Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 7

7. Back on Stage

“How far can you strip?”

What on earth does that mean?

Rembrary stared at Jongwoo in shock.

However, Jongwoo, who should have been giving advice, was once again on the phone with someone.

“Mr. Woo Yeonwoo, can you hear my question?”

Song Daebaek asked again, dryly.

Rembrary wracked his brain.

A photograph is similar to a painting.

In that case, a photographer would be similar to a painter.

By the same logic, being a model for a photographer would be similar to being a model for a painting.

In other words, this guy is now-

“Are you asking me to be a nude model?!”

The moment Rembrary shouted, Jongwoo dropped his phone, and the woman carrying the box tripped over a wire.

Song Daebaek took his eyes off the strange machine and stared at Rembrary with a blank expression.

Then, he burst out laughing for the first time.

“What are you imagining?”

As Rembrary looked bewildered, Song Daebaek completely lowered the machine and scratched his eyebrow awkwardly.

“Topless, swimsuit, underwear, semi-nude. Something like that. How far are you willing to go? I need a line so I can try different things within it.”

Belatedly realizing the situation, Jongwoo shouted on behalf of Rembrary, “Swimsuit, swimsuit!”

Song Daebaek glanced at Jongwoo and asked Rembrary again.

“Is that right?”

Rembrary couldn’t answer, feeling awkward.

Song Daebaek said,

“I’ll take it as a swimsuit.”

He understood appropriately, then put his eyes back on the machine and pressed the button.

Then, a series of pop pop sounds were heard, and the lights flickered.

When he frowned because it was dazzling, Song Daebaek shouted sharply, unlike before.

“Don’t close your eyes. Keep them open!”

“It’s too bright. I can’t see.”

Song Daebaek sighed, took his eyes off the machine again, and said.

“I’ll count to three, close your eyes on one and two, and open them on three. Will that work?”

When Rembrary nodded, Song Daebaek put his eyes on the machine and shouted again.

“One, two- three!”

“···”

How many times did he repeat that?

Song Daebaek took his eyes off the machine, glanced at a small TV-like thing next to him, and clicked his tongue.

“Why, why? Is it strange?”

Jongwoo, unable to watch any longer, approached Song Daebaek and asked.

Rembrary was still rubbing his eyes, which had lingering afterimages, and listened to their conversation.

“He keeps squinting and his posture is awkward, so I thought it wouldn’t be good-”

“Wouldn’t be…?”

“But strangely, it looks okay after taking the picture.”

“Really? Haha, our Yeonwoo photographs well, right?”

“The atmosphere, how should I say it? The atmosphere is unique. Like a clergyman.”

Rembrary lowered his hands and admired Song Daebaek.

He had never seen his photos, so he didn’t know if he had talent in photography or not.

But his ability to see the essence was certain.

Jongwoo was excited and praised Yeonwoo to an overwhelming degree, and Song Daebaek listened to it with one ear and gave instructions.

“Now, let’s take the real photos. Hyewon, leave that and come here to help Woo Yeonwoo!”

“Yes!”

“Do dark eye makeup. The outfit is a suit, without a tie… Ah, button it up all the way to the top so it looks a bit stuffy.”

* * *

After changing clothes and putting on makeup, Rembrary looked in the mirror and gasped.

“How is it? Isn’t it awesome?”

The woman who did his makeup asked, feeling proud, but Rembrary’s eyes saw not something awesome, but a black beast around his eyes.

“Like a tiger.”

“You like it!”

“Not that- doesn’t it look a bit scary?”

“The makeup has to be strong for the photos to come out well.”

“What’s strong?”

The woman’s words were hard to understand, but there was no time to ask more.

Because Song Daebaek was shouting to come quickly.

The woman made an ‘ik’ sound and pushed Rembrary, and Rembrary had to go back to that white makeshift wall.

Surprisingly, there was a coffin in front of the white makeshift wall, which seemed to have been brought in while he was changing clothes and putting on makeup.

As Rembrary looked at the coffin, wondering why it was there, Song Daebaek instructed.

“Want to lie down in the coffin?”

When the photoshoot proceeded in this way,

Rembrary was completely mentally exhausted.

It wasn’t physically difficult, but Song Daebaek’s requests were all bizarre.

Lying in a coffin is a setting, but why pose inside the coffin?

Whether he did or not, Jongwoo was grinning, constantly smiling at whatever was so good.

Song Daebaek seemed to feel the same way.

Rembrary, who had changed back into his clothes, could see the two of them laughing and watching a small TV together.

And as Rembrary approached, Song Daebaek praised him like this.

“He has a hard time with the lighting, but he doesn’t seem to be afraid of the camera itself. This is really important, so it’s good. There are many people who lose out because of camera phobia even though they have perfect conditions.”

“What is a camera?”

“Haha, you’re joking.”

“?”

“Oh, and to commercially exploit the sacred image, it would be better to build some muscle.”

“What?”

“Woo Yeonwoo has a sacred atmosphere. As a twist, make your body sexy.”

“···I don’t quite understand···?”

Song Daebaek tapped his lips casually and said.

“If Woo Yeonwoo speaks nicely, it’s okay to go with the sacred image as it is, but when I saw the interview, he spoke arrogantly?”

Jongwoo nodded.

“What I mean is, after causing such an accident in that interview, it’s artificial and funny to pretend to be nice now, right? So, go with the feeling of a devil with the face of an angel, something like that.”

“···”

As Rembrary opened his mouth blankly, Song Daebaek frowned.

“Is my word difficult? You know, the twist charm. A face of abstinence, but a decadent body. What is it, like a fallen priest.”

“Fallen··· is a bit much. I’m still active.”

“That’s why you should do it because you’re active.”

Rembrary, the current high priest who was asked to become a fallen priest, scratched his cheek awkwardly.

There were strangely people with such fantasies in the original world.

Beautiful and handsome priests had a lot of followers.

So, he knew roughly what it meant…

But no one asked the high priest for it.

Therefore, he was embarrassed to be advised in front of his eyes to create an image like ‘fallen priest’.

“I need the photos quickly, so I’m going to start working overnight? The photos will be out in two or three days, so check them out.”

* * *

The photos that were supposed to come in two days didn’t come even on Friday.

But Rembrary didn’t have time to sit still and wait for the photos.

Because he started practicing dancing and singing again as soon as he returned from the photoshoot.

On Thursday, the dance teacher gave up on making Rembrary’s dance smooth and focused on practicing the choreography and group dance.

“It’s a relief. Because we’re all dancing together, you’re buried among the members, so you don’t feel like you’re bad at dancing.”

The dance teacher was moved and praised Rembrary as he watched him running around among the members.

Rembrary’s skills were not good enough to be called good, so it was a fairly generous compliment in its own way.

Anyway, thanks to his tearful efforts, Rembrary’s skills improved enough to be well buried among the members.

On the other hand, the vocal trainer sobbed every time he heard Rembrary’s song.

“It reminds me of my childhood.”

“You must have gotten close to alcohol early.”

“What?”

“The song. Isn’t it about a man in unrequited love complaining while drunk?”

“No, it’s not because of the lyrics- it’s just that your voice feels that way.”

“Is that so?”

“Jongwoo, why don’t you give Yeonwoo some lyrical songs later?”

The vocal trainer was more at the level of appreciating Rembrary’s song than training him.

And finally, the day to go on stage for Singx4.

Jongwoo, who came to the dorm early in the morning, woke up the members, quickly washed their faces, and took them to the shop without letting them eat breakfast.

It was a different building from the shop Rembrary first went to last week.

As expected, the people inside were all new faces, and they approached the members with tired faces and took them to different places.

After receiving care there, they took the car again and went to a different building, just like last week.

Jungseo, the leader, walked next to Rembrary and explained why the buildings were different.

“The music program we’re on last Friday and the music program we’re on today are different broadcasting stations.”

“Is that so.”

“There are several broadcasting stations. Do you know what a broadcasting station is?”

“I looked it up.”

“Oh, but today’s music program and last week’s music program are the same music program, and even the time slots overlap. They’re completely on bad terms.”

The broadcasting stations were different, but the work they did was similar.

They went into the waiting room again, and the stylist came in and helped them change their clothes.

“Wow, Yeonwoo looks really good with his hair up!”

“He looks much better with his bangs out!”

The difference was that the stylists were a little kinder than last time.

He wondered why, but when he occasionally looked at them pitifully, he must have heard the story that his memories had disappeared.

“Don’t be too nervous.”

After putting on their clothes, they went to rehearsal, and after the rehearsal, they were scolded by Jongwoo.

And after waiting for several more hours, they went on stage again.

When he went on stage, Rembrary felt very strange.

He remembered being dragged onto the stage last week without knowing the situation, and it felt like it was just like that time.

It was only a week ago, but it felt like a year had passed.

‘Is there a way to go back?’

While he was thinking gloomy thoughts, the music that he was now so familiar with that it came out in his dreams began to play.

Unlike standing still in the past, Rembrary performed the movements properly.

And he began to dance the wooden doll-like group dance as he had practiced all along.

* * *

– Did you see their stage?

– Woo Yeonwoo dances so badly lololol- I guess he didn’t not dance, he couldn’t dance lololololol- I’m a fan of another group (can verify) I went to the broadcasting station to see my idol’s commute to work? I saw Woo Yeonwoo then.

ㄴ How is he?

ㄴ He looks amazing in person.

ㄴ Yes, agency’s part-timer [someone paid to promote them online].

ㄴ Our Yeonwoo doesn’t even have money to hire agency part-timers!

ㄴ lololololol

– I thought he was handsome since the interview ㅇㅇ [Korean slang for “okay” or “agreed”] – So what. The stench of his rotten personality reaches even here.

– It would have been fun if he didn’t dance again today.

– But I’ve been watching that group since their debut, and Woo Yeonwoo didn’t originally dance that badly.

ㄴ You must not have watched properly.

ㄴ ㄴㄴ I watched because I thought he would rise because of his face. The song was so bad that I lost interest later.

ㄴ How was he originally?

ㄴ He danced as well as the dance members. I’m worried that something happened last week…

* * *

Throughout the return to the agency after the stage, none of the members opened their mouths.

The first stage after causing the accident.

Everyone was nervous because they didn’t know what the reaction would be.

Jongwoo was busy checking the reactions with his phone and tablet at the same time, but the members couldn’t even hold their phones and just fidgeted.

When they arrived in front of the agency, CEO Lim and a few employees were standing there, which added to their anxiety.

However, the moment the door opened and they got out of the car.

What greeted them was CEO Lim’s cheers and the employees’ applause.