The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 202

This heart-pounding feeling never gets familiar no matter how often I experience it.

“Whew……”

Leaning her head back against the PC room chair, Song Ji-won let out a deep sigh.

Then her friends sitting on either side immediately followed suit.

“Wheeeew……”

“If Song Ji-won, the miraculous protagonist who breaks through all odds, gets this nervous, what about us ordinary people?”

“Right?”

“Hey, I’m not some overpowered protagonist. I might fail miserably this time. I’m so nervous right now.”

They had gone through the trouble of finding the PC room that boasts the fastest internet speed in the neighborhood.

Because this was a moment when equipment power mattered more than ever before.

Her fellow fangirl friends had also come in person, saying that being together would reduce this kind of tension.

But what reducing tension – with the constant sounds of sighing from both sides, the sweat on her fingers was doubling.

When the timer she had set in advance suddenly turned red, Song Ji-won’s friends screamed.

“Hey! Hey hey! One minute left! What do we do!”

“I don’t know. If I fail here, my little brother at home will take care of getting good tickets for me.”

“Sisters, stop talking and focus! I can’t concentrate either!”

Along with Kang Eun-young’s sharp rebuke, Song Ji-won glared intensely at the ‘Purchase Tickets’ button.

The timer gradually flowed toward 00 seconds.

Even the warning sound indicating 10 seconds remained could be heard.

‘Now!’

Reacting at light speed, Song Ji-won clicked the ‘Purchase Tickets’ button that had dropped slightly down as ticketing opened.

The familiar white loading screen greeted her.

She shouldn’t panic. This was a situation all MILLENNIUM would be facing simultaneously.

She had no choice but to trust the PC room’s internet speed.

“Ah, hurry! Hurry! Please get through!”

“I think it failed.”

“Just wait calmly. Absolutely don’t press refresh!”

While praying to countless gods in her heart.

Song Ji-won’s screen miraculously began to move.

“It, it loaded.”

The seating chart of Gocheok Dome appeared.

Here, she might waste precious seconds by being momentarily surprised, but Song Ji-won automatically twisted her wrist to move the mouse to the standing area closest to the stage.

“Whoa, for real. Song Ji-won got the golden grape.”

“Why does only she always get through and not me— It loaded!”

“Don’t try for ridiculously good seats if this loaded! You need to choose!”

Her friends also seemed to have fortunately broken through the queue, but Song Ji-won had no leisure to congratulate them.

Maintaining composure, she selected the standing area and chose bank transfer as the payment method.

After finishing all procedures with lightning speed, she entered the reservation details and double-checked again.

The magnificent mobile entry ticket greeted her eyes.

“Got it. Got it, nice!”

She felt like she could fly.

Song Ji-won clenched her fists and checked her other friends’ screens.

“Ah, standing doesn’t seem possible. I’m going straight to the second floor.”

“Sister, I did it! Not the very front but still standing!”

“I got second floor too. Ah, thank goodness for real.”

Kang Eun-young had secured standing tickets along with her, while the other two friends, who connected slightly late, chose second-floor seats without gambling.

Looking at the results, it was a victory day for everyone.

“Who watches online streams! You have to see it in person!”

“Wow, but Song Ji-won, how does your screen load first? You’re not using some kind of hack, are you?”

“If I had money to buy that kind of illegal program, that would be nice.”

What magnificent spectacles would unfold?

What magical events would happen, and what dreamlike moments would come?

Just imagining it made her feel good.

“I’m in a good mood. I’m treating everyone to dinner today!”

“The boss has gone crazy!”

“Let’s eat beef. How about Korean beef? That would be so delicious, seriously.”

“Take back your offer before I change my mind about treating you.”

* * *

‘Hmm, a little disappointing.’

The homma frowned while looking at her computer.

CENTIX’s first solo concert lasting three days.

As always, the homma who was serious about CENTIX’s offline events was planning to attend Gocheok Dome all three days.

The goal was standing for all three days.

Since she couldn’t use body-splitting techniques, she had asked other fellow fans she knew through social media to help with ticketing for the other two days.

Unfortunately, she would have to sit in the second-floor area on the second day.

‘Still, I’m fortunate that the first and last days are standing.’

The first day of the concert that would be filled with new emotions.

And the last day that would be filled with regret that the end had come.

The homma fiddled with her camera while recalling the goal she had been harboring.

‘This time I will definitely capture Ryu Si-hwan’s crying face.’

During the fan meeting when they suddenly held an event, Ryu Si-hwan was the only member who held back tears.

Of course, he did show signs of getting choked up.

But he didn’t shed chicken-poop tears like the younger members on either side of him.

She wanted to see Ryu Si-hwan, who always maintained an upright and calm atmosphere, kneel down and cry.

This peculiar wish wasn’t just the homma’s, but other MILLENNIUM had it too.

That’s why movements to plan fan events one level more advanced than the fan meeting had already begun.

The homma browsed through her social media timeline with interested eyes.

‘Something beyond the ordinary scope would be needed to make Si-hwan cry.’

If it were a predictable scenario, Ryu Si-hwan might already brace himself and wait.

A crucial moment when a surprise attack was desperately needed.

Looking at the post collecting MILLENNIUM’s ideas openly, the homma pondered deeply.

Then suddenly, an idea came to mind that could effectively convey fans’ sincerity.

‘I think I saw this once in an old video. Back then it wasn’t handwritten letters but identical phrases.’

She had a good feeling that it would produce a nice picture.

The homma nodded satisfyingly and clicked the form link.

No matter what happened, she would see that aloof desert fox quietly shed tears.

* * *

Meanwhile, CENTIX was conducting continuous rehearsals inside Gocheok Dome.

I put on the harness and twisted my waist this way and that.

“It’s not too tight, is it?”

“No. Right now it feels fine for moving around, but if the stage costume is a bit thick, it might be tight.”

“Then we’ll try it on again with the costume on concert day and adjust the length then.”

The engineer gave me a thumbs up and then moved toward where Ma Si-hyeok was in the distance.

‘I never thought what those two jokingly mentioned would actually happen.’

The wire device that Seong-hwi and Yu Ha-woon had bickered about while mentioning.

Kang Seon-woo, who found this idea quite appealing, suggested using wires as a group during the opening.

It passed unanimously, and now wire devices were being prepared throughout Gocheok Dome like this.

{It’s going to look so cool, Master! Flying through the sky!}

‘That’s true.’

{I’ve always been envious of friends with wings.}

‘Right now I’m riding this because it’s practice and I brought you along, but you know we can’t do this during the concert, right?’

{So sad but it can’t be helped.}

‘I’ll ask manager brother to take you to the waiting room too. Then you can watch our stage without using invisibility.’

Cerberus had been constantly begging to ride the wire just once.

So right now he was on my shoulder in an invisible state.

“Okay, then we’ll test run starting from A4 section! Seon-woo, are you ready?”

“Yes!”

A mechanical humming sound came from the left side of Gocheok Dome, and very slowly Kang Seon-woo’s tall figure rose into the air.

“Whoa, wahaha! This feels weird!”

“Are you okay? If your chest or rib area feels tight, let us know immediately!”

“I feel great right now!”

He must really like flying through the air.

Next, Seong-hwi’s wire activated.

“Ahaha, this really feels good?”

“See, right? I wasn’t lying!”

“Seeing the entire stage view from up here is amazing.”

This passenger also seemed to have excellent boarding satisfaction.

“Next is Si-hwan!”

“Yes.”

Cerberus wagged his tail vigorously and laughed.

{Master, I’m so excited!}

‘You’re always excited.’

{But I feel better now than ever before!}

I wonder how happy he’ll be when he rides an airplane later.

When my wire slowly pulled upward, along with the floating sensation, my body gradually soared above the audience seats.

Relaxing my tension and looking straight ahead, I could understand why everyone had exclaimed in wonder.

‘……This is the view the fans will be seeing.’

A wonderful moment where the entire stage came into view at once.

Right now there were only empty seats making everything dark and gloomy below.

But soon, like fallen shining stars, the area below the stage would ripple beautifully.

When I came back down to the ground, Kang Seon-woo and Seong-hwi, who had been waiting, came running over.

“How was it? The feeling is really different, right?”

“Yeah, definitely.”

“Doesn’t it make you excited just imagining it? How fun it’ll be when we’re flying around up there in the middle of a venue packed with audience members.”

……The people sitting in the aisle seats will probably be very surprised, realizing they saw us from close range.

Still, unpredictable scenarios like this are much more fun than obvious ones.

The rehearsal proceeded from the opening appearance scene through the entire set list.

We checked whether the VCRs we filmed came out properly and inspected the solo stages while trying to familiarize ourselves with Gocheok Dome’s structure.

“This area is a bit uncomfortable.”

Ma Si-hyeok, who had been performing his solo dance, stopped and pointed to the front of the extended stage.

Since the choreography had been created in a practice room with a flat, straight floor, it seemed he needed to adapt to this extended stage that was relatively short in length and protruded forward.

“Right. We’ll need to be careful when passing through during group stages too.”

“If we fall here, it’ll be big trouble, brothers.”

“Rather than going straight forward, it would be better to exit two at a time in turns.”

Even modifications to the overall movement were conducted on the spot.

Like this, we conducted a total of three full rehearsals before the first day of the solo concert, gradually building up tension.

Time passed and March arrived.

As the morning of the 11th dawned, the first day of CENTIX’s solo concert arrived.

“I feel like my heart is going to jump out of my mouth!”

Yu Ha-woon, who had always maintained curly hair, had straightened his hair with a flat iron today, pursuing an image transformation.

As he stamped his feet, his glossy hair swayed.

“Are all the fans outside already?”

“Well, of course. Entrance time passed long ago.”

“Saying that makes me even more nervous!”

After finishing all preparations, we put our arms around each other’s shoulders in the waiting room.

At first I didn’t understand why we did this.

But before I knew it, I had gotten used to this ritual too, and quietly said our familiar chant.

“Let’s go tear up the stage.”

“Let’s gooooo!”

“I’m seriously going to burn everything down!”

“Ha-woon, this is still just the first day. Stay calm.”

Everyone burst into laughter at Chae Ha-ru’s words.

Then one by one, we moved our feet toward the corridor.

Toward the cheers coming from far away.