The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 17

Heavy silence kept visiting more frequently today.

The words that came from Chae Ha-ru’s mouth slowly sank into the air.

I couldn’t bring myself to react first.

Even Cerberus, who had been quietly present, seemed a bit flustered.

{Uh… Master, it feels like the story has become incredibly serious, different from what I expected?}

‘Tell me about it.’

No matter how many conversations I’d had with souls in hell who had encountered all sorts of problems, those were just passing connections.

The Chae Ha-ru in front of me now is a member who will create a stage together with me, a living person. Not just some passing dead soul.

While I was hesitating about what to do in this situation, Chae Ha-ru continued speaking in a tone as if nothing was wrong.

“My father was a very smart person. He was good enough at studying to graduate from S University and had excellent social skills too. After graduating from university, he saved up money to start a business, and at first it went well. But well, it’s common, isn’t it? Getting backstabbed by a colleague you started the business with. All the money he had saved disappeared like that, and our house completely collapsed too.”

“Brother Ha-ru…”

Yu Ha-woon, who had been listening to Chae Ha-ru’s past, hung his head low like a puppy caught in the rain.

Then an unusual scene unfolded where Chae Ha-ru, who hadn’t shown any particular emotion, gently patted his head.

“The only thing I could do was study. I just studied like crazy without any thoughts, thinking that if I got into a good school, I could get a good job. While looking into which school I should enter so it wouldn’t burden my family, I found out that science high schools don’t charge tuition. So I entered science high because it had good job prospects and didn’t cost money.”

To think he had to consider even his career path according to his family’s circumstances.

Hearing that he had suffered from such a heavy burden since such a young age made my heart ache even more.

“Then during winter break last year, I was street cast. I asked the same question Brother Si-hwan asked me earlier. Whether it was possible even though I had no knowledge about idols at all. They said it was possible. Once I started learning properly, I’d get used to it quickly. And if I worked hard to debut like that, I could make a lot of money.”

Chae Ha-ru’s calm voice began to tremble.

“When they said I could make a lot of money, I said okay. Of course I would, right? My father had shut himself in the house after his business failed and wasn’t doing anything. My mother was working alone and barely making money. It was natural for me to try to turn this situation around.”

Chae Ha-ru, who had seemed to have no interest in worldly matters on the surface, had been suffering from pressure more than anyone.

I couldn’t even imagine what mindset this boy, who was just a high school student, had when he put everything behind him and accepted the casting.

“The agency CEO told me. If I wanted to debut quickly, I should try appearing on survivals like 〈ISL〉. That’s how I ended up participating here. Just like a racehorse with blinders on, really recklessly. Even I think my judgment was too hasty.”

“How long have you been a trainee, Ha-ru?”

“Four months.”

No wonder all his basic movements still had that choppy feel.

I pressed my forehead and took a deep breath.

‘One participated in the survival with his confidence completely shattered. The other walked in voluntarily without even proper trainee experience. This is dizzying, really dizzying.’

At this point, I wondered if current Korean entertainment agencies were the problem.

Chae Ha-ru gathered his knees with both hands and quietly added.

“I know it well too, that my abilities are still lacking. It’s not that I haven’t practiced. Even now I’m practicing by cutting into my sleeping time, trying to keep up somehow, but I feel like my body can’t handle it. I can see that I keep falling behind compared to other team members, and if this continues, I feel like I’ll just become dead weight…”

“No, you can do it.”

When I cut him off decisively, Chae Ha-ru’s lifeless eyes widened slightly.

“…How can you be so certain about that?”

“Well, how should I put it.”

I scratched my cheek and laughed.

“There was something I heard from someone who happened to pass by.”

“I can’t figure out what Brother Si-hwan is thinking either.”

“That’s what I felt when looking at you too. We were exactly the same.”

Let’s leave the story here for now.

When I stretched and got up from my seat, Yu Ha-woon and Chae Ha-ru also quickly stood up.

“Let me make this clear. I have no intention of just abandoning you two and leaving.”

“…!”

“To be honest, I didn’t know I’d be saying things like this either. But well.”

I knew that meddling unnecessarily in survival programs wasn’t something you should do.

It’s a place where you’re too busy taking care of your own bowl, and often people fail by trying to take care of others out of sympathy.

But that’s only the story of people who aren’t perfectly prepared.

If there’s a perfect solution to completely break through the current situation.

And if you know that these are people you can take to the end without problems.

Naturally the ending of the story changes.

“I have absolutely no intention of letting go of this kind of visual center and clever youngest member.”

* * *

And so special training began.

Well, we had already been handling a considerable level of practice difficulty.

But now, one day before the judges’ interim evaluation scheduled for the 4th day, personalized special training was in progress.

To successfully start this kind of forced march, it was inevitable to provide appropriate motivation.

“Ha-ru.”

“Yes.”

“You’re going to be the center for this 〈Volt〉 stage.”

“What?!”

Chae Ha-ru, who had rarely shown emotional changes, was almost shocked the moment he heard my words.

When I tried to attach the crown sticker to Chae Ha-ru, he waved his hands like an aspen tree and even showed fierce resistance.

“B-Brother. This really doesn’t seem right. How could I be the center—”

“First attach it and listen to the explanation.”

“This really can’t happen…”

Chae Ha-ru, who reluctantly accepted the crown, began listening to my words with a dazed expression.

“To be direct, there’s no visual in 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉 that can match you right now.”

“Isn’t that not true? There’s trainee Seong-hwi too, and even Brother Si-hwan is being praised so much for being handsome—”

“Isn’t that because you’ve been going around with those cumbersome bangs down?”

I took out the item I’d brought as a surprise gift from my pocket and grinned.

“Stay still.”

What I brought was none other than a simple black headband.

I fixed Chae Ha-ru’s long bangs with the headband and parted them to both sides, creating natural yet simple styling.

“There, setting complete.”

“Is, is this all?”

“Look in the mirror once.”

Chae Ha-ru stared intently at his face reflected in the large full-length mirror.

“My face is definitely visible now…”

“Setting everything else aside, what the agency president said when casting you probably wasn’t wrong. Your visuals are really a style that’s hard to find easily in the idol market. No matter how much current trends have moved slightly away from conventional handsome faces, there’s absolutely no fan who would dislike a sculpted face like yours.”

Seeing it styled directly like this made me even more certain that this was something that absolutely couldn’t be let go.

Chae Ha-ru’s appearance, completely changed by just one headband, was like a male protagonist torn from a youth drama. The kind of level where just throwing a wistful expression from the center of the stage would make all the girl fans watching clutch their chests and collapse.

No one knows yet about the jewel hidden behind Chae Ha-ru’s long bangs.

Not the trainees participating in 〈ISL 2〉 with him.

Not even the production team who included him among the 100 participants.

This is a hidden card that can capture the atmosphere of the scene in one go.

That’s why Chae Ha-ru’s skill development is even more essential. Proving the ability to handle the center role. This is the task we need to accomplish in this short time.

Everyone would think we were crazy. No matter how much trainee experience he had, showing dramatic improvement in a short period would be tremendously difficult.

However, I don’t move unless I’m certain of the situation.

“Ha-ru, you know too that just because I designate you as center doesn’t mean it’s over. You need to get approval from the judges during evaluation. You absolutely must improve your skills.”

“Of course I know that. That’s why I told you this was absurd.”

“Let me ask you one thing first.”

Of course my inner conviction isn’t 100%.

It’s just something I heard as an interesting story during my 50 years living in hell.

But I knew one fact.

The souls dragged to that hell don’t lie easily, at least.

“You said you were good at studying.”

“That’s right.”

“How well exactly were you? For example, in areas like memorization.”

“Memorization… memorization.”

Chae Ha-ru stroked his chin and thought carefully.

“Three-quarters of studying for internal exams was always memorization, so naturally I think I was good at it. Actually, there was a semester when I had to memorize 200 English passages whole for an English test. That’s why I thought I’d be good at memorizing choreography too, but I guess I lack the knack for it…”

“Okay. Then would you like to try it while listening to what I say?”

This story goes back about 30 years.

It was when I was managing a work site in the depths of Tartarus.

One of the souls I worked with said he used to be a scientist who was called a genius in the old days.

Of course, he came to hell because he used that extraordinary brain for terrorist organizations after becoming an adult, but he was confident that his memory and memorization abilities were still intact. There was a ‘genius memorization method’ that he proudly taught me.

“Ha-ru, until now you’ve been trying to remember dance movements one by one, right? Not associating the overall picture, but separately.”

“That’s right. When I first learned to dance, it was so unfamiliar that I was busy just following each movement. It was the same with 〈HIT〉 and the same with 〈Volt〉 now.”

“Then from now on, instead of thinking of the movements I show you separately, try memorizing them by associating them as one image or picture. Like when you memorize those English passages. When memorizing passages, you don’t memorize individual words separately either.”

“…I did memorize whole paragraphs at once, not word by word.”

“That exact feeling. You understand? Don’t try to memorize movements in pieces, but memorize thinking ‘this is just one picture.'”

I slowly performed the opening choreography of 〈Volt〉.

Chae Ha-ru, standing behind me, looked only at the practice room mirror without blinking once.

I could feel tremendous concentration gathering to the point where it was palpable.

“—Five, six, seven, eight. Up to here. How is it, does it feel a bit different?”

“Let me try it once.”

Chae Ha-ru, who had been standing still like a waiting stone, began moving his body to the MR.

I watched his choreography with half expectation, half worry.

“Like this here, then like this next, I think that’s how you did it.”

“Right. Right, Ha-ru.”

My heart raced.

Chae Ha-ru’s arms and legs, which had definitely been creaking just yesterday, had become much smoother.

I even felt like I was seeing my own early trainee days.

“I’ll show you once more. From here again…”

I showed the opening choreography twice, then three times.

When the third demonstration ended, Chae Ha-ru spoke decisively with eyes he’d never shown before.

“I’ll try again.”

That weighty tone was reflected directly in his choreography.

“—Five, six, seven, eight!”

“…Haha.”

Watching Chae Ha-ru sweep the floor and rise with smooth body movements, I let out a laugh mixed with complex emotions.

Surprised emotions, sighs of unfairness, admiration of greatness—many thoughts tangled together.

But probably the emotion I felt most clearly was relief.

“This actually works.”