Holy Idol - Chapter 1

The second worst broadcasting incident in the history of Korea has occurred. People looked up at the stage and started murmuring. The PD(Producer) gritted teeth in silent fury, shaking and twisting his hands… But he couldn’t hold back anymore and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

If he doesn’t want to get fired, he needs to act now, right away.

He pulled his hair and let out a silent scream.

An idol has to dance well and passionately on stage, squeeze out sweat and work hard.

Even if your hands and feet hurt, to make a living, an idol still needs to look cute and show off their charm.

Even if they don’t like chicken, they will have to eat it happily with a smile!

But… he’s just standing on the stage, in front of the huge crowd.

He’s not even smiling while the whole show is being broadcasted. He’s not even pretending to have a sore leg nor acting like he’s crying.

He’s literally just standing still!

The broadcasting officials, fans, viewers and colleagues have every right to call this out.

There are many idols who come on stage even if they are sick and irritated with the public and broadcasting life.

They still moved around the stage.

However, this idol looked scared as he stood in the middle of the stage.

Even though he was the one who caused the stir among the audience, his expressions were oddly quiet and calm. As if he couldn’t hear the sound of the music that was loud enough to tear the eardrums.

He looks like a saint when they see him on the screen. And in reality, the idol is actually a saint. A High Priest, to be exact.

A High Priest, who became an idol out of nowhere.

***
Nine hours before the incident happened.

The person who’s going to drop a huge bomb at the Korean Broadcasting station, screamed while looking in the mirror.

“Who, who is this? What is this?”

He is in a small 12-bedded dormitory, where the members quickly brushed their teeth while taking off their sweatpants with their feet.

It was surprising and strange to see him scream.

The members glanced at him.

“He’s acting crazy again.”

“Ah, it’s not funny, you know?”

“Stop looking in the mirror, crazy guy.”

But he kept saying strange things.

There was an idol group nicknamed Submarine* for a long time; unable to float*. And after many years of ridicule and mockery, they finally became popular.

(T/N: Submarine because they can’t float or that they aren’t very famous)
(float: to rise to fame)

Most idols have to show some results before the contract ends. But this man kept looking in the mirror and saying strange things, so everyone got annoyed.

Furthermore, that person who’s screaming usually does a lot of strange things.

Because of that, everyone paid no attention to ‘him’ even when they’re being driven to the shop, their hairs being fixed, makeup being applied, and was sent to the waiting room of the broadcasting station.

His behavior remained unchanged. He repeatedly asked, “Who are you?”, “Where are we?” and “What is this?”

If only they paid a little more attention to him, they would have noticed how pale his face looked and how his hands were shaking.

He was in shock, eyes looking around constantly.

“What’s wrong?”

The first person who noticed him acting strange was the stylist, who came in to check his costume 40 minutes before rehearsal.

“Is he hurt anywhere?”

The stylist asked in a trembling voice when she saw how pale he looked.

However, most of the members were not there, since they were busy greeting people in the hallway of their waiting room.

The only member who’s in the waiting room is someone who has a bad relationship with him.

“Leave it. He’s always like that.”

When he saw ‘his’ knees trembling, he snorted and turned his head away.

“Are you okay? Do you have an upset stomach?”

When the stylist asked again, ‘he’ looked up at him with shaking pupils and asked the same question a number of times.

“Where am I?”

The stylist smiled, “What do you mean where you are? You’re in the waiting room.” He replied.

“Who, who am I?”

‘He’ asked again and again, and the stylist answered with a shudder.

“You’re Woo Yeonwoo. An idol.”

And the member next to him added cynically, “The nuclear submarine idol.”

(T/N: Nuclear Submarine same with submarine)

However, ‘he’ does not understand what that member was saying about ‘idol’ or ‘submarine idol.’

When the stylist called him’ ‘Woo Yeonwoo’, ‘he’ clenches his fist and looks at the wall with shaky pupils.

I have no choice.

‘He’ is not Woo Yeonwoo.

‘He’ is not a member of ‘Wild Animal,’ an unknown idol group who is ridiculed for being a submarine, and he was not a immature young man who always behaves weirdly.

‘He’ is the High Priest Rembrary, evaluated as having the highest divine power ever.

***

‘How the hell did this happen?’

Rembrary thought blankly as he clenched his hands.

Rembrary, who was called a living miracle and performed all kinds of miracles, was having a hard time accepting this situation.

He had just closed his eyes for a bit, and when he opened them, he became a completely different person.

The ‘young man’ is in the similar age group as him, but other than that, his hair color, his eye color and features are completely different.

(T/N: to clarify, the ‘young man’ here is the body that Rembrary is in.)

His current surroundings are completely different from the world he lived in, and people are also dressed differently.

The people also act as if they know him and call him ‘Idol Woo Yeon-woo’

Even though he kept on saying that he isn’t the same person, they refused to believe him and were still dragged inside a strange-looking building.

He’s having a hard time understanding what is going on.

‘Did I enter someone else’s body?’

In a room where every wall is full of mirrors, Rembrary has accepted a part of his current situation.

He also rechecked his divine power, which he had checked a hundred times already inside the strange carriage earlier.

Fortunately, he still has his divine power.

He hurt his hand and tried to heal it after with divine power, and the divine power slightly came out.

Even though the outer appearance of the body has changed, his ability still remained the same.

But the reason why this is happening…

He recalled the last event that he had experienced…

Someone succeeded in summoning the devil, and a black shadow covered the sky.

A clear hemispherical frame formed over the city and black shadows covered it.

The sun was hidden and the city became dark.

People screamed, and strange mana began to pop out from the underground.

The only person who handled the situation was Rembrary.

He memorized the spells, ready to fight to death to solve the situation……

Yes, I think I heard a chilling laugh at the end.

“I can’t let you do that.”

I think I’ve heard this, too.

Then, he blinked his eyes, and ended up in this situation.

‘Did I get hurt?’

Rembrary thought with a dark face while clenching his fists.

Or maybe that someone who summoned the devil sent him somewhere else.

To the farthest place they could ever think of.

‘Damn it.’

Rembrary clenched his teeth and fists.

He felt anxious thinking about how things may have changed since he left.

However, Rembrary could not afford to feel sad at the moment.

“Wild Animal. Wild Animal! Come on out!”

When someone shouted in an annoyed voice and knocked on the door, the young man sitting on the sofa in front of him, fiddling with a strange black object, stood up and grabbed Rembrary’s nape.

“Let’s go. It’s our turn.”

“But…”

“Hurry up.”

Rembrary flailed his hand, but the young man still pulled him, not caring whether he was out of balance or not.

As he went out to the hallway, he saw other young people, trapped in a narrow carriage making a fuss.

“Quick, quick!”

“Ah seriously, come here!”

“He’s still playing around!”

There was a brief commotion.

When he finally came to his senses, Rembrary found himself standing on a huge strange-looking stage.

The young men pushed him in a set position, followed by loud music.

‘What’s this?’

Rembrary stood blankly, watching the young men suddenly dance.

As he watches the young men dancing busily here and there, a person wearing a black glasses that covers his eyes pointed at Rembrary and shouted.

“What are you doing?! Are you not going to do it right?!”

Then the young men on the stage began to pull the standing Rembrary around.

And when the music was over, the young men took Rembrary back to the waiting room earlier.

When Rembrary arrived in the waiting room, a young man wearing glasses, who brought the young men in the carriage but did not go on stage together, got angry.

“Woo Yeonwoo, why won’t you do it right? A punk who couldn’t even float has star disease already? I told you that rehearsals are just as important as the actual performance! To find even just one more pretty angle, did I or did I not tell you to run around like there’s fire under your feet?!”

(Star Disease: acting arrogant because they’re famous)

Among the number of words said by the young man wearing glasses, Rembrary can only catch one sentence.

“Star disease… Did I catch a disease?”

“This bastard, look at him raving about something else.”

The young man wearing glasses looked at Rembrary with disdain and patted his shoulder strongly.

“Don’t, just don’t! You’re a visual member, why do you have to do strange things?! Just stand there and smile! Because that’s your job!”

“Visual member?”

Rembrary asked in embarrassment, but no one explained what the words meant.

When Rembrary just stood still absentmindedly,the young man wearing glasses frowned and asked.

“What’s wrong? Are you really sick?”

Rembrary nodded, and the yellow-haired young man stepped in.

“Speaking of sickness, he fell down in the bathroom this morning and hit his head.”

“Really?”

The young man wearing glasses asked in surprise.

Although he is not hurt anywhere, Rembrary nodded for now.

The young man wearing glasses,

“Aigoo.”

(T/N: Aigoo: Korean expression)

He let out a sigh and put his hands on his head.

“Ah, this is really…”

Then, he looked at Rembrary irritably and went out the door.

He did not return immediately.

Later, a whistle and a call came.

“Wild Animal! Stand by!”

The young man wearing glasses did not return even after that.

When Rembrary came out of the waiting room, the young man wearing glasses hurried back and said to Rembrary as a warning, “I asked for a chair on the stage. When you go up, just say hello and sit there. Sit down and speak that much. Okay? You seem to be unwell so don’t stand up.”

“I got it.”

“What’s with that weird way of speaking?”

The young man wearing glasses felt irritated every passing second. He then asked to gather the other young men who came in and instructed to put their arms around each other’s shoulders.

“Listen. This might be your last album. Okay? You have to make it this time to have your next album. How long do we want to hear the word submarine? It’s hard to make a living, so make sure to land a good impression in the eyes of the public.”

As soon as his shoulders were freed, a man with a long rope around his neck came.

“This way.”

He urged.

Someone stuck something strange in Rembrary’s ear and something sticky on his cheek.

Rembrary flailed his hand, and tried to tell the young man wearing glasses, ‘I’m sick’, ‘I have a headache’, ‘I have something I really need to say’, ‘I may be similar to Woo Yeonwoo but I’m not Woo Yeonwoo’, but the other young men still grabbed his shoulder and pushed him on a stage.

The spacious stage remained tranquil.

There are countless people in front of the stage, but they somehow look awkward.

Rembrary looks around blankly.

‘Chair!’

He quickly swept a glance at the stage because he remembered that glasses-guy told him to sit on the chair, but the chair was not there.

“Just dance!” The young man standing next to him, who looked stressed, whispered quietly.

“I don’t know how to dance!”

As soon as Rembrary shouted, the same music that played earlier, flowed out, and the young men on the stage stretched out their hands at the same time and assumed a strange stance.