| Episode 102. 50-Minute Self-Introduction (1)
The Spark I briefly checked in the trending tab looked like this.
≫ As expected
No. 1 idol group with suspiciously good work sense
└ I don’t know about anything else, but Castle Bean and Idal have definitely worked part-time at a café before
≫ 2X05XX DoSalm Spark
If there were part-timers like this at a café, I’d go every dayㅠㅠ
└ A smoothie made by Emperor Jeho himself? I could drink that even in a freezer warehouse
≫ As a current café part-timer, I had so much fun watching DoSalm this week……!
I wondered if they’d ever do a café part-time job episode, and I’m so happy it finally came out
I was surprised because the Spark members worked so well……
I think they’re way better than the newbie at our café…… Boss, please swap out our part-timer
└ Thank you for looking kindly on our kidsㅎㅎ They’re good at work, but they’re also good at their main job! If you don’t mind, please watch their performances tooㅎㅎ
└ They just seemed average;;; Acting surprised is kind of an overreaction
└ Oh, no, they really were good at it! When customers are rushing in like that, it’s not easy for beginners to avoid messing up drinksㅎㅎ
└ It’s a broadcast, so even if there were complaints, they probably cut them all out before airing itㅎ From what I saw, their ratings went up a bit because of the idols, so they edited it like crazy to position them as work geniusesㅎ The production team’s intentions were too obvious, so I didn’t really like it
└ XX do our kids already have forced hate attached to them……? Have our babies grown so much that they look like ratings boosters……?
≫ The other kids were just like, wow, their hands are so competent~
But Iwol and Cheonghyeonㅋㅋㅋㅋ they were practically electronic brains
When I saw them memorizing all the drinks that went out, the PD’s face = my face
└ The kids really do have good memoriesㅋㅋ There was a reason Iwol’s special skill was memorizing subway maps
└ Please look at dishwashing master Giyeon tooㅠㅠㅠ Baby kitten, you shouldn’t touch scary things like blenders…… But the way he was obsessed with water stains was so cute……
Everyone was mentioned, and not a single person was receiving negative evaluations.
It was truly the best possible appeal.
In an idol group where several people promoted together, favoritism was a sensitive issue.
Because one specific person receiving attention meant that the member you liked had fewer opportunities.
In the past, that kind of wariness had been quite severe among Sparklers.
As bad news piled up and the number of times the team appeared in public gradually decreased, there had been a power struggle among fans trying to win even a little of the few opportunities available.
‘It might’ve been less bad if the members had at least shown a lot of affectionate moments with one another, but that wasn’t the case either.’
So until now, I had devoted myself to giving everyone a role.
With as equal a share as possible, equal chances to speak, and so on.
And I had no doubt that it was leading to good results.
“Iwol, it’s nice hearing about the members, but could you talk a little more about yourself?”
Until I heard those words at a fan signing event.
* * *
It wasn’t my first time seeing someone whose bias was Kim Iwol.
I did wonder what on earth they liked about me enough to choose me out of these six, but that aside.
The people whose bias was Kim Iwol had a common trait of their own.
≫ Someone please teach me how to love Spark more than Iwol
Even on his individual lives, he always tells us where the members are
He spends so much time taking pictures of the members that he often doesn’t get any of himself
According to the members, he practices the latest, but Iwol says he has to do at least that much so he won’t cause trouble for them
I love that warm-hearted side of youㅠ
But I hope all the bastards who go “where is Jeho?” every time he does an individual stream die
For some reason, they thought of me as an extremely warm-hearted eldest brother.
These people looked at every single thing I did in an incredibly positive light. To the point where I wondered whether I even deserved such compassionate evaluations.
What I could do for fans who liked Spark or liked the other members was clear.
I just had to keep the group from falling into a pit, or diligently scatter the bits of content the guys hadn’t scattered until now.
But……
‘What am I supposed to do for the people who like Kim Iwol?’
……I couldn’t help thinking that.
Photos? Honestly, I didn’t have the face to shamelessly post idol selfies.
There was no way a cover song by me, when I hadn’t even been learning to sing for long, would sound pleasant either.
Dancing was…… needless to say.
So I had simply thought that showing my face on the official fan café every day and sending chats as often as possible was the best I could do.
“My story?”
“Yeah!”
At my question, the fan in front of me nodded passionately.
“Honestly, I like anything you talk about, you know? But I also want to hear what you like and what you did today, Iwol.”
Even in the middle of our conversation, the fan’s gaze was fixed straight on me.
“Do you mean things like my hobbies or what I’ve been up to lately?”
“Exactly! Ah, but that doesn’t mean the anecdotes about things that happened with the members aren’t fun. You know that, right?”
“Of course. Thank you for being curious about my daily life.”
I smiled as I finished signing.
And as I wrote a short TMI on the sticky note, I thought.
Just what should I use to appeal as myself?
* * *
The reason I had mentioned the members even in my individual live broadcasts until now was simple.
Because the ones who needed to receive attention were them, and Spark’s fans were surely fans for those five.
It wasn’t as if anyone would be curious about me.
But after what happened at the fan signing event, I could no longer do the same kind of broadcast as before. If a fan wanted that, how could I not do it?
‘The problem is whether the boring everyday life of a working man in his thirties would be interesting.’
I felt as if I had sold the people supporting Kim Iwol a product with false and exaggerated advertising. My heart was heavy.
I had no idea what on earth I should talk about.
I did recall how Department Head Nam’s daughter had been curious about Choi Jeho’s every move, but at least back then, the target had been Choi Jeho.
It would be rude even to him to compare me to someone who was the center of a group and ranked high in recognition within the team.
I endlessly replayed the members’ self-produced content I had put on autoplay, pondering ideas.
Then my gaze stopped on Lee Cheonghyeon’s piano cover video of “With List.”
‘Should I play bass?’
Bass was the closest thing I had to a proper hobby. It wasn’t too far removed from Spark’s activities, and above all, I liked it quite a lot.
I hadn’t touched one in over a year after suddenly becoming a trainee, so I would need practice to get a feel for it again, but since I had played for nearly ten years before that, I probably wouldn’t struggle too much.
The only problem was that I didn’t have an instrument. It felt like a waste of money to buy one just to film a single video.
‘Should I look into buying one secondhand?’
It felt like the matter was getting bigger and bigger, and my head hurt. Maybe it would be better to tell the story about not being able to go to college because I failed to pay tuition and be reborn as the airhead character of the century……
“Hyung, what are you watching? What, it’s my video?”
Just as the corners of my eyes were about to grow damp, someone grabbed me by the hair and dragged me back to reality.
It was Lee Cheonghyeon, who had returned to the room.
“Are you monitoring my video? Oh no, I’m so embarrassed.”
“It’s not that. I was thinking about what to film for my individual video, so I watched it for reference.”
After saying that, I closed the laptop.
In my mind, that action more or less signaled the end of the conversation, but Lee Cheonghyeon sat down on Choi Jeho’s bed across from me and asked,
“So? Did you decide on a topic?”
“Huh?”
“You said you were thinking about it. If someone like you, who usually doesn’t even show when he’s worrying, says that much, doesn’t that mean you’re making absolutely no progress?”
His words pierced my lungs. He’d hit the nail so squarely on the head that it felt like a hole had been punched through my solar plexus.
I looked at him, showing no sign of leaving, and said,
“That’s true. I don’t know what I should do by myself to fill ten minutes.”
“You do talk about us more. Ah, what about work stories?”
“I’d like to exclude those too, if possible.”
“Uh…… Then that really is hard. You only work, hyung.”
“Are you pouring oil on a fire right now?”
At my words, Lee Cheonghyeon burst into laughter. I was being serious, but apparently that guy found this situation amusing.
“Come to think of it, hyung, don’t you have any hobbies? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you play around even when you’re resting.”
Why wouldn’t I have hobbies? Since becoming young again, I’d even started reading web novels.
“The only thing worth showing anyone is bass, but I don’t have an instrument, so I think that’ll be hard too. What a headache.”
“Bass? There should be a few practice ones in the band room.”
“What?”
Lee Cheonghyeon pointed toward the company and continued.
“You know, on the second floor of the company building, there are the seniors’ practice rooms and the band room. The band room has all the instruments for a band session! They aren’t as good as the ones used when recording source tracks, though.”
As expected of the prestigious music house UA. They couldn’t do their jobs, but they were overflowing with resources. I was so moved I could cry.
* * *
Just as Lee Cheonghyeon had said, UA had quite a few instruments.
After writing my reservation in the equipment room ledger, I was able to borrow a bass. When I returned to the closet-like practice room and held the instrument, I was overcome by an indescribable feeling.
‘I really played a lot in college.’
It was just that I hadn’t played after my body became younger; in reality, even after I joined Hanpyeong Industries, the number of days I had picked up a bass could be counted on one hand.
I hadn’t forgotten all the fingerings, had I? Even the feeling of touching the strings was so nostalgic that I found myself grinning.
As Lee Cheonghyeon had said, it wasn’t an incredibly good instrument, but the one I had used had also been an ordinary product, so it didn’t feel uncomfortable.
Now that I had the instrument, all that remained was choosing a song.
If what the fan wanted was TMI-like elements of Kim Iwol as a person, then covering a Spark song didn’t seem like a particularly good choice.
In that case, maybe I should play Park Juu’s favorite song like I’d promised before—then I caught myself.
No matter what I thought about, it all ended up going in a direction related to the group. This must be what people meant when they said something had “seeped into” you.
But……
‘If I’ve never made a self-assertion in my entire life, isn’t staying still actually my personality?’
Truly, my head was complicated.