The Idol Who Returned from Hell – Chapter 169

Author: Dawn

I was quite surprised by Joo Han-ul’s words that he had watched the main broadcast of 〈Dancing with Puppers〉.

It was somewhat understandable for him to keep up with variety shows featuring his cherished junior’s group, but that program didn’t even show a glimpse of Kang Seon-woo.

I sent an appropriate reply, wondering what his intentions were.

[Me: I never dreamed Senior would watch this kind of variety show]

[Senior Joo Han-ul: I also keep dogs so I watched a bit]

[Senior Joo Han-ul: You must really have your work cut out for you with all the landmines scattered around your group]

As expected, Joo Han-ul uses direct speech patterns.

Judging by his use of the plural form, landmine 1 probably refers to Seong-hwi.

And landmine 2 would refer to Ma Si-hyeok’s past that was revealed on today’s broadcast.

‘But I didn’t think this person was close enough to me to say I’d have a hard time.’

My question was soon resolved.

[Me: No, the younger members suffered more mentally than I did]

[Senior Joo Han-ul: You and Seon-woo being the older brothers must make it harder since you’re in positions where you have to take care of everyone’s mental state]

[Senior Joo Han-ul: Are you still roommates with Seon-woo?]

‘As expected, that silver hairtail fish was holding the key.’

I smiled coldly to myself.

Since the KIMA collaboration stage, Joo Han-ul had occasionally contacted me personally.

It wasn’t about any special topics.

Just simply intending to gather news about Kang Seon-woo, who used to be my roommate.

Since I couldn’t ignore contact from Comet’s leader – a current top-tier idol – I had dutifully replied with appropriate awareness.

This seemed to have unintentionally created the effect of Joo Han-ul viewing me favorably.

[Me: Ah, we changed roommates this time so not anymore!]

[Senior Joo Han-ul: Ah, you guys also change them whenever activities start]

[Senior Joo Han-ul: Anyway, you’ll need to get through this without incident, but I’m also worried since there are so many incidents swirling around your group internally and externally]

For Joo Han-ul to use the word “worried” himself.

Who would have thought that doing video calls with Kang Seon-woo a few times would return such beneficial effects.

This kind of encouraging message was nice enough in its own way, but I knew that someone of Joo Han-ul’s caliber wouldn’t do this without any context.

‘Should I probe a little.’

[Me: Thank you for worrying about us, Senior! But things worked out well among ourselves so everyone’s fine now.]

[Me: By any chance, did something else happen somewhere……?]

Joo Han-ul has far more connections within this chaotic entertainment industry than I do.

If he’s going out of his way to express worry through messages like this, he must know some information.

After a brief silence, a message came back.

[Senior Joo Han-ul: Do you remember what I told you before]

[Me: Which topic are you referring to?]

[Senior Joo Han-ul: Baek Joo-won]

The word I had expected in my head appeared as text.

It was a topic sensitive enough for Joo Han-ul to give me a direct hint about.

And simultaneously, an existence that could threaten CENTIX, which his precious junior belonged to.

Currently, there was nothing else besides Baek Joo-won.

[Me: Senior Joo-won?]

[Senior Joo Han-ul: I told you not to get friendly with that bastard because he’s different from regular delinquents]

[Senior Joo Han-ul: I haven’t heard anything definite yet, but there’s been talk among broadcast PDs since a while ago]

[Senior Joo Han-ul: That a plan came up to hold a special program during the Chuseok period]

Having special programs during national holidays like New Year’s or Chuseok was common in the broadcasting industry.

There hadn’t been any announcements during this New Year’s either, which had actually felt awkward.

It seems PDs started their underwater activities targeting Chuseok.

[Senior Joo Han-ul: And I heard that Baek Joo-won personally contacted those PDs, which is why I’m contacting you]

[Senior Joo Han-ul: Because if it’s the Baek Joo-won I know, he definitely has some strange scheme]

‘Hmm.’

So this is how it turns out.

I recalled the words Baek Joo-won had thrown at me on the day KIMA ended.

He had said he was curious whether Seong-hwi could really maintain his current appearance under any pressure.

I had been curious about what kind of nonsense he would pull, but thanks to Joo Han-ul, the puzzle pieces fit together.

‘He probably wants to revive the trauma using a similar method to how he destroyed Seong-hwi in the past. While sending me a message. That in the end, people don’t change.’

On one hand, it was also tiresome.

What’s so important about that bastard’s past that he’s still clinging to it like this.

But soon I shook my head once and steadied my mind.

The more tenacious the cockroach, the more thoroughly you need to kill it.

So it can never crawl around again.

For now, I should properly flatter the senior who provided valuable information.

[Me: Thank you for giving me a heads up, Senior. I’ll always keep it in mind]

[Senior Joo Han-ul: Yeah, it’ll be hard on you but your leader role is important if you want to finish group activities well until the end, so it can’t be helped]

[Me: Of course I know that haha. Oh, we’re resting before dinner right now, should I pass along greetings to Seon-woo?]

[Senior Joo Han-ul: I’d appreciate that hahaha. I feel a bit sorry for always imposing on you like this since Seon-woo might find it burdensome]

At least he has a conscience.

How painful it is to be caught in the middle going back and forth like this.

Still, I also got useful information, so I should do at least this much.

* * *

“The total running time should be about 2 hours, and since there will probably be quite a high ratio of talk segments between performances, the number of songs used for performances will be somewhat limited.”

“That’s a relief. We were a bit worried since we only have two title songs so far.”

“Still, the number of B-side tracks isn’t particularly small, so the composition itself should be able to be kept clean.”

A familiar scene unfolded in Rave Entertainment’s conference room.

The day to hear guidelines related to CENTIX’s first fan meeting, with the A&R team and planning team in attendance.

I threw out a brief question while looking at the setlist composition created with PowerPoint.

“What direction are you planning for the talk segments? I’m curious whether there will be fan participation or if it’ll just be among the members.”

“Direct participation on-site will probably be difficult, and the format we’re thinking of is to receive questions in advance and have you randomly select them later.”

That makes sense.

I heard that our first fan meeting will be held at the Olympic Handball Gymnasium.

With 5,000 possible attendees, the scale is a bit disappointing for a concert, but it’s an appropriate number for this kind of fan meeting.

However, it’s still a very large number just by itself, so on-site participation could be chaotic.

‘Getting questions in advance would be much easier. Though the fun will depend on what topics the questions cover.’

It’s a good opportunity to test the planning team’s creativity.

After finishing the composition explanation, the A&R representative asked us in return.

“Do you happen to have any events you’d like to do? Since it’s a fan meeting, it would be more colorful if the members prepared something themselves.”

“I have something I wanted to try!”

Yu Ha-woon immediately responded.

Seeing his sparkling eyes gave me an instantly uneasy feeling.

Seong-hwi, sitting next to me, seemed to have the same thought as he whispered very quietly.

“This is worrying.”

“You too?”

“Ahaha, sharing the same room made me skilled at reading Ha-woon’s expressions.”

Since Yu Ha-woon has rich emotional expressions, it seems his eye expressions change each time according to his mood.

The idea that Yu Ha-woon, having drawn everyone’s attention, came up with was,

“How about costume penalty games?”

“Penalty games?”

“Isn’t wearing costumes itself a penalty?”

As soon as Yu Ha-woon finished speaking, sharp reactions from Ma Si-hyeok and Chae Ha-ru struck.

But the invincible youngest didn’t care at all and continued his explanation.

“I’ve been looking up what other idols did since the fan meeting topic came up! Generally, they seemed to prepare many events that couldn’t be seen on regular stages. Among them, the most common was costumes, so I thought it would be fun if we did this too.”

“I think it sounds fine? Ha-woon’s penalty game idea means some people will do cool costumes and some people will do ridiculous penalties, right?”

“Exactly, Brother!”

Kang Seon-woo and Yu Ha-woon, who have well-matched personalities, already looked excited about wearing costumes.

Ma Si-hyeok and Chae Ha-ru still had faces that weren’t convinced, but soon the entire planning team applauded Yu Ha-woon’s idea, forcing them to board the train.

While applauding along with the flow, Ma Si-hyeok asked me.

“Brother, is this right? Are we really doing costumes?”

“I don’t know either. Just going with the flow.”

“It’s always the people who agree last that get caught in penalties.”

“If you say such negative things, you really will get caught.”

Thus, CENTIX’s fan-exclusive surprise event was confirmed as costume play.

After returning to the dorm, we had time to discuss what concept to use for costumes and what to set as penalties.

“Alright, let’s do it this way.”

Kang Seon-woo, who had distributed blank A4 paper to all members, raised his hand and spoke.

“Write one costume you want to do and one you don’t want to do on the paper I just gave you. Then we’ll pick 3 papers for normal costumes and 3 papers for penalties. How about it?”

“Good!”

“Isn’t this going to result in someone’s good costume becoming a penalty for someone else?”

“Oh, Ha-ru. Sharp analysis? I was planning to write weird things for good costumes on purpose, how did you know?”

“Brother Si-hwan. Please immediately catch and tie up that brother.”

“Aah, I won’t do it! I won’t do it! Spare me!”

I held my pen and pondered for a long time.

‘This is also a battle of wits.’

A situation where I don’t know which papers will be picked as penalties.

I thought maybe I could write somewhat decent costumes on my paper.

“If you write boring costumes to intentionally avoid penalties, I’ll nullify them!”

The quick-witted youngest blocked my plan in advance.

After much deliberation, I wrote ‘desert fox’ for a good costume and ‘genie of the lamp’ for a penalty costume.