Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 78

< 78. Saved a Person >

Oh Jungshin was a prince, not a slave.

Rembrary was a bit displeased but moved on for the time being.

However, upon confirming his role, his eyebrows naturally rose.

He was Dwarf Number 6.

A supporting role, and a supporting role without even a single line in a song.

He didn’t mind being a supporting role, but, honestly, his part was too small. Did he even have any lines?

As he flipped through the script again to check his lines, his brow furrowed involuntarily.

“What’s wrong?”

Director Oh Kiyong, who was going around checking lines and giving advice to the idols, noticed him and approached, asking.

“Is there something you don’t understand?”

“Yes.”

“What is it? I’ll explain it to you.”

“Why am I a supporting role?”

Rembrary was genuinely curious, but to others, it sounded very arrogant.

The surroundings quieted down.

Director Oh Kiyong also gave an awkward smile.

“Why? Do you want to play the lead?”

There were many idols who coveted the lead role, but he was momentarily taken aback because it was the first time an idol had asked so openly.

“Yes.”

At Rembrary’s confident answer, Director Oh Kiyong laughed even more awkwardly.

“What role do you want to play?”

Oh Jungshin, who had been watching the situation, clicked his tongue. There was only one male lead, the prince, so he was sure Rembrary would ask for his role, he thought.

Director Oh Kiyong thought similarly. He had heard that Woo Yeonwoo and Oh Jungshin didn’t get along, and it seemed to be true. The lead role was just an excuse, and he actually wanted to take Oh Jungshin’s role, perhaps?

“The queen or the princess.”

It wasn’t.

The princess and queen roles, who had been watching the situation with great interest, stared at Rembrary with wide eyes.

Director Oh Kiyong laughed even more awkwardly.

If he had asked for the prince role, he would have scolded him, but asking for the princess role made it difficult to react.

“There’s a prince and a hunter, why specifically the princess and the queen…”

“They have the most lines.”

“…If you take the princess role, there’s a kiss scene with the prince, are you okay with that?”

“I’m not falling for that. There was no such scene.”

Director Oh Kiyong chuckled dryly and pointed at the script with his finger.

“Write your lines.”

***

After submitting the script,

Jongwoo took Rembrary, who came outside, to the van and asked anxiously.

“You didn’t cause any trouble, did you?”

“I worked hard.”

“Really?”

“Of course. I was dissatisfied with the role, but it all worked out in the end. The director even praised me while laughing after seeing my lines.”

“Really? Was it praise? Or are you mistaking a mocking laugh for a compliment?”

Rembrary frowned, wiping the van door.

“Do you think I’m an idiot?”

Jongwoo was still not convinced but tried to accept it and asked again.

“But what role is it that you’re so dissatisfied with?”

“Dwarf Number 6.”

“That’s not bad. It’s a very sincere and kind character. It seems like it would suit you since it’s the opposite of you, right? And there’s no pressure.”

Rembrary already had more than enough buzz. It would be best to stand out 멋지게 [in a cool way], but if that wasn’t possible, it might be better to blend in appropriately.

At Jongwoo’s positive words, Rembrary thought for a moment and then agreed.

“I guess so.”

“I’m glad then.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You don’t know the story of Snow White, do you? I was worried it might be strangely written in the script, but after looking at it more, it doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“Ah. It was fine. The plot was all in the script.”

Jongwoo was completely relieved and calmly took the wheel and drove.

Meanwhile, Rembrary sat comfortably in the van, yawning…

‘Handprint!’

He belatedly recalled the handprint on Im Yoohan’s back.

Then, his gaze naturally went to Sajae, who was busily moving his thumbs while holding his phone.

Sajae would sometimes hold his phone like that and move his thumbs busily. Whenever he wondered what he was doing and looked, he was deleting people’s names. He was writing them down. He was definitely doing that again today.

Anyway, what was important now wasn’t Sajae’s useless hobby, but his suspicious aspects.

Sajae seemed to have a unique strange ability. If he asked about the handprint, maybe he would know something?

Having finished calculating, Rembrary spoke in a subtle and friendly voice.

“Sajae-ya.”

Sajae stopped moving his hands and only turned his eyes to look at Rembrary.

“Sajae-ya.”

“What is it?”

“You’re a suspicious person.”

“?”

“I saw a black handprint on someone’s back.”

A look of surprise briefly flashed across Sajae’s indifferent expression.

“A black handprint? On their back?”

“Yes. Like this. As if they put ink on their hand and 찍은 [pressed it].”

Rembrary gestured in the air, sweeping his hands.

“Do you happen to know what that is?”

“Isn’t it dust? Black dust.”

Sajae answered lightly.

However, unlike his words, Sajae’s expression was dark. It was a face that clearly didn’t think it was dust.

“You really don’t know what it is?”

“Whose back was it on?”

“Im Yoohan sunbae [senior/respected colleague]. You know, the person playing Yang Heung.”

“I know.”

After muttering something incomprehensible in a foreign language, Sajae frowned.

Then, he took out an old-fashioned cell phone from his pocket and started texting someone.

He didn’t seem to want to answer.

Rembrary stared intently at the top of Sajae’s head before taking out his own phone.

Im Yoohan’s phone number was stored somewhere here. He had never sent a text message because it was 귀찮아서 [too much of a hassle], but

‘If I suddenly send a text, sunbae might be annoyed.’

Besides, it was awkward to suddenly ask if she had washed her clothes. Since the handprint didn’t seem to be visible to Im Yoohan and her manager, Rembrary hesitated for a moment before asking how she was doing.

***

[Sunbae, look behind you.]

‘Huh?”

Im Yoohan, with a cigarette in her mouth, was texting with a friend when she turned her head at the sudden text message.

There was no one there.

Well, there couldn’t be.

This outdoor terrace was a garden attached to her apartment unit. To get here, you had to pass through her room, but she didn’t invite people to her house except for her manager.

‘That’s funny.’

Im Yoohan smiled weakly and, with the cigarette still in her lips, held the phone with both hands and started typing a reply to Rembrary.

[Why? Is there something behind me?]

A moment later, a text message arrived with a ding.

[Is no one there?]

[I can’t see anyone ㅇㅇ]

[If you feel like someone’s behind you, call me.]

“Hmm.”

Im Yoohan tilted her head and smiled awkwardly.

What is this? Is it a sign of interest? But for a sign of interest, it was a subtly chilling message.

Im Yoohan recalled visiting San Sora yesterday.

They had talked about San Sora and Woo Yeonwoo.

San Sora, knowing Im Yoohan’s personality and tastes, knew that she liked Woo Yeonwoo, but gave up after hearing about his 출가 [renunciation of the world] story. She grabbed her stomach and laughed when she heard that.

‘Come to think of it, didn’t Yeonwoo say something to his manager about San Sora sunbae?’

She seemed to have heard from various sources that there was something slightly chilling about her.

These days, the three hottest places for Woo Yeonwoo were entertainment-related communities, news, and 괴담 [urban legend]-related communities. Especially in 괴담-related communities, they treated Woo Yeonwoo like a treasure trove, exaggerating and reproducing what fans said, causing a huge commotion.

‘Did he get that image because of the way he casually throws out words like this?’

Im Yoohan recalled Woo Yeonwoo asking if her agency used the same shampoo as dogs, and then smiled as she stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray.

‘Well, it’s not my place to worry about others.’

Lately, someone kept putting strange things in her mailbox.

Things that wouldn’t be of much use even if she reported them to the police, but that made her feel bad as the recipient.

In front of her apartment, there were burly professional security guards on duty in three shifts, 24 hours a day, and CCTV cameras were densely installed without blind spots.

Yet, someone was tampering with the mailbox every two or three days.

‘Who the hell is doing that? Could it be someone from the same apartment?’

Im Yoohan frowned and turned around, then suddenly flinched.

It was as if someone had put cold ice between her clothes, sending a chilling and unpleasant feeling down her spine.

Im Yoohan swallowed hard.

‘What was that just now?’

She didn’t know what it was, but she wanted to turn around. She wanted to turn around and check.

But perhaps because she had received a strange text message from Woo Yeonwoo earlier, she was even afraid to turn around.

Hesitating, she walked to the sofa and sat down, pretending to be nonchalant.

Just then, a text message sound came from her phone.

She quickly opened her phone.

Her fingertips were trembling, but she tried to ignore it.

The message was from the friend she had been texting with earlier.

But the content was strange.

[Why are you going in already? ㅜㅜ]

Im Yoohan’s pupils trembled. With trembling fingers, she scrolled up the screen.

She and her friend were in the middle of discussing throwing a surprise party for a classmate who was getting married this time. Of course, they weren’t together.

The last message her friend sent was, ‘Should we put up balloons or something? There were pretty balloons that sparkle.’ and she replied, ‘Okay ㅋ.’

It wasn’t the right time for such a sudden question.

At that moment, it felt like someone had put their hand on her back.

Im Yoohan gripped her phone tightly with both hands and looked up at the TV in front of her.

The black TV reflected the 모습 [image/figure] of the room.

Im Yoohan barely stopped herself from screaming.

In the black screen, behind her 모습 sitting on the sofa. She saw a strange beast standing on two feet.

The beast had its hands on Im Yoohan’s back and was looking down, staring intently at her phone.

Her feet twitched with the urge to run away, but she instinctively realized. She shouldn’t let that beast know that she had noticed its existence.

Instead of screaming, Im Yoohan closed the chat window with her friend and opened the chat window with Woo Yeonwoo.

[Are you doing this because you miss me ㅎㅎ Then will you come see me? Right now.]

***

“Surely this script isn’t going to be aired as is, right?”

“Why? Is it strange?”

“Only your lines are a bit strange? Didn’t someone prank you and give you only strange lines?”

“…I wrote those lines, Jungseo-ya.”

“Only your lines stand out too much?”

When the text message arrived, Rembrary was memorizing his lines while looking at the Snow White script with Jungseo.

Rembrary put the script on Jungseo’s lap and checked the phone message.

It was a message from Im Yoohan.

“Ah.”

A sigh escaped Rembrary’s lips.

He had been waiting for a message saying that everything was fine, but she was asking him to come. It might seem like she was asking him to come over, but the fact that she was asking him to come right away meant that something was definitely wrong.

Rembrary hurriedly jumped up.

Jungseo, who was suffering and looking at the script, also got up and asked.

“What’s wrong?”

“Something seems to have happened to Im Yoohan sunbae.”

“Something?”

“I don’t know the details.”

Rembrary told Jungseo about the black handprint story.

Since Jungseo already knew about his mysterious powers, it was okay to tell her.

“Are you going to go now?”

“You never know. It’s fine if everything’s okay and I can come back, but if not, it’s a big deal.”

“It’s night. I’ll go with you.”

“Are you worried about me?”

“Im Yoohan sunbae is the most popular actress. There might be reporters 붙어 [sticking] somewhere. You’re also rising in popularity these days, and if you go to sunbae’s house alone at night and get your picture taken, it’s easy to be misunderstood.”

Jungseo went into the room, put on a thin jacket, and took out a hat, mask, and the 신이시여 [Oh My God] script, the script.

“Why the script?”

“Even if we get our picture taken, we can pretend we went there for acting practice.”

“You’re right.”

The two hurriedly left the dorm and went to the address Im Yoohan gave them in a text message.

“What floor is it?”

“It says 6th floor.”

Rembrary, who got out of the taxi, pointed to the upper floor with his finger as he spoke, and Jungseo also raised her head.

At that moment.

A person fell from above at a high speed.

‘Im Yoohan!’

It was Im Yoohan. Rembrary hurriedly ran and caught Im Yoohan.

The acceleration and weight put tremendous force on his arms and chest bones, but the divine power that reflexively came out in the dangerous situation instantly healed the two people’s bodies.

Rembrary looked up while holding Im Yoohan.

The black beast looked down and, when it made eye contact with Rembrary, hurriedly ran inside.

***

‘Wow, shit, this is crazy. This is 대박 [amazing/jackpot]!’

At that very moment,

Not far away, a gossip magazine reporter was panting and hurriedly checking his camera.

Did Woo Yeonwoo just save Im Yoohan from committing suicide? It certainly looked that way?

And not far away in the opposite direction, Sajae was calling his superiors and asking.

< 78. Saved a Person > End