The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 81

Even though I had watched the reruns of 〈Idol Stove League Season 1〉 several times and knew it well, live recording was harder than I could have imagined.

“I’ll quickly fix the makeup and go!”

The styling team, who had to do breathtaking brushwork in this cramped makeshift waiting room set up below the narrow stage, probably felt the same way.

If Cerberus had been here…… he probably would have actually suffocated to death.

Fortunately, Cerberus said he would wait obediently in my dorm room until the final stage was completely finished.

What did he say again. When I told him the filming would take at least 4 hours, he was horrified and said ‘I’ll just sleep, Master!’

I gently closed my eyes while getting my sweat-soaked makeup fixed before the final debut member count announcement.

‘Today feels most similar to living in hell.’

The stamina I had naturally built up while experiencing all sorts of incidents in hell was still supporting me well, but this was a separate issue from pure physical strength.

It was something I had already felt during rehearsals, but when the stage equipment is too well-made, that becomes its own form of torture.

Just moving around small positions on stage gives you a headache, but you have to ride lifts down and then prepare while maintaining formation to get to where other lifts are located.

Of course, as a result, it created a magnificent stage that drew huge cheers from the audience.

‘Yeah, I should be satisfied with that.’

While my dedicated coordinator was beating a cushion with combative energy, I heard Seong-hwi’s voice from behind.

“Ah, that was insanely hard. At first, riding the lifts was fun, but now I’m sick of it.”

“You shouldn’t say that when we still have the hardest part left.”

“Ahaha, but I’m still good at just standing still.”

“How annoying.”

That’s right.

As anyone could predict, the final debut member announcement for 〈ISL 1〉 had also taken an incredibly long time.

At first, they called names within 10 minutes, but as the rankings got higher, the MC dragged out the time more and more.

Eventually, the bizarre phenomenon occurred where an hour and a half was consumed just on the debut member announcement alone.

Today was bad, but it had been even worse – it definitely wouldn’t end faster than that.

“But you can relax a bit, can’t you, Brother Si-hwan.”

“I’m just as nervous as anyone else.”

“Come on, that’s a lie. Brother, honestly speaking, don’t you think debut is basically confirmed?”

Seong-hwi, who had lowered his voice and whispered sweetly, tapped my shoulder.

My face was fixed straight ahead so I couldn’t see his expression, but I could easily imagine his cheekbones raised high up.

“If you maintained 1st place until the 3rd ranking announcement ceremony, it would be stranger to drop out of the debut members.”

“……I won’t particularly deny it.”

“There are no cameras here anyway, Brother. You don’t need to be mindful.”

What about the 30+ coordinators here though.

I sighed and tried to ignore Seong-hwi’s words.

Honestly speaking, just as Seong-hwi said, the probability of me maintaining a high ranking and succeeding in final debut was close to 100%.

There was no way everything I had built up until now would crumble in a single moment.

That’s exactly why I needed to be even more careful with my words in a place without cameras like this.

Who knows. Later on, posts with titles like ‘I was on the 〈ISL 2〉 stylist team~’ might go up.

I didn’t want to create strange controversies at this point.

Fortunately, Ma Si-hyeok, who had finished getting his makeup fixed on the opposite side, came over to ask a question that broke the flow.

“The debut member count…… how many do you think it’ll be?”

“If Brother Si-hwan knew that, wouldn’t he have already been caught for internal manipulation, Si-hyeok?”

“……I’m being serious right now.”

Ma Si-hyeok answered in an almost sinking tone to Seong-hwi’s refreshing reply.

I unconsciously turned my head slightly and saw that his shoulders seemed more drooped than usual.

“You still can’t turn your head!”

“Ah, sorry.”

After getting scolded by the coordinator, my touch-up work was completed.

The sticky feeling from earlier had definitely decreased a lot.

While putting on the uniform jacket I had hung on the chair, I briefly answered the question Ma Si-hyeok had asked earlier.

“Probably not that many.”

“I thought so……”

“If it were a different method, maybe, but once they opened up sponsorship like this, I think it can’t help but be few. Looking at posts viewers have written, the prevailing opinion was that everyone spent their money during the 3rd ranking announcement ceremony.”

“7~8 people at most?”

I wasn’t stating the exact number, but Kang Seon-woo patted Ma Si-hyeok’s back with a faint smile.

“Dude, you still had a pretty high ranking. If you really think the capacity is 7~8 people, you can get in comfortably too. What place were you last time.”

“7th place.”

“See. Don’t think unnecessary thoughts, and let’s get ready to go up now.”

After finishing the final individual mic test, we stood side by side on the lift.

Coming right below the stage, the people’s cheers and dazzling flashing lights approached even more vividly.

‘Soon everything will be decided.’

* * *

……Or so I thought.

15 minutes have passed now, and the member count hasn’t even been announced yet.

The large screen had this message stuck on it.

[*Currently tallying results.*]

It seemed like compiling the results was taking some time since the massive events of nationwide text voting and draft sponsorship had proceeded simultaneously.

Rather, the trainees who had gone up on the square platform looked calm, but the national managers who came to the scene seemed to be in more of a panic state.

‘The debut member count announcement should come first, but that’s something they decided with their own hands.’

At this point, I was getting curious too.

Just how much money had been gathered.

After about 3 more minutes passed, MC Go Hyeon-ju finally picked up the microphone.

“〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉, the long-awaited final. The debut member count that the national managers across the nation personally selected. We will now reveal those results.”

Let’s quickly move past announcements like this since you’ll have more time-dragging to do later.

“You should be able to see 11 thrones behind me. We set the upper limit for 〈ISL 2〉’s debut member count at 11 people. If the national managers had put exactly 55 billion money into draft sponsorship, all of the TOP 11 would enter into the proud debut members. However.”

The lighting changed to red and ominous BGM was laid down.

“Unfortunately, the final debut member count is not 11 people. Then how many will it be.”

Just as I was thinking this was typical time-dragging commentary.

Suddenly something rumbled from around where the thrones were placed.

Then the thrones at the very end started going down below the stage one by one.

“What, what is that?”

“Those are going down!”

“Wait, wait, how many are going down?”

“I can’t see!”

At the unexpected development, the audience instantly fell into chaos.

We who had gone up on the platform also watched with wide eyes as the thrones disappeared one by one.

1, 2, 3.

“They should stop around now……!”

Someone’s desperate cry could be heard from behind, but the goddess of fate seemed not to hear it.

Without mercy, the fourth throne also went down below the stage.

Against everyone’s hopes, even the fifth throne disappeared.

The people who had fallen into panic couldn’t even make a sound anymore.

“〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉. The result of the draft sponsorship implemented for the first time was a total of 34.884 billion money. We said one member would be added for every 5 billion gathered, right. With 6 thrones remaining on stage like this. That means only the trainees who place in the TOP 6 in today’s nationwide text voting will be able to achieve their dream of debut.”

The large screen showed the final amount accumulated in draft sponsorship.

A trainee who would place 7th by just 120 million money difference would have to drink the bitter cup of elimination.

The national managers who began to realize this entire situation was real gradually began honestly crying out in resentment.

“This doesn’t make sense.”

“It should be at least 7 people, but 6 people……”

“Are the production team crazy?”

But they couldn’t rebel against results that had already come out.

Moreover, since it was an amount created by their own hands through direct investment, there was no one to blame either.

“Isn’t 6 people too much……?”

And the aftershock of this shock reached even the trainees on the platform.

I could only quietly listen to Ha Sang-hun’s sigh filled with despair.

The probability was already as slim as finding a needle in a desert.

But that entrance had become even narrower.

The trainees who had received relatively low rankings in the last ranking announcement ceremony would be experiencing indescribable pressure.

“Then we’ll announce starting with the glorious trainee who placed 5th in the nationwide vote.”

Music with much more tension than before resonated throughout the venue.

I briefly heard someone taking sharp breaths from behind.

“This trainee showed off their own unique charm more and more as time passed. Perhaps thanks to that. They continued to update to higher rankings than before at every ranking announcement ceremony.”

I turned my head to glance at the small screens installed on both sides of the large screen, and they were showing 3 trainees.

Ma Si-hyeok, Chae Ha-ru, and me – who had drawn upward curves until the 3rd ranking announcement ceremony.

Chae Ha-ru and I were maintaining relatively calm expressions, but Ma Si-hyeok was biting his lips tightly as if he might burst into tears at any moment.

Still a guy who doesn’t live up to his size.

“The glorious first debut member is none other. Trainee Chae Ha-ru. Congratulations!”

As soon as Chae Ha-ru’s name was called, we immediately embraced him from all sides.

“Congratulations!”

“Congratulations, Chae Ha-ru!”

“Ha-ru, you really worked so hard!”

“Ha, haha. Really…… is it really me?”

“Yeah, it’s you.”

I threw out final congratulations while gently stroking Chae Ha-ru’s hair.

Only then seeming to feel reality, Chae Ha-ru tightly closed his lively eyes.

Receiving the send-off of individual fans who were almost wailing, Chae Ha-ru walked toward the side stage where the thrones were and delivered his thoughts.

“From when I applied to this program, I never once thought I would debut. But I want to sincerely say thank you to the national managers who made this dream I thought was impossible come true.”

Chae Ha-ru, who still delivered all his prepared thoughts properly with his crisp tone, finally gave a 90-degree bow to his parents and sat on the 5th place throne.

Looking at the one-shot on the large screen, he really was handsome.

I wondered how long they’d drag out the 4th place announcement, but surprisingly, since they seemed to have secured quite a bit of broadcast content, it was revealed in about 3 minutes.

“4th place. Ah, this trainee also drew a steep upward curve by fully expressing hidden reverse charm. I remember often watching this trainee’s fancams too. Congratulations, Ma Si-hyeok!”

After his name was announced…… well, it was exactly as I had imagined.

Ma Si-hyeok collapsed in an almost prostrating-to-the-ground state.

After sniffling loudly enough to pierce through our surrounding cheers, he finally got up with Kang Seon-woo’s support and walked out to the side stage.

“Ah, until just now, sob, I couldn’t even imagine that I would be able to stand in this position. There are so many people who helped me get this far……”

It was full of touching words, but the flow was quite broken because Ma Si-hyeok kept sniffling in between.

Still, after properly delivering thanks to the fans who cheered for him, he went up the stairs and shared a warm embrace with Chae Ha-ru.

From far away, it felt like Chae Ha-ru was being unilaterally squeezed.

The progress that I thought would go quickly dragged on for over 10 minutes before the 3rd place announcement.

MC Go Hyeon-ju, who had even properly included commercial time in the middle, finally received the staff’s signal that it was okay to announce and picked up the cue card.

“The vote differences among these top-tier trainees were so close that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it was truly fierce. Who will be the trainee to rise to the 3rd place throne?”

A familiar voice from behind tickled my ear.

“This brother is going first. You and Hwi come up slowly.”

Just as I was about to answer Kang Seon-woo asking what he meant.

“Congratulations. Trainee Kang Seon-woo!”

Kang Seon-woo, who had perfectly predicted his own future, winked and went down from the platform.

Unlike Chae Ha-ru and Ma Si-hyeok who had been tremendously shaken, Kang Seon-woo calmly delivered his thoughts.

“So this is how it turned out.”

“That’s right.”

Now only two seats remained.

Honestly, I was surprised that all the 〈Winning Shot〉 members, who had fallen a bit behind in the 3rd ranking announcement ceremony, had all made a final spurt and ascended to debut members.

And as if achieving the beauty of bookends.

“〈Idol Stove League Season 2〉, we’ll now reveal the candidates for the anticipated 1st place on screen!”

I looked at the faces of Seong-hwi and me who had made it to the 1st place candidates and smiled slightly.

“Persistent guy.”

“Ahaha, that’s what I should be saying, brother.”

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