For dinner, we had jjolmyeon. Truly, everything tonight felt like it was tailored to my repose. It was clearly a plan to appease my anger. The ploy was obvious, but the jjolmyeon was delicious, so I decided to let it slide.

As I was enjoying the noodles, even adding some lettuce, Park Juu slid over a chopstickful of jjolmyeon he’d set aside on a small plate before the meal.

“Eat a lot...”

“If I accept this, won’t I become a shameless person who even steals from his family’s rice bowl?”

“If a single extra bite of jjolmyeon is enough to make someone shameless, this estate needs to worry about bankruptcy.”

Kang Giyeon made a pointed remark. Spurred on by the active encouragement, I was able to eat more jjolmyeon.

“By the way, why did only Jeho hyung get an English name?”

Lee Cheonghyeon asked.

“Because Sebastian was the only English name that I could think of. Do you want me to give you one too, Cheonghyeon?”

“That’s because your input is lacking, hyung. If you had asked Kang Giyeon, he would’ve given one to each member. It’s okay for me, though, since I already have one.”

“You already have one?”

“You don’t know? Cutie. P. Visually.”

“So your name is Cutie...?”

Jeong Seongbin, Lee Cheonghyeon, and Park Juu were in full conversational bloom.

“Iwol hyung is Mr. ‘Spark’ and you’re Mr. ‘Visually,’ so how are you brothers?”

“My bad, I have two middle names. Pretty and Visually are my middle names, and my last name is Spark.”

With Kang Giyeon, who was thorough in his historical accuracy, joining in, the task of adding Lee Cheonghyeon to the family register became even more elaborate. The actual star of the show, Sebastian, showed no interest whatsoever.

He’d probably hate it if I told him I gave him an English name too. After all, Zestralo Erectus could sound a bit insulting.

I wondered if just filming us practicing like this would yield two weeks’ worth of content. After all, there weren’t many scenes from practice time that could be aired.

Except for the rare occasions when someone’s nonsense made us burst out laughing unexpectedly, or when there was a communication error between the dance line, everyone else’s eyes were filled with nothing but fierce determination.

“Although we do roll the cameras to catch those few rare cuts.”

I knew that Sparklers loved every single moment of Spark. So I couldn’t say, “There won’t be much footage anyway, so let’s just skip filming this part.” It was at times like these that I realized there were moments when other values must be prioritized over efficiency.

Jeong Seongbin’s getup was hilarious throughout practice. He had to change clothes to dance, but he insisted on keeping the white gloves on until the very end, saying he had to maintain a minimum of his identity. You wouldn’t believe how much effort it took to stop him from dancing in dress shoes.

“Seongbin, aren’t you going to get a heat rash on your hands?”

“It is fine, Young Master.”

“I see I’ve underestimated your grit.”

Jeong Seongbin just smiled without a word. It was all my fault. If I had lain on a table instead of the company floor, I wouldn’t be going through this disaster right now.

Or I could have left a comment on “Dotion” at 3:59 and argued, “But it was still before 4! In America, that’s 3 PM. Prime working hours, I’m telling you! Just let it slide this once!”

Next time, I should set my phone’s time to Greenwich Mean Time. And if Seongbin caught me, I’d just say I got confused because of the time setting.

“You seem deep in thought.”

“I’m repenting for making my superior do something like this.”

“I don’t mind at all. As long as you have a comfortable day, hyung.”

“It’s not comfortable at all. My heart is twisting like a piece of dried filefish on a hot grill.”

And you definitely mind too!

At my silent scream, Jeong Seongbin averted his gaze.

Today’s Jeong Seongbin was a flaming sweet potato all day long. Unlike Lee Cheonghyeon, who spouted comedy sketches whenever he opened his mouth, Jeong Seongbin was the most sensible of sensible people. There was no way he could be okay while doing such a ridiculous piece of content. It was amazing that he had maintained the concept this far.

“Whose idea was this? It’s too bold to be yours.”

“Jeong Seongjun.”

“Mr. Seongjun has provided us with another big laugh, I see.”

“Don’t even get me started. He was making a huge fuss, asking if he was finally making his MeTube debut this time.”

Back during Chuseok when I visited him to deliver holiday pancakes, we hadn’t planned anything in advance so it wasn’t filmed. So, as Mr. Seongjun himself said, this would be the first time he’d been properly mentioned, not just “in passing.”

I recalled the incredible feats Mr. Seongjun had shown so far. And the abundant anecdotes I’d heard from Seongbin.

“If Mr. Seongjun starts a channel, I’d definitely subscribe.”

“Don’t say that. He might actually do it.”

Jeong Seongbin let out a worried sigh. I felt sorry for adding another burden to Seongbin, who already had so much to be responsible for. I vowed to be in bed by 2 AM for sure once this content was over.

Jeong Seongbin’s devoted assistance continued until the sun had completely set. The ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) day was so long it felt like I was living 24 hours stretched into 48.

If time flowed like this every day, I could have churned out twice the amount of overtime work. And I would have been eagerly waiting for a quitting time that never came.

Ah, perhaps because I was living as Young Master February instead of Idol Kim Iwol, there were some unusual events too.

“Late-night snack?”

“It’s not the healthiest, so I debated it, but your calorie intake is low compared to your activity level, and there’s plenty of time to digest. Just for today, as an exception.”

Jeong Seongbin had asked the managers to prepare a late-night snack. And it was tteokbokki, of all things. At 9 PM!

“You know very well that tteokbokki is the easiest food to gain weight from, Seongbin.”

“If we’re going to deviate from the rules anyway, I thought we might as well go all out...”

There was no focus in Jeong Seongbin’s eyes. It was clear he had decided to let go of everything in this content.

Head Chef Mr. Park busily spread out a mat on the practice room floor and opened a tteokbokki banquet. There was even a green tteokbokki, something I’d never seen before in my life.

“Is this all tteokbokki?”

“It must be basil cream tteokbokki.”

An extraordinary menu item popped out of Choi Jeho’s mouth. You know of the existence of basil cream tteokbokki? You even know what it’s called? You, of all people?

“Choi Miho sometimes orders it.”

“Ah.”

His follow-up clarified everything immediately. My sister used to order all sorts of tteokbokki too. For instance, this... mala rosé tteokbokki right in front of me.

Rosé should be rosé, and mala should be mala; I had no idea how mala rosé tteokbokki came to be. It was delicious, though. ...Is that why it was created? Humans are clever, I guess.

As I was opening the last container of original-flavor tteokbokki, a figure next to me fidgeted. I turned my head to see Kang Giyeon raising and lowering the hand holding chopsticks.

“Kiyeon, do you need something?”

“No. There’s nothing more to open, right?”

“Yeah, this is the last one.”

Kang Giyeon’s eyes shone. I thought to myself, it’s possible for a person to be this full of life at 9 PM.

“Come to think of it, he loves snack-bar tteokbokki.”

Kiyeon’s absolute favorite food was classic street-style tteokbokki and fritters. Perhaps because of all the dancing and body maintenance, it was rare to see him eat tteokbokki, to the point where I couldn’t even remember if I’d ever seen it.

“Young Master, please eat.”

“It’s a rare outing, let’s not worry about status.”

I roughly quoted a line from Princess Soda for the sake of Kang Giyeon’s comfortable late-night snack time. It was a way of protecting both Jeong Seongbin’s worldview and Kang Giyeon’s tteokbokki at the same time.

“Juu, are you eating tteokbokki? Won’t it be too spicy?”

At my words, Park Juu held up a container of cream tteokbokki. No wonder they had ordered four different kinds. It seemed it was to meet the needs of all the members.

Lee Cheonghyeon, sitting opposite me, picked up a rice cake and exclaimed in admiration.

“Wow, it’s been so long since I’ve had tteokbokki.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I usually only ate it after Kang Giyeon’s competitions or the monthly evaluations.”

Jeong Seongbin had an expression that said, “That makes sense.” As trainees, they would have been careful about everything. To the point where they became used to holding back on what they wanted to eat. I had only pretended to be a trainee for a year, but these guys must have endured for much longer.

I portioned out some of each flavor of tteokbokki onto Kang Giyeon’s plate. Kang Giyeon was flustered but happy.

Practice for the next music show ended after 12 AM. Nevertheless, the cameras did not withdraw.

“Are you filming until late at night?”

“Yeah. But we’ll just set up the cameras in the dorm and then leave.”

The filming crew staff explained the schedule after work. In the first place, all we had to do when we got back was sleep, and Seongbin had apparently said from the beginning of planning this content that it would be best to minimize the time the staff were attached to us for my sake. He’d said that if people were around, that hyung would try to take care of something and wouldn’t be able to rest.

So, on the way home today, the camera directors also rode with us.

“This is a chance to capture our in-car moments in high definition. Let’s start by revealing Cheonghyeon’s playlist.”

“Hyungnim, do I need to teach you what ‘rest’ is all over again?”

Lee Cheonghyeon said in a sassy tone. Kang Giyeon snickered.

For the first time since moving into the dorm, I got to shower first. Park Juu endured his discomfort and yielded his turn.

“Return in a pristine state, Young Master...!”

It seemed he still hadn’t quite grasped his character setting, but my heart warmed with gratitude.

I also received a new set of pajamas as a gift. The gift was presented by Kang Giyeon.

“They’re Young Master-style pajamas.”

“Isn’t this silk? You didn’t buy this with your own money, did you?”

“I bought it with the budget from the self-produced content filming. And they say silk is good for absorbing sweat. Perfect, right?”

Well, at least there were buttons instead of frills on the chest. I had decided to be grateful for the small things now.

When I came out of the shower, the guys were either checking the camera angles or tampering with my bedding.

“Isn’t the population density in the Young Master’s bedroom a bit too high?”

“The servants are working together with all their heart and soul for the Young Master’s comfortable sleep.”

Jeong Seongbin led me toward the bed. Gone were the laptop, diary, and phone charger, and in their place, Park Juu’s doll, a comforter that looked like it had been to a laundry room, and a subtle scent of nature greeted me.

“Good heavens.”

“In case you cannot fall asleep, we have also prepared warm milk and lettuce.”

Just try and see if I can’t sleep for a hundred days. We’ll see if I start nibbling on lettuce in bed.

Suddenly, I found myself lying in a formal posture, wearing white silk pajamas and hugging a soft doll, trying to fall asleep from 12:30 AM.

But I shouldn’t be sleeping yet. I had to check what color leather pants Choi Jeho was wearing next time, and also check if the outfit colors had been re-toned to match the fading of Jeong Seongbin’s hair.

I tried to recall the mountain of tasks I had to do, but it wasn’t easy. The moment my head hit the pillow, Jeong Seongbin brought over a tablet and started reading the news.