Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols - Chapter 16
Only Krnovel
| Episode 16. Keyword (2)
Except for Lee Cheong-hyeon, the members of Spark were basically quiet.
Moreover, the decibel level was not high. Naturally, the members’ personalities were all exposed on the broadcast as if they were all the same.
There was a limit to how much Lee Cheong-hyeon could do to lift the depressed atmosphere on his own.
Thanks to this, the shows Spark appeared in were like nature documentaries, to put it nicely.
I won’t say anything bad about it.
‘This is why it’s hard to open the door to becoming a fan.’
Even if you try to sell it to someone who has a taste for you among these people, it won’t be very satisfying.
Even if you put out kids that look like they were made with a bungeoppang mold and say, “Hey! There are this many of the same kids, so they must be several times more delicious,” who would come to see them?
Sales are only possible if there is something to eat.
It seemed like a good idea to dig a little hole in the ground so that fans could dig up the A to Z of the members with an excavator.
‘You should at least be able to show some of your own individuality.’
That way, I can at least add one more prop to my debut album.
I took a deep breath, deleted all my search history, and returned my phone to my manager.
Then, he kept a close eye on the members during every break in group practice.
And then I remembered the email I had received from the daughter of the Nam clan chief, which said that perfect chae came from love and obsession.
Nothing has been more convenient than using refined language to define something.
So I started to borrow keywords from web novels to describe these guys’ personalities.
For example, for Park Joo-woo, who would sit blankly in the corner during every break, the image of a ‘mindless dog’ was set as the default.
Choi Je-ho, who monopolized the daughter’s love and became the shining center of Spark…
“So you are… …a cool-natured, indifferent genius.”
… … I made it a little more extravagant.
But Choi Je-ho responded in an incredibly indifferent manner.
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“The indifferent attribute overlaps with Joo-woo’s, so what do you think about changing his personality a bit?”
Even my reasonable suggestion did not help Choi Je-ho’s distorted expression.
It’s unfortunate that more than half of the team achieves the triple crown of being indifferent, blunt, and indifferent.
“Brother! What about me?!”
Lee Cheong-hyeon thought I was telling a funny story, so he left Kang Ki-yeon in front of the mirror and ran away.
“I think there was a saying, ‘Sunshine is something.’ Do that.”
“No, why should I compromise?!”
“We leave room for change if a better expression comes along.”
As I was assigning each member a third attribute, the door to the practice room opened.
It was Minju Kyung.
“Sorry for interrupting your practice!”
Minju Kyung, who came in with a smile, was holding a piece of paper in her hand.
Minju Kyung pasted the paper she brought on the whiteboard installed on one wall of the practice room.
Then he looked at me and said.
“The evaluation results are posted like this. There’s nothing special about them, so everyone, check them out when you have time!”
I’m sure you don’t know that it’s human nature to look at your report card as soon as you receive it.
Perhaps he spoke as lightly as possible out of consideration for the trainees.
I probably had that kind of face when I told people around me, “The personnel evaluation results have been entered, so you can check them.”
Since there was nothing unusual, it seemed like I wasn’t cut off.
Great job, Kim Yi-wol. You’re surviving in these difficult conditions.
Having achieved my minimum goal, I headed straight to the whiteboard.
Since I avoided being cut, I could happily accept whatever the rest of the outcome was.
February end of month evaluation (by grade)
Park Joo Woo
Choi Je-ho
Lee Cheong-Hyeon
Jeong Seong-bin
Kang Ki-yeon
Kim Iwol
※ Details will be provided during class!
Even though it was natural that I ended up coming in 6th out of 6, I felt complicated.
Maybe it’s because I’ve never been last in my life. I guess that’s why people need to experience everything.
+
[SYSTEM] ‘Task’ has been completed.
▷ Reward: Experience points (30) awarded
▷ Cumulative experience: 40
▷ Accumulated points: 0
+
I also received experience points for getting a passing grade on the monthly evaluation.
But it didn’t end there.
+
[SYSTEM] ‘Additional experience points’ have been awarded.
▷ Reason: High evaluation from ‘close organization members’
▷ Reward: Experience points (10) awarded
▷ Cumulative experience: 50
▷ Accumulated points: 0
+
Whoever it was, it seemed like they thought very highly of me, because my experience points dropped by an additional 10.
Thank you. May your three generations be blessed.
I turned around, promising myself that I would at least grow to be ‘6th place after losing but fighting hard’ before my debut.
Then, my eyes met with Jeong Seong-bin’s, who was checking the paper indifferently and turning around.
At the same time, I remembered what Jeong Seong-bin had said a few days ago.
‘There aren’t many trainees in the company, but the rankings haven’t changed much since some time ago.’
Jeong Seong-bin now… … can’t be said to be completely refreshed, but his expression looked better than before.
A face that is complicated but not dark.
The moment I saw that face, for some reason I felt like the shame I felt that day had been somewhat compensated for.
* * *
The advantage of being a beginner is that even if you take just one step, it seems like you have made great progress.
That one step is actually a huge leap for a beginner.
Perhaps because the initial construction was well-laid out, the subsequent classes did not seem so daunting.
Moreover, UA was a company that did not spare praise in these areas.
“Lee Wol-ah, you’ve really grown a lot.”
“Really?”
The vocal teacher nodded. It was a really good environment for a beginner to grow.
I still had a long way to go in my dance class, where I was really trying my best, but I was making progress.
The biggest help was that once I learned the movements, I wouldn’t forget them, because I didn’t want to stop the music during group practice.
As the experience points I had accumulated little by little until now exceeded 100, I also faithfully invested the welfare points I had earned into my proficiency.
As a result, my skill level is now like this.
+
Performance Evaluation (100)
– Vocal proficiency: 5(▲)/20
– Dance proficiency: 4(▲)/20
– Self PR: 12/20
– Attendance management: 18/20
– Adaptability within the organization: 10/20
Cumulative experience: 0
+
His vocal proficiency level went up on its own even though he never put any points into it. He was a special guy.
This case also taught us that proficiency cannot be increased solely through gaining experience points.
It still hurts my heart that my total skill level is in the single digits, but it’s absurd to expect results after only practicing for a month, so I decided to value the fact that my score went up.
A new job has also been created.
+
[SYSTEM] ‘New task’ has been assigned.
▷ Raise your dance proficiency to level 5 before the March end-of-month evaluation
▷ Reward: Experience of viewing other members’ resumes, 3 standard forms of proposals for debut album planning
+
Perhaps the evaluation at the end of next month would be the one that would finally decide on the debut group.
Since I brought forward the debut schedule by a year, the group should be confirmed soon.
Rather than that, are you saying that you will decide on the debut group based on the February evaluation criteria and are dragging it out until March?
This is why in the past, debuts were delayed by two years, groups failed, and society was ruined…
Apart from the work, the compensation was really poor.
I was interested in reading the resume, but I was disappointed because the experience voucher was so poorly written, and the debut album plan… … I had a strong feeling that just looking at it would just make things more difficult.
If you have something like that, you’ll end up using it someday. And that includes me.
That’s why I didn’t want to receive the three-piece plan set even more.
However, since my job is fixed as a producing member, I decided to accept this situation quietly because I thought it would be easier to receive it in advance.
If there’s a difference, just receive the form and after about 3 months, ‘Oh, that’s right, I had that!’ It’s like going to meta.
“Shall we tear off our calendar now?”
“Okay, please!”
After Jeong Seong-bin gave his permission, Lee Cheong-hyeon tore off a page from the wall calendar hanging on the wall of the practice room.
It was the beginning of March.
* * *
The concept of time for office workers is a little different from that of non-office workers.
For example, when I was a college student, my concept of time was like this.
March~June / September~November: During the semester + a period of small part-time jobs
July~August / December~February: The period of working part-time like a dog
Then, when I joined Hanpyeong Industries, the way I perceive time changed as follows.
March – November: Busy months
December: The month when I can barely breathe
January: The month when you can’t even breathe
February: The month when you can’t go home
As I was doing this, I forgot about it for a while.
March is the month when the semester begins.
This means that high school students at our dormitory are also returning to school for the new semester.
It was when Lee Cheong-hyeon’s alarm rang earlier than usual that he realized the fact.
I woke up thinking that the alarm went off earlier than usual, but Choi Je-ho across from me was sleeping without moving an inch.
Just as I was wondering why he was waking up right away when the alarm went off, Lee Cheong-hyeon came down from the bed, looking like he was dying.
“Where does it hurt? Why is your face like that?”
“I’m tired… … . Set an alarm and sleep more, hyung. It’s 7 o’clock now.”
“7 o’clock?”
I checked the time and it was indeed 7 o’clock. It was an hour earlier than usual to wake up.
“I should have gone to bed early yesterday… … I guess I slept late for nothing.”
Then Lee Cheong-hyeon opened his closet and took out a familiar gray school uniform.
It was the school uniform I saw when I was making a subway birthday advertisement by scraping together Lee Cheong-hyeon’s work.
‘That’s right. She’s seventeen now.’
So, Lee Cheong-hyeon was just entering high school.
It’s been a long time since I entered college.
I’m worried again about whether it’s ethical to debut as a team with these guys.
“Is school starting today?”
“Brother, it’s not the start of semester, it’s the start of school! And for me, it’s not the start of semester, it’s the entrance!”
If I make a single slip of the tongue, Lee Cheong-hyeon will fall over. Seeing that he has regained his energy within 3 minutes of opening his eyes, I don’t think I need to worry about my stamina.
I followed Lee Cheong-hyeon out of the room, who seemed to be going out to wash up.
In the living room, Jeong Seong-bin and Kang Ki-yeon, dressed in school uniforms, were loitering around.
Perhaps because it was a preview uniform, the color and design of this uniform were very different from Lee Cheong-hyeon’s.
≫ During the blueberry yogurt era, the Dongmunz over-the-counter snacks were so precious… … X-bastard Why on earth don’t our kids take selfies with those faces? It’s dereliction of duty not to take 100 selfies a day with those faces, it’s fucking annoying X-bastard
└ This isn’t even gradient anger, it’s just plain anger
As I looked at the lavender uniform, a post I had briefly seen on SNS somewhere came to mind.
When I have time, I’ll have to tell the three of them to sit on the sofa in the dorm and take some selfies.
“Are you guys going to eat breakfast before you go out?”
“Seongbin hyung said he’ll make some toast for me.”
By the way, there were three slices of bread in the frying pan.
It seemed like they were just toasting bread without any jam or eggs. The world of idols is so dry both in the mouth and the chest.
“I’ll do it if you just grill it. You guys get ready to go.”
“Yes? You don’t have to do that… … .”
“I can’t sleep any longer anyway. Once I wake up, I can’t sleep again.”
I’m not very good at cooking, but I can bake a loaf of bread.
When I took the spatula away, Jeong Seong-bin started to fidget and circled around me before retreating.
“I think there were eggs in the fridge. Can you send some for me?”
“No, bro! It’s really okay!”
“I’m okay too… … .”
“I’d like an egg!”
Before Kang Ki-yeon could finish speaking, Lee Cheong-hyeon, who had gone to the bathroom, shouted. I wondered what on earth had happened to his hearing.