I fully intended to refund the floral shirts immediately.

If someone had to make the sacrifice, it should be me.

I didn’t want Spark to leave any more bizarre cursed images behind in the Sparklers’ galleries.

But the bastards tore the packaging open and tried them on the moment the delivery arrived.

They even held their own little evaluation session, talking about how good the fit was and how it made them feel like they were already on vacation.

‘In exchange, we’ll do one thing you want too. Fair trade. Deal?’

Lee Cheonghyeon shamelessly proposed a deal.

That was the reason I’d come to UA today.

“Iwol! Why are you at the company?!”

Jukyung greeted me like someone rushing out barefoot to welcome an honored guest.

Honestly, the reaction made sense.

Calling it a “break period” sounded nice, but in practice, I’d basically been banned from entering the company for nearly three months.

Considering I’d blown a massive hole through the company’s operation plans, it was arguably justified.

The fact that UA had given me vacation instead of disciplinary action only showed how soft-hearted they could be, but...

That wasn’t the important part.

“Shameless as this may be, I’d like the assistance of five employees with exceptionally strong index-finger joints.”

“...What?”

“I need the members to practice registering for a marathon event.”

You seriously thought you could wear floral shirts all over your upper bodies and stroll into an airport?

I’d make them regret it.

Let’s see you run until every last flower petal falls off.

“What are we registering for?”

“A marathon...?”

Lee Cheonghyeon and Park Juu asked with disbelieving expressions.

“Relax. It’s only a 10k course, not a half marathon. We already ran farther than that while preparing for A. Dan. Woon.”

“Hyung, do you not remember? You and Jeho hyung were the only ones actually running. The rest of us crawled to the finish.”

Lee Cheonghyeon protested.

I ignored him.

“Wait, you mean this event called ‘Bossam Run’?”

Kang Giyeon pulled up a promotional poster with aggressively loud design choices on his laptop.

“Healthy Me Neighborhood Bossam Run! Run and eat bossam too!”

The title practically screamed at us.

“It says it’s for a healthier you. Don’t you guys keep saying you need stamina before traveling?”

“You literally just got back from the hospital not long ago, hyung. Ten kilometers is too much.”

Regardless of his personal preferences, Jeong Seongbin worried about me first.

But his concern was unnecessary.

If I could make these idiots run themselves half to death, I was fully confident I could rebuild my stamina starting today by eating four meals a day and exercising properly.

“They say you get bossam if you finish.”

“Kang견, is bossam really the thing catching your attention right now?!”

Lee Cheonghyeon shouted furiously.

Meanwhile, Choi Jeho was already interested.

Oddly enough, after carefully reading through the details, he offered an opinion.

“Kim Iwol, what do you think about doing the 5k instead?”

“Why? You can easily run 10k.”

“They said there’s less bossam left if you finish the 10k late.”

“Are you insane? You’re seriously planning to eat bossam there?”

“If I run more afterward, the calories won’t matter.”

“Yeah, I’m sure idols eating the bossam prepared for local citizens at a public event would go over wonderfully.”

“Sorry, but I’d rather skip the bossam entirely, and eating bossam before running again sounds even worse.”

“Me too....”

Park Juu joined anti-marathon faction leader Lee Cheonghyeon.

Jeong Seongbin looked deeply conflicted.

“Seongbin.”

“Yes, hyung.”

“I’ll get myself back into perfect shape before the marathon. Run with me.”

“Haa....”

After letting out a long sigh, Jeong Seongbin finally nodded.

Lee Cheonghyeon collapsed screaming.

Park Juu covered his mouth in horror.

After that, Spark underwent brutal training until registration day.

Thanks to the ticketing experts among the staff teaching the members their secret techniques, the guys mastered smooth movements transitioning from rapid clicking to instant bank transfers.

There was definitely an effect from the one-on-one intensive tutoring.

I personally didn’t need any lessons.

For someone who had survived male idol ticket wars, most first-come-first-served events were child’s play.

And effort never betrayed people.

“This makes no sense.... I... registered for a marathon with my own hands....”

Including the miserable Lee Cheonghyeon, all six members of Spark successfully registered for the running event where you got bossam afterward.

After booking plane tickets and registering for the marathon, sparks literally flew between me and Lee Cheonghyeon every single day.

“Cheonghyeon-ah, eat a lot. You need stamina to run.”

“Hyung, want me to pour you more water? What if the flowers wilt?”

“Why did you take the sachets out of my closet? Floral shirts need floral fragrance.”

“Cheonghyeon-ah, how many hours did you spend on the treadmill this week? You think you can finish at this rate?”

It got so bad that even Kang Giyeon told us we were fighting like children.

But I refused to back down and continued bickering with Lee Cheonghyeon.

There was a reason I was acting like I’d forgotten my age.

‘If I keep acting normal, those guys will relax too.’

They pretended otherwise, but the Spark members watched my mood constantly.

It wasn’t excessive groveling or anything.

They were just unusually attentive to whether I seemed happy or not.

The moment I tried to spend time alone with my thoughts, one of them would inevitably hover nearby.

My running away from home had clearly left a mild trauma behind.

That was why I was doing my best to act like my mental state had recovered.

And honestly, I was genuinely trying to think in healthier ways too.

Like everyone around me kept saying, I decided to believe things would get better if I just rested a little.

It was actually working pretty well.

Eating properly, exercising, and sleeping on time made me visibly healthier.

Maybe this was why people emphasized basic physical fitness so much.

Recovery became incredibly fast.

I silently thanked the sturdy body that had carried me since trainee days.

Meanwhile, the “baby chicks of cardio class” suffered considerably while preparing for the marathon.

Even getting Park Juu to commit to anaerobic exercise had been difficult enough. Building endurance on top of that was torture for him.

Park Juu shuffled around with drooping shoulders, muttering that he hoped every treadmill in the gym would break by tomorrow.

The sight of him happily dancing in front of the refrigerator was completely gone.

“Juu-ah, if it’s too hard, you don’t have to do it. You weren’t part of the floral-shirt purchasing squad anyway.”

I kindly offered him an escape route, but Park Juu refused.

“We should stay together through both happy things and hard things....”

His determination was admirable, so I told him we should start going to the gym together from tomorrow onward.

Park Juu recoiled in horror and fled into his room.

Spark secretly participated and gloriously completed the marathon.

Once news of their participation spread afterward, Sparklers everywhere lost their minds.

≫ Wait, what do you mean Spark entered a marathon??

≫ I didn’t recognize them because of the clothes, but weren’t they all wearing Nidasㅋㅋㅋㅋ Dear sponsor, are you watching?!?!

└ Nidas must be thrilled. They only signed one member, but six people wore the clothes

└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Nidas official account already reposted itㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ Apparently Jeho paid for all the workout clothesㅠㅠ touching (source: Cheonghyeon BubblePop)

└└ No way

└└└ Jeho’s casual fashion sense improved that much...?

└└└└ The disbelief is killing meㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└└└└└ Apparently Jeho only paid for them (whisper)

└└└└└└ Ah. That makes more sense

≫ Iwol was the one who suggested the marathon?

There’s no way our Iwol voluntarily suggested an outdoor daytime group sport

└ Why is this real

└ Guys, this is serious. I think our Iwol lost his mind because he’s been overworked. UA I’m coming for you

└ They were all bundled up while runningㅋㅋㅋ I didn’t realize it was them until they took off their hats and goggles after finishingㅠㅠ

└ They probably covered up so people wouldn’t swarm themㅠ must’ve been hot

≫ Today’s idol group that entered a marathon together

Was Spark

Apparently all six of them finished together, probably matching pace

The event gave out bossam afterward, but they didn’t eat any before leaving

└ Why is “they didn’t eat the bossam” included in the reportㅋㅋㅋ OP is adorable

└ Any Sparklers attend the event? Meeting them must’ve been fun

└ I saw one 후기 and apparently it wasn’t fun because the six of them stood beside one member yelling “You can do it!! Just a little more!!! Don’t slow down!!!!!” and the OP regretted letting them know they recognized them

└└ One gym member, six trainers

└└└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I’d regret it tooㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└└└└ Protest the imperial marathon

└└└└└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

≫ So becoming an idol means you need to run 10km huh 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Can an old Sparkler do it too......

└ If you slowly increase your distance, you definitely can!! Why not try going out for a jog before the weather gets hotter???

└ I already bought running shoesㅋㅋ Becoming a fangirl means if my idol did it, I’m doing it too

└ If we can do Seongbin recommended restaurant tours and travel to Daejeon for idol schedules, why not running

└ Even though Seongbin himself is from Seoul

└ Tru......e?

≫ Turns out the reason those idiots didn’t eat the bossam at the event was because Juu made bossam for them afterward

I was all “aww wholesome” until I saw the photo and got stunned by the quality

└ Wait this isn’t delivery food??

└ No matter how good Park Juu’s boiled pork is, I refuse to allow him to open a restaurant. Park Juu stay in Spark forever

└ Maknae’s cheeks are gonna burst

└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Watching the fandom regain energy again eased Jeong Seongbin’s worries.

Until recently, every Spark-related post had been about the accident.

The news that people had nearly died during a public outdoor performance spread as quickly and aggressively as the real-time videos.

The mysterious stage collapse produced endless theories.

Was it poor construction?

No, inspections found nothing wrong.

The fracture marks clearly showed deliberate sabotage.

No, these kinds of cracks were rare but naturally occurring....

And alongside all those unconfirmed rumors, Kim Iwol himself became a major topic too.

≫ There’s definitely something supernatural about him

Nobody else at the venue noticed, but he did

Jeong Seongbin couldn’t even bring himself to read the posts that came afterward.

Just the titles alone brought back memories of the incident and made cold sweat break out across his skin.

≫ Temporary stage collapses at university festival... no casualties

≫ “Lights fell from the sky” — Is careless installation really okay?

≫ Loud crash during live performance... university festival thrown into chaos

Kim Iwol calling for Choi Jeho in the middle of the song remained vivid in his mind.

He couldn’t forget Kim Iwol desperately dragging Choi Jeho away, nor the massive object crashing down between himself and Kim Iwol while dust exploded everywhere.

When twisted steel beams and shattered lighting equipment rolled right up to their feet, his mind had gone completely blank.

He imagined that was probably what it felt like for your blood to run cold.

And everything that happened afterward had been equally overwhelming for Jeong Seongbin.

But he didn’t want to show weakness.

Because Jeong Seongbin was the leader.

“What are you doing?”

His roommate’s voice reached him.

When he turned around, Kim Iwol was blinking at him curiously.