Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 242

< Do Not Open! >

Rembrary received a call to come to the production team’s lodging and was bewildered when he arrived at the designated cabin.

He wondered if everyone had been called together, or if it was just him. The number of participants gathered was unclear—six in total, including himself. Besides, he had no idea what the criteria for calling them were.

Besides them, Undushin, three cameramen, Kim Murok PD (who had suddenly become as gentle as a lamb), and a floor director (FD) whose name he didn’t know were also present. The six participants were huddled together on one side.

As he was wondering what was going on, Undushin explained the situation.

“As you may have noticed from the ambulance earlier, a staff member was attacked by a monster and taken to the hospital.”

People buzzed with concern.

The buzzing grew louder when Undushin said, “The monster is disguised as one of you.”

“Why are you suspecting us?” one of the participants who had been called out asked, bristling. Undushin explained the circumstances that led to the suspicion.

“The six of you had your cameras turned off during the time of the incident.”

At those words, the participants reflexively distanced themselves from each other.

Undushin watched each of their reactions intently, then paused at Shin Jo-woon. The other participants were cautiously distancing themselves, but Shin Jo-woon alone wore a strange smile.

Of course, Rembrary was also standing there blankly with a gentle smile, but since that was how he always was, it only made Undushin think, ‘Ah, he’s definitely still the same.’

More than anything, the guy looked gentle but was actually a human who caught monsters by throwing shoes. It didn’t even occur to him that he would have been affected by the monster’s egg. He was only called in because excluding him from the investigation would be unfair.

Undushin stared sharply at Shin Jo-woon and asked,

“What’s so funny, Shin Jo-woon?”

“It’s nothing. Just…”

“?”

“It’s a bit of a personal story. Do I really have to tell you?”

“In this situation, I’d appreciate it if you could tell me even a personal story.”

“Then, would it be okay if we talked alone for a moment?”

Shin Jo-woon said teasingly, and Undushin frowned even more.

Rembrary clicked his tongue inwardly.

‘That sardine [a slang term for someone untrustworthy or sneaky] was talking about a great restaurant; he must have been eating something by himself. He’s hiding food.’

Anyway, if he had something to hide, he should at least speak normally. But in front of Undushin, his *maltu* [speech pattern/tone] had changed a bit. He said he hated *nakru* [being a pushover or falling behind], but he was showing it in a strange way.

“By the way, Instructor. Now that I look closely, you have a dog-like face.”

Moreover, he was suddenly telling someone they looked like a dog out of the blue.

Undushin, who had been serious, bristled and glared at Shin Jo-woon with eyes that said, ‘Is this guy for real?’

As the atmosphere turned ominous, the ever-dignified Rembrary quickly stepped in to help Shin Jo-woon.

“Undushin. I can tell whether the sardine is real or fake.”

‘Woo Yeon-woo’s *maltu*?’

‘Undushin?’

‘It’s not just casual speech, it’s condescending?’

Because of that, his original *maltu* came out unintentionally, and the other participants and staff glanced at Rembrary. Regardless of what people thought, Rembrary quickly tested Shin Jo-woon.

“Sardine. Great restaurant. The fun of picking and choosing.”

Question marks appeared above the participants’ heads. It wasn’t just the participants who were puzzled. The streaming viewers who had been nervously eating and glued to their monitors or phones also flooded the chat room with questions about what it meant.

―What does that mean?

―Is ‘great restaurant’ a signal from their variety show?

―Is Shin Jo-woon a ‘great restaurant’ to Woo Yeon-woo?

―Where are they picking and choosing? ㄷㄷ; [Internet slang for ‘daebak,’ meaning ‘amazing’ or ‘shocking’]

Only Shin Jo-woon answered nonchalantly.

“Acting like you know. You didn’t understand it.”

Rembrary nodded and said to Undushin.

“Instructor. I think Shin Jo-woon is the real one.”

At those words, the chat speed of the viewers increased even more.

―We didn’t understand either!

―What are you talking about?ㅠ Is my comprehension lacking, or is Woo Yeon-woo not explaining enough?

―We don’t know either ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ [laughter]

―What did you say that led to the ‘sardine great restaurant’ talk?ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

―Hasn’t Woo Yeon-woo been subtly using casual speech since earlier?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

―So, where is this ‘sardine great restaurant’?

Undushin still looked suspiciously at Shin Jo-woon, but since Rembrary was acting like that, he figured he must have something to believe in, and asked the other participants as well.

“What about the rest of you? Is there anything you exchanged before the incident that a monster wouldn’t know if it was imitating you? However, that conversation must have taken place before the egg hatched. In other words, it must have been a conversation you had before dinner yesterday.”

The four participants other than Shin Jo-woon and Rembrary remained silent.

It was their first day in an unfamiliar place. They were surrounded by unfamiliar people in an unfamiliar situation, and a camera was constantly following them. Honestly, who would be having unique conversations?

“Since we just met…”

“We just talked about being nervous or wanting to win.”

“Does introducing ourselves count?”

Undushin sighed. That level of conversation was something anyone could imitate if they had enough sense, even if they didn’t know the situation, so it was difficult to use as a criterion for distinguishing them.

* * *

After an hour of consultation, Rembrary and Shin Jo-woon, who remembered the conversations they had previously, were excluded from the suspects. Yoo Seung-cheol, who had a *sseom* [a Korean term for a romantic ‘something’ or flirtatious relationship] with another participant and had his whereabouts all caught on camera, was also excluded.

Kim Young-hye and Lee Ki-cheong, who had turned off their cameras to change clothes and hadn’t turned them on all night, and Jo Joo-hyun, who had been planning to keep his camera off unless it was during a mission or training to protect his privacy, were the only three remaining suspects.

―Wow, listen to them talk. I can’t tell if they’re human or not;;

―Are you sure there’s a monster among them? They all sound like people of that age and background?

ㄴThe injured staff member said one of them was the monster

ㄴThe injured staff member only said a word. The instructor combined and interpreted it. It could have meant something else, but he misinterpreted it

―Either way, if a monster can imitate people to this extent, it’s creepy

―Even their excuses are plausible ;;

―What if those monsters aren’t just there?

The viewers who watched Undushin talking to the suspects to find suspicious points also fell into a panic. All three suspects spoke clearly. Even their nervous expressions were realistic.

The production team watching was also stunned, but Undushin calmly asked Kim Murok PD for a favor.

“Please find the acquaintances of those three. Ask them to send emails about old stories, common acquaintances’ names, memorable events, and so on. Oh, you must get proof of their acquaintance. If even one fake acquaintance comes out here, we could end up driving an innocent person away.”

It was unfortunate, but until then, the three suspects were to be placed in adjacent lodgings with restrictions on personal activities and training.

And in case of emergency, the *d担当* [assigned] cameramen would not stay in the lodgings with them but would wait outside with other staff members.

They hadn’t caught the culprit, but the production team and viewers were relieved that at least this would prevent the next attacker from appearing.

However, the next day, another person was injured.

* * *

At the time of the incident, Rembrary was grilling Maeng Woo-shin, asking, “Why did you come here, *sunbae* [senior/older colleague]?” Then, when he saw the staff members rushing nearby, Rembrary stopped his questioning and ran over to see what was going on.

He found out that this time, a participant had been injured. Like the previous case, they had been attacked inside the lodgings, but this participant was unconscious from the time they were discovered and couldn’t tell them anything.

Undushin, who was once again at the forefront of assessing the situation, paid close attention to the fact that there were no signs of a struggle on the participant, and that it appeared they had been attacked from behind while trying to take something out.

The participant’s *d 담당* [assigned] cameraman turned pale and explained the situation.

“I had constipation, so I kept going to the bathroom…”

“But didn’t you hear any noise?”

“It sounded like someone came to ask to borrow something.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know. The cabin isn’t that big, but there were two people outside, so I was *shingyeong sseuyeoseo* [too preoccupied/concerned]… I deliberately turned the music up loud.”

* * *

“Wouldn’t it be better to disband the program and do something else?”

“Two people have already been injured in two days.”

“If things get complicated after the program…”

As a result of the emergency meeting, the production team panicked and fretted about whether they should scrap the program. However, Undushin flatly opposed it.

“Absolutely not.”

“The Korea Communications Standards Commission will impose sanctions because it’s too provocative! We could have legal problems for not operating the program safely!”

Undushin sharply pointed out one of the staff’s realistic concerns.

“That’s the law before the monsters appeared.”

“!”

“Besides, if there’s a monster imitating a participant, isn’t it more problematic to release them here? What do you think will happen if that participant goes out into society?”

“That’s…”

“What about the other participants who aren’t monsters? Countless people have seen this incident. People don’t know which of the participants is a monster, so they’ll indiscriminately avoid and shun them. Who’s going to deal with the aftermath?”

“Then what are we supposed to do! A person was attacked even though the suspects are locked up!”

Undushin cursed inwardly. If he had known this would happen, he would have brought another person as an instructor. He thought he could just train talented people, but things had gone awry.

He wanted to ask Rembrary for his opinion since he knew more about *yogoe* [monsters/supernatural beings] than others, but he was frustrated because there were cameras everywhere, and there was a rule that he had to pretend not to know he was Woo Sung-woo’s brother.

“First, tell the participants not to let other participants into their lodgings under any circumstances. And never turn off the cameras. I’ll request support from our team leader.”

* * *

―In horror movies, the first person to die is the one who does what they’re told not to do. But there’s no way there’s someone that stupid in real life, right?

Viewers watched the situation with concern, and thanks to that, the number of real-time viewers continued to rise, and real-time breaking news about the incident poured out.

However, unlike the bustling outside, the inside of the campground was quieter than ever. It was thanks to the fact that everyone had fewer words due to the situation.

At that moment, Rembrary was quiet, not because he was scared, but because he was seriously thinking.

‘Who is the monster? One of the suspects? Or someone other than the suspects? Or… both? No. It can’t be both. There’s only one broken egg. But what if such a monster was mixed in from the beginning?’

Rembrary stood by the window for a long time, then decided to try fishing.

Lifeforms close to darkness show extreme reactions to those with divine power, or ‘saints’ in this world’s terms. They either desperately crave them or extremely hate them.

But if the divine power is weak, they see them as easy targets and want to devour them. He decided to take advantage of this and deliberately leak very faint divine power.

As soon as Rembrary made up his mind, he sat on the bed and slowly released divine power like a thread.

‘It would be better to catch the monsters quickly before they claim another victim.’

Had it been two hours? Someone knocked on the door.

“Who is it?”

Rembrary asked with his eyes closed, and a normal voice came from outside.

“I want to talk about something. Can you open the door for a moment?”

He’s been caught! Rembrary opened his half-closed eyes and smiled faintly.

* * *

―Woo Yeon-woo… you’re not going to open it here, are you?

―The instructor told you not to open it for anyone, don’t open it

―Don’t open it, don’t open it, don’t open itㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

―If you open it here, you’ll die, you crazy bastardㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ