Chapter 87
Chapter 87
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 087
Chapter Title: What the Hell is a Homma? (1)
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“What’s that?”
I was puzzled by the unfamiliar word when—
“Moving out!”
The staff shouted.
The place we arrived at following that was...
“...A ritual?”
“Eh? Yeah. It’s your first time, right, Yeonwoo-ssi?”
Various foods placed on the widely spread table. All sorts of fruits and pancakes, along with dried pollack and rice cakes. And right in the center, a whole pig’s head sat firmly.
“These days it’s dying out a bit... but traditionally, before starting a production, we hold a big ritual like this. For the project to do well.”
“You hold a ritual for the project to succeed?”
“It’s superstition, but people’s hearts are like that, right? Just to get in the mood. Stuff some money in the pig’s nostril and bow a few times. Then suddenly it feels like everything’s gonna go great!”
No matter how you looked at it, a ton of effort had clearly gone into the ritual table.
But in Yeonwoo’s eyes, who could see the world others couldn’t, it looked entirely different.
‘Rituals aren’t performed for no reason.’
A ritual is no different from an offering to the dead.
If the target is specific, there’s no issue, but when vaguely praying to an unspecified multitude like this, things change.
‘Trivial ghosts with nothing to eat naturally flock right over.’
If they take an interest and stick around, it’s nothing but trouble.
Far from helping, they’d just stir up all sorts of annoyances for sure.
Yeonwoo narrowed his eyes as he watched the trivial ghosts frantically stuffing themselves at the ritual table.
At the same time, he released the spiritual power he’d kept tightly sealed inside his body.
[Eek!]
[Damn it! Thought I’d finally get a full meal!]
The trivial ghosts, who had turned toward Yeonwoo as if entranced by the sweet spiritual power, freaked out in an instant.
The aura rising from Yeonwoo was far from ordinary.
To trivial ghosts who blindly chased desire and devoured anything weak, he was an overwhelmingly tough opponent.
Only once the trivial ghosts scattered in a panic did Yeonwoo’s expression return to normal.
Manager Lee Gyu-han caught sight of Yeonwoo’s face and sidled up, quietly asking.
“Uh... do you hate rituals or something? Are you Christian maybe...?”
“Yes?”
“Oh right. That wouldn’t make sense. Whew. Must’ve been a mix-up...”
“There was something there. I handled it.”
“There? That’s just the ritual table...”
Lee Gyu-han’s face drained of color right there.
Actors gathered one after another, and the first official event kicked off.
A simple movie introduction came first, followed by intros for the production staff and cast.
Flashes popped nonstop from the clustered reporters with every greeting.
The ritual followed right after.
“Please make it a huge hit...”
“Please let our movie be a smash hit and the entire shoot go smoothly without any accidents!”
In place of Director Ji, the assistant director bellowed as the producer-cum-staff representative and bowed deeply.
‘Without even a minor spirit to catch the breeze, it won’t do a thing. But hey, placebo effect’s real enough...’
The cast and staff followed, bowing in a long line.
Once the bows wrapped up, people jammed rolled-up 50,000-won bills into the pig’s nostrils, bringing the brief ritual to a close.
After some quick promo interviews, the first shoot started right away.
Being just for show, it stuck to a promo format, filming a few scenes.
The real emotional takes would probably come at the next shoot.
‘Hm? Those people are still hanging around?’
It wasn’t a blockbuster, so the handful of reporters had mostly cleared out by now.
But oddly, a few had stuck around from the very start.
“Those folks? Probably fans.”
“Fans?”
“Yeah. Looks like they came to snap pics of you. Lots of them shooting over here... Wow. Not easy to pull this off right from the jump.”
“What Yeon Do-hee-ssi said earlier was a bit different, though.”
Not fans—homma, she’d said?
They didn’t look like regular fans at all, lugging around massive cameras that could rival any pro journalist’s gear.
“What’d Yeon Do-hee-ssi say...?”
“She called them homma. Different from regular fans?”
“Ah, aah. Homma. They’re fans too, though.”
“Same thing?”
“We call those huge cameras ‘cannons’ around here. ‘Cause the lenses look like freaking cannons. Anyway, it’s not just the gear—photography takes a ton of time and effort, so they don’t budge easy.”
“Aha.”
“Their shots are straight-up art. Better than anything reporters snap. Even beats pro studio photos. So you can hold your head high, Yeonwoo-ssi.”
“...?”
How’d it end up there?
He still didn’t know exactly what a ‘homma’ was, but he could guess the gist.
‘At least it means they’re my fans.’
That explained the lenses doggedly trailing him earlier.
Among them, Yeonwoo eyed the most standout one.
‘Said he was a guy fan earlier.’
If Yeon Do-hee herself called it ‘weird’, it had to be rare.
Yeonwoo turned to the man who’d hunkered down in full black: black sunglasses, mask, hat, black clothes blanketing his hulking frame.
‘Not hot dressed like that?’
Gloves too—not a scrap of skin showing.
At first glance, he looked more stalker than fan, kinda intimidating.
But per Yeon Do-hee and Lee Gyu-han, the guy was Yeonwoo’s fan.
A precious one, too—the kind who invested real time and effort.
Wild that he’d haul heavy gear out here and tough it out under the blazing sun.
Yeonwoo deliberately locked eyes with the gaze lurking behind the lens.
He flashed a slight smile and even waved.
‘Ah. It’s real.’
The camera visibly jolted.
Face yanking away from the viewfinder in shock, deep breaths—he could see it all.
The others with cameras reacted the same.
Yeonwoo nailed each lens one by one, giving a casual nod, and reactions poured back in all flavors.
‘Gotta respond even better to those cameras from now on.’
Gratitude demands payback, always.
“We should jump on this too.”
Muttering about agency business, Lee Gyu-han fished his phone from his pocket.
He tapped the screen a bit, then shoved it in front of Yeonwoo.
“What’s this?”
“Ah, X-App. The one I mentioned yesterday.”
Now that he thought about it, yeah.
Movie side had asked for Nutyube promo vid permission, and the agency had snagged okay for Yeonwoo’s personal X-App too.
Yeonwoo exposure = movie exposure, so mutual aid and all.
“Already?”
“You bet! Fans hunting for you everywhere these days? Haven’t seen you since TV in My Hand—my ass is grass. Oh yeah, we just launched an official fanpage linked to the agency. Perfect chance to drop an update and say hi.”
Dozens of posts piling up on the fanpage daily, apparently.
“Set up the account yesterday ahead of time. Hit go, fans flock in. Greet ‘em, share some updates. Movie intro’d be gold, but probably too much...”
“Too much? Something hard about it?”
Yesterday’s rundown made it sound like casual fan chat.
“Well, yeah. Fans in hundreds, even thousands—you’re just one guy. Chat’ll explode like crazy. Good luck reading it, even with killer reflexes.”
Lee Gyu-han shuddered recalling Kwon Sung-hyun’s one-off event X-App chaos.
Chat-formatted text flying by so fast it looked like blurs streaking past.
“So up front, no sweat on chatting. Solid greet, sprinkle reactions—that’s it.”
“Separate chat window? Feels kinda like Nety.”
“Nety? Oh, TV in My Hand? Spot on. Similar vibe. Right, you were on that. Should be easier. Anyway, prime time to fire up our X-App, so get ready...”
Lee Gyu-han fiddled with the phone.
A cute logo loaded onscreen.
Moments later—
Yeonwoo’s face popped up.
“This how it works?”
Kinda awkward.
Nety at least had a camera guy; Yeonwoo just monitored.
X-App felt off.
‘Like rambling solo to my phone...’
Eh, par for the course.
Chatting up thin air solo? Yeonwoo’s bread and butter.
‘Wonder if anyone’ll show.’
Notifications ping bookmarked folks on launch, fans swarm in.
‘Account’s brand new yesterday. Few comers? Handle it.’
First swing won’t fill you up.
Yeonwoo peered at the screen, musing—
[?? Real life?]
[Guys, notif hit, jumped in—is this actually live?]
[??? This Yeonwoo right now?]
[AHH;;; Heart stopped on entry;;;]
[Notif thank god buddha allah...]
Dead quiet a second ago—now chat rocketed up one screen edge.
Lag spike? Eyes spun from the sudden barrage.
“Hello. Didn’t stumble in wrong. You’re right where you belong. Nice to see you. Hope you’ve been well?”
Real? Fake? Live? Prank?
Yeonwoo snagged the skeptical barrage, answered dead-on, greeted—
Chat detonated again.
[Heard official home post yesterday, followed ASAP—praise meㅠㅠㅠ]
[No way that was legit;;; Insane;;;]
[No wonder monthly routine called today!]
[AWOL forever, dropping this surpriseㅠㅠㅠㅠ]
[Yeonwoo?? What’s wrong? Hurt?ㅠㅠ]
[Voice-only hid it—what happened our Yeonwoo!?]
[Our Yeonwooㅠㅠ Face why so wrecked? Agency grinding you?ㅠㅠㅠ]
[No way—what happened our Yeonwoo who did this to him?!]
“Face too roughed up? Look bad?”
Hand to cheek—
Replies flew.
[Nooo still perfect]
[Wrecked Yeonwoo got that wrecked vibe^^]
[Adore Yeonwoo any way but sick-worriedㅠㅠ]
[Yeonwoo agency exploiting? Carrot shake pls]
“No carrots to shake. Agency’s not exploiting. Dropped weight for the role.”
Truth off-limits—Yeonwoo went with the white lie.
Who’d buy it? Backlash blood-vomit, spiritual power tanked, hacking away—that tale.
Some truths glow brighter veiled.
“Ah, what role? Article probably dropped... Lead in Director Ji Un-jae’s new flick. Rookie over my head, but I’ll grind—watch warmly.”
Yeonwoo wrapped up—
Chat dissolved into bedlam again.