Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 63

< 63. Police Investigation Results >

Rembrary had slightly more lines than usual in today’s filming.

However, as with all of Rembrary’s lines, his scene partner was once again Maeng Wooshin.

Maeng Wooshin, who had told him not to even come near, had no choice but to stand face to face with Rembrary.

Was it because of the rumors? As soon as Maeng Wooshin and Rembrary stood facing each other, the staff fell silent, even during the rehearsal.

Rembrary didn’t care at all, but Maeng Wooshin found this silence unpleasant, to the point where he felt the urge to slam Rembrary’s head with the script several times.

“Okay, get ready.”

At the director’s signal, Rembrary quickly made an expression.

Episode 1 shows the contrast between the past and present, and Deng Baek’s confusion as he regains his past life memories.

Episode 2 mainly focused on Deng Baek’s confusion as he reunites with Yang Heung, who looks exactly like his past lover.

In Episode 3, Deng Baek barely decides to bury his past hatred, but the problem resurfaces when the couple who were his past life enemies appear at the parish church where he is to become a priest.

Deng Baek (Maeng Wooshin), upon seeing his past life enemies, becomes angry and confused by their happiness. He vaguely consults with Im Seo about this, and Rembrary’s lines were about this consultation.

Maeng Wooshin kept huffing and puffing as he looked at Rembrary, but as soon as he read his lines, he immediately immersed himself in the role and asked,

“What would you do if you saw your past life enemy?”

“Enemy?”

“Yeah. For example… someone who ruined your life, killed the person you loved, and eventually drove you to your own death. A really bad person. What would you do?”

A heavy voice echoed through the studio, filled with despair.

“Would you take revenge? But that’s the past life. If you’re swayed by the past life, your current life will collapse, right? So, should you be faithful to your current life? Would that be wise?”

Rembrary looked at the pitiful Deng Baek and said,

“It depends on the situation.”

“What situation?”

“Is that enemy also in their afterlife now?”

“No.”

“No? Then that enemy is still a murderer?”

“That’s… right. I’m the only one who was reincarnated, not them, right? Those people killed me and have been living well ever since, right? Is that how it is?”

While Deng Baek, in his confusion, was muttering, forgetting that Rembrary was in front of him, Rembrary looked at Maeng Wooshin as if he were a pitiful believer, with a kind expression on his face.

* * *

After Rembrary’s lines were finished, there was a scene where Maeng Wooshin agonized and pondered alone.

In terms of content, it should have come later, but they said they were filming it now for convenience.

The next scene showed the couple who killed Deng Baek in his past life living happily, so Rembrary retreated behind the set and drank water with a relaxed mind.

It was then.

“Is it true?”

A quiet voice asked from the side. It was Im Yoohan.

“Pardon?”

When Rembrary put down his water bottle and asked, Im Yoohan smiled playfully and asked again,

“The rumors. Are you really… with Maeng Wooshin…?”

“No.”

Rembrary quickly answered, smiling. Analyzing CEO Im’s reaction, he didn’t even bring up the cult story.

Im Yoohan seemed pleased with Rembrary’s answer and asked brightly,

“That’s a relief. So, there’s still no goalie [someone who has ‘claimed’ you romantically]?”

“What’s a goalie?”

“Haha. Are you trying to promote yourself as an easy man?”

“?”

Rembrary blinked and then laughed along for now.

Im Yoohan asked again,

“I heard your ideal type is Guan Yu [a famous general from the Three Kingdoms period], is that true?”

“Yes. To be exact, someone skilled in horsemanship and swordsmanship…”

Remembering the answer Jongwoo had newly taught him, Rembrary quickly added,

“A brave woman.”

Im Yoohan, who had been in the entertainment industry much longer, seemed to understand why Rembrary suddenly changed his words and burst into a hearty laugh again.

Then, he slyly rummaged through his phone and showed off a picture.

“Look at this.”

The phone showed Im Yoohan riding a horse in a red riding suit.

“You know how to ride a horse.”

“I’m good at riding. I can’t do swordsmanship, but I’m good at throwing things. I have perfect aim, you know? Not that I’m bragging.”

Does being good at swordsmanship have anything to do with being good at throwing things? Rembrary thought so, but he clapped his hands and reacted with “Wow.”

Im Yoohan smiled contentedly and asked,

“If you like riding horses, would you like to go to the equestrian center with me next time?”

Rembrary answered “Yes!” and immediately changed his words to “No.”

“Why?”

“I’m an idol.”

“It’s okay, we’re just going to hang out, what’s wrong with that? If you’re still worried, we can gather several people from and go together.”

Rembrary was tempted, but seeing Jongwoo glaring at him from afar, he eventually refused.

Im Yoohan said he was disappointed, but he didn’t ask again and changed the subject.

Jongwoo watched the scene with anxiety.

* * *

Just as the rumors were dying down after the strong response article was released,

Rembrary competed in the 7th competition with rap as the theme, and the performance was broadcast the next day, causing a huge stir.

As Eunseon suggested, people evaluated Rembrary’s rap as ASMR [Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, a tingling sensation], but the reaction was bad.

– This is what happens when every Tom, Dick, and Harry tries to rap.

– There’s no effort to even try to rap, is there?

– This will be used as archival footage for the next 20 years, lol.

– The theme was rap, so he rapped. It’s not like Yeonwoo said he was good at rapping, so why are you guys hating on Yeonwoo?

ㄴ Because he’s so bad, lol.

ㄴ Because he’s insincere.

ㄴ The other contestants at least sound like they’re rapping, but Wooyeonwoo doesn’t even sound like rap.

– If that’s rap, then my grandma’s rapid-fire insults are rap too. My grandma has better rhymes than Wooyeonwoo.

ㄴ Yeah, right.

ㄴ It’s true.

ㄴ Yeah, right.

ㄴ I don’t remember exactly, but when my grandma got into a fight at the nursing home, she said, “You 육시랄 새 같은 새끼 [you son of a b*tch], I’ll make you 육시를 시켜버릴 ㅤㅅㅞㅅ 같은 새끼 [I’ll make you suffer six times over], if your parents didn’t fight with the 삼신할매 [three goddess grandmothers who control childbirth] before they gave birth to you, you wouldn’t have been born, you 새끼 [you b*stard], throw up the seaweed soup [eaten on birthdays] you ate on your birthday and wrap it around your neck, you 새끼 [you b*stard]!”

She did that in 5 seconds.

ㄴ She’s better than Wooyeonwoo. Does she ride the beat too?

ㄴ She does if you give it to her.

Jongwoo became depressed while monitoring. The album release was just around the corner, and it wasn’t good for it to become a hot topic like this.

Besides, Yeonwoo’s solo song has an ‘Evil Whisper’ concept. What if people think of today’s ASMR rap when they hear that solo song?

However, a few hours later, Jongwoo’s mood rose sharply again.

Unexpectedly, Wild Animal received a request for a soft drink CF [commercial film].

The staff went wild.

“Wow, this is that famous delicious drink, right?”

“Isn’t this the one where they wear orange wigs and orange clothes and dance cutely?”

“It’s perfect for our kids! Hyegyeol would be so cute!”

Jongwoo was also very happy. It wasn’t Wooyeonwoo individually, but a CF that came to Wild Animal.

They were about to release a new song, and they got a CF. Honestly, the group itself hadn’t even become popular yet.

Jongwoo was thrilled and excitedly looked up the previous commercials for the drink to check if it matched Wild Animal’s image.

However, that feeling dropped as soon as he checked the name of the beverage company.

* * *

“You’re saying it’s an affiliate of the company that gave Yeonwoo a business card?”

“Yes.”

CEO Im asked in surprise at Jongwoo’s report.

“Yeonwoo, you’re not really getting sponsored, are you?”

“Really, I’m not.”

“Then why suddenly our kids… Honestly, they’re not popular enough to do a CF yet, are they?”

“I don’t know either…”

Jongwoo trailed off, worried.

“What should we do, CEO? The CF itself would be good for raising the kids’ awareness and it’s a good opportunity, but…”

CEO Im crossed his arms with a serious face.

The CF was definitely a good opportunity. It would be the first activity that generated real revenue, and since the entire group would appear, it would help increase awareness. If the results came out around the same time as the new song album, it seemed like a win-win strategy.

However, the problem was that it had only been a few days since the rumors about Yeonwoo had died down.

Netizens with good eyes would definitely misunderstand that the sponsor had pushed Wild Animal to film the CF.

“Oh, what to do.”

CEO Im rubbed his forehead and fell into thought.

It was not easy to decide whether to accept the CF, even if it meant enduring the rumors, or to kick away a good opportunity out of concern for the rumors.

* * *

The public opinion answered CEO Im’s concerns instead.

A scandal broke out when an actor was caught coming out of a hotel with a sponsor, and as a result, the names of celebrities who had recently been rumored were also summoned.

Of course, Wooyeonwoo’s name was also there, and people protested that all those celebrities should be investigated.

It was just suspicion, so they might have just let it go, but Do Jiho was investigated by the police, and eventually Yeonwoo’s turn came.

It was because Do Jiho mentioned Yeonwoo’s name during the police investigation.

Of course, this was a ‘witness investigation,’ but people went wild just because Yeonwoo’s name was mentioned.

CEO Im decided to accept the CF. Now that things had come to this, there was no choice but to face it head-on.

Since they were going to get cursed at and investigated anyway, they decided to take the CF and prove that they were clean and unrelated by being investigated.

CEO Im had articles published about it on a large scale, and Rembrary went to the police station without knowing why.

And after Jongwoo took Rembrary to the police station.

CEO Im and the staff clicked the refresh button in front of the computer in real time.

The investigation process was reported in real time, so they were watching closely and waiting for an article about Yeonwoo to appear, so they could spread their own article while monitoring people’s reactions.

Everyone knew that Yeonwoo had never received sponsorship, but they were nervous because they didn’t know how the public would react.

“Have you arrived? Yeonwoo has arrived in front of the police station. He’s getting out.”

A staff member who received a text from Jongwoo shouted, and the staff members sitting at several computers simultaneously pressed refresh, waiting for an article to appear.

After a while.

A photo of Yeonwoo smiling and waving to reporters was uploaded with the headline [Breaking News].

The atmosphere in the office suddenly turned cold, and someone let out a short scream, “Ugh.”

CEO Im rubbed his forehead and counted from 1 to 100 in his head.

The nervous staff members diligently checked the comments and waited to post comments at any time.

Fortunately, the reaction to the photo was not bad.

Surprisingly, people reacted positively to Yeonwoo’s attitude.

– He’s so confident?

– Maybe it’s not true?

– Honestly, I don’t think it is. Would a guy who lives by his own awesomeness get sponsored? He’s the type to give sponsorships, not receive them.

ㄴ What kind of 개소리 [nonsense] is that, lol.

– I’m also voting no. Honestly, if Wooyeonwoo had been sponsored, would he be attracting so much attention and getting cursed at? He would have risen to fame while being praised elegantly.

ㄴ 222 What sponsorship would a 망돌 [failed idol] get, lol.

ㄴ 333 I’m a Wooyeonwoo fan, but I agree ㅠㅠ Our Yeonwoo’s popularity was raised while getting cursed at ㅠㅠ

CEO Im was relieved and pulled up a chair to sit down and sighed.

Now they had to wait for Yeonwoo to finish the investigation and come out.

Three hours later, the long-awaited breaking news finally came out.

CEO Im pushed the staff member sitting in front of the monitor away and sat down in front of it himself.

[Breaking News] ‘Sponsor Allegations’ Wooyeonwoo, Ends Witness Investigation

There was no photo this time.

Instead, another article with the [Exclusive] title was uploaded to the main page after about 5 minutes.

[Exclusive] Police, Wooyeonwoo is a Virginity-Before-Marriage Advocate

“What kind of 개소리 [nonsense] did he say?”

< 63. Police Investigation Results > End