Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 187

187. People Looking For

As soon as I hung up, the phone rang again. I answered, and Shin Jo-woon protested in a sulky voice.

“[If you ask a question, listen to the answer.]”

“I heard you’re sulking because I’m close to someone you don’t like.”

“[……That’s a roundabout way of putting it. Very roundabout.]”

“Just tell me directly.”

“No way.”

“Why?”

“It’s a secret that I hate that person.”

“Are you talking about Jang Tae-ri?”

There was silence for a moment, and then Shin Jo-woon hung up again.

‘What is this guy’s problem?’

Rembrary stared at his phone in disbelief.

* * *

It wasn’t a reconciliation, a misunderstanding cleared, or feelings resolved. But a few days later, due to filming, Rembrary ended up meeting Shin Jo-woon in an awkward state.

“Where’s Tae-ri?”

“Tae-ri?”

The two, who hadn’t seen each other in a while, were both sulky and immediately looked for Jang Tae-ri. But for some reason, no matter how long they waited, Jang Tae-ri didn’t come. She wasn’t the type to be late for filming.

“Should we call her?”

Worried that someone who never did such a thing was late, Shin Jo-woon checked the time and took out his phone.

Then, the VJ (Video Journalist), who had been quiet all along, suddenly made a request from the side.

“Please put it on speakerphone.”

“Excuse me?”

“Please make the call on speakerphone.”

Shin Jo-woon immediately realized that the staff had an ulterior motive and asked back.

“Is this a setup?”

Instead of explaining, the VJ smiled and told him to call quickly. Shin Jo-woon felt uneasy but did as he was told and made the call on speaker mode.

However, just as the bell rang about three times, a recorded message suddenly played, ‘The person you are calling is currently unavailable…….’ Jang Tae-ri had blocked his number.

Shin Jo-woon stared at his phone in disbelief and then looked at the VJ. ‘What’s going on?’ his face seemed to ask.

The VJ held up one hand in the air, informing them as if conducting a show.

“Today’s situation! Jang Tae-ri is angry and has cut off contact!”

Shin Jo-woon’s expression changed to one that said, ‘Are you kidding me?’

Rembrary also thought it was absurd. Jang Tae-ri wasn’t the type to get angry and cut off contact without a word. That’s something petty people would do.

Seeing that both Rembrary and Shin Jo-woon’s expressions weren’t good, the VJ quickly apologized.

“Haha, were you surprised? Sorry. But isn’t this how it usually is? People don’t usually announce they’re going to disappear.”

That was true. Thanks to that, they were genuinely a bit surprised. Shin Jo-woon, now understanding, asked.

“So, are we filming just the two of us today?”

“The two of you will be looking for Jang Tae-ri.”

This time, Rembrary, who had been watching the situation, asked.

“Is Tae-ri hiding?”

“She’s not hiding. Jang Tae-ri left behind keywords, and Shin Jo-woon and Woo Yeon-woo need to find her based on those.”

“But why is Tae-ri suddenly angry?”

The VJ, perhaps not expecting Rembrary to ask this question, hesitated and then made up an excuse.

“Because Jang Tae-ri’s two boyfriends don’t get along……?”

It looked like a setup they had just come up with. But because it was similar to the actual atmosphere lately, Rembrary and Shin Jo-woon both fell silent. They used to hang out well together, but lately, that had definitely decreased.

Shin Jo-woon sighed and pressed his thumb near the bridge of his nose.

“So, what are the keywords Tae-ri left behind?”

“One is ‘father.’ The other is ‘three people.’ These are the two.”

Fortunately, the keywords Jang Tae-ri left behind weren’t too difficult, and Shin Jo-woon nodded, looking like he had an idea.

Rembrary also immediately thought of one place.

Shin Jo-woon pointed at Rembrary.

“Do we have to look for her together?”

“Yes. And both of you have mandatory lines this time.”

Lately, they had been getting rid of mandatory lines because the desired atmosphere didn’t come out, but for some reason, there were mandatory lines this time.

“Both Shin Jo-woon and Woo Yeon-woo, when you meet Jang Tae-ri, say ‘I’m sorry. It was my fault,’ and then say what you did wrong.”

When Rembrary asked, “What did I do wrong?” the VJ smiled and explained.

“It’s just a situation setup, so fill it in appropriately. With lines that might come out in a love triangle.”

‘What would that be?’

“Okay, let’s start filming. Both of you, act like you just discovered the keywords.”

The VJ picked up the camera.

Act like they just discovered the keywords? Rembrary was momentarily taken aback, but as soon as he thought about it, his phone rang. When he opened his phone, there was a text from Jang Tae-ri.

[Father]

It was a keyword. Soon after, Shin Jo-woon’s phone also made a sound.

“Does it say ‘three people’?”

Rembrary asked, and Shin Jo-woon showed him his phone screen.

Indeed. It said, ‘Three people.’

The VJ showed the two of them the lines that had been written on a sketchbook in advance instead of a teleprompter.

“I thought it was strange that we suddenly couldn’t reach her. Why would Tae-ri send us strange texts?”

It was like the beginning of a mystery game, but it seemed like the viewers would roughly understand the situation setup with this.

Shin Jo-woon almost laughed at the awkward lines but held it in and asked.

“Since the keywords are ‘father’ and ‘three people,’ it must be there, right?”

Rembrary also nodded.

“Yes. It seems like it.”

“Then let’s go that way.”

Watching them, the VJ was internally impressed. ‘Even with all the fuss, their teamwork is amazing. Jang Tae-ri, who came up with keywords that those two would immediately understand, was also amazing, and the two who understood at the same time were also amazing.’

As expected, the two-timing team has the best teamwork. But at the moment the VJ thought that, Shin Jo-woon and Rembrary walked in opposite directions, and then, realizing it was strange, turned around about three or four steps apart.

“Why are you going that way?”

“Isn’t it that way?”

The VJ felt embarrassed about what he had thought 10 seconds ago.

Shin Jo-woon frowned.

“What’s in that direction?”

“The pizza place.”

Rembrary naturally thought that Jang Tae-ri was talking about the pizza place because he remembered talking about Jang Tae-ri, her father, and the three of them there.

“Where did Shin Jo-woon think it was?”

“Tae-ri’s father’s house.”

On the other hand, Shin Jo-woon was convinced that the answer was Jang Tae-ri’s father’s house, where ‘father’ was mentioned and ‘three people’ were all together.

“Aren’t you interpreting it too literally?”

“If she was going to present it in a twisted way, she would have presented it in a twisted way from the beginning.”

Since they both thought their idea was right, they eventually compromised to go to the closer place first.

But just before leaving for the pizza place, which was closer, the VJ stopped them.

“Ah, there’s one more thing I need to tell you.”

‘Again?’

“If you can’t find Jang Tae-ri, the next schedule could be incredibly difficult, so please find her.”

* * *

At that time, the detective in charge of the ‘case where the cameraman’s shoulder was torn off and he died’ was conducting a ‘real’ investigation.

The detective reviewed the recorded content several times, writing down the conversations that appeared in the video verbatim.

Who said which dialogue, in what voice.

After finishing the writing, the detective stared at the dialogue written on the A4 paper and fell into deep thought.

‘Woo Yeon-woo, huh. Woo Yeon-woo.’

Based on the screen, Woo Yeon-woo could never be the culprit. Rather, Woo Yeon-woo was the target who was followed by the malicious paparazzi, not the one who would harm them.

But then again, Woo Yeon-woo had a motive for the crime. He might have wanted to get rid of the cameraman by any means possible.

However, the problem was that Woo Yeon-woo wasn’t within attacking distance of the cameraman in the recorded video. No, rather, Woo Yeon-woo didn’t even seem to know the cameraman was there…….

‘Should I go and ask him?’

Would he know anything if I asked? The detective seriously pondered.

And even putting Woo Yeon-woo aside…… what exactly did the cameraman and reporter see that made them scream? Why did they scream at the empty air? What attacked the cameraman that tore off his shoulder?

The autopsy results stated that the cameraman’s shoulder was torn off ‘in one go.’ The coroner clicked his tongue as he told him this fact.

“To tear off a shoulder like this, you need to be incredibly strong. I don’t know if there’s anyone among humans who can do this.”

“What if they used a tool?”

“To tear it off like that in one go using a tool, you would have needed specialized equipment. But when we received the report and went there, there was nothing, right? You can’t tear off a shoulder like that with equipment that can be hidden in the blink of an eye.”

The detective rubbed his hair roughly. In fact, it would be best to ask the cameraman, but he was dead, so he couldn’t ask anything.

‘Did they say it was a monster?’

The reporter said that a strange monster appeared and attacked the two of them. But that was even more absurd, wasn’t it? A monster.

The chair spun around. The detective blankly stared at the A4 paper and then got up from his seat. He didn’t want to do this if possible…… but he had no choice.

The detective eventually went to the most veteran detective in the station, but also the one who was ostracized as the craziest.

“Oh, Detective Park. What’s up?”

When the detective approached, the veteran detective asked with a surprised look. He seemed like a good person, considering he was called crazy.

In fact, the veteran detective was always like that. He always had a kind smile on his face, and he answered kindly when someone spoke to him. But the reason this veteran detective was ostracized as crazy was…….

“You’re still investigating things like cults infiltrating the entertainment industry, right?”

It was because of this.

The veteran detective, who was once successful, suddenly became obsessed with issues like cults, superpowers, and angels infiltrating the entertainment industry one day, and he was busy searching for these issues alone.

He investigated, ran, and researched passionately. At first glance, it seemed like he was working hard, but to other detectives, it was just crazy.

After that, the veteran detective was gradually pushed out of his position as a respected senior to a ‘crazy person who worked too hard.’ Because he was usually gentle, the degree of ostracism became even greater.

Even so, the veteran detective didn’t stop and continued to investigate the case alone.

The detective didn’t openly ostracize the veteran detective, but he secretly agreed that he was crazy.

But in the current situation, the only one who could help him was the veteran detective.

“Well, I’m always investigating. People always look at me unfavorably.”

“Could you take a look at this?”

“What is it?”

The detective handed over the camera confiscated from the reporter.

The two went to the veteran detective’s seat and played the video.

The veteran detective silently watched the contents of the video.

Finally, when the video ended, the detective asked with half expectation and half worry.

“What do you think?”

He half hoped that the veteran detective could explain the video, and half worried that he would talk about angels and cults again.