Free Web NovelThe next day, Kang Giyeon finally gave in to my relentless pestering and went to get his height measured.
He returned with official confirmation that he had, in fact, reached 180 centimeters.
My condition immediately skyrocketed to its absolute peak. I couldn’t stop smiling.
“Spark, the all-180-centimeter group.”
What a beautiful phrase.
“What would you have done if I hadn’t reached 180?”
“Then I would’ve passionately pushed the ‘above-average height’ angle instead.”
“That’s terrifying.”
Kang Giyeon fled with a disturbed expression, but I didn’t care. I thoroughly savored the achievement I had spent years obtaining.
My good mood naturally improved my productivity. I could physically feel how much faster my mind worked and how much easier concentration had become. Songwriting studies went smoothly, as did stunt-fall practice. Everyone who saw me kept asking if something good had happened.
And once my condition improved this much, something unbelievable happened.
“Seongbin.”
“Yes, hyung.”
“I want to work.”
......I wanted to work.
Wasn’t that amazing?
There was one thing that needed to be clarified here.
This absolutely was not some compulsive feeling that I had to keep doing something.
I didn’t feel chased. Nobody was pressuring me. Even the System had stayed completely silent ever since throwing the KPI at me.
So this was genuinely, purely because I was bored and wanted to work.
Something similar had happened during the filming of In My Office. Back then I’d started doing things like making financial statements in the corner. That eventually led to those “They literally dropped a real Yeouido office worker into the set” reaction posts, but still.
The other members weren’t nearly as free as I was. Even Park Juu returned to his radio schedule after only two weeks of rest.
I alone had truly become unemployed.
Under those circumstances, how could anyone not get bored?
Jeong Seongbin stared at me with horrified disbelief. I hurriedly tried explaining myself. I insisted I wasn’t a work addict, only that now my quality of life had improved, I wanted to balance things out with an appropriate amount of work.
“Even I hate hard labor. I’m not saying I want to stare at a monitor until my eyes dry out. It’s just that when people keep doing one thing, eventually they start wanting to do something else.”
“.......”
“If inspiration strikes, I at least want to jot things down...... Is there really no way?”
After a long and desperate appeal, I was finally allowed to use the communal laptop.
The password was still painfully insecure. We had considered changing it, but eventually gave up because Choi Jeho would absolutely forget the new password with one hundred percent certainty.
‘Until now, I’ve been squeezing work into time that didn’t even exist...... So this time, maybe I can just prepare for the next thing at a relaxed pace.’
A blank new page in Notion greeted me.
Slowly, I typed in the title.
Summer was brutally hot.
The weather was far too harsh for sparks to fly around energetically. It was so hot that every single member lost whatever little regional fat they had left.
We practically lived at the practice room every day just to survive.
Since the company was covering electricity bills anyway, we figured it was better to improve our professional skills than sit around the dorm wasting living expenses.
And once we were already there, we practiced. Took training lessons. Ate at the company because going outside was too hot. Then we practiced again because we needed to digest. Then we stayed underground until nighttime because evenings were cooler, except summer sunsets came late, so we ended up trapped in the basement until night anyway......
After living like this for two months, Spark became masters capable of flawlessly performing a dance medley of every new release from the first half of the year.
Even me.
“Doesn’t this feel just like our trainee days again?”
“Having more time to learn and practice is a good thing.”
Kang Giyeon immediately agreed with me.
After enduring an entire midsummer special training arc, I had finally reached the point where I could legitimately claim to possess something resembling dance lines. Considering I had originally evolved from hula-hoop performances to actual waves over the course of roughly three thousand years, Kang Giyeon clearly felt a sense of accomplishment.
“Oh right, Verion’s making a comeback soon.”
“When?”
“Next month, apparently? Something already got posted on their official account.”
Lee Cheonghyeon fiddled with his phone before showing us the screen. Apparently they intended to push an aggressive comeback timed with the changing seasons.
“Do you think Parte sunbaenims still won’t do a domestic comeback this year?”
Park Juu asked carefully.
After the 폭로 controversy during Idol Annals of the Dynasty, Parte had attempted a single domestic comeback only to get torn apart by public opinion. Since then, they had spent all their time on overseas tours.
“There wasn’t anything about a comeback in their yearly plans, so probably not.”
Even while saying it, I felt disappointed.
At a time when people were calling it an idol recession because there was no true national group dominating the industry, this was practically the perfect environment to promote.
If they had just squeezed in three consecutive comebacks before the end of the year, they could’ve gained far more attention and results than the investment itself warranted.
It was maddening.
Just then, someone heavily leaned against my back. Through the mirror, I saw Lee Cheonghyeon grinning mischievously.
“What are you worrying about now?”
“I’m grieving over the tragedy of missing the perfect comeback timing.”
“You’re weirdly honest. As a reward, here’s some water.”
Lee Cheonghyeon handed me his tumbler. I drank half of it in one go like a man guzzling straight from a bottle.
“We decided to take longer preparing because we’re doing a full-length album this time. And you’re still greedy over the schedules we missed?”
For the sake of Sparklers, who had grown used to frequent comebacks and would suddenly find themselves starved for content, Spark had decided to produce a full album for the first time in ages.
We planned to pack it full of songs and agonize ourselves to death over the album concept.
The dedicated team somehow managed to patch together a feasible plan using the budget originally scheduled for the second half of the year, plus money left unused during the first half, after I shoved my rough draft proposal at them.
Flexibility was one of the unique strengths small companies possessed.
Even so, regret was regret.
If humanity had never been greedy, civilization would never have advanced.
“Lost time never comes back.”
“If I look back on this period way in the future, I don’t think I’ll regret it at all. I’ve lived incredibly productively.”
“Really? So you want to take things slower?”
“No. I mean it’s been good.”
Lee Cheonghyeon shrugged.
“But seriously, you’re not going to release any songs? You could definitely finish something polished enough for testing.”
He was referring to my toddling little self-composed songs that were still at the “learning to walk” stage.
“I decided completion itself is meaningful enough. They’re still far too lacking to commercialize.”
“And yet somehow you trusted me with the debut song.”
Lee Cheonghyeon grumbled.
Still, he didn’t pressure me any further.
He had definitely overheard me muttering to Brilliance on the balcony, “Brilliance...... I don’t think I have talent for composing.”
But nobody gets full after a single spoonful.
I decided the grand dream of writing one proper song could remain a long-term goal.
“But hyung, are we really going with that album concept?”
Lee Cheonghyeon suddenly lowered his voice and whispered.
“Why? You don’t like it?”
“It’s not that I dislike it......”
“Does it feel excessively niche? Like I got inspired by some bizarre subculture flow and started clumsily imitating it?”
“I never said all that!”
Lee Cheonghyeon immediately panicked and denied it.
“It’s just hard to imagine. You and Jeho hyung doing...... that kind of concept? It’s not that I doubt your artistic sense. It’s just that from my narrow perspective, the matching feels difficult.”
“At that point just insult me directly.”
“How is that an insult? Cheonghyeon fully trusts hyung. I was only worried Jeho hyung might need to get rid of his chest muscles before comeback season.”
“If that’s the concern, don’t worry. He already agreed to slim down before the comeback.”
“Seriously? After bulking up that much?”
Even among well-built idols, Choi Jeho stood out for his physique.
Fans kindly described him as “solid,” but in person, “massive” was more accurate.
People said dancers with too much muscle could look stiff, but Choi Jeho wasn’t like that at all. His body control and power created speed, while his ability to adjust strength and tension preserved flexibility.
Still, during active idol promotions he usually maintained a physique that wouldn’t stand out excessively, only sharpening his muscles slightly for photoshoots. But during the break, he had swollen up like a sponge soaked in water.
At this point, it wouldn’t have been strange if fitness channels started trying to recruit him.
‘Just letting you know in advance, but before comeback season, you need to get back to around the level you were at during “Flowering.”’
‘Not even Bright era? All the way back to debut days?’
‘Can’t help it. I ran simulations, and that version looked best.’
I’d been so worried I even issued advance warnings. Thankfully, he had at least agreed verbally.
Other than that, I spent my days repeatedly exposing and covering Jeong Seongbin’s forehead bangs, while testing which lighting colors looked most dazzling against Park Juu’s eyes.
‘Seongbin! Next time we absolutely need to expose your forehead! Even if I forget, you have to remind me!’
‘Hyung, you already wrote it in giant letters on Notion.’
I even checked his hairline personally so the “Jeong Seongbin Forehead Appreciation Association” wouldn’t be disappointed.
Thankfully, Jeong Seongbin’s hairline was genuinely beautiful.
I was satisfied.
‘Why do you never say anything about me?’
At one point, Kang Giyeon lodged a small complaint after feeling left out.
‘Giyeon, your miraculous growth alone has already brought me peace, comfort, and infinite possibilities. Thanks to you, I’m now able to dream bigger dreams.’
‘......Okay.’
......After hearing my perfectly logical explanation, he accepted it and went back.
I did at least recommend that if he really wanted to do something, he should practice guitar diligently. Guitar practice didn’t strain the joints much.
Car stunt practice was also progressing smoothly, and individual activities for each member would begin launching soon.
In the idol industry, where love calls were basically lifeblood, this was a genuine golden age.
‘Which is exactly why if we’d also pushed a comeback rush during this timing......’
I stopped myself.
There was no point regretting schedules we had already spectacularly ruined. Instead, I firmly reminded myself again and again that the stupidest thing possible would be ruining the hard-earned break period because I failed to manage my own mental state properly.
Still, they said heaven never completely abandoned people.
“Inquiries for livestream content filming?”
“Yes. We already informed them that Spark currently isn’t accepting appearances, but they contacted us again asking us to at least review the proposal.”
While I wandered the company hallways with absolutely nothing to do, the news that appearance offers had come in for Spark rang in my ears as loudly as if someone had held a megaphone directly beside my head.
