Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 31

31. Expected Outcome

‘I took a picture with Yeonwoo, and I got better.’

Jongwoo and CEO Lim also saw this post.

Jongwoo, feeling awkward, muttered,

“Looks like Yeonwoo’s fans made this up.”

CEO Lim nodded.

“Seems like it.”

“There was someone who said they got better after stanning Yeonwoo, right? Maybe they’re doing this after seeing that person’s post?”

“Who knows.”

CEO Lim sighed.

Jongwoo wasn’t the only one thinking that.

Initially, almost everyone who read the ‘I got better after taking a picture with Yeonwoo’ story treated it as clickbait.

However, as the interview with the woman who claimed to have recovered by stanning Yeonwoo resurfaced, the general feeling shifted towards ‘it seems like a fabricated post by a Yeonwoo fan.’

Some even speculated that it was a forced image-making attempt by the agency.

Unfortunately, even those involved saw it that way.

The person who posted the story seemed upset and tried hard to refute it.

Whenever someone left a malicious comment, they wrote a rebuttal, and they even uploaded medical certificates and photos to prove their point.

But it didn’t seem to help much.

“What should we do? Should we ask the site to take down the post?”

“What do you mean, what should we do? They’re not cursing, they’re praising him.”

CEO Lim clicked his tongue.

“But if we respond with something like ‘false information,’ and it turns out the kid really did get better, it’ll just blow things up. Even if Yeonwoo didn’t heal him, it might be true that he got better, right?”

“Yes.”

“Just… leave some comments that agree with it.”

“Yes.”

* * *

After finishing the last broadcasts on *Power Idol* and *Music IO* on Saturday and Sunday, it was Monday.

Rembrary and Cash went to the shop to hear the results of the second competition and then headed to the designated studio.

Even though they were early, several people had already arrived at the studio.

Among them were Seonwoo Sil and Yuli O.

“Hello.”

“Oh, you’re here.”

When Rembrary greeted them, Seonwoo Sil waved her hand as if they were quite close now.

At that moment, Cash was about to greet Yuli naturally, but Jongwoo pulled his clothes from behind, causing him to falter.

Yuli O seemed to have been scolded by the company as well, as she didn’t even acknowledge Cash, even though she saw him, and turned her head away.

However, Rembrary didn’t think the two had broken up.

Last night, he had seen Cash sitting on the sofa, grinning and talking on the phone while going to the bathroom.

Soon, other participants gathered one by one, and the sound of greetings could be heard from here and there.

Then they went back to the waiting room and waited for a long time, just like last week.

After that, they went to C2 Studio and sat on the chairs with their names on them, just like before.

‘I guess the order of the chairs is the same as the order of the last competition?’

Rembrary sat in the first chair and glanced sideways at Oh Jeongshin, who was sitting across from him.

Oh Jeongshin, who had come in last place, was whispering intimately with the partner he had sung with this time.

Seonwoo Sil, who had been in second place last time and was his partner this time, sat next to Rembrary and advised him without barely opening her mouth as Rembrary glanced at Oh Jeongshin.

“Don’t even look over there.”

“Huh?”

“If you look while smiling, they’ll edit it to look like you’re laughing at him; if you look with a blank face, they’ll edit it to look like you hate Oh Jeongshin; and if you look with a frown, they’ll edit it to look like you’re angry at Oh Jeongshin.”

When Rembrary turned to look at Seonwoo Sil at those words, Seonwoo Sil put on a perfect commercial smile and casually patted Rembrary’s shoulder.

“Even if you get first place later, pretend to be surprised and smile.”

In the meantime, PD [Production Director] Kim Murok came up to the center of the stage, and the lights burst out like before.

“Welcome to *Real 100% Real Survival, Sing Survival*.”

When PD Kim Murok said the same lines as before, the participants applauded on their own before the AD [Assistant Director] even signaled.

PD Kim Murok looked surprised for a moment, then laughed coolly and joked.

“Last time, you guys just stood still until our AD gave the applause signal. Now you all applaud on your own?”

As the participants chuckled, PD Kim Murok threw in a few more greetings and jokes before starting to talk about the results.

“This time, it’s a team competition, so there are only 1st to 10th places. We will announce only the bottom three teams and the top three teams without announcing the intermediate rankings.”

PD Kim Murok looked down at the large rectangular paper in his hand and immediately called out the names without hesitation.

“The 3rd place team is Beta and Queens team!”

“The 2nd place team is… Wow, they shot up from last place! Oh Jeongshin and Ma Buyoung team!”

“The 1st place team was the talk of the town senior-junior team! Seonwoo Sil and Woo Yeonwoo team!”

As soon as PD Kim Murok shouted, Seonwoo Sil jumped up and hugged Rembrary tightly.

Then she acted as if she never expected to win first place at all.

Even though she had told him to ‘smile if you get first place’ just a moment ago.

The next order was to announce the last place, and this time, it didn’t deviate from expectations at all.

“This week’s last place team is Yuli O and Cash.”

As PD Kim Murok announced, an overwhelming number of cameras focused on the two of them at the same time.

Cash smiled awkwardly, and Yuli O muttered, “That’s too bad,” and scratched his forehead.

However, unlike the other teams who hugged or shook hands regardless of their ranking, the two didn’t even make eye contact.

‘Doesn’t that make them stand out more?’

After a short reaction time.

The camera turned back, and PD Kim Murok raised the microphone he was lowering again.

Rembrary thought he was going to announce the new competition task.

But what PD Kim Murok said was completely unexpected.

“I think those who watched the broadcast know, and those who ranked from 1st to 7th, and even Oh Jeongshin, all know.”

“?”

“We introduced a slave system as a penalty, but no one used the slave system?”

Rembrary recalled Jongwoo’s warning and thought to himself, ‘That’s right.’

Rembrary, who had lived in a caste society, knew what kind of treatment real slaves received.

Running errands for drinks? Not a chance.

They couldn’t even make proper eye contact with their masters.

The temple was relatively lenient to slaves and accepted them as priests if they had talent, but there was definitely discrimination in how they were treated.

But what about here?

Even though it was a penalty slave, Jongwoo jumped up and down just because he was asked to run an errand for a drink.

It was obvious how others would have treated Oh Jeongshin.

“Then it’s not fun. Then it’s not a penalty. Because you guys are taking care of your image, *Sing Survival’s* survival image has been diminished.”

‘True, true.’

“So this time, the production team has decided to help you feel that the slave system is a penalty.”

Rembrary nodded very slightly, then looked at PD Kim Murok in surprise.

The other participants also had wide eyes.

The expressions of Cash and Yuli O, who would be the slaves this week, were even more so.

PD Kim Murok smiled and looked back and forth between Cash and Seonwoo Sil.

“Cash is Seonwoo Sil’s slave for three hours today. And Cash has to do a street performance for three hours for his master, Seonwoo Sil! Of course, in a place with a lot of people. With a love song!”

A small curse was heard from the side.

Looking over, Seonwoo Sil’s expression was rapidly deteriorating.

“Isn’t this my penalty?”

A small mutter was also heard.

However, Rembrary realized that it wasn’t his place to worry about Seonwoo Sil.

If Cash was Seonwoo Sil’s slave, then Yuli O was…

“Yuli O will be Woo Yeonwoo’s slave.”

Oh dear. Rembrary clicked his tongue inwardly.

Would Yuli O also sing a love song in a street performance?

However, the mission given to Yuli O and Rembrary was even worse.

“Yuli O and Woo Yeonwoo, please bring an item from the set.”

‘An item?’

“Ah, but that set hasn’t been used since it was closed 15 years ago. There are rumors that it’s haunted.”

Rembrary looked at Yuli O.

Yuli O looked like his soul was halfway over his head, completely dazed.

“One more thing. When entering the set, the slave, Yuli O, must always lead the way. You have to protect your master, Woo Yeonwoo, right?”

PD Kim Murok told them in detail about the penalties for tomorrow and the day after before announcing the third competition task.

“The third competition task is – singing a dance song!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Jongwoo reflexively raised his hand to his forehead and lamented.

Rembrary stared blankly at PD Kim Murok with his mouth open.

Rembrary also knew by now that he couldn’t dance.

But he was told to sing a dance song?

“The song is dance, but you can’t arrange it and sing it as a ballad, or sing a dance song without dancing. Ah, these things are not allowed. There must be a performance and you must dance properly. That’s the condition.”

* * *

Jongwoo thought that PD Kim Murok seemed to have targeted Yeonwoo for everything from the penalty task to the competition theme.

It was half right and half wrong.

PD Kim Murok set the next competition theme as a dance song, targeting Yeonwoo, but also targeting the other vocalists who had been in the top ranks all along.

He wanted to give a big change to the rankings for the sake of the drama.

However, sending Yuli O to Yeonwoo and sending them to the haunted house set for the penalty task was intentional.

Although the results are tallied by aggregating the sound source and YouTube reactions, in fact, this second competition had its victory or defeat decided early on.

Of course, PD Kim Murok knew who would be in first place and who would be in last place.

He knew about the dating rumors between Yuli O and Cash, which had been a hot topic all week.

So PD Kim Murok deliberately planned this.

After sending the two in first place and the two in last place to the waiting room.

PD Kim Murok went into the control room and asked the staff.

“The traps in the set? Did you install them well?”

“Yes.”

“The cameras? Did you install them all?”

“Yes. We’ve set it up so that everything is filmed no matter which way they go.”

“The people in charge of the ghost roles?”

“They are all on standby.”

PD Kim Murok smiled and put down the script he was holding.

“Let’s make it seem like Yuli and Yeonwoo are getting along even if they show a little bit of a pretext. Then a proper love triangle will explode.”

If Woo Yeonwoo had a large fan base, they could have questioned why the first place winner had to go into the haunted house together, but Woo Yeonwoo’s fans were still just a handful, even though they were growing.

Moreover, his awareness is high, but his favorability is low.

Kim Murok was confident in this and was pushing forward strongly.

“But if it’s too obvious that we’re artificially linking them, won’t Yuli O’s fans go crazy?”

“It’s okay. If they go crazy, the ratings will go up even more.”

* * *

Two weeks ago, he just spent time with Oh Jeongshin for three hours without doing anything and ended the penalty time.

He thought it would be similar this time, and since he expected Cash and Yeonwoo to be in last place and first place respectively, Jongwoo had cleared his schedule in advance for the penalty time.

But he didn’t know they would be separated so blatantly….

Jongwoo was embarrassed and looked back and forth between Cash and Yeonwoo.

Rembrary noticed Jongwoo’s concern and pointed to Cash with his eyes.

“Follow him.”

“You want me to trust you and go?”

“The haunted house, didn’t you say it’s a set? Anyway, you can’t even follow me into the set.”

“That’s true, but…”

Jongwoo covered his head with both hands.

“There’s a rumor that the set is really haunted. That’s why they can’t get rid of it even though it’s been closed.”