Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 56

< 56. Already Arrogant >

“What?”

Rembrary, jolted awake, quickly got out of bed.

“Come out here.”

With Taein and Keshi singing at the dining table, Rembrary and Jungseo went to the living room sofa.

Jungseo rummaged through his phone and showed Rembrary a series of short online videos related to him.

In the videos, Rembrary was doing a photoshoot.

But it wasn’t a recent shoot; it was from weeks ago, when the results had already been released. The shoot where he first became aware of his shadow.

The videos captured the commotion and surprise of that time.

The photographer and staff were visibly astonished, and some were shuddering in fear.

Eunseon’s terrified voice was also included.

The next video was from when Rembrary visited Sunwoosil’s agency.

It showed Rembrary asking Sansora for a handshake, being stopped by Jongwoo, and then making excuses.

“That senior from earlier. He looked unwell. He didn’t seem to be in good health.”

Jongwoo immediately retorted, “Unwell? He looked perfectly healthy to me,” but the next scene showed news of Sansora collapsing.

The narration was full of exaggerated reactions.

Then, a large caption reading ‘Could it be?’ appeared with a dramatic sound effect, followed by footage from the haunted house shoot.

It showed Rembrary saying something strange to a frightened Yulli O, “It’s okay. I don’t sense anything particularly strange here.”

It didn’t end there.

Short practice scenes were shown, with the camera zooming in on his face whenever he made a serious or subtle expression.

The narrator was heard muttering, “Wow, his expression…”

After watching the videos, Rembrary clicked his tongue.

“Why is the order like this?”

Everything that happened was true.

However, the order of events was cleverly twisted as if they had happened in quick succession.

That alone gave Rembrary an image of ‘having something going on’.

Rembrary realized how powerful and impressive broadcast editing could be.

Jongwoo, who had witnessed everything, would have dismissed it, but the editing made Rembrary look very suspicious.

Jungseo turned off the video, pointing to the number of hearts below it.

“Your videos have an overwhelmingly high number of hearts and views.”

“Hmm. It’s certainly disconcerting.”

“What should we do?”

“There’s nothing we can do, is there?”

“What if it affects your power…?”

“It’s still within the realm of coincidence, so don’t worry.”

Rembrary reassured Jungseo, mentally reviewing the scenes from the video.

It was strange, but there were no decisive moments where he used his powers.

No one would realize he had healing abilities from watching this.

Some might notice his remarkable perception, though.

* * *

The next day, Rembrary’s words proved to be true.

The other members who saw the videos just found them strange and amusing.

Hyegyeol giggled, saying, “Hyung, you’re edited so weirdly,” and just laughed it off.

Jongwoo didn’t say much either, and Rembrary prepared to go to the recording studio without worry.

He dressed comfortably, as Jongwoo had said he might be in the studio all day.

After greeting the composer and engineer at the studio, Rembrary sang with the members in front of the composer, received some pointers, reviewed the song again, and began recording in turn.

The atmosphere was friendly even during lunch.

However, the previous night’s broadcast was unfolding in an unexpected direction.

At first, everyone was amazed and focused on Wooyeonwoo’s sharp perception.

Then, stories of people being cured by stanning Wooyeonwoo, or of Wooyeonwoo taking a picture with someone’s son and the son getting better, were brought up.

These were stories that everyone had ridiculed and dismissed, but when combined with the cleverly edited video by PD [Production Director] Kim Murok, they created a surprisingly mystical image.

Jongwoo only found out about this after receiving a call from CEO Lim after the members had resumed recording.

– The communities are going crazy. What on earth is going on?

“What do you mean?”

– Yeonwoo. Why is he suddenly a fortune teller?

“Ah. It’s because of the editing.”

– You haven’t checked yet, have you?

“No?”

– You haven’t yet.

“Ah. I’m sorry. I’ve been in the recording studio all this time.”

– Check what people are saying now.

“Where? Communities? SNS [Social Networking Services]? News? Which one?”

– Anywhere.

After ending the call, Jongwoo quickly checked his favorite community before going back into the recording studio. It was the community with the most celebrity gossip.

‘Is he being called a crazy cult leader again?’ Jongwoo worried, quickly moving his thumbs.

But the reactions were much better than expected.

Posts like ‘I overcame my illness by stanning Yeonwoo,’ which Jongwoo and everyone else had considered absurd, suddenly gained attention, and people were debating whether it was a coincidence or not.

The stories of curing illnesses were still treated as nonsense, but they were gradually turning into urban legends.

About half thought it was a creepy coincidence, and the other half thought Yeonwoo actually had very good perception.

Either way, it was better than being seen as a rude or ignorant person.

* * *

Besides Jongwoo, there were a few others who liked this situation, including the director and writer Shim Kyung of [the show they are working on].

“Wow, this is good?”

The director chuckled while looking at his phone while eating with writer Shim Kyung.

“What is it? Did he take another amazing photoshoot?”

“No. They made a drama out of a documentary.”

“?”

The director handed his phone to writer Shim Kyung.

Writer Shim Kyung, with a rolled omelet in her mouth, puzzledly took the phone.

The director was looking at a blog post summarizing ‘this issue’.

Writer Shim Kyung scrolled down the post and exclaimed.

“Wow.”

They knew how ridiculous the rumors circulating in the entertainment industry were.

Of course, there were often truths hidden beyond the rumors, but at least now it seemed like just a ridiculous rumor.

“This is good!”

“Right?”

But writer Shim Kyung really liked this ridiculous rumor.

“This image would be a good fit for the role of Imseo.”

“Exactly. If we combine it with a mysterious feel, wow, it’ll be amazing?”

* * *

Unaware that the director and Shim Kyung were reacting this way, Rembrary was stuck in the recording studio until two in the morning.

He thought he could just record it all at once.

But there were surprisingly many parts that needed fixing and additional work, so it took a long time.

This was also because the recording schedule, which was originally from Tuesday to Friday, had been reduced to three days.

The members collapsed as soon as they returned to the dorm.

“Ah, seriously, what if the song doesn’t do well even after all this?”

“Don’t say unlucky things.”

Still, the other members were in a better situation. They could rest on Thursday and recharge on Friday.

However, Yeonwoo also had a solo song recording scheduled, so he had to go to the recording studio on Thursday as well.

“Hello.”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks for your hard work.”

The composer also had dark circles under his eyes as he greeted him.

“Today is the solo song, right?”

“Yes.”

“I read the lyrics, and they’re a bit strong. Is it noise marketing [a marketing strategy that attracts attention through controversy]?”

“The concept is a devil, so I can’t make it for children.”

“That’s true.”

The composer nodded and gestured.

“Okay, let’s do it.”

Rembrary held the lyrics he had written and sang the song as he had practiced.

“Wow, great tone.”

The composer closed his eyes and exclaimed as Rembrary sang the first verse.

He had seen many cases where the image and actual personality were different while doing this job.

There were many cases where someone seemed like a jerk but turned out to be innocent, and there were many cases where an idol who seemed kind and innocent turned out to be the worst.

Because of this, the composer exclaimed with admiration for Rembrary’s musicality without any prejudice.

But the exclamations gradually began to decrease.

“…Ah, it’s a bit ambiguous.”

The composer muttered to himself, rubbing his arm with his palm.

He sang the song really well. He sang it really well, but the feeling was a bit…

“How is it?”

Rembrary, who had finally finished the song, lowered the paper and looked at the composer with expectant eyes.

The composer answered honestly.

“If the devil in an exorcist movie sang a song, it would sound exactly like that, yeah.”

Rembrary smiled brightly and gave a thumbs up.

“Hey, that’s not a compliment. Put your thumb down.”

“That’s exactly what I wanted.”

* * *

After being scolded by the composer, who said, ‘It’s your choice to sing like a devil, but do you think anyone would pay to listen to devil music?’

Rembrary sat blankly on the windowsill, eating a chicken breast lunch box.

His head was confused.

Sagamjae approached Rembrary and kindly asked.

“Is it very difficult?”

Rembrary answered honestly.

“I’m doing it like a devil because it’s a devil concept, but they say it’s no good because it’s like a devil, so I don’t understand at all.”

“…”

But the person who asked the question doesn’t answer.

Rembrary took his eyes off the lunch box and looked at Sagamjae.

Sagamjae was looking at him with that strange look that he occasionally had.

Rembrary felt uneasy about that look.

Whenever Sagamjae looked at him like that, he felt like his feet were tingling for no reason. It was as if he knew something.

‘There’s no way he knows.’

There’s no magic in this world, and there are no priests who use divine power like magic, right?

‘But… there are evil spirits. Seeing how sacred objects react to divine power, there must be some divine power. Maybe there are other things.’

In the end, Rembrary decided to find out whether Sagamjae was an ordinary person or not.

The first method Rembrary chose was to first distinguish whether Sagamjae was an absolutely evil being or not.

Just like he had checked the two shadows before.

Rembrary deliberately went to the vending machine and pulled out a can. Then, he pretended to open the can and pressed his hand against the sharp part of the can, making a wound.

“Ouch.”

Sagamjae slowly approached as he let out a short scream.

Rembrary sent divine power to the flowing blood and held out his hand to him.

“Will you wipe it off?”

Sagamjae raised his eyebrows but obediently took out a handkerchief.

Rembrary pushed the handkerchief away and asked again.

“Will you wipe it with your skin?”

Sagamjae obediently raised his hand.

However, before Rembrary’s blood could touch Sagamjae.

“What are you doing, Wooyeonwoo! Are you crazy! Is Gamjae out of his mind?”

Jongwoo, who had quickly run over, slapped Rembrary on the back and snatched the handkerchief to wipe off the blood.

Rembrary was dumbfounded and looked at him, but Jongwoo was genuinely angry.