The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 100

“Hmm.”

Inside the spacious dorm.

Baek Joo-won, who had finished his day’s practice quota, sat on the sofa with an indifferent expression.

‘The activity period will probably end sooner than expected too. Well, it’s such an easy situation to win trophies that it’s not even fun.’

X2 Entertainment, one of the major agencies in South Korea.

The group called ‘Zefa’ was known as one of the pillars of this entertainment company famous for male idols.

Baek Joo-won was a top-tier member who survived X2’s harsh trainee development project.

He was serving as the leader of Zefa, which had burst onto the idol scene with great impact a few years ago.

While X2 provided the optimal environment for their in-house idols through thorough scheduling and advance planning, to Baek Joo-won it felt more like poison.

During his rookie days, he had maintained a certain fresh and naive feeling, so he went around carrying tension.

But as the years stacked up one by one and he proved himself with results, that tension naturally loosened.

That’s why he had been looking forward to this fourth comeback even more.

Thanks to X2’s behind-the-scenes work this year too, it was a bloodless victory.

Baek Joo-won clicked his tongue while looking at the trophies densely displayed on the dorm’s display shelf.

The recent idol trend was to keep activity periods short.

Since there was practically no immediate income from going around music broadcasts anyway.

It was much more profitable to allocate that time to concerts or variety show appearances instead.

So even though this activity cycle was only 3 weeks, Zefa had already achieved a triple crown on public broadcast.

Tomorrow would mark the end of Zefa’s official music show schedule.

Until this period passed, there hadn’t been a single existence that could ignite tension or competitive spirit in Baek Joo-won’s heart.

Since he had experienced X2-style training from a young age, DNA that enjoyed intense competition had been formed in him.

Just as Baek Joo-won was yawning widely and about to take a nap.

“Brother, did you see this article about these guys?”

“Huh?”

Seok Jae-han, Zefa’s main dancer who had returned from the gym inside the X2 building, came running in all flustered.

Seeing his arms still dripping with sweat, Baek Joo-won frowned.

“Hey, if you came back from working out, at least wash up before coming over.”

“Sorry, sorry. No, something more important than showering came up. Brother, did you see this article about these guys or not?”

“What are you making such a fuss about?”

Since Baek Joo-won usually didn’t use the internet much unless it was articles about himself, he had no idea what Seok Jae-han was repeatedly asking about.

He received the phone Seok Jae-han handed him and briefly looked at the headline displayed on the screen.

“CENTIX…? Oh, those guys who debuted through that audition program. What, they already debuted?”

“Brother, you really don’t keep up with recent news. They debuted today and held a showcase. The song turned out well and their popularity seems incredible too. I found out because our manager brother mentioned it first.”

“That blunt guy mentioned it first? How amazing could they be?”

“Just take a look.”

Zefa’s manager usually didn’t communicate much about anything unrelated to work.

Baek Joo-won became slightly curious about what kind of performance this rookie had shown to make even that person open his mouth.

[Second half of the year’s first place is already decided…? CENTIX releases debut song ‘Chronic’]

The headline was complete garbage.

‘Seriously, we already destroyed the second half of the year. At best they’ll eat up some November-December charts, what kind of exaggeration is this.’

Baek Joo-won clicked his tongue and clicked on the NeoTube video marked with a hyperlink below the article.

It led to a video titled [CENTIX Debut Show ― 〈Chronic〉 Live Performance].

About 3 minutes and 40 seconds long.

Without much thought, Baek Joo-won pressed the play button and soon felt like the cells inside his body were boiling.

“Ha, haha!”

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen Brother laugh like this. They’re good, right? Wow, I was especially impressed by that main vocal—”

“No, when did this guy leave here? Hahaha! Even after I trampled him to death, he managed to debut.”

“—You’re not listening to me, are you?”

Seok Jae-han sighed as if accustomed to this.

Sitting next to Baek Joo-won, he checked what had made this personality-broken leader burst into laughter.

“Brother, don’t tell me. You didn’t know Hwi participated in ‘ISL 2′?”

“Why would I need to know that? I cut ties with that wet-behind-the-ears brat ages ago.”

“Even so, we were all in the same debut group together. And even though Hwi got dropped from the debut members, the executives kept praising him as having the most potential.”

“What’s the point of keeping an eye on him like that? In the end, he was just a trainee whose expiration date was running out without even debuting.”

Baek Joo-won kept laughing while watching Seong-hwi performing his solo dance in the center.

“His skills have improved a bit from back then. He used to be terrible at dancing during his green rookie days.”

“…I’ve been curious about this for a while.”

“Hm?”

Baek Joo-won, who had been grinning, turned his head toward Seok Jae-han.

“Why did you hate Hwi so much, Brother?”

“Why did I hate him?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, why did I end up hating that guy.”

Hearing Seok Jae-han’s question, Baek Joo-won propped his chin and thought carefully.

Eventually, he snorted and shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know. Hey, honestly, is there really a reason for hating someone? I guess the way he talked to me back then just rubbed me the wrong way. Once someone gets on your bad side, it continues.”

“I figured it was like that…”

“Why are you bringing up pointless past questions?”

“No. I just thought you would at least know Hwi had debuted, so it was a bit surprising.”

“Hmm.”

Baek Joo-won, who had been snickering, opened his mouth again after watching the rest of the performance video.

“Well, overall they’re all pretty skilled. I can see why manager brother brought it up first. So these guys debuted today? Today?”

“Yeah.”

“Ah, what a shame. We could have had overlapping activity periods. It would have been nice to see Seong-hwi’s face after a long time.”

Baek Joo-won’s mind, which had been loosely relaxed recently, felt like it had been injected with a slight stimulant.

To think that a trainee he had carelessly ignored when he was young had now achieved debut on the same stage as himself.

There couldn’t be anything more fresh and interesting than this.

“I’m looking forward to the day we’ll meet at the broadcasting station.”

* * *

“Ready, Halt, Fire.”

Gunshots burst out magnificently through the speakers.

I exhaled deeply while receiving the familiar heat and lights.

As I’ve mentioned before, my stamina trained in hell doesn’t get depleted easily.

Even after performing such intense choreography continuously and singing live, my breathing doesn’t become extremely unstable.

But whenever I heard the fans’ enthusiastic cheers after all the stages ended like today.

The emotions welling up from deep in my chest seemed to disrupt my previously steady breathing.

“Hah, hah.”

I could hear the members’ breathing sounds beside me.

We had finished the last stage, 〈Winning Shot〉.

Realizing we had completed all four songs without mistakes, the guys’ expressions were much brighter than before.

‘The fan chants were really fun too.’

Even though 〈HIT〉 and 〈Winning Shot〉 had already been revealed through 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉.

I never imagined that fan chants would emerge even for 〈Chronic〉, which was revealed for the first time today.

MILLENNIUM’s group singing that was loud enough to pierce through the in-ears was truly enough to send shivers throughout my body.

“Thank you!”

“Thank you all!”

“We love you!”

Although the microphones were already turned off so it wouldn’t reach the audience, we kept bowing and expressing our gratitude.

Those passionate emotions continued even after we came down from the stage.

…Of course, the other guys were the same as me.

“It was so much fun!”

“Me, me! What do I do! I still haven’t calmed down from the excitement!”

“Brother Seon-woo, breathe! Here, drink some water first!”

“Water? Yeah, water’s good! Should I just pour water all over my head?”

“Why is this brother’s screws so loose!”

Whether the heat from the stage was still coursing through their bodies, everyone was jumping around in the waiting room making a ruckus.

Kang Seon-woo, who occasionally had his weird switch flipped, was even struggling to pour the water bottle given to him over his head.

‘If I don’t stop this now, it’ll become a complete mess.’

{Yeah, that kind of mess wouldn’t be too bad either, Master?}

‘Huh…? Cerberus?’

Cerberus’s voice suddenly rang in my head.

I hurriedly looked around the waiting room and spotted a familiar portable kennel next to the staff’s luggage.

When I opened the kennel door.

{Ah, I thought I was going to suffocate, Master! Why did it take so long!}

‘Of course it took long since it was a showcase. But more than that, why are you here, Cerberus? Weren’t you supposed to be at the dorm?’

{I was actually just going to sleep, but that big human said something and dragged me here too?}

‘Big human?’

When Cerberus’s small head turned, I followed his gaze to see the manager brother walking over with a warm smile.

“Ah, Si-hwan saw! I thought good memories like this should be shared with family, right? So I asked for permission and brought Cer along.”

“With family…”

“That’s right! Cer is precious enough for you guys to bring to the dorm, right? Then he’s practically family.”

I stared at Cerberus quietly.

‘Certainly…’

Ryu Si-hwan after reincarnation was in a state where all his family had disappeared.

Since he had fallen into a completely different worldline from the Earth he used to live on.

So sometimes. Really sometimes, there were times when I missed my parents.

But if there was one being who had spent the longest time with me, it was only Cerberus, who had spent 50 years together in hell.

Now I’m being honest.

Leaving this guy behind and returning to the living world alone had felt lonely.

Cerberus, who had clearly read my thoughts, stuck out his tongue.

{As expected, you know how precious I am, Master?}

‘If I didn’t know that, I wouldn’t be human.’

{In that sense! I should say something too. Master, congratulations on your debut!}

When he was in his large form with three heads, I had told Cerberus many different stories.

And now that we had transferred to the real world.

Cerberus seemed to remember everything I had told him.

Instead of answering, I gently petted his chin.

“Now, we need to take commemorative photos! Everyone gather over here!”

I don’t know where he procured it from, but the manager brother had even prepared a banner that read [Congratulations! CENTIX Debut!].

Standing in front of the manager Brother, who was crouching down to find the optimal angle, we lined up holding the banner.

“Si-hyeok, hold it properly so the end doesn’t wrinkle!”

“I’m holding it properly. Brother Si-hwan, is it okay to put Cer on your shoulder like this?”

“Yeah, he absolutely won’t fall off.”

“This looks like a scene I used to see often in old mangas.”

“Alright, alright! Stop chatting! I’ll count to three and then shout loudly. Got it?”

Kang Seon-woo, who hadn’t ended up taking a water shower thanks to Yu Ha-woon’s intervention, grinned.

“One, two, three!”

“We debuted!”

After squeezing out our last bit of energy and taking commemorative photos.

Finally, everyone collapsed into chairs one by one as their tension released.

Chae Ha-ru clutched his stomach with dying eyes.

“We can rest now, right? I’m so hungry.”

“Of course! Let’s quickly eat dinner first and then do the next schedule!”

“What?”

Everyone’s eyes widened at the manager brother’s thunderbolt-like words.

“Your music video came out, didn’t it? Since it’s your first time seeing the completed version, we need to film reactions and behind-the-scenes talk. Everyone okay with that?”

“O, okay…”

CENTIX truly had no time to rest.