182화
- Company Dinner
“Team Leader Ji, give us a toast!”
“Pardon?”
“The toast, the toast! Since our team leader has graced us with his presence at a company dinner for once! Come on, everyone, raise your glasses!”
The team members raised their glasses in unison. The look on Ji Seongin’s face, seated at the head of the table, was unmistakably troubled.
He glanced toward Seon Gu-an, but she showed not the slightest intention of helping her team leader.
“Um… let’s just do it this once.”
“Just this once! Let’s do it!”
The beer glasses clattered chaotically above the table. Ji Seongin pressed the cold beer to his lips with a sour expression. In the boisterous atmosphere, he could barely taste the alcohol.
But there was one thing he could see clearly even amid all that.
“Ah! The beer tastes so sweet today!”
Seon Gu-an’s face.
What a strange woman. She was stubborn and strong-willed, yet whenever she mingled with people, she let down her guard completely.
‘I know very well that Team Leader Ji is an amazing person. But that doesn’t mean he’s the most perfect person, does it?’
At times, she could be so audacious it was almost unbelievable.
“You really convinced the executives? Then are we investing right away? Team Leader, you’re the best!”
At other times, she spared no expression of admiration, as though she had no pride at all.
‘Is that just her personality? Or is it part of social life?’
After pondering those questions, he had ended up attending the company dinner he usually refused out of courtesy. That was today.
He had thought having a superior present might make the atmosphere at least a little more subdued. Somehow, though, Seon Gu-an seemed even more lively.
“Are we really going to keep drinking soju like this? Who wants somaek?”
“Ah, Assistant Manager Seon’s somaek tastes awful, though.”
“What was that? Wait, I’m going to restore my honor today.”
Seon Gu-an rolled up her sleeves and stepped forward. As she opened a beer bottle and giggled, her smile shone brightly under the pub’s yellow lights.
The somaek Seon Gu-an mixed was truly terrible. The team members each had something to say about it—the ratio of soju was too high, there was too much foam in the beer, and so on.
“Somaek is all the same. Isn’t that right, Yeonghwan?”
“I suppose so.”
Do Yeonghwan, meanwhile, was holding a beer glass that gleamed with a tempting golden hue.
Seon Gu-an, who had a supernatural sense for alcohol, pointed at his glass.
“That—is that beer?”
“It’s somaek.”
“I didn’t mix it, did I?”
“…I mixed it.”
“Then could you make me just one glass, too? I need to find out why those people are complaining like they’re on their deathbeds.”
Before Seon Gu-an could even hand him the bottle opener, Do Yeonghwan popped open the beer bottle with a spoon. Then, without measuring anything in particular, he poured one bottle each of soju and beer into the glass.
He lifted the rim of the glass and gave it a few neat swirls with a snap of his wrist. A clean glass of somaek was made. There was no performance involving banging the bottom of the cup with a spoon or dropping a soju glass inside.
“Try it.”
Do Yeonghwan wiped the rim of the glass with a napkin in a thoughtful gesture before handing it over.
It was the first “proper” somaek Seon Gu-an had ever tasted.
“Yeonghwan! If you’re this good at mixing drinks, you should’ve become a bartender!”
“I couldn’t sell only somaek at a bar.”
“It tastes… Wow, this is incredible. It just slides right down my throat.”
“Is it really that good? I’ll borrow Assistant Manager Seon’s glass!”
“Why are you stealing someone else’s precious alcohol?”
What a chaotic team. They played fiercely competitive rock-paper-scissors over a single glass of somaek; the loser drank soju with fish cake soup through tears, while the winner contentedly enjoyed somaek from paradise.
‘Not a place I’ll be coming to twice.’
Even as he thought that, Ji Seongin’s eyes remained fixed on Seon Gu-an.
Seon Gu-an drinking the somaek Do Yeonghwan had mixed with the happiest expression in the world, Seon Gu-an winning three rounds of rock-paper-scissors in a row and demanding the next drink as though it were only natural, without a hint of surprise.
Perhaps because of the alcohol, Ji Seongin’s face seemed to be growing slightly flushed.
***
‘Wow, they really are drinking.’
Apparently, some people put water in the bottles for filming. I guess it depends on the production after all. The team for *In My Office* seemed to be the real-deal type.
It was fortunate that I had started drinking around the middle of the shoot. If I had kept going from the first take to the last, it would have been a disaster.
My common sense—that people shouldn’t drink alcohol while working—had been shattered to pieces ever since *Drunk. Company*, and I was simply confused.
I hadn’t wanted to go home reeking of alcohol. Unfortunately, it looked like I would have to sleep on the sofa tonight.
“Iwol. Iwol.”
I was wondering whether there was any fabric deodorizer in the car when someone called out to me.
It was one of the actors from Ji Seongin’s team.
“Yes, sunbaenim!”
“How do you mix somaek so well?”
“Pardon?”
You mean that ‘memory of the company dinner hastily brought back to life because of Ha Seomyeong’s ad-lib—the Somaek Edition,’ right? Back in my day, I could’ve built a somaek tower with the stuff I mixed.
“Seomyeong said it was really good, so I took a sip too, and it was delicious! What’s the ratio?”
“It was an ad-lib for me too…! I think I just got lucky!”
At times like this, you had to attribute everything to luck. There was nothing good about rumors spreading that an idol had drunk enough to mix tasty somaek purely by instinct.
“That wasn’t in the script, was it?”
“No. I survived thanks to all of you sunbaenims leading me so well.”
“Come on, from what I saw, you handled it pretty smoothly yourself, Iwol.”
It was an unexpected compliment.
Suddenly, I remembered something Jeong Seongbin had said at the meeting a few days ago.
‘There’ll be more and more good people around you, hyung.’
I had lived long enough to receive encouragement from Spark.
I had thought…
I had thought I would hate them horribly for the rest of my life.
“Thank you for saying that. I’ll work hard for the remaining episodes, too!”
“If you work any harder than this, how hard are you planning to work? Anyway, you did a great job today. You must’ve had quite a lot to drink with all those NGs, so ask your manager to buy you some hangover remedy before you go in!”
We have hangover remedies in the refrigerator at the dorm.
The guys bought five of them because I was going on that variety show.
They each bought one, so there were five bottles.
None of us drink at the dorm, so after I opened one out of courtesy on the day we filmed *Drunk. Company*, the other four had remained untouched.
It would be troublesome if those guys were included among the “good people” around me.
I spent a long time loitering outside, waiting for my manager to drive to the filming location.
I was so lost in thought that I couldn’t even hear my manager honking the horn.
***
While I was asleep, I heard something rustling above my head.
The moment I poked my head out from the bed and opened my eyes, I met the gaze of an unfamiliar figure.
“Gasp!”
“Gah!”
We were both startled. The difference was that the other person clapped a hand over their mouth, while I gripped my pillow tightly.
I hadn’t managed to take revenge on Choe Jeho by throwing a pillow at him last time, but this burglar, at least, I would definitely—
“Iwol, it’s me!”
“Oh, PD-nim?”
The identity of the intruder was a PD from UA’s video team. The PD glanced around and whispered before making a “shh” sign at me.
Something flashed through my mind.
“Is today the reality-show filming day?”
I asked in a hushed voice, and the PD silently nodded.
So that was why they had brought in an observation camera. That was why I had told them over and over to unlock my laptop and open the shared calendar!
I had nearly attacked the innocent PD with a pillow. I had almost done something terrible to someone who must already have been exhausted from coming to work at dawn.
As the PD came down after installing a camera in the corner of the ceiling, they said,
“You should sleep a little longer, Iwol. We have to film you waking up anyway.”
“Yes, understood.”
…was what I said, but I was wide awake now. So I decided to pretend to sleep instead.
Today’s self-produced content concept was “showing Spark exactly as they are, in their raw state.” The goal was to show everything, from Spark’s bare faces that had remained hidden until now, to every detailed corner of the dorm, to their entire daily routine.
I used to be unable to understand the urge to watch another person’s every move, but now I could. I had recently read a literary masterpiece.
*I want to fangirl over even Spark’s body fuzz.*
Compared to body fuzz, I could show my daily routine as many times as they wanted. As for body fuzz… well, wouldn’t that be possible once science and technology advanced a little further? Around their sixth anniversary, we might even be able to hold a quiz show at a fan meeting where fans had to identify each member by their body fuzz.
While I was thinking pointless thoughts, I heard the camera installation team discussing where to place everything. I hurriedly opened the bedroom door and went out.
“There’s something I wanted to ask.”
“What is it?”
Even if it was a reality show, the fans would probably be expecting real, honest content.
It felt a little wrong for me to start with, “Yaaawn, what a bright and sunny morning!”
“Would it be possible to change the concept so that I wake the guys up?”
My proposal passed easily. Thanks to that, I was able to grasp the handle of a frying pan and turn on the gas stove with great familiarity—and for the first time in a long while.
That familiar grip, the soft feel of the bread. This was everyday life.
***
‘I wonder what kind of self-produced content will be uploaded this week.’
Baek Haewon spun her pen excitedly in front of her desk.
She was even more excited because UA had recently conducted a survey asking what content people wanted to see from Spark. If Iwol had planned that survey too, eggs—or even ostrich eggs—would have been thrown at the company building, but fortunately, she had heard that wasn’t the case.
‘Whatever it is, I hope they put out something insanely fucking amazing.’
Baek Haewon, who had written “informal speech time” on the survey with desperate sincerity, suddenly sprang to her feet.
It was because of the SNS notification sound.
**spArk_official**
*Want to come visit our dorm?*
*There’s not much to see…*
*And it’s just six men…*
*But I’d still like you to be our first guest!*
**[Spark] 2X10XX Come Visit Our Dorm ep.1**
‘Are they seriously using such an outrageously provocative caption?’
She had felt the number of older Sparkle fans increase after *Awangsil*. Even the major home-masters who had left the fandom and shut down their sites were now sampling Spark one by one.
Baek Haewon believed that every fandom needed a certain degree of order, so she was quite pleased to see these seasoned fans entering the fandom.
Just look at this! She had only been thinking about the youngest members speaking informally to their older brothers, but the noona fans were throwing open the doors to the dorm!
‘Shall I go fangirl like my life depends on it…?’
Baek Haewon rose without hesitation from the cold chair she had only just sat down in.
Then she settled into the most comfortable position on her soft bed, turned on her fully charged tablet, and logged into MeTube.
Iwol in a black short-sleeved shirt and sweatpants, Jeho shaking out a jacket with an exaggerated grimace, Seongbin stretching, Ju-u mopping the floor, Cheonghyeon’s back as he tapped away at a laptop, and Giyeon watering a potted plant were all packed neatly into the thumbnail.
They were all dead. She was going to take screenshots like a madwoman before the day was over.
Baek Haewon smiled slyly.