Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 272

272. Who Came Looking?

Shin Jo-woon flipped through the first page of the documents his secretary handed him. Attached to the second page was a candid photo, and below it were the subject’s name, a brief application, test scores, and evaluator comments.

“Ah.”

Shin Jo-woon nodded, looking at the photo.

“If it were a few years ago, I would have brought that face to our agency without question.”

“Indeed.”

“Foreigner? Mixed race? Naturalized citizen?”

“That information isn’t specified.”

Shin Jo-woon read that the applicant had defeated a senior member, one class ahead, in just five seconds during the first test and briefly marveled.

“So that’s why they marked him as unique. Is it brainwashing or some kind of mind control?”

“It’s only checked as ‘awakened,’ and there are no details about the specific ability.”

Shin Jo-woon nodded but didn’t ask any more about Rembrary and moved on to the next page. After flipping through a few more pages, the phone on his desk vibrated. Shin Jo-woon picked up the phone, his eyes still on the documents, but paused when he saw ‘Woo Yeon-woo’ on the screen.

“…….”

He stared at the screen for a moment, then, after a brief thought, pressed the end call button and flipped the phone over.

* * *

‘He hung up again.’

Woo Yeon-woo frowned and put his phone down on the sofa. Was Shin Jo-woon always this annoying? No one likes having their calls ignored, and Woo Yeon-woo was no exception.

“Did he hang up on you again?”

As he stared intently at his phone, Woo Seong-woo looked over and asked. The sound of keyboard tapping had been constant, but suddenly the room was quiet. Woo Seong-woo pulled a dried-out tea bag from his cup and expressed his anger on Yeon-woo’s behalf.

“Why are CEO Jang and CEO Shin like that?”

Woo Yeon-woo didn’t answer, but Woo Seong-woo continued to click his tongue. Listening to his brother grumbling on his behalf, Woo Yeon-woo recalled past events.

* * *

Regaining his original body happened in an instant. He had been captured by those beings called demons, confined all day, and the only walks he took were under the harsh gazes of people. How long had he spent lamenting that tomorrow would be the same as today, wondering when the so-called Demon King would return him to normal?

He fell asleep constantly lamenting, wondering when the Demon King would return him to normal. When he opened his eyes, he was in a hospital bed.

He didn’t remember anything, but apparently, some monster that could turn people into transparent vinyl had attacked him, and just as he seemed about to collapse, he suddenly rose and launched a counterattack.

In the end, the culprit escaped, and he defeated the other enemies that the culprit had brought… Woo Yeon-woo didn’t remember any of it.

But he knew who had done it. The Demon King. The one who had sent him into that sloth’s body. He still didn’t know why that great being gave him control of the body and only occasionally came out.

In any case, thanks to that incident, he became a hero, and reporters flocked to the hospital, asking what had happened. People were amazed by the story of him defeating numerous monsters.

[Woo Yeon-woo, Not Just a Healer?]

[The World’s First Healer, Turns Out…]

Articles poured out soon after the reporters left.

Still dazed, Woo Yeon-woo was taken aback by the articles and confessed the truth to his brother. Woo Yeon-woo told Woo Seong-woo that he hadn’t lost his memory but had been possessed by someone else, and that he wasn’t a healer. He said he would feel burdened if such articles kept coming out.

“I knew it. I thought something was strange,” Woo Seong-woo said, listening to his brother. After some thought, he advised Yeon-woo to announce during the next interview that he had lost his healing abilities due to overexerting himself, and Woo Yeon-woo followed his advice.

The result was quite good. The news that a popular, troublemaking idol had lost his powers while trying to save people made him look like a tragic hero.

Adapting to the suddenly changed world was difficult at first, but unlike the other world, there were many people here to protect and help him, so Woo Yeon-woo was gradually able to adapt to this place as well.

After being discharged from the hospital and returning to the dorm, Woo Yeon-woo told Jong-woo that his memories had returned, and he vaguely explained that the memories from the period when he had lost his memory were inaccurate, though he wasn’t sure if it was a side effect.

“So, the sloth personality is gone?”

“I don’t know either.”

Anyway, Jong-woo was happy that he had regained his memories and went out to buy a lot of food, saying they should eat a lot for the first time in a while.

“Your memories are back?”

Jung-seo approached and spoke after Jong-woo left, having heard the whole story.

“Yeah. But on the other hand, there are many memories that I’ve lost again.”

When Woo Yeon-woo nodded, Jung-seo said a few words, then returned to his room with a somewhat bitter expression.

Woo Yeon-woo felt a bit bad about that. Because of the expression Jung-seo had made for a moment. He had returned to his original place, but why did he make a face that said, ‘He’s a bit unfamiliar,’ while talking? But he didn’t know that that was the beginning.

* * *

Woo Yeon-woo repeatedly turned the phone screen on and off, thinking. He thought he had imitated ‘that sloth’ reasonably well in front of Shin Jo-woon, but what exactly was the problem? What was the problem that made Shin Jo-woon act like that?

“What are you thinking about that makes you look like that?”

As he was doing that, Woo Seong-woo eventually got up from his desk to take out a new tea bag and walked to the pantry, asking.

“Just this and that.”

“Is it because CEO Shin hung up on you again?”

“…….”

“Is it because of the possession?”

“Yeah. I’m back now. I know he’s in another world, but I still get scared when I think about it.”

It was just an excuse. Woo Yeon-woo became genuinely scared as he spoke, so he lay down on the sofa for no reason. Perhaps the anxiety didn’t go away because of the Demon King who occasionally popped out.

But Woo Seong-woo didn’t know about the Demon King, so Woo Yeon-woo couldn’t tell him about that part. Woo Seong-woo came out of the pantry, blowing on his newly brewed tea, and clicked his tongue as he saw his brother sprawled on the sofa like seaweed.

“Can’t you just ignore CEO Shin and CEO Jang? They’ve known that guy from the beginning.”

“…….”

“Just like I felt a sense of alienation from that guy, they probably feel that way about you. It’s unpleasant, but just ignore it. It might be helpful to know them, but they’re not people you necessarily need to keep in close contact with.”

However, Woo Yeon-woo immediately sat up straight and said firmly.

“No.”

Woo Seong-woo frowned and returned to his seat.

“Why?”

“Did that sloth only have my body? No. He took over and enjoyed everything: my body, the connections I built with my body, the position I built, my members, my manager, even my family. But why can’t I do that?”

“…….”

“If it’s connections I built with my body, it’s mine anyway. He enjoyed everything of mine, but I shouldn’t? I can’t do that, even if it’s just out of spite.”

As Woo Yeon-woo huffed, Woo Seong-woo clicked his tongue and asked.

“Calm down. I heard new recruits have entered the B District training center this time. Want to go take a look? See if there’s anyone good.”

“When?”

Woo Seong-woo took out his phone and checked the calendar, then asked again.

“They haven’t specified when to come. My schedule is… If we’re going, we have to go within a week.”

“No, I have a commercial shoot.”

Woo Yeon-woo said firmly, and Woo Seong-woo said okay and sipped his tea again.

Woo Yeon-woo glared at his phone for no reason and lay back down on the sofa.

* * *

It had already been about a week since Rembrary entered the training center. Joo-kyung had moved to the lodging next to the training center, where employees and trainees’ families stayed, and was living there.

Rembrary was worried about leaving a young child alone, but he was relieved to hear that five experts who had been elementary school teachers before the Cataclysm [a large-scale disaster] were taking turns caring for children in similar situations and providing school lessons.

“You can come here anytime during free time to meet her.”

Rembrary adapted reasonably well to the training center during that time. There was a computer in the room with internet access, and although he still didn’t have a phone, he received an electronic device with four buttons.

The electronic device signaled emergencies with a red light, indicating to assemble in the underground training area; a green light meant to return to the dorm; a blue light meant to assemble on the first floor; and a yellow light meant to assemble on the third floor.

However, the more he adapted to this place, the more stifled he felt. He wondered what they even learned at the training center, because all he had been doing for a week was mostly theoretical lessons.

He did receive basic physical training, but most of it was theory: the current situation in various countries, agreements between hunter companies, hunter companies that were close and hunter companies that were not, signatures exchanged between hunters, lords and mayors, the difference between cities and non-cities, and so on. He felt so hopeless following this schedule that he wondered if he would have to take the full two-year course, no matter how great he was.

‘Should I tell the instructor that I’m already perfect and ask them to send me out quickly?’

On the eighth day, while listening to an explanation of the standard form of hunter contracts that hunters affiliated with cities or lords had to fill out, Rembrary blankly thought, exhausted.

“Mr. Rembrary.”

“What is it?”

“This is important, so listen carefully.”

The instructor, who immediately noticed this, scolded Rembrary, making him even more tired, and he scribbled something like doodles in his notebook with his pen.

How long had he been doing that? The instructor, who had been continuing the class in a low, steady tone, suddenly looked somewhere, put down the laser pointer for PowerPoint, and approached that direction. Towards the classroom entrance. Since the classroom itself was in a stepped format, the instructor was actually going up the stairs. Rembrary wondered what was going on and turned around. It seemed like someone had come outside the door, but he couldn’t see well because the instructor was blocking him.

‘Did someone come late?’

As he was thinking that, the person who had come to the door turned back, and the instructor came back down to the front of the blackboard. However, instead of resuming the class, the instructor told the assistant to do something and hurriedly left.

“What’s going on?”

A classmate next to Rembrary asked, finding it strange.

But before Rembrary could answer, “I don’t know,” the instructor’s assistant told the new hunter trainees, “Everyone be quiet and memorize this standard form so you can roughly fill it out without looking at it,” and then left as well.

As even the assistant left, the remaining new recruits began to murmur among themselves, and soon the specific details of the commotion were conveyed to Rembrary.

“Rembrary, did you hear?”

“Hear what?”

“A great person has visited the training center.”

“A great person?”

“Yeah. Someone related to a huge hunter company, they say?”

“Who are you talking about?”

Rembrary asked, wondering if it was Dae-joo, and the person answered, “Woo Seong-woo.”

“Woo Seong-woo?”

Rembrary’s eyes widened in surprise, and the person next to him interjected, saying, “No.”

“I heard it was Shin Jo-woon?”