Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 188

Who?

“This is a bit different from what I was investigating.”

“Different direction, you say?”

It was an ambiguous statement. Not that he didn’t know, but it wasn’t helpful either.

“Yeah.”

The veteran detective replayed the video from the middle, pressing the buttons a few more times to check only the important scenes.

Then, unable to take his eyes off the part where the camera fell over, showing nothing, the veteran detective asked,

“Can I take a closer look at this? I’ll let you know right away if I find anything.”

Even though he was ostracized as ‘a bit strange’ since he started talking about cults and angels, the veteran detective wasn’t one to steal someone else’s credit.

Since he had already confirmed everything he needed to and written down everything of note, the detective agreed and returned to his seat, leaving the camera behind.

* * *

Jang Tae-ri is either at the pizza place or her house anyway. She’s in one of those two places.

Confident, the two didn’t pay attention to the VJ’s [Video Jockey, essentially a production assistant] meaningful warning.

“Ah, and also.”

But that wasn’t the end of it.

“There’s a time limit, so it’ll be a bit difficult to visit both places.”

Shin Jo-woon and Rembrary looked at the VJ in disbelief. A time limit?

It was obvious that they wanted to prevent them from finding Jang Tae-ri and push them onto the next enormous schedule.

Moreover, the fact that they added this rule meant…….

“She must be at one of the two places for sure.”

Shin Jo-woon muttered, and the VJ avoided his gaze. Because it was true.

Rembrary thought hard. He thought Jang Tae-ri would be where he said, but he also thought Shin Jo-woon’s words made sense. It just looked like he was disagreeing with the opinion right after their ambiguous argument.

In other words, Rembrary wasn’t sure about his own opinion. It was definitely one of the two. But it was hard to insist that the one was the pizza place.

And in this situation, what if she went to the pizza place and Jang Tae-ri wasn’t there? He didn’t want to be responsible for the enormous schedule that would follow.

But according to Shin Jo-woon’s words? If Jang Tae-ri was there, great, and if she wasn’t, he could blame it all on Shin Jo-woon even if they had to do the schedule.

Having finished calculating, Rembrary smiled gently and turned to Shin Jo-woon.

“I’ll go wherever Shin Jo-woon wants to go.”

“You always have ulterior motives when you smile like that.”

* * *

As a result, Rembrary made a good choice. Jang Tae-ri was really at her house.

Not completely inside the house, though. She was standing in front of her house in comfortable clothes, blowing on her hands.

Then, when the two appeared, she frowned as if she was really angry.

It seemed like there was a scene being filmed from Jang Tae-ri’s perspective, as the VJ was attached to her side, filming, and onlookers were gathered around.

Shin Jo-woon immediately strode towards Jang Tae-ri and apologized.

“I’m sorry, Tae-ri. It was my fault.”

The people who had gathered to watch the filming sparkled their eyes. Looks like there’s a story today!

“Did they fight?”

“It must be a scene where they pretend to fight and then make up.”

“Woo Yeon-woo is standing there blankly in the back?”

“Since Jang Tae-ri has a two-timing concept, Shin Jo-woon must have been jealous of Woo Yeon-woo and hit him? Or maybe he broke up with her in a fit of anger?”

The onlookers whispered quietly, just enough not to disturb the filming.

Regardless of what others were whispering, Jang Tae-ri crossed her arms and asked stiffly,

“What did you do wrong?”

Shin Jo-woon gestured towards Rembrary with a sad expression.

“I should have controlled Yeon-woo better.”

The onlookers buzzed.

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why would Shin Jo-woon have to apologize to Jang Tae-ri for not controlling Woo Yeon-woo?”

“I told you, I don’t know.”

“No, but did Shin Jo-woon and Woo Yeon-woo now acknowledge each other as boyfriend 1 and boyfriend 2? Why are they sticking together so naturally?”

Only Rembrary was upset, frowning and glaring at Shin Jo-woon.

‘That dried anchovy?’

Jang Tae-ri barely managed to hold back the laughter that was about to burst out and delivered her line.

“You’re the one who introduced Yeon-woo to me, but Yeon-woo is my boyfriend now. It’s not your responsibility what Yeon-woo does. It’s okay.”

“No. Even toys have AS [After Service, meaning warranty] within a year, so half of it is still my responsibility.”

Rembrary glared at Shin Jo-woon even more irritably.

‘That withered anchovy?’

Somehow, viewers started jokingly saying that ‘Shin Jo-woon gifted Woo Yeon-woo to Jang Tae-ri.’ Now, Shin Jo-woon was using that to treat people like broken machines. He was even naturally shifting the cause of the fight.

Rembrary was furious and quickly approached Jang Tae-ri, apologizing himself.

“I’m sorry too, Tae-ri. I was wrong. Actually, it’s all Shin Jo-woon’s fault, but I, being the magnanimous one, will apologize on behalf of Shin Jo-woon.”

Shin Jo-woon wore an amused expression, but Jang Tae-ri was satisfied enough with just that and smiled.

“Looks like today’s filming concept is blaming others.”

Beyond the whispering voices, the three subtly confronted each other.

* * *

November 25th.

I filmed after a long time, but it wasn’t very enjoyable. We didn’t eat anything delicious. Shin Jo-woon was mean.

Dating is supposed to be full of exciting things, then full of enjoyable things, then full of things to worry about, and eventually it becomes sad, and in the end, only emptiness remains.

I’m exactly in that last stage now. Emptiness.

It’s all because of Shin Jo-woon. What an obstinate person.

November 26th.

Shin Jo-woon called me and said, ‘There are things in the world that look kind but aren’t,’ and looked at me with a serious expression.

When I told him that was exactly who he was, he said he wasn’t joking.

When I said I wasn’t joking either, he said this time.

“You’re stupid, but you’re not a hypocrite. Right?”

I don’t know what he’s talking about.

November 27th

We might as well call it Shin Jo-woon Day. Running into an anchovy for three days in a row.

There’s a dog named ‘Sik-i’ that we raise at the company, and it seems too lonely, so we decided to adopt another dog.

The dog we’re adopting this time is a very large dog, and somehow Gam-jae manager and I ended up coming to the store to buy a dog leash.

The problem isn’t this part. The problem is that I ran into Shin Jo-woon in the store.

Moreover, Shin Jo-woon is also standing in the corner where the dog leashes are.

“Why are you here?”

He was looking at the leashes carefully, so when I said I came to buy a dog leash, he asked if I was raising a dog.

When I said we were raising one at the company, he asked about the size of the dog and recommended, ‘This size leash would suit a dog of that size.’

“Shin Jo-woon, you don’t even raise a dog, but you know a lot?”

I was curious, so when I asked, he said he raised a dog himself.

Then, he suddenly fiddled with the necklace in his hand and asked this.

“Do you know that people become docile when they’re leashed?”

When I naturally said I knew, he stood there darkly, his eyes widening to the size of walnuts, and asked how I knew.

So, when I said I had seen a lot of those people before, he asked where I went to see so many.

Where else would I go? Of course, where I used to live…… Ah. I shouldn’t say this.

* * *

“A, a person has a, a leash around their neck?”

Woo Yeon-woo trembled, clutching the sleeve of Gwan-woo’s arm at the unbelievable sight that occasionally appeared.

It was inevitable. Normal people were wearing leashes like animals around their necks and crawling, being pulled by other people.

It was an unbelievable sight for Woo Yeon-woo, who was born and raised in modern South Korea. No. Woo Yeon-woo corrected his thoughts. It wouldn’t have been like this even in the Joseon [Korean Dynasty, 1392-1897] or Goryeo [Korean Dynasty, 918-1392] dynasties.

But the people passing by, even the priests, passed by such scenes without a second glance. Meaning it was a familiar scene.

‘I thought it would be a world somewhere around medieval to early modern Western Europe.’

I don’t know why, but. There’s a class system, they say they lived in a place so grand that they called someone else’s lodging a doghouse, and since they’re called high priests, that’s what I naturally imagined.

But as far as Woo Yeon-woo knew, even in early modern Western Europe, they didn’t put leashes on people and walk around.

Then what is this place…….

As Woo Yeon-woo glanced at the people passing by and fell into a panic, Mulu, the commander of the Holy Knights, who Rembrary always claimed ‘resembled Gwan-woo,’ carefully examined Woo Yeon-woo.

He definitely has the same face as the High Priest. Is it because the contents are different? It was also strange that the atmosphere was completely different from usual, and it was also strange that he was constantly looking around and being afraid.

“High Priest.”

“…….”

“High Priest.”

“Yes? Yes?”

Woo Yeon-woo, who hadn’t thought that ‘High Priest’ was calling him, jumped and answered, and Mulu pointed with his eyes to the large temple at the end of the direction they were walking.

“Don’t act so strange. Don’t look around and make a scared face either.”

“Do I, do I look very strange?”

Mulu gave advice in a stiff voice to Woo Yeon-woo, who had become sullen.

“If the High Priest shows strange behavior, many people will think that a demon is imitating the High Priest.”

“A demon?”

Woo Yeon-woo shut his mouth tightly when the commander of the Holy Knights immediately mentioned demons. The difference from his original world was keenly felt in every word. If it were his original world, they would ask if he was crazy if someone suddenly acted strange. Here, they immediately think a demon is imitating a person…….

In the end, Woo Yeon-woo couldn’t even look around until the commander of the Holy Knights stopped.

After walking for a long time, the commander of the Holy Knights stopped in front of a door. It was a very expensive-looking door with delicate carvings and jewel-encrusted decorations.

“You will be staying here from now on.”

When the commander of the Holy Knights opened the door, Woo Yeon-woo’s earlier sullen thoughts disappeared, and he exclaimed.

“Wow.”

Since the Sloth kept calling his lodging a doghouse, he was angry at how good of a place he must be living in. Now he understood. If you lived in a place like this, a small lodging would really look like a doghouse.

The size of the room that was visible as soon as he entered was about the size of six classrooms combined, and there were two more doors inside.

Moreover, the decorations in the room were also very fancy and magnificent, so it didn’t look like a room where people lived.

“You are free to use this inside, but call me when you go outside. When you want to order food or bring a book, you can ring the bell in the room.”

“Bell… Yes.”

Woo Yeon-woo nodded, checking the several bells hanging like decorations on various large pieces of furniture.

“Also, try not to talk to the people who come to run errands.”

“Yes…….”

“As you may have already experienced, the world is in chaos since the Demon King appeared. You cannot be sure of your safety if you go outside, so please follow my words for your own sake.”

Woo Yeon-woo flinched, feeling guilty for no reason at the word Demon King.

When the commander of the Holy Knights left, he walked weakly to the bed. But damn it, even the bed was too far in this ridiculously large room.

After a long time, Woo Yeon-woo arrived at the bed and collapsed on it, exhausted.

It’s safe inside, but it’s not safe the moment you go outside. If I can’t take a single step out of here, it’s no different from a fancy prison.

Moreover, I can’t do what the Demon King ordered. If I can’t do what the Demon King ordered, it means I can’t go back to my original body.

‘I wonder what the Sloth is doing with my body now. I hope he doesn’t cause any more accidents…….’

* * *

“What are you talking about? Rumors are circulating that Yeon-woo is receiving sponsorship?”

―The person who died a few days ago suspected that Yeon-woo was receiving sponsorship, so he was investigating that and was killed while wandering around late at night. Someone released a related video.