The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 14

“Please start!”

When MC Go Hyeon-ju’s voice announcing the start rang out, the representatives from each team who had been gathering their strength all rushed forward at once.

I too kicked off the ground powerfully at the exact timing.

‘That’s my target.’

The placard I fixed in my sights was 〈Volt〉, the debut song of 6-member boy group UpBeat.

Honestly speaking, 〈Volt〉 wasn’t the most popular song among the 8 songs. If judging purely by recognition, 〈December Rain〉, which had maintained its position in the annual TOP 20 chart for 6 years on GrapeFruit, the nation’s largest music streaming site, would be overwhelming.

There was a reason I had set my sights on 〈Volt〉 over all those formidable candidates.

First, I needed to run faster than others and grab that placard to have more to talk about.

“Hey, hey, hey, Si-hwan! Why are you so fast too—.”

Less than 5 seconds after the starting whistle blew, I heard an extremely ridiculous sound from beside me.

When I glanced over slightly, Kang Seon-woo, who hadn’t even gotten a proper start, was performing a breakfall that would make comedians cry and had crashed flat onto the ground.

It seemed his feet got tangled because he was startled by the faster speed than expected.

When our eyes met, Kang Seon-woo radiated the expression you’d only see in movies of ‘I’m done for, so at least you hurry and go.’

‘What a fool.’

Well, I didn’t particularly want to show such a sight either.

When I picked up the pace and stepped forward, the cheers around me gradually grew louder too.

“Everyone’s so fast!”

“Go our team leader!”

This heat was comparable to a track and field meet where idols were gathered together.

When I reached roughly the midpoint, trainees who were falling behind and those who were moving ahead began to be distinguished.

Still, about 10 people were fiercely engaging in a speed battle like racehorses.

I took a deep breath.

Let me imagine.

Those shitty moments I had to experience in hell.

Catching and putting back the demons that had escaped onto that ground where hot heat sizzled up.

Running around the training ground hundreds of times because of Cerberus, who would throw the ball I gave him far away whenever he was bored.

Those days when I built stamina by running not around the Han River area, but around the Phlegethon River area boiling with lava.

Recalling those shitty moments in hell naturally put more strength into my legs.

Leading with momentary explosive power, I moved ahead of the other trainees bit by bit.

I could faintly hear the disbelieving laughter of Seong-hwi, who had been running right beside me.

“Ha, haha!”

Getting such a reaction from that crazy bastard somehow made me feel even better.

Being the first among the 16 team representatives to reach the wall, I grabbed the 〈Volt〉 placard with perfect accuracy.

The moment I turned my back and rushed back toward the starting point.

Like heavy rain pouring onto an umbrella, tremendous impact sounds rang out from behind.

“Ahhh, I missed it!”

“Hey, hey, I grabbed this first—!”

“Please move aside! Please move aside!”

The remaining trainees all crashed into the wall with the placards and got tangled up, creating a complete mess.

It was fortunate I broke through that bazaar by just a hair’s difference.

If I had hesitated even a little, I would have been caught up in it too.

When I returned leisurely holding the 〈Volt〉 placard, the Team 9 members who had been cheering from far away enthusiastically chanted my name with crazed eyes.

“Ryu Si-hwan! Ryu Si-hwan! Ryu Si-hwan!”

I smiled somewhat absurdly while inserting the placard into the slot.

Even though these were guys I’d barely exchanged two words with, they were cheering for me like that.

In one way, it was cute.

A while later, the latecomers who had won the placard scramble arrived one after another.

Seong-hwi, who arrived second, hit my placard with a slightly frustrated expression.

“…This was the one I wanted to do.”

“Too bad.”

“Haha, but well, it can’t be helped. Brother Si-hwan, you’re pretty good at sports too? What can’t you do?”

“Who knows? I haven’t really thought about it.”

“As expected, you are really interesting.”

The usual look returned to Seong-hwi’s face.

“But in one way, I think it’s fortunate. Since we chose different songs, there’s no chance we’ll meet, right? Honestly, I felt burdened about fighting with Brother Si-hwan this early.”

“You’re pretty honest too.”

“Hahaha! I do often get told I have no filter.”

I just smiled at Seong-hwi’s words.

Actually, this side had wanted to avoid it too.

No matter how strategically I approached the group battle round, a team with 2 A-grade participants was too risky.

Since I’d secured the song I’d targeted, my primary concern was lessened.

“Wow, brother, what can’t you do? If you’re even good at running, what are commoners like us supposed to do!”

“I already heard a similar question on the way here. Stop making me fly, man.”

If I hadn’t stopped him, Yu Ha-woon probably would have attempted to carry me on shoulders.

I checked the faces of the Team 9 members who had gathered around me and made estimates.

‘There still isn’t that much individual information. It’s still before episode 1 of 〈ISL 2〉 has aired, and there haven’t been individual fancams or self-PR video shoots. I really have to push forward based only on limited analysis.’

In this situation, the only thing I could rely on was the grades that included the judges’ evaluations.

No matter how much I said that a group with decent balance could face the risk of doom if handled carelessly, right now I couldn’t extract information other than grades.

Because probably.

“Now, this completes the song selection process. You all noticed, didn’t you? The teams that inserted their placards into the slots first got the opportunity to exclusively claim those songs. And you’re probably thinking this: how will the battle opponents be determined! Then I’ll immediately tell you how rival selection for this group battle round works.”

They would definitely point out battle opponents without time to discuss like this.

I quickly scanned the teams that hadn’t obtained placards while listening to MC Go Hyeon-ju’s proceedings.

“If you worked hard running, you deserve appropriate rewards. The teams that obtained exclusive rights to the 8 songs will also receive nomination rights to directly designate battle opponents in order of arrival. Team 9 with our Ryu Si-hwan participant came in first, right?”

“Yes.”

“Starting with Team 9, please designate your desired battle opponent and let me know. It would be too hasty to ask you to decide immediately, so I’ll give you 1 minute for discussion!”

Damn it.

Even 5 minutes would be complicated to think about, but giving only 1 minute while acting so generous. Damn production team.

Though the Team 9 members gathered around me, I continued identifying people from other teams while trying not to break my concentration as much as possible.

“1, 4, 2… It’s ambiguous, over there too. That one’s 1, 3, 3…”

“Excuse me, can I help you?”

Someone whispered quietly to me as I was busily organizing numbers.

A thin trainee with impressive long shaggy hair that half-covered his eyes. A C-grade badge sparkled on his chest.

Since he was someone I had no acquaintance with at all, I hesitated about what to call him.

“I’m Chae Ha-ru. I’m 19 years old, so feel free to speak casually.”

“Ah, I see. I didn’t know your name, so thanks for telling me. But, why…?”

“You were dividing the other teams by grade just now, right?”

The boy named Chae Ha-ru looked at where I had been gazing with somewhat lifeless eyes.

“I don’t have much, but I do have excellent memory and observation skills. When the team leader was running hard, I organized it in advance.”

“You organized it? All the people from other teams by grade?”

“Yes.”

To think a helping hand would come from such an unexpected place.

Chae Ha-ru recited to me very calmly as if this were natural.

“Team 12 has the same number of members as us, so there’s no special merit. Teams 2 and 5 have 4 C~D grade trainees each, but since the B-grade trainees received considerable praise during grade evaluation, they probably won’t be easy opponents. On the other hand, Team 4 has Kang Seon-woo, a top-tier A-grade trainee, but has a relatively weak average with 1 B-grade, 4 C~D grades, and 1 F-grade.”

“Ooh…”

I don’t know where this guy popped out from, but he really quickly and accurately informed me of each team’s grade distribution.

I was even more surprised because I had also judged Team 4’s strength to be the weakest.

“I knew about Team 4 but couldn’t calculate all the other teams, so thanks to you I’m relieved. Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me for something like this. This kind of thing is all I’m good at anyway.”

With those words, Chae Ha-ru quietly stepped back.

“Participant Ryu Si-hwan. Have you decided Team 9’s battle opponent?”

“Yes, I have.”

When my gaze slowly moved in that direction, Kang Seon-woo, who had been standing at the front of Team 4, was startled.

“Hey, Si-hwan, are you really going to do this?”

“…”

“Just once! Just once, please let it slide!”

Now he was even openly pleading.

I felt somewhat sorry for him, but it couldn’t be helped.

‘Anyway, even if you lose the group battle, you’ll be in the safe zone for vote count.’

I smiled and said.

“I choose Team 4.”

“Yes! With participant Ryu Si-hwan designating Team 4, UpBeat’s 〈Volt〉 has been decided as a battle between Team 9 and Team 4. The designated Team 4, please move next to Team 9.”

Standing beside me with a face saying he was doomed, Kang Seon-woo whimpered in a gloomy tone.

“You… are really mean.”

“Acting cute like that toward me won’t work.”

“But we lived in the same room for over a week!”

“Let’s hope we’re on the same team next time.”

“Oh, that’s not bad! Later it would be nice if Si-hyeok could join too.”

When I diverted the topic to future talk, Kang Seon-woo’s expression brightened.

Really, this guy is an easy type to handle too.

A while later, the rival team designation process was completed and all battle structures were confirmed.

Everyone was radiating vastly different atmospheres.

Teams that met manageable opponents had confident looks in their eyes.

Teams that judged from the start that the matchup was impossible were showing candid looks.

“〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉, the first round that will signal its splendid opening! All song selection and rival designation has been completed. The time given to you is exactly one week. I hope you perfectly master your songs within one week and create wonderful stages. Everyone worked hard!”

“Thank you for your hard work!”

“Thank you!”

Filming in the auditorium ended.

Before the participants went down to the practice rooms assigned by team, they briefly shot individual interviews that would be used throughout the broadcast episodes.

“You showed tremendous speed during the placard running earlier. Did you do sports in the past?”

“Ahaha… I never learned sports professionally, but I was confident about using my body.”

“You could designate an opponent first and you spoke really quickly. Had you been thinking about it in advance?”

“Actually, I had been worrying about it tremendously internally, but since I had become so close with Seon-woo, I could choose Team 4 relatively comfortably. And looking at the overall atmosphere of the song and member composition, I thought our team had a chance of winning, so cautiously…”

I received as many as 10 questions like this.

Probably because I played a fairly significant role in the footage for episodes 1-2. The interview volume naturally increased too.

Not a bad flow. I could indirectly know that I hadn’t been abandoned by the KNet production team this way.

After finishing all the individual interviews, I opened the door to the practice room where the Team 9 members were gathered and entered.

“We were waiting for you, brother!”

“Welcome.”

Since they’re young, they didn’t seem tired even after filming that lasted well over 2 hours.

Well, I was the only one who did all the physical work.

“Ah, and the staff told us to decide this!”

Yu Ha-woon pointed to 3 stickers placed on the practice room table.

The moment I saw the crown-shaped sticker, the sticker with the letter L engraved on it, and the microphone-shaped sticker, a sigh naturally came from within me.

What had to come has come.