Episode 130. The Third Competition: Event Wrap-Up
The position stage concluded with great success.
Even returning after exchanging warm greetings with the Berryon members had been nice.
But what do you know. When I got back to the waiting room, Park Juwoo wouldn’t meet my eyes for some reason.
“Hyung.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m really disappointed……”
Eventually, Park Juwoo shocked me with an incredible statement.
As expected, had my vocals failed to satisfy Teacher Park Juwoo, the world’s greatest vocalist?
Did he want to switch to a five-member system rather than stay on the same team as a sub-vocal like me……?
“How could you sing a New World song without including me?”
“Huh?”
“You said we’d be in a band together……. I like that song, too……”
I’d forgotten. That punk was a rock junkie.
But it was unfair. This song was just a band song; it didn’t even have that much of a rock style to it.
Still, I didn’t make excuses rashly.
Because Park Juwoo’s expression looked genuinely sad…….
“If only I could convince Jeho-hyung, we could have made a six-member band…….”
“Wait, what about the others?”
“I already talked to them all. Everyone said they’d do it…….”
To think the team’s main vocalist had been running such shady schemes behind the scenes. It was a shock.
More than that, you’d even thought of convincing Choi Jeho. I applaud your guts.
Park Juwoo made an expression like a melted marshmallow, so I had to console him while breaking into a cold sweat.
A guy like Lee Cheonghyeon would loosen up immediately if I said, “Cheonghyeon-ah! Your talent shines as bright as your face!” but this one wouldn’t snap out of it easily, which made it difficult. Ah, my lot in life.
Fortunately, when Parte’s Han Ga-un showed off an incredible high note, Park Juwoo’s attention temporarily shifted elsewhere.
“Ga-un sunbae-nim is really good at singing.”
Jeong Seongbin also exclaimed from beside him.
Until now, having been buried among the Parte members, it hadn’t been obvious, but Han Ga-un was also a full-fledged main vocalist. One carefully selected by a large agency, no less.
How thrilled she must have been to encounter a talent show stage. Like a fish in water, of course.
Perhaps the audience’s thoughts weren’t so different from ours; Han Ga-un’s team took first place in the vocal position competition. Berryon and I took second.
Choi Jeho’s unit placed third among the dance units. The guy himself just seemed happy that this competition was over.
And Lee Cheonghyeon…….
“Thanks for believing in me, My Members!”
……took first place with an overwhelming margin.
You’re doing the heavy lifting in place of your good-for-nothing hyungs. Keep it up.
* * *
To commemorate the end of the third competition, we decided to watch the live broadcast of Ahwangsil this week.
I wanted to tell them to practice instead of wasting time like that, but since it was Lee Cheonghyeon who had snatched first place, I couldn’t ignore it.
It also happened to be the episode where Spark’s second competition stage would air.
So we huddled together, turning on a laptop on a practice room chair.
“……If we’re going to do this, wouldn’t it be better to go to the dorm and watch on TV?”
“We’re going to watch it all and practice anyway.”
“We can just come back. The dorm is close.”
“I’d rather work overtime than walk the commute twice.”
I thoroughly berated Choi Jeho, who knew nothing of the misery of returning to the company after clocking out.
“Ack, there’s only five minutes left!”
“Don’t worry. Even after it starts, there’ll be commercials for about seven minutes.”
I calmly soothed Lee Cheonghyeon and focused on the real-time chat on the burner phone.
Compared to when we monitored Episode 1, new comments were flooding in at an incomparable speed.
“Hyung, we have zero cola and an ion drink; what do you want to drink?”
“Me? Water.”
“Lukewarm water?”
“That’d be nice.”
Shortly after, Gang Giyeon brought lukewarm water just as the broadcast began.
The groups who performed before us alternated between meeting scenes and stages.
The Spark members watching grew subtly more awkward.
“……Hyung.”
Park Juwoo, who had been sipping lukewarm milk in the seat right next to me, called out.
“What?”
“Don’t you think our team is going to come out looking really weird……?”
“It’s not that I ‘don’t think so’—we’re definitely going to come out looking weird, so I’m betting the password to our team’s shared drive on it.”
“Hey, that thing is important; how could you bet it so casually?”
When am I going to complete UA’s mandatory legal training? I should make that punk Choi Jeho take the cybersecurity training lecture with me when it drops.
“For starters, the very fact that we have a shared drive password means our team is already wrong.”
Gang Giyeon muttered from afar. Damn it, you’re added to the cybersecurity training too.
Just as I was about to ask the manager to put Spark on the training completion list, Log, who were fifth in the order, finished their stage.
≫ Please show lots of interest in Log♥
≫ You guys did so wellㅠㅠㅠ
≫ How long has the broadcast been on?
≫ The overall stage quality seems better than the first competition
The chat window was buzzing with excitement.
If it’s this lively, the ratings must be pretty good too. The production staff must be proud.
“We’re the only ones left now, right?”
“Yes. But the timing is awkward, so I think we’ll probably come out after the commercials?”
Jeong Seongbin checked the time and answered.
It would be nice if they cut to a cliffhanger at an interesting point for times like this. Like right before the stage starts, or when an interview with a rival team airs.
Why on earth would they put the commercial before a boring idea meeting? Everyone’s going to change the channel before the ads even end.
I vented my complaints internally as I gulped down the water in my mug.
But as they say, things in this world don’t always flow according to one’s wishes.
『Today’s agenda is “Item Planning for Ahwangsil’s Second Competition,” as shared in advance. Everyone checked the notice, right?』
Behind the very ordinary sight of Jeong Seongbin, impeccably dressed, starting the meeting, a subtitle reading “The Murmuring Writers” appeared, followed by a cut of the writers buzzing in discussion.
≫ ?
≫ Chief?
≫ What’s an agenda?
The chat was also full of question marks. I looked to the side to see Jeong Seongbin pouring an ion drink down his throat with an enlightened expression.
Before I could even grasp the situation, the screen cut to a commercial.
It was a commercial where the MC, Yureu, sat in an expensive-looking single-person chair in a luxurious gray-toned studio, wearing stylish headphones.
『The best way to listen to good music, Hallenca.』
MYTH must have a lot of money. This slot must have been expensive.
“Did Spark start shooting commercials in their third year?”
Choi Jeho and Lee Cheonghyeon had occasionally shot solo commercials, but group commercials came much later. Moreover, half of their three years had been a hiatus before commercial offers even came in.
But since they were working without rest now, it wouldn’t be strange to get an offer at any time.
Did that mean I had to start worrying about commercials now, too? My head hurt.
I was aware that most people would react with, “A rookie idol getting a commercial? You should be grateful if one comes in!”
But that only holds true when the incoming commercials are normal.
“Are female fans going to buy a two-hundred-thousand-won electric shaver that doesn’t even come with a photocard…….”
Putting aside whether it suits Spark, shouldn’t you be promoting products that consumers want to buy while thinking of their idol? This damn company doesn’t have even the minimum consideration for fans.
Look at Yureu. Great ad visuals, selling headphones that are perfect for a singer’s fans to use, airing an audio equipment commercial during a music program. Doesn’t that fit the trifecta perfectly?
If any commercials came in while I was with Spark, I’d reject all the garbage ones, no question. For the first time in a while, a sense of mission surged through me.
While I agonized over the history, present, and future of Spark’s commercials, the ad ended. The screen returned to UA’s meeting room.
After that, all sorts of subtitles came out.
“Idols suspiciously well-versed in meeting culture,” “A heightening atmosphere,” “A fierce battle of wits”—was this an idea meeting or an office drama……?
Explanatory subtitles constantly popped up every time a member spoke. Even so, the chat was a crucible of chaos.
≫ Hey guys, we are the same Koreans, right?
I can’t understand what you’re saying
≫ Is Spark filming a skit by themselves?
≫ Hahahahaha
≫ Why does it feel like they haven’t clocked out even though they clocked out?
≫ I guess I kept a couple’s diary with Park Juwoo
≫ This is a bit;; too much
≫ The team leader’s schedule is too packed
≫ The legendary social-life idol who learns business language when others learn foreign languages
≫ I wanted to see you guys film an office drama, not work in an office with you
Those who laughed endlessly, those who ended up suffering even after clocking out, and those who said the staging was too much divided into a 2:6:2 ratio and reacted fiercely.
Ah, there were occasional comments mentioning me, too.
≫ Guess not just anyone gets into S University
≫ The team atmosphere looks good, haha. Doesn’t look like there’s strict hierarchy
≫ Iwol-ah, it’s not too late even now. Go to college. You can become an elite
≫ A talent stolen by a corporation
Rather than mentioning the human Kim Iwol, the focus was on the “weird kid who got into S University but dropped out to become an idol”…… but either way, all of that would count toward my personal PR score. I’d gladly take it.
But there was something that puzzled me.
“If you don’t have meetings like that, what do you do?”
“What were you doing during the meeting room scenes for the Parte and Log sunbae-nim, hyung?”
“I was watching the chat.”
Lee Cheonghyeon sighed at my answer. “It’s obvious they can’t plan just from their stages; why would you watch that?”
“Alright. I’ll watch the replay later.”
“You probably shouldn’t. I feel like your blood pressure would only rise if you watched that, hyung.”
“Gang Giyeon is right. Hyung, just keep living like this.”
“Have you two completely given up on me?”
Despite my words, Gang Giyeon and Lee Cheonghyeon did not retract their statements.
* * *
Baek Haewon’s SNS was ablaze with bizarre idol viewing reviews.
≫ The subtitles, haha
The production staff didn’t interfere with Spark’s meeting at all, haha
└ Our kids are pro office workers? What is this nonsense?
└ Even if it’s a skit, it’s at a level where you’d say the completion is insane, hahaha
└ They were more “sincere” than anyone else
≫ Since it’s come to this, let’s go for office self-produced content.
Everyone gather under Chief Jeong!!!
└ But it has to be the team next door, not ours
└ Please…… don’t let them come to our department……
Office self-produced content? Our kids in suits!
The mere thought set Baek Haewon’s heart ablaze.
“I believe in you, UA……!”
Pinning a ray of hope on UA, which had never disappointed with its concepts at least so far, Baek Haewon kept their eyes fixed on Spark as they took the stage.