The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 56

“What, you again with something.”

“How would I know.”

“Korean beef alone wasn’t enough to satisfy you, was it!”

“That item was sponsored by the national managers. Are you going to complain to them?”

“I was reckless!”

I sighed and passed by Kang Seon-woo, who had gotten worked up again over some strange nonsense.

‘Could this be the fun premonition Cerberus mentioned……?’

When I came out to the front of the auditorium, MC Go Hyeon-ju approached with a beaming expression.

“Trainee Ryu Si-hwan. Do you have any sense of what item was sponsored?”

“Ahaha…… Well. Since I remember them all being expensive products, honestly I think I’d have no regrets regardless of what I receive. I’m just grateful.”

“Still, you can make one prediction, can’t you? What kind of item do you think it’ll be?”

There was no way to escape MC Go Hyeon-ju’s persistent questioning.

I roughly thought about the current situation and threw out the first item that came to mind.

“Um…… Since it’s the team selection process, maybe the All Team Members Designation Rights……?”

“Oh, Si-hwan! You knew about this, didn’t you? To get it right in one shot like this!”

“What?”

I threw out a question mark with a bewildered tone, but MC Go Hyeon-ju, already immersed in hosting mode, easily brushed it aside.

“An anonymous national manager invested a whopping 5 million money to sponsor the ‘All Team Members Designation Rights’ to trainee Ryu Si-hwan. Could there be more perfect timing than this? Before entering the team selection for the 3rd team battle, trainee Ryu Si-hwan has acquired the opportunity to take 6 team members of his choice without any restrictions!”

Why is this actually real.

I just blurted it out because we were filming the team selection stage and the only renewal item related to it that came to mind was the All Team Members Designation Rights.

‘To think there’s someone who would invest 5 million money in me. It’s still surprising to hear again.’

{That means there are many people supporting Master! Look, Master. Didn’t I say something fun would happen? Didn’t I? Didn’t I? Huh?}

‘Yeah, yeah. Well done.’

I was still dazed, but I shook my head slightly and tried to pull myself together.

“I have one question.”

“What is it?”

“I have to choose team members before knowing the theme and battle format of the 3rd team battle, right?”

“Yes, but to maintain fairness, we plan to announce how this team battle will proceed and what songs you’ll be battling with collectively after team member selection.”

That means I have absolutely no useful prior information.

I looked at the sitting trainees and went through tens of thousands of thoughts in my head.

Then a plan that even I would call myself crazy for suddenly flashed through my mind.

‘……Wait, there’s no law saying I shouldn’t do this, right?’

I started by calling them one by one slowly.

“The first trainee I’ll designate is…… trainee Kang Seon-woo.”

“Oh, Ryu Si-hwan!”

I exchanged a brief high-five with Kang Seon-woo, who came running barefoot.

This definitely wasn’t a pick based solely on rankings.

In a situation where I don’t know what theme awaits us, a participant with top-tier composition skills is practically worth their weight in gold.

Of course, both I and Seong-hwi had done composition/arrangement during the 2nd team battle, but Kang Seon-woo is someone who professionally worked in that field at a major agency.

That means the difference in pure experience and skill is incomparable.

Therefore, he’s the best team member I could safely pick as my first choice.

“Second is trainee Chae Ha-ru.”

“Wow, this is insane.”

“This has some Avengers vibes, doesn’t it?”

“What are those rankings already.”

When I chose Chae Ha-ru without hesitation, the trainees began to stir.

Currently 1st, 3rd, and 9th place had gathered.

It definitely felt like openly assembling an Avengers team.

But regardless of that, I was calculating thoroughly.

‘Chae Ha-ru can sufficiently fulfill the role of focal point at the center position regardless of what concept comes. There’s also the advantage that I’ve already worked with him once.’

My designations continued without hesitation.

“Trainee Ma Si-hyeok.”

Ma Si-hyeok, who was most suitable for the main dancer position, was also an essential pick.

His potential had already started exploding during the 2nd team battle, so I couldn’t just pass this by.

“I designate trainee Yu Ha-woon.”

At first glance, Yu Ha-woon, with his bright character, could play a major role in enhancing the chemistry aspect in a team atmosphere that seemed heavy.

I’d worked with him before and he was superior to other participants in terms of ability.

Now only two spots remained.

I paused for a moment and continued my contemplation.

Then I slowly opened my mouth and designated the fifth team member.

“……I designate trainee Ha Sang-hun.”

“Huh, huh? Really?”

When I just smiled silently and nodded, Ha Sang-hun stood up with an expression like he was wondering if this was a dream.

“Please take care of me again.”

“Si-hyeok, good to see you again. Nice to meet you.”

“Hello!”

“Hello, nice to meet you for the first time.”

He exchanged a light hug with Ma Si-hyeok, who he’d worked with during 〈Back in the Time〉, and showed polite 90-degree bows to Yu Ha-woon and Chae Ha-ru, whom he was meeting for the first time.

Ha Sang-hun was someone I’d given fairly good evaluations to since the 2nd team battle.

He hadn’t shown much consideration even between me and Seong-hwi, who were high-ranking, and had silently carried out his assigned parts without complaint.

He didn’t lag behind in skills either, so he was a perfect person for the rapper/sub vocal position.

Now only one spot remained.

“You were designating without hesitation until now, but the last one seems to require some thought?”

“Since it’s the last one after all……”

I smiled awkwardly and trailed off in response to MC Go Hyeon-ju’s question.

I continued scanning the remaining trainees when I felt like I kept making eye contact with one person in particular.

‘……’

The trainee sitting upright without saying a word just shrugged his shoulders slightly.

The nuance was like asking, ‘You’ve assembled that kind of lineup and you’re really not going to pick me?’

Right, I’ve come this far.

Let me just definitively establish the team color.

“The last trainee I’ll designate is.”

“I’m looking forward to it……?”

“Trainee Seong-hwi.”

“Wahhh!”

MC Go Hyeon-ju, who had been speaking, unconsciously let out an exclamation upon hearing my choice.

The other trainees were similarly covering their mouths with shocked rabbit eyes.

“Ahaha, did my silent pressure work?”

“No comment.”

“No need to be embarrassed, Brother Si-hwan.”

Seong-hwi joined my team last with a sly smile.

As a result of the seven of us standing in a row together.

1st, 2nd, 3rd, 9th, 10th, 15th, and 20th place.

An Avengers team with such destructive power that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say all the top-tier trainees had gathered was complete.

“Trainee Ryu Si-hwan, did you plan to go this route from the beginning?”

“It definitely wasn’t based on rankings, and I think it naturally turned out this way as I composed the team while thinking about each position.”

“We were curious if we’d be able to see an Avengers team like Season 1 in 〈ISL 2〉, and it was born today like this. Ah, and there’s an additional announcement—.”

A staff member who rushed out from the side urgently handed several more cue cards to Go Hyeon-ju.

After skimming through the content, Go Hyeon-ju opened her mouth with a puzzling expression.

“This is very interesting too. Everyone, remember how we said trainees paired by national managers would originally be matched against each other?”

“Yes.”

“If a trainee like Ryu Si-hwan who can use [All Team Members Designation Rights] or [Team Member 1-Person Designation Rights] items appears, we’d naturally have to rearrange teams, right? So we had pre-planned 1st, 2nd, and 3rd priority pairs for each individual, and very interesting results came out.”

Team reorganization and All Team Members Designation Rights producing interesting results.

I felt like I understood but didn’t understand, and at that moment, MC Go Hyeon-ju continued her announcement.

“The majority of the 7 current trainees’ 1st priority pairs were together in this group. In other words, even without Ryu Si-hwan’s designation rights, at least 4 or more of these members would have been assigned to one team. So actually, there aren’t that many teams that need to be rearranged. Really, should the national managers’ intuition be this scary?”

We looked at each other and exchanged surprised glances.

I was quite shocked too.

‘I might have casually overlooked individual human relationships, but the viewers watching us really catch every single small detail.’

Probably the connections that overlapped during the 1st and 2nd team battles, and the influence of the group still mentioned by the nickname ‘Life B-cuts’ was significant.

Thanks to that, the small amount of guilt I had was slowly disappearing.

Since it means this kind of overpowered team would have been created even if I hadn’t designated them like this.

“Good, then now go outside the auditorium and enter the room right next door. Let’s go see what theme and song selection process awaits you!”

As soon as we left the auditorium, everyone went crazy.

“Brother! Brother! How did you pick like this? This is totally awesome!”

“More than that, the fan who gave Brother Si-hwan the All Team Members Designation Rights is even more amazing…… How could they spend 5 million money all at once……”

“Ahem! Guys, I’m also feeling really good since I was chosen first, you know? But let’s be aware that cameras are set up throughout this entire hallway.”

“Ah.”

At Kang Seon-woo’s quiet words, Yu Ha-woon and Ma Si-hyeok, who had been excitedly jumping around, froze like statues.

I opened the door marked [Song Selection Room] without paying attention.

“What is this?”

“It’s a white room?”

“Oh, there are five balls in front.”

The neatly organized white room didn’t have much else.

Just a few cameras and three production staff members sitting behind a spacious table.

When we approached the table, the PD in the middle gestured toward the five balls.

“Could you read the mission card in front of the balls? Trainee Si-hwan, please.”

“Ah, yes.”

I picked up the card and slowly began reciting the text.

“The 3rd team battle mission theme is [Showcase]. As the name suggests, trainees must form a team and create a stage as if holding a debut showcase. For the 3rd team battle, current active composers specially commissioned by 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉 have personally created new songs. Choose one ball numbered 1 through 5 and enter the room with that number, where you’ll find the composer. We can’t tell you what genre it is or which composer it is, so please choose carefully.”

They’re saying everything is just random with a lot of roundabout words.

After I finished reading all the instructions on the cue card, the kids pushed in eagerly from both sides.

“Brother, which number will you choose?”

“Somehow 1 and 5 don’t appeal to me, you know? The ends are better than the middle—.”

“Now, now! We should just quietly step back, guys.”

“Eh, why?”

Kang Seon-woo put his index finger to his lips and smoothly stepped back.

“We should entrust all decisions entirely to Si-hwan and blame him for all the results too.”

“Ah!”

“Really, Brother Seon-woo is diabolical.”

“Hey, Kang Seon-woo. If you’re going to say things like that, at least make sure I can’t hear them.”

“Oops, you heard that? Sorry!”

Since it’s random anyway, there’s no need to agonize over it for long.

I immediately picked up ball number 3.

“Let’s go.”

“Th-this quickly—?”

“It doesn’t matter what comes.”

“As expected, your confidence is the best, Master!”

Cerberus was the first to react to Kang Seon-woo’s strange way of speaking.

{Oh, Master! Should I try calling you that too? It seems really cool somehow—.}

‘If you start calling me Master too, I’ll just keep you locked in the room.’

{Aw, our Master is too shy!}

I hoped Kang Seon-woo wouldn’t plant any more strange desires in Cerberus’s head.

We left the [Song Selection Room] and found the room with the number 3 attached in the middle of the hallway.

“Should I open it?”

“Just open it right away! What’s the worst that could happen!”

“Don’t push too hard from behind, Hwi.”

“Ahaha, that’s because Si-hyeok’s frame is too big.”

Tremendous pressure pushed from behind, so I hastily opened the door.

When all seven of us poured into the room in a rush.

“Oh, you came!”

A booming voice echoed in the room.

When I looked up, I saw a skinny man with impressive sturdy gums.

His small black sunglasses already seemed ominous.

“You really chose this room, right? That’s right, isn’t it?”

“Ah, ah? Yes, that’s right.”

“Finally! Finally my boys have come!”

“Huh?”

“Come on, let’s create a masterpiece together!”

“Huh?”