Holy Idol - Chapter 4

Jongwoo, who hung up the phone, cried out in bewilderment.

“You told me to let him rest!”

CEO Im gave a brazen answer.

“He can just take a break after the interview, right?”

“…”

Jongwoo opened and closed his lips.

That’s what he had  said, but will they let them rest after the interview? No, you Strike while the iron is hot. What noise marketing! It looks like the kids would run around while making a noise.

* * *

At the same time

Rembrary remained at the place where Jong-woo had said, ‘Stay right here.’

As he waited, the door opened and the young men who went on the stage came in.

“Here you are.”

The young men seemed to have searched for Rembrary since a while ago.

Rembrary looks at the young men.

“Ah.”

He exclaimed.

‘Come to think of it, I was so surprised earlier so I didn’t notice. All these young men have different hair colors. One was brown, one was black, one was pink, and the other was yellow.’

Rembrary glanced at the box on the wall. The hair color of this young man,‘Woo Yeonwoo’, is white.

‘I think these five people are called the Wild Animal… It’s strange that all their hair colors are different.’

While he was doing that, a young man with black hair came closer and said to him.

“I didn’t hear the whole thing, but I overheard some of it. I heard you lost your memories.”

When Rembrary blinked his eyes, the brown-haired young man clicked his tongue.

“You’re doing this purposely, aren’t you?”

“Taein-ah.”

“Ah, really, you know that he does that often.”

The young man with black hair gave the brown-haired a knowing gaze, pointing his hand at the other young men and saying their names one by one.

“That’s Taein. Our group’s lead vocalist. The pink hair over there is Hyegyul-ie. He’s the youngest and the dancer, and has a foul mouth. If he curses at you just think that he’s just like that.”

“What are you talking about, bastard leader?”

“And as you can see. The yellow-haired over there, he’s KC. He’s the main vocalist. And as for me, my name is Jungseo. I’m the leader of our group.”

The black haired, who called himself ‘Jungseo’, looked at Rembrary with a face asking if he understood it.

“You can ask me if you have other questions.”

“What exactly is Wild Animal…?”

“It’s our group’s name. The five of us are group members, and you remember that hyung wearing glasses?”

“Jongwoo?”

“Huh? So you know Jongwoo’s name. Uh. Jongwoo is our manager.”

“I kept on hearing about idol, what is an idol?”

“Ah well… you dance and sing? You’re a singer.”

“Ah. Singer.”

A singer who dances and sings also exists in the place where Rembrary lived.

Rembrary quickly understood.

The black-haired, who is said to be the leader, awkwardly scratched his head and laughed.

“It’s very trivial, but it’s weird teaching you everything.”

“If I don’t know anything, can I ask you from now on?”

“Oh, yeah, that being said…”

“Why? I can’t?”

“The way you talk. I think it would be better to change it.”

“The way I talk?”

A yellow-haired young man named KC chuckled to intervene.

“You sound like a jerk.”

The young man named Hyegyul tapped KC on the ankle and said while laughing.

“Hyung is not an easy guy as well, you know?”

“Ah, the way i am speaking.”

Rembrary mumbled while stroking his neck, where his vocal cord was, for no reason.

Perhaps it’s better to speak frivolously in this world.

Rembrary pondered for a moment. That way of speaking… that frivolous way of speaking.

‘They want me to change from an old-fashioned way of speaking to their frivolous way of speaking?’

He hated it.

Moreover, he’s the “High Priest who represents God” so he deliberately chooses to speak that way.  So to change your way of speaking because you sound like a jerk…

Rembrary eventually replied.

“If you continue to listen, you’ll eventually get used to it.”

The leader asked back after hearing his absurd answer.

“I should just listen until I get used to it?”

And then when he was about to say something more, the door suddenly opened, and Jongwoo, their manager, came in and called Rembrary.

“Yeonwoo. Woo Yeonwoo. Come here. You have a schedule.”

After hearing the word schedule, the young men, who were gathered around him, looked at him at the same time.

“What are you talking about?”

It was Rembrary who was called by Jongwoo, but it was the pink-haired Hyegyul that asked a question.

Jongwoo grinned and tapped Rembrary on the shoulder.

“He has an interview. Right now.”

The black-haired leader Jungseo opened his eyes wide.

“Interview? Where?”

“Osola.”

They don’t know where it is but all the members exclaimed ‘wow’ and made a fuss.

It was only Rembrary that looked out of place.

Jongwoo patted the shoulders of the young men one by one with a shine in his eyes.

“If Yeonwoo does well in the interview, our group can also become a little bit popular. Understand? Even if it’s just one person who did well, the whole group will survive.”

“Yes.”

“Do a good job.”

“Good for you.”

“Talk about the group a lot.”

The young men patted the shoulders of the confused Rembrary one after another.

***

I heard the meaning of ‘Osola’ while riding in a carriage.

“It’s an Internet magazine.”

“What is ‘Internet’?”

“I’ll explain it to you, so I’ll just show it to you later. Anyway, it’s an Internet magazine, but honestly, it doesn’t have a luxurious image.”

“?”

“But the photographer there is this.”

Jongwoo raised his thumb to Rembrary.

“You are saying that his skills are good?”

“Yeah. He takes really good photos. It’s just having a nice interview rolling, while photos are being taken, right? But that person takes photos like it’s a real fashion pictorial.”

“What is a ‘fashion pictorial’?”

“…I’ll explain it later. Anyway, that’s why it’s famous among fans.”

“What does ‘fan’ means?”

Jong-woo seemed a little annoyed by Rembrary’s incessant questions, but eventually explained the concept of the Internet, fashion pictorial, and fan.

“Ah….”

Rembrary is still confused, but he nodded for now. Jongwoo said that if you search on the Internet, all kinds of information will pour out. If you ask a lot of questions, everyone seems to get annoyed, so I thought it would be better to go there myself.

“You understand?”

“Slightly.”

“Anyway, Osola doesn’t do interviews with small and medium-sized agency, unknown idols or new idols, usually.”

“Mm.”

“It’s an opportunity. Like I said to the kids, if you do an interview there, a door to new possibilities may open. Then Wild Animal might be able to rise up.”

Rembrary felt embarrassed, but he still nodded his head.

He had been interviewed from time to time, although it was when he was a High Priest. Thousands of believers come to listen to him every day. He couldn’t talk to everyone, so he regularly answered questions through newspapers and magazines.

“I’m good at that. You can rest assured.”

As Rembrary felt confident, Jongwoo suddenly became anxious and gave Rembrary the interview’s expected question and the standard answer for it.

“Do they give the questions in advance?”

“Most interviews give it in advance. Usually, we don’t do the interview right away after receiving a call, they give us a few days to prepare an answer. But this time, it’s a unique case.”

“Is that so?”

“Osola also sent me some interview questions earlier in the mail. Oh, but Osola always asks unexpected questions.”

“Unexpected questions?”

“Yeah. So, if you get a question that’s hard to answer, just don’t answer. Okay?”

“Okay.”

* * *

The car stopped in front of a strange-looking building. However, the building was not as big as the first shop building, broadcasting station, or the agency. In addition, there was an interesting drawing on the signboard, and the light came out of it.

While Rembrary looked at the sign in wonder, Jongwoo urged him to go inside.

The place Rembrary went with Jongwoo was on the second floor of the building, and a man and a woman were already there sitting. The man was carrying an unknown strange object, and the woman sat with a pen and paper.

“Ah, welcome.”

As Rembrary and Jongwoo approached, the woman stood up with a big smile, put down her pen and reached out her hand.

“Hello, I’m Oh Heetae.”

The man, who was holding a strange object, bowed.

“I’m Seol Yeonsu.”

“Please seat here.” The woman, who identified herself as Oh Heetae, asked Rembrary, pointing to the chair opposite her.

“What would you like to drink?”

“What should I drink?”

“What?”

Jongwoo panicked and looked at Rembrary, and quickly asked. “You’re drinking coffee? Our Yeonwoo, coffee?” Then he said “I’m going to buy coffee,” and went to the counter.

When Jongwoo, who left without asking what the menu is , said he would buy coffee. Oh Heetae was bewildered at first and then she burst into laughter.

“Everyone is so interesting.”

She seems to think that Jongwoo and Rembrary played jokes with each other.

When Oh Heetae discovered that I don’t plan to explain anything and just remained still, she raised the notebook on her hand and pressed the back of the strange-looking pen on the table.

“I was surprised when I saw the broadcast.”

“Broadcast?”

‘What is a broadcast again.’

Rembrary was embarrassed, but he stayed still for now. This is because Jongwoo told him earlier when they were on the road to hide the fact that he lost his memories as much as possible.

When Rembrary did not say anything, Oh Heetae smiled awkwardly and asked another question.

“Since yesterday and until today, it’s been searched all over the real-time search keywords. Did you know?”

“Searched?”

“You haven’t checked yet?”

“?”

“Right now, Woo Yeonwoo-ssi is the talk of the town. Did you know that?”

“I didn’t know, but it doesn’t bother me that much.”

“Really? That’s great. Aren’t you an idol?”

“People always care about me. It happens almost everyday, how can I keep on fixating on it?”

“?”

Oh Heetae blinked with a puzzled look, then smiled again and asked.

“You’re such an interesting person. Is that way of speaking a concept?”

“?”

The conversation is not going forward.

This time, It’s Rembrary that had a puzzle look.

While the conversation was interrupted again, the man named Seol Yeongsu by himself pressed something.

Every time a ‘pop’ sound comes out, it would surprise Rembrary at first, but overtime, he was able to ignore it.

Fortunately, the awkward atmosphere was changed when Jongwoo, who bought a coffee, arrived. Jongwoo put a coffee down in front of Oh Heetae and Seol Yeongsu, and Rembrary a cup. However, he only stood nearby with a cup of coffee and did not sit in a chair.

Before Rembrary could ask why he wasn’t sitting down, Oh Heetae asked again.

“Then, about yesterday. Why didn’t you dance on stage?”

This was one of the expected questions given by Jongwoo.

“I was not feeling well.”

“Before the stage, you shouted, ‘I don’t know how to dance!’ Why did you shout that? What does that mean? It’s a really hot topic on both social media and commu. Please give us an answer.”

This was also an expected question, so Rembrary answered as Jongwoo told him to.

“They ask if I know the famous idol NNC`s dance.”

Oh Heetae laughed with a look that said ‘That’s a lie.’

“On stage, you were asked half a second before the song started?”

“Yes.”

Oh Heetae mumbled and nodded, tapping his pen on his notebook and frowning.

Jongwoo took a look at her. Since she didn’t seem to like the interview.

“I don’t really like lies too much.”

When Oh Heetae murmured that, Jongwoo’s complexion even turned pale.

In fact, Oh Heetae was thinking, ‘Even though they have good choreography, good songs and good character, there’s a reason why they aren’t popular’.

Even though there are people who answered the same way to gain attention. Oh Heetae thought it was because of star disease. But Woo Yeonwoo’s answer — it wasn’t a standard answer, but it was obviously a lie.

Even if you lie, it should at least be believable or humourous. It was obvious what kind of reaction would come if you put such a statement in an interview.

Eventually, Oh Heetae thought, “Let’s just go with it,” and tapped his notebook with the tip of his pen and asked a question weakly.

“Do you get along with the other members?”

“No.”

“!”

(T/N: The way Rembrary/Woo Yeonwoo speak has been repeatedly pointed out especially in this chapter. It is because he’s speaking like an old man or like a historical person. A quite odd way of speaking for a young person. This is, unfortunately, untranslatable in english so just imagine the way a historical characters in korean dramas speak. )