The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 73

First, the 10 people who selected the Deep House genre of 〈Royal Road〉 all gathered in one practice room.

As usual, we were provided with L-shaped stickers and microphone-shaped stickers.

“Huh, but weren’t there supposed to be three originally?”

Chae Ha-ru, who had stepped forward as representative to receive the stickers and returned, stared blankly at the two stickers.

I gazed at the stickers in his hands and realized that the production team had another hidden card up their sleeves.

‘The crown sticker. The sticker that represents the center position is missing.’

As if reading my thoughts, the main writer who had accompanied us to our practice room added an explanation.

“As you can see, no center sticker was provided.”

“What!?”

“The center position hasn’t been decided yet. Over the next 5 days, while you practice together, you should think about which trainee would suit the center position for this song best, then select the center through individual voting among yourselves.”

“Ah……”

As soon as the additional instructions were given, everyone quickly exchanged glances.

Nothing showed on the surface.

But the battle of wits was fierce enough that anyone in the same space could easily notice it.

〈Royal Road〉 was the last mission song that could be presented in 〈ISL 2〉.

After this stage ended, there would be no more opportunities.

The guys who hadn’t managed to claim center yet would naturally be greedy for it.

Those who had tasted the sweetness of being center wouldn’t be able to give this up easily either.

No matter how fairly they distributed part time, the weight and aggro attached to the modifier “center” was different.

This had already been proven by our team’s stages.

‘I didn’t know Chae Ha-ru’s ranking would fluctuate this wildly either.’

Chae Ha-ru had stood in the center position from 〈Volt〉 to 〈Winning Shot〉, beating out formidable members.

As a result, he steadily accumulated individual benefits while building up buzz on the internet.

All those indicators were directly connected to the 6th place ranking that would be attached next to his name.

With such clear data available, it was obvious everyone would want this center position.

“Then let’s start with the main vocal sticker.”

Chae Ha-ru attached the main vocal sticker that had already been decided during position preferences to my chest.

Then he immediately pulled off the L sticker while glancing around.

“Ah, and should we decide the leader position right now too?”

“That’s already a foregone conclusion.”

“We don’t really need to think about it since it’s us.”

“Si-hwan, hurry up and stick out your chest!”

“Huh?”

I was unanimously selected as leader again in the confusion.

As the other trainees sent enthusiastic applause, I could hear comments like “he’s the guy who even tamed Seong-hwi.”

‘Did I unintentionally build up a leader image too?’

When I was actually active as Black Shot before my regression, I was just positioned to silently support from behind as a vocalist.

But this time, it seemed I was destined to wear the leader’s crown several times.

I stood up from my seat with both stickers attached and bowed my head briefly.

“Then, please take care of me well until the end.”

Since the topic had come up like this, I needed to proceed quickly here.

If I didn’t, I might forget or other opinions might come up.

“It might feel a bit early, but how about those who want to be center raise their hands? I think it would be good to confirm by taking turns at the center position during practice. I think it would be best to make a list first.”

“I’ll pass for now.”

Surprisingly, Chae Ha-ru, who had been a strong center candidate, readily declared his withdrawal.

Everyone looked shocked.

“I’ve already done center many times, and the pressure was considerable every time I put on the crown. And since this is the last stage, I think it’s right to yield the center to someone who hasn’t tried it yet.”

It might not have been intentional, but Chae Ha-ru definitely secured his image while giving reasonable justification.

I also raised my hand and voluntarily gave up the center position.

If I acted up about wanting center when I already had two stickers attached, viewers would find it ridiculous.

That’s what I thought, but I was a bit surprised that many of them looked genuinely disappointed.

“C-can I try it once?”

And someone truly unexpected entered the center competition.

I looked at Yu Ha-woon, who was radiating an extremely determined gaze.

‘During the last ranking ceremony and now too. He seems to have steeled his resolve.’

For Yu Ha-woon, this had become an opportunity to throw his last winning move.

He hadn’t made mistakes and had even received a growth narrative in the middle of 〈ISL 2〉, so I thought he would only draw an upward curve.

But seeing his dropped ranking after 〈Winning Shot〉, where he could confidently say he had done the most perfect stage, he must have made a decision.

If he didn’t write a reversal story from here, debut might be difficult.

I suddenly recalled Yu Ha-woon’s image of being at a loss, unable to even memorize the choreography for 〈HIT〉.

Comparing then and now……

Yu Ha-woon had really grown tremendously in many ways over these few months.

Knowing that mindset well, I gave him a short, firm nod.

“Good. Then besides Ha-woon, is there anyone else?”

“I want to try once too!”

“Me too……!”

In the end, a total of 5 people were listed as center candidates for the Deep House genre of 〈Royal Road〉.

Most of the essential processes were almost finished.

Now only the most important matter and daunting task remained.

‘I think it’s time to bring out old memories.’

“Now, we need to create choreography.”

* * *

While the trainees were lighting fires for the finale of 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉.

Outside the filming location, flames were slowly spreading around one topic.

[I’m telling you, this is definitely the prophet from last time who was right about the headcount and money being suspicious!]

That prophet who captured the ISL homepage banner last week saying the headcount and money were suspicious

But when I checked the homepage again today, that banner saying 〈Your precious money can become someone’s hope.〉 had moved to the very top, beating out everything else as the first slot lmao

And I remember after the broadcast preview, Sister Hyeon-ju came out and said something similar, can any fan who remembers mention it in the comments

―Sister Hyeon-ju said exactly what was written on that banner yeah, that your money is more precious than ever

└Maybe it’s because timing-wise the final ranking ceremony ended and only the finale is left, so they want us to donate without holding back during the live broadcast??

└Was the supporter shop open during live broadcasts in Season 1? I’m a newbie who joined this season so I don’t know well

└Yeah they removed all other benefits and only left the most basic 5,000 vote benefit item

└What, then the reply above is definitely right lol, asking us to support well until the end while watching the live broadcast

―That’s all fine but what’s the point of not announcing the headcount until now? That’s the most suspicious part

└Maybe the production team is also just unconsciously thinking in the flow of consciousness like 11-member debut confirmed~ lol

└Too obvious a story to even bother mentioning?

└That’s absurd but it makes sense so it’s kind of annoying lmao

└Friends, no matter how much 11-member idol debuts are the standard rule for survival shows, what broadcasting company could forget to announce the headcount? That’s definitely not it

└Then what does that bait that keeps coming up point to?

―Going back to the very beginning, I think what the first prophet fan said is right personally lol, they’ll definitely do something with money and headcount

└If that’s true, it’s too scary…… What about people who already spent all their money?

└Exactly, if they kept telling us to support your idols through the supporter shop during broadcasts, but we were actually supposed to save money? That’s almost deception level

└If it’s KNet they’d do that and more……

└Lmao everyone’s not thinking straight because this season is relatively mild lol, KNet was originally a broadcasting company that specialized in these kinds of backstabbing deceptions

The small spark that was the connection between ‘headcount’ and ‘money.’

But as time passed and the possibility of these two being connected emerged from various places, it was transforming into hot gossip among national managers.

Procedures different from other survival programs they’d seen.

Originally, debut headcount is a topic that gets nailed down hard from episode 1.

That way people can roughly grasp who can debut and which members to support as a group.

But for some reason, 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉 had not revealed the confirmed debut headcount until now.

Were the production team hoping national managers would notice like this?

Or did they simply hope to raise their own buzz by rolling such bait coolly?

‘If it’s the KNet I know, the latter case is a bit more plausible.’

Song Ji-won, who had finished work and returned home, sighed while carefully reading the community posts.

Her phone already had heated discussions on the same topic in progress.

[Kang Eun-young: Anyway I’m going to save at least some money]

[Jo Ju-hyeon: Hey I already spent it all yesterday sending benefits to Si-hwan, what do I do]

[Jang Han-na: LOL how do you handle it, you have to earn from this prediction what else]

[Jo Ju-hyeon: No this old lady, I need money to bet to make money from predictions]

[Jang Han-na: Oh right sorry]

[Kang Eun-young: So what will Sister Ji-won do?]

Song Ji-won, who had once been arguably the richest among all national managers, was in a state where quite a bit of money had disappeared after sending Ryu Si-hwan the ‘All Team Members Designation Rights.’

Still, since she hadn’t squandered everything, she had a few million money left.

‘……I feel like I need to distribute it a bit better.’

KNet’s characteristics and the fact that debut headcount hadn’t been revealed yet made her feel uneasy.

There would definitely be major variables waiting for national managers in the final live broadcast.

But she couldn’t just sit out while others were sending benefit votes in the final rush.

[Song Ji-won: I’ll try to gather as much money as possible from this ranking ceremony prediction and keep some until the end since I’m anxious]

[Kang Eun-young: Sister thinks that way too, I thought it was reasonable too]

[Jang Han-na: Ugh I’m worried about what to do too…]

[Jo Ju-hyeon: Rich people having happy worries while I’m just going to suck my fingers]

While sending messages like that, a new best post appeared on the SNS community she had open on her computer screen.

Song Ji-won clicked the red [New!] mark and confirmed that an announcement everyone would welcome had appeared, then quickly wrote a comment.

[New!: Hey official announcement dropped + 112]

(Homepage capture photo)

They’ll apply the same standards as Season 1 to the team that won the 3rd team battle and let them appear on this week’s Music K Showdown special stage! I left the link too so everyone check it out

―Right, this is how it should be normally

―They cause trouble well but at least they listen well, that KNet

―Wait but this week’s K-Show is Thursday? And if ISL episode 11 is Friday, won’t people watching the broadcast get forced spoilers?

└Oh, you’re right? Is this okay?? It’s the ranking ceremony turn but revealing which kids got survival guarantees in advance would be bad

└You watching KNet broadcasts for a day or two lol, the answer’s obvious just looking. If they’re brazenly doing advance releases like this, it means these kids won’t greatly affect overall rankings

└Oh that makes sense, then we can assume Si-hwan’s team got 1st place?

└Yeah I think so

└Wow I definitely have to watch K-Show live lol, we can see Winning Shot again!!

Song Ji-won smiled looking at the experienced replies.

If they’re really doing advance releases because receiving survival guarantees wouldn’t greatly affect overall rankings, then there’s a very high possibility Ryu Si-hwan’s team took 1st place.

If they could show a stage matching the 3rd round’s quality on the official music broadcast Music K Showdown too.

‘I can already hear the sound of more people flowing in!’