Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 84

< 84. Scar>

Meng Wu-shin spoke, glancing at Rembrary.

His expression was arrogant, as if he expected Rembrary to be pleased and immediately agree.

“It’s too late now. My interest has waned.”

The answer was indifferent.

“What?”

Meng Wu-shin stared at Rembrary, eyes wide.

Rembrary nonchalantly blew bubbles with his straw, then sucked them back up.

The sight was incredibly annoying.

Meng Wu-shin, dumbfounded, asked, “You said you wanted to join?”

“It feels pointless now. I’m not in the mood.”

“Are you kidding me?”

Rembrary shook his head, and Meng Wu-shin’s face flushed with anger.

*Who* had started these bizarre rumors?

He’d recklessly made misleading statements, and now he was saying his interest had faded? That he didn’t want to join?

“Wow… I knew it, but you’re really irritating, aren’t you?”

“You didn’t want me to join anyway, did you, *sunbae* [senior/mentor]?”

“You were the one begging to be let in when I didn’t want you! Now that I’m letting you in, you’re backing out! Are you making fun of me?”

Several staff members whispered, glancing between Meng Wu-shin and Rembrary.

Subtly, they positioned themselves closer to Rembrary and Meng Wu-shin, though neither noticed.

Rembrary looked down at his script, saying indifferently, “I didn’t mean I would join completely. I just wanted to test the waters.”

Someone muttered, “Wow, that’s awful.”

Rembrary looked up, searching for the source of the sound.

It was the staff member who’d offered advice, mentioning his own fight with his girlfriend.

Thinking he was just as nosy as before, Rembrary returned to his script.

***

“Ugh, the atmosphere was so tense,” Meng Wu-shin’s manager grumbled as he got into the car after the shoot.

“Yoo-han is smiling, but he’s radiating hostility. Did you see his manager’s fierce eyes scanning everything?”

“I didn’t notice.”

“I heard he was pushed by a stalker, so it might be true. I feel sorry for him. He’ll be traumatized.”

Meng Wu-shin flipped through the newly received script, feigning disinterest. His eyes were on the script, but his mind was elsewhere. He was thinking about Woo Yeon-woo, who had suddenly changed his mind.

Even if he *wasn’t* thinking about Woo Yeon-woo, Meng Wu-shin wasn’t worried about Im Yoo-han.

He only maintained the pure and delicate image because it was popular, but Im Yoo-han was one of the most audacious people he’d ever met. He was also quite skilled at self-defense. If a stalker appeared, *he’d* be the one doing the pushing, not the other way around. Unless the opponent was beyond human…

‘What if the culprit isn’t human?’

Meng Wu-shin closed the script and opened the photo album on his phone.

The album contained all the article photos of Woo Yeon-woo and Im Yoo-han from a few days prior.

‘Everyone’s focused on the fact that Woo Yeon-woo’s arm is fine, but what if what Woo Yeon-woo found and chased wasn’t a person in the first place…’

“But Wu-shin, what did you say to Woo Yeon-woo that made the staff talk about you two?”

“They’re probably talking about that rumor again. Just ignore it. They’ll stop eventually.”

“I heard you got rejected by Woo Yeon-woo?”

Meng Wu-shin’s expression crumpled.

“I didn’t say that. That’s just what people were saying,” the manager quickly clarified. Meng Wu-shin cursed under his breath before calling the road manager in the driver’s seat.

“Hyung [older brother/male friend], drop me off.”

The manager hurriedly grabbed Meng Wu-shin’s bag.

“No, I’m not getting out because I’m angry at you. I just remembered something I had to do.”

“You have a schedule in five hours!”

“It’s five hours away. I’ll be back on time.”

Meng Wu-shin took the bag from the manager’s hand and asked the road manager to take him somewhere.

The place Meng Wu-shin headed to after getting out of the car was an ordinary-looking cafe. It was crowded and clean.

Customers with trays carefully navigated the space, trying not to spill their coffee.

Some recognized Meng Wu-shin and widened their eyes, whispering, “Huh?”

Meng Wu-shin ignored them and entered the room marked STAFF ONLY.

The room looked like a typical break room with two long sofas, a table, and a TV.

However, after Meng Wu-shin locked the door, removed the switch cover, and pressed a tiny button inside, a door appeared on the wall, revealing another entrance.

Meng Wu-shin replaced the switch cover and entered the newly created door.

As Meng Wu-shin entered, the door reverted back into a wall, and lights illuminated the long passage.

After passing through the passage, a bright and spacious area appeared.

It was decorated like the front desk of a regular company, but only three people were present: two sitting separately on the sofa and one at the desk.

Upon seeing Meng Wu-shin, the person at the desk smiled brightly and exclaimed, “It’s been a while!”

Meng Wu-shin approached her and asked, “I want to see Dae-ju.”

The person at the desk checked the monitor and replied, “Ah, he’s here.”

“Just a moment.”

After waiting for about fifteen minutes in the waiting room, Meng Wu-shin was able to meet the person they called ‘Dae-ju’ in the inner room.

He was a man with a youthful face but snow-white hair, radiating an icy aura.

He looked like he would despise accessories, yet he wore striking gemstone earrings.

The gemstone had a slightly bluish tint in the center, surrounded by a smooth blue color.

“What’s the matter?” Dae-ju asked, his voice as cold as his appearance.

But Dae-ju was always like this, so Meng Wu-shin replied without resentment.

“That, well, Woo Yeon-woo, the one you told me to bring. I met him today and talked to him. I told him to come.”

“It seems he didn’t want to,” Dae-ju guessed immediately, seeing Meng Wu-shin’s expression.

“Yes. He changed his mind. Why did he even bother in the first place?”

Meng Wu-shin, grumbling, remembered his earlier thought and asked Dae-ju again, “And about the culprit who pushed Im Yoo-han. Could it be that he’s not human? Didn’t Dae-ju-nim [term of respect] say the time for peace was ending, and that non-humans would soon be walking around?”

“It could be.”

Dae-ju vaguely affirmed, avoiding a definite answer.

His expression was so cold and aloof that it didn’t seem like he was avoiding the question because he didn’t know.

Dae-ju paused, put his hands behind his back, and fell into thought.

Meng Wu-shin paced the room, waiting for Dae-ju to speak.

After a long silence, Dae-ju raised his hand, removed one of his earrings, and called Meng Wu-shin.

“Come here.”

As Meng Wu-shin approached, Dae-ju handed him the earring.

“Why is this…?” Meng Wu-shin asked, taking the earring in confusion.

Dae-ju always wore these earrings and never took them off. He couldn’t understand why he was suddenly giving him one now.

“Show it to Woo Yeon-woo. If he still doesn’t want to meet me, leave him alone. If he wants to meet me after seeing it, bring him.”

What did this mean?

Meng Wu-shin looked down at the earring, bewildered. It was fancy and pretty, but it was just an earring.

More than that, he was telling him to show him the earring and gauge his reaction…

‘Could it be that Dae-ju-nim thinks Woo Yeon-woo might know Dae-ju-nim?’

***

[How are you today?]

[It’s scary when you ask how I am, lol]

[I’m worried about you.]

[Why didn’t you talk to me at the filming site?]

[Because of Jong-woo hyung [older brother/male friend].]

[Being an idol must be tough, haha. It’s okay. I’m not getting any more strange letters, but I’m getting a lot of strange looks.]

Rembrary was texting with Im Yoo-han when the car stopped. He put down his phone and looked up. They were already in the parking lot.

“Have we arrived?” Rembrary asked the driver, and Jong-woo replied, “Yeah,” and got out of the car first.

Rembrary also put his phone away and quickly followed him out.

“Mask, mask.”

As Rembrary came to his side, Jong-woo hurriedly removed the mask pack from Rembrary’s face.

“Pat your face with your hands.”

Jong-woo instructed Rembrary in a low voice and tossed the mask pack into the car.

Today was the day to film the CF [commercial film] with Oh Jung-shin. It was a cosmetics CF, and the concept was that Oh Jung-shin and Rembrary were rivals, so they had to pay special attention to their skin.

“Don’t forget to watch your mouth, and you’re going to maintain a mysterious persona from now on. Got it?”

“I always watch my mouth, don’t I?”

“Well, you’ve gotten a lot better these days.”

When they arrived at the filming site, they could already see a crowd of people.

“Follow me and say hello.” Jong-woo instructed, barely moving his lips, and greeted every staff member they passed.

Rembrary followed Jong-woo, bowing and greeting them as well.

“It’s Woo Yeon-woo.”

“His arm is really fine.”

“Wow. He’s even more amazing in person.”

The staff here were seeing Rembrary for the first time, so their reaction was very different from the staff at ‘Shinishiyeo’.

The ‘Shinishiyeo’ staff also looked at Rembrary strangely after the incident, but the staff here were looking at Rembrary as if he were a rare animal in a zoo.

Sensing the atmosphere, Jong-woo looked for the director as quickly as possible.

When the director saw Rembrary, he exclaimed, “Oh!” and came over, patting him on the shoulder.

“Our hero! I heard you saved someone!”

The director seemed to interpret Rembrary’s recent rumors positively.

“I just did what was natural,” Rembrary answered indifferently, as Jong-woo had instructed. The director laughed heartily, praising him repeatedly, and asked, “Did you check the storyboard I sent?”

“Yes.”

“Even though they say they’ll discontinue it if it doesn’t sell well, you don’t have to feel pressured at all. If it sells well, they won’t discontinue it even if the sales aren’t that high. Later, they can just say, ‘We can’t discontinue it because the response is so good.'”

“Is that so?”

“Of course. It will be discontinued if it doesn’t sell well, but that’s obvious, isn’t it? It’s originally discontinued if it doesn’t sell well. It’s just a play on words, a play on words.”

After patting Rembrary on the back to reassure him, the director explained the filming concept in detail once again and confidently stated that he would film it as *meotjige* [cool/stylish] as possible.

During the filming, a reporter from an entertainment news program came and did an interview.

***

A few days later,

The CF filming scene and interview of Oh Jung-shin and Rembrary were briefly broadcast on an entertainment news program.

It was only a few seconds long, but the response was surprisingly good.

In particular, Oh Jung-shin’s hot spring scene for ‘Let’s Finish It in One Go White’ and Rembrary’s waterfall scene for ‘Perfect Black’ were uploaded as comparison cuts and gained traction in several online communities.

LLL Entertainment was relieved, having accepted the CF with some trepidation.

They hadn’t expected to surpass Oh Jung-shin’s sales, but it didn’t seem like it would be a complete failure.

The problem started with a question posted by someone who saw the waterfall scene.

– Woo Yeon-woo had a big scar on his waist, but it’s gone now. How did he do thatㅠㅠ? I also have a scar from surgery when I was young, but the dermatologist said it’s impossible to completely remove it…

< 84. Scar > End