Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 2

As soon as the music ended and he came down from the stage, the guy with glasses rushed over, grabbed Rembrary’s arm roughly, and shouted.

“Hey, you son of a bitch! What do you think you’re doing right now! Are you trying to kill us all?!”

The eyes of the rushing young man with glasses were wide and scary.

He grabbed his own hair with his remaining hand and shouted at the startled Rembrary.

“Are you crazy? Are you out of your mind! You couldn’t make it big, so you decided to sink?! You wanted to leave your name, but you wanted to leave it as the worst broadcasting accident ever?!”

The person who had been encouraging him earlier was nowhere to be found, and his expression was terrifying.

The young man with glasses shouted, veins popping out of his neck, but the music on stage was too loud to have much effect.

“You crazy bastard, come here!”

Perhaps realizing this, the young man with glasses grabbed Rembrary’s arm and pulled him.

Back in the waiting room, the young man with glasses finally let go of Rembrary and shouted.

“What are you going to do? What are you going to do! Don’t you know that dozens, no, hundreds of kids are waiting to get on this stage? You wanted to make it big. You wanted to be a celebrity! How could someone like you ruin the stage… You really, how much I tried to get this stage…”

The young man with glasses couldn’t even speak properly.

He pounded his chest in anger.

The young men who had been on stage with him also took turns sneering.

“Did you get paid? Did someone ask you to ruin the stage? To dominate the real-time search terms [popular search terms on the internet]?”

“Ah, shit. He’s hammering nails into his coffin [ruining his future prospects].”

“He’s cut off the last lifeline.”

“I’m going crazy… If you want to die, die alone. No, even if you die alone, there would be a fuss.”

Rembrary still didn’t know what was going on.

But he could tell that the atmosphere was very bad.

“There was no chair.”

Rembrary calmly explained the situation to the young man with glasses.

“Didn’t you tell me to sit in the chair? But there was no chair.”

“I told you to stop talking in that annoying tone! Are you trying to joke around at a time like this?!”

But it seemed that the situation was not important to them.

The blond young man clicked his tongue and mocked him.

“Is this the first or second time that an unknown idol has been treated like this? He should have known to go to the corner [stay out of sight and not cause trouble].”

“Unknown idol?”

Rembrary was confused and asked, thinking that ‘Idol’ was the family name or name of the body he had entered, since they were calling him ‘Idol’.

“Then are you an unknown idol or a famous idol?”

The young man with glasses tried to suppress his voice and sneered.

Rembrary now realized that ‘Idol’ was neither a person’s name nor family name.

It seemed like a job, judging from the words unknown and famous.

Or something similar.

In any case, what was certain was that although words seemed to be getting through somehow, his world and this world were very different.

What good is it if words get through?

There were too many words that were difficult to understand.

As soon as Rembrary realized this, he quickly used his wit to explain.

“As that blond person said earlier, look here. I bumped my head this morning.”

Rembrary pointed to his temple with his finger.

“That seems to be the problem. I don’t even know who you are right now.”

Even he, the person who had entered another person’s body, found it hard to believe this situation.

Even if he honestly said, ‘I am High Priest Rembrary, and I was trying to save the world until a few hours ago,’ they wouldn’t believe him.

It seemed better to make excuses like this.

“Oh, I’m really dealing with a troublemaker!”

But the young man with glasses only pounded his chest and didn’t believe Rembrary’s words at all.

Just then, someone knocked on the waiting room door.

“You guys stay here! Don’t even go to the bathroom!”

The young man with glasses shouted and went outside, and the young men turned around and criticized Rembrary again.

What on earth is going on…

Rembrary became sullen and approached the door.

Then, even though he didn’t put his ear to the door, he could hear the shouts coming from outside.

“Wild Animal [the idol group’s name] will never, ever, be allowed on the Music Music stage unless dirt gets in my eyes!”

“No, PD Woo [Production Director Woo]. What are you talking about? I’m sorry. The kid is not feeling well today. Really. We’ll make a proper explanation with an article from our side-”

“He’s standing ramrod straight,” someone said, “and you’re telling me he’s not feeling well?”

“Oh, he’s trying not to show it. Look how pale he is right now. Our Yeonwoo is crying in the waiting room because he feels so sorry for everyone.”

“That’s your problem. I don’t have time to worry about others right now. I’m about to get ripped apart! If he’s sick, he should say he’s sick! Or ask for a chair!”

“I’m sorry, oh, it’s my fault. I should have said something!”

Rembrary awkwardly lowered his gaze.

He didn’t know who was yelling.

But the voice apologizing to the yeller was definitely the young man with glasses.

He was shouting and scolding at the top of his lungs just moments ago.

But when he went outside, he was fawning over Rembrary, protecting him.

What on earth is going on…

Rembrary sighed.

* * *

– Woo Yeonwoo silence

– Woo Yeonwoo doesn’t know how to dance

– Wild Animal Woo Yeonwoo

– Woo Yeonwoo

– Wild Animal

– Idol ignoring live broadcast

– Music Music broadcasting accident

A thumb moved quickly up and down the screen of a black cell phone.

CEO Lim stared blankly at the screen, swiping through it before sighing and looking at Jongwoo.

Jongwoo, the manager of the idol group, had his head bowed deeply.

“Jongwoo.”

CEO Lim called him in a listless voice.

“Yes, CEO.”

“Did you see the real-time search terms?”

“…Yes.”

“I’m telling you.”

“Yes.”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen someone from my agency dominate the search terms like this.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Jongwoo barely answered, unable to lift his head.

“He says he’s lost his memory…”

“Jongwoo, do you believe that?”

“…No.”

CEO Lim grabbed the back of his neck and leaned back in his chair.

[Wild Animal], a three-year-old idol group nicknamed the nuclear submarine.

LLL Entertainment, the agency of Wild Animal, was originally an agency specializing in actors.

Then, as the K-pop Korean Wave [Hallyu] swept through, and some idol groups rapidly emerged as the main players in the trend, LLL Entertainment also quickly launched an idol group to keep up with the times.

That was Wild Animal.

But the group, which was launched without much preparation, didn’t gain traction, contrary to their ambition to succeed.

They searched for famous composers to get good songs and hired foreign choreographers to create complex group dances.

They invested a significant portion of the budget that would have been used for the agency’s actors into Wild Animal.

However, among the countless idol groups pouring out, Wild Animal failed to gain momentum.

There were constant talks of just giving up, but CEO Lim continued to pour money into them with affection, as it was the first group they had launched.

They couldn’t provide good accommodations or good meals, but they tried to provide good songs and good choreography.

He almost brainwashed himself, convincing himself that they would succeed if they persevered.

Since their faces were decent, he comforted his staff by saying that they could become actors later if things didn’t work out, and they would receive less criticism for ‘becoming idols to act’ since their faces weren’t well-known.

But… they had caused such a major accident.

CEO Lim made a painful sound, “Ughhhhh.”

Woo Yeonwoo was even the most recognizable member of Wild Animal.

Although it was only a tiny bit of recognition, even that tiny bit was important in an unknown idol group.

“Listen. No, never mind. Come and see for yourself.”

CEO Lim clicked on the most-viewed article in the internet entertainment news and showed him the top comments.

“Okay. Look at all of these in order of most recommended.”

– Is the group name ‘Wild Animal’ because their brains are like beasts? TTTT Their heads must be wild too.

– Legendary mentality. If they’re doing that with a clear mind, they deserve recognition.

“······”

– Doesn’t the group name ‘Wild Animal’ give you a clue? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I’ve never seen an idol with that much guts on stage in my life.

– Aren’t they doing this because they don’t have money for PR, ㅠㅠ?

– I bet 100 won [approximately 10 cents] they did this to get famous.

– I’ll bet another 100 won they did this to get famous in this industry.

– Can idols just stand there these days? What a great world. I think I could do that too.

– You can’t do it ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– An unknown agency’s unheard-of idol group still made a name for themselves^^ – But did they get plastic surgery?

– Yes X Yes O

– I don’t know how to dance!

– ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ OMG ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㄴ But why did they shout this?

– Seems like they have issues with their agency······

As CEO Lim scrolled down the screen with his finger, Jongwoo’s head drooped further.

“Well. What’s the point of telling you.”

CEO Lim sighed, slammed his phone on the desk, and ordered,

“Bring Woo Yeonwoo in.”

* * *

After coming out of the waiting room and riding in a strange carriage, they went to another new building.

The building was a bit smaller than the first one they went to, and as soon as the guy with glasses entered the building, he left Rembrandt and the other guys and went somewhere.

The other guys seemed to know where this place was, and they scattered with a more relaxed attitude than before.

Rembrandt stood there blankly.

After a while.

The guy with glasses came and asked in surprise.

“Were you just standing here all this time?”

When Rembrandt stared blankly, he tilted his head and frowned, saying,

“Follow me for now.”

The place he led to was a room, and when he entered the room, there was a large desk, and a nameplate that said ‘CEO Lim Seonil’ was placed in front of the desk.

A man with a haggard look was sitting in front of the desk, and when he saw Rembrandt, he sighed and called out, “Woo Yeonwoo.”

As soon as Rembrandt checked the ‘CEO’ nameplate on his desk, he immediately realized that he was in a higher position than the guy with glasses.

Besides, unlike the other guys who were very excited, this man seemed relatively calm.

As soon as Rembrandt made a judgment, he tried to talk with a bit of hope.

“Lim Seonil. I have something to say.”

However, as soon as Rembrandt finished speaking, the guy with glasses screamed and pressed down on the back of Rembrandt’s head.

“I’m sorry, CEO! Hey, why are you talking informally! Are you crazy?!”

The guy with glasses looked like he was about to faint.

He should be begging for forgiveness, but he’s talking informally.

His heart was pounding.

However, instead of getting angry, CEO Lim widened his eyes and waved his hand.

“Wait a minute.”