Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 129

< 129. Voice >

“Oops. Looks like I got caught.”

As Shin Jo-woon clicked his tongue and put down the tablet, his secretary replied as if it were obvious.

“You were reacting too quickly.”

“Was I?”

“Leave at least a day in between.”

“They can’t understand me even when I talk right away. If I react after a day, wouldn’t they think I’m crazy?”

“They can’t understand anyway, so you should leave a day in between.”

Shin Jo-woon smiled with a regretful expression, and the secretary sighed.

“It’s not just the reactions; you’re watching it too often.”

“It’s not even 15 minutes a day. And there are many days when they skip broadcasting.”

“…Sir. Woo Yeon-woo is not a radio show.”

Regardless, Shin Jo-woon rested his chin on his hand, looking at the tablet screen while fiddling with his phone.

“What should I say?”

The secretary sighed again.

Shin Jo-woon was now repeatedly typing and deleting messages on his phone. Even so, he kept talking to his secretary.

“What about the palace ghost [a popular online rumor or story]?”

“We’ve entrusted it to an expert, so it should be working well.”

“Okay.”

Shin Jo-woon typed ‘Are you angry?’ but deleted it again.

Woo Yeon-woo’s expression was gentle, but his actions showed that he was subtly petty. If he asked if he was angry, he seemed like he would actually get angry.

Should I just deny it…? Shin Jo-woon seriously pondered uselessly, then, “Ah,” he said, remembering something and asking.

“Did Nakru follow? Did he come along the way?”

“No. He didn’t follow this time.”

“He doesn’t bite the bait well these days.”

Shin Jo-woon smiled and finally sent the message, then put down his phone.

“The dog is almost broken now.”

* * *

‘No reply.’

Rembrary turned on the selfie camera and confidently looked down at his phone. There would be a reaction. He would be surprised. He would be amazed at his extraordinary sense. The viewers would see this and exclaim, ‘Woo Yeon-woo is truly brilliant!’

But no matter how long he waited, there was no reply. Let’s wait just 5 more minutes, he thought, and waited 6 minutes, but still no reply.

‘Is it not working?’

He was definitely watching the selfie camera in real time…

Rembrary became dejected and turned off the selfie camera. At that moment, a ‘ding’ sound rang and a reply came.

He quickly picked up his phone to check and found a text message had arrived.

[Have you ever had grilled king prawns with butter?]

Below it was a picture of incredibly delicious-looking food.

Rembrary’s eyes widened. King prawns… grilled with butter…!

Following that, another line of text arrived with a ‘ding’ sound.

[Should I buy them for you?]

Rembrary hesitated between his personal desires and the truth, then chose the truth.

[Are they more delicious than pizza?]

[Eat them and compare]

A few minutes later. Rembrary set a time to meet and, pleased, packed his selfie camera and phone and returned to his bedroom.

* * *

The next day.

Jong-woo came to the dorm to take care of the members and was taken aback when Rembrary greeted him with an unusually bright face, asking in surprise.

“Is something good happening to you?”

“Jong-woo.”

“Why is your face suddenly so bright?”

“I…”

Rembrary was about to brag that he was going to eat grilled king prawns with butter, but he stopped himself.

Jong-woo always talked about dieting and losing weight. If he said he was going to eat grilled king prawns with butter, he would definitely do whatever it took to stop him from eating them.

“I?”

“Wasn’t I always bright?”

“Well, you’re mostly bright, but.”

Jong-woo, who was quick-witted, still felt uneasy and examined Rembrary, but Rembrary avoided his gaze and hurriedly went back into his room.

“I’m going to change my clothes.”

A little later. Rembrary came out after changing his clothes, but Jong-woo still kept glancing at Rembrary and said.

“Since there’s Jung-seo’s audition today, I’ll take Jung-seo with me. Yeon-woo, you go to the filming set with Gam-jae. And everyone, we’ve decided to postpone the summer song until next year. It’s still hot, but it’s autumn in terms of timing.”

Rembrary avoided Jong-woo’s gaze and fiddled with his hair, then exchanged glances with Sa Gam-jae at the story that the summer song had been pushed back.

It seemed like it was dragging on. It was fortunate that it ended up that way. Of course, it wasn’t completely overturned, so they had to prepare in advance…

On the other hand, Hye-gyeol, Keshi, and Tae-in became dejected at the thought that a rare opportunity had flown away.

Jong-woo patted Tae-in’s back and continued.

“Instead, we’ve scheduled an idol trade stage for the Chuseok [Korean Thanksgiving] special broadcast? I’ll tell you the details after I take Jung-seo there.”

“Trade stage?”

Tae-in’s eyes widened at the mention of a song stage.

“What’s the concept? Are we going out together this time too?”

It was a meaningless question, but Jong-woo flinched for no reason.

Even if Tae-in had a bad personality, he was an idol that he had taken care of from the beginning, just like Yeon-woo. It felt a bit pitiful when he said that.

Especially since Tae-in had a strong desire for singing. As Yeon-woo’s entertainment and acting activities became more active, his activities were inevitably being pushed back.

“The detailed concept hasn’t come out yet, but it seems like there are two concepts: girl groups and boy groups swapping songs, and idols who are currently active and idols who were active in the past swapping songs.”

Jong-woo deliberately spoke brightly and positively, then patted Tae-in’s back again.

But his efforts to create a bright and hopeful atmosphere were in vain, as Hye-gyeol immediately looked at Keshi and sniped.

“Wow, Keshi hyung [older brother/male friend]. It would be great if we traded with the group that Yulli nuna [older sister/female friend] is in. Right?”

As soon as he said that, Keshi hit Hye-gyeol on the back of the head, and Jong-woo was surprised and shouted, “Keshi!”

Keshi hid behind Rembrary, but Rembrary lowered his body to avoid him, so he was immediately caught by Jong-woo.

“Hey, Woo Yeon-woo, you’re really cowardly!”

“I have only acted according to my conscience.”

“Don’t make things up!”

Jong-woo grabbed Keshi’s cheek and got angry.

“Don’t you make things up. Seriously, I can’t stand this temper!”

“Ah, hyung, ouch hyung, I’m sorry, ouch it hurts!”

In the meantime, Hye-gyeol, who was seething after being hit by Keshi, quickly approached and hit Keshi on the back of the head as well, then ran away, and Keshi’s eyes rolled back.

“Yoo Hye-gyeol, you son of a bitch! You’re dead!”

“Seriously, these guys… Your fans aren’t MMA fans! Stop fighting!”

Jong-woo shouted in anger, but Jung-seo only looked down at the script even in the midst of this.

Rembrary watched Hye-gyeol, Keshi, and Jong-woo running around, then lightly tapped Jung-seo on the back.

“Do well.”

Jung-seo glanced at him and smiled faintly, and Rembrary blessed him again and again.

“You’ll do well. Because I favor you.”

“What is that baseless basis?”

Tae-in muttered in bewilderment after hearing those words from the side, but Jung-seo nodded calmly.

* * *

It was noisy for a while, but thanks to Jong-woo’s efforts, the situation was resolved in 15 minutes, and the members boarded the van and left the dorm.

After that, the three entered the office practice room, and Jong-woo took Jung-seo to the audition venue.

Rembrary took Sa Gam-jae’s car and arrived at the filming set of .

Rembrary, who received the script, went to the waiting room assigned to him and checked the contents.

Usually, if the script was uploaded to the cafe two or three days in advance, he could print out the script, memorize the lines, check the contents, and practice.

However, since there were slight differences from the script he received on the day, he had to check the official script contents even if he had memorized the lines in advance.

was now coming to an end.

The vengeful couple from their past life investigate to see if Yang Heung is really an ordinary dentist and not the person they killed, and Deung Baek begins to return the grudges of his past life to the couple one by one.

The more Deung Baek takes revenge, the more he feels his original self collapsing, and he is tormented by the joy he feels in it.

And to confess this, he enters an empty confessional and confesses his sins.

However, Im Seo was in front of the confessional, and Rembrary’s lines today were just a few words muttered after hearing Deung Baek’s confession.

“Why are my lines so few?”

“Isn’t it fortunate that your face is still being shown?”

“Are you investigating Nakru?”

“I’m… busier than you think.”

While Rembrary was scoffing, a staff member came and told him to wait and went back.

But it was when Rembrary was checking the script further at the filming set.

Im Yu-han and Maeng Woo-shin were talking next to him, and Maeng Woo-shin’s voice asking Im Yu-han caught Rembrary’s attention.

“Come to think of it, isn’t your birthday soon?”

Birthday? Rembrary was surprised and took his eyes off the script to look at Im Yu-han.

“It’s your birthday? When is it, sunbae [senior]?”

At that sound, Maeng Woo-shin nagged from the side.

“Don’t you even know when your sunbae’s birthday is?”

Im Yu-han frowned and pushed Maeng Woo-shin away, answering.

“It’s not long from now.”

But he didn’t tell him the date and went somewhere else.

Why didn’t he answer and leave? As Rembrary was puzzled, Maeng Woo-shin told him instead from the side.

“He didn’t answer because he thought you’d feel burdened because of the gift. Can’t you tell at a glance?”

“When is sunbae’s birthday?”

“November 15th.”

“It seems like there’s still a long way to go…”

“That’s my birthday.”

“…I didn’t ask about sunbae’s birthday.”

“You asked about sunbae’s birthday?”

“I asked about Im sunbae’s birthday, not Maeng sunbae’s.”

“His birthday is two days later.”

While Maeng Woo-shin mentioned “November 15th” once again.

Rembrary recalled that Im Yu-han could see the demonic creatures. He was definitely going in and out of a group that used demonic creatures.

Then, what if he got a harmless demonic creature as a birthday present for Im Yu-han? It would be unique and would fully reflect the other person’s taste, so he would like it very much.

But it seemed like there were few demonic creatures here. He was worried about whether he could get a demonic creature to give as a gift.

‘Let’s look for it first.’

In the meantime, the director called Rembrary and Maeng Woo-shin.

“Maeng Woo-shin-ssi [term of polite address], Woo Yeon-woo-ssi, please come here.”

After that, Rembrary continued to film the scene of following Maeng Woo-shin as usual, and finally it was time to film the scene with lines.

Maeng Woo-shin, who had been acting well until just now, managed his expression to capture his emotions while the camera was stopped for a while.

This scene was where Deung Baek, who entered the confessional, confessed his sins honestly, thinking that there was no one in front of him.

His inner darkness and hatred, and his love for a woman, his revenge… It was a content where Deung Baek’s heart was completely revealed.

If he made a mistake, it would seem long and boring, so he had to express the emotional line well.

Finally, Rembrary and Maeng Woo-shin entered the confessional.

It was similar on the side where Maeng Woo-shin was, but on the side where Rembrary was, the cameras were cleverly attached at various angles.

As instructed by writer Shim in advance, Rembrary hugged his legs precariously on the chair and rested one cheek on his knee.

As he was blankly in that state, Maeng Woo-shin’s voice began to be heard.

Unlike when he was nagging, his low voice was pleasant to listen to.

Rembrary listened to the voice coming from the quiet, with a gentle smile on his lips.

This atmosphere, where the other person confessed his sins and he listened, was familiar to him because he had heard it many times when he was briefly active as an inquisitor.

“Forgive my sins…”

In the meantime, Deung Baek’s voice gradually faded and disappeared faintly.

In time, Im Seo whispered in a low voice.

“If you do not forgive, you will not be forgiven.”

Deung Baek did not know that Im Seo was in front of him and was surprised and raised his head.

Im Seo hugged his knees and whispered quietly to Deung Baek, who would be beyond the partition, turning his head.

“You have not passed the test.”

At that moment. Maeng Woo-shin on the other side forgot the instructions in the script and frowned without realizing it.

It was because Rembrary’s voice was heard as if whispering in his eardrum.

As if a demon was really whispering in his ear.

As Jong-woo had repeatedly asked, Sa Gam-jae, who was watching the filming set without taking his eyes off it this time, also frowned.

‘Just now…?’