Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 239

< 239. After the Vote >

For several days after that, Rembrary was lost in thought.

Would my participation in the survival show help Redrin-nim [term of endearment and respect]? Would it help people? He was busy weighing each option.

“I will do it.”

But after much deliberation, Rembrary finally decided to participate. In the past, he had been hesitant to use his abilities because he was conscious of Nakru. But now, he didn’t have to worry about Nakru’s gaze. He didn’t know if Nakru was acting that way because he knew he was a Saint, or because he saw him chasing away a monster with his shoe.

In any case, he wanted to help people if he could. Besides, building a good image would also help Redrin in the future.

‘Didn’t Redrin-nim say that at first? To create many followers.’

He saw a post on SNS [Social Networking Service] from an Awakened one whose popularity was soaring these days, and they were shooting fire from their hands.

[Are you really going to do it?]

When Rembrary called to tell Jongwoo about his decision, Jongwoo asked with concern.

[This is a secret from the CEO. Honestly, I wish you wouldn’t.]

“Why?”

[It’s dangerous. People keep getting hurt. And the monsters coming out of the frog eggs aren’t acting uniformly.]

Some frog eggs remain still even when hit by a car, while others spawn monsters that try to kill you if you just drop a cell phone. Moreover, contrary to the initial expectation that the frog eggs would stay in one place, their locations were gradually changing.

Since it was unlikely that someone was moving the millions of eggs scattered around the world one by one, it had to be assumed that the eggs were moving on their own. Jongwoo was talking about this.

“It’s okay.”

But Rembrary answered calmly and hung up the phone.

Rembrary had never been afraid of frog eggs. Not from the beginning.

* * *

“Scary. You’re going there?”

Hyegyeol flipped through the TV channels and clicked his tongue. The screen showed stories of people unable to pass through the stairwell of an apartment building without an elevator because frog eggs were blocking it.

[It’s scary and inconvenient.]

[Sometimes the kids reach out, asking, ‘What’s this? Can I poke it?’ It terrifies me. Sending the kids alone? Ugh, I can’t even imagine it.]

In the video, the residents complained about the inconvenience and fear. Hyegyeol raised his voice again and asked Rembrary, who was in the kitchen.

“Hyung [older brother or a term of endearment for a close male friend], are you really going to a place like that?”

Rembrary was putting tomatoes in a blender and pouring sugar next to it when he turned around, surprised, “Huh?”

“Can’t you not do it, even now?”

Just then, an advertisement for the Hunter Survival program came on again.

As Kim Murok PD [Production Director] confidently stated, the world on TV these days was losing entertainment programs. Only news, advertisements, and documentaries. The only other programs occasionally scheduled were current affairs programs where various experts gathered to share their opinions on the phenomenon.

In this situation, the only stimulating advertisement was bound to catch the eye.

As Jungseo turned on the blender, making a loud noise, Rembrary and Hyegyeol couldn’t talk for a moment. When the blender noise disappeared, Hyegyeol asked again with concern.

“They’ve finished counting the applicants. It’s 1,256 people. Can’t one of them drop out?”

“Is that a lot of applicants or a few?”

“It’s few considering the prize money is 2 billion. It’s a lot considering it’s a matter of life and death.”

* * *

As the application period for the Hunter Survival program passed, people were angry but still paid attention to who was participating.

The production team announced a total of 1,256 applicants. People heard this number and made a fuss, arguing whether it was a lot or a little.

“Are all these people going to appear?”

“I don’t think so.”

Jungseo, on behalf of Rembrary, who was not entirely familiar with using the internet, went to the website to find related information. A notice window popped up.

“Fifteen people from government officials, fifteen people selected by the production team through interviews, and fifteen candidates selected by viewers based on their profiles.”

“What if the selected candidates overlap?”

“Even if they overlap, they won’t pick additional candidates separately… So, they’re going to pick a minimum of fifteen and a maximum of forty-five candidates to start filming.”

The internet real-time search rankings were already dominated by keywords related to Hunter Survival.

“Why bother?”

“Isn’t it because the talent desired by the government, the talent desired by the production team, and the talent preferred by the people are all different?”

The next day, brief profiles of the 1,256 applicants were posted, and preliminary voting became available.

In the evening, Rembrary saw a post from a blogger who listed the most noticeable participants.

* * *

There’s a lot of support and a lot of criticism, but these days, there’s a program that’s as much of an issue as the frog eggs that spawn monsters.

Hunter Survival.

It’s a new entertainment show by Kim Murok PD [Production Director], who has already shown off his editing skills in the Sing Survival program.

What’s unique is that the government is supporting it, and Woosungwoo, one of the first two people to eliminate monsters, is in charge of promoting the show.

With a huge prize of 2 billion won, 1,256 applicants have applied!

But not all 1,256 people will be on TV, and they will narrow down the candidates to a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 45. Viewers can also vote for 15 of these participants.

But ugh! 1,256 people, it’s a lot of work just to check the profiles, right? So I picked them. The most noticeable and talked-about participants!

First, participant number 1. Everyone acknowledges Wooyeonwoo.

He’s the visual center of and an idol [celebrity] with endless talent in his main job, acting, and entertainment.

But even before the Awakened appeared, there were strange rumors that he could heal people or cause strange phenomena. Among them, he admitted that he could see ghosts.

Is that why? It seemed to quiet down after the appearance of the frog eggs, but this time, he announced that he would participate in Hunter Survival despite being an idol, and he is once again rising as the top issue.

Maybe it’s because of his relationship with Kim Murok PD [Production Director] from Sing Survival in the past? Or maybe he secretly Awakened himself? Anyway, Wooyeonwoo is expected to easily pass the preliminaries.

The next talked-about participant is a promising soccer player…

* * *

After checking his own information, Rembrary quickly scrolled down the post. He was looking to see if any other idols were appearing. It seemed that many athletes were appearing among the celebrities.

A promising soccer player, a retired famous golfer, and a famous active martial arts fighter, but even if you counted them, it was only a handful.

In any case, Rembrary didn’t know much about sports here, let alone athletes, so he wasn’t interested in this part.

‘Nokchirokcha [Green Record Tea]?’

Rather, Rembrary was interested in Nokchirokcha, a famous YouTuber who was one of the early Awakened, already had many fans, and had eliminated six frog eggs.

‘Why is this person’s name like this?’

But of course, what he was most interested in…

‘Why is Mulchi [a derogatory nickname] here?’

Shin Jo-un, who hated Nakru, was suddenly here. Rembrary was dumbfounded and read what the blogger had written about Shin Jo-un.

The blogger was sending very positive opinions about Shin Jo-un, saying, ‘He’s friends with Wooyeonwoo, so isn’t he worried and coming?’

Rembrary quickly went to the Hunter Survival website. He looked for the participants’ profiles there, and Rembrary was surprised to see the 1,256 people sorted by views. The most viewed was himself, followed by martial arts fighter Gi Gyu, then Nokchirokcha. Then, Shin Jo-un was really in the next order.

“This Mulchi [a derogatory nickname]? He’s always collapsing, so what?”

Rembrary was dumbfounded and quickly called Shin Jo-un. When he last talked to him about how he was doing, he was complaining about his arm hurting, his leg hurting, coughing, and being sick. A hunter? Fighting monster eggs?

[Hello?]

“Shin Jo-un, are you participating in Hunter Survival?”

When Rembrary asked, he heard a low laugh over the receiver.

[Did you see it?]

“Shin Jo-un, you hate Nakru. Is it okay to participate?”

Rembrary asked directly about Nakru. Anyway, because of Woosungwoo and Hunter Survival, there were no people who didn’t know Nakru’s name these days.

[I decided to do it because of Nakru.]

“Why?”

[It’s bothersome to chase after him.]

“?”

He heard laughter again.

[It’s a good restaurant.]

“I don’t understand what you’re saying at all.”

Rembrary didn’t know that Shin Jo-un had been hunting Nakru, so everything Shin Jo-un was saying now sounded like nonsense.

“I guess his fever hasn’t gone down yet?”

[Ah. Fever. What was my temperature?]

“You’re talking nonsense.”

[It’s all gone down now. I’m fine.]

Rembrary was worried, but Shin Jo-un laughed again, saying he was fine.

[This time, we’ll be competitors. They’re only picking one person.]

Rembrary, who hung up the phone without an ounce of tension, sighed. Competitors? He’s weak.

How busy would he have to be to compete and protect Shin Jo-un? He was already annoyed.

* * *

But a few days later. Something happened that neither Shin Jo-un, who was looking forward to the competition, nor Rembrary, who thought he would participate, nor even the production team, Nakru, and the viewers had expected. They added up the preliminary results…

“Wooyeonwoo wasn’t selected?”

Rembrary had completely failed.

Fifteen people selected by the production team, fifteen people selected by the viewers, and fifteen people selected by the government. Rembrary was not selected in any of them.

“No, how?”

Kim Murok was dumbfounded and asked the FD [Floor Director].

“How could that be?”

“The PD [Production Director] told us not to pick Wooyeonwoo to minimize overlapping selections. Since Nakru had already picked him, they would pick him, and the viewers would also pick him.”

“But neither of them picked him!”

The FD [Floor Director] shrugged. They had no way of knowing that Nakru had also thought similarly and didn’t pick him.

Even the viewers thought similarly. The viewers thought that the production team would definitely pick Wooyeonwoo, so they didn’t pick him. They wanted to pick a variety of people.

As a result, Wooyeonwoo, who ‘everyone expected to pass,’ was eliminated in the preliminaries.

“Wow. Damn. It’s messed up like this. What should we do?”

Kim Murok groaned and grabbed his head. Even the number of people selected was 45. There was no one who was selected by overlapping, so there were 45 people.

If Wooyeonwoo was added here, it would be 46 people, so anyone could see that it was a rigged vote.

“What should we do?”

< 239. After the Vote > End