The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 66

“Brother Ha-ru, cola or cider?”

“I’m kinda craving cider today.”

“Okay!”

I looked at the table that was lavishly prepared like a feast and felt a strange sensation.

“Ha-woon.”

“Yes?”

“Come to think of it, didn’t we only order one chicken?”

“Um, somehow I had a feeling someone else might come, so when I ordered, I got two! But how did Brother Ha-ru call at such perfect timing!”

Chae Ha-ru had also brought a gift for Cerberus to commemorate his visit to my studio apartment.

When I asked what he was buying and said it was fine, he insisted that this much was okay.

Thanks to that, Cerberus was now happily chewing on a duck neck bone with a blissful expression.

I watched Yu Ha-woon and Chae Ha-ru clinking glasses as they tilted their cola and cider amicably.

There were quite a few trainees I’d gotten to know through 〈ISL 2〉, but among them, there were only a few people I could comfortably hang out with. And the members who became close because of me were also divided within that group.

Even within that pool, Yu Ha-woon and Chae Ha-ru seemed to have particularly good chemistry together.

What did the fans call them?

Since their first name characters were the same, they called them ‘HaHaz,’ I think.

Whenever the two were in the same space, they thoroughly lived up to the nickname the fans had given them.

Even now, seeing them laugh and chat about something so amusing, I found myself smiling without realizing it.

‘…Maybe it’s because their similar aspects overlap little by little.’

Yu Ha-woon’s confidence had continuously dropped during his two years as a trainee.

Due to things decided in places beyond his control, as time passed he lived with guilt, thinking he had failed because he was utterly lacking.

Chae Ha-ru was someone who fearlessly jumped into the idol industry, knowing nothing about it, trying to somehow lift up his poor family.

In that process, he faced many situations that were much harder than he’d thought and reached his limits, to the point where he was considering half-giving up on this program.

Of course, now both had dramatically improved their skills and gained confidence by creating several good stages in succession.

But because their fundamental situations had been similar, they might have been able to become close more quickly.

“There’s not much time left until episode 9 starts!”

“Don’t get your hopes up too much, Ha-woon. No matter how fast we performed our stage, they probably put it in episode 10 through editing, right? Today they’ll probably just show us briefly in the preview.”

“I think so too… but still, it’s the preview!”

I think this personality difference also played a part.

If Chae Ha-ru was somewhat calculating and rational, then Yu Ha-woon responded positively and energetically to everything after regaining his confidence.

It felt natural that they would harmonize in a subtle way even while having different conversations.

For now, I completely agreed with what Chae Ha-ru had just said.

Despite being a cable program, 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉 had maintained high viewership ratings from the beginning of the broadcast.

And the public’s interest level had risen even higher than then, reaching a trend of over 5% national viewership ratings as of episode 8.

With the final episode 12 approaching, they would be thinking of squeezing out viewership ratings until the very end.

From that perspective, it was obvious they wouldn’t put our team, which could be used as sufficient aggro material just from the combination, in episode 9.

At best, they’d show a few scenes at the end of the preview, just like Chae Ha-ru said.

So even when episode 9 started with the intro of 〈HIT〉, I didn’t have particularly high expectations.

But I was a little surprised when a large number of variety show scenes that I thought would be used as time-fillers appeared.

[Who is the true Punch King of 〈ISL2〉?]

[Trainee Kang Seon-woo soaring like parting the sea!]

[…Only managing to part the air]

Kang Seon-woo’s miss that properly showcased the pride of a variety character was included.

Ha Sang-hun, who had ascended to the throne before I appeared, also took quite a bit of screen time.

[Production team) Were your arms originally strong?]

[Ha Sang-hun) I didn’t really think they were that strong in the past, but I think they naturally got stronger from playing baseball.]

[Production team) You know our program name was also taken from baseball?]

[Ha Sang-hun) I was wondering because it was a somewhat familiar name, so I wanted to appear even more. Oh, and this might be TMI, but my position was center fielder.]

Then Ryu Si-hwan, who had been semi-forcibly selected by the kids around him, took a deep breath and got into position.

[Don’t you need a running start?]

[No, I think I’ll be fine.]

Looking at it from a third-person perspective, I wondered if I had made comments that could look really cocky.

If I had missed there, I would have gone straight to hell.

Still, it was fortunate that I made a sound like bursting a punching bag and secured first place.

With everyone’s surprised reactions plus Kang Seon-woo’s comedy show added on top, it was pure comedy.

The production team must have found this so entertaining that they arranged Kang Seon-woo’s interview first before inserting my individual interview.

[Production team) You suddenly even bowed?]

[Kang Seon-woo) Since this might be my last interview, I’ll approach it seriously. Fellow national managers, you should properly look at who you’re picking on before you do it. Otherwise, you might end up like me!]

[Production team) …That’s what trainee Seon-woo said, what do you think?]

[Ryu Si-hwan) Hahaha, no way. If I had that ruthless a personality, I would have already during the dodgeball game…. (draws thumb across throat)]

[Kang Seon-woo) As expected, I was already destined to die. It’s been a pleasure, 〈ISL 2〉!]

I roughly expected Kang Seon-woo would interview like that, so I added a little spice.

Looking at this finished edited version, no matter how you looked at it, we seemed like best friends with perfect chemistry.

Yu Ha-woon, who was watching the broadcast next to me, was also laughing hard as if his funny bone had been hit directly.

“Ahahaha, Brother Seon-woo’s way of talking really feels like it’s breaking through the screen! It feels like he’s talking directly to us here right now.”

“Ha-woon, don’t say such scary things.”

“Come to think of it.”

When I made a disgusted face, Yu Ha-woon asked with a tone as if something had suddenly occurred to him.

“Does Brother Si-hwan hate Brother Seon-woo or like him?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“Somehow when I watch you two bicker, I can’t tell if you’re doing it purely because you like each other or not. But if Brother Si-hwan hated Brother Seon-woo, you wouldn’t have kept hanging around together for months like this….”

“Ha-woon, keep this in mind and it’ll be easy.”

Chae Ha-ru, who had been eating chicken, suddenly butted in.

With the tone of a sage who had grasped the principles of life, he wagged his finger at Yu Ha-woon.

“When it has the feeling of a married couple’s fight, they say that’s actually the closest relationship.”

“Cough—!”

Feeling some inexplicable déjà vu, I coughed repeatedly as the cola I was drinking got stuck in my throat.

I wanted to say what kind of strange nonsense that was, but Yu Ha-woon was already hitting his knee and nodding.

“Ah, that’s exactly the feeling Brother Ha-ru mentioned! When I look at you two, sometimes it reminds me of mom and dad.”

“That’s right, that’s right. They say the more special the relationship, the more you want to pick fights and tease them.”

“Then since Brother Si-hwan’s nickname is Hwan-father, Brother Seon-woo automatically becomes the mom?”

“Kids, stop.”

I suppressed the cough that kept coming and quickly cut off the conversation before the level could become more disastrous.

Fortunately, the live broadcast of episode 9 also transitioned from the variety scenes to the full-scale third team battle scenes.

I had expected from before episode 9 started that the 〈Winning Shot〉 team probably wouldn’t get much screen time. Looking at the editing flow so far, the team member combinations and song selection process had also appeared all at once when the main stage was broadcast.

However, this time there was a slight plot twist.

[An anonymous national manager donated a whopping 5 million money to sponsor trainee Ryu Si-hwan with ‘All Team Members Designation Rights.’ Could there be more perfect timing than this? Before entering team selection for the third team battle, trainee Ryu Si-hwan has gained the opportunity to take 6 team members he wants to pick without any restrictions!]

They had inserted the ‘All Team Members Designation Rights’ that I received as a sponsorship first.

Watching Ryu Si-hwan on screen carefully selecting Avengers picks one by one after much deliberation, I thought about why the production team made this decision.

‘Looking at community posts, it seems the members of our team were already spoiled. If the hardcore viewer base who sends sponsorships and is heavily invested in 〈ISL 2〉 already knows about the existence of the 〈Winning Shot〉 team…’

It’s simple. They just want to confirm the kill.

By confirming that the spoiled Avengers team was real while raising expectations.

And by showing their intention to convert those expectations back into viewership ratings, there’s a high possibility they’ll insert our stage in episode 10.

When the screen finally transitioned to the competition stage scene, my suspicion became certainty.

“We’re not coming out right away. I was hoping a little.”

“Would you rather we came out quickly?”

“Not that, but somehow I feel like I want to see the entire 〈Winning Shot〉 stage quickly, hehe.”

Chae Ha-ru initially cast a questioning look, but after hearing Yu Ha-woon’s follow-up, he also nodded slightly.

This kind of reaction showed the overall atmosphere of our current team.

If there had been deep regrets about the third stage and we lacked confidence, such words wouldn’t come out naturally.

However, those cheers we had clearly heard that day.

And the passionate enthusiasm of the excited audience had given everyone certainty.

I had forecasted that episode 9 would proceed somewhat dryly, but the 〈ISL 2〉 production team had another card hidden.

[Let’s narrow our differences of opinion.]

[I don’t want to. I’ve already explained this several times, and you want me to say it again? I said I don’t want to.]

[No, we don’t have time to be doing this right now—.]

[Sigh….]

They inserted Park Chang-jung’s team, which had miraculously survived from the second ranking announcement, into episode 9.

The days we practiced for the third team battle were practically like being dropped on a deserted island. What was important was our team’s mission song right in front of us and our team’s situation, so where was the time to worry about other teams?

So there was no way to know what was happening in other rooms. But when they opened the lid, the exact same spectacle as during the second team battle had unfolded.

“…That guy never changes.”

Yu Ha-woon, who was watching the broadcast while hugging his knees, muttered with noticeably lowered energy.

Thinking about it from the reverse perspective, thanks to Park Chang-jung’s hard throwing, Yu Ha-woon was able to gain a growth narrative and pull up his ranking.

But the psychological pressure and stress that Yu Ha-woon had to endure in that process would definitely remain.

Looking at Park Chang-jung’s team with completely shattered teamwork going through their practice process, I had different thoughts.

‘…If the overall voting results went to them, would the production team be able to handle it?’

The process was disastrous, but there were still quite a few high-ranking trainees positioned there.

Due to all the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place trainees being concentrated in our team, the spotlight of ‘Avengers’ had suddenly focused on us, but Park Chang-jung’s team also had 3 trainees within the top 10.

Perhaps because of that, they completed a decent stage by covering with individual skills.

If there was really even a 1% chance that they took the total survival…

I can’t imagine how the public opinion would be completely destroyed.

Even while cleaning up the room after episode 9 ended, I kept thinking about that topic.

Ultimately, everything would depend on how well our screen time in episode 10 turned out.

A week later, I had no idea what would unfold.