The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 23

No matter how many methods they use to prevent spoilers, if it always worked, this wouldn’t be Korea.

From anonymous social platforms to VPNs that can bypass IP tracking.

The night before the broadcast of a massive survival program like 〈ISL 2〉 was practically like a festival atmosphere.

Fans who had won the extreme competition to be selected as audience members would naturally want to show off what they had seen in advance, even vaguely.

Even just dropping a few indirect spoilers would cause explosive reactions in the communities.

[HOT: Just let me tell you briefly + 1452]

Honestly, KNet’s capital power is scary so I can’t say everything

But one big hit definitely happened, seems like Us**n Bolt

How can they drop this here like this? Ah lol I can’t resist this!!

—Why do only you guys know this… Share the good stuff please

—Damn unfair, it’s not like anyone who didn’t want to go to the public recording didn’t go…

—You guys above should read the room, who would give sweet spoilers to people talking like that, advance team members please drop just a bit more hehe

└I hate the fact that I have to pant like a dog but can’t help it hehe

└Ah LOL everyone’s so cute alright. Let me release a bit more, the vocals were no joke, not only eye candy but eargasm was insane for real

└Is a main vocal rising in ISL? Really looking forward to it

└God, I’m all ready to receive an eardrum shower, please make time go faster

“Everyone’s excited…”

As I muttered to myself while lying by the bedside, faces immediately popped up from above and below.

“Brother, what were you looking at?”

“Let us watch together too!”

“Wait, guys. How can three people fit on this narrow bed—!”

“We can just squeeze in somehow!”

My resistance was futile.

Before I knew it, I was sandwiched between Yu Ha-woon and Chae Ha-ru pressing their faces in from both sides.

Due to the nature of survival programs, if you’re placed in the same team, you have to room together during that round.

So I’ve been constantly bothered by these young guys for the past week.

Now they’re clinging to me even more because they’re worried about being scattered to different rooms when the second round starts.

Cerberus, who knew this fact well, grumbled while looking at the guys charging in from both sides.

{Originally, I should be lying next to Master’s head.}

‘Sorry, you’ll have to understand while we’re at the dorms.’

“Oh, isn’t this IdolNet? Did audience reviews already get posted?”

“The confidentiality agreement is really useless.”

“Move, you guys. I can’t even see the text properly.”

With my arms bent at almost right angles, I struggled to scroll down.

As expected, the excited audience members seemed to be seriously spilling the tea due to the storm-like response.

[HOT: Roughly picked out the trainees whose coins are rising. Believe it or don’t + 5569]

Our fans will only believe what they want to believe anyway, so I’m just writing this for fun heh

First, I went to 〈ISL〉 audience yesterday. (Set photo)

This is extremely personal standards, but it’s from the perspective of a 10-year idol fan, so just take it as reference hehe

My 1st pick stage: Volt! Honestly, other people probably thought the same thing? Lol. This was beyond comparison. At the end, Ryu Si-hwan really exploded amazingly. I’ve never seen a trainee with such clear sound at the venue. Legendary for real

2nd pick is Evolution but this one seems to have some name recognition bonus?. Seong-hwi did well though hehe. He’s handsome too, but as a team it was somehow… something. Still, won’t they win easily? Those boarding the X2 train should board on their own haha.

Among the names that circulated among fans in advance, the ones that were kind of disappointing were…

—At this point I’m starting to get suspicious, aren’t all these verification posts Ryu Si-hwan’s paid promotion? LOL. Why is it all about Ryu Si-hwan at the end of every sentence

└For real for real. He seemed to sing well but why is it all just talk about him, I’m getting sus seriously

└Why are you already taking sides when episode 1 hasn’t even aired yet lmao. It’s not too late to complain after watching…

└This is why, everyone’s too hasty. Si-hwan might have done well

└This is why verification posts hesitate to post more ah lol

“Th-there are so many posts praising our stage!”

“Right. Everyone says 〈Volt〉 was the best…”

“That’s fortunate, but.”

I couldn’t hide my troubled feelings while looking at the comments.

‘The situation I was worried about came this quickly. Damn.’

The plan I had set before participating in 〈ISL 2〉 was to moderately show my skills in the beginning.

If an individual trainee who’s not a notable name or from a major agency stands out from the start, it would obviously be troublesome in many ways.

I expected such reactions to gradually emerge after episodes 1-2 aired, but thanks to the audience spoilers, my reputation started splitting before episode 1 even hit TV.

‘Some people can’t help but see it that way. Why would some nobody hit the hot topic line, beating out trainees already known in places like trainee galleries?’

The audience members are purely praising my high note performance, but to people who don’t know about the group battle round yet, it could be quite annoying.

When an unfamiliar name comes up instead of names they know, they’d naturally suspect nepotism.

“We have to gather in the auditorium by 10:30, right?”

“Yes!”

“Then we should go down now, grab some food and get ready. Let’s go.”

I tapped Yu Ha-woon and Chae Ha-ru’s foreheads while looking at the clock approaching 8 PM.

Even while heading down to the cafeteria, my head was full of thoughts about today’s episode 1 editing direction.

‘In this case, my impression in episodes 1-2 will be even more crucial.’

Please, I earnestly pray, KNet.

I hope I can avoid the devil’s editing.

* * *

“You can sit freely. But if you move from your assigned seat, you’re in big trouble! You might fall out of the camera angle. You understand, right?”

“Yes!”

“Let’s sit in front, in front!”

“Wow, I’m really super nervous.”

The 100 vigorous participants chattered excitedly while sitting in the leather chairs arranged in the auditorium.

While I was wondering where to sit.

“Hey, Si-hwan! Come here!”

“Br-Brother Si-hwan!”

I heard my name being called desperately from around the middle of the center row.

Standing up and waving both arms like an inflatable tube man was Kang Seon-woo, and Ma Si-hyeok was radiating the look of welcoming a savior.

Unable to ignore such an irresistible force, I brought Chae Ha-ru and Yu Ha-woon along and sat with the two of them.

If Cerberus, who was sleeping in the dorm room, had seen this, he would have been extremely angry.

“Still, we should watch this historic moment together! You’ll definitely be at the center of attention 100%.”

“Brother Si-hwan, I missed you so much.”

“Center of attention my ass, I just hope I don’t get completely edited out. Si-hyeok, why do you look like you’re about to cry?”

“Ah, him?”

Kang Seon-woo patted Ma Si-hyeok’s broad shoulders while letting out a short sigh.

“He’s been having a hard time for the past few days.”

“…Because of the team battle?”

At my question, Ma Si-hyeok just nodded slightly.

No matter how much he wanted to talk, there were too many watching eyes here.

Not just other trainees, but seeing all the cameras packed along the auditorium walls, it seemed best to refrain from trivial chatter as much as possible.

‘I’ll have to hear the details later.’

I didn’t ask Ma Si-hyeok any more questions beyond that.

Just like Kang Seon-woo had done, I lightly tapped his shoulder and said brightly.

“It’s okay, you did well in the team battle anyway. What’s past is past, so let’s be comfortable today.”

“Brother…”

Kang Seon-woo looked at Yu Ha-woon and Chae Ha-ru who came with me and casually greeted them.

“Come to think of it, these friends were on the same team as Si-hwan, right? I know Ha-woon, but what’s the friend next to him’s name?”

“I’m Chae Ha-ru. Nice to meet you.”

“Wow, this guy’s really handsome. I was honestly shocked. I definitely remember there wasn’t anyone who looked like that when I first saw him, but during the 〈Volt〉 stage there was this really handsome guy at center. You were Ha-ru! Nice to meet you, nice to meet you.”

No matter how I looked at it, Kang Seon-woo’s social skills were definitely maxed out.

Thanks to that, the two guys could also wait for episode 1 to air in a comfortable atmosphere.

“Recording starts in 1 minute!”

“Participants, we’ll do the countdown together from 10 seconds!”

True to a Korean audition program with infinite history and tradition, this also follows the manual.

Around episode 3, they always insert scenes of trainees watching episode 1 together to fill time.

They probably wanted to show unity by doing the countdown together.

Even though they must be worried about how much screen time they got, the participants diligently counted down.

“3, 2, 1!”

With the majestic melody of 〈HIT〉 playing as background music, 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉 officially began.

Since I thought monitoring the reaction to episode 1 was more important than anything, I cleverly avoided the surrounding cameras’ gazes while secretly checking the live chat.

If I angled it somewhat under the chair, my hands weren’t very visible.

Plus, Ma Si-hyeok’s broad shoulders sitting next to me served as excellent undercover.

Even without me intentionally being careful, Ma Si-hyeok alone was easily blocking three cameras. Thanks, friend.

—Ah please we don’t need the explanation part at the beginning

—Not buying not buying just show us our kids quickly T_T

—Honestly Sister Hyeon-ju is gorgeous, agree?

└Gorgeous is right but I want to see the level evaluation faster than Sister Hyeon-ju

Netizens who already knew all the rules through 〈ISL 1〉 wanted quick progress.

The participants wanted swift action just as much.

“I really can’t watch if they drag this out, I’m too nervous.”

“It feels like my heart is about to pop out of my mouth.”

Participants who started with relatively low grades and rankings watched the broadcast while unable to hide their anxiety.

They probably knew well too.

If they were judged to have marketability despite receiving low grades, the production team would have given them screen time.

If they were judged to have no fun, no emotion, and no skills, they would have been gloriously edited out and disappeared.

Such worries indeed became reality.

From my memory, a large portion of the early-numbered participants’ level test content had disappeared.

They probably concluded these were participants completely unnecessary for public opinion formation.

“Ha-ru, what was your participant number?”

“I was number 34.”

“That was really early. Then you’ll appear first among us.”

“Were you all late numbers?”

When all four of us nodded, Chae Ha-ru gulped.

Even his lifeless eyes showed a faint light of tension.

‘Ha-ru’s final grade was C. B at least hints at possibility, but C is a really ambiguous grade.’

If he had at least been completely embarrassed like D or F.

He might really just get glossed over if unlucky.

However.

[Hello, I’m Chae Ha-ru. I’ve been a trainee for 4 months…]

When the participant with impressively long bangs that almost completely covered his eyes appeared in the early-to-mid content, I was quite surprised.

‘As expected, the production team judged he could be useful for future storylines.’

The production team would also know that Chae Ha-ru had his bangs swept back and his visuals exploded.

Moreover, since he’s connected to me, who’s currently efficiently drawing attention, they decided to keep him alive.

“I really looked terrible with that hair. Why on earth didn’t I think to manage it?”

The person himself wanted to find a mouse hole after seeing his on-screen appearance.

My prediction was somewhat accurate.

Yu Ha-woon’s screen time, who would have connections with me from the practice process onward, also survived, and naturally Kang Seon-woo’s level evaluation as a BK trainee was fully inserted.

—Wow Seon-woo, A-grade and 1st place from the start T_T T_T T_T Really debut this time!

—Was he originally in a debut group at BK? Which group?

└There was a 5-member boy group that came out this first half, Magnus I think?

—His visuals are totally my type, I love those torn eyes

—He raps well and dances well, and he even arranged that himself right? But he still couldn’t debut, what kind of competition there is I wonder

—Seon-woo, sister will definitely make you walk on a flower path

The netizen reactions were also good, so I was somewhat relieved.

After all the trouble I went through filming unintentional bromance with that guy.

Episode 1 progressed in an instant like that.

“Si-hwan, you were number 77, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Will it get cut off, or will they show up to you and then end?”

Kang Seon-woo’s question was something I was curious about too.

In terms of impact alone, decorating the end of episode 1 would be best.

Rather than appearing ambiguously at the beginning of episode 2, playing a definitive finishing role would be easier for making an impression.

The question was which direction KNet chose.

[Participant number 77, please come forward.]

“Brother, you’re up!”

“Wow, then is Brother Si-hwan really the finale?”

While trying to ignore Yu Ha-woon and Ma Si-hyeok’s sparrow-like chattering, I fixed my gaze on the screen.

Hoping in my heart that it was edited in a good direction.

[Hello, I’m Ryu Si-hwan. Although it may be a lacking stage in many ways, I prepared hard, so I’d be grateful if you watch favorably.]

[I have something I’m curious about.]

Even Min Si-hyeon immediately asking me a question wasn’t edited out.

When everyone around me was looking at Min Si-hyeon holding the microphone with tension.

[Don’t your shoulders get too stiff these days? That’s why I absolutely apply this.]

—??? Excuse me boss? You’re suddenly dropping an ad here?

—This really crosses the line LOL

—Wow so that’s Ryu Si-hwan, I was watching thinking! I was!

—KNet is legendary for real… how do they cut it off like ghosts when a handsome guy appears

—I’m angry, I’m angry… What’s more infuriating is that even though I’m angry, I can’t change the channel…

“……”

Damn it.