| Episode 150. Establishing Preventive Measures Against Recurrence (3)
≫ Collection of Sayings from Professional Idol Kim Iwol
A compilation of Kim Iwol’s professional idol moments, gathered because I was moved by how insanely hard my idol lives his life
※ Rose-colored glasses are extreme, opinions are firm ※
『Cheonghyeon: No way! Am I really that good? Specifically, how good?
Iwol: About 850,000 won per unit area?
Cheonghyeon: Why 850,000 won, of all things?
Iwol: That’s the current price of gold.』
『What’s with the backlighting? Do you want to cast a shadow over the fans’ hearts? Do you take the blessing of natural light lightly?』
『If you ate high-calorie food, you need to run. Are you planning to grease your mouth and smear dirt on your activities?』
『Is that aegyo the best you can do? Just because the Sparklers call you cute, cute, are you getting self-satisfied on your own and thinking this is enough? Since when did we work with such a complacent mindset?』
『Iwol: You’re pretty when seen blurry
Iwol: You too
Jeho: Why me again
Iwol: If you have a conscience, think about whether you’d really look pretty in my eyes
Jeho: You’re doing this because I only uploaded 3 selfies, aren’t you?
Iwol: You can upload up to 4, and the moment you uploaded one less, you were out』
『Giyeon: Wouldn’t Lee Cheonghyeon stand out too much if he dyed his hair too?
Iwol: What are you talking about? Handsome men have to dye their hair for the nation to survive.
Juu: Hyung, where do you even hear things like that……?』
In my eyes, Kim Iwol is the best idol, so I’m not taking rebuttals. If you have something to say, write it in your diaryㅇㅇ
└ 850,000 wonㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Korea’s first idol whose face is listed at market price
└ His way of speaking is fucking hilarious. His vocabulary is as refined as a noble lady’s, but he throws blades with his words
└ The way he talks is venomous as hell, but apparently he actually lives that productive life himself, so I can’t even say anything…… ㅋㅋㅋ I heard he sleeps three or four hours a day
└ An idol who, according to the members, practices the most and does all the work……
≫ Even the haters acknowledge Kim Feb’s fan service
There are plenty of idols who use BubblePop and fan cafés a lot, so putting that aside,
He remembers almost every fan who comes to fansigns and continues the conversation from before
Because he says he wants to look pretty for fans who come to see them on the way to and from work, he always commutes with his hair and makeup already done, even for dawn pre-recordings
For photos the fans like, he crops them all into wallpaper sizes and uploads them again
He watches all the fans’ vlogs and mentions them without fail
There seem to be a lot of anecdotes like this…… where you can feel that he puts care into every single thing
Personally, the funniest one is how he says he can’t be rude to fans by making a heart with only one hand, so he always makes hearts with both hands. Legendary Confucianism
└ He’s built differentㅇㅇ Even if they haven’t done that many fansigns yet, it’s not easy to remember every little detail about fans
└ Huh? Sometimes in their self-made content, he’s getting hair and makeup done in the waiting room. What’s that then?
└ He said he gets the first round done at the shop, and in the waiting room they touch it up to make it feel more like stage makeup
└ What is this two-handed heartㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
≫ They say to row when the tide comes in, but what are you supposed to do when the dam bursts?
└ Calm down and start picking up the content crumbs first
└ My stomach’s about to burst right now
There were countless other similar posts as well. Most of them were posts asking people to recognize how hard Kim Iwol was working.
At dawn, it seemed that both Spark and I had climbed onto the real-time trends side by side.
My face grew hot. It had been a long time since I’d felt this kind of embarrassment.
‘So this is what it feels like to be praised.’
My stomach churned.
It wasn’t a bad feeling. It was just uncomfortable.
I didn’t have the courage to click on every post.
Just seeing the favorable titles was already overwhelming.
My hand twitched. Even when I tried to press back, I hesitated, stopped short. My gaze drifted endlessly over the small phone.
The experience of having one’s efforts acknowledged, something that couldn’t be replaced by any other reward.
It was the first incentive of my life.
* * *
After finishing several hours of monitoring, I wandered around the empty dorm.
Not that I was idling around doing nothing. I did do things, in my own way.
First, so that Lee Cheonghyeon wouldn’t easily get addicted to medication, I left only small amounts of the medicine in the first-aid kit and moved everything else somewhere else.
If I knew what medicine he was going to get addicted to, I would have left only that out. But since I remembered nothing, I had to portion out every single medicine one by one.
There wasn’t anywhere suitable to put them, so for now I hid them in my small suitcase. If need be, I thought I’d have to buy even a small safe.
With the wish that not even a speck of dust would get into the voices of my Spark friends, I also slowly ran the vacuum cleaner.
Once we get paid, I should put an air purifier in the dorm……. No. Wouldn’t the company provide an air purifier? I’ll have to ask later.
While listening again to the album Park Juu had left in my arms, I also played air bass. My hands were itching, so I wanted to play the real one at the company, but I held back because I couldn’t make the manager come and go just for that.
After wandering around the living room like that, I sat down on the sofa…….
“Hyung, why are you sleeping like this out here?”
……I woke up to a familiar voice. Kang Giyeon and Lee Cheonghyeon were standing in front of me.
“I guess I fell asleep while watching TV.”
My last memory was finding a rerun of the final episode of Awangsil while flipping through channels. It seemed I had fallen asleep halfway through.
No wonder from the second performance onward, thousands of idols had been putting on an acrobatic show in front of an audience of three million. So it was all a dream.
“If you’re tired, go in and sleep more. It’s night now anyway.”
Kang Giyeon said as he turned off the TV. At some point, the clock was pointing to nine.
“I’m fine. But you guys came back early?”
Everyone had returned earlier than usual. Seeing as they came in together, it seemed they had agreed among themselves and come back early.
As I pressed my temples to wake myself up, Lee Cheonghyeon came over and sat by my feet.
“It’s an emergency. If you’re not sleepy, hyung, let’s have a strategy meeting.”
“Why. Did something happen?”
“Something huge happened.”
Lee Cheonghyeon was quite solemn.
Choi Jeho, who came in last, said as he took off his shoes.
“Jang Junhu came by.”
A name I hadn’t even been thinking about popped out. Before it even passed through my brain, the question came out first.
“Where?”
“The practice room.”
In that instant, every curse word I knew flashed through my mind. Between the living room and the entrance, Jeong Seongbin was standing with an awkward smile.
Right. Yu Hansu wasn’t the only piece of trash in this company.
I almost sighed, but held it in. Right now, looking after Jeong Seongbin came first.
“Seongbin, are you okay? You must have been shocked.”
“I’m fine. I was surprised, but…… it’s not like sunbae-nim did anything.”
“If he did anything in this situation, that would basically be a protest asking people to come arrest him.”
While I was making that sarcastic remark, my eyes met Lee Cheonghyeon’s. He seemed to be thinking the same thing as me.
“That guy must’ve gotten scared.”
“Looks that way, right?”
Lee Cheonghyeon chimed in with a snort.
A PD he had worked with had harassed an idol and, unable to overcome his inferiority complex, crossed the line.
This had become front-page news, and Jang Junhu himself also had a history of harassing an idol. On top of that, Jang Junhu had done that shit several times longer than Yu Hansu.
The police were coming and going from the company, and the media was noisy every day.
On top of that, Idol K had exposed Yu Hansu’s atrocities from beginning to end, so he was probably worrying about when his own name would come up.
Lee Cheonghyeon shrugged and said,
“He brought drinks and snacks and all sorts of stuff.”
“It’s all petty scheming, obviously.”
Choi Jeho popped open the tab of a canned drink. The refreshing sound of carbonation escaping could be heard.
“So? The important thing is something else.”
I changed my posture and asked.
“What did that guy say?”
At my words, Park Juu let out a sigh and answered.
“……He said he wants to talk with Seongbin a little. Personally.”
“And? Did you tell him we only move in pairs no matter what?”
“Not quite that far yet……!”
“Seongbin, what about you? What do you want to do?”
When I asked, Jeong Seongbin thought it over with an ambiguous expression.
Last time, he had said he didn’t want to make the matter bigger for no reason. In my eyes, this was the perfect chance to receive a proper apology, but for Jeong Seongbin, the apology itself might be uncomfortable.
“Take your time thinking it over. The one in a hurry is that side, not you. Don’t forget that what matters most is that you feel comfortable.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Jeong Seongbin smiled.
And as soon as the next day came, he came to our room.
“Um, hyung.”
“Yeah?”
“I think I’m going to meet sunbae-nim.”
With a face full of firm resolve.
“Will you be okay? You don’t have to force yourself.”
Jeong Seongbin wasn’t the type to say things he didn’t mean, but I was worried first.
He was such a polite guy by nature that he might think he couldn’t refuse a summons from someone older.
As if reading my mind, Jeong Seongbin smiled and answered.
“I thought about it a lot before deciding. You don’t have to worry.”
“If so, that’s a relief, but.”
It’s not very reassuring. If an adult told Jeong Seongbin to drink lye, wouldn’t he be the type to drink it?
I felt like I’d be more at ease if I just went along as his guardian.
Then if Jang Junhu seemed like he was talking nonsense, I could immediately unleash my temper.
As I watched eagerly for a chance to butt in, Jeong Seongbin opened his mouth.
“So, about that, by any chance…….”
Jeong Seongbin swallowed and fidgeted with his fingers.
Yes, hurry up and ask. I’m ready to listen to Jang Junhu’s confessional talk together with you.
“Who among the members do you think I should go with?”
“What?”
Not me? Someone else from the members?
You’re thinking of choosing one from among Choi Jeho, who’ll get into a one-on-one throwdown with Jang Junhu and pointlessly give him a weakness; Park Juu, who talks even less than you; Lee Cheonghyeon, who’s changed a lot lately but still watches adults’ moods first; and Kang Giyeon, whose temper is unusual starting from his face, and taking them along? Are you serious?
Every single candidate is dazzling. Taking these guys to deal with Jang Junhu? I’m absolutely opposed on my end.
“Let’s go together.”
You want to go with a bunch of pure-hearted guys and get thoroughly chewed up again?
Shut up and take me with you!