Chapter 3

I spent a month of my time being more productively than anyone else.

Based on the performance of 'Idol Stardig' Season 1, I knew that if it had a successful Season 2, it wouldn't be too difficult to achieve stardom.

Then I had to prepare even more thoroughly.

I loaded my phone with hundreds, if not perhaps even thousands, of songs and listened to and analyzed them constantly.

What songs to write.

What choreography to create.

In the name of survival, I couldn't possibly afford not to be able to showcase my skills at the right time and place. I typed up as many contingency (1) plans as I could in my head.

Before I'd known it, the last day of the application process for 'Idol Stardig Season 2' had already arrived.

I told Cerberus to keep an eye on the house and then left.

Luckily, the reincarnated Yu Si-hwan had some leftover money in his bank account. I took a taxi to the headquarters of KNet, the broadcaster of 'Idol Stardig' Season 2.

I cleared my throat as I glanced at the line, which was quite long even though it was the last day of the contestant recruitment application.

'This really brings back memories,' I thought.

The applicants that applied all looked young.

Middle schoolers, then high schoolers. There was an extremely low amount of people over the age of twenty, like me.

Of course, today was the last day to apply, so they could've came in early for an interview.

The age range was much younger than I had expected.

"I'm nervous, I'm nervous…."

"hoo, ha! hoo, ha!"

"Excuse me, could I get a sip of water?"

They can't seem to shake the nervousness that they feel when it comes with being young.

Having seen the countless souls in my 50 years in Hell, I've gotten to the point where I could pretty much tell what people are thinking just by looking at their facial expressions.

'If I keep flailing around like this, I'm going to fall without even showing what I can do.'

Unlike the other candidates, whose feet were constantly shuffling, I had a very calm expression as I reviewed my plans for the day.

Honestly, there's no way I'm going to be able to showcase all the skills I've been practicing up until now during this interview process.

…But I'll just have to make it through this round.

I'm not going to overdo it, and even if I don't, it's a waste if I ended up failing.

With this in mind, I went towards the audition center.

I hit the high notes just right.

Just the right amount of choreography.

Pick a male idol song with a good befitting ending pose.

After about two minutes of the performance, I purposely gasped a little and took a look at the three PDs.

"…You're Yu Si-hwan, right?"

"Yes."

The face of the PD in the middle was familiar. The main PD of 'Asri', whose face I'd memorized beforehand, must've been Jung Chae-min.

He handed me a small name tag without making any marks on the paper in front of him.

"This is your Si-hwan's participation number. You'll need it for the ID check later, so don't forget to wear it on you."

"That's because...."

"The first recording will start exactly in one week. There'll be a reminder that'll go out to the cell phone number on your entry form, and we'll see you then."

I smiled faintly as I took the name tag into my hands that read [Participant #77].

First round, very lightly passed.

Now it's just the beginning.

To reclaim the life I lost, to claim the glory of being an idol for myself.

The return from hell.

***

The one week went by in a blur.

The month I spent interviewing for a job had gone by as fast as an arrow, so why not a week?

Still, I did the best I could with the amount of time I had.

My health is okay.

My facial condition is okay.

Okay with the song you'll be singing in the leveling test and the concept of what's to come.

I continued to analyze the participants of 'Idol Stardig Season 2', as we headed to the filming location where we'd would be working together.

'Si-hwan, even if your mental age has been seriously increased, you're still physically 21 years old, and you'll need to act like you're 21 years old, so you need to quit acting like a lifelong old man.'

Cerberus, who was hanging on my shoulder, huffed and puffed.

{That's right, Master. You can't go around acting all old and do strange stuff!}

"You can hear my inner thoughts?"

{It's been over fifty years, Master. Even if I don't or do have that ability, your expression says it all.}

It's like... an unrealistic Yorkie.

I had a feeling Cerberus was more of a fraud than I was back from Hell.

Like his ability to read what's on my mind.

Or the ability to become completely invisible to the public, as he is like right at this moment.

That's how Cerberus eventually convinced a group of people to accompany him to the set of Asri 2.

He told me that he was invisible and that he could help me in various ways. I couldn't stop him even if I wanted to.

{Would I have followed him even if he hadn't asked me to in the first place?}.

"Don't you read my mind again."

{What can I do, when I can read you so well?}

About an hour soon passed.

Around 100 people had gathered at a huge filming location in the mountains of Paju.

"Whoa, whoa…."

"Oh, I'm nervous as hell. What am I suppose to do?"

The auditorium for the waiting room, which was filled with folding chairs, was noisy with all sorts of sickening sounds.

I had found a chair with my number on it in the far corner of the waiting room.

The number assigned to me was 77. I don't know if that was intentional, but it's two lucky sevens anyway, so it's not all bad.

"Excuse me."

"Ah, yes."

Trainee number 78, who had been sitting like a statue, stared blankly ahead, flinched towards my words.

He's quite tall, so he had to move his legs closer together to be able to make room for me to pass through.

Trainee 78 was dressed in the usual trendy way, slightly longer hair and silver piercings that went all the way to his earlobes. Their wrists were covered in glittering bracelets. His skin was fairly fair, but his dark eyebrows gave off a look that made him look scary.

{Don't worry, Master. I thought he was scary too, but I sniffed him and he's absolutely fine. He doesn't smell rotten.}

'Can you smell a person and just tell if they're okay or not?'

{I used to be, my lord! I was the gatekeeper in Hell, and I could tell if this human was normal or not by the smell of the incoming souls. I guess it's the exact same for the human world.}

I gave a deep thought over Cerberus's words.

If Cerberus, who'd transmigrated to the real world with the special ability to smell souls, could say something like that, then he must be normal.

It was hard to stay still, so I tried to start making a general conversation.

"Hi, I'm Yu Si-hwan."

"...I'm Ma Si-hyuk."

He looks extremely intimidating.

Even his name sounds very powerful.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty this year."

"Oh, you're younger than me, I'm 21."

"Ah, I guess so."

Words that might sound pretty innocuous (2) in the context of a response.

But when I glanced at Ma Si-hyuk's expression, it was rather the other case around.

Rather, he was avoiding eye contact with me.

'He's an embarrassing friend.'

I can't believe he's so tall and well-built, but he's terrible at eye contact.

The ice-breaking red flags were already shown from the beginning and early on.

I tried my best to smile and continue on with the conversation.

"Where do you work?"

"Vex Enter. And you, Si-hwan?"

"I don't have one, I'm a individual trainee."

"Oh, I see."

Something along those lines.

"Did you eat yet?"

"No, I don't because I'm the type of person who'd get heavy after a big breakfast."

"You should eat well, though, especially on a survival show like this, because it can be physically demanding once you get into it."

"Thank you for your concern."

This conversation pattern ended.

Eventually, I had to put aside my project to getting to know Ma Si-hyuk and listened to the song again to test it's level for this leveling's test.

Some time later.

After confirming that all 100 trainees had gathered inside the auditorium, the production staff used a megaphone to make a loud announcement.

"We're going to start testing the levels now, I'll call them out in order starting from 1, so please follow with the staff!"

***

"Hmm...."

"What do you think?!"

"I'm not feeling it."

"I thought the vocals were alright…."

the main writer chewed on his lip as he glanced towards the judges, who were debating amongst themselves.

From the looks of it, he was in a bad mood.

And indeed, he was.

'Is it just that we've been pushed to the back of the line, or are we just not meeting their overall expectations?'

Up until the 50s, the current batch of trainees were more disappointed than being satisfied.

Even though these survival programs rely on the talent of the cast to make them topical, it's the editing and writing that makes them stand out even more.

I didn't see a lot of editing that would be able to appeal to viewers.

Rather, did the trainees have any potential with their skills?

"I'm announcing you, contestant Yu Ha-yun, with the vocal grade of B and a dance grade of B, you're in 23rd place within the final rankings. Please go and take your seat."

"Thank you!"

To be honest, I was still at the acorn key level.

Placenta got the lyrics wrong the first time, forgotten the dance choreography, or had stuttered badly. It was a total disaster.

'I'm not even going to be able to write a stimulating edit. I mean, there were definitely some kids who looked good on the screening stage, but did they really just get left behind?'

"Oh, my God.…"

"Why are you scratching your head like that, let the dander fall off."

"You can't possibly be so laid back about this, it's practically the worst right now, it's not him, it's not me."

PD Chae-min smirked at her as she sighed like the ground was going to collapse from under her.

"There's no need to rush things, we still have about 50 trainees left, right?"

"What, did you plant a spy with your own hands? How come you're being so casual?"

"Just relax, she's comfortable right now."

Luckily, contestant #51 had the skills to break through with your the ice.

I looked at his profile and realized that he was an intern at a major entertainment company.

"It was a stage that was full of confidence. First of all, the basic level is cleared, because I'm from BK."

"Thank you!"

Singer-songwriter Lee Jin-Hak, the oldest out of the judges, complimented them, showing a beaming smile he hadn't shown all day.

He had arranged and rewritten a famous pop song, he deserved the praise.

This is why even if the people freeze to death, I'd rather see a big, big one.

"I'm announcing. Contestant Kang Sun-woo, you're number one in the final ranking with a grade A in your vocals and a grade A in dance. Let's look forward to the next level."

"I'll do my best, thank you!"

The judges' faces lit up for a moment thanks to the talented performers who turned the tables.

But this exuberance was short-lived.

The nightmarish return of missing lyrics and lack of fundamentals brought only sighs.

The main writer shook his head at contestant #72, who abandoned the dance mid-performance and hung his head in shame.

He decided that there wasn't anything he could've done about it.

'Okay, I'm going to have to edit out the bad stuff to make it more sensationalized. However, I can't do anything about the sensationalism.'

I wonder if someone will emerge to reverse this trend.

Right then.

"Contestant #77, please come forward."

"Uh, he's the one that PD nudged before...."

"There he is."

Next to the main writer, Chae-min PD said with a meaningful glance.

Several of the judges, who were yawning while leaning to the side, immediately had opened their eyes at the appearance of contestant #77.

"Hey, I like his mask."

"He's handsome, and his height and proportions are perfect."

"The kids I saw today were chewing lightly, but isn't that the kind of face fans like these days? The desert fox?"

Chung continued on as the judges chuckled a bit as a group.

"Hye-in, did I ever mention that I worked in the entertainment industry before I started PD?"

"You say that every time you drink."

"Haha, do I? Anyway, I wasn't around that long, but I'm sure I have a good eye. Like for that contestant right now."

Strutting to the center of the stage, Contestant #77 took up the microphone and introduced himself in a very relaxed voice.

"Hello, my name is Yu Si-hwan. I'm sorry for the shortcomings, but I've worked hard to prepare, so I hope you'll take a good look."

"I have a question."

Min Si-hyun, the former Top Idol judge on the far right of the judges' table, raised his hand.

"Mr. Si-hwan, is it true that you're now without an agency?"

"Yes, I'm just a individual trainee."

"Even though you practiced on your own without any professional training, you had checked all the boxes under 'Are you most confident in?"

He checked all the boxes?

The main writer wondered if he had properly heard Min's words correctly.

A individual trainee with no connections could have such lofty aspirations into their profile introduction.

"Seriously, I checked all the boxes. Vocal, dance, songwriting, and rap."

"Are you sure this is a individual trainee and not someone who's been in and out?"

"Yeah, there's nothing else in the materials I received."

"If you can do all that while being an individual trainee, aren't you a genius, or are you from Yego?"

"I dropped out of high school, even. I'm not even from Yego, just a local regular high school."

The other judges looked a little puzzled.

They'd rarely ever seen anything like this.

The main writer, who had been staring straight ahead with his mouth open, had pulled himself together and gripped onto his pen.

'I like it. A fresh character that hasn't been seen before? I could edit it into something delicious.'

If Yu Si-hwan gives a performance thats worthy of his confidence, it will be a big hit.

If he fails miserably, that's fine, too, as long as he's as ridiculous as possible using the 'stimulating editing'.

After taking in a slow breath, Lee Jin-hak picked up the microphone.

"Let's take a look at the stage, then."