Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 27

27. Buried by Dating Rumors

Overcoming illness with fandom?

Jong-woo read the article with a bewildered expression.

It was the story of a woman claiming to be a fan of Woo Yeon-woo.

She had lived more fiercely than anyone else, but her health checkup results were not good.

A disease with a 50% survival rate.

People told her she was young, so she would be fine, but she felt like she was facing a dark abyss.

She quit her job for treatment, and that’s when she made up her mind.

She might die soon, so she decided to live the rest of her life happily.

One of the ‘happy things’ she chose was being a fan of an idol…

The long story concluded with one point:

My illness was cured while being a fan of Woo Yeon-woo!

“That’s ridiculous.”

Jong-woo muttered to himself and chuckled.

Even though it was about the idol he was in charge of, it was hard to believe.

But soon, Jong-woo felt a chill.

If I feel this way, what about others…?

He hurriedly checked the comment section.

As expected, it was chaos.

– This company really sucks at their job.

– Are there only salary thieves in the LLL PR team?

– Lulupang! Lulupi! Salary yap!

– You should lie moderately. You can’t promote like this, Mr. CEO ㅠㅠ

– She’s just saying she gained strength from being a fan. It’s not that Woo Yeon-woo cured her.

ㄴ That’s how I took it too.

ㄴ Me too222

ㄴ 33333

– Glad you’re recovering. Wishing you a speedy recovery ^^.

– If I stan [support] Woo Yeon-woo, will my athlete’s foot be cured too?

– Does it work for hair loss?

ㄴ If it works for hair loss, I acknowledge God Yeon-woo.

Jong-woo checked only a few of the most liked comments before sighing.

Everyone was making fun of Yeon-woo.

Jong-woo closed the article and sent a text to CEO Lim.

[It’s not a promotional article from our side. I don’t know either ㅜㅜ]

But just as he pressed the send button.

A sound like scraping with a cotton swab-tipped ear pick tickled his eardrums.

He lowered his phone and saw Yeon-woo on stage, speaking into the microphone.

It was a very ticklish sound that made his fingers curl.

‘His tone is really amazing.’

Should I really suggest a solo?

I should suggest including it as a B-side track on the next album.

Thinking that, Jong-woo focused on Yeon-woo’s voice.

Listening to his whispering, murmuring voice, it felt like everything would work out.

His heart felt at ease, and his mood calmed down.

It was like the spring breeze that makes you realize the season has changed when winter is gone and spring has come.

At that moment.

The music shattered with a hammer-like blow, abruptly shifting to winter.

Jong-woo was startled and opened his eyes.

Seonwoo-sil was holding the microphone upside down, belting out high notes ranging from A4 to A#4 and G#4, in true voice.

Yet, her diction didn’t falter, so he could clearly understand what she was saying.

Yeon-woo’s softly murmuring lyrics were dismantled one by one by Seonwoo-sil’s high notes.

The ticklish sound from before was gone, and a refreshing sound rushed like a storm.

‘Indeed, it’s Seonwoo-sil. She sings as well as her personality is awful.’

As he was admiring, the tremendous sound suddenly subsided, and Yeon-woo’s voice immediately followed.

Jong-woo was impressed again.

Following such tremendous high notes with a low note could make one feel momentarily weak.

Yeon-woo, on the contrary, made people focus more on the sound as it lowered.

Being right after Seonwoo-sil, it was clear that his diction was weak.

However, the charm in his voice was strong enough to cover that part.

The part that people felt was his charm was his divine power, but Jong-woo and the people listening to the song couldn’t know that far.

When the highlight, where the two took turns singing high and low notes like a roller coaster, ended.

The staff watching couldn’t help but applaud.

Jong-woo absentmindedly followed along, but when the song ended, he came to his senses and sighed.

How great would it have been if he had done that before losing his memories?

* * *

As Rembrary, who had finished singing, slowly caught his breath.

He was used to singing hymns often, but hymns were all similar in style.

It was the first time he had sung like fighting a battle.

During practice, he was out of breath and his throat hurt.

Seeing people admiring him after the performance, he felt a slight sense of elation.

As he was standing there, the host approached, exclaiming “Wow wow wow wow” repeatedly.

It was the same host who had said that Keshi and Yuli O looked like lovers when they finished singing.

The host came between Seonwoo-sil and Rembrary, repeated “Wow wow” again, and then asked with a hollow laugh.

“How on earth can you do something like this? This kind of song?”

Seonwoo-sil smiled without saying anything.

Rembrary also just stared at the host without a word.

The host shook his head.

“I was really surprised when I heard the first syllable. But in Seonwoo-sil’s part, I thought, ‘Wow… is this even a human voice?'”

“Thank you.”

“No, really. But what’s even more amazing is that Woo Yeon-woo wasn’t overshadowed by Seonwoo-sil and fought back. Wow. I knew it from the acapella version before, but I didn’t know Woo Yeon-woo could sing this well.”

The host stared intently at Rembrary, genuinely surprised.

“Woo Yeon-woo isn’t a vocalist in the group, is he?”

Rembrary answered as he had heard.

“I’m the visual center.”

Jong-woo, who was happily watching Yeon-woo on stage, let out a silent scream at this part.

Why did he have to say ‘visual’ himself?

Thinking the same thing, the host chuckled while holding the script card and asked Seonwoo-sil.

“Seonwoo-sil, how was the chemistry between the two of you? Were there any difficulties during practice?”

Seonwoo-sil readily answered.

“There might not be much footage of the practice scenes.”

“Why?”

“Because we got along too well without any fighting or anything.”

“Wow… is it that good?”

“As you can see, I was a bit reluctant at first because he’s the visual center-”

Seonwoo-sil playfully smiled, covering Rembrary’s face with her palm.

“But after practicing together, I realized he’s a good kid.”

“Oh.”

“He’s the most promising junior.”

The host’s eyes widened at Seonwoo-sil’s praise, and he asked a provocative question.

“Woo Yeon-woo is famous for having a unique personality. Was he surprisingly okay?”

Seonwoo-sil, like a veteran, answered with praise that was both pointed and convincing.

“Yeon-woo works really hard when he’s practicing. I don’t care about his personality when he’s doing other things. I don’t have a good personality either.”

* * *

As Rembrary was heading to the waiting room after coming down from the stage, Jong-woo finally ran over and patted him on the back.

“You did great. Really great! You were the best!”

“Thank you.”

“Seonwoo-sil, you were the best too. You were always the best, but you were even better.”

Even with Jong-woo’s praise, Seonwoo-sil answered casually, as if it were obvious.

“Thank you.”

But even her usually annoying appearance looked grateful to Jong-woo now.

Seonwoo-sil, who has a good public image.

Seonwoo-sil, who is famous for being firm about her opinions when it comes to singing, openly praised Yeon-woo.

A lot. Very openly.

Since he received praise from Seonwoo-sil, who is stingy with praise, all that’s left is for this scene to air.

Woo Yeon-woo’s image will definitely improve from what it is now.

And the next day.

As expected, Yeon-woo’s image improved after the broadcast.

Before the broadcast, Seonwoo-sil’s fans hated Yeon-woo, saying, ‘Who are you???? Why are you with our Seonwoo-sil???’.

Even when he became a teammate with Seonwoo-sil, they were furious, telling him not to hold her back.

However, when the duet between Seonwoo-sil and Woo Yeon-woo was unexpectedly successful, the atmosphere completely changed.

Seonwoo-sil’s fans praised Woo Yeon-woo as a hidden talented idol and raved about his chemistry with Seonwoo-sil.

Kim Mu-rok PD also had an influence on this.

Because Woo Yeon-woo was too quiet this week, and there was nothing to film, Kim Mu-rok edited Seonwoo-sil and Woo Yeon-woo to look like they were getting along even better than they actually were.

Every practice scene between Seonwoo-sil and Woo Yeon-woo had phrases like ‘Woosil taking care of Yeon-woo again’, ‘Woosil looking for Yeon-woo’, and ‘Yeon-woo following Woosil around’.

Comforting music played whenever they were together.

Just watching the broadcast, it was at the level where they should be calling each other brothers.

However, unlike Woo Yeon-woo, whose image improved slightly, Keshi’s reaction plummeted to the extreme.

Kim Mu-rok PD made a deal with Long Distance Entertainment and removed the kiss scene, but he directed it to look like they were flirting.

Hearts appeared on the screen whenever their hands slightly touched while passing by.

In every scene, Keshi glanced at Yuli O and blushed, and Yuli O’s voice changed whenever he was in front of Keshi.

The scene of the two bickering and laughing more than ten times.

Jong-woo sighed as he checked the competition’s reaction for monitoring.

– Keshi you son of a bitch ㅠㅠ

– He really is a son of a bitch lolololol He said he was a son of a bitch himself.

ㄴ Really? No way.

ㄴ Watch Power Idol Happy Talk. He barked himself.

ㄴ He’s a certified son of a bitch.

ㄴ ㅅㅂ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ [Korean slang for ‘fuck’]

– A nobody messing with Yuli…

– It’s all because of that Keshi bastard.

– To think that a trash personality and a son of a bitch are in the same group.

Yuli O’s fans poured all their anger on Keshi.

However, it wasn’t like Yuli O wasn’t getting hate either.

– Someone who’s not even popular is throwing dirt on the team like this.

– Shouldn’t she be kicked out?

– She’s getting some popularity because she’s buried in Long Distance. If she came out as a solo, she wouldn’t even be as good as Wild Animal.

– Don’t harm the other members.

– Can’t dance, can’t sing, and has the worst face. And she’s the first to cause trouble.

– ㅅㅂ [Korean slang for ‘fuck’] I knew this would happen.

– She’s dating when she should be solidifying her position ㅉㅉ [Korean slang for tsk tsk]

– No professionalism. Does she want to date a nobody like that?

Jong-woo clicked his tongue and closed the tablet.

It’s already this bad even though the kiss scene didn’t come out.

Just thinking about how much worse it would have been if that scene had come out made him dizzy.

It would have been less of an issue if the other person was also a rookie idol.

Unfortunately, Wild Animal’s recognition was only at that level right now.

“Ah.”

Jong-woo was about to get up but turned the tablet back on.

Come to think of it, that article CEO Lim sent him yesterday.

He had completely forgotten about it while listening to the song.

He was curious about the reaction since then.

“…”

Jong-woo found the article after clicking the mouse a few times and soon closed the tablet with an “Eh” sound.

It was ridiculous when he read it, but as expected.

It was all just being ridiculed within that article.

They are getting pretty good feedback from this performance, but that seems to be it.

It didn’t seem like there were any fans who would follow up on every single article and react to it.

Besides, the chemistry between Seonwoo-sil and Woo Yeon-woo, and Woo Yeon-woo’s unexpected singing skills were only a topic among Seonwoo-sil’s fans.

The public was more concerned about the dating rumors between Yuli O and Keshi.

* * *

Rembrary himself, who was the person involved, didn’t care at all about the fan’s interview that briefly appeared and disappeared while he was singing.

To be exact, he didn’t even know there was such an interview.

Rembrary heard about the fan’s news on Wednesday afternoon.

It was when he went to the agency for a new song meeting.

As soon as Rembrary arrived inside the building, an employee handed him a gift wrapped with a ribbon.

“This fan asked me to give it to Woo Yeon-woo.”

As Rembrary received the gift, the employee added with a smile.

“She said she didn’t know how to deliver it and had been standing in front of the building since morning. She said she felt like she was cured thanks to Woo Yeon-woo and asked me to deliver it for sure.”

‘I cured her?’

Rembrary recalled Believer 2, to whom he had channeled his divine power.