Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols

Parthe’s teaser began with a sophisticated group logo.

 

Soon after, pretty boys with intense makeup showed their faces one by one.

 

Their all-black outfits and the smoke on the floor were impressive.

 

The teaser ended with them standing in formation under a bright red moon CGI.

 

Aside from the slightly awkward expressions of the rookies, it was a good performance.

 

“…It’s decent.”

 

Choi Jeho said. It was a concise review typical of him.

 

“What kind of concept is it? A werewolf theme because of the moon?”

 

“It seems more like an underworld theme. The group name comes from the Parthenon temple. Maybe they’re going for a Greek mythology concept from the start?”

 

I said while moving the playback bar forward.

 

I’d been too busy fangirling over Spark to pay attention to other idols, but a concept this clear was hard to miss.

 

“We won’t know for sure until the next teaser is out. Has the next release schedule been announced?”

 

“…It’s out next week.”

 

Next week was also when Jang Junhoo’s music video would be released.

 

In our case, the release would be without a teaser.

 

I wasn’t sure if it was due to a lack of promotional plans or if they were trying to focus all attention on the music video rather than splitting it across teasers.

 

‘Even considering the difference between an idol and a ballad singer, the comparison is inevitable.’

 

Having seen a filming site in person, albeit only once, I could roughly guess the scale of the set just from the teaser.

 

This must be why there was a saying ‘If you’re going to be a servant, be one in a rich household’.

 

I scrolled down to check the comments.

 

Half were in English, despite the group not having debuted yet—It seemed they already had international fans.

 

The Korean comments I saw were mostly positive.

 

≫ This is why big companies are the best

 

≫ The taste of capital is sweet

 

≫ Minil, congratulations on your debut ♥ Let’s walk only on the flower path!

 

≫ How does MYTH keep finding such good-looking guys… Every day there are new handsome ones

 

I could confidently say our team’s visuals wouldn’t lose to anyone either.

 

Led by Lee Cheonghyeon with his jade-like beauty, no member fell short in looks—it was Spark’s strength.

 

There might be suspicions that my vision had blurred after making over 20 Spark cup holders, but I could be certain of this one thing.

 

Spark had never received any malicious comments about their looks.

 

It was just regrettable that with me, a completely ordinary person, joining the group, they wouldn’t be able to claim that honor this time.

 

In that case, the main issue would clearly be ‘capital power’.

 

As trends became more important in the entertainment business and the scale of investment in the idol business changed, the public’s evaluation criteria also increased every year.

 

It was good that we moved up Spark’s debut schedule to narrow the gap with frontrunners like Parthe, but it was inevitable that we’d get compared.

 

≫ Honestly, Spark’s music video… looks pretty lame. UA seems to be spending money, but it looks so cheap

 

≫  I can accept them skimping on stage costumes, but I wish they’d spend more on the MVㅠㅠ. They can’t just rely on the members’ faces forever.

 

≫ The company just doesn’t want to spend money on unnecessary thingsㅇㅇ Why spend money when fans will still praise it, even if it’s badly shotㅋㅋㅋㅋ The fandom brought this upon themselves.

 

└ Wow, you’re blaming the fans for this?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ └ㅇ┐

 

This was just from the comments I saw while making a compilation video of Spark comments.

 

And now we were being directly compared to a major rookie group?

 

I could already see people gleefully pasting four or five screenshots from the MV background together and spreading it with titles like ‘The Reality of Small Companies’ across online communities.

 

The image of being from a small company itself wasn’t bad. What could be done if the company was actually small?

 

Besides, it was not like there weren’t successful cases of debuting from a small company.

 

But continually instilling the image of ‘the company doesn’t invest in the group’ was dangerous. It could cause fans to feel fatigued.

 

I’d be leaving soon, but Spark was a group that would last for 7 years.  At times like this, I had to think from a long-term perspective.

 

For that, securing the budget from the company was important.

 

I was thinking of begging them to pour every bit of the production costs saved by Lee Cheonghyeon writing the song and Choi Jeho and Kang Kiyeon creating the choreography into the music video.

 

That way we might last 7 weeks, if not 7 years.

 

‘F*ck… Even thinking about how they disbanded on their seventh anniversary still gets on my nerves.’

 

Oops. Thinking too hard about the group’s future made me recall unpleasant memories.

 

It was time to take a deep breath to regain my peace.

 

When I handed over my phone to calm my mind and body, Kang Kiyeon and Jeong Seongbin started reading through the comments I was looking at.

 

Including Lee Cheonghyeon who had just joined, the three of them read the comments seriously with their faces gradually hardening.

 

“To think there’d be hate comments even though it’s this cool… And it’s just a teaser.”

 

“There are mixed reviews? Was I the only one who liked the sound?”

 

At the same time, these guys were wearing down their mental strength.

 

At this rate, they might stay up all night leaving positive comments for Parthe, risking accusations of viral marketing.

 

In particular, Kang Kiyeon’s face looked grim.

 

“If there are so many hate comments for people who haven’t even debuted yet… After debut…”

 

“Hey, give me the phone.”

 

“Ah, yes.”

 

“And you guys are banned from monitoring and browsing your names from debut day. Got it?”

 

“Huh?”

 

That was close. I almost dragged our team members into a swamp while monitoring another team.

 

I made a mental note to keep an eye on these three particularly vulnerable members.

 

I resolved to do the monitoring myself, even if it meant getting dry eyes from reading comments.

 

* * *

 

“Lastly, could you share your determination for this upcoming stage?”

 

“I’ll work hard. Please cheer for us…!”

 

“Cut!”

 

As soon as I called for a cut, Kang Kiyeon, dressed in his training clothes, let out a sigh of relief while wiping his chest.

 

Tonight as well, the two of us were conducting the popular ‘Kang Kiyeon Exclusive Mock Interview’ without fail.

 

And in just 4 weeks and 3 days, Kang Kiyeon achieved remarkable results. It was a miracle like a midsummer night’s dream.

 

“Do you know that today, for the first time, you finished the interview without shaking your hands even once?”

 

“Really?”

 

Kang Kiyeon looked surprised.  I played back the recorded video for him to check himself.

 

Good pronunciation, good volume, good comments. This was a great improvement.

 

Although his gaze was a bit uneasy and his responses were somewhat mechanical, those could be improved with more practice.

 

+

 

[SYSTEM] ‘Hidden Task’ completed.

 

▷ Content: Helping members grow

 

▷ Reward: Exp (10)

 

▷ Total exp: 95

 

▷ Total point: 0

 

+

 

Look. Even the system acknowledged it as a success.

 

This was clear evidence that Kang Kiyeon’s skills had improved.

 

Kang Kiyeon himself seemed to notice the clear change, unable to take his eyes off the camera screen.

 

“There’s still a lot to improve going forward. You know that, right?”

 

“Yes. Especially my gaze… it’s almost on the floor.”

 

“You’ll improve with practice. Let’s try focusing on other things starting tomorrow.”

 

After pointing out the next tasks, I started packing up the tripod I had set up on the floor.

 

‘Maybe next time, I should get a broken camera or something instead of using my phone’s camera.’

 

Even at Jang Junhoo’s music video shoot, there were several cameras. The pressure from those lenses couldn’t compare to the tiny camera on a smartphone.

 

Just as I was starting to desperately wish for even the camera that Manager Nam bought wanting to take commemorative photos at mountain peaks, Kang Kiyeon, who was clearing chairs behind me, spoke up.

 

“Uh, hyung.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“Where did you learn to do this kind of thing?”

 

“Ahem, huh?”

 

When I turned around, Kang Kiyeon had an innocent face that showed no sign of malice.

 

He had no idea he had just stabbed at a regressor’s weak point with a knife sharpened a hundred times.

 

My heart pounded so hard it was going to burst, as if pierced by an awl.

 

“Learn? I just thought ‘Wouldn’t it help to practice similar to the real thing?’ and gave it some thought, that’s all.”

 

I did learn. By using my superiors as negative examples.

 

But Kang Kiyeon wasn’t convinced so easily.

 

“But hyung seems to be very thorough in explaining things. The things you point out are different every time.”

 

“Maybe it’s because I have a good eye? Everyone always says I have a good eye for things.”

 

“Hmm.”

 

Try handling an orientation with dozens of new hires. Your pupils will split in all directions.

 

Still, since I couldn’t tell him the truth, I decided to act brazen instead.

 

“What, you don’t trust my teaching methods? Should I play you speech training videos from MiTube starting tomorrow?”

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Fortunately, Kang Kiyeon backed down right away.

 

My humanity might have taken a bit of a hit, but there was no helping it.

 

What if they found out that I knew about the future, stripped me of all my information, and then kicked me out?

 

That could never happen. I’m going to stick to you guys like a leech on the bottom of your shoes.

 

“Do you think you could handle simple photoshoots, aside from interviews and stage performances? We have profile shoots coming up soon.”

 

Right.

 

The profile shoot that would go up on the portal sites after debut was coming up soon.

 

If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t have kept Kang Kiyeon, who needed to sleep a lot and grow quickly, here until this hour.

 

“I think I could manage it if it’s just taking photos. I was fine when taking ID photos at school too.”

 

Ah.

 

That photo where there was no hint of a smile to be found, no matter how hard you looked?

 

I recalled Kiyeon’s high school ID photo, which would later become famous as the ‘Northern Grand Duke Shot, unparalleled in the world of arts high school ID photos’.

 

It didn’t really matter how the photo turned out if he liked that kind of stern image.

 

Fans would love any photo as long as his features were clear anyway.

 

‘But since he didn’t like that kind of photo…’

 

I wasn’t sure if it had always been that way, but Kang Kiyeon didn’t particularly like his own stern image.

 

All the guys in this group were like that—they had expressions that were easy to misunderstand when they kept their mouths shut.

 

‘Am I sick, you ask? No, Sparkler. I’m in a good mood today. …Does my expression look very stiff?’

 

‘No, Kang Kiyeon! Don’t be discouraged! It’s just that the camera quality is bad today! Right, everyone?!’

 

I could vividly picture Kang Kiyeon getting gloomy whenever the topic of his expression came up, and Kee Cheonghyun trying his best to comfort him.

 

Of course, I wasn’t going to let him off just because that was how his natural face looked.

 

Since he wanted to fix it, I’d make him into a smiling machine, even if it meant using rubber bands to pull up the corners of his mouth.  I’d engrave the joys and sorrows of social life onto his face.

 

I was even thinking of making him greet the members with a smile every morning when Kang Kiyeon spoke again.

 

“I’ll practice taking photos by myself more.”

 

“Are you sure you can do it?”

 

“Yes. Hyung, you should go home early today.”

 

I wondered if he was being considerate and telling me to go home early, but this was ‘that’ Kang Kiyeon.

 

There was no way the guy who made me roll on the practice room floor until 11 PM would suddenly show me such kindness.

 

‘Well… Whether I go home early or late, I’ll still have work to do.’

 

If I stayed in the practice room longer, I’d just practice more. If I went back to the dorm, I’d still be working, so it wouldn’t really change my rest time.

 

“Okay. Let’s call it a day.”

 

Still, I couldn’t send the kid off alone, so I wrapped up practice and packed my things.

 

Not even imagining that, a few days later, Kang Kiyeon would return with a bright smile.