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Join the ServerJang Young-bae asked about Reporter Park Geun-oh first.
“Do you know what kind of person that fellow who just left is?”
“Ugh—talking behind someone’s back as soon as they leave is not good.”
“This is no joke! He is a fellow who extorts money by threatening people with the weaknesses he dug up on celebrities. Why is he in my room?”
Jang Young-bae’s question was full of irritation, but Kang-yul remained languid and relaxed.
“About that. It is because the CEO ordered it.”
“The CEO?”
Jang Young-bae had never heard of this.
“Yes, it is included in the training the CEO provides.”
He couldn’t understand.
What does someone like Park Geun-oh know about idol training?
“What is the content of the training?”
“You know, don’t you. That it is confidential.”
It was merely a question Jang Young-bae had asked casually. He hadn’t expected an answer to return.
However, because he said it was confidential like that, he had no way of knowing how the reporter was entangled.
Jang Young-bae, who felt a sense of helplessness, was unable to find words to say for a moment.
“Rather than that, I shall relay the CEO’s words.”
Kang-yul put his index finger to his lips and shifted the topic with an idol expression, tilting his head.
“What words do you mean.”
“First!”
Kang-yul pulled his index finger away from his lips and pointed it forward.
“The title track this time is not my song.”
“What?!”
Without any meeting?
Furthermore, after they had already set up the promotion with Kang-yul’s lyrics and composition?
“He said we are going with Ji-chan’s song.”
It wasn’t only Kang-yul who had begun writing songs.
Member Woo Ji-chan had also begun writing lyrics and composing. They had even heavily reviewed the song he wrote as the title track of this album.
The song itself was good. It was merely pushed back to a lower priority due to the nature of the group putting Kang-yul first.
“If it’s that song, it is decent, though. But why only now?”
Jang Young-bae felt his helplessness deepen as he threw the question.
Why on earth did he have to hear this kind of story from a group member in the first place? It wasn’t that he was completely excluded either. They were clearly entrusting him with management.
But he couldn’t shake off the feeling of being somehow left out.
“I do not know the reason either. Who could know the CEO’s inner thoughts. He did say he would explain in detail to the Director later, though.”
“Really?”
That those words of Kang-yul gave a bit of comfort was a situation where a bitter smile rather came out.
“Understood. The first is the title track matter. Next?”
“Second!”
After the first, isn’t it the second.
“Align the comeback period with Pantheon’s.”
“Haa.”
Indeed, this too was an incomprehensible instruction. Every time they formed a rivalry structure with Pantheon, they suffered a setback. It was the same when the fashion pictorials were recently released simultaneously.
Jang Young-bae was currently thinking whether it was about time to fold this rivalry structure.
Since EXI’s fandom was growing due to the CEO’s bizarre ability, he thought it would be better to just grow EXI on its own rather than tying them with Pantheon.
“The reason? This too?”
“I don’t know, of course. Although I like it.”
“What? Why do you like it?”
“What do you mean why. Naturally, it is because I like Pantheon. My former members are there too, and Sun-woo is also very interesting.”
Was that not a reason why they should avoid competition?
But Jang Young-bae did not go out of his way to ask back.
The CEO was incomprehensible, and Kang-yul was transparent, but in the end, they were far apart from the way of thinking of an ordinary person. Trying to follow that would only make Jang Young-bae’s head throb.
“Is there a third too?”
“No. It is the end.”
Then Kang-yul stared intently at Jang Young-bae.
“Why?”
When asked for the reason, Kang-yul grinned.
“Are two not enough? Does your head not ache already?”
It was a smile as if looking at a poor student facing a large homework assignment.
Jang Young-bae clutched his head.
***
Regardless of how Izm operated.
Origin was busy with Origin’s own work.
Among that, making sure to take credit to the investor, Bryce, was also included.
“So! We! Persuaded Ki Hee-young, who wasn’t intending to open his mouth!”
“Ah—”
“And heard all the stories of how he has been doing!”
“Yes—”
“That is what happened!”
The CEO was appealing the fact that he hadn’t treated the investor’s request lightly and had visited personally.
Of course, a tremendous exaggeration was mixed. Because the Demon God Sun-woo, who was making an displeased face beside him, had done most of the work.
“Why am I here? I personally came because you said it was absolutely necessary, yet what on earth is my task?”
He had just commuted to the company together because the CEO had pestered him since morning.
“You were at the scene too, you see.”
“I wasn’t merely there, though?”
“That’s what I mean! If CEO Bryce has any questions, we need someone to answer them.”
The CEO’s memory of what had happened was dim. It was a spiritual situation, making it impossible to understand, and his memory was already being distorted by the correction process.
In reality, the content the CEO delivered was nothing much.
“To think you called me for something like answering questions….”
“It’s courtesy, courtesy.”
“Courtesy?”
It was a story that displeased the Demon God even more.
For him to do a good deed like ‘courtesy’ for a human who wasn’t even a fan? What on earth is this situation?
“Ah! I have realized.”
“Even without listening, I feel like you realized wrongly, though.”
“No way.”
“Whew, I’ll ask, taking it with a grain of salt. What did you realize?”
The Demon God answered confidently.
“Is this not that? Private entertainment for an investor! I am actually trying this too.”
“What are you saying! Stop saying things that could be misunderstood!”
“But is it not so? If an idol attends a meeting to grant an investor’s personal request, even more so if it is because of the company CEO’s demand—”
“Agh! The words are right, but deeply wrong!”
The CEO was almost on the verge of fainting.
“Pfft!”
Bryce, who was listening to this conversation, let out a small laugh.
At that sound, the CEO regained his senses and wore an embarrassed expression.
“Haha, ha.”
Actually, because his memory was dim, the CEO couldn’t even speak of the counseling center or the star tattoo.
He merely said that Ki Hee-young had suffered greatly after moving to the new company, and delivered his message.
“Bryce. Remember only the core.”
The Demon God pointed out.
“The core is this. That Ki Hee-young felt deep apology and gratitude toward your father. Although the favor your father bestowed did not bear fruit, even so, it cannot be called futile.”
To Bryce, it was an investigation for her father’s old memories.
There was no need to know up to the unidentified forces. Knowing how what her father had done remained in the world was enough.
“Whew, yes. Just as you say, Sun-woo, I’ll remember only that.”
Bryce nodded. This visit to Korea was successful.
It was so business-wise, and also regarding her father’s memories.
“Ah!”
One business decision still remained.
“I will make an additional investment for the album you are preparing this time too.”
“!”
The CEO’s body shifted.
“And, if by any chance Pantheon has an occasion to come to the US, please contact me. Because I will be able to look after your convenience. No, if anyone from Origin comes, please contact me.”
No matter how much financial power one has, having someone they can trust locally was a different story.
It was an proposal that made him feel tremendously reassured when imagining going to the US for music videos or performances.
“Thank you! We will make sure to contact you.”
And lastly.
“This is something I am saying only to Sun-woo, though.”
“…It’s not, though.”
“Hm? Then?”
Bryce let out a small sigh and spoke.
“I want to be a fan too.”
“Oh?”
Bryce was also interested in Pantheon, who had delivered the USB to her.
Although she couldn’t do so often because she was busy with other businesses, she still monitored under the pretext of being an investor.
They certainly held charm.
Furthermore, Pantheon encountered directly this time—
“Their actual selves are more than enough to make me a fan. Perhaps I should join the fan club too.”
They were idols who brought out fandom devotion.
“Hmph.”
The Demon God smiled slightly. And he threw his signature question.
“Will you worship?”
“Yes.”
If so.
“I shall worship you as well.”
“Heh, thank you.”
Mutual worship.
Here, another believer entered the path of worship where the idol and the fan proceed together.
Along with the CEO’s smile, Bryce Kim left Origin taking her bodyguard.
The Demon God spoke to the CEO who returned after seeing her off.
“If as a result of granting an investor’s private request, we are provided with investment and convenience—no matter how much I think, is it not entertainment?”
“I said it’s not!”
The CEO clutched his throbbing head.
***
The Demon God returned to the dorm.
“Sun-woo, did the business go well? What did you do?”
The CEO hadn’t told him what it was about until they departed from the dorm. Lest the Demon God wouldn’t go out if told they were going to meet Bryce.
“I have returned from performing private investor entertainment.”
“What?!”
“Although the CEO said it wasn’t until the end, though.”
“Ah, then it probably wasn’t.”
The members, who were surprised for a moment, quickly recovered their peaceful daily life….
“…….”
The Demon God tightly closed his mouth and entered his room.
– Nyuu!
– You came! Yo!
– Welcome~
– What about the melon-flavored ice cream bar?
The Demon God passed between his pestering familiars and buried his body in the soft chair.
Setting aside the nowhere-to-go Shadow, when on earth do those three musicians intend to ascend.
Even though the songs are already loaded on Pantheon’s album. Even when told he would release them from being familiars and to ascend, they do not listen.
When spiritual existences stay, the temperature drops.
Because of those fellows, the other members say, why is Sun-woo’s room this cold.
“Quiet.”
– Quiet!
They listen well to words again, making it difficult to pick fights, so it is quite troublesome.
“Well, there will be a use for them again sometime.”
The star tattoo, he felt the day he would meet the star brand was not far off.
If the intuition of an ordinary human is correct, it is at the level of future prediction.
But this side is the Demon God of a lofty status.
This intuition will not be false.
“Once Yoon-seo’s song comes out, it is the start.”
Once activities actively begin and he keeps his eyes and ears open, they will surely get caught.
It was a matter of keeping wide open not only the Demon God’s own eyes and ears but also the eyes and ears of those connected to him.
“I must tell Lua and Zion too.”
The Demon God picked up his phone. He accessed the messenger he rarely checked.
A message had arrived from Zion. Exactly one minute ago.
[Sun-woo Sun-woo! Sun-woo Sun-woo!]
“…….”
At times, he is a scary believer. How could the timing match like this?
Perhaps Zion’s intuition regarding the Demon God is surpassing the level of being simply correct.
[Zion]
[Sun-woo Sun-woo!]
Only a single greeting went back and forth, yet he was already tired.
[Do not make a fuss and answer. What is the matter?]
[I went on a shoot to the Melanesian Islands this time, you see]
The Demon God searched on his phone.
Although he was in the middle of chatting so he could just ask, he didn’t feel like it, thinking Zion would explain in some noisy manner.
“Melanesian Islands.”
It was an island region in the Pacific located close to Southeast Asia. They say various ethnic minorities preserve their culture there.
[You have visited an interesting place]
[Right? It’s my first time going too]
Even Zion, who had visited various places for music videos, performances, and commercial shoots, was going there for the first time.
[So?]
[What do you mean ‘so’. I bought a travel souvenir, of course]
“Ah, tribute.”
While rejoicing at other fans’ tributes, for some reason, the Demon God was calm regarding Zion’s tribute.
[Leave it and give it to me later]
Rather, since there were words he had to say—
[It’s something like this?]
Tap, tap. Two photos were uploaded.
One was a turquoise jar of crude texture.
The other was a crude-looking doll made of straw, feathers, tree bark, and so forth.
To someone who didn’t know the value, it would be an item they wouldn’t take even if given.
[I shall go and receive them]
The Demon God recognized the value at a glance.
“Are they not spiritual objects.”
Not a data-gathering item like the cursed bracelet, but truly proper items.
The words to convey? He just had to go and convey them.
The Demon God went out to the living room.
“I shall go to Novior’s dorm.”
It seemed the company vehicle hadn’t returned yet. It seemed he could move by riding that car.
“Really? I am going there now too, though.”
“?”
Tae-young poked his head out from his room.
“Tae-young, why are you going there?”
The adventure continues! If you loved this chapter, Run! This Saint Is a Monster! is a must-read. Click here to start!
Read : Run! This Saint Is a Monster!
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