Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 20

20. Recognizing the Sick

Rembrary belatedly realized his mistake, but the participant had already gone to get a drink.

Chasing after him now would only make him look more ridiculous.

From now on, he had no choice but to avoid creating any major trouble.

“When he comes back, just smile and be nice to him.”

Jongwoo whispered very quietly from the side.

“Just smile. Smile and look for an opportunity to throw in a compliment.”

“Okay.”

Rembrary answered, quickly grabbing his phone to search for information about the last-place participant.

He had already searched the participant list as soon as he received it, but this time he looked even more thoroughly.

Searching for the last-place participant’s name, ‘Oh Jungshin,’ immediately brought up some information.

He was a member of a famous male idol group, and according to the debut date, they debuted six months earlier than Wild Animal.

And…

Rembrary frowned.

With his internet skills, it was difficult to find more information in a short period.

There were many people talking about him, but it was hard to call posts like ‘Oh Jungshin photoshoot,’ ‘Please give me Oh Jungshin’s GIF,’ ‘Please give me the original of this Oh Jungshin picture ㅠㅠ’ information.

Still, as he was carefully examining, Jongwoo

“Hey.”

called out softly and nudged him.

He looked up to see today’s slave, Oh Jungshin, approaching them.

He was carrying a basket that he didn’t have when he left, and thoughtfully, it contained nine drinks.

“I thought the others might be thirsty too.”

Oh Jungshin smiled warmly and handed a drink to Seon Woosil first, then distributed drinks to the others in turn.

As a slave, he was a zero, but if he wasn’t a slave, he was a very affable young man.

‘It would be even better if he didn’t have a million anti-fans following him around.’

Rembrary thought to himself, smiling diligently as Jongwoo had instructed.

It wasn’t that difficult since he just had to treat it as if there were no penalties at all.

Rembrary wasn’t particularly difficult to get along with, and there were no faults to find after that, so fortunately, three hours passed without incident.

“The penalty time is over now.”

When Oh Jungshin’s manager announced this, Jongwoo visibly relaxed and smiled.

However, after Seon Woosil left due to her schedule, and Eunseon also left because she had no filming, Jongwoo took Rembrary in the car and gave him a stern warning.

“Even if someone comes looking to do the slave role next time, never actually make them do errands.”

“Isn’t that the penalty?”

“It is a penalty. But you can’t actually do the penalty.”

“Why?”

“Because anyone participating here is more popular than you!”

After coldly pointing out the reality, Jongwoo awkwardly added, as if feeling sorry.

“Of course, you can’t do that even if you become more popular.”

“Why not then?”

“It looks like you’re bullying them because they’re not popular. You have to manage your image even if you’re popular.”

“Then everyone will be cautious even when they’re in a position to give penalties. Will it be fun?”

At Yeonwoo’s question, Jongwoo nodded with a serious face.

“That’s what I’m worried about.”

* * *

It was only after waiting in the car for about an hour that Keshi returned.

But something was strange.

Keshi, who got into the car, looked more radiant than usual.

‘Was the song fun?’

Rembrary felt strange and looked at Keshi.

Considering Keshi’s personality, he should hate being ranked lower.

He had a strange feeling, but Rembrary didn’t bother to ask, and they returned to the dorm.

It was almost evening, so even if they went to the agency, the trainers would have left work.

“How were the results?”

“Hyung [older brother or male friend], did their results come out?”

“Just don’t be last.”

The other members rushed over and asked as they entered the dorm.

“Both of them ranked high.”

Jongwoo boasted proudly.

It was good enough to avoid elimination if they weren’t last, but it wasn’t ideal to barely hang on with mediocre or poor results.

It would be better to be last and get some screen time. If the results were bad, they wouldn’t get attention, and there was a high probability that they would be edited out and their screen time would disappear.

Jongwoo couldn’t help but be very happy that Keshi had placed 8th and Yeonwoo had placed 1st this time.

“The competition results will be broadcast tomorrow. Watch it together.”

“It’s broadcasting tomorrow?”

“Yeah. And Yeonwoo, Keshi. You two should watch it as a monitor too.”

Jongwoo happily instructed and left the dorm, saying he would see them tomorrow.

That expression was maintained until the evening of the next day.

* * *

But the next day, he came to the dorm with a face as pale as if he had been hit by a headwind.

“Have you come?”

Rembrary greeted Jongwoo while drinking sparkling water.

However, Jongwoo approached Rembrary with a distorted expression, making a strange shape with his hand.

It was like a crab claw.

“Why are you doing that?”

When Rembrary asked, Jongwoo groaned and lowered his hand.

Still, the crab claw hand shape didn’t disappear.

“That thing yesterday. The competition results being broadcast, did you monitor it? Did you?”

“Yes. I watched it.”

“Your thoughts?”

“?”

When Rembrary made a ‘What are you talking about?’ expression, Jongwoo made small ‘Ugh, ugh, ugh’ sounds before sighing.

“Yeah. I guess it’s more comfortable if you don’t know. I realize that as I look at you these days.”

“Why are you doing that?”

Rembrary recalled yesterday’s broadcast.

Until the middle part, the preparation process for last week’s competition was shown.

Then, the competition was briefly summarized, and then the announcement was made… Of course, they took an excessive amount of time to make the announcement.

Anyway, the rankings were announced, and the participants’ reactions were shown.

After that, the participants’ interviews about the results were shown, and Oh Jungshin, who came in last place, was shown running errands.

There were no other special scenes.

Rembrary gave Oh Jungshin errands to run, and then a smiling expression suddenly appeared, so the order was a bit strange.

Rembrary didn’t know that the suddenly smiling expression was the result of the devil’s edit [malicious editing to create a false impression].

Also, he didn’t know that Oh Jungshin’s fans, who were famous for being scary, were equipping their fingers with knives and guns [preparing to attack him online].

“Never mind.”

Instead of telling him the fact that ‘you’re dead now,’ Jongwoo shook his head.

Wasn’t it better not to know?

“More than that, don’t dress casually today, dress a bit more formally.”

“Where are we going?”

“We have to prepare for the next competition. We’re going to Seon Woosil’s agency.”

Rembrary closed the sparkling water and put it in the refrigerator, then flinched.

“Whose agency?”

* * *

Why do we have to go to Seon Woosil’s agency?

Jongwoo explained this by saying:

“They’re more senior, more popular, and their agency is bigger.”

There were three reasons that couldn’t be refuted.

Even if he wasn’t a celebrity, it was a basic part of social life, so Rembrary readily agreed.

“What about Keshi?”

“Keshi’s manager came and took him.”

“Their side?”

“Keshi’s next competition partner. The participant who came in 7th this time. Yulli O. Don’t you remember?”

Rembrary recalled and nodded.

“Ah. You mean the one who looks like an Emperor penguin.”

At the sound of Emperor penguin, Jongwoo suddenly swerved the steering wheel.

Rembrary, who was sitting in the passenger seat, hit his temple on the window.

Holding his throbbing head, he looked up to see Jongwoo chuckling and shouting.

“Why Emperor penguin all of a sudden?”

“His posture… his head is 45 degrees up, and his arms are awkwardly 45 degrees down.”

At Rembrary’s explanation, Jongwoo burst out laughing again.

Yulli O was already famous for moving his arms and legs awkwardly.

It wasn’t something that Rembrary, who was a terrible dancer, could point out.

“You better do well, kid, you.”

“Do I do that too?”

“It’s a good thing you two aren’t doing a duet.”

Jongwoo barely managed to hold back his laughter, imagining it.

“Still, it seems like it was easy for Keshi to choose a song because his partner is a woman. There are many duet songs that men and women sing together. What about you? Do you have anything in mind?”

“Well…”

In the meantime, the car had already arrived in front of Seon Woosil’s agency.

“There it is.”

Rembrary admired the building that Jongwoo pointed to through the window.

He had heard that the agency was bigger, but it wasn’t just bigger, it was almost three times the size.

In addition, a large electronic display was attached to the building, and the faces of the agency’s actors and singers were passing by.

It was even more amazing when they entered the building.

The interior of LLL Entertainment was neat, but the interior of Seon Woosil’s agency was neat and even antique.

Rembrary and Jongwoo approached Eunseon, who had come here in advance and was waiting.

Eunseon was also looking around, as if it was her first time here, but when she saw Rembrary, she smiled and said awkwardly.

“It’s really big here. It’s like a department store.”

Jongwoo

“Just a moment.”

He walked to the side and called Seon Woosil’s manager.

“Hello? Yes, this is Wild Animal’s manager, Lee Jongwoo. Yes, I’ve arrived down here now-”

But it was while standing next to Eunseon and waiting for Jongwoo to finish the call.

Rembrary made eye contact with a woman who had just come out of the elevator.

‘Woo Yeonwoo’ was very tall, and the woman seemed to be almost the same height as Woo Yeonwoo.

She was wearing shoes with heels, but considering the other members who were shorter even when wearing similar heels, she was definitely tall.

At first, Rembrary didn’t think much of it. ‘Oh, we made eye contact,’ was all he thought.

However, the woman tilted her head and smiled at Rembrary as if she knew him, saying, “Ah.”

Then she walked over and spoke to Rembrary.

“You’re Woo Yeonwoo, right? The one who’s on the survival show with Woosil.”

Rembrary inadvertently

“Yes.”

replied, and the woman smiled with her eyes.

“I enjoyed your song.”

Then, lowering her voice, the woman

“I bought your song too.”

whispered and laughed heartily.

“Don’t tell Woosil.”

He didn’t know who she was, but judging from the atmosphere, she seemed to be from the same agency as Seon Woosil.

He felt good that she was telling him this so openly, so Rembrary smiled contentedly and thanked her.

“Thank you.”

“Your voice is very good. You should ask them to release a solo song next time.”

“Yes. I will.”

“Haha, are you really going to ask?”

And then, just before parting, it was when they were naturally shaking hands.

Rembrary flinched.

He had detected a bad energy from that woman’s body.

It was a similar sensation to when he shook hands with the believer who was waiting in front of the broadcasting station before. That time.

He didn’t know exactly what kind of illness it was, but she had a disease in her body.

But the woman had already finished saying goodbye and was turning around and going somewhere else.

Rembrary hesitated for a moment and looked at Jongwoo and Eunseon.

Jongwoo was still on the phone, and Eunseon was yawning.

“Eunseon, just a moment.”

Rembrary made an excuse and chased after the woman.

“Excuse me, senior [term of respect for someone older or more experienced].”

He approached her as she was passing through a sparsely populated area, and the woman looked back and smiled as she took out her car keys from her handbag.

“Ah, Woo Yeonwoo. Why? Do you have something to say to me?”

Rembrary thought for a moment about how to tell her, but decided not to specifically say that she had an illness.

Instead, he recalled what the fans had asked him to do and followed suit.

“Could you shake my hand just once? I’m a fan of yours.”

If he quickly healed the woman with divine power, just like he had healed the fan back then, it would be fine.

The woman tilted her head, but smiled and held out her hand.

But before Rembrary and the woman shook hands.

“Yeonwoo!”

Thanks to Jongwoo, who shouted and ran over, the two people’s hands stopped in mid-air.

Jongwoo, who ran over, smiled kindly at the woman and

“I’m sorry. I have to take him now. I’m sorry for bothering you.”

He apologized repeatedly.

The woman smiled and said it was okay, then turned around and passed by.

As the woman left, Jongwoo lowered his voice and scolded him.

“You’re not ready to date yet. Do you want to lose even the few fans you have?”

He seemed to have misunderstood that Rembrary had fallen for that woman and chased after her.

Rembrary waved his hand.

“That’s not it, that senior from before. Her complexion was bad. She didn’t look well.”

He thought it would be okay to say that her complexion looked bad to Jongwoo, even if he couldn’t specifically say ‘you have a disease’ to her.

“What do you mean her complexion was bad? She looked very healthy. And even if she’s actually unhealthy, it’s none of your business. How well is this agency’s health care system set up?”

Jongwoo said firmly and pulled Rembrary’s arm.

“Let’s go. Seon Woosil is coming down here herself.”

“…”

“It’s a good thing you asked in a place where no one was around. Be careful next time.”

However, Jongwoo didn’t notice that Seon Woosil’s cameraman, who had just gotten out of the elevator, had captured this scene.

And unlike Jongwoo’s concerns, this scene would become a hot topic in a completely different direction.