“Good morning Sparklers, we have a special treat for everyone today!” Seongbin greeted the livestream as viewers clicked the live notice. He smiled brightly as he watched the chat explode with greetings and questions. Sitting up from his position on the ground, he turned the whiteboard–a staple prop in any of their self-produced content–around to show the cameras the bold letters and cute water gun drawings that decorated the board.

SpArk’s Water Tag Competition!

“With the summer heat wave right around the corner, we wanted to find a fun way to cool off.” Jeho added while monitoring the chat. The Sparklers knew he handled being in the heat better than the other members, so seeing the second oldest worrying for his dongsaengs tugged at their hearts. He smiled politely at the flood of comments calling him a considerate hyung.

“We’ve decided to play ‘Water Tag’! I heard it’s popular overseas, but has been trending in Korea recently since it appeared as a variety show challenge!” Iwol excitedly said as he removed a paper from the whiteboard and revealed the game’s rules.

“Isn’t the game called something else though? I thought it wa…” Cheonghyeon asked innocently, but was cut off by Iwol in a hurry.

“The game has many names, but we…”

“There’s another name?” Joowoo and Kiyeon asked at the same time.

Ignoring his hyung’s attempt to regain control of the conversation, Cheonghyeon leaned over to Kiyeon and stage whispered.

“It’s usually called ‘Senior Assassin’ since it’s played by high school seniors.”

“Ah, I see.”

“We’re playing Water Tag!” Iwol loudly declared, silencing the troublesome maknaes. He continued reading the rules he just revealed.

1. Everyone will be assigned a “target” that you must “tag” within a certain time period.
2. You can only “tag” your “target” with the assigned water guns.
3. You are not allowed to “tag” your “target” on private property, inside the dorm, or while in a moving vehicle.
4. The “tag” must be recorded on camera.
5. The last survivor wins!
6. No aiming for the face!

Sparklers in chat laughed at the last rule tacked on by Iwol, who was always vigilant against any harm to the members’ faces. Jeho himself thought it was a stupid rule since water guns weren’t powerful enough to cause harm.

After Iwol explained the rules, Seongbin clapped to draw everyone’s attention.

“Alright, let's draw names from a bowl to decide everyone’s targets!” Six large hands reached into said bowl provided by a staff member and each pulled out a small slip of paper.

“Remember, don’t say who your target is yet!” Even though the reminder was gentle, Iwol did shoot a subtle glance Jeho’s way, as if warning him to keep his mouth shut. Jeho didn’t understand why he was the one singled out. The maknaes were more likely to forget the rules in the exciting atmosphere.

“Hyung, I got my own name…” Joowoo quietly spoke up, holding the slip of paper with what was indeed Joowoo’s own name written on it. Jeho smirked at the rare, flustered Iwol, who was soothing the upset singer that thought the game was already ruined due to him picking his own name. After resolving the small hiccup, the livestream continued for another hour as the other members asked questions related to the game. While Jeho paid attention to the Q&A, his thoughts wandered a bit as he decided on his plan of attack.

This was going to be fun.

—

The first few days of ‘SpArk’s Water Tag Competition’ were hectic to say the least. Everyone was hyper aware and suspicious of each other. While the dorm itself was a safe zone, after much back and forth, it was decided that UA–besides the practice room–was not. Commutes to and from the company became stressful, and it didn’t help that the staff played up the drama for the cameras.

Jeho was not surprised Seongbin was the first member out of the game, but what did catch him off guard was how Seongbin was eliminated. For the past two weeks, Iwol and Seongbin had been special judges on an idol competition. Not noticing any change from Iwol over the course of a week since starting the game, Seongbin had let his guard down and was thus punished with a stream of water to the chest in the filming location’s parking lot. The ever prepared Iwol had a towel and spare shirt ready for the leader so they could continue to the filming location with as little interruption as possible. Seongbin took to BubblePop to apologize to the Sparklers who were rooting for him and to teasingly claim Iwol’s acting career gave him an unfair advantage.

Iwol’s first round win opened the floodgates. The very next day, the maknae of the group was eliminated just as everyone was climbing out of the vans. Kiyeon’s shouts of betrayal were drowned out by Cheonghyeon’s maniachal laughter and dramatic monologue that followed. Taking advantage of the distracted Cheonghyeon, Jeho quickly pulled out his own water gun and scored a hit in the center of his dongsaeng’s back. Chaos erupted as Cheonghyeon pretended to collapse to the ground as if he’d actually been shot. No longer feeling betrayed, Kiyeon heartily laughed at his same-aged-friend.

“This is the end for Cutie Pretty Visual Cheonghyeon, the world must continue on without me! I see the light in the distance, I doubt I’ll survive for much longer!” Cheonghyeon attempted to grab the ankle of the nearest member.

“You need to stop watching those dramas. You’ll end up sounding like Kim Iwol.” Jeho remarked as he moved away from the dramatic member wailing on the ground.

“What’s wrong with how I talk?” The baffled Iwol asked as he picked Cheonghyeon off the ground.

—

The remaining three members were given new targets while the eliminated players cheered them on. It was just his luck Jeho’s target was Iwol, whose cleverness was going to be tricky to combat. Thankfully, Jeho had a plan.

Truth be told, it was less of a plan and more along the lines of taking the shot at the next available opportunity. If Iwol noticed Jeho stalking the shared schedule and calendar, he at least pretended not to notice. After four days of waiting for the perfect moment–and four days of hiding at the action school when not busy–the moment to get Iwol finally arrived.

With their upcoming album in the final stages of production, Iwol had been back and forth from meeting with the A&R team to wrap up loose ends. Jeho knew Iwol would be taking the stairs down to the practice room–while the practice room was safe, the staircase nearby wasn’t– any minute, so he waited out of view of the door. As familiar footsteps descended, Jeho readied his water gun and aimed. The staircase door opened and a quick burst of water shot towards the figure emerging.

Iwol glanced down at his wet pant leg and barked out a laugh. He called Jeho over and congratulated him for getting his target. They shared light conversation for a few minutes while the cameras were still rolling.

Suddenly, Jeho felt something cold hit his shoulder. He looked down and saw a wet spot spreading over his shirt and turned around to find the culprit. Joowoo, who was hiding behind the other spArk members outside the practice room, held the water gun with a smile that was both apologetic and sly on his face. Jeho could only be proud.

The night the full ‘SpArk’s Water Tag Competition’ self-produced content aired, #SniperJoowoo trended on SNS.