Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 199

199. To Anonymous, From Anonymous

After finishing the award show performance practice, the members took a short break, wiping away sweat, drinking water, or collapsing onto the floor.

Rembrary leaned against the mirror and picked up his phone.

“Hoo.”

As he did, he heard a sigh from above. He looked up and saw Jongwoo.

“What’s wrong?”

Rembrary asked, and Jongwoo retorted with a look that said, ‘Don’t you know?’

“Why do you think I’m like this?”

“You always have a gloomy face. It’s not a good habit.”

“I want to cry. Because of you.”

Rembrary wasn’t interested, so he looked down again.

But before he could look at his phone, Jongwoo reached out and covered the screen, finally revealing his true feelings.

“Didn’t you notice that the staff were acting a little different than usual when you came up to the practice room?”

Rembrary shook his head.

“I don’t pay much attention.”

“That must be nice. It must be nice to be so carefree.”

“Are you jealous?”

Jongwoo groaned and rubbed his forehead.

“The staff are looking at you like you’re some kind of mystical being. Don’t you feel that?”

Rembrary shook his head again, and Jongwoo sighed once more.

Right now, an interview with a staff member was a hot topic on all sorts of social media, communities, and news outlets. Rembrary was receiving a lot of attention because of it.

Even people who dislike celebrities were interested in the situation. Jongwoo’s heart was pounding just watching, but he remained calm…

“At least you won’t change when you get famous.”

“Would you like me to change?”

“You’re not going to change. Usually, when people change after becoming famous, they show symptoms like this: being arrogant, ignoring people, thinking they’re the most special, that kind of thing. But you already do that.”

“…….”

* * *

As they were getting ready to return to the dorm after practice, Keshi, who had gone out with Sagamjae to practice for her duet stage with Yulli, was brought back.

Whether she had been practicing or on a date, Keshi’s face was shinier and more radiant than usual.

“That must be nice. I’m jealous. It’s annoying.”

Hyegeol grumbled as she packed her bag, then slyly asked Rembrary.

“Hyung [older brother or male friend], you go to drama and movie sets often, do you know any actors you could introduce me to?”

“Actors?”

“For your information, my ideal type is someone who has a similar sense of humor to me.”

“You mean a foul-mouthed person?”

“Ah, hyung!”

Her voice was so loud that Jongwoo looked at them and warned them.

“Wooyeonwoo. Don’t introduce her to anyone.”

Rembrary thought about which of his actor friends were women. Other than Im Yoohan, he couldn’t think of anyone, but… Im Yoohan was already exchanging subtle feelings with Tiger Head.

‘If I introduce Hyegeol to Im Yoohan sunbae [senior/elder], Tiger Head will try to kill Hyegeol.’

That would be a disaster.

As Rembrary sent a gloomy look, Hyegeol flinched and backed away.

“Why, why are you looking at me like that? It’s scary when you look at me like that.”

“The tiger…….”

Just as Rembrary was about to answer, Keshi, who was looking in the mirror not far away, suddenly covered her ears and screamed.

“Wooyeonwoo! Don’t say any more!”

Jongwoo simply walked over and covered Rembrary’s mouth.

“Why cover her ears? Just cover his mouth.”

Having finished preparing to return to the dorm in such a noisy manner, the members dragged their tired bodies out of the company.

But just before getting into the car, CEO Im called Jongwoo. Jongwoo checked his watch and threw the car keys to Sagamjae.

“Gamjae-ya [term of endearment]. Take the kids home.”

* * *

As soon as they arrived at the dorm, the members rushed to the bathroom.

There were five people but only two bathrooms, so it was a race to claim them first.

Only Rembrary calmly walked to the refrigerator, keenly examining its contents.

In fact, Jang Taeri had recently sent him a ‘chocolate disguised as butter’ as a gift, and he had hidden it somewhere here.

While the members were distracted, Rembrary quickly moved his eyes.

And finally, just as he picked up the butter container with the chocolate inside.

Beep beep beep, the sound of pressing a button was heard, and the door clicked open as Jongwoo entered.

Rembrary quickly closed the refrigerator door and turned around.

“Where are the others?”

“Bathroom.”

“Why are you standing in front of the refrigerator?”

Rembrary was terrified that the chocolate would be taken away, but fortunately, Jongwoo didn’t inspect the refrigerator. Instead, he called the members together one by one.

And after all the members gathered, he explained what had happened when CEO Im had called him earlier.

“We got an offer for an internet live broadcast. The CEO asked me if I thought you guys would be okay doing something like that.”

Taein immediately raised his hand.

“I’m fine with it.”

But Jongwoo immediately cut him off.

“No, you’re not okay either.”

“Why? I don’t cause any trouble, do I?”

“You haven’t caused any trouble, but you could easily create rumors of discord or bullying among the members if you mess up.”

Taein couldn’t refute it himself and lowered his hand.

Jongwoo sighed several times.

Wild Animal didn’t do such broadcasts in the past because they had no recognition at all.

After gaining recognition, they didn’t do such broadcasts for fear that the members would make mistakes.

He was already famous for Rembrary’s uncontrollable mouth, and he was afraid that the other members would cause trouble as well.

So, they tried to avoid internet broadcasts as much as possible…

“The fans have been noisy lately, so I guess he’s worried. There are a lot of requests to see you guys, so the CEO was wondering if we should try it just once this time?”

Jongwoo looked at Rembrary, Keshi, Hyegeol, and Taein in turn. This time, Hyegeol jumped up.

“I want to do it! The fans leave comments in real-time, right? I want to do it! I want to see them!”

After about 30 minutes of discussion, they decided to try an internet broadcast for the first time.

And the next day, Jongwoo told the members about the broadcast concept.

“Isn’t it just talking to the screen?”

Taein was sulky, wanting to speak freely, but Jongwoo flatly refused.

“That’s why I’m afraid you’ll say something weird if you talk to the screen. None of you have any experience in hosting. The flow could be interrupted, and the atmosphere could suddenly become awkward.”

Jongwoo went on to explain that the concept for this broadcast, which they had discussed with the staff, was a mini-game.

However, since this was a chance for fans to learn more about the members, the focus wasn’t on the game. The focus was on the members.

The theme was ‘Words I want to say but couldn’t,’ a way to anonymously convey short messages to anonymous recipients.

The members stopped by the shop and then went to the set, which had been decorated in a cute and charming way.

After some bickering, the broadcast started without a hitch.

Even though it was a surprise announcement made late last night, quite a few people had tuned in to see the members.

Because the agency had been so lacking in communication that people said it was like they were beggars, the fans had squeezed out time to gather and watch the first internet broadcast.

Rembrary, who had never seen an internet broadcast before, was holding a sloth doll that Jongwoo had given him as part of the concept, and was calmly sitting there when he was startled by the sudden flood of text on the monitor, which he had thought was just a decoration.

“What is that?”

Jongwoo waved his hand wildly over the camera and signaled with his mouth, ‘Tone, tone [speak politely].’

In case Rembrary didn’t understand, he also wrote the words in large letters on his phone and shook it.

Fortunately, Rembrary understood and immediately closed his mouth and looked at the screen.

Surprisingly, the comments people wrote were quickly flying upwards, so fast that it was hard to make out the words.

Curious about what they were saying, Rembrary brought his face closer to the screen to see, and the speed of the comments increased even more.

―Yeonwoo-yaㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Just lightㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ [referring to his visuals/aura]

―Everyone in the world, please look at our Yeonwoo’s handsome face!!!!!

Rembrary was surprised, but he found two pleasing sentences and smiled contentedly.

Meanwhile.

Jungseo informed the viewers that they would be playing a mini-game and explained the simple rules.

Afterwards, a staff member brought a box that had been prepared in advance.

It had a small hole at the top, so you could take out pieces of paper from inside.

“There are members’ names inside here… You’ll write something you want to say anonymously to the member you pick, and then put it back in.”

Jungseo picked a piece of paper as a demonstration, and then the members lined up to pick their own. Rembrary was the third to pick, and when he unfolded the folded paper, it said ‘Keshi.’

Jongwoo handed out five pens and five identical cards, and Rembrary took one of them.

Rembrary held the card against the sloth doll and pondered for a moment. He was supposed to write something to Keshi, anonymously. But what should he say?

He usually said everything he wanted to say, so there wasn’t really anything he wanted to say. But if he brought up Yulli, Jongwoo would go crazy…

In the end, after thinking about it, Rembrary wrote something ordinary and put the card back in the box.

When all the members had put in their completed cards, Taein shook the box with the cards in it.

Jungseo looked at the camera and explained again.

“We’ve collected the cards written anonymously to anonymous recipients. We’ll take them out and read them, so try to guess who’s saying what to whom. We don’t know who wrote what except for our own.”

Hyegeol raised her hand.

“I’ll take one out!”

Jungwoo signaled that it was okay, so Jungseo stepped aside, and Hyegeol excitedly ran to the box and put her hand in.

Hyegeol took out a card, unfolded it, and soon giggled as she read the contents.

“At first, your tone was annoying, but now I just accept it.”

As soon as she said that, the speed of the comments increased even more.

―It’s something written to Hyegeol!

―Is it Gaeshi [derogatory term for Keshi]?

ㄴㅅㅂ Why is Keshi’s anti here?

ㄴㅇㄷ) Ah ㅆㄹㅆㄹ typo. I didn’t mean to call her Gaeshi on purposeㅠ

ㄴIt’s okay

ㄴAnyone can make a mistake

ㄴㅇㄷ) Yulli’s boyfriend lol

ㄴKick him out

ㄴReport button

ㄴIs there no ban function?

The comment section was briefly disrupted by someone suspected of being Keshi’s anti, but it was resolved when a staff member banned that person. This time, Taein took out a card and read it.

“You’re practicing dancing a lot now, but I hope you’ll do more.”

―It’s Wooyeonwoo

―It’s Wooyeonwoo

―Even if I passed by on the KTX [high-speed train], it’s Wooyeonwooㅠ

―It’s even more shocking that he’s already doing a lot…….

“Why do you always grind tomato juice? Is there a meaning?”

―It’s Jungseo!

―Even if I passed by on the SRT [another type of high-speed train], it’s Jungseo!

―Our Jungseo is a tomato prince^^

ㄴ?

ㄴ?????

ㄴ????????

ㄴㅇㄷ) Why?

ㄴIt’s better to take out one letterㅠㅠ I didn’t mean it that way, but it looks a little weirdㅠㅠ

ㄴㅇㄷ) Huh? The ‘prince’ is the point, if you take that out, isn’t it even weirder?

ㄴ??????

“You make mistakes on every important stage, I hope you can learn from my mentality.”

―Wooyeonwoo wrote it! ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

―I don’t know who he wrote it to, but I know who wrote itㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

―ㅅㅂWooyeonwooㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ You’re really stupidㅠㅠ

“Wouldn’t it be okay to let go a little and live more lightly?”

―??? It sounds like something said to Jungseo?

―Jungseo is suffering a lot as a leader

―Taein hasn’t come out yet, isn’t it something said to Taein?

―Keshi hasn’t come out eitherㅇㅇ

―Isn’t the person with the annoying tone Keshi?

ㄴIsn’t that Hyegeol?

―It’s definitely not Wooyeonwoo.

ㄴㅇㅈ Wooyeonwoo’s words are annoying, but if you listen carefully, his tone is pretty.