The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 8

“You’re the one who did 〈Spotlights〉 back then, right? I was really clapping hard when I saw that!”

“Haha… Thank you.”

“I’m much younger than you, so feel free to speak comfortably! Wow, but you’re really handsome…”

The small-framed trainee who suddenly appeared in front of me opened his mouth like a child and stared at me intently.

With his bright, round eyes and curly permed hair, the image of a poodle naturally came to mind.

It had been a while since I’d received such one-sided attention so openly, so I laughed awkwardly and stepped back slightly.

Then the permed-hair trainee stepped forward one pace to match my movement.

“I have something to say!”

“Haven’t you been talking by yourself this whole time…?”

“I heard from people around that you sing really well. Would it be too shameless to ask if you could help me a bit?”

Looking at the trainee boldly bowing his head, I desperately tried to remember his name.

I think I saw him during the level test. But his stage hadn’t been particularly impressive to my eyes, so I couldn’t even remember his last name.

“Ah, my name is Yu Ha-woon!”

As if reading my mind, Yu Ha-woon smiled brightly and bowed his head again.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Ryu Si-hwan.”

“Si-hwan is even cool in name!”

“Actually, I came to practice with my friends too.”

When they heard the word “friends,” the expressions of Kang Seon-woo and Ma Si-hyeok, who had been watching this situation with great interest from behind me, brightened instantly.

Adding Yu Ha-woon in front of me to them, I felt like a kindergarten teacher surrounded by children.

“So what I was thinking was, if it’s okay—”

“Great! Totally great!”

Before I could finish my words, Yu Ha-woon grabbed my hand.

His already large eyes opened even wider.

“—I was going to ask how about the three of us practicing together.”

I glanced toward Ma Si-hyeok.

Though we hadn’t known each other long, from observing Kang Seon-woo’s behavior, he seemed like the type who wasn’t shy around strangers, so pass.

My concern was Ma Si-hyeok, who carried a shyness passive with his large frame.

But somehow he seemed immune to this trainee, as he nodded toward me.

“I don’t mind.”

“Same here.”

“Wow! Thank you all!”

And just like that, my early strategy for 〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉 became completely useless.

Staying quiet, my ass.

While playing 〈HIT〉 on my phone, I checked the cameras placed throughout the practice room.

‘At first I didn’t want to stand out that much, but now I’ve suddenly become the practice group leader.’

I don’t know what kind of ridiculous editing this will turn into. But it seemed almost certain that the character Ryu Si-hwan would become popular from the very beginning.

‘I don’t know anymore either.’

I sighed internally and let go of the last string I was holding onto.

Fine, since it’s come to this, let’s just enjoy it.

* * *

“This is your one chance, so don’t miss it~”

“Oh, Si-hyeok! Your voice sounds much better!”

Three days before the final grade evaluation.

Ma Si-hyeok, who had been intensively taking Ryu Si-hwan’s vocal lessons during this time, sang the last line of the chorus with a voice that was better than before.

Min Si-hyeon, who had been writing various things with her pen, raised her eyebrows slightly and even gave praise.

“Th, thank you.”

“Well, it’s not quite at the level I’d call good singing yet, but compared to when I first heard you, it’s much improved.”

Ma Si-hyeok blushed and kept bowing his head. Then, as if he was very embarrassed about singing at the front of the practice room, he hurriedly returned to the seat next to me.

Though I can check on him often since he’s in the same class.

{Master, you know that Yu Ha-woon you asked about before.}

“This sounds weird to say. How was his scent?”

{Somehow ambiguous. It’s not a stuffy smell at all, you know? But somehow I feel drained. That friend, I get the feeling Master needs to look after him carefully.}

Yu Ha-woon had been bothering me a bit since I asked Cerberus about him.

When I first saw him in the practice room, he was practicing alone too.

I wondered if he hadn’t made friends here yet.

So I just brought all the people of interest to the practice room to observe them in one place.

Today too, Yu Ha-woon with his bright smile equipped bowed to Ma Si-hyeok who had followed behind me.

“Si-hwan, Si-hyeok, hello!”

“Yeah, did you sleep well?”

“N, nice to see you.”

Ma Si-hyeok also bowed his head to the younger brother who was two years his junior.

Then Yu Ha-woon, as if he couldn’t lose, bent his waist even more at a 90-degree angle.

I held my forehead looking at the two whose personalities were strangely similar.

“Are you guys just going to keep greeting each other?”

“Ah, no!”

“Oh, now that I think about it, where’s Seon-woo?”

“Ah, him? He went to talk with people he knows.”

Kang Seon-woo was also steadily forming connections with other major agency trainees he was acquainted with.

In some ways, it was one of the effective actions you could take in this kind of program, but I didn’t have the confidence to voluntarily step forward like that.

‘Doesn’t he get drained?’

“Then let’s practice hard today too, us!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I looked at Yu Ha-woon clenching both fists and Ma Si-hyeok agreeing with him, and returned to reality.

‘Who am I to say anything about anyone?’

Yu Ha-woon was 18 years old, which put him among the younger participants.

But when I heard his story, he was already an experienced trainee who had been at a small agency for two and a half years.

So he could follow the choreography well and had good learning ability.

But like Ma Si-hyeok, his vocals were disappointing. To be precise, he was the type who lacked breath control.

No matter how much easier idol songs are considered compared to other genres, when you do this simultaneously with choreography, you naturally get out of breath. When you get out of breath and fail at breath management, naturally the notes you should hit don’t come out either.

So what I instructed Yu Ha-woon to do was first build up his lung capacity so he wouldn’t be panting while dancing to 〈HIT〉.

“Gonna make it HIT!”

“You’ve practiced a lot. Sing like this so at least the pitch doesn’t drop.”

“Huff, huff. I think I understand what you mean!”

“Then shall we all try from the beginning together?”

When you focus on one thing, time passes quickly.

Looking at the clock hands that had already passed midnight, I stopped the music.

“Good, let’s stop here for today. Good work.”

“Thank you so much again today!”

“Practice well tomorrow too. Music recording is coming up soon, so let’s do our best.”

“Yes!”

Before returning to my room with Ma Si-hyeok, I watched Yu Ha-woon’s figure walking alone down the opposite corridor.

When I stopped walking, Ma Si-hyeok tapped my arm.

“Hey?”

“It’s nothing. Let’s go.”

The remaining three days passed in an instant, and the day of the long-awaited final grade evaluation dawned.

Yesterday afternoon, all the music recording for 〈HIT〉 was completed. Since all 100 voices would be mixed together anyway so you couldn’t tell who was who, the other trainees probably sang comfortably.

But I, who was solely responsible for the high note climax that appears in the latter half, recorded with some pressure.

Looking at it arranged, it’s an incredibly good situation for the participant Ryu Si-hwan.

In a group theme song where individual voices would definitely be buried, I could definitely imprint my voice on the public.

Since I have a solo part, the main platform is probably confirmed.

Thanks to the teacher image that was formed regardless of my current will, I’m likely to efficiently secure broadcast screen time too.

However, receiving such attention can’t be said to be entirely good.

The more a participant stands out from the beginning, the more pressure they face.

It means that every action and word I make on 〈ISL 2〉 from now on might be monitored by millions of people.

A situation where you don’t know what might happen if you slip up even once.

I had tried to control things as much as possible because I didn’t want to take such risks.

“Trainees, everyone. Did you all have a good week?”

“Yes.”

“Haha, that’s a refreshing yet not-so-refreshing answer. Then from now on, we’ll begin that stage where your final grades will be determined, the final grade evaluation!”

I applauded unconsciously along with the other participants while quietly making a resolution in my head.

As I’ve said before, there’s really no way back now.

If the path to retreat is blocked.

I’ll break through head-on.

* * *

“Participant Choi Dong-kyung’s final grade is C. Thank you for your hard work.”

“Thank you!”

“We’ll take a short break!”

With the trainee who expressed gratitude despite his low grade being the last, the judges briefly went down below the podium following the staff’s guidance for a short break.

“Why are we getting so nervous watching this too?”

“Senior Jin-hak, you did this last season too.”

“That’s right, but somehow this time, the way things are being conducted and various other things seem to be draining my energy more than then.”

There was good reason for Lee Jin-hak to click his tongue like this.

First, based on last year, the final grade evaluation had been provided as videos.

The judges had individually watched the trainees’ videos, then held discussions with each other before placing grades.

This year, it was conducted in real-time rather than videos ‘for more on-site feeling and definitive evaluation.’

And not in a setting where only the judges watched, but on an open stage where the remaining 99 participants were all watching.

At this point, it seemed like the production team of 〈ISL 2〉 had deliberately decided to completely drain the participants’ blood.

What made it even more vicious was that they didn’t set the order in advance, but used a format where MC Go Hyeon-ju picked on the spot.

In other words, since you don’t know when your name will be called, you have to be tense at all times.

It wasn’t surprising that participants who couldn’t overcome such extreme pressure kept appearing.

Some judges who had conducted training sessions together for a week couldn’t hide their disappointment at participants who showed stages much worse than usual.

That’s how many were satisfied with low grades without fully demonstrating their real abilities.

Some judges who had been continuously evaluating stages below expectations were starting to get sluggish.

“How many have we done now?”

“About 30, I think.”

“Still a long way to go.”

Whether it was fate’s prank or not, MC Go Hyeon-ju had been avoiding all the trainees the judges had been eyeing and only picking lower-ranked trainees.

Hoping for a trainee who could refreshingly change the atmosphere, everyone finished their short break and returned to their seats.

“I’ll pick the next participant. The next order for the final grade evaluation is…”

Go Hyeon-ju, who had drawn one name tag, looked at the contents inside and smiled faintly.

“This is a trainee who gave us a fresh reversal with outstanding skills during the last level test. It’s participant Ryu Si-hwan.”

When Ryu Si-hwan’s name was called, several judges’ expressions visibly changed.

Especially Min Si-hyeon, who had selected Ryu Si-hwan for the main vocal position of 〈HIT〉, couldn’t hide her anticipation.

Lee Jin-hak, sitting next to her, whispered to Min Si-hyeon.

“Did he do that well? Well enough to raise the key of 〈HIT〉?”

“Senior, you’ll know when you hear it.”

From Lee Jin-hak’s standpoint, it was understandable to be puzzled. After all, there had never been cases of suddenly changing survival audition theme songs to match a participant’s abilities.

But the moment he saw the expression of Ryu Si-hwan who had come on stage.

“Hello.”

His puzzlement disappeared instantly.

Even though he was standing alone on such a vast set.

Even though there were 99 trainees looking only at him.

The relaxed smile he had shown during the level test was still there. No, it was actually calmer and filled with confidence.

“Si-hwan. Have you been well?”

“I’ve been very well. I met many good friends and being able to sing and dance like this every day is better than anything.”

“Haha, other participants interviewed that the demanding schedule was tough. I guess it wasn’t for you, Si-hwan?”

“I was happy every moment. I don’t think I’ve ever been more joyful than now.”

Seeing that overflowing, explosive leisure, the judge in charge of rap even burst out laughing.

“If you say it like that, we can’t not see your stage. Let’s start right away.”

“Yes.”

When Ryu Si-hwan nodded, the accompaniment to 〈HIT〉, which the judges had heard sickeningly often, began.

And the moment they saw his eyes as he met the intro.

Everyone couldn’t help but be shocked.

First among them was the judge who had guided dance training for a week.

He even dropped his pen from his hand and unconsciously muttered to himself.

“What the hell is that kid’s identity.”