Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 328

328. Are you Jang Tae-ri?

―LLL really can’t do their job. I was impressed when they helped Rembrary this time, taking such good care of someone who isn’t even their own artist, but I take it all back.

―lololol Why did they help if they were going to steal the song?

ㄴAt first, they were just trying to help, but the finished product was so good that they passed it on to Woo Yeon-woo.

―What’s the point of Woo Yeon-woo running around boosting LLL’s image? lololol The agency is ruining the singer’s image. lololol

―Woo Yeon-woo, please leave LLL ㅠ It would be a hundred times better to start your own agency ㅠ

ㄴLeave LLL my ass lol They’ll never let Woo Yeon-woo go lol LLL only has Wae as their current idol and they don’t train any trainees, so there’s no way they’d let him go.

* * *

“Hey, Woo Yeon-woo has a good image. It seems like no one thinks Woo Yeon-woo did it. Well, I wouldn’t either.”

Kim Mu-rok swiped through his phone screen with one hand, chuckling, but Jung Seo, sitting across from him, didn’t respond.

“Haha, Jung Seo, why the long face? Are you angry?”

Kim Mu-rok asked, teasing Jung Seo’s expression. A staff member, who was monitoring the situation more seriously than Kim Mu-rok, sided with Jung Seo in a slightly disgruntled voice.

“How can she not be angry? This makes Jung Seo the fall guy [scapegoat] in the middle.”

He was subtly criticizing Kim Mu-rok, but Kim Mu-rok darkened his phone screen and retorted as if it were nothing.

“No, are we supposed to just let this go? Everyone saw Rembrary. He was singing and excited every day. He can’t just let it go after having that stolen. At least Rembrary gained some sympathy by exposing this.”

The staff member started to say something more, but Jung Seo quietly listened to the conversation between the two, then got up and left without a word.

“It’s not about letting it go, but shouldn’t you have told Jung Seo in advance? She’s going to be in a difficult position.”

Even PD [Production Director] Shim looked at him as if he had gone too far, and Kim Mu-rok cleared his throat. Of course, he still didn’t think he had done anything wrong. The person who took someone else’s song without permission is the one at fault, not the person who revealed it, right? Kim Mu-rok thought not.

But he was someone who could read people’s faces, so he pretended to cough and changed the subject.

“Ahem. What about Rembrary? Did he see this? What is he doing now?”

* * *

“Rembrary, people are calling you pathetic.”

Rembrary was sitting next to the Lionheart, eating a meal, and the Lionheart was reading the comment section related to the recent incident that Kim Mu-rok had been looking at.

“I’m already watching it.”

“No, you’re not. You’re eating.”

“I am savoring what I saw earlier in my heart as I eat.”

The Lionheart looked at him, wondering if that made any sense, but Rembrary continued to focus on eating. He was the person involved in the incident, but he didn’t seem to have any thoughts about it.

“Troubling.”

Only after finishing two bowls of rice did Rembrary wipe his mouth with a napkin and lament.

“Why? Everyone thinks you’re a pushover and feels sorry for you?”

“Exactly. I am a noble and elegant being, not a pushover.”

“Huh? Who are you talking about?”

“Me, me.”

The Lionheart looked at Rembrary with a look that said, ‘What nonsense are you talking about?’ but there was no time to ask that question. Right at that moment, Rembrary’s phone made a ‘ding’ sound.

And what kind of message was it? Rembrary took out his phone, checked the message, and immediately frowned and tilted his head.

“Why? Did someone say something?”

The Lionheart asked, seeing his expression, and Rembrary put down his spoon and nodded.

The message read:

[Pig. Tae-ri wants you to come. What time are you free?]

* * *

Shin Jo-woon, who always seemed free, came all the way to the Redrine headquarters parking lot to pick up Rembrary. Rembrary waited in the parking lot in advance, immediately recognized Shin Jo-woon’s car, approached, got into the passenger seat, and greeted him.

“Why do you send such scary messages?”

“Because it *came* scary. I just sent it as is. Seatbelt.”

“Is Tae-ri angry, perhaps?”

“Why do you think she’s angry?”

“Just. The tone. A bit?”

“Don’t worry. Even if she’s angry, it’s not at you. It’s at me.”

“Why?”

“I lost a bet. When you think about it, it’s not like I won either, but I’m closer to victory.”

A bet? What bet all of a sudden? Is it a bet related to me? Rembrary looked at him, puzzled, but Shin Jo-woon didn’t explain further and instead drove the car forward smoothly, asking,

“But Pig, why are you so nice to Tae-ri, calling her Tae-ri *ssi* [term of respect], but you talk to me like that?”

“Tae-ri doesn’t call me Pig. You reap what you sow, don’t you know?”

The proverb seems a bit mixed up… Shin Jo-woon frowned, not knowing if he mixed it up unknowingly or if that’s the right saying for him.

While exchanging meaningless words like that, Shin Jo-woon finally arrived at his destination. It was Jang Tae-ri’s garden, but not the house Jang Tae-ri used to live in.

But Rembrary didn’t have time to look around the house. As soon as he got out of the car and opened the front door, he saw Jang Tae-ri sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed, her eyes sparkling.

Next to Jang Tae-ri, the cat monster she always carried on her shoulder was dancing and singing with both arms raised.

[Tae-ri is angry nyaang Tae-ri is angry nyaang nyaang nyaang!]

Jang Tae-ri seemed a bit annoyed, while the cat monster seemed to be enjoying himself.

‘She always keeps it on her shoulder. Are they not on good terms?’ Rembrary was thinking, when Shin Jo-woon asked in a small voice.

“Do you know why that thing’s name is Ji-nyang and its surname is Dwae?”

“How would I know that?”

“That monster talks similarly to how you rap.”

“What?”

Just as Rembrary was about to argue about comparing that *nyaang-nyaang* song to his rap, Jang Tae-ri sighed, changed her crossed legs, and quietly asked the two men who were standing awkwardly by the front door.

“Did I really… have to be the last person to hear about this, after the whole nation knew about you two? Was I that low on the priority list?”

‘So she really called me because she was angry.’ Rembrary looked at her with a slightly worried expression, and Jang Tae-ri uncrossed her legs and grumbled firmly.

“You two are really too much. Really. You deceived me! You deceived me knowing you were deceiving me!”

Seeing that, Rembrary stood there blankly, and Shin Jo-woon took off his shoes and went inside, teasing Jang Tae-ri.

“Don’t overdo it, Jang Tae-ri. He won’t understand if you exaggerate.”

“But you’ll understand, Anchovy.”

“Jang Tae-ri. Don’t you call me Anchovy either.”

Shin Jo-woon warned Jang Tae-ri coldly, but Jang Tae-ri answered by throwing a soft cushion, then asked Rembrary this time.

“You’re Yeon-woo *ssi*, right? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“You’re not surprised?”

“Not surprised? I was so surprised when I heard. I never thought that strange story you two told on the broadcast was about this.”

Fortunately, Jang Tae-ri didn’t seem angry and muttered to the air, “No, does this make sense? How can a person be two people?” It seemed strange that a person could be two people, even in a world where things were changing drastically.

In fact, it was understandable. For Rembrary, who had been a high priest in a world where magic was familiar, it was even more bewildering that a soul could enter someone’s body and take it over.

In any case, Jang Tae-ri seemed to be once again caught up in the shock of hearing this news, so Rembrary asked Shin Jo-woon in a small voice in the meantime.

“Did Anchovy *ssi* tell Tae-ri *ssi*?”

When he was called by Jang Tae-ri, he didn’t think that Jang Tae-ri would already know this fact. He thought she would be suspicious and question him closely. But since she seemed to know everything already, he had a hunch and asked Shin Jo-woon just in case.

Shin Jo-woon frowned for a moment, asking, “Anchovy *ssi*?” but soon nodded obediently.

“Yeah. She saw the scene where you called me on the broadcast and kept sending me text bombs, saying, ‘What kind of relationship do you two have? What aren’t you telling me?’”

After exchanging a few more words, Jang Tae-ri seemed to have sorted out her feelings once again, took a deep breath, and jumped up from the sofa.

Jang Tae-ri walked over and stared at Rembrary’s face, then smiled more brightly than ever and gave Rembrary a tight hug.

“I’m still not over the fact that you told me last. Got it?”

* * *

Rembrary took Jang Tae-ri’s words ‘I’m not over it’ as a joke, but it wasn’t. Jang Tae-ri’s words that she wasn’t over it were sincere. Of course, she didn’t plan to fight about this for days. It wasn’t that big of a deal.

But the two of them knew each other’s identities first and were happily grilling meat and having fun within World Boom, while she was left out and only heard the news after a long time. She was really sad about that.

‘But it’s a relief.’

Of course, she didn’t think he was dead before, but she felt a sense of distance because his personality had changed so much.

Now that he had become a completely different person and that personality had fallen off, she was happy because she was reminded of the old days that she missed, even though she still didn’t understand the situation.

‘It’s a bit strange, though.’

Jang Tae-ri smiled faintly, recalling the time when Shin Jo-woon, Rembrary, and she went on a trip together. Now that Rembrary is back, can they spend time like that again? A cataclysm has occurred and the world has changed, but all three of them are strong awakeners, so it seems like they can go without difficulty.

But it was when they were walking through a somewhat dark alley to return home after finishing their walk. Jang Tae-ri stopped when she found a black shadow standing under a yellow streetlight. It was a shadow like a person. A person wearing a hat.

But in this world, where monsters that look like people roam around, Jang Tae-ri stopped for a moment and looked at it warily. There were hardly any monsters in the city, but it wasn’t like there were none that suddenly appeared.

In the meantime, the black shadow slowly walked out of the yellow light pouring out from the streetlight and walked towards Jang Tae-ri. As it got closer, she could see that the shadow was a woman wearing black clothes.

“Who are you?”

When Jang Tae-ri asked, the woman asked back instead of answering.

“Are you Jang Tae-ri?”

Judging by the fact that she was speaking well, she didn’t seem to be a monster that only looked like a person. But the attitude of asking the other person’s name without revealing who she was wasn’t like ordinary people. Besides, she was asking ‘Are you Jang Tae-ri?’ to confirm, but it was clear that the woman had approached knowing who she was.

“Yes?”

Jang Tae-ri answered, preparing to use her abilities at any time in case of an emergency.

Then, the other person took off her hat with one hand and greeted her, as if to let her know that she had no intention of threatening her.

“I am a Grim Reaper.”

“?!”