Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols

Chapter 315: University Festival (2)

Spark was assigned the first slot on stage. It was still too early for the sun to set. People who had come to secure seats to see famous singers weren’t interested in Spark.

As we were getting ready to get out of the van, Lee Cheonghyeon suddenly pointed outside and shouted,

“There’s our light stick!”

Kang Kiyeon and I simultaneously turned our heads. Sure enough, a woman holding a very familiar light stick was walking toward the audience section.

Lee Cheonghyeon even called Jeong Seongbin, who was in another car, to tell him that a Sparkler had shown up. It was a good start.

“Hello, we are Spark!”

Compared to our loud greeting, the applause that followed was rather small.

Still, I felt good. The view from the open stage was quite pleasing.

‘It’s hard to get this kind of experience with indoor recordings.’

The other members also seemed happy. The stage lighting wasn’t clumsily fixed in an X-shape like when the accident happened in the past. Satisfied. Very satisfied.“Our Spark’s hair looks really bright and fresh today. Is this a recent concept?”

The MC looked at Lee Cheonghyeon and me and asked.

I had been planning to finally move away from the silver hair look, but since the festival got scheduled, I decided to go bold and try a vivid sky blue dye. The symbol color of this school was sky blue, you see.

I knew the color would come out vividly since my base tone had completely faded, but it turned out so bright it looked like I’d dunked my head into a paint bucket.

“The mascot character for Kaist is sky blue. We dyed our hair to match it as a thank-you for inviting us!”

As for Lee Cheonghyeon, his hair had turned ash-blue because his serenity-colored dye had faded, but since it was still close enough to blue, we decided to go with it as a set.

“You’re right, it’s a similar color to Napjagi!”

A few students reacted when they heard something they recognized. Someone was even waving a mascot plushie. When Park Joowoo, who had bought a Napjagi doll at the souvenir shop during our waiting time, waved it back in response, sounds of ‘Oh~’ came from all over.

After being praised for such preparation, the mic was officially handed to us.

“Are you all enjoying the joy of finishing your exams? We have two university students in Spark. Seongbin and Joowoo, how were your midterms?”

“I’ll confess right here. I won the gold medal in liberal arts.”

Laughter erupted from the audience at the diligent Jeong Seongbin’s bombshell announcement.

We used Jeong Seongbin’s liberal arts grades as fodder to continue our talk. It was all a build-up to our song ‘With List’, which was about having fun now that exams were over.

Last May, we’d worked so hard to make a comeback in time for this season. Thanks to that, ‘With List’ had made a name for itself, popping up as the profile music or a meme on students’ messaging apps during every exam season and holiday break.

A bright and cheerful atmosphere combined with a familiarity that students had likely heard a few times. It was a perfect opening song.

『A small water bottle and even a light stick

Did you bring them all?

Ready to have the perfect time?』

We had even changed some of the lyrics to fit the festival. The words weren’t perfectly clear in the live setting, but if you emphasize unique words, they tend to stick in your ear. Every time we hit a key point, we could see the audience reacting, waving their light sticks and glow sticks. Thanks to the repetitive melody, many people were singing along to the chorus by the time the final verse ended. And those light sticks were truly dazzling. Overwhelmingly so.

Next, we sang ‘New World’, the song I had covered with Berion on ‘IDC’. This time, it was with all of Spark.

Although I was the only one who had covered the song, all the members had monitored the performance during ‘IDC’ so it didn’t take long to prepare.

Besides, it was a great song for the audience to sing along to. Such was the power of a popular, well-known song.

Just like on ‘IDC,’ we kept the original feel but used our larger numbers to add richer harmonies. There wasn’t any choreography, so we focused on engaging the audience and giving lots of fan service.

『Let me jump in

Into a heart-pounding

New world』

After warming up the crowd with these two songs…

“This is our first time at a university festival, and the energy is incredible. Is this what all university festivals are like? Or are you Kaist students just really responsive?”

“I saw people waving glow sticks from the back earlier. Everyone is really vibing with us.”

…The atmosphere on site was slowly turning in our favor. The once-indifferent crowd was starting to pay attention.

I continued the banter while the members drank some water.

“The character here is named Napjagi, right? The one with the big round eyes. The moment I saw it, I thought it looked exactly like our vocalist friend. Joowoo, come over here.”

I called Park Joowoo to the center of the stage and held the plushie he was holding next to his face. The round eyes and oddly deep pupils drew a wave of laughter. Lee Cheonghyeon, who saw the situation on the monitor, burst into a fit of laughter.

It was then that a powerful voice came from near the front.

“Octopus hyung!”

“Are you… talking to me?”

The student who had been waving at me nodded his head vigorously.

I had forgotten. Just as much as ‘With List’, which contained the vacation wishes of adults, and ‘New World’, a piece of childhood memory, Kim Iwol’s ‘Fortune-Telling Octopus’ was also famous among 20-somethings who used short-form content.

“Please tell us how the Hanwha Eagles will do this year!”

Laughter exploded from all sides. Having this kind of back-and-forth was a million times better than having no communication with the audience at all, but…

“I’m not supposed to carelessly leak secrets from the heavens. So I’ll keep it brief.”

Truth be told, I didn’t know much about the KBO league.

All I knew were bits of gossip passed down like folklore, so I spoke very carefully.

“I wish them the best of luck.”

“Agh!”

Agonized screams poured out from those who understood the implication of my words. Oh, heavens, if you are watching, please bring a wind of change to the Hanwha Eagles this year.

* * *

Keep the talk as short as possible to avoid any lulls. Do as many performances as we can.

To stick to this rule, Spark sang their hearts out. After performing ‘MISSION’ and another cover song back-to-back, I could see the sky turning a reddish hue.

Bathing in the setting sun, the members danced their bones out and grabbed for their water bottles the moment the song ended. Park Joowoo drank like a dried pollack desperate for moisture.

I gestured for the exhausted-looking Jeong Seongbin to drink first, and while I was about to talk to the audience in the meantime, Lee Cheonghyeon adjusted his microphone.

‘Right, he asked for some time to talk.’

He’d assured me it wasn’t a declaration that he was going to try and get into Kaist, so I’d said okay, but I was curious about what on earth he wanted to say that he specifically requested time for it.

And Lee Cheonghyeon did not betray my expectations. He brought up a topic I could never have imagined.

“My older brother also attends Kaist, so I really wanted to come here at least once! Hyung, are you watching? Maybe you’re studying right now?”

The news that a celebrity’s sibling attended the school drew a great deal of attention. The hands of people tapping on their phones or pressing shutter buttons moved faster.

“I was always wondering when I’d get to visit the school my brother goes to, and now I’m finally here. My brother is a shy person, so I doubt he’s told anyone he has an idol for a younger brother! Still, please take good care of my brother, who’s probably bustling around here somewhere! And please give Spark lots of love, too!”

Lee Cheonghyeon bowed deeply. He spent the rest of the event smiling from ear to ear, enjoying every moment until the final performance.

With our performance of ‘Flowering’ against the setting sun as our finale, Spark’s time was over. The real festival was about to begin after dark, so we wrapped up right on schedule.

I came down to the tent and approached Lee Cheonghyeon, who was putting away his microphone.

“What got into you, talking about your brother?”

Lee Cheonghyeon chuckled, maybe because my deeply lowered voice sounded awkward.

“Why? Can’t a little brother talk about his big brother sometimes?”

“…”

I said nothing.

The only reason I hadn’t tried to separate Cheonghyeon from his father was because he was still under legal guardianship.

Once he became an adult, whether he chose to fight and live independently or to reconcile and rebuild a peaceful relationship, I planned to support whatever decision he made.

But was there really a need to try to get along with his brother? From what I’d heard, it seemed the younger brother had been quite insolent himself.

Seeing my expression, Lee Cheonghyeon sidled up to me and said.

“I didn’t do that to get closer to my brother.”

“What?”

“I was getting my revenge. To make him uncomfortable.”

Lee Cheonghyeon moved away from me. Then he grinned.

“My brother hates noisy things. But unfortunately, he’s handsome. He has the kind of looks that can’t help but stand out. Not as much as me, though.”

“Well, I’d expect so if he’s your brother.”

“You have no idea how much my family made me walk on eggshells when I was at home. So this time, I decided to make my brother walk on eggshells. Not that it’ll come close to what I went through.”

He said it nonchalantly.

“Once the rumor starts spreading that my brother goes here? There’s no way he’ll stay unnoticed. It’ll drive him crazy.”

Lee Cheonghyeon laughed as if he found it amusing. But he didn’t look relieved.

“Where did you learn to do something like that…?”

“Where else? I learned it from you, hyung.”

“You’re saying I taught you this kind of terrifying underhanded scheme?”

I was flabbergasted and felt wronged. I had never done anything that scary.

Meeting my gaze that demanded an explanation, Lee Cheonghyeon crossed his arms and said in a small voice.

“I’m talking about Seongbin hyung’s cover of ‘First Step’ from ‘Genre-Switch.’ Do you know that among our peers, there are more kids who think Seongbin hyung is the original singer now?”

“…”

“It felt so satisfying.”

Only then did I understand the meaning behind his sudden action.

Lee Cheonghyeon wanted to give it back, too. The miserable treatment he had received, in the way that would make the other person most uncomfortable.

But…

“You and Seongbin are different.”

“How come?”

Lee Cheonghyeon retorted.

“Seongbin felt better after doing that, but you don’t.”

“No, I feel better too. It’s the first time I’ve gotten my brother back, so it feels good.”

“Really?”

Lee Cheonghyeon flinched at my question.

Of course, it would weigh on his mind. It seemed that for Lee Cheonghyeon, the feelings of resentment and affection for his family coexisted. Even if he tried to force himself to ignore those contradictory emotions, it would only be painful if he didn’t realize his true feelings.

“Don’t try to sort everything out so quickly. You’ll only end up hurting yourself.”

“…”

Lee Cheonghyeon clammed up.

At that moment, Manager Daeyeon pushed aside the tent flap, came in, and said.

“Cheonghyeon. There’s someone here saying he’s your brother. Is your brother’s name by any chance Lee Soohoon?”

Lee Cheonghyeon raised his head. Through the opening in the tent, the perfectly creased cuff of a man’s trousers was visible.