The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 39

[Before we proceed with the full-scale ranking announcement, I’ll first inform you about what benefits await the winners of the 1st round Group Battle matches.]

Go Hyeon-ju, who appeared on the same set used for the opening, walked toward the camera showing off her neat suit fit.

As befitting a popular trending actress, reactions spread throughout the community that she looked fantastic no matter what clothes she wore.

Even Song Ji-won had to acknowledge that.

[In the previous season, teams that won this Group Battle round received a total of 5,000 benefit votes distributed equally to all members.]

At Go Hyeon-ju’s meaningful tone, people trembled with anxiety.

—Why are you speaking so anxiously, Hyeon-ju?

—Don’t tell me the benefits are being reduced?? Then what’s the point of winning

└It probably won’t be reduced. Isn’t she trying to emphasize that the benefits are increasing instead?

—The kids must have been really sweating bullets

—If it’s more than 5,000 votes, the rankings will change completely, shit, please let the team with my idol win

[〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉, the team that wins the Group Battle round will receive not just 5,000 benefit votes, but a whopping 20,000 benefit votes.]

“2, 20,000 votes?”

Song Ji-won spoke loudly without realizing it.

Considering that each person could only vote once per day for Ha-ru, this victory benefit was truly extraordinary.

Even participants stuck in the lower ranks could write a dramatic comeback story with just one victory.

But Go Hyeon-ju MC’s words weren’t finished there.

[20,000 benefit votes. Just hearing about it sounds really incredible, doesn’t it? If all of this enormous figure went to the winning team members, the meaning of All-Star voting would significantly decline. So this time, these benefits won’t be distributed equally to everyone, but will be distributed differentially according to internal rankings.]

Distributed differentially according to rankings?

As soon as Song Ji-won heard those words, a memory suddenly came to mind.

She remembered being asked to vote twice when she went as an audience member.

One vote for the team she thought performed better.

And another vote for the individual she thought performed best within the team she voted for.

[That’s right. A total of 20,000 benefit votes go to the team that wins the battle. The 20,000 benefit votes are divided according to individual rankings. The 1st place participant receives a total of 10,000 votes. 2nd place receives 5,000 votes. 3rd place receives 2,500 votes. 4th place receives 1,000 votes. 5th place receives 800 votes. 6th place receives 400 votes. And 7th place receives 300 votes.]

The national managers went crazy.

—Shit, wait, aren’t there any fans who went to the live show?? Come out quickly, tell us who you voted for

—If you get last place in individual votes, you only get 300 votes even if you win? That’s like nothing…

—Basically you have to get in the top 2 to earn a meaningful number of votes

—This is like putting individual competition inside team competition T_T My bias’s team winning doesn’t mean I can just be happy anymore

—Please let our kid get 1st place, please let our kid get 1st place…

—I even brought water to pray right now

[Just winning the battle isn’t everything in this 〈Idol Stove League〉. What results will the participants face?]

—Why are you asking us that, goddess?

—Ah, let me calm my heart a little T_T I don’t think I can watch this right away

—I’m not even a participant but I’m all nervous, the kids should definitely pack some Cheongsimhwan (TLN: Basically a pill to treat various symptoms such as numb limbs)

[Before moving to the ranking announcement ceremony, we should check this too. The content provided to national managers two weeks ago, the PR videos. Let’s see right now what process the participants went through to create their PR videos.]

The screen showing Go Hyeon-ju MC immediately generated the subtitle [Day of PR Video Filming].

[What’s all this?]

[There are so many balls.]

[Court patterns are drawn on them!]

100 participants gathered in the auditorium and looked at the three balls placed before their eyes.

Song Ji-won also stared intently at the TV screen.

“Oh, this looks like dodgeball—.”

[As you all probably noticed, today we’re going to compete in dodgeball. A super-sized 50 vs 50 dodgeball match with all 100 participants. First, we need to choose teams.]

As netizens predicted, an enormous scale dodgeball match began.

Song Ji-won, examining both teams with hawk eyes, quickly took notes on her phone.

“Si-hwan is on the blue team. Ha-woon and Si-hyeok from Life B-cuts joined the same team.”

The connection that started from episode 1 seemed to continue.

Since there was already strong public opinion online supporting the Life B-cuts combination, Song Ji-won was really pleased that Ryu Si-hwan was solidifying relationships this way.

[The winning team will receive the benefit of choosing their own PR video theme. Conversely, the losing team must go with whatever theme is drawn from this lottery machine.]

[Whoa.]

[Isn’t this too harsh!]

[I still haven’t gotten over the nightmare of the team lottery last time.]

The sight of trainees sighing was pitiful.

‘No, last year they at least let you choose PR video themes freely. Why is this season so harsh?’

At this point, she was curious whether Ryu Si-hwan had overcome his natural luck with the lottery machine or won at dodgeball.

Just then, the camera captured Ryu Si-hwan placing his hands on Yu Ha-woon and Ma Si-hyeok’s shoulders.

[Guys, warm up. Let’s definitely win.]

His suddenly changed eyes and intense words combined with majestic BGM to create an unnecessarily cool scene.

With Kang Seon-woo trembling on the other side of the court, it felt somehow serious but comical.

[Then… let’s begin!]

The ball scramble was fierce from the start.

As if by fate’s prank, Ryu Si-hwan and Seong-hwi met immediately in the first clash.

[The history between these two started from the Battle round song selection…]

A rewind effect briefly appeared on screen.

The running competition scene for song selection during the Group Battle round was recalled.

[This was what I wanted to do.]

[Too bad.]

Seong-hwi, who had lost to Ryu Si-hwan in running too, rushed forward with eyes determined to win this time.

But due to Ryu Si-hwan’s quick footwork, he lost the first attack opportunity.

—Si-hwan really is fast at running lol

—Completely human bullet level

—If he goes to idol Olympics, he’d just win the 50m dash, Si-hwan, so debut quickly

Two participants suddenly appeared next to the triumphantly returning Ryu Si-hwan.

[Production Team) You were cheering especially enthusiastically for participant Ryu Si-hwan?]

[Yu Ha-woon) I’ll declare in advance! If Brother Si-hwan’s fan club is created, I’ll definitely be the 1st president. Brother really went swoosh~ and flew forward to get the ball, it was seriously amazing!]

[Ma Si-hyeok) I’m a bit slow, but Brother Si-hwan is really fast. He was good at running before, so I thought he’d be good at dodgeball too.]

[Yu Ha-woon) That’s why! Brother Si-hyeok and I risked our lives!]

[Ma Si-hyeok) We tried hard to protect Brother Si-hwan.]

Yu Ha-woon and Ma Si-hyeok were turning their heads busily like bodyguards from historical dramas.

Their overly passionate efforts to protect Ryu Si-hwan looked so trivial yet cute that Song Ji-won burst into laughter without realizing it.

The national managers reacting in live chat felt the same way.

—No, kids LOL. You guys should be the ones getting protected by that Brother, not protecting him, isn’t it?

—Look at the height difference between Ha-woon and Si-hyeok T_T This is that heart-fluttering height difference I’ve only heard about, right doctor?

└LOL I wasn’t conscious of it but after seeing your comment, now I only see the height difference between Si-hyeok and Ha-woon T_T

—Everyone’s passionate but somehow looks sloppy lmao

—I can already see them getting out immediately lol

Ryu Si-hwan had a dumbfounded expression for a moment, but eventually gripped the ball tightly and searched for prey.

At his unexpectedly fierce eyes, viewers had no choice but to let out ecstatic cheers.

[Ryu Si-hwan) Haha… I didn’t intend it, but I think those eyes came out because I was determined to win this game. Since they said it’s okay to get multiple people at once, I tried to aim for places where people were clustered together as much as possible.]

As if proving what he said in this individual interview, Ryu Si-hwan literally fired cannonballs.

[Bang!]

[Boom!]

[Is this right? Are these sounds supposed to come from a ball!]

[Red team helplessly getting double outs!]

[Participant Ryu Si-hwan’s overwhelming skill, will this lead to blue team’s victory?]

Curveballs dropping from top to bottom and fastballs flying in without time to raise your hands.

Even though he didn’t seem to put much effort into it, the dodgeball leaving Ryu Si-hwan’s fingertips displayed tremendous destructive power.

The chat room was swept up in a frenzy of excitement.

—What’s with those shoulders? Killing three at once and then making that pretty smile? Why do you keep looking at me with those eyes?

└He’s looking at that person, not you…

└Both of you stop fantasizing

—What kind of dodgeball makes boom boom sounds LOL. Si-hwan, they said hitting people with balls is bad, so hit my heart more instead

—Are people here seriously going crazy with their fangirling lol

—Stop the violence!

The highlight came at the end of the game.

Despite Ryu Si-hwan’s monster strength, the red team, united under Seong-hwi’s leadership, pushed the blue team into a numerical disadvantage.

In this situation that ultimately led to another rival match, Ryu Si-hwan shouted to his teammates in the outer court.

[Throw it high, high!]

Following his instructions, the blue team threw the ball high into the sky.

Kicking off the ground with one foot, Ryu Si-hwan caught the ball at the perfect timing.

Then he used the falling momentum to slam it downward.

[Ugh—!]

[Red team Seong-hwi out!]

[Wow!]

[Ryu Si-hwan is seriously so cool!]

[We can win!]

“…This is basically a sports anime.”

Ryu Si-hwan’s crazy performance naturally drew incredulous laughter from the national managers.

Song Ji-won was also unconsciously smacking her forehead.

Just being good at sports already looks cool.

But if you’re also tall and handsome, isn’t that cheating?

Ryu Si-hwan, who had rolled up his sleeves to his shoulders, exhaled while sweeping his bangs back.

At the director’s brilliant moment capture, netizens once again abandoned themselves to madness.

—Did anyone not see that scene just now? It’s seriously legendary, for real

—Please tell me there’s a talented fan who makes good gifs? Please tell me someone saved that moment when Si-hwan swept his bangs back T_T

—At least tell me someone captured it, I’m begging like this

—Shit… Si-hwan, are you going to keep doing this? I’m seriously about to fill up a whole trash can with tissues from nosebleeds

—Is this heaven, teacher? I never did any good deeds, so why am I in heaven?

“I should have captured that too!”

Why didn’t she think of that?

In Song Ji-won’s retina, the image of Ryu Si-hwan showing off his angry biceps while sweeping his bangs back still remained vividly.

While desperately refreshing community posts waiting for an angel to create gifs.

[Gif for Si-hwan fans has arrived ^_^ (P.S. Episode 5 moments will also be uploaded to my NeoTube channel, so please subscribe and like)]

A savior really appeared and satisfied many national managers’ wishes.

‘Thank you, thank you!’

Song Ji-won immediately saved the gif preciously to her gallery and watched the PR video filming with wide eyes.

Since she wasn’t interested in what other participants picked.

She just held her breath watching only the scene where Ryu Si-hwan held an acoustic guitar and sang an acoustic version of 〈HIT〉.

[Everyone. Have you been resting well?]

The cheerful atmosphere instantly turned cold.

Go Hyeon-ju MC, who appeared amid the participants’ applause, wore an unusually cold expression.

The time for the long-awaited ranking announcement ceremony had arrived.

But true to their mastery of suspense, the KNet production team inserted a commercial break at the perfect moment.

“Ah!”

Song Ji-won, who had been holding tension, could only let out a short sigh.

For 60 seconds, water purifier and massage chair commercials played.

Then suddenly a preview of the ranking announcement ceremony labeled [UPCOMING] appeared.

[The participants surviving the first ranking announcement ceremony are… a total of 60 people.]

[I didn’t expect it to turn out like this.]

[I did my best. That’s enough… is what I was thinking.]

[I’m getting greedy. For that platform.]

[I want to go to higher places.]

[It can’t end here.]

[The 1st ranking announcement ceremony, the two participants who are 1st place candidates are.]

The trainee whose face appeared very briefly after Go Hyeon-ju’s final comment was none other than the two protagonists of the controversy.

Seong-hwi and Ryu Si-hwan.

The preview passed so quickly that Song Ji-won didn’t know how to react.

She just input only the final scene into her mind while imagining one happy scenario.

‘Could it be… Si-hwan is getting 1st place?’