Episode 42. Team Bonding (1)
Gang Giyeon's presentation was quite a sight to behold.
Gang Giyeon explained, point by point and with reasons to boot, why I was a delinquent and what a strange guy I was.
"Even the fact that his lunch menu was jjolmyeon for an entire month reveals Hyung's uncompromising personality."
Sounds like you're just messing with me, though.
I, the person in question, was utterly dumbfounded, but the other guys were making expressions of agreement. Had they ever seen such a ridiculous situation?
"I have another question. Did I perhaps do something wrong to Mr. Gang Giyeon?"
"I believe the most incomprehensible part is how unaware he is of his own uniqueness."
"I agree!"
The sight of all five of them huddled together, excluding me, reminded me of Spark in the old days.
Go bond where I can't see you. Just thinking of Spark makes my blood boil.
While I fought a lonely battle by myself, the five members heated up the scene with an atmosphere reminiscent of a congressional hearing.
"You keep objecting, but if you only refute us without evidence, we'll bring in a witness on our end as well."
"Who's appearing as the witness?"
When I asked, Lee Cheonghyeon covered his face with Jeong Seongbin's cue card, and the impertinent guy attempted a voice modulation.
"Everything stated so far is true… Mr. Kim Iwol has heinously dried up the very existence of jjolmyeon in our neighborhood……"
"Everything's fine, but don't cover your face. Make sure your whole face is in the shot."
Fans are going to watch this video to see your faces, you know. What are you going to do if you cover them up?
Unfortunately, my order for the sake of future fans was not properly conveyed to the guys.
"Did you hear what Hyung just said? I told you, that Hyung is really an ice human!"
"Why is my heart, trying to show your face on screen even three seconds longer, being dismissed like that?"
"Not understanding that is exactly the proof that Hyung is extraordinary."
With those words, my profile introduction—which I, the person in question, couldn't understand in the slightest—came to a close.
Even Park Juu avoided my gaze, staring off into space somewhere and desperately trying to hold back the corners of his mouth from rising. I felt betrayed by the world.
"Next is…… *cough*…… it's Iwol Hyung's turn."
Likewise, Jeong Seongbin, his face flushed from holding back laughter, arduously continued to host.
The person I was to introduce was Choi Jeho.
He was the only trainee of the same age in the team and a roommate in the dormitory.
He was the guy who had given me the hardest time in Spark before I returned to the past.
To be honest, I could write Choi Jeho's profile without even looking at it.
How long had I monitored Choi Jeho's every move under Manager Nam's orders?
There was probably nothing I didn't know about him except maybe the exact number of hairs on his head.
But if I said that, I'd just hear again about how I'm a delinquent or whatever.
Since I planned to promote exactly once and then leave, it was better not to stand out in the team.
'If I want my output to look as ordinary as possible while containing specific details, this is definitely the best way.'
So I prepared it.
"Now, take one each."
"Huh?"
This…… Kim Iwol's 'Choi Jeho Activity Record.'
The student record was a quintessential document that suited the school concept perfectly while also being able to introduce a person.
I referenced the sections from actual records, but to avoid any document forgery controversies, I made everything from the header to the footer personally, in a way that anyone could tell it was different.
Since it was meant as a filming prop, it wouldn't violate any laws, but it was best not to do anything that could be nitpicked.
Since the profile I made was written in 15-point font, it wouldn't look good if everyone just looked at their own papers, so for this part, I decided to present it using a beam projector. Of course, I had finished all prior discussions.
"Name: Choi Jeho. He is part of the eldest-hyung line in the practice room. In accordance with societal trends shifting toward blind evaluations, no photograph has been attached to the record."
"Are you briefing us on a suspect?"
Choi Jeho cut in, but I pretended not to hear.
I was explaining in the kindest voice in the world; why was he picking a fight?
Even if it didn't look like it, I used to look at dozens of resumes per day at Hanpyeong Industries.
On top of that, I had experience analyzing photos posted on Choi Jeho's fan account on a weekly basis. There was no way a document made by someone like me would have any shortcomings.
Regardless of whether Choi Jeho made an absurd expression or not, I steadfastly presented what I had prepared.
"He is a trainee who contributes to improving dorm life, such as by bringing mood lights to the dormitory."
"An impressive trainee with proactive conduct?"
"That is correct. It can be said that he makes an effort to show an attitude of cooperating for the sake of group living."
Moreover, Lee Cheonghyeon chimed in at the perfect timing. His word choice was very much like a student record entry.
There may be differences between high school and college entrance exams, but it seemed he had learned a thing or two while preparing for arts high school entrance exams.
His older brother and younger brother were from science high schools, so he must have picked up things by osmosis.
"His hobby is spreading jam on bread at approximately 80% transparency."
"It's not a hobby, I do it because of calories!"
"Having strived to achieve level one arm strength, he has achieved first place in arm wrestling within the team; thus, his future potential can be said to be promising."
"Ha……"
Perhaps embarrassed, Choi Jeho exclaimed loudly.
If I had put this much effort in for my nemesis, who had been the cause of my overtime work, he should be grateful.
I smiled kindly at Choi Jeho, who had no idea how much patience I had exercised, and said, "Thank you for listening."
Judging by his expression, I'd probably have to ask for Choi Jeho to be edited out as much as possible in my scenes.
* * *
The system dumped a massive amount of work on me the moment the song that would become the debut track, 'Mystery'—at this point, the lyrics hadn't come out yet, so it didn't even have a title—was nearing completion.
Thanks to that, I gathered a ton of experience points and was able to forcefully raise my dance proficiency again.
+
Performance Evaluation (100)
— Vocal Proficiency: 6/20
— Dance Proficiency: 6/20
— Self PR: 12/20
— Attendance and Diligence Management: 18/20
— Adaptability Within the Organization: 10/20
Accumulated EXP: 0
Accumulated Fatigue: 20% (Labor Support Service applied)
+
However, this time my vocal proficiency had not risen automatically.
I definitely wasn't feeling like my singing was rapidly improving just from practice like before.
'If I don't have enough points to raise my skills…… I'll just collect more.'
I opened the scheduler and checked the piled-up tasks once more.
+
[SYSTEM] 'New Task' has been assigned.
▷ Debut Song Final Approval
▷ Reward: EXP (5)
[SYSTEM] 'New Task' has been assigned.
▷ Perfect Mastery of Debut Song Choreography
▷ Reward: EXP (5)
[SYSTEM] 'New Task' has been assigned.
▷ Advice for Stage Quality Improvement 3 Times (0/3)
▷ Reward: EXP (1)
+
Seeing the packed list, I felt reassured, as if the supplies had been stocked up before a new hire arrived.
I had no idea why I had to do the final approval, but I had long since given up thinking about it, accepting it as the arduous path to becoming a producing member.
"Let's resume practice now!"
After pretending to drink water while scrolling through the scheduler, Jeong Seongbin announced the end of break time with perfect timing.
At Jeong Seongbin's signal, Lee Cheonghyeon and Park Juu, who had been lying on the floor, rose weakly.
'The practice intensity really is increasing.'
I'd never thought my basic stamina was lacking, but lately I had definitely been feeling fatigued.
So what if I can put chicken breast on my dinner salad now? I'm doubling my personal training.
If it weren't for the labor support service or whatever, I would have been quite exhausted.
So it went without saying for the guys doing this with no support at all.
Fortunately, none of them showed how hard it was during practice. On the whole, that was a good thing.
But not complaining didn't directly mean they were doing their best.
I spoke with difficulty, just twenty minutes after practice resumed.
"Hey, can we pause the song for a minute?"
At my request, Park Juu, who was closest to the spare phone, turned off the music, and only the sound of breathing could be heard in the practice room.
"You all heard about this concept from Cheonghyeon and the company, right? Do you remember what it was?"
"Fresh but mischievous troublemaker classmates…… right?"
"Right? Then why don't you look in the mirror?"
Then, the gazes of all five turned to the large mirror occupying one wall of the practice room.
The faces reflected in the mirror were wretched.
I wasn't talking about their features. The problem was their expressions.
"It's only natural that your complexions are a mess. You've been dancing for hours."
"……."
"But your expressions are another matter. None of us have the slightest hint of a smile on our faces. You can't make bad expressions just because you're tired from promoting after debut."
Because the lyrics weren't out yet, we had selected several songs by other idols and were taking turns practicing with them.
Yet, to the point of making the selection of bright, clear songs meaningless, most of their brows were deeply furrowed.
Jeong Seongbin and I were dancing with bright smiles, but there didn't seem to be any need to draw sides.
"And most importantly, we don't look like 'classmates sharing everyday life' at all."
A heavy atmosphere absolutely does not improve work efficiency.
Manager Nam had worried that employees would slack off when he was away, but in reality, everyone worked in peak condition.
Spark's practice atmosphere wasn't much different from Hanpyeong Industries when Manager Nam was present.
Meaning everyone was in a tightly wound state; there just wasn't any insufferable old bastard around.
Practicing like it's the real thing is obviously important.
But barely being able to breathe and straining not to make a mistake was a different matter.
Having such worries was enough with just me, the only klutz in the team.
"I'm not saying to grin the whole time during practice. Still, I wish we'd think more seriously about our concept and practice while paying attention to whether that comes across."
"Yes……."
"I'm sorry for saying this when I'm much worse than you. In exchange, I'll speak up more myself."
"No! From today, I'll do a 'cheer for a member 100 times a day' challenge too!"
"A hundred times is a bit much."
"Then shall we give one compliment each time we rotate songs?"
"No, I said it's too much."
Thanks to Lee Cheonghyeon and Choi Jeho's active interactions, my words were accepted without being treated as, "What does he know, he's the worst one." The other guys didn't look displeased either.
Good, I suppose. An atmosphere of encouraging each other is more important than one might think.
The sight of them starting to smile slightly despite being drenched in sweat wasn't bad to look at after all.
Above their smiling faces, a notification appeared stating that 1 instance of 'Advice for Stage Quality Improvement' had been fulfilled.
* * *
Spark's strength lay in their quick learning ability.
For some reason, their camera talk never improved, but their comprehension for building technical capability was exceptional.
Perhaps that was why. Even during the last practice at 9:57 PM, so exhausting it felt like we might faint, the six of us could dance with mischievous expressions.
'I don't know if this is growth or awakening…….'
They did seem a bit crazed around the eyes.
For them too, hearing that they had "fierce, venomous eyes" was a hundred times better than being told they had "glazed-over dead fish eyes," so I decided to let it be.
'Then now, is it time to solve this?'
At a time nearing 3 AM, I stared at the system screen, sparkling alone in the dark room.
+
[SYSTEM] 'New Task' has been assigned.
▷ MV Filming Location Coordination
▷ Reward: EXP (varies based on filming location condition)
+
So if you're going to make me do this kind of thing, let me be a company employee, not an idol.