The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 18

The day after confirming Chae Ha-ru’s completely transformed skills.

I officially opened discussions about the center position in front of everyone gathered.

“We need to decide on the center position before the interim evaluation.”

“Yes.”

“I have someone I’d like to recommend. What do you all think about Ha-ru being the center?”

When I turned my gaze toward Chae Ha-ru, I could see everyone’s eyes widening.

“Ha-ru?”

“I wasn’t even thinking about that… Oh, but now that I look at it, Ha-ru seems a bit different somehow?”

“Haha… He told me to put my bangs up, so I tried putting them up once.”

“What the hell, man, you’re really freaking handsome! You should have gone around like this from the start!”

This was a natural reaction.

Until recently, Chae Ha-ru had been quietly sitting in the back with a gloomy atmosphere.

With those cumbersome bangs fixed with a headband, his completely transformed image would be hard to adjust to.

I smiled while quickly providing additional explanation.

“I was also shocked yesterday during practice. The moment I put his hair up, one person immediately came to mind.”

“Oh, oh! Now that you mention it, Ha-ru and UpBeat’s Seong-jin have a really similar feel? His face is oval and his eyes have double eyelids and are pretty.”

“I had exactly the same thought.”

One of the C-grade participants said exactly what I had wanted to say.

In reality, Chae Ha-ru’s body type and face were very similar to Jang Seong-jin, who served as UpBeat’s visual center.

Don’t they say people prefer familiar tastes?

There was also a good possibility of making a good impression on UpBeat fans who would look up the stage video that would be released later.

“And Ha-ru’s dancing has improved quite a bit too. We even did special training together for several days.”

“Then should we watch the dancing once and decide by majority vote?”

“Good!”

Opinions were gathered with lightning speed, and Chae Ha-ru stood alone in the middle of the practice room with a slightly nervous face.

When I sent him a reassuring smile, his expression seemed to relax slightly.

So Chae Ha-ru performed the center position choreography for about a minute.

“Wow, Ha-ru. Were you always this good?”

“And you look much better with your bangs up! Wow, I didn’t know but you’re really freaking handsome too.”

“It’s nothing.”

“I do feel like Ha-ru holds the center firmly from the middle. Is this the importance of styling?”

In conclusion, everyone sent praise with satisfied tones.

It seemed they understood why I had recommended Chae Ha-ru for the center position only after seeing it with their own eyes.

“Then shall we decide by majority vote right away?”

“Yes!”

“Before we vote, is there anyone who wants to be the center themselves?”

I had to provide fair opportunities to everyone to avoid any loose ends.

There was slight silence and no one said anything.

“If there’s no one, I’ll proceed with the majority vote right away. Those who think it’s okay for Ha-ru to take on the center role, please raise your hands.”

All six people except Chae Ha-ru raised their hands.

Of course, one or two of them watched for reactions until the end before joining in last.

Chae Ha-ru, who received passing marks, kept bowing his head while expressing gratitude in a much more lively tone.

“Thank you, thank you. I’ll work even harder.”

I hadn’t expected such immediate results either. It was just a story I’d heard in hell after all.

Unless I was a genius, there was no way to prove whether this theory would really work. I had reached this level through nothing but repetitive practice without such genius talent.

As if blowing away such doubts in one go, Chae Ha-ru showed increasingly polished dancing day by day.

It felt like he was learning my movements with his eyes and outputting them with his body.

It was like a ‘copy and paste’ skill you’d only see in games.

With this, the choreography for the center position was somewhat resolved. However, the vocal parts couldn’t be perfectly fixed, so more careful part distribution was needed.

“Ha-ru, you can handle this part, right? The vocal range is low and there aren’t many lyrics.”

“If I can’t even do this, I don’t think I’d be qualified to wear this crown.”

Since he was handling the center position, Chae Ha-ru got quite a bit of stage time.

Conversely, I minimized his singing parts while giving fair opportunities to others as well.

“Brother! I think I can do this part perfectly too!”

“Ha-woon, of course you can. What did I tell you?”

“Don’t be scared!”

And the other little lamb I had to take care of, Yu Ha-woon.

Yu Ha-woon’s case was much simpler and easier.

For someone whose confidence had dropped, there’s no better medicine than infinite repeated praise.

While conducting individual practice sessions, I definitely felt something.

‘Yu Ha-woon really has all the basics. It’s just that his self-esteem and confidence have dropped to rock bottom due to consecutive failures, so he’s not demonstrating 100% of his abilities.’

In other words, there was almost nothing I needed to personally work on.

Yu Ha-woon just needed to revive the motivation that ‘he could do it.’

So even for very simple animations or really easy isolation movements, I gave him storm-like praise.

“That’s right, Ha-woon! If you make perfect expressions like that, it’ll work.”

It was practically like childcare.

But seeing Yu Ha-woon’s face gradually brightening made me quite proud.

“Your voice sounds much better than before. Don’t forget the diaphragmatic breathing I taught you. Compress the air from your stomach all the way up to here until the end. You can do it, man.”

All practice seemed to be proceeding smoothly like this. From the beginning, the songs used in the first group battle round had such strong original flavors that we didn’t need to arrange them. We just had to properly memorize the dancing, singing, and stage positioning and match our timing.

However, as always.

Trolling and selfishness always emerge from unexpected situations.

* * *

Just before the judges’ interim evaluation scheduled for the afternoon of the 4th practice day.

Team 9 was working on vocal parts early that morning according to my instructions.

To avoid harsh criticism from the trainers as much as possible and to hear that we were better than Team 4, who would perform the rival stage together.

The overall vocal range of 〈Volt〉 was manageable. If I had to compare, it was much easier than the chorus part of 〈HIT〉.

From the first verse to the pre-chorus and chorus, there were no particularly difficult parts. The difficulty of sub-vocal parts excluding the main vocal was similar, so the distribution process wasn’t complicated either.

However, knowing this song well, I had no intention of giving up the main vocal position.

Center? Fine. As long as everyone could faithfully appeal in their respective parts, there wouldn’t be that big a difference.

But giving up the main vocal part in 〈Volt〉? No matter how much I’d built a nice guy image, this crossed the line.

The bridge line that proved why UpBeat was called a major rookie from their debut.

The bridge line of Volt, which required explosive high notes for a full 6 seconds, played a major role in instantly engraving UpBeat’s name on the public.

Instead of complex choreography and formations, the outcome would probably be decided in this part.

How cleanly the high notes are delivered.

And how smoothly the breathing continues.

No matter how important the center position was, this song had a structure where the main vocal inevitably received high attention.

“I will definitely protect you~”

Knowing I had to execute this perfectly, I practiced with maximum concentration without letting my guard down.

You never know what variables might occur in the actual performance.

While I was continuing double-checks smoothly like that.

“…I have something to say.”

“Yeah?”

Team 9 was sitting in a round circle, and Park Chang-jung, who was directly across from me, raised his hand and spoke.

Come to think of it, this guy had also raised his hand last when approving Chae Ha-ru’s center position.

I already had a bad feeling.

‘He’s had a rotten expression since practice a few days ago, and now he’s trying to troll at this timing.’

“I feel like my part lacks impact.”

“Impact, you mean?”

“…There’s no part with explosive high notes like yours, and it’s not a long part either. I think it’s too ambiguous.”

I could read his thoughts very clearly from Park Chang-jung’s tone.

‘He must feel like he might get buried.’

“Chang-jung, you know well too. Except for this bridge part, this song has similar vocal ranges. And when we distributed parts, didn’t I show you all? How much each part was. That’s why I redistributed even the verses in detail to divide things as fairly as possible.”

“Th-that’s right, but…”

Park Chang-jung agreed with my words while shooting rebellious looks.

He probably judged that if he just backed down here, he’d never have another chance to secure more for himself.

I glanced at the dozens of cameras recording video right behind us.

‘How desperate was he to not even consider his image? This is all being filmed in real-time.’

If he had just stopped when I spoke nicely, it might have been okay. No matter how much we try to view each other favorably, this is still a program for ‘survival.’ His first line could have been edited as a suggestion made due to competitive spirit.

But the moment he crossed that precarious line.

He’d just become prey that KNet loves.

{Master, I’m certain now.}

‘Suddenly?’

Cerberus, who had been either sleeping in the dorms or quietly resting in a corner of the practice room when I was with team members, spoke in a decisive tone.

{I told you before that someone smelled rotten, though I didn’t know who. I felt it clearly when that human opened his mouth just now. That guy is the source of the smell.}

‘Oh.’

{Just in case, I’m telling you, Master. This doesn’t simply mean that human has bad breath!}

‘I know, I know.’

I continued looking at Park Chang-jung’s face.

Yeah, let’s see how far he goes crazy.

“I’ve been thinking it’s unfair all along. To be honest, yesterday too. Even when we talked about the center position, didn’t you recommend Ha-ru as center with your personal opinion? If you had asked me or other members too, someone would have said they wanted to try it!”

Park Chang-jung’s head probably couldn’t see anything else.

He’d firmly believe he had to do this to survive among all these outstanding people.

“Ha-ru couldn’t get much attention until just a few days ago either. But if you recommended him for center just because his hair styling changed, then we should go through the same process for vocal parts to be fair! As the leader, shouldn’t you naturally do that?”

Ah, ah. In the end, he crossed the line himself.

I sighed internally while quietly praying to the judge who would be in hell.

‘I gave him appropriate opportunities to stop. I definitely did. But this guy ignorantly crossed the line. You’re watching, right?’

For now, I responded in a calm voice while hiding my expression as much as possible.

“First, let me address what needs to be addressed. We all voted together on whether Ha-ru was suitable for center position, right?”

“Yes.”

“And before proceeding with the vote, I asked. If anyone wanted to try it themselves, they should speak up. If Chang-jung, you wanted to be center, why didn’t you say so then?”

“Th-that’s—!”

Park Chang-jung tried to speak but hit the brakes suddenly.

He must have remembered too.

That I wasn’t lying, that I really had asked everyone like this.

That if he argued back here, it would just be beating a dead horse.

“You said we should hear other people’s opinions too, right? Then since it came up, let me ask once. Guys, is there anyone dissatisfied with their part allocation?”

No one readily spoke up.

They’d probably be reading the room because of this suddenly cold atmosphere.

I actually smiled brightly while raising both hands.

“Don’t feel burdened. If you really think so, tell me now.”

“N-no, there isn’t!”

Yu Ha-woon broke the silence and spoke loudly first.

Then other members also nodded and expressed their opinions.

“I don’t think there’s any particular problem either.”

“We all measured together then, right? How many seconds each part was. Si-hwan divided things as fairly as possible that way, so I don’t really mind.”

When the situation unfolded completely differently from his expectations, Park Chang-jung showed clear signs of being very flustered.

He probably hoped everyone would follow his lead and say they wanted more attention too.

But like a young person, his vision was too narrow.

Group Battle Matches clearly has the meaning of both individual and team competition. No matter how individual votes and interest get distributed each round, if this group battle is won, there will naturally be rewards that follow.

This is basic fact that anyone who’s watched many audition programs would know.

If you win in rival battles, benefits following is like a kind of natural order.

Just looking at the previous season, the benefit given to first round winning teams was a whopping 5,000 benefit votes. An enormous number that could cause waves in the rankings instantly.

Moreover, no matter how slightly less his portion might be, the probability of unfriendly editing for teams that won battles is extremely rare. And you can gradually expand recognition using this editing as a foundation.

Park Chang-jung had thrown all of this away for immediate gains.

If other team members don’t take his side like this, he’d end up being the only one sticking out, perfect prey for devil’s editing.

‘I could nail this shut right here.’

I glanced at the camera directors faithfully filming us.

Once again, I spoke to Park Chang-jung with a bright smile.

“Chang-jung. Then have you been practicing this bridge part alone?”

“Pr-practice? I did a little—”

“We have the interim evaluation in a few hours. Can you sing it properly in the evaluation?”

When I spoke as if I’d hand over this bridge part, Park Chang-jung made an expression like he didn’t know how to react.

He’d be agonizing over whether to accept this or not.

But he seemed to know that pulling out after creating this mess with his own hands would create an even worse picture.

“Tell me clearly. Like you said to me, I think it’s right to give everyone fair opportunities too. If you really say you can sing the bridge part well, I’ll yield it to you.”

“…I’ll try it once.”

“Good. Then Chang-jung, you take this part.”

“Th-thank you…”

When I handed over even the sheet music, Chae Ha-ru beside me looked at me as if he didn’t understand.

I just wore the same smile as before.

Of course, I could wrap this up cleanly here too.

But there’s no need to get blood on my own hands.