Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 317

317. Real Cult vs. Fake Cult

Shin Joong-woon smiled calmly and placed a white stone next to a black one.

“Where are you going without an ID?”

“I told you, I’m going to Redrine.”

“It won’t be of much help to you there.”

“I can be of help, though.”

“!”

As Shin Joong-woon rolled the black stone in his palm again, Rembrary strode over, picked up a white stone, and placed it randomly.

“That’s not the order.”

“Isn’t order something to be kept among those who follow the same rules?”

Rembrary’s words seemed meaningless, yet held a deeper meaning, as if commenting on the situation.

Shin Joong-woon rolled the stone in his palm again, sighed briefly, and put the Go stone back into the jar.

“What are you going to do there? What about the consent form?”

“The Grand Master will take care of the consent form from now on.”

‘So, you have no intention of getting it directly anywhere,’ Shin Joong-woon thought, frowning at Rembrary’s confident words. He didn’t feel good about this. He had expected Rembrary to join WorldBoom even after his early departure.

Of course, Rembrary had openly said he would go to Redrine, but Shin Joong-woon hadn’t taken those words seriously. Redrine… frankly, it wasn’t a very threatening competitor. But he’s really going to Redrine?

“What I have will be more efficient. Do you think the market leaders will even meet a hunter from Redrine?”

“It’s not that urgent. I can get it slowly.”

“……”

“The consent form.”

As Rembrary reached out again, Shin Joong-woon rested one arm on the desk and frowned. Returning the consent form wasn’t a big deal, but since he was leaving WorldBoom to go to Redrine, he felt a sense of wounded pride and couldn’t easily say ‘okay’.

What’s wrong with WorldBoom compared to Redrine? If he had joined the National Buddhist Order, he would have thought they had different intentions and let him go. But he’s leaving to join a cult…

“You’ll regret it.”

“If I regret it, I’ll come back.”

“Will they accept you back if you come back?”

“Then I’ll go somewhere else.”

“Of course, they’ll accept you.”

“What do you want me to do?”

Shin Joong-woon pretended to look at the watch on his wrist, but when he realized he didn’t have a watch, he looked at the clock on the wall and asked.

“Why don’t you go see Tae-ri? You haven’t even told Tae-ri about your plans yet. I thought it would be better if you did it yourself, so I didn’t. Don’t you want to see Tae-ri?”

“I’ll see her on the way to Redrine.”

“Tae-ri’s on a business trip.”

“I’ll go to Redrine and see her when she returns from her business trip. Give me her contact information.”

Seeing that Rembrary seemed to have already made up his mind no matter what he said, Shin Joong-woon finally stopped trying to persuade him. He was a little worried about him joining a strange cult group, but he couldn’t force him to stay if he didn’t want to.

“Okay. Then wait about three or four days. That should be enough, right?”

“Why three or four days?”

“Our employee is in another city with the consent form to get the signature.”

Rembrary looked at Shin Joong-woon suspiciously, but this was the truth. When Shin Joong-woon looked back at him confidently without blinking an eye, Rembrary finally said, “Okay,” and accepted the offer.

What can he do when it’s not here? He has no choice but to wait and take it.

* * *

Rembrary, who had given Shin Joong-woon a grace period of three or four days, walked out of the president’s office and headed for the elevator, feeling a sense of his own importance.

But as he was passing by the hallway, he heard sounds of arguing from another room.

‘Are they fighting?’

Who’s fighting in a place like this? Curious, he went closer and saw one of the Future Hunter production team protesting to Shin Joong-woon’s secretary with grand gestures.

‘What’s going on?’

The Future Hunter production team always [went along with] Shin Joong-woon and WorldBoom, even if they did whatever they wanted behind the scenes. Considering that, it was an unexpected sight. This stimulated his curiosity, and Rembrary quietly eavesdropped on their conversation.

“Isn’t it possible that he went out alone? He used to wander around alone.”

“Even if he wanders around alone, it’s inside the building. There’s no reason for him to suddenly go outside alone. Our PD [Production Director] Goo is such a scaredy-cat.”

“Then he must be somewhere inside the building. Look for him. It’s big here.”

“I looked everywhere, that’s why I’m saying this!”

“Why don’t you look a little harder?”

“Are you kidding me right now? I looked everywhere! I’ve called him and done everything! The production team has scattered and searched the entire building!”

“I understand why you’re angry. But PD Goo isn’t a child, he’s an adult older than me. If you come to me and ask me where PD Goo is, I don’t know what to say. It’s not like he’s been missing for days.”

It seemed that one of the production team members came to the secretary to tell her that PD Goo was missing. The secretary was responding as if she wasn’t very impressed.

Rembrary thought about when he had last seen PD Goo. It was a few hours ago. He was suggesting making the fourth episode about tracking Shin Joong-woon’s secrets, or something like that, and then he left.

Rembrary thought that the secretary was right. Is it a problem if a grown adult isn’t seen for a few hours in a safe place? Rembrary shook his head and left the spot, heading for the elevator, his original destination.

* * *

However, the production team asking Shin Joong-woon’s secretary about PD Goo’s whereabouts was genuinely anxious.

They weren’t asking the secretary to hand over PD Goo to pick a fight on purpose.

A few hours was a short time if it was short, but a long time if it was long. Besides, if he was someone who usually wandered around alone, it would be one thing, but PD Goo was a person who was afraid and thoroughly cared about his safety. It’s not like PD Goo never had time alone, but he wouldn’t leave the building alone without saying anything.

But Shin Joong-woon’s secretary wasn’t even playing word games, and kept telling them to look harder, so they couldn’t help but get angry.

“Then can we check the CCTV [Closed-Circuit Television]?”

“I’m sorry, but there’s a lot of confidential information.”

“The entrance. Just the CCTV at the entrance. I’ll just check if PD Goo went outside.”

“……”

“Is this not allowed either? There’s no problem with this, right? Are the people coming and going through the main gate confidential?”

“I’ll ask the president about that.”

Fortunately, Shin Joong-woon allowed them to see the CCTV in the lobby, so the secretary showed the production team the CCTV footage of people entering and leaving the main gate that day. However, contrary to the production team’s expectations, the CCTV clearly showed PD Goo going outside.

“Is that all? It seems like he went out alone and hasn’t come back yet? So don’t worry and wait.”

However, the Future Hunter cameraman, who had checked the video, whispered even more fearfully when he was alone with the production team.

“It’s cleverly manipulated. The clothes PD Goo is wearing. Those are the clothes he wore when he went out to film the second episode.”

“PD Goo always wears that jumper, doesn’t he?”

“That’s right. That’s why they manipulated it. Because it always looks like the same clothes.”

“I agree, but it’ll just be circumstantial evidence to others.”

“The PD said before he disappeared that he received a letter related to Shin Joong-woon and that he would investigate it. But he disappeared not long after he started the investigation. WorldBoom is Korea’s best hunter company, but they’re only responding in ridiculous ways even though a person has disappeared in their own front yard. Shin Joong-woon is definitely involved in this. That’s why they’re doing this.”

The production team exchanged glances at the cameraman’s determined words. Then, one of the assistant writers asked Jung-seo.

“Jung-seo, you’re close to Rembrary, right? Ask Rembrary to help you.”

“Why Rembrary?”

“Rembrary is close to Shin Joong-woon. The PD followed Rembrary a lot to film him. Maybe he knows something?”

Jung-seo thought, ‘Rembrary wouldn’t be interested in that,’ but nodded anyway. After all, he was also a regular guest on Future Hunter, so it wasn’t a good thing that the PD suddenly disappeared.

However, as Jung-seo expected, Rembrary didn’t seem to know anything at all, only honestly asking back as soon as he heard the story that PD Goo had disappeared.

“Why are you asking me about someone who always goes around with the production team?”

He even seemed not to care at all.

“PD Goo said he had something to find out about Shin Joong-woon. Didn’t he tell you anything about that?”

“He came to me today and said he wanted to do the fourth episode with something, or something like that. He seemed to be under a lot of pressure to make the fourth episode more exciting.”

“What time was that?”

“What time will you become my believer?”

* * *

The next day, PD Goo Joo-ho did not appear, and Rembrary was of no help today, just like yesterday.

The production team, who knew the contents of the note PD Goo Joo-ho had received, were convinced that Shin Joong-woon was involved in this, but this was like being in the middle of enemy territory, so there was nothing they could do.

Amidst all this, the production team became even more confused when rumors spread that Rembrary would be leaving WorldBoom.

“Shouldn’t we withdraw too? The PD is gone.”

After the Great Change [a cataclysmic event in the story’s world]. In fact, there were quite a few production teams that went missing while doing hunter-related programs or monster-related programs. Because it’s such a dangerous job.

The production team who asked if they should withdraw was saying that with that in mind. In fact, everyone had thought about it, but they couldn’t bring themselves to say it.

“Rembrary is also leaving WorldBoom. What can we do if we stay here any longer?”

“Still, shouldn’t we wait one more day?”

In the end, after discussion, the PD in charge of AD [Assistant Director] decided to report the situation to the CP [Chief Producer] and ask what would be best. The CP didn’t get involved much in this program, but there was no choice in this situation.

[Okay. Yeah, PD Goo Joo-ho isn’t someone who would disappear without saying anything. That person is a scaredy-cat. ……I’ll call other PDs and have a meeting and get back to you.]

However, the news that the CP delivered three hours and thirty minutes later was unexpected.

When the AD, who was holding the phone to his ear with a gloomy expression, widened his eyes and asked, “Yes?”, the production team standing next to him leaned in, saying, “Why? Why?”.

The AD waved his hand and walked towards the wall, continuing the call, and then turned around with a dazed expression after finally hanging up.

“Why? What did they say?”

“Did they tell us to withdraw?”

“Did they tell us not to?”

“Is the PD’s disappearance our responsibility… or did they tell us to find him… or what?”

“Ah, no. It’s not that. They said they’ll report PD Goo’s case, so we should go with the pilot program?”

A pilot program in this situation? Even without preparation? There was no mention of it? The production team was embarrassed and looked at each other.

The AD looked down at the phone in his hand and muttered.

“When Rembrary said he was moving from WorldBoom to Redrine, they told us to follow him and film with a focus on ‘Cult Hunter Company VS Concept Cult’……”