Episode 134. Warrior Workshop (3)
The Awangsil Cup Baekjung nori went on for quite a long time.
In the ssireum, which was the main event, Choe Jeho flaunted his thigh muscles and seized the final victory. He sure earned his keep after scarfing down all that meat.
At the campfire, a short segment proceeded with the intent of burning away all past hardships and moving forward anew, but….
“I was so happy to get close with such wonderful juniors! There was friction at times, but going forward, I want us to maintain a good relationship and grow together!”
…Song Minil went and ruined it again.
Friction, my ass. She was the one who came at us out of nowhere. What a sly little bastard.
As if they could read my inner thoughts, the Berion guys glanced over and gauged my mood. I maintained a wholesome smile with all my might.
Other than that, there were minor incidents—someone setting a fire while roasting marshmallows, or someone suddenly bursting into tears and venting about the hardships of the competition. Maybe because they were still kids, the mood softened much faster than I expected.
Watching that, the campfire from my Hanpyeong Industry days suddenly came to mind, when everyone except management had wanted to go home.
What had I been thinking as I watched that pillar of flame?
That I wanted to go home?
Why the hell am I living like this?
I must have been swept up in a very intense longing back then….
It was Bak Juu who broke the loop of my thoughts.
“…Coming together like this. It’s nice.”
“Huh?”
“It really feels like we’re on a trip.”
Bak Juu smiled faintly. It was quite a foreign sight.
A face that rarely showed any change in expression wearing a smile; flames flickering atop an impression that had only ever been cold.
That guy, who hated noise, enjoying an atmosphere of laughter and chatter; that guy, who had always been busy hiding because he was shy with strangers, saying he liked having a crowd gathered….
“Yeah.”
I answered briefly and turned my head. I felt strange.
‘Has the kid changed a bit?’
I don’t want to exert too much influence on Spark. Unless it’s doing the work or preventing an accident, I don’t want to change the members as individuals.
But when things turn out like this, it makes me feel guilty.
“Let’s come again as a group with the UA people next time!”
I Cheonghyeon shouted in an excited voice.
I was about to ask if he was trying to ruin the company’s Job Planet rating, but held back because the cameras were there.
“Where do you want to go?”
“The seaside is the easiest, isn’t it?”
Jeong Seongbin and Choe Jeho, true leaders who didn’t let their member’s words slide, ramped things up.
“That’s right. If we’re all coming, we’d need to rent the two buses we took today, wouldn’t we? I wonder how much it would cost.”
Gang Giyeong added his two cents.
“If we’re going to Incheon, about four hundred thousand won round trip per bus; Gangwon would be about six hundred thousand. But usually they charge by the kilometer, not the region.”
“When did you look that up?”
“Truth is, you wanted to go on a group trip too, didn’t you, hyung?”
As if. If the UA rating drops because of some provincial workshop, it’s all on you guys.
We watched the burning flames and held a heated debate: “UA Employee Unity Workshop—Mountains or Sea?”
Idols scheming a company workshop while wearing mosquito repellent bracelets as a group. I really hope this sight doesn’t make it on air.
* * *
The variety-show-style retreat was brutal.
The Awangsil cast had to carry out a wake-up mission from the crack of dawn, performing cute choreography to a trending aegyo song.
The fierce struggle to learn the moves, the cutesy dancing of idols who couldn’t even open their eyes properly…. I don’t know who’d want to watch, but everyone did their best.
Of course, doing your best doesn’t always lead to results.
I displayed disastrous choreography-learning skills and sank miserably.
‘I need a day to do this.’
‘I Wol, you’re an idol!’
‘Mutants exist in this world, okay!’
Why is the world so cruel to idols? Sadness welled up and I bit my lip, but nothing changed.
“Hyung, you still haven’t passed?”
“I’m skipping breakfast today.”
Gang Giyeong sent me a sympathetic look. Having already gone to the food truck, he extended a helping hand.
“Look here. This hand gesture represents rabbit ears.”
“Ah, they weren’t Maltese ears?”
“That’s not important, but anyway. Then next….”
Gang Giyeong swayed his hips and danced the cute dance effortlessly, from early morning onward.
I fumbled clumsily beside him.
No, seriously, how does a person watch a dance just once and follow it? I went to school for sixteen years, but I never learned that.
“I Wol hyung, are you still doing the mission?”
“Can’t a Black Knight handle this…?”
Jeong Seongbin and Bak Juu, who had also enjoyed their fill of the meal, sympathized with me as well.
A cruel modern society that gathers over forty idols just to work one salaryman to the bone—I shall not forgive it.
In the end, I snuck glances at the five Spark members dancing in front and barely passed by following along in the very back row. As I received my meal, tears flowed in my heart.
While eating the food I’d obtained with great effort, Cha Sehan, who was sitting diagonally across from me, spoke up.
“Hyung, didn’t you get bitten by mosquitoes? There were so many in our room.”
“We slept with the vaporizer on. Want some ointment?”
“You carry that around?”
Of course. As long as I’m with this team, it’s my duty to protect their faces from all kinds of disasters.
And mosquito repellent vaporizers are a summer essential.
There were so many mosquitoes in the Hanpyeong Industry office too; come summer, I kept a personal vaporizer at my desk. Maintenance budget wouldn’t cover them.
I handed the ointment container to Cha Sehan and went back to eating.
Then a small number floating in the corner of my vision caught my eye.
The number that had clearly been 3 until yesterday had changed to 2. Because I’d been dancing from the moment I opened my eyes, I only noticed it now.
‘Is it a countdown?’
I thought about whether there was anything scheduled in two days, but aside from the final Awangsil competition meeting shoot, there was nothing special.
I didn’t think the system would show something like that for such a trivial schedule.
I used the break time after the meal to ask Jeong Seongbin.
“Seongbin, do we have a schedule the day after tomorrow? Aside from the Awangsil shoot.”
“If it’s the day after tomorrow, there’s nothing besides that.”
Then it’s not a schedule. Is a new task coming up? How great of a task are they planning to give me?
‘Hey, at least tell me what it is so I can prepare.’
I complained, but the system didn’t appear. Lazy bastard. Just you dare lecture me about attendance after this.
* * *
Aside from my vision narrowing slightly because of the countdown, the retreat finished smoothly.
On the returning bus, the cameras weren’t rolling, so we could sit wherever we wanted.
Instead, unlike when we departed, everyone got off at the broadcasting station when dispersing. Why did even this feel like a workshop?
On the way back to the dorm, the manager who’d come to pick us up spoke during a stoplight.
“Kids, are you coming to the company later?”
We’d just wrapped a 1-night-2-day shoot, but of course we were going to the company. We had to practice.
When Jeong Seongbin answered yes, the manager said that was good and started driving again.
“Then stop by the office before going to the practice room.”
“The office?”
“Yeah. A lot of fan letters arrived. Since there’s some time until the next competition, I figured it’d be good to read them now.”
Come to think of it, it had been quite a while since we’d brought fan letters back.
I was reminded of when we first received fan letters too. When I went to the post office to mail them, I’d thought, ‘These guys are going to get so many letters….’ But when we actually received them, I was surprised by both the quantity and the sincerity.
As expected, this time there was a box full of letters in front of each person.
Having received nothing but maintenance fee bills and health screening notices in my life, I still hadn’t gotten used to it.
‘It’s just… my heart feels heavy.’
If my first impression upon receiving fan letters was ‘surprise,’ the next feeling was gratitude.
At the same time, I felt sorry. I was only working for extremely materialistic reasons, so I wondered if I was worthy of such pure support.
Moreover, there were more letters than usual this time.
Seeing the ‘cheer up’ stickers and phrases plastered all over the envelopes, it seemed many people had sent them after the personality controversy blew up.
I grabbed a spot in the corner and opened the letters addressed to me.
As always, out came stationery densely packed with affection, not a blank space to be found.
[This is my first time sending a letter to an idol.
I Wol, I don’t know if you’ll read this, but I’m writing a few lines hoping my heart that cheers you on reaches you!
.
.
.]
[I can’t believe this is already my fifth letter, haha.
While stanning Spark, I’m often surprised that I’m someone capable of liking something this deeply.
Spark letter sets with flame drawings sell out the moment I see them; my life is so full of Spark that it’s both agonizing and delightful^^]
[I Wol, it’s your noona.
.
.
.
The world is too harsh for our twenty-one-year-old tuxedo kitty to live in, right? That’s why noona wants to blow up the earth, but it’s not easy….
Still, let’s trust in Sparkler, the human powder keg, and hang in there a little longer. Sparklers are always on your side.
Ignore those mouthy commenters who don’t spend time or money on Spark, and only look at pretty words. Our I Wol is an adult, so you understand what noona’s trying to say, right?
You look like a sea urchin but have a personality like a dust bunny under a wardrobe, and I love you. Wash up warm, cover yourself with a clean blanket, and sleep tight!]
[To. I Wol
I Wol, you’ve been busy filming Awangsil lately, right? Are you eating well?
I lost my will to live after the cafeteria vendor changed. Why did they change the vendor? This company’s only welfare was that the food was delicious.
You’re eating only chicken breast and salad for your diet, but today especially, I want to see you eating something delicious. Then my heart would feel a little happier.
Dieting is good, but eat what you want sometimes too. You’re doing this to survive, aren’t you? I feel thrilled every time I see your jawline, but still, I like it when you’re happy.
Don’t just tell fans to eat balanced meals; you need to eat well too, okay? I love Spark with killer abs to death, but a Spark that gets sick because they can’t take care of their meals is a grave sin. Keep that in mind.]
About half were kind and gentle letters, and about half were filled with firm resolve and affection. It was hard to tear my eyes away from any of them.
It was only after quite some time that I could finish reading and organizing all the fan letters.
The other guys were almost done reading their share too.
When I was stanning at Hanpyeong Industry, I’d assumed they didn’t read fan letters or only read a few, but these guys read every single letter they received, without fail.
When their schedule was too packed, they read letters in the moving car; when even that wasn’t possible, they used their break times.
This wasn’t something I particularly needed to nag them about. They all read the letters well on their own.
So wouldn’t it have been nice to show this side to the fans a lot sooner? What the hell were they doing back then?
Just as I was about to fly into a rage, I Cheonghyeon caught my attention.
“How do you all store your fan letters?”
“For now, I put them in a box under my bed….”
“I’m storing them like Juu too. It’s hard to take them out, so I want to move them somewhere else.”
They probably had nowhere else to put them, but Bak Juu and Jeong Seongbin seemed to be neatly storing theirs under their beds.
“I got a storage box. What about you hyungs?”
“Bottom drawer of the wardrobe.”
“In my suitcase.”
The moment we finished speaking, Choe Jeho and I looked at each other. We both had a look in our eyes saying, ‘You really are something else.’
What’s wrong with a suitcase? It’s the only thing I cherish in this dorm.
“Everything’s fine, but be careful of humidity. Once the rainy season hits, mold can grow on walls or paper.”
At my words, Jeong Seongbin’s and Bak Juu’s faces turned pale. They clearly hadn’t thought that far.
“Or buy a six-tier drawer and store them in your own sections. Just get one that’ll fit in the living room.”
“That’s a good idea. If it’s in the living room, it’s easy to see too!”
I Cheonghyeon excitedly agreed.
Once these kids get a bit bigger, the company will switch their dorm, so I should buy a plastic drawer to make moving easier. I should put a dehumidifier in each section too.
Practice that day was a bit more energized than usual. The smiles never left their faces.
Come to think of it, it’s amazing. These guys loved their fans enough to enjoy practicing again right after returning from a 1-night-2-day shoot, simply from reading a few fan letters—so why on earth did they disband?
It was something I couldn’t understand. Because even I kept looking back every time I received this kind of affection.