| Episode 83. Our Company’s All-Purpose Entertainer (2)
The whole story I heard from our manager over that brief phone call was this.
Hellas, the group that Polo, the DJ of Conversations on a Moonlit Night, whom we’d appeared with last time, belonged to, was going on an overseas tour.
So the broadcasting station had been contacting people here and there to fill in for Polo. The candidates had all been selected by Polo himself, who was attached to his own radio show.
There was just one problem.
Hellas was such a global star group that their overseas tour had become excessively long, leaving far too many empty slots.
Thanks to that, even after all of Polo’s acquaintances were mobilized, one spot had still been left open…
— Apparently, Polo recommended you?
And he had put me in that spot. I didn’t think Polo was that kind of person, but he sure had no eye for people.
I don’t have time to go on the radio. I’m busy, you know.
In the morning, I have to toast bread. In the forenoon, I have to sing until my throat tears. At lunch, I have to pick up salads and carry them around. In the afternoon, I have to dance until my body breaks apart. In the evening, I have to set out low-sodium lunch boxes. At night, I have to wrestle with the system and think about how to cowardly snatch first place for Spark on a music show…
Even with six heads, I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the calculations. The staff member in charge of makeup begged me to please get lots of sleep during the break. At this rate, I was going to get scolded again after our comeback.
— On top of that, the group appearing as guests that day is Parthe. The listener ratings won’t be that low either!
Our manager said in an excited voice. Probably because this was an opportunity that couldn’t be better for an idol with no connections.
In contrast, my mood kept plummeting all the way to the floor.
They were putting me in Polo’s empty seat, leaving aside idols from the same MYTH?
And on top of that, the guests for that episode would be a rookie group that MYTH needed to support with all their might?
If you were a Parthe fan, you’d see this situation as extremely bizarre. I didn’t even have to look to know.
The moment the radio side’s schedule and Parthe’s schedule were posted, the communities would…
≫ I think the guest seats and the DJ seat should be switched^^; lol;;
└ For real…… our main dancers do the work of ten people every time they go on radio…… lol sobㅠㅠㅠㅠ
≫ No but MYTH
Do you not know who you’re supposed to be taking care of right now??? ^^^^^^^^
…It would turn out like that. My vision went dark.
I did think that, considering Parthe had finished promotions before us, having the entire group appear was already giving merit to the family eating from the same pot.
Still, giving solo hosting to me, a complete outsider, was not it. If I were Parthe, I would have felt hurt too.
But a hole member of a rookie idol group in its third week since debut had no right to kick away a solo DJ opportunity.
If anything, I was in the position where I should be bowing down and thanking them for giving me a chance to make the team known.
I shouted energetically, so that even our manager on the other end of the phone could feel my enthusiasm.
“It’s truly an honor! I’ll do my best!”
Endure it, Kim Iwol. Think of all this as fertilizer for first place.
Truly, it was a moment when I missed my small and precious one-room apartment that would be left alone without its owner nine years later.
* * *
The day of the decisive battle came sooner than expected.
Because I had been insanely busy in the meantime.
Not only had I received additional labor support service, I almost asked if they could give me a loan too. Was this really supposed to be an inactive period?
“Iwol, are you really going to be okay in those clothes?”
Our manager, who was driving, asked as he looked my way while we were stopped at a light.
“Those clothes” referred to my top, which had a black base and was covered in dark red geometric patterns.
“Of course.”
Do you know how much I wandered through the underground shopping mall to find this?
Dark red patterns against a black background were Parthe’s official colors.
The pattern wasn’t completely identical, but after several days of running around on foot, I’d found something that would look quite similar on screen.
“And you’re going to wear that bracelet too…?”
This time, our manager glanced at my wrist.
It was a temporary bracelet made of fake thornbushes, which I’d carefully wrapped around with Jeong Seongbin’s help this morning. I’d bought fake roses from a thousand-won shop and made it by removing only the flower heads.
“Of course!”
I said with a bright smile. If I wanted to recreate the gloomy atmosphere of Parthe’s music video, I had to do at least this much.
When I was already hosting the radio in place of seniors who had debuted a few months before me, there was nothing good about getting on their bad side.
So my goal for today was to diligently promote Parthe, and when the ads were playing, sneak in a Spark song once.
Members, wait for me.
I’ll make sure to get “Flowering” played on the radio at least once before I come back.
* * *
My fashion, which had thoroughly given up on stylishness, gave the radio writers a great laugh.
“Iwol, are those by any chance your personal clothes?”
“It’s a custom outfit made in respect of the guests!”
When they asked where I’d found clothes like that and I told them I’d bought them at an underground shopping mall for 12,000 won, they burst into another round of laughter. Starting today, I was the happy virus of this area.
In that warm and friendly atmosphere, just as I was listening to a brief explanation from one of the writers, the studio door opened.
When Spark had appeared as guests, each of us had arrived at the waiting room early, greeted people, and listened to the explanation.
But this time, because Parthe arrived almost exactly on time, we ended up exchanging greetings chaotically in the recording booth. Well, it wasn’t as if the place mattered when it came to greetings.
“Hello! I’m Spark’s Kim Iwol. I look forward to working with you today!”
“Ahaha. Sure.”
Parthe’s leader patted my shoulder with a good-natured smile.
Was it just my imagination that I felt like I could estimate his old-fogey power just from the sound of his laugh?
My lively old-fogey radar was telling me that this guy felt suspicious too, but I decided not to care for now. First, I needed to do my own job properly.
Just then, I heard someone behind me let out a snorting laugh. It was Song Minil.
The guy looked at my outfit and muttered.
“Trying so hard to stand out.”
He was covering his mouth with his hand, but that little sh*t was definitely busy laughing at me.
But think about it, Minil.
If I wanted to stand out, would I have come wearing a golden crown? Would I have come wearing the thornbush that appeared for the full two minutes in your music video?
More importantly, if you have time to watch me, take a look at the expressions of your members behind you. Those kids are so startled their livers must have shriveled up.
I wanted to say, “I dressed like this for your team’s sake, so why are you picking a fight?” but the kids behind Song Minil had shriveled up like boiled bracken, and I felt a little sorry for them, so I decided to hold back.
I was watching to see just how long Song Minil would keep running his mouth when the leader stepped in.
“Minil, you shouldn’t say things like that. You’ll discourage our junior.”
Kim Iwol, who had debuted about two months later than Parthe, almost shed tears from being moved by his senior’s consideration. Though whether that could really be called stopping him was questionable.
“If you get nervous, you can make mistakes even with things you’re usually good at, so relax and do it comfortably.”
Parthe’s leader said.
In his own way, he seemed to be trying to hide his true feelings and act like a good person, but I could already see it. The true meaning behind those words was, “Get your head on straight and don’t make mistakes.”
“I don’t want mistakes on my side either, so that’s fine.”
The countless presentations I’d done while majoring in business administration. The countless, utterly useless PTs I’d done at Hanpyeong Industries.
The countless Spark radio appearances I’d listened to while making transcripts.
On top of that, even monitoring Polo for today’s one-day DJ stint.
Sorry, but you guys should worry about not stumbling over your own words.
I’m already prepared.
* * *
After the last performance in Hong Kong ended.
Inside the van where the members sat completely exhausted after even finishing the after-party, Hellas’s main rapper, Polo, took out his phone.
Seeing Polo then take out his Bluetooth earphones, Hellas’s leader, Yur, turned around from the passenger seat and looked at him.
Yur looked once at the phone in Polo’s hand, then once at Polo, before asking.
“Are you going to monitor the radio?”
“Yeah. The latest episode should be up by now.”
At Polo’s words, the other members added voices of concern, asking if he wasn’t tired and telling him to rest since the concert had only just ended. They were words that could only come from people sharing a murderous schedule together.
Polo answered his members’ worried words in a lively voice.
“Do you guys still not know my stamina? I’m still full of energy!”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re amazing…”
At a certain colleague’s resigned words, everyone burst into laughter.
“Chaejun is really attached to Conversations on a Moonlit Night. And this time, the gap is especially long, so of course he’d be concerned.”
Whenever situations like this arose, the only one who spoke for Polo’s position was Yur. Polo liked this affectionate side of his leader.
“Jun, hurry up and listen to the radio. The rest of us should sleep until we arrive at the lodging.”
“Yes, sir.”
No sooner had the leader spoken than the inside of the van quickly grew quiet.
In a way, it was only natural. After one overseas tour, losing several kilos was nothing out of the ordinary.
But Polo had affection that surpassed that fatigue. Affection for the radio show where he had been the DJ for many years.
When even the agency that had brought in the work said, “A broadcast hosted by an idol will probably only be listened to by idol fans,” Polo had thought,
“Are idol fans not listeners too?”
That very day, Polo set a goal.
If someone liked idols, if someone was interested in celebrities, he would make a channel they would listen to at least once, no matter who came on as a guest!
In idol radio, where listener ratings changed depending on the guest, Polo’s resolve seemed meaningless. Because as everyone knew, whether the broadcast did well or not was obviously determined by whether they could bring in a big-name guest.
But Polo truly worked hard.
That effort bore fruit as Polo’s channel completely escaped the rude term of “riding on guest power” and established itself as a long-running program.
After going through many twists and turns, Polo had no choice but to grow attached to the radio.
So whenever an unavoidable reason arose, Polo always personally handpicked and even recruited his own substitute before leaving his seat empty.
In that sense, the member of a rookie group who would be serving as DJ for this episode was an unusual name in the lineup.
When his leader first saw the list of DJ candidates…
“You contacted someone who just debuted this time?”
“Yeah. I hope he says he’ll do it!”
“He probably will. But it’s unexpected.”
…That was what he’d said.
Polo also knew that the words “I thought you didn’t recommend anyone unless they had a certain number of years of experience” had nearly been tacked onto the end of Yur’s sentence.
Just as Yur said, Polo’s choice was unprecedented. Even the radio writers he worked with had all been surprised.
But unlike Yur, who hadn’t listened to Spark’s radio appearance, the writers who had been there on site that day soon became interested in Polo’s choice.
“Polo, you felt it too, right? He has this kind of sharp image, doesn’t he? He spoke well too.”
“He picked up the interview sheet super early too. There wasn’t a single awkward pause, and it seemed like the kids prepared a lot.”
“For rookies, their audio didn’t overlap either.”
Leaving that much of an impression on writers who worked with different idols every week wasn’t luck. It was talent. That was what Polo thought.
So he’d given it a try.
Among the six members who all spoke well, he was exceptionally good at speaking, and stood out the most.
The eldest member of a rookie group who had a bold heart that didn’t cower even at his first radio appearance, Kim Iwol.
When he played the replay, an empty studio with advertisements running appeared. Polo put in his earphones one by one and raised the volume.
“I wonder if he wore that funny headband again today.”
If he was going to wear one anyway, since he was coming as the DJ this time, it would be better if he made it with Parthe’s group name instead of his own.
As Polo was having that useless thought, he couldn’t hide his shock when he saw Kim Iwol enter, his upper body wrapped in a T-shirt with a flashy printed pattern and a script in his hand.