The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 19

“Teams 4 and 9, right?”

“Yes!”

“Oh my, what are you all standing around for? Sit comfortably, comfortably.”

The trainees from Teams 4 and 9 gathered in the large practice room all settled into their seats at Lee Jin-hak’s easygoing words.

On one side of the wall was Team 4 led by Kang Seon-woo, and on the opposite side was Team 9 led by me, quietly watching each other with slight tension.

Kang Seon-woo winked at me as if something was so wonderful, even forming words with his mouth.

‘Our team… what about your team, you bastard.’

No matter how much I’d mastered reading people’s expressions, if I’d learned lip reading like this too, I’d be working for the National Intelligence Service.

Still, I managed to analyze the rest of the content.

‘Our team is totally screwed!’

That kind of cheerful message came out.

I let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded. What was so good about this guy that he was grinning like that while saying his own team was ruined?

“How was practice for everyone? UpBeat’s 〈Volt〉. Even though it was a debut song, it must have been quite difficult.”

At Min Si-hyeon’s question, Kang Seon-woo and I, the leaders of each team, delivered contrasting opinions.

“It was a bit harder than expected!”

“When our team members worked together, it seemed pretty okay.”

“Well, we’ll know how much you’ve done when we see it.”

Lee Jin-hak and Min Si-hyeon set up their clipboards while preparing for the full-scale evaluation.

Come to think of it, usually for these interim evaluation sessions, they’d have one person for vocal/rap and one for dance come in.

I knew that judges Lee Jin-hak and Min Si-hyeon were both from the vocal side.

As if reading my curiosity, Min Si-hyeon twirled her pen and said.

“Oh, and today Senior Jin-hak will handle the vocal evaluation. I came in as the dance evaluator today. Since all the songs in this round are idol songs, I can handle the choreography evaluation part too.”

So that’s how it was.

Min Si-hyeon, who had made favorable comments during my level test and grade evaluation, was a member of a girl group representing Korea in this world. She was said to be a tremendous talent who had experienced not only the domestic scene but even the American Billboard.

I looked at her calmly organizing the participants’ profile sheets and felt slightly sorry.

‘Sorry, but let me use the judge’s favor just this once.’

First, Team 4 received their interim evaluation.

Looking at the members standing in a row, I could see why Kang Seon-woo said they were screwed.

Kang Seon-woo, Team 4’s only A-grade, wasn’t a vocal major but a main rapper.

He had said he was confident in rap making and composition studies from a young age, but singing was a bit lacking.

Then naturally, this highlight bridge part wouldn’t be handled by Kang Seon-woo.

But there weren’t any notable vocal talents among the remaining members either. I had designated the place with the lowest average grade as our battle opponent from the beginning.

“In this electrifying air, yeah yeah!”

“I shout to you, come back to me!”

Even when singing group choruses like this, Team 4 boasted unstable pitch and immediately received many criticisms from Lee Jin-hak.

“Kids. Yeah, you memorized the lyrics well, that’s right. But is that where it ends? Do you think it’s okay to end it there?”

“No…”

“What’s the point if you just output lyrics mechanically? I have no idea what message you want to convey or what emotions you want to sing with. And first of all, everyone’s breathing is unstable. Let’s try this part again from here.”

Team 4 was completely demolished before even reaching the individual verses.

The participant in charge of the bridge part was… so devastatingly ruined that I felt sorry to even mention it.

And in the dance evaluation that followed.

“Who arranged this choreography?”

“I, I did it!”

“Ah, I see. Dong-kyung did it.”

The C-grade participant who heard Min Si-hyeon’s soulless voice kept fidgeting with his hands.

“I do think you worked hard. But that’s all.”

“Ah…”

“To be honest, it feels like you only focused on copying the choreography? You’ll understand later, but your overall formations and movements aren’t pretty at all. Especially for songs like 〈Volt〉, the group balance should match better than individual solo choreography. But if the formation balance doesn’t match and someone steps out of line every time the movement changes, how do you think that will look?”

As expected, brutal truths flew in like arrows.

With consecutive harsh reviews, Team 4 members looked on the verge of losing their minds.

Then leader Kang Seon-woo raised his hand high and said loudly.

“I’ll take responsibility and fix everything again by the final rehearsal!”

“Seon-woo.”

“Yes!”

“Do you know how heavy that weight of being leader and center is?”

Everyone fell quiet at Min Si-hyeon’s calm voice.

Even I, who had been quietly watching, naturally turned my gaze toward Min Si-hyeon.

“A leader must always only say things they can truly take responsibility for. If they can’t, then all the arrows of criticism must be borne by the leader. That’s how heavy and dangerous that position is.”

“I understand well!”

“Then that means you can definitely take responsibility for what you just said too, right?”

“Yes.”

This was like advice coming from her own experience rather than an evaluation.

Min Si-hyeon stared into Kang Seon-woo’s eyes for a while, then exhaled briefly.

“Good, Team 4’s interim evaluation ends here. Everyone worked hard.”

“Thank you!”

Now it’s our fateful turn.

When Team 9 members stood in line in front of Lee Jin-hak and Min Si-hyeon, questions immediately came in.

“Huh? The center here is…?”

“It’s not Si-hwan?”

Other people probably thought I would take the center role too.

And they had completely unfamiliar expressions regarding Chae Ha-ru’s face with his bangs fixed by the headband I gave him.

“The leader is Si-hwan, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“And the center is… Ha-ru?”

“Yes.”

When Chae Ha-ru raised his hand, Lee Jin-hak blinked several times while looking at his profile.

“Ha-ru styled his hair differently.”

“Yes, originally I went around with my bangs down—”

“It looks much better. The center visual is pretty decent, isn’t it?”

“I didn’t know Team 9 had this kind of face mask, so it was Ha-ru. Who told you to try it like this?”

At Min Si-hyeon’s question, Chae Ha-ru politely extended both hands toward me.

“While practicing, Brother Si-hwan told me…”

“Oho.”

I could feel Min Si-hyeon’s sharp gaze flying this way.

I maintained as composed an expression as possible while wearing a light smile.

“…We’ll have to see it once to know, but I can roughly feel why you picked him as center. Ha-ru, you can’t go around with your bangs down anymore, alright?”

“Ah, yes. I’ll absolutely never do that again.”

“Shall we listen to the vocals first?”

Finally, the long-awaited vocal part evaluation began.

“Everything stops, even my heart stops.”

“Every moment I look at you is electrifying, that’s the problem~”

The intense training was worth it.

Maybe because we heard Team 4’s vocals first. Our team members’ vocals were much more stable and clean.

The parts I was most worried about, Chae Ha-ru and Yu Ha-woon, also passed smoothly.

“In this atmosphere, everything goes pop!”

“I don’t want to let go of only you.”

“Oh, Ha-woon is good too!”

They even received real-time praise from Lee Jin-hak.

My part handling the chorus also passed without criticism.

As a result of everyone matching harmonies day and night, we were smoothly sailing while looking into each other’s eyes.

Except for one person.

〈Volt〉’s MR passed the second verse and moved to the bridge section.

I could see the judges instinctively turning their gazes toward me.

But when I lowered my sheet music and looked toward Park Chang-jung, Min Si-hyeon’s pupils instantly dilated.

“I will definitely protect you…!”

Park Chang-jung, who claimed to have practiced this bridge part on his own for a long time, seemed to suddenly feel tremendous pressure as his voice trembled.

Far from sustaining the high notes for 6 seconds, his pitch went up and then fell back down.

It was like watching a car that almost started but didn’t.

Lee Jin-hak, who had been nodding his head to the beat, stopped the song briefly after hearing Park Chang-jung’s part.

I read the expressions of the two judges and instinctively realized.

‘Now’s the time.’

“I’m curious, did Chang-jung say he wanted to do this bridge part?”

Min Si-hyeon’s question struck like a fastball.

Park Chang-jung, whose mentality was already shaken to the core, trembled without being able to answer.

I immediately answered instead.

“We gathered our opinions and decided that Chang-jung could handle this part.”

“Really?”

“Yes, Chang-jung did well during practice, but…”

When I trailed off, Min Si-hyeon seemed to think for a moment while resting her chin on her hand.

She was probably very confused.

Looking at the surface and examining it piece by piece, it was clear that I was the most vocally outstanding in this team.

She wouldn’t have any idea why Park Chang-jung was handling this part.

“Chang-jung.”

“…Yes.”

“Would you like to try this part again?”

The MR resumed from just before the bridge.

Park Chang-jung swallowed and opened his mouth.

“I will definitely protect you!”

As expected, the high note went up and then cut off abruptly in the middle.

“…”

Min Si-hyeon tapped her pen on the clipboard with an unreadable expression.

The other team members didn’t know what to do and just watched each other.

Park Chang-jung kept rubbing his hands on his pants as if sweat had formed profusely.

“Chang-jung. Did you really want to do this part?”

“…”

“I’d like you to answer when I ask you something.”

The practice room temperature seemed to suddenly drop several degrees.

Even when other judges spoke in sharp tones, Min Si-hyeon had always treated participants calmly.

This was a very rare sight to see.

“I asked if you really wanted to do it.”

“…Yes, I said I wanted to do it.”

“Whew…”

When Min Si-hyeon’s sigh was heard, Park Chang-jung’s focus became increasingly blurry.

Now his eyes were completely spinning.

Min Si-hyeon exchanged glances with Lee Jin-hak.

It seemed like she was asking “Who’s going to say it?”

“Chang-jung, I’m really sorry to say this.”

Finally deciding she had to finish it with her own hands, Min Si-hyeon slowly began hammering the final nail.

“This part is indeed important enough to be greedy for. But no matter how I think about it, with your current capabilities, wouldn’t there be difficulties in maintaining these high notes?”

“…Yes.”

Park Chang-jung’s voice was barely audible.

“Even if your teammates said it was okay, as a professional, I disagree. You’re one team, right? And you’ve been practicing to win the rival battle. Then you should find ways to win as much as possible. Even if you personally want to do it, if it won’t work, it won’t work. You can’t be rude to the entire team.”

Lee Jin-hak chimed in with Min Si-hyeon’s words from the side.

“Si-hwan, as Si-hyeon said, the leader’s role is very important. No matter how much you think about your teammates, you must make decisions decisively. To use a ship analogy, you’re the captain. The lives of the other crew members depend on your one judgment. This is something the leader must absolutely handle. You understand what I mean?”

“I’m sorry. I think it’s all because I didn’t discuss things in more detail with my teammates.”

I had expected to receive this level of criticism.

It was the leader’s responsibility to make someone wear clothes that didn’t fit them.

“You can discuss this bridge part among yourselves later. Got it?”

“Yes!”

“Then shall we watch the dance?”

When moving to dance formation positions, I briefly made eye contact with Park Chang-jung.

Seeing how he immediately turned his gaze away, his mentality was probably completely shot.

It did look pitiful, but this was still inevitable.

If you’re human, you’ll naturally be greedy. But the problem is when and where you show that greed. Knowing this and not knowing it makes a big difference in situations like this.

Unless someone far superior to you tells you this directly.

It would be difficult to come to your senses at once.

‘You’ll understand after about 50 years of working life.’