Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 50

50. The New Manager Knows Something

Although Rembrary didn’t outwardly show his unease about the new manager, he felt a sense of discomfort.

Jongwoo, oblivious to Rembrary’s apprehension, smiled cheerfully.

With a proud look, he pointed to each member in turn for the new manager.

“Let me introduce you. This is Jungseo, our leader.”

“Hello.”

“This is Taein, our lead vocalist. And that’s Hyegyeol, the youngest. This is Keshi, our main vocalist.”

“Yes.”

“And this is Yeonwoo. The one I mentioned earlier.”

Whatever he had said earlier, the new manager’s expression turned quite peculiar.

“You’ll probably be working with Yeonwoo a lot. He’ll be entering a public broadcast drama as a supporting actor soon, so he’ll have many individual activities.”

“I see.”

The new manager replied calmly, then suddenly extended his hand towards Rembrary, introducing himself.

“I’m Sa Gamjae.”

He didn’t even greet the other members. Jungseo tilted his head, noticing that he was only offering a handshake to Yeonwoo.

Jongwoo seemed pleased with the new manager, simply smiling.

“Gamjae, judging by your *mal-tu* [manner of speaking], you’ll get along well with Yeonwoo.”

Rembrary still felt uneasy about the new manager but accepted the handshake.

In that moment, as their hands touched, a cold sensation made his fingertips tingle.

The new manager’s face was very pale. His body temperature seemed low as well.

If his hand hadn’t been soft, it would have felt like a corpse.

‘What a strange person,’ Rembrary clicked his tongue and tried to pull his hand away. But it wouldn’t budge.

‘Huh?’

Rembrary looked at Sa Gamjae in surprise.

Sa Gamjae didn’t release his hand. No matter how hard he tried to pull away, he couldn’t because Sa Gamjae’s grip was unbelievably strong.

Moreover, he stared intently into Rembrary’s eyes without blinking, his gaze very strange.

It wasn’t a look of affection, but one of observation.

Jongwoo, who had been smiling, also noticed something was off.

“Are you two fighting?”

Jungseo lightly chopped the joined hands of Rembrary and Sa Gamjae with the side of his hand. Only then did Sa Gamjae release his grip, forcing a smile as he greeted.

“Hello.”

Sa Gamjae’s strange behavior didn’t end there.

When they went to hear the results of the fourth competition on Monday,

Sa Gamjae, who was accompanying them for the first time, insisted on staying close to Rembrary, even though there were five members.

But it wasn’t like he was taking good care of him.

When people’s attention focused on them, he covered his own face and left Rembrary exposed.

“Hey, Gamjae? I’d welcome you if you wanted to be a celebrity, but if you don’t, how about lowering your hand from your face and taking care of Yeonwoo?”

He quickly lowered his hand at Jongwoo’s words, but Jongwoo slightly lowered his expectations for Sa Gamjae.

His behavior, which deviated slightly from common sense, seemed similar to Woo Yeonwoo’s.

“Where does the CEO keep finding these Yeonwoo knock-offs…”

* * *

The competition results were announced.

Rembrary came in second place by a narrow margin.

He was first in music score, but his total ranking was pushed back because Mabuyoung, who had decorated the stage spectacularly like an actual carnival festival, received higher YouTube scores.

Oh Jungshin was last again. When the results were announced, he jokingly said, “Ah, not again,” but when he made eye contact with Rembrary, his eyes seemed to be filled with lava.

He seemed to think it was all Rembrary’s fault. Still.

“The theme for the fifth competition is lip-syncing.”

After hearing the theme for the next competition and finishing the filming, Rembrary quietly asked Jongwoo.

“If Oh Jungshin’s penalty involves me again, do I have to stay still again today?”

Jongwoo, who knew that Rembrary had fought with Jungshin, replied in an even quieter voice.

“No matter how careful you are now, you’re already targeted by his fans anyway. If he comes to do errands, just let him.”

“Is it okay?”

“If you’re going to get cursed at no matter what, it’s better to do something and get cursed at, even if it’s just 1g [a very small amount] better.”

Rembrary didn’t know, but Jongwoo was constantly fighting with Oh Jungshin’s fans online.

Every time Oh Jungshin’s fans created and spread rumors, he posted rebuttals, sometimes even mobilizing employees to camp out on a community page for hours.

He had exchanged countless insults and personal attacks.

Jongwoo was even more upset about Oh Jungshin than Rembrary was.

He copied the stage in the first place.

Then he got angry and acted like he was wronged.

Since Oh Jungshin’s fans would never look kindly on Rembrary, Jongwoo decided to loosen Rembrary’s reins when it came to Oh Jungshin.

“Go and trample him with your mouth.”

“What?”

“It’s your specialty. Making people angry with strange words.”

‘Is this person…?’ Rembrary looked at Jongwoo with a fishy eye, unsure if he was an ally or an enemy.

In the control room, PD [Production Director] Kim Murok was excitedly talking to the assistant director.

“What was the original penalty for this time?”

“Blindfolded, eating food and guessing what it is.”

“Why did you decide on something so boring?”

“The person who decided that would know.”

“Who decided it?”

“…”

“Was it me?”

“If I say ‘yes’ here, will it affect my social life?”

“It was me.”

PD Kim Murok clicked his tongue. Come to think of it, he seemed to remember something like that.

But he soon waved his hand.

“If I decided it, I have to change it. Let’s do something else.”

“Yes? Suddenly?”

“You know Oh Jungshin and Woo Yeonwoo fought, right?”

“You mean the argument in the hallway? Or the fact that Oh Jungshin’s fans are always badmouthing Woo Yeonwoo?”

“Both.”

“Yes. I know.”

“Right now, Oh Jungshin is last and Woo Yeonwoo is second.”

“Yes.”

“What do you think will happen if Oh Jungshin gets involved with Woo Yeonwoo while receiving the penalty?”

“It’ll be a mess again. Oh Jungshin’s fans.”

“Exactly. That’s why we need to put them together.”

The assistant director asked hesitantly at PD Kim Murok’s words.

“Uh… would that be okay?”

Oh Jungshin’s fans had already terrorized the website bulletin board twice in relation to Yeonwoo.

But to put them together again?

“At least Oh Jungshin’s fans will keep watching.”

“Ah. Then the penalty…”

“Let’s have him do errands like before. The last place person does errands for the participants in the rankings. But this time, we’ll decide what errands to give.”

* * *

After the penalty was changed.

The staff called the participants who were still remaining in 1st to 3rd place and Oh Jungshin, who was in last place, and told them what penalty they would be performing.

“Errands?”

“Yes. We’re going to film Oh Jungshin doing errands since he’s in last place. Mabuyoung is in first place, so we’ll be filming Oh Jungshin doing errands for him today, Woo Yeonwoo tomorrow, and Gilmaeri, who is in third place, the day after tomorrow. The limit is three hours again.”

Jongwoo’s expression, who was listening to the explanation next to him, crumpled.

He had told Rembrary to do as he pleased, but he didn’t expect the stage to be set up for him to really do as he pleased.

Rembrary nodded and glanced at Oh Jungshin.

Oh Jungshin, who was listening to the explanation across from him, was pretending to be sick, conscious of the camera that came with the staff.

“Three days while preparing for the competition! That’s too much!”

But as soon as the camera turned off and the staff left, his expression hardened.

He was friendly towards Mabuyoung, saying,

“Please take care of me, senior.”

But he didn’t say anything when he made eye contact with Rembrary.

But he didn’t avoid his gaze either.

Facing Oh Jungshin’s expression of ‘I don’t like you,’ Rembrary smiled brightly and told him his resolve.

“Tomorrow, I will show you the true class system.”

Gilmaeri, who came in third place, exchanged anxious glances with her manager and coughed.

Rembrary smiled gently at Gilmaeri and turned to walk away.

He heard someone grumbling behind him, ‘That psycho,’ but he didn’t care.

Jongwoo was once again wondering if he should be holding Rembrary’s reins.

Regardless, Rembrary was diligently thinking about what he should make Oh Jungshin do tomorrow.

In the original world, slaves who didn’t listen were disciplined with whips.

If I do that this time…

“Jongwoo.”

“What.”

“Do you think it will harm the other members if I educate Jungshin with a whip?”

“…What did you watch before you went to sleep yesterday?”

“I didn’t watch anything.”

“Don’t do it. You’ll get arrested. Absolutely no whips.”

Jongwoo suddenly became afraid. Maybe he shouldn’t have told Rembrary to ‘do whatever he wants’?

In the end, he checked to make sure no one was around.

“Tell me in advance what you’re going to do with Oh Jungshin tomorrow.”

But before Yeonwoo could answer.

“Ah, this!”

The staff member who had explained Oh Jungshin’s penalty earlier rushed over and handed him a small note.

“They said to choose from here and make him do errands.”

Jongwoo received the note through the window, asking suspiciously.

“If we do it like this, it won’t be edited to make our Yeonwoo look weird, right?”

“No way, the fact that we delivered the note in advance will all be shown.”

The staff member subtly pointed to the cameraman behind him.

Jongwoo nodded and closed the window.

Well, there are three people making him do the penalty.

If they don’t want to see three agencies making a fuss, they will definitely handle that part properly.

Jongwoo started the car and handed the note that the staff had given him to Rembrary with one hand.

“Here. They said to choose from here tomorrow.”

Rembrary received the note and quickly checked the contents, then clicked his tongue briefly.

It was a sign of dissatisfaction.

But Jongwoo was relieved. The fact that he was dissatisfied meant that the contents of the note were definitely less difficult than what he originally wanted to make him do.

“What does it say?”

“Making him prepare food. Making him feed me food. Making him massage my shoulders. Making him make 30 lunch boxes for the fans. Making him pack 30 gifts for the staff. Making him do housework… Every single one of them is boring.”

Rembrary clicked his tongue.

There were nearly 50 types of penalties, but in Rembrary’s eyes, they were all mild errands.

Jongwoo felt a chill down his spine at Rembrary’s words. There were a few errands that seemed quite difficult. What was that guy really planning to make him do?

“Yeonwoo.”

“What is it.”

“Tell me honestly. What were you originally going to make him do?”

“Do you know what human language is?”

“I don’t know what it is, but I don’t think you need to tell me any more than that.”

Rembrary shrugged and carefully examined the list.

Keshi also leaned in and added her opinion, telling him to make him do this and make him do that.

She seemed quite happy that Oh Jungshin would be doing errands.

But Sa Gamjae, the new manager who had been silent all along, suddenly asked Rembrary.

“Why are you staying still?”

Rembrary took his eyes off the paper and looked at him.

“What do you mean?”

“Woo Yeonwoo, I mean.”

“?”

“I can see that you have a very bad relationship with that human named Oh Jungshin. I’m asking why you’re staying still.”

Rembrary raised his eyebrows.

“If I don’t stay still?”

Jongwoo frowned as he looked at Sa Gamjae through the rearview mirror.

‘Why is he provoking a kid who’s already a ticking time bomb?’ he thought to himself.

But since it was Jongwoo’s first time taking Sa Gamjae around, he decided to watch the situation for now.

He wanted to see how Sa Gamjae, who was also his direct junior, would handle his assigned celebrity.

“Isn’t it easy for Woo Yeonwoo to kill a person without anyone knowing?”

The car screeched and swerved to the side.