The Idol Who Returned from Hell – Chapter 196

Author: Dawn

Even when the 2nd competition audience reviews were being posted, an enormous number of people had flocked to the community.

Everyone had been desperate to hear the vivid reviews from the 500 lucky winners who made it in.

Now that 〈All Star〉 Episode 2 had aired for everyone to see, people’s attention and interest levels were higher than ever before.

And there was a specific culprit behind this storm-like situation.

—Honestly, everyone must have had their suspicions about how the hell CT could beat ZF, but seeing it with my own two eyes makes it even more unbelievable lmao

—I thought it was just simple viral marketing by CENTIX fans, but turns out it wasn’t. I feel bad for blindly hitting the downvote button back then hehe…

—When you have members with similar skill levels gathered together, you definitely need to show something beyond that to really catch the eye yep. CENTIX was grinding their teeth like this was their last chance and dancing like crazy

—Their physiques are great too, so you can see their arms and legs better, plus their power is insane… I wasn’t interested in CT before, but after watching this All Star, I think I’m going to fall for them for real

From the beginning of the broadcast, CENTIX had been positioned as the underdog.

While they were on par with the other senior groups in terms of other achievements, everyone probably thought it was natural for them to fall behind in stage presence and composure that comes with experience and years in the industry.

CENTIX completely shattered those doubts and the subtle disrespect that had been spreading.

As if proudly proving why they had written down Zefa in the weak team selection.

They boldly claimed 1st place in the 2nd competition, which was considered the most difficult one.

MILLENNIUM was enjoying this satisfaction even more than the members themselves.

The frustration and injustice they had been holding back inside was completely gone, leaving only the sweet taste of victory.

Objective evidence that even other fandoms couldn’t help but acknowledge had emerged.

MILLENNIUM raised toasts in celebration while drawing an implicit line.

—From now on, whenever those brainless fans on that side start talking nonsense, you can use this screenshot everyone~ (Photo of CENTIX above Zefa’s name)

—Thanks to everyone’s support, our kids All Star memes have been released. Everyone please use them enthusiastically ^_^

└LOL Leader Ryu’s savage expression got replaced with a new one. Hah, why does him flipping his blonde hair look so good

└???: Someone kept calling me Second-hwi. So I got 1st place this time. (Screenshot of 1st place Seong-hwi)

└Please use the rap god and rap god junior memes a lot too kekekek (Screenshot of Kang Seon-woo and Ma Si-hyeok with arms around each other’s shoulders)

—I originally didn’t like going to these kinds of events because if there were even slightly disappointing or lagging scenes, it would be perfect for getting hate… But seeing my kids go there and flip the entire situation around, nothing could be more refreshing

└LOL. Even if those fans try to refute this result, looking at the review posts, it seems like ZF’s fandom had the most people selected among all fandoms lol. So if they really lost in pure general public picks, it’s even more credible

└It’s so cool and sorry that our incompetent selves didn’t do anything while they changed public opinion all by themselves…

└Then you should invest some money in the 1st anniversary celebration fundraiser, right? ^^

Even after the perfect victory in the 2nd competition, CENTIX took 2nd place after Comet in the 3rd competition that followed.

Meanwhile, Zefa, perhaps feeling the sting of their judgmental loss in the 2nd competition, prepared a rather bland performance and saw their ranking plummet all the way to 3rd place.

In the final scene where they announced the overall ranking by totaling all competition scores, CENTIX, with their 2/1/2 placement, claimed the final overall 1st place.

Naturally, MILLENNIUM kept replaying all of CENTIX’s stages from 〈All Star〉, preserving this moment in time.

They also didn’t hesitate to provide generous financial support for the ‘1st Anniversary Support Fundraiser’ for their idol who was approaching their 1st debut anniversary.

According to the organizer handling the support, at this rate they could smoothly provide all the planned gifts without any issues.

There was even a separate global collaboration with international fans joining forces, so subway advertisements would go up smoothly too.

This was all fans could do for the members who must have had such a difficult year.

Their wish for the members to enjoy it happily filled the autumn sky.

* * *

October 23rd.

Even though there was no official activity schedule today, I still woke up early.

I had a feeling I’d be quite busy in the afternoon, so I wanted to get yesterday’s dishes done beforehand.

“Yaaawn… Brother Si-hwan, you didn’t sleep and got up already?”

“Yeah. I wanted to get the dishes done first.”

“Brother, it’s not your turn this week, is it? Huaaawn…”

“It’s convenient when the person who wakes up early does it.”

CENTIX has a custom of changing roommates whenever a new activity period starts.

We had switched roommates once again to match the start of our 1st full album activity period.

Yu Ha-woon, who ended up sharing a room with me this time, seemed to have woken up from the sound of me leaving, rubbing his sleepy eyes as he came down to the kitchen.

“Brotherr…”

“What’s wrong.”

“Since I woke up early, I want to eat.”

“Should I make you some cereal?”

“Chocolate flavor please, hehe.”

I finished the dishes and took out milk and cereal.

After thinking for a moment, I consciously adjusted the portion to a moderate amount.

“Brother, the cereal portion seems a bit small? Are you forcing me on a diet?”

“That’s not it, but you might have to eat more later.”

“Eat more?”

Yu Ha-woon gave me a look that said he had no idea what I meant.

Even though it had been a year since debut, he was still the youngest who absolutely didn’t do personal SNS.

“You’ll probably find out on your own soon enough.”

“If I’m going to find out soon anyway, couldn’t you tell me now, Brother?”

“They say spoiling these things reduces the fun by half.”

The other guys also woke up early one by one.

Kang Seon-woo was scratching his messy bedhead while continuously watching outside the dorm window.

“Brother Seon-woo, is there something outside?”

“Huh? Oh, ahaha! No, there’s nothing yet.”

He gave me a mischievous wink while grinning, which was as annoying as always.

‘It’s so annoying how you act like only you and I know the secret.’

And I was probably even more frustrated because that was actually true.

Thanks to everyone moving early, we were able to sit in the living room all tidied up before 12 o’clock.

Watching Kang Seon-woo who was already getting excited, Chae Ha-ru asked in a familiar tone.

“Brother Seon-woo, what did you prepare today?”

“Ehehe, I didn’t prepare anything.”

“Right. It’s not that you prepared something, but that the fans prepared something.”

“What, Hwi knew about it too?”

“Anyone who doesn’t know this would be an idiot, right?”

Seong-hwi’s casual words dealt mysterious area damage to Yu Ha-woon and Ma Si-hyeok, who flinched.

“Of course, I didn’t want to get spoiled so I didn’t even go on Bluebird at all. Did you go check it out, Brother?”

“What can I do when my search skills are so considerable.”

“You’re annoying.”

Right around when 12 PM was passing, the dorm door burst open with a familiar voice.

“Kids, come outside! And dress properly too—! Huh, what?”

“Brother, good afternoon.”

“Why are you guys already all dressed up? Normally you’d be barely opening your eyes and eating at this time—”

“It’s our debut anniversary today, so of course we should be prepared beforehand.”

“The sun really must have risen from the west today.”

“What exactly do you think we are, brother.”

After exchanging light jokes, we all took the elevator down to the lobby together.

The feeling came when the Rave Entertainment staff waiting in the lobby immediately handed out selfie sticks to each person.

“As the member representative, only leader Si-hwan needs to do the K-Live broadcast. The other members can just record videos with your personal cameras.”

“Got it!”

“There might be quite a crowd up ahead, so please be careful.”

I logged into the CENTIX official account and opened the K-Live app.

Hoping the servers would be stable today, I pressed the broadcast start button and fixed my phone to the selfie stick.

As soon as the broadcast start notification went out, MILLENNIUM came flooding in like a tide.

“Hello, MILLENNIUM! Can you see the screen clearly? Is the sound okay?”

Fortunately, it seemed to be displaying properly.

I took the lead and headed outside the company building.

Then a very familiar scene greeted me.

‘Coffee trucks and snack trucks. It’s similar to my birthday…’

That’s right. It was similar to the scene from my birthday.

But if there was a difference, it was that the scale had grown about five times larger.

“Bro, Brothers! Look over there! All our names are written on every single truck!”

“This is really amazing.”

“Fi, five, six trucks came?”

“Wh, whoa, incredible!”

I was also slightly overwhelmed by the imposing presence of the magnificently lined-up trucks.

The sight of the members behind me opening their mouths and shouting like kindergarteners was naturally broadcast through K-Live.

MILLENNIUM, who must have prepared tremendously to see this scene, was sending satisfied comments at light speed.

“Should we visit the coffee truck with Seon-woo’s name on it first?”

“Sounds good!”

The menu selection was as diverse as the coffee truck for my birthday celebration.

Yu Ha-woon boldly grabbed a Jo**y Pong vanilla shake and smiled at me.

“Brother, is this why you told me to eat just a little cereal earlier?”

“…I was actually curious what kind of gift would be prepared, but I didn’t look it up beforehand. But I had a feeling there would definitely be a surprise event, so I said that.”

“You didn’t know coffee trucks with drinks like this would come!”

“Of course not.”

After touring the food trucks with our names written in huge letters and returning to the dorm with our arms full of various snacks.

Perhaps because we were so overwhelmed from the start, everyone looked dumbfounded as they stared down at the deliciously smelling food.

I fixed my phone on the stand, then sat in the center chair and continued hosting.

“We had no idea such an amazing gift would be waiting as soon as we started the broadcast. We’re so touched. MILLENNIUM, thank you!”

“MILLENNIUM is the best!”

“We love you!”

“Can we eat a little while talking? I’m hungry!”

Everyone picked up forks and chopsticks with sparkling eyes.

The one suffering the most was in that corner.

{Master, I’m hungry too! I want snacks too!}