Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 413

413. It’s a Little Noisy Here

Upon hearing the phrase ‘soon to die,’ Oh Wan, who was standing next to Lapis, wore a strange expression.

Lapis, being beside Oh Wan, couldn’t see the expression, but Rembrary, facing Lapis, could.

‘Why is he making that face?’ Rembrary wondered, raising an eyebrow.

Just then, Oh Wan also looked at Rembrary. But as their eyes met, he gave a smile that clearly said, ‘I don’t know anything,’ shrugged, and avoided eye contact altogether.

‘No… he definitely knows something…’ Rembrary thought, but the thought didn’t linger for long.

“Where are you looking?”

Lapis, clearly displeased, drew Rembrary’s attention back to himself.

“I was looking at your manager.”

Rembrary answered honestly, but Lapis sneered, even more displeased.

“You still haven’t come to your senses? You still have the mind to look around?”

“You should look in the mirror yourself. Your complexion is terrible.”

“That’s none of your business, is it?”

“How can I not care about you? What kind of relationship do we have?”

As Rembrary spoke in a gentle voice with a look full of concern, people within earshot began to whisper among themselves.

“They must have been close before.”

“That looks close to you?”

“He said he can’t help but care.”

“That’s sarcasm.”

“That’s a sarcastic face? To me, it looks like he’s genuinely worried.”

“I’m worried about your eyesight.”

The sound of people whispering clearly agitated Lapis even more.

As Lapis’s expression hardened further, Rembrary clicked his tongue.

When other people chime in, things that could be resolved between two people often get twisted. That’s exactly what was happening now. When he first appeared, Lapis showed hostility, but not to this extent.

“The ‘Mr. Nice Guy’ act is working, Rembrary.”

Lapis smiled faintly and turned his body halfway, as if not wanting to talk to Rembrary any longer. The people in the direction Lapis was looking reflexively stepped aside again.

“Yeah, keep playing the nice guy while you can. You won’t be able to in a few days.”

Rembrary frowned at the muttered words. ‘In a few days, he won’t even be able to pretend to be nice?’ What did that mean? It was hard to understand.

Rembrary grabbed Lapis, who was about to leave, and asked.

“A few days from now?”

It wasn’t a question he expected an answer to, as he had asked it so abruptly. However, because Lapis was so upset with Rembrary, he was surprisingly honest.

“I’m planning a free concert too. Because I want to see more fans, more often.”

Lapis smiled faintly and looked back at Rembrary with an arrogant gaze. It was an expression that said, ‘If you can stop me, try to stop me now.’

* * *

Lapis’s prediction was half true and half false.

That he was planning a free concert was true. That it would be in a few days was false.

Lapis started the exact same free concert as Rembrary the very next day.

―Wow, look at his character ;;

―Is he trying to solidify his number one spot? lol

―Lapis’s fans were bashing Rembrary while praising Lapis’s character ^^ His character was so upright it was practically falling apart lololol

―The promotion methods are all the same, Rembrary’s fans are just being extra ㅋㅋ At least Lapis doesn’t go around picking fights ㅋㅋㅋ

ㄴUm, there’s video of him coming to Rembrary’s performance and starting a fight ^^.

ㄴWasn’t Rembrary the one who suddenly flipped him off?

ㄴHe started a fight, so what’s he supposed to do, just listen? It’s a relief it ended with a middle finger.

Rembrary’s fans were furious and fought with Lapis’s fans whenever they found each other, but from the perspective of those managing the venues and stages, there was no reason to refuse Lapis at all.

They were happy whether Rembrary came or Lapis came, and the public was simply happy that the two people, who were competing for the top spot on the music charts and were highly popular, were performing here and there.

It was fortunate that the two didn’t directly clash because they were only doing short, guerrilla-style performances on small stages.

However, this precarious balance eventually tilted.

“What do you mean, the same stage?”

A situation arose where the two would be on the same stage at the same time.

Shin Jo-woon knew that Rembrary’s powers didn’t work when singing with Lapis on stage, so he had deliberately avoided any schedules where the two would meet since Lapis started his free concerts.

He didn’t tell Rembrary separately because he thought his pride would be hurt, but it wasn’t difficult to check the schedules of the people using the stage before and after him and avoid them.

But the same stage?

“There was no mention of that until yesterday, was there?”

At Shin Jo-woon’s question, the secretary replied with a hardened expression, as if he himself was angry.

“No. There wasn’t. Still, just in case, Rembrary had reserved everything, even the order before and after the stage. So that they wouldn’t meet at all.”

“But they unilaterally handed over the schedule?”

A dumbfounded smile appeared on Shin Jo-woon’s lips.

A normal person wouldn’t be able to do such a thing, even if they were aware of Shin Jo-woon’s presence. No, a normal person wouldn’t arbitrarily break a deal, even if the other party wasn’t Shin Jo-woon.

“It seems that the person involved was a fan of Lapis.”

The secretary frowned, as if he himself found it strange that he was saying that.

“Usually, even a fan wouldn’t do this… As you know, Lapis’s fans are really… how should I put it? The cult following is around Rembrary, but rather, the actions of those fans are more…”

“Like fanatics.”

“Yes. Exactly.”

Knowing that it was due to the addictive nature permeating Lapis’s songs, Shin Jo-woon frowned as if he had a headache and asked.

“What about Rembrary? Tell him to come back, saying there’s another urgent matter. Don’t mention that the schedules overlap or anything.”

“That’s…”

* * *

“Why is that guy here?”

Rembrary had already arrived at the venue and was standing there, looking at Lapis.

At the sudden appearance of Kkokko [Korean slang for ‘bird’, often used as a derogatory term], Rembrary pointed at him and asked Moolu.

But even if he asked Moolu, she had been moving and acting together with him all along, so there was no way she would know the reason.

“I’ll ask General Shin [referring to Shin Jo-woon, his manager].”

Moolu muttered and quickly took out her phone.

However, before contacting Shin Jo-woon, Lapis, who was on stage, pointed at them first and smiled.

“Rembrary’s here.”

Lapis was still holding the microphone because he had already gone on stage and finished one song. Naturally, Lapis’s voice echoed loudly everywhere.

As Lapis acknowledged him, the audience, who had been engrossed in him, also looked at Rembrary.

In an instant, a sea of gazes turned towards him.

“This is bad.”

Rembrary clicked his tongue.

The situation wasn’t good. Perhaps it was because Lapis had already sung one song. There were many audience members who didn’t seem to be in good condition.

Lapis watched the scene from the stage and smiled with satisfaction.

A smile full of triumph. He, who had always been pushed behind Rembrary, seemed to like being ahead of Rembrary, even if it was only in this way.

Although Lapis was displeased that Rembrary didn’t show much reaction, he thought that if this happened repeatedly, Rembrary would eventually become like him.

As Lapis signaled, the intro to the song began to play, and people turned their heads back to Lapis as if hypnotized.

Lapis listened to the intro and asked Rembrary as if improvising.

“Did you come to listen to my song too, Rembrary?”

It wasn’t a question he wanted an answer to. He just wanted to mock him.

He wanted to make fun of Rembrary, who would sing after him and be embarrassed by the ineffective situation.

“Your complexion has gotten worse in the past few days, Kkokko.”

However, as Rembrary said this calmly and signaled by tapping his own face, Lapis became displeased.

In fact, Rembrary’s voice wasn’t heard well because the intro music was so loud, but Lapis had been watching Rembrary the whole time, so he understood from the shape of his mouth.

Just as he was getting angry, the intro ended and the cue to sing came.

“…….”

However, Lapis didn’t sing. He just stood there blankly with the microphone down.

A strange smile appeared on his lips as he looked at Rembrary.

People were anticipating the addictive song that Lapis would sing and were in ecstasy, but when no sound came out, they looked at Lapis, murmuring.

“What’s wrong with him?”

Moolu asked Rembrary quietly.

“Maybe he forgot the lyrics?”

“I’m not calling him Kkokko for nothing,” Rembrary replied with a calm smile.

However, the more normal Rembrary looked, the more upset Lapis became.

In the end, Rembrary’s usual gentle smile snapped one of Lapis’s last threads of patience.

“As you all know, Rembrary and I don’t get along. I can’t sing when I see Rembrary’s face.”

As Lapis, who had been hesitating with the microphone in his hand, spat out those words, people murmured even louder.

Until now, most of the provocations had been from Rembrary towards Lapis, but this time it was clearly Lapis’s first attack. Even publicly.

As Rembrary stopped talking to Moolu and looked at him, Lapis smiled faintly and tilted his head. As if to say, ‘Will you still smile?’

Rembrary raised an eyebrow but didn’t show much reaction.

People quietly looked back and forth between Rembrary and Lapis.

However, when Lapis put down the microphone and really went down, the followers who had completely fallen for Lapis’s song suddenly started raising their voices.

“Get out, Rembrary!”

“Don’t disturb Lapis’s singing!”

“Go away! Who welcomes you here!”

“Lapis, please don’t go!”

“Rembrary, get out! Chase him away! Don’t interfere!”

“Why do you keep picking on Lapis! Go away!”

The mildest words were about this level, and there were many more harsh words. It was clear that they didn’t see or hear that Lapis had provoked Rembrary. They expressed it as if Rembrary was forcibly stopping and interfering with Lapis’s song.

‘They have no reason in their eyes.’

As the atmosphere became fierce, Moolu slowly reached for her *chang* [a type of Korean spear], and Ardor even pulled out his gun, but Rembrary raised his hand to stop them both.

“Look at their eyes. They’re not in their right minds. There’s no need to take them seriously.”

“But how dare they…!”

“Didn’t you see the blood vessels in their eyes? It seems like they’re losing their reason due to withdrawal symptoms, so don’t worry about them.”

Lapis leaned casually against the stage, put his hands in his pockets, and looked at Rembrary with a smiling face. He was still pretending to be calm, but his face showed that he was looking forward to seeing what kind of state that guy would be in.

“Okay, everyone. Calm down. Calm down.”

Even as the host, who had hurriedly gone up on stage, tried to stop them, Lapis’s followers became even more excited and started to run wild.

Lapis’s followers couldn’t see anything else. They didn’t care about anything except that Rembrary had interfered at the moment Lapis was about to sing. The fact that the song they were about to hear was interrupted made them even more excited.

“Okay, everyone. It seems like Lapis is feeling unwell and went down―”

Even as the host tried to calm them down, the atmosphere became more and more ominous, and Ardor and Moolu stood in front of Rembrary.

With the intention of using force if Lapis’s followers tried to attack Rembrary.

“That’s enough.”

At that moment.

“Cover your ears.”

After leaving these words, Rembrary went up on stage in the blink of an eye.

The people who were floundering among Lapis’s followers, who were not yet severely addicted, looked at Rembrary in confusion.

On the other hand, those who had strong withdrawal symptoms thought it was a good thing that the target had appeared right in front of them and rushed to drag Rembrary, who had gone up on stage, down like zombies.

But the moment they tried to get on stage.

“It’s a little noisy here.”

At the words muttered by Rembrary, who had taken the microphone from the host, the people who were trying to break into the stage, as well as the people who stayed in their places, all screamed and fell to the floor.

“!”

Lapis was the same, he was watching the situation with a smile, but then staggered and fell to the side.

Moolu and Ardor, who had covered their ears but couldn’t completely block out the sound of the microphone, also frowned and staggered, although they weren’t as distressed as the other people.

Rembrary looked around at the people with the microphone still to his lips.