The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 138

“Everyone, great work!”

“Thank you! Great work everyone!”

We caught our breath and bowed deeply in greeting.

The staff who had been waiting pulled out the transceiver packs from behind our sweat-soaked suits, making us feel much cooler.

As soon as we returned to the waiting room, I thought everyone would collapse.

Instead, the guys were burning bright with energy.

“We did it! It’s over! Even I can see we did really well!”

“I think we did even better than during rehearsal, brother!”

“The live performance was perfect, my little brother!”

I plopped down in a chair while watching Kang Seon-woo and Yu Ha-woon hugging each other and jumping around.

They reminded me of poodles who had come out for a walk with their owner, making me laugh naturally.

‘Well, even I can see the stage itself was finished without any rough edges. They have good reason to be that happy.’

The day I had that conversation with him in the practice room. Yu Ha-woon had told his idea to all the members.

That even if it was difficult, he wanted to show a differentiated stage that only CENTIX could do at the year-end awards ceremony.

This KIMA performance was the first starting point of that great journey.

“……Brother Si-hwan, great work. The special stage was really cool.”

“What work? You had it harder, man.”

“No. Just watching your singing from afar, I could taste blood in my throat. It’s really amazing every time I hear it.”

Ma Si-hyeok sat down next to me while wiping his forehead soaked with sweat.

What I said was absolutely not empty words. Of course, I who prepared the special stage together was quite busy too, but the main character of the ‘differentiation’ card CENTIX pulled out at KIMA was Ma Si-hyeok.

Since we were already at it, should I check the fans’ reactions right away?

I accessed the community that had been useful for gauging public opinion since 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉.

Just looking at the hot topic posts occupying the top of the bulletin board, I could tell what today’s main topic of conversation was.

[HOT: Rave needs to release the CENTIX KIMA version audio track right now]

When Leader Ryu started tearing apart the special stage, I thought ah, these guys really came out properly sharpened, but as soon as the main stage started, I got goosebumps again lol. The 〈HIT〉 orchestral arrangement – I don’t know whose brain that idea came from, but I wanted to give them a million kisses

Watching Wolf-pup dance solo to match the violin sounds, whoa, I wondered if that kind of movement was possible with that physique, the immersion was amazing

Also, if they had used live orchestra only for 〈HIT〉 and gone normally for 〈Chronic〉, it would have been a bit disappointing, right? But they naturally transitioned to group choreography at the right timing and hit us with the second verse, it was so moving seriously, just having live performance underneath makes the kids’ vocals sound so much more flavorful, anyway it was so good

CENTIX, who has to participate in numerous award ceremonies at year-end.

Since this was the place announcing their first departure, being KIMA, we all agreed it was most right to present our debut song 〈Chronic〉 along with 〈HIT〉, which was like a symbol of 〈ISL 2〉.

And we successfully combined the differentiation Yu Ha-woon had talked about with this theme.

When we recognized that expectation was building among fans that we had prepared something, we all agreed to add an impact that everyone would notice at once.

The primary impact would naturally be the song’s melody.

Using a grand orchestra befitting the major stage called KIMA, having Ma Si-hyeok, who majored in contemporary dance, perform a solo dance to draw maximum attention.

CENTIX’s strategy worked out perfectly.

As I scrolled down, I chuckled seeing Ma Si-hyeok’s name and nickname appearing frequently.

“You definitely need to make the most of your physique. Everyone’s wondering how that flexibility comes from that body, you know?”

“……I’m just grateful that everyone likes it.”

“I always tell you. You can have more confidence.”

Ma Si-hyeok quietly nodded at my encouraging words.

Ma Si-hyeok, who had to endure unintended hardship during 〈ISL 2〉 filming thanks to suffering from baseless school violence.

For a while he had to rely on medication to get by, but fortunately recently he’s been sleeping without the medication’s effects.

However, the lack of confidence that still remained underneath was suppressing his natural talent.

‘I hope experiences like today will help him completely break free from that.’

I felt that way not just because he was a team member, but because he was a colleague who had endured difficult days together.

“But brother.”

“Yeah?”

“No matter how much I stare at your phone, I don’t see my name written anywhere. What did you see to know that?”

I had momentarily forgotten.

Ma Si-hyeok and Yu Ha-woon have quite fragile mentalities, so we’ve been blocking them from checking public opinion as much as possible.

If they accidentally saw malicious comments and harassment scenes, their mood would definitely be ruined for the day, so we prevented it. But unintentionally, it ended up hiding the fans’ nickname culture even more.

“In places like this, fans call us by nicknames. Using real names directly could cause problems if something happens, so they often use nicknames to avoid searches.”

“What do you mean by avoid searches?”

“It’s short for search prevention. In your case, Wolf-pup that you see here appears a lot these days.”

“Wolf-pup……?”

Ma Si-hyeok wrinkled his brow, wondering what kind of compound word this was.

Then his already fierce-looking expression changed to look like a boss monster.

“When you appeared on 〈ISL 2〉, fans often said you were like a retriever.”

“I heard that too.”

“But then occasionally when your expression changes on stage, they say a wolf face appears, so they combined wolf + puppy.”

“Ah, so that’s how it works.”

I vividly remember when scenes of him bonding with the guys were broadcast.

He unintentionally earned the title of training the younger members, which came with numerous memes.

Among them, Ma Si-hyeok was often compared to a retriever – big like a mountain but gentle in personality.

Ma Si-hyeok, who learned the meaning behind the nickname, had quite satisfied eyes.

“I should work hard so I can continue being called a wolf in the future.”

“You like it that much?”

“I often think about biting that roommate who keeps bothering me.”

“Ahaha, if someone heard that they’d think I torment you, man.”

At perfect timing, Seong-hwi joined our conversation.

“You’re not really going to bite me, are you?”

“If you keep bugging me to watch NeoTube when I’m trying to sleep, I might really bite.”

“Wow, Brother Si-hwan. Our Si-hyeok has developed a lot, hasn’t he? The kid who used to struggle so much with speaking casually to me now says he’ll take a bite out of me.”

“The more you tease him, the more karma keeps building up, just know that.”

“Brother, if I happen to collapse bleeding, you’ll call an ambulance for me, right?”

“Stop talking nonsense and drink more water.”

I threw him a water bottle, ending the roommates’ affectionate fight.

While preparing to move back to the performer waiting area, I organized the current situation in my mind.

The main goal of attending KIMA was to silence the strange public opinion toward me and CENTIX.

There were definitely people who found CENTIX annoying – a group that achieved exponential growth in a short time and rose to compete with Korea’s top idols.

That public opinion was successfully silenced through the [The Leaders] stage I practiced with gritted teeth.

The interest in CENTIX’s main stage formed through [The Leaders] was also well received with excellent arrangement and stage utilization.

‘It was tough in many ways, but I hit the target properly.’

Now that I’ve relieved some burden, we can focus entirely on the remaining year-end schedule.

I thought of the composers who would be working hard on the next concept and sent my heart hoping they’d endure just a little more hardship.

Since we appeared in the middle of the third act, there weren’t many acts left.

I was curious which of the big names would decorate the ending.

As somewhat expected, Zefa decorated the finale with a splendid performance, bringing KIMA to a close.

Though it was a slight difference, their overall performance this year was better than Comet’s.

“Everyone, where are you going during free time tomorrow? Let’s go eat something delicious!”

When all filming was finished and we were preparing to return to the lodging, Yu Ha-woon asked with an excited voice.

The manager had said to enjoy tourism comfortably for the remaining day as commemoration of coming to Japan.

I didn’t have much desire for sightseeing since we’d been handling such a tough schedule.

But at the mention of eating something delicious, one foodie immediately reacted enthusiastically.

“I already found places. First, we absolutely have to go here. You have to eat takoyaki when you come to Osaka.”

“Ha-ru. Be honest. You stayed up all night searching for restaurants, didn’t you?”

“I won’t deny that. But doing advance research like this makes things comfortable, right? This place supposedly packs their octopus really full. Brother Seon-woo, be honest. Doesn’t it sound appealing?”

“I won’t deny it either! Let’s go there right away tomorrow!”

“Yes!”

Chae Ha-ru’s phone memo was densely packed with text.

Just skimming through the items, there were easily over 20.

I looked with interest at Kang Seon-woo and Yu Ha-woon, who were just happy to follow Chae Ha-ru’s lead.

‘I should suggest we all take an MBTI test later. It seems like personalities will be clearly divided, so it should be fun.’

“Brother Si-hwan. Is there anywhere you want to go?”

“Me? Hmm, well. I haven’t really thought of anything.”

“I was also planning to follow wherever brother wanted to go since I don’t know much about Japan either……”

For reference, Ma Si-hyeok and I are sharing a room in Japan.

Unlike dorm roommates, overseas roommates are randomly assigned by the company each time.

I racked my brain in various directions.

Since it’s CENTIX’s first overseas schedule, I want to do something proper.

But the question is what and how to do it.

Then suddenly one idea flashed through my mind.

“……That might not be bad.”

“Did you think of somewhere you want to go?”

“I thought of a good place that could produce content. But I think I need to get permission from manager brother first.”

“A place that requires permission?”

“Not permission to go, but because there’s something we need to do after we get back.”

Ma Si-hyeok still looked like he didn’t understand my meaningful gaze.

While heading out of the waiting room and crossing the corridor.

I heard someone calling my name from somewhere.

“We couldn’t even greet properly after the stage ended, right?”

“Ah, haha…… That’s true.”

I turned my head to confirm that the door with 〈Zefa〉 written on it was slightly open.

The familiar red hair popped out and smirked.

“Hey there, friend with the good physique. Can I borrow Si-hwan for a moment?”

“Ah, ah……”

“It’s fine, just tell the guys to get in the car and wait. I’ll talk briefly and go.”

“Yes.”

Ma Si-hyeok, who had frozen slightly upon seeing Baek Joo-won, hurriedly nodded and walked away.

I closed the already empty Zefa waiting room door while forcing a bright smile.

‘What bullshit is he planning to spout this time?’