The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 57

Despite his small sunglasses that barely covered his eyeballs and a frame that looked like it would topple over if the wind blew, the man energetically kicked his chair back and stood up with vigorous gestures.

“Ah, ahh, the wish I had been praying for so earnestly has come true! As expected, heaven is my inspiration and savior! Thank you, thank you.”

The sight of him even blowing hand kisses upward was quite a spectacle.

When I hesitated, unsure of how to react, Cerberus beside me wrinkled his nose.

{Master, this human has a peculiar scent. Not peculiar in a bad way, but this is really what they call a pervert, I suppose.}

‘A… pervert?’

{Yeah, a pervert. Not the kind we’d joke about casually, but this human seems like a genuine pervert.}

Ha Sang-hun, who had been silent until now, opened his mouth to give a brief assessment.

“He seems like someone with very strong personal convictions.”

“Oh, who just said that? Which one of these fantastic five said those accurate words?”

“That was me…?”

Ha Sang-hun’s face showed he had no idea what was happening.

And the lanky man approached him with his gums fully exposed in a grin again.

“As expected, your eye for observation is amazing! So this boy is this team’s leader?”

“Ah, I’m the leader.”

“Oho!”

In an instant, his black sunglasses turned toward me.

At first glance, they just looked like ridiculous comedy props, but I could feel some indescribable energy from this man.

So this was what Cerberus meant by the aura of a “real pervert.”

“This boy, you look very familiar.”

With that unexpected line, the man extended his hand while taking off his sunglasses.

Contrary to my expectations, he had quite large eyes with double eyelids, and I awkwardly shook hands with him.

“You’re Ryu Si-hwan, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct. How do you know my name—?”

“Well, of course I’ve been looking at all the trainees’ profiles while creating the song.”

After finishing the vigorous handshake, the man pointed to a pile of papers stacked high on the work table.

When I picked up the paper on top and glanced at it, my name in three characters was clearly visible.

“My introduction is late. Nice to meet you, 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉 boys— no, trainees. I’m composer Kang Hae-soo, who will be in charge of your 3rd team battle song. Applause!”

“Wow, woah!”

We responded as enthusiastically as possible to his request for applause.

Even while clapping, I was curious about where such an eccentric person had come from.

Suddenly, Seong-hwi grinned beside me and whispered,

“I didn’t expect to see him here.”

“Do you know him?”

“Isn’t he someone any idol or trainee in Korea should know? Well, he’s held the unshakeable top-list composer title at the famous X2 Entertainment for a whopping 20 years.”

That skinny, eccentric person was X2’s exclusive composer.

Now that I think about it, I felt like I’d vaguely seen the name ‘Kang Hae-soo’ somewhere before.

“If I remember correctly, Composer Kang Hae-soo should have done the comeback song for the Zefa brothers this time too.”

“Z-Zefa’s new song?”

“Such a person composed our team battle song?”

Kang Seon-woo and Yu Ha-woon, who had overheard Seong-hwi’s whisper, covered their mouths with surprised expressions.

I had a strong feeling this would be used perfectly for broadcast editing.

“Haha, this is embarrassing. I’m not such an amazing person.”

“Composer! Then, how many songs with your copyright are currently on the GrapeFruit charts?”

“Songs with my copyright, hmm… it would be hard to count them all.”

“Wow!”

When the guys expressed amazement with sparkling eyes, Kang Hae-soo naturally got excited and rattled off his achievements that no one had asked about.

About 10 minutes passed.

When I was trying not to look obviously bored, the production team seemed to think they needed to cut this segment.

Only after the PD who had followed us quietly said “Please explain what kind of song it is” could we move on to the actual 3rd team battle song content.

“There’s a reason I waited so eagerly while looking at your profiles. The truth is, I’ve been a huge fan of this program since 〈ISL 1〉. Due to scheduling issues, I couldn’t participate in this showcase round during Season 1, but watching it through the broadcast made me feel so regretful. Ah, if I had given my song to those talented boys, we could have created an even better stage.”

There was a strong sense that he was about to go off on another tangent.

Sensing the same premonition as me, the production team frantically waved their hands repeatedly.

“Especially that team, you know? That Avengers team with only top-tier trainees. I heard the biggest topic of Season 1 was the Avengers team in the 3rd round. So I kept praying while waiting here. If I could get the same opportunity, I could really create quality that surpasses Season 1. But! Just! Like this! You all came into this room so perfectly! Wow!”

“Wow, wow!”

“Yeah!”

Everyone enthusiastically responded by swaying their bodies and cheering for Kang Hae-soo, who was shouting with enough energy to break through the filming set.

After hesitating briefly, I closed my eyes tightly and waved my arms above my head.

It’s been a while since I felt the pain of social life.

“Getting straight to the point, the song I’m gifting you is truly one I’ve cherished personally. To explain how much I treasured it, this song even made it to the final candidates for Zefa’s album double title track recently.” (+) ^[1] TLN: I’m still unsure whether this Zefa is a sort nickname for Zephyr that they talked about in earlier chapter. So for now, I will translate it as is.

This was naturally surprising news worthy of making shocked Pikachu faces.

Zefa, the boy group that supports one pillar of X2. And they were giving us trainees a song that could have been a double title track for their comeback album.

Of course, they’d receive payment for appearing on 〈ISL 2〉, but if they assigned it to Zefa’s next comeback or other X2 idols, they could see much bigger profits.

I stared intently at Kang Hae-soo, who was displaying his sparkling eyes.

‘He might actually be a really simple person.’

Considering the ‘envy toward Season 1’s Avengers team’ he had briefly mentioned earlier, it seemed Kang Hae-soo genuinely wanted to create a stage that surpassed Season 1 with us.

“In terms of completeness, it’s already been recognized and naturally has sky-high potential. However, after deciding to gift this song to 〈ISL 2〉, I really prayed that trainees capable of digesting my song like first-tier idols would come. Whether my heart was heard, I think you with these rankings can make it possible. Let’s do well together!”

“We look forward to working with you!”

“Please take good care of us, Composer!”

Now it was time to listen to the song Kang Hae-soo had prepared.

We sat side by side on the sofa and listened carefully to the music coming through the speakers.

After listening up to just over 2 minutes, my first thought was.

‘…It’s just undeniably good.’

It’s not for nothing that this was almost a first-tier idol’s double title track.

The addictive chorus, hip rap, melodical lines, and powerful brass synthesizer sound really fused together beautifully.

It wasn’t a generic K-pop idol template song, but felt like this song’s own differentiated repertoire and baseline added freshness.

Watching us gasp in admiration with our mouths open, Kang Hae-soo nodded with a pleased expression.

“It’s good, right?”

“To be honest, I’m wondering if it’s really okay to give us such a perfect song…”

“Hahaha! Oh, don’t worry about that. Anyway, such conceptual songs can’t be used for the next comeback once they fail to become a title track. The image you bring changes completely. And as this song’s copyright holder, I don’t find it wasteful at all. I truly believe you can digest it magnificently.”

While I’m grateful for such unwavering faith, interpreted differently it becomes ‘the moment you fail to digest it, the disappointment will double.’

This song has such high completion that it wouldn’t be problematic for first-tier idols to use.

That means the national managers watching the stage will likely view us with the same perspective.

Once expectations rise… the pressure to meet them is huge, and if we fail, the backlash will be severe.

So more than ever, I need to investigate what image he had in mind while composing this song.

I raised my hand and asked calmly,

“Could we know the detailed content of the song or what kind of stage Composer envisioned while composing?”

“Ah, I should definitely explain that too. First, would you like to receive the lyric sheets?”

“Yes!”

After receiving the lyric sheets Kang Hae-soo had prepared in advance, I carefully examined the content.

The first thing that caught my eye was the title.

“As shown in the title, this song depicts only ‘victory.’ Have you heard the term 〈Winning Shot〉?”

“I’ve heard of it. I think a winning shot is what they call the ball a pitcher throws as their final decisive pitch in baseball.”

“Oh, trainee Ha Sang-hun? Do you like baseball?”

“My father likes baseball, so I’ve watched it a lot since I was young. I was even on the baseball team until middle school.”

I glanced at Ha Sang-hun’s arm.

So that’s why he was good at punch king too, because he had baseball experience.

“As trainee Sang-hun said, a winning shot means a pitcher throws their most confident ball to get the batter out. Throwing with full power solely for victory. This stage also needs your full power. Trainee Si-hwan asked what picture I drew while composing.”

Kang Hae-soo put on the sunglasses he had taken off and meaningfully clenched both fists.

Then he suddenly hit both knees hard.

Thud!

“Like this, I drew a picture of literally smashing the stage to pieces. The main base genre of 〈Winning Shot〉 is moombahton K-pop dance. When you mix moombahton with the K-pop genre, really diverse tracks are born. Sometimes it can go softly, sometimes passionate sounds can pound your chest. I created a song more intense than any moombahton K-pop by maximizing the use of Euro dance base and synthesizers on top of this moombahton sound. If you express such power and energy fully on stage, it couldn’t be better.” (+) ^[2] TLN: Since this is my first time hearing moombahton. I will explain to you guys who didn’t know about it simply. Moombahton is a music genre. Its tempo usually more slower than typical EDM. Examples are Boombayah by BLACKPINK and Blood, Sweat, and Tears by BTS. Hopefully I researched it correctly, please do correct me if I’m wrong.)

Everyone seemed momentarily flustered by the cascade of technical terms pouring out like a waterfall.

Now I understood what Cerberus meant by the scent of a “real pervert.”

Kang Hae-soo was truly a pervert who was serious about music.

Seong-hwi, who had been relatively quiet, smiled slyly and clapped.

“In simple terms, you’re saying we should pour out everything we have on stage and come down, right?”

“Exactly! Show everything you can, pour out all the passion you’ve raised to your limits and come down! That’s the essence of 〈Winning Shot〉 and the image I imagined.”

Kang Seon-woo, who had been silently listening to the song explanation, leaned his face slightly toward me and whispered,

“Listening to all that, I feel like choreography will be really important.”

“I feel the same way.”

Another question that arose here was whether there was pre-prepared choreography.

I still don’t know if, befitting the ‘showcase round,’ both song and choreography are assigned in completed states, or if we have to create the choreography ourselves.

Just as I turned my head toward the production team to ask a question.

The door burst open and a familiar voice greeted us.

“Wow, you guys ended up here?”

We all froze like ice in unison.

Seeing the seven trainees who had stiffened like stone statues, Shin Jae-hoon let out a hearty laugh.

“This is a really interesting combination. Hae-soo, did I come late? Sorry, I was grabbing some food.”

“No, you came right on time. I just finished explaining the song.”

“Is that so. Ah, the more I look at these members, the more I like them. Fortunately, I’ll be able to try everything I wanted to do. Anyway, since this is official, I should at least introduce myself, right?”

Shin Jae-hoon looked at us with eyes that said he was salivating and grinned.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Shin Jae-hoon, in charge of choreography for the 〈Winning Shot〉 team. Let’s all work hard together.”

At that moment, I had a feeling we were all probably thinking the same thing.

We’re really screwed for the next week.

• 1. TLN: I’m still unsure whether this Zefa is a sort nickname for Zephyr that they talked about in earlier chapter. So for now, I will translate it as is.
• 2. TLN: Since this is my first time hearing moombahton. I will explain to you guys who didn’t know about it simply. Moombahton is a music genre. Its tempo usually more slower than typical EDM. Examples are Boombayah by BLACKPINK and Blood, Sweat, and Tears by BTS. Hopefully I researched it correctly, please do correct me if I’m wrong.)