Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 89

< 89. TMI >

What is this nonsense?

Rembrary stared intently at the message. Is this even possible?

“What’s wrong?”

Jeongseo, noticing Rembrary’s expression, asked while checking the viewers’ reactions.

“Did someone say something?”

“My older brother did.”

Hyegyeol, who had been fiddling with her phone on the other side, chimed in, asking, “Older brother?” She seemed very pleased.

Rembrary looked at her as if to say, ‘Why are you so happy about it?’ Hyegyeol exclaimed, “Chicken!”

“Chicken?”

“Yeah, before, when we were starving, he secretly ordered chicken for us!”

“He didn’t seem like such a nice person.”

“He’s your brother, you know?”

Rembrary just shrugged and looked back at his phone screen. Anyway, he had to reply somehow….

[Then he wouldn’t have been blood-related in the first place.]

In the end, Rembrary honestly stated his opinion.

Rembrary was certain that he had entered Woo Yeonwoo’s body, so he wasn’t afraid of what Woo Seongwoo said.

It wasn’t like it happened somewhere else; his soul entered in front of a mirror, and in front of other members, no less.

[Are you doing a *paedeurip* now? [A Korean slang term referring to insults directed at someone’s parents]]

However, the other party distrusted Rembrary as much as Rembrary believed in his own condition.

[So what do you want me to do?]

Eventually, Rembrary asked outright, and Woo Seongwoo briefly demanded:

[Give me back my brother.]

[Go to hell.]

Rembrary responded firmly, turned off his phone, and put it aside.

“Are you okay?”

Jeongseo asked again, showing good sense.

“He’s talking nonsense.”

Rembrary answered casually and got up from the sofa.

“I’m tired, so I’m going to sleep now.”

***

The next morning, as soon as it hit 8 AM, Jongwoo burst through the door and hugged Rembrary tightly.

“The reaction is amazing! Fantastic! Just keep going like this! It’s a hit!”

He patted Rembrary’s back hard enough to hurt before finally stepping back.

Rembrary wondered why he was acting like this from the morning and stared at him. Only then did Jongwoo say with a beaming smile,

“Oh, my god, the first episode got 17% viewership! 17%!”

Was that high? Rembrary, who didn’t know the standard, stared blankly. Hyegyeol shouted from the side instead.

“Wow, 17% for the first episode is really high!”

“Is it that high?”

“That’s the best for a first episode!”

“Ah, I see.”

Rembrary still just nodded blankly.

He thought, ‘It’s high, so it must be good,’ but since he didn’t really understand viewership ratings, he wasn’t that happy. He just thought it was good that it went well.

Besides, his initial goal of ‘becoming a high-profile celebrity’ was to join Maeng Wooshin’s cult.

But now that the cult, whether it was Buddhist or anything else, was useless to join.

Since his goal of succeeding as a celebrity was temporarily put on hold, he wasn’t very excited even when Jongwoo jumped up and down.

“Maeng Wooshin and Im Yoohan are great, and the veteran actors are obviously the best, but the reaction to you is the best.”

Even though Rembrary’s indifferent attitude might have been boring, Jongwoo was still excited and chattering away.

“Is that so?”

“You and Maeng Wooshin were in the first scene. When you gave him the umbrella and then looked at the camera, it was really, uh, yeah, the reaction was…! The best, I tell you?”

“Is that so?”

When Rembrary kept answering indifferently, Jongwoo finally lost some energy and replied sullenly, “That’s right.”

“We have a shoot, so wash up and eat.”

***

Rembrary realized that Jongwoo’s excited reaction wasn’t that exaggerated when he arrived at the filming location.

“What is that?”

Today, they were scheduled to film several episodes’ worth of outdoor scenes all at once, and from near the filming location, there were loud banners visible.

There were even trucks with strange banners all over the place, and all sorts of food smells wafted from those trucks.

The banners on the trucks had Maeng Wooshin’s face and name prominently displayed, and Jongwoo told him that it was probably because Maeng Wooshin’s fans had sent a lot of them.

“It’s a food truck. The fans must have sent it because the first episode’s viewership was good.”

“A truck?”

“Food in a truck.”

“Ah, I see.”

“That was sent by Im Yoohan’s previous co-star.”

“Can you only eat food from the truck with your name on it?”

“No, that’s not it. Anyone can eat. But it’s like this: ‘We’re eating thanks to this person, so please take good care of our so-and-so.'”

Rembrary nodded and then paused when he saw pizza being handed out from one of the food trucks.

It was because Maeng Wooshin’s face was on the banner of that particular food truck.

Rembrary didn’t dislike Maeng Wooshin as much as Maeng Wooshin disliked him, but he didn’t want to feel grateful to Maeng Wooshin.

“Just eat. No one cares.”

“Is that okay?”

“You’ve been singing about pizza, pizza.”

“Then I won’t refuse…”

“Just eat one slice. You’ll get fat.”

Leaving Jongwoo’s warning behind, Rembrary excitedly ran to Maeng Wooshin’s pizza truck.

As Rembrary approached, an employee inside the pizza truck recognized him, smiled, and spoke to him.

“You’re Woo Yeonwoo, right? I watched the first episode yesterday. You came across as very charismatic.”

“Thank you.”

“And you’re a good actor too.”

“Thank you.”

*Enough with the greetings, just give me the pizza.* Rembrary thought to himself, quickly scanning the types of pizza.

As if noticing his expression, the employee smiled and asked,

“What flavor would you like? We don’t have as many types as a pizza place, but we have all the basics.”

“The most delicious flavor.”

“How many slices would you like?”

Rembrary glanced back at Jongwoo and answered quietly,

“Three slices that look like one slice, please.”

The employee nodded knowingly this time, smiled, and cut the pizza a bit larger than the original size and put it on a plate.

Rembrary smiled brightly and quickly took the plate.

However, just before the one slice that looked like three slices of pizza landed in Rembrary’s hand,

“Can I talk to you for a moment?”

Maeng Wooshin snatched the plate away and spoke to him.

Rembrary, who only received air instead of the plate, stared at Maeng Wooshin with his mouth open.

Maeng Wooshin, as if not knowing what the problem was, put the snatched pizza in his mouth and pointed to a secluded spot with his eyes.

“Let’s talk, just the two of us.”

“This… you scoundrel.”

“Who’s that?”

“…”

“I said, let’s talk?”

Because of Jongwoo’s warning, Rembrary couldn’t shout ‘You scoundrel!’ and suppressed his anger. Maeng Wooshin urged him to follow quickly, holding pizza in one hand and pulling Rembrary’s clothes with the other.

Rembrary pushed Maeng Wooshin away in anger, huffing and puffing.

“You’re bad, senior.”

“Ah, yeah, I am. That’s why I’m saying let’s talk.”

“When I wanted to go with you, you kept your distance. Now that I’m not interested, you suddenly approach me. I don’t know what you want me to do.”

“…Okay, let’s talk somewhere quiet.”

“You…”

Maeng Wooshin, who had been caught off guard by Rembrary’s ambiguous remarks a few times, put the pizza he was holding in his mouth and expertly covered Rembrary’s mouth, dragging him away.

Only after reaching a deserted place did he take his hand off Rembrary’s mouth.

Rembrary, who couldn’t eat the pizza and only smelled the pizza scent on Maeng Wooshin’s hand, glared at Maeng Wooshin with anger rising to his forehead.

“I don’t know what you’re going to say, but if it’s nothing important, you’ll have to be prepared.”

Instead of exchanging words, Maeng Wooshin took out a wine-colored handkerchief from his pocket.

“What’s that?”

As if telling him to look for himself, Maeng Wooshin silently unfolded the handkerchief and held it out in front of Rembrary.

“An earring?”

Rembrary lowered his gaze sullenly and picked up the earring Maeng Wooshin held out, asking in a tone as if to say, ‘Are you kidding me?’

“What about the earring?”

And at the blunt words he spat out, Maeng Wooshin raised his eyebrows.

He spoke as if Woo Yeonwoo, who was being used, might recognize the earring.

But Woo Yeonwoo didn’t seem to recognize the earring at all.

‘Well, there’s no way Woo Yeonwoo would know the Great Master.’ Maeng Wooshin thought to himself and held out his hand.

“If you don’t recognize it, that’s fine. Give it back.”

“Don’t recognize it?”

At Maeng Wooshin’s words, Rembrary frowned and examined the shape of the earring in detail.

It was because it sounded as if Maeng Wooshin had expected him to recognize the earring.

Rembrary examined the shape of the earring in his palm.

It wasn’t a star shape. There was a blue gem in the center, surrounded by a blue string-like pattern.

It was a common shape. If you go to the temple, I don’t know how many necklaces with this pattern there are…

‘Huh?’

Belatedly, Rembrary’s eyes widened.

Rembrary raised his eyebrows and repeatedly examined the shape of the earring Maeng Wooshin had handed him.

Soon, he opened his eyes even wider in surprise.

He couldn’t help but be surprised. He had seen this pattern before. No, he had seen it a lot. In his original world.

Being in a world with many gods, there were unique symbols for each religion in the place where Rembrary lived. This symbol was the symbol of the Redrin Temple.

Of course, it was a very common design, and Rembrary had often seen this pattern even after coming to this world.

But Maeng Wooshin’s words, ‘If you don’t recognize it, that’s fine,’ bothered him.

Rembrary raised his head.

Maeng Wooshin also had a bewildered expression at Rembrary’s reaction.

“Who told you to give me this?”

“…Are you pretending to recognize it to trick me on purpose?”

“Who gave this to you and told you to show it to me?”

Maeng Wooshin answered with a sullen face.

“The Great Master did.”

“Great Mas…”

“He said that if you still don’t want to meet the Great Master after seeing that, leave you alone. If you want to meet him, he will meet you. Oh, and give back the earring.”

As Rembrary held out the earring, Maeng Wooshin took the earring, wrapped it in the handkerchief again, and put it in his pocket.

Rembrary blankly watched the scene and asked,

“Where can I meet this Great Master?”

“When are you free?”

***

If this Great Master is also a priest related to Redrin, what should I do?

No, even if he’s not related to Redrin, what should I do if he’s even slightly related to my original world?

As Rembrary, filled with confusion, approached blankly, Jongwoo urged him to get ready quickly.

“Why are you coming now after going to get pizza!”

Rembrary hurriedly changed into his priest’s robes and received simple makeup.

But his mind was still focused on the Great Master that Maeng Wooshin had mentioned.

In the midst of all this, his phone rang again. It was Woo Seongwoo.

“Answer the phone and say I’m filming.”

Jongwoo, who knew that Woo Seongwoo was suspicious of Rembrary, grumbled but answered the phone instead.

“Yes.”

But after a while, Jongwoo, who had been repeating ‘Yes, yes, yes,’ with a stiff face, handed the phone back to Rembrary.

“I don’t think I should be the one taking this call.”

‘Is he going to say again that I’m not his brother, or something like that?’

It’s driving me crazy that tiring things are happening at the same time. Rembrary sighed and put the phone to his ear.

“What is it now? Are you going to say again that I’m not your brother?”

– Why is your tone suddenly normal?

“It’s for public consumption.”

– You’re so honest.

“So what is it? Are you going to say again that I’m not your brother?”

The stylist, who was delicately applying makeup to Rembrary’s face with a brush, paused. She asked Jongwoo with her lips, ‘Should I come back later?’

At that moment, a surprised word burst from Rembrary’s mouth.

“You’re saying we were both adopted?”

The stylist’s pupils shook. She was nervous because she thought she shouldn’t be here. The information she had just heard was a terrible TMI [Too Much Information] for her.

She ended up putting the brush in the box and hastily excused herself.

“I suddenly need to go to the bathroom. I’ll be back in a moment…”

< 89. TMI > End