The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 31

“Wh-what? A silver hairtail fish? Did you just call my new hair color a silver hairtail fish?”

“Yeah.”

“Without even thinking for a single second?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s too much!”

Kang Seon-woo, who heard my firm answer, twisted his body and rubbed his face.

With the lively movements added, he really looked like a living, breathing silver hairtail fish.

{Master, what’s a silver hairtail fish? Is it something to eat?}

‘That’s right, it’s something to eat.’

{Wow! Finally something edible appeared! Is it tasty? Where can we eat it?}

At Cerberus’s words, I briefly wondered if dogs could eat fish.

Well, this guy isn’t an ordinary doggy, so it should be fine if he eats it.

Just as I was thinking I should buy silver hairtail fish when we stop by the mart later, a better comparison came to mind.

“I misspoke. It’s not just a silver hairtail fish, but an energetic Jeju silver hairtail fish.”

“Th-then is it fortunate because it’s domestic?”

“Brother Seon-woo, you can’t call that fortunate! You’re acknowledging it!”

“But honestly, I think Brother Si-hwan is right.”

“Even Si-hyeok is saying that?”

Apparently trying for a dramatic image transformation, Kang Seon-woo had equipped silver hair after multiple rounds of bleaching and dyeing.

Since Kang Seon-woo said this was a shop frequently used by BK Entertainment celebrities when he was there, the quality was guaranteed. Perhaps because of that, thanks to the vibrant silver color, my assessment only became more solidified.

Still, I couldn’t just tease him endlessly.

I stepped back and examined Kang Seon-woo’s overall visual.

Since he had a decent build, it did suit him fairly well.

“It’s not bad. It matches your image pretty well.”

“I never thought such words would come from Ryu Si-hwan’s mouth.”

“Why, should I say more in the silver hairtail fish direction?”

“No sir! Thank you!”

Now what remained was Chae Ha-ru’s center-parted perm.

Since Chae Ha-ru’s basic face mask was already too overpowered, just a simple cut was already sufficient, but.

“Ha-ru, why on earth did you go around with your bangs down?”

“Because it was bothersome.”

“Wow, if I could live with a face like that, I’d spend every day just looking in the mirror.”

“Haha… You don’t need to build me up like that, Brother Seon-woo.”

“This isn’t building you up, it’s just stating facts, Ha-ru. If you get a perm on top of this, it’s just game set, game set.”

As if proving Kang Seon-woo’s fawning was valid, Chae Ha-ru’s visual after completing the center-parted perm… didn’t need any additional modifiers.

Rather, it was so overwhelming that Kang Seon-woo became dejected.

“I was the one who suggested we get styling done together, but I’m starting to regret it.”

“No, Brother Seon-woo. If you just get some natural light, your presence will be revealed more.”

“Right, since it’s come to this, I’ll become a human reflector following Ha-ru around!”

He’s always such a positive friend.

One consolation was that we weren’t the only ones admiring Chae Ha-ru.

The shop owner, who must have styled countless idols and celebrities in his lifetime, was also moved to tears and enthusiastically recorded it in photos.

“I don’t know much about other things, but this friend’s visuals are really something, really. Work hard and definitely debut! I’ll style you beautifully again later.”

“Thank you. I’ll work hard to definitely debut.”

Chae Ha-ru, who received the praise, had eyes filled with even more confidence.

His expressions were definitely becoming more varied than when I first met him.

Maybe it’s because he’s receiving a lot of positive influence from those around him.

‘…He has brightened up because of Kang Seon-woo.’

I kept observing Chae Ha-ru’s expression even as we left the shop.

Having him smile like this was much better than lifeless eyes.

“Good, then what would be an effective way to use this precious outside stay permit?”

“I, I have something I wanted to do!”

At Kang Seon-woo’s question, Yu Ha-woon raised his hand as if he’d been waiting.

Seeing the smile I could feel coming through his mask, he must have really desperately wanted this.

“I wanted to go to a coin karaoke room with friends—”

“I wanted to do that too.”

“Brother Si-hyeok too? That’s great! We’re totally in sync!”

“Yeah, that’s right. We’re in sync.”

Could the image of a large retriever and a small poodle wagging their tails at each other be drawn this well?

I chuckled at seeing these two guys’ codes match in strange places sometimes.

“We sang so many songs during 〈ISL 2〉, and you want to sing more?”

“During 〈ISL 2〉 recording, I was under such tremendous pressure that I couldn’t properly enjoy it! I want to sing exciting songs, but I always had to concentrate hard to avoid going off-key, had to watch other people’s reactions, had to make sure not to offend the judges— it was really too hard!”

Yu Ha-woon was practically spitting out rapid-fire rap.

I fully understood his words filled with emotions that had been suppressed.

‘Well, at 18, it’s an age when you want to play a lot. He was in such a stressful place, so he’d want to release that.’

Actually, I had vaguely forgotten about the existence of coin karaoke rooms.

I’d always practiced singing in hell in places without proper sound equipment.

I also missed Korean coin karaoke with its booming echo and, most importantly, the ability to freely change pitch and tempo.

“Alright, then let’s go to coin karaoke.”

“We’re going to Brother Si-hwan’s labor concert!”

“Ha-woon, how did you think the exact same thing as me? I know a lot of songs with ear-splitting high notes. Let’s reserve all of those and make Si-hwan do them.”

“I agree too.”

“I’ll handle the recording.”

Seeing Ma Si-hyeok already turning on his phone camera was absurd.

“Aren’t you guys going to sing?”

“Hey, what we have plenty of is time. You can sing about 20 songs first and then it won’t be too late for us to start.”

“Brother, I’ll be looking forward to it!”

“Which part of this conversation included my consent?”

These young brothers’ condition is serious.

They’ve all unconsciously absorbed Kang Seon-woo’s speech style.

I was already drained by Kang Seon-woo alone from the beginning, but now I have to deal with a fawning group that’s grown to four people.

I lamented my situation while being dragged to the coin karaoke room.

“Wow, the room is spacious!”

“We can even take off our shoes and go in. This is my first time at a place like this.”

“This place is nice, right? The seniors used to bring me here often during my early trainee days.”

“By any chance, those seniors you mentioned…”

When Ma Si-hyeok gave him a ‘don’t tell me’ look, Kang Seon-woo answered with an awkward smile.

“That’s right. Comet, who debuted a few years ago. They’ve been busy lately, so we can barely keep in touch.”

“As expected, BK…”

Recalling the information I saw during preliminary research, Comet was an idol group that debuted 5 years ago and rose to the ranks of Korea’s top boy groups.

BK Entertainment, which had been mainly creating girl groups, ambitiously launched them and achieved great success.

Their debut album’s initial sales exceeded a whopping 400,000 copies, showing how popular they were.

‘No matter how Kang Seon-woo might seem like a somewhat loose friend to my eyes, he’s still an experienced expert with tremendous experience.’

I can’t easily let go of this high-quality personnel who luckily got connected with me.

Especially considering the upcoming 2nd and 3rd rounds.

I closed my eyes and pondered deeply.

‘Right, let’s just think of it as building favorability.’

“Alright, go ahead and select some difficult songs.”

“I, I was just saying that, but are you really going to do it?”

“What are you doing, not reserving songs?”

“Okay. Si-hwan, you gave permission, right?”

Seeing Kang Seon-woo’s suddenly changed eyes, waves of regret rushed in at tremendous speed.

Just before I could snatch the controller, one song’s number was instantly reserved.

“…”

I groaned while listening to the ominous 90s techno-style intro.

I knew this would happen, that silver hairtail fish guy.

“Oh yeah, the beat is awesome!”

“W-wait a minute. Brother Seon-woo, is this right? Making Brother Si-hwan sing this—”

“Ah, I don’t know! He said it himself, to pick out difficult songs! I just did what Si-hwan requested.”

“Eek.”

It was understandable that a startled sound came from Chae Ha-ru’s mouth.

Because the song title displayed on the large screen was 〈Tears〉, the most famous among ultra-high-pitched songs.

Right, if it were just high, everyone wouldn’t be this surprised.

〈Tears〉 isn’t even a male song—it’s the representative song of So Chang-hee, who became famous as a first-generation female vocalist in Korea.

I suppressed my anger inwardly while listening to the ending intro.

Still, I have pride—I can’t ask them to cancel this song.

“Now we’re all done for~”

“Oh, it works, it works!”

“Brother Si-hwan, let’s go!”

Yu Ha-woon, who seemed to have been dreaming of this kind of scene, had a much more excited face than Kang Seon-woo, who had selected the song.

Chae Ha-ru was looking at me with interest with an expression of ‘this actually works,’ and Ma Si-hyeok was concentrating intensely and recording video with inspired skill.

Really… it’s 5 minutes before chaos.

“Only wounds!”

“Whoo!”

“Leaving behind!”

“Whoo!”

“You who left me~!”

The three who switched to audience mode enthusiastically added cheers during the highlight part where national group singing was possible.

This wasn’t what I trained my head voice for.

With increasingly high notes, I squeezed my eyes shut and firmly strengthened my core.

“Is this possible in the original key? Ryu Si-hwan is more incredible than I thought!”

When I flawlessly handled the chorus part, Kang Seon-woo grabbed the controller again with meaningful eyes.

I instinctively felt demonic eyes stabbing the back of my head.

What is he trying to do now?

“It’s no fun if it’s too easy, so let me raise it just a little, dear customer.”

“Hey, Kang Seon-woo—!”

I was careless—I should have snatched that controller earlier.

I frantically waved my hands, but 〈Tears〉 had already been raised by 2 levels.

I had no choice but to show a fist full of resentment and start the second verse.

‘That silver hairtail fish deserves to suffer eternal pain in hellfire.’

Now the chorus had become high enough to leave orbit.

I barely followed the pitch by switching my vocal technique from chest voice to falsetto.

“Brother Si-hwan’s vocal cords are really amazing. How must they be made to change vocal techniques so freely like that?”

“Shh. Ha-ru, I’m recording.”

“Ah, yes.”

Ma Si-hyeok silently gave me a thumbs up while recording my 〈Tears〉 labor concert to the end.

“Huff, huff…”

I was more out of breath than when playing dodgeball.

I touched my throat while looking at the music video’s final scene.

The metallic taste I felt inside must be my imagination.

“Brother! Brother! Is it okay to go straight to the next song?”

“What did you say…?”

“Sing this with me!”

Without giving me time to catch my breath, Yu Ha-woon radiated a bright smile and reserved the next song.

[TIME 〈RISING UP〉]

“I really loved this song in middle school! I could never sing the whole thing by myself, but today I think it’s possible!”

That song was definitely fast-tempo and addictive enough to be included in ‘Korea’s Top 50 Greatest Labor Songs.’

Moreover, seeing Yu Ha-woon preparing to even dance, I sighed so deeply the ground should cave in.

Finding my appearance amusing, Cerberus, who had been hiding, giggled while hitting my cheek with his tail.

{Master, cheer up!}

‘Thank you so much for cheering me on.’

{I’ll tell you when blood starts coming from your throat!}