Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols
SS Chapter 77: MBF (1)
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TL: FoodieMonster007
Lee Cheonghyeon, who was busy working as an ambassador for various brands across the jewelry, fashion, and beauty sectors, flew overseas for a new F/W collection photoshoot.
Kang Kiyeon's routine remained much the same even after Lee Cheonghyeon's departure. He would go to the gym on workout days and spend the rest of his time in the practice room.
Aside from the occasional trip to the meeting room, his days were simple and monotonous.
I cleared away anything that might be a distraction, allowing Kang Kiyeon to focus solely on his concerns.
First, I turned off the TV, which we often had on playing Kang Kiyeon's fancams. I did not tease him by watching to see if he would come out in his pajamas after his shower.
To save him the trouble of deciding what to eat for every meal, I filled the fridge with different kinds of salads, so he could just grab whichever package he felt like each day.
"Hyungs, which salad do you want?"
The kind-hearted Kang Kiyeon always gave us the first choice. So we would make excuses like being busy with work or our phones… and for various other reasons, we would urge him to choose first, saying we would be right there.
Playing the part of the useless hyung, I would count to five in my room every time before heading out. The remaining four hyungs, who did not care which salad they got, would then sheepishly emerge to divide whatever was left.
"What… It's not like we have a high school senior studying for the CSAT at home."
Choi Jeho remarked in a tone that implied I was being over the top, but I pretended not to hear him. As if he expected as much from me, Choi Jeho simply ate two containers of salad and cleared the table.
I did my remaining work in my room instead of the living room. Even if it was not just to give Kang Kiyeon his own space, I had a mountain of paperwork to get through.
The proposal for spArk's next album was in its final stages, and there was talk of sending our trainees to an audition program, which meant I had to write up an opinion paper. It was a huge relief that no one was spouting pie-in-the-sky ideas like an in-house survival show.
Thanks to that, I did not have to prepare a 'Your Opinion is Terrible' document like I did for Yoo Hansoo.
I also had to read through synopses. Scripts kept coming in, even though I had declared I would not act anymore.
Since I could not just glance at the cover and say I had read it and thank them for the offer, the scripts piled up as I intended to read them before politely declining.
Let's read all the synopses and scripts and reply by today. The proposal just needs a final review before I send it off, and I remember there was a proposal for a meeting about our own content…!
I opened the shared calendar to check our schedules. Every slot was packed to the brim.
From Lee Cheonghyeon, who would have to board another plane for a group performance as soon as he returned, to Kang Kiyeon, who would soon be too busy filming music videos and concept photos to even come back to the dorm, everyone was busy in their own unique way.
When should I schedule it? The dedicated team probably has a few items saved up, so should I ask them to postpone it if it's not urgent?
Just as I was in the middle of setting priorities, someone knocked on my door. The door flew open so fast I barely had time to grant permission to enter.
The reaction was so swift it made me wonder why they had knocked at all. Kang Kiyeon's face, as he peeked his head in, was deathly pale.
"Kiyeon-ah, why do you look so pale?"
Instead of answering, Kang Kiyeon asked a different question.
"Hyung, have you by any chance seen my pouch?"
"The tangerine pouch?"
His voice was laced with urgency. Kang Kiyeon's tangerine pouch was practically a part of him, an item he had carried since he was in middle school.
I recalled him saying he and Lee Cheonghyeon had gotten matching ones on a school trip. It looked like he had lost the pouch he used so often to carry his things.
Hasn't he been using it for at least seven years?
The tangerine pouch was such an essential for Kang Kiyeon that it had even appeared in a 'What's in My Bag' video early in our career. He had taken such good care of the souvenir, which was not even made of high-quality material, that it was still in perfect shape, aside from some slight fading and a little pilling.
There was a good reason his face was so pale.
"It's not in your bag? You might have put it in a different pocket than usual. Kiyeon, you have a lot of bags, so you could have put it in another one and forgotten."
"I've turned all my bags inside out and shaken them, but it didn't come out."
"Did you leave it in the car?"
"I asked Daeyeon-hyung and Euion, they said it wasn't under the seats either…"
This was tragic news. My heart sank seeing his broad shoulders, which I had helped build up by making him carry backpacks, now slumped in defeat.
"Go ask the others if anyone has seen it."
At my suggestion, Kang Kiyeon scurried back with his phone. They say one of the traits of Gen MZ is preferring texts to calls, but Kang Kiyeon dialed a number without hesitation.
It was uncharacteristic for a member of spArk, who would normally send a message first, not knowing if the other person was in the middle of a shoot.
He must be really flustered…!
Just as I was about to head out and search the living room, I heard him say, "Hello?" After asking if the person had seen his pouch, Kang Kiyeon's expression quickly fell.
It was clear he had not gotten the answer he was hoping for.
"It's a blessing in disguise that Cheonghyeon is overseas. Let's all look for it together before he gets back."
"What if we can't find it?" Kang Kiyeon muttered, almost to himself, his eyes fixed on the floor. It was a heartbreaking sight.
"No way. It has to be somewhere!" I told him, filling my voice with positive energy.
However, reality was cruel. No miracle occurred.
Even with Choi Jeho, Jeong Seongbin, and Park Joowoo joining the search and turning the dorm upside down, the tangerine pouch was nowhere to be found.
The case of the missing tangerine pouch sent shockwaves through the dorm. They ransacked the drawers into a mess, moved the sofa twice, and thoroughly searched even the spaces under the beds, which they never looked at except when cleaning.
The house was in chaos, and when the pouch still did not turn up, its owner, Kang Kiyeon, grew deeply despondent.
Kang Kiyeon, being a professional idol, tried his best to focus on his work. However, it was obvious his mind was constantly wandering.
During breaks in his dance lessons, he would retreat to a corner of the practice room and stare at his phone.
"Kiyeon was searching for tangerine pouches on a shopping site," Park Joowoo said, twisting and untwisting the cap of his poor water bottle.
"The pouch?"
"Yeah, and… plane tickets too."
This intel from our main vocalist, who would have made an excellent spy, was shocking. To think he was so serious that he was considering a trip to Jeju Island.
I found myself looking at Kang Kiyeon with more and more pity.
I had already done a secret search myself, without Kang Kiyeon's knowledge. I had thought, in this day and age, how hard could it be to find one item?
However, I failed spectacularly. There were no products that matched the photo. This was not a limitation of the AI search.
The product was genuinely no longer in production. Seven years was more than enough time for souvenir trends in a tourist destination to change at least five times.
In the meantime, Jeju Island had seen waves of trends, from green tea desserts and ocean-themed candles to Jeju-exclusive rabbit dolls and knitted tangerine hats. The era of the non-woven fabric tangerine pouch had ended long ago.
I even managed to find the school trip itinerary from the middle school they had attended and checked the souvenir shops near the listed locations. With so much time having passed, many of the shops had closed down.
I was able to find blog reviews for two shops that were still open, but the tangerine pouch was nowhere to be seen in the interior photos. It was utterly hopeless.
There was also the option of posting a public 'wanted' notice to find someone who might still have one in mint condition, but that would be a surefire way for Lee Cheonghyeon to find out.
Since the goal was to recover the pouch without Lee Cheonghyeon's knowledge, I could not risk having a message like, 'Cheonghyeon-ah, Kiyeon lost his tangerine pouch ㅠㅠㅠㅠ' pop up on the BubblePop of a guy who was currently overseas.
Damn it…!
I recalled the memory of Lee Cheonghyeon bringing the pouch from his parents' home, hugging Kang Kiyeon, and celebrating that he could finally use it.
That image overlapped with the memory of Kang Kiyeon, who, despite teasing him for making such a fuss, continued to use the very same pouch. A bitter taste filled my mouth.
Only the owner can truly understand the value of an item steeped in memories. It is like how buying the same bracelet might be just a simple accessory for someone else, but for me, it is a meaningful possession.
Thinking back to the moment I woke up in the hospital and panicked, thinking I had lost my own bracelet, made my heart ache even more for him.
"You guys go ahead and rest."
Leaving Jeong Seongbin and Park Joowoo in Choi Jeho's care, I walked over to the charger and picked up my phone. Once again, I checked the densely packed shared calendar.
I scrolled all the way to the bottom of each day's list, which had five or six entries per slot, checking what time the last recording was scheduled to end. Since filming for variety shows or our own content could run long, I focused on activities with fixed hours, like radio appearances.
After a final search for flight and accommodation packages, I turned off my phone. Just then, Kang Kiyeon, who had been wandering in the corner, approached to place his phone on a shelf.
I seized the opportunity of his proximity to ask him something.
"Kiyeon-ah, are you okay?"
"About what?"
"The pouch. You're still thinking about it."
As if I had hit a nerve, Kang Kiyeon's eyes went wide.
"Ah… I'm sorry. It's not that I wasn't concentrating in class! I'll stop getting distracted."
Kang Kiyeon vigorously shook his head and lightly slapped his own cheeks. How dare he lay a hand on that face.
I could not stand it, so I pushed his wrist away with my index finger. Realizing my intent, Kang Kiyeon quietly lowered his arms.
The boy, who had been silent, opened his mouth.
"I'm not trying to scold you. I wanted to make a suggestion."
"What kind of suggestion?"
"You don't have any broadcast schedules from tomorrow night until 2 PM the day after, right?"
"That's right. After we finish filming the challenge with Sayder at the company building tomorrow afternoon, after that…"
Kang Kiyeon mentally ran through his schedule. My goal was simply to confirm if he had any commitments not listed on the calendar, so my objective was accomplished.
"Should we go to Jeju Island?"
"Yes?"
Kang Kiyeon's response was somewhere between an answer and a question.
"I'm saying let's go to Jeju Island to see if we can find a place that sells the pouch."
Perhaps because the practice room mirror was so large, I ended up making eye contact with Jeong Seongbin, who was sitting on the floor some distance away. His mouth was agape, as if he had forgotten how to close it.
When I turned to face Kang Kiyeon, his expression was not much different from Jeong Seongbin's.
As a seasoned expert in making reservations, I possessed the ability to swiftly book everything necessary for a trip. Exactly twenty hours later, Kang Kiyeon and I were on a plane, flying to Jeju Island.