Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 64

< 64. Oh Jung-shin's Revenge >

“No, news outlets often use clickbait headlines.”

“That’s right, CEO. They probably used a title like that on purpose to grab people’s attention, right?”

“Yeah, probably?”

CEO Lim collected his scattered thoughts and calmly read the article.

Thirty seconds later, CEO Lim slammed his hand on the desk next to the keyboard and shouted,

“Clickbait my foot, the content is the same!”

The beginning of the article briefly explained the situation, and the middle part mentioned that Woo Yeon-woo’s name had come up and he was being investigated as a witness.

The last part was just one line.

[A police official hinted that ‘Woo Yeon-woo is a believer in premarital purity.’ ]

“Why would they hint at something like that!”

CEO Lim huffed and puffed before calling Jong-woo.

But Jong-woo was busy getting Rembrary through the crowd of reporters, so he didn’t answer the phone.

The comment section had already exploded in the short few minutes.

– What kind of investigation did Woo Yeon-woo go through that the result is premarital purity?

– Investigate the police who released that. The police are suspicious lololol

– Let us check Woo Yeon-woo’s wrist! He might have parrot blood on it!

ㄴ Why a parrot?

ㄴ An old-fashioned virginity test lololol

ㄴ WTF, did Woo Yeon-woo get his virginity tested at the police station lololololol

Eventually, with patience and constant refreshing, articles without the ‘[Exclusive]’ tag started to appear.

CEO Lim clicked on an article with ‘(Comprehensive)’ at the end.

Woo Yeon-woo, received sponsorship offers but refused… I am a believer in premarital purity (Comprehensive)

The title was still full of clickbait, but thankfully, this time there was some actual content.

And it explained why the premarital purity story came out of nowhere.

The detective who investigated Woo Yeon-woo stated that Woo Yeon-woo did receive a business card from a sponsor but refused, and confidently submitted his phone for analysis, but there were no traces of deleted calls or conversations. Rather, Woo Yeon-woo rarely contacted anyone at all.

His statements were consistent throughout, and he claimed that he could not allow his reproductive abilities to be used for procreation.

CEO Lim fearfully checked the comments.

– Is he impotent? Is Woo Yeon-woo impotent?

ㄴ He’s celibate, they said.

ㄴ Woo Yeon-woo said he was impotent, so the police cried and changed it to premarital purity, right?

ㄴ lololol Why are the police crying lololol

– Wow. Still, that’s amazing. Sponsorship refusal. Didn’t they say he never received payment?

– His personality is trash, but his morals are refreshing?

– The real sweet and salty of this era…

– I’m not a Woo Yeon-woo fan, but isn’t Woo Yeon-woo top-tier handsome in the article photos?

ㄴ Anyone can tell you’re a Woo Yeon-woo fan.

ㄴ If a professional actor sponsor is targeting him, he must be good-looking in person.

– Looks like he’s only going to be trash within the limits allowed by law.

– He’s leaving room for recycling to target trash collectors like me ^^.

* * *

Rembrary remained the center of attention for several days afterward.

However, as actors who actually received sponsorships appeared, interest naturally waned, and he disappeared from search rankings.

Fortunately, this incident ended as a passing fad.

There would still be a few mentions of premarital purity on online communities every three or four hours, but there were no more trips to the police station surrounded by reporters.

Jong-woo deliberately pushed the members to practice even harder to prevent them from dwelling on it.

The new album showcase was just around the corner.

Since people’s attention was focused on them, the only way to turn this chaos into an opportunity was to practice relentlessly.

In the meantime, time flew by again, and the results of the 7th competition were announced.

Was it because of the sponsorship news? As Rembrary walked into the studio, a larger number of reporters than usual pointed their cameras at him.

The number of people seemed to have increased even more than when Rembrary’s unique eye was in the spotlight.

But Rembrary calmly entered the building, scanned his card, and went inside.

Jong-woo was relieved by Rembrary’s strong mentality.

Even though it ended as a minor scandal, the sponsorship story had come out, so he could have been embarrassed, but he was so confident.

Jong-woo was once again envious of Rembrary’s mental strength.

That envious feeling grew even stronger when Rembrary came in last place for the first time in the competition.

Last place? He had guessed it might happen since the reaction to the ASMR rap wasn’t good, but he had still expected something since there was some buzz. But last place!

Even in this situation, Rembrary had a ‘it could happen’ expression, but Jong-woo couldn’t remain calm.

“I’m worried.”

Jong-woo muttered, tapping his chin with his phone.

“What are you talking about?”

Sa Gam-jae, who was standing next to Jong-woo, asked.

Jong-woo pointed at Oh Jung-shin with his eyes.

“Oh Jung-shin is in first place this time.”

The fact that Rembrary came in last place wasn’t a big problem in itself. It’s not like he would be immediately eliminated from the program for coming in last.

However, it was troublesome that Oh Jung-shin came in first.

Currently, there were two types of penalties for last place. One was a penalty involving the participants in the top ranks, like when Rembrary used Oh Jung-shin as a slave. The other was a penalty that was received regardless of the ranking participants, such as bungee jumping.

The latter was fine. No, it was good because the broadcast time would increase.

But the former was troublesome. Oh Jung-shin and Oh Jung-shin’s fans were still grinding their teeth over the slave incident and the Oh Jung-shin fan departure incident. But if they got involved with Oh Jung-shin again in this situation…

“I need to go see the PD [Production Director].”

As soon as the main broadcast ended, Jong-woo quickly approached Kim Moo-rok PD.

However, Oh Jung-shin was already in front of Kim Moo-rok PD, pleading about this.

“You saw how that crazy psycho treated me before. Please let me be Woo Yeon-woo’s master this time. Please?”

Oh Jung-shin’s manager was standing behind him, holding his forehead, but it was clear that he felt the same way since he wasn’t stopping him.

Jong-woo frowned. Those nasty bastards…

Fortunately, Kim Moo-rok PD had a rejecting tone.

“It’ll look too much like revenge if we do it right away. President Kwon asked me so much to take good care of your image, how can we draw a picture of revenge with this?”

“I don’t care. PD-nim [term of respect for the PD], please? Let me use Woo Yeon-woo like a slave. Please?”

Kim Moo-rok PD couldn’t completely reject Oh Jung-shin’s begging and laughed it off.

Jong-woo recalled that Oh Jung-shin had appeared as the main character in a popular entertainment program that Kim Moo-rok PD had been in charge of. It seemed like he was acting like this because of the friendship he had built up at that time…

‘Even so, this isn’t right!’

In the end, Jong-woo decided to slightly bend the rules and interrupt the conversation.

However, just as he was about to take a step forward.

“Should we?”

Kim Moo-rok PD, who had been holding back, suddenly changed his words.

“That picture would be fun too.”

A satisfied smile appeared on Oh Jung-shin’s face.

Jong-woo thought that smile looked really vile.

* * *

At that time. Rembrary was taking selfies in the waiting room to perform the penalty.

Then, when someone knocked on the door, he sat on the sofa and answered, “Yes,” thinking it was Jong-woo or Eun-sun, of course.

However, the person who came in was Oh Jung-shin and Oh Jung-shin’s camera crew.

Why is he here? As Rembrary looked at him in wonder, a refreshing smile that made his fans go wild appeared on Oh Jung-shin’s face.

It was a good-looking smile, but Rembrary didn’t care. He was just curious why he was smiling instead of answering why he came.

Oh Jung-shin opened his mouth.

“I’m going to be Woo Yeon-woo’s master this time. Only for three hours, though.”

Perhaps because he was conscious of the camera, his voice was more friendly than usual.

Rembrary understood the situation and nodded, saying, “Ah.” He was going to receive a penalty, and Oh Jung-shin was going to be his partner.

Oh Jung-shin tried to control the corners of his mouth from widening, expecting Rembrary to be upset.

But Rembrary calmly smiled and replied, “Okay.”

That appearance made Oh Jung-shin furious.

“What should we do?”

Oh Jung-shin was furious for the second time at the question that showed he had no problem at all.

“Order me to do anything.”

In the end, Oh Jung-shin, who was furious for the third time, made up his mind. He decided to return the humiliation he had received from this crazy guy.

Instead of answering, Oh Jung-shin turned to the camera and asked.

“I went to Woo Yeon-woo’s dorm to perform the penalty before. Can Woo Yeon-woo come to my house today to perform it? I want to do the same thing.”

The truth popped out like a joke.

And an hour later.

Rembrary entered Oh Jung-shin’s dorm.

Rembrary was surprised and exclaimed when he saw Oh Jung-shin’s dorm.

Wild Animal’s dorm wasn’t uncomfortable to live in, except for the lack of privacy. Oh Jung-shin’s dorm wasn’t at that level.

It was very spacious, clean, and tidy. There were pictures of the members in the living room, and gifts from fans were neatly lined up on one side of the display case.

As he was admiring it, Jong-woo said with a pitiful look.

“Let’s ask them to move our dorm if this album does well too.”

Seeing that, Oh Jung-shin felt a little better.

Even though Woo Yeon-woo was a crazy psycho, he realized that he was the one chosen by the public and the fans.

Realizing this fact, he smiled at Rembrary with a much more relaxed attitude and asked.

“Woo Yeon-woo was a little too harsh before, right? But I’m not going to do that much.”

It was an impulsive truth created by a sudden generosity.

He was also planning to show it to the public. To show that he was not a psycho, unlike that crazy guy.

However, the moment Rembrary said, “That’s not what someone who eagerly seized the opportunity for revenge should say.”

The momentary generosity disappeared like a dry rice paddy.

Oh Jung-shin changed his words as if flipping his hand.

“Be the dog I raise for three hours.”

Oh Jung-shin’s manager, who had been watching Rembrary with a smile as if enjoying the show, let out a silent scream and signaled the cameraman to turn it off.

But Oh Jung-shin pretended not to see the manager’s signal and calmly continued.

“I wanted to raise a dog.”

And when Oh Jung-shin’s manager succeeded in turning off the camera, he yelled at Rembrary in a small voice.

“But there’s a dog right here?”

Rembrary clicked his tongue.

“You must have lost sight of everything since you gained power, senior [term of respect for someone older or more experienced].”

Oh Jung-shin, who was angry, huffed and puffed and spat out curses that Rembrary couldn’t understand.

“Jung-shin, do something else. Your good and passionate image will disappear if this airs on TV.”

Oh Jung-shin’s manager tried to stop him, but Oh Jung-shin was adamant.

“Hyung [term for older brother or male friend], don’t you remember me doing tricks in front of that bastard before? I wake up in the middle of the night just thinking about it! My blood runs cold every time my antis [anti-fans] make GIFs of that scene and post them!”

Perhaps he was really having a hard time, Oh Jung-shin’s manager couldn’t stop him and stepped back.

Oh Jung-shin debuted six months earlier than Wild Animal, but because he was so popular, he couldn’t be controlled as much as Jong-woo controlled Wild Animal.

“Don’t worry, hyung. I’ll think about the broadcast image appropriately.”

When Oh Jung-shin spoke stiffly, Oh Jung-shin’s manager eventually stepped back, and the camera turned back on.

As he said, Oh Jung-shin smiled for the broadcast and demanded Rembrary.

“Crawl on all fours like a dog for three hours since you’re a dog.”

“Your taste is very lewd, senior.”

Oh Jung-shin, who was furious, slightly sneered, imitating what Rembrary had said.

“How can a dog speak human language?”

Jong-woo and Oh Jung-shin’s manager stepped back to the wall and watched the situation anxiously.

< 64. Oh Jung-shin's Revenge > End