| Episode 99. Production Presentation
Except when they were getting their makeup done, all the members stared intently at the chat window, but fortunately, no posts about anything dangerous had appeared.
Instead, SNS was filled with reviews of the reverse fan support that the fans had diligently uploaded.
≫ Today’s Spark Music Show Reverse Fan Support Review
I only saw the drinks and madeleines and thought, “These people really know what they’re doing~”
But then I saw the self-defense spray and the letters underneath and started sobbing
They were handwritten letters tooㅠㅠㅠ
I was blinded by the food and didn’t notice your affection until too late. I’m sorry……
└ Whoa, handwritten lettersㅠㅠ I’m so jealous
└ Jeho was my bias and Giyeon my second bias, but I got Giyeon’s letterㅠㅠㅠㅠ Our baby bragged that it was stationery he picked out himself. I need to plant a hundred kisses on those cheeks, seriously
└ Why are you doing this to Giyeon? He lived a good life
└ Ah, noㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
≫ The Class of a Rookie Boy Group’s Reverse Fan Support
Since the early-morning pre-recording was dangerous, they handed out self-defense spray worth around 30,000 won per person
+ Handwritten letters
+ Drinks and madeleines
+ Music show photocards
└ I don’t think it’s quite enough to call it “class”…… Hmm
└ The kind of fanbase that leaves comments like this: has never received reverse fan support
└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋWhat are you talking aboutㅋㅋㅋㅋ They say the company paid for it anyway, so isn’t it company-sponsored support rather than the idols’?
└ They’re kids who haven’t even received their settlements yet, and the company paid for what they said they’d buy with their own money. Mocking them like that while completely ignoring the kids’ intentions is really something~
└ They haven’t accepted donations or gifts from their fans since debutㅠㅠ They’re always working hard to do even a little more for their fans! Please look kindly on themㅎㅎ
≫ I was so startled when I opened the shopping bag and a map to the police station came out
└ Quite a unique packaging design
└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
≫ No wonder the madeleines tasted so good
So they were from an expensive place……
I came to the pre-recording and suddenly found the madeleines of my life
Compared to the time they spent waiting for us, this was probably nothing.
My heart churned. It felt like guilt and gratitude were all mixed together.
Maybe that was why the wait for the recording seemed so long.
And it seemed I wasn’t the only one thinking that way.
“Wouldn’t the fans be having a really hard time? We can wait in the waiting room, at least…….”
“Yeah. We really have to work hard onstage today.”
Lee Cheonghyeon and Jeong Seongbin said this as they looked up at the still-dark sky.
Park Juu was already warming up his voice in one corner of the practice room.
I carried each of them a cup of warm water and said,
“The most important thing is not going off-key, you know? Warm up your voices properly.”
“Yes!”
The three members other than the taciturn dance line answered at the top of their lungs. I had no idea where my nagging about taking care of their throats had gone in one ear and out the other.
* * *
It wasn’t until three in the morning that we were able to meet the fans again.
“Everyone, have you been well?”
“We’ve been well!”
“You must be so tired since this is an early-morning pre-recording, right?”
“We’re not tired at all!”
It was only right for us to show the brightest sides of ourselves to the fans who had gone through so much trouble waiting for us.
But the fans had no obligation to do that, and yet they welcomed us without a trace of fatigue.
Some of them were even dressed in the same outfits I often saw on the subway during rush hour.
After looking at a few of them, I cautiously asked,
“Um, those of you who work, how are you going to…… go to work today?”
“I took the morning off!”
“Then are you going to work after the pre-recording ends?”
“I don’t want to!”
“I’m going to quit!”
How could the complicated emotions contained in a mere five syllables be conveyed so vividly?
My chest hurt along with theirs. How could they go back to work after this? I couldn’t think of anything I had the right to say.
“Thank you so much for spending your precious vacation time on us. We’ll work really hard on today’s stage!”
I chose my words with difficulty. Even if it was insufficient, I wanted to express my gratitude somehow.
When I bowed, the guys beside me bowed as well. Well done, you brats.
Whenever breaks came up between takes, we talked about all sorts of things.
“Your hair looks great dyed!”
“Really? But isn’t Iwol-hyung’s too dark a gray? It’s kind of disappointing. You should’ve done something like green too, hyung!”
“No, that would clash with his undertone!”
Every now and then, someone from over there would summon me into the conversation. Fortunately, many of the fans stopped Lee Cheonghyeon’s reckless remarks.
More importantly, hey, I had put a lot of thought into my gray hair too. It was my first time bleaching my hair in my entire life.
People often wore their music video outfits for their first broadcast, but today, all of Spark were dressed like boy scouts. The only change was that the colors had been shifted into fresh shades of blue.
“How do you like our outfits? Are they okay?”
When Jeong Seongbin asked, an enthusiastic response came back.
I rarely had occasion to wear shorts outside of working out, so I felt a little embarrassed. The fans seemed to like them, though.
Now that I thought about it, the old Spark had filmed their music video wearing shorts even in the middle of winter.
For reference, during this round of music shows, we had decided to wear outfits connected to the wishes that the young Spark members had written into a time capsule in the music video.
Starting with my, Kim Iwol’s, adventurer outfit, we would appear in hero outfits, vacation outfits, pajama party outfits, outfits for regulars at a PC café, and skateboarder outfits, in that order.
There was a reason the lineup had turned out this way.
‘Who wrote “hero”?’
‘That was me.’
‘Choe Jeho, you’re more proactive about expressing your opinions than I expected.’
One of them had only ever had magical warrior girl toys at home and wanted to wear a hero mask at least once.
‘Juu, what’s a pajama party?’
‘It’s when you put on pajamas, order lots of delicious food, and play together……!’
Another wanted to have a pajama party like the ones his older female cousin enjoyed with her friends every quarter.
‘A regular at a PC café? Do elementary school kids go to PC cafés a lot too?’
‘Hyung, have you never gone to a PC café during the day? It’s basically an after-school school over there.’
‘Lee Cheonghyeon, you’re very familiar with that ecosystem, aren’t you?’
‘Ah, Giyeon taught me all about it.’
‘Why am I suddenly being brought into this?’
And one of them wanted to stay at a PC café until he had spent all his allowance. Kids really did have a lot they wanted to do on Children’s Day.
Since we had put their ideas into the music video anyway, we had the outfits made to match.
I was worried that we might have to wear skintight suits on the next music show. I would have to start praying fervently for an escape from that possibility today.
When Lee Cheonghyeon asked what everyone thought of the song, cheers rang out.
It would have been difficult for people not to like the song, but Lee Cheonghyeon still looked even happier after seeing the positive reaction right in front of him.
“We’ll begin Spark’s recording.”
And with the sound signaling the end of our brief break, recording began again.
* * *
The recording, which took place over several takes, ended without incident.
Gang Giyeon almost fell into a panic after going off-key, but thanks to the mind-control methods he had practiced until now, he made up for all his mistakes in the next take.
Even though cold sweat poured down his face, he finished the recording without showing much outwardly. I patted him on the back.
With our promotions officially beginning, we were in for a string of hectic days starting today. Finishing one music show didn’t mean we had time to catch our breath.
“We’re filming the meeting for ‘Challenge! Experiencing Life’ here too, right?”
Our first variety-show shoot of this promotional period was scheduled for that very morning. At least it was at the same broadcasting station, so we could save on travel time.
Until now, there hadn’t been many variety shows Spark could appear on.
There were already an excessive number of idol groups, and as people from all kinds of professions—chefs, athletes, and so on—began making their mark on television, the industry was becoming less and less inclined to invite idol guests specifically.
But Spark needed to appear on TV programs.
No matter how many broadcasting platforms there were, terrestrial music shows and variety programs were still promotional channels we couldn’t give up.
Until now, we had made up for the lack of suitable variety shows with a full-scale assault of self-produced content.
During promotional periods, we uploaded self-produced content weekly, and group livestreams were held at least twice a week, no matter what. Regardless of whether we were promoting, all the members uploaded individual content once a month.
Add individual livestreams and additional uploads of the members’ personal content, and the number was considerable. Among the groups promoting around the same time, Spark’s video-upload cycle was probably overwhelmingly short.
However, replacing everything with self-produced content also had its drawbacks. The inflow of viewers from external channels was low.
Besides, no matter how high we raised the quality of our self-produced content, it was difficult to compare it with established variety shows in terms of production value. The camera quality alone was an obvious example.
There would be a clear difference when comparing the individual cameras for each member, the technical capabilities of the equipment, the available budget, and so on.
UA already had so little money, and we had worked so hard to scrape together a budget for self-produced content. We ought to rely on an actual broadcast program for once.
With that thought in mind, I searched through various variety shows until one program caught my eye.
It was called ‘Challenge! Experiencing Life.’
‘Challenge! Experiencing Life’ was a variety show in which celebrities tried out various professions.
There was a reason such a simple variety program had survived even in an age of content overabundance.
≫ Next week’s ‘Experiencing Life’ preview is up
Selling tanghulu in Hongdaeㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ Wow, that already sounds insanely hard
└ You can feel the chaos just from the preview……
The celebrities appearing on the show experienced jobs that could easily be seen all around them.
For a full eight hours—the standard recommended daily working period.
In other words, it was an extreme job-experience gig where they went through all the hardship of hard labor without much actual benefit.
Watching celebrities try doing the same work as ordinary people and empathize with the intensity of the labor came across as sincere to many viewers.
Since the very purpose of the program was to experience various workplaces, it had also been mentioned socially on numerous occasions.
≫ What do you personally think is the legendary episode of ‘Experiencing Life’?
The Environmental Cleanup Episode VS The Salvage Diving Episode
└ That’s hard……
└ Personally, I’d say the salvage diving one
└ I think the environmental cleanup episode was a legendary one that captured both the intensity of the labor and society’s perception! I heard that after it aired, schools used it a lot as visual teaching material!
Topicality? Passed.
Chances of making contact successfully? High.
The program’s wholesomeness? Need I say more?
So I immediately pounded on the planning team’s door until it was practically destroyed. I strongly emphasized just how much I wanted to experience a difficult life.
As a result—
“Guys, we have about two hours to spare right now, right? Let’s sleep for just one hour, get rid of the puffiness, and then head straight to the meeting room to film ‘Experiencing Life’!”
Spark ended up writing the opening chapter of their first variety-show appearance with a hard schedule from the very beginning.