The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 41

The eventful 1st ranking announcement ceremony was finally completely finished.

From now on, whenever my dialogue appears on 〈ISL 2〉’s main broadcast, the elegant number 2 written in fancy font will follow along beside it.

I casually looked around at the trainees who had gathered again in the auditorium for the 2nd team battle.

Just last week, the auditorium had been completely packed, but now with only 60 people remaining, it looked a bit more spacious.

‘This really is a terrifying program.’

Like a villain from a superhero movie snapping their fingers once, after one episode ended, 40 people had vanished.

It was a moment when I could really feel the reality that the survival title wasn’t attached for nothing.

‘…Well, it getting less crowded should make Cerberus happy at least.’

Cerberus had a really hard time when many people gathered in one space because the mixed scents were overwhelming.

Still, 60 people was still quite a lot, so I left Cerberus in the dorm room as usual and came down.

MC Go Hyeon-ju, holding the microphone at the front of the auditorium, opened the 2nd team battle with a bright voice.

“Did you all rest well during yesterday’s day off?”

“Yes!”

“Starting today, the 2nd round begins right away, so I told you I hoped you got sufficient rest. Fortunately, everyone looks energetic, which is nice to see. Now, let me immediately introduce the format and theme of the 2nd team battle.”

When MC Go Hyeon-ju gestured, the curtain that had been hanging behind the platform rose upward.

The trainees were startled when a massive wall of enormous size hidden behind the curtain appeared.

This really is a broadcast with so much capital that they can instantly create even these giant structures.

Eight large stickers attached to the wall surface and the numbers written beneath them caught my eye.

‘Obviously the songs for this round are behind those. 8 songs just like the 1st battle round. And below are the number of members for each song.’

“I’ll reveal the theme of 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉’s 2nd team battle first. It’s [Fan’s Favorite]. Over the past 3 days, you’ll be competing with songs directly recommended by fans through the official website bulletin board.”

So they selected 8 songs from among the ones fans directly recommended.

When these kinds of viewer participation bulletin boards open, chaos descending is practically a given fact.

Comments multiply like they’re self-replicating in the blink of an eye.

I think at least 10,000 songs or more must have been recommended.

Since that means the production team arbitrarily selected 8 songs from among them, it becomes even more impossible to predict.

“Before revealing the identity of these 8 songs first.”

Seeing MC Go Hyeon-ju’s ominous smile made me feel uneasy about something.

“We need to select teams first.”

“……”

I quietly let out a groan.

During the 1st battle round too, song selection took place after team members had gathered.

But back then, the placards with songs written on them were revealed in advance, so I could draw a picture beforehand before running the race.

Right now, all the songs are completely hidden.

There’s no big difference, but somehow it feels subtly strange.

‘Last time, all the songs felt similar. But this time, I don’t know what songs the fans recommended, and I don’t know what criteria the production team used to select the battle songs either.’

I guess I have no choice but to leave it up to luck.

“This time, team selection and song choice happen simultaneously. You just need to choose a number among the 8 song numbers that appeals to you and go behind that wall. You won’t know which trainees will come, and you won’t know which song you selected either. Everything will be decided in a completely blind state. If there’s ever a moment to pray to the goddess of luck, now is probably the most opportune time.”

……It really is a situation where I have to entrust everything to pure luck.

At least if I knew what songs there were, it would be easy to use my brain.

This literally leaves me no choice but to empty my mind.

“The numbers written below each song indicate the number of members for that song. If participants who departed earlier fill up a specific song completely, later participants won’t have the opportunity to choose that song. And the departure order is determined according to the rankings from the 1st ranking announcement ceremony.”

As expected, if everything were decided by luck alone, there’d be no point in ranking.

At times like this, I’m fortunate to be in the top tier.

“Then we’ll start with Seong-hwi, who took 1st place in the 1st ranking announcement ceremony. Oh, and.”

A staff member running over quickly handed MC Go Hyeon-ju a cue card.

After reading through the content once, Go Hyeon-ju looked at Seong-hwi and smiled.

“Seong-hwi, you received a sponsor item, didn’t you? It’s a ‘Team Member Designation Right’ that can be used during any team battle. In short, you can designate any team member you want and bring them to the same team. Will you use it this round?”

“Ahaha, what should I do. Hmm……”

Seong-hwi glanced around once.

Naturally, his gaze met mine.

I instinctively got a bad feeling. No way.

“Yes, well, there’s no point in saving it. I’ll use it.”

“Which participant will you designate?”

“I’ll go with participant Ryu Si-hwan.”

When my name was called, the atmosphere in the auditorium became extremely agitated.

That’s only natural.

1st and 2nd place had instantly become one team.

I slowly walked up to the platform and stood next to Seong-hwi.

“Brother Si-hwan, it finally came to this?”

“Yeah, I’m not sure what you were thinking when you picked me though.”

“Hahaha! Wasn’t it obvious? I thought you’d know right away.”

When we arrived behind the wall where other people’s gazes couldn’t reach, Seong-hwi openly burst into laughter.

“I said it from the beginning, didn’t I? That it would be interesting.”

“You did say that.”

“That’s all there is to it, I really picked you because it seemed like it would be interesting.”

I was wrong for trying to read Seong-hwi’s thoughts.

During the past few episodes, I had forgotten due to KNet’s editing.

The fact that this guy is crazy.

If Cerberus had been next to me at a time like this, I would have asked him to smell carefully.

“But I don’t usually joke around much.”

Well, if he knew how to joke around, he wouldn’t have verbally demolished his teammates during the group battle round.

“I was seriously wanting to be on the same team as Brother Si-hwan once.”

“……Because it would be interesting?”

“That’s obvious, and there’s another reason too.”

Seong-hwi’s thin, long eyes curved into a half-moon shape.

“I’ll tell you gradually when the opportunity arises later.”

“I wasn’t particularly curious though.”

“Aw, why are you like that. But aren’t you really excited? We were already the two most popular, and now we’re on the same team. How much will people love this.”

“That also means there will be more people watching us closely, so I can’t let my guard down completely.”

“You’re so cold-headed.”

The next person, Kang Seon-woo, chose the song next to ours.

I had secretly hoped to be on the same team as Kang Seon-woo.

In the current situation where I don’t know what songs might suddenly pop up, a team member with excellent composition skills would be like a cheat.

If something other than a male idol song came up, arrangement would be essential.

‘No matter how much I trained in hell and developed my musical sense, if the other kids take weird lines, it becomes difficult.’

Still, since Seong-hwi is also from X2, a major agency, I consoled myself thinking he might have some composition experience.

“Ah, so this is where you are.”

Chae Ha-ru also chose a different song from mine.

He even ended up separated from Kang Seon-woo, so he had a somewhat anxious expression.

I thought the kids I was close with might all scatter, but.

“Brother Si-hwan!”

Seeing Ma Si-hyeok spreading both arms wide and running quickly toward me made me smile naturally.

“Come slowly, man.”

“I’m so relieved, really so relieved. Ah……”

Ma Si-hyeok was expressing his joy to the fullest when he saw Seong-hwi standing in front of me and went cold.

Seong-hwi waved his hand lightly as if he found even that cute.

“We meet again.”

“Yes……”

“Let’s do well this time.”

“Yes.”

I wondered what kind of conversation this was supposed to be.

The team selection by trainees entering in ranking order ended relatively quickly.

Yu Ha-woon was sending pitiful looks toward me from a team far away.

Looking at the team members, I became a little worried about that small guy.

‘Park Chang-jung, plus several people from the 10th team from the last battle round.’

At a glance, it was a combination desperately in need of a helping hand, but there was nothing I could do about it.

I could only hope that the experience points Yu Ha-woon had newly acquired would do their job.

“Now, it’s time to reveal the songs.”

Go Hyeon-ju continued the proceedings while looking at us seated by teams.

“Let’s start by removing the sticker for the first song.”

The first team’s song, which had two high-ranking trainees, was 〈UP―TEMPO〉.

When the famous male idol song appeared, the 1st team members clenched their fists as if they were saved.

“This was one of the songs that received the most comments from fans. It’s the representative song of Trace, who celebrated their 15th anniversary this year. We look forward to the 〈UP―TEMPO〉 stage.”

If it’s this kind of song selection, it’s just moderately safe.

No matter how much this is KNet, they probably selected songs that trainees could handle as much as possible.

The other two teams’ songs were similar in context, so I was relaxing when.

“I’ll reveal Team 5’s song.”

The moment the sticker was removed, I instinctively felt my eyes widen to twice their size.

Even Seong-hwi had quite a surprised expression.

“This song ended up appearing here. It’s a legendary girl group from South Korea. It’s not an exaggeration to say they led the K-pop craze. Fournine’s debut song, 〈Back in the Time〉!” (+) ^[1] TLN: The group’s name (포나인) will be subject to change since the author didn’t put the English word for it this time like the other groups. It could be Fournine, or it could also be Ponaine/Fonine/Ponine. You get the point.

My head was already getting heavy.

Why do you only give me these trials?

* * *

“……”

“……”

“Should we watch the choreography video first?”

“Yes.”

In the solemn atmosphere where all six members had become serious, I played the choreography video with the mindset of trying something.

Fortunately, at least Ma Si-hyeok responded, so I was grateful.

Fournine. A girl group that everyone knows when they hear the name.

A legendary idol who grew up hearing “this will be a big group” from their debut and actually became K-pop’s vanguard.

〈Back in the Time〉 is also a famous song. It was one of the few female idol songs among the materials I looked up while preparing for 〈ISL 2〉.

But I had looked it up only to study Korea’s entertainment industry in this reincarnated world.

I hadn’t looked at it with the mindset of actually singing it on a program.

After watching the entire choreography video, the team members’ expressions became even more gloomy.

‘The problem is clearly visible.’

It’s too girlish.

The dance lines are delicate and the song’s style itself is pure, which doesn’t suit male idols.

The choreography alone might be okay, but at this rate, we’d have to rearrange the entire song.

Ma Si-hyeok, who had been carefully studying the tablet screen, muttered quietly to himself.

“The choreography could be utilized to some degree if we just modify it……”

“You also think it would be possible if we just arrange it?”

“Ah, ah?! Ah, yes, Brother. The dance itself is as complex as any decent male idol group choreography, so I don’t think we need to think too complicatedly. The choreography can be modified to suit us while maintaining the key points. If we just change the melody somehow……”

After confirming Ma Si-hyeok’s opinion, I looked around at the other participants.

I hoped there might be someone with at least some sense for composition.

“First, it looks like arrangement is inevitable to me. Anyone with opinions on what direction we should arrange it in, feel free to speak up.”

“Ah, before talking about arrangement.”

Before I could finish speaking, Seong-hwi quickly raised his hand.

Everyone’s attention focused on him.

Seong-hwi lifted the corners of his mouth slightly while fiddling with the paper and stickers on the floor.

“I’d like to decide positions first. That way, when arrangement progresses later, we can quickly decide who will sing which parts.”

That was also correct, so I didn’t want to nitpick.

When I nodded, Seong-hwi picked up the crown-shaped sticker and said in the most refreshing way possible.

“I’ll speak honestly. I want to be the center.”

A moment of silence flowed at the sudden declaration.

However, Seong-hwi didn’t care and finished stating his remaining opinion.

“And this is my personal opinion, but I think Brother Si-hwan here should take main vocal and leader. Anyone with objections?”

With eyes that said ‘try objecting once,’ Seong-hwi looked at everyone.

I was already getting a headache internally and sighed inwardly.

The road ahead is pitch black.

• 1. TLN: The group’s name (포나인) will be subject to change since the author didn’t put the English word for it this time like the other groups. It could be Fournine, or it could also be Ponaine/Fonine/Ponine. You get the point.