The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 15

Survival programs are really strange.

They can make participants who were smiling brightly at each other become awkward in an instant.

This is magic that would surprise even an alchemist.

I smiled bitterly while staring at the three stickers.

The crown sticker representing the center position.

The sticker with the letter L representing the leader position.

And the microphone sticker representing the main vocal position.

Since it’s a group battle, it’s natural for the majority to work together to construct the stage.

The more participants crowded on a stage with 6-7 people, the more important it becomes who takes on which role.

Depending on how center and main vocal positions are distributed, the joy and sorrow of the interim evaluation that the judges will conduct together will also be divided.

Having analyzed all of last year’s 〈ISL 1〉, I knew well how miserably teams that designated incompetent centers and proceeded with practice were crushed.

It wasn’t just that the center received criticism – the remaining trainees who allowed such a trainee to become center also received equal amounts of criticism.

To avoid such a scene, a role to control and lead the entire group is inevitable.

Here, how the owner of that L sticker, the leader, behaves is important.

During my 6 years as a trainee, I had learned firsthand through countless monthly evaluations how important the leader position was, so I knew its importance better than anyone.

‘I really can’t make mistakes from here on.’

But what’s the jinx of these group battles?

Individual play disguised as team play, rampant with trolling and selfishness.

No matter how much they agree with each other to divide positions, someone who nurtures seeds of discontent is bound to appear.

I examined the members who were focusing their attention solely on me.

‘…But maybe this kind of situation would actually be okay.’

First, I’m the only one in Team 9 who received an A grade.

And I was also the one who carried during the song selection process.

Naturally, the initiative had passed to me.

Contrary to my expectations, part distribution might proceed without any unexpected resistance.

{That’s right, Master! There’s no human better than Master here, so let’s take everything!}

‘Why did you suddenly come here again? I told you to stay in the room as much as possible while filming is in progress.’

{I got bored just sleeping in the room, so I came down to see what Master was doing. This is such an interesting sight that my heart is pounding! Thrilling!}

‘Don’t you have any useful information instead of that?’

At my question, Cerberus shook his head slightly.

{Sorry, Master. It’s hard to distinguish scents when there are too many people crowded like this. But obviously, not everyone smells clean. You need to know that weird guys can appear anywhere.}

I need to always be on guard, I suppose.

I clapped my hands once and continued with part distribution.

“We need to decide on center, leader, and main vocal, right?”

“Yes! Actually, before you came, we kind of decided amongst ourselves.”

Yu Ha-woon, excited about something, hopped forward like a rabbit and attached two stickers to my chest.

“No matter how we think about it, there’s no one else but you for our team’s leader and main vocal!”

“Of course, how could we let go of a main vocal we managed to get?”

“And you’re a handsome A-grade on top of that, so naturally!”

“Haha…”

Originally, I had also intended to volunteer for leader and main vocal myself for a stable stage.

But I hadn’t expected to be confirmed like this without even having time for self-promotion.

If I went just a bit further from here, I could monopolize even the center position.

However, knowing that monopolizing all positions alone wouldn’t be good, I decided to loosen the reins slightly.

“Then I’ll take leader and main vocal, so let’s think about the center position gradually. We’ll be able to tell who shows the most presence in the center while practicing choreography. For now, I’ll drop out of the center competition myself.”

“There’s no one more suited for center than you—”

“No, these two excessive stickers are enough for me. And I think I should naturally give you all fair opportunities too. Let’s discuss and choose the center together. How about it?”

“You’re… so cool! Even as a guy, I think I’d fall for you!”

While trying my best to stop Yu Ha-woon from showering me with infinite affection, I first explained why I chose 〈Volt〉.

“First, I should explain why I picked this song. The reason I chose 〈Volt〉 is simple. What do you all think about the songs that were provided to us?”

“I thought they were all very famous songs by groups with distinct fanbases!”

The B-grade participant sitting next to Yu Ha-woon raised his hand and spoke.

I shrugged my shoulders and smiled slightly.

“That’s not wrong. Everyone’s first impression would be like that. But there’s something more important beyond that.”

There was a whiteboard for brainstorming next to the practice room table.

I wrote down all the song names that had been on today’s placards.

“The choices provided to us today are all songs that hit Korea’s music industry hard and led K-pop, that’s right. Then what risk factors beyond this can we think of?”

“Hmm… I don’t know?”

Everyone showed expressions of not knowing at my question.

Team 9’s imagination seemed to reach its limit here.

“They’re ‘too’ famous. They’re too famous and have too much of that group’s unique characteristics, so even if the quality drops just slightly, we’d easily be compared. Especially as the group’s size gets bigger, that risk level increases. Beyond simple comparison, we could even get criticized for why such trainees with poor skills don’t know their place and chose such songs.”

In my previous life when I was living as a trainee, I had watched other competition programs besides survival programs like this.

A representative example was a program that held competitions with cover stages, where one renowned idol group failed while trying to cover a great senior’s hit song and received tremendous ridicule.

They were told things like they couldn’t properly capture the original song’s flavor, they chose a song too difficult for their skills, etc.

“Obviously, we’re still trainees. We’re at a level insufficient to follow professional idols’ performances and song interpretation abilities. So my primary goal was not to take risks by touching legends’ songs for no reason.”

“B-but UpBeat’s 〈Volt〉 is also an extremely famous song, isn’t it?”

“It is a famous song, but 〈Volt〉 has several distinguishing points from the songs written here.”

Just as I was about to slowly explain the next reason, someone raised their hand from behind.

It was Chae Ha-ru, who had helped me choose a rival team earlier.

“I think I know what those points are.”

“You said your name was Ha-ru, right? Want to speak first?”

He had such lifeless eyes that I thought he’d stay quiet the whole time, but this was quite unexpected.

Chae Ha-ru spread his fingers while slowly reciting his thoughts.

“〈Volt〉 is UpBeat’s debut song. So compared to the difficulty of other songs, it has a relatively easier feel. Also, during music broadcasts at the time, it didn’t have exceptionally outstanding stage composition or extremely difficult choreography that completely differentiated it from other songs. It’s not a song that was popular from the beginning, but one that received belated attention as UpBeat continued their activities.”

I listened carefully to each of Chae Ha-ru’s words.

‘Both his immediate analysis of other teams’ compositions earlier and now. This guy definitely has an excellent mind. To think he was looking at 〈Volt〉 with exactly the same thoughts as me.’

“Did I get it wrong?”

“No, it’s perfectly identical to what I was thinking.”

“Ooh…”

The Team 9 members all turned their heads in unison to look at Chae Ha-ru sitting in the back row.

Even with this reaction, Chae Ha-ru maintained an indifferent expression.

“It’s a fact that 〈Volt〉 is an incredibly popular song. But being a debut song, the choreography difficulty is much easier than other songs and it retains that raw feeling characteristic of rookie songs. In other words, even if we cover it as trainees, fans might make fewer comparisons. As long as we don’t reveal really major skill differences.”

“Now that I hear it, that’s definitely true.”

“I never thought of that. I just believed people would naturally like it if we did the most famous song…”

After hearing everything I said, the Team 9 trainees widened their eyes as if deeply impressed and kept nodding.

Among them, Yu Ha-woon, who had the best reaction by far, went to Chae Ha-ru instead of me and shook his hand vigorously.

“Ha-ru, you’re totally smart! Your analytical skills are insane too!”

“It’s nothing special.”

“Being chic is charming too!”

“I don’t think I’m chic.”

“No matter how much you deny it, you look chic to my eyes, so I’ll say so!”

Fortunately, everyone seemed to understand.

However, only one trainee was frowning as if somewhat uncomfortable.

‘I’ve seen that face somewhere.’

While trying hard to recall the past, I remembered that trainee’s name.

Park Chang-jung, a trainee who had been in the same class when we were practicing 〈HIT〉.

Except for showing spirited fighting to dance trainer Shin Jae-hoon early on, there was nothing notable about him, so I had completely forgotten his existence.

It seems he received a B grade during the final grade evaluation and got picked for our team.

I suddenly recalled what Cerberus had told me.

‘A bomb could explode anywhere at any time.’

Judging by his current expression, he seems to feel dissatisfied about something.

Well, for now he’s not showing any actions, so I’ll let it pass.

“This is why I selected 〈Volt〉. If we really practice hard, it’s a song where we can sufficiently capture the original’s flavor. We don’t need to do complex arrangements or struggle desperately to add our own feeling.”

“Yes!”

“But that doesn’t mean it’s a song that just completes itself, you all know that, right?”

I slowly walked toward the practice room entrance.

“No matter how easy I said the choreography difficulty was, this is still strictly a senior boy group’s song. You can think of it as almost the same level as 〈HIT〉’s choreography.”

“I-is it that difficult?”

“Of course.”

Everyone’s eyes fixed on me as I grabbed the practice room door handle.

With a fresh smile that would only be seen in fancams, I locked the door with a click.

“Nobody can leave here until we finish the overall choreography draft.”