Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 191

191. Why Did You Go There?

Shin Jo-woon was taken aback. *Was* he always like this? He thought Woo Yeon-woo was a bit dim, but he never imagined he’d act like this behind the scenes…

It was more disconcerting than when he first realized Woo Yeon-woo might be Nakru. No, it was beyond disconcerting; it made *him*, the listener, feel embarrassed.

“The Devil… Nonsense… What crazy talk is that?”

The detective seemed to feel the same, dismissing it as nonsense despite his fear. But Woo Yeon-woo didn’t change his tune.

“Humans are strange. They try to uncover the truth without any intention of believing it.”

And he was so confident about it.

Shin Jo-woon felt his face burning and covered his cheeks. It was too embarrassing to listen to. If Jang Tae-ri saw this, even she, who was incredibly lenient towards Woo Yeon-woo, would surely be speechless.

Fortunately, after that, no more sounds were heard. But there must have been some conversation because, after a few minutes, the detective left alone, almost fleeing. A little later, the detective reappeared with a bag. He didn’t even stay for two minutes before leaving again, this time without the plastic bag.

‘Did he give it to Woo Yeon-woo?’

After that, the sound cut off again. Woo Yeon-woo would be alone now. Why wasn’t he coming out? Was there a camera in the bag? Was he checking the contents by himself?

Eventually, Shin Jo-woon went to where Woo Yeon-woo was. Surprisingly, Woo Yeon-woo was lying on the floor, clutching the plastic bag the detective had given him.

What happened? Shin Jo-woon was alarmed but first took care of Woo Yeon-woo. He carefully held the plastic bag in his other hand. He carried him to the car, placed him in the back seat, and tried to wake him up.

“Wake up. Pig. Yeon-woo.”

But no matter how much he nudged him, Woo Yeon-woo didn’t move. Had he fainted? Did he die of embarrassment after his middle-school-esque threats?

Shin Jo-woon sighed, started the car, and called Woo Yeon-woo’s manager on his phone.

[Yes, hello?]

Jong-woo answered immediately.

“I’m with Yeon-woo right now.”

Tired, Shin Jo-woon cut to the chase. Jong-woo’s panicked voice echoed in the car, asking where they were.

[Yeon-woo? Yeon-woo is there?]

“A lot has happened, and he seems a bit tired. I’m thinking of taking him home to feed him something. Is that okay?”

Shin Jo-woon lied to the flustered Jong-woo. He didn’t want to say he had taken the kid, who had snuck out, to the police station, so he made up an excuse.

The truth could wait until he checked the camera. He would decide whether to tell Woo Yeon-woo or keep it a secret after talking to him.

[Ah, yes. Yes, that’s fine. He seemed fine, but I guess he was tired.]

Jong-woo muttered in a bewildered voice. He really did seem fine. It seemed strange to him that the head of another agency was calling to say the kid was very hurt.

In fact, Shin Jo-woon didn’t think Woo Yeon-woo would be hurt either. He seemed to get annoyed, but he didn’t really pay attention to what others said.

He was just making excuses for now.

* * *

When they arrived home, Woo Yeon-woo was still asleep. Shin Jo-woon sighed.

He wondered what he was doing, taking care of a kid who still played the Devil. He felt stupid for seriously considering whether this idiot was Nakru, or what his ideology was.

Still, when Shin Jo-woon casually lifted Woo Yeon-woo, the housekeeper, who had just come out to the parking lot, saw it and muttered in surprise.

“President! Don’t tell me it’s a new―”

“No.”

“No?”

The housekeeper looked at him suspiciously, but Shin Jo-woon, holding the plastic bag in one hand and Woo Yeon-woo slung over his shoulder, went inside and instructed.

“Put him in the guest room, and feed him something when he wakes up.”

“Pizza… you mean?”

He was about to say porridge, but it didn’t seem like he was sick. But Shin Jo-woon felt annoyed at the thought of giving his favorite food to someone who was causing him trouble, so he replied, “Uh, porridge.”

* * *

“This is delicious.” When Rembrary gave a thumbs up while eating the porridge, Shin Jo-woon’s expression soured. He didn’t know why he was acting like that after telling him to eat it.

Rembrary didn’t really care, so he put his finger down and ate the porridge. As he ate, he thought about what had happened.

He had gone to Detective Park Jae-kyung and used the ‘Truthful Bet’ [ability to discern truth] to figure out the situation. Then, Detective Park Jae-kyung had gone to the detective who had been entrusted with the leaked camera.

He wondered if he should use the ‘Truthful Bet’ again this time, but surprisingly, that detective seemed willing to listen.

Then, he led him outside, saying they should talk in a quiet place, and when they were alone, he made a proposal. He would hand over the original video if he told him about the Hongwoo Squad.

From what he said, it seemed like the Hongwoo Squad was a group led by Daeju. Rembrary had heard from Maengwoo Shin about a detective who was constantly chasing that group, and he wondered if this was that detective.

Here, Rembrary began to worry. When the other party asks for someone else’s information—not my information, but someone else’s information—is it okay to sell someone else’s information for my sake in this case?

He was having these serious thoughts when he suddenly woke up. He thought he had dozed off. When he opened his eyes, he saw Shin Jo-woon. He was sitting on a chair by the bed, looking at his phone.

“What are you doing?”

Startled, he asked, and Shin Jo-woon glanced at him before pressing a strange button on the wall. When he pressed the button, surprisingly, a voice came from around the button, saying, “Yes, President.”

“A bowl of porridge.”

Shin Jo-woon said and pressed the button again. Soon after, a person in a suit whom he had never seen before appeared.

The person who brought the porridge on a tray placed the tray on Rembrary’s lap and looked at him strangely before leaving.

And… this was the situation.

Again, he wasn’t sure exactly what had happened. But he had a guess.

‘Was it the Devil or Woo Yeon-woo who came out?’

Rembrary ate the porridge while watching Shin Jo-woon’s reaction. Rembrary didn’t know which one had come out. But whichever one it was, this person had seen the changed appearance… Had he seen it? Or had he seen it after he fainted?

“Shin Jo-woon.”

“What food can’t you eat?”

“Excuse me?”

“Why?”

“Did I act strangely before I fainted?”

When Rembrary asked directly, Shin Jo-woon raised his eyebrows. The corner of his mouth tilted up. And then came the question.

“Why? Are you suddenly embarrassed?”

Rembrary was taken aback. Embarrassed? Who on earth had come out and done what? The Devil? No, the Devil wouldn’t have come out. If the Devil had come out, he would have been fierce, evil, and terrifying. He wouldn’t have asked if he was embarrassed.

Then, was it the real Woo Yeon-woo who had come out…? Rembrary didn’t know what the real Woo Yeon-woo had done, but judging from the way he was asking, he must have acted quite foolishly.

While lamenting inwardly, Rembrary pretended to be nonchalant and made an excuse.

“I’m usually quite bold, but sometimes, that quiet and shy side of me comes out.”

“Shy?”

Shin Jo-woon wondered if the ‘shy’ he knew was different from the ‘shy’ that *this* guy was talking about.

Meanwhile, Rembrary continued to speak.

“Actually, there are many different versions of me inside.”

Thinking about it, he figured it would be okay to tell Shin Jo-woon that he had multiple personalities. After all, everyone at the agency knew about it, and Shin Jo-woon seemed to be good at keeping secrets.

Besides, even though he didn’t look trustworthy at all, he was very helpful. Like today. This kind of thing might happen again while they were together, so he thought it would be good to tell him so he wouldn’t be too surprised.

“On the outside, they all look like me, but in reality, they are all different versions of me.”

“Ah… is that so?”

“I don’t usually tell other people this, but I think I can tell Shin Jo-woon.”

“Yeah. It’s better not to tell other people.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

“Yeah, yeah. Quiet and shy Woo Yeon-woo, finish eating and make a call to your manager.”

* * *

After calling Jong-woo, Rembrary received the camera that Shin Jo-woon handed him.

“Check the contents. The detective gave this to you.”

He didn’t know what the real Woo Yeon-woo had done, but he must have persuaded the detective well somehow—to get the whole camera.

Rembrary admired the real Woo Yeon-woo, who had handled things surprisingly well, and tried to turn on the camera.

When he struggled to turn on the camera, Shin Jo-woon turned it on for him. Soon, the two of them stared intently at the small screen, each with different thoughts.

Woo Sung-woo getting into Woo Yeon-woo’s car, the problematic scene, the scene of them following in the car, Woo Sung-woo and Woo Yeon-woo filmed from afar, the reporter and cameraman suddenly exchanging strange words, a sudden scream….

The cameraman dropped the camera while running away, and after that, screams continued to be heard from an unseen place until the video ended.

Rembrary still couldn’t take his eyes off the screen, but Shin Jo-woon kept looking at Rembrary.

Rembrary had wrinkles on his round forehead. He seemed to be thinking seriously.

Shin Jo-woon clicked his tongue. The detective and the reporter couldn’t see anything on the camera, but Shin Jo-woon had ‘eyes’ [ability to see supernatural beings], so he could naturally see the exact details of the incident: the monster rushing towards the cameraman at an incredible speed.

Maybe that’s why Woo Yeon-woo was so worried.

“What are you going to do with this? Are you going to release it?”

“What do you think is the best thing to do, Shin Jo-woon?”

“If this is released, people will focus on the mystery rather than the talk about sponsors. The focus that was on you will go back to the murder case as it was originally. If we put a little effort into it, we can claim that the person who released the edited version attacked you maliciously. The reporter was investigating on his own suspicion, but he deliberately edited and released that scene after only hearing the reporter muttering for that short moment. There’s no evidence at all. It’s actually malicious editing. Do we still not know who first leaked the video?”

“They say they’ve commissioned someone to find out. But like you said, Shin Jo-woon…”

“Complicated problems might arise. People who can see monsters. Those people can also see the monster in the video.”

“That’s true…”

“You can make excuses because you were just looking at your phone the whole time, but your brother acted like he was avoiding the monster. If people with ‘eyes’ watch the video, they’ll wonder why you and your brother went to find the monster.”

Shin Jo-woon watched Rembrary’s expression. Rembrary had a serious expression and was still only looking at the camera screen.

Shin Jo-woon stared intently at Rembrary and then asked tentatively.

“I also think it’s a bit strange after watching this.”

Only then did Rembrary turn his head towards Shin Jo-woon and ask.

“What is it?”

“Why did you go there? Your brother seemed to be fighting a monster… is that right? If that’s the case, why did you follow him there? You don’t seem to be doing anything.”