Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 74

< 74. Tried 108 Bows >

Suddenly, hair?

Oh Jungshin stared wide-eyed at Rembrary. Was he thinking of making fun of his hair?

Even a very young child wouldn’t do such a thing, and it was obvious what would happen if Rembrary, who was being criticized nationwide for his character, did it.

Oh Jungshin hurriedly moved away from Rembrary in a crab-like fashion.

As soon as the distance widened, Rembrary’s question continued.

“Should I shave my head too?”

Fortunately, the monk smiled, seemingly not offended, and replied.

“You don’t have to shave your head to do a temple stay.”

“It’s not that, I’m thinking of becoming a monk too.”

However, the monk looked surprised at Rembrary’s subsequent declaration.

The cameraman, who was next to him, also took a picture as much as possible and looked at Rembrary in surprise.

“Become a monk? Isn’t your job… an entertainer?”

“I’m going to be a monk when my entertainment career is over.”

Next to him, Oh Jungshin muttered, “So that’s why he’s called a mixed-up spirit.”

Rembrary glanced at him sideways and then focused on the monk again.

The monk seemed embarrassed when the entertainer who came to film a broadcast suddenly revealed his ambition to become a monk.

But he asked with a smile, as if he wasn’t feeling bad.

“I see you are a Buddhist.”

“Ah. Not really.”

“Yes? Then why specifically?”

“That’s…”

Should I honestly say that I want to talk to God?

Rembrary hesitated for a moment.

He had seen Jongwoo be horrified so many times even when he said things without much thought, so he was confused as to whether he should say this or not.

In the end, Rembrary made a wise choice.

“I’ll tell you secretly later, only to the monk.”

Oh Jungshin tilted his head. Does that crazy guy have a story? Is he only crazy on the outside, but rotting inside? Maybe he wants to find peace of mind because people curse him so much…

Oh Jungshin didn’t care what he was thinking next to him. Rembrary moved closer to the monk and said.

“Anyway, Monk, I have a few questions I want to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“Should I shave my head?”

“Well. If you are serious about becoming one, you must shave it.”

“Monk, have you ever talked to God?”

“Are you talking about Buddha’s words?”

“Any god, anyone.”

“Well.”

The monk smiled awkwardly.

Rembrary looked at the camera as if it was annoying.

He didn’t care much whether the camera was next to him or not, but these days, every time he tried to say something, Jongwoo’s appearance of suffering and saying ‘Don’t do it!’ came to his mind, so he was nervous even though he didn’t say anything.

In the end, Rembrary moved closer to the monk and lowered his voice.

“I have something I must say to Buddha. Monk.”

“To Buddha? Is it important?”

“Yes. The lives of hundreds of thousands, no, millions of people are at stake.”

If he had said only six or seven people, the monk would have taken it a little seriously.

But the number of people was too large to believe Rembrary’s words as they were.

The monk thought, ‘Is he exaggerating because he’s an entertainer?’ and answered appropriately.

“Listen to the voice within. Layman.”

“I did, but he’s not answering.”

“Then why don’t you try doing 108 bows [a series of prostrations done in Buddhist practice]?”

“What is 108 bows? I’ve tried to communicate with God about 1008 times.”

“It’s not that, I’m talking about bowing.”

“Bowing?”

As Rembrary looked puzzled. Oh Jungshin looked at him with a suspicious expression.

How could a guy who wants to be a monk not know what 108 bows are? Even he, who is not religious, knew what 108 bows were.

The monk seemed to have similar thoughts and laughed weakly. He took Rembrary directly to the main hall.

Inside the main hall, in the center, there was a huge golden statue, and below it were food plates with fruits, rice cakes, and candies. In front of it, a young monk was repeating the same movements at regular intervals.

The monk slyly told Rembrary, “You do that 108 times.”

Rembrary stared blankly at the young monk’s movements and briefly wondered if there were any other religions where he could talk to God.

***

Anyway, after many twists and turns, Rembrary’s temple stay today became 108 bows.

The two main MCs [Masters of Ceremony, or hosts] were busy helping the monks make temple food in the temple kitchen, not knowing where the guests were.

The atmosphere there was as friendly as if they were filming a mukbang [a live online audiovisual broadcast in which a host eats food while interacting with their audience] broadcast.

“But what are Yeonwoo and Jungshin doing now?”

“They’re the same age, so they’ll be doing something well together.”

“Hey, do you know Oh Jungshin?”

“Oh my, Oh Jungshin came here? Oh my gosh, bring him here! My kid is a fan!”

“What about Woo Yeonwoo? Do you know Woo Yeonwoo?”

“Don’t you know him? The sloth sponsor?”

“What’s that? Is he raising a sloth?”

While monks of various ages were chatting and playing, the MCs joked around while talking about the two guests.

Rembrary was learning how to bow in the main hall to do 108 bows.

The only one who felt like dying in this situation was Oh Jungshin, who ended up doing 108 bows together.

‘Damn it, why am I here?’

Oh Jungshin trembled his pupils while swearing inwardly.

If he slipped back, it would be too obvious that he was trying to avoid hard work, but he felt a little unfair to do it willingly next to him.

If there was any other content, he would pretend to participate in it and leave, but since he was not religious, he couldn’t think of anything else to do at the temple.

In the end, Oh Jungshin changed into comfortable temple clothes and laid a large cushion on the floor and cried inwardly.

Fortunately, the food was finished before doing 108 bows, so he went to the cafeteria, but the main MCs didn’t save Oh Jungshin.

“Wow, 108 bows? You’re doing 108 bows? That’s amazing?”

“It’s said to be hard on the back and legs, so you’re having a proper temple stay. That’s great.”

The two MCs rather praised him for doing 108 bows.

But Oh Jungshin didn’t miss the two MCs exchanging glances and giggling among themselves.

From the beginning, this broadcast itself was so unscrupulous that they secretly cast the two of them, knowing that Oh Jungshin and Rembrary had a big fight.

The more the two people got entangled, the more they liked it, and they would never give them a chance to separate.

Thinking about it made him angry, so Oh Jungshin quietly ate the bland food.

“Oh Jungshin, you eat temple food well. Is it delicious? I made it.”

“Yes… it’s delicious. It tastes healthy.”

“Yeonwoo, Yeonwoo, how’s the food? Is it delicious?”

“It’s not seasoned at all.”

“Ugh, Yeonwoo! The monk made that!”

“It’s not seasoned at all, Monk.”

***

One more bad thing happened to Oh Jungshin.

Because a Dharma assembly [a Buddhist religious service or gathering] for Buddhists was held in the evening, the main hall could not be used.

However, postponing the 108 bows to tomorrow meant that there was too little content that Oh Jungshin and Rembrary had filmed today.

The staff whispered among themselves and eventually asked them to do 108 bows at night, and Oh Jungshin cursed 108 times in his mind.

Although not widely known to the public, Oh Jungshin was actually very scared.

But this was a temple deep in the mountains.

At night, there were hardly any people near the main hall, and the staff who were wandering around here and there disappeared somewhere after setting up the cameras.

Except for two cameramen with small cameras, only Rembrary and Oh Jungshin were left in the wide main hall.

Why was the weather so windy today, and the sound of trees shaking was constantly heard from around.

“Ah… I’m going crazy.”

In the end, Oh Jungshin, who muttered out loud, reluctantly picked up the cushion he would use for 108 bows and placed it closer to Rembrary.

Still, being next to Rembrary was more annoying than scary. It was better that way.

Rembrary glanced at Oh Jungshin but didn’t pay much attention, sat down comfortably on the cushion, and looked at his hands.

Then, he called on the god he served once, Buddha once, and then bowed as he was taught.

It was his first time bowing, but Rembrary steadily filled the number of times, two, three, four times.

But it was when he was bowing for the 73rd time.

Oh Jungshin, who seemed to be bowing diligently at first, started to slow down from around the 35th time, and now he was completely stopped in his place.

Why isn’t he doing it, and what is he doing?

Rembrary glanced to the side and made eye contact with Oh Jungshin.

As soon as they made eye contact, he asked urgently as if he had been waiting.

“Don’t you want to go to the bathroom?”

“Not really.”

Rembrary answered indifferently and bowed for the 74th time again.

However, Oh Jungshin called Rembrary again around the 78th bow.

“Let’s go to the bathroom together. Can’t you come?”

As Rembrary looked at him strangely, Oh Jungshin frowned and stomped his feet.

Earlier in the evening, Oh Jungshin almost fainted after going to the bathroom.

The bathroom was too far away, and the two lights were all dim. It was a completely pit toilet structure.

The inside of the wooden toilet was as black as the abyss, and even when he shone the inside with his cell phone light, he couldn’t see anything.

In the meantime, only the smell and bugs came up.

Still, there was still some sun left at that time. Now it was a completely dark night.

It was scary to go there during the day when people were crowded, but now he had to go there on a dark and deserted night.

He wanted to go to the bathroom more and more urgently, but he was too scared to go alone.

The cameraman seemed like he would follow, but he didn’t want to because he thought he would take more pictures if he was scared.

“Senior, can’t you go to the bathroom alone?”

“This is a pit toilet. The lights are about to go out.”

“Senior, you’re being very annoying.”

At Rembrary’s indifferent words, Oh Jungshin finally turned around in anger because his pride was hurt.

Rembrary watched Oh Jungshin putting on his shoes to leave the main hall for a moment from behind. He glanced at the location of the bathroom far away once, and then looked at Oh Jungshin again and advised.

“Senior…”

“Why!”

“If you’re full of fear, they’ll look down on you. It’s better to act normal, so don’t be conscious.”

“…What? No, don’t answer.”

“Ghosts.”

“I told you not to answer!”

Oh Jungshin shouted and ran to the bathroom, cursing Rembrary in his mind as a bad crazy guy.

Rembrary shrugged his shoulders and was about to do 108 bows again. When he made eye contact with the camera lens pointing at him, he flinched for a moment.

It was because he remembered Jungseo talking about image management.

Rembrary wondered which would look worse, ‘a saint who can’t go to the bathroom alone and asks to go together’ or ‘a saint who tells a senior who is afraid of the bathroom to go alone’.

Both looked bad in different ways.

But if he went to the bathroom with Oh Jungshin, wouldn’t only Oh Jungshin be seen as a coward?

Rembrary, who had made his own calculations, quickly became excited and chased after Oh Jungshin.

But when he arrived near the bathroom. He felt a strange energy somewhere.

A little, very little similar to Rembrary’s own divine power, but a different energy.

In addition, there was a completely different energy mixed in.

Rembrary frowned and went there.

There was a strange crack.

As he stepped over the crack, he heard a thunderous roar.

“How dare you come here! Get out of here!”

It was the voice of the monk who had explained 108 bows to Rembrary.

The Discipline Master [a senior monk responsible for maintaining order and discipline in a monastery] was standing in front of him with a smiling face.

“I didn’t come because of your son today, so calm down. Monk, you’re old, so you might end up going on the road with me.”

< 74. Tried 108 Bows > End