The Idol Who Returned from Hell – Chapter 133

Author: Dawn

To be honest, watching his artificial smile was more uncomfortable.

So I responded to Baek Joo-won, who had thrown off his camera-front mask, with a bright expression.

“Haha, that’s right, senior. It’s the first time since we met at KNet headquarters back then.”

“I was a little surprised back then. You said you’d listen to all our recorded songs. Are you still listening?”

“Since I listen to whatever good K-pop comes out recently, Zefa’s songs are always on rotation.”

“Seeing how quickly your answers come out, it doesn’t seem like you’re making it up. Interesting.”

Don’t ask me again which song I liked best. I’m sick of it.

Fortunately, Joo Han-ul, who had been sitting beside him looking at his nails with indifferent eyes, threw out a cold remark and broke the flow.

“What’s so amazing about a junior listening to senior songs? You were the same, back during trainee days.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything because it sounds old-fashioned, but we definitely did more back in our day.”

I almost burst out laughing at these guys who were barely past their mid-twenties pulling the “back in our day” card.

“Ugh, what’s with all this exhausting chatter? I was planning to just do the concept and song structure today and leave, but are you two going to keep talking?”

“Ah, I have a deep connection with CENTIX, you know. I have a precious junior over there, so naturally my interest is drawn.”

“From what I remember, he wasn’t such a precious junior.”

Joo Han-ul struck at Baek Joo-won’s core with a quiet voice.

Then Baek Joo-won showed signs of embarrassment and shook his red hair once.

“Come on. Hey, if I hadn’t cared about that kid, I wouldn’t have known about 〈ISL 2〉 either.”

“Yeah, you’re amazing. If you’re going to chat, go ahead. I’ll go out and smoke one cigarette before coming back.”

“If you’re bored, why don’t you just leave?”

“It’d look bad if I’m the only one leaving when you two are staying.”

This was no ordinary guy.

I recalled Kang Seon-woo’s story and tried to get a read on Joo Han-ul’s character.

‘I almost got fooled for a moment because he seemed so easygoing earlier. Looking at his tone and atmosphere, Baek Joo-won is nothing compared to this level. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine he could easily cut a trainee he doesn’t like.’

As Joo Han-ul opened the door and left without looking back, Baek Joo-won sighed shortly as if annoyed.

“That guy makes me uncomfortable whenever he’s around.”

“Do you seniors meet often?”

“Hm? The two of us?”

I deliberately emitted sparkling eyes and even nodded my head, which brought back an incredulous snort.

“Hahaha! Two completely different groups, plus our agencies are total rivals, how could we meet often? We’ve never met in private places. We only occasionally see each other like this at year-end events or when we need each other’s help at concerts.”

“Ah, I watched the collaboration stage you did at the Music Awards two years ago.”

“You even looked up that old video? You’re really serious, aren’t you?”

“This is my first time in a situation like this, so I did some preliminary research on what kind of ideas I should prepare.”

……It was true.

With this stage proposal that came out of nowhere, I was lost about what concept to expect.

There was definitely the option of just keeping a junior position and riding the bus, but that was absolutely not my goal.

After laughing heartily, Baek Joo-won stared directly at my face.

Then Cerberus twitched his nose and spoke quickly.

{Master, that human’s scent just changed slightly.}

‘I was waiting for when it would change.’

“You know, junior…… Ah, keep calling you junior makes it feel too distant. Hey, can I just call you Si-hwan?”

“Whatever’s comfortable for you, Senior.”

It probably wouldn’t feel good to have my name spat out like that. But what could I do? The senior as vast as the sky wants to do it.

“Refreshing. Anyway, you know, Si-hwan? This stage – I was the one who suggested doing it first.”

“……?”

I was startled by the unexpected information that hit my ears.

I thought it was just a year-end collaboration that the KNet production team had proposed.

This red pepper paste-haired senior had directly suggested it.

“May I ask why?”

“The reason, huh. Well, what I told the PDs was general. This year’s boy group results were historic, so I thought it would be good if the three groups with the best results this year stood together at year-end. However, if there are too many people on stage, it gets chaotic, so why not cleanly gather just the leaders? They immediately said it was a good idea and were happy about it.”

When I just nodded without showing any particular reaction, Baek Joo-won laughed and touched his bangs.

“You look like you want me to tell you the real reason, not something trivial like that.”

“You said ‘general,’ so I thought there might be other intentions.”

“There are other intentions too.”

“Considering what you said earlier, it doesn’t seem like you pushed for this meeting because you wanted to see Senior Joo Han-ul again.”

My straightforward words slowly permeated the air.

Baek Joo-won’s sharp eyes created a completely different atmosphere from before.

For a moment I wondered if I’d been too aggressive, but.

“……Very interesting.”

“Excuse me?”

“The other intention. Actually, I’ve been intrigued by you since I first saw you at KNet headquarters.”

“Me…… you mean.”

“Yeah, as you said, this definitely isn’t a meeting I arranged to buddy up with that Han-ul bastard. I was curious about what kind of person Ryu Si-hwan would be. I was a bit worried you might refuse because it’s too heavy a stage to join, but since you came like this, it’ll be even more interesting.”

I never imagined I’d receive such a direct confession.

{M-Master! What is that red pepper paste-haired human saying—!}

‘I’m also flustered by how boldly he’s coming at me, but wait for now. There’s definitely a separate main point.’

{This feels bad!}

Cerberus also seemed quite flustered, but still faithfully kept moving his nose tip and sniffing.

“Is it because I knew about your seniors’ recorded songs that I got called here?”

“Hahaha! Ah, you’ve been seriously thinking about that this whole time? That’s definitely not it. As I mentioned earlier, I watched all of 〈ISL 2〉. Well, not the live broadcast, but I did watch it all from beginning to end.”

Baek Joo-won’s sanpaku eyes came closer to me.

“Seeing you go to the finals and win was somewhat impressive. And seeing how well you led the kids, I was very curious how a kid who wasn’t even from an agency trainee background could do this.”

“You flatter me.”

“Flattery, my ass. I know very well how hard it is to control one kid like Hwi.”

Baek Joo-won’s and my gazes crossed momentarily.

Cerberus on my shoulder slammed his tail down and barked.

{The scent changed dramatically! Like when I first saw him back then!}

As expected, there was a separate main point.

As predicted, it naturally shifted to a story related to Seong-hwi.

“I don’t know how it appeared on the broadcast, but I didn’t have much trouble preparing stages with Hwi.”

“Really? Even though he injured his ankle being greedy and made you completely redo the choreography?”

“That was just a simple accident. And we had alternatives prepared quickly, so it was fine.”

“Hmm.”

When I continued speaking calmly without any wavering, Baek Joo-won propped his chin and looked at me.

“Well, if the person involved says so, there’s nothing to say. But I trained with Hwi for a long time, so I know that kid’s personality. He’s definitely skilled and easygoing, but sometimes he’d get worked up alone and act self-centeredly, causing a lot of headaches.”

“He gets along very well within CENTIX. Though he does play a lot of pranks.”

“That’s what I find strange. I never dreamed I’d hear him say practicing is fun.”

I watched Baek Joo-won’s finger lightly tap the table.

“He definitely wasn’t that kind of kid before. A lot must have changed in a short time?”

“Haha……”

I can instinctively tell.

Right now Baek Joo-won is constantly testing me.

Revealing from the start that he pushed for this meeting.

Saying he was curious about what kind of person I am.

All of it is groundwork to extract information related to Seong-hwi.

‘No, not extract…… To be precise, he’s trying to overlap the Seong-hwi I’m seeing with the Seong-hwi he’s seeing.’

I felt a slight tension enter the fist I had placed on my knee.

Yes, Seong-hwi had been bothering me since the early part of 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉.

In the early broadcast, he almost self-destructed due to his reckless behavior.

He was so stubborn that it was hard to match opinions with him.

But that’s all in the past.

The Seong-hwi currently active as CENTIX is one of our reliable members.

This means his image isn’t something that would waver from this bastard’s obvious manipulative tongue-wagging.

“I think people can change, senior.”

“Hm?”

“When people are beside those whose hearts match theirs, they change easily.”

Upon hearing my words, Baek Joo-won momentarily failed at expression management.

Just as I thought I’d spoken too directly when I saw his brow furrow sharply.

“Should I smoke one more cigarette before coming in? Still not finished?”

“……When did you come down?”

“Just now.”

Joo Han-ul burst through the door, and once again the flow was appropriately interrupted.

“I’m tired, so let’s go now. Si-hwan, aren’t you tired too? You must be having a hard time preparing for this stage and your year-end main stage, so let’s just finish here for today and go home to rest. I’ll let you know in the group chat when the track demo version comes out.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Thus our first meeting came to an end.

As I gathered my outerwear and went out to the studio corridor, Joo Han-ul tapped my shoulder from behind.

“Senior?”

“That guy.”

Joo Han-ul’s chin was pointed toward Baek Joo-won walking ahead.

“Don’t think of him as just some common delinquent.”

“What do you mean—?”

“Don’t get too friendly with him. It’s partly because he’s the opposite personality from me so I dislike him, but honestly he just pisses me off.”

Even while openly badmouthing him, Joo Han-ul’s cold expression remained unchanged.

He probably mistook having a long conversation with Baek Joo-won as some kind of bonding.

‘Bonding, my ass. If you hadn’t come in at the end, sparks would have flown.’

Since I was somewhat grateful for today and had something to probe about, I put on a bright smile and nodded.

“I don’t really know, but I’ll keep it in mind, senior. Ah, and Seon-woo had a message for me to pass along yesterday.”

“Seon-woo? To me?”

It was quite a miraculous sight.

Seeing a face that had been cold just seconds ago brighten up instantly.

Joo Han-ul even grabbed my hand tightly.

“He hasn’t contacted me for a week, so I thought he must be busy. Is Seon-woo doing well? Is he eating his meals properly?”

“He’s eating so well it’s becoming a problem. He said to tell Senior Han-ul that he’s been so busy since activities just ended and hasn’t been able to contact you, so he’s sorry……”

Kang Seon-woo’s message itself was short, but Joo Han-ul’s reaction was so good that our conversation continued until we left the studio.

In the end, after promising to even arrange a video call later, I was able to move to the van where manager brother was waiting.

I collapsed onto the plush seat and let out a short groan.

“Ugh, so draining.”

“How was it? Being among seniors must have been really uncomfortable, right?”

“Haha, it wasn’t exactly uncomfortable. Rather, I got tired from talking too much.”

“Si-hwan’s having a hard time. You have group practice tonight too, right? Rest and sleep a bit before then.”

“Yes.”

I looked out the window while gently stroking the transparent Cerberus’s chin.

‘I was really tired, but still, there was some gain.’

{Why are all the humans in this world equally screwed up, Master? I’m so tired.}

‘Let’s think of those two as the strange ones.’