Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 237

< 237. People Always Adapt >

At first, Jang Tae-ri was going to say ‘Woo Yeon-woo,’ but she stopped after saying only “Woo.” Upon trying to speak, her mind had changed. No matter how good the intention, wouldn’t the person’s own opinion be important?

‘Wouldn’t it be better to tell Yeon-woo first?’

[Woo?]

“First, let me think about it some more.”

[It doesn’t seem urgent?]

“Monsters have appeared in the world. With the world at a standstill, those threatening the Saint will probably hesitate a bit. Can I contact you again with this number?”

[Yes. With this number.]

“It won’t show up as a nonexistent number this time, right?”

[Of course.]

Jang Tae-ri hung up the phone. But even after hanging up, she stood there blankly for a long time. She felt very strange. What Aegis said earlier, about twins usually awakening together.

‘Is it true?’

Jang Tae-ri fiddled with her phone in her hand, but no answer came. After a while, she heard screams from outside, and she changed her mind and shook her head.

‘It’s already been so long. Surely I won’t become a Saint now.’

Deciding to dismiss what Aegis had said, Jang Tae-ri walked to the veranda and looked down below the railing. A car and frog eggs were stuck close together. It seemed someone had run over the frog eggs while driving.

‘Was that person someone who saw a video of a red hand popping out of frog eggs hit by a phone?’ The frog eggs hit by the car were still without any reaction. The driver was frozen next to the car, preemptively terrified.

Unable to watch any longer, the security guard eventually ran to the driver, grabbed the driver’s arm, and pulled them away from the car. Fortunately, nothing more terrible happened. Jang Tae-ri watched the driver hug the security guard and cry, then returned to the living room and sat on the sofa.

‘I’m definitely not it.’

To become a Saint, shouldn’t you be at least like that? Like that security guard who runs to help in a dangerous situation.

Even as a child, her twin sister seemed like a true angel sent to Earth. Her consideration, actions, and words were on a completely different level from other people. Yes. It wouldn’t be strange if my sister was a Saint.

But Jang Tae-ri didn’t think she was that kind of person.

‘Well. Yeon-woo isn’t really the Saint type either… Ah. Yeon-woo!’

Jang Tae-ri belatedly remembered the missed call and quickly called him.

* * *

[Yeon-woo, I’m sorry. I had another call for a moment. What’s wrong?]

“Ah, Tae-ri. I’m okay now.”

[You’re okay now? You weren’t okay earlier? What’s wrong?]

“I got lost.”

[Where?]

“Somewhere between reality and illusion.”

[Pardon?]

“It was the Yeongdong Bridge [a bridge in Seoul].”

[Ah. You got lost on the way back from the amusement park? But is it open there?]

Rembrary couldn’t understand Jang Tae-ri’s words, and Jang Tae-ri couldn’t understand Rembrary’s words. The two repeatedly said “Huh? Huh?” to each other before eventually hanging up.

Jang Tae-ri wanted to tell Rembrary about Aegis, but when Rembrary spoke as if he was with his manager, she decided to wait for later.

In fact, Rembrary was currently in the passenger seat of Sa Gam-jae’s car.

First, he called Jang Tae-ri, but she didn’t answer. Next, he called Shin Jo-woon, but he didn’t answer either. Then, he called Jong-woo and said,

“I don’t know where I am.”

Jong-woo got angry, calling him a stupid sloth, and sent Sa Gam-jae.

How long had they been moving like that? After getting out of the complicated roads and reaching a quieter place, Sa Gam-jae, who had been driving silently, asked.

“Do you have anything to say to me?”

“If you were a bird, you would have been a crow, Gam-jae.”

“There should be more important words than that.”

“It’s a relief you didn’t become a bird, Gam-jae.”

“Something else.”

“What will happen to the grim reapers who turned into birds?”

Sa Gam-jae gripped the steering wheel tightly. He was annoyed by the way he spoke. He was even more annoyed because he was gradually saying important things, so he couldn’t complain about why he was talking like that.

Besides, Sa Gam-jae was also curious about the issue of the grim reapers who had turned into birds. It was about his colleagues. Yama [a deity in Buddhism and Hinduism, often associated with death or justice] said they weren’t dead…….

“That’s our business, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

“Actually, I wasn’t worried.”

He was just answering because he asked if he had anything to say. Sa Gam-jae gripped the steering wheel tightly again at Rembrary’s honest confession. He felt the urge to grab the Saint’s mouth like a steering wheel and turn it to the side.

“I’m warning you.”

“What are you saying?”

“From now on, Woo Yeon-woo and I are not on the same side.”

“……”

“Officially, I am still Woo Yeon-woo’s manager, but privately, we are enemies. Do you understand?”

Rembrary smiled with a sad expression.

“You must hate crows.”

“It’s not about birds!”

At that moment, Sa Gam-jae shouted in frustration and accidentally ran over frog eggs. In the blink of an eye, a red hand popped out of the frog eggs and banged on the car’s windshield.

But Sa Gam-jae swerved the car to the side and easily ignored the hand. The hand stretched out endlessly and chased the car, but when Rembrary opened the window and blew on it once, it went back and entered the egg again.

It was a scene that would have terrified people if they had seen it, but fortunately, no one did. Rembrary calmly rolled up the window again.

“The reason I am your enemy is because your god insulted our god. Because your god is harmful to our world. Yama is very angry right now. If your god was weak enough to be chased out, he would have been torn apart and thrown out of the dimension immediately.”

Rembrary flinched for the first time and turned his head to the window. Yama and Sa Gam-jae didn’t know, but Rembrary knew that Redrin had bluffed a bit this time.

The original Redrin is very strong, but the current Redrin is not. If he wanted to chase him out, he probably could. He was just bluffing and hiding to avoid being caught.

“So what are you going to do now? Are we going to fight since we’re enemies privately?”

“I’m not going to tell you. Because you’re the enemy.”

When did you ever tell me anything? Rembrary cursed inwardly.

“But since I’m your manager, I’ll tell you your schedule.”

“Schedule? When did you even know my schedule?”

“I arrived yesterday.”

As they were talking, the car finally stopped in front of the Wild Animal dorm. Rembrary got out of the car and looked at Gam-jae. Sa Gam-jae was looking straight ahead with a stiff face.

His firm and stubborn side, which meant he wouldn’t mix words any further, was evident here as well.

I knew he was stubborn since he insisted on wearing that hideous swimsuit. Rembrary clicked his tongue inwardly and closed the car door. Sa Gam-jae didn’t get out and drove away immediately.

* * *

Since then, calm days continued as if they were in the eye of a storm. Still, some ambitious people touched the frog eggs and were eaten or almost eaten, but people who constantly challenged the frog eggs emerged as global troublemakers.

However, after a month, people actually emerged who directly caught the monsters that popped out of the frog eggs, besides Woo Sung-woo. People gradually became accustomed to this situation amidst the fear and returned to their original lives.

The school closure order issued to elementary schools was also lifted, and parents held their children’s hands and dropped them off at school, avoiding the frog eggs. The children ran around the school gymnasium and hallways instead of the playground.

And, as declared by Nakru, under the government and media’s secret push, people began to look at organizations that fought monsters while belonging to the government with curiosity. The image of that organization also improved.

The fact that there were more than one or two people with strange abilities became public knowledge about a week and a half later. Among them were those who succeeded in defeating the frog eggs instead of being eaten by them.

As they entered the third week, the media used words like ‘Hunters Appearing in Reality’ as they had been planning, and highlighted those people. The number of creators who accepted hunter content on YouTube increased by about 200%, and a few quick-witted hunters joined hands and started a business with the promotion ‘We’ll Clear Frog Eggs for You.’

Their main job was to visit construction sites where progress was not being made due to frog eggs, and start clearing the frog eggs for money. However, there were many cases where they were eaten and appeared on the news.

Due to the sudden appearance of frog eggs and monsters, and the existence of people with superpowers, the activities of idols and actors were relatively subdued, but news viewership increased.

One day, after a full month.

“It’s coming out!”

Hye-gyeol, who had been cooped up at home playing games and becoming a game expert, suddenly shouted while watching the news.

“What is.”

Rembrary, who had been living well and safely as Redrin had said, approached indifferently at Hye-gyeol’s scream.

“That! Isn’t that Hyung [older brother or male friend] going out?”

Hye-gyeol pointed at the television and asked.

Rembrary watched TV. A broadcast promotion was coming out. Woo Sung-woo fighting a bright red monster that popped out of a frog egg, breaking the hand that popped out of the frog egg that had become a hot topic, and various other battle scenes.

And then, interview screens of people flowed out.

―He’s cool.

―Wow. Is this person a movie?

―Still, it’s a relief there’s someone like that.

It was an interview with people praising Woo Sung-woo. Whether they really praised him or just cut out the praise, I don’t know.

Then, the next screen showed other people fighting monsters that came out of frog eggs. The scenes of being eaten were mosaic-processed, and the scenes of eliminating monsters were mosaic-processed for the monsters, but considering it was a terrestrial broadcast, it was quite a stimulating scene.

Following that, a breaking news report came out that the number of psychics had surged, and then a short video passed by about the ‘Hunter’ stars who had started to gain fame following Woo Sung-woo.

Then suddenly, the screen changed completely, and people lined up somewhere.

With the caption ‘You can also become a Hunter.’

Finally, it was explained that they would select people with the talent to become hunters through ‘Hunter Survival,’ train them, and supply them with appropriate weapons.

The last screen showed Woo Sung-woo saying “I’ll be waiting.” and smiling like a public service advertisement. The explanation that there were no restrictions on age, education, etc., and the application method flowed out as subtitles.

“Wow.”

After that, when it switched to a normal advertisement, Hye-gyeol was stunned and clicked his tongue.

“They’re completely promoting the program outright. Hyung, are you really going to go out there?”

“They’re telling me to come out.”

Rembrary shrugged. If I go out there and reveal that I’m not an ordinary person, I’ll have freedom of action. But Redrin’s words ‘Stay put’ bothered me.

Besides, in the circumstances, Redrin is the one who spread the frog eggs…… What will happen if I go out there and clear the frog eggs?

* * *

―The Sing Survival PD [Production Director] must be crazy. He edited the devil so much that he edited his personality into the devil too.

―ㅅㅂㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ [Korean slang expressing disbelief or amusement] Are they making a program with people dying? Are you really crazy?

―It was famous that the broadcasting station guys have no blood or tears. It’s become clear now. I don’t know if they have no blood or tears, but they don’t care at all about other people’s blood and tears.

―It’s not just the PD and the broadcasting station that you should be cursing. They say they’re supporting the government. Isn’t the government telling them to do it?

ㄴWhy are you cursing the government and the broadcasting station for this? Attention-seeking bastards get abilities and go to kill monsters with only one camera. They go even if they tell them not to. Even if they try to stop them, there are frog eggs everywhere. Since the number of people dying is increasing, the government is just laying the groundwork for them, so it’s safer to go.

ㄴHey, you’re talking nonsense. If the number of suicides increases, the government should stop them, not lay the groundwork for them saying, ‘Please commit suicide safely here.’

ㄴThat’s a different situation. The government can’t just stand still when monsters are rampant.

ㄴThen shouldn’t they send a special forces team to deal with the monsters instead of making a program?

ㄴIt would be best if a psychic came out of those people. It’s the best, but the reality is that even among humans who don’t exercise for 5 minutes a day, there are awakened people, so they’re doing a show like that.

< 237. People Always Adapt > End