Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 193

193. Looking in a Different Direction

“Hey, about Woo Yeon-woo. Do you think he still holds a grudge against me?”

As soon as Lee Il-baek came outside, he called his manager and asked. The manager tilted his head, then answered honestly.

“Wouldn’t he still hold one?”

“No, maybe he’s unexpectedly cool about it.”

“You were singing about what a petty bastard he is for days. Don’t you remember?”

‘What an oblivious bastard,’ Lee Il-baek thought, glaring at his manager. He clutched his hair and slumped down.

“Say something positive, huh?”

“If Woo Yeon-woo summons a ghost, don’t run to me; run to him.”

“Hey!”

When Lee Il-baek protested, the manager, quick-witted only in these situations, quickly ran away. Lee Il-baek angrily chased after him.

‘He even asked the company to make his *dongsaeng’s* [younger sibling’s] friend his manager. It’s convenient sometimes, but he can be so infuriating at times like this.’

“Lee Il-baek and his manager seem to have a good relationship.”

The staff, not knowing anything, laughed, but Lee Il-baek was not joking. He was genuinely anxious.

“I’ll push the ghost onto you even if Woo Yeon-woo summons it! And I’ll appear to you even if I become a ghost, you bastard!”

Lee Il-baek finally caught his manager and hurled curses at him. Only when the manager looked like he was about to cry did Lee Il-baek compose himself and try to reassure himself.

‘It’s okay. It’s just one scene anyway. And the rumors are just rumors.’

Lee Il-baek recalled the video. A video so eerie because there was nothing to see.

If he didn’t know it was a true story, he would have thought it was a video deliberately released by a movie director for noise marketing [a marketing technique that uses controversy to generate publicity].

Anyway, in that video, Woo Yeon-woo was far away. Far away from the incident.

‘So it’ll be fine,’ Lee Il-baek tried to calm himself.

* * *

‘That startled me.’

After finishing his makeup, Rembrary looked in the mirror, and his heart pounded.

‘What kind of makeup is this……?’

If he had seen it without knowing, he would have shot Divine Power at it. Especially the bright red paint on the face…….

“It’s a face I often see in the afterlife,” Sa Gam-jae exclaimed.

Rembrary frowned. He himself thought it was a ‘look that could be found in the Demon World,’ but he felt inexplicably displeased when Sa Gam-jae said that.

On the other hand, the stylist thought to herself, ‘Even the manager speaks eerily,’ and looked back and forth between Sa Gam-jae and Rembrary.

“It’s all done.”

After the stylist left as if fleeing, Rembrary, after confirming that it wasn’t his turn yet, went out of the dressing room to watch Jung-seo filming.

The slightly awkward appearance during the script reading had disappeared a lot in a month, and Jung-seo now seemed to be swept along and fitting in well.

Watching him, Rembrary looked at Sa Gam-jae and exclaimed.

“Hasn’t his acting improved a lot since I first saw him?”

Sa Gam-jae replied bluntly.

“I’m not really interested.”

“Take care of it. Isn’t it your responsibility, even if it’s a side job?”

Rembrary was dumbfounded, but Sa Gam-jae still replied that he understood in a perfunctory tone.

“That’s right. Come to think of it, Gam-jae. You were busy because many people were going to die at the amusement park?”

If that had happened, it would have been on the news, but Sa Gam-jae and the news had been quiet all along.

“That was the plan, but…….”

“But?”

“It was averted.”

“Averted?”

“The details are confidential.”

When Rembrary tilted his head, Sa Gam-jae advised in a voice that others couldn’t hear.

“Anyway, don’t go to amusement parks for the time being.”

Just as Rembrary was about to ask what that meant,

The director called Rembrary first.

“Woo Yeon-woo! Ready!”

Rembrary quickly went over there, unable to ask Sa Gam-jae for more details.

‘I can ask later.’

Rembrary was curious about what Sa Gam-jae had said, but he put that matter aside for now.

As Rembrary approached, the director was startled and muttered.

The role Rembrary played was one of the ghosts, so the other actors playing ghosts had the same makeup as Rembrary.

However, because of the rumors surrounding Rembrary, he looked somehow scarier. The director belatedly cleared his throat to make up for his surprise and pointed to the set with his finger.

“See over there?”

“Yes.”

The director pointed to a hallway-shaped set, but the structure was unique. One side was of normal height, but the other side was very low.

Especially the low side was so low that even short people couldn’t stand properly, and Rembrary, who was much taller than others, couldn’t even stand properly.

“The scene of chasing from afar will be CG-ed [computer-generated imagery]. What I want Woo Yeon-woo to do is the expression. Close-up.”

“Yes.”

“The setting is that the two people are very different in height, so the close-up of the chase scene will be done separately in that hallway? Yeon-woo, you follow Il-baek in that low hallway, so please move as much as possible in that low hallway.”

“Yes.”

“Hey, Il-baek!”

Shortly after Il-baek came out, Rembrary smiled at Lee Il-baek. Lee Il-baek flinched.

* * *

Finally, filming began.

Rembrary waited, bracing his hands against the ceiling and walls, and as soon as the signal dropped, he twisted his neck.

Lee Il-baek, who was running ahead, glanced back and, unfortunately, saw the moment his neck twisted and was horrified.

“Hick!”

Lee Il-baek sped up, causing him to stumble out of the set alone.

Seeing this, the director was angry.

“Hey, Lee Il-baek! Is this a sprint? What are you doing running out alone!”

Only then did Lee Il-baek come to his senses and bow.

“I’m sorry.”

Then he went back into the set, but the director was already sulking a bit.

Lee Il-baek glanced back. Rembrary was staring at him. But was it because his face was painted bright red? He looked especially scary today.

Lee Il-baek cursed inwardly and looked forward again, and filming resumed.

This time, Lee Il-baek also came to his senses and tried not to run too fast. Still, he didn’t stop moving his feet.

He was afraid of just creating a situation where he and Woo Yeon-woo were chasing each other, regardless of acting.

Why did the video the manager showed him yesterday keep coming to mind? A man screaming while looking at an empty place. His face doesn’t appear, but the situation is terrifying just from his voice……. The fear is vividly conveyed. The behind-the-scenes story that the man eventually died is even scarier.

The more he thought about it, the more Lee Il-baek’s expression became filled with fear.

The director swallowed hard as he watched it. Lee Il-baek’s reaction to the other person to that extent was an effect he hadn’t expected either.

On the other hand, Rembrary clicked his tongue. Originally, he was going to use ‘God’s Majesty’ [a display of divine power or aura]. To drive Lee Il-baek to the very end of real fear.

But since he was already so scared, and Lee Il-baek’s fear was conveyed to him, he didn’t think it was necessary to make it even scarier in this situation.

According to Jung-seo, Lee Il-baek doesn’t bully him much these days.

Then, suddenly, he thought of the Demon King.

‘The real Woo Yeon-woo’ also suddenly appeared a few times. On stage or in interviews. But the Demon King appeared especially often on set. Or when an enemy was in front of him.

This was a filming set. And it’s dark. Similar environment to when the Demon King has appeared so far. I wonder if the Demon King will appear again today?

But as he walked forward, he noticed something strange.

A space. A space filled with roses. Moreover, the scent of roses was strong everywhere. Rembrary stopped and looked around.

‘Where is this?’

Where did the filming set go……?

All the staff, Jong-woo who was watching, and Sa Gam-jae are gone. Moreover, in front of him, Lee Il-baek was not running away, but someone was standing still and looking down.

That figure was familiar.

Red hair reaching to the floor, golden eyes slightly visible under red eyelashes, a languid and arrogant image, a large height, a profile like a painting.

Rembrary’s eyes widened.

‘Lord Redrin?’

* * *

At the same time that Rembrary was flustered by the sudden appearance of Redrin in front of him, the staff and director were watching a different scene.

Woo Yeon-woo, who had been running fine, suddenly stopped and suddenly lowered his head.

“Why is he doing that?”

The director frowned.

“Why is he suddenly doing that when he was doing so well?”

He grumbled but brought his hands to his mouth to give other instructions.

At that moment.

Suddenly, Woo Yeon-woo lowered the hand he had brought to his head and raised his head.

But…… surprisingly, the atmosphere had completely changed.

He was scary before, too. But that was because of the makeup and rumors. The movements and atmosphere when chasing Lee Il-baek in the narrow hallway were strangely realistic, so it was scary, but the sense of intimidation when standing still came from the makeup and rumors.

But now the atmosphere was completely different.

The director’s fingertips trembled. It was a strange feeling, but he was endlessly afraid. A vague sense of fear soared. The fear of the beginning. He had seen deep-sea photos before. That endlessly *pyeolcheojin* [ 펼쳐진 – spread out] black unknown space. The fear the director felt now was similar to the fear he felt when he saw that photo.

But the degree was even greater, so the director froze without knowing what to do. He couldn’t tell them to continue filming or stop. No, he couldn’t open his mouth at all.

Of course, he had no *jeongsin* [정신 – mental state] to look around. So the director didn’t know. That other people were in the same situation.

The only one who didn’t know was Lee Il-baek, who was pretending to run away. However, Lee Il-baek also felt something strange, and when the surrounding atmosphere was unusual, he only turned his head back while running.

Then, Lee Il-baek, who made eye contact with ‘Woo Yeon-woo,’ tripped over his own feet and fell forward.

‘Who is that, who is that?’

Lee Il-baek instinctively realized. That the opponent was a completely different person than before. No, that’s not a person, but…….

At that moment.

A crashing sound came from somewhere. One of the staff couldn’t stand the atmosphere and tried to run away but hit a steel chair.

The director hurriedly shouted, “Cut!”

At the same time, the thinly sliced fear that seemed to be walking on thin ice was shattered.

Lee Il-baek barely took a breath. The staff were also in a similar situation, but he didn’t feel that because the feeling when he made eye contact with Woo Yeon-woo was so intense.

But…… Woo Yeon-woo started walking straight towards him.

Moreover, the atmosphere was still eerie, though not as much as before.

Lee Il-baek hurriedly got up and looked for his manager. He was planning to run away, pretending to go to his manager. He wanted to get out of there for now, regardless of his pride.

‘Maeng Woo-shin told me not to even talk to that bastard. Damn it.’

At that moment.

Woo Yeon-woo reached out his hand, and Lee Il-baek’s wrist was grabbed. Lee Il-baek was surprised by the tremendous grip and looked at Woo Yeon-woo.

In that state, the other person opened his mouth.

“Shall we talk about Maeng Woo-shin?”