The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 113

There was something I always said when thinking about Ma Si-hyeok.

That he never lives up to his build.

But today, this modifier was twisted in a positive direction.

“The white chocolate color is so pretty!”

“Thank you.”

Ma Si-hyeok pressed the piping bag with incredibly delicate hand movements.

It seemed like he chose to melt white chocolate from the beginning rather than using a typical flour base.

When he sprinkled contrasting black chocolate chips on top, it created a visual good enough to sell at a dessert shop.

Even Seong-hwi, who always loved teasing his same-age friend, stared with his mouth open.

“I’m seeing you in a new light, Si-hyeok.”

“Thanks.”

“Show us this side at the dorm too.”

“You never once asked me to cook for you.”

“Ah. Then from now on, should I keep making you cook?”

“That won’t work. I’ll only do it occasionally.”

Ma Si-hyeok used to be completely helpless against Seong-hwi’s aggressive fastballs when they first started speaking casually, but now he seemed to have adapted somewhat.

Well, they’ve been sharing a room for quite a while, so it makes sense he’d develop immunity.

‘Since it’s come to this, let’s just aim for average.’

{Why is Master’s ambition so small! You should try to beat your friend Si-hyeok!}

‘I’m someone who knows myself very well.’

{Ugh, disappointing!}

Cerberus kept whining for me to break through my limits, but the front runner was already far ahead.

This was the time to focus on making cookies that the fans could eat without problems.

“Hey, Si-hwan, my shape turned out pretty good, didn’t it? How is it? Decent, right?”

“Huh… What, why did you make it so normally well?”

“What’s with that tone, like you thought I’d make some weird charcoal lump.”

But before my concentration could fully charge, Kang Seon-woo proudly showed me his unexpected results.

It was a s’more cookie with marshmallow inside, which looked like it would be very troublesome, but somehow he worked magic and it had a decent appearance.

“Don’t talk to me.”

“Ooh, Ryu Si-hwan’s brow is furrowing! Why are you suddenly so intensely focused!”

“Because I’m feeling a sense of crisis.”

Big trouble.

If the visual went wrong here, I’d have to endure Kang Seon-woo’s bragging all day along with the shame.

Moreover, cameras were still rolling all around us.

In other words, if I ruined the leader’s dignity, it would be preserved in video forever.

‘No matter what, I’ll make it perfectly.’

With that determination, I painstakingly reworked the cookie dough to be as uniform in size as possible.

I stuck a few more chocolate chips on top of the dough to make them stand out more, then applied appropriate pressure to flatten them.

After laying parchment paper on the tray going into the oven and neatly arranging the dough, all preparations were complete.

“Let’s all go to the oven together. Using it isn’t difficult, so watch my demonstration carefully and later when you’re ready to bake, feel free to operate it yourself—”

Time to check the fateful results.

If all the preliminary procedures were perfect, pretty and neat cookies would be made in the oven.

But if something was wrong somewhere… destructive charcoal lumps would emerge.

I was hoping I wouldn’t be that victim.

10 minutes later. The moment of truth arrived.

“……”

“……”

“Wait, why do you all look more nervous than when going on stage for the first time? Especially Ryu Si-hwan, why are you so anxious today.”

“You don’t understand the pressure of being a leader.”

The members stood in line in front of the oven with their hands politely clasped.

When you think about it, it was a somewhat funny sight.

CENTIX, who had soared even on tremendous pressure-filled huge stages.

Yet here they were struggling in front of a dessert called cookies.

Kang Seon-woo seemed to find the picture of me included in that group very interesting.

“Ah, ah. We’ll have a mini interview here. Ryu Si-hwan, you’re called by nicknames like stage master, main vocal master, and vocal power master for showing amazing performances in front of audiences. Why has your expression suddenly hardened so grimly today?”

“…It’s my first time making dessert, so I’m nervous.”

“So our Ryu Si-hwan also gets nervous. I never knew—”

“And more than anything, since this is a gift for the fans, I’m more worried. I was politely clasping my hands and praying, hoping they’d find it delicious.”

“Such a comment master.”

Kang Seon-woo kept trying hard to tease me, but this side had also developed an immune system against most tactics.

I deflected the pressure with appropriate comments while watching the baking teacher take out the trays one by one.

The first tray belonged to Chae Ha-ru.

“They turned out fine! You used cookie cutters to make the shapes, right?”

“Yes, I unified them with animal faces.”

“Let me see, mm. The taste is fine too! If you keep making them like this, it should be sufficient.”

As expected of CENTIX’s official foodie, his food-making skills were also top-notch.

When he received praise, Chae Ha-ru’s default expression brightened cheerfully.

Honestly, lately his dead fish eyes have been coming back to life so often that I sometimes get confused about which was his default setting.

Next were Seong-hwi’s cookies.

“Oh my, are these peanuts?”

“I mixed almonds and peanuts together. I like nuts, ahaha.”

“Not a bad combination. The nuts are savory and have a nice chewy texture, right? This passes too! You can keep making them.”

Seong-hwi winked at Ma Si-hyeok while moving his tray.

“Thanks for the tip.”

“I just told you the ratio again.”

“Oh. Now you don’t blush when I compliment you?”

“…I’m trying not to blush because we’re in front of cameras.”

Ma Si-hyeok’s immune system seemed to be a work in progress.

He gently rubbed his slightly flushed cheeks and stepped forward to check his cookies.

The result was, well, needless to say, perfect.

“Si-hyeok, would you like to attend our class officially later? You’re a golden-handed talent I covet!”

“I’ll try to visit during vacation.”

“Oh, I’m already happy! Mm mm, everything from shape to taste is perfect. The fans receiving these will be totally lucky!”

It was a cookie that delivered extreme sweetness with white chocolate base and black chocolate chips.

Next to it was the chocolate chip cookie I made, but Ma Si-hyeok had put much larger chocolate chunks directly on top, transforming it into a chocolate chunk cookie.

Again, it was good enough to sell at a dessert shop without shame.

“Next, let’s take out Si-hwan’s cookies!”

It happened to be my turn next, making me more nervous.

Fortunately, my cookies also came out intact without any crumbling and earned the teacher’s praise.

“A classic cookie. This is exactly the visual that comes to mind when you think chocolate chip cookies. You can keep making them like this.”

“Thank you.”

Soon Kang Seon-woo’s s’more cookies also emerged from the oven showing off their magnificent appearance.

The large marshmallow had melted into the center of the chocolate base, making it look very appetizing visually.

“Brother Seon-woo, unexpected.”

“Really, who knew you had this talent.”

“Why is everyone so surprised. Did you forget I’m originally a very delicate person?”

“Brother, even MILLENNIUM wouldn’t believe that.”

“Gack!”

Kang Seon-woo collapsed after taking Chae Ha-ru’s quietly delivered punch.

One tray remained in the oven and one person remained.

“Only Ha-woon’s tray is left?”

“Ugh…”

Even before checking the results, Yu Ha-woon’s expression was tearful.

“Teacher, I think I have no hand skills at all.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Even if you make mistakes, you can do better next time. Let’s take it out first.”

The cookies on the last tray that appeared were.

“Hahaha!”

“Wow, how did this turn out like this?”

“…They look really unique.”

“Aren’t they aliens?”

“E-everyone stop laughing! Stop laughing, you guys!”

They didn’t come out as charcoal lumps, but they boasted a visual equivalent to that.

Even I, who usually don’t tease the youngest, couldn’t stop the laughter that leaked out.

“Ha-woon, that cookie’s mouth is twisted?”

“I know, I know! Ah, seriously. I was greedy and tried decoration too!”

Yu Ha-woon, who had started spectacularly by spilling sugar from the beginning, seemed to have attempted difficult decoration to make up for his mistakes.

He probably tried to draw a smiling face with chocolate mousse on the basic base.

But for some unknown reason, the cookie dough spread and the mouth area twisted away while the eyeballs bulged out.

Sorry to our youngest, but it was a bizarre visual somewhat reminiscent of a deep-sea monster.

The baking teacher also tried hard to hold back laughter while analyzing the cause.

“Ahem. Ha-woon, did you put butter in here?”

“I heard putting butter was good…”

“Ah, butter itself is naturally good to put in. But if the butter temperature gets too high, cookies spread like this. And if you mix the dough too much and air gets inside, cookies can spread too.”

“I think I stirred the dough too enthusiastically…”

As Yu Ha-woon dejectedly hung his head, faithful SNS spirit Seong-hwi had already taken out his phone.

“Is it a creature from the deep sea or an alien from space. Okay, caption done.”

“Ahhhh! Brother Hwi, don’t post it!”

“Ahaha, we can’t not share this fun thing with the fans.”

The two fought over whether to post the cookie photo on Stargram, but the winner was predetermined.

Seong-hwi even took a photo of Yu Ha-woon crying while looking at his cookie.

Somehow Yu Ha-woon ended up completely persuaded.

Thus, the following post went up on CENTIX’s Stargram.

[official.CENTIX: The path of baking is long and far… T_T I didn’t want this kind of deep-sea monster (?)!]

It’s my first time trying baking and I completely failed, sob sob,,, I want to make it well like my brothers but there are still many opportunities so I’ll pull myself together!!

#CENTIX #CENTIX #Yu Ha-woon #HaWoon

“Still, Ha-woon came out cute in this photo.”

“Cute, so cute, our youngest!”

“Enough, everyone stop looking! We still have a long way to go!”

Yu Ha-woon let out a small huff and tied his apron tightly.

“100 servings of cookies today! Each gift bag needs 4 cookies, so we need to make a total of 400. Everyone get up!”

“Yes, yes.”

“Ha-woon, your enthusiasm is good, but if results like that come out again—”

“Shh! Brother Ha-ru, be quiet! I’m really going to focus intensely, so just watch.”

400 cookies.

Since we had to go practice in the afternoon, we really needed to make them quickly like Yu Ha-woon said.

I cracked eggs while chuckling.

‘Still, it is pretty fun.’