Spark opened with “Speaker,” dressed like a bunch of science fiction nerds. Won Chaehui immediately picked Park Juu’s transparent horn rimmed glasses and Jeong Seongbin’s combination of a plaid shirt and leather guitar strap as the best styling choices.

It was also fun seeing Kim Iwol with his bangs down again for the first time in a while. Looking at him like that, he really did resemble some outsider genius who spent all day studying alone in his room and casually played bass as a hobby. Though it would be difficult for someone whose life consisted of nothing but studying to have arms built like that.

Having seen the live band performance at the concert herself, Won Chaehui thought it had been a smart decision to prerecord “Hideout” and perform “Speaker” live. Wasn’t it too much of a waste for only a handful of Sparklers to witness a stage like that?

Sure enough, “Band Spark” got a great response from the foreign audience. Plenty of people even sang along during the chorus. It was fitting for a song that performed overwhelmingly well on overseas charts in particular. Thanks to Jeong Seongbin’s dual vocal live arrangement, even people who had only watched the “Idol Annals of the Dynasty” finals could enjoy it in a fresh way.

Aside from the fact that the audio quality was worse than Spark’s solo concert despite these people claiming they wanted to create a global music festival, the performance was perfect. It made her want to tell them to go ask UA for advice. Unfortunately, that part wasn’t Spark’s fault.

Next came the prerecorded video for “Hideout.” The background was decorated with LED camping lights, old movie posters, neon signs, and other props inside an abandoned factory, creating the feeling of a secret hideout.

Spark sat huddled together on small chairs as they sang. Jeong Seongbin’s acoustic guitar created a warm, cozy atmosphere.

‘So that’s why Jeong Seongbin’s name was listed in the arrangement credits.......’

Kang Giyeon wearing knitted earmuffs with the coolest expression imaginable was surprisingly adorable. Park Juu’s cape also softened his naturally icy impression considerably.

≫ Back during Spark’s debut days the reaction was “How is this group mostly minors?”

Now it’s just “How is this supposed to be a refreshing boy group?” on repeat like a broken parrot

└ During promotions they’re genuinely youthful boys, but every other second of their lives they look like chaebol male leads. Weirdest group ever

≫ They’re fine when they’re only with each other

The problem is when other people get involved

Then no matter what happens around them, our boys look like the culprits

└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ Seongbin used to be the definitive warm handsome guy among Sparklers

└ Our baby chinchilla’s about to hit his head on the recording booth ceiling~~!!!

≫ Eldest line concept photos giving athlete photobook vibes

(photo) 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Not just any sport either. They’re absolutely rugby club material.

A post she had casually seen on social media came back to mind. Won Chaehui agreed. Watching their faces grow sharper year after year, Sparklers constantly wavered between wondering whether they should be worried or simply grateful that the entire group had become intimidating enough together for nobody to notice individually.

Near the end of the song, the blinking LED lights looked strangely familiar. Won Chaehui had assumed they were just a common prop, but then her eyes caught the title of the next song appearing at the bottom of the screen.

“End + On A High Note │ Composed by: Lee Cheonghyeon Lyrics by: Jeong Seongbin......”

The ending scene of the “On A High Note” music video had looked similar to this too. This level of similarity had to be intentional. Kim Iwol was exactly the sort of person who believed “unnecessary elements are nothing but a waste of capital and resources.”

A familiar instrumental began to play.

At the same time, there was something unfamiliar mixed into it.

It did not take Won Chaehui long to realize the source of the strange sense of déjà vu. Two songs she knew well had been blended together in an unexpected form. As though they had originally been a single song from the beginning. As though this exact result had been planned all along.

Only then did Won Chaehui remember that the rearranged version—the one transformed into an intense fast tempo dance track—had listed one additional arranger in the credits.

“......Arrangement: Kim Iwol, Lee Cheonghyeon”

At the concert, the songs had gradually colored one another little by little, but by the end of the year they had completely fused together into something new. It became obvious that this had all been deliberate from the start.

Kim Iwol, you viciously meticulous professional idol.

While the prerecorded video played, Spark apparently changed outfits backstage. They returned wearing aviator jackets, vintage denim pants, and jumpsuits, riding lifts up onto the stage and striding across it. The countless instruments layered into the high teen style song created the atmosphere of a festival.

Gold paper confetti rained down over the members’ bright smiles.

“Even so, what rises endlessly”

“Is precious because these memories matter”

Won Chaehui remembered the scene in the “End” music video where sunlight and raindrops shimmered together over the ocean surface. She remembered the colorful flower petals drifting through “On A High Note” too.

“Because it makes my heart race”

The countless light sticks visible beyond the zoomed out camera overlapped perfectly with the highlight scenes from both music videos.

“We’ll set off on an endless journey”

The choruses of the two songs crossed over each other as the sound surged higher and higher. The tiny studio apartment filled with the feeling of a long year finally passing and another coming to an end.

Even after midnight, sleep refused to come.

Four hours had passed since Gu Jahan lay down in bed, but his mind was still as awake as it had been before.

Three hours ago, the ticking second hand had irritated him so much he ripped the batteries out of the clock and threw it onto the sofa. Two hours ago, he replaced all the bedding because the blankets felt uncomfortable. Just moments earlier, he had thrown on clothes and gone outside into the heavy snowfall to smoke. Even then, his eyes refused to close.

[An attitude of casually looking down on people is not helpful in life.]

Again.

Every time he tried to empty his mind, the text message resurfaced.

‘That little punk acting like he can lecture people.’

Gu Jahan shut his eyes irritably.

Normally, Gu Jahan would have forgotten the words of some cheeky junior almost immediately and turned on the TV instead.

‘What did I even do that was so wrong?’

He apologized, didn’t he? After that, he thought he had treated him more than well enough.

[I am sincerely grateful for all the ways you have supported and taken care of me.]

Even Kim Iwol himself had admitted it.

How could anyone treat everybody well? Why should anyone even have to live that way in the first place? It was natural that some people simply wouldn’t get along. Why the hell should he have to hold back his own dislike?

He did not even want to remember the filthy feeling he had when he first received the text. That suffocating disbelief that left him speechless. He had to exert superhuman patience just to swallow down everything he wanted to say and reply with a single “Okay.”

After that, every single day felt like hell. Rage welled up inside him several times a day. The thought that someone might see him as human trash made his blood boil. The fact that he had not actually said those things aloud already proved how much he had changed, yet he was still being condemned over something so minor that it infuriated him to the core.

[However, kindness directed only toward me makes me uncomfortable. I cannot ignore someone being looked down upon. Precisely because I know how well you have treated me, I feel even more sorry and conflicted.]

Even when he had asked his manager lately whether his personality seemed better these days, all he got were positive responses. What did some brat barely dry behind the ears know, anyway?

Then, once the anger faded, a strange sense of defeat would wash over him.

Because Kim Iwol’s tone—that infuriating way he pointed out things Gu Jahan did not want to admit—hit the mark too precisely.

If the other person had simply been the sort who only preached empty moral platitudes, Gu Jahan would have felt more comfortable instead. He could have cursed him for being a hypocrite no different from anyone else and forgotten about it.

But Kim Iwol actually lived according to his words. He never casually bad mouthed others and never deliberately made himself hated. Whether a task was fair or unfair, he simply did it.

Once upon a time, Gu Jahan had thought that way of living was pathetic and suffocating, unable to understand it at all, but...

≫ [Best] That kid really has the worst luck

He never got special treatment, never talked back to family, never used violence, and suddenly overnight he became an abusive ungrateful bastard

Fake news is terrifying

......when he thought about Kim Iwol being attacked by the public despite doing nothing wrong.

[Public opinion is truly frightening. Words become distorted easily, and people invent things that were never said. In an industry where even living honestly cannot prevent misunderstandings, I do not know what value there is in voluntarily inviting additional risks.]

[If you have done nothing wrong, then at least you can stand proud. In a society where people do not easily listen to the truth even when someone is blameless, a person who truly has faults would find it very difficult to survive.]

Gu Jahan could not completely fail to understand why Kim Iwol had gone on at such length.

People had been merciless even toward Kim Iwol, who had lived more uprightly than anyone else. Everyone had been too busy tearing someone apart.

[People say even criminals live comfortably in this world, but criticism still wears people down.]

Gu Jahan had personally witnessed what happened to Kim Iwol after he stepped forward confidently because he had nothing to hide. He had seen with his own eyes how Kim Iwol collapsed during the press conference.

[I hope you do not continue walking such an unstable path, Senior. And if something ever happens far in the future, I hope you do not end up deeply hurt after pretending not to care about the verbal abuse piling up around you simply because you feel fine in ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) the moment.]

F*cking hell. Damn him.

Could the way Kim Iwol stood back up and smiled in front of people after nearly collapsing from the stress really be dismissed as mere professionalism?

This was a matter of values. A kind of compass possessed by someone who had already decided what kind of life they intended to live.

The sort of lesson carved from the wounds of life—something a person would never think about unless they had truly struggled, unless they had once fallen apart.

Gu Jahan sat upright.

He picked up the phone lying tossed near his feet and checked how many contacts were still saved in it. Even among the pitifully small number remaining, there were plenty of people weighing on his mind.

Gu Jahan tapped the contact at the very top.

It belonged to a company employee he himself had yelled at furiously not long ago, face red with anger.

He had no idea how to begin. His fingers hovered over the keyboard for a long time.

< Gil Haeun

Me

[Ms. Haeun. This is Gu Jahan.......]

Very slowly, with great difficulty, Gu Jahan began typing.