Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols
SS Chapter 29: The Boss's Rise to Success (1)
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TL: FoodieMonster007
I followed Jeong Seongbin like a competent attendant. I had even prepared a soft mood light to assist my superior, lighting a candle in a vintage holder I found at an antique market. Jeong Seongbin looked beyond tired, utterly fed up.
He'll just have to endure my persistence. What else can he do?
The old iron candle holder and the candle with its hardened, dripping wax made an aesthetically pleasing prop. It was the kind of item people searched for on reference sites.
Later, I'm going to film Lee Cheonghyeon blowing out the candle and preserve it for posterity. I have to make a photocard.
I placed the candle in a safe spot, since it needed to stay lit until Jeong Seongbin fell asleep. Then I brought a stool to his bedside and sat down. He was already tucked under the covers up to his chin.
"In my domain, we had a tradition of reading a fairy tale to the lord when he went to bed, didn't we?"
"Just how old does one have to be to become a lord in this domain?"
Before he was a domain's master, Jeong Seongbin was a professional idol. His dedication to filling every moment of silence was admirable, so I kindly retorted.
"Is there a rule that only children can read fairy tales?"
In the past, Jeong Seongbin had read various news articles to me. I had to lie under a fluffy blanket and listen to him explain how dangerous overworking was for modern people.
To repay his sincerity, I took a small bundle of paper from my suit jacket's inner pocket. It was a spArk-brand handmade fairy tale book, with pages from a cut-up sketchbook and a hardcover made from a delivery box.
"A long, long time ago, in Seongbinius Castle, there lived a 181cm tall little lord."
"The people of Seongbinius Castle must be tall on average."
"You don't seem sleepy. Would you like a walk? The evening primroses have bloomed beautifully in the garden."
Jeong Seongbin, who had been sharply nitpicking, quietly shut his mouth at the warning of a midnight stroll.
I really hope the video team inserts a cut of Park Joowoo's evening primrose pot here.
This fairy tale book was a collaboration between Park Joowoo, the Jeong Seongbin expert, and Kang Kiyeon, who has a knack for storytelling. The touching story was about animal friends gathering to befriend the little lord of Seongbinius Castle.
The scene where the giant bear and his companions dug a waterway to the castle gates to invite the great Fortune-Telling Octopus from the black sea was particularly impressive. The younger members had cheekily pegged their older brothers as a bald Fortune-Telling Octopus and a simple-minded bear.
"…the little lord lived happily ever after in Seongbinius Castle with his new friends. It's a truly beautiful story."
Jeong Seongbin, one of spArk's shorter members whose feet were bound to stick out of the blanket, nodded. The stylish, hotel-grade pillowcases and duvet cover were embroidered with gold thread. Their soft rustling was perfect for ASMR.
I should borrow them again later to create white noise for a 'Midnight Talk Show' or some other original content.
When I closed the fairy tale book, I saw Jeong Seongbin with his eyes squeezed shut. I chuckled at his effort to pretend he was asleep.
"Is it because it was a long day? It seems the lord has fallen asleep."
I pulled my collar closer to the mic and whispered. Jeong Seongbin must have taken it as a signal that filming was over, because he cautiously opened his eyes after about three minutes.
"Oh dear, you can't sleep?"
"……"
The sleepless little lord was on the verge of tears.
To think I was the only one who hadn't experienced this satisfying feeling. It would have been a shame if I had missed out.
"Since the fairy tale is finished, this Kim Iwol shall tell you a secret story circulating within the castle."
"February K. Spark."
"Didn't I come here after being stripped of my title? I've already forgotten that name."
I had even meticulously added to the lore, just in case they tried to make me a young master again. Kim Iwol, Department Head Nam's subordinate, was dead. Only Kim Iwol, Jeong Seongbin's team member, remained, so it wasn't exactly a lie.
"They say a soul inhabits a picture drawn with great care, don't they? It seems a promising artist has recently appeared in the domain."
"Are you talking about Sebastian…?" Jeong Seongbin muttered.
Choi Jeho was the one among us with some talent for drawing. As expected, the lord's insight was remarkable.
However, Sebastian had already drawn plenty of pictures before the shoot and had retired. He complained of fatigue after drawing three faces of the young ladies and two of the young masters, perhaps from overusing his fine motor skills. Worried he might get wrinkles on his forehead, I gave him some cursory praise and sent him away.
But a fairy tale book should have pictures, shouldn't it? And lots of them.
I opened the fairy tale book again and gestured to the camera. The director approached to film an insert shot. With each turn of the page, masterpieces too good for a cheap sketchbook flashed by.
In reality, Jeong Seongbin hadn't seen a single drawing yet. The cover only had a title I had clumsily written in cursive after looking at a comic book.
Now was the time to show the masterpiece left by Seongbinius Castle's greatest artist to the domain's ruler. I opened to the page Park Joowoo had chosen as 'the page that will move the lord the most' and showed it to him.
Jeong Seongbin's eyes widened.
It would have been heartwarming if a line like, 'How could such a masterpiece exist!' had come out here.
Jeong Seongbin's face turned deathly pale. He tried to speak but made no sound. I placed a rose I had swiped from the kitchen into Jeong Seongbin's hand as he clutched his chest in frustration. Park Joowoo had neatly trimmed its thorns.
"This is just a rumor, but they say the artist in question… bears a striking resemblance to you, my lord."
I remembered exactly where this hellish 'young master' original content had started. In the past, I watched every second of the original content without skipping, trying to find out who instigated such an audacious plot.
I never would have thought that the seemingly quiet Jeong Seongbin had made a dark pact with Mr. Jeong Seongjun. This guy even called Mr. Jeong Seongjun himself to ask for ideas first, then brought that terrifyingly embarrassing content to life.
So, shouldn't I give Jeong Seongbin the same joy? The joy of realizing at the end of a long day of being teased, 'Actually, the broadcast genius Mr. Jeong Seongjun was behind this whole plan!' His reliable and talented relative was once again providing great help to his older brother.
"You… Jeong…!"
Jeong Seongbin couldn't finish his sentence.
"Shall we offer some praise to the nameless artist who gave our lord such a fresh shock?"
At my words, Jeong Seongbin's eyes closed. His eyelashes and tightly clenched fists trembled. His tightly sealed lips soon parted.
"Tell him I'll send him some pocket money…"
It was a voice of resignation. For the sweet rest of our weary lord, I picked up the candle, nodded to the camera, and left the room. I hoped our lord would have sweet dreamsㅡ.
Buoyed by the members' heartfelt support, Jeong Seongbin pushed forward with his preparations for the remaining month.
"Don't worry, hyung! The work isn't even that hard!"
The kid looked a little crazed, but he burned with enthusiasm. His complexion had even improved after being pampered for a day. Jeong Seongbin ran everywhere, working like an ox on legs that had no knotted muscles.
I heard he really did send Mr. Jeong Seongjun pocket money, disguised as a fee for the original content idea and services rendered. Mr. Jeong Seongjun had, after all, drawn incredible pictures for a fairy tale that would only get one cut. Since I was the one who asked, I planned to buy him a gift certificate, but Jeong Seongbin stopped me. He said he would clean up the snowball he had started rolling, so I let him.
It was perhaps natural, though completely unexpected, that Mr. Jeong Seongjun would confirm receiving the pocket money in an extraordinary way. Thus, a vlog was born. In it, he made and ate a snack so trendy that you couldn't get the ingredients even for 100 million won.
『Today~ I'm going to try a dessert personally sponsored by spArk's Seongbin-!』
The captions full of hearts and the sentimental BGM were perfect vlog material. Jeong Seongbin freaked out and immediately searched Metube.
Surprisingly, the video wasn't uploaded anywhere online. It had been sent directly to him, purely for teasing purposes. Kang Kiyeon firmly supported Jeong Seongbin, who looked like he was about to fall over backward.
This is the story of how the exhausted Jeong Seongbin overcame all hardships and adversities to regain his vitality. Isn't it truly touching?
Even after filming the original content, spArk carved out nonexistent time to support Jeong Seongbin. After all their devoted efforts, the leader's solo album was successfully set for release on schedule. The long-awaited day was tomorrow.
"I'm pretty anxious."
"You went to the recording studio and even checked the atmosphere of the filming location, so why are you so nervous?"
"You're shaking your leg too, Cheonghyeon. Why are you acting so unlike yourself?"
As spArk's producers, Lee Cheonghyeon and I trembled whenever Jeong Seongbin was away. It would have been better to go out as a group and face a poor result together. Then I, who shared the responsibility, would be there to take the stones.
Trying to cheer him on from a step away for the first time felt incredibly uncomfortable. It was nothing like sending him out for a one-time appearance on 'Genre-Swap'.
He made a lot of the decisions himself, so the pressure must be immense.
Jeong Seongbin checked every little detail multiple times and agonized over the best choice. I lost count of the times I saw him wrestling with his tablet late at night. He obviously must have struggled even more in places we couldn't see.
Jeong Seongbin's musical sense and market analysis skills were objectively excellent. It's the opposite now, but in the distant future, if he took a position at UtopiA, I could acknowledge him as a director who truly understands the practical side of things.
So I believed he wouldn't release a clueless result, but I kept getting nervous. It reminded me of the time I first sent him off to college.
A week before the release, poor Park Joowoo fell ill. He had worried about his friend's work as if it were his own. While Jeong Seongbin was away, Park Joowoo swept and cleaned the room, turning on the humidifier and sometimes the dehumidifier to maintain optimal conditions. Because he put so much effort into it, the guy came down with a bad cold, despite having been strengthened at the gym.
Only the heartless dance line steadfastly supported the main vocalist's new path. Those heartless banana tree men didn't even worry about their leader getting stoned on stage. When I prodded them once, they just said, "Why would Seongbin-hyung fail?"
I don't know if he gained any strength from his clumsy colleagues' support. Regardless, Jeong Seongbin, buoyed by his family's encouragement, reached the final day. The result waited just around the corner.