The aftereffects of the sexy concept craze were severe. Agonized groans could be heard everywhere.
“Sparklers always tell us they like whatever we do, right? But there are definitely concepts they like more. I’m sure of it.”
“The difference in the cheering volu was.......”
At the blunt observations from Kang Giyeon and Park Juu, the Sparklers lost all dignity. They really wished the mbers would pretend not to notice things like that.
Next ca Jeong Seongbin and Park Juu’s friendship duet.
It was already a familiar pairing, but today’s unit stage carried a special aning.
While the two of them were splitting the OST Jeong Seongbin had released for the first ti, the volu of the instruntal faded low during the interlude and.......
“Seongbin.”
......a VCR from Park Juu suddenly began playing without warning.
“Were you surprised? I wanted to do a surprise event, but I didn’t think I could fool you...... so I’m filming this now, ten hours before the concert.”
Even while doing sothing that was either timid or absurdly bold, Park Juu looked bright and cheerful.
“......It still feels like a dream that the two of us, who spent our trainee days together, are standing side by side at a concert today, singing your song together.”
The Sparklers, who had been laughing at Park Juu’s antics, slowly changed expression.
After Jeong Seongbin released an OST first and began doing solo stages in In My Office OST and Idol Annals of the Dynasty (IAD), public opinion trying to drive a wedge between the two had increased significantly. If not for Kim Iwol’s issue, rumors of conflict caused by unequal push and promotion would probably have exploded first.
“Even when we’re not preparing for concerts, you always tell I can say whatever I want to you whenever I want. Maybe you thought that was enough.......”
Park Juu spoke in his usual slow voice, but gentler than ever before.
“My wish is...... to keep singing and dancing forever with the mbers, on the stage we’re standing on right now.”
The Park Juu onstage looked toward Jeong Seongbin. Jeong Seongbin couldn’t take his eyes off the screen.
Every Sparkler knew how desperately Jeong Seongbin wanted people to hear Park Juu sing.
Whenever Park Juu uploaded a cover song, Jeong Seongbin was the first to listen. Whenever they fild karaoke content, he always shoved the remote and microphone into Park Juu’s hands first. And now Park Juu was saying this to him.
“To my one and only, most precious friend in the world, Seongbin. Thank you for asking to beco an idol.”
That he loved the life he had now more than anything.
Jeong Seongbin’s shoulders shook as he cried. Park Juu had to sing the second verse alone. Patting his friend on the shoulder, he finished singing the song that his friend had, for the first ti, offered to the world by himself.
The vocal stage full of tears and the rap stage overflowing with exhilaration showcased the youngest mbers’ insane diction. Wearing post-apocalyptic protective suits layered with all kinds of gear, Lee Cheonghyeon and Kang Giyeon delivered a full-fledged rap performance so good it was dizzying.
During the instruntal break, when Kang Giyeon stripped off the top half of his protective suit and tied it around his waist, people everywhere grabbed their heads in agony.
And when Lee Cheonghyeon suddenly stopped dancing and walked toward the audience, everyone was too stunned to even scream. Fans had seen him at fan signs, offline events, the ride ho, even music shows. But Lee Cheonghyeon, fully styled specifically for a concert, looked like a masterpiece painting co to life. People suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to join the underground organization supposedly founded and exclusively occupied by Kim Iwol himself: the Lee Cheonghyeon Love Association.
After the song ended, another video began playing. Lee Cheonghyeon, with light purple hair, sat in a park with a laptop open in front of him.
“Hyung, he’s shooting bubbles at the kids over there.”
Bright spring weather. Faded lavender hair. Formal speech heard for the first ti in ages outside official schedules.
It was Lee Cheonghyeon from debut days.
The cara turned toward the fountain. Kang Giyeon was standing among a group of children, firing bubble guns with one in each hand.
“Jeho hyung, it’s raining.......”
“You want to make kimchi pancakes?”
“Yes......!”
As though this had happened many tis before, Park Juu confidently requested kimchi pancakes while Choi Jeho naturally rose from the sofa. Park Juu stayed glued to the frying pan the entire ti Choi Jeho poured in the batter.
“Seongbin, what are you doing?”
“Decorating my notebook.”
Everyone burst out laughing the mont the familiar notebook appeared. Saying they were stickers Choi Jeho had brought from Gwangju, Jeong Seongbin carefully peeled them off one by one and stuck them into the notebook. The arrangent honestly wasn’t very pretty.
“Hyung, give the cara.”
“You want to film up close?”
“No, I want to film you.”
“? Why?”
“You’re the only one not in the shot.”
After the reluctant response, Kim Iwol appeared onscreen. Fans went wild at the sight of him in an ordinary T-shirt and sweatpants. They had seen Natural Concept Kim Iwol before, but Truly Natural Kim Iwol was rarer than wild ginseng.
“What kind of pose would you like?”
“Uh...... I feel like anything I do will look awkward.”
“Please make a hand heart.”
Back during debut days, Kim Iwol had constantly been asked to make hand hearts. It was because even if he was holding sothing, he would still set it down and use both hands properly.
Even when the mbers were alone together in the dorm, Kim Iwol always made hearts with both hands. His slightly embarrassed smile filled the giant screen.
Then the sound of a piano flowed through the speakers......
“I rember you,
the one who watched over ”
......and the opening line of “Third Letter” began.
The mbers, seated side by side on the platform chairs, picked up their microphones one after another.
“At the end of every drawing,
you were always there.
To et you,
I kept drawing and drawing,
even in my dreams.
You, and us.”
“This hand,
wondering if soone would take it,
I carefully held it out
with a trembling heart.”
“And soone held it.
That hand was so warm,
I wanted to hold on forever
and keep running.”
“I erased and erased again,
and wandered so far around,
but still......
won’t you listen to ?”
The mory of hearing “Third Letter” for the first ti ca flooding back. Back then, just the fact that the mbers had released a fan song had been enough to move everyone to tears. But the current Baek Haewon understood the true weight behind the lyrics now.
Kim Iwol raised his microphone.
“Please tell
it’s okay to give you this heart.”
The past two years of Kim Iwol trying to show only good sides of himself to the fans flashed by. No fan who had witnessed all that effort could possibly turn away.
“Please let give it a na.”
Everyone knew that every step Kim Iwol took was for the fans. Giving them the nickna “Sparklers,” putting titles on every one of Spark’s songs—none of that was possible without affection. Without imnse affection.
“Love.”
Kim Iwol’s eyes t the fans’. Eyes black as space curved into a smile toward them.
The emotional roller coaster dragged both Baek Haewon and over fifteen thousand Sparklers up and down without pause. The travel pack of tissues she had brought just in case had completely run out.
Even after the fan song listening session ended and it was ti for comnts, the Sparklers were still sobbing uncontrollably. They knew too vividly every twist and turn that had happened between the release of “Third Letter” and now. The flustered mbers desperately tried comforting the crying fans, but it was hopeless. From the first floor seats to the restricted-view seats on the third floor, the entire venue had beco an ocean of tears.
“Sparklers, if you keep crying like this, we can’t show you the next content!”
At Lee Cheonghyeon’s firm words, the tears stopped almost miraculously. Choi Jeho laughing like he found it absurd while still telling everyone to stop crying made people want to arrest him on the spot.
Baek Haewon hurriedly wiped away her tears.
Because Sparklers were good people.
Then a chalkboard drawing appeared before the admirable audience. A piece of chalk slowly moved across the board, writing out words.
[Break Ti]
When the stage lit up again, desks and chairs had been set out. Spark, now changed into school uniforms, entered one by one from the edge of the stage.
While the other mbers sat down, Jeong Seongbin dragged in a whiteboard. Then he wrote “Class eting” across it in huge letters.
“Guys, we need to have a eting now. Can everyone focus?”
The instant they heard Jeong Seongbin speaking casually, everyone realized it.
A skit!
“Class president, why does our class have etings so often?”
Lee Cheonghyeon raised his hand to ask. There was genuine sincerity in his complaint.
“If there had been fewer complaints submitted, this wouldn’t have happened. But the complaint box was completely full, so we had no choice.”
Jeong Seongbin shook the small box sitting on the desk.
“So today, we’re going to spend ti resolving our classmates’ complaints. I hope everyone thinks carefully and helps as if they were your own problems.”
“Can I submit a complaint about ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ us having too many etings next week?”
“Sure. I’ll pass it along to the teacher.”
Lee Cheonghyeon slowly lowered his hand at Jeong Seongbin’s rciless response. After confirming there were no more complainers, Jeong Seongbin pulled a note from the box.
“Here’s the first complaint. ‘I wish people wouldn’t stare so hard whenever we get break ti during gym class.’”
“Juu.”
“It’s Juu, isn’t it?”
Kim Iwol and Kang Giyeon’s gazes simultaneously turned toward Park Juu. His flustered face was blown up massively across all three screens, including the main display.
“I...... it’s not ......!”
“You’re the only person who would ever say sothing like that.”
At Choi Jeho’s firm response, Park Juu’s face turned bright red.
“It actually is .......”
“You could’ve at least tried denying it a little harder......!”
Jeong Seongbin sounded genuinely heartbroken, which sohow made it even funnier. Their friendship was truly beautiful.
“It’s because you guys stare too much.......”
“We do?”
Kim Iwol asked back. Park Juu nodded violently.
“We’re just timing it.”
“You stare even after setting the tir.......”
“If you’re late, the break ti gets wasted.”
“Sotis I want just ten more seconds to rest.......”
The lopsided back-and-forth between Choi Jeho and Park Juu was fascinating. The funny thing was that although Park Juu was clearly at a disadvantage, he never actually lost.
“You guys love exercising! I just kind of like it......!”
“No, we don’t love it either.”
“Don’t lie.”
At Kim Iwol’s reply, Park Juu’s expression instantly went cold. The icy aura matching his natural visuals practically poured off him.
“That can’t be explained as anything except love.”
Lee Cheonghyeon leaned backward laughing. It was a reaction of absolute agreent.
“But you like arm workouts, Juu.”
“That’s not the only thing we do.......”
Kang Giyeon tried to calm him down, but failed. Park Juu genuinely looked miserable.
“It’s not that I hate working out. I’ll still work hard. I just wish the break tis were a little longer.......”
“So being stared at made you feel pressured?”
“No, it’s just that Iwol and Jeho’s eyes are scary.......”
Even Jeong Seongbin’s attempt to soften things failed. The cara zood in one after another on Kim Iwol and Choi Jeho’s eyes. The sharp upward slant of the older mbers’ eyes looked downright terrifying aid at Park Juu. All anyone could do was pray for the main vocalist’s safety after this segnt ended.
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