The Idol Who Returned from Hell Chapter 93

As Ryu Si-hwan had announced in advance, on September 31st, CENTIX’s official NeoTube account was activated.

The account itself had existed for a while, but with no videos uploaded, it had been a vacant lot.

[Playlist: 〈CENTIX’s Eardrum Friend Project!〉]

[A collection of CENTIX’s exclusive cover videos to help everyone’s tired daily lives]

A new playlist was created and one video was uploaded at 7 PM.

Decorating the thumbnail was none other than CENTIX’s main vocal Ryu Si-hwan.

Under the photo of him leaning his face close to the pop filter inside a white recording booth was written the text [Wake Me Up When September Ends—Ryu Si Hwan Cover].

One of the masterpieces by the world-renowned rock band Green Day.

It’s famous enough that young generations might not know Green Day but would recognize that familiar guitar intro.

That’s why quite a few artists upload cover videos of it on NeoTube.

On the last day of September’s end, this monumental song was covered by Ryu Si-hwan, whose vocals had been acknowledged by everyone in 〈ISL 2〉.

This fact alone caused not only domestic fans but also overseas fans to rapidly gather interest.

〈ISL 2〉 had been a domestic broadcast and the final text voting was only available to Korean citizens, so relatively fewer international crowds had gathered.

But since the official news of CENTIX’s debut, there had been a gradual trend of overseas K-pop fans focusing their attention.

Some people were happy that he sang this good song on the day September ended.

But looking at the thumbnail, worried public sentiment also briefly appeared, saying ‘isn’t this going to be ruined if sung poorly?’

Green Day was such a famous band overseas.

And since 〈Wake Me Up When September Ends〉 had deep meaning as a memorial song, it was reasonable concern.

However, as soon as the first verse of the video started, such comments disappeared completely.

「Summer has come and passed

The innocent can never last」

Ryu Si-hwan brought out his secret weapon for the first time in a while.

His personally played acoustic guitar accompaniment.

The clean and emotional tone blending with his skilled guitar playing grabbed people’s hearts all too easily.

—I’ll say it again. Please equip hand cams from now on so we can see Ryu Si-hwan’s veined hands up close, Rave. ↑6.2k

—I instinctively knew it was over as soon as the first verse started ↑4.5k

—Ryu Si-hwan, who’s naturally funny with his face, naturally funny with his singing skills, and naturally funny with his guitar skills—a born-to-be entertaining idol, you’re a moral textbook…… ↑8.8k

—This is our proud main vocalist, everyone T_T T_T CENTIX debuts on October 23rd, so please show lots of interest! ↑3.4k

And the noticeably increased overseas comments were also full of praise.

—Didn’t watch Idol Stove League, but already knew Sihwan’s gorgeous vocal skills. And today he delivered it AGAIN ↑984 (TLN: This comment is written in English)

—Hard Green Day fanboy here LOL this cover just showed up in my algorithm randomly but damn this is one of the best covers I’ve heard in a while HUGE PROPS ↑1.1k (TLN: This comment is written in English)

Thanks to NeoTube’s algorithm working hard, Ryu Si-hwan, who stepped up as the pioneer of 〈CENTIX’s Eardrum Friend Project!〉, drew an amazing 600,000 views on just the first day.

With high-quality vocals and Rave Entertainment’s luxurious recording facilities, MILLENNIUM naturally had no choice but to anticipate the content that would come out in the future.

—Thank you for the eardrum boyfriend service. Go Hyeong-seok, is he a god?

└I don’t think Hyeong-seok would have made this kind of self-produced content, but thanks anyway lol

└What I learned for sure from the eardrum friend video: Rave really has insane amounts of money

└Seriously lol. Just looking at the recording equipment, it’s completely top class. Ryu Si-hwan’s voice comes through crystal clear without a single flaw

—Ha, can’t they release Hwan-father’s cover as an audio track? I’ve already watched that video over ten times

└If the first video is this good, I’m so excited for the other cover songs coming out

└Ha, please give us Hwi’s cover quickly T_T T_T That’s my favorite voice

└While our main vocalist Si-hwan is attractive for being incredibly good at singing itself, there are probably many people like me who fell for Hwi’s tone and can’t escape

└You’re all perfect ^.^

└Stop the outdated lame jokes

—It’s good that they’re uploading one person’s cover at a time, but is it too much to hope for a video with all 6 singing? Lol. Since they’re all good at live performances, it seems possible

└That’s something other major companies’ NeoTube channels do a lot, so maybe after debut?

└Whoa, my chest is already getting excited. Kids, hurry up and debut, my wallet is ready!

└Speaking of wallets, how much will fan signing event cuts cost…… My wallet, will you be able to endure……?

└Ah teacher, let’s talk about that stuff after the promo list and teasers drop. I don’t want to get a headache

Most people who joined CENTIX’s official fan club MILLENNIUM 1st generation had already deeply stepped into the world of idol fandom.

As mentioned earlier, they were veterans who could imagine future directions from just a small agency notice.

Based on such experiences and memories, they knew pre-orders would open soon.

Pre-orders opening meant it would count toward first-week album sales.

To increase first-week album sales, Rave Entertainment would definitely proceed with all kinds of promotions.

For example, the ‘debut album fan signing event’ that exists only once in a lifetime.

In this eye of the storm where no one could predict how high the so-called ‘fan signing cuts’ would rise, MILLENNIUM slowly resolved to build up their wallet thickness.

* * *

“I never get used to chroma key no matter how much I see it.”

“The more you say things like that, the more it breaks immersion, Si-hyeok.”

The bustling sounds continuously entered my ears.

The busy shouts of staff, the sounds of machines like cameras and lights running, and even CENTIX’s voices having to record behind-the-scenes videos amidst this chaos.

Seong-hwi suddenly turned the camera that had been filming Ma Si-hyeok toward me.

“Brother Si-hwan, you’re drinking water deliciously.”

“Yeah. Want a glass too?”

“Wow, that brother talks about drinking water like he’s asking if I want a shot of soju.”

“You’ve never had drinks with me before.”

“I just guessed. Ah, but is it okay for talk about alcohol to be in our video?”

Seong-hwi asked the content manager passing by with an innocent expression.

I was taking a break at a slightly distant spot, so I couldn’t hear the exact answer, but seeing the manager sigh and massage their forehead, it seemed like editing work had increased.

“Group scene group dance 2nd shoot starting in 10 minutes!”

The music video filming was nearing its end.

I couldn’t even imagine what would be composited into this green chroma key background, but still, only the final group dance scene and Chae Ha-ru’s individual cut to conclude everything remained.

“Brother.”

Chae Ha-ru, whose makeup touch-up had just finished, plopped down in the chair next to me.

The hairstyle that had covered his entire forehead earlier had somehow changed to Chae Ha-ru’s trademark half-parted style.

I opened a bottle of water and handed it to him.

“Once you’re done, we can rest.”

“That makes it more burdensome. And it’s the highlight scene too…… It would be better if you did it instead, brother—.”

“Come on. The director picked you for a reason. Blame your handsome face.”

“It’s unfair.”

CENTIX’s title song was decided as 〈Chronic〉.

A song with lyrics containing members’ imagination and expression centered around the theme of ‘time’ hidden here and there.

Expressed grandly like that, but actually the meanings were quite simple.

Discovering these Easter eggs was the fans’ job.

To give joy to those who discover them, naturally fans had to be mentioned in the lyrics too.

So meanings like ‘the key to liberation met in time that doesn’t know when it will end’ were positioned.

Using this as a motif, the music video director selected ‘hourglass’ as the object.

Actually, this object idea was brought up by Ma Si-hyeok.

“In the part I wrote, there are lyrics that feel like mentioning an hourglass. So instead of just finding hidden meanings in the lyrics, I thought what if we made an object that continuously appears in the music video too.”

Who would have thought that would be adopted right away.

Adding these kinds of points wasn’t a problem in itself, but the issue was Chae Ha-ru’s solo scene where the object was mainly utilized.

“Ha-ru, let’s try on the wire in advance.”

“Ah, yes.”

I nodded once to Chae Ha-ru who hurriedly got up from his seat.

According to the director, the music video’s highlight was the scene where an hourglass falls from above as the key to liberation for Chae Ha-ru, who falls into eternal time.

The hourglass and background could be handled with CG power.

But Chae Ha-ru’s appearance falling into time couldn’t be created by computer power.

So he had to directly wear safety wires and vertically fall onto a giant air mattress.

They even hired a professional action team for this and finished all preparations.

“Brother, they say all the earlier footage was edited together. So we’ll probably have to do the interview again?”

“Please ask proper questions this time.”

“Hey, honestly it was more your fault for answering in that folksy tone than mine.”

Seong-hwi, who appeared again with a camera, sat in Chae Ha-ru’s chair.

The other guys had gotten tired and disappeared somewhere to rest, but this one was energetic enough to personally film self-produced content at this hour.

“Hello. This is Ryu Si-hwan, who was taking selfies until a few minutes ago.”

“Oh, brother, did you finish taking selfies? Where are they, show me. I need to inspect them once.”

“It feels like getting homework checked by a teacher.”

There had been instructions from our manager to take photo card selfies for the album during these break times.

I had experienced something similar when debuting with Black Shot in my previous life, so I had planned to show off my experienced-newcomer side.

But Seong-hwi, who saw the selfies I took, emitted an unsatisfied look.

“Brother, you seem a bit stiff too.”

“It’s the first time in my life hearing that I’m bad at taking selfies.”

“You need to learn from me. This won’t do, let’s take them again.”

“We only have 5 minutes of break time left—.”

“That’s plenty, student Ryu Si-hwan. Come on, come on, don’t be shy and take out your camera first.”

I looked at Seong-hwi, whose eyes were already gleaming with madness, and internally sighed.

“How many should we take?”

“Isn’t it weird to set a standard? We absolutely have to keep taking until I give a passing grade, student Si-hwan. But this is actually pretty easy.”

“Easy?”

“Yeah. If you roughly take a few hundred shots, one decent one will come out. Okay? Let’s try it!”

……A crazy person living up to his nickname.