Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 33

33. Fought with a Member

In truth, Rembrary tried to avoid treating external wounds as much as possible.

Internal illnesses are invisible, so even if he used divine power and they later denied it, there was no way to prove it.

However, external wounds are clearly visible.

Even back in his original world, people hailed him as a miracle worker when he healed external wounds.

That’s why, not being a priest here, he tried not to touch external wounds if possible.

Rembrary glanced around, checking for any hidden cameras.

‘They seemed to be installed around there. There must be others too.’

But without lights, they wouldn’t be visible.

Besides, it wasn’t a cut or anything; this man had only dislocated his wrist.

Even if it was an external wound, he could make it seem like it wasn’t divine power at work.

Unaware of the infrared camera’s existence, Rembrary came to this conclusion and, while bending the man’s hand in the opposite direction of the dislocation, channeled divine power into it.

The man screamed, then stopped and looked down at his hand.

“Huh? It doesn’t hurt?”

Standing under the bright lights, he probably didn’t even realize his finger had been briefly broken.

“That’s a relief.”

Rembrary smiled innocently, released his hand, and went up the stairs to find Yuli.

Just then, Yuli was coming towards him, having grabbed the envelope she needed to deliver.

“What’s going on?”

Her voice was higher than usual, probably because she had heard the scream.

“Nothing. It seems to be over, so let’s go.”

“I heard a scream?”

“No.”

Rembrary smiled and said,

“Let’s go.”

* * *

As they came out of the set, Yuli said,

“Here.”

And handed him the paper envelope she had brought.

“I was right to bring it in advance.”

The envelope was labeled ‘For Woo Yeon-woo. Open it yourself.’

Before he knew it, Eunseon had come to the front of the set and was pointing her camera at him.

“What is it?”

Yuli asked, looking curious.

Rembrary opened the envelope.

Inside was an ordinary-looking card with ‘Next Week’s Last Place Exemption’ written on the front.

“Last place exemption?”

Eunseon shouted, delighted.

“It seems like even if you come in last place next week, you’ll be exempt from the slave system! No deductions either!”

‘Ah, right. They said you’d be eliminated if you came in last place three times.’

Rembrary was relieved and showed the last place exemption card to Eunseon’s camera before putting it back in the envelope.

Honestly, he wasn’t confident in dancing, so this was a relief.

A few minutes later, Eunseon said her goodbyes and left, and Rembrary and Yuli walked out of the set side by side, slightly apart.

But as they were walking.

“Excuse me.”

Yuli cautiously called out to Rembrary.

When he looked at her, Yuli tentatively brought up,

“Um… Kesh.”

“Kesh?”

“Is he doing okay at the dorm?”

“Doing okay?”

“He seems a bit like paper. Mentally…”

“He’s just as fragile at the dorm.”

“Ah. I see.”

‘Are lovers always the same?’ Yuli sighed, looking worried.

‘Kesh must be having a hard time in front of Yuli because of the dating rumors.’

But the conversation ended there, and the two of them walked awkwardly again.

After a while.

In the silence, Rembrary recalled what Jungseo had told him before.

There was a cult that was quietly being talked about in ‘this’ industry.

He didn’t know how far ‘this’ industry included, but Yuli was in the same profession, so she was definitely included in ‘this industry,’ right?

But Jungseo had acted like the group was unsettling.

Should he ask someone else, someone who wasn’t even in the same group, about this?

However, knowing that opportunities like this didn’t come often, Rembrary decided to ask anyway.

Didn’t she also gather the courage to ask about Kesh?

“Can I ask you something too?”

“What is it?”

“I heard there’s a cult that’s popular in this industry…”

“A cult?”

“Do you know anything about it?”

“Why?”

Fortunately, Yuli didn’t find it strange and instead giggled as she asked back.

“Do you like that kind of thing? I guess so. You weren’t scared at all in the haunted house earlier.”

“Just curious.”

“I’m scared of that kind of stuff, as you saw earlier… I heard rumors about it, but I don’t know much. I hate hearing about it, so I cover my ears.”

‘So the rumors are actually circulating.’

Judging by the fact that she covered her ears, there must be quite a few people talking about it.

As Rembrary nodded, Yuli’s eyes widened as she asked.

“Oh, but if it’s about that, wouldn’t it be faster to ask your leader?”

‘Leader? …Jungseo?!’

* * *

Yuli’s manager talked to Jongwoo and then drove Rembrary to the dorm.

Before Rembrary went up to the dorm, he stopped him for a moment and asked a favor.

“Yeonwoo, after seeing you in person, I can tell you’re a very sincere person, so I’m asking you this, Yeonwoo.”

It was an attitude of suddenly acting friendly even though they had never talked before.

Wondering why he was doing this, Rembrary looked at him, and the manager asked with a tearful face.

“If Kesh seems to be texting Yuli at the dorm, can you please block it?”

Why not do it himself? Rembrary stared at him, finding the sudden request strange, and the manager sighed.

“I’m managing them, but Long Distance’s recognition is getting too high right now. If I’m too forceful, the renewal contract will fall through. We’re slowly reaching a point where I can’t control them.”

“Ah.”

‘So they’re working by extending the contract period.’

“If you properly block it, I have a male rookie group in our agency, you know? Their debut song was number one, and the response is very good right now. Of course, you know, but…”

The manager seemed to think he shouldn’t say this in front of an unknown idol, so he suddenly looked at Rembrary and said with a smile,

“If you can stop Kesh on that side, I’ll ask them to say that Wild Animal is a senior they respect. You know this is a very good promotional effect, right?”

Rembrary vaguely agreed and went up to the dorm.

It wasn’t a very difficult request.

In fact, the other members had already been trying to stop Kesh whenever they saw him flirting.

Opening the door to the dorm, Hyegyeol, Taein, and Jungseo greeted him in turn.

“You’re back, hyung?”

“Did you do well? Don’t cause trouble.”

“Did you eat? Eat if you haven’t.”

Kesh didn’t seem to have arrived yet.

Rembrary answered them and went straight to the refrigerator, then turned back and called Jungseo.

“Jungseo, there’s something I want to ask you.”

“Why?”

Grabbing Jungseo’s arm as she approached, wondering what was going on, Rembrary deliberately took her to the veranda.

“Why? Is it a secret?”

Jungseo followed obediently, though puzzled, and closed the veranda door first.

Rembrary nodded and opened his mouth.

“I heard from Yuli earlier.”

“Yuli?”

“When I asked about the cult, she said it would be faster to ask you.”

At Rembrary’s question, Jungseo’s expression immediately hardened.

But that was only for a moment. Jungseo sighed and confessed.

“I did some research for a while. But the more I learned, the stranger it was, so I quit soon after.”

“But why didn’t you tell me?”

“I told you to be careful.”

As Rembrary frowned, Jungseo said, sounding a bit annoyed.

“It was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done. There’s no need to tell everyone about it, is there?”

“That’s true, but…”

“That’s it, right?”

Rembrary grabbed Jungseo again as she turned to go inside.

“Just a moment.”

As he naturally scanned the room, he met Taein’s eyes, who was staring intently at him.

When Taein met Rembrary’s eyes, he immediately turned his gaze to the TV and grabbed the phone on the floor with one hand.

‘What is it?’ Before he could wonder, Jungseo asked in a colder voice than before.

“What is it?”

She seemed annoyed that she kept getting caught up in this.

Rembrary took his eyes off Taein and asked Jungseo.

“I’m sorry, but can you give me the information you found?”

“It’s a strange place. Don’t be interested.”

“I’m curious.”

“What are you curious about?”

“My memories.”

“!”

“Even though there’s no problem with my health, my memories haven’t disappeared. I thought if I brought in something a bit…superstitious, my memories might come back.”

Rembrary spat out the excuse he had prepared in advance to Jungseo, who clearly disliked this topic.

Fortunately, it seemed to work, as the annoyed look on Jungseo’s face immediately disappeared.

Then, after thinking for a moment, she gave in.

“Okay. I’ll bring it to you later. It’s not here.”

‘Is there a note or something where she wrote down her research?’

“Where is it?”

“…Hospital.”

Was she talking about the hospital where her mother was hospitalized?

But instead of explaining further, Jungseo immediately opened the veranda door and went inside.

As he was following her in, he heard the sound of a password being entered, and Kesh came in.

“Damn bastard. Just because he can sing a little better.”

He was cursing as he came in, wondering what had happened.

Did something bad happen during the penalty?

As he looked at him, puzzled, Kesh ruffled his hair wildly and shouted at Rembrary.

“Hey! What did you say to Seonwoo-sil that made that bastard grab me and yell at me?!”

Hyegyeol frowned and asked back,

“Why are you yelling as soon as this hyung comes?”

But Kesh completely ignored Hyegyeol and argued with Rembrary.

“What did you do to make Seonwoo-sil like that?”

“Did you hear something?”

“He asked me why you weren’t the main vocalist! He said you have a talent that’s on a different level than someone like me?”

Excessive comparison and praise are sometimes no different from sowing discord.

Rembrary frowned, realizing that Kesh’s pride had been hurt.

But while he thought Kesh had reason to be upset, he was also annoyed by the situation.

He had been putting up with Kesh’s grumbling all along.

The mental fatigue that he had been suppressing as positively as possible since coming to this world leaked out a little.

Still, without directly showing his annoyance, Rembrary touched Kesh with a nonchalant voice.

“What did you do that made Yuli’s manager so worried about you and Yuli?”

“What?”

“I heard you’ve been texting Yuli non-stop at the dorm.”

Kesh clenched his fists and huffed.

Rembrary thought he shouldn’t have bothered and just walked past him.

It wasn’t that he wanted to pass by on purpose, but Hyegyeol and Taein were sprawled out in the narrow living room, so he had no choice but to pass by Kesh to go to the bathroom, kitchen, or bedroom.

However, just as Rembrary was passing by Kesh, Kesh suddenly threw a punch.

Rembrary tried to dodge, but a stinging pain grazed his cheek.

In the meantime, Jungseo, who had rushed over like lightning, came out and shouted, blocking Kesh.

“Why are you punching again! I told you to fix that habit!”

“You’re the one who causes the most trouble, but you’re acting all high and mighty!”

Rembrary pressed his burning cheek with his hand and clicked his tongue inwardly.

‘Come to think of it, that guy fought with Taein just a few days ago.’

At that time, he thought it was just a fight between peers because Taein fought back. Now it seemed like he was a repeat offender.

“Shut up.”

Perhaps Jungseo was scary, Kesh immediately shut his mouth when Jungseo spoke coldly.

“Put your hand down.”

Jungseo, who had suppressed Kesh, then examined Rembrary’s face and frowned, muttering a small curse.

“Face. This is driving me crazy.”

“Face?”

Hyegyeol, who had come over wondering what was going on, also screamed when he saw Rembrary’s face.

“What do we do! This hyung’s face is scratched!”

He was punched?

Looking down, puzzled, he saw a skull ring on Kesh’s hand.

“Seriously, Kesh, you…”

Jungseo glared at Kesh, picked up her phone, and called Jongwoo.

Then, she went out to the veranda and talked for a long time before bringing ointment from the drawer and handing it over.

“He said to apply this. Every hour. Thickly.”

* * *

‘Knowing he has a bad personality, I should have been more patient.’

The next day, Rembrary woke up and immediately blamed himself for provoking Kesh in a fit of anger.

‘He avoids poop because it’s dirty, not because he’s scared.’ [referring to avoiding unpleasant situations or people]

He, who is personally mature, should have avoided the reckless colt on his own, he was blaming himself.

Quickly making the bed, Rembrary continues to regret as he walks to the bathroom.

Then, he puts toothpaste on his toothbrush, puts it in his mouth, and freezes as he looks in the mirror.

‘This. The scar…’

His body naturally healed the wound again.

The problem was that the members had all seen this wound, and it was a wound on his cheek, so the fact that the wound had disappeared was too obvious.