Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 241

< 241. Someone Among the Five >

As people buzzed with nervous energy, Kim Mu-rok approached, wondering what all the commotion was about.

“What’s going on?”

One of the cameramen quickly filled him in.

“One of the eggs is broken.”

Kim Mu-rok visibly startled, instinctively hid behind Un-doshin, asking, “Then the monster? Where is it?”

His words amplified the participants’ terror, their eyes darting around frantically. However, the monster was nowhere to be seen. As their collective gaze landed on Kim Mu-rok, who was supposed to be in charge, he hurriedly waved his hands.

“I didn’t move it!”

The participants exchanged glances, a silent consensus forming in their minds.

‘Nobody thought you did.’

‘Just get out from behind the instructor.’

Un-doshin, clearly uncomfortable with Kim Mu-rok clinging to his back like a turtle shell, subtly shifted his weight, but Kim Mu-rok remained firmly attached.

‘This is why working with ordinary people is not ideal,’ Un-doshin sighed inwardly. ‘Besides, they’re not completely ordinary people; they were chosen for their potential to become Hunters. To scream just because they saw a broken egg…’

‘I guess it’s fortunate they’re not panicking and running away,’ Un-doshin thought to himself, feeling a touch of resignation, but he calmly instructed, “We don’t know where the monster that came out of the egg might be, so let’s all look for it together.”

His words were met with a chorus of protests from various participants.

“Are you crazy?”

“A monster is wandering around, and you want us to find it?”

“Will you take responsibility if we die?”

“You’re the expert! You should find it, not us!”

Faced with the rising tide of dissent, Un-doshin sighed, drew his weapon, and fired a shot into the ground. The thud and scattering dirt momentarily silenced the crowd.

The already on-edge participants screamed, startled by the sudden noise. But then they immediately fell silent. As people froze, Un-doshin said coldly.

“I am the ‘most’ expert here. But aren’t all of you here to become experts as well? Did you think this program was just an entertainment show for laughing, chatting, and showing camaraderie?”

“!”

“Just because it’s called entertainment, you think it’s really entertainment, but this is a program where survival is at stake. It’s designed to select Hunters who will protect people on the front lines and to show how to deal with monsters directly so that even non-Hunters can find ways to protect themselves at least.”

Silence descended upon the group, broken only by the rustling of leaves. Un-doshin retrieved his weapon and issued a stern warning.

“Anyone who came without that kind of resolve should go back. When the training camp ends, you’ll really be doing Hunter work, and with that kind of mindset, you’ll only be a hindrance.”

* * *

“At this rate, half of them will be gone by the end of the training camp. Don’t you think?”

After receiving buttons to press if they found a monster, the participants split into pairs and scattered throughout the training grounds. Of course, even though it was pairs, the cameramen followed, so the actual total number was four.

“What do you mean?”

Rembrary, walking along a dense forest path surrounding the camp, glanced to his side. A woman with the unusual nickname ‘GreenTeaRockCha’ smiled arrogantly and repeated.

“I said half of them will be gone by the end of the training camp. And after one real mission, there won’t be many left at all.”

“You sound confident?”

“I’ve already dealt with several monsters on my own.”

Rembrary was aware of this. GreenTeaRockCha was an early Awakened [individuals with supernatural abilities] and had posted videos of herself hunting monsters on YouTube, garnering a significant following.

Kim Mu-rok had deliberately paired GreenTeaRockCha with Rembrary because of the agency’s contract that ‘Woo Yeon-woo goes safely no matter what.’

“Has Woo Yeon-woo ever fought a monster? I heard rumors that you see ghosts and stuff.”

“No.”

“Has Woo Yeon-woo Awakened?”

“I don’t think so.”

As Rembrary shook his head, GreenTeaRockCha laughed lightly and advised, “If you see one, don’t engage and run away immediately. Non-Awakened can’t handle their speed or power. Ordinary weapons don’t work either.”

However, hours passed, and by evening, even with over a hundred people searching, they couldn’t find the monster.

“Did it go somewhere else as soon as it came out?”

“Yeah. There’s no reason for the monster to stay here.”

As time wore on, the participants and staff began to believe that the monster had indeed left the camp.

“What should we do, PD [Production Director]? The participants skipped breakfast and lunch because of the monster. Should we prepare a meal?”

Kim Mu-rok checked the streaming channels broadcasting the camp’s activities live.

With 50 participants and 50 cameras, there were 50 channels, but the conversations were all similar. Since the monster seemed to have left the immediate area, they should feed the participants. And then have them resume the search.

“Okay. Let’s feed them. They need to eat to have the energy to keep searching.”

However, just as Kim Mu-rok was about to order the preparation of a meal, someone pressed the button indicating they had found a monster.

* * *

Un-doshin, who had been waiting in the center of the camp to respond as quickly as possible, raced towards the signal as soon as he heard it.

Unexpectedly, the sound came not from the forest around the camp but from the area where the accommodations were located. Specifically, the staff accommodations.

People were gathered in one of the cabins, so Un-doshin ran straight towards it, intending to tell everyone to evacuate immediately.

‘Oh, no.’

But the incident had already occurred. Un-doshin entered the cabin and frowned. A staff member was gasping for air, his stomach riddled with small holes.

“Where’s the medical staff?”

“They’re on their way.”

“It would be better to call an ambulance.”

“Yes!”

Doctors had been hired as staff in preparation for emergencies, but this kind of injury was beyond their capabilities. Un-doshin instructed the staff member at the entrance to call 119 [emergency services number in South Korea] and surveyed the cabin.

The cabin consisted of a single room, excluding the bathroom. There was no attacker in sight, and the occupants were clustered near the door. No monster was visible either. Un-doshin’s gaze naturally drifted to the closed bathroom door.

‘Is it in there?’

While another staff member was tending to the injured man, Un-doshin approached the bathroom. Holding his breath and gripping his weapon, he counted to three and slammed the door open. He immediately aimed his weapon, but the bathroom was empty.

‘Where did it go?’

At that moment.

“Instructor!”

The staff member who was caring for the injured man urgently called him over. Un-doshin approached, and the staff member gestured towards his injured colleague with his eyes.

“He’s trying to say something!”

It was true. The injured staff member was moving his lips, barely conscious. Un-doshin knelt down and leaned in, placing his ear close to the injured man’s mouth.

—Par… tic… i… pant… con… sul… ta… tion….

“!”

Un-doshin straightened up and looked down at the injured staff member, who was staring blankly into space.

“Are you saying a participant attacked you?”

Un-doshin shook the injured staff member and repeated the question, but the patient frowned and shook his head. Then, he silently moved his lips, seeming to repeat the word ‘consultation.’

“Are you saying a participant came looking for a consultation?”

As Un-doshin asked again, the staff member nodded. But suddenly, he shook his head again. Meanwhile, the people surrounding the entrance suddenly moved aside. Medics with stretchers were arriving.

Un-doshin straightened his knees and stepped aside. A moment later, the sound of an ambulance siren wailed in the distance.

* * *

—What? So a participant killed him? After coming for a consultation?

—Crazy;; I didn’t think they’d put a criminal in there?

—No. Look closely at the screen in the middle. He nodded at first but then shook his head later.

ㄴㅇㅇ 12:56 This part

ㄴㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Scaryㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

ㄴWhat about that personㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ He just participated as staff

ㄴSo he opened the door thinking it was a participant coming for a consultation, but it wasn’t?

ㄴThen who is it? Another staff member?

ㄴIf it was another staff member, he would have just said another staff member

—I have a completely crazy thought right now……

ㄴWhat thought?

ㄴA monster woke up. The fact that a monster woke up means someone touched it, but the person who touched it isn’t coming out. But the monster definitely woke up, and no one was hurt or killed by touching the monster. But the monster isn’t visible. There are over 100 people, but still. What does this mean?

ㄴWhat does it mean?

ㄴㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Is the monster disguised as one of the participants?ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

—That’s so creepyㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

—But then everything makes sense. The staff member said it was a participant but then changed his mind.

—Please take Yeon-woo outㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

—Wait a minute. Then who is it? Who is the monster disguised as? It’s certain that it’s disguised as one of the participants, but who is it?

* * *

It wasn’t just the viewers watching the situation on the stream who were in an uproar. The number of viewers skyrocketed in the blink of an eye, but Kim Mu-rok and the production team were far from pleased.

Kim Mu-rok and the staff were coming to the same conclusion as the viewers: a monster was disguised as one of the participants.

“It might be possible.”

Un-doshin nodded after hearing this opinion.

“Because there’s still so much we don’t know about the monsters. The frog eggs seem to move on their own little by little, and the things they react to are different. In other words, they’re not uniform. It’s possible that there’s a monster with this ability.”

Un-doshin thought of yokai [supernatural entities in Japanese folklore] and demons. People usually imagine that the frog eggs and monsters are mindless beasts, but Un-doshin had encountered many monsters with extraordinary intelligence even before the world changed drastically. Whether the monster in the ‘egg’ is closer to a yokai, a demon, or a demonic beast is something we won’t know until we open it.

“Let’s review the participants’ footage first.”

“Should we focus on the participants whose cameras were turned off when the staff member was attacked?”

“Yes. And also last night before the egg broke and this morning when the egg was found broken. The camera must have been turned off during this time as well.”

Immediately, all the staff were mobilized to find the relevant recordings and quickly narrowed the list down to six people.

“Shin Jo-woon. Woo Yeon-woo. Kim Young-hye. Lee Gi-cheong. Jo Joo-hyun. Yoo Seung-cheol.”

* * *

—헐 Yeon-woo and CEO Shin are includedㅠㅠ

—I don’t think it’s either of them. They’re not the type to go for consultationsㅋㅋㅋㅋ

—The monster is imitating them, so what does it matter if they’re the type to go for consultations or not. Does the monster care about that?

ㄴBut it’s not Woo Yeon-woo ;; It’s obvious if someone imitates Woo Yeon-woo.

ㄴOh ㅇㅈ [short for 인정, meaning ‘I acknowledge’ or ‘I agree’]

ㄴThat’s right. Then it’s not Woo Yeon-woo.

ㄴWe should practically consider it five peopleㅠ Ah, what if it’s CEO Shinㅠㅠ

< 241. Someone Among the Five > End