The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 135

“Hey Si-hwan! Should I bring a hair dryer too?”

“There’s no way the hotel wouldn’t have a hair dryer.”

“Right? Oh, I wonder if we’ll run short on towels. I need just one more big one—”

“If you’re going to carry luggage like a traveling merchant, then pack it. I’d just go down to the hotel desk and ask for more towels.”

“Right? Oh, that’s right! Could you check my bag to see if I packed spare contact lenses? Really sorry!”

“……I can’t exactly kill him either.”

I let out a deep sigh.

The current state of this room I share with Kang Seon-woo looked like a battlefield.

As if directly hit by a powerful typhoon with winds over 30km/h, clothes and belongings were messily scattered in all directions.

I’m definitely not the culprit since I always keep things neat and tidy.

The problem is that human currently making a ruckus in the bathroom, even dropping his comb.

“Is this the right bag?”

“That’s it! Are there contact lenses inside?”

“Yeah. You have two containers, so stop worrying and come out.”

“It’s my first time going overseas, aren’t you nervous? If we forget even one thing, it’ll be a disaster, a disaster!”

“There’s something called a mart that exists overseas too, you funny guy.”

In a few hours, we have to get on the van heading to Incheon International Airport.

Because we need to go to Osaka, Japan to attend KIMA on December 10th.

The manager brother had been telling us for days to pack our luggage in advance. But my tiresome roommate has been slacking off on work all this time and is now causing this commotion.

“I’ve packed everything! Foam cleanser, essence, shampoo, body towel—”

“You don’t need to list everything, just hurry up and hand it over. I’ll put it inside.”

“Whoo, is our Si-hwan trying to help me? Having a neat freak roommate at times like this is so convenient.”

“I told you not to make weird sound effects.”

Kang Seon-woo’s carrier was already on the verge of bursting, but somehow I managed to stuff the last bundle of belongings in.

Sweat that rarely appears even during intense dance practice began beading on my nose.

“Whew. That’s everything done, right? I’m going downstairs to rest.”

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks for all the hard work helping me.”

“Good that you know it.”

Just as I was about to head toward the door.

Something rustled against my leg.

“……”

I stared at the suspicious plastic bag with cold, sour eyes.

The phrase ‘Spare underwear!’ written in blue marker was brazenly revealed.

“Whoa. I didn’t pack the most important thing. We’re screwed.”

“I’m never touching that carrier again, so stuff it in yourself and come down. I’m leaving.”

“Ahhh! Ryu Si-hwan! Where are you going, how am I supposed to open that time bomb by myself!”

“Well, who told you to make the bomb in the first place?”

I brushed off his pleading hands and hurriedly came down to the living room.

Then Seong-hwi, who was lying comfortably on the sofa, waved his hand lightly.

“You two seem to be having fun every moment? It’s never not noisy.”

“If it looks that fun, want to go into that room and come back out instead of me?”

“Ahaha, I politely decline, leader.”

While slowly drinking cold water and gathering my confused mind.

An unusually cautious question came from Seong-hwi’s mouth.

“Brother, just asking just in case.”

“……?”

“While preparing for the collaboration stage, nothing happened, right?”

I put down my cup and briefly thought it over.

To be direct, there were no actual problems. Under Joo Han-ul’s sharp guidance, all parts related to stage composition proceeded without any issues.

However, from what I gathered through conversation, it was clear that Baek Joo-won still harbored malice toward Seong-hwi.

Should I say ‘Baek Joo-won is openly checking you’ directly, or not.

“Hmm. At least the kind of situation you’re thinking of didn’t happen.”

“The situation I’m thinking of?”

“You’re imagining the atmosphere from when we first met at the broadcasting station, aren’t you?”

When we first encountered Zefa at KNet headquarters.

Back then, Baek Joo-won had provoked Seong-hwi without caring about the surrounding gazes at all.

He’s probably assuming that guy showed me the same aggressive behavior.

“Ahaha. Since he’s someone who pushes forward passionately even with many people around. I was worried he might flare up even more in a private setting, but it seems that wasn’t the case?”

“If I had been alone, that possibility would have been high, but fortunately Senior Joo Han-ul was there too.”

“……Anyway, that’s a relief. I was a bit worried that brother got dragged into an uncomfortable situation because of me.”

Seong-hwi sat up from the sofa with a sharp smile.

I remember he usually had no dark circles at all, but recently he seemed to have lost a bit of sleep, appearing as if he had light smoky makeup on.

“I’m saying you did well preparing for the stage, brother. I’ll be watching from rehearsal, so do it properly.”

“The way you’re talking, people would think I’m someone who doesn’t work hard.”

“It’s motivation, motivation. You know I’m good at monitoring community sentiment, right?”

During 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉 filming, probably only Seong-hwi and I monitored the public’s real-time reactions among the trainees.

He’s someone who doesn’t waver mentally either.

But today he spoke to me with a meaningful tone.

“I’m getting a bit annoyed with weird labels being stuck on us all the time. So brother, make a proper start and come back.”

“Watch carefully. How I do it.”

“Don’t just stop at the level of tearing them apart, go ahead and completely smash them. Okay? Then the kids will naturally get pumped up and our main stage energy will double.”

Seong-hwi deliberately walked over to pat my shoulder.

I wasn’t bothered by him doing that while I was drinking water.

“……That aside, brother.”

“What now.”

“Could you help me pack my luggage too? My carrier won’t close properly—”

“Figure out how to stuff it in properly yourself. Fighting!”

“Ah, brother!”

* * *

‘It really has been a while since Osaka.’

Song Ji-won looked around the hotel room with a light heart.

It had been several years since she came on a Japan trip with friends right after becoming a college student. She hadn’t had time to enjoy this kind of leisure while being swamped with work.

‘Never thought I’d come overseas for fangirling.’

Of course, she had fangirled over many groups before CENTIX. Even QS, CENTIX’s direct senior group, she had held onto their coattails and wouldn’t let go until they disbanded.

However, it wasn’t the kind of special love that would move her to distant lands. That was even more true if it was overseas rather than domestic.

Song Ji-won simply had an early dinner and hurried to Kyocera Dome.

The crowd already gathering near the dome seemed to represent how much attention this year’s KIMA had drawn.

‘This is kind of déjà vu.’

It was a familiar scene.

This was definitely a repeat of the day she went to see the 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉 final live broadcast.

The biggest difference was that the number of audience members had gone from thousands to tens of thousands.

‘……Good thing I only ate a little.’

Since it was obvious she’d get pushed around, she was grateful her stomach was relatively light.

And so the ordeal began.

In the middle of the waiting line that showed no signs of shrinking, Song Ji-won tightly gripped CENTIX’s light stick that had been delivered just barely before departing for Japan.

‘If I just endure this, I’ll be able to see our kids soon!’

She was curious how many MILLENNIUM had brought clock sticks to this place.

From an optimistic perspective, she hoped many people had purchased light sticks through advance reservations.

But since this was Japan, not Korea, that positive thought quickly faded.

Still, Song Ji-won was determined to wave her clock stick harder than anyone and participate in group chants until the end.

The time of endurance passed, and she finally reached the standing area inside the dome.

When she saw the stage boasting magnificent scale, excited exclamations could be heard from around Song Ji-won.

First, Song Ji-won quickly found the artist waiting area.

‘Good. It’s not right in front, but from this position I can keep watching the kids from the side.’

The area right in front of the main stage was so competitive that she hadn’t even dared to try ticketing.

The area she had chosen with some courage was right next to the artist waiting area.

If Song Ji-won had been a professional photographer, this would be a honey spot that might produce some mouth-watering shots.

But since she had come all the way to Kyocera Dome, she wanted to fully capture CENTIX with her own eyes.

‘I gave up on photo greed long ago.’

Before KIMA started, she looked at the lineup again and tried to predict CENTIX’s turn.

Among the big names, there were Zefa, Comet, Magnus, and two girl idol groups that had hits in the first half of this year.

The rest of the groups had somewhat less impact compared to the ripple effect CENTIX had created.

Thinking of KIMA being organized into three acts.

‘If things go well, maybe second act closing or third act opening?’

In any case, CENTIX was very likely to be among the later groups.

It was a bit daunting thinking about how to wait patiently until then.

But she suddenly remembered Ryu Si-hwan’s collaboration stage that she had briefly forgotten.

‘That’s right. The collaboration stage might come out much earlier!’

In previous KIMAs, special stages were generally positioned in the middle.

That means she might be able to meet Ryu Si-hwan alone before seeing complete CENTIX.

Song Ji-won tried to calm her excited heart and regain composure.

First, she sent a message to the group chat saying she had arrived safely.

Her friends, who had apparently already taken their seats in front of the TV, quickly replied.

While browsing other social media, Song Ji-won witnessed that nonsense posts occasionally went up to get on MILLENNIUM’s nerves.

‘Ah, here we go with this bullshit again.’

[Time to make them really feel their frog-in-a-well situation lol]

[The sight of him showing off among seniors is so easy to picture. Just because he can sing a bit, does he really think he belongs at that level?]

[No… I get that our guy sings well and is handsome, but why do you absolutely have to butt in here T_T. If you do well with variety show fandoms and album sales, that should be enough, why are you taking our Magnetic kids’ spots too?? Do you have to take everything to feel satisfied??]

[Even the hundred-year-idol solo fans are a problem lol/ Even if the PD made the proposal, rationalizing that a 40-day-old rookie can join there makes me want to puke seriously…]

Now they’re really going full cipher mode.

While they had used weak filtering with initial consonants until now, the haters had created numerous cipher words to avoid the eagle-eyed surveillance of MILLENNIUM.

Of course, individual MILLENNIUM were also specialized in this area, so it didn’t take long to discover them.

But the fact that they were now seriously working on it was extremely unpleasant.

Song Ji-won, whose mood had risen, felt fatigue building up from the posts still sending resentful looks at Ryu Si-hwan’s special stage participation.

But that moment was brief too.

Thanks to the fandom’s total offensive hashtags appearing on the timeline, her mood was quickly purified.

[No matter what anyone says, you guys are the best, so let’s just keep doing what we’re doing! Don’t get discouraged and CENTIX fighting #WeGoCentix #Centix_LoveYou]

[Let’s prove it with the stage, just make them all speechless again #WeGoCentix #Centix_LoveYou]

[Our Si-hwan must have worked hard preparing for the stage too, so show off your skills to your heart’s content!! We’ll be waiting #WeGoCentix #Centix_LoveYou]

That’s right.

This tiresome yet inescapable pattern they’d experienced since 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉.

CENTIX had always been the ones to save MILLENNIUM from that cycle.

When fans’ hearts hoping they would prove their worth once again reached their peak.

“Welcome to KIMA 202X!”

The curtain on the spectacular festival rose.