The Idol Who Returned from Hell – Chapter 24

Author: Dawn

Cable TV production teams possess various techniques.

They have diverse skills like being wizards of editing and masters of cutting, and among them, what was inserted into my portion was precisely flow interruption through advertisements.

Just when viewers’ expectations were rising due to A-grade trainee appearances starting with Kang Seon-woo.

They showed just my face and name then smashed us with a 1-minute advertisement.

The comment section went absolutely wild.

‘Especially when some people are already wearing colored glasses toward me…’

Don’t they say first impressions are important for everything?

When Ryu Si-hwan and an advertisement popped out simultaneously at the timing when people were just getting into the fun, naturally they’d be annoyed.

Of course, people throwing tantrums know this is the production team’s handiwork, but still, since an advertisement appeared during my portion, I couldn’t avoid the arrows.

Still, if I think about it positively, the editing itself seems likely to be favorable.

If the 〈ISL 2〉 production team had originally thought of me as disposable, they wouldn’t have cut it off with an advertisement either.

“You must feel good, brother, even becoming an indirect advertisement model.”

“Are you calling this consolation, Ha-ru?”

“I thought it would be better to say something like this rather than staying quiet.”

Perhaps the broadcast was interesting, as a slight light returned to Chae Ha-ru’s lifeless eyes.

Or… maybe he learned something bad from someone around him.

“You caught it from Kang Seon-woo.”

“Brother Seon-woo’s way of speaking was funny.”

“You’ve only been together for an hour and it’s already rubbed off on you?”

Does that guy’s sociable personality also have strong contagiousness?

For such a smart kid to catch even these bad habits, my life ahead seems like it’ll become a bit more troubled.

Meanwhile, the last advertisement, a beverage commercial, finished too.

[I have something I’m curious about.]

The broadcast resumed from Min Si-hyeon’s question scene.

As if she was about to say something really important, all the judges’ gazes turned around.

Each face turning was even given close-ups, naturally raising the immersion level.

[Si-hwan, are you appearing without any agency affiliation?]

[Yes, I’m an independent trainee.]

[Even though you practiced alone without receiving professional training, you checked all items in ‘most confident areas’?]

The last line was emphasized again.

My awkwardly smiling appearance was slightly blurred, and immediately a pre-interview scene was inserted.

[Production team) You said you’re an independent trainee?]

[Ryu Si-hwan) Yes, I’ve never entered any agency.]

[Production team) For someone like that, you filled out your profile quite boldly. Are you certain you can do everything well?]

[Ryu Si-hwan) I should work hard to make it feel that way.]

They even thrust cameras behind the judges’ seats to show my application form.

As if proving that I really did mark confidence in all areas.

The scene of judges urgently whispering to each other while passing around each other’s applications was appropriately edited.

Seeing such appearances from judges who hadn’t shown particular emotions, viewers’ interest also rose together.

—What’s with this arrogance

—LOL If he talks cool like that and then fails, what happens

—But don’t people who know already know? This guy had a lot of singing parts during 〈HIT〉 and was in the center platform too

—Now we’ll be able to tell if it was just luck or not lol

—All the people who were hyping up Ryu Si-hwan until now are watching, right?

Comments were also burning actively.

People seeing me for the first time out of pure curiosity.

People who knew I had significant weight in 〈HIT〉 and recent audience spoilers out of anticipation.

People who didn’t look favorably upon me out of hopes I’d fail.

[Then shall we see your stage.]

The me on screen lightly touched my in-ear mic and nodded briefly to the nearby staff.

Then the familiar accompaniment of 〈Spotlights〉 played.

At the intro with its old-school sentiment, several hardcore K-pop fans immediately recognized the song and artist.

—Wait, this is coming out here? lmao

—Grandmas’ hearts are beating, beating

—It’s been so long since I heard FL4ME, wow this was essential in my student days mp3 playlist

—Spotlights is really a fucking legendary song T_T I never thought I’d hear this on ISL lol

└What’s FL4ME and what’s Spotlights, you old-timers

└What old song is this? Why don’t I know even after hearing the artist and song name

└Old-timers nothing… FL4ME is so famous

Just as the battle between generations who knew FL4ME and those who didn’t was heating up,

Ryu Si-hwan lightly opened his mouth and began to sing.

「I could tell from our first meeting, oh

The moment our eyes met, yeah

Your movements hidden in the lighting, your gestures

Everything drives me crazy」

Everyone seemed surprised by the stable live performance unfolding with choreography that hit the beat precisely.

The judges, who hadn’t expected to see such a stage from an independent trainee, all opened their eyes wide.

The participants watching the stage from their respective seats were also shocked, covering their mouths.

Various expressions flashed by through rapid cross-editing, while my voice was repeated about five or six times.

“Wow, brother was good from the beginning.”

“Brother Ha-ru, didn’t you know about Brother Si-hwan? I was totally clapping and making a fuss with the kids around me!”

Perhaps Yu Ha-woon’s reaction looked good, as he appeared right after the topic came up.

When I showed sharp footwork with a pivot movement, Yu Ha-woon, who screamed “Wow that’s insane!” displayed scene-stealer level presence.

Definitely appeared on camera as I intended.

A stage that truly gave the feeling of perfect fundamentals.

Unwavering pitch that could be called an essential condition for idol trainees, dancing with sharp angles, and even composed expression management.

Thanks to this, public opinion was instantly reversed.

—He’s really good though?

—LMAO. All the people who said he’d suck are silent now, right?

—Oi, oi, oi. As expected, I was believing the spoilers

—He lived hiding that face and that talent until now? Honestly this should be prosecuted…

—Good voice

With judges’ expressions appropriately mixed in between, it felt like they were highlighting me even more.

Even Lee Jin-hak, who has the highest authority, appeared nodding his head to the rhythm.

This was a scene I hadn’t seen since I was busy dancing.

Viewers were deeply moved by Lee Jin-hak’s rarely seen neck movement.

—It’s over, Brother Jin-hak is nodding his head

—Is this really the same person who sat like a stone statue all day lol

—I’m confused, but is this the famous person from that tearful meme?

└Yes that’s also from ISL lol

└Turns out he was a reaction genius lol

[…Thank you.]

Well done. Even though I’m not from a trainee background, I showed a sufficiently competitive stage.

However, it didn’t give that explosive feeling of being exceptionally outstanding that I had directed.

Perhaps that’s why scenes of judges sending applause with appropriately bright smiles were inserted in large numbers.

Only one or two made remarks to themselves like “Oh, he did much better than expected?” or “His fundamentals are solid.”

Through this editing I realized one thing.

‘Did the production team completely grasp my intention too?’

For the past two weeks, the 〈ISL 2〉 production team had closely observed my behavior.

There were several cameras filming every single movement.

Based on the collected data, they probably thought the best approach was to set the participant called Ryu Si-hwan as a character who ‘naturally rises as a top-tier trainee.’

That’s why they didn’t attach editing that created explosive catharsis to the early level test scenes.

‘Starting from episode 2, they’ll properly show main vocal capabilities, is that it?’

To figure out what I was thinking when I took the level test in such a short period.

These people aren’t called editing masters for nothing.

I smiled slightly to myself.

If it goes like this, there will definitely be some guaranteed screen time for me in future broadcasts too.

Also, the probability of devil’s editing affecting a participant given such image-making buildup would be relatively low.

Then the relationship dynamics with Seong-hwi that I was worried about could also pass as smoothly as possible.

[Usually people can’t avoid the phenomenon of their vocal power dropping because they focus on dancing, or they can’t properly vocalize because they’re too out of breath. But Ryu Si-hwan, you didn’t have any of that, so it was really good.]

[Thank you so much for your kind words.]

Lee Jin-hak’s evaluation, unable to hide his excitement, came first.

To convince viewers of my final level test ranking of 9th place, harsh evaluations would definitely have to be included too.

Sure enough, dance trainer Shin Jae-hoon’s thoughts immediately followed.

[Since I confirmed that your fundamentals are solid, my personal desire to see the stage a bit longer? I said this because I was so immersed in watching that it seemed to end quite quickly. And as you know, FL4ME’s songs are somewhat old songs, right? So I’m curious whether you can dance choreography suitable for current trends, and whether you can avoid showing that slightly old-fashioned feeling that unknowingly comes through in your movements on your next stage.]

It might feel unreasonable.

Superficially speaking, my stage had no mistakes and sufficiently proved I had the skills.

That’s why comments were divided again at that time.

—Hmm… somehow it seems right but also feels like nitpicking

—Hey, without our brothers there wouldn’t be the 2nd-3rd generation idols you guys like either

—Lol. But FL4ME being a really old group is true

—But just because the song is old doesn’t mean it makes sense to criticize Si-hwan’s skills. Is there anyone who did live more stably than him right now??

└I also felt like they were being nitpicky while watching this lol. No way, are they picking on him for being an independent trainee…

└That’s true. Kang Seon-woo honestly didn’t sing well either, he just did rap and arrangement amazingly

└That has higher value in today’s era, Si-hwan moms

└Hey I’m seeing this for the first time today, what do you mean moms, this is ridiculous

—Can’t you all just stop fighting please

Thanks to this, heated discussion continued until I received 4th place and sat down.

That’s what the comments were like, but I was sitting in my seat with a satisfied feeling.

Since I hadn’t expected to receive this level of push from the production team.

‘If I maintain this pace, it’ll be pretty good.’

I decided to plan even more thoroughly and meticulously.

Thus the episode 1 group viewing time with all 100 people ended.

“Everyone, we have to work hard filming again starting tomorrow, right?”