Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 19

19. The Results Are In

Who was threatening Woo Yeon-woo…?

Late Saturday, Rembrary, having parted ways with Woo Yeon-woo’s mother, returned to the dorm and surveyed the four members sprawled in the living room.

Woo Yeon-woo hadn’t explicitly said which member had threatened him.

He even changed his story midway, brushing it off as a joke.

But Rembrary, now in Woo Yeon-woo’s body, couldn’t shake off the nagging feeling.

However, he didn’t plan to directly ask, ‘Who threatened me?’

If there was a member who had threatened him, they would be relieved that Rembrary had lost his memory. There was no need to raise their guard by taking the initiative.

Besides, even if there was a threat, he needed to determine whether it had led to this situation or if it was just a burst of anger.

The next day, Sunday, Rembrary carefully observed the members as he went to the salon and then to the broadcasting station.

After watching them for two days, he roughly understood the relationships between the members and Woo Yeon-woo.

The worst relationship was, of course, with Tae-in.

He didn’t even try to hide this fact. He seemed to have a bad relationship not only with Yeon-woo but also with Keshi.

Jung-seo was the leader but was aloof, maintaining a clear boundary between himself and the members, even while taking care of them.

This seemed to be the same with Woo Yeon-woo.

It was purely a business relationship.

Hye-gyeol, being the youngest, was outgoing and talked to Yeon-woo the most.

Keshi was hard to pin down. She was cheerful to everyone when she was in a good mood, but sulky to everyone when she was upset.

‘This is difficult.’

Even after figuring out the members’ personalities, he still couldn’t identify the threatening member.

This was because, in general, the relationships between the group members were all lukewarm.

‘I have no choice but to watch over time…’

In the end, Monday arrived without him finding out who the threatener was.

* * *

Monday was the day the competition results were announced.

Jong-woo, who had rushed in early in the morning, took Rembrary and Keshi to the salon.

The other members had no schedules, and with their manager Jong-woo away, they unexpectedly had free time.

“Woo Yeon-woo-ssi [Mr. Woo Yeon-woo], Keshi-ssi [Ms. Keshi], it’s been a while!”

The place Jong-woo took them was a different salon than usual.

It was the salon that CEO Lim had splurged on just once after Yeon-woo first appeared in the real-time search rankings.

They, who had come out with sleepy eyes early in the morning back then, greeted Rembrary and Keshi today as if they knew them.

“I watched the broadcast well. You were both very cool.”

“You sang so well. I’m looking forward to the album next time.”

After spending nearly three hours getting dolled up, they went to the broadcasting station, where there were already five contestants who had arrived earlier.

Jong-woo greeted them, and Rembrary also greeted them, following suit.

After that, they waited in the waiting room for almost two hours.

It was a continuous cycle of waiting and waiting and waiting.

Later, as he yawned and dozed off, the door finally opened and a staff member appeared.

“You can come to C2 studio now.”

Even in the studio, they waited for about 30 minutes before filming began.

Unlike when they first received the competition assignment outfits, there was a small stage prepared today, with Kim Moo-rok PD [Production Director] standing in the center.

Twenty chairs without backrests surrounded the stage in a circle, and the contestants were sitting in those chairs.

He had heard that the host often led the show directly.

It seemed that Kim Moo-rok PD was just directly announcing the assignment songs and competition results for Sing Survival.

As he sat still, lights flashed brightly as before, and Kim Moo-rok PD recited the same introductory phrase.

“Welcome to Real 100% Real Survival, Sing Survival.”

As soon as the introduction ended, the AD [Assistant Director], standing away from the stage, signaled to applaud.

Following suit, he applauded, and Kim Moo-rok PD said a few words of greeting.

Then, after looking around at the contestants quietly for a moment, he continued.

“From 7th to 1st place, and the bottom three will be announced here. The remaining rankings can be checked separately on the bulletin board.”

Since there were twenty contestants, he thought it would take too long to call them out individually.

Rembrary nodded listlessly, sitting blankly in his chair.

He was following the schedule without really thinking.

As he was doing this, he felt a little strange.

What am I doing right now? That was the feeling.

Rembrary came to his senses only after hearing the sound of applause.

Surprised, he looked up and realized that they had already announced 6th place.

The person who took 6th place was smiling and saying,

“I’ve survived for two weeks.”

Looking closely, Jong-woo was outside the stage, clasping his hands together and desperately looking at Kim Moo-rok PD.

“5th place is… Beta-ssi [Mr. Beta].”

When Kim Moo-rok PD called out another person’s name, he stomped his feet alone as if he was disappointed.

However, even when they announced 3rd place, Rembrary’s name was not called, and Jong-woo’s expression changed to half resignation.

It seemed that he didn’t even think that Keshi or Rembrary would take a higher rank.

“2nd place is Seon Woo-sil-ssi [Ms. Seon Woo-sil]!”

When her name was called, Seon Woo-sil just smiled.

Looking at her slightly disappointed face, it seemed she had expected 1st place.

Rembrary turned his gaze back to Kim Moo-rok PD.

Before announcing 1st place, Kim Moo-rok PD was stalling for time by saying other things.

The lights were gradually dimming.

At that moment, Rembrary suddenly felt that Kim Moo-rok PD had looked at him.

In that instant.

Suddenly, the light above Rembrary’s head turned on brightly, and Kim Moo-rok PD reached out towards him.

“1st place is Woo Yeon-woo-ssi [Mr. Woo Yeon-woo], congratulations!”

A very fast voice was heard.

Following that, the song that Rembrary had arranged and sung in the style of a choir a week ago was played.

Rembrary was standing there blankly, and when the contestant sitting next to him said with a smile, “Congratulations!”, he finally came to his senses.

He had won first place.

He had joined without much thought, but in fact, Rembrary didn’t have much interest in this program.

But when he actually won first place, he felt a little good.

Keshi, a few seats away, came over and hugged Rembrary, shouting.

“Congratulations! I knew you would do it!”

Didn’t she say otherwise?

Hiding his bewildered feelings, Rembrary smiled awkwardly.

Seeing Keshi’s reaction now, he was reminded of the time when Seon Woo-sil changed her expression completely when the camera was pointed at her.

Come to think of it, what would Seon Woo-sil’s reaction be?

Suddenly curious, Rembrary turned his head and clicked his tongue inwardly.

Seon Woo-sil was smiling and giving a thumbs up as if Woo Yeon-woo and she were close seniors and juniors.

She doesn’t come close, but she even shows the detail of saying ‘Well done’ with her lips.

In the midst of all this, only Rembrary was indifferent.

Cruelly, the last place was announced immediately after the first place, and it happened to be the contestant next to him who had said “Congratulations!” first.

The contestants who had been happy for him as if it were their own business when the first place was announced now all had gloomy expressions in just a few minutes.

Some of them were crying.

Rembrary was shocked in a different sense than before.

Of course, there were many people who managed their expressions where Rembrary lived.

Including the new priests.

But to change their expressions so quickly as a group…

“Oh Jung-shin-ssi [Mr. Oh Jung-shin], there will be better results next time. Personally, I’m a fan, so I’m very disappointed too.”

Even Kim Moo-rok PD comforted the contestant who came in last as if he was sorry, but when the camera went to the side, he waved his hand and sent a signal to the AD [Assistant Director] with a scary expression.

Rembrary felt a little goosebumps and rubbed his arms.

As he was doing that, the lights started to brighten again.

Kim Moo-rok PD dragged out his words, “Yes… congratulations to those who got good results,” and focused the contestants’ attention on himself.

“Unfortunately, Oh Jung-shin-ssi [Mr. Oh Jung-shin] will be working hard as a slave for the next week.”

The contestants burst into laughter at Kim Moo-rok PD’s added words.

Kim Moo-rok PD paused for a moment and looked around at the contestants with a smile.

“Now, we will announce the new competition assignment.”

“······”

“We’ve done it solo, so next is a duet, right? It’s a duet competition!”

Kim Moo-rok PD, who shouted as if to surprise them, continued to explain.

“1st place will team up with 2nd place, 3rd place with 4th place, 5th place with 6th place… that’s how you form teams. The choice of song is free.”

Rembrary was listening to the explanation quietly and then flinched.

The duet itself is not a problem.

However, for 1st place to be with 2nd place…

‘Could it be?’

Rembrary slowly raised his head.

Seon Woo-sil was looking at him with a smile for the camera.

* * *

“Nothing good happens when I get involved with you, nothing good.”

After the results announcement recording ended, Seon Woo-sil came to Rembrary and said that first.

However, perhaps because there were dozens of small cameras around.

Even while complaining, Seon Woo-sil’s expression was bright.

“Is this a singing competition program or a clown-picking program? If we give up on the music and just push with YouTube views, wouldn’t that work? Don’t you think so?”

Seon Woo-sil gradually raised the level of her words.

Jong-woo, who had run to Rembrary because he was happy, frowned.

Seon Woo-sil’s manager had a difficult expression but didn’t stop her.

Seon Woo-sil smiled coldly but cleverly avoided all the cameras.

It seemed that she didn’t hate being on a team with Rembrary, but she hated being ranked lower than Rembrary even more.

However, you can only continue to pick a fight if the other person reacts to some extent.

No matter what she said, Rembrary just smiled kindly, and Seon Woo-sil gradually got tired of it and reduced her words.

Then, when personal cameramen came with cameras, she stopped talking altogether.

“But isn’t it a bit much for the first and second place to form a team?”

Instead, she only slightly raised her complaints, refined for broadcasting.

But even that was only for a moment.

As a veteran who had been working in this field for a long time without any noise, Seon Woo-sil soon put her personal complaints aside and asked.

“How are we going to prepare for the competition? Now that we’re on a team, I still want to do it properly.”

She has a strong pride in music.

It seemed that she had no intention of ruining the competition because she was angry at Rembrary.

“What would sunbae [senior] like to do?”

Rembrary asked indifferently.

The title ‘sunbae [senior]’ was something Jong-woo had taught him on the way, just in case.

“Give me your opinion first.”

Rembrary couldn’t answer as easily as before.

Before, he immediately came up with the choir style because it was the music that best expressed himself.

But Rembrary had never sung a duet before.

He would rather do a chorus with everyone.

It was then.

“Um…”

A hesitant voice was heard from the side.

Looking over, the contestant who had come in last this time was standing there.

The contestant smiled awkwardly as Rembrary and Seon Woo-sil looked at him and showed his name tag.

“I’m a slave for three hours today.”

As soon as Rembrary heard those words,

“Ah.”

He smiled and instructed.

“I’m thirsty, please bring me a drink.”

The contestant obediently

“Yes.”

And went to get a drink.

But after ordering him to do errands, Seon Woo-sil was looking at him with an expression that said, ‘Are you crazy?’

Why is she like that?

Jong-woo’s expression was similar, and even Eun-sun looked worried.

Only then did Rembrary recall the warning Jong-woo had given him two weeks ago when he showed him the list of contestants.

– He sings well, so I don’t think he’ll come in last. But if he does come in last, be kind to him no matter what, and don’t overwork him.

– Why should I do that?

– Their fans are famous for being violent. If you don’t want to create a million anti-fans, always smile and don’t make them do any errands. Absolutely.