The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 55

MC Go Hyeon-ju smiled and spoke to me as I was pushed forward to the Punch King machine.

“Si-hwan, looks like you don’t want to lose 1st place in Punch King either?”

“Ah, hahaha… Well, you see.”

When I turned around to look back, those three guys who had been huddled together emitting sparkling eyes hurriedly averted their gazes.

Their coordinated movement reminded me of old-fashioned slapstick comedy.

“I’m not confident, but I’ll give it a try.”

“Trainee Ryu Si-hwan has shown tremendous performance in all the physical activities so far. I’m looking forward to seeing if he can take 1st place in this arcade category too!”

Why am I getting nervous over something like this?

I gripped my right wrist tightly and checked the brown ball-shaped punching bag.

[High Score: 956 points]

I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen this kind of arcade machine.

Even before going to hell, rather than spending my childhood playing around, I spent it singing in practice rooms.

So I barely have any memories of going to places like Hongdae or Konkuk University area that everyone knows about.

The only similar thing I can recall is…

Punching down the souls rising from the Cocytus River with bare hands like playing whack-a-mole.

The unpleasant sensation of those guys drifting aimlessly in that ice-cold river water came to mind for a moment, making me feel disgusted.

“I’ll go for it.”

When I took a stance to throw my punch almost from where I was standing, Go Hyeon-ju asked with a quite surprised expression.

“You don’t need a running start?”

“Yes, I think I’ll be fine.”

“Hey, if you say that, what does that make me!”

Kang Seon-woo, who had run from almost 30 meters back in his earlier turn and beautifully whiffed, yelled out a complaint.

When everyone burst into laughter, Kang Seon-woo stood up from his seat and bowed repeatedly as if he was pleased with the reaction.

Really, he’s a comedy character to his very bones.

‘Well, if he’s happy about it, then it doesn’t matter.’

I took a short breath and gripped my right hand tightly.

Then, without any warning, I shifted my center of gravity from back to front while staying in place and struck down on the brown punching bag.

Crack—!

Everyone was startled by the tremendous impact sound that split the auditorium’s air in half for an instant.

“What was that sound just now?”

“Did the ball burst?”

“Wow, what kind of punch makes a sound like chopping wood.”

I brushed my bangs back and calmly waited for the score to finish rising.

The numbers that quickly broke through 500 and 600 continued to rise without hesitation.

MC Go Hyeon-ju, who was more excited than me, gave real-time commentary in an enthusiastic tone.

“It keeps going up! 700, 800, and soon it’ll hit 900! Wow, it passed 900 too! Will it be able to break the wall of 956—!”

One thing I felt again was that actress Go Hyeon-ju’s variety show hosting skills seemed to have improved dramatically through repeated 〈ISL 2〉 filming.

Even though the result was obviously predictable, she kept the trainees who couldn’t see the Punch King machine’s scoreboard in suspense until the very end.

I watched the letters [NEW RECORD!] appear with a sense of achievement.

“Trainee Ryu Si-hwan has recorded an incredible 970 points, ascending as the new Punch King!”

Ha Sang-hun, who had been waiting for the results in the 1st place chair, stood up with a deflated laugh.

“970 points, that’s amazing. I’m too embarrassed to even say it’s a shame.”

“No, no. I just got lucky—”

“Let go of this! Guys, let go of this!”

My comment was half-cut off by Kang Seon-woo making a fuss again.

It looked like he had tried to rush forward, but his arms were sealed by Seong-hwi and Yu Ha-woon who were behind him.

“I’m doomed if I don’t go out there and do push-ups right now! I’ve been acting cocky toward a guy like that all this time!”

“Ahaha, Brother Seon-woo, since it’s come to this, should I just tell him?”

“What!”

“Shouldn’t you have had those thoughts from dodgeball?”

“I’m really a great sinner, really!”

“Th-that’s right, Brother Si-hwan won’t mind even if you don’t apologize, so just stay still!”

At this point, I’m confused whether this is really struggling to maintain a broadcast character or if he’s sincere.

Thinking it was the former, I walked toward Kang Seon-woo and lowered my posture.

Then I grinned and patted his shoulder.

“Seon-woo, let’s do well together?”

“Hic.”

All the trainees burst into laughter again.

Even MC Go Hyeon-ju was laughing while covering her mouth with cue cards and holding her stomach.

‘I don’t know how I ended up doing comedy like this…’

Since the editing always comes out well anyway, I just endured the embarrassment and moved on.

Looking at actress Go Hyeon-ju speaking to us in a friendly tone as if she had forgotten we were filming, the comedy effect seemed certain.

“Ah, really, you two are making me cry. Isn’t this déjà vu too? Really, just like what Ha-woon said, it was similar during dodgeball.”

“Haha… That’s right.”

“Haha, anyway! Trainee Ryu Si-hwan took back the 1st place Punch King position at the end and claimed victory. Then I should reveal what the 1st place prize is, right?”

There was a prize?

I hadn’t heard about this beforehand. Getting a prize on top of everything else, what a windfall.

As they say, fortune comes after great suffering.

“There’s nothing better than meat for continuing to use strength. We’re giving you a 1++ Korean beef set as a gift!”

“Wow, thank you.”

An exclamation escaped me without realizing it.

Since beef had been my favorite food since my Black Hash trainee days, this kind of gift was more than welcome.

I felt like I could punch the Punch King machine several more times right now.

When I returned triumphantly, the one who welcomed me most enthusiastically was none other than Chae Ha-ru.

“Brother Si-hwan…!”

“Why are you looking at me with such pitiful eyes?”

“Brother Si-hwan…!”

“Alright, alright. Let’s share the meat later.”

“Korean beef!”

I should have noticed this guy’s love for meat from when he was firing off steaks before.

But they say shared meat tastes better anyway.

“I want to win something too and give it to you, Brother.”

“You don’t need to feel that burden. It was more than I could eat alone anyway.”

“Apart from that, I hope something I can do well comes up. Not physical stuff, but something that uses my brain, which I’m somewhat confident in.”

Indeed, it would be amazing if an event came up where Chae Ha-ru, who had studied to the point of being called a genius, could show off his skills.

One of the rarest characters in the idol industry is the super-elite brain character.

Then finally.

“This next mini-game is a Speed OX Quiz. The trainee who gets the most questions right from various genre quiz questions prepared by the production team will claim victory!”

“Brother, it’s here.”

Chae Ha-ru’s dead-looking pupils suddenly came to life.

His whole body was already twitching, ready to leap forward.

A game that was like a personal playground for Chae Ha-ru, who was smart enough to advance to a science high school.

Moreover.

“The winner will receive a high-performance air fryer as a prize! I have this at home too, you know? It can really be used for all foods. Especially those small chocolate-filled snacks, right? If you bake those in here once, it’s amazing.”

“Brother, it’s really here!”

A food-related prize appeared right on time.

Chae Ha-ru, properly motivated, rushed forward as soon as they said they were taking volunteers.

I had used his excellent memory to teach him dancing, but I hadn’t had a chance to see just how well Chae Ha-ru had studied.

“The capital of Mongolia—?”

“Correct! Ulaanbaatar.”

“The capital of Luxembourg—”

“Correct! Luxembourg.”

“This one will really be difficult. What’s the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina?”

“Correct! Sarajevo!”

The first topic, capitals quiz, was completely demolished.

Before other participants could even open their mouths, Chae Ha-ru just heard the country names and immediately shouted the correct answers.

When all 10 questions ended in just 3 minutes, MC Go Hyeon-ju conducted an interview with an incredulous laugh.

“No way, trainee Chae Ha-ru. Someone didn’t leaked these questions to you, right? I’m the one who said they were high difficulty, and now I feel more embarrassed.”

“Actually, when I was in school, my friends and I used to play like this during break time.”

“Did I hear that right? You played by solving capital questions during school break time?”

“It was wholesome and fun.”

“…We chose the wrong genre from the start. Alright, let’s see if you can maintain this performance in other topics too!”

Contrary to Go Hyeon-ju’s words, Chae Ha-ru completely cut off all the other genre quizzes at the entrance.

A perfect streak of correct answers continued regardless of whether it was social studies, general knowledge, or English.

One trainee even had to trudge back to his seat without raising his hand even once during the entire competition.

“Brother, I got the air fryer!”

“…There was a massacre artist here.”

“Yes?”

“You really came down from heaven to massacre civilians.”

“Yes?”

I shook my head at Chae Ha-ru, who returned to his seat with the most innocent expression in the world.

And so the high-performance air fryer went to the genius from science high school.

Following that, various mini-games including song title guessing quiz and snowball fight battles were conducted, completing all the event filming.

“Then after a short lunch, let’s gather in the auditorium again. See you all later!”

“Yes—!”

Still, because they’re youth, the atmosphere that had been drooping at first quickly became lively through games.

“Hey, we’re definitely going to grill that Korean beef, right? Ah, but there’s no proper grill around here. Should we eat it when we use our overnight passes?”

“Hey, Seon-woo.”

“Oh! Why is our Si-hwan calling my name so sweetly?”

Kang Seon-woo, with pure eyes that knew nothing, kept blinking.

“…I’m going to throw up, so stop it.”

“Aw, this level of cute face (aegyo) is angelic. You didn’t watch my self-PR video at all, did you?”

“The moment I watch that with my own hands, I think I’ll vomit blood, not just throw up, so I didn’t watch it.”

“Hehehe, Si-hwan is good at jokes too! Anyway, our Korean beef—”

“Ah, about that.”

I grinned and gave Kang Seon-woo’s shoulder a light tap.

“Why are you talking so confidently as if the Korean beef was entrusted to you? I don’t remember saying I’d give it to you.”

“I was wrong.”

“Of course, I did say that to Ha-ru—”

“Please don’t hit me! I was wrong!”

“…I’m not going to hit you.”

I had tried to tease him back, but somehow I felt like I was the one who got played instead.

After eating a light lunch in the cafeteria, we entered the auditorium again for the 3rd team battle filming.

{For some reason, I want to follow along today, Master!}

‘Because the number of people decreased to 35?’

{That’s part of it, but I have a feeling something interesting is going to unfold!}

Usually on days with team unit filming, I left Cerberus in the dorm room, but today this guy said he wanted to come along for some reason.

‘I’m somewhat afraid of what this interesting feeling might be.’

A subtle tension was circulating in the auditorium atmosphere.

“〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉. We’ve already passed the midpoint and reached the 3rd team battle. To the trainees who have survived this far, I sincerely want to say congratulations.”

Gentle applause echoed through the auditorium.

The number that started at 100 people had already decreased to 35.

It was naturally a praiseworthy achievement.

“I should explain the team formation method for this 3rd team battle first. Over the past few days, we held a private survey limited to national managers who spent ‘2 million money or more’ on the 〈ISL 2〉 website. It was a survey to pick one trainee you support and one trainee you’d like to see them work with during this 3rd team battle. We analyzed the most overlapping trainees and data thoroughly to form a total of 5 teams. But before announcing that formation.”

Go Hyeon-ju MC’s gaze seemed to be coming this way.

“There’s one more very important announcement to make. You all know that the support shop was renewed after episode 6 aired, right?”

“Yes!”

“News has come in that one of those renewed items has been sponsored to a trainee.”

Now it wasn’t just my imagination.

My eyes and MC Go Hyeon-ju’s eyes were meeting exactly.

When I widened my eyes and unconsciously raised my hand slightly, Go Hyeon-ju nodded and smiled.

“Trainee Ryu Si-hwan, please come forward.”