| Episode 112. Kickoff (2)
A short while ago, an Awangsil channel appeared on terrestrial TV.
And there, the fumbling day of SPARK, a brand-new idol group that had only just entered and was still green as grass, would be revealed!
“Oh……”
Lee Cheonghyeon let out a short sound of admiration. I wasn’t sure whether that was a positive sign.
“Mm…… Wouldn’t that alone be too ordinary?”
“That’s why I prepared this.”
Jeong Seongbin showed a similar reaction to Lee Cheonghyeon.
I immediately brought up the next page.
Under the title “How to Bring Tension to a Loose Concept,” there was a photo of an innocent-looking handsome actor in a white T-shirt and jeans, placed side by side with a cool photo of Hellas Polo taken from the official website.
“Sometimes when I see you do this, hyung, it feels like you can see the future. Hyung, how far can you predict?”
“I can see as far as me having a one-on-one meeting with you soon. Stay behind after the meeting.”
Lee Cheonghyeon immediately shut his mouth. Yeah, you hate meetings too, don’t you?
“I’ll explain this image first.”
SPARK’s foundation lies in youth. No one would deny that.
Then what is the reason youth, innocence, pure love, and so on have maintained their position as enduring powerhouses?
“You’ve all heard at least once that the most Korean thing is the most global thing. Then what do you think is the most ‘youthful’ appearance?”
While thinking about the concept for the self-PR stage, I had chewed over the dictionary definition of youth again and again.
Spring, when new sprouts rise blue and fresh.
The young age of life, or its most radiant time.
The source of youth is vitality, dynamism, and……
“An appearance that is extremely pure and beautiful. I think that’s another expression of youth.”
Something beautiful even without flashy adornment. Something that stands out even if you simply toss it into a field.
Something that can appeal attractively to anyone, without likes or dislikes!
“And, as luck would have it, you guys have the perfect material for a youth narrative.”
“What is that?”
“Your faces.”
Skin as flawless as a snowfield no one has stepped on.
Smiles like a bottle of sparkling water gulped down on an icy winter day, even when you’re just breathing.
And physiques reminiscent of steadfast, solid glaciers spread over the cold Arctic sea.
You’re so youthful it goes beyond blue and looks almost vivid azure. Put just one white T-shirt on top of that, and it’ll be an ion drink commercial all by itself.
‘Though there’s also the fact that it’s awkward to ask for a big budget right now, so I decided on this route.’
With the company in turmoil over Yu Hansu and the production team’s attempted embezzlement, it had become difficult to throw a tantrum asking for money for a one-off stage.
Anyway, that man is an obstacle at every single turn. I’ll get rid of him somehow, no matter what.
“So it’s like when an old-timer walks around the map wearing nothing but a sleeveless shirt……”
“I’m not entirely sure what kind of comparison that is, but I think you understood correctly, Seongbin.”
I pointed at the photo of the handsome actor and said,
“Once in the intro, once in the ending. We’ll show off your faces to a shocking degree and imprint what kind of team SPARK is…… That’s my plan.”
Then Kang Giyeon, who was in the corner, raised his hand.
“Even so, all the participants are idols. Will this attack really work?”
“What?”
It was an extremely impudent remark. I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t even let out a hollow laugh.
In the past, even in the contextless, rootless music video produced by Yu Hansu……
≫ Who cares if the MV is kind of shit
Their faces have a narrative
……that was what people had said about SPARK.
And now what? You’re worried whether your face attack will work?
“If I were you, Giyeon, I’d use this chance to raise your appearance stat even more and think of a way to clearly let people know just how much of a treasure your face is.”
It seemed Kang Giyeon had been hanging around with Lee Cheonghyeon, and his aesthetic sense had become strange. I understood, but it was still outrageous, so I decided I’d make only that guy take two packets of vitamins tonight.
“You understand the idol side roughly even if I don’t explain it, right? Wear idol-like outfits and do well on stage as usual. But don’t forget, at the end, you have to finish fresher than anyone else.”
“I get what you’re saying, but what does this have to do with rookie idols? Isn’t it closer to the on-off switch of professional idols?”
Choi Jeho asked a good question at just the right time.
“It can’t be professional. I’ll leave it to you and Giyeon how to appeal with a somewhat bumbling image, but absolutely prioritize the rookie idol concept.”
“You said the cast will have similar years of experience. Wouldn’t it be better to make a stage that anyone can tell was good?”
“The stage itself has to be good as usual, of course. I said it, didn’t I? We’re going to ‘appeal’ with a bumbling image.”
“I don’t really…… understand what meaning that has.”
“It’s fine if you don’t know now.”
No team would gamble from the very first broadcast. They would probably do the concepts they’d been doing so far with familiar songs.
There were two ways for SPARK to stand out among them.
First, we had to do what others weren’t doing.
And second……
“In the end, we’re going to become Awangsil’s identity.”
……we had to seize the narrative.
One that couldn’t be separated from the program.
* * *
Time passed urgently, and the first recording day for Awangsil arrived.
We, who had been locked in UA’s underground practice room eating only salad while practicing, saw sunlight for the first time in a while.
Until now, we had gone to the practice room at dawn and returned home in the middle of the night, so all we’d seen were stars. It honestly felt like Hanpyeong Industry all over again.
Still, perhaps because I had made them sleep well and exercise hard, their faces had a particularly fine glow.
Of course, their complexions had to be good. Without these guys’ faces, today’s stage would all come to nothing.
For the past few days, I had also cut off monitoring and begun working on recovering my complexion.
There was no dramatic effect, but judging by the fact that the staff member used less force patting beneath my eyes, it didn’t seem to have been in vain.
On top of that, the system had shown up for the first time in a while and……
+
[SYSTEM] Work instructions from the “Manager” have arrived.
▶ Assistant Manager Kim, why are you doing things I didn’t even tell you to do? Have you got no work? Should I give you some more?
+
……picked a fight with me, almost ruining everything. I have no idea why this bastard stayed quiet and then popped out in broad daylight to make a fuss.
“Hyung, what do you think the studio atmosphere will be like today?”
Lee Cheonghyeon, sitting beside me, asked while putting his arm on my shoulder.
“Appropriately fake and nice. Once we get there, we’ll probably get some snide looks. And among all the flashy outfits, we’ll be the only pure summer boys.”
“Ah, I shouldn’t have asked!”
That’s what you get for treating a person like a fortune-telling octopus.
And do I even need to predict this? It’s obvious without looking.
Sure enough, from the moment we entered, the gazes directed at us were strange.
It was a kind of attempt to seize the initiative. But since they were doing that with sparkling faces, it wasn’t particularly threatening. If anything, I might feel apologetic that only we had shown up dressed too much like idle loafers.
And when had SPARK ever gone around challenging seniors, or talked behind people’s backs? We had nothing to feel guilty about, so we were confident, that’s what I mean.
We energetically and politely rammed our heads down in greeting to the seniors who had arrived first, then sat down.
Finally, when Parthe appeared while receiving everyone’s attention, all six spots were filled.
In a space this wide, there were roughly fifty men alone. Even if I tried not to think about it, the military kept coming to mind.
I was mentally reminiscing about the barracks from those days when the large electronic display lit up.
On the display, which had shown each group’s name whenever the cast entered, new letters appeared: “MC.”
Right after that, the center of the display split open widely.
“Huh?”
“Wow!”
And then, someone walked out from behind the display toward the center of the stage.
“Nice to meet you, Awangsil participants. I am Hellas Yureu, and I will be serving as Awangsil’s MC!”
He was the leader of Hellas, a boy group under MYTH and MYTH’s greatest output, which had enjoyed tremendous popularity until a few years ago.
The self-management that was an idol’s fate was fully evident in his neat face and his clothes, which showed not a single hint of excess flesh.
‘MYTH’s influence…… is no joke.’
Even as I bent my waist ninety degrees with the members and greeted him, my mind was thinking about how far MYTH had gotten involved with Awangsil.
When all the other programs were being dragged by the hair over manipulation controversies, only Awangsil had been fine, so it probably wasn’t score manipulation.
Before that, I suspect they only intervened up to the line of deciding the cast. After all, there wasn’t a single team here that could go up against Parthe and win in terms of fandom.
“I’m excited to write a new history together with all of you. I believe you’re all looking forward to what kind of stages will unfold from here on as well.”
The hosting continued to flow smoothly after that.
Yureu’s hosting had such skill that it felt awkward to even discuss whether there was a fairness issue in someone from the same agency as a cast member appearing as the MC.
Because of Department Head Nam, I had engaged in some passionate proxy stanning, but my observation target was always SPARK. That was why I hadn’t known the MC of Awangsil, where SPARK hadn’t even appeared.
If I’d known I would end up getting tangled with a certain group this often, I should have read entertainment articles more diligently back then.
Just as I was thinking inwardly that if I went on Mr. Polo’s radio show again, I would probably talk about nothing but Awangsil before leaving,
my eyes met with Mr. Yureu’s, who had been continuing his comments while making eye contact with each of the cast members.
Since he was exchanging eye greetings with everyone, fine, I could understand our eyes meeting.
‘Didn’t he just smile strangely?’
If there were a license for reading expressions, I’d easily get level one. There was no way my eyes had misread a change in expression of that degree.
Before I could even feel puzzled, Mr. Yureu’s gaze moved elsewhere.
It couldn’t be helped. If I’d been marked, then I’d just have to avoid going outside the waiting room for a while.
* * *
The explanation related to the program was briefly introduced by Mr. Yureu.
There was nothing special.
It had merely brought in the concept of the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty to differentiate itself among the overflowing number of survival programs; at this point, Awangsil didn’t have anything like a special idea.
If I had to find something meaningful, it would be the fact that they grandly declared they would block overseas voting in order to hold a true match among K-idols.
Once the program did well, they seemed to regret the lost voting revenue themselves, because in season two they subtly opened the path to overseas voting under the excuse of cultural exchange with envoys.
At least in season one, there had been no such thing.
This was precisely the reason I had dragged SPARK onto Awangsil. Since the production team was excluding intervention from the overseas market, where groups that debuted earlier were usually at an advantage, on their own, it had become the optimal environment for SPARK, the pure youngest group that knew nothing of the world.
Aside from that, there was also talk about giving an eosahwa badge to the group that took first place on each stage.
I did think that if you pinned that to your chest, the look of things would change a little, but I didn’t bother saying it out loud.
Only after that long, long program explanation ended did the curtain rise on the self-PR stage.