-shaped jeon:
“Do you really have to fry them like that?”—then at Cheonghyeon’s “They say pretty food tastes good!” he immediately agreed.
He looks so cool and then has sky-high aesthetics—it’s honestly ridiculous and funny [laughs]
└ Our kid loves things pretty and cute... He takes 100 photos of the members every time they go to schedule...
≫ I wondered why all the members were wearing arm sleeves,
turns out Iwol made them wear them so oil wouldn’t splatter.
But then he did all the frying himself [laughs]
If you’re doing that, why’d you put arm sleeves on the kids [laughs]
└ For real [laughs] he fortress-defended the kids and then wouldn’t let anyone near the fire
└ Truly, the helicopter hyung of our era...
└ “Helicopter hyung” [laughs] that’s perfect
≫ I heard Iwol got scolded by Seongbin [laughs]
I’m curious what for
└ I kind of can’t imagine it but also can [laughs] you know?
└ Yeah yeah [laughs]
≫ Ah, the kids reading rolling papers is too tantalizing
If UA has any sense, scan them and post the full text
└ Please
└ Please
└ Please
≫ An idol who helps strike the cameras after filming
Spark’s Iwol (21 / oldest / vocal)
He said he wasn’t sleepy yet, but he stayed until staff cleared every piece of gear.
└ Even after they cleared the cameras he didn’t go in right away, so the writer took a phone pic—seriously... I got choked up, the kid’s character showed so well
└ And the part where he said he couldn’t go out alone because if he did the members would all come out to help too ㅠㅠ said the kids are still young and need their sleep ㅠㅠㅠㅠ Spark are actual angels
└ XX ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Iwol, you’re still a baby too ㅠㅠㅠ
The other members might have gentle sides, but I don’t.
I just have a rank-and-file grind wired into my bones.
I’m the type whose eyes won’t close if I lie down to sleep while others are working—how am I supposed to clear up this misunderstanding?
Ah, there were also some pretty unusual reactions.
≫ The eldest-line physique is insane
How can someone still look handsome wearing just a T-shirt and floral pants? Even an idol?
└ The kids are cackling at each other’s getups, but I’m the only one freaking out—their legs are so long the camera keeps panning up forever
└ The fact that they don’t look clownish even in those pants is already nonsense;;
I mean the posts praising looks.
Maybe being surrounded by good-looking punks bumped me up by association, but thankfully there weren’t any cold takes like “one busted mug tanked the average visuals.”
“Do I say thanks for this or not?”
Still, since they kept me from getting dragged, I’ll say thanks. May your shining visuals last forever.
But I did wonder if it was okay to just leave this alone.
Sure, posting is free speech, but it felt iffy—like attention meant for the other five was getting scattered because of me.
Hoping at least that these folks’ bias would be someone other than me, I shut the laptop and herded every member still awake into their rooms.
On first-stage day, we headed back to a music-broadcast studio for the first time in about two months.
Having come a few times, even a broadcast station felt a little familiar now.
Today was a pre-record at dawn. As in 3 a.m.
We’d had morning pre-records during debut promotions, but never this early.
Back when I was an office worker collecting Spark’s commute photos, this part gave me a ton of questions.
“If it’s a dawn pre-record, what time do the station employees and staff even come in?”
“It’s a 4 a.m. pre-record but check-in is at 2? Then where do the audience members go for those two hours?”
“They did two stages that day? Then for fans coming from out of town, do they leave the night before just to see two stages?”
To someone who dragged himself to a 9 a.m. clock-in like a zombie, that level of passion was beyond comprehension.
Now, as the idol in question, the moment a dawn pre-record hit the schedule, I read through multiple fan write-ups about dawn pre-records.
The internet was full of tear-jerking, love-soaked accounts.
Catching the night train and waiting in an unmanned cafe until the pre-record started was basic.
Some took leave just to attend and worked weekend make-up shifts; some booked a room because home was too far.
It’s not a concert—just a couple of stages—and they still carved out that kind of time. “Drive” doesn’t begin to cover it.
“So, I’m thinking we do a reverse-fan-gift this time.”
We hadn’t even gotten our first settlement yet, but I had a few stocks creeping up. Selling a couple would easily cover light snacks.
“For this pre-record?”
“Yeah. A dawn pre-record feels too guilty otherwise...”
“That’s true. Our recording is at 3 a.m., so fans will arrive even earlier.”
As the members gathered one by one to my suggestion, the reverse-fan-gift meeting got pretty serious.
“I feel like handing them out in person is the right thing... is that not possible?”
“I think the company and the fan managers would have to coordinate. I heard there are procedures for on-site prep.”
The meeting mostly went with me proposing and Jeong Seongbin judging feasibility.
The others added ideas.
“If it’s snacks, how about macarons? I’ve seen those a lot!”
“Cheonghyeon, good idea, but those probably need refrigeration? It might become baggage for people who don’t eat them right away.”
“True. Should we switch to sandwiches...”
“I think drinks would be nice. If they’re waiting long, they’ll absolutely need water or something...”
“I do wonder about giving drinks since lots of write-ups mention waiting in cafes. Seongbin, what do you think of Juu’s idea?”
“If they’re bottled it might be fine. Some people can’t have high-caffeine, so we could do one coffee, one juice, and let them choose.”
While the debate heated up, Choi Jeho cut in.
“What price range are you thinking?”
“Still deciding. Why?”
“Then what about self-defense spray?”
“Spray?”
That wasn’t on any item list I’d expected. I don’t think I’ve seen it in reverse-fan-gift examples, either.
But I could fully see why Jeho brought it up. Above all, it matters.
“Fans have to wait outside all night, right? It’s not like many stores are lit at that hour. It’s kind of... yeah.”
“Right. It’s really dangerous.”
“As for money, we can split it.”
Hearing something so admirable from Jeho—moved me.
He went further and even told us the product name he’d once bought for his little sibling.
He wasn’t the only commendable one.
The very next day, after this talk, Jeong Seongbin immediately asked our manager to please get company approval for a reverse-fan-gift.
“With your own money? You guys haven’t even gotten a settlement yet.”
“If we don’t do at least this much, we’ll feel too sorry...!”
Sorry is right.
Who but fans would board a night train just to see our faces for barely over an hour, then wait for hours in places with nowhere decent to sit? If we didn’t at least do this, you’d have to question our humanity.
When we pleaded that fans were sleeping in saunas just to see us and we were mortified, UA kindly agreed to fully cover this reverse-fan-gift.
In return, we wrote handwritten letters with all the money we saved. The stationery was carefully chosen by Kang Giyeon on his way home from school.
Writing the letters didn’t go smoothly.
Because we kept writing from a place of concern, there ended up being more nagging than thanks.
My letter...
【Hello, this is Iwol.
Thank you for coming to see us at such an early hour.
But you know safety is always number one, right?
If anything happens, please make sure to use the spray!
From the waiting area, keep straight to the first intersection and turn right for the nearest police station...】
...was a string of things like that.
“Hyung, are you writing a public [N O V E L I G H T] service announcement?”
So said a horrified Lee Cheonghyeon after reading my letter.
So I silently pointed to Choi Jeho’s letter beside me.
This punk was even worse.
【* How to Use the Spray *
Take the cap off and keep about an arm’s length from the other party before spraying.
If it’s windy, make sure you’re with the wind at your back; be careful of your eyes.
If someone keeps circling nearby or seems to be following you, pretend to be on a call and move to a crowded place...】
“Hyung, are you writing an instruction manual?!”
“It’ll be hard to read the product manual at night. This kind of thing needs to be easy to see.”
In the end, Jeho and I had to rewrite our letters. Still, we decided to print the police-station location and spray instructions large and enclose them with the letters.
After all that prep, recording day arrived.
