Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 385

385. Intruder Containment Mode

But the surprised expression lasted only a moment.

The head researcher acted nonchalantly, as if to say, ‘So what?’

“I’m fine with it.”

“!”

“I’m fine as long as you let me film it.”

No one wants to get hurt, even with the promise of perfect healing. But he says he’s fine. He even wants to film it. Rembrary double-checked again.

“You’re going to film yourself suffering and then watch it?”

“I’m not watching myself suffer, but trying to see the mechanism of how I get hurt and recover.”

The director answered brightly again, then asked with a light laugh.

“Do you understand?”

“You’re a pervert!”

“You don’t understand at all.”

Actions speak louder than words. Rembrary turned the doorknob instead of answering.

* * *

The head of the research center may be more skilled in the field of hunter research, but the secretary was better at taking care of the interns.

Rembrary was hungry and kept checking the time, pacing back and forth in the hallway, until the secretary, who was passing by, asked, “Why are you doing that there?”

“It’s lunchtime now, isn’t it? Didn’t the director tell you? The other interns are probably almost done eating.”

The other interns had all gone to eat.

‘Is it lunchtime now?’ Rembrary looked surprised, and the secretary clicked her tongue and walked ahead, telling him to come this way.

Only then did Rembrary and the cameraman arrive at the cafeteria and receive food on shiny steel trays. In the meantime, the secretary disappeared again.

But since it didn’t matter where the secretary went, Rembrary chose an empty seat where there were no people nearby and quickly picked up his spoon.

The cameraman also grumbled, “I thought my stomach was going to stick to my back,” and naturally came to sit across from Rembrary.

“When you were alone with the director earlier, what did he say?”

As soon as he sat down, the cameraman immediately asked the question.

In fact, when he followed Rembrary and the director into a warehouse-like place earlier, he was a little offended when the director said, ‘Everything in here is confidential,’ and asked him to leave. No, to be honest, it wasn’t just a little, but a lot.

If it was so precious that he couldn’t even get close to it, he should have told him in advance. He didn’t say anything until he went inside, and then he asked him to leave, so he couldn’t help but feel upset.

“Say what?”

“Didn’t he say anything and just worked?”

“Ah, nothing much happened. He didn’t say much either. He said he would film himself suffering and watch it later.”

The cameraman finished preparing to sneer and put a large spoonful of rice into his mouth but was so surprised that he fumbled. The lumpy rice fell from the spoon into the soup. The cameraman asked back in disbelief.

“Why would he ask Rembrary to film that? Is he a pervert?”

“He said he wasn’t a pervert, but some kind of -ism. Something starting with an M, you know?”

M?

“M… Masochism!”

The cameraman raised his voice a little without realizing it, and an intern who was passing by with a finished tray glanced at the cameraman with a very suspicious look.

“Yeah, that’s what he said.”

Rembrary pointed his finger in the air and nodded.

“It was four letters.”

The cameraman clicked his tongue.

“Tsk, he looks so decent. You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

So, the reason he asked him to go outside wasn’t because of the research center’s secrets, but because of his own secret? The cameraman kept muttering, “Tsk, tsk.”

It was amazing how Rembrary could listen to such a request right in front of him and eat seaweed stems with such an indifferent face.

The cameraman suddenly felt very hungry when he saw Rembrary choosing three different side dishes, so he picked up the spoon he had put down again.

But about halfway through the meal, an intern who was about to leave the cafeteria with a group of interns glanced at Rembrary and slipped out of the group and approached him.

“Excuse me.”

The intern who came with something in his hand was the same intern who had tried to pluck up the courage to talk to Rembrary a few hours ago but had given up because the secretary had intervened.

When Rembrary looked up, the intern held out a piece of A4 paper he had brought, saying, “This.”

“What is it?”

“I received this when you went to do something else separately a few hours ago. It’s a map showing the areas where interns can go and the areas where they can’t.”

‘He didn’t even tell me to go eat. He didn’t even give me a map. What the heck is that research director?’ The cameraman grumbled inwardly as he watched Rembrary receive the map and scan it.

“Is the blue line the place where I can go?”

The intern stayed close to Rembrary, as if he had something left to do, and when he received the question, he quickly answered kindly.

“No. The green line is the place where you can go, and the blue line is the area where you can go, but you have to be accompanied by a researcher. He said to be careful because the red line is a restricted area, so you should never go there.”

“Restricted area? Why is it restricted?”

“They said there are confidential studies and things that need to be handled carefully because they are dangerous.”

‘That damn confidential, confidential. Is everything here full of secrets?’ The cameraman thought unpleasantly and quietly continued his meal.

The intern looked back and forth between Rembrary and the cameraman, wondering, ‘Can I talk to him again now?’

Between the two, Rembrary stared intently at the east-west area where the red lines were drawn.

‘There must be an elevator to the basement hidden in the restricted area.’

The intern was still hesitating when Rembrary handed the A4 paper to the cameraman to see, and in the meantime, he opened his mouth to add something more private, something that colleagues would say.

“Hey, Rembrary, this time…”

“If you’re done eating, come quickly!”

But this time, the secretary was standing at the entrance and calling him, so the intern felt somehow wronged and shut his mouth.

“Why this time?”

“…It’s nothing.”

* * *

Rembrary, who refused to ‘come quickly’ because he hadn’t eaten long ago, ended up working with the head of the research center again, away from the interns.

The head of the research center, who came to the cafeteria later than Rembrary, saw that Rembrary was sitting across from the cameraman with no other interns, and said that it was good, so he told him to eat and then come to his room.

Rembrary said he understood, and 30 minutes later, the cameraman filmed Rembrary sitting on the sofa in the director’s personal study, drinking coffee and eating cookies.

He was such a useless and unhelpful intern that even the cameraman, who hated the director, had to admit it.

Rembrary, who came to film an intern reality show and was filming the director’s mukbang [eating broadcast], was annoying, but surprisingly, the director didn’t say anything and just concentrated on his work.

How long had it been?

“Mr. Rembrary.”

The director clicked the mouse and fumbled around on the desk with one hand, then sighed, “Oh, dear,” and called Rembrary.

“Would you mind bringing something from the security office?”

It was finally the first errand he was asking Rembrary to do. The cameraman thought it was a good thing because he was getting a little bored, but the rebellious intern tore off another cookie and answered kindly.

“I’m busy.”

“…Mr. Rembrary. Would you mind bringing something from the security office?”

When the director asked the same question twice, Rembrary finally wiped his hands, which were covered in cookie crumbs, on a tissue and asked.

“What do you want me to bring?”

“If you go to the security office and say I sent you, they’ll give it to you. Can you go and get it right now?”

Surprisingly, Rembrary readily put down the half-eaten cookies and coffee and got up from the sofa. The cameraman also had to get up without a choice.

But after walking a few steps down the hallway, Rembrary, who was walking calmly, suddenly looked like he had realized something, turned to the cameraman, and suggested.

“What’s the point of filming me going on an errand? I’ll go alone and come back quickly.”

“Huh? You’re not going with me?”

‘I haven’t filmed anything properly yet except for eating?’ The cameraman asked in bewilderment, but Rembrary nodded in agreement.

“You can film other people in the meantime. I’ll go to the security office alone.”

The cameraman was about to say he couldn’t, but he changed his mind and answered, “Okay.”

He came alone with the research center’s conditional permission that he could only bring one cameraman, but these kinds of reality shows are originally more interesting when you film the people around you.

Interviews with other interns watching Rembrary, or concerns, expectations, and evaluations from researchers about whether Rembrary is doing a good job, etc., would be good to include in between.

But following Rembrary, he didn’t have enough time to film other people. It seemed like a good idea to film some at times like this.

He would edit the interviews later as much as possible, but people’s memories change little by little over time, right? To increase the sense of realism, it was good to do some interviews now, even if only a little. He would also try to film other real interns little by little, as much as allowed.

* * *

Rembrary, who succeeded in dropping off the cameraman, pretended to walk down the hallway while looking at the map but soon went straight into the restricted area.

From the beginning, the reason he accepted the director’s suggestion to go on an errand to the security office was to stop by here. His plan was to quickly check the location of the basement and then go back outside, pretending to realize he was lost.

If things went well, he would go straight down and look for the trapped people, and of course, he brought a small selfie camera to show the scene to people.

‘Tiger Head definitely said it was in the basement. Basement, basement… the way to the basement…’

It was a restricted area in name only, but there was no one guarding it separately, but Rembrary didn’t have time to think it was strange.

But how long had he been wandering around inside? Not much time had passed, but the director called and asked.

[Hello? Mr. Rembrary?]

“Why?”

[Did the security office move?]

“No.”

[Then why aren’t you coming? Bring it to me quickly.]

Rembrary checked the time and, after confirming that not much time had passed, clicked his tongue.

“So impatient.”

[I don’t have time to be patient, so I sent you to bring it to me right away, right? Where are you? Did you get lost?]

“…”

[Did you really get lost? Where are you?]

“It’s all walls, so I don’t know. I guess I’ll go straight and see if I can get out.”

* * *

“No, where did this idiot go?”

The director, who hung up the phone, was dumbfounded and lowered the screen on the monitor and opened a program that showed the location of the interns.

The lab coats given to the interns had name tags with their names on them, but in fact, there was also a small device on the back that showed their location, so they could track each individual’s location.

While the director was clicking the mouse to find Rembrary’s location, the secretary, who had returned after entrusting the interns to the existing staff, muttered next to the desk.

“I should have gone, right?”

“…”

“You’re angry and won’t even answer me. Should I go now? I’m sorry I was away earlier. There are too many interns, but the researchers can’t leave their posts, so I’m the busiest.”

“…”

“Director? You don’t seem very angry… you’re smiling while looking at something?”

“He went into the restricted area.”

The secretary stopped muttering to herself next to her and widened her eyes.

“Rembrary? Already?”

Indeed, the person marked with Rembrary’s name was moving in the wrong direction alone on the monitor.

“Which area?”

There were three main restricted areas. Area A was actually a fake restricted area, set up for intern personality tests.

The other two were real restricted areas. Area B contained confidential research data, and Area C was where confidential research was conducted.

However, no guards were stationed in any of the three areas this time. It was to immediately kick out any intern who entered it. They could also check who was entering right away.

“Area C.”

When the director answered with a smile, the secretary was horrified and asked.

“Should I bring him back?”

Unlike other interns, Rembrary was in a position where he couldn’t be immediately kicked out for entering the restricted area, so she asked this.

But the director immediately answered, “No.”

“Is it okay? Well, the blood test showed that he’s the same as a normal person. It’s a bit dangerous there…”

“It’s fun. I’ve been collecting all the videos related to that healer and investigating and analyzing them, so let’s take a look.”

Before she could ask what was fun, the director, who had finished speaking, suddenly pulled the lever that was up down and pressed the ‘Intruder Containment Mode’ emergency bell button next to it.