| Episode 153. Checking the Achiever (2)
Ever since I went and rammed headfirst into Jang Junhu, Jeong Seongbin devoted himself to practice like a madman.
A-Wang-Sil ended and school started back up, but if anything, the guy was overflowing with energy.
‘Aren’t you tired?’
‘Not at all. Every day is fun lately!’
His smile shone as if someone had switched on a flashlight.
I asked if there was anything I could do to help, but he turned me down. He said he’d received help from everyone until now, so he wanted to finish this part with his own strength.
Jeong Seongbin looked purely happy as he said it. I thought, so that’s the face of someone doing what they love.
Watching Jeong Seongbin excitedly head into the vocal practice room, Lee Cheonghyeon grumbled.
“I want to go watch the taping of ‘Nae.Ga.Jang’ too.”
“You think just anyone can attend?”
“We’re on the same team! I can’t even watch my own member’s stage?”
Lee Cheonghyeon shouted as if he’d been wronged. Anyone who saw him would think he’d reserved the audience seats in advance.
“If we go, it goes against fairness. Jeong Seongbin would get five free votes.”
“Hyung, were you the kind of person whose arm bends inward that much?”
“Of course. I’m a total hedgehog when it comes to our members.”
While Lee Cheonghyeon and I were having a completely pointless conversation, Park Juu was focused on his laptop screen.
“Juu, what are you doing?”
When I rested my chin on Park Juu’s shoulder and looked down at the screen, I saw a familiar shopping mall.
It was the site where we’d bought the materials for the headbands we’d used during the radio appearance. This time, instead of headbands, the category was filled with fluorescent colored paper.
“Even if we can’t go in person, we can cheer him on together while watching the broadcast…… so I was thinking of making cheering tools.”
“By hand? You’re going to cheer for Seongbin?”
“Yeah……. There’s that saying, front row in the living room.”
Where did you learn such an advanced phrase? It seemed the kids had been monitoring way too much while I was lying around.
As the three of us stared at the monitor, Gang Giyeon also quietly sidled over. Then he examined every item Park Juu had put in the cart.
“I think we have some foam board left. I put it in the storage room on the veranda.”
“Didn’t we use that during the last self-produced content……?”
“We used the white side then, so the black side is clean. We could make two slogans, couldn’t we?”
Now that the company had taken work off our hands and we had time left over, the kids were starting to work voluntarily. It was unbelievable.
“What are you all gathered around doing?”
Just then, Choi Jeho, who had returned from action school, saw us and asked.
“They’re making cheering tools for Seongbin.”
“Ah, that genre-breaking thing?”
Choi Jeho trudged over toward the living room.
Then he silently looked down at the guys debating in front of the laptop over whether to make Jeong Seongbin’s name with fluorescent yellow-green paper or hot pink paper.
After a brief silence, Choi Jeho asked,
“Do you not think these kids are a little strange?”
“They’re passionate.”
“Right…….”
“What are you trying to say?”
While I was grilling Choi Jeho, the guys started pulling out the albums we had at the dorm, saying they should paste Jeong Seongbin’s photo onto the foam board.
Lee Cheonghyeon picked up the 『With List』 album. He probably couldn’t bring himself to touch the debut album.
“Let’s make the big decision and cut up one of these. It’s his first solo stage, so we should do at least this much.”
“The back side is your face, Cheonghyeon……? Are you okay with your face getting cut?”
“For the leader, I can handle it.”
“Sure. I’ll buy you a separate one later.”
“Don’t buy me 『With List』. Buy me the album that comes out then. Let’s contribute to the first-week sales.”
After making Gang Giyeon promise to buy him the new album within the first-week sales count period, Lee Cheonghyeon picked up the scissors.
I only watched the members with pride for a moment before belatedly stopping them in a hurry.
“Everyone, stop right there.”
“Why?”
“For stuff like this, you little brats, you should be thinking of filming it for self-produced content!”
“Right……!”
Park Juu, wearing an expression of sudden enlightenment, began tidying the albums away again. Watching us band together, Choi Jeho shook his head and returned to his room.
* * *
Until the recording day for ‘Nae.Ga.Jang,’ Jeong Seongbin spent his time so busy he barely had a moment to breathe. It was because, with the start of the second semester of his third year, preparation for his college entrance practical exam had overlapped as well.
‘When is your practical?’
‘January next year. Usually schedules get busier toward the end of the year, so I’m thinking of preparing in advance while I still have some leeway.’
So he said. Since Park Juu was helping him in many ways with matters related to the practical exam, the rest of us, including me, decided to just listen carefully to our leader for the time being.
What was truly impressive was that even with his brutal schedule, Jeong Seongbin never lost his bright and positive attitude.
‘Um, hyung. You really don’t have to do this much for me……!’
‘What are you talking about? Your voice is Spark’s pride. Choi Jeho, is the quince tea not ready yet?’
‘I’m coming now.’
Of course, we also treated him like an emperor.
I’m a professional at waiting on people, aren’t I? I served him with utmost devotion.
As a result of our wholehearted care, Jeong Seongbin became polished from head to toe. I couldn’t see them, so I couldn’t say for sure, but his vocal cords were probably glowing too.
When we sent off the carefully honed Jeong Seongbin alone, all of Spark went out to the elevator in front of the dorm to see him off.
To be honest, we even thought about all riding in the car together to the broadcasting station. We failed because our manager couldn’t split his body in two.
‘When you get there, greet everyone properly, and if it’s too dry, make sure to turn on the humidifier. Don’t drink cold things carelessly.’
‘Don’t worry. I’ll do well and come back!’
With a spirited farewell, he went off.
At least when Choi Jeho went to film the music video, we accompanied him. This felt like sending my child to elementary school alone for the first time.
We waited for him while preparing our reactions one by one, considering everything from the case where Jeong Seongbin hit the jackpot to the case where he completely ruined the stage.
And a few hours later.
‘I’m back.’
‘What, the chicken isn’t here yet!’
Jeong Seongbin returned to the dorm one step ahead of the celebratory chicken we had ordered in advance.
It was probably because of security regulations, but Jeong Seongbin showed no special reaction. Even when Lee Cheonghyeon subtly poked him in the side, he only silently ate chicken.
That evening, we decided to take meaning in the fact that the guy hadn’t cried after finishing his first individual schedule. If the public response was really bad, we could just unplug the router for a while.
And so, the original broadcast day of ‘Nae.Ga.Jang,’ with the Spark dorm’s router on the line, approached.
* * *
“Seongbin hyung.”
“Yeah, what is it?”
“We’re going to watch ‘Nae.Ga.Jang’ tonight. Do you want to watch too?”
Lee Cheonghyeon threw the first punch. From a distance, Park Juu swallowed dryly.
More importantly, was that guy out of his mind? He told us to leave the lines to him, and this was how he was going to say it? If Jeong Seongbin said no, was he planning to tell him to wait by the shoe cabinet until ‘Nae.Ga.Jang’ was over?
Unlike me, who was horrified, Jeong Seongbin was calm.
“Sure.”
He even accepted. Fortunately, it seemed he hadn’t suffered a massive voice crack on stage or been struck by humiliation.
Riding the momentum, Lee Cheonghyeon charged into Jeong Seongbin once more.
“Can we wave slogans during your stage?”
“What slogans?”
“Spark’s handmade cheering slogans. We made five.”
“You have something like that?”
Jeong Seongbin looked bewildered.
Since he himself was diligent, and since he always looked at others in a good light, he must have assumed we would naturally be practicing while he was preparing his stage.
But too bad. Sit still and check out the handicrafts soaked in Spark’s blood and sweat.
When Lee Cheonghyeon clapped twice into the air, Park Juu and Gang Giyeon busily headed to the veranda.
When the two of them took the slogans out of the shopping bag they’d hidden, Jeong Seongbin’s face turned red enough to burst.
The key point of this round of slogans was that we had pasted phrases like “Spark’s First-Class Vocalist,” “Jeong Seongbin, Whose Singing Is as Excellent as His Face,” and “UA’s New Talent” in Gungseo font.
The photos of his face, which we had peeled from the album like rub-on stickers using our background-cutting skills from Photo Flat, stood out nicely.
“Seongbin, do you find the members’ sincerity funny?”
“Isn’t he just embarrassed?”
Gang Giyeon grumbled as if talking to himself.
He’d been excitedly making them too. His skill at withdrawing his foot from the situation was top-tier.
Jeong Seongbin generously permitted us to wave slogans with his face pasted on them several times over. Thanks to that, I also got to experience the front row in the living room that I’d only seen written in words.
When the broadcast time arrived, each of us held a slogan and gathered cozily in front of the TV.
We seated the main character, Jeong Seongbin, in the center. Jeong Seongbin didn’t know what to do with himself, but we didn’t care.
“Wow, what’s with the lineup for this episode?”
“This must’ve been a total bloodbath.”
No sooner had all the cast members gathered in the studio than Lee Cheonghyeon and Choi Jeho each threw in a comment. As expected of a famous program, the roster was splendid.
“I was really shocked too. It was all great seniors.”
“No wonder.”
The match-up luck definitely wasn’t good. To start with, there wasn’t a single singer whose name I was hearing for the first time. There were even two performers who had appeared on ‘Nae.Ga.Jang’ before.
Even in such harsh conditions, Jeong Seongbin never lost his smile and showed off his flower-like beauty. The MCs said something every time their eyes met Jeong Seongbin’s.
『I get startled every time I make eye contact with Seongbin. Because Seongbin is just so handsome.』
『Thank you for the compliment……!』
The other cast members all chimed in as well. If there was any consolation, it was that they didn’t seem to be treating him like some “idol who came out trusting only in his face.”
After the performance order of the cast was decided, the stages worthy of their reputation began.
It felt a little odd for me to say this, considering I’d filmed a music survival program myself not long ago, but…….
“It really feels like only true professionals come out here.”
“I know, right.”
They weren’t using any impressive effects or showing off flashy dances. They had literally come out with only their voices, and yet the stage could feel this full.
This was a miscalculation. Our goal had been to show “Jeong Seongbin, who, even among talented people, coolly turns a senior singer’s song into his own,” but who knew everyone would pull out their ultimate moves?
‘I’ll have to be satisfied if he gets evaluated as better than Jang Junhu.’
It was a shame, but considering Jeong Seongbin’s age, that alone would be an amazing achievement. I decided to take it lightly.
And right on cue, Jeong Seongbin was shown in close-up.
『Next is the turn of the singer who will show us a new change in K-pop vocals!』
『Let’s watch the stage of Spark’s Seongbin, who has transformed from a dazzling idol into a lyrical ballad singer!』
With the concise introduction as his accompaniment, Jeong Seongbin walked out to the center of the stage.