Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 172

172. Another World

It was an ordinary day.

After a week of music show promotions, the members sprawled out in the dorm like freshly dried seaweed, enjoying their consecutive two-day weekday break.

Rembrary was one of those seaweed strands, but he soon found himself bickering with Taein.

“Hey, Woo Yeon-woo, your voice is shaky during the live performances. Fix it.”

Taein’s nagging at Rembrary while watching a rerun of their music show on TV was the start of it all.

“It’s weird if it doesn’t shake while dancing. Even if you shake a speaker, the sound will waver.”

Rembrary immediately retorted to Taein’s nagging, and Taein, displeased, rose and frowned.

“You have to push through that to be good at live performances.”

“Isn’t being good at live performances about being good at singing in the first place?”

“Who said you can’t sing? I’m telling you to pay attention to the live performance!”

“That means you’re saying I can’t sing, you ignorant human.”

“Ignorant? Wow, this punk, calling someone ignorant?”

“May God strike you down, who are you calling a punk?”

They were in the middle of their squabble when.

“Hyung [older brother or male friend], you’re getting a call?”

Hye-gyeol, lying down, nudged the phone towards Rembrary with his foot.

Rembrary smacked Hye-gyeol’s calf and picked up the phone.

‘Huh?’

He had been expecting Jang Tae-ri, Shin Jo-woon, or maybe Seonwoo Sil or Im Yu-han, or even Maeng Woo-shin or Sa Gam-jae. Unexpectedly, the caller was Jong-woo.

Of course, there were many reasons to talk to Jong-woo. However, when the members were in the dorm, Jong-woo usually relayed messages through Jungseo. If all five were together and Jong-woo specifically called someone other than Jungseo, it meant he had something to say only to that person.

“What’s this about?”

Puzzled, Rembrary answered the phone anyway. And as soon as he answered, he briefly held the phone away from his ear at the scream that burst through the receiver.

When he put the phone back to his ear, Jong-woo was uttering a series of incomprehensible words.

[You, you know, you—]

He couldn’t understand what he was saying, but it was clear that the initial scream was one of joy.

“Jong-woo, calm down.”

Rembrary said soothingly, but it had no effect. Fortunately, he could hear CEO Im’s voice over the receiver saying, “Tell him when it’s confirmed, when it’s confirmed.” CEO Im continued, “You’ll be disappointed if it falls through.”

What was that about? Rembrary didn’t understand properly and continued to listen with the phone to his ear. However, Jong-woo seemed to be persuaded by CEO Im’s dissuasion. The joyful screams subsided, and after a moment, Jong-woo said this:

[I’ll tell you later.]

With that, the call ended.

Rembrary stared at the phone in bewilderment before frowning.

‘What was that all about?’

* * *

It was after returning to the bedroom, not wanting to laze around in the living room after the argument with Taein. The phone made a ‘ding’ sound, indicating a text message.

Rembrary sat on the bed and checked his phone. It was a text from Im Yu-han.

[What does a tiger’s head look like exactly?]

And out of the blue.

When Rembrary sent a tiger photo as an attachment, Im Yu-han sent another text.

[No. I mean the tiger you gave me as a gift.]

[It looks like a tiger. >ㅅ<] [Tell me more specifically.] Rembrary tried to specifically recall the appearance of the tiger head spirit, but all he could remember was that it had a tiger head with a rich beard. Eventually, Rembrary searched for tiger photos on his phone, found the one that looked most like the tiger head spirit among the various types of tigers, and described its appearance. [It has black around its eyes and upturned eye corners. It has a dignified impression, but its mouth is pouting and cute, and its nose is pink.] [Ah, cute. My heart just went halfway around the world and says it can go further. Cute, cute.] [But why the tiger?] [Its actions are so lovely haha.] Rembrary tilted his head, thinking of the tiger head. Was it acting lovely? Is it lovely for it to chase after idols, smacking its lips? Still, if he had to find a compliment... well. The tiger spirit's 말투 [manner of speaking] was quite solemn and serious. [Sunbae [senior/mentor] has unique tastes.] [It's also cute how it brings a flower every time it comes in and puts it on the table, and it's cute how it turns down the volume when I fall asleep while watching TV, and it's good at cooking meat dishes.] 'Because it's a tiger...' [Yesterday, I was crying in the dark, and it wrote a note telling me not to open my eyes and hugged me for a moment. The texture was so soft. It felt like giant cat fur.] 'Because it's a tiger...' Rembrary recalled the tiger head spirit calling Im Yu-han 'Lady Im' and liking her. At that time, he thought the tiger head spirit liked Im Yu-han. Listening to what Im Yu-han was saying now, it seemed that they both had feelings for each other. Unfortunately, one side was liking the other without knowing that the other's head was a tiger. [The tiger head calls Sunbae [senior/mentor] 'Lady Im'.] [Oh really? Then should I call him Hodol-쇠 [Hodol-soe, a common name for tigers in old Korean folktales] now? lololol] While Rembrary was searching for what Hodol-쇠 was, Im Yu-han sent another text. [Yeon-woo-ya. Can't I actually see the tiger?] Rembrary stopped searching for Dol-쇠 and replied. [I'm sorry, Sunbae [senior/mentor]. There's no way I can do that.] But just as he pressed the send button. There was a sound of knocking on the window. When he looked up, he saw the tiger head spirit standing on the veranda. As soon as Rembrary recognized him and said, 'Huh?', the tiger head spirit quickly came inside and begged. [I have a favor to ask of you. Can you grant it?] "What is it that you're doing as soon as you arrive?" When Rembrary asked with a sullen expression, the tiger head spirit knelt down and clasped his hands together as if praying, then closed his glaring eyes. [Please make me human.] "......" [I want to become human.] Rembrary asked the tiger head spirit with a dumbfounded expression. "What do you want me to do?" The tiger head spirit, who had tightly closed his eyes, squinted and asked. [Is there no way? Aren't you a Great Demon?] "What nonsense are you talking about?" As Rembrary spoke, the tiger head spirit tilted his head as if trying to confirm if he was serious and asked again. [Is there no way to change my head into a human head?] "The only head change I can give you is to chop your head off." At Rembrary's words, the tiger head spirit flinched back. His expression became very dejected, as if he had been serious. With Im Yu-han and the tiger head spirit acting like this in succession, Rembrary felt a little sorry for them, wondering if they were really on good terms. In fact, it wasn't that strange, as there were cases where different races were attracted to each other in the place where he lived. Besides, wasn't he the one who introduced the tiger head spirit and Im Yu-han to each other? Because of this, Rembrary felt a bit of responsibility and pondered for a moment before saying, "Ah." [Is there a way?] "There is a human with strange abilities." The one Rembrary thought of was Dae-ju. Although there was a one-month limit, Dae-ju had the ability to grant wishes. It seemed that there were clear limits to those wishes, but wouldn't it be worth asking if it was possible or not? Besides, there was something about Dae-ju that had been bothering him. It seemed like he could make good use of this opportunity. "That person has the ability to grant wishes." [Is that true?] "His power is weak, so he can't grant big wishes." [Still, I will go! Where does he live?] "I will contact him, so you go and find him, say that I sent you, and tell him your wish. I'll find the map on my phone now and tell you." [Thank you! Thank you!] "But." [But!] "When you go to the person I told you about, you must carefully observe if there is anything suspicious, or if any suspicious people are coming and going." The tiger head spirit said vigorously that he could do it. Rembrary told him that the person he had to find was called 'Dae-ju' and told him the color of his hair and eyes. He found the building where Dae-ju seemed to be staying on the map and pointed it out. And as soon as the tiger head spirit left, Rembrary sent a text to Dae-ju and asked him. [I just sent a spirit with a tiger head to you, Dae-ju. >ㅅ<] This time, Dae-ju replied immediately. [Yes.] [Don't chase him away. Listen carefully to what he says.] [Yes.] Considering that he hadn't been in contact for a while, it was still a polite answer. Rembrary was about to write back that he understood, but he pressed the delete key, erased all the words he had written, and re-entered them. [Dae-ju-ya. Have you found the brush you lost before?] About 5 minutes later, a reply came. [I haven't found it yet.] * * * Woo Yeon-woo opened his eyes in a scene he had occasionally seen. It was a scene of utter chaos. It was filled with confusion, screams, and roars of unknown origin. People were busy running away, and bizarre things were chasing after them. The sky was surrounded by a black curtain-like thing, and things that were too big to be bats flew around making strange laughter. Buildings that were once beautiful were broken and scattered everywhere. Woo Yeon-woo swallowed hard and looked around, then discovered a giant mantis about five times the size of a person running towards him. "Ugh..." Woo Yeon-woo turned around and ran frantically. Tears welled up reflexively. The anxiety he had been thinking about throughout the 'deal' resurfaced once again. Could he have been scammed by the Demon King? —I will send you back to the sloth's original world. —Me, go? I saw it briefly before, but it wasn't a place for people to live... —Don't you want to find your body? —I want to find it... —Go there and weaken the sloth's power. If his power decreases, the initiative of the body will come to me. —And then what if the Demon King... takes over my body this time? —I'm not interested in such a weak human body in the first place. So I'll return this body to you. The Demon King said that he would take care of the sloth and return to his original world. So when he asked if the Demon King couldn't just go directly to the 'original world' or wherever it was, the Demon King replied in a very unpleasant tone. —A person can't go through a rat hole, can they? It's the same principle. As he thought again and again that it was probably a scam, something caught on his foot and his body lurched forward. Woo Yeon-woo bit his lip as he fell to the ground and scraped his palms. However, the pain immediately disappeared when he looked to the side. The 'something' he tripped over was a piece of a monster's body. "Ugh!" Woo Yeon-woo stood up again. However, he couldn't run properly because his legs were weak. At that moment. Something whizzed by quickly. Woo Yeon-woo, who had fallen again, tried to get up, but he widened his eyes when he realized that the thing that had whizzed by was a mantis. A mantis five times the size of a person was right in front of him. So this is how I die. At that moment, when a curse word came out automatically. A large spear flew from somewhere and pierced the mantis's head. The giant mantis fell sideways in an instant. Even in death, it dies so frighteningly. Woo Yeon-woo teared up again and raised his body. This time, he heard voices nearby. What is it this time? Is it a horse monster this time? Woo Yeon-woo trembled and looked to the side. However, what came was not a horse monster but just a horse. A large but not monstrously large red horse. On the horse was a woman wearing a white cloak. The woman pulled out the spear stuck in the mantis's head, turned the horse's head, approached, and asked. "High Priest, are you unharmed?"