Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 177

177. You Should Always Hear People Out

While Rembrary was agonizing over the precarious flower path ahead, Woo Yeon-woo was agonizing over a path of corpses. The sharp tip of a spear was perilously close to his neck, close enough that even swallowing would cause his Adam’s apple to move and draw blood.

“Speak.”

The spear tip pierced his skin a little more. Woo Yeon-woo grimaced, the blade against his neck offering an unfamiliar pain. He also felt somewhat wronged. Everyone believed the sloth even when it was performing ridiculous antics with his body.

‘I haven’t even done anything, so why have I already been caught?!’

He could guess why. Where he lived, they rejected supernatural phenomena. They feared and shunned it, and if you seriously delved into supernatural phenomena, you were treated as strange. It couldn’t escape the realm of entertainment, and no one found this odd.

The soul belonged to the realm of the supernatural. Even if a person lost their memory and their personality changed overnight, everyone just assumed they had suffered a mental shock and accepted it. No one would have expected a soul to change. He didn’t blame them. Woo Yeon-woo himself would have reacted the same way.

But the sloth’s world was different. Here, supernatural phenomena were so natural that it felt wrong to even call them supernatural. Just look at now. Something winged was flying in the sky, and, well, the sky itself was already hard to call a sky, wasn’t it? That pitch-black… what should he call it? Should he even call that the sky?

In a place like this, it was only natural to react the way they did when someone’s personality changed drastically.

“The body, the body is real.”

Woo Yeon-woo confessed honestly. Rather than lying vaguely to people who were much more accustomed to this kind of thing than he was, he decided to tell the truth clearly. Of course, he didn’t intend to tell ‘everything’.

“The body is real, you say?”

The woman who approached grabbed Woo Yeon-woo’s hair and snapped.

“What part of this face looks like the High Priest’s…?”

Her voice suddenly stopped. Her eyes were fixed on something on the back of his neck. The woman naturally let go of his hair and suddenly changed her attitude, saying, “I see.” She must have confirmed the High Priest’s features somewhere on the back of his neck. The woman raised her chin.

“Speak.”

“We should take him to the High Temple, Captain. If ‘that’ is really the High Priest’s body, shouldn’t we leave this place first?”

She was right. The huge mantis-like monster was dead, but countless other monsters were running around. It was dangerous to settle down and start talking in a place like this.

The woman snorted coldly, put the spear back into the bag on her back, and mounted her horse.

“Get on.”

She held out her hand. Woo Yeon-woo was scared, but he had no choice. He reluctantly took her hand, and a strong force pulled him onto the horse.

“Giddy up!”

The horse soon set off, and Woo Yeon-woo cursed the Demon King inwardly, his mind blank. This is a scam, after all.

* * *

When they arrived at the High Temple, people flocked to greet him. There were so many people crowding around that Woo Yeon-woo would have been at a loss if the woman who brought him here hadn’t cleared a path for him.

The woman barely managed to get through the crowd and stopped only when she reached a large, deserted hall.

‘Is this person perhaps Guan Yu [a famous general from the historical novel *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*], the one the sloth was talking about?’

Woo Yeon-woo took in the woman who had appeared on a red horse and saved him only after arriving at the temple. A red horse. A long spear. Excellent spear skills and horsemanship. She was definitely the Guan Yu that the sloth had been singing about.

“Now. Tell me.”

The woman asked again, fiddling with her spear. Threatening people was clearly a way of life for her.

Woo Yeon-woo began to tell his story as he had planned.

“As I said before, my body and that… the owner of this body switched.”

At first, he told the story of how he had been inside his body together, how he wasn’t the only one inside the body, and how he had ended up here. All of it was true.

There were three things he didn’t say.

That the thing inside his body was presumed to be the Demon King. That the Demon King had switched their bodies. That he had received an order to ‘eliminate the hope that people have for the High Priest’ while switching bodies.

After finishing his story, Woo Yeon-woo looked at the woman nervously. Will she… believe me? The woman’s expression hadn’t changed throughout the story. He was worried because he couldn’t read her thoughts.

“I see.”

After a long time. Fortunately, the woman seemed to believe him. Woo Yeon-woo was relieved. He had wondered what would happen when the spear touched his neck. But he had gotten past the dangerous part.

“Then we must keep ‘that body’ safe until the High Priest returns.”

“Yes?”

* * *

Rembrary hoped that some of the twelve advertisements would fall through due to scheduling issues.

However, the advertisers of the twelve brands connected to Nakru showed surprising patience. Thanks to their endless concessions, Rembrary’s expectations were dashed.

It was a misreport that Woo Yeon-woo would be the sole model, and when the article was corrected to say that all of would be the advertising models for the twelve brands, the ripple effect grew even larger.

The entire group being selected as models for twelve brands at the same time, and in the same month, was an achievement that could only be achieved by becoming a top idol famous enough for anyone to recognize. No, even top idols would have a hard time getting twelve advertisements in the same month. It couldn’t help but become a hot topic.

Like the saying that money brings money, the song jumped even higher on the charts as it became a hot topic, and the number of followers on the members’ SNS [Social Networking Service] accounts also increased noticeably. Interview requests, coverage requests, and various schedule proposals suddenly poured in. In the past, proposals mainly came for Woo Yeon-woo, but these days, there were many proposals for as a whole. Some people deliberately sought out other members instead of Woo Yeon-woo, who was widely known, in order to gain a fresh image.

The members’ faces bloomed day by day. Only Rembrary was worried.

“Did you hear? Inquiries about creating an official fan club have increased significantly.”

Today was no different. Keshi had somehow gotten the news in advance and rushed into the practice room, excited.

They weren’t popular enough to be considered ‘Tier 1’ yet, but they were happier than ever with the current situation, which was the most attention they had received since their debut.

“Already?”

Hye-gyeol asked, and Tae-in retorted nonchalantly.

“Already? Isn’t it late, rather than early?”

However, Tae-in, who was pretending to be chic, also had the corners of his mouth stretched wide.

“What if it’s late? It would be nice if it was created. I want to go to the official fan cafe every day, upload photos, post messages, and play with the fans.”

Keshi giggled and lay down on the practice room floor, wriggling like a fish.

Rembrary clicked his tongue as he watched.

‘Someone is worried to death about how to solve this problem…’

Perhaps ignorance is bliss. But it was better to know in advance and prepare than to let go without worry and get caught off guard.

“If a fan club is created, let’s name it ‘Redrin’.”

He would take care of what he could.

“What? Where did ‘Redrin’ suddenly come from? What does it mean?”

“Hey, Woo Yeon-woo, the fan club name should be related to the group.”

“There’s nothing overlapping except for the ‘d’ in the middle.”

“Wouldn’t they gather fan opinions and decide when they decide to create a fan club?”

One day, while they were spending time filled with only good things.

A request for an interview came from an entertainment newspaper. It was an interview with photos. Interview requests were frequent these days, and since it was a newspaper with a decent response, Jong-woo included the interview in the schedule. There was a gap in time before briefly appearing as a guest on an entertainment program, and it was a perfect fit to put it in then.

The members, who had undergone ‘subtle grooming that made them look five times more handsome than usual without being too excessive,’ headed to the interview appointment.

Even though they arrived a little early, the reporter and photographer were already at the appointment.

“Hello? Wow, everyone looks much more handsome in person than on TV?”

The reporter said in a friendly voice after seeing the members and handed Jong-woo his business card. Jong-woo also quickly handed over his business card. The members were excited and took their seats, ordering drinks.

In situations where they were receiving attention, they had to be thorough about keeping their mouths shut. It was difficult to have a completely free interview because of Jong-woo’s instructions, but it was good enough that these opportunities continued to be given.

“Shall we start simply?”

Jong-woo swallowed dryly, thinking, ‘They’ll do well,’ and watched Woo Yeon-woo. The reporter had sent a list of expected questions in advance after the interview schedule was confirmed. Jong-woo had also listened to the members’ answers in the car and checked them in advance. At the time of checking, there were no problems with Woo Yeon-woo’s answers either. It was a bit out there, but anyway, what the public expected from Woo Yeon-woo now wouldn’t be ordinary answers.

However, reporters occasionally deviated from the expected questions. It wasn’t malicious. There were malicious people, but most of them added questions because other questions came to mind during the interview. However, even if the other party had no bad intentions, it was difficult for the person answering if unprepared questions came in. It was easy to make mistakes.

But since there was also a bouncing ball that didn’t know where it would bounce, Jong-woo had no choice but to be nervous like this.

“Have you filmed those twelve advertisements that are all the rage these days?”

“Haha, not yet.”

“People were saying that you’ll see Wild Animal every time you turn on the TV later. It could really happen.”

Hye-gyeol couldn’t manage his expression and smiled broadly at the reporter’s pleasant joke. Click, the photographer quickly captured the scene. Hye-gyeol hurriedly reduced the size of his mouth slightly, but the reporter captured even that in the photo.

“But is it real? Some of the twelve brands have overlapping advertising agencies. One of them said that they would connect the advertisements and make them because it became a hot topic.”

Jeong-seo answered the work-related question as prepared.

“That’s what they said, but nothing has been confirmed yet.”

The interview went smoothly, and Jong-woo was relieved. But near the end of the interview. The reporter, who had been leading the conversation with a friendly face, smiled at Rembrary. Jong-woo felt a chill down his spine when he saw that smile. The smile felt ominous for some reason. So, at the moment when he was about to say that they had to cut it off due to time constraints. The reporter looked at Jeong-seo again and asked.

“You’re about to become the model for twelve brands at the same time, what do you think is the secret?”

The wording was slightly different, but it was on the questionnaire.

“It’s thanks to the fans who love us so much and always support us. And Yeon-woo really worked tirelessly for Wild Animal without sparing himself.”

As Jeong-seo answered fluently without hesitation, Jong-woo relaxed and took the strength out of his shoulders.

At that moment. The reporter dropped a bomb.

“Woo Yeon-woo was investigated by the police regarding sponsors in the past, wasn’t he? Could that have anything to do with it?”