The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 158

“First, let’s keep just this one thing in mind.”

“Huh?”

Just before entering the dense forest, I issued a solemn announcement.

“For everyone’s safety and safe return.”

“For safe return.”

“No matter what happens ahead.”

“What happens.”

“Kang Seon-woo absolutely must never hold a knife.”

“Huh? Isn’t that too harsh?”

As soon as I finished speaking, Kang Seon-woo’s objection came flying back.

Seeing him waving his arms around with an expression that said the world was unfair, he genuinely didn’t seem to understand.

“You know very well why I’m saying this.”

“I don’t know!”

“Then let our good Hwi answer instead.”

“Ahaha, Brother Si-hwan. Do we really need to confirm this with a finishing blow?”

“I’m seriously worried about your safety.”

“Well then.”

Seong-hwi deliberately put on a sympathetic look and patted Kang Seon-woo’s shoulder.

“It’s okay, Brother Seon-woo. Whatever you cut with a knife ends up in dice cubes, there’s nothing you can do about it. Your hands are cursed.”

“Hey, but isn’t cutting things like that actually difficult? Isn’t someone like me a natural talent?”

“If you brought back tree branches that need to be used as house pillars in tattered condition, Ha-ru would be so pleased.”

“Ah.”

Only after repeatedly warning Kang Seon-woo, who possesses minus hands, to absolutely not touch knives, did we begin the actual work.

First, we needed to figure out where the Y-shaped branches extending straight to both sides were located.

Because there were so many dense trees everywhere, it was difficult to observe each one in detail, but fortunately I had a pet with extraordinary abilities.

{Master, there’s a decent-looking branch in the middle of the tree on the right.}

‘You mean that one?’

{Yeah, that tree! But it’s a bit high up, so I’m not sure if your arms can reach it.}

‘That much is nothing.’

I was about to roll up my sleeves to climb the tree when I suddenly had a question.

Is this really the picture the PDs had in mind when they cast us?

They definitely 100% wanted that ridiculous scene of us feeling burdened by survival, getting wrecked here and there, and begging for help.

Based on how things have gone so far, it’s obvious that CENTIX’s deserted island survival episode of 〈Memory Time Traveler〉 will air without any of that desperation and misery.

It’s not like I can deliberately fall from the tree either.

I thought of Chae Ha-ru, who would be radiating the aura of a skilled expert somewhere on the other side of the island.

Right, if we established a competent concept from the beginning, maintaining it isn’t a bad method either.

It might even be refreshing enough for viewers to like it.

Who would have known that an idol who hasn’t even reached their first debut anniversary would be this specialized in survival?

{Come to think of it, Master, you returned alive from hell and that audition program was also survival, right? You really are survival-specialized.}

‘……Your words connect in that way again.’

{Yeah, exactly! So don’t worry about appearances and show off that skill you had when you climbed the clock tower to repair windows back in the day, Master!}

Listening to Cerberus’s words made me think I really did all sorts of things in hell.

For reincarnation, I used to do any kind of work first.

When you think about it that way, climbing a tree like this is like eating rice cakes while lying down.

“Wow, Ryu Si-hwan, what are you, a monkey? Why are you so good at climbing trees?”

“You have to be able to do at least this much.”

“That sounds like you’re openly sniping me? Somehow I feel like there are thorns in your words.”

“It’s fine as long as you know.”

I climbed up to just below a sturdy-looking branch with smooth movements.

I applied appropriate force to the survival knife and started carefully cutting from the tip.

At that moment, wind suddenly began to blow.

{Master, the wind’s blowing! Hold on tight!}

‘This level of wind is no problem—’

“Aaaah—! What is this!”

“Wow, amazing. How does it all fall toward you?”

I was fine, but another victim immediately appeared.

It was Kang Seon-woo, who had been watching me cut branches with an impressed face, but unfortunately due to the wind, tree bark and small leaves fell precisely onto his head.

People think differently about whether gods exist, but whenever I see scenes like this, the variety show god definitely seems to exist.

I focused on finishing cutting the remaining parts.

“It’s about to fall now. Be careful below! Stand aside!”

“We’re already standing far away!”

After confirming that the Y-shaped branch fell to the ground without any problems, I carefully climbed down from the tree.

Seong-hwi and Kang Seon-woo gave me enthusiastic applause for working hard.

“As expected of our leader who leads by example, cool.”

“Thumbs up, Si-hwan, thanks!”

“Stop saying weird things that don’t fit your image and brush off the bark still stuck to your head.”

“I brushed it off so much, is there still some left?”

Because I was thinking of it as material to be used as pillars for housing, the Y-shaped branch I cut was quite large.

It seemed difficult to carry this back to base camp all at once, so I decided it would be better to move this first.

“Hwi, while I take this to camp, look around for other branches. And absolutely don’t give Seon-woo the knife.”

“Don’t worry and hurry back.”

Seong-hwi’s eyes sparkled intensely as he waved goodbye to me.

No matter how I look at it, this feeling is unsettling.

When I returned to camp carrying the branch, the members who had already secured leaves and cover branches greeted me.

Ma Si-hyeok, who ran out barefoot, lifted the Y-shaped branch with both hands.

“Brother, you worked hard.”

“Ah, I’m alive. Thanks.”

“What about Hwi and Brother Seon-woo?”

“It would be difficult to return carrying everything at once, so I came back with just this and left those two looking for usable branches.”

“Our side’s work is all done, so let’s all go help Brother Seon-woo! More hands are better.”

Yu Ha-woon, who had somehow stuck green leaves in his hair, took the lead.

I quickened my steps while remembering Seong-hwi’s mischievous eyes from earlier.

Since Seong-hwi shows even more than his natural troublemaker side on broadcasts, he’ll definitely create some kind of variable.

Sure enough. As we entered the forest, faint wailing sounds began to be heard from somewhere far away.

Chae Ha-ru, who had pricked up his ears, tilted his head.

“Isn’t that Brother Seon-woo’s voice?”

“It sounds like it?”

“But do people usually make crying sounds like that when cutting trees?”

“……They don’t.”

I held back a sigh and hurried over.

The faint wailing sounds quickly turned into sobbing voices.

“Ah, why is this happening! If Ryu Si-hwan comes, we’re both dead—”

“Right, I’m here.”

“Hic.”

The moment our eyes met, both guys froze like they’d been hit by a gargoyle’s petrification.

Kang Seon-woo was gripping the handle tightly, trying to pull out a knife that was deeply embedded in an incredibly thick branch.

Seong-hwi was grabbing Kang Seon-woo’s shoulder and pulling backward together.

Apparently they violated Kang Seon-woo’s knife prohibition while I was gone.

The members who arrived behind me burst into laughter.

“You two, you know your position looks really weird, right?”

“No, obviously we know that! I just don’t understand why this won’t come out!”

“Ah, ahaha. I was trying to get some Brother Seon-woo trolling footage before Brother Si-hwan came back. But we got caught red-handed.”

When I emitted a coldly disappointed look without any reaction, Seong-hwi just smiled awkwardly.

“If I may offer a non-excuse excuse, honestly you’re too competent, so I thought we needed something opposite to that. Everyone knows Brother Seon-woo is the variety cheat key.”

“As expected, only Hwi thinks about broadcasting like me!”

“Sorry, but to be precise, I’m pretending to care for you for the broadcast.”

“Really shallow!”

First I need to rescue that hopelessly stuck knife.

I gripped my wrist tightly and glared at Kang Seon-woo.

“Seriously, what idiot can’t even handle a knife properly and tries to cut such a thick tree.”

“It looked really sturdy, so I couldn’t help myself……”

Fortunately, the knife was safely extracted after a few attempts.

Since it took quite a bit longer than expected, we couldn’t afford to sit around playing anymore.

We need to complete the housing before the sun sets.

As a result of working together seriously with all the laughter drained out, we returned to base camp in 20 minutes.

Then we began assembling the housing under Chae Ha-ru’s meticulous guidance.

“Put one Y-shaped piece here, and fix this long branch in the gap between both Y-shaped pieces.”

“Should I secure this with vines?”

“Yes, the supporting parts can’t shake, so you need to tie them as tightly as possible.”

The learning effect from NeoTube was definitely amazing.

Chae Ha-ru, who mastered the technique of memorizing choreography in one go with his genius memory, used information from interesting videos as easily as taking ice cream from the refrigerator.

The production team, who had been silently watching our housing being steadily constructed, were so dumbfounded they even asked the experts standing by behind them.

“Is that the right way to build it?”

“We’re amazed at how textbook perfect they’re making it.”

“They’re definitely idols…… How do they know so well how to build that kind of housing when they probably don’t even go camping.”

Even if it’s a broadcasting station with excellent preliminary research, they can’t install surveillance cameras inside our dorm.

They naturally couldn’t have predicted Chae Ha-ru’s NeoTube algorithm.

And so, two complete housing structures were finished before the sun completely set.

“We’re done!”

“We even prepared fluffy vegetation inside!”

“You’re giving us dinner ingredients as promised, right?”

The production team’s hollow laughter continued toward us as we cheerfully took the grilling sausages and buns.

With the successful fire lighting using a lighter, it became a base camp enjoying the ultimate in coziness.

“I never thought we’d eat sausages grilled on skewers like this.”

“Brother, have you never been camping?”

“Honestly, isn’t there no one here who’s been camping?”

“I’ve been a few times with my parents! But we only grilled marshmallows there, not sausages like this. Mmm, it’s really delicious!”

From Kang Seon-woo to Yu Ha-woon, everyone grilled sausages appetizingly over the crackling fire.

Some members just wolfed down sausages, and some members carefully put them in buns to make hot dogs.

I also made a hot dog since they gave us bread anyway.

I was surprisingly shocked by how rich the juices were.

‘Cer, I think I understand why you always go on about sausages.’

{Right? Right? It’s totally delicious, right? I have good taste! I don’t eat anything that’s not good! So when we get home later, give me way more snacks—}

‘You’ll just get fat if you keep that up. You don’t even exercise.’

{You’re always busy with schedules so you don’t take me on walks often!}

‘Isn’t following me around outside like now a walk?’

{What do you mean, this is work! It’s even a spirit projection state where energy keeps getting depleted? I want to walk around comfortably too, Master!}

Come to think of it, I’ve extremely rarely gone out for leisurely walks with Cerberus.

I made a mental note not to forget.

‘Got it, let’s go around the park next week.’

{Yes!}

After finishing our relatively abundant dinner, now came rest time.

But Chae Ha-ru, who had possessed a survival expert, had already started making something else.

I sat next to the youngest who had brought long branches and sturdy vines, observing the work site with interest.

The branches were being set up in a shape I’d seen somewhere before.

“What are you making?”

“We’re supposed to survive on a deserted island for one day, but it feels a bit weird to just get by with food the production team brought. I’m trying to make a fish trap to catch some fish.”

What incredible passion.

It might just be Chae Ha-ru’s gluttony wanting fish, but seeing his eyes filled with concentration, it wasn’t ordinary determination.

I suddenly remembered the production team’s dumbfounded faces and let out a short laugh.

“Haha, if we really catch fish too, the PDs’ expressions will be worth watching.”

“Now that you say that, I really hope the fish trap succeeds.”

“Wow, life really is unpredictable. Who knew that mysterious NeoTube algorithm would be used so effectively.”

“I should tell that explorer big brother thanks.”

Chae Ha-ru carefully buried the end of the vine rope under rocks in the sand so it wouldn’t float away with the waves.

For bait, he collected several shellfish like sea snails attached to the rocky area by the beach.

After extracting even that additional footage, everyone gathered around the campfire and began silently staring into the fire.

As I looked at the lazily burning flames, an idea suddenly came to mind.

I looked toward where the staff’s equipment was gathered and asked a question with hope.

“PD. Do you happen to have any musical instruments among what you brought?”