Chapter 3: The Festival is Fun

“Because it’s a chili pepper festival.”

The MC thrust the chili pepper hat forward.

Looking around, naturally, everything was a chili pepper.

In the plaza stood a chili pepper sculpture.

At the agricultural market, chili peppers were being sold in bulk.

The Chili Pepper Song Festival and the Chili Pepper Souvenir Treasure Hunt were in full swing.

Even an event where people caught fish with their bare hands in the stream—which had nothing to do with chili peppers—was named ‘Catch the Chili Pepper Fish.’

Then, what about the event the Demon God and the Team Leader had arrived at?

[Beat it! Chili Pepper Nanta for Stress Relief!]

It was an event where people excitedly thrashed sacks filled with dried chili peppers with wooden clubs.

It was said that those with excellent performances would be selected to compete in the finals on stage.

“Come on, please wear it.”

“Urgh.”

At a chili pepper festival, one must wear a chili pepper hat.

The sheer, overwhelming persuasiveness made even the Demon God falter.

The Demon God suddenly felt an ominous premonition and asked the Team Leader.

“Team Leader, is this a one-time thing? Or is this going to continue?”

“I told you to call me Team Leader-nim.”

The Team Leader hesitated to answer after saying that.

When attending local festivals, people often wore something representing the specialty, even if it wasn’t a hat.

Wearing an onion net or placing a tangerine mascot on their head.

Actually, that wasn’t the problem.

They could do anything for the sake of promoting the festival.

However, hiding a member’s face like this was a bit much.

They were idols, after all.

The face had to be visible, the face.

“You’re going to wear it, right? Hurry. The participants are already entering the venue.”

The MC thrust the chili pepper hat forward again.

“Whew.”

With Pantheon’s current standing, they couldn’t refuse.

They were in a position where they had to be grateful just for being invited.

The Team Leader accepted the hat.

As soon as he did, the MC picked up the microphone and began his commentary toward the participants.

“Welcome! Please come in according to your numbers!”

Turning his back to the MC, the Team Leader spoke to the Demon God.

“Sun-woo.”

“Mhm?”

“This is all helpful for later. You know that, right?”

“Later?”

“Yes, it serves as the foundation for when you become a top idol.”

“Top idol?”

The Demon God succeeded in understanding the meaning of ‘top’ through his linguistic sense.

“So there is a hierarchy among idols?”

The Team Leader wondered if he didn’t even know this much because he was from overseas, but he focused on soothing Sun-woo for now.

“Of course there is. When you become a top idol, you can do whatever you want. You could say this is preparation for that time.”

The Demon God acquired new information.

There is a hierarchy in this punishment.

And it seemed that the higher one climbed, the greater the degree of freedom.

“If that is the case, I am accustomed to it.”

He had started as a trivial being and risen to the status of a Demon God.

It was something he achieved by going up, and up, and up.

Even the term ‘Top Idol’ had a nice ring to it.

“Very well. If that is the case, I shall wear it.”

“Sun-woo.”

The Team Leader, moved by the gesture, spoke his true feelings.

“You… you seem like a bit much, but then again, you’re quite alright.”

“?”

The Demon God felt a sense of unease at the ambiguous sentence, but the Team Leader busied his hands.

“Let’s do a little reforming instead.”

He ripped off the chili pepper located directly in front of the face on the hat’s brim.

“There. Try it on.”

Thwack. The hat was placed on the Demon God’s head.

“Oh.”

An exclamation escaped the Team Leader.

Chili peppers hung in clusters.

Through the hole in the middle, the Demon God’s terrifying visuals were revealed.

The hair flowing slightly beneath the hat was as deep as the abyss.

His skin looked as cold as a snow-covered plain.

And every feature was as sharp as the Demon God’s ominous sword.

The chili pepper and the Demon God.

Just like the festival slogan, HOT & COOL.

With such a ridiculous contrast effect, it was difficult not to look.

Just then, the MC stopped his commentary for a moment and approached.

“What are you doing, taking that off? At a chili pepper festival, the chili pepper is the main— Huh?”

The MC also stopped as if possessed and stared at the Demon God for a long time.

He had hosted many events and encountered many unknown idols. This meant he was used to idol visuals.

That was why he hadn’t even looked at the member when he handed the hat to the Team Leader earlier.

But this member was different. Seeing him with the contrast effect of the chili peppers made it impossible to look away.

A visual that truly suited the word ‘idol.’

“An idol really is an idol.”

That was all the MC could say after a long silence.

Among them, he was of the cold and charismatic type.

Just like an ice sculpture.

That ice sculpture opened its mouth.

“Did you just call me an idol?”

“?”

The Team Leader hurriedly cut in from the side.

“He’s from overseas, hahahaha.”

“Ah, overseas.”

The MC and the Team Leader accepted that and moved on.

“I received word from the event headquarters. You said the group is Pantheon? And the member’s name?”

“This member is Sun-woo.”

“Yes. I think the hat is fine as it is. No, it’s actually better.”

“Right?”

The MC and the Team Leader began talking about the event in a much more relaxed atmosphere.

“The event itself isn’t hard. You just have to hit the sacks filled with chili peppers with a wooden club in time with the music. Sun-woo-ssi, you can just stand next to me and hit them following what I do.”

He then looked at the Demon God for a moment and added.

“Shall I give Sun-woo-ssi some time to lead in the middle?”

The Team Leader brightened at those words.

“We would be grateful! Sun-woo has a good sense of rhythm, so he’ll do well.”

Then he whispered to the Demon God.

“You can keep the beat well, right?”

Since he was a member who had suddenly joined this morning, the Team Leader didn’t know much about the Demon God either. He had just gone ahead and said it.

“Rhythm?”

The Demon God looked at the sack and the club.

So he just had to hit that.

He remembered the moments when he would personally beat the drums to encourage his army during every war with the gods.

When the Demon God’s aura spread far and wide along with the sound of the drums, fear spread with it. The next day, the Demon God’s army would charge, risking death.

“Leave it to me. I shall make them run wild.”

“Ooh! Sun-woo! I like that determination!”

The Demon God entered the event venue with the Team Leader’s encouragement.

Wearing a chili pepper hat.

While emitting an aura of darkness.

***

“Ho ho ho.”

76-year-old Kim Myung-ja entered the Chili Pepper Nanta venue with a smile.

“Grandmother, this way.”

Beside her was her granddaughter Yeon-hee, whom she loved more than anything.

To Yeon-hee, who was only in her second year of middle school, a local festival probably wasn’t much fun.

She was a filial child who had come along for her grandmother, who had difficulty moving.

Thanks to her, Kim Myung-ja enjoyed the festival.

She watched the preliminaries for the singing contest and shared tteokbokki filled with plenty of chili powder with her granddaughter.

Acquaintances she ran into occasionally looked at Kim Myung-ja with envious eyes for being with her granddaughter.

Then, they joined a random event during a gap in time before the trot singers arrived, which turned out to be an event for beating chili pepper sacks.

As someone who could barely lift her arms, it was an event Kim Myung-ja had no interest in, but unexpectedly, her granddaughter showed interest. Come to think of it, had she mentioned learning the drums or something at school?

“Ho ho.”

She would just let her granddaughter enjoy it while she tapped along moderately before leaving.

Kim Myung-ja turned to look at her granddaughter with a benevolent face.

“Eh? Yeon-hee?”

Her granddaughter’s state was different from before.

The granddaughter, who had been bouncing around excitedly, was now standing still, staring straight ahead.

“Yeon-hee, why? Is there something in front?”

“Grandmother, over there.”

Yeon-hee pointed forward with her finger.

– Now! Has everyone taken their places? Shall we start beating excitedly to the music?

In Kim Myung-ja’s blurred eyes, she saw the MC working hard with a microphone.

“What about the host man?”

“No, grandmother. Next to him.”

“Next to him?”

It did seem like someone was standing next to the MC.

“Oh, grandmother, you can’t see that far very well, can you?”

Yeon-hee realized her mistake late.

With her grandmother’s eyesight, which had long since suffered from presbyopia, it was difficult to see that distance. She would need her glasses to barely see—

“He’s handsome!”

Kim Myung-ja shouted firmly.

“Huh? Grandmother, can you see over there?”

“That’s the only place I can see.”

And that was not something that applied only to Kim Myung-ja.

“Indeed, Myung-ja said it well.”

82-year-old Yang Chun-hee also nodded in agreement.

A few acquaintances had also entered this event and were nearby.

Yang Chun-hee asked the older woman from the neighborhood next to her.

“Can you see him too, sister?”

“Of course I see him. How could I not?”

86-year-old Lee Soon-ja, who was asked the question, also agreed.

They could see him.

A handsome man was visible.

Even though he was far away, it was as if he were right in front of their eyes.

Naturally, the handsome man the elders were looking at was the Demon God.

– Lee Sun-woo of the idol group Pantheon will also be beating with us. Beat it! HOT & COOL! Chili Pepper Nanta! Start now!

Kung-jjak, kung-jjak, exciting music began to flow.

It was unclear whether they were getting excited because of the music or because of the youth with the outstanding visuals.

The elders, who had lived through the era of smoothing laundry with ironing sticks, picked up their clubs and began to follow the rhythm. Dung-dung-deok-kung-deok.

Kim Myung-ja’s granddaughter Yeon-hee also beat down with her clubs as if playing the drums. Kung-chit-ttak-du-gu-du-gu.

Perhaps because of that, the 50 participants began excitedly beating the chili pepper sacks from the start, fully relieving their stress.

– The atmosphere is great! Hit them! You have to hit them!

The MC, satisfied with the event’s atmosphere, continued his commentary for a while before remembering the promised time for Lee Sun-woo to lead.

– Lee Sun-woo of Pantheon! Shall we hear how excitingly he beats?

The MC held the microphone toward him. He even signaled the Demon God with a wink.

“Is it my turn.”

As the Demon God nodded, the chili peppers on the hat’s brim rattled.

And the next moment.

He clearly struck the chili pepper sack.

But a sound emerged that wouldn’t have come even if he had struck the wooden board under the sack directly.

Doooong—

A low, gloomy, and terrifying drum sound.

The drum of the Demon God.

“Offer your souls to the sound of my drums.”

It was said along with the sweet commentary of an idol.

The hands of all the participants who heard the drum sound and the commentary stopped dead.

Even the MC, who was supposed to maintain the event’s atmosphere, froze in place.

That was how much the sound captured their souls.

Dung, dung, dung, dung.

The time given to Lee Sun-woo was only one minute.

The Demon God rapidly increased the tempo of striking the chili pepper sack.

“Follow me.”

At the idol’s words, the participants picked up their clubs as if possessed.

A hundred clubs rose high into the sky.

Kim Myung-ja’s chronic shoulder pain vanished without a trace. The arm that wouldn’t go up was now pointing toward the sky at this very moment.

A hundred clubs struck the chili pepper sacks.

Doooong, they echoed the drum sound following the Demon God. Dung, dung, dung, dung, the sound of drums on the eve of a campaign.

This utterly ominous resonance was precisely for them.

The enemies would tremble in fear, and they would repel those enemies.

“Follow me!”

When the idol’s words came,

“He has told us to follow!”

The event participants responded.

Dung-dung—
Dung-dung-dung-dung—

The event, a bizarre mixture of the Demon God’s departure ceremony and the chili pepper festival, gradually reached its climax.

Ragged breathing and hot sweat mingled.

The participants experienced their bodies surpassing their usual limits.

“My frozen shoulder is moving! Aaaaah!”

“My back! My back has straightened up!”

“Be gone, fatigue! Vitality is welling up!”

Transcendence.

Self-transcendence that could be obtained by following a being that far surpassed humanity.

Lee Sun-woo’s one minute of leading ended just like that.

Clatter.

A club fell from the hand of a participant who was drenched in sweat. It was the pleasant exhaustion that follows intense excitement and frenzy.

Clatter, clatter, clatter.

The sound of clubs falling followed from all directions.

Finally.

“Finished.”

The Demon God smiled refreshingly.

.

.

And every single one of these scenes was perfectly captured by the cameras on site.