The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 16

“Sweep the floor here, then get up right away on five, six, seven, eight!”

“Five, six…! Seven, eight!”

Following my demonstration, Yu Ha-woon and Chae Ha-ru struggled to sweep their legs forward while getting up.

Their connecting movements still weren’t flowing smoothly and had a choppy feel to them.

Knowing this fact themselves, they hung their heads and panted, looking completely deflated.

I stopped the music for a moment and looked at the clock.

The current time was 8 PM. Even at the time when we should have gone down to eat dinner, we were continuing our intense practice.

Two days had passed since 〈Volt〉 was confirmed for the Group Battle Matches.

It was fortunate that I had thoroughly studied this song’s choreography when I spent a month preparing for 〈ISL 2〉, otherwise these other guys didn’t even know where to start.

After desperately working at it, we barely managed to complete the basic choreography learning around 2 AM. And today, the next day, we started trying to synchronize with the Team 9 members.

These two friends were struggling the most.

“Sorry! I think I could do it if I try once more…!”

“No. Let’s take a 5-minute break first.”

“……”

Since they asked me for an additional session, skipping even dinner, they definitely had passion.

But as if hitting some kind of wall, satisfactory results weren’t coming out.

I brought over two bottles of water while deciding I needed to have a talk.

If I can see the problems, doing a factor analysis is the most reliable path.

“Ha-woon, you followed along pretty well when you practiced 〈HIT〉 with me before. Right?”

“Yes……”

“This isn’t much different from that time. But why are you so dejected?”

Having seen many trainees, I know.

Recalling what I heard when I first met Yu Ha-woon, this kid spent 2 and a half years rolling around at a small agency.

In other words, he had all the basics of being an idol trainee.

“I understand well in my head, but my body keeps not moving the way I want……”

“Do you recognize all the choreography?”

“Yes.”

If that’s the case, this isn’t a problem of basic skills.

Saying he memorized all the movements in one day means his eye for detail and sense are outstanding.

I looked at Yu Ha-woon staring intently only at his own legs and fell into thought.

‘If he’s making that expression even with those fundamentals… there really isn’t anything else besides that.’

“Ha-woon. By any chance, during your agency trainee days.”

“……!”

“Was there some situation you couldn’t talk about?”

When the agency topic came up, Yu Ha-woon’s body trembled slightly.

It seemed my hunch was right.

I turned my eyes to the side to look at Chae Ha-ru, who still had a blank expression.

“If it’s something you can’t tell us yet—”

“No, no! It’s not that……”

As if what had to come had come, a deep sigh leaked from Yu Ha-woon’s mouth.

Cerberus, who had been lying in a distant corner to avoid interfering with practice, spoke to me in an interested tone.

{Are you finding out now? What was the cause of that energy-draining smell.}

“Actually, the thing is. At my agency, boy groups were formed quite frequently. During 2 years, as many as 2 teams debuted, but I always made it to the debut candidate group and then got eliminated. Friends who came in later than me debuted, but I was always the only one who got eliminated……”

When Yu Ha-woon trailed off, heavy silence settled in the practice room.

The situation was more serious than I thought.

No wonder Yu Ha-woon had been making unconfident faces throughout.

“Even though I knew I shouldn’t, I naturally started blaming myself. At first I just accepted it. Ah, my luck was bad. It wasn’t my time. But when months passed, years passed, and the same failure repeated twice… it felt like it wasn’t a situational problem but that I was the problem. Being trapped in those thoughts, movements that should work didn’t work and I couldn’t sing as well… it was total chaos.”

I knew well how difficult it was to watch other people debut. I too had waited for debut while hoping for 6 years.

But in my case, debut was delayed ‘to create the best team.’

In Yu Ha-woon’s case, it was delayed because he received evaluations that his ‘skills were insufficient to join the debut group.’

And he experienced this not once but twice.

It’s hard to even imagine how great the sense of loss must have been.

“Whatever I did felt like it wouldn’t work because of my skills. Even I looked pathetic to myself, so I was scared of how much worse I’d look to others… While struggling anxiously in that trap, the agency gave me a last chance. They said they’d give me the opportunity to appear on 〈Idol Stove League〉, so I should think of it as the last time and try. But as you know, so many outstanding people appeared. So I became even more intimidated……”

Looking at Yu Ha-woon’s bitter smile, I felt slightly displeased.

What crazy agency could present such a survival audition as a last chance to an injured trainee?

The agency must have known that Yu Ha-woon’s confidence had hit rock bottom.

‘……His confidence dropped and he could only make that forced smile naturally.’

I know better than anyone that you shouldn’t meddle unnecessarily when appearing on programs like this.

But when I’ve been watching Yu Ha-woon since last time, old thoughts naturally come to mind.

During my Black Hash Entertainment days, the kid who joined as our group’s youngest was in a similar situation.

Yu Ha-woon kept making expressions too similar to the youngest, whose self-esteem had hit rock bottom after being rejected from other agencies’ auditions.

Perhaps because of those old thoughts, something inside me kept urging me to help him.

‘……Right, anyway, if I can’t improve Yu Ha-woon’s condition, it’ll be a disaster for the team too. I have to do this. There’s no choice.’

Based on that small self-rationalization, I made a small memo in my mind.

Through this opportunity, somehow help that guy regain his self-esteem.

Whatever method it takes.

Having finished his story, Yu Ha-woon smiled as if feeling somewhat relieved.

“Still, it feels refreshing. I was always suffering alone. Thank you, Brother Si-hwan. It’s thanks to you.”

“What did I do for you? This is all something you accomplished yourself. Ha-woon, you just need to have confidence. So.”

When I firmly grasped both his shoulders, the 18-year-old boy was startled.

“While preparing for this stage, let’s try changing yourself once. Got it?”

“Y-yes sir!”

First, one little lamb’s confession cleared.

Naturally, my gaze turned back to Chae Ha-ru.

This friend’s character was still hidden in mystery.

He definitely seemed to have an exceptionally sharp mind in strange areas. But since he always had those lifeless eyes, even my insight trained in hell was useless.

So I first asked a question to Cerberus, my reliable source.

‘What about Chae Ha-ru? Does he have any special smell?’

{Hmm, this friend seems similar to that human Yu Ha-woon. His soul itself is very clean. Pure itself. But similarly, there’s something energy-draining behind him, Master.}

‘He must have a dark past too.’

Since I got confirmation from Cerberus, it was time to find out what kind of story the trainee Chae Ha-ru had.

“Hearing Ha-woon’s story makes me curious about Ha-ru too. Um, first Ha-ru.”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t it hot with your hair hanging down like that? You seem to have sweated a lot too—”

Chae Ha-ru’s long bangs had been bothering me since practice. When you practice intensely in an enclosed space like this, sweat would pour out.

When I swept Chae Ha-ru’s bangs up with my hand.

“You, man……”

I was struck speechless.

When I lifted Chae Ha-ru’s bangs, an unimaginable appearance was revealed.

Having rarely been speechless, I stuttered like a person with lag while looking at Chae Ha-ru.

“You, you… why do you have that face and hide it with bangs……?”

“Oh, this?”

Chae Ha-ru spoke in his usual tone, indifferently.

“Just because it’s bothersome.”

“……”

I had met countless idol trainees in my life. And I had also frequently seen professional idols who had actually crossed the threshold of debut.

So I was well aware how important visual aspects were in this market.

If I hadn’t cared about this, I wouldn’t have maintained myself during that harsh time in hell.

Chae Ha-ru’s face, now completely deprived of those bushy bangs, was literally self-luminous.

Baby-like white skin of a 19-year-old who hadn’t yet become an adult. But sharp jawline and high nose bridge with no baby fat whatsoever.

The double-eyelid eyes revealed to the world gave the feeling of looking at a textbook handsome actor type.

“Ha-ru, don’t you look in the mirror often?”

“I don’t think I do that particularly.”

“Even when washing?”

“I tend to wash and come out as quickly as possible.”

Does he not know how rare a face he has in the idol scene?

I held Chae Ha-ru’s bangs in place with both hands while asking Yu Ha-woon.

“Ha-woon. Don’t you think he’s handsome too?”

“Honestly, I was also slightly speechless when you swept his hair back.”

“Right? My eyes aren’t going strange, are they?”

“Your eyes are always right!”

After confirming there was no problem with my vision, I stepped back slightly.

Chae Ha-ru just indifferently tidied his slightly messed-up hair with an unconcerned face.

At this point, anyone would naturally have one curious question.

“Ha-ru, you have an agency too, right?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Then when your agency cast you, they definitely praised your appearance, right? But you still went around like this?”

“Oh, come to think of it, the CEO did say I was handsome when giving me his business card.”

This was the first person I’d met who could say he was handsome without me feeling even 1g of vanity.

People with outstanding faces like Chae Ha-ru would usually know they’re good-looking and have basic self-adoration ingrained in their bodies.

For example, like that son of the Seong family in Team 10.

“I’m just a case of going to school normally and getting street cast.”

“T-then the school you attended wasn’t even an arts school?”

“No, it was just a regular school.”

Chae Ha-ru took out his phone and tapped a few times.

Then with a calm face, he held the screen out to me.

Looking at the high school information written on the screen, I was surprised again.

“Ko-Korea Science Academy? You, you’re from a science academy?”

“Yes. It’s not something to brag about, but I was called a genius and prodigy since I was young.”

He wasn’t just smart.

Special schools like science academies were very famous even in my previous life. Unless you were exceptionally good at studying, it was hard to even go for interviews.

Since he was attending such a place, that said it all.

But something was strange.

If he was such an outstanding talent academically, there would be no need to accept idol trainee casting even if he received it.

Couldn’t he just proceed to university and get a job?

“If you’d only been studying, you wouldn’t have had any idol information, right? How did you end up agreeing to the casting?”

“Ah, that reason.”

As if he had expected me to ask this question, Chae Ha-ru smiled faintly while answering.

“Because my family is too poor.”