Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 400

400. What Song Do You Want to Sing?

As soon as he decided to release an album, Rembrary called Shin Jo-woon. Previously, he had received help from LLL Entertainment, but this time, since Kkokko was from there, he had to get help from another company.

Various things had happened one after another, causing it to fall through, but he had talked about the album with Shin Jo-woon before, so he didn’t feel burdened.

“What’s up?”

As soon as Shin Jo-woon answered the phone, Rembrary quickly got to the point.

“I need to release an album, Anchovy.”

“Suddenly an album?”

“Do you know that LLL is bringing in a new rookie this time?”

“Ah, yeah. Some of the staff were talking about it. They said the song is addictive.”

“I need to do better than that rookie.”

“…….”

There was silence from the other end of the phone for a moment. Rembrary tapped his knee and quickly took out some dried anchovies from the refrigerator and chewed on them.

“Why are you suddenly wary of a rookie who hasn’t even come out yet?”

“That rookie isn’t just any rookie.”

“His voice is good, though.”

“That rookie used to be a priest. Like me.”

“A priest?”

“There’s a god named Lumena who is close to our Redrin, and he was a priest who served that god.”

“Another cult god?”

“Who are you calling a cult?”

“Why is that priest suddenly releasing an album?”

Shin Jo-woon’s voice cracked a little. He seemed quite taken aback that a priest was releasing an album.

“That priest is now attached to the Demon King.”

“Demon King. Here we go again. Demon King.”

Shin Jo-woon’s voice became even more drained at the mention of the Demon King. Even though he was only hearing the voice over the phone, Rembrary could clearly picture his dispirited expression.

“Don’t you understand?”

“Out of nowhere, a god appears, a Demon King appears, God 2 appears, and now a priest betrays God 2 and attaches himself to the Demon King to debut as a singer? Do you think that’s easy to understand?”

“You understand it well, don’t you?”

“I’m not understanding, I’m just memorizing what you’re telling me.”

“What you memorized is correct.”

Rembrary could hear Shin Jo-woon sighing heavily over the phone. Feeling a tickle in his ear, Rembrary moved the phone away and shook his head quickly before starting the conversation again.

“The problem isn’t that he’s attached to the Demon King. Looking at the teaser video, he put dark divine power into the song.”

“Why is that a problem?”

“Because it’s not good for people. Don’t listen to that song either. And tell the people around you not to listen to it if possible.”

“Are you sure?”

Shin Jo-woon’s voice was somewhere in the ambiguous space between reluctance and uncertainty. Instead of answering, Rembrary put a handful of anchovies in his mouth and crunched them.

Hearing that terrifying sound, Shin Jo-woon realized that he shouldn’t distrust Rembrary’s words and changed the question.

“When do you want to release the album?”

“Three hours after Kkokko releases his album.”

“Who’s Kkokko again?”

“That’s the priest’s name.”

“Real name?”

“He’s embarrassed, so pretend you don’t know.”

“Are you sure?”

“That’s what he says.”

“……Well, whatever. If the teaser is out, the album will probably be out soon. Time is a bit tight.”

“Whale.”

“But we can do it. If you leave it all to me and get proper production.”

“Of course. I don’t know anything about that stuff. I’ll do whatever you tell me to do.”

“Then the album direction is…….”

Rembrary could hear the sound of Shin Jo-woon clicking his mouse, doing something. After about three minutes of that.

“Listen to this.”

The clicking stopped, and someone’s song flowed from the phone. It wasn’t a live song, but it sounded like he was playing it on the computer.

“What is it?”

“Did you hear it?”

“Whose song is it?”

“It’s just a guide recording. What do you think?”

“You want to do it with this?”

“I just thought of it. The song itself has a grand feeling. The opponent is from the Demon King’s camp, and you’re from the cult, no, the opposite camp. Wouldn’t it be cool to arrange and sing it with a more sacred feeling here? Like a light.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You don’t like it?”

“Don’t you have any hook songs?”

“!”

Shin Jo-woon became quiet again at Rembrary’s practical suggestion. After a while, he heard a slightly aggrieved voice over the phone.

“Didn’t you say you’d do whatever I told you to do?”

* * *

Lying back on a long chair, Yeomra stirred the clouds floating nearby with his hand, pondering what that head he had seen could have been.

The head that had tried to cross the rift, but eventually moved its position when Yeomra blocked it with all his might. But he knew. It definitely hadn’t backed down.

Since there wasn’t just one rift, it was obvious that it would find another rift that Yeomra couldn’t respond to immediately and enter. How many dragons were mobilized for the move? It was clearly trying to come here in earnest.

‘That ominous and dark energy…….’

After much deliberation, Yeomra finally got up and summoned the Grim Reapers to give instructions.

“Find out what that head is. I want you to bring me everything, no matter whose opinion it is.”

* * *

He had to prepare for the album, go to the lab, and look after the rapidly increasing number of Redrin Hunter Company subscribers.

Rembrary, whose schedule suddenly became very busy, had no time to breathe. Fortunately, Shin Jo-woon had not built his career as an entertainment agency president in vain, and he smoothly helped with the album preparation.

However, after meeting with the composer and discussing the direction of the arrangement, he came out to the terrace to take a break.

As he leaned against the railing, watching the gradually coloring autumn leaves, someone spoke to him from the side.

“I have something to ask.”

It was Sagamjae’s voice. Rembrary clicked his tongue without even looking at him.

“Your audacity is beyond words.”

When he turned his head, Sagamjae was standing there in a black suit and asked again.

“May I ask?”

“Does this sound like permission?”

When Rembrary rebuked him again, Sagamjae obediently replied, “It doesn’t sound like it.”

“But I have to ask a question. It’s a very important matter.”

“You only look for me when you need me.”

“I always press ‘like’ on the SNS [Social Networking Service] posts you upload.”

“Go away. I’m busy.”

When Rembrary turned away, Sagamjae grabbed the back of his clothes. Seeing how persistent he was, it seemed like it was really urgent. When Rembrary reached out and took his hand off, Sagamjae finally blurted out the question.

“While His Highness was resting after closing the rift, a huge head tried to break through the rift. Black dragons were carrying that head. The head seemed to be alive. It kept moving its eyes. Is it a monster from your world, or something like that?”

“Bring Lumena first and then ask.”

Rembrary said indifferently and opened the veranda door and went inside. But after walking a few steps, he saw that Sagamjae was already in front of him, and when he got into the elevator without paying attention, he was already riding with him.

“You pop up so well. You weren’t around when you were my manager.”

“It’s a habit to deal with urgent matters first.”

“The Wild Animal thing wasn’t urgent then. It shows here.”

“If you answer my question, I’ll be your road manager again. I see you’re preparing an album. Wouldn’t it be better to have me, who knows everything, than a human manager who doesn’t know anything?”

“Why should I trust a manager who will disappear when there’s something more urgent? I don’t need it. And I’m not just releasing a song and not doing any activities.”

“I’ll buy you pizza.”

Rembrary frowned at Sagamjae’s hasty suggestion.

“What do you think of me?”

“I’ll bring you Seon-gwa too. It’s a specialty of the underworld.”

“I see.”

Sagamjae, who had appeared between Rembrary and the door to prevent Rembrary from entering the room where he practiced singing, raised his eyebrows in embarrassment.

He had brought up the story of Seon-gwa to persuade him somehow, but he didn’t really think he would be persuaded by food.

“Is this really enough?”

When Sagamjae asked outright in embarrassment, Rembrary nodded, pushed Sagamjae aside, and opened the door, urging him.

“Wait without disturbing me. It’s a long story.”

Three or four hours later. Rembrary came out and took Sagamjae to the veranda.

But unlike Sagamjae’s shock, Rembrary wasn’t really trying to answer him because of the Seon-gwa [underworld fruit].

From the moment Sagamjae told the story of the head, Rembrary had been suspecting that the head might be the Demon King’s head.

The underworld, which had harmed Lumena, was also an enemy, but as someone who had crossed over to this dimension from another place, he had to understand that their attack was closer to defense and counterattack.

Even though it was to survive, the world that had been fine was clearly thrown into chaos due to the responsibility of the people from other worlds.

Still, since they made Lumena like that, he didn’t feel good or pleasant, and he didn’t want to be close to them in the future.

On the other hand, the Demon King, who attacked Redrin, was unconditionally an enemy both in the original world and here.

So Rembrary was trying to tell Sagamjae, who was not on the same side, about the Demon King’s head.

If he gave information about the Demon King to the underworld, the underworld and the Demon King would fight, and in the meantime, he might be able to recover Redrin’s power.

But since there was no need to tell Sagamjae about these schemes, Rembrary decided to pretend that he had simply fallen for the Seon-gwa and pizza and began to explain.

“It’s not certain, but according to your explanation, that might be the Demon King’s head.”

“The Demon King’s head?”

Unlike Shin Jo-woon, who smiled ambiguously with an expression of ‘how should I react’ to the story of the Demon King, Sagamjae’s expression immediately hardened.

“Have you heard the story of the severed arm? The piece of arm that came out of the frog egg. I wasn’t at the scene, but I think you would have heard it since another Grim Reaper was there.”

The severed arm came out through the frog egg, and the demon who was fighting Ardor and Kkokko took the arm.

At that time, Kkokko was traveling with the Grim Reapers, so there must have been a Grim Reaper nearby. Rembrary was sure that the underworld also knew about it.

As expected, Sagamjae immediately agreed.

“I heard it.”

“That arm. It seems to be the Demon King’s arm.”

“The Demon King is sending his arm and head separately to this side?”

“Yes. The Demon King is coming in pieces, so if it’s a giant head being transported by dragons, wouldn’t there be a high probability that it’s the Demon King’s head?”

“…….”

“Of course, I can’t be sure because I didn’t see it with my own eyes, but there’s no harm in checking.”

After finishing the explanation, Rembrary thought for a moment about whether he should explain to Sagamjae how dangerous the Demon King was. That way, the underworld would try to deal with the Demon King in earnest.

But Sagamjae was already wary of all sides like a pufferfish at the sound of the Demon King.

“Thank you. I’ll send the Seon-gwa to your house.”

As soon as he left those words, Sagamjae disappeared in the blink of an eye, and only the fallen leaves that had flown in from the window on the wind rustled and rolled in his place.

Rembrary bent down, picked up the fallen leaves, and smiled faintly.