The chicken Won Chaehui had ordered on the way home arrived with perfect timing. She tore open the packaging and set everything out on the table. She even pulled out a can of beer for the first time in a while.

According to the timetable that had leaked ages ago, there should still be about an hour left. In the meantime, Won Chaehui started the washing machine and neatly folded the laundry that had been abandoned on top of the drying rack to make space for the fresh load. It felt wasteful letting the chicken go cold, but delicious food was best enjoyed while watching Spark.

Spark getting more than ten minutes of airtime had been unexpected. She had figured their treatment would improve a little, but she never imagined they would receive this much preference.

Everyone seemed surprised, but nobody credited it to the agency’s influence. Everyone knew UA didn’t have that kind of power.

Still, if it was Spark, they would show something worth seeing. And at the very least, the performance wouldn’t get slammed with bad reviews. That was why Won Chaehui had been relaxed enough to order chicken in the first place.

‘Did they do one collaboration stage before eventually getting a solo stage?’

They were even performing fairly late in the lineup. So this was what people meant by times changing.

She had heard there were fans who lost interest once the flop idol group they supported finally became successful, wrapped up their fandom activities, and moved on to a new rookie group. Won Chaehui couldn’t say she completely failed to understand the feeling.

But when it came ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) to Spark, she doubted she ever would. It wasn’t easy to experience this kind of exhilarating success over and over again.

Last year they had been forced to cover a girl group song that had long fallen out of trend, but this year they had been given fairly decent content. Thankfully Spark had known how to make the most of it. Otherwise, barely after debuting, they might have been torn apart for being idols who couldn’t keep up with the times.

The collaboration lineup was pretty solid too. Ond’s Doa, Verion’s Hirang, the center of some rookie group she’d never seen before, and Choi Jeho. A four member unit made entirely out of “centers.”

The moment the news broke, fans’ expectations shot through the roof. Once rumors spread that they would be covering a legendary song released over ten years ago, the fandom practically burst into flames.

‘The synchronized choreography back then really was insane.’

A chance to see a cover dance of a song that had made history with its dazzling group choreography. And not just that, but performed by members specifically known for dancing well. It would have been stranger if the lineup hadn’t gotten a huge reaction.

And people weren’t excited just because they expected good dancing.

Spark was the unusual case. Most idol groups were built with a broad range of visuals to satisfy different tastes. If one member had fox like features, another had rabbit like features. The sharp, intimidating member always came paired with someone soft and harmless like silken tofu. Which meant the true nature of Choi Jeho, the boss monster of the snowy mountains pretending to be just another northern duke among actual northern dukes, had been laid bare for all to see.

≫ Was Jeho always this scary......?

Something feels wrong......

Jeho’s supposed to be a big baby bear......

└ Doa is way more senior than him, so why does our Jeho look like...... our Jeho...... It’s not like he has an old face or anything......

└ I can accept Hirang looking younger, okay, but I genuinely cannot process Doa being older. Seniors, our Jeho isn’t lying about his age, but still, somehow......

≫ LMAO Sparklers’ eyes are so optimized for Spark

The way they think every other idol is a warm sunshine pretty boy is killing meㅋㅋㅋ

Our Hirang is the cold handsome guy of the groupㅋㅋ큐ㅠㅠ

└ Sparklers are freakishly good at recognizing handsome men, but they’re terrible at identifying temperatureㅋㅋ

└ It’s because we live inside a freezer......

≫ Wait what

Hirang isn’t a warm handsome guy......?

Even though he looks this pure and elegant......?

└ Judging by photos alone, he really does look like the textbook example of a clean cut gentlemanㅋㅋ

└ Isn’t that Verion meme famous? The rich heir who succeeded alone while all his troublemaker childhood friends grew up exactly the same, and he looks at them fondly without changing at all

└ WAIT THAT WAS HIRANG???

└ The rich heir turned into a pure heroine overnight......

≫ Guys, weren’t we supposed to stan a refreshing summer idol group?

How did we become followers of the last six survivors aboard the Trans Siberian Railway

└ Brainwashing

└ I thought it was summer......

≫ Choi Jeho’s visuals are terrifying

In multiple ways

└ Isn’t that just one meaning of terrifying no matter how you look at it?

└ Shhh

└ Seriously though, he’s so f*cking handsome

└ One Choi Jeho is worth more than ten tigers

If he kept his mouth shut, it looked like he could kill someone with his eyes alone. If he opened it, it felt like he would calmly say, “Die.” Choi Jeho’s visuals were once again receiving renewed attention. Ever since people had discovered the face and dancing talent previously hidden beneath banana leaves, he had never once stopped being a hot topic.

It also helped that the members were friendly toward Spark. They were all people without sharp edges to their personalities. The more those warm, easygoing people stayed together, the more synergy they created. And on top of that...

...it came out that Kim Iwol had been supporting them so sincerely it could bring tears to your eyes, and suddenly all four fandoms were celebrating together.

Why were other fandoms happy just because Kim Iwol was supporting Choi Jeho?

≫ Doa said Iwol sends him long texts every lunchtimeㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ Doa became a successful fan before me...... Hyung Doa, please send Bubble Pop essays to Mine too. You’re already the most filial son alive, but still

└ ㅋㅋThe reason we even know he gets long texts is because Doa runs straight to Bubble Pop to brag every single timeㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ Hyung Doa won’t rest until he tells Iwol everything about what Jeho ate and why the sole of Jeho’s shoe peeled off after Iwol told him “Please take care of Jeho”

└ Doa stop it before Iwol blocks youㅋㅋㅋㅋ

≫ Holy sh*t

Mr. Oogami in a sleeveless shirt

└ What’s gotten into Hirang? That’s some shockingly bold casual wear

└ Iwol bought it for himㅠㅠ They were monitoring Jeho’s practice video together, and he said he thought it would suit him

└ Wait, Oogami was his surname?ㅋㅋㅋ First time learning that

└ Appoint Kim Iwol as Greenline’s stylist coordinator

└ Mr. Iwol...... So the rumors were true. You really do make every dancing man wear sleeveless shirts at least once. Thank you. You have saved a woman’s life.

≫ ㅈㅎ is unexpected

He doesn’t look like the type, but I guess he takes selfies a lot

Feels like we’ve gotten more selfies with ㅈㅎ than the selfies our official account posted during promotions

└ Apparently ㅅㅍㅋ has a rule where they must take selfies whenever something new happens (new clothes, new menu items, new hairstyles, etc.)

└ What kind of weird rule is thatㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ (photo)

└ Why is this actually real

└ And that section’s handwriting is HUGE too

└ Blessings of the Selfie God passed down to rookie juniors...... Thank you

‘There really isn’t another idol who showers fans with service like Kim Iwol does.......’

The amount of new material generated by Kim Iwol alone was impossible to count. While other fandoms scrambled to gather all the photos and stories pouring out nonstop, Sparklers were busy vacuuming up every Choi Jeho anecdote spread across three different groups.

And now that long journey was nearing its end. Watching the member introductions for the event unit group “Four you,” Won Chaehui cracked open her beer. Few drinks went down as smoothly as beer consumed while staring at Choi Jeho’s face filling an entire television screen.

Then Choi Jeho finally appeared onstage, dressed like the physical embodiment of the word “provocative.”

There was no need for a complicated explanation. A deeply unbuttoned black velvet shirt, leather pants, and black dress shoes created an overwhelming visual impact despite the simple outfit. A choker made from the same material as the pants circled his neck, layered with thin silver chains.

First they had dressed him in sheer innerwear, and before that they had shoved him into a jacket over bare skin. As the weather grew colder and colder, Choi Jeho’s outfits somehow kept getting lighter. The muscles packed beneath the fitted clothing were the only thing suggesting he probably wasn’t that cold.

And needless to say, Choi Jeho’s stage performance, which had already earned bonus points from styling alone, was flawless.

≫ Teacher Jehorang’s professional idol mode is insane

Now I get why he always looks at survival show contestants like “How can you not do this?”

└ He became not just a judge but a mentor only two years after debutㅋㅋ What more needs to be said

└ Right? In his eyes, people who come claiming they want to dance probably look like they’re doing kindergarten exercise routinesㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ If you only read the subtitles he actually speaks really kindly. I forgot my earphones and watched without sound, and with subtitles alone he looked like a daycare teacher

└ He’s not the type to say nasty things or pick fights, but his natural face...... and voice......

└ That naturally deep voice was too cruel for the babies

≫ Kim Iwol, bring out a sexy concept immediately

I still remember you saying you’d consider it once the ink dried on the maknaes’ ID cards

We cannot let Choi Jeho go to waste like this

└ I watched “Mission” and “Underbar” covering my mouth, but this time I had to cover my phone;;;;;

└ They’re all becoming adults next year...... the world must be lying to me personally

≫ I guess I really like tall muscular men doing body waves

Like, really like them......

└ I thought I liked devoted sweetheart types this whole time, but nope. Turns out my type was just Choi Jeho

└ He’s way too handsome to be some rustic wood chopping village guy. If someone that hot had existed in a village, he would’ve become something the moment he was born

Fans in their late twenties to mid thirties were especially losing their minds over him. Won Chaehui, who fell squarely into that age range herself, was no different.

While the MCs spoke between stages, Won Chaehui searched “Four you” on Mitube and refreshed nonstop. Her fury at the broadcasting station for not uploading the performance immediately would only begin three hours later.

Whenever there was downtime between performances, Won Chaehui moved busily around the house. She put the half eaten chicken into the fridge and fried instant rice with the leftover sauce. By the time she returned carrying round two of snacks, another stage was already nearing its end.

“And next is the group that burned through this entire year with a blazing presence!”

“Let’s welcome Spark to the stage!”

Spark was mentioned alongside introductions for about three other teams. Parte had passed by long ago. It was painfully obvious they had tried to keep Spark and Parte as far apart in the lineup as possible.

She already knew the setlist because she had seen it beforehand. She had expected both “Speaker” and “Hideout” even before the list leaked, since they were the most recently released songs.

But...

‘What’s “End + On A High Note”?’

Apparently they had combined two songs together. Considering Lee Cheonghyeon was preparing for the college entrance exam while also arranging music, stitching songs together was probably the fastest option. Knowing his personality, though, someone like Lee Cheonghyeon—who almost never borrowed anyone else’s hands for song production—probably hadn’t handed the entire thing off to someone else either.

Won Chaehui topped the fried rice with cheese, microwaved it once, and came back just as familiar lights flooded the screen.

The orange of the people’s spirit.

Along with the familiar crack of a snare drum, brilliant stage lights exploded across the set.