The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 180

I could feel it instinctively.

No matter how I looked at it, this was the beginning of an event that our fans had prepared in secret.

While dreaming of an idol debut, I had searched for countless things.

Among them were naturally fan meeting and concert videos.

There were scenes where idols who had only shown professional appearances while creating spectacular stages ended up turning the venue into a sea of tears by showing their vulnerable side.

The majority of those reasons were surprise events prepared by fans, and no matter how I looked at it, MC Go Hyeon-ju’s word choice was far from ordinary.

“Huh, there are lights up there?”

The moment Seong-hwi pointed to the gradually dimming lighting, the light disappeared from the stage that had been bright just seconds before.

And a screen turned on behind us as we sat facing the audience.

As if bewitched by something, we turned around.

[I waited just to see your most brilliant appearance!]

An effect as if someone was actually writing a message by hand.

The carefully unfolding text on white paper was impressive.

[Let’s be happy for as long as you’ve endured those difficult days]

[No need for long words, I love you, my idol♡]

[You were cool from the beginning, you were cool when you debuted. And right now at this moment, you’re the coolest]

“……This isn’t fair.”

Ma Si-hyeok muttered beside me with a choked voice.

It hadn’t even been 30 seconds since the video started, yet he was already on the verge of bursting into tears.

He raised his hand to somehow hide his reddened eyes, but it wasn’t an easy task due to his puffy outfit.

Regardless of Ma Si-hyeok’s sniffling, the messages sent by our fans rapidly multiplied.

The endlessly growing messages soon accumulated enough to fill the large electronic display board.

The white messages scattered across hundreds of tiles quickly went out, and new text slowly appeared on the darkened screen.

[You are our greatest happiness]

“Ah, this is seriously driving me crazy.”

Gentle piano music began to play.

The piano version of 〈HIT〉 that we had used frequently.

Thanks to the song that displayed cheat-key level presence when creating sad atmospheres, even Seong-hwi, who always tried to maintain a cool appearance, looked precarious.

“Hahaha! Ah, I really wanted to receive something like this. It feels like a dream.”

“Aren’t you going to cry?”

“I’m still totally fine!”

On the other hand, Kang Seon-woo, who I had secretly thought had delicate emotional tendencies, was perfectly fine.

Instead, he was looking at the video letters sent by overseas fans with a beaming smile.

I also wasn’t at the point where my tear ducts would burst open, so I watched the screen with relative composure.

Seeing fans sending us messages of love in awkward Korean even though it wasn’t their native language was incredibly moving.

‘……Right, when would I ever receive a surprise like this.’

Every time I went on stage, I used to think about it.

If I hadn’t made the choice to go to hell, I would never have felt this way again.

I wouldn’t have seen the beautiful lights that fans create.

I wouldn’t have heard words of love from so many people.

When the fans’ video letters ended, the VCR had sounds like a clock turning backward.

Then it began showing our appearances from 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉 in earnest.

“Wow, this is from Chae Ha-ru’s level test!”

“Brother Ha-ru’s hair was that long? I think my memory went weird!”

“R-right. Looking at it again, he really wasn’t human.”

When the innocent past scenes appeared, the guys who had been feeling emotional seemed to calm down a bit.

But not a chance.

When the part where they burst into tears during the final ranking announcement appeared, they once again brimmed with tears and bit their lips.

I became immersed in reminiscence while watching our appearances passing by like a chronology.

‘We really lived busily in such a short time.’

We released 2 albums and even finished our first fan meeting.

Yet CENTIX still hadn’t even reached our first anniversary, so it really hit me that we had been running non-stop during that time.

‘Can I finally breathe a little now.’

The longing for a second chance.

And the fighting spirit to not waste that opportunity.

I ran with only success in front of my eyes.

CENTIX had now stably reached the right track.

Maybe I didn’t need to be so hasty and rush anymore.

But this thought was only brief.

“……Brother Si-hwan!”

“Huh, what?”

“Let’s work even harder during the remaining time this year!”

Ma Si-hyeok’s firm declaration after shedding chicken poop-like tears made my mindset of taking it easy completely disappear.

I patted his back and silently nodded.

The piano accompaniment of 〈HIT〉 was coming to an end, and the VCR seemed about to wrap up too.

Just as I grabbed the microphone to say it was a touching fan event.

―♬♪♪♩♪…….

“……!”

A familiar acoustic guitar accompaniment reached my ears, making me freeze.

It was a melody I knew all too well because I had played guitar for it myself.

‘This was definitely placed at the very end of the set list—!’

I frantically turned my head wondering if the sound director had confused the order of 〈Reminder〉.

But no signals came from either side of the stage.

“What, what is this?”

“This isn’t the right turn, is it?”

I wasn’t the only one confused.

The other members were also panicking with expressions wondering if there had been an accident.

At that moment, blue lights began to slowly bloom from the dark audience seats.

「Today I already turned another page of the calendar

time goes too fast, I can’t catch it

So many things have changed

Both me and everything around me

But I know

That there’s always a place to return to」

I briefly swallowed and listened to what should definitely be my singing part echoing throughout the stadium.

Not a verse sung by a single voice, but a verse sung by the staggering number of 5,000 people.

MILLENNIUM, who seemed to have prepared thoroughly, waved their blue clock sticks and sang along to our fan song 〈Reminder〉.

「I remind myself every day there

That I’m always me

That even if I seem to have changed, I’m always the same

You were always the one who taught me that

Yeah, you’re my reminder」

“……Ah, seriously. This is cheating. It’s too much.”

When his part came up, Seong-hwi finally shed the tears he had been holding back.

He didn’t completely collapse, but seeing this guy who had only shown crazy madness actually crying was quite a remarkable sight.

Even while washing his face with tears, he struggled to hold up his microphone and sang along to the final lyrics.

Following him, the other members also began singing their own parts.

“There were so many hard times too, sob! I, I shed tears often too.”

Yu Ha-woon, who had managed not to cry and endure, also crumbled before the fans’ group singing.

“The fact that someone saved me when I was standing at the edge of a cliff. So I’m always grateful, that that someone is you.”

Kang Seon-woo, who had been singing his rap part verse, also lost his composed appearance and hurriedly covered his mouth.

“Blooming endlessly, these stars that filled my heart. Ugh, wahhhhh!”

And Chae Ha-ru and Ma Si-hyeok, who had been singing the chorus together, simultaneously broke into sobs.

I hadn’t been directly affected by the storm of emotion since I’d only seen it through video.

But participating in the fans’ group singing made everyone fall to that destructive offensive.

In the end, I was the only one who hadn’t collapsed miserably.

Thinking that someone had to sing, I grabbed the microphone.

Only the last verse remained.

“Tell me for the rest of my life like now, Remind us who we are.”

I thought I had misheard for a moment.

Because my voice coming through the speakers was trembling severely.

‘N-no way.’

I hurriedly touched my eyes with my empty left hand.

Fortunately, tears weren’t pouring down like waterfalls like my younger brothers.

But I could feel some moisture gathering.

That was close. I almost cried.

‘……It’s too precious to cry now. At least… at least I should wait until our first concert to cry.’

Making that decision in my heart, I barely managed to escape from the swamp of tears.

When the song ended completely, MILLENNIUM holding their clock sticks began pulling something out.

From how they were stretching it out with both hands, it seemed to be slogans.

I couldn’t see clearly what was written on them.

“Let’s be together forever, CENTIX! We love you!”

Thanks to MILLENNIUM shouting loudly, I could understand the message in the slogans.

The moment that shout reached us, Ma Si-hyeok and Yu Ha-woon, who had been crying the most pitifully, collapsed on stage.

The remaining guys were still shedding tears but had enough energy left to walk around.

Eventually, Kang Seon-woo walked to the very front of the stage and brought back a slogan that one fan had thrown.

“The real thing is so pretty.”

“Right. It would be nice if we each had one too.”

At Chae Ha-ru’s words, an idea suddenly occurred to me.

I quickly slipped to the side stage and asked the waiting staff.

“Do you have extra slogans? I think it would be nice if the members each held one when we take a photo together.”

At my request, 6 slogans were immediately prepared.

And just as I expected, a photographer with a large camera entered to take group photos of the fan meeting.

“Here, let’s each hold one.”

“I, I already have one though?”

“Wear the extra one around your head or neck.”

Kang Seon-woo iconically wore the slogan around his neck like a scarf. Well, he seemed satisfied, so that worked.

We positioned ourselves at the center of the stage.

And we sat down one by one against the backdrop of beautifully rippling lights.

“If we take it like this, won’t it be kind of boring?”

“Then should we shout something?”

“I like the shout idea!”

At Chae Ha-ru’s words, Yu Ha-woon raised his hand high.

“Guys, how about this? We shout ‘MILLENNIUM, we love you!’ and MILLENNIUM shouts ‘CENTIX, we love you!'”

“Simple but I think it’s good.”

“What do you think, MILLENNIUM? Does it sound okay—.”

Before Kang Seon-woo’s question could even finish, the fans loudly shouted “Yes!”

With the venue quieted, the photographer’s call came.

“Alright, I’ll take it. One, two, three.”

“MILLENNIUM, we love you!”

“CENTIX, we love yoooouuu!”

Multiple camera flashes went off.

Looking at the camera, I smiled more brightly than ever.

At this moment, I felt like I owned the entire world.