Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 198

198. The Prophesying Idol

“Where’s Gamjae?”

Jongwoo asked as he entered the dorm, and Keshi answered with a yawn.

“Dunno.”

Jongwoo scanned the living room. All five members were in front of the TV. Sa Gamjae, who should have been here already, taking care of the members, was nowhere to be seen.

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

Jongwoo frowned.

“I told you to keep him with you, since there’s a rehearsal today.”

“?”

Hyegyeol tilted her head. Somehow, it felt like the subject of the conversation had changed. Wasn’t that something you’d usually say to a manager?

Come to think of it, there was something even more amazing. The fact that Sa Gamjae hadn’t been fired yet, even with his behavior.

‘Is it because of his face?’

Hyegyeol seriously pondered, recalling Sa Gamjae, who shone brightly even next to actors known for their good looks.

In reality, it was because Sa Gamjae was a Grim Reaper.

Grim Reapers, when they took on undercover jobs, were rarely fired. Even just thinking about firing them made one feel extremely uneasy.

But Hyegyeol had no way of knowing this, so no matter how much she thought about it, the only reason she could come up with was his face.

Just then, Taein, who had been listening quietly, spoke up instead.

“There was a breaking news report about an accident at an amusement park, and he left as soon as he saw it.”

“Amusement park? Accident?”

Jongwoo’s eyes widened. He reflexively looked towards Rembrary. He remembered what Rembrary and Sa Gamjae had said together.

Of course, neither of them had explicitly said there would be an accident. They had just acted like something was unsettling. But now that an accident had actually happened, it felt strange…….

“What about the people? Were many hurt?”

Jongwoo forced down the strange feeling and asked again.

“I don’t know the details. I only saw the breaking news just now.”

“What?”

Jongwoo was dumbfounded, and the unsettling feeling he had when he heard about the amusement park accident was overwhelming.

“Seriously, I need to say something to him. Is he just here to have fun or what.”

‘He probably is here to have fun,’ Rembrary thought, staring at the blue sky beyond the veranda.

‘Sa Gamjae must have gone to do his Grim Reaper duties.’

* * *

Wild Animal and Jongwoo went to the venue for the upcoming year-end awards show.

Rembrary had expected a stage the size of a music show, even for a year-end awards show, but he was surprised to find that the stage was much larger than usual. The audience seating was also much wider than before.

“If they’re all gathered together, they’d look like my followers.”

“Don’t say things like that. Other singers’ fans will get angry.”

“What? No, I wasn’t talking about the followers here.”

“I can’t understand a word you’re saying.”

‘If you came to the world I lived in, countless followers would gather like this just to see my face once and hear my voice a little,’ Rembrary suppressed the urge to explain to Keshi.

Instead, he greeted some of the idols he had become familiar with while attending music shows.

“Your face has really gone downhill since I last saw you. You should go to the hospital. What? No, I didn’t mean it that way. The hospital I’m talking about is a heart hospital…… No, I don’t mean it in a bad way!”

After the greetings were roughly over, while they were waiting for their rehearsal turn.

Oh Jungshin, whom he rarely met even though they were neighbors, approached him and spoke to him for some reason.

“Is it true?”

Oh Jungshin even naturally sat down next to him.

“I heard you were going to be in but you dropped out?”

“Gamanhiyo [Just a moment]?”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s true that it was highly likely I would drop out. The director there didn’t like me.”

As he answered honestly, even though he was puzzled, Oh Jungshin clapped half-heartedly, saying, “Wow.”

“Thanks to you, you saved your life.”

“What do you mean?”

“Didn’t you see the news about the Ferris wheel falling?”

“I saw it.”

“They were filming that drama there. It’ll be all over the news soon.”

“Really?”

Oh Jungshin raised a hand mirror to examine his stinging eyes, then looked at Rembrary strangely.

“You’re not surprised?”

“Should I be surprised?”

“You should be. Usually, everyone is surprised.”

Rembrary clicked his tongue. ‘The Grim Reapers were waiting for days. So that’s what happened in the end.’

“It seems like quite a few people died, including two actors and some staff.”

‘Since so many people were going to die, even Grim Reapers who weren’t in charge of that area must have gone there.’ Recalling what Sa Gamjae had said, Rembrary sighed.

He had tried to avoid getting involved on purpose, but…… it still hurt to hear that so many people had died.

“May God grant them solace.”

“What?”

* * *

After several hours of rehearsal, the Wild Animal members got into the car to return to the dorm.

Everyone had heard stories about accidents here and there, so in the car, the members were all whispering about the amusement park Ferris wheel incident.

“The CEO hated that you were dropping out of there so much. Wow, if he had forced you in, it would have been a real disaster.”

Keshi, whose mental strength was like paper, shuddered, saying that this incident was especially scary, and rubbed his arm.

Jongwoo also felt a chill for different reasons, and glanced at Rembrary in the rearview mirror while driving.

‘He kept saying it was unsettling and refused to do it. Does he really have some kind of divine power……?’

He was also wondering whether he should call the director or not. It was almost certain that he would drop out.

But he wasn’t completely out yet, so should he call the director? What if he called and the director said that Yeonwoo had resisted because he felt uneasy about the amusement park?

He hesitated, but after arriving at the dorm, Jongwoo eventually called the director. However, the director didn’t answer, even after several rings.

“Is the situation really bad…….”

Jongwoo muttered, worried. They had parted on bad terms, but he was still concerned because a major accident had occurred.

“I should call again later.”

But when he went inside the dorm, the members were lined up in front of the TV, taking off their makeup.

“Hey, go to the bathroom and wash up.”

Jongwoo scolded, pushing the members towards the bathroom. They had been taking off their makeup before he went out to the hallway to make a call. How could they still be taking off their makeup?

However, the members only awkwardly wiggled their bodies and remained in place, staring at the TV.

Wondering why they were acting like that, Jongwoo looked at the TV screen and soon stopped in surprise himself.

The news screen showed a person with their face blurred, dabbing at their tears with their hands while giving an interview at the hospital.

[It suddenly dropped…… I still remember it. Everyone was screaming, ‘Oh, it looks like it’s going to fall’…… We should have listened to Woo Yeonwoo. I resent the director.]

The problem was the content of the distorted voice.

The members looked at Rembrary. ‘Why is your name coming out here?’ Everyone had a dumbfounded expression.

Jongwoo also looked at Rembrary along with them.

What was unexpected was that Rembrary, who was usually relaxed on his own, looked a little surprised today for some reason.

The reporter pushed the large microphone closer to the person being interviewed and asked.

[Why Woo Yeonwoo? What did Woo Yeonwoo say?]

[Woo Yeonwoo said it felt a bit unsettling, and that it wouldn’t be good to do it here at the amusement park. So the staff were saying, ‘Is this okay?’ Woo Yeonwoo had become a hot topic (for that kind of thing). But the director told us not to tell the actors because it would ruin the atmosphere…….]

The members looked at Rembrary again.

Rembrary, receiving their gazes, readily agreed.

“Yes. It was unsettling.”

After a moment of silence, Keshi quickly held out his phone.

“Give me the lottery numbers.”

Hyegyeol also held out her phone.

“Me too!”

Rembrary pushed both phones away.

“I don’t have the ability to predict things.”

“No, you’ve had an unusual tone from the start. It must be there. Think hard.”

Keshi grabbed him and clung to him with shining eyes, but Rembrary flatly refused.

“I really don’t have it.”

It was true. He only knew about this amusement park incident because Sa Gamjae had told him. Rembrary didn’t know where or who was going to die.

At that moment. Jungseo, who had been watching quietly, muttered.

“Is it okay?”

Keshi, thinking that the words were defending him, quickly shouted.

“Yeah, we won’t say anything even if you’re wrong, so just pick six numbers.”

“That’s not it. I’m talking about Yeonwoo.”

“Why Yeonwoo? Yeonwoo is fine, isn’t he?”

“No, if he’s interviewed like that, his image…….”

Jongwoo, finally snapping out of his daze, hurriedly took out his phone.

He was right. He was so surprised and flustered that he hadn’t thought about it for a moment. He was afraid that if that interview spread, people would see Yeonwoo as some kind of prophet, like Keshi.

If another idol was caught up in this kind of case, it would just be passed off as a spooky coincidence, or wondering if they really had some kind of intuition, but recently Rembrary had been entangled in mysterious incidents, hadn’t he?

“Aigo [Oh my].”

As expected. Jongwoo quickly scrolled through the screen with his thumb and sighed.

“I don’t know how many people are asking you for lottery numbers.”

“Me?”

“Look at this.”

* * *

―Isn’t Woo Yeonwoo really psychic at this point ㄷㄷ [shorthand for ‘ㄷㄷㄷㄷ daebak’, meaning amazing/shocking];

―Woo Yeonwoo should come on music shows and call out lottery numbers.

―Please DM [Direct Message] me on SNS [Social Networking Service] ㅠ

―Is this the first time he’s predicted something? Wasn’t the last one unrelated to prophecy?

ㄴWhat was the hot topic last time?

ㄴSomeone died…….

ㄴBesides that, before that. There was something.

ㄴSansora, and the dad whose child got better after taking a picture with Woo Yeonwoo, and the fan who got better from being sick after stanning Woo Yeonwoo? Is there anything else?

ㄴThe fan getting better from stanning wasn’t a hot topic.

ㄴIsn’t there also the time he said something strange when he went into the haunted house with Yulli?

―Is Woo Yeonwoo going to be an exorcist idol ;; [crying emoticons]?

ㄴHe hasn’t done any exorcisms yetㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ [laughing emoticons]

―Didn’t he also save someone using a cat?

―ㅅㅂ [swear word] If all of this is real, it’s legendary

―Woo Yeonwooㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Fan service: tells you up to three lottery numbers and predicts your illnessㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ He could take over the world with just this.

* * *

Jongwoo put down his phone and looked at Rembrary.

“What’s going to happen to your image…….”

Rembrary also frowned. It was troublesome for him as well.

He thought he had been staying as low as possible. But after the cameraman who was tracking the recent sponsor rumors died, and now with this Ferris wheel accident, it seemed like people were really hooked this time.

The problem was…….

‘Even Nakru might suspect me.’

* * *

Rembrary’s guess was correct.

Two hours after Wild Animal watched TV. All the Nakru of Seoul Team A gathered at the team leader’s house.

However, everyone’s expression was subtle.

Usually, when they discovered a Saint, most of them had excited expressions, but this time they couldn’t just be happy.

This was because many of them had seen Woo Yeonwoo in person, had tried to recruit him into Nakru, and he was even the younger brother of their ace, Woo Sungwoo.

“Is everyone here?”

The team leader also glanced at Woo Sungwoo while speaking.

“As I informed you by text, this matter concerns Woo Yeonwoo. Until now, we thought that Woo Yeonwoo had ‘eyes’ and had the ability to hunt monsters. But it seems that he might not have ‘eyes’ but might be a Saint.”

The team leader closed the door and subtly sat down the furthest away from Woo Sungwoo, and Undushin added with a serious expression.

“Indeed. The most important part of a Saint’s miracles is prophecy, right?”

However, Woo Sungwoo cut them off before the members could say anything more.

“My brother doesn’t have the personality to be a Saint.”

“……Are you cursing him?”

“He’s not a Saint. Don’t push him into something strange.”

Undushin protested, feeling wronged.

“We’re not unfairly pushing him. We always have these meetings when a Saint candidate appears, okay? And you saw it too. Woo Yeonwoo said to change the amusement park…….”

The team leader waved his hand.

“Okay, I understand, so calm down, Woo Sungwoo. First, let’s gather those ‘rumors’ about your brother that have been spreading.”

“…….”

“And in the worst case, if your brother is a Saint, think in advance about what you’re going to do.”