The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 134

Rave Entertainment’s practice room had really excellent facilities.

Besides the large practice room where all of CENTIX could enter together, there were also well-prepared individual practice rooms that could be used privately.

And at the current time, past 11 PM.

I was working overtime alone in an individual practice room.

[Senior Joo Han-ul: I uploaded the track to the drive, so everyone check it]

[Senior Baek Joo-won: ok]

[Me: I’ll check it! Thank you]

[Senior Joo Han-ul: The part distribution will go exactly as we discussed during the meeting, so I hope everyone can memorize it to some extent before we meet tomorrow]

[Senior Joo Han-ul: Our time is pretty tight, so I’m planning to completely match all choreography and movement tomorrow. Come prepared to practice until late]

[Me: Yes!]

I’d gotten somewhat used to sending replies with such forcefully bright tone.

If I sent them stiffly with periods like usual, it was obvious I’d be noticed.

I put down the lyric sheet with a thud and drank a few gulps of water.

‘……My body isn’t tired, but my head hurts.’

The physical aspects weren’t a problem. Thanks to thoroughly building my basic stamina in hell before returning, my endurance and stamina would be twice ahead of others.

But with so many lyrics, choreography, movement, and concepts to memorize right now, it felt like my brain would overload.

‘Still, on one hand, I’m thankful that Joo Han-ul is good at directing.’

During 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉 and CENTIX’s first activities, my leadership was inevitable.

I’d experienced most trials and was generally okay, but what was most difficult was composing and arranging.

Fortunately, Joo Han-ul, who volunteered to be the leader of the KIMA project team, was an exceptional person in this area.

The concept of the special stage decided through preliminary meetings was literally ‘leader.’

They adopted a cypher beat called [The Leaders] that had gone viral overseas, then arranged it to fit K-pop sensibilities.

Since the framework was composed of rap verses, there was enough room for Baek Joo-won’s freestyle rapping.

They could also create sections to insert singing verses, allowing my and Joo Han-ul’s vocals to coexist.

I opened the drive and played the [The Leaders – KIMA Edition] file.

It sounded good.

The EDM accompaniment added behind the trap sound that quickly hit hard, and the bass that refreshingly split near the chorus.

When someone who knew nothing about music heard it, it would be hard to notice that this was an overseas cypher beat – it was that K-pop-like.

―♬♪♪♩♪♬~

The melody heading toward the chorus had quite a lot of sharp vibration added. Moreover, the vocal range also clearly rose from the original. The scratching sound of the guitar riff that harmonized together was very similar to what I had imagined.

I repeatedly listened to just that section a few times while humming along.

‘Good. It seems like they extracted it well as I requested.’

Malicious fans exist everywhere. Parasites that somehow cling on no matter how big an idol group’s scale becomes.

There’s naturally no way to remove these leech-like creatures at once. Speaking bluntly, even the current emperor-level boy group Zefa is constantly attacked by haters. If removal is impossible even with the fandom’s scale and the agency’s backing, that says it all.

Idols can avoid it by trying not to monitor, but the fandoms supporting them take the hit directly.

What made me grit my teeth with determination also stemmed from here.

Ryu Si-hwan’s so-called ‘MILLENNIUM Self-Esteem Recovery’ operation was simple.

What I’d done best so far.

The talent that I proved countless times even in the harsh situation of 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉 and gained recognition from the general public.

The method of turning all public opinion around with ‘skill’ alone.

‘Should I consider it lucky that the main vocal positions don’t overlap?’

As I mentioned earlier, Baek Joo-won and Joo Han-ul’s main positions aren’t main vocal.

Since I’ve also endured a lot, I would have liked to make idols of the same position beside me directly feel the skill difference.

But if that kind of image formed on a stage with such senior figures, it might actually have the opposite effect.

Considering that point, it might be better for me to carry the weight of main vocal alone.

Since it was an individual practice room with good soundproofing, I tried hitting high notes with the words written on the lyric sheet.

“Hmm.”

As expected, was it because I’d been running live on music shows until recently? My vocal condition wasn’t bad.

I concentrated for about 30 minutes on practicing to maximize the resonance in my voice through diaphragmatic breathing.

‘I don’t think I’ve practiced this hard since…… my previous life when I first got into the debut group.’

I always had fighting spirit.

If I hadn’t had the fighting spirit to succeed as an idol again in this reincarnated world, CENTIX’s Ryu Si-hwan wouldn’t be alive and breathing right now.

But this KIMA stage felt different in meaning, I could feel it in my skin.

‘Did the desire to prove myself once again arise without me knowing?’

I stopped vocal practice for a moment and slumped my body into the chair.

When one task ends, another quickly comes to mind.

My head naturally replayed the conversation I’d had with Baek Joo-won.

‘Certainty. I felt certainty.’

Humans are truly simple creatures.

If even one aspect doesn’t please them, that feeling lasts a lifetime. This applies to relationships between people as well.

Baek Joo-won has clearly disliked Seong-hwi one-sidedly since trainee days.

And from the result I guessed from our last conversation, he still doesn’t like seeing Seong-hwi do well.

When he heard that Seong-hwi was appearing on 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉, he probably expected to see him fail repeatedly, but the results turned out opposite.

For him to show interest in me so openly here means…….

‘He’s definitely jumping to conclusions that I caused Seong-hwi’s personality change.’

Baek Joo-won, who judged that I played a major role in Seong-hwi’s transformation, deliberately arranged a situation where we could have intimate conversation.

Baek Joo-won, who wants to prevent Seong-hwi from doing well, created a flow to give me a bad image of Seong-hwi.

I closed my eyes and smirked.

That intention was so obvious it was boring to the point of tedium.

But since I’d gained certainty, I had to keep preparing.

‘Baek Joo-won also knows that the most effective way to drag down Seong-hwi would be to ruin CENTIX. I have to figure that out as much as possible and block it.’

How did I end up caught in the middle of such enemies’ fight? It’s truly a headache, but…….

As I said in front of Baek Joo-won, Seong-hwi is one of our important members.

His problems soon translate to everyone’s problems.

I wiped the sweat beading on my forehead and finished the remaining water. I’d brought three bottles generously, but I’d already finished them all.

When I opened the practice room door and came out to the corridor, music could be heard faintly from the far end.

Step by step, I moved my feet and gently opened the door to see Yu Ha-woon’s fluffy hair.

“―Here’s five, six, seven, eight!”

Judging by the movement, it was the final dance break of 〈Chronic〉.

Yu Ha-woon, who had overall decent abilities, naturally hadn’t made mistakes in this part on stage.

For some reason I didn’t know, he kept repeating only this section.

I quietly watched for about 3 minutes before calling Yu Ha-woon’s name.

“Ha-woon.”

“Oh, Brother Si-hwan! Did you finish practicing?”

“It’s not finished, but I ran out of water so I came out to get more. What have you been doing without resting?”

“I was naturally practicing too!”

Yu Ha-woon’s bright smile looked exactly like a poodle every time I saw it.

“We’re appearing on all the year-end music festivals on public broadcasting. I want to show an even better side there―.”

“You’ve never made a mistake here.”

“That’s true, but, well, how should I put it. Since I enter the dance break right behind Brother Si-hyeok and Brother Hwi, somehow I feel like my movements don’t have the same precision as those two. So I thought if I keep practicing, I might realize something! I’ve been working hard at it!”

Fortunately, it wasn’t a big problem.

I nodded while putting behind me the image of Yu Ha-woon showing low confidence during 〈ISL 2〉.

“If you need help, you can ask those two directly. They’d probably be so eager to help they’d be restless.”

“I wanted to come down to the practice room with them too, but they were already sleeping.”

“Ah, then there’s no hope.”

That duo who absolutely won’t wake up once they fall asleep.

Unless you burst through the door, the possibility of revival approaches zero.

Yu Ha-woon, who had been giggling, eventually looked at me with a worried expression.

“Brother, don’t you need to rest? We just have to work hard preparing our usual stage, but you have to prepare for the collaboration stage too, so it must be really hard.”

“It’s fine. I said I’d do it with full determination.”

“Really? If you collapse, I really won’t stay still.”

It’s a cute threat.

I smiled while remembering the hell memories of not collapsing even after 10 consecutive days of harpy extermination duty.

“I absolutely won’t collapse, so don’t worry. The collaboration stage is also…… going quite well in its own way, I think.”

“Really? Can’t you give me just a little spoiler? Please? Please?”

“Spoiler? There’s really nothing to spoil.”

It was true. Except for the fact that the concept’s origin was an overseas cypher beat, there was nothing special.

But it felt a bit harsh to give such a cold answer to the youngest’s sparkling eyes.

So I provided the most logical and comprehensive answer possible.

“We’ll show differentiation.”

“Differentiation?”

“Right. Senior Baek Joo-won and Senior Joo Han-ul are both outstanding idols on stage. So I plan to show differentiation so I won’t be pushed back by those two, so my presence won’t be buried.”

“Differentiation…… differentiation.”

Suddenly Yu Ha-woon’s interest shifted to something else.

He seemed completely absorbed by the word ‘differentiation’ I had mentioned.

“Brother, that differentiation you just mentioned. I want to show it on our main stage too!”

“On the main stage too?”

“Yes! Including KIMA, we’ll be performing on stage at four places total by year-end, but if we do everything exactly the same, I think it’ll be hard to clearly imprint who CENTIX is.”

Yu Ha-woon slapped his knee while speaking loudly.

It had been a while since I’d seen him this excited.

“Do you have an idea? How you’ll show differentiation.”

“I just thought of it, but. Ah, but this might be really hard.”

I silently listened to Yu Ha-woon’s idea.

The thought that immediately arose in my mind upon hearing it was…….

Would the other members’ stamina be able to support this?

“It doesn’t seem bad. It’s definitely more enjoyable to watch than proceeding with the same repertoire with variations.”

“Right! Right!”

“I’ll ask first if it’s okay to change the stage composition a bit. And we need to get confirmation from those too―.”

“I’ll ask them when they wake up!”

“Okay.”

I waved both hands as I saw Yu Ha-woon off as he excitedly left the practice room.

I gave permission, but if this happens…….

‘How many additional movements will I have to put in my head?’