The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 50

Our team’s first start was from the team formation process itself.

In a state where no one could tell which songs had been selected, the face of Seong-hwi, who was 1st place in the first ranking announcement, was shown in close-up.

[Production team) Was there any concept you wanted to do or any special song?]

[Seong-hwi) All the songs were hidden, right? So I didn’t really have any particular thoughts. Haha, the suspense made it more interesting, didn’t it? Honestly, no matter what song came out, I felt like I could handle pretty much anything.]

On-screen Seong-hwi shrugged his shoulders confidently.

And seeing that, Kang Seon-woo, who was sitting on the bed, immediately started tapping Seong-hwi’s thigh playfully while saying mischievously.

“Were you still that confident when the female idol song came up?”

“……Honestly, I was a little flustered.”

“Hahahaha! Ah, it’s so awkward hearing Hwi say he was flustered.”

[Seong-hwi trainee, you received a sponsor item, right? It’s the ‘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?]

When MC Go Hyeon-ju asked about using the designation right, Seong-hwi’s individual interview continued again.

[Production team) Was there a participant you had in mind from the beginning?]

[Seong-hwi) Ahaha…… Actually, there was one.]

Seong-hwi turned his head to scan through all the trainees, then smiled slyly and said.

[I’ll go with participant Ryu Si-hwan.]

The reactions of the murmuring trainees and MC Go Hyeon-ju raising her eyebrows were all captured.

With the 1st and 2nd place participants assigned to the same team, everyone’s surprised reactions were appropriately edited together.

The chat was going crazy too.

—Wow so the spoiler was real for real? Crazy crazy

└For real lol the spoiler was accurate

—When they’re sitting together like that, they weirdly look alike lmaooo

—Their visual chemistry could drill through the Earth?

—Now that I look at it, they both have that noble young master look so it’s paradise for my eyes, they’re purifying me

—Everything’s good but am I the only one feeling inexplicably anxious? I feel like their personalities are complete opposites so they’ll fight like crazy

└Just looking at it, it’s obviously gonna be Seong-hwi going off the rails again and Ryu Si-hwan covering for him lol

└Please Seong-hwi don’t be annoying T_T I don’t want to see Si-hwan suffer T_T

As if he had seen the intense reactions of the live chat, Seong-hwi, who was being interviewed, smiled with his characteristic wild look in his eyes.

[Seong-hwi) Ah, I can’t help but keep smiling without realizing it. I’m not lying when I say I thought it would be fun to work with Brother Si-hwan from the beginning. We were always on opposite teams in dodgeball too. And different teams in the 1st team battle too. It felt like luck wasn’t following us, but then what? This time the choice came to me, right? So I picked him right away.]

[(Seong-hwi participant’s rare double thumbs up)]

[Seong-hwi) I was very satisfied. Hahaha!]

I looked at Seong-hwi with slightly cold eyes.

“You were already planning to pick me, weren’t you?”

“Ahaha, like I always say, I don’t lie. I really picked Brother because I thought it would be interesting, and it was fun in the end too, right? So it worked out.”

Seeing his unusually bright smile, I had nothing more to say.

I shook my head and checked the fan reactions on my phone.

“……Hmm.”

Unexpected results were starting to show.

—I honestly thought since the grade evaluation that Hwi was weirdly competing with Si-hwan? But looking at it now, the kid was just clumsy at expressing himself and genuinely wanted to be on the same team as Si-hwan LOL

└Really just clumsy at expressing but more sincere than anyone, that man Seong-hwi…….

└See see, I was right, he’s absolutely not doing that with malicious intent T_T The 1st team battle was the same, he just spoke directly to those annoying guys, Hwi did nothing wrong

—Seong-hwi seems like an obsessive fanboy…… In that sense, couldn’t you obsess over me instead?

—At that level it’s true love, true love lol

His consistent track record of calling me interesting was now having a positive effect.

The image that had formed early on of him being bratty was now changing to an image of him genuinely wanting Ryu Si-hwan.

‘The editing that crammed in only those proud expressions and grinning scenes must have played a part too.’

Clearly, just like the broadcast a few weeks ago, the production team seemed to have decided to push Seong-hwi’s star quality.

With this, the issue of me and Seong-hwi being linked had somewhat passed.

But there were still mountains left to cross.

[Team 5’s 〈Fan’s Favorite〉 theme song is…… Fournine’s 〈Back in the Time〉!]

[What.]

[Seriously?]

[That team is the only one that got a female idol song?]

Once again, the murmuring reactions of the trainees and the solemn faces of Team 5 members flashed by.

[Ryu Si-hwan) It would be a lie to say I wasn’t flustered. Looking at the other teams before us, they all got famous male idol group songs, so I thought ‘ah, we’ll probably get something similar’ but……]

[Ma Si-hyeok) I was so surprised when Fournine’s name came up.]

[Seong-hwi) Hahaha! No, why…… why is it always like this where I am? That’s the only thought I had. But still, since we got it, we have to do it properly, right?]

[Ryu Si-hwan) I think there’s potential because we met good teammates.]

“You took all the cool lines by yourself. I’m jealous~.”

“I didn’t say those things in this interview.”

“What?”

“That’s from the 1st team battle interview, cut and pasted.”

When I calmly revealed the truth, Seong-hwi radiated obviously disappointed eyes.

“Does that mean our team wasn’t okay at all? Si-hyeok and I are hurt—.”

“I wasn’t asked any team-related questions in the first place.”

“Ah, really? Then well, it can’t be helped.”

My individual interview was instead filled with strange questions like how other team members looked.

Even from just hearing the tone of the questions, I could tell.

‘……KNet is just determined to solidify my image more firmly to their liking.’

Of course I wouldn’t do that, but there are participants who might accidentally say strange things during interviews.

To prepare for such incidents, KNet passed over my interview with questions that wouldn’t affect their editing direction at all.

Cutting out appropriate parts from materials they’d done before.

Since the clothes were the same practice wear anyway, they didn’t need to worry about the national managers noticing.

[Then shall we go with Brother Si-hwan doing leader and main vocal, and me doing center as discussed?]

[No problem!]

[It’s fine.]

[Haha, thank you all.]

The position distribution process was also heavily abbreviated.

The scene of Seong-hwi applying strange pressure early on and me subtly asking for other people’s opinions were deleted too.

‘It feels like they’re cutting out anything that could cause conflict as much as possible?’

I quietly drank my cider while watching the video that immediately moved to the arrangement and practice stages.

[Then Brother Si-hwan and I will try changing the song to a future bass base (since arrangement is possible). And I know the 〈Back in the Time〉 choreography pretty well, so I’ll try rechoreographing it to fit our body types.]

With only the parts showing them blandly dividing roles and finding things to do edited in, it looked truly peaceful.

Moreover, since Yu Ha-woon’s team from early episode 7 had an unprecedented personality breakdown, it created an even more contrasting effect.

—Look how peaceful Hwi looks when he’s among normal people

—Right, I just thought he was a kid who doesn’t care about others at all and goes completely his own way

—Wow really no problems at all, part distribution and arrangement work all getting done smoothly, how nice

└Lmao. Just a few minutes ago there were tons of comments bashing Hwi but now they’ve all disappeared

└Everyone shuts their mouths tight at times like this, ugh

—Is this the power of Hwan-father? Even that strong-willed Seong-hwi seems to be yielding and going along

└Just Hwan-men

└Are you really calling this Ryu Si-hwan bootlicking again? That’s crossing the line lol

└Lol. Even as a neutral person, I can see that team would lose a lot of power without Ryu Si-hwan in that leader position

Through the collaboration of Ryu Si-hwan and Seong-hwi, the pure melody of 〈Back in the Time〉 completed its transformation into a sophisticated future bass genre.

Now finally, the long-awaited choreography creation process began to appear.

[Production team) Come to think of it, it seems like you’re handling the choreography creation alone again this time?]

[Seong-hwi) Haha…… This isn’t good, but I originally have a habit of doing everything alone.]

[Production team) Does it remind you of the previous team battle?]

[Seong-hwi) That time too, and probably due to my personality, I tend to not open my heart easily. So working alone is more comfortable.]

The image of Seong-hwi wearing a hood, losing track of time as he created choreography alone while looking in the mirror, played in fast-forward.

Subtitles showing dates passing one by one appeared as an effect.

Three days before the mid-evaluation, the problematic injury scene appeared.

[Then let’s get right into creating the dance break choreography. Brother Si-hwan, you can touch up the rest of this part, right?]

[I told you to rest little by little.]

[I was just sitting and typing anyway, so there’s no strain at all on moving my body. It’s fine.]

Clearly, ominous BGM played softly when Seong-hwi, who had been composing for a long time, immediately tried to do the dance demo.

My eyes trying to stop him and Ma Si-hyeok watching it were appropriately captured, adding to the inexplicable sense of crisis.

[The next day]

Seong-hwi’s practice video of him staying up all night making the dance break choreography alone with energy drinks played quickly.

The Team 5 members who gathered in the practice room again looked at his haggard appearance with concern.

[Did you film the choreography video?]

[Huh? Ah, yes. Of course I recorded it.]

[Then give me your phone and go to your room to sleep first. If you collapse like this, it’ll be a disaster.]

[Haha, I know what Brother is worried about. But it’s okay. I just need to show this much as a demonstration and it’ll be over, so it’ll be quick.]

Seong-hwi, who had been watching his thoughtless moment, scratched his head and smiled awkwardly.

“I was like that. Wow, embarrassing.”

“It’s good that you realized it now.”

“If I’m being honest, I was so out of it from caffeine that I could barely understand what Brother Si-hwan was saying.”

“That’s something to be proud of.”

“Haha, but I gave a sincere apology in the later interview, so forgive me.”

It seemed like the dorm TV had some kind of voice recognition device.

As soon as Seong-hwi spoke, that apology interview immediately appeared.

[Production team) Could you explain the situation at that time?]

[Seong-hwi) I have nothing to say. I think it was just my greed. Since I took responsibility, I had to see it through to the end. No matter how tired I was, I had to quickly create the dance break choreography so I could show it to the team members the next day. I feel sorry toward Brother Si-hwan. He kept telling me to rest……]

Yeah, for Seong-hwi, that was a sincere apology.

After Seong-hwi’s individual interview, the scene of his ankle getting twisted appeared, and the national managers were so shocked they could only throw question marks in the chat.

—?????

—What????

—Wait, his ankle really twisted badly??

—Oh no Hwi T_T Don’t be too greedy

—I could see him being anxious alone the whole time… Maybe like he said, he’s used to doing everything alone so he was like that this time too

└Even so, there was no need to push himself to the point of injury… It would be even more trouble for the team

└But it’s not like he got hurt doing something weird, he got hurt practicing hard so I don’t want to criticize him T_T

└Agreed agreed, it’s not like he refused practice as a group like someone’s team lol

Finally the screen quickly transitioned to the time when I was talking with Seong-hwi privately.

I had no idea how they edited this part.

[You came here to prove yourself. If you decided to appear on a survival show, you should approach it with the appropriate determination.]

[(Survival is) ……just alone. You have to do everything alone, and if you really want to achieve something, you have no choice but to (seize it with your own power)]

[I don’t want to be called stupid ever again.]

It was truly amazing technology.

Our conversation recorded through small filming devices attached like surveillance cameras inside the hospital room.

The bed where Seong-hwi was sitting was half-hidden due to the camera angle, and naturally only my legs were visible.

And listening to the conversation content.

‘They really cleverly cut out the X2 story and made it seem like I was lamenting about always being alone in the survival show.’

I was truly amazed.

I had expected they wouldn’t air internal company stories since X2 is a company known by every Korean citizen.

But I didn’t know they would cut and splice words appropriately to create a completely different story.

Silence flowed for a long time, and only the sound of the camera tape whirring could be heard loudly.

Then Ryu Si-hwan’s quiet voice appeared with unusual emphasis.

[I’m not special either. I’m the same as you. I want to definitely (win the survival show) and become an idol that everyone knows. I live thinking this. Me too, you too, all the other trainees are the same. So it’s okay to put down the burden on your shoulders just once, that’s what I’m saying.]

It felt too intentionally emphasizing that this was a cool line.

And as a KO punch.

[(The two trainees sharing sincere conversation…….)]

[As much as you brought me to the same team with your own hands, you can trust me, you know?]

Along with subtitles full of wistfulness, my final line that could make space-time cringe flew out.

“Cough, cough cough!”

The cider I was drinking got properly stuck in my throat.