Episode 160. A Minor Mistake
Back when I managed content from A to Z myself, unexpected issues rarely cropped up.
I’d weeded out anything with a high chance of member mistakes beforehand and avoided topics similar to content that hadn’t been well-received in the past. Since I’d already made them watch their mouths and corrected their attitudes, it meant there was nothing to be nervous about during the live broadcast itself.
On the other hand, filming content scripted by others felt like riding a rollercoaster in the dark. Since I had no idea what might pop out, my mouth went completely dry.
‘See, this is why I asked to see the outline in advance!’
Indignation boiled up. Are you watching, UA? This is the result of you neglecting your employees while calling it welfare.
Thanks to all of you overprotecting me, I am now uneasy beyond measure.
The silver lining was that the overall content was light. It seemed to be for the fans who must be exhausted from the string of incidents and accidents.
Chattering away about topics like Spark’s picks for the best Awangsil stages, the Pororo cutlery set incident, and showing off handmade slogans for ‘Naegajang’—before we knew it, time had flown by.
“The Sparklers are asking if we’re watching soccer today?”
Gang Giyeon read the chat. The chat window truly was flooded with soccer talk. Idol lives are amazing. I can’t keep up with this flow.
“Of course we have to watch! In that spirit, Seongbin hyung, give us a pass on bedtime just for tonight.”
“Then the rules are useless, Cheonghyeon-ah.”
“So hyung, you’re not watching? It’s the Korea-Japan match.”
“When it’s a national-level issue, it’s an exception.”
And you guys are amazing too. You change topics so naturally.
Compared to the past when they would’ve frozen like stone statues at the slightest remark, this was tremendous progress. Though I don’t know why they suddenly want to watch an old match instead of the current regular match at this particular time.
“What about you hyungs?”
Lee Cheonghyeon turned and asked. The surprising thing was that even Choi Jeho had said okay.
Did these guys like soccer this much? Enough to watch a game together as a group?
I used to catch a few big games myself, but I’d never seen the Spark guys act like this.
‘Well, the Korea-Japan match around this time was incredible.’
Along with the national sentiment that we had to win the Korea-Japan match even if we lost every other game, the sight of our country—which had been treated as a weak underdog—pulling off a dramatic comeback victory had sent endorphins rushing through my exhausted body after work.
Lost in nostalgia, I was dragged back to reality by Lee Cheonghyeon’s prodding.
“Iwol hyung, you’re watching too, right? Let’s have all of Spark gather in the living room today. We’re summoning our souls.”
“I already watched it, though... Sure, let’s do it.”
They wouldn’t let me work anyway, and I wasn’t sleepy since I’d slept so much.
Masterpieces don’t get boring no matter how many times you rewatch them, so watching it once or twice more wouldn’t be dull.
I answered readily, but the reaction was very strange.
“You already watched it?”
Lee Cheonghyeon asked back with a subtle expression.
“Yeah.”
“The Asian Games Korea-Japan match?”
“You aren’t confusing it with another match?”
Even Gang Giyeon joined in, latching onto the tail of my words.
From the corner, I heard Park Juu murmuring in a small voice, “Hyung, your hair...”
A silence like cold water being poured down flowed over us.
‘Was I talking about a different match than these guys?’
At this rate, I was going to ruin the live atmosphere completely, so I hurriedly began checking.
“Aren’t you talking about the 20XX Korea-Japan match?”
“Yes.”
“We won 3:2 and there were articles about it and everything. Didn’t you guys watch it live? Maybe you couldn’t because it aired at dawn.”
I said that much and sneakily checked the chat.
I’d hoped there wouldn’t be anything like ‘awkward silence’ or ‘Kim Iwol, focus,’ but the chat window was heating up with other content.
≫ ?
≫ ?
≫ Iwol-ah, what are you confusing it with lollll
≫ ??
≫ Did they already play the Korea-Japan match without us?
Spark and I stared at each other silently.
In an instant, I snapped to my senses.
“Right now is….”
Words that hadn’t fully formed unconsciously popped out.
Park Juu, who had somehow caught that, whispered in a voice wet with tears.
“It’s 20XX, hyung.”
I’m screwed.
I’d been so focused on keeping the conversation flowing that I’d completely forgotten to keep my mouth shut. Shit, modern humanity really can’t multitask.
Of all times, this was a period when Korean football’s attacking power was being evaluated as weak.
It was a time when no one could easily say, “Of course Korea should win!” so my bold remarks ended up drawing massive aggro.
≫ ????
≫ If it really ends up 3:2 after all this, it’ll be insane
≫ Don’t tell me my idol is a regression-idol???
≫ Human fortune-telling octopus
≫ Ah, our country’s going to win, Iwol said we win
In the chat flying by, the words ‘My idol is a regression-idol?’ appeared as clearly as if written in 44-point font.
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[SYSTEM] ‘Eul’ is being notified of a ‘Confidentiality Violation’.
▷ Any matters that could affect areas outside of Spark’s successful activities, as well as direct information related to future points in time, are all considered classified information requiring security.
▷ ‘Eul’ bears the responsibility of maintaining confidentiality regarding the above matters…….
.
.
.
+
Don’t give me the explanation from before again! I didn’t do it on purpose!
Who the hell remembers exactly what happened in what year while living their life? I even rolled back nine years! It’s only natural to get confused!
In the moment I was worrying about how to clean this up, my eyes met Jeong Seongbin’s, who was sitting at my feet. Jeong Seongbin’s pupils shook.
But the kid stayed calm.
“That’s it, right? The Seodong-yo technique.”
He’d stammered a bit, but Jeong Seongbin did his best to act nonchalant.
“What’s that……?”
“It’s when you talk about something that hasn’t happened yet as if it already happened. They say people often use it hoping that if they keep saying it, it’ll actually come true.”
I nodded desperately, going along with Jeong Seongbin’s words. What a commendable kid. So the nonsense I’d spouted about seeing the future beforehand was paying off here.
“Right. It’s just, I wish our country would win.”
“What the hell, if that’s what it is, say 8:2 or something!”
At that, Lee Cheonghyeon took the lead in spreading wild rumors, saying the Republic of Korea would win 19:1.
Just as the chat was about to wrap up vaguely with the Seodong-yo explanation, the system made a flashy entrance.
+
[SYSTEM] A work order from ‘Manager’ has arrived.
▶ Deputy Kim ruined the whole company outing this time.
+
No way.
You’re not going to make the Republic of Korea lose because of me, are you?
And you still think I can survive as a K-idol on this soil after that?
It felt like I could see the system sneering through the text. My head went blank.
In the end, as a penalty, I ended up watching our country’s miraculous tying goal and comeback victory while gushing nosebleeds profusely after the live.
Thanks to begging Jeong Seongbin—who suggested getting an MRI—to believe “It’s just... a chronic condition,” I was able to avoid going to the hospital again.
That night, the words “Live with your mouth shut” were added fifty times to my diary.
* * *
Following Jeong Seongbin’s appearance on ‘Naegajang,’ the Spark members went off one by one to film their assigned variety programs.
Choi Jeho, who had consistently filmed nothing but mukbang content ever since Awangsil’s Baekjungnori….
‘Wow, Jeho really eats well.’
‘You eat like this and still maintain your weight?’
‘I don’t eat like this normally. My members and personal trainer control my diet.’
…appeared on a restaurant tour program and demolished four servings of shabu-shabu by himself, deftly rolled up kalguksu, and showed off a voracious appetite scraping up the nurungji from the fried rice.
And that still wasn’t enough; the sight of him standing in line with the children in front of the ice cream tub made the panelists burst into laughter.
‘Jeho looks totally charismatic, but the way he acts is just like our eldest son.’
‘Is that so?’
‘Yeah. Be honest. Jeho, you still have room for more, don’t you?’
‘…Yes.’
Perhaps the sight was so endearing that those around him kept ordering more and more for him.
He let loose because no one was nagging him, didn’t he? No wonder he was climbing the stairway to heaven like his life depended on it after returning from filming.
Still, Choi Jeho’s case was at least cute.
Who would’ve expected our quiet, docile cat would go and wreck the whole place?
On a program testing how much endurance humans can display under extreme conditions, Gang Giyeon had to suffer all kinds of hardships.
Eating spicy jjamppong that mukbang YouTubers supposedly tried at least once was child’s play.
What awaited Gang Giyeon was drinking gosam tea to cleanse his palate.
‘Ugh…… No, shouldn’t you give people something edible?’
‘They say it’s good for you. Just bear with it and drink.’
‘Noona can say that because you’re not drinking it!’
While the panelists chattered noisily from all sides, Gang Giyeon merely furrowed his brows slightly and cleanly downed it in one shot, leaving no room for rebuttal.
‘…Can I eat some hangwa, by any chance?’
‘Eat, hurry and eat!’
‘Alright, the gosam tea drinking mission is a success for only Giyeon!’
After that as well, Gang Giyeon endured jump rope on acupressure mats and a steam sauna, succeeding in becoming the King of Endurance for the 21st episode.
They told me not to do anything, so I didn’t even pre-check the program—who knew it would be such an atrocious broadcast. I shouldn’t have sent the maknae for no reason.
“The next schedule is a self-cam shoot, right?”
“Yes. It’s a group schedule for the first time in a while.”
Jeong Seongbin checked his planner. Perhaps because he saw the members every day at the dorms and never got tired of them, Park Juu bloomed into a smile at the words ‘group schedule.’
“Has anyone heard what we’re doing today? No one told me.”
Everyone shook their heads at my question.
“We didn’t hear anything either.”
“You’re not plotting something without me, are you?”
“It’s true. That’s why nothing’s written on our shared calendar either.”
When I checked, just as Lee Cheonghyeon said, the schedule column on the calendar was empty.
“If it’s this mysterious, it’s definitely ‘Do.Sal.’”
“Does anyone know what ‘Do.Sal’ did recently?”
“They did a mountain forager special. I checked.”
At my words, Gang Giyeon vigorously rubbed his face. He seemed quite despairing at the still-formidable difficulty.
Still, there was good news.
“It doesn’t look like it’s our turn for ‘Do.Sal’ this time? Actress Maehui’s spoiler dropped!”
“What a relief…!”
“Then I guess today really is a self-cam shoot. So what’s the item?”
“Whatever it is, as long as it’s not ‘Do.Sal,’ I’m good.”
With grim determination, we each sucked down a red ginseng stick before leaving the dorm.
However, after thirty minutes of travel, the place we arrived at was neither a steep mountain nor a cafe in the bustling district.
“Hello, nice to meet you!”
A woman full of professionalism, greeting us in a high tone with a bright smile.
And behind her, a rainbow-colored sign.
‘Flora Daycare Center.’
That’s right.
Our workplace for today was a daycare overflowing with dreams and hope.