| Episode 119. Second Round: Business Meeting
“Everyone ready? We’re starting the recording!”
Lee Cheonghyeon said as he operated the laptop.
Then Jeong Seongbin, seated at the head of the table, opened his mouth.
“Today’s agenda, as shared in advance, is ‘Item Planning for Awangsil’s Second Round.’ Everyone checked the notice, right?”
“Yes.”
For a moment, the writers doubted their ears.
Agenda? Had there ever been an idol who called meeting topics by that term?
For an instant, they almost mistook themselves for being in an item meeting rather than on a set.
Even the PPT displayed before them, with its stark white background and only the necessary points laid out rigidly, felt far too much like an actual business meeting.
“If we’re going to buy props, we need to submit the approval request in advance, so I think we’ll have to fix the item today. Iwol hyung, by when do we need to submit the request?”
“If we mark it as urgent, it’ll probably get approved right away, but it’d be safest to submit it within this week.”
“Can we submit it like we did when we bought the patches for the self-PR stage? If we can just copy and paste the content, I’ll do it.”
Following Jeong Seongbin and Kim Iwol’s smooth discussion of the approval line, Kang Giyeon raised his hand and spoke. Then he scribbled something into a black planner.
Only then did the production team notice the planners each of the members was holding.
The planners, each different in shape and color, all showed signs of use. They had assumed they were props for atmosphere, but to think they were actually being used.
“So the final candidates are challenger and astrophysicist, those two, right?”
“Yes. Both items match the song, so I thought we could choose whichever one is closer to our planning intention.”
Kim Iwol, who had been listening to Choi Jeho and Jeong Seongbin’s conversation, cut in.
“Hold on. Before the planning intention, let’s look at the appeal points first. Seongbin, did you happen to organize the contents when you received the item suggestions?”
“Yes, I’ll put it up for you.”
After Jeong Seongbin fiddled with the mouse a few times, a new screen appeared on the beam projector.
The attached reference photos, which allowed one to understand the concept at a glance, and the simple, clear explanations stood out.
After that, the members began appealing their opinions on the two items.
“The keyword challenger might end up feeling loose if we’re not careful… Since the first round’s theme was ‘dreaming of victory,’ and ‘challenging for victory’ has a similar context.”
“Hyung, what you’re saying makes sense, but wouldn’t a narrative where we set up a clear opponent and the six of us join forces to challenge them have enough distinction?”
“In that case, I think the planning intention should be prioritized above all else. What we want is to joyfully shape a new goal, right?”
After Park Juu and Kang Giyeon exchanged a few words, Jeong Seongbin reminded them of their priorities…
“I get scientist, but if we have to explain it, what kind of scientist are we talking about? There are mad scientists, and then there are research-obsessed nerds.”
“Mm, let’s definitely fix this part before moving on. Depending on the reference, the feel of the arrangement will change completely.”
“Considering the theme we want to show, I think it makes sense to include the feel of a calm, intellectual scholar. I’ll supplement that separately.”
When Choi Jeho and Lee Cheonghyeon pointed out insufficient parts, Kim Iwol proposed alternatives.
There was no blockage in the exchange of opinions. It would have been impossible without being used to conversations like this.
It was surprising enough that everyone was focused on the rapid-fire conversation, but in the middle of it all, Kim Iwol was even checking whether everything was aligning properly.
While Team 2 sat there feeling as if they were eavesdropping on some other department’s meeting, Spark’s meeting had already entered the schedule-checking stage.
“Juu, could you compile the contents of today’s meeting?”
At Kim Iwol’s question, Park Juu opened to a monthly calendar page.
Then he tapped the paper with the tip of his ballpoint pen.
“We’re going without any schedule rearrangement, right…? I’ll leave only the choreography deadline blank and send it. Cheonghyeon, the arrangement has to come out before then. Can you do it?”
“Yeah. I’ll convert the recording file to text later and hand it over to hyung. Iwol hyung, by when can you develop the reference?”
“I’ll do it ASAP. When I share the progress, should I CC the A&R team too?”
“No. Just forward the final version once it’s been confirmed.”
Even the division of roles that ran from Park Juu to Lee Cheonghyeon to Kim Iwol. The way the meeting wrapped up was perfect.
“These kids are good at work…”
Someone from Team 2 muttered. No one refuted it.
* * *
The meeting shoot ended smoothly.
While the production staff were packing up the equipment, I was returning the hidden brand products to their original places when one of the writers spoke to me.
“Iwol, are you doing all right these days?”
“Me?”
“All of Spark. There’s been… a lot of talk lately. Because of the Awangsil matter.”
Though their preliminary research may have been lacking, it seemed they were steadily monitoring things. Considering they had arranged this sudden additional shoot and were keeping a good grasp on viewer reactions.
Of course, there was no way people in broadcasting wouldn’t care about viewer reactions, but this reaction felt more like…
‘She seems to feel guilty about the malicious editing.’
I didn’t particularly care either way. It was true that the editing was more provocative than the original Awangsil, but at least the editing so far was mild compared to other survival programs.
It wasn’t at the level of a self-made drama where they slapped a bleep over random words and set things on fire. There was no way I would have entered a program like this without expecting at least this much.
“We’re all right.”
I smiled brightly.
I almost added that I was grateful for her concern, but I held back. In Korean society, humility may be a virtue, but if you live too much like a yes-man, you quickly become a pushover.
“I just didn’t expect we’d get mentioned this much from the beginning.”
“We didn’t expect it to be this much either. It’s true that there’s been an oddly large amount of talk this time.”
Something I couldn’t simply let pass came out here.
I had also felt that there were a lot of posts unreasonably bashing Spark over trivial points.
Still, I wondered if I was being paranoid, so I’d been trying not to pay too much attention.
But if someone who was more of an expert than me sensed the same thing…
Then it might be difficult to see the nitpicking posts as a natural phenomenon.
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Usually—can I put it this way?—a topic blows up when there’s someone who’s gathered a certain number of both antis and fans, you know? But there isn’t anyone like that on our program yet. So the current reaction is a little unexpected.”
Since we live in an era where one issue can shake an entire program, variety shows these days tend to check everything they can before casting someone. Things like school records, so to speak.
They must have filtered the cast in the first round that way and chosen rookies who didn’t have much of a controversial history, so it seemed she was surprised that things had become noisy so quickly.
“Don’t go around saying I told you this, okay?”
“Yes, don’t worry.”
Was the one who created this situation the system, or a human?
If possible, I hoped the system was the main culprit behind this situation. That way, I might be able to quiet it down with a few absurdly humiliating tasks.
* * *
“Seongbin, what do you think of this design?”
“It’s pretty. Are we all using them?”
“No way. Do you know what the flower meaning of copy-paste styling without individuality is?”
“There’s a flower meaning for that?”
“Of course. It means insincerity. Memorize it.”
I put two antique-looking glasses frames that had passed Jeong Seongbin’s aesthetic eye into the shopping cart. Judging by how they looked, I felt like I ought to call them spectacles.
“Hyung, you selected two. I think you need to cancel one.”
“I need to buy two. I’m going to split one in half and try putting it on like a monocle, and if it doesn’t suit us, we’ll use the intact one.”
“Is that really okay? Last time, you said we didn’t have a budget…”
“My part-time pay came in, so it’s fine.”
When I said I was looking for a part-time job, Manager-nim went and connected me to an office assistant job at UA.
After that, whenever I had time, I helped organize raw data or update the HR system. And two days ago, my much-needed pay came in like blessed rain.
If I had to sell stocks again this time, I had been seriously considering whether I should just dress everyone in rags and send them out. The timing was good.
As I patted my chest in relief, Jeong Seongbin was startled.
“Hyung, you’re using your own money?!”
“Yeah. We saved enough during the self-PR and up until now, but who knows what variables will come up during the final. If we can save, I’d like to save.”
“Still, this isn’t right. Even now, I’ll ask the company…”
“It’s money I got from organizing files at UA anyway. If you look at it broadly, it’s still money that came from the company.”
He said he would ask the company, but Jeong Seongbin himself probably knew too. That it would be hard to get more money out of the company.
Given the nature of this stage, where we would already need a lot of help from the production team, it was better to keep our mouths shut as much as possible in other areas.
“I’ll buy them at the lowest price possible without making them look cheap, so don’t feel so bad. More importantly, what do you think of these suspenders?”
“They’re cute. You said you’d coordinate them with shirts, right?”
“Yeah. You guys all have white shirts, right?”
“Some members might not.”
“No, how can guys who live in society not have a single white shirt?”
What kind of absurd situation was this? Then I had to buy clothes too.
I tore at my hair and searched for men’s shopping malls.
Just as I was about to change the popular sort button to price-low-to-high, Jeong Seongbin grabbed my wrist.
“Hyung, wait a second.”
“Why?”
“I think I can get the clothes.”
Jeong Seongbin spoke solemnly. I almost felt moved by the sight of our dependable leader, but I couldn’t do something as shameless as emptying a high schooler’s wallet.
“Shirts aren’t that expensive. They’re basic items, so if we buy them, anyone can wear…”
“That’s not what I mean. There’s someone at my house who’s crazy about buying clothes. He probably has dozens of shirts like this.”
“Don’t tell me it’s Jeong Seongjun-ssi?”
At the name of his younger brother, who had once made a burst dumpling, Jeong Seongbin let out a dry laugh. It was a laugh with many meanings packed into it.
“He seems to love clothes, so don’t force it. The members all have different builds anyway, so we’ll need to buy a few.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. He’s not picky about fit. He’ll probably have almost anything.”
“Jeong Seongjun-ssi is a fashionista, then.”
“He has tons of clothes he bought and never wore even once… And he wears my clothes a lot too. Not long ago, he even put a hole in one.”
“Ah, those pants with the hole at the ankle? That was Jeong Seongjun-ssi’s work?”
No wonder. A neat kid like Jeong Seongbin had shown up with a ventilation hole opened at his ankle.
“Tomorrow, please start practice without me. I’ll go raid his closet.”
Jeong Seongbin said something terrifying with a bright, innocent smile. It looked like he was determined to avenge the pants.