| Episode 77. Dress Code
Some time ago, I returned to nine years in the past with a single small suitcase.
Inside that suitcase were a bankbook and a few extremely basic articles of clothing.
And there was no school uniform in it. On top of that, my family home had vanished somewhere.
‘Do I have to buy a uniform now? Can I even get a name tag sewn on before the final broadcast?’
It was obvious that stores wouldn’t have many uniforms outside average sizes. Now that entrance season had passed, they’d be even more out of stock.
“Then, guys, why don’t you all prepare one outfit each by this weekend? Seongbin, Cheonghyeon, Giyeon, wash your spare shirts.”
“Yes!”
Everyone answered energetically, but I alone couldn’t open my mouth.
Why on earth were they only telling us about such an urgent matter when the schedule was already right in front of us?
I felt like I was about to start foaming at the mouth any second.
In my head, I calculated whether it would be faster to look for a secondhand uniform or buy a new one.
Then, suddenly, I thought of an even faster and more certain method.
‘System, you little X, get out here right now.’
Then the system popped out.
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[SYSTEM] A work directive from the “Person in Charge” has arrived.
▶ You want a meeting? Assistant Manager Kim, does that really have to be now?
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Unless you want to see Kim Iwol, whom you debuted after raising all this hell, dancing alone on the final broadcast in a three-stripe tracksuit, cooperate quietly.
This system gave me ridiculous KPIs, but in return, it had been conveying the necessary preparation process in the form of work.
In other words, it could also be interpreted that the system might help me achieve my KPIs, but at the very least, it wouldn’t harm me.
On top of that, it was using the framework of Hanpyeong Industries and Department Head Nam to proceed? And with rules quite similar to labor law?
Then I had no choice but to make a demand of this bastard in the superior position.
‘Give me a school uniform.’
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[SYSTEM] A work directive from the “Person in Charge” has arrived.
▶ Assistant Manager Kim, do you really need that for work? Have you thought enough about whether there’s a better way?
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Enough. It’s an essential work item, so hand it over.
If this were a company, it should provide at least the minimum support necessary for a worker to do his job.
Besides, I was only asking it to return the luggage the system had unilaterally cleared away. There was no way an absurd being that could raise people’s stats in an instant couldn’t give me one shabby school uniform.
Maybe it hadn’t anticipated this situation when it wrote the contract as the party in power, but since I’d ended up living as the subordinate party anyway, I was going to fight for my rights as a worker.
When there was no particular response from the system, I diligently muttered inwardly at it.
‘I was really trying my best to be an idol, but the system won’t help me…… I was even willing to endure wearing a school uniform at thirty years old and try hard…… What a shame…….’
The system maintained its silence in response to my words, until my inner thoughts reached, ‘If you’re going to work like that, you shouldn’t get paid either, you XX,’ at which point it changed its attitude.
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[SYSTEM] A work directive from the “Person in Charge” has arrived.
▶ I’ll give you a list of supplies, so choose from here. Assistant Manager Kim really needs to know there’s no company that takes care of him this much, tsk.
A. Crisp New Uniform
A brand-new uniform with razor-sharp creases, as if it just came from the uniform shop. Neat. Name tag not included.
B. Your Uniform
Your uniform, with excellent comfort as if worn for three years. Realistic. Name tag included.
▶ Choose which one you’re going to buy from these and report back. Oh, and don’t use it privately outside of work purposes, all right?
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What the hell would I even use this for privately?
Considering I’d be showing it to the fans, the new uniform would look nicer.
But for the sake of realism, when those handsome guys were even bringing in the uniforms they used to wear, it felt a bit much for only me to wear a fresh, fluffy uniform.
After worrying over it with my eyes closed, I chose my own uniform. I comforted myself by thinking I hadn’t really done anything as a student that would make my uniform dirty.
Though it had a habit of pissing people off, the system was, as expected, astonishingly omnipotent.
It was so capable that by the time I arrived at the dorm, a familiar garment bag made of nonwoven fabric was already inside my suitcase. It was practically a magic system.
While Choi Jeho went to wash up and Lee Cheonghyeon went off to study composition, I opened the suitcase halfway and checked the condition of the uniform.
A dark green jacket wrapped around a pure white shirt.
Beneath it, I could see pants with thin red lines forming a grid pattern.
‘The color is something else.’
As expected of a uniform that had earned the honorable nickname of “walking pa-kimchi.”
Thinking about dancing in that spicy outfit among pastel-toned uniform boys made me feel like crying. This was all because the pa-kimchi was too spicy.
As expected, the uniform was clean. There weren’t even any stains. But……
‘Kim Han?’
On the chest of the jacket was the name of someone I didn’t know. No, you said it was “your uniform,” didn’t you?
I even wondered if there had been a kid named Kim Han at our school. After all, I hadn’t had any friends in my school days.
Since Park Juu had also settled for just sewing a name tag onto an ordinary knit vest, I figured I could probably slip mine in and get it newly attached too.
Until then, I had absolutely no interest in who Kim Han was.
The identity of that unknown classmate, Kim Han, was revealed faster than I expected.
* * *
“Wow. Hyung, I feel like if we’d really run into each other at school, we wouldn’t have been friends.”
“Why are you like that, Cheonghyeon? We even did a group project together.”
At my words, Lee Cheonghyeon burst into laughter. His laughter was full of mockery.
This little X. Who was it that ironed your uniform from the crack of dawn?
The current arts high school students didn’t have much to prepare. It was all thanks to their uniforms being pretty and neat to begin with.
The problem was the non-high school students and those from regular academic high schools.
Park Juu was done after getting one name tag sewn on again, but unexpectedly, the side that seemed like it would be finished once the package arrived—Choi Jeho’s—ran into serious trouble.
When we sent him into the room to try on the uniform, he came out five minutes later in his original pajamas.
‘What are you doing? I told you to come out wearing it.’
‘It doesn’t fit.’
‘Then at least try on the pants.’
‘They’re short. They were already short when I graduated.’
While everyone else had been studying, Spark’s genius center had been growing his body. His uniform pants had turned into cropped pants.
In the end, Choi Jeho had to buy new pants and a shirt in similar colors.
And as for Lee Cheonghyeon and me……
‘Cheonghyeon, does your school allow uniform alterations?’
‘No way. First, I’ll take in my uniform, and after activities, just in case, I think I’ll have to wear the uniform I got as a hand-me-down in my first year.’
‘I see. We’ll have to take it in a lot this time.’
‘Hyung, I don’t think you’re in any position to talk.’
We had to watch with our own eyes as the stylists tore our uniforms apart and remade them. So this was how uniform alteration was done. When I was a student, the most I’d ever done was lengthen the hem.
While a silent battle was taking place on one side like that, Lee Cheonghyeon came over and said,
“It feels kind of strange that it’s the final broadcast.”
“Yeah. It’s a shame.”
Jeong Seongbin also nodded in agreement.
Compared to Spark’s debut schedule before, the current Spark was carrying out quite a lot of schedules.
That meant there must be just as many difficulties, yet they were saying things like that. Their passion was admirable.
Looking at those thoroughly commendable guys, I said,
“What’s there to be sad about? Once activities end, we’re going straight into meetings for individual self-produced content and live broadcasts.”
“Individual self-produced content?”
Kang Giyeon asked back, pretending not to be displeased.
“Yeah. During promotions, we mostly move as a group, so we should upload a lot of individual content during the break.”
“Hyung, were the things you watched every night reference checks?”
“No, what I watched at night was monitoring reactions to our music video and stages. I’m not smart enough to do two things at once.”
I answered no, but I was a little surprised that Lee Cheonghyeon had naturally used the very corporate expression “reference.” Don’t tell me he’d picked it up from me.
“……Hyung, you really seem to think about nothing but work.”
Park Juu muttered from beside me. I stopped myself from replying that I wished UA would at least pay me an allowance for that.
“You over there, stop chatting. They say it’s almost our turn.”
“Yes!”
At Choi Jeho’s guidance, the members answered loudly.
As we started moving to head backstage, Jeong Seongbin came up to me and called me in a small voice.
“Hyung.”
“Yeah. What is it?”
“We can finish the final broadcast well too, right?”
A bit of worry, and despite that, a wish that it would end well.
And beneath it, visible beyond those complicated emotions, was a fundamental confidence.
“Yeah. I’ll work hard and not make any mistakes either.”
So, the only thing I could say to him was something like that.
* * *
“Hey, you still watch idol broadcasts at your age?”
“What about it? Stop picking fights and get lost to play that game you love so much.”
A friendly conversation between siblings took place in the living room of an ordinary home.
The main characters were Baek Haewon, who was waiting for Spark’s turn on the music show, and Baek Haewon’s older brother, Baek Haein, who had come out to eat ice. (Baek Haewon could not understand for the life of her why this human being was always chewing on ice.)
“Haewon, you’re in high school now, so shouldn’t you stop watching stuff like this and study? When are you planning to graduate from being a freeloader?”
“Yeah, shut up.”
Baek Haewon answered like a machine, not even looking in Baek Haein’s direction.
As far as Baek Haewon knew, the number of days that human had studied during his three years in high school could be counted on one hand.
“Hey, is ‘Lorail’ coming out today too?”
“Ah, I told you to get lost! If you talk when Spark comes on later, I’ll kill you, okay?”
When the extremely on-edge Baek Haewon emitted bloodlust, Baek Haein shook his head as if wondering what the hell was wrong with her.
Baek Haein could not understand his younger sister, who was stubbornly waiting her turn while watching even the long commercials. If she wanted stage videos, couldn’t she just watch them on MeTube?
‘What’s so great about idols?’
Baek Haein shrugged. Just then, Baek Haewon released a high-frequency scream.
“Aaah! Seongbin’s light purple uniform is insane! XX, this outfit is freaking amazing!”
The sofa cushion in Baek Haewon’s hands crumpled like a wet paper cup. Baek Haein became a little afraid of his younger sister.
Baek Haewon’s gushing did not stop there.
“Who arranged the parts, seriously…… He’s made for opening parts…….”
“Juu’s white name tag is way too cute…… XX, isn’t this practically a crime? Ah, I’m going to crack my forehead.”
“Choi Jeho, you XXX, you fox-like bastard, you XXXXXX.”
Baek Haewon exclaimed with the momentum of praising every man who appeared on the screen until her mouth ran dry.
They were all handsome, sure, but was this really something to like that much?
Just as the puzzled Baek Haein was about to leave his seat, Baek Haewon caught him.
“Hey, isn’t that your uniform?”
“What?”
At Baek Haewon’s words, Baek Haein looked at the TV.
“Huh?”
Sure enough, the dreary uniform of his alma mater was blatantly appearing on screen.