The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 69

“What do you think will be waiting for us in the 4th round~.”

A languid, drawling voice echoed through the dorm room.

I was sitting quietly fiddling with my phone when I answered Seong-hwi, who was idly tossing a water bottle up in the air out of boredom.

“The concept itself won’t be much different from Season 1. The problem is what specific gimmicks they’ll throw in.”

“Times like this make me think Brother Si-hwan is someone from the production side. I’m confident about this too—what do you think will come out?”

“Anyone could reach this conclusion by thinking about it logically.”

The dorm where the members had been staying together for the 〈Winning Shot〉 stage still didn’t feel entirely empty.

Deciding there wasn’t much more to do at home, I had returned to the 〈ISL 2〉 dorm a day early with Yu Ha-woon. I had asked if Chae Ha-ru wanted to come along too, but he said he wanted to spend his last day with his parents.

So when we returned, I was surprised to find Seong-hwi was already there.

While Yu Ha-woon, who said he’d shower first, occupied the bathroom, Seong-hwi and I were sprawled comfortably on the bed.

“Didn’t you want to stay at home?”

“Mm, it’s not that I hate home, but being around that area makes me a bit irritated.”

When I sent him a questioning look, Seong-hwi laughed and shrugged his shoulders.

“There’s an X2 building near my house. Since I don’t really have many good memories from that side yet. I figured I’d have to gather here anyway, so I came early.”

“Smart.”

“Come to think of it, Brother Si-hwan, what were you looking at so intently?”

“Our stage fancams uploaded on NeoTube.”

Friday night, as soon as episode 10’s main broadcast ended, all the stage fancams were released like a flood, as if they’d been waiting.

Among them, 〈Winning Shot〉 was by far the most popular.

While reading the comments on the full stage fancam, I was once again realizing how fans catch every single detail of ours.

—[00:30] When the intro played and all the kids snapped their heads up, I got chills

└Chae Ha-ru should be center forever seriously T_T. The definitive center material

└I thought he’d only suit purely boyish concepts, but this tough image fits him pretty well too. Face genius, agreed

└The center is the center, but since none of the members here are lacking visually, they blend together even better. If Ha-ru had been alone, it might have felt too standout

—※Tips to enjoy this beautiful stage even more※

If you look closely, each member has a different gun-shooting style during the gunshot sections

[00:55] Seong-hwi sniper rifle

[01:25] Kang Seon-woo bazooka?

[01:52] Ma Si-hyeok sideways revolver

[02:23] Yu Ha-woon machine gun

[03:07] Ryu Si-hwan dual pistols

[03:29] Ha Sang-hun shotgun

[03:48] Chae Ha-ru one-hand pistol

└The dedication to timestamp each one is insane

└Wow I didn’t notice when I was just watching lmao. But after seeing this comment and rewatching, they really are all different

└I thought this was the key point choreography while watching, but apparently quite a few people missed it lol

└Everything was good, but Hwi’s trigger-pulling pose was the sexiest…

└Hwan-father’s dual pistols were the coolest

The view count our group stage video gained in just one night was… a whopping 500,000 views.

At this pace, it could even surpass the 20 million total views of the pre-released concept song 〈HIT〉.

Perhaps due to a trickle-down effect, the view counts for individual trainee fancams also exploded.

If there was one thing worth noting, it was Ma Si-hyeok’s fancam ranked below my video, which had the highest view count.

‘Who would have thought one unbuttoned button would have this kind of ripple effect.’

Of course, I also intended to utilize the advantages of Ma Si-hyeok’s physique.

But the fundamental intention was to let Ma Si-hyeok on stage hear cheers. To show him that countless people were supporting him.

I hadn’t expected such a small gesture would have enough influence to shake up the entire board like this.

—Ma Si-hyeok shoulder round-trip taxi fare 115,000 won, need to fill up gas twice

—[02:35] I won’t say much, just watch. If you’ve already seen it, watch it again. Just watch, please

└So this is the original scene that took over the entire Bluebird timeline LOL. Damn sexy though

—I was originally avoiding ISL because I was worried about getting too immersed in a survival idol, but after witnessing this, I’m in serious contemplation… Should I watch this or not… Is this trainee in a safe debut zone by any chance?

└Yes yes yes and triple more yes. Our Si-hyeok ranked 10th at the last ranking ceremony and has been continuously rising without dropping even once since ISL 2 started, he’s rising stock material, and due to a crazy hater he was forced to reveal his extremely clean personality, really. It’s hard to find this kind of beast-idol style male idol these days… Please give our retriever your precious vote

└Your sincerity is swaying me. I guess I have no choice but to walk the forbidden path

└You won’t regret it!!!

Just looking at the comment count, there were far more than on my fancam.

Well, I’m not the type to get excited or dejected over every single number.

But it made me curious how high Ma Si-hyeok’s ranking would climb at this 3rd ranking announcement ceremony.

After leaving NeoTube, I habitually went to the 〈ISL 2〉 homepage through my usual route.

Since other communities are so active, most people flock there. But hardcore fans still use the homepage’s free board to occasionally conduct opinion polls, making it the best source.

While browsing through the free board posts for a few dozen seconds.

I suddenly noticed a common theme repeatedly appearing in the posts.

“Please make the group benefit privileges equal to Season 1…?”

“What did you say, Brother?”

At my unconscious mutter, Seong-hwi immediately jumped onto my bed.

I was so used to my bed being invaded that I didn’t complain at all.

However, there was another victim.

{Can’t that human give a heads up before acting, seriously!}

Cerberus, who had been sprawled comfortably at the head of my bed, hurriedly jumped down.

After sending Cerberus an apologetic signal, I slightly turned my phone sideways so Seong-hwi could also see the free board posts.

“Not just simple round advancement benefits, but they’re all saying to let us appear on the 〈Music K Showdown〉 special stage that was provided in Season 1, right?”

“I guess it’s because the group battle benefit shown in the preview at the end of episode 10 was different from Season 1.”

“Definitely… In Season 1, the 3rd team battle victory benefit was being able to appear as a special stage on Music K Showdown’s live broadcast.”

Music K Showdown live broadcast.

Along with the three major public broadcasters, KNet, which supports Korea’s music broadcasts, and Music K Showdown, which has been running on that KNet for a long time, maintains considerable viewership despite being a cable broadcast.

We had already pre-released the theme song 〈HIT〉 here during the very early stages of the broadcast.

Since we left such a good reaction with the 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉 stage, if we showed 〈Winning Shot〉 once more on a live music broadcast, the promotional effect would likely return multiplied.

The national managers, who weren’t new to the idol world, quickly grasped this point.

Even if our team took 1st place in the group, there were almost no people who could benefit through the ‘survival guarantee,’ so.

Our fans were already arguing that 〈Winning Shot〉, which only had trainees who had already entered the final round survival zone of the top 20, had almost no merit.

Therefore, petitions asking to ‘send the winning team to Music K Showdown like the previous operation method in Season 2 too’ literally took over the homepage.

“But what if the 〈Get High〉 team actually takes 1st place? With survival guarantee and if the production team accepts this petition, it would be like blowing your nose without lifting a finger.”

“The fans must be confident that won’t happen.”

I said that, but survival programs can always have variables burst out.

No matter how good the on-site atmosphere was, no matter how many popular members were positioned in one team, completely unexpected situations could arise anywhere.

But if I spin the wheel of happiness…

I recalled the 〈Winning Shot〉 full stage video that had been ranked as trending video #2 just a few minutes ago.

‘A real mega-hit would explode.’

* * *

“Between the 〈Winning Shot〉 team and 〈Get High〉 team. Which team will receive the group benefit.”

On the day vacation ended, filming for the 3rd ranking announcement ceremony immediately began.

Since today’s schedule was quite packed, even KNet, which would normally drag out this single announcement for an extremely long time, was picking up the pace.

I looked at the trainees being broadcast on the electronic display.

The expressions of the 〈Get High〉 team members on the other side of the screen were… well, to put it bluntly, not bright.

They probably checked public opinion during vacation too.

After confirming the scale of popularity focused on our team from multiple angles, they probably thought the goddess of victory wouldn’t smile on them.

Particularly, Park Chang-jung, who was holding his breath among the team members, had the palest complexion.

‘He knows this is the crossroads between life and death.’

Park Chang-jung’s public reputation had already fallen into the abyss long ago.

1 strike for massively screwing up during the 2nd team battle.

And 2 strikes for his unchanged behavior during the 3rd team battle, making the national managers frown.

If he managed to survive to the final round through luck, he wouldn’t dare access an internet browser for a while.

But if he couldn’t enjoy the privilege of survival guarantee, his rock-bottom reputation would obviously prevent him from even showing his business card in the top 20.

Either way, that guy was finished here.

“I’ll announce it right away. The team that will receive the honor of the 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉 group survival guarantee! It’s the 〈Winning Shot〉 team, congratulations!”

I could hear the sound of people behind me finally exhaling the breath they’d been holding.

And immediately they grabbed one trainee in the middle and started pulling at his face and shoulders.

“We’re alive, Brother Sang-hun!”

“Now you can just relax and watch!”

“Ow, ow, kids, my cheeks hurt.”

It seemed the other members had also been quite worried about Ha Sang-hun’s last ranking.

20th place, the survival cutoff line.

Since his position could mean drinking the bitter cup of elimination if vote counts fluctuated even slightly, Ha Sang-hun needed this survival guarantee more than anyone.

I also smiled happily and gave Ha Sang-hun’s back a firm pat.

“Brother Si-hwan. Control your strength a little.”

“Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean to hit that hard—”

“Wow, as expected, the Punch King’s power is unavoidable, huh?”

“Don’t tease me.”

While quickly silencing Seong-hwi’s cheeky comment, I received the microphone from the staff.

After leaving the typical thank-you comment to the national managers for allowing us to approach the ranking ceremony in a comfortable state, MC Go Hyeon-ju immediately moved on to the actual ranking announcement.

“As you all know, if you pass through this gateway ahead, only the final round awaits. That glorious round where this months-long journey will come to an end. After today, only 20 people will remain in this dorm.”

Everyone looked at the 20 seats placed on the stage with trembling eyes.

“19th place is trainee Choi Dong-kyung.”

This time too, 20th place was saved for last and the announcement started from 19th place.

Since I was thinking our team members would be called in the latter half anyway, I tried to loosen my tension slightly.

However, unfortunately, at that moment. Go Hyeon-ju threw out a meaningful comment.

“18th place trainee. How should we view this… It would be fair to say a somewhat unexpected turn has occurred.”