Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 32

32. With a Gentle Smile

Jongwoo seemed extremely afraid of ghosts, which was evident even during the photo shoot.

Rembrary calmly reasoned with him.

“But even if a real ghost appears, it’s not like you’re going to barge onto the set and save me, are you?”

“Uh… that’s true.”

“So, go with Keshi.”

Jongwoo looked at Rembrary as if he found him strange.

“Come to think of it, you were pretty good at handling that shadow that was caught in the picture before, too. You’re secretly strong in these areas, aren’t you?”

“I have my moments.”

Rembrary smiled gently.

As a high priest, there was no way he would be afraid of ghosts.

No, to Rembrary, ghosts were just another type of person.

Jongwoo hesitated but eventually followed Keshi, grumbling that he wished they would hire a new manager soon.

* * *

After being alone in the waiting room for about 15 minutes, a staff member came and called me over.

Eunseon followed with her camera, and Yuli O joined us midway.

Yuli O, who must have a similar constitution to Jongwoo, already looked pale.

“Ugh, I don’t even go into the haunted house at amusement parks,” I could hear her muttering quietly.

Yuli O’s cameraman was intently filming her reaction, but she didn’t even glance in his direction.

‘Their relationship must have soured after Keshi was caught flirting with him before.’

But it’s so strange.

Keshi seemed to have a great desire to succeed as an idol.

Why would she cause such a scandal knowing that the cameras were always following her?

Of course, she said she kissed him on the stairs to avoid the cameras, but it still felt odd.

Besides, the other person was a professional who had been active as an idol for two years without any issues.

It’s not like they were caught on a secret date; they were flirting with the cameras rolling…

Thinking about it, that was also a bit strange.

‘They’re both young, so they might have been caught up in the moment.’

While I was thinking, the staff stopped in front of a building that had a completely different atmosphere from the studio.

It was located a bit away from the Sing Survival stage studio, and it was set up so that another building was built inside a plain-looking rectangular building.

“It was closed 15 years ago, but it was built much earlier than that,” the staff explained as Yuli O exclaimed in admiration. “Back then, CG [computer-generated imagery] wasn’t as natural as it is now. They say they built it to bring reality to life.”

Yuli O asked with a tearful expression, “I heard rumors that ghosts appear in this abandoned set. Is that the place?”

It was a story Jongwoo had told her.

It seemed to be a somewhat famous story in this industry, as Yuli O also knew about it.

“Probably,” the staff said playfully with a smirk.

It was obvious that he was teasing her, but Yuli O was too terrified to notice the staff’s expression as she stared straight ahead.

When we arrived in front of the abandoned set building, Yuli O’s face turned completely white.

It was understandable, as there wasn’t even a single person walking around.

If it were a normal building standing outside, you could see the sky and feel the vitality of nature.

But since it was a building built inside another building, even that was absent.

“It’s a two-story building, and there’s an envelope inside.”

“An envelope?”

“Yes. You just need to bring that out.”

Yuli O’s expression finally relaxed at the mention of the envelope.

She still looked nervous after the staff, Eunseon, and Yuli O’s cameraman disappeared, but she was better than before.

“The fact that they’re asking us to bring an envelope means they’ve already placed it there. So, it means the staff has already been there once, and it’s not a completely deserted place. Right?”

Listening to Yuli O muttering to herself, it seemed like she was trying to gather all sorts of rational thoughts.

“Let’s go in for now.”

Yuli O took a few deep breaths and opened the door.

Rembrary followed behind her, thinking about how Yuli O would scream if she knew.

‘It would be nice if I could actually meet a ghost. If they can manifest themselves, they must have cognitive abilities, so I could ask them if there are any exorcists around.’

* * *

The inside of the set was a dark space with not a single ray of light.

From the moment she opened the door, Yuli O began reciting a prayer at an incredible speed.

“MomanddadIloveyouMungshilOppaUnniYuliseems tobedoingcrazystuffMomMomMomIthinkthereissomethingthereI’mgonnagocrazyI’mscaredtodeath.”

Rembrary, who was closing the door behind her, felt a chill run down his spine for no reason.

She was scarier.

But thanks to reciting her own personal incantation, Yuli O managed to move forward, albeit hesitantly, with a pale face.

Then, occasionally,

“Hello?”

She would call out to Rembrary.

“You’re following behind me, right?”

“Yes.”

“You’re behind me, right?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not a ghost, are you?”

“No.”

“Give me a longer answer. Saying ‘yes yes yes’ is scary.”

“Yes… I’m following you closely from behind. And we’ve only moved five steps so far.”

Rembrary answered while looking around.

The interior of the set, like the exterior, was basically in the form of a house.

We’re currently just a bit inside from the entrance?

It’s a hallway type, but short.

The sides are blocked by walls.

Since there was almost no light, Rembrary reached out and felt the wall.

Before long, the wall disappeared.

‘Is this around the living room area?’

“Excuse me, Wooyeonwoo-ssi?”

“I’m behind you.”

“Could you make some noise while you’re coming?”

“?”

“Hmph, it’s scarier when you follow quietly from behind!”

“Okay.”

Fortunately, after a while, a very faint light appeared.

It was green, red, and so on, but it was just enough to barely make out the shapes of things.

“Let’s go over there and talk for a bit,” Yuli O pointed to the red light with her finger. “Let’s decide where to start looking.”

Rembrary nodded, and the two walked towards the wall with the reddish light.

However, the moment they arrived near the wall, the doll hanging next to the red light suddenly opened its eyes and started laughing wildly.

“Kyaaaaaaaa!”

Yuli O screamed and turned around, and Rembrary covered his ears.

In the meantime, Yuli O, terrified, slapped the doll and ran through the door next to it.

‘Shouldn’t we go together?’

Startled, Rembrary hurriedly followed Yuli O.

It seemed like Yuli O had entered a room, but as soon as she entered the room, she screamed again at the top of her lungs.

“Aaaaaaaagh!”

The scream was even more realistic than before.

Then, she turned sharply and ran, and when I wondered why, there was a cockroach that looked thirty times bigger than a real cockroach, wiggling its antennae and legs.

This time, Rembrary was also startled and ran.

Yuli O, who was running mindlessly, bumped into a counter table and finally “Ugh,” stopped, making a sound.

“Wooyeonwoo-ssi?”

“I’m here.”

When Rembrary answered in a low voice, Yuli O turned around and asked.

“You have to follow me closely from behind.”

“Yes.”

Yuli O hesitated and asked, “But where do you think the letter is?”

“I don’t know. I just ran without looking for it.”

“Maybe… should we look inside that drawer or something?”

“I don’t know.”

“Hmph.”

Yuli O made a crying sound.

“I really hate this kind of thing.”

* * *

Even Yuli O’s whining was incredibly lovely, befitting a top idol.

Kim Murok PD [Production Director] watched this scene from the control room and unconsciously waved his hand in the air.

When she whines in such a weak state, the person opposite her will inevitably comfort her.

He was grinning from ear to ear, thinking about adding a lot of pink heart effects, no matter how they comforted her.

Until now, Yuli O had only been running around diligently, and Wooyeonwoo had been running behind her with a light smile, so there was nothing to connect them.

However, contrary to his expectations, Wooyeonwoo in the screen smiled with the same expression as before and said, “It’s okay. I don’t feel any strange energy here.”

It was a somewhat eerie remark.

It was not at all the kind of remark that could be connected to romance, as Kim Murok PD had hoped.

“Strange energy?” Perhaps thinking the same thing, Yuli O asked in a slightly trembling voice. “What kind of strange energy?”

“Like ghosts or spirits.”

“…Can you sense things like that?”

Wooyeonwoo smiled gently and avoided answering.

The AD [Assistant Director], who was watching the screen, clicked his tongue at the sight.

“It’s not a romance, but it’s turning into the introduction of a horror movie?”

Another staff member chuckled and said, “I know, right? They don’t even get within 1 meter of each other.”

Kim Murok PD became sulky for no reason and huffed. “If it were another idol, they would say something cool there, but Wooyeonwoo isn’t doing that.”

It was a penalty that was carried out despite the protests of Yuli O’s fans.

If it’s like that, isn’t the penalty ineffective?

It was then.

Eunseon, who had been quietly watching, shuddered and said, “It’s like that time before.”

Yuli O’s cameraman, who was standing next to her, asked with interest, “That time?”

“I accompanied her on a photoshoot before. That’s when something strange was caught in Wooyeonwoo’s shadow.”

“Something strange?”

“You wouldn’t know yet because the magazine hasn’t come out, but the shadow… There was another shadow attached to Wooyeonwoo’s shadow in the picture, like a person’s shadow.”

Kim Murok PD, who had been quietly examining the screen, turned to Eunseon, intrigued.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Not because of the lighting?”

“No. It wasn’t just one or two pictures, it was several. It was like that even when we changed the lighting.”

“Ah. Come to think of it, there was such a scene.”

Kim Murok PD recalled a previous memory and nodded.

There was such a scene in a part that he had simply cut out because it was unrelated to Sing Survival and it seemed different from the image of Wooyeonwoo that he wanted to create.

“Find those dates and records from that time and bring them to me.”

“Yes.”

After giving instructions to Eunseon, Kim Murok PD then signaled the ghosts waiting in the set through the microphone. “It seems like Yuli O and Wooyeonwoo aren’t scared at all, so really push them. Make them so scared that they hug each other and tremble.”

* * *

Yuli O had screamed a few times, but somehow they managed to finish investigating, and all that was left was the second floor and the bathroom.

The two decided to go to the bathroom first and groped their way back the way they had come.

And the moment they were about to open the bathroom door, suddenly, someone with disheveled hair “Cawaaaaaa!” screamed like a crow and rushed at them.

Startled, Yuli O stepped back as soon as she let out a louder scream, “Woeeeoooogh!” This time, someone with torn flesh on their face came running down the stairs, making a groaning sound.

“Ah! Aagh! Aagh! Shit!”

Almost simultaneously, Yuli O spat out rough swear words, punched the person coming down the stairs, and ran forward.

The person who rushed at her fell next to Rembrary and again “Ugh! Shit!” said the same swear word.

‘It’s a disguise.’

Rembrary clicked his tongue and tried to follow Yuli O up the stairs.

However, the person who he thought would get up again and continue imitating a ghost continued to groan and swear.

Rembrary stopped and glanced down.

Under the dim light, the man who was imitating a ghost was clutching his finger and groaning.

‘Is it broken?’

Surprised, he approached and saw that his finger was bent at an odd angle.

Rembrary clicked his tongue, hesitated for a moment, and then went down the stairs.

Then, he reached out and grabbed the man’s bent finger.

“Ugh!”

“Does it hurt?”

To reassure the man, Rembrary deliberately smiled kindly and comforted him. “Just bear with it a little bit. I’ll make it not hurt soon.”