Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: TrueDetective
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: 8. An Idol Can't Dance Poorly (1)
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I hurriedly followed Taegeuk out, but the corridor was already empty.
No way—just a moment ago, and now where'd he vanish to?
Taegeuk had definitely said before leaving, "Taeul's waiting."
That had to mean Shin Taeul. There wasn't any other Taeul around.
When I'd asked if he kept in touch with the former members, Taegeuk had clearly said no.
But that nuance just now? No way could it have been someone he'd lost total contact with.
I'd figured Shin Taeul might approach me, but through Taegeuk as the go-between?
I closed the door and went back inside, where the Heavenly Demon was watching with a look of keen interest.
"You lot all have skeletons in your closets. Righteous faction types are the worst."
He seemed weirdly amused, which pissed me off.
Just to make sure I hadn't misheard, I asked the Heavenly Demon.
"Did Taegeuk just say Shin Taeul's waiting at the hot springs?"
"That's right. I heard it clear as day myself."
If even the Heavenly Demon heard it, then it's confirmed.
What was Taegeuk's connection to Shin Taeul?
Did he know why Shin Taeul wanted to meet me?
'Does Taegeuk know too, then?'
That the CEO had summoned the Heavenly Demon.
That the Heavenly Demon here was the real deal?
...No, first things first.
"Let's meet Shin Taeul first."
"Then the Wudang guy after?"
"Yeah."
"I'm curious about that Namgung family's true identity myself."
Right. Namgung Jun was another issue.
I'd decided to handle Shin Taeul first, but my head was a mess.
The Nine Great Sects was a six-member idol group.
One guy's a smartphone-addicted Heavenly Demon.
Another's learned demonic arts and become an Odd Eye.
One more seems to be scheming something with the former members behind the CEO's back.
And yet another might not even be who he says he is.
'Is our group really okay like this?'
Nahana, Alliance Leader. You guys are Kichi's hope.
I let out a sigh and replied to the Heavenly Demon.
"We'll look into Namgung Jun slowly."
"Hmm. Fine."
The Heavenly Demon reached out, and the smartphone I'd tossed on the bed flew right back into his hand.
He pocketed it and rose grandly from his seat.
"Lead the way to the hot springs."
Grabbing his phone first thing when heading out—total modern guy.
"First, I'll contact the hotel and request restricted access."
"That works?"
"In modern society, money solves everything."
"True enough. Back in the Central Plains, power solved everything too."
"Hold on a sec."
"Sure."
The hot springs were in a separate annex on the first floor.
...But why was Shin Taeul waiting at the hot springs?
* * *
Shin Taeul really was waiting for us at the hot springs.
Yeah... he was waiting, but...
Shin Taeul frowned and asked.
"What's with the outfits?"
"That's what I want to know."
The Heavenly Demon and I had come straight to the hot springs in our regular clothes.
We'd gotten permission on the condition we wouldn't enter the bath itself while restricting access.
No way were we stripping naked to talk.
But Shin Taeul greeted us with nothing but a single bath towel wrapped around his waist.
He sighed from inside the bath.
"Why'd you think I wanted to meet at the hot springs?"
"Why did you?"
"Because I can't fully trust you or the Heavenly Demon yet. I chose a place where you couldn't bring anything that could be a threat."
"Like what?"
"Like pretending to cooperate while recording us. Or contacting the CEO."
The Heavenly Demon standing beside me snorted.
"Why would I stoop to such petty tricks when I lack for nothing?"
"You're a Kichi idol now that you've been summoned."
Shin Taeul continued softly.
"At first, I thought even you, Heavenly Demon, had been tricked by the CEO into debuting as a trainee. That's why I went to the restaurant that day. Hoping to convince your manager's brother to stop the CEO's repeated summonings."
"So you weren't there to take it out on the manager?"
"The moment I saw you, I knew the summoning had succeeded, so I backed off. If the Heavenly Demon was already here, dragging in your manager's brother would just make more victims for the CEO. That's why I told him to play it off."
The Heavenly Demon narrowed his eyes at Shin Taeul's words.
"But you kept coming back after that. To drag in the manager?"
"My goal of stopping the Heavenly Demon summoning was gone... but a new one took its place."
"A new goal?"
"Revenge."
Shin Taeul's gaze shifted to me.
My heart sank.
Revenge implies something owed.
I'd suspected something happened to the former members.
My worst guess was that the CEO had sacrificed them to summon the Heavenly Demon.
But the Heavenly Demon had clearly said he didn't accept sacrifices.
He responded to "revenge" without batting an eye.
"That manager's just an ignorant bumpkin who only knows how to run his mouth. What good would dragging him in do?"
This Heavenly Demon...
But he had a point.
Like he said, I was just a regular manager.
If they wanted to pull me in, there was only one reason.
"Because I'm the one working closest to you, Heavenly Demon."
"Hmm?"
Shin Taeul nodded as if confirming my words and went on.
"To check if you're cooperating with the CEO or not, and to keep watch—the only one who could do that was your manager's brother."
"Why would you think I'd cooperate with a worm like the CEO?"
"Because a Heavenly Demon like you is suddenly doing idol activities out of nowhere..."
Fair enough. From Shin Taeul's perspective, suspicion was inevitable.
Even I still didn't know why the Heavenly Demon was doing this idol thing.
I'd asked several times already, but he never answered.
I threw the question at the Heavenly Demon once more.
"Heavenly Demon, I really want an answer this time."
"About what?"
"Why are you doing this idol thing?"
The Heavenly Demon crossed his arms and stared at me intently, then smirked with one corner of his mouth.
"You really want to know that bad?"
"From my position, the CEO and you are equally suspicious."
"I don't fancy being lumped in with that sly fox."
"Then you'll tell me?"
"Fine, sure. I'll spin you the tale of why I had to become an idol."
Quit the internet already.
"After arriving here, I learned that 'Nine Great Sects' commands legions of followers."
The Nine Great Sects was a top idol group in Korea, right in the middle of their peak activities.
Word about them would've reached even the Heavenly Demon newly summoned to Korea.
The Heavenly Demon continued.
"So I decided to become an idol."
"You're doing it again—starting and stopping!"
"Even I have my privacy."
"No, what does the Nine Great Sects having tons of fans have to do with you becoming an idol?"
He answered my question firmly.
"That's exactly it."
"What is?"
"The fans."
"Why would..."
"I need fans."
"Fans?"
"Tons of them. Ideally more than the Nine Great Sects."
...Was this guy just jealous that the Nine Great Sects had so many followers?
But wanting more fans than them?
"That'd be tough. You can't even beat Zaha in Japan..."
"I can just do the Odd Eye too!"
The Heavenly Demon snapped, clicking his tongue and shaking his head.
"Anyway, me becoming an idol has nothing to do with the CEO."
"Figures."
Shin Taeul said with slightly clouded eyes.
"Then you won't interfere with what we're doing."
"Whether you seek revenge on the CEO or not is your business."
The Heavenly Demon closed his eyes briefly, then opened them.
"As I told the manager, I want to know how to get back."
"You plan to return?"
"Someday. So I need to confirm if the CEO really summoned me. But."
The Heavenly Demon peered at Shin Taeul in the bath and asked.
"Why are you so sure it's the CEO's doing?"
Shin Taeul fell silent for a moment, then muttered in the tiniest voice.
"...We burgled it."
"What?"
"The CEO's house. We burgled the CEO's house."
"You burgled the CEO's house?!"
I was shocked.
I'd wondered what the former members had been up to since we lost track of them.
Burgling the CEO's house.
The Heavenly Demon nodded approvingly.
"Not bad for righteous faction scum."
"Of course, all the important documents were long gone. We only pieced together that he'd gathered the leftover ashes to summon something."
"And that something was me?"
Shin Taeul nodded faintly and continued.
"The CEO's home study was packed with ancient tomes. Mostly about the Heavenly Demon."
The Heavenly Demon furrowed his brow ever so slightly.
"That's all you got from burgling his house?"
"The quantity and quality went beyond mere curiosity."
"He could just be a Heavenly Demon stan."
"A what?"
"Heavenly Demon PF. Means he's such a fan he uses the Heavenly Demon as his profile pic. Didn't you know that, doing idols and all?"
"No..."
"Tch, that's why you get actors trying to be idols."
"......"
The Heavenly Demon's mindset was pure idol at this point—nothing more, nothing less.
But Shin Taeul quickly composed his flustered expression and spoke calmly.
"This alone probably wouldn't convince you the CEO summoned the Heavenly Demon. So let me tell you."
"About what."
"What happened to us."
That's exactly what I'd been dying to ask.
"What the hell happened to you guys?"
"What I'm about to tell you covers from when I joined the Nine Great Sects until I left. It's what all the former members went through."
Shin Taeul glanced up at me briefly, then lowered his gaze and began.
"All Nine Great Sects members have something in common. You know it too, right?"
Of course I did.
I'd almost become one myself.
"Their names?"
"Yes. Our names are all tied to wuxia novels, and you know the CEO desperately scouted people with those exact real names."
"Yeah. I was with him when he cast you."
"Right. It started that way—with the CEO approaching us because of our names. Saying things like, 'Your name alone makes you valuable.'"
I'd heard that line too.
Add the CEO's offers on top, and no one could've turned down Kichi.
"He offered insane signing bonuses and treated us better than we deserved. But he only asked one thing in return: don't slack on practice."
Debut days did have that vibe of "we got paid, so let's work hard."
But up to here...
"Up to here, it just seemed like normal trainee life. We figured the names were just for concept casting. But after practicing like that, debuting, and a few years passing, things changed."
"Changed how?"
Shin Taeul answered with a serious face.
"Our bodies got healthier."
"......"
I'd briefly suspected hidden cams, but Shin Taeul's expression was utterly earnest.
"...Getting healthier is a problem?"
"Not at first. It was even convenient. No matter how packed the schedule, we weren't tired. Intense dances didn't leave us winded. Sweeping first in every event at the idol sports day? We chalked it up to disciplined living, set diets, and company care."
Shin Taeul added grimly.
"Until we realized we could get hit by a car and walk away fine."
"Hit by a car and fine?"
"Literal. Falling from stage setups—no injuries. Jumping higher, running faster than normal people. Yeah... just like real 'martial artists.'"
This was beyond anything I'd imagined.
The Nine Great Sects members never got hurt during activities, that's true.
When they slipped on stage, we just thought they got lucky.
But if it wasn't luck—if their bodies just didn't get hurt...
Is that why Taegeuk thought Namgung Jun's scar was weird?
"No, wait, hold on."
I pressed my forehead and asked Shin Taeul.
"All of you have bodies like that? Like in wuxia novels... that kind?"
"When I tried to knock you out, or when I came to the rooftop—you must've felt we weren't normal."
Yeah... it was definitely off.
If Shin Taeul climbed the building wall like the Heavenly Demon, he could've snuck in without the security guard noticing.
But.
"It doesn't make sense. How is that even possible? This... this isn't the Central Plains."
"You wouldn't have known, but..."
Shin Taeul replied flatly.
"The Nine Great Sects choreography isn't just dance. It's a pure internal energy cultivation method—a proper qi circulation technique."
"...What?"
"We couldn't figure out how the CEO knew about it."
The Nine Great Sects choreography was a qi method?
If true, then choreography practice was actually qi training.
What? So the Nine Great Sects weren't a concept group—they were legit martial idols. Ha ha.
...As if I'd buy that.
"No, no way. That make sense? Cultivating qi through dance? If so, the Heavenly Demon would've spotted it instantly."
The Heavenly Demon blinked a couple times, then shot back like I'd said something stupid.
"Didn't I say? Those basic moves are so simple, a side glance is enough."
"...What?"
"Your Alliance Leader's qi was impressive."
My mind went blank.