Kang Giyeon took the lead on the concept for this digital single.

I told him to make active use of his "youthful sensibility big data"... but that was just an excuse.

Originally, I intended to do it myself, but I was rejected. I didn’t have the courage to turn on a video conference while lying in bed alone when everyone else was at work, so I delegated the task to Giyeon after explaining the keywords and the overall concept.

"Won’t it be hard to come up with ideas while going to school?"

"I actually have more time when I’m at school."

He said that so confidently that it made me wonder if he even attended classes. I was reminded of Jeong Seongbin, who supposedly won a gold medal in his elective courses, and Choi Jeho, who I doubted had even looked at the academic notices despite my nagging him to look into online universities. A "Study With Me" shoot was urgently needed.

Anyway. The concept Giyeon came up with for Spark’s last album of the year was this:

[Mischievous kids who love playing the most]

But our average age just passed twenty this year. Isn’t it a bit awkward to still be "mischievous kids"?

I seriously considered booking a meeting room to discuss it properly, but decided to read the document first and hold my tongue.

The top of the document summarized the previous planning meeting.

1st Planning Meeting: A light and exciting atmosphere that can encompass the title (title undecided) and the B-side, "Speaker". The overall color scheme should be blue-toned to suit the winter.

Opinion (Kim Iwol): Requesting MV production for both the title track and "Speaker". Even if we have to reduce the resources put into each, this is a point where we must supply as much content as possible to refresh the atmosphere and public opinion within the fandom.

Opinion (Kang Giyeon): Wishing for a feeling that serves as an extension of "Flowering" and "With List". If the narrative is minimal, the visuals should carry strong impact.

Under the sub-heading "Overall Concept", there was only one large photo.

A photo of a skateboarder against a blue sky.

"Would you look at that."

For just one photo, it carried a lot of information. An outdoor setting where the refreshing sky and vivid natural light stood out, structures covered in graffiti, a board with fluorescent drawings printed on a black body, and loose-fitting sportswear.

It was an idea that required less work because it didn’t need a narrative or foreshadowing, yet it could show a colorful screen and possessed dynamism.

The colors were distinct enough that I could pull out several styling ideas just by looking at the subject matter. Sure enough, the concept art already had the members’ outfits set down to the smallest detail.

It was all good. It was a style we hadn’t tried yet, and it suited the group’s image well. However, there was one problem.

"At least one person has to pull off some extreme shots."

Everyone couldn’t just ride in a straight line for the full four minutes of the MV. Someone had to ride a stair railing like the skater in the video the dedicated team uploaded as reference, or flashily navigate a bowl-shaped set.

Fortunately, Spark had a guy perfect for this job.

"Choi Jeho."

"What."

"Ever thought about learning skateboarding?"

Some might say I only made Choi Jeho do all the physical work, but that was a misunderstanding.

Surprisingly, Choi Jeho was the type who enjoyed learning new things. As long as the subject was not formal education.

There was a reason this guy never skipped going to action school or drum lessons. In the first place, ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ a person without ambition and persistence couldn’t devote themselves to dancing for years.

"It sounds like fun."

Besides, it was a high-activity sport. For Choi Jeho, who rarely hit a wall when it came to using his body, making up his mind wouldn’t be difficult.

I figured I could manage some simple moves too. My stomach ulcer had improved a lot anyway.

As expected, modern medicine really is the best.

Lee Cheonghyeon’s arrangement work was in its final stages, and we had already decided how to shoot the "Speaker" music video since the IDC live broadcast planning stage. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"So let’s ask them to find us an instructor."

"Right now?"

"Why delay work? It’ll just shorten our production time."

I tagged the dedicated team and wrote that I requested a speedy progression. A thumbs-up emoji appeared with the speed of light.

As expected, Choi Jeho succeeded in mastering extraordinary feats in a short amount of time. The teacher was so impressed by his talent that he even grew ambitious about him. Keeping the team’s center position was no small task.

Park Juu was also flying around like crazy. It looked like the board was glued to his feet. Surprisingly, he was the only one among us who already had the basics down. When I asked him how that was possible...

"Sihoo hyung taught me when I was little..."

...was the answer.

"I only learned the bare minimum of riding. If I’d known it would turn out like this, maybe I should have gone out of the house more often..."

"No, you’re the number one among us right now."

I learned the importance of early education in a place like this. I decided not to think it was too late and look into how to get a forklift license as quickly as possible to prepare for any eventuality.

Jeong Seongbin was the one who struggled the most. He was flustered, not knowing what to do on the wheeled platform. He said the only wheeled object he had ever controlled himself before was a PC cafe chair.

"Hyung, you actually have great athletic sense."

Kang Giyeon praised me.

"It’s the result of making the most of limited practice time."

My practice time was only half that of the members. It was because I lacked time due to visiting the counselor, the hospital, and the law firm. But since I worked hard whenever I was at practice, at least I wasn’t embarrassingly bad.

"But no intense tricks allowed."

That’s what I want to say to you, you punk.

Throughout the break, Kang Giyeon and I snapped at each other under the guise of looking after each other’s joints and stomachs, saying things like "You should go inside" or "Hyung, just lie down and sleep". If Lee Cheonghyeon hadn’t attempted a reckless shove-it trick and fallen, we probably would’ve kept arguing until the instructor came back.

Meanwhile, there was work that progressed smoothly—for example, the "Speaker" MV shoot.

Since my argument that "simplicity has its own charm for a band" was passed, we decided to capture the band’s live performance on a white set with vivid lighting for this music video.

Of course, we didn’t lazily copy-paste the IDC outfits. The reason the set was built in white in the first place was to show a look opposite to the live broadcast stage.

All of Spark transformed into "semi-death metal" beginners covered in black and silver. Not literal panda-style corpse paint—just fashion, within the boundaries of idol style.

To give a spoiler, Kang Giyeon looked genuinely terrifying. I was starting to wonder if giving him that mature vibe buff was really a good idea.

Members who finished the MV shoot were scrubbed clean and put in the car. Since the deadline for the Season’s Greetings photoshoot was just around the corner, we had to preserve our skin. Lee Cheonghyeon, whose eyes were out of focus but whose skin was glowing, muttered:

"Now it really feels like the end of the year is coming."

"There’s still a lot of time before winter. In what way do you mean?"

At my question, Lee Cheonghyeon didn’t answer immediately like usual. After a moment of buffering, he stared into space and said:

"In the sense that I’m so busy my eyes are spinning..."

As if in a gesture of empathy, Kang Giyeon also turned his head toward the window.

"Go to sleep."

"Hyung, you too..."

Even while nagging me, Lee Cheonghyeon disappeared under a blanket. Once the year-end stages were over, I should wrap that kid in a microfiber blanket and throw him onto an electric heated mat.

Won Chaehee had been feeling gloomy for the past few days.

She was annoyed at the colleagues who casually said, "That idol you like is in big trouble lately", and she was angry at the reporters who took photos she had personally shot and uploaded them to gossip articles about Kim Iwol without permission.

But no one angered her more than Kim Iwol’s family.

"Those bastards aren’t even human."

When a person finds someone they like, they fall in easily. Just hearing that the person ate at the same time you did can feel like luck. If they seem tired, you worry about their expression more than your own fatigue. It’s natural to empathize with their life as if it were your own.

That was why the fandom Sparklers had been riding an emotional rollercoaster. People who only encountered the surface-level issues didn’t have to go through emotional exhaustion. They’d be shocked briefly, then say "Good for him" once a satisfying outcome appeared.

"But fans can’t do that."

When talk of "crushing them at the root" came out within the fandom, no one meant it in a "Let them receive the hammer of justice!" way.

Please, let’s never be entwined again. Stay out of Kim Iwol’s life forever. Everyone was united with that thought.

But a lawsuit wasn’t a simple matter that ended in one or two weeks. Instead, every time it progressed, more painful stories kept surfacing. Seeing news that reporters surrounded Kim Iwol’s original home and that his parents weren’t answering despite dozens of calls made her feel refreshed for a moment, but depression soon followed.

Every time she lay down to sleep, Won Chaehee thought:

Am I being immaturely over-immersed in an idol?

Should I stop fangirling if it’s affecting my daily life?

Even so, Chaehee didn’t close her account. Although the frequency of checking decreased, she still subscribed to Bubble Pop. She didn’t keep up with it every hour, but on weekends, she watched the backlogged self-produced content. She watched all of that strange video—perhaps a content piece tailored for Exclusive Report—titled "A Gathering of Six Chaebol Men," where they asked what tteokbokki was and casually dipped fried food into sauce. She even chuckled in the middle of it.

Whenever she noticed her own contradiction, a popular meme came to mind:

It’s painful to look at you. BUT it’s lonely not to.

The fatigue is growing. HOWEVER it’s healing to watch you...

"Love is a crime."

Won Chaehee sighed. Even today, Chaehee had finished her preparations to watch the live broadcast of Exclusive Report.

If it gets too stressful while watching, I’ll turn it off. She firmly promised herself.

As the broadcast began, Won Chaehee covered herself with a fluffy blanket. In the dark room with the lights off, only the screen of the newly started drama shone brightly.