Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 9

9. Offered a Devil’s Edit

The person holding the phone hesitated, stepping back before turning and running away.

“Hey, what are you doing?!”

Seeing Rembrary holding a damp handkerchief, Kesha belatedly shouted.

Realizing the situation, she cursed and turned to chase after the person with the phone.

Rembrary watched her go, quickly put the plate back in its place, and wiped up the spilled water with the handkerchief.

Even then, water continued to leak from the plate, troubling Rembrary.

‘Did it react to my Divine Power?’

I should come back here later and meet the priest.

Rembrary promised himself and went outside to find Kesha.

Whether she had missed the person with the phone or not, Kesha was yelling at something.

“Ah, damn it. What did they film?”

Kesha carried on for a while, but when people started staring, she quickly quieted down, put on her mask, and approached Rembrary, asking,

“Did anything weird get filmed?”

“…Maybe.”

“What do you mean, maybe? Why is your answer so vague?”

When the snapping sound occurred, Rembrary was wiping the water that had filled the plate.

Did they see that scene?

What if they did?

The High Priest’s power was useful in many ways, and there were many in the original world who wanted to take or abuse that power.

It didn’t seem like there were any users of Divine Power or magic here.

He was worried that being caught using Divine Power might attract unnecessary attention.

‘But they probably didn’t see it.’

Rembrary thought for a moment and concluded it would be alright, answering, “It’s fine.”

He knew from the members that it was possible to take pictures using a phone.

The timing was strange, but when the snapping sound occurred, Rembrary was right in front of the dish.

From that angle, there was no way the person holding the camera behind him could have filmed the scene of the water filling up.

“Yeah. That’s right. It’s fine.”

Rembrary said repeatedly, and Kesha, while muttering, “Suspicious…,” didn’t press further.

However, that evening.

It turned out that it wasn’t fine at all.

As soon as Jongwoo, who had come to the dorm, closed the door, he roared in anger.

“Woo Yeonwoo, you crazy bastard?!”

He had been trying not to get angry since losing his memories. Today, his face was flushed red with anger.

When Rembrary came out with a toothbrush in his mouth, Jongwoo held out his phone and asked,

“What is this?!”

Rembrary took the phone and looked at the photo.

As he thought, the scene of the water filling the plate wasn’t captured.

However, the part where he was tilting the plate over his back was filmed.

It looked as if he was playing with a plate full of water.

‘This is bad.’

Rembrary clicked his tongue.

It was true that his power wouldn’t be misused…

But he had become a bad person playing around in a sacred religious institution.

“Woo Yeonwoo, I’m really going to-”

Jongwoo thumped his chest.

“I told you to stay in line! Why are you flipping over dishes at someone else’s cathedral?!”

Meanwhile, Kesha slyly took the phone, read the photo and the caption, and chuckled.

The person who took the photo wrote, ‘Woo Yeonwoo is playing with the cathedral’s sacred objects, and a member of the same group is trying to stop him.’

Kesha’s name wasn’t explicitly mentioned, but several people were already revealing her name in the comments.

– She was always the nicest in that group.

– She always gets overshadowed by Woo Yeonwoo. I saw it in the videos.

Comments from someone who seemed to know Kesha and Woo Yeonwoo well continued to be posted.

“What are you laughing at?!”

Jongwoo got even angrier at the sight and shouted, and Kesha finally managed her expression and handed the phone back to Jongwoo.

Jongwoo snatched the phone, put it in his pocket, and shouted at Yeonwoo again.

“Woo Yeonwoo. Do you have anything to say?”

“I did spill the water, but Kesha didn’t stop me-”

Before he could finish speaking, Jongwoo grabbed the back of his neck and screamed.

“You bastard, you call that an excuse?!”

* * *

The next day.

As soon as he got to work, Jongwoo was called in by CEO Lim.

“What’s going on?”

CEO Lim asked, already knowing the situation.

“I’m sorry.”

“Is that all you can say? Even top stars get criticized for overturning sacred objects in a cathedral. Why is an unknown idol with no fans to shield him overturning sacred objects?! Does he think he’s a top star just because he trended twice?”

“…”

CEO Lim became gloomy, realizing he had gone too far.

He had spoken rashly, but he remembered that Yeonwoo’s mind was currently a blank slate.

Maybe Yeonwoo didn’t even know what sacred objects were.

No, that must be it.

Or maybe he didn’t know what a cathedral was.

“Alright, forget it. Forget it. Why did he overturn the dish?”

“…He said he was just trying to wipe something that was pooling there…”

“Oh my!”

CEO Lim grabbed the back of his neck at the unexpected good intention.

He groaned for a long time.

He looked like he was contemplating something.

While CEO Lim was like that for almost 15 minutes, Jongwoo stood in his place, watching carefully.

He felt guilty for allowing them to go to the cathedral together, just the two of them.

After a long time, CEO Lim said with a sigh.

“Yeonwoo… I don’t know what he’ll do. Let’s just let him go.”

Jongwoo was startled and looked at CEO Lim.

“Yes? Let him go? Release…”

“I don’t mean release him, I mean let’s just give up on managing his image.”

“?”

“Even if his image is consumed quickly, we need to get him out there as much as possible before people get tired of his eccentric behavior. He’s the type to cause a big accident while trying to manage his image and then disappear.”

“Ah…”

Jongwoo let out a sigh.

For an idol, preserving their image was important.

The public got bored easily.

This was why popular idols with years of experience were pushed aside by rising rookies.

Because the freshness disappeared.

Of course, there were many core fans who stubbornly stayed by their side.

But those core fans, being persistent, didn’t easily leave existing celebrities.

, which didn’t even have a fan club, naturally didn’t have such core fans.

The people who were currently interested in Wild Animal were the general public, who could easily turn away at any time.

In front of such a public, idols had to preserve their image as much as possible.

Achieving the maximum effect with the minimum consumption.

This was the most basic way entertainment companies consumed idols.

Considering that idols with high image consumption had a short lifespan as idols, CEO Lim’s words were quite risky.

“Unless he causes a big accident, just leave him alone. As long as it doesn’t harm the group.”

“Yes.”

“If schedules come in, take them all unless they’re really weird.”

“Yes.”

“If good schedules come in, try to include some of the other members and send them together.”

“…Yes.”

* * *

With a heavy heart, Jongwoo left the CEO’s office and walked to his desk in the office.

In the case of famous idols or large agencies, there were several managers, each with their own specialized tasks.

However, LLL Entertainment wasn’t a very large agency, and Wild Animal had been unknown since their debut.

As a result, Jongwoo was handling various manager duties alone.

Sadly, even though he was a road manager, he barely had any opportunities to go out due to their obscurity.

“Hoo.”

“Jongwoo, you seem to have been scolded a lot today.”

Kim, the director in charge of the most successful actor in LLL Entertainment, said consolingly as Jongwoo sat down at his desk.

“Haha, well. Yeah.”

Jongwoo answered awkwardly and sat at his desk, turning on the computer.

He was doing this to upload Wild Animal’s schedule to the company’s website, even though there were many empty slots.

He didn’t know what would happen in the future, but thanks to Sunday’s performance, they had three music show appearances scheduled for next week.

He was planning to write down at least those schedules.

But as he was clicking the mouse, his phone rang.

“Yes, hello.”

– Is this Wild Animal’s Lee Jongwoo’s phone?

“Yes, it is.”

It seemed to be a work call.

As Jongwoo answered politely, a hearty laugh came from the other side of the phone.

– Ah, Manager Lee, it’s me. PD [Production Director] Kim Murok.

“Ah, hello!”

Jongwoo stood up from his desk and greeted him, and Kim, who was sitting next to him, gave him a puzzled look.

Jongwoo quickly went out into the hallway and asked,

“Yes, are you calling about the thing from before?”

PD Kim Murok was a non-terrestrial entertainment PD [Production Director for shows not on major broadcast networks] who was achieving moderate success, and he had recently been planning a very provocative entertainment show.

The show was called ‘Sing Survival,’ and on the surface, it was an ordinary singing competition program.

However, the name ‘Survival’ wasn’t just for show.

The contestants competed in various ways every week, and the loser would become a slave for the week.

Even though they were called slaves, they didn’t actually become slaves, but that was the title.

Moreover, they had to serve the other contestants all week long.

Even if serving meant doing chores, if the person in the slave role was a popular star, all sorts of commotions and fights would break out among the fans.

Because the rules of the program were so brutal, those involved predicted that the program would either be a huge success or a complete failure.

Already popular singers and idols had declined to appear, but Jongwoo, who was a rookie, immediately sent Wild Animal’s profile, saying he wanted to participate as soon as he saw the program proposal.

At that time, PD Kim Murok said he would think about it carefully and give him an answer later.

That was three months ago.

Calling now meant his intentions were obvious.

But Jongwoo smiled brightly, pretending not to know.

“Can I expect good news, PD?”

– Yeah, yeah, that’s right. Well, looking at the profile, that Woo Yeonwoo kid is quite handsome. He has a great visual.

“Yes, our Yeonwoo is, well, in my opinion, one of the most handsome guys you’ll ever see!”

– Yeah, I’m going with him. Is he available?

“Oh, thank you. Our Yeonwoo is great at generating buzz. He’ll do well.”

– Yeah, I thought so too.

PD Kim Murok laughed heartily, but then suddenly became quiet.

It seemed like he had more to say.

“PD?”

Jongwoo called cautiously, and as expected.

PD Kim Murok said in a subtle voice.

– But well, that Yeonwoo kid.

“Yes.”

– You know, as you can see from the proposal, our kind of program needs a bad character?

“Yes… that’s right.”

– Otherwise, it’s not fun. A friendly competition? Then everyone will laugh and not watch. But we need viewers who will watch while cursing, right?

Jongwoo, who had a sense of what he was trying to say, clenched his fist tightly.

– So, Manager Lee. Well, Yeonwoo. Can we edit him as the villain? His image might get a little worse, but I’ll give him plenty of screen time in return.