Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 43

43. I Heard Some Useful Information

“Who threatened you?”

“A member. I don’t know who.”

Jungseo frowned at Rembrary’s words and muttered,

“Well…”

“You don’t know?”

“Are you sure?”

“I heard it when I met my mother. Before I lost my memory, I said I was being threatened by a member.”

“That makes it certain.”

Jungseo clicked his tongue.

“I wouldn’t lie to my mom about something like that.”

Even while living as a trainee and an unknown idol, he was a devoted son who always took care of his mother. It seemed unimaginable for him to lie to his mother about something like this.

Wooyeonwoo must have been the same, since he was close to his parents. Rembrary agreed with Jungseo’s words.

“Don’t you have anyone you suspect? Someone who seemed strange?”

“To be honest…”

Does he have someone in mind?

“We weren’t that close.”

“Ah.”

I guess not.

“Before I lost my memory, it was just business.”

Rembrary nodded at Jungseo’s indifferent words.

Well, Jungseo acts similarly to the other members now.

“But now that I know, I’ll keep an eye on them too. If they threatened you before you lost your memory, they wouldn’t want you to regain it, right?”

“Thanks.”

“You and Taein were always bickering, and you were closest to Hyegyeol.”

Still, not wanting to say nothing at all, Jungseo narrowed his eyes, looked at the back of the sofa, and muttered.

“I was also close to Kesh, but our relationship suddenly worsened after I lost my memory.”

“Okay.”

It wasn’t much different from what he already knew, but Rembrary nodded and thanked him.

“I’ll help you look from now on. And Yeonwoo, the notebook I gave you.”

“Yeah.”

“It doesn’t have much in it, but just in case, don’t show it to the other members.”

* * *

Thursday.

The members who went home hadn’t returned yet.

Jungseo was also at his parents’ house, so Rembrary was alone in the dorm.

Originally, Jungseo had asked Rembrary to go to his parents’ house with him, but Rembrary promised to go next time and stayed at the dorm for now.

Rembrary took a simple salad from the refrigerator, placed it on the table, and brought the notebook Jungseo had given him yesterday, opening it beside him.

He took a fork, ate the salad, and turned to the first page of the notebook, where a rather embarrassing diary-like entry appeared.

‘This part isn’t necessary…’

In fact, the notebook itself was written in diary form.

It seemed to be a notebook used for organizing thoughts while writing a diary, rather than keeping formal records.

After turning a few more pages, he finally found a story about the group Jungseo had been investigating.

“…”

However, whether he looked at it briefly or in detail, he didn’t feel much different.

‘There’s really nothing much here.’

– Maeng Wooshin is definitely a member of that group.

– Maeng Wooshin himself doesn’t seem to hide it much. (Suspected of being an attention seeker. Important. Be careful.)

‘Attention seeker? Is that a rank?’

Rembrary tilted his head and went down again.

– To become someone who attracts people’s attention, you must have experiences that ordinary people cannot.

– You must fill your quota.

– That person is not qualified to receive a miracle.

– I don’t like the person who will receive the angel’s wish this time.

Rembrary frowned.

What does it mean to ‘have experiences that ordinary people cannot’?

The word ‘quota’ is also bothering him.

Judging by the phrase ‘qualified to receive a miracle,’ there seems to be discrimination or hierarchy within the group Maeng Wooshin is in…

The fact that ‘I don’t like this person’ means that it’s not a friendly and harmonious group.

But other than that, there wasn’t much else.

As Jungseo himself said, he seemed to have completely given up after the angel story came out, so there were no further records.

Anyway, becoming a monk in Buddhism is impossible for now, so he has to meet Maeng Wooshin. That seemed to be the most important thing for now.

He was lost in thought when someone rang the doorbell from outside.

‘Is it Jungseo?’

Rembrary went to the door without much thought.

However, there was no one in front of the intercom monitor.

When he opened the door, he heard footsteps hurrying away.

‘Did someone play a prank?’

As he was about to go back inside, feeling strange, Rembrary stopped when he found a letter on the floor.

‘Did that person leave it?’

The letter was written in black ink, ‘Open it ^^’.

Rembrary closed the door, went inside, and opened the envelope.

At that moment, red blood dripped and soaked the envelope.

Rembrary took his hand off the envelope and clicked his tongue.

Several small, sharp blades were attached to the inside of the envelope.

In the meantime, blood continued to seep from the sharply cut skin.

‘Who on earth would do this?’

Rembrary was flustered and looked down at the letter. He healed his hand with divine power and carefully took out the letter inside.

He wondered what was written that they had attached so many blades.

However, there was nothing in the letter.

^^

Only a smiling face remained.

Rembrary wondered what to do and decided to call Jongwoo first.

He felt a little sorry to call him on his day off, but he thought he should at least let him know.

– Hello?

Fortunately, Jongwoo answered the phone right away.

Rembrary wiped the blood from the envelope with a tissue and explained the situation.

“Someone rang the doorbell, and there was a letter.”

– What?

“When I opened the letter, there was a knife.”

– Wait, what?!

“When I opened the letter, there was a smiling face.”

– Yeonwoo, tell me exactly what happened. What are you talking about?

“Someone left a letter with a knife inside and ran away.”

– !

* * *

In less than 30 minutes, Jongwoo arrived at the dorm.

Jongwoo was horrified and jumped when he saw the letter Rembrary handed him.

“What is this? Did you see who gave it to you?”

“No, but I heard footsteps running away.”

“Wow, who would do something like this?”

“Do you know who did it?”

“It’s probably an anti-fan. Or a slightly crazy obsessive fan.”

“A fan gives you a knife?”

“They usually don’t. Even *sasaengs* [obsessive fans who stalk or invade the privacy of celebrities] don’t do that. But you know, the law of conservation of weirdos. There are always a few crazy ones.”

“Is there such a law?”

“I don’t know. That’s not important. Anyway, I don’t know why you guys are getting this kind of thing even before you’ve made it big.”

After grumbling, Jongwoo told him not to touch the letter or the knife and called the agency.

Soon after, someone from the agency came and put the letter and knife in a ziplock bag and took them away.

After that person left, Jongwoo asked worriedly.

“But there was blood on the envelope. Are you okay?”

“It was just a slight scratch. It’s not bleeding now.”

“Okay.”

Jongwoo nodded as if he thought it could happen, but he looked at his hand and earnestly urged him.

“I don’t know if it came to the whole group or if it was specifically for someone, but it’s better to be careful from now on.”

“I understand.”

After speaking, Jongwoo stared at Rembrary awkwardly for a moment.

“Why are you doing that?”

When he asked why he was staring without leaving, Jongwoo scratched his head and asked.

“Are you alone?”

“I’m alone.”

“No, do these kids have no loyalty, leaving someone with no memory alone?”

“Jungseo told me to go.”

“Jungseo… Ah. His mother is sick. Right.”

Jongwoo nodded as if he didn’t know she had been discharged from the hospital yet.

But he frowned and still didn’t move.

“Aren’t you leaving?”

“Because of the strange letter, I feel bad leaving you alone.”

After thinking for a moment, Jongwoo finally suggested this.

“If you don’t have anything to do, do you want to hang out with me?”

“Isn’t it your day off? It won’t be a day off if you’re with me.”

“Ah, not for me.”

“Not for you?”

I heard it was his day off?

When Rembrary asked in surprise, Jongwoo grumbled as if it was a hassle.

“Something happened between Kingdom Entertainment and us.”

“Something?”

“It’s not related to Wild Animal.”

“Ah, okay.”

Rembrary nodded and said.

“Then go alone. It’s not related, and it’s not like we’re hanging out, so if I follow you around, my day off will just be wasted… Wait a minute.”

But in the middle of speaking, Rembrary belatedly grabbed Jongwoo.

“Who did you say you had a problem with?”

“Kingdom Entertainment. Why?”

Rembrary remembered when he and the members were forced to sit in front of the TV, pretending it was a monitor.

Practice scenes were being shown, and Beta was seen entering a large building.

‘Kingdom’ was written on the entrance of that building.

“Ah. I want that to be our group name.”

Hyegyeol muttered, and he remembered it clearly.

– Then later, even if we become famous, people will make fun of us, calling us Goddamn Group, you idiot.

Taein, who was next to her, immediately got annoyed, he remembered that too.

And Beta is…

“Are you going to that agency by any chance?”

He was in the same agency as Maeng Wooshin.

“Can I come with you? I won’t bother you, I’ll just quietly watch Maeng Wooshin.”

“What?”

* * *

“Don’t follow Maeng Wooshin around. Absolutely not.”

“…Okay.”

“It’s okay to say hello as a fan.”

“Okay.”

“After you say hello and try to talk to him, if he seems receptive, it’s okay to act accordingly.”

Jongwoo seemed uneasy that Rembrary had brought up Maeng Wooshin, but he also felt uneasy leaving him alone in a place where a strange letter had arrived, so he ended up bringing Rembrary to Kingdom Entertainment.

“Ugh, seriously, let’s make sure to promote our album this time. Let’s make sure we get famous and make a lot of money so we can ask them to move us to a dorm with better security.”

In the meantime, the car entered the parking lot of Kingdom Entertainment.

Rembrary got out of the car and quietly followed Jongwoo up to the first floor.

“Oh, it’s Wooyeonwoo. You’re Wooyeonwoo, right?”

“It’s Wooyeonwoo!”

“Isn’t that Wooyeonwoo?”

But even though Rembrary was quiet, the people around him started whispering first.

Was it because he dominated real-time search rankings and appeared on Sing Survival?

Surprisingly, many employees recognized Rembrary when he entered the entertainment building.

“They must be watching the program because of Betty [Beta],” Jongwoo muttered quietly.

But that helped.

While Jongwoo was calling some manager he was supposed to meet, Maeng Wooshin, who had come out of the bathroom because of the commotion outside, also approached them.

“Why? What’s going on?”

“Wooyeonwoo is here.”

Jongwoo still had his phone in his hand and nudged Rembrary with his elbow, gesturing towards Maeng Wooshin.

Unlike Seonwoo Director, Maeng Wooshin’s face was similar to the photos circulating on the internet.

Rembrary quickly approached him.

Maeng Wooshin had come over out of curiosity, but he didn’t look at Rembrary strangely like the other employees.

When Rembrary approached, he just said, “Ah, the survival show,” as if he knew him.

He didn’t even seem to know the name of the program completely.

But Rembrary didn’t care and said what he had told Jongwoo in advance.

“I’m a fan, senior.”

“Oh, okay.”

Maeng Wooshin asked dryly, as if he had a truckload of juniors approaching him as fans.

“Should I give you an autograph?”

Rembrary glanced at Jongwoo.

Jongwoo was still on the phone, explaining, “So, where is this…”

Taking advantage of the gap, Rembrary quickly said in a quiet voice that others couldn’t hear.

“I heard that you belong to a very interesting group, senior.”

Maeng Wooshin’s expression, which had been dry, twitched slightly.

Then, his expression soon changed to one of ‘look at this?’ and he looked at Rembrary.

When Rembrary stared at him, Maeng Wooshin smiled and signaled him to follow with his chin.

Rembrary told Jongwoo that he was following Maeng Wooshin and followed him.

Maeng Wooshin found an empty room on the floor above, sat comfortably on the sofa, and looked at Rembrary.

“Okay. What did you hear?”

He acted as if he had nothing to hide.

“I don’t know what you’re going to say, but if you’re going to say something strange, you better be careful, junior. I’ve heard some stories about you too.”

At the same time, he added a subtle threat. It wasn’t the attitude of someone who had absolutely nothing to hide.

But Rembrary smiled without caring.

“I’ve heard even more stories about you, senior.”

It hadn’t even been three hours since he had looked at the notes Jungseo had left. He remembered all the parts about Maeng Wooshin.

Maeng Wooshin smiled and tilted his head. But his eyes were cold, and the corners of his raised mouth were stiff.

He’s got something he’s worried about.

Rembrary took a few more steps, bent down, made eye contact with him, and quietly lowered his voice.

“Senior… I heard you’re an attention seeker?”