Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols

“Why are you both silent? Don’t tell me you were going to resort to fistfights when you’re aiming to be idols?”

 

For a moment, silence fell in the practice room.

 

“…”

 

“Did you want to carry controversies even before your debut? Are you both the type to take high risks for high returns?”

 

If that were the case, these two should be having a conversation with me first instead of fighting each other.

 

As I was contemplating whether I should straighten out their minds until concepts and manners were engraved in their spines, Choi Jeho asked.

 

“If you’re not going to stop us, why did you step in?”

 

“I want you to change your way of communicating. You’re both old enough to express yourselves respectfully.”

 

With that, both of them clammed up.

 

Considering they had the personality of immediately striking back when disagreeing with something, it seemed they both somewhat agreed with me.

 

“I want you to have a healthy conversation. Not using a fight as an excuse to vent your anger.”

 

“…”

 

“You too, Choi Jeho. Now that you know Kiyeon has complaints, shouldn’t you ask what’s bothering him? Let’s not waste what we learned in ethics class.”

 

The two sighed, looking like they had been hit with a bucket of cold water mixed with latte. It was a sign that they had lost the will to fight.

 

‘If stopping the fight were all it took, I would stop here, but…’

 

≫Look at our Seongbin, he’s exhausted from trying to manage the situation, sipping the last drop of cola through a straw with Joowooㅠㅠ Main dancer line, get a clue, or better yet, don’t.

 

└ Spark-ass really deserves its nickname. The live broadcast atmosphere was ruined, but they’re all acting like they’re fine and pretending to be cool

 

└ If you don’t at least delude yourself, how can you support these guysㅋㅋ Watching the whole thing f*cking killed me

 

└ You say it killed you to watch, but you watched the entire live broadcast? Congrats on becoming a fan

 

└ Their delusion is really something else

 

Even if I aimed only for a safe debut, I would be with Spark for at least another year.

 

In this situation, burying the conflict and pretending not to know was like agreeing to live with the feeling of walking on thin ice that could break at any moment.

 

Moreover, the subjects of this tension were the two people who fought the most within Spark. I couldn’t just completely ignore it and end the conversation.

 

“If it’s still hard to talk after cooling down, get help from a third party. Having another person involved might clear your heads a bit.”

 

“…”

 

“You’ve been in group activities much longer than I have, so it must be harder for you, and you must have held back a lot. But you don’t want the other members to be walking on eggshells, do you?”

 

Then Choi Jeho and Kang Kiyeon’s eyes turned to Jeong Seongbin’s pale face.

 

This kind of thing must have happened more than once or twice, and each time, Seongbin must have intervened somehow to mediate. I didn’t have to see it to know that.

 

“Then I hope you both reach an amicable agreement. I’m going back in.”

 

“You can’t go back in.”

 

“Huh?”

 

With his arms crossed, Choi Jaeho looked directly at me and said.

 

“You, become the third party.”

 

No. Shouldn’t you, as the eldest, step up and say, ‘I’ll do it, as Spark’s honorary mediator’?

 

I had no desire to get involved in their quarrel.

 

My social capacity was already stretched thin by just talking and practicing with Spark every day.

 

Still, as I was about to calmly suggest that they should handle their issues responsibly, a system pop-up appeared before my eyes.

 

+

 

[SYSTEM] ‘New task’ has been assigned.

 

▷ Resolve the dispute between members and eliminate potential controversy (Stick function can be used once)

 

▷ Reward: Exp (20), Activate the stick function

 

+

No fu**ing way, you want me to resolve the quarrels between grown-up kids?

 

When there were multiple intelligent beings, it was natural for conflicts of opinion to happen.

 

But the term ‘potential controversy’ bothered me.

 

I quickly went through Spark’s history in my mind.

 

‘Controversies that might have happened between Choi Jeho and Kang Kiyeon… Excluding the attitude controversy which was only about Choi Jeho, and the personality controversy which both of them had but wasn’t connected between them…’

 

So many potential controversies came to mind. Even for me, who was the most clueless on the team, this mess was unbelievable.

 

I respected both Jeong Seongbin, who had led this group for seven years, and Manager Nam’s daughter who had passionately fangirled Spark for seven years.

 

If it were me, I would have stopped being a fan long ago when the member disrespect controversy first broke out…

 

‘This is it!’

 

It was the controversy that spread when the awkward air between Choi Jaeho and Kang Kiyeon was caught on camera about two years after their debut.

 

If it were office workers fighting, it would end with some gossip…

 

Jeho and Kiyeon seemed distant despite being in the same group, and the misunderstanding snowballed as more posts were made.

 

And eventually, it escalated to a personality controversy claiming that Choi Jeho, the older one, disrespected Kang Kiyeon, who was younger and not even the center, creating a sharp atmosphere within the team.

 

≫ If they’re like this on camera, imagine off-camera;;; The coldness is intense.

 

≫ Still, how can they openly disrespect a fellow member like that? I feel embarrassed for them

 

≫ How many years have fans been defending him claiming he’s just shy?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ This is the result. So damn disappointing, Jeho

 

└ There’s no need to blame othersㅋㅋㅋ You raised him like this and now you’re disappointed? Keep supporting your Jeho who you find cute even with his poor social skills

 

On top of that, the cyber wreckers got involved…

 

There were videos like ‘A male idol who couldn’t stand the military culture and rebelled’, ‘Idol controversial for ignoring members… How could they do this to a member?’.

 

…Those kinds of videos ran rampant.

 

The algorithm favored these so much that the fake thumbnail of Choi Jeho and Kang Kiyeon glaring at each other was still vivid in my mind.

 

And unfortunately, all these incidents occurred at a time when mentions of Spark were noticeably increasing.

 

In other words, it wasn’t supposed to surface openly yet.

 

‘Why is this happening now?’

 

It was true that Choi Jeho and Kang Kiyeon kept a strange distance right before their debut.

 

But timing-wise, this shouldn’t have happened for at least another 2 years, or considering when the issue actually blew up, 4 years.

 

Even Jeong Seongbin suddenly lost his composure.

 

At that moment, I remembered the precautions I had read recently.

 

+

 

[SYSTEM] ‘Precautions’ are being notified to ‘subordinate’.

 

▷ Excessive changes to the existing schedule may result in corresponding disadvantages.

 

▷ Even if the schedule is brought forward, the frequency of occurrences for planned events remains valid, and their time of occurrence will be adjusted to the changed schedule.

 

+

 

F*ck, it wasn’t them, I was the one who was taking a high risk and high return.

 

When I realized that all of this was my karma, I felt a knot in my stomach. My head started to hurt a bit too.

 

‘It f*cking sucks, but what’s done is done.’

 

With time already limited, it was better to use any available time to find the best solution rather than regretting it.

 

I racked my brain to find positive aspects in the current situation.

 

Just like any other event, this one had its advantages.

 

‘Considering how UA’s poor response fueled solo fandoms, it might be better to prevent it in advance.’

 

Wouldn’t this be better than watching Choi Jeho’s and Kang Kiyeon’s fans tear each other apart?

 

Of course, this was assuming that I could prevent the incidents in advance.

 

I should have applied for a transfer to become a manager. If not that, then maybe as UA’s exclusive confession booth operator.

 

“Guys, I don’t think practice is the most important thing right now.”

 

“What?”

 

“Can everyone sit down? Let’s talk.”

 

Emergency. It truly was an emergency.

 

* * *

 

Including Park Joowoo, who no one knew when he had come in, we sat in a circle in the middle of the practice room.

 

“I don’t think this is something that needs to be made into such a big deal.”

 

Kang Kiyeon expressed his dissatisfaction.

 

Although he had shouted out of anger, he had tried to smooth things over in his own way. But it seemed he was irritated because Choi Jeho had insensitively stirred things up, and I had added fuel to the fire.

 

“I said let’s have a healthy conversation. Kiyeon, you’re banned from speaking until you cool down.”

 

So I decided to just keep his mouth shut. When you’re angry, even good words can come out twisted.

 

“Choi Jeho, what exactly didn’t you like about what Kiyeon said?”

 

“…It’s not that I didn’t like it.”

 

“Considering the effort the four of us are making to listen to your opinion, I’d appreciate it if you could speak honestly.”

 

When he tried to brush it off, I smiled and asked nicely, which made Choi Jeho flinch.

 

He was a guy with no friends, so friendly conversation with peers must be awkward for him. I understood.

 

“He dislikes me.”

 

“What?”

 

As soon as Choi Jeho spoke, Kang Kiyeon reacted.

 

The way they sat facing each other made it seem like sparks were flying in the air.

 

They were truly members whose group name, Spark, suited them perfectly.

 

I asked as calmly as possible to prevent Jeho from becoming too aggressive.

 

“Did Kiyeon say with his own mouth that he dislikes you?”

 

“Not exactly, but…”

 

“Then why do you think Kiyeon dislikes you?”

 

“Do I have to hear it in words to know when someone dislikes me?”

 

In short, he had read Kiyeon’s non-verbal cues.

 

This part was unexpected. Jeho was known for living his life without caring about others’ opinions.

 

There was a possibility that his personality had changed while being an idol, but from what I had observed while living and eating with him, Choi Jeho wasn’t much different from how he appeared in the media.

 

‘For someone like him to be this conscious of others… That’s unexpected.’

 

Kang Kiyeon, who had unintentionally become the person shouting ‘I don’t like you’ with his whole body, wore a peculiar expression.

 

“I’ve learned a thing or two in my life, short as it may be.”

 

“You’ve lived exactly as long as I have.”

 

I’ve had about nine more years of experience than you, kid.

 

“Rather than guessing how others feel based on one’s standards, I find it more helpful in continuing conversations to explain why one’s angry.”

 

“You look like you wanted to show that you dislike me even from 100 meters away, so I just set the stage for you to say it outright. Satisfied?”

 

“It’s not that I dislike you.”

 

Just as the conversation was about to heat up, Kang Kiyeon explained.

 

However, it was hard to believe those words. Kang Kiyeon’s expression was really terrible.

 

“We just don’t get along. And I have no intention of trying to get along.”

 

Kang Kiyeon was firm.

 

“Can I ask why you think that way?”

 

In response to my question, Kiyeon hesitated for a moment before answering.

 

“Because he doesn’t intend to get along with others either.”