Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 171

171. Two Kinds of Deals

That damn sloth… If he acts like such a dumbass, what am I supposed to do when I get my body back?

Woo Yeon-woo hugged his knees, lamenting inwardly.

To be honest, in the current situation, I should be worrying about whether I can even get my body back, but if I start thinking that deeply, it becomes too painful.

So, it was better to dwell on worries that were a little less painful and more realistic.

Still…

‘That sloth seems to have some intention of returning my body. He seems to be looking around here and there occasionally.’

The problem was… Woo Yeon-woo curled up and glanced sideways.

There was a man lying on a recliner, whistling.

The man, with his white, curly hair tied back loosely, had something in his mouth.

Woo Yeon-woo glared at the man secretly.

The man, with eye makeup as thick as an Egyptian mural around his violet eyes, always wore flamboyant clothes that looked like something an emperor would wear to a coronation in a Western movie. Even now. I don’t know where he gets his makeup done or where he gets those outfits…

What’s even more amazing was not just that. Around the recliner where the man was lying, colorful roses were blooming. The roses, which looked as vivid as living ones, were also of unknown origin.

Woo Yeon-woo cursed inwardly.

The man looked like a peaceful king from some flower-loving country on the outside.

But he was a madman who, even while acting carefree, would suddenly lash out if something displeased him.

When the sloth was messing around with his blood, Woo Yeon-woo had been caught by this man and used as a human shield, and he had even been suddenly strangled on stage.

But it wasn’t like he was always like that. The man treated him well when he was in a good mood.

In other words, he was capricious. Very much so.

Woo Yeon-woo guessed, through the conversations he heard from ‘outside,’ that the man in the king’s outfit might be a ‘Demon King.’

And what Woo Yeon-woo feared most right now was not the sloth occupying his body, but the Demon King hiding behind him, using him as a shield.

“Stop sniveling, will you? It’s noisy.”

Woo Yeon-woo stopped sniffing. *Here he goes again,* starting up to pick a fight again.

*Who was sniveling?* It’s true I shed a few tears, but I sniffled quieter than the man’s whistling.

“Stop grumbling in your head, you idiot.”

“!”

As the Demon King spoke, taking out ‘something’ from his mouth, Woo Yeon-woo quickly closed his eyes tightly to avoid thinking anything.

It was because he realized that what the Demon King had been holding in his mouth was a bone fragment. *I don’t know where he got that bone fragment either.*

Anyway, he told me to shut up, so I will. Woo Yeon-woo became sullen and looked down at the floor. Even though there’s no distinction between up and down here, so I don’t even know if it’s the floor.

But just as he was staring blankly at his toes.

A shadow-like thing loomed over his head.

Woo Yeon-woo was surprised and looked up, and the Demon King was standing there, looking down at him as if he were a bug. He had the bone fragment in his mouth again.

The roses that had grown again at the Demon King’s feet were swaying among themselves in a place without a single breeze, which was frightening.

“Wh-why?”

Woo Yeon-woo stammered, and the Demon King stared at him intently, pondered for a moment, and then asked with a smirk.

“Don’t you want to get your body back?”

“Huh? No. No, yes. Yes. Of course…”

“Want me to help you?”

Disbelief flashed across Woo Yeon-woo’s face, as if saying, ‘You? Help me?’

It couldn’t be helped. The Demon King was also trapped in this space. *So, who is helping whom…*

The Demon King’s expression turned grim, as if he didn’t like Woo Yeon-woo’s reaction.

Woo Yeon-woo quickly changed his words.

“I’d be grateful if you could help me.”

Still not loosening his grim expression, the Demon King warned.

“You better watch your mouth in front of me. And your thoughts too.”

*I can’t control my thoughts.* Woo Yeon-woo grumbled inwardly again but nodded obediently.

The Demon King snorted and suddenly disappeared from sight. In the blink of an eye, the Demon King was lying on his recliner.

In that state, the Demon King said.

“To be precise, it’s a deal.”

“What… deal?”

* * *

“What took you so long?”

As Rembrary arrived at the dorm, someone among the members huddled in the living room shouted.

All four of them had their heads down, so it was difficult to tell who had shouted.

Rembrary shook off his shoes at the front door and asked.

“What are you doing?”

“The song is released at six.”

Kesh shouted irritably, as if he couldn’t believe he’d forgotten, and then grabbed his phone with both hands again. He seemed to be checking the song rankings.

Becoming a star was important, but whether he was glued to it or not, the song rankings wouldn’t change. Rembrary decided to wash up and lie down rather than check the song rankings every second with them.

He was very tired from dealing with Shin Jo-woon, who was talking nonsense. The emotion he gained from eating steamed shrimp had also disappeared while taking care of the injured person.

“How was the shoot today?”

Rembrary gave a rough answer to Jungseo, who was asking, and then went to the bathroom to get his pajamas.

* * *

At that time.

Shin Jo-woon was looking at the fish swimming in the pond, opening and closing their mouths.

He had just scattered the food he had made all over the pond, but his expression was serious.

A secretary who had come outside with a thin knee blanket handed the blanket to Shin Jo-woon and asked.

“Are you alright? You don’t look well.”

“I’m confused.”

Shin Jo-woon took the blanket, put it over his shoulders, and then took more food from the food container and scattered it into the pond.

Large fish jumped up, crushing each other to eat.

“What happened?”

“You have eyes, but I didn’t think you were on Nakru’s side.”

“?”

“I’m starting to wonder if you are on Nakru’s side.”

“Yes?”

He has ‘eyes’ [supernatural perception], has the power to defeat monsters, his brother is undoubtedly Nakru, he saved his brother’s colleague who is also presumed to be Nakru, and he believes that monsters are unconditionally evil…

Whether he is actually Nakru or not, doesn’t he have similar ideologies to Nakru?

The fact that he helps people without looking back and forth is like a saint, but Nakru also clearly has aspects that can be seen as good as long as they don’t deviate from their own intentions.

They took the lead in volunteer activities, donated to all sorts of places, and tried to help many people.

From the beginning, they were a group united under the belief that they would make the world peaceful, so they were definitely good in that regard. As long as they weren’t entangled with supernatural phenomena.

That’s why he was confused.

“I hope you’re not.”

* * *

Because the music show broadcast was on Halloween, Wild Animal went to the broadcasting station with unique costumes, unlike usual.

When they went down to the waiting room, most of the singers besides Wild Animal were also wearing different costumes than usual.

Even the teams that hadn’t fully dressed up had changed their makeup more than usual.

After greeting everyone and waiting for the rehearsal, Rembrary called Sagamjae and casually told him the story of the tree branch monster.

Sagamjae marked the location Rembrary told him on the map with his phone and immediately called someone to check it out.

After hanging up the phone, Sagamjae lamented in a low voice.

“It seems like the numbers are slowly increasing.”

“Numbers?”

“I’m talking about those things that are waking up and wandering around. You know, monsters and magical beasts.”

“Weren’t there this many originally?”

“Not as far as I know.”

However, after finishing two rehearsals and finishing the main stage and the ranking announcement. As they were waiting in line in the hallway with other idols to say goodbye and go back.

His phone vibrated, and when he took it out, Woosungwoo was calling.

“I’ll be back in a minute.”

Rembrary told Jongwoo and went to a place where not many people passed by.

Woosungwoo had a history of bombarding him with calls if he didn’t answer. It was better to answer and check what was going on in advance, even if he hung up quickly.

“Hello?”

[It’s me.]

“I know it’s you just by looking at the name on the phone screen.”

[……]

“Why did you call?”

There was a whooshing sound of wind over the phone. It was the sound of the other person sighing with the phone in their hand.

“Hello?”

As Rembrary called repeatedly, Woosungwoo brought up the main point in a tired voice.

[I heard you saved my colleague yesterday. He said thank you.]

“Marvel at my benevolence.”

[I’ll tell him you hope he recovers quickly.]

Rembrary frowned as Woosungwoo arbitrarily made up someone else’s answer. However, he didn’t tell him to change it because what Woosungwoo said sounded okay.

“Did you call to say that?”

However, he had to confirm this point.

To Rembrary’s question, Woosungwoo replied.

“No.”

“Then? I’m busy right now. I have to wait and greet people. I don’t know why I’m doing it though.”

Again, he heard the sound of the other person sighing into the phone.

[I heard you chased away a monster yesterday in a cool way?]

“Did your colleague say that?”

[Yeah.]

“Do you worship my coolness?”

[No.]

“Then why?”

[My colleagues, after hearing about your exploits, are completely smitten.]

“Are they going to become my followers?”

[They want you to join here.]

“No.”

As Rembrary said firmly, Woosungwoo sighed for the third time. Woosungwoo also seemed to be against Rembrary joining Nakru.

[The team leader…]

The team leader?

[He suggested that if you join here, he can mobilize all his connections to make you a star within three months.]

“Three months?”

[Yeah.]

“How?”

[I don’t know the method.]

This time, Rembrary couldn’t immediately answer ‘no.’

Rembrary had to gather many followers for Redrin here. And becoming a star was an easy way to gather followers.

Isn’t that why he was dancing unwillingly, going on entertainment shows, and even dressing up as a devil to climb that path?

*But he can make me a star in three months?*

“Still no.”

However, after thinking about it, Rembrary eventually refused again.

[Why?]

Woosungwoo asked back, surprised, as if he didn’t expect him to refuse even this.

Rembrary didn’t answer this question. To be exact, he couldn’t answer. *How can I say it? I’m a saint, but you guys are a group that kills saints, so I can’t get close to you.*

Isn’t that why he even bothered to take the person who was seriously injured yesterday to the hospital?

“Anyway, no.”

* * *

“He said no?”

Woosungwoo put his phone in his pocket after saying it indifferently after hanging up.

The Nakru members, who had been listening to the phone together in speaker mode, protested to Woosungwoo, saying, ‘You shouldn’t have said it like that in the first place!’ ‘What kind of persuasion is that?’ ‘If you say it like that, of course he’ll say no right away!’

Even the one Rembrary had called ‘the taciturn man’ protested by tapping his cast arm against the bed handle while keeping his mouth shut.

“He can’t do this kind of thing. He’s unlucky, but he’s also soft-hearted, so it won’t work.”

Woosungwoo said firmly and turned around.

However, the team leader turned Woosungwoo around.

“No, no. The order is reversed.”

*What are you trying to say…* As Woosungwoo frowned and looked at him, the team leader smiled and advised.

“You have to make him a star first. Then you have to ask him. Whether he’s going to go back down or not. When making a deal with rewards, it’s most effective to give the reward and then take it back, rather than doing it before giving the reward?”