Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 279

279. Wanna Bet?

No one was more frustrated with the situation than Rembrary, not even the instructor. He had only one chance left.

“0 points, 0 points.”

As the instructor emphasized ‘0 points’ again, Rembrary began to think more carefully than before.

‘What on earth does the instructor want? Threatening doesn’t work, adding more to the situation is impossible, exploiting his likes is out of the question, and I can’t use direct force…’

Finally, Rembrary came up with a plausible answer.

‘I see. I have to threaten him, but without anyone noticing.’

There was no other answer. Having made his decision, Rembrary subtly used ‘Divine Majesty’ while looking at Gu Byeong-in.

And the moment Rembrary and Gu Byeong-in’s eyes met, Gu Byeong-in, who had been inwardly pleased, froze. Everything—thoughts, tongue, head, and body—stopped. Conversely, his legs gave way, and he felt a terrifyingly dizzy sensation as his body plummeted.

“Surrender?”

In the midst of all this, Rembrary asked gently, with a kind voice. The incongruity was even more chilling.

“Surr, surrender. I surrender.”

Gu Byeong-in spoke in a strained, goat-like voice and immediately collapsed to the side. Not just slumping over, but falling with a thud. The sight of the burly trainee falling like a puppet with severed strings made the other trainees’ mouths drop open.

Rembrary, amidst all this, smiled brightly and turned to the instructor.

“How about this?”

“!”

* * *

Title: A Psycho Rookie Just Joined Our Training Camp ㄷㄷ;

We did some mission where we had to assume a situation where we were hunters and persuade a betraying colleague or something.

I don’t know why we had to persuade the traitor, but anyway, that’s what happened. Honestly, in that situation, would a traitor even give you time to persuade them?

Anyway, that rookie was the first to go. But instead of persuading, the bastard started dancing in front of us, lol [laughing out loud].

Everyone was like, ‘Lol, what a funny guy,’ and laughed. He danced really funnily.

But after the dance, he suddenly unleashed killing intent.

No exaggeration, the guy playing the traitor, who was laughing with us, got hit by the killing intent and fainted.

Wow, lol. Then that psycho suddenly turned to the instructor with an innocent smile and asked if he did well. The instructor froze, lol.

He was the most natural-born psycho I’ve ever seen.

FYI [For Your Information], this is the SKO-B district training camp.

—Is his awakened ability shooting killing intent?

ㄴ(OP) [Original Poster] I don’t know ㅇㅇ [yes, yes – agreeing] We haven’t gotten that far yet.

—If it’s B district, we might see him during joint training, lol.

ㄴ(OP) We do joint training too?

ㄴHow many years have you been in the training camp?

ㄴ(OP) I’m a rookie too ㅎ [laughing]

ㄴThen we do. But you better hope we don’t. It’s so hard ㅜ [crying]

—What’s his name? Isn’t he a member of the trainee community, lol?

ㄴ(OP) His name has four letters. Just the name, without the surname. Blonde with red eyes.

ㄴ(OP) He probably joined. My senior told me about this community on the first day. His senior probably told him too?

* * *

“……”

Mori was about to tell Rembrary, ‘There’s a community that many trainees join, so it’ll be helpful to sign up for information and networking later,’ but after seeing the post that went up late last night, he quickly turned off the computer.

‘I should tell him later when this post is buried a bit.’

He’s a selfish junior, but he’d be hurt if he saw this. There’s no rush to join right away, so it seemed better to tell him later. Thanks to that, Rembrary greeted the morning as cheerfully as usual, unaware of this incident.

“Using the computer from morning?”

“Oh, did you sleep well?”

As Rembrary yawned and went into the bathroom, Mori breathed a sigh of relief and quickly turned off the computer.

Even while going to the cafeteria, Mori tried not to bring up anything about computers or the internet.

At the same time, he glared around, quickly turning his head to find out which rookie was spreading strange rumors about his classmate as soon as they joined the trainee community.

“Looking for someone?”

“Yeah. Someone with a loose mouth.”

But when they arrived in front of the cafeteria, there was a notice posted on the door.

—We will be electing a Baekgi [new recruits] representative. Please gather in the underground training room by 10:30 AM after your meal.

“What’s Baekgi?”

Rembrary, after seeing the notice, asked without much interest as he entered the cafeteria. He thought that whatever Baekgi was, it had nothing to do with him.

“New recruits.”

But it wasn’t.

“New recruits?”

“Yeah. I’m Cheonggi [senior recruits]. You’re Baekgi. It’s a class system here.”

“Why not call it Class 1 or Class 2?”

“If we use numbers, it’s easy for a hierarchy to form.”

“Hierarchy?”

“It’s a group mission, and you’re the leader. You’re Class 15. But the other members besides you are all Class 6 or Class 7. Then it’s a bit awkward, right? You’d feel like you have to treat the seniors well. You’d feel like you have to respect the veterans.”

“Really?”

“……Usually, that’s how it is. So they deliberately did it this way. Just to confirm that you’re in the same class with letters.”

Today’s breakfast was a thick sandwich that looked almost 10cm thick, milk, a few leaves of cabbage, and a piece of rice ball. Rembrary chewed on the sandwich while repeatedly recalling Mori’s explanation and the notice.

‘So, they’re saying they’re going to elect a new recruit representative later?’

Rembrary wasn’t the only one who saw the notice, so the other trainees around were all talking about it, and that atmosphere continued even after they went down to the underground training room on time.

The trainees, sitting cross-legged in small groups, continued to talk about how they would elect the new representative and who would be good if they voted. But most of the trainees were paying attention to only one person.

“It’s better to elect Rembrary.”

It was Rembrary.

“Yeah, he came in first place.”

“He did come in fifth place afterward, though. But it’s not like he did poorly.”

“He did well yesterday too. Except he was scary at the end.”

“None of that matters. When I saw that bastard dancing, I thought, ‘My training camp life will be fun if I just observe this guy!’ We have to make him the representative. And then I’ll eat popcorn.”

The trainee who came in first place in the practical test where Rembrary came in fifth, after entering in second place, also waved his hand when the other trainees looked at him with eyes that said, ‘Still, it’s a bit of a waste for you.’

“Make him do it. I won’t. Rather than being constantly compared to him after becoming the representative, I’d rather just make him do it from the start.”

But not everyone felt the same way, and there were a few who didn’t want Rembrary to become the representative.

Some opposed it rationally, saying things like, ‘What the representative needs is leadership, not presence,’ or ‘It’s not good for the new recruit representative to constantly clash with the instructor,’ but there were also those who opposed it with more impure motives.

‘If Rembrary becomes the representative, Woo Yeon-woo will hate it.’

Gu Byeong-in was the most representative of them.

Woo Yeon-woo had instructed Gu Byeong-in to prevent Rembrary from graduating with excellent grades. But if he becomes the representative of a class, he’s bound to receive attention from hunter companies, whether his grades are good or bad. So he had to prevent Rembrary from becoming the representative as well.

In the end, Gu Byeong-in, fearing that the trainees would really recommend Rembrary as the representative if he stayed still, quickly stepped forward and needlessly provoked Rembrary.

“Hey, red eyes.”

“……”

“Hey, Rembrary! I’m talking to you!”

When Rembrary turned around, Gu Byeong-in grinned crookedly and spoke in a swaggering manner.

“You’re so full of yourself, you’re going to try to win people over and run for representative, right?”

That terrifying gaze that Rembrary had sent him yesterday. He intended to make him send that gaze once more so that his classmates would think, ‘He’s not representative material.’ No matter how skilled he is, if he attacks his classmates with the edge of a knife, no one will want to elect him as the representative.

However, Rembrary didn’t get angry at Gu Byeong-in’s provocation; instead, he answered calmly.

“I don’t show off, and I won’t become the representative by winning people over.”

That nonchalant reaction was different from what Gu Byeong-in had expected, but it still produced half of the result Gu Byeong-in wanted.

“Huh? It looks like Rembrary doesn’t want to be the representative?”

“Should we choose someone else?”

“But is it really a vote? Or is the instructor arbitrarily deciding?”

The new recruits who heard Rembrary’s words began to stir. As they were doing so, the instructor came out of the emergency exit stairs and asked without delay.

“Gentlemen. Anyone you want to recommend as the representative or anyone who wants to be the representative? Raise your hand and speak.”

The opinions had gathered towards recommending Rembrary as the representative, but they had been scattered a little while ago, so the trainees were just looking at each other.

Then, when Rembrary raised his hand and stood up first, everyone thought that Rembrary would recommend someone. Because of what he had said just now.

The trainees looked at Rembrary with a bit of curiosity. Who would that eccentric honor student, who entered in first place and has shown various unique abilities since then, recommend?

“Oh, yeah. Who?”

“Me.”

However, what Rembrary did was self-recommendation.

“I will lead my classmates.”

The instructor, who didn’t know the circumstances, asked indifferently as if he knew Rembrary would do that.

“Self-recommendation? What’s the reason?”

“Who else but me would lead these diverse individuals? They are sheep scattered haphazardly across the field, and I am the dog that goes around herding those sheep.”

The participants were flustered by Rembrary’s self-recommendation and all stared blankly at Rembrary.

‘A dog? Not a shepherd?’

‘Wait, didn’t he say he wouldn’t be the representative? It hasn’t even been 5 minutes since he said that?’

‘Didn’t he say he wouldn’t show off?’

Only the instructor calmly asked the other new recruits again.

“Anyone else? Anyone to recommend?”

No one was going to step forward. After waiting a bit, no one else stepped forward, so the instructor finally pointed at Rembrary and said.

“Then you’re the representative. From now on, when the broadcast calls for the new recruit representative, you come. I’ll organize the details and let you know later.”

Seeing how easily he decided, it didn’t seem like the representative had any particularly important role. With just those words, the instructor said he had urgent business and immediately left for another place.

As soon as the instructor left, Gu Byeong-in, angry that his plan had been overturned in less than 5 minutes, sneered at Rembrary.

“You said you wouldn’t show off and you wouldn’t be the representative. Aren’t you just a liar?”

Rembrary answered calmly this time as well, just like before.

“It’s not showing off, it’s being good, and I said I wouldn’t be the representative by winning people over, not that I wouldn’t be the representative at all, did I?”

“!”

Gu Byeong-in opened his mouth in disbelief, but he was afraid of that last gaze Rembrary had sent him yesterday to argue any further. In the end, he stammered and eventually got up and left for another place.

And that evening. As soon as Woo Yeon-woo heard the news that Rembrary had become the representative, he called Gu Byeong-in and got angry, and Gu Byeong-in couldn’t say anything, crushed.

Woo Yeon-woo got so angry during the call that he threw the SKO-B new recruit training report away.

* * *

At the same time. Jang Tae-ri was picking up the new recruit training report.

“Wow. He became the representative?”

Shin Jo-woon smiled while typing on the keyboard.

“Watching him closely? Are you really going to sponsor a trainee?”

“Why not? It’s good to sponsor them in advance and then take them on an exclusive contract, right?”

“Really?”

Jang Tae-ri rolled up the report, lightly tapped Shin Jo-woon’s shoulder, and smiled.

“You’re going to take him to World Boom too, aren’t you? Wanna bet? Will he come to me or you?”