Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 341

341. I’m Not Afraid of Anything, You Know?

“Was it you?”

Jongwoo, having been grilled by the agency CEO for hours because of this incident, coldly asked as he came back to the dorm with food, spotting Taein.

Taein, yawning, stopped on his way to the sofa.

“What?”

“You’re the one who leaked the recording that’s causing a stir, aren’t you?”

Taein shrugged and walked to the sofa, plopping down. Jongwoo took off his shoes and approached, but Taein nonchalantly grabbed the remote and flipped through channels.

“Let’s talk.”

[The release of the recording has caused the first major damage to the image of national hero, Wooyeonwoo. However, many people are saying that there are behind-the-scenes stories, as they are in a relationship where they attack each other…]

Coincidentally, the anchor on that channel was talking about the recording scandal. As Taein tried to switch to another channel, Jongwoo snatched the remote, turned off the TV, and threw the remote onto the one-person sofa next to him.

“Hey, what’s your problem!”

Taein finally turned around, annoyed. He looked wronged at first glance, but seeing that, Jongwoo’s suspicion turned into certainty.

Taein was irritable but usually followed the manager and the company’s instructions well. Taein got angry mostly when his desire to do well was high, but others didn’t keep up with him. But to get annoyed and avoid conversation before even talking…

“It was you, wasn’t it?”

“What are you talking about? Explain properly.”

“You leaked the recording of my conversation with Wooyeonwoo.”

“……”

“It was you, wasn’t it? You were the only one who passed by then. There was no one else who could have recorded it.”

“There are other guys, too.”

“You were the only one there then! The others were almost all on schedule.”

“They could have left a recorder before going to their schedules.”

“Then it wouldn’t have been recorded so clearly! The recording was very clear!”

Taein pouted, having nothing more to say. Jongwoo was dumbfounded and pounded his chest.

“Are you crazy? What are you doing? You used to hate Wooyeonwoo because you were immature, and now you said you understand how much Wooyeonwoo has suffered! Was that just talk? You didn’t mature; you just got a scale [a metaphorical measure of justice or revenge]? You waited quietly, thinking that no one would believe you no matter what you said when Wooyeonwoo’s image was good, and then you looked for a chance to screw Wooyeonwoo over?”

Taein didn’t deny it. At first, he seemed like he was going to refute it, but soon he asked sullenly.

“So, hyung [older brother or close male friend] was just going to bury this? It was an attempted strangulation!”

“Why are you making a fuss when the strangled Rembrandt is staying still!”

“Does hyung just walk by if someone is unfairly getting hit, just because it’s not hyung’s business? Wow, that’s mean.”

“Did you step in with good intentions? You didn’t step in for Rembrandt; you just did this to screw over Wooyeonwoo!”

“No. I was going to stay still, but Wooyeonwoo’s strangling of Rembrandt was completely buried, and only Rembrandt’s subordinate’s attack on Wooyeonwoo was revealed, so that side was being unilaterally criticized, so I stepped in. If you look at the timeline, Wooyeonwoo attacked Rembrandt first, right? Then Wooyeonwoo’s subordinate must have known about that and attacked in anger. Don’t you think it’s too unfair that only Wooyeonwoo’s strangling of Rembrandt is being buried? After that, Wooyeonwoo even stole that person’s song, didn’t he?”

“Don’t act righteous. If that was your real intention, you would have stepped in as soon as Rembrandt was being criticized. If you really stepped in with good intentions, I wouldn’t say anything. How could I? But you’re just doing this because you hate Wooyeonwoo. It makes me even angrier that you’re acting with ugly intentions and packaging it as a sense of justice.”

At Jongwoo’s words, Taein adjusted his posture and, looking straight at the manager, let out a soft laugh.

“I’m just giving Wooyeonwoo back what I received, hyung.”

Jongwoo frowned.

“Giving back what you received?”

Taein was about to say something more. But before he could open his mouth, someone rushed in like the wind, grabbed his dyed hair, and pulled it as if plucking grass.

“Ah!”

Taein screamed in terror and fell off the sofa, and Jongwoo was startled and tried to stop the person who had rushed in.

“Wooyeonwoo! Stop it!”

The person who rushed in was Wooyeonwoo. He had come with amazing speed and was tearing at Taein’s hair.

“Wooyeonwoo! Stop it!”

“You son of a bitch, won’t you let go?!”

“I won’t let go until I pull out your soul, you moron! Die!”

“Ah! Hey! Let go! Let go! Hey, you son of a bitch! Wooyeonwoo!”

Taein kicked Wooyeonwoo’s leg, and Wooyeonwoo staggered. As the two began to punch each other in earnest, Jongwoo jumped up and down, putting his arms between them and trying to push them away like he was breaking up a dogfight.

When that didn’t work, Jongwoo threw sofa cushions at them, shouting at the top of his lungs to stop.

“Stop it! Both of you, stop! Stop it!”

But the fight between the two only ended after Jongwoo, unable to stop them, called all the other members. But by the time the fight was over, both of their faces and necks were blotchy, and there was even blood in places.

“Seriously! What is this? You’re not even kids! Are you guys children?!”

Jongwoo, who was also hurt here and there while trying to stop them, was upset and yelled.
Taein spat out the blood that had pooled in his mouth, panting.

As the red blood clot fell to the floor, Keshi made a “Ugh” sound and pulled his chin back. Taein wiped his mouth with his sleeve and smiled brightly at Jongwoo.

“Since we’re not kids, as hyung said, I can’t stay here any longer, listening to ‘Friends don’t fight’.”

“What?”

“Since hyung and the company will be on that bastard’s side anyway if I stay here. I’m leaving because I don’t want to stay and be treated unfairly.”

Taein said firmly, then went into his room and made a commotion, packing all his things in 10 minutes and coming out.

“Hey! Where are you going?!”

Jongwoo was surprised and asked, but Taein didn’t answer and just dragged his carrier [wheeled luggage] out.

As the front door slammed shut, Jongwoo rubbed his forehead and sat down on the floor. Hyegyeol opened his mouth and watched the situation before asking Keshi.

“Uh… shouldn’t we tell Jungseo hyung about this?”

* * *

[Hello, Wild Animal fans. I’m sorry to greet you with bad news.

I’m the one who leaked the recording of the conversation between Wooyeonwoo and his manager hyung that became a problem this time. It was a two-way fight, but Rembrandt was being unilaterally criticized, so I thought I had to let people know that wasn’t the case. I couldn’t keep my mouth shut when I knew.

However, it is true that I harmed my colleague Wooyeonwoo, whom I have been with for a long time, because of this. And our group, too. So, I decided to take responsibility and leave Wild Animal.

As everyone knows, Wooyeonwoo is the face of Nakru, and Wooyeonwoo’s brother, Woosungwoo, is one of the best hunters in Korea. I’m actually afraid that after revealing this fact, I’ll be targeted by Nakru and Woosungwoo and face retaliation.

The agency treated me well, but Nakru sponsors LLL. If I stay with the agency, I think it will be a nuisance to the company and its employees, so I’m going to leave the agency as well.

I’m really sorry to our Wild Animal fans that I can’t show you more of our activities together as Wild Animal.

I’m scared because I don’t know what will happen in the future, but I’ll try to be with my fans again through solo activities as soon as I settle down. Thank you.

From Ji Taein.]

* * *

Rembrandt was pleased to see the praise pouring into his social media and proud to hear the cheers of people who wanted to join Redrine.

Of course, Wooyeonwoo or Wild Animal fans came from time to time to criticize Rembrandt, saying that the group had disbanded because of Rembrandt or that Wooyeonwoo was being criticized, but Rembrandt casually ignored the comments that he didn’t need to see.

“Except for people with strange tastes, everyone is praising me.”

Since Rembrandt was looking at social media on his computer, the Lion Master was watching most of the comments with him from the side.

Thanks to that, the Lion Master was briefly confused by Rembrandt’s thought process. The people cursing were half and the people cheering were half, but he said, “Everyone is praising me.”

The Lion Master stared intently at Rembrandt’s head. What kind of amazing filter is installed inside that? Anyway, it was definitely a filter with excellent performance.

“But don’t you think there are more people cursing than yesterday?”

“Is that so?”

“Yesterday, the atmosphere was that most people were saying you were amazing.”

“Ah. Taein said he was leaving Wild Animal. It seems like they came to vent their anger.”

“Can you see those cursing comments too?”

“What are you talking about?”

“No, I thought you couldn’t see them because you were so calm.”

At the Lion Master’s muttering, Rembrandt smiled gently and patted his back.

“Aren’t curses and condemnations daily life for heretics anyway?”

“I don’t think so.”

“I only need to pay attention to the words of prospective believers.”

In that brain, are the people who curse heretics and the people who don’t curse prospective believers? The Lion Master couldn’t stand it and tapped Rembrandt’s head a few times.

“It sounds like a well-ripe watermelon…”

“What?”

But just as Rembrandt grabbed the Lion Master’s head and said he would listen to the sound of his head, the cell phone on the desk vibrated, making a buzzing sound.

In the meantime, the Lion Master ran away to the bed, and Rembrandt picked up the cell phone.

The person who called was a stranger.

‘Who is it?’

Puzzled, he pressed the call button, and a familiar voice immediately came through, saying, “Hey.”

“Wooyeonwoo?”

[Where are you acting familiar?]

“You’re talking like that, so you must be Wooyeonwoo.”

The Lion Master came back behind Rembrandt, but when Wooyeonwoo screamed loudly from the cell phone, he quickly took his ear away from the cell phone.

“It’s amazing that you can’t sing even though you’re screaming like this.”

Wooyeonwoo cursed loudly once more, then coughed a few times as if his throat hurt. Then he spat out one more curse softly and said firmly.

[I’m not calling to talk to you.]

“But we’re already talking.”

[Cancel the appointment we made. I’m not going.]

“You’ll regret it.”

[Do you want to spread the fact that we were one body? Spread it, you crazy cultist. My image has already been tarnished as much as it can be because of you, right? I’m not afraid of anything anymore. Who will lose when that is spread might not be known until before it’s revealed, right?]

As soon as he finished speaking, Wooyeonwoo hung up the phone, and Rembrandt sighed and asked the Lion Master.

“He’s not coming, so we have to go. Move me.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the Lion Master grabbed Rembrandt and took him to Wooyeonwoo’s dorm in a few moments.

Wooyeonwoo was still holding the cell phone and panting in the living room when he saw Rembrandt and screamed, falling on his butt.

“What the fuck!”

“I came in because you said you weren’t coming.”