Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 58

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“Are you *that* amazed?”

Jungseo, on his way to grab some pumpkin powder drink, asked with a smile as he saw Rembrary.

Rembrary was sprawled on the sofa, clutching his phone with both hands, staring blankly at the screen.

He would occasionally smile, looking genuinely happy.

“It’s amazing that people are leaving comments on my photos.”

Hyegyeol, who was engrossed in that infamous *Romance of the Three Kingdoms* game on the sofa, chimed in with a snicker. “You always had tons of comments on your photos, didn’t you? Most of them were insults, though.”

“This is a photo I uploaded myself, isn’t it?”

Jungseo asked, shaking the bottle to help the pumpkin powder dissolve properly in the water.

“What are they saying?”

“Well, the comments are pretty much what you’d expect.”

“?”

“Things like ‘handsome’.”

“Ugh, how annoying,” Hyegyeol said, kicking the sofa leg and grumbling before asking, “What else? Anything besides compliments?”

“They’re asking if I have something on my head in the picture.”

“What kind of picture did you upload?” Hyegyeol asked when Rembrary showed him the photo. “Is that the lighting?”

Rembrary avoided answering and snatched the phone back.

Jungseo walked over to the sofa and carefully advised, “It’s fun and nice that people react to your words or photos, but be careful. A single slip of the tongue can lead to strange misunderstandings.”

“A strange misunderstanding from a single slip of the tongue? That’s unlikely. A person’s true character is revealed in their slips of the tongue.”

“…Don’t do that. It’ll be bad for you.”

“?”

Rembrary was puzzled, but Hyegyeol understood Jungseo’s words and chuckled.

Jungseo continued, “You’re especially prone to misunderstandings because your memory is unstable. So, before posting anything, show it to Jongwoo *hyung* [older brother or male friend] and ask if it’s okay.”

“Ah. Jongwoo already told me that.”

“He did?”

“He said I can upload photos as is, but I should show him my posts first. Or show them to you.”

“Okay. That’ll work.”

Rembrary nodded, grabbed his phone again to check the comments, and then asked, “But Jungseo.”

“Yeah?”

“What does ‘bbak dae ga ri’ mean? People keep calling me that.”

“…Ignore them.”

“I hearted them to check later. Is that okay? There’s a feature to collect hearted comments. I hearted all the comments with strange words.”

“!”

* * *

Title: I got a heart from Woo Yeonwoo

헐 [Korean slang expressing disbelief or shock] I wrote ‘bbak dae ga ri’ to Woo Yeonwoo

He hearted my comment.

What does this mean?

– It means he’s marked you, so be careful with your fingers if you don’t want to get sued.

– The real me that I’ve been hiding~~~~~

– Why leave malicious comments?

– Doesn’t that mean he admits he’s a ‘bbak dae ga ri’? lol

Title: I also got a heart from Woo Yeonwoo

I’m writing this after seeing the post below.

It’s a bit much to say this myself, but I actually wrote ‘inss’ [Korean slang for ‘insider,’ someone popular and well-connected] under Woo Yeonwoo’s photo.

There were so many comments, I didn’t think he’d see it. And he’s been quiet recently, but he’s caused a lot of trouble.

But he hearted my comment too.

I wondered why he hearted it, so I kept pressing and saw that he hearted every insult.

Is this grounds for a lawsuit?

– It’s a pervert vibe ;;

– He might be an M [masochist], be careful. He might ask for your contact information personally.

– ㅅㅂ [Korean profanity, similar to ‘f*ck’] ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ [Korean laughter, similar to ‘lol’]

* * *

The next day.

The choreographer who had been hired arrived at the practice room.

The choreographer, who had already received the demo tape and listened to it dozens of times, gave the members a thumbs up and praised them. “I was surprised when I heard the song. Wild Animal’s performance this time is something to look forward to, don’t you think?”

The choreographer gave Rembrary a particularly expectant look.

He was the most famous and had been a hot topic, so naturally, he attracted attention.

However, that interest slowly turned into anger 15 minutes after the dance practice started.

“Can’t you dance more naturally?”

“It’s just lifting your foot and putting it down, right? It’s not difficult, is it? Why is it turning into a knee kick?!”

“I’m not asking for acrobatics, I’m not asking for windmills, I’m not asking for anything difficult! The difficulty is the *lowest*!”

“Damn it, Woo Yeonwoo! Even elderly people who just started learning salsa dance are better than you!”

“Hey! Are you going to do it right?!”

The choreographer’s voice gradually increased, and he eventually couldn’t handle his blood pressure and grabbed his forehead.

If he couldn’t even memorize the dance and was just awkward, he wouldn’t be this angry.

He memorizes the choreography at once, but then can’t follow along, so he’s just barely missing the mark.

The base of the dance that the choreographer attempted for this concept was waacking, with the point being the constantly moving arm movements that hit the beat perfectly.

He had heard a hint that Woo Yeonwoo was a terrible dancer, so he deliberately reduced the number of leg movements while maintaining the feeling of a group dance.

Just because he’s bad at dancing with his body doesn’t mean he’s good at moving his arms, but he thought it would be better than having complicated movements.

When the member singing the song comes to the center of the stage from waacking and recites the lyrics with an angelic expression, the other members had to express a demonic feeling through dance behind him.

But Woo Yeonwoo, who is the most noticeable because of his face, is in that state, so he couldn’t help but get angry.

“At this rate, just pretend you hurt your leg. Say you hurt your leg and sit in a chair and just sing. That would be better.”

Rembrary apologized and then worked even harder on his practice.

But no matter how hard he tried, his stiff body didn’t become smooth.

“It’s because he’s not eating meat.”

Hyegyeol, who watched Rembrary, argued to Jongwoo like this. “We need to feed Yeonwoo *hyung* meat, Jongwoo *hyung*. He’s stiff because he only eats dry rice every day and doesn’t get oiled up.”

Jongwoo thought it made sense, so that evening, he secretly grilled pork belly for the members without the CEO’s knowledge.

However, Rembrary’s dancing skills did not improve the next day, so Hyegyeol was deprived of a day’s worth of chicken breast for making a false claim.

And Thursday.

The choreographer, whose great and wonderful group dance was being held back by Rembrary, finally exploded.

He went to CEO Im and made a serious request. “Even if we only take his face for the music video, shouldn’t we just take him out of the comeback stage? Put a cast on him and have him sit in a chair and sing, and then write an article about ‘Woo Yeonwoo’s injured spirit!’ That would be better, CEO.”

“Is it that bad?”

“Yes. Yulri O is the only idol I’ve ever seen who can’t dance like that. But they have nine members, so they can at least hide Yulri in the back. Wild Animal can’t do that…”

CEO Im realized the seriousness of the situation and visited the practice room himself.

However, CEO Im had already seen Rembrary’s terrible dancing skills several times, so he wasn’t as shocked as the choreographer.

His expectations were low.

But he thought there must be a reason why the choreographer was saying that, so he secretly called Rembrary and said, “You’re good at singing, Yeonwoo. If you’re good at singing, you can dance well too. Think of it as an extension. They both involve keeping the beat, right?”

“Everyone prays, but not everyone is answered. The same goes for dancing and singing.”

“That’s a weird analogy?”

“I’m trying too. I haven’t been able to sleep properly, so I’ve become so haggard.”

Rembrary’s face was very clean thanks to his divine power, but his expression looked really tired.

Dancing was something Rembrary couldn’t do anything about.

In the end, CEO Im called the choreographer again and persuaded him. “Yeonwoo’s dance is a little awkward, but he’s getting the most attention. We can’t take him out of the comeback stage.”

“But CEO, the group dance that I envisioned isn’t coming out because of Yeonwoo.”

“I’m sorry, but please modify Yeonwoo’s part to be a little easier.”

* * *

However, when they went to the studio for the jacket photo shoot on Friday, the atmosphere changed again.

“I saw the pictorial you took in Gwan. It was really cool, wasn’t it?”

The photographer said that he had seen both of Rembrary’s previous pictorials and was very excited from the beginning. When he started taking pictures, he was even happier.

“Yes, like that! Like that! Good, stop for a moment! Perfect!”

After putting on clothes and posing according to the concept, he first took a Polaroid photo, and the photographer was impressed even with the test shot.

“Wow, it looks like there’s a halo in the photo?”

He repeatedly praised him and pressed the shutter even more enthusiastically when he started taking the actual photos.

Rembrary, who was used to praise, got excited and struck all sorts of poses whenever the photographer shouted, “Cool! Perfect!”

During the break, it was a bit strange that Keshi suddenly ran out to get a drink as soon as Rembrary said, “Ah, I’m thirsty,” but overall it was a pleasant experience.

“The atmosphere is a bit different from the pictorial shoot.”

“We were commissioned to take that one, but we’re commissioning this one.”

“Is that so?”

“This side is more relaxed.”

Jongwoo answered Rembrary’s question and gestured slightly to the studio staff member holding a small camera. “And they said they’re going to film the jacket shooting scene as a video. We’re going to use this scene as video footage later, so the atmosphere has to be relaxed.”

“Ah.”

Rembrary drank the cider that Keshi had brought and glanced at Keshi.

No wonder. He was acting so nice and gentle, unlike usual.

“Okay, let’s start again!”

At the sound of the end of the break, Rembrary put down the cider he was drinking, and the scattered stylists came with makeup boxes.

But just as the filming was about to end.

Everyone was saying goodbye, and a familiar face was seen entering the studio.

‘Oh Jungshin?’

It was Oh Jungshin, who he didn’t get along with.

Moreover, it wasn’t just Oh Jungshin today.

It seemed like his whole group had come, as the other members were also seen, and the number of managers who came with them was higher than usual.

The atmosphere quickly turned cold because the other members and managers already knew about the discord between Oh Jungshin and Rembrary and the fights between fans.

Still, because there were staff and studio employees, the managers and members awkwardly greeted each other and parted ways.

“Ugh, so annoying.”

Keshi muttered quietly, as it wasn’t a distance where he could be heard even if he cursed.

Oh Jungshin mainly hated Rembrary, but as long as they were in the same group, Wild Animal as a whole suffered when Oh Jungshin’s fans acted like gangsters.

It was a natural order for the other members to also hate Oh Jungshin, his group, and Oh Jungshin’s fans.

But when they went outside, Oh Jungshin and his group weren’t the problem.

“Wow… it’s enemy territory.”

Hyegyeol muttered in a very small voice.

Jongwoo also swallowed hard.

Jungseo frowned at the thought of the trouble.

It couldn’t be helped.

Outside the studio, there were a lot of fans who had gathered to support Oh Jungshin and his group.

“Isn’t that Woo Yeonwoo?”

“Why are they coming out of there?”