Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 111

<111. Five From Now On?>

CEO Im responded.

“I was thinking we could have them all try solo versions, and then give it to the member who expresses it best.”

It was a good idea, so Jongwoo and the other staff didn’t object.

“That sounds good. Fair.”

CEO Im gestured, and Team Leader Yoo from the A&R [Artists and Repertoire] department quickly turned on the Bluetooth speaker that was connected to his phone.

He pressed the remote button, and cheerful music began to play from the speaker.

Jongwoo closed his eyes and bobbed his head to the music.

Rembrary listened to the music and was impressed. What the A&R team leader had said wasn’t an exaggeration. The song was really refreshing and clear, perfect for listening to in the summer.

“This is it.”

When the song ended, Taein, Keshi, and Hyegyeol all looked excited.

“The song is really good.”

Jongwoo exclaimed, and the A&R team leader, forgetting that he had scolded Jongwoo earlier, excitedly asked, “Right?”

Following that, the people gathered in the meeting room talked about the song and shared their opinions on the other four solo songs.

Even though it was a special album, it would include five songs, and the preparation period was short, so it seemed like there was a lot to do.

“Let’s shoot a music video for only the title track, but have all five members appear in it, no matter who sings it.”

“What about stages? It’s a waste to just release the song as a sound source when it’s so exciting.”

“Right? I think it would be good to set up some good choreography and promote it for about three weeks.”

“Yes. What is it? That big… you know, glasses.”

“Snorkeling goggles?”

“Yes, good idea! It would be cute if they wore those while singing!”

“…”

“…”

“Why is everyone so quiet?”

While CEO Im was extolling the cuteness of snorkeling goggles, Rembrary crossed his arms and pondered the music he had just heard.

The song was good, but…

‘It sounded like there was some strange noise mixed in. Is it okay?’

***

August 10th

There was a bad incident at the filming site, so I couldn’t write in my video diary for a few days.

Oh, right. The person who was injured at the filming site thankfully had a successful surgery and is recovering well, everyone.

Back to the topic, can I talk about the new song? Can I? Well, the PD [Production Director] will edit it out if I can’t.

Anyway, about the new song. We decided to prepare a summer special album, so it’s chaos right now.

The A&R team brought in a really good song, and it’s all because of that song.

Since that song is a solo track, only one of the five members can sing it…

Of course, people would want me to sing it, but I’ve been pushed to the back of the line because of the drama and variety shows.

Jungseo has a movie audition coming up, so he’s been pushed back too.

So, the actual candidates are Hyegyeol, Taein, and Keshi.

Ah, the reason it’s chaotic is that all three of them like the song and want to sing it.

To decide who will sing the song, we temporarily sang it in the booth, and even the staff had different opinions about it.

Jongwoo hyung [older brother or male friend] wants Hyegyeol, who brings out the atmosphere the best, to sing it, and the vocal teacher wants Taein, who sings the best, to sing it.

Keshi wants to sing it herself. Ah. I feel bad now that I’ve said it. Let’s just say Keshi wants me to sing it.

Anyway, that’s how it is.

Jungseo is busy practicing his script, so he’s not paying much attention, and I’m not paying much attention because I’m not interested.

August 11th

Around 4 PM, I went to ‘our house.’

Here, ‘our house’ is the house where Jang Taeri, Shin Joowoon, and I live together.

I don’t know why I have to call it ‘our house’ when we have dorms, but that’s the concept… wait a minute.

To continue, the PD just called and told me not to emphasize the concept or setting too much.

But PD, you can just edit this out, right?

Anyway, since he told me not to, I’ll skip it and just say I went to our house.

Jang Taeri was out for work, and Shin Joowoon, who is the CEO but somehow easy to see, was the only one at home.

He was sprawled on the sofa watching TV, and when I walked in, he complained that it had become difficult to see my face.

He starts complaining as soon as he sees me. I clicked my tongue and was about to go into my room when Shin Joowoon said this.

“It’s not small.”

What are you talking about? It was out of the blue.

When I asked him what he meant, Shin Joowoon said it again.

“My penis.”

…He can be such a pervert. I don’t know what he wants me to do about his penis not being small.

Does he want me to compliment him?

I stared at him in disbelief, and he asked me why I was looking at him like that.

“From now on, I’m going to call you Pervert Myeolchi. You’re so vulgar?”

Then, when I asked him why he was saying such vulgar things to me, he acted very wronged.

Shin Joowoon said that I insulted his pride first.

He doesn’t like this kind of topic, but he had no choice but to say it to recover his hurt pride.

He’s making up a strange excuse because he has no other way to defend himself.

6 PM

I was memorizing the script when Shin Joowoon came into my room and said he wanted to have a serious conversation.

I said I had nothing to say, but he said he felt so wronged that he couldn’t stand it.

I asked him what he was wronged about, and he said that I was the one who brought up the penis talk first.

You have to have a conscience. He’s trying to push it onto me because he doesn’t want to be a pervert.

7 PM

I finished memorizing the script and went to the kitchen for dinner, but there was no food.

I opened the refrigerator, but there was nothing in the refrigerator either. Not figuratively, it was really empty.

Surprised, I asked Shin Joowoon, “Where did the food go?” and he answered with a very arrogant smile.

“I thought you would feel wronged too if I did this.”

Could it be because I didn’t respond to his vulgar question earlier? That must be it.

As I stood there dumbfounded, Shin Joowoon took out a long snack from his pocket and ate it by himself, as if he had won.

That’s not all. He said he would never buy me pizza or steak again.

Panicked, I said that Shin Joowoon was right, that Shin Joowoon’s penis wasn’t small, and he asked me what basis I had for saying that when I had never seen it.

His skill at picking on my words is annoyingly good.

“Shin Joowoon claimed that earlier.”

“Isn’t that not what you should say in this situation?”

“Then what should I say?”

“An apology for lying, maybe?”

“I’m sorry for lying that it’s not small?”

I did as he said, but he got even angrier and left. He’s someone I can’t understand at all.

August 12th

It’s 11 AM now, and there have already been three difficult things.

At 8 AM, Hyegyeol came to me and asked me to help her interpret the solo song.

At 10 AM, Taein came to me and asked me to help her practice the solo song.

30 minutes ago, Keshi came to me and asked me to sing the song in my style.

Should I call Jongwoo hyung and tell him it would be better if I just did it?

***

The next filming concept was a housewarming party.

Shin Joowoon and Jang Taeri invite their friends for a housewarming party, but their friends don’t know that Rembrary lives with them.

“Isn’t that too much of a cover-up?”

Rembrary asked, dumbfounded, but the VJ [Video Journalist] brushed it off, saying that he didn’t set it up.

Anyway, to put the concept into practice, on the appointed day, Jang Taeri and Shin Joowoon’s real friends bought various housewarming gifts and came to the broadcasting house.

The VJ gave Rembrary a script and, for once, a mission.

“Wooyeonwoo-ssi [formal title], please hide from Shin Joowoon and Jang Taeri’s friends so they don’t see you.”

“Where am I supposed to hide in this tiny house?”

“It’s 70 pyeong [approximately 2,500 square feet], though?”

“It’s just two floors, no matter what.”

The VJ didn’t know that Rembrary was a high priest who owned a temple site the size of a village, so he thought he was being annoying, but he continued to explain the script.

“If you get caught while running away, awkwardly greet Jang Taeri’s friend by saying, ‘Hello? I’m your friend’s lover.’”

“Okay.”

“And to Shin Joowoon’s friend, say, ‘Please comfort him well later. He’ll cry because of me.’”

“So, it’s guaranteed that I’ll get caught?”

“There’s almost nowhere to hide, so there’s no way you won’t get caught.”

Unlike Rembrary, the VJ thought 70 pyeong was incredibly large, but he agreed that it wasn’t enough for one person to completely hide.

Besides, it was a house hastily rented for the ‘wealthy couple’ concept broadcast, so there was hardly any furniture inside. It wouldn’t take more than 10 minutes for a few people to find one person.

“And after the friends leave, ask Jang Taeri with a sad expression, ‘How long do I have to keep hiding?’ And to Shin Joowoon, say, ‘Our positions will change later.’”

Rembrary paced around the room, memorizing the script, and when he heard that Shin Joowoon and Jang Taeri’s friends had arrived, he hid in the closet on the second floor, which seemed the safest.

Hidden in the closet, Rembrary listened to the sound of the front door opening and people greeting each other happily, and then sighed.

Why is he, a high priest, squatting in someone else’s closet like this? It felt a bit unfair.

‘But this is all for Redrin-nim [a respectful title].’

It would have been best if the Demon King hadn’t invaded in the first place, but Rembrary sighed and held his breath.

Meanwhile, Jang Taeri’s friends and Shin Joowoon’s friends each received missions from the VJ.

——-

Common Mission: Find the hidden Wooyeonwoo-ssi.

Jang Taeri’s Friend Mission: Wooyeonwoo-ssi is having a hard time with this love. Comfort him by saying, “It’s okay because you love him so much. You’ll make him laugh later, right?”

Shin Joowoon’s Friend Mission: You are angry at Wooyeonwoo-ssi. Get angry for your friend by saying, “Don’t you have any pride? Do you want to pretend to be dating so badly?”

——-

“Wow, these missions are coming separately.”

“Amazing.”

Jang Taeri and Shin Joowoon’s friends were very amazed that their friends were appearing on a variety show, so they enjoyed it like a game when they received missions from the VJ.

“So, did all the lines that have come out so far have these kinds of missions?”

“Was it all scripted, or only half scripted?”

“Was even the cursing scripted?”

The VJ smiled kindly at them, who were bombarding him with questions, and said that they would find out if they tried it, and then picked up the camera.

As soon as filming started, Jang Taeri and Shin Joowoon’s friends ran to various parts of the house, each giving different reasons, as if they were playing hide-and-seek.

It was to find Rembrary, who was already hiding, first.

Naturally, Rembrary was discovered by a man in less than 3 minutes.

“Found him!”

Rembrary stared coldly at the man who was shouting excitedly as if he had won a treasure hunt, but he was upset, but he endured it because it was a broadcast, crawled out of the closet, dusted off his wrinkled clothes, and straightened his shoulders.

Then, the man asked again, enjoying it as if he were playing a game.

“Who are you?”

Rembrary answered coldly.

“The lover of your friend’s lover.”

Usually, these housewarming parties bring same-sex friends, so the man was probably Shin Joowoon’s friend, and Shin Joowoon is Rembrary’s rival in love in the setting. It was okay to speak coldly like this because he was dealing with the friend of a rival in love.

Besides, he liked that the man, who had been smiling the whole time, blinked blankly and said, “Huh?” as if he was overwhelmed by Rembrary’s confident appearance.

Staring at him with fierce eyes, Rembrary warned in a low voice.

“You should prepare tissues. Because he’ll cry because of me.”

After saying it, it seemed like the line had changed a bit, but it was okay because the lines here were originally meant to be adapted to the situation.

However, Jang Taeri’s friend was a bit flustered.

Rembrary must have had a line too. It was because Rembrary’s line didn’t match the lines that the VJ had given them at all.

But thinking that they would edit it out on their own, Jang Taeri’s friend recited the line that the VJ had given him as it was.

“It’s okay because you love him so much. You’ll make him laugh later, right?”

Rembrary frowned, wondering what this person was talking about.

Jang Taeri’s male friend also felt even stranger after speaking, and stared at Rembrary in bewilderment.

***

– Jang Taeri is dating Shin Joowoon, Jang Taeri is dating Wooyeonwoo, and what is the relationship between Shin Joowoon’s friend and Wooyeonwoo? Why are they having that kind of conversation?

ㄴ A relationship of making each other cry and love…

ㄴ A relationship where you need a lot of tissues…

ㄴ A relationship of enduring while waiting for the day to laugh someday…

ㄴ That is true love…

ㄴ ㅅㅂ Don’t sell drugs as a groupㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ [Slang for: Stop talking nonsense.]

ㄴ Are you crazy?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– I’m curious if that’s a script or not. I’m also curious what they were thinking if they wrote the script.

ㄴ They say it’s not a script, I’ll bet the leftover chicken I just ate.

ㄴ You can’t judge Wooyeonwoo with common sense.

ㄴ But is that really Shin Joowoon’s friend? Looking at the scene of him coming in from the entrance, he keeps talking to Jang Taeri?

ㄴ 15:07

ㄴ When Friend A asks, “Who are you?” Wooyeonwoo says, “The lover of your friend’s lover.” Since your friend’s lover is Jang Taeri, your friend is Shin Joowoon, and Friend A is Shin Joowoon’s friend.

ㄴ Ah. Thanks. But why does Friend A only talk to Jang Taeri?

ㄴ Isn’t he interested in Jang Taeri? Honestly, in that kind of real-life situation, everyone would be interested in Jang Taeri. Would Wooyeonwoo and Shin Joowoon even catch their eye?

ㄴ But why do they say they love Wooyeonwoo?

ㄴ Because he said to prepare tissues.

ㄴ What?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Crazyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Why is everyone selling drugs?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

<111. Five From Now On?> End