The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 49

First, I dried my wet hair and turned on the TV.

By then, the five of them had already comfortably sprawled out on the floor or bed.

“The chicken smell is seriously killer…..”

“Ha-ru, Si-hwan said he’s not eating chicken legs this time either. You eat them.”

“Ah, really? Thank you!”

“Since when were you my spokesperson, Kang Seon-woo.”

“Hahaha! Probably starting from now?”

I shook my head at Kang Seon-woo who was laughing cheekily.

I couldn’t throw insults at that brightly smiling face.

“But did you really have to pick the lock to get in? If you’d just told me, I would have opened it for you.”

“Ah, but then it wouldn’t be fun, would it? According to Hwi, you guys said it was okay for me and the kids to come, but you didn’t tell Si-hwan about it, right? Then we absolutely had to surprise you.”

“So Brother Seon-woo asked Brother Si-hyeok for the dorm keys but got rejected!”

Yu Ha-woon, who seemed to be in a really good mood today for some reason, said while opening a cola.

Ma Si-hyeok, sitting next to me, nodded with a resolute expression.

“I did my absolute best.”

“Haha, so that’s why you called me more earnestly, right Brother Seon-woo? Since I also have keys to this room.”

“Of course, of course!”

“What if there had been other people here—.”

“Ah, Brother Si-hwan. I sleep here too, don’t I? Besides you and Si-hyeok, everyone else obviously used their overnight passes to go home.”

……They’re all spies.

Since they’d already invaded anyway, there was no way to send them back, so I might as well just eat chicken too.

When I picked up a delicious-looking piece of chicken breast, Cerberus, who had said he’d stay quiet, came crawling over as if possessed.

{Master, it smells so delicious……!}

‘If I suddenly throw chicken into thin air right now, I’ll be branded as a weirdo.’

{Still…… Ah!}

While Cerberus was being unsuccessfully cute, Chae Ha-ru suddenly moved.

“Brother Seon-woo, that wing over there!”

{Hey, just eat quietly instead of moving around!}

Cerberus hurriedly pulled back his fluffy Yorkshire terrier butt fur, but a few strands barely grazed Chae Ha-ru’s fingertips.

Of course, the other humans besides me couldn’t see Cerberus at all.

“Hm? I just felt something fluffy.”

Chae Ha-ru looked at his hand with a strange expression.

“What’s wrong, Brother? Is there something on your hand?”

“No, nothing’s on it. Did someone’s hair fall here? It felt like touching really long hair.”

“Gasp! Don’t tell me it’s a ghost?”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

Yu Ha-woon deliberately put on a terrified expression to tease Chae Ha-ru, but the very rational Chae Ha-ru shook his head and cut him off sharply.

Then he switched back to eating mode and cleared 2 wings in an instant.

{Phew, that was close.}

‘Be careful, you fool.’

{I was being careful enough, Master! Ugh, I’ll just go sleep more.}

By the time Cerberus returned to my bed, Chae Ha-ru was building up a pile of chicken bones in front of him.

“Eat slowly, Ha-ru.”

“I wath hangry arr dei hohai!”

“You didn’t even eat lunch?”

“Ope!”

Chae Ha-ru, whose mouth was stuffed full, swallowed with cola and grinned.

His usually lifeless eyes sparkled when he was eating.

“I promised to keep practicing with Ha-woon even on our day off. I learned some dancing methods thanks to you, Brother, but I’m still not there with vocals.”

“Brother Ha-ru teaches me dancing and I teach him singing!”

The method I taught Chae Ha-ru was suited for geniuses with outstanding memory.

Whether Chae Ha-ru, who improved his skills based on that method, could teach it well…… I wasn’t sure.

Still, seeing the two of them getting along and helping each other was endearing.

“Oh, it’s starting now!”

“I always get excited but scared when I hear the 〈HIT〉 BGM.”

Looking at the screen warning that those under 15 shouldn’t watch, I quietly turned on my phone.

I always needed to check real-time reactions.

Then Seong-hwi on the opposite side also leisurely pulled out his phone.

“Do you check all the reactions too, Brother Si-hwan?”

“Monitoring is important.”

“Haha, as expected, you’re really mentally strong.”

“……Are you okay?”

I hesitated whether to ask the question, then just said it.

I’m someone who lived through worse things in hell, so I’m fine.

No matter how strong Seong-hwi’s personality was, there had to be limits to taking Korean netizens’ lethal malicious comments head-on.

“No big problems. I’ve experienced everything there is to experience. Honestly, I haven’t seen any comments stronger than what the team leader used to say to me.”

Just how much did they gnaw away at this kid’s mentality for him to say something like that.

When I checked the real-time live talk, it was still full of stories about me and Seong-hwi’s pair.

I don’t need to see more of that topic, so let me turn off my phone for now.

Anyway, once the main broadcast starts and other episodes come out, it’ll naturally shift to that.

〈ISL 2〉 episode 7 seemed determined to hit hard from the first team.

Yu Ha-woon’s team appeared right away.

As the faces of participants who chose the same number as Yu Ha-woon appeared one by one, netizens instantly changed topics just as I expected.

—Wait, isn’t that the bastard who was on the same team as Hwi in the 1st round?? He’s still here without getting eliminated?

└That one barely survived with winning team benefits

└Wow shit, I’m really pissed that kids like that don’t get eliminated and make it to the 2nd team battle LMAO

—Even Park Chang-jung is on the same team? I think I’m getting Volt team PTSD…

—Ha-woon T_T T_T our baby has such bad luck

└Damn it…… here there’s no Hwan-father to clean up Park Chang-jung either…….

└Yu Ha-woon is really so cute that I wanted to cheer for him, but what do I do, I can clearly see the hard times ahead

“Ah, our team is first.”

The person involved spoke more calmly than expected.

Was he really holding his mind together tightly, or was he just less concerned because the chicken he was eating was delicious?

I was also a bit anxious inside.

Contextually, it could create a similar situation to Seong-hwi’s 1st team battle.

I wondered what kind of editing would greet people.

[Honestly, I didn’t want to do it. The part wasn’t what I wanted either. I’ve never even heard this song before.]

The moment I saw the individual interview inserted after the first conflict scene, I got the feeling.

‘They’re planning to blow away all the kids with bad public opinion and ambiguous positions at once.’

Even when Yu Ha-woon, the youngest on the team, took on the leader position with determination, they focused on showing lukewarm reactions.

When they finally saw the ‘Fan’s Favorite’ song selection that had been hidden, they showed disappointed expressions up close.

They even blatantly revealed controversial statements from individual interviews.

—I really want to beat him up

—No, obviously you don’t know what song will come out, so you should start with a fresh mind and work hard, right?? Is my head the weird one??

—Trash like that also gets on TV and the world goes on

—Lol. You act like no one forced you to appear on an idol program~ If you’re going to think like that, why did you even come out, seriously?

—I lost my mind thinking about that kid hard-throwing among desperate kids

‘But…… it really was seriously bad.’

If they just thought these things privately and didn’t express them outwardly, it would be fine.

Yu Ha-woon’s teammates’ behavior was cancer-inducing level.

[I don’t think I can do this part.]

[Can someone switch with me?]

[……I don’t think anyone can.]

[Ugh…… No, I’d normally do it but this really won’t work, you know?]

Scenes of them passing difficult parts to each other.

[My head hurts. I’m going to rest.]

[No, wait, Brother! Brother! If you leave during practice like that—.]

[I don’t know, figure it out yourselves.]

Eventually someone even ran away during practice, making the national managers grab their necks.

“I really would have had it out with them if I’d been there.”

“Brother Seon-woo would probably be too soft-hearted to actually yell.”

“Hey, Ha-ru, once I really get mad, I’m scary!”

“You weren’t scary at all, Brother.”

Kang Seon-woo’s nonsense in between seemed to offset episode 7’s tense atmosphere.

[Did you guys really practice this properly?]

[What am I supposed to evaluate here? You should have at least gotten your timing together before coming here!]

Shin Jae-hoon’s voice roaring like a tiger during the interim evaluation snapped me to attention.

The choreography was a complete mess.

The vocals were hopeless, and he was properly pissed off at the situation.

‘I’d forgotten since he always treated me coolly. Just how much of a sharp-tongued person he originally was.’

[Do you think this is a joke? Did you think you could just muddle through and we wouldn’t notice you haven’t practiced?]

[……No.]

[What do you mean no? If you’d seriously practiced for even 1 hour, you would have danced 100 times better than this. I’m speechless, really.]

The national managers were feeling vicarious satisfaction from Shin Jae-hoon’s savage damage.

—Shin Jae-hoon is saying everything I wanted to say lol. Ah, this is refreshing

└Agreed LOL. I hated him a bit in seasons 1 and 2 because he only criticized my favorites, but we need sharp critics like this to teach those bastards a lesson

└Open your mouth, Jae-hun’s refreshing drink is coming in~~

—Ugh…… but it’s not good that innocent Ha-woon is getting scolded too. What can he do when those crazy bastards won’t listen no matter how much he says to practice

Everyone was happy watching the trolls get educated, but on the other hand, they worried about Yu Ha-woon.

As if reading the national managers’ thoughts exactly, KNet had included a meeting between Yu Ha-woon and Shin Jae-hoon in the next scene.

[……This kind of role will probably be hard. Still okay with it?]

[I can do it. I volunteered to be the leader. I’ll take responsibility.]

[Right, what fault could you have? If there’s anything difficult, tell me. I’ll help as much as I can.]

[Thank you!]

After that, they kept showing Yu Ha-woon’s face with somehow hardened eyes, then connected it to him locking the door during the next practice.

[I’ll say this openly here. I hope there won’t be anyone else who leaves during scheduled practice time without permission. And we’re one team, right? With so little time left until the main stage, if our teamwork is this messed up, we really have no hope. Please, everyone work hard, okay?]

“Ha-woon has charisma!”

“Look at that door-closing force.”

“Hahaha, right. I should have just slammed it shut like that too.”

“I, I got embarrassed watching that.”

When Kang Seon-woo, Chae Ha-ru, and even Seong-hwi joined in teasing the youngest, Yu Ha-woon gripped his knees tightly with both hands.

“There’s even worse stuff coming out……”

Just as if they could really hear our words, Yu Ha-woon’s awakening scene appeared right away.

[Ah, I really don’t want to do this.]

[(Park Chang-jung trainee leaving his seat again despite being told not to)]

[(And leader Yu Ha-woon trainee who saw it)]

[Brother Chang-jung! Are you really going to do this? If you’re going to act like this, why did you come out! Huh?]

[Please answer me! Where are you going!]

Just before Park Chang-jung opened the door to leave, Yu Ha-woon grabbed his shoulder first and raised his voice.

The other team members who had been quietly watching the situation froze like stone statues.

[No, I was just trying to cool my head because we keep repeating—.]

[It’s not just you who’s frustrated right now. We all heard from the trainers that we’re a total mess. The other Brothers are just as frustrated, and I’m frustrated too. But whatever happens, we have to show a stage to the fans! If you just keep running away because you’re frustrated, even things that could work won’t work!]

Even while speaking formally, Yu Ha-woon hit every point he needed to make.

At first his hands trembled as if he wasn’t used to raising his voice like this, but soon his anger seemed to overcome his nervousness as visible strength entered his body.

[Hey…… still, let’s not leave the practice room.]

[……]

[Sigh……]

One guy who was reading the situation quietly told Park Chang-jung not to leave in a small voice.

The remaining trolls stayed quiet like mute people who’d eaten honey.

Only Yu Ha-woon, who let out a deep sigh, looked pitiful.

[What will be the fate of Team 8?]

“I’m curious too. How did you manage to finish safely with kids like that?”

“Still, they did practice a bit more after I spoke up strongly once. It was hard though……”

Instead of asking more, Kang Seon-woo patted Yu Ha-woon’s head.

Unlike the precarious preparation process, Team 8 had shown a stable stage.

And all the praise and applause went to Yu Ha-woon.

‘He definitely got the growth narrative.’

In the 1st team battle, he appeared mainly in scenes where he struggled as the team’s youngest and gradually improved his abilities with my help.

In the 2nd team battle, based on that experience, he volunteered as leader and broke through such adversity to still create a decent stage.

A growth story that viewers could easily digest was complete.

I checked people’s comments and swallowed my relief.

—Honestly, this was Yu Ha-woon carrying

—Agreed, the youngest had guts to push through like that

—Wow but they’re hopeless in the 1st team battle and 2nd battle too, those guys

└There’s a reason why people say you can’t fix people

└I hope they all get eliminated in this ranking announcement…

—Ha-woon worked so hard T_T let’s definitely debut

—I love this kind of youngest character lol sometimes cute and sometimes scary like that

—But LOL if you think about it, Yu Ha-woon now and Seong-hwi in the 1st round were in the same situation, but only Seong-hwi got massively criticized, that’s a bit unfair

└Here come the Seong-hwi fans again lol did Yu Ha-woon blatantly call people trash like Seong-hwi did?

└The way they speak is different, so obviously the results are different, why do you keep getting heated about Seong-hwi

└You can see someone’s character from how they speak~

└Lmao. These people would have cursed up a storm first if they’d been in that situation

└Right, Seong-hwi’s true nature is like that anyway, so the same thing will probably happen in this team battle too? Lol

But why does the topic naturally flow this way again?

I looked at the TV that was moving to the latter half of episode 7.

Now only our team was left.

‘This is the most important part.’