Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 59

< 59. Singing of Love >

Just like Hye-gyeol said, this was no different from enemy territory.

It was especially true for Jong-woo, who fought with Oh Jeong-shin’s fans online every day.

They say enemies meet on a narrow bridge. This wasn’t even a narrow bridge.

Jong-woo’s heart pounded every time Oh Jeong-shin’s fans threw out a sharp word or two.

But he couldn’t fight back openly like he did online.

“Ignore them and walk past. Just walk past.”

Jong-woo said, pointing the members toward the parking lot.

“He’s chickening out. Look at him running away because he’s scared.”

“He can’t even make eye contact. Hilarious.”

“He acts all tough in front of the camera, but he’s so spineless.”

Sharp words flew out.

The members argued back dozens of times in their heads, but they suppressed their anger and walked on.

The only one who was calm in all of this was Rembrary.

Then, a curse-filled remark leaked out: “That piece of trash is pretending to be nice.”

Jong-woo was angry, but he was more worried about Rembrary, so he turned around.

Even though Rembrary had a strong mentality, he was bound to feel bad if he was openly insulted, so he was worried that he would be hurt.

But as soon as Jong-woo turned his head, he completely forgot his worries and let out a silent scream in horror.

Rembrary, who seemed to be walking along obediently, had stopped dead in his tracks.

His long finger was pointing at the person who was presumed to have cursed.

‘Is he really going to fight with someone else’s fan!’ Jong-woo thought.

‘If you’re going to fight, you should fight online, never openly.

Or fight in court with a lawsuit, but never in real life.’

Jong-woo hurriedly tried to grab Rembrary, but Rembrary approached the person in the blink of an eye.

Perhaps the person who cursed didn’t expect Rembrary to come directly to him, and he flinched.

“Wh-what! Are you going to hit me?”

The hesitant person shouted bravely, trusting that everyone around him was on his side.

After speaking, his courage grew even more.

‘Yeah, try hitting me here. I’ll end your career,’ he thought.

But Rembrary didn’t hit him.

Instead, he smiled even more brightly than usual and said in a warm voice.

“God is looking into your conscience.”

“Wh-what?”

The person who cursed flinched and asked back, as if he was proselytizing for a cult.

“What are you saying?”

Rembrary said again in an even softer voice.

“God can hear your curses too.”

The whispering voice was husky and very pleasant to listen to.

It was because Rembrary had mixed the power of divinity into his voice to the fullest extent.

The person who cursed felt his fighting spirit constantly decreasing in the voice that made the human eardrum the most comfortable and completely relieved the fatigue of the brain.

He didn’t know what nonsense he was talking about, but his voice was so good.

The person who cursed wanted to listen to Rembrary’s voice for hours.

But he tried to come to his senses by thinking of Oh Jeong-shin.

Suddenly, Rembrary started singing.

The fan completely lost his attack and defense power in just one verse and forgot about Oh Jeong-shin.

On the other hand, Jong-woo, who was standing a little further away, watching for the right moment to intervene, covered his face with his arms in embarrassment when Rembrary suddenly started singing.

Jeong-seo lowered her eyes, and Hye-gyeol covered her face with both hands.

Even Tae-in couldn’t bear to watch and quickly ran to the car.

‘This isn’t some children’s animation world, why is he suddenly singing in the middle of a fight?’ Jong-woo thought.

But then, an amazing thing happened.

The Oh Jeong-shin fan, who was full of fighting spirit, suddenly started snapping his fingers and keeping time.

The fans in the distance were horrified, wondering, ‘Why is he doing that?’ but the fans who were close to Rembrary understood the heart of the fan who had suddenly released his fighting spirit.

Rembrary’s voice, which was filled with the power of divinity to the fullest extent, had the power to completely melt people and assimilate them.

But since there was no microphone, the closer they were, the more affected they were.

The Oh Jeong-shin fans who were near Rembrary understood why birds would flock to the princesses in a certain animated movie when they sang.

When Rembrary finished his short song, Oh Jeong-shin’s fans lost their fighting spirit for different reasons.

Those who were captivated by the power of divinity were so engrossed in Rembrary that they didn’t want to attack him, and those who weren’t captivated by the power of divinity were too embarrassed to be near that weirdo.

* * *

“Yeon-woo.”

On the way back to the dorm.

It was only after 30 minutes that Jong-woo managed to ask Rembrary.

“Why did you sing just now?”

“Because singing is the most powerful way to convey love with your voice?”

Jong-woo got goosebumps on his arm again, so he decided not to bring up the topic.

Anyway, singing was better than cursing and fighting together.

If he fought, they would curse him for being a trash, but if he sang, they wouldn’t call him trash.

“They’ll just call you crazy.”

“Hmm? What did you say?”

“No. Nothing.”

As Jong-woo focused on driving, Kesh asked this time.

“What did you mean by saying that God is looking into your conscience?”

Hearing that question, Sa Gam-jae, who had been silently looking at his phone, glanced at Rembrary.

“It meant that I was going to tell God everything.”

“That’s funny. Does God listen to everything you tell him?”

“Yup.”

Kesh teased him for a long time, finding Rembrary’s confident answer funny, but Sa Gam-jae observed Rembrary with a subtle gaze for a while longer.

Jong-woo listened to the conversation quietly and then said with a hollow laugh.

“Still, that person who was cursing so harshly and some of the fans there seemed completely smitten after listening to your song. I hope they switch over to you from Oh Jeong-shin.”

Hye-gyeol grumbled, “Do you think they really would, hyung [older brother/male friend]?” and Jong-woo turned the steering wheel, saying that he was just saying it.

But the next day, Jong-woo’s wish came true.

In fact, some of the fans who had confronted Rembrary that day had subtly switched their allegiance to Rembrary.

They gave reasons such as ‘He looks even more fantastic in person’ or ‘I couldn’t help but fall for him the moment I heard his voice.’

Some even said, ‘He was cute because he seemed a little crazy.’

It was something that could have been buried.

The fans who were there were only a part of the total fans, and the fans who switched were only a part of that part.

However, Oh Jeong-shin’s fans, who hated Woo Yeon-woo so much, couldn’t even tolerate the defection of those few people, so they attacked the fans who had switched sides, calling them ‘traitors.’

Thanks to this, the fans who switched sides and the existing fans fought with each other online, issuing statements, and the fire spread to the community.

* * *

– Isn’t he being unethical as someone in the same industry? Why is he singing in front of other people’s fans? Does he think he’s an animation prince?

– He’s so shameless. So annoying.

– I hope the traitors who left will spend their lives backstabbing people ^^.

ㄴ Hey, you OOO, why can’t I type the curse words? Hey, you OOOOO, were you guys Oh Jeong-shin fans from birth? You guys also used to be OOO OOO, but why am I the only one getting blocked?

ㄴ Is the person above an idiot? Just don’t use curse words ;;

ㄴ Isn’t it possible to switch fandoms when you’re a celebrity fan, or to stan [support enthusiastically] various people?

ㄴ It’s weirder to call them traitors for that.

ㄴ Ignore the trolls. Oh Jeong-shin fans are originally famous for being difficult.

– Muggles [non-fans] who don’t know the situation shouldn’t get involved, okay?

* * *

Jong-woo checked people’s reactions and the video of Rembrary singing in front of the fans, then sighed and turned off his phone.

Fortunately, this time, there were few people who cursed at Rembrary other than Oh Jeong-shin’s fans.

Even among Oh Jeong-shin’s fans, opinions were divided.

In particular, the fans who were there but didn’t switch sides testified like this:

– I thought Woo Yeon-woo was a piece of trash, but he’s not a piece of trash in person. He’s just crazy.

“Now that it’s come to this, there’s nothing we can do. You guys just have to become much more popular than Oh Jeong-shin.”

Jong-woo urged the members to pour their souls into this album.

And for several days, the members prepared for the album, pouring in not their souls, but their stamina and health.

They filmed a music video, went through the music review process, and spurred on practice all day long.

In order to perform the live and performance perfectly, they moved without rest for a single day, and they also received systematic health training to add a subtle sexiness.

In particular, Rembrary was even busier because he had to compete in the competition in the meantime.

Then, finally, the recording day of that Rembrary was appearing in arrived.

Since Jong-woo was planning to send Sa Gam-jae to Yeon-woo’s personal schedules from now on, both managers followed Rembrary.

Rembrary, who picked up the broadcast script and cue sheet at the studio entrance, met the cast and read through today’s recording again before moving to the actors’ waiting room.

In the first episode, there were many past scenes of the male lead, so Rembrary, who didn’t have any past scenes, had a small part.

Of course, even though it was small, it was still less than other episodes, so Jong-woo put a face pack on Rembrary’s face in the waiting room.

“You have to make a big impact in the first episode. No one will watch if you only get better gradually. You have to do well from the first episode.”

Jong-woo repeatedly nagged, saying that he really had to do well, even though he only had one line.

After removing the pack, he put on light makeup and waited after changing into his priest’s robe in advance.

After three or four hours had passed.

Rembrary checked that his filming time was still far away and came outside for a while.

It was because he was getting restless from being cooped up in the room.

‘Will I be able to become friends with Maeng Woo-shin while filming this? Then will I be able to join that strange group?’

Rembrary sighed and seriously calculated which would be faster, becoming a top star or becoming a monk and practicing asceticism, in order to examine the group that Maeng Woo-shin belonged to.

‘Well. I can’t even become a monk during the contract period.’

But then, as he was wandering around with his hands behind his back.

He saw a woman standing in front of a black, sleek car, talking on the phone.

She looked very wealthy.

Then, as the woman took the phone away from her ear, the two people’s eyes met.

The woman tilted her head as she looked at Rembrary.

Then, she didn’t avoid his gaze and stared at him intently.

Rembrary thought, ‘Why is she staring at me like that?’ and then realized.

‘She wants to become my follower!’

Rembrary, who noticed quickly, showed the woman the finger heart [a Korean gesture of love] he had learned from Hye-gyeol.

The woman’s eyes widened when she saw that, and she laughed loudly.

Rembrary smiled contentedly and put his hands behind his back.

‘She’ll come over here soon and shower me with praise. Then what number follower will she be?’

But instead of coming this way, the woman pointed at Rembrary with a gesture to the man in a suit standing next to her and whispered something.

Then the man in the suit answered a few times and approached Rembrary.

He came right in front of Rembrary and handed him his business card.

As Rembrary accepted it in bewilderment, the man in the suit said in a low voice.

“The president says she likes your proactive self-promotion.”

“?”

“If you’re interested, you can contact us here.”

“What do you mean by interested?”

Rembrary asked immediately because he didn’t understand what he was saying.

‘He came out of nowhere and said he liked me, and to contact him if I was interested?’

As he stood there bewildered, the man in the suit added quietly.

“Isn’t that what you were aiming for anyway? You don’t have to be shy. It’s not like you’re the only applicant.”

“?”

“You can get support from at least one advertisement. Think carefully and contact us.”

< 59. Singing of Love > End

ⓒ Shin Hwa-jin