Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 55

< 55. Not Ashamed of Not Knowing (Paid content starts here) >

“Perhaps the beard…”

As the MC [Master of Ceremonies] cautiously asked, Rembrary’s eyes widened.

“What are you talking about?”

Rembrary smiled bitterly, suddenly thinking of that paladin.

Thanks to her contribution to that incident, she had joined the direct paladin order in charge of Rembrary’s protection, and two years ago, she rose to the position of the paladin order’s leader.

She even followed Rembrary when he set out to stop the Demon King.

Thinking about it made her miss her, and her eyes welled up.

Seeing her seemingly sorrowful appearance, the MC, who had been trying to laugh it off as a joke, was taken aback. It was definitely not a joke, as it was clearly visible on her face.

And Rembrary, seeing the MC’s expression, realized the situation.

It seemed the game Hye-kyul was playing wasn’t very famous.

“Oh, you don’t know Guan Yu. He’s a character in a game.”

“Guan Yu…?”

“Well, if you’re not interested, you might not know.”

While the assistant MC and the guests were trying to figure out if Rembrary was joking or serious, Jong-woo desperately signaled her to shut her mouth.

Jong-woo resolved to put Velcro on Rembrary’s mouth when they got back to the dorm. Or maybe a zipper.

Jong-woo knew what game Rembrary was talking about.

It was a card game where you collect heroes from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms [a famous Chinese historical novel], and they had all sorts of gimmicks to increase the limited number of characters.

Thanks to that, even for one hero, they were divided into male versions, female versions, animal versions, Valentine’s versions, wedding versions, etc., which could be collected separately. Yeon-woo must have seen the female version of Guan Yu there and was acting like that.

Hye-kyul had been completely absorbed in that game lately!

“We’ve been together all the time preparing for the competition.”

Jong-woo belatedly lamented.

Fortunately, Rembrary, noticing Jong-woo’s signal, immediately shut her mouth.

“Haha, Yeon-woo is a good joker.”

The MC also noticed the ‘Shut up!’ signal Jong-woo was sending to Rembrary and realized that Rembrary really didn’t know about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

But he was grateful to Rembrary for rushing in to fill the gap, so he quickly turned Rembrary’s ignorance into a joke and suggested,

“Then, I’ll give you 5 minutes, so hurry up and choose. Today’s partner!”

This time, there was nothing to hold back.

Without taking as much time as the previous contestants, Rembrary immediately pointed to his follower he had been watching earlier and shouted,

“That person!”

The MC, trying to shake off the awkward feeling, quickly looked at the follower and shouted along,

“Yes, today’s Guan Yu! Who is it? Ah, it’s that person!”

The camera also focused on the follower Rembrary pointed to.

The follower, who was half happy and half embarrassed to be chosen by Rembrary, asked his friend next to him,

“Do I look like Guan Yu?”

“No. It must be a joke.”

“Right?”

“If I had to pick, you’re more like Zhang Fei [another character from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms].”

“Hey.”

The follower glared at his joking friend, but he couldn’t waste any more time because the camera was on them.

The MC shouted from the stage, “Can you play the game together?”

It seemed they were asking in advance since his face was going to be on TV.

The follower was embarrassed to be broadcast nationwide as ‘the person who looks like Guan Yu,’ but he wanted to play the game with Rembrary.

Besides, this program was famous for its large mission success prizes.

Latest model tablets, dishwashers, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, all sorts of products came out randomly.

It was worth it for the price of being teased by his friends for a while.

“Guan Yu is going!”

As the follower, having given up on himself, ran out onto the stage, people laughed and cheered.

To liven up the atmosphere that had been dazed by Rembrary’s ignorant remarks earlier, the MC brightly shouted and held the microphone to the follower.

“Love Song on the Viking! Can you sing it?!”

“I can!”

“A word of resolve!”

“I shall return before this heat fades!”

People chuckled and enjoyed it, and Jong-woo finally felt relieved.

But even though he had 맞춰주긴 [gone along with it], the follower was still bothered that Rembrary had chosen him, so he cautiously asked Rembrary as they went to ride the Viking.

“Hyung [older brother/male friend], did you choose me because I really look like Guan Yu?”

Rembrary smiled and answered, “No.”

“Guan Yu has silver hair, does he not? You have black hair.”

The follower was shocked to realize that Woo Yeon-woo, whom he loved so much, was stupid.

But there was no time to be sad or disappointed by that fact. Rembrary’s face, smiling right in front of him, was too radiant.

Enchanted by the smile, the follower tried his best to accept Rembrary’s ignorance.

Right. The world is originally fair. To have such a smile, you have to make an equivalent exchange with something of similar value.

Woo Yeon-woo must have exchanged that face for common sense. Then the calculation would be roughly correct, wouldn’t it?

Fortunately, thinking that way maintained his fan spirit.

“And hyung is nice, so.”

“Huh?”

“But it’s better to keep your mouth shut.”

“?”

* * *

Rembrary was worried that a song he didn’t know would come out, but thankfully he knew the song because he heard the title in advance.

What wasn’t fortunate was that the song was a duet that Keshia sang with Yulri O in . It was obvious that the production team had deliberately included the song, but Rembrary didn’t suspect people that far.

No, it was closer to not having the capacity to suspect.

The Viking, which he was riding for the first time, had a very strange appearance.

“This moves up and down?”

“Like a seesaw. Hyung, is this your first time riding it?”

“I saw people riding it earlier.”

“It’s really fun. It’s thrilling and refreshing.”

“They were screaming while riding it.”

“They’re shouting because they’re having fun.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

Rembrary, who was sitting at the very end of the Viking with his follower, even laughed at the safety bar coming down. Thanks to his infatuation, the follower thought that appearance was very pure and innocent. He was worried that his brain seemed just as innocent, though.

“It’s moving? It’s moving!”

When the Viking finally started moving, Rembrary whispered to his follower, enjoying it.

The production team sent a signal to sing the song, and the two easily exchanged the love song.

But before they could even finish the first verse, Rembrary’s face turned pale.

A seesaw? This is a seesaw?

Every time it went up high and came down, he felt like his butt was floating and his heart was floating along with it, and that sensation was very creepy.

The follower, who was about to ask if he wasn’t going to sing, looked to the side and was horrified to see that Rembrary’s face was blue.

“Hyung, your face is blue!”

Rembrary gripped the safety bar tightly. He didn’t even have the strength to answer.

He felt like his body would be thrown off this impudent metal lump at any moment.

Unable to endure this fear any longer, Rembrary eventually gave up singing and started praying.

The follower was very surprised and worried when Rembrary, who had been enjoying himself, turned pale and later became completely dazed, so he grabbed Rembrary’s arm and shook it.

“Hyung? Just close your eyes. If you close your eyes and scream, it’s less scary!”

However, Rembrary’s dazed expression soon slowly began to fade.

It was because starting to pray quickly eliminated all the extraneous thoughts, fear, and 잡생각 [miscellaneous thoughts] from his body, stabilizing his heart.

A calm smile even appeared on Rembrary’s lips.

The follower was startled and looked at Rembrary’s profile.

The cameraman who was filming that scene was even more startled.

Rembrary, who had been pale with fear, gradually changing into a peaceful and serene expression, was very mysterious.

That benevolent appearance, without a single flaw even with his hair turned upside down…

“Avalokiteśvara [Bodhisattva of compassion]?”

The PD [Production Director] who was watching Rembrary from the side asked, “What?”

“Ah, no.”

The cameraman shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

* * *

– Wow, Yeon-woo’s spirit 봐ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ [look at Yeon-woo’s spirit, lol]

– If it fails, it’s all my fault~ Isn’t this openly mocking them? I’ve never seen them do that on TV.

– Is that spirit or just rudeness?

– What he’s saying is right. A drama that will fail because of one idol with no importance? Would the result have been different if that idol hadn’t been in it?

ㄴ How do you know if they’re important or not?

ㄴ Can’t you tell just by looking? There’s no news about them appearing.

– But how can he be so calm when riding the Viking???

ㄴ He’s pretending to be calmㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ [lol]

ㄴ He was 존나 [fucking/very] scared inside

ㄴ Does that look like he’s scared?

ㄴ He was at the level of enlightenmentㅋㅋㅋㅋ He’s about to reach Nirvana soonㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– I was shocked at Guan Yuㅠㅠ Our Yeon-wooㅠㅠ He’s a 빡대가리ㅠㅠ [idiot]

– I thought his head was an animal’s, but I was wrong. It was a fish’s.

– He might not know about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It’s not our history.

– ㅅㅂ ㅋㅋㅋㅋ [fuck] He might not knowㅋㅋㅋ But why pretend to know when you don’t knowㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– I felt secondhand embarrassment in that scene······ I almost turned off the TVㅠㅠㅠㅠ

– Yeon-woo’s innocent charm is cute♡♡♡

ㄴ You think that’s cute? Seriously?

ㄴ Isn’t it cute because he’s 멍충이 [stupid]?

ㄴ Please get your eyes washed.

ㄴ Please wash Woo Yeon-woo’s brain along with your eyes when you wash them.

* * *

It seemed like Jong-woo was the one who was going to reach enlightenment.

Jong-woo turned off the tablet he was monitoring and laughed powerlessly.

“Is the reaction bad?”

Sa Gam-jae, who saw that, asked.

Jong-woo sighed and muttered, “Reaction…”

“This time, I didn’t hear that his personality was bad. There were no words like ‘personality trash’ either.”

“Isn’t that good enough?”

“Everyone’s making fun of him for being ignorant.”

Jong-woo groaned and received the coffee Sa Gam-jae handed him.

Well, it had become a laughing stock, but he wasn’t getting as much hate as before.

Besides, even though he was hastily put in as a fill-in, he didn’t get buried and caught the public’s attention.

Immediately after the broadcast, the real-time search ranking was 2nd for ‘Woo Yeon-woo Guan Yu,’ 5th for ‘Woo Yeon-woo,’ 6th for ‘Tomorrow Rail,’ and 7th for ‘Woo Yeon-woo’s expression.’

It was more likely that entertainment PDs and advertisers would contact Yeon-woo, aiming for his topicality.

Afterwards, Jong-woo called Rembrary and then suggested,

“Yeon-woo-ya [term of endearment]. Next time someone asks you about your ideal type, say it’s someone brave like Guan Yu.”

“I don’t like brave people.”

“Then?”

“Someone who wields a long spear and rides a horse-”

“Say your ideal type is a brave person.”

But when Rembrary found out that Guan Yu was a real person and a very famous foreign figure, he was a little embarrassed.

He was even more embarrassed when Jong-woo showed him a picture of Guan Yu. The real Guan Yu had too much beard.

Even so, the quiet daily life passed by afterwards, and the 5th competition on Monday also went smoothly.

On Tuesday, he was originally supposed to record a new song album, but the schedule was postponed to the next day because the recording studio asked for understanding due to equipment failure.

Tuesday afternoon, the members were engrossed in practicing the new song for the last time.

* * *

Rembrary, who was mentally exhausted due to the busy schedule for the past few days, fell asleep early.

He knew that the 5th competition of would be broadcast on Tuesday night, but anyway, the content would be the same.

Rembrary went into bed with a comfortable mind.

But he was sleeping soundly when someone shook his body.

Even when he waved his hand dismissively, the other person kept shaking him, saying, “Yeon-woo-ya. Yeon-woo-ya,” so Rembrary had no choice but to open his eyes.

It was Jung-seo.

“Why are you doing this?”

When Rembrary asked, a little annoyed, Jung-seo looked around.

The only members lying in bed were Rembrary and Hye-kyul.

But as if even that one person was bothering him, Jung-seo turned on the memo app on his phone, typed something in, and held it out to Rembrary.

– They talked about your superpower on the broadcast

< 55. Not Ashamed of Not Knowing (Paid content starts here) > End