Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 116

< 116. 100 Keywords (2) >

Rembrary felt an ominous premonition at the word ‘pig.’

Since the 100 keywords were fixed from the start of the program, it wasn’t necessarily brought up because of him… but he still couldn’t shake the feeling.

No, he was sure they would use ‘pig’ as his keyword.

As he often emphasized, Rembrary wasn’t stupid, just had different common sense.

‘They’re definitely going to use ‘pig’ as my keyword.’

He quickly foresaw the future and covered his head.

As he did, 95 of the 100 keywords floating around disappeared, absorbed downwards, sideways, and upwards, leaving only five keywords shining brightly.

The five keywords were: Whale, Pig, Love Triangle, Rival, and Soap Opera.

‘It’s obviously me!’

While Rembrary was agonizing again,

laughter erupted from outside.

And 5 seconds later, the door that opened when the audience guessed the keywords correctly slid open, with a faint smoke rising from the floor.

Rembrary reluctantly went outside.

Next to the five keywords, it was written ‘95%’, indicating the percentage of the audience who guessed correctly.

Shin Jo-woon was coming out of the opposite box, and he gave Rembrary a puzzling smile when their eyes met.

He probably didn’t expect the pig keyword to come up either.

Well, he was the one who suggested not talking about pigs and whales first. He must be embarrassed now, but Shin Jo-woon must be even more so.

He was upset, but Shin Jo-woon, who should be more embarrassed than him, was so calm, so he couldn’t frown.

Rembrary displayed his professionalism, managed his expression as much as possible, and sat in the seat the MC [Master of Ceremonies, host] pointed to.

“Woo Yeon-woo, you were frowning when you came out. Why is that?”

But it seemed he was too late to manage his expression. One of the MCs had been laughing since Rembrary came out of the box, and as soon as Rembrary sat down, he chuckled and asked.

Rembrary paused but eventually answered honestly.

“Because the keyword was ‘pig.’ I don’t like being called a pig.”

“Oh, really? Everyone thinks it’s cute.”

“My mascot is a sloth, but calling me ‘pig, pig’ all the time makes it weird.”

In the midst of this, Shin Jo-woon softly interjected from the side.

“Should I call you a pig-sloth then?”

As Rembrary glared at Shin Jo-woon, the MC who asked the question chuckled again, and the other MC on the opposite side spoke up.

“But Woo Yeon-woo, you’re dating Jang Tae-ri and you’re rivals with Shin Jo-woon, right? But when I watch the show, Shin Jo-woon and Woo Yeon-woo go out to eat a lot. What’s going on? Where’s Jang Tae-ri? Why are only you two going around?”

Rembrary answered indifferently.

“My agency doesn’t like it when I go around with Jang Tae-ri alone. They say it causes dating rumors.”

Shin Jo-woon added from the side, ‘It’s hard to find time to meet all three of us together,’ and the MCs immediately understood.

The MCs weren’t idols, but they knew how that world worked.

Following that, the MCs praised Shin Jo-woon’s legendary face that was circulating in the entertainment industry, and then briefly introduced Rembrary and Shin Jo-woon to the audience.

But with 95% of them getting the answer right, the audience seemed to already know a lot about the two of them.

And finally, as the keyword talk, the core of this program, approached, one of the MCs shouted brightly.

“Okay, then, keyword talk! Keyword number one! Pig!”

They promised not to talk about pigs. To have it come out as a keyword so blatantly… Rembrary’s expression soured again.

Shin Jo-woon pressed his lips together and averted his gaze, but Rembrary was so busy managing his expression that he didn’t notice Shin Jo-woon’s expression next to him.

The MC, seeing Rembrary’s sour expression, asked brightly.

“Somehow, we’ve already talked about this keyword a little while ago. I really enjoy watching your dating process, you know?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve always been curious when I watch it. Yeon-woo, you always say ‘pizza, pizza’ on the show.”

The MC, having laid the groundwork, turned to Shin Jo-woon.

“Does Yeon-woo actually say ‘pizza, pizza’ all the time?”

The keyword belonged to Rembrary, but it seemed they didn’t necessarily ask the person the keyword belonged to.

Rembrary anxiously looked at Shin Jo-woon. Shin Jo-woon was always busy teasing people, so he was worried about how he would tease him this time, and whether the pig rumors would get bigger after today. He felt like he understood how Jong-woo felt when he told him to watch his mouth every day.

Fortunately, Shin Jo-woon’s answer was unremarkable.

“He actually does it more. He seems to like eating a lot.”

“Wow, even more?”

“Yes.”

Then another MC raised his hand and spoke up.

“Ah, Shin Jo-woon keeps trying to persuade Woo Yeon-woo to become his pet pig, but what exactly does a pet pig do?”

Rembrary looked at Shin Jo-woon again, his heart pounding.

Shin Jo-woon didn’t even look at Rembrary, and said lightly with a joking tone.

“Eat, sleep, lie down and play, and occasionally cuddle with me.”

It was a joking tone, but there was a ticklish nuance in his voice.

Moreover, because the speaker was so handsome, the female audience members screamed half in jest and half seriously.

The female MC also jokingly asked, pretending to be urgent, “Are you accepting applications?”

Watching Shin Jo-woon laugh lightly, Rembrary thought Shin Jo-woon had nine tails behind him [allusion to a mythical fox with nine tails, symbolizing cunning and charm].

When Rembrary asked a similar question before, the answer was never like that.

In the meantime, the question moved on to another keyword.

“This time, the keyword is Whale!”

Just as the MC asked Shin Jo-woon about the pig keyword, he turned to Rembrary for the whale keyword.

“Yeon-woo, you call Shin Jo-woon a whale, right?”

“Whale-anchovy.”

“Ah. Do you have to add ‘anchovy’?”

“You can call him anchovy or whale-anchovy, but you can’t call him whale. You have to take off ‘whale’ and add ‘anchovy’.”

At Rembrary’s firm answer, the MC chuckled and asked.

“But why did you call him a whale in the first place?”

“I misunderstood him as being magnanimous.”

“Does that mean you don’t see Shin Jo-woon as magnanimous now?”

“Yes. I was deceived. He’s not magnanimous at all. He’s always teasing people.”

Shin Jo-woon retorted, “Who’s always teasing you?” but Rembrary replied sharply, “You.”

“You can just fight openly.”

The MCs seemed to find it fun to watch them bicker like that and tried to set up a stage for them, but Shin Jo-woon shook his head and smoothed over the atmosphere with a joke.

“No. We’ll fight later, just the two of us.”

Watching the scene, Jong-woo thought it was really fortunate that he came out with Shin Jo-woon.

Rembrary was being careful with his words today, but it was a relief that Shin Jo-woon seemed to be cutting him off well from the side.

After exchanging a few more words, the topic finally moved on to the love triangle.

The MC who introduced this keyword turned to Rembrary again.

“Oh? But Woo Yeon-woo said he was going to become a monk later, right?”

He seemed to be about to say, ‘Then why are you on a love triangle show?’ but Rembrary said firmly.

“I’m not going to do that anymore.”

“Oh? Really? Why? Did your mind change after doing a dating show?”

“No. My goal has changed.”

“Wow, really? To what?”

“I want to become a cult leader, no, a top star.”

“There was a strange word that appeared and disappeared just now, wasn’t there?”

“I’m going to become a top star.”

“No, didn’t you say you wanted to become a cult leader at first?”

“Did I?”

At Rembrary’s denial, the MC chuckled and pointed at the camera with his finger.

“It’s all recorded. You definitely talked about a cult leader at first.”

Rembrary was flustered, and Jong-woo, who was watching this, was also flustered.

Knowing that Rembrary had a great interest in pseudo-religions, Jong-woo didn’t take it as a joke.

But unlike Jong-woo’s worries, Rembrary put on a gentle smile and quickly smoothed over his remarks.

“Actually, I also want to establish a school. But this is still an unspecific dream, so I don’t want to talk about it.”

It was thanks to diligently looking up the dictionary after being called a ‘빡대가리’ [Bbakdaegari – Korean slang for someone stupid or brainless] and feeling sad.

Jong-woo sighed in relief, and Shin Jo-woon tilted his head and suppressed a laugh.

Because it was a timed talk, the MCs didn’t think there would be much of a topic coming out of the cult leader talk, so they quickly returned to the story they were originally going to tell.

“Ah. I see. Anyway, if you’re not going to be a monk, Yeon-woo, are you going to date now?”

Rembrary, praising himself inwardly for smoothing over the story well, answered firmly.

“I can’t date. I’m an idol.”

However, an unintended problem arose again here.

In Wild Animal, there was an idol couple that everyone knew about, even though they were silent about it.

In the minds of the MCs and the audience, the image of Keshi popped up like bubbles.

If it were a harsh variety show, the MCs would have talked about Keshi, but the <100 Keywords> MCs weren’t harsh characters, so they only gave a subtle smile and couldn’t tease him right away with this.

But while they were wondering whether to unravel this topic or abandon it, Rembrary naturally added first.

“Of course, there’s one exception nearby.”

The people who had been dazed by the blatant straight ball burst out laughing at the same time and abandoned it.

One of the MCs laughed so hard he grabbed his stomach and spoke up.

“But does LLL have a dating ban period or something?”

“I don’t know because I didn’t ask.”

“Then are you going to date when you’re done being an idol? Who are you going to date if you date?”

“I’m not going to date.”

“Oh, come on.”

“Really.”

“But if, really, if you were to date, who would you want to date? Your ideal type!”

He seemed to have said on a previous show that his ideal type was Guan Yu, so why was he asking again?

Rembrary, wondering, answered the same as before.

“Guan Yu.”

People chuckled softly.

The moment he heard that, Rembrary remembered the story of the Three Kingdoms he had heard from Jong-woo or Jung-seo before and quickly added.

“Of course, I know now that Guan Yu is a man.”

The people who remembered Rembrary’s ignorant remarks began to laugh even louder.

However, Rembrary didn’t understand why people were laughing so much and only blinked blankly.

Then he suddenly looked at Shin Jo-woon, who was gesturing with his eyes.

He didn’t know what he meant by the gesture, but Rembrary, who received the gesture, was able to find the logical flaw he had uttered.

Rembrary nodded to Shin Jo-woon in thanks and quickly corrected his statement.

“That doesn’t mean I’m dating a man.”

***

Abo***: Woo Yeon-woo is getting tongue-tied lol

Pla***: Guan Yu is his ideal type -> He knows Guan Yu is a man -> He doesn’t like men -> ? Where are the liberal arts majors, please organize this.

Ma2***: He must really like Guan Yu. He just hasn’t read the Three Kingdoms lol

ㄴ mea***: He must like swimming. He’s just never been in the water

ㄴ kia***: He must like driving. He’s just never gotten a license

ㄴ Ges***: Then doesn’t he just like beards lol

ㄴ Co2***: OMG that’s my type…

ㄴ ma2***: Do you have a beard???

ㄴCo2***: ㅇㅇ I shave every day. It’s still bluish even after I shave.

ㄴ ge2***: You’re a woman and you have a beard that you have to shave?

ㄴ co2***: I didn’t say I was a woman lol

ㄴ lov**: lol

ㄴ ml 2***: What a twist lol

Jong-woo checked the reactions in real time and sighed.

He was worried that someone would bring up the rumors, but fortunately, there didn’t seem to be anyone like that.

At the same time, a man sitting on a one-person sofa in a dark room with the lights off was fiddling with the chain of the collar around his neck and watching <100 Keywords>.

He was blankly watching TV when Rembrary came out, pointed at the TV with his finger, and said to the kitchen.

[Hey. I told you. I said it. Did I say it?]

A blunt voice came from the kitchen, “What?”

The man smiled crookedly while fiddling with the chain.

[He’s not. Not human. Not human.]

It was quiet for a moment, and soon another man wearing an apron over a suit appeared from the kitchen.

It was the owner of the club that Im Yu-han frequented.

He took off the blood-stained apron and looked in the direction the devil was pointing.

“Ah, the one Yu-han brought before… what was his name?”

***

“Woo Yeon-woo!”

< 116. 100 Keywords (2) > End