The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 7

When two participants said Ryu Si-hwan’s name in unison, Min Si-hyeon tried her best to manage her expression.

‘Good. At least the kids have some sense!’

Though it wasn’t planned from the beginning, Min Si-hyeon had wanted to hear this high note part with Ryu Si-hwan’s voice.

So she had somehow wanted to get that heavy-handed trainee to come forward.

Thanks to the quick-witted trainees, the strategy succeeded.

“I’m not sure if I’ll do well…”

‘Yeah, you’ll definitely do well.’

Ryu Si-hwan still hesitated and laughed awkwardly, but Min Si-hyeon didn’t notice such polite behavior.

Because another idea was already floating in her head.

“Would you like to read the lyrics once before singing?”

“Um, no. I’ve read the lyrics a lot in the back, so I think I’d be fine doing it right away.”

If he was going to reveal his true colors in one go like this. What was he acting shy for?

Min Si-hyeon nodded to the pianist sitting next to her. Then the climax accompaniment of 〈HIT〉 filled the practice room through the synthesizer.

The moment she instinctively tapped her fingers on her thigh, counting the beat.

With a really leisurely face, Ryu Si-hwan opened his mouth and came in at the exact timing.

“Feel the wind, don’t miss this moment

Put all of your heart into it

Powerfully HIT!”

This climax part in the high vocal range of the 2nd octave Si goes up so easily.

Though Min Si-hyeon was still on the younger side among the other judges/trainers, when it came to vocal ability alone, she was praised as dignified.

So she had worked directly with the composer who made 〈HIT〉 while also singing the guide version. Since she had naturally sung it herself, she knew well what parts this song emphasized.

-Shouldn’t theme songs like this be made easy for trainees to sing?

-That’s right, but you never know, you know? Some kid who sings amazingly might appear from somewhere. If we give it to a kid like that, I think it would be a section where freshness would completely explode.

-What if such a kid doesn’t appear?

-Then we can slightly modify the vocal range when the time comes. Lowering the highest notes isn’t that difficult a problem.

The composer had forced through the high note of 2nd octave Si while saying such things.

Honestly, Min Si-hyeon had been half-believing his choice until recently. No matter how big a project it was, if there was someone who could sing like this live while dancing, they would have debuted long ago.

But seeing this participant singing in front of her eyes right now, she felt really moved.

“Wow…”

“He goes up so comfortably.”

“Amazing, he’s not vocal A-grade for nothing.”

“Didn’t you see his level test performance?”

Exclamations quietly poured out among the Class 3 trainees too.

There were also several kids who seemed completely mesmerized.

But the person himself still showed an awkward smile.

“Was that okay?”

At such an innocent question without malice, Min Si-hyeon momentarily wondered how to respond.

‘Should I say he did too well outright? No, it might not be good to do that from the start. Ah, but if I want to do what I thought earlier, it might be unavoidable?’

Still hiding such complicated feelings, she spoke calmly.

“Your breathing wasn’t lacking and you went up well. Did you learn to use diaphragmatic breathing by yourself?”

“I kept practicing.”

“Hmm… Would you like to try once more?”

Even on the second attempt, Ryu Si-hwan’s high note handling was really clean itself.

There were no parts that went flat, and unlike other participants, there was no feeling of straining his voice.

After confirming that it wasn’t just beginner’s luck, Min Si-hyeon slowly opened her mouth.

“Si-hwan.”

“Yes.”

“Could you try raising the key just a little bit here? I think you could do it.”

“From here… even higher?”

It was the expected reaction.

To raise the key in a theme song, no less.

If it were a general ballad song, it would be an imaginable request, but this was clearly a ‘dance song.’ You had to digest dancing while singing for over 3 minutes.

Unless you were really properly prepared, it would be a difficulty level that would make you think you’d come to hell.

But Min Si-hyeon’s intuition was telling her accurately.

‘This kid has more than enough for this.’

Setting everything else aside, Ryu Si-hwan’s lung capacity seemed to be three times that of others.

During the level test, he had finished 〈Spotlights〉 without panting once. Even now, after singing this high note part twice in a row, he had a calm expression.

“It won’t go up that high. Just one step up to hit 3rd octave Do and come down.”

“3rd octave Do.”

“Yeah, this last ‘Hit’ part. You just need to hit the note and it’s over, so you don’t need to drag out your breathing for long either, so it’s fine.”

When Ryu Si-hwan showed contemplative eyes again, Min Si-hyeon inhaled and briefly added.

“I suggested it because I thought you could definitely do it.”

At her sincere words, Ryu Si-hwan flinched slightly.

“If you think so, I’ll try it once.”

“Good, good. Then you just need to raise the last ending note, so let’s listen to the accompaniment first.”

“Yes.”

When the synthesizer sound played, the trainees who had been stirring for a moment became silent.

Ryu Si-hwan slowly nodded his head while calmly listening to the slightly raised climax part.

“How is it?”

“I’ll try it once.”

“Since you answer right away, I feel refreshed too.”

So the high note part accompaniment that went up to 3rd octave Do flowed out again.

“Powerfully HIT!”

Without a single mistake, everything was finished on the first attempt.

Even if it wasn’t a long sustained high note, this was possible in one try?

Min Si-hyeon couldn’t help but laugh.

“This actually works.”

* * *

The scheduled group practice time ended.

After eating a late dinner at 8 PM, all participants returned to their rooms to have rest time.

‘I have no idea whether this went badly or well.’

After finishing my shower, I sat on the bed and just stared blankly at the wall.

My head was so complicated I felt like I was going crazy.

Originally, my strategy was to moderately catch the viewers’ attention in the beginning to build recognition, then properly display my skills during the 1st team battle or 2nd team battle.

But now the entire development had suddenly turned upside down.

First, ranking 9th in the level test was also a problem.

Having suddenly caught the vocal trainer’s attention, I was in crisis of showing tremendous presence in the theme song 〈HIT.〉

-Looking at the trainees so far, Si-hwan, there’s no kid who suits this position as well as you. You could solidify your main vocal position like this, right?

I was already anxious when she asked me to try singing the high note part as a test.

Since I even sang it with the key raised one level in front of the entire class. Now there’s no turning back.

{You were thinking it was a complete strategy failure, right, Master?}

“Oh, very accurate.”

{Hmm, but from what I feel, Master didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just that the people around you think too well of you.}

“That’s also not something that goes according to my will.”

{Since it’s come to this, let’s enjoy it! Ah, and you know what, Master.}

I blankly watched Cerberus bring his front paw to his lips like a real person talking.

I’d reached the point where I didn’t even feel dissonance anymore.

{The two people who became roommates with Master have very clean scents. I told you earlier too, right?}

“That’s true, but they might have approached for image-making purposes.”

{If they harbored such dark intentions, my nose would smell something rotten. But that human called Kang Seon-woo doesn’t smell rotten. At least it means he’s sincere. And that human called Ma Si-hyeok we saw at first is the same.}

While I was slightly pondering Cerberus’s words.

“I bought snacks!”

“Se, Seon-woo. Be careful. The snacks might all fall like that.”

The protagonists who caused this commotion burst into the room.

Just like the judge who helped my reincarnation in hell intervened, the roommate assignment was also strange.

In the arrangement divided by class into 3/3/4, exactly me, Kang Seon-woo, and Ma Si-hyeok came to use one room.

Kang Seon-woo put down five bags of snacks on the bed and smiled brightly.

“Practice is practice, but we still need to eat well and play well. Right?”

Whether he was thoroughly brainwashed during that short time of stopping by the convenience store, Ma Si-hyeok vigorously nodded next to him.

‘…Looking at it this way, Cerberus’s words seem really right.’

For some reason, I felt like I would have a lasting relationship with these guys.

“If you eat snacks at night, it all turns to fat.”

“Hey, it’s not like we’re eating chicken, just snacks. It’s fine, it’s fine! When I was practicing at BK, I secretly did all this snacking around.”

“I’ll eat well.”

Ma Si-hyeok, who always avoided eye contact while looking only at the ground, seemed to quickly adapt to the atmosphere as he was the first to open snacks.

‘I don’t know either. I’ll just practice a bit more later and sleep.’

It was hard to refuse the sweet scent of snacks.

I popped peanut snacks into my mouth while slightly relaxing.

“How was practice for everyone?”

“What’s there to say, it was tough.”

“It was tough.”

The responses that came back were the same too.

“Dancing is somewhat manageable to follow, but I’m not good at vocals. Maybe if it were rap or composition.”

“I also major in dance, so singing was really difficult.”

The problems were the same too.

I chewed peanuts in my mouth while having consultation time with my roommates.

“Singing skills can’t improve noticeably in a short period. Especially since we only have 6 days, you’ll probably need to change your goals differently.”

“Goals?”

“To explain easily.”

What are trainees’ goals? Why do they need to learn this theme song, 〈HIT,〉 within the remaining time?

“Participants are clearly not practicing this ‘to show on music broadcasts.’ That’s the production team’s goal. We need to prepare this song for the upcoming evaluation, right?”

“Final grade placement…”

As if understanding my words, Ma Si-hyeok nodded.

“Right, final grade placement. The reason we need to learn 〈HIT〉 is exactly that. Proving how much our dance/singing skills have ‘improved’ during this short time. This should be our goal. The judges will know too. That it’s impossible to do perfect live in one week. Then we need to at least show ourselves completing the song to the end without major mistakes.”

One of the essential educations of survival programs.

Understanding the needs of the production team and viewers is more important than anything.

“People who will watch this broadcast will expect how desperate we are for debut and how much we can work hard. Then we need to satisfy those expectations. No matter how hard it is for me, if I prove to the judges that I desperately worked hard for this grade evaluation, that would be successful in its own way.”

Originally, I didn’t have the intention to help like this.

Whether it was because of Cerberus’s words, I was unknowingly giving sincere advice.

“Hearing it, it’s definitely right.”

Kang Seon-woo, who had been quietly listening to my words, patted my shoulder.

“I knew it from the first feeling. Si-hwan, you’re really similar to me in personality! People with leadership and excellent analytical skills like this are the best.”

“It hurts.”

“Hahaha! Hey, complaining about this much.”

Seeing his hearty laughing face, this guy seemed to have decided to establish an image of ‘good friend and partner’ with me.

“…Then there’s no time.”

Ma Si-hyeok, who was eating snacks, suddenly got up from his seat.

Seeing him even take out his piercings from his ears and put them down at the head of the bed, the atmosphere didn’t seem ordinary.

“If I want to show at least completing the song like Si-hwan said, I need to practice even during rest time like this. I… really have no confidence in singing.”

Looking at Ma Si-hyeok’s eyes, there seemed to be a heat that wasn’t there before.

No matter how you look at it, this is the nuance of going to practice alone until dawn.

‘This is a good opportunity.’

Since I was already in a situation where I made some kind of image with Kang Seon-woo, it wouldn’t matter if I pushed one more tempo here.

I also put down my snacks and started putting on my workout clothes.

“You’re going to the practice room, right? Let’s go together. I’ll help you as much as I can.”

“Re, really?”

“Of course, would I joke about it?”

“Thank you!”

“If you two go out like this, I have no choice but to follow too.”

Before going out of the room, when I turned my head, Cerberus was waving both hands saying have a good trip.

Isn’t that just a person, not a dog?

As we got closer to the practice room, music could be heard.

“Other kids seem to have come already.”

“Right.”

I guess everyone thinks similarly.

They must have felt crisis from the first day, thinking they’d be eliminated immediately at this rate.

As soon as we opened the practice room door where the accompaniment of 〈HIT〉 was loudly playing.

“Huh? Oh!”

One trainee who was dancing fiercely near the entrance saw my face and came running over.

And then he said.

“It’s the totally handsome guy who sings well too!”

What kind of situation is this now.