Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols

K

ang Kiyeon’s presentation was quite a spectacle.

 

Kang Kiyeon meticulously laid out the reasons why I was such a troublemaker and just how weird of a person I was.

 

“You can even see how uncompromising hyung is from the fact that he has jjolmyeon for lunch for an entire month.”

 

I felt like he was just mocking me.

 

While I, the subject of the topic, was dumbfounded, the other guys seemed to be agreeing with him. This was the most ridiculous situation.

 

“I have a question. Did I do something wrong to you, Kang Kiyeon?”

 

“I think the most incomprehensible part is that you are unaware of your own peculiarity.”

 

“I agree!”

 

The sight of the five of them banding together against me reminded me of the old Spark.

 

You guys go ahead and bond when I’m not around. Just thinking about Spark makes me sick.

 

While I was fighting this lonely battle, the five members, with the enthusiasm of a congressional hearing, heated up the room.

 

“You keep raising objections, but if you just rebut without evidence, we’ll bring in a witness.”

 

“Who’s the witness?”

 

When I asked, Lee Cheonghyeon covered his face with Jeong Seongbin’s cue card and attempted a ridiculous voice modulation.

 

“Everything that has been said so far is true… Mr. Kim Iwol has been ruthlessly draining our neighborhood of jjolmyeon….”

 

“That’s all fine, but don’t cover your face. Keep it in the frame.”

 

Fans will watch this video to see your faces, so why are you hiding them?

 

Unfortunately, my directions for the sake of future fans didn’t seem to reach these guys.

 

“Did you hear that? I am telling you, hyung is a real ice man!!”

 

“Why are you disparaging my effort to give your face an extra three seconds on screen?”

 

“The fact that you don’t understand is proof of your extraordinary nature, hyung.”

 

With those words, my profile introduction, which I didn’t understand at all, came to an end.

 

Even Park Joowoo was avoiding my gaze, trying hard to suppress the smile forming on his lips. I felt utterly betrayed by the world.

 

“Next… Ahem… It’s Iwol hyung’s turn.”

 

Jeong Seongbin, his face slightly flushed from holding back laughter, struggled to continue hosting.

 

The person I had to introduce was Choi Jeho.

 

He was the only trainee who was the same age as me on the team and my roommate in the dorm.

 

The guy who gave 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 been monitoring Choi Jeho’s every move on Director Nam’s orders?

 

The only thing I wouldn’t know about him was probably the exact number of hairs on his head.

 

But if I said that, I’d just be called a ‘ruffian’ again.

 

Since I planned to participate in activities only once before quitting, it was better not to stand out in the team.

 

‘To make my output look as ordinary as possible while including specific content, this is indeed the best.’

 

So I prepared it.

 

“Here, take one each.”

 

“Huh?”

 

This was… Kim Iwol-style ‘Choi Jeho’s Activity Record’.

 

The student record book was a quintessential document that perfectly suited a school concept while also introducing a person.

 

I referenced the categories here but made everything from the header to the footer myself, ensuring it felt different enough to avoid any controversy about document forgery.

 

Since its purpose was as a prop for filming, it shouldn’t be illegal, but it was always best not to give anyone a reason to nitpick.

 

Even though my profile was written in a decent 15-point font, it wouldn’t look good if everyone was just staring at their papers, so I decided to present it using a projector. Of course, we had already discussed this beforehand.

 

“Name is Choi Jeho, part of the oldest trainee line in the practice room. In line with the current trend of blind assessments, no photo is attached to the record.”

 

“Are you briefing about a suspect?”

 

Choi Jeho interrupted, but I pretended not to hear.

 

I’m explaining everything so kindly; why are you making a fuss?

 

For what it was worth, I’d reviewed dozens of resumes daily at Hanpyeong Industry.

 

I even used my experience of scrutinizing photos posted on Jeho’s fan accounts on a weekly basis. There was no way a document I made could have any shortcomings.

 

Ignoring Choi Jeho’s dumbfounded expression, I steadfastly presented the content I had prepared.

 

“He’s a trainee who contributes to improving dorm life, such as by bringing night lights to the dorm.”

 

“Sounds like an impressively proactive trainee, doesn’t he?”

 

“Indeed. You could say he’s making an effort to show a cooperative attitude for group living.”

 

Moreover, Lee Cheonghyeon interjected at just the right moment. His word choice was very much in the style of a student record.

 

Although there were differences between high school and college admissions, it seemed Cheonghyeon had learned something while preparing for arts high school admissions.

 

His older brother and younger sibling were also from a science high school, so he must have picked up some things from them too.

 

“His hobby is spreading jam on bread to an 80% transparency level.”

 

“That’s not a hobby; it’s because of the calories!”

 

“Seeing that he achieved first place in arm wrestling within the team as a result of his efforts to reach grade 1 in arm strength, we can say his future potential is promising.”

 

“Hah…”

 

Perhaps out of embarrassment, Choi Jeho raised his voice.

 

You’d think he’d be grateful for how much effort I’d put in for the enemy who caused my overtime work.

 

I kindly smiled at Choi Jeho, who didn’t seem to realize how much patience I had shown, and said, “Thank you for listening.”

 

Judging by his expression, I should probably ask them to edit Choi Jeho out of my scenes as much as possible.

 

* * *

 

As the debut song “『Untitled』—a title still undecided at that time, as the lyrics were not yet completed—neared its final stages of completion, the system dumped a mountain of tasks on me, as if it had been waiting for this moment.

 

Thanks to this, I gathered a ton of exp and was able to forcefully increase my dance proficiency once again.

 

+

 

Performance Evaluation (100)

 

― Vocal proficiency: 6/20

 

― Dance proficiency: 6/20

 

― Self-PR: 12/20

 

― Attendance management: 18/20

 

― Organizational adaptability: 10/20

 

Total exp: 0

 

Total fatigue: 20% (Work Support Service Activated)

 

+

 

However, this time, my vocal proficiency didn’t automatically increase.

 

I didn’t feel the same sense of progress in singing just from practice as I had before.

 

‘If I lack the points to raise my skills… I just need to gather more.’

 

I opened my scheduler to check the piled-up tasks once more.

 

+

 

[SYSTEM] ‘New task’ has been assigned.

 

▷ Final approval of debut song

 

▷ Reward: Exp (5)

 

[SYSTEM] ‘New task’ has been assigned.

 

▷ Perfect mastery of debut song choreography

 

▷ Reward: Exp (5)

 

[SYSTEM] ‘New task’ has been assigned.

 

▷ Provide advice to improve stage quality 3 times (0/3)

 

▷ Reward: Exp (1)

 

+

 

Looking at the packed list, I felt reassured, like stocking up on supplies before a new employee arrived.

 

I had no idea why I had to give the final approval, but I had long since given up thinking about it, considering it part of the difficult path to becoming a producing member.

 

“Let’s practice again!”

 

Just as I was scrolling through the scheduler while pretending to drink water, Jeong Seongbin announced the end of the break with perfect timing.

 

At Jeong Seonbin’s signal, Lee Cheonghyeon and Park Joowoo, who were lying on the floor, stood up weakly.

 

‘The intensity of the practice is definitely increasing.’

 

I had never thought my basic physical strength was declining, but lately, I could definitely feel my body getting tired.

 

What was the point of being able to put a chicken breast on my evening salad when I was doubling my personal training sessions?

 

If it weren’t for the work support service or whatever it was, I would have been pretty exhausted.

 

So, it went without saying how much those guys must be struggling, doing this without any support.

 

Fortunately, no one showed signs of struggle during practice. Overall, this was a good thing.

 

But not complaining didn’t automatically mean they were giving their best effort.

 

Twenty minutes after practice resumed, I hesitantly opened my mouth.

 

“Hey, can we stop the music for a moment?”

 

At my request, Park Joowoo, who was closest to the music player, turned off the song, and only the sound of breathing could be heard in the practice room.

 

“You all know our concept for this debut, right? You must have heard it through Cheonghyeon and the company. Do you remember what it was?”

 

“Fresh but mischievous troublemaker classmates… right?”

 

“That’s right. Now, can you all look in the mirror?”

 

At that, the five pairs of eyes turned towards the large mirror occupying one wall of the practice room.

 

The faces reflected in the mirror were terrible.

 

It wasn’t about their features. The problem was their expressions.

 

“It’s natural for our appearance to be a mess. We’ve been dancing for hours.”

 

“…”

 

“But our expressions shouldn’t be. None of us have a single smile on our faces. We can’t make bad expressions just because we’re tired from debut activities.”

 

Since the lyrics weren’t out yet, we were practicing by rotating a selection of songs from other idols.

 

However, despite the cheerful song selection, most of our faces were tightly scrunched up.

 

Jeong Seongbin and I danced with smiles, but I didn’t think there was any need to divide the team over it.

 

“And more importantly, we don’t look like ‘classmates sharing everyday life’ at all.”

 

A heavy atmosphere never improved work efficiency.

 

Manager Nam used to worry that the employees would slack off whenever he wasn’t around, but in reality, everyone worked in peak conditions without him.

 

The practice atmosphere at Spark wasn’t much different from Hanpyeong Industry when Manager Nam was around.

 

In other words, everyone was extremely tense, just without the hopeless old fart around.

 

Of course, it was important to practice as if it was the real thing.

 

But it was a different matter to be holding your breath and feel terrified of making mistakes.

 

Such worries were enough for me alone, the only klutz in the team.

 

“I’m not saying you should smile while practicing. But I’d like us to think more seriously about our concept and practice while being mindful of how well it shows.”

 

“Yes…”

 

“I’m sorry for saying this when I’m far worse than you guys. Instead, I’ll start to be more vocal from now.”

 

“No, it’s okay! I’ll start the ‘100 cheers per day’ challenge for the members from today!”

 

“A hundred times is a bit much.”

 

“Then how about praising each other once every time we go through a song?”

 

“No, that’s still too much.”

 

Thanks to the enthusiastic interaction between Lee Cheonghyeon and Choi Jeho, my words were accepted without being dismissed as ‘What is this person with the worst skill saying?’. The others didn’t seem upset either.

 

Well, that was great. Fostering a supportive atmosphere was more important than one might think.

 

The sight of them starting to smile slightly despite being drenched in sweat wasn’t bad to see.

 

Above their smiling faces, a notification appeared saying that ‘Advice for improving stage quality’ had been fulfilled once.

 

* * *

 

Spark’s strength was their ability to learn quickly.

 

Although their communication skills in front of the camera didn’t seem to improve much, everyone had an exceptional understanding when it came to building technical skills.

 

Maybe that was why. Even during our last practice at 9:57 PM, when we were all so exhausted we could hardly stand, the six of us managed to dance with mischievous expressions.

 

‘I’m not sure if this is growth or awakening, but…’

 

Everyone’s eyes seemed a bit crazed.

 

I decided to leave it be, thinking it would be a hundred times better for them to be described as fiercely determined rather than lifeless.

 

‘Then, it’s time to solve this.’

 

As it was approaching 3 AM, I stared at the system glowing brightly in the dark room, alone.

 

+

 

[SYSTEM] ‘New task’ has been assigned.

 

▷ Secure a location for the music video shoot

 

▷ Reward: Exp (varies depending on the condition of the filming location)

 

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I am telling you, if you’re going to make me do this kind of thing, you should make me a company employee instead of an idol.