| Episode 36. Internship Practicum (2)
I lightly lifted the bag I was carrying and showed it to Choi Jeho.
“I got to look around the filming site, so I thought I’d show my appreciation while I was at it. Are you done filming?”
“Yeah. They said they’d wait for a bit and shoot the sunset shots around sundown.”
They’d said it took two sleepless nights just to shoot one music video. They really did use up an entire day.
“Okay. Then I’ll go move the bags.”
“Who told you to move those?”
“I volunteered. If I don’t work while other people are working, I get thorns growing in my heart.”
I was about to send Choi Jeho, who had worked hard acting, off with the manager and continue moving the luggage when Choi Jeho followed me.
“Do you really have to go that far?”
Choi Jeho asked. I was afraid someone might hear even a single question from him.
“Depending on who hears it, that could be misunderstood, so you should be careful with that phrasing. Besides, I’m helping because I learned something for free. Even if it isn’t a huge help.”
“Learned something?”
“Things like the atmosphere on set. You should watch carefully too. That way, when we shoot our own music video, we can bring Giyeon along and run a simulation.”
“……”
“How many opportunities do you get to watch experienced professionals work from right beside them? Experience is something you can’t learn even with money.”
I was making a fuss over trying to pick up a few tips at someone else’s workplace. Compared to that, carrying luggage was nothing.
In this harsh world where it was difficult even to receive a proper handover at my own job, this kind of special treatment was a luxury.
Even now, if someone told me to, I was confident I could run to the convenience store and buy drinks for everyone.
After hearing me out, Choi Jeho walked quietly behind me as if he were thinking about something.
Then he suddenly turned around, went over to the staff members gathered a few steps away, explained something to them earnestly, and came back carrying a bag.
“What are you doing?”
“I asked if there was anything else to move, and they gave me this.”
“Oh. Are you sacrificing your precious break time for me?”
“I don’t want a character controversy breaking out because I was resting alone while a member was working.”
That kid had a talent for twisting “I’ll help” into a piece of rope and braiding it into something else. Still, I decided to let it slide since it was admirable that he had actually thought about it.
Perhaps the sight of two fresh-faced kids stepping up to do something had seemed endearing. Toward the end, after getting permission on the condition that nothing would ever be leaked outside, we were even able to take a few pictures of the set with the manager’s phone.
The unexpected windfall made me hum to myself. I’d organize all of it into references and put Kang Giyeon through mock training.
“I’d heard that you were interested in planning, Iwol, but I didn’t know you were interested in directing too.”
The manager spoke to me as I diligently scrolled through the pictures in the car on the way back.
“I thought there might be something I could tell the guys. I’m glad I came. Thank you for bringing me.”
“It’s good to make an impression in advance. And I think you should tell the guys about it as soon as we get to the dorm today.”
“Pardon?”
“They kept messaging me all afternoon. I guess they were awfully curious about your shoot.”
The manager said that while laughing, adding that the members seemed to get along well with one another.
‘Though I think it might have been concern more than curiosity.’
The fact that they had kept contacting the manager all afternoon meant they had taken a laptop with PC Talk installed to the practice room.
I should have contacted them in advance to tell them Jang Junhu wasn’t coming. Those guys already needed every minute they could get for practice, and I felt a little guilty for making them worry unnecessarily.
After hearing the unexpectedly heartwarming news, I resolved to give them a vivid account of their colleague’s first shoot once I returned to the practice room.
At the time, I did not know.
I had no idea that I would end up planning our own content after having music-video production forcibly crammed into my head as if it were another class.
* * *
Everything began with a single line of work.
+
[SYSTEM] ‘New Task’ has been assigned.
▷ Content: Establish dormitory rules
▷ Reward: Experience points (5)
+
What a nuisance. We’d lived together for several months without rules and hadn’t had any particular problems.
Even I, who found Spark so uncomfortable that it was driving me to my grave, hadn’t experienced any major inconvenience in dorm life itself.
That was because none of the guys raised their voices in the dorm, despite being at the age when adolescence was in full swing.
At most, there were a few of them who occasionally failed to fold their laundry on time.
Even that had never caused a particular problem, since I folded it when I folded my own laundry.
Just now, for example, I was folding the thirteenth communal towel that had been sitting on the drying rack for three days.
‘Still, I can’t ignore experience points that are being offered to me.’
I accept anything other people give me, except work.
Perhaps because I had lived my entire life by that principle, it was difficult to pretend not to see the clearly visible system.
So I was just wondering how to bring it up when……
“Hyung, what do you think about us all talking about dorm life together?”
Jeong Seongbin opened the subject as if by fate. As expected, he really was the perfect leader.
I was so delighted by the experience points that had rolled right into my lap that I almost accepted on the spot…… but then—
≫ How did you idiots with zero sense of UA not film those faces for videos?
Everyone else promotes their trainees by putting them on survival shows and releasing their own content before debut, but we’re fucking debuting by surprise. We kept everything so secret that nobody knows anything.
└ Guess they thought everything would turn into wild ginseng if they left it sitting around and took it out later.
The community’s reactions came back to me automatically.
I must have been too devoted to being a proxy fan, because information about Spark seemed to have been engraved into my bones.
“That sounds like a good idea. But could you give me two weeks?”
“Two weeks? It isn’t urgent, so I suppose that’s fine, but……”
Content of their own that would establish each member’s image was definitely necessary.
Besides, the more content there was to talk about, the better.
Especially at debut, when fans had very little content to enjoy, it was best to prepare as much as possible.
That didn’t mean I could handle everything from filming to editing myself.
I could do it if I had to, but if I did it alone, the sustainability would drop dramatically.
In the end, that meant we needed the company’s help.
With all the planning staff already occupied with preparing the album, it was hard to expect someone to suddenly shout, “Ah! Let’s shoot some content for our boys too!”
Then all that remained was to beg. I had a talent for pleading earnestly.
I immediately thought of the three-part planning proposal the system had handed me.
‘If I change the structure a little, I should be able to use it as a content proposal.’
I turned on the communal laptop, determined to burn the night away.
With inspiration surging through me, I felt as if I had returned to my days as an assistant manager at Hanpyeong Industries, when frequent overtime had driven my brain slightly off-kilter.
* * *
“This is a proposal for our own content?”
“Yes. Even if it doesn’t end up being produced, I’d really appreciate any feedback you could give me on its shortcomings.”
I handed the proposal I had spent the night writing to the person in charge of the planning team, whom I had met at the recent presentation, and bent at the waist ninety degrees.
It would be nice if they introduced an electronic approval system or something instead of exchanging paper reports like this one by one.
Why were Hanpyeong Industries and UA so hopelessly devoted to analog methods? I was curious, but not curious enough to find out.
“I heard you were enthusiastic, but you’re really working hard. Still, this might not be possible. The company doesn’t have enough personnel right now……”
“If you could at least review whether it’s feasible, I’ll think of a solution separately!”
“Sure. Good work.”
The solution had already been decided.
If the company really couldn’t do anything for us, I was prepared to shoot even a hellish self-cam.
We could buy a pathetic tripod and set it up. Of course, if the guy moved even a little from his fixed position, he wouldn’t appear on screen that day.
The important thing was to preserve the footage, even if we couldn’t upload it immediately.
Whether we made a documentary later or put together videos from the early days after debut, we needed material in order to do anything.
If records were necessary, it was best to make as many as possible, preferably in video form.
That was why I had emphasized this point in huge letters in the proposal.
I had written about it on almost the same level as an argument for the importance of the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, though I had no idea how it would be received.
‘From the company’s perspective, it means unexpected work keeps piling up, so it probably won’t be easy.’
When something that hadn’t existed suddenly became someone’s responsibility, even the mildest office worker was bound to get angry. I could only pray that UA gave the planning team a generous performance bonus.
While I prayed for my wishes to reach the heavens, Lee Cheonghyeon said,
“Hyung, you really look like a human zombie.”
“I think I’d rather be a zombie.”
“Why? Do you like apocalyptic settings, hyung?”
“No. Zombies don’t have to sleep.”
“Wow. Are you serious?”
I was serious. Alternatively, splitting my body into two wouldn’t be a bad idea.
“But your dark circles really are severe, hyung. At this rate, you’re going to develop hyperpigmentation.”
“It’d be a little troublesome for an idol to have hyperpigmentation.”
“Exactly.”
“……What are you two doing?”
While Lee Cheonghyeon and I were seriously discussing skincare, Choi Jeho asked from a distance, looking bemused.
This wouldn’t do. After the dormitory-rules content, we needed to shoot skincare content.
* * *
One week later.
After bowing my head to the planning team and begging them to help with the shoot, support from the video team was approved.
As expected of UA. They might not be ahead of the curve, but they were reliable when it came to support.
UA even asked if there was anything else we needed.
‘The planning team asked whether we needed props or cue cards.’
‘A small whiteboard should be enough. We aren’t used to delivering lines, either, so I think it would be better to film it in a natural atmosphere for now.’
And so, during our afternoon practice period, we gathered in the dormitory living room with nothing but a single whiteboard.
I never imagined that a day would come when leaving work early would make me feel guilty.
But it couldn’t be helped. We had to let the video team employees leave on time.
‘This is my first time being filmed by such a serious camera.’
Watching the cameras being installed in the corner of the dormitory gave me a strange feeling.
A filming crew had once come to Hanpyeong Industries to shoot material for a company website renewal.
But even then, I had only handled communication from behind the scenes and had never appeared in front of the camera.
Jeong Seongbin, who had ended up taking on the hosting duties as the leader, also looked a little nervous.
“Don’t be too nervous. It isn’t live.”
“Yes……!”
“But anyone who says fewer than ten words during the shoot will have to spend some quality time talking with me afterward.”
“Huh? Is that a mission?”
“What, are idols going to sit in front of the camera without saying a word? Even if mud got in my eyes, I couldn’t pretend not to see you sitting there doing nothing but clapping.”
I seriously declined the prospect of seeing Spark back in its clap-bot days.
‘Work hard, if only for the sake of the fans who pick up even fragmented anecdotes and turn them into promotional posts.’
Perhaps my sincerity got through to them, because the guys nodded with fairly resolute expressions.