The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 2

Back then, I couldn’t see anything.

My head was filled with nothing but the thought that I had to reclaim my life that had been unjustly stolen from me.

I had voluntarily boarded the express train falling to hell without a moment’s hesitation.

“Looking at this mess now, the me from 50 years ago was insane.”

“Growl, woof woof!”

“Stay quiet for a bit.”

“Woof woof woof!”

“I’m trying to think here. If you have three heads, at least don’t all drool at the same time.”

I scratched Cerberus’s forehead with the skilled technique of an experienced trainer.

The middle head, which had been barking fiercely, immediately cheered up and stuck out its tongue, panting with laughter.

It seemed to feel so good that the heads on either side started fighting for position, wanting to be scratched too.

“Here we go again, you guys.”

Cerberus, the terrifying gatekeeper of hell that always appears in mythology.

From the perspective of ordinary people, it would truly feel like a monster.

But from my position of managing Cerberus and other hellish demons every day, it was just a dog with two extra heads.

Well, I could be this calm about it.

After all, I’d spent a full 50 years in this hell.

I recalled the final X mark I’d drawn on this morning’s calendar.

That’s right. Soon I would pass through the gate of reincarnation that would appear at the main entrance of hell and finally return to the real world.

If you asked me what my life in hell had been like… it was just hellish.

Souls that fell to hell had to receive punishment while handling their assigned duties.

Having been warned in advance by the judge in Asphodel and mentally prepared, I was assigned ‘management’ duties.

I spent the years managing criminals who flew in from all over the world, demon kings who claimed to be villains in various national mythologies, and demons born in the deep abyss.

There was nothing to describe it except that it was damn busy.

I had to handle missions dealing with bad guys and brush Cerberus when he wouldn’t listen.

And above all, to not lose sight of Ryu Si-hwan’s goal of pursuing his idol dream, I continued practicing on my own without missing a single day.

“Time really does pass though.”

I stretched and petted the now-docile Cerberus’s fur.

Looking back now, it seemed manageable, but taking it day by day, I had lived with the determination to burn my soul.

But whenever I wanted to give up, I thought of my unjustly stolen life and stubbornly gritted my teeth.

Because the poison of wanting to achieve my dream again never changed.

Thanks to enduring those 50 years to the end, I fulfilled all the conditions for reincarnation and could escape hell to return to Korea in a different worldline.

At the same age of 21 when I had died.

“It was damn awful, but I’ll still miss you, bastard.”

“Woof woof!”

Not knowing when the gate of reincarnation would open, I said farewell to Cerberus in advance.

Though I had fought with countless demons during that time, I had grown quite attached to this dog alone.

Well, even though he drools like the Han River to the very end.

As I watched the horizon turning red, the air around me began to change slightly.

“Soul number 10,453,678, are you ready to pass through the gate of reincarnation?”

A voice calling me came from somewhere in the sky.

It was a moment that reminded me of when I first fell to hell.

When I nodded silently, the air that had been swirling weakly crackled like electricity.

The sensation of space-time twisting spread throughout my body.

“You’re really putting on quite a farewell ceremony.”

I walked toward the flashing vortex and turned my head back one last time.

“Take care, bastard. Make sure to eat well.”

“Woof, woof woof!”

This should be enough.

I took a breath and stepped into the gate of reincarnation.

“Woof woof woof!”

“Hey, hey hey! What are you doing…”

“Grrrowl!”

I felt like an enormous dump truck was pushing me from behind.

Before I could figure out what was happening, my entire body tumbled backward.

Bang!

“Ugh, my head!”

I did a perfect headbutt right into the hard wooden floor.

I had tried to make a cool exit from hell.

I’m probably the only soul who reincarnated by falling backward like this.

As I rubbed the back of my head and looked around to figure out where I was.

“Woof, woof woof!”

“I had a feeling, you crazy bastard. Did you follow me here too?”

“Woof woof!”

I struggled to pull off the Yorkshire Terrier that was enthusiastically licking my cheek and stood up.

“Hey, Cerberus. Why did you follow me all the way here? If you come to the human world from the start, who’s going to guard hell’s main gate?”

{I don’t know about that stuff. They’ll just put some other dog in that spot!}

“Oh my… How can you be so irresponsible about your job…”

But wait a minute.

Wasn’t that a bit too natural just now?

I stared at Cerberus, who had transformed into a Yorkshire Terrier.

“Say that again.”

{The dog that Master has been cherishing for 50 years can even talk now, isn’t that amazing? Honestly, I’m pretty amazed too! Ha, I can finally speak.}

“I’m really going crazy. You can even talk to me now?”

{Probably only with Master? Anyway, I was so annoyed with that stuffy gatekeeper life that I followed Master here. The air in the human world isn’t too bad either. Though it does smell pretty dirty!}

Despite his diminished appearance, Cerberus spoke in a very direct tone.

My head was spinning from the very first day of reincarnation.

Not only had I returned from hell, but now I’d even acquired a super companion dog that could communicate with me.

‘Cerberus is originally a demon that should be in hell, so I wonder if the judge will come to take him back or just leave him alone.’

Whichever it was, there was nothing I could do about it for now.

I decided to first figure out where the gate of reincarnation had transported me.

Clean interior.

Minimal furniture and a single bed that reminded me of the old Black Shot dorm.

It was an ordinary-sized studio apartment, neither too small nor too large.

“Quite ordinary.”

I muttered to myself quietly and went to the living room.

Various documents were scattered on the table.

Sitting on the sofa to check them, I found my resident registration card, family relations certificate, and studio apartment contract in order.

‘I’ve suddenly become an orphan.’

I smiled bitterly looking at the absence of my parents’ names on the family relations certificate. For a moment I felt like I wanted to see mom and dad, but the Ryu Si-hwan from that world was already gone.

Now I had to think only about the Korea where I would live from now on.

I reviewed the information that had been provided to me before leaving hell.

Name: Ryu Si-hwan, 21 years old.

Dropped out of high school after parents passed away. Came to Seoul alone and personally dreamed of becoming an idol trainee.

It was practically identical to my original life. I hadn’t attended high school either and had actually entered an agency and trained as a trainee through my own efforts.

‘I won’t need to do any separate acting.’

After checking all the essential documents, I entered the room.

In the neatly organized room, a single black laptop sat alone.

It seemed to be urging me to quickly open it and search for necessary information.

I sat at the head of the bed and slowly searched the internet.

I had already drawn a rough outline in my mind.

The reason I endured that hellish time and reincarnated was to become an idol again.

So I needed to find the most efficient path with the highest probability.

My current age was the same 21 as when I died.

That meant it would be difficult to become an idol again through ordinary methods.

If I thought about entering an agency as a trainee and aiming for debut, which would take several more years… I’d already be in my mid-twenties.

No chance.

So the ordinary trainee-to-debut route was out.

That naturally brought to mind Korea’s pride: ‘survival audition programs.’

A high-pass to immediately advance to the dream stage if I could just get within the debut range.

Knowing that there were many famous audition programs in Korea even before my reincarnation, I decided to approach that area step by step first.

After surfing through various communities and entertainment news sections.

“〈Idol Stove League Season 1〉…”

I quietly read the program title that had dominated Korean news headlines three years ago.

Stove league was definitely a baseball term.

It felt quite unfamiliar to suddenly see such words appear in an idol survival program.

Driven by curiosity, I searched for more information.

“Well, they’ve created quite an interesting program.”

〈Idol Stove League〉 was a survival program boldly planned and invested in by a certain corporation of the most successful baseball team in the Korea I had reincarnated into.

The basic framework looked ordinary at first glance. A typical format where trainees’ vote counts were tallied through episodes aired over 12 episodes, and debut groups were formed according to those rankings.

However, what stood out was that 〈Idol Stove League〉 had combined these elements with baseball’s ‘match prediction’ system.

[Bet everything on your idol!]

[Become a manager and invest in your one-pick!]

[A competitive league where anything can change! Your choice creates the future.]

Just like picking ‘the winning team and the game’s MVP’ in regular sports games, it was a format where viewers made so-called match predictions about who would rise and who would take first place before watching the live broadcast.

And the ‘management money’ acquired in early match prediction rounds could be appropriately invested and multiplied to eventually fund ‘benefit items.’

In short, it was a system that required not only the participants’ skills but also fans’ brain battles.

‘How could you not get overly invested with a system like this?’

Viewers already enjoyed emotionally investing in the trainees appearing on the program.

But making direct support possible too – how excitedly could they get overly invested?

It seemed that 〈Idol Stove League Season 1〉 had achieved tremendous success contrary to initial expectations.

And riding on that support, they had been working to produce Season 2 for several years.

‘The recruitment period for Season 2 participants is…’

I looked at the date written in the article and chuckled.

Today was April 18th.

And the recruitment period for 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉 participants was until May 18th.

Meaning I could prepare for this program for one month.

Not too short, not too long – perfect timing.

‘Hell reincarnation service performance is solid.’