The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 139

“You really worked hard preparing for the stage. Whose idea was it to hire the orchestra?”

“Our team’s youngest member came up with the idea, and we all discussed various versions together.”

“Ooh, I guess you planned various things besides the orchestra too.”

Baek Joo-won had already completely removed his stage makeup.

Usually when thick makeup is removed, one’s impression should become gentler.

But this guy was the bizarre type who looked less delinquent-like when he actually had makeup on.

“So you had something to say…?”

“Well, nothing major.”

If it’s nothing major, why hold me back on my way back.

“I just had to acknowledge it. You’re quite a ruthless bastard too, just like me.”

“Ah… yes.”

“I have eyes and fingers too, so I can easily monitor public opinion. The situation I stirred up wasn’t meant to make you guys take heat, but somehow it flowed in that direction. When you first asked me if you could freely modify the vocal parts, I wondered what you were thinking. But seeing it laid out like this, I get exactly why you did it.”

In [The Leaders], my parts were heavily concentrated in the latter half of the song.

Unlike Baek Joo-won, who appeared from the song’s beginning, and Joo Han-ul, who started making his presence felt from the middle, I had relatively little time on stage.

As if to compensate for that gap, Joo Han-ul had given me permission to freely change my parts.

“People come and go so easily, right? Just minutes ago they were viciously attacking, but throw them one K.O punch and they immediately quiet down. You knew that when you came out.”

“Regardless of public opinion, I decided from the start to do my best when I accepted your request, senior. I was lucky that the viewers received it well and the tide turned.”

“Hey man, you don’t need to work so hard to make excuses even to me.”

Baek Joo-won waved his hand dismissively as if fed up.

“Anyway, after seeing even the main stage, I wanted to applaud your efforts. No matter how much all the members discussed ideas together, ultimately the leader holds the decision-making power. If you can’t grasp that central axis, the ship will sail to the mountains.”

“Thank you for the excessive praise.”

I couldn’t very well say that compared to controlling the demons that ran wild in hell, this was child’s play. So I just quietly nodded and accepted Baek Joo-won’s words.

But he wouldn’t drag out time just to spout such empty pleasantries.

“I was wondering if what you said before was right. Looking at Hwi, he definitely seems much brighter than a few years ago. Environment shapes the person, something like that, right?”

“…That was roughly the meaning, yes.”

“So I became interested in you, who seems to have personally created that environment. It means you have something capable of seeking change. And now I’m even more curious.”

Baek Joo-won raised the corners of his mouth as if imagining something very amusing.

It was an ominousness I could feel even without Cerberus having to tell me.

“Whether your current changed state can remain unshaken even under any pressure.”

“Excuse me…?”

“Ah, it’s getting late now. Go on in, you must be tired. You worked hard preparing for the stage. I’ll buy you a meal sometime.”

After checking his wristwatch, Baek Joo-won flashed me a grin and disappeared outside the waiting room door.

I stood there dumbfounded for a moment.

It had been a while since my head was unilaterally blank.

‘He definitely just said this. That he’s curious whether I won’t be shaken under any pressure.’

Baek Joo-won still hates Seong-hwi.

He radiated a nuance all too clearly that he doesn’t like the very fact that Seong-hwi overcame past trauma and debuted with confidence.

For someone who gave such conviction to now openly say something like that… it’s no different from a declaration of war.

I moved step by step down the corridor while sighing internally.

‘I don’t need to think too seriously about it. Baek Joo-won is also a public figure anyway, and in terms of recognition and influence, he’s in a much higher position than us. No matter how much he wants to shake Seong-hwi again, he won’t be able to move easily.’

The fire that had rushed up to my throat was successfully extinguished.

But somehow an unpleasant residue remained from KIMA.

* * *

The day after KIMA, which had boasted hot fervor, ended.

Ryu Si-hwan’s homma was lounging around on the sofa.

‘I feel kind of empty now that all those plot points have passed by.’

The heated debates about MILLENNIUM that had tormented CENTIX for several days concluded with CENTIX’s flawless victory in the KIMA special stage.

Although the homma had been quite displeased with forced retweets invading even her timeline, now that the topic that could heat her blood had completely cooled down, she was also bored.

It wasn’t like she had neglected her work either.

The CENTIX clips from KIMA that she had diligently captured were already finished rendering on her work computer.

All her tasks were done. With some time before the next KBC Music Festival, she felt somewhat adrift.

‘Of course, there is one major project in between.’

This had been a project proceeding nationally, no, globally since late November, so most of the progress was wrapped up.

Since the homma had done fundraising projects more than once or twice, there were no major difficulties in pushing forward the work.

While she was lying down with not much to worry about in her heart.

[K-Live: Last night in Japan★ with roommate]

“Huh?”

Suddenly a notification arrived that K-Live had been turned on from CENTIX’s account.

Panicked by the completely unexpected live stream, the homma hurriedly grabbed her glasses and pulled out her large tablet PC.

When she connected through the notification, she began to see Ryu Si-hwan’s face peering at the camera.

[This is my first time turning it on alone, so I’m not sure if it’s working properly. Ah, ah. Everyone, can you hear my voice?]

The homma almost screamed seeing Ryu Si-hwan’s bare face without a trace of makeup.

How could a person’s skin be as smooth as porcelain like that.

However, just as she was about to quickly type the comment ‘I can hear you very well.’

The streaming screen stuttered for a moment then weakly cut out.

“Ah! Why is their server acting up again!”

She couldn’t help but curse.

K-Live was practically the universal live platform used by all idols.

But fans had to constantly grab their necks and blow off steam because of frequent server lag that came whenever you forgot about it.

Since the point where Ryu Si-hwan turned on the broadcast was overseas, not domestic, the transmission lag seemed to have invaded asking ‘what’s this gift.’

About 30 seconds later.

[K-Live: Last night in Japan★(retry) with roommate]

The broadcast notification came again, and this time fortunately, Ryu Si-hwan’s upper body sitting in a chair was visible without cutting out.

[Ah, it turned back on. Thank goodness. Since this is Japan, the signal seems a bit weak. Sorry, MILLENNIUM.]

What fault could idols have.

The problem is big corporations that make lots of money but don’t consider server expansion.

Ryu Si-hwan read through the chat flooding in frantically and answered appropriate questions.

[Yes, today is our last day in Osaka. Yesterday we finished all our schedules, so we could rest freely today. We ate delicious food with the members and rested well.]

Immediately questions about what they went to eat poured down like a heavy rain.

[We went to a takoyaki restaurant Ha-ru found and a restaurant selling authentic Japanese tonkatsu. The takoyaki was packed full of octopus meat so it was really delicious, and the tonkatsu had crispy batter so it was satisfying. I’ll post food photos when we get back to Korea, so don’t worry!]

“So cute…”

When talking about delicious food, he was unmistakably a 21-year-old boy.

The homma looked at Ryu Si-hwan’s eye smile identical to a desert fox and had a premonition that her Bluebird profile picture would change soon.

[Hahaha, no, I didn’t come to brag to you all about eating delicious food. Actually, during our free time, I was thinking about where to go. Then I suddenly thought it would be nice to do K-Live with you all tonight. I chose a destination because I wanted to share and play together.]

Ryu Si-hwan made a serious expression then lifted something large from under the table.

Extremely rustling sounds came through the phone speaker.

—???

—What’s that plastic bag!! LOL

—Did he buy something to eat late-night snacks with us?

—Doesn’t look like a convenience store bag

—Why does Si-hwan already have an excited face lmao

Comments wondering what was inside the plastic bag poured up.

Then Ryu Si-hwan clapped his hands together and revealed its identity.

[Today my roommate Si-hyeok and I went to a famous gacha shop in Osaka. You all know, right? That place with all kinds of capsule machines. In Korea the items are always similar so there’s no mysterious fun, but Japan is definitely different. So.]

The plastic bag laboriously propped up on the table began to slowly collapse, and round capsules came tumbling out from inside.

Surprised by the unexpected development, Ryu Si-hwan frantically moved his hands to pick up the capsules.

[So I swept clean all the gacha machines in that shop! Did I buy too many? Ah, stop spilling!]

Ryu Si-hwan, who always maintained a cool atmosphere, looked very flustered for once.

His appearance like a squirrel gathering precious acorns made people leave intense comments.

—Ahhhhhhh Ryu Si-hwan why are you so cute today aaaaaak!!

—LOL Si-hwan We’re not going anywhere so take your time putting them back

—How determined did he go that he swept clean all the machines there lmao. I’m going crazy

—Guys no matter how you look at it, it’ll take several hours to take out all those capsules and assemble the contents, right?

—Very good, let’s all pull an all-nighter together!

[Sorry, I didn’t know it would spill like this. Anyway! I’ll start with the first capsule!]

The homma hadn’t been to Japan in a long time, so she didn’t know what gacha shops were there.

So she watched with keen interest to see what would come out of the capsules.

[What is this…?]

Ryu Si-hwan looked puzzled from the very first capsule.

—LOL Why doesn’t he know what it is when he’s the one who got it. I’m going crazy Si-hwan T_T

—Today is Ryu Leader’s human charm special or what

—I’m sure yesterday on stage he was charisma-pumping hotpot, but today he’s just mushy hotpot that got put on the banquet table…

—This is my first time seeing this side of Hwan-father

[Ah, I get it after reading the instructions. You know those railroad crossing gates that often appear in Japanese movies? It’s a set for assembling that. Let’s see… this goes up here.]

Ryu Si-hwan, who fortunately began assembling based on the instructions, quickly became absorbed.

With the broadcast atmosphere becoming serious, viewers also focused intently on Ryu Si-hwan’s fingertips.

About 10 minutes passed, and finally the completed railroad crossing gate stood majestically on the table.

[This even has batteries, so I wondered what for. When you press this, the crossing gate comes down while making sounds! Look.]

When Ryu Si-hwan pressed the button, the crossing gate really creaked down. The strange warning sound like a siren was a bonus.

Everyone went wild laughing at the somewhat ridiculous finished product.

—LMAO He definitely made it well but why is it so funny

—This is my first time seeing Si-hwan smile so proudly. He never showed that kind of smile even during ISL

—That sound is way louder than expected, so surprising lol

—But it took 10 minutes to complete this one, when will he really finish all those remaining ones

When Ryu Si-hwan and MILLENNIUM were opening the third capsule.

[Brother, did you start broadcasting?]

[You came at the right time, Si-hyeok. Dry your hair later and come sit down quickly.]

[Yes?]

Ma Si-hyeok, who had finished showering, was immediately kidnapped.

MILLENNIUM, already absorbed in this situation, welcomed him enthusiastically.

—Welcome to our factory!!

—Hey the workforce increased lol

—Si-hyeok now’s not the time to leisurely dry your hair, hurry and help your brother or we’re really going to pull an all-nighter

—Work, slave

—Si-hyeok’s not good at this kind of thing, is he? LOL

—Doesn’t matter if he’s bad, I’m just thankful one more pair of hands increased

But befitting CENTIX’s acknowledged cooking king, Ma Si-hyeok had talent for assembling small parts too.

[Brother, I finished.]

[What? I took 5 minutes to do something similar to that, but you finished in 2 minutes?]

[It wasn’t difficult.]

[This is a moment of relative deprivation, everyone.]

Ryu Si-hwan’s expression rapidly deflated, but MILLENNIUM, backed by a thousand troops, still showed high-energy reactions while cheering for Ma Si-hyeok.

—Wolf-pup, he is god! Wolf-pup, he is god! Wolf-pup, he is god!

—If Si-hyeok had been there from the start, that crossing gate would’ve been finished in 2 minutes too lmao

—Ah every time I see that crossing gate my ears ring with the siren sound lol T_T

—You absolutely can’t press that button Si-hwan, you know that right? You know that right?

—LOL. Ah but aren’t our kids playing too innocently? What idol goes all the way to Japan and makes this much fuss with fans assembling gacha toys

—I’m suddenly feeling healed, somehow without all the previous chaotic situations it’s like ASMR?

‘I agree with the healing.’

In the late night, the homma found her favorite extremely lovable as he gave gentle laughter.

He likes assembling even these small toys so much.

When he faces the project that MILLENNIUM united to proceed with, just how happy will he be.

The homma was just waiting for the 18th to come quickly.