The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 21

“When December Rain stops falling from the sky~”

“Kyaaaaaah!”

I rolled up my blazer sleeves slightly while listening to the tremendous cheers erupting from the audience.

As expected of 〈December Rain〉.

The title track from the 10th anniversary album of Cosmic, called Korea’s greatest idol group.

Even now, 9 years after its release, it’s still ranking within GrapeFruit’s annual top charts, so there’s nothing more to say.

Honestly, in terms of recognition, 〈December Rain〉 was overwhelming, so I was slightly conflicted, but I had abandoned it thinking we should avoid overly famous songs.

‘Looking at this kind of response, it might have been pretty good after all.’

Still, I shouldn’t be fooled by such fragmentary glimpses.

No matter how good the live response was, I don’t know what reaction Cosmic’s fandom would show after it airs on broadcast.

It’s right to discard unnecessary risks as much as possible.

“Didn’t a lot of people come?”

“I heard they accept 200 audience members for the first round.”

“T-Two hundred people!”

Yu Ha-woon’s eyes, who had been nervously fidgeting with the end of his in-ear mic beside me, doubled in size.

It makes sense he’d be nervous since he’s never performed on stage in front of an audience in the hundreds.

I patted his shoulder while recalling my early trainee days at Black Hash Entertainment when I received my first busking evaluation.

“It’s okay. Even if you’re nervous now, once you get on stage, you’ll feel fine.”

“Is that possible?”

“Of course.”

“Somehow when I listen to you, I feel like it’ll really be that way!”

While Yu Ha-woon was clenching both fists, a tall figure silently approached from behind.

“Brother. Could you check if my in-ear is working properly?”

“You startled me! Brother Ha-ru, make some noise when you approach!”

“Sorry.”

When I skillfully organized Chae Ha-ru’s in-ear wire, Yu Ha-woon spoke in an amazed tone.

“But Brother Si-hwan, have you really never been a trainee before? You’ve never been one but you’re so good at organizing in-ears too. It really seems like there’s nothing you can’t do.”

“Ha, haha. It’s easy since I just need to untangle what’s tangled.”

“That easy thing is what I can’t do.”

“That’s not what I meant—!”

A hint of mischief flickered in Chae Ha-ru’s eyes, which usually held a lifeless light.

“I just tried saying it once.”

“You, that kind of mischief should be put aside for now, okay? What expression did I tell you to make at center?”

“A manly, sharp gaze.”

“Right, you know it well. Never let your eyes go soft, okay?”

“Yes.”

Chae Ha-ru hadn’t called himself a genius for nothing.

After I taught him the appropriate learning method, he memorized choreography and stage positioning at a monstrous pace.

After mastering the movements, he worked on fingertip details.

After finishing the details, he gradually practiced facial expressions too.

I couldn’t say it was absolutely perfect, but since 〈Volt〉’s song atmosphere itself was easy to express, there wouldn’t be major problems.

He just needed to steal fans’ hearts with that visual torn from a manhwa whenever he stood at center.

“Thank you!”

“Thank you so much for coming to watch! Please definitely come next time too!”

It seems the 〈December Rain〉 battle group finished.

Now heading toward the latter half of the first round, only two songs remained.

“You dressed up so nicely, our Si-hwan?”

“Look who’s talking.”

“Haha, were these gloves a bit too much?”

“Since you’re already wearing them, just go with it.”

Team 4 members, who had been doing final mic checks behind us, began moving toward backstage.

Kang Seon-woo, whom we met in front of the backstage entrance, waved his gloved hand and said quietly.

“We’ll go first.”

“Since you’re already doing it, don’t make mistakes and do well.”

“You too.”

Watching Team 4’s retreating figures who would perform the 〈Volt〉 stage first, I took a short breath.

“Alright, everyone let’s do final checks while relaxing our nerves.”

* * *

“Thank you!”

“Please vote for number 1!”

“Just once, please vote for number 2!”

Among the total 16 teams, the latecomers finally appeared.

Just like KNet, who always saves the good stuff for last, competitive trainees were positioned in large numbers toward the back.

The songs were also major enough for group singing even if you weren’t fans of those groups, so they maintained their entertainment value.

“Sister, wasn’t that 〈December Rain〉 amazing just now? Weren’t the kids’ white outfits with lace insane?”

“The outfits were definitely pretty.”

“Right!”

Unlike Kang Eun-young, whose tension had risen to the max, Song Ji-won’s excitement wasn’t at 100% yet.

Everyone did well. Well, since it was their first live performance, minor pitch problems here and there were unavoidable.

But it only felt like they did decently well at most.

‘I wonder if this is because my favorite hasn’t appeared yet, or if the stages really were just so-so.’

Even while having such thoughts, Song Ji-won diligently performed her duty by pressing the remote control buttons.

And finally.

“The next team will battle over UpBeat’s 〈Volt〉. First, Team 4 will come up!”

Large letters reading ‘〈Volt〉 Round’ appeared on the big screen, with the battle structure image ‘4 vs 9’ displayed below.

The name Song Ji-won had been waiting and waiting for, Ryu Si-hwan, was proudly placed at the front of Team 9.

“Wow, it’s Kang Seon-woo versus Ryu Si-hwan, Sister. This will be totally worth watching!”

“The time has come to make my heart swell magnificently.”

“Don’t make weird comments!”

Team 4, who came up on stage to attack first, delivered an energetic greeting.

“Hello! We are Team 〈Lightning Man〉, who will make this entire stage electrifying!”

“Please take care of us!”

Despite the strangely lame naming sense of Lightning Man, the Team 4 trainees struck cool superhero poses, drawing roars of laughter from the audience.

‘Since they’re Si-hwan’s rival group, I should watch nervously.’

Song Ji-won thought that especially with named BK alumni Kang Seon-woo among them, they could sufficiently threaten Ryu Si-hwan’s team, but.

“I will definitely protect youuuu—!”

A blatant pitch problem occurred in the high note part that burst out during the bridge section.

“Oh dear…”

“That was a big voice crack, wasn’t it?”

“That part is really tough, but it’s unfortunate.”

“Still, if you took on the main vocal position in an 〈ISL〉 group battle, you should be able to do that.”

“Slightly disappointed.”

Reactions mixing regret and disappointment quietly spread around.

Since it was such an important part in 〈Volt〉 and there were memories of UpBeat’s main vocal Ahn Ha-seong showing monstrous skills, the effect was doubled.

Still, it was admirable seeing the trainees persevere to complete even the final ending pose.

“It was regrettable. How was it for you, sister?”

“There wasn’t that one big moment. If only they had exploded more in the bridge part…”

“Honestly, sister only has thoughts of quickly seeing your favorite’s stage, right?”

“That’s also true.”

Song Ji-won’s earnest heart was answered after a full 5 hours.

Team 9, who immediately took the place Team 4 had vacated, stomped their feet twice and delivered their greeting.

“Hello! We are Team 〈Crash〉, who will kick off this stage and crash straight into the managers’ hearts!”

“Please take care of us!”

Ryu Si-hwan shouted the slogan in a resounding voice at the front while waving his hand.

Individual fans including Song Ji-won couldn’t come to their senses at that dazzling visual.

Superior shoulders emerging through the black blazer, wet hair styling that gave a slightly damp feeling, and white skin that shined like CG was turned on.

“Si-hwaaaan!”

“You’re handsome, Ryu Si-hwan!”

Pterodactyl sounds calling for Ryu Si-hwan could be heard from somewhere in the standing area. Then Ryu Si-hwan rolled his moist eyes like a desert fox and turned his gaze toward where the sound came from.

And he smiled brightly while lightly waving his hand.

“He’s a prince.”

Song Ji-won felt like her heart was rattling completely loose.

Before she could even calm her rapidly beating pulse, the lights went out on stage and Team 〈Crash〉 moved to their respective positions.

‘It’s starting.’

Just as she was clasping her hands tightly and looking forward.

With the sound of electricity crackling, a single spotlight suddenly turned on at the center of the stage.

「All I gotta do

is to save you」

Among the crouched figures, one trainee stood up with angular movements.

A participant with an impressive parted hairstyle held in place by a black headband.

The blue spotlight cast shadows on his face, making it hard to see clearly, but his facial features broke through those harsh conditions and entered her field of vision first.

Song Ji-won desperately tried to remember and think about what that participant’s name was, but.

‘I’ve never seen a profile of someone who looks like that?’

She wondered if there was a problem with her memory since she couldn’t figure it out.

‘I’ll have to look it up when I get home.’

The 〈Volt〉 intro, which was a masterpiece of bass and synthesizer remix, began, and following the arm movements of the trainee who stood in the center, the remaining members scattered in perfect order.

「Everything stops, stop, stop

Every moment I look at you is electrifying, that’s the problem」

Stop.

Matching the English lyrics meaning halt, the bass beat momentarily cut off and resumed.

It was a short gap of barely 1 second, but in that needle-eye timing, the participants cut their arm movements with precise isolation moves.

A direction that made the trainee who came to the center to sing his part stand out even more.

Stretching their arms forward then cutting and moving them with sharp motions, attention poured much more easily toward the member positioned at center.

The audience cheered at the explosive knife-like group dance from the beginning.

‘The choreography concept is so good from the start…!’

「Step by step I approach you

Even when it seems I could catch you, you only move further away」

〈Volt〉’s beat is much faster than typical K-pop speed.

With the originally intense bass/synthesizer combination plus UpBeat’s signature knife-like group dance that doesn’t lower tension, even slightly falling behind in pace wouldn’t create a pretty picture.

As if devouring such worries, Team 〈Crash〉 rushed forward in a tight formation without gaps.

「In this atmosphere, everything goes pop!

I don’t want to let go of only you」

A participant with youthful beauty and soft vocal tone showed wonderful floor work while tilting his head sideways toward the fans.

‘Oh, that face is familiar. Was it Yu Ha-woon?’

He was definitely the youngest age among the participant introduction profiles, so he remained in her memory.

His current appearance with smoky makeup and even a leather jacket looked like he was determined to steal the hearts of older sisters.

「In this electrifying air, yeah yeah

I shout to you, come back to me

I feel like I can never escape

I want only you」

The awaited chorus.

As if they had been waiting only for this moment, Team 〈Crash〉’s formation quickly transformed.

The trainees who had gathered in a line spread out to both sides one by one, forming a V shape.

And breaking through the center, Ryu Si-hwan with his outstanding appearance came out boasting clean vocal tone.

‘This is crazy, this is crazy!’

Just like with 〈HIT〉, a refreshing vocal tone like opening 100 cans of carbonated water simultaneously exploded.

Even though it wasn’t a high note, Ryu Si-hwan’s voice itself went up so cleanly without any excess that it created the illusion of hitting high notes.

Anyone who had seen decent idol stages would know that the performance of stage in-ear mics is very unstable.

But thanks to Ryu Si-hwan’s insane vocal power, tremendous force was transmitted even to audience members sitting in the back of the standing area.

Song Ji-won couldn’t take her eyes off Ryu Si-hwan for even a single second.

Vocal tone that didn’t waver while leading members and commanding group choreography.

Sharp eyes that matched perfectly with the smoky makeup.

Though it was a brief moment, Ryu Si-hwan’s gaze didn’t stop only at cameras.

That composure to make eye contact with people sending him passionate support even amidst the frantically unfolding stage.

Who could watch this stage and not fall for Ryu Si-hwan?

While Song Ji-won was staring at her one-pick in a daze, Kang Eun-young beside her was banging her forehead on her hand fan.

“If only it wasn’t for the security check, I’d be taking photos of this legendary stage! My traffic!”

“I wish you’d be quiet, junior!”

The song moved past the second verse chorus toward the extreme latter half.

Soon that high note bridge part would come.

The high-difficulty bridge that the rival team right before had failed miserably at—sweat naturally formed on Song Ji-won’s palms.

‘Please, you guys have to do well!’

The lighting that had brilliantly covered the entire stage suddenly concentrated toward the center.

Following the bass beat that cut off again with sharp precision, the trainees knelt down one by one.

A natural path was created as if bowing toward an emperor.

「I will definitely protect you」

White spotlights wrapped around Ryu Si-hwan’s figure like a flash of light.

Right at that moment.

Ryu Si-hwan, who had closed his eyes tightly, raised the high notes of the bridge part all too easily for everyone to see.

“Oh, ohhhh…!”

1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds.

The high note that the rival team right before couldn’t sustain for even 1 second was maintained for 3 seconds.

Just sustaining high notes for this long as a trainee rather than a professional idol was amazing enough.

Suddenly the pitch of the bass beat changed minutely.

Very subtly, but clearly enough to be heard.

Following the accompaniment that went up slightly in key, another sound soared from Ryu Si-hwan’s mouth all the way to the ceiling.

“Huh, huhhh?”

“What’s this?”

“Did, did he just raise the key even higher…?”

The 200 audience members gathered at the KNet filming location could only gawk with their mouths open.

That bridge part that was difficult even when sung in the original key.

That section where another trainee had just failed right before.

Ryu Si-hwan raised it one key higher and put the finishing touch with 2-tier high notes.

“……”

“……”

Song Ji-won and Kang Eun-young said nothing at all. No, they couldn’t.

They could only savor the catharsis that filled this filming location.

They got goosebumps.