Chapter 91: The Police Come Knocking

[Pantheon destroys training facility right after becoming honorary ambassadors (It wasn’t a new nozzle)]

It was the title of a video on the official National Fire Agency YouTube channel.

Recently, many public institutions and local governments have been making their promotional videos with quite a lighthearted atmosphere.

This time, the Fire Agency also reflected the trend in producing their video, and thanks to that, the events of that day were captured entirely.

– Excuse me? Demon God-nim? Did you just smash that?

└ Lmao

└ Wow, that’s seriously amazing, though. Holding onto a fire hose until a building collapses… I looked it up and an ordinary person could never control that.

└ Well, it’s not like Demon God-nim being amazing is a new thing. Still, I didn’t expect him to smash a public facility lol.

└ If it’s the Demon God, destruction is the national rule lol.

People didn’t know that the Demon God had freely controlled the water pressure. They just thought there was a problem with the water pressure and the Demon God had managed to hold on well.

Furthermore, since it was a training facility and not a regular building, everyone could enjoy the video with a relaxed mind.

Above all, the rare, dumbfounded expression on the Demon God’s face right after the building collapsed was the highlight of this video.

– What’s with that expression after destroying it lmao.

└ The way he looks around for a second is so funny lol.

└ This is my first time seeing Demon God-nim spaced out lol.

└ Probably everyone’s first time lol. Ah, someone make a gif of this quickly!!

└ A gif is already out lol. Go look for it quickly lol.

His nonsense attempt to ask Yoon-seo what he had touched didn’t work at all…. Whether it was the people at the scene at the time or the YouTube viewers, everyone considered it the Demon God’s doing.

Thanks to that, the Demon God, stripped of his dignity, ended up being generated into various diverse gifs.

– The Demon God gif is seriously funny lol.

└ Ah, but when Demon God-nim is serious, he’s serious.

└ Did everyone watch the other videos too?

└ Yeah, it was touching.

The demonstration wasn’t the only thing receiving the spotlight.

The appointment ceremony and the acceptance speech also garnered people’s interest.

– Looks like the views for Sun-woo’s speech video are steadily rising too?

└ Right, right. He spoke with such sincerity.

└ Sun-woo rarely speaks that well. Tae-young didn’t even translate.

└ He must have truly felt grateful to the firefighters.

It was an appointment ceremony that became a hot topic in many ways, one that did not put the title of ‘Firefighting Demon God’ to shame.

Having shown off his majesty like this in succession, right after suppressing the arson fire—

– They really chose the honorary ambassador well this time. Even non-fans are looking up this video a lot right now. Proper promotional effect.

└ Seeing the Fire Agency cut the video into short clips and post several of them, it seems they’ve caught on too. Rowing while the water is coming in lol.

One of the purposes of appointing an honorary ambassador, ‘inspiring interest in firefighting,’ was definitively achieved.

– Pantheon fans must certainly have fun. So spectacular…

└ Yeah, it’s a day-to-day life where you can’t let your guard down. They say every team has that one ‘golden child’ member, but there’s no one else like him.

└ Don’t misunderstand the ‘golden child’ title. He’s diligent, kind, and loves his fans… he’s just a bit strange, that’s all…

└ At first I was interested because he’s handsome, but when I came to my senses, I think I fell for him because he’s strange…

└ His point of attraction is truly unique lol.

***

Reactions to this video appeared in an unexpected place as well.

“This idol friend, isn’t he the one who received the Brave Citizen Award a while ago?”

It was none other than the National Police Agency.

After handling important agenda items in a meeting,

The Commissioner brought up a promotional issue he had been paying attention to.

“Yes, that’s correct. At that time, it passed quietly with a proxy receiving it.”

After subduing the Hockey Mask intruder at the abandoned school, Sun-woo had once been awarded the Brave Citizen Award by the police.

“Is that so? And the agency side didn’t use it as promotional material either?”

“The news was already such a huge issue at the time. They probably distributed press releases, but the award itself didn’t receive much attention.”

“I see.”

The Commissioner tilted his head for a moment.

“Still, it seems plausible we would have considered appointing him as an honorary ambassador too, so why didn’t we? The Fire Agency is having a lot of fun with these friends right now.”

At that, one of the executives recalled a memory.

“At the time, it overlapped with appointing another famous idol, which is why we didn’t. You remember Witherky from Izm, right?”

“Ah, that’s right.”

Even though there is no limit to the number of honorary ambassadors, they had no intention of appointing two idol teams simultaneously.

“What a shame.”

The Commissioner spoke briefly, but all the executives understood his meaning.

Right now, one of the important agenda items dealt with in today’s meeting was crimes targeting unspecified individuals committed by celebrities whose popularity had waned. Among them was the aforementioned individual from Izm.

Initially, they suspected and investigated it as a drug-related crime, but surprisingly, there was no connection whatsoever.

It had no connection to mental illness either.

Immediately after his arrest, he was incredibly confused, but as the days passed in the detention center, he actually regained his sanity.

It was the exact opposite of cases where people pretend to be mentally ill to seek a reduced sentence.

Yet the nature of the crime was too severe to be seen as simple pessimism about his circumstances.

The police were racking their brains because they couldn’t grasp the cause.

However, Pantheon had recently directly resolved an arson crime committed by such a celebrity. That case was a fire incident, but it was simultaneously a criminal case.

Should they say it was symbolic in a good way?

He was perfect as an honorary ambassador for this period.

“How about we try contacting them even now?”

“Hmm. Wouldn’t it feel too much like we’re copying them?”

He didn’t want to hear that they were imitating another public institution.

“Tsk. It can’t be helped. We’ll just pass on this.”

At the moment the Commissioner smacked his lips in regret—

“Instead of an appointment, what if we try casting him?”

“Casting?”

One sharp executive came up with an idea.

“There is currently a program being supported by the National Police Agency, isn’t there? What if we have him appear on that?”

“Oho! You mean that program?”

“Yes, that one.”

The Commissioner and the executives present nodded in unison.

An appearance on a program had a different texture than an honorary ambassador.

Yet it still served as promotion.

“Contact the program side and tell them to cast him. Tell them to make it happen somehow.”

***

The fire that had caught at the fan signing venue passed through the Fire Agency, went past the Police Agency, and fell right onto the feet of the program production team.

The production team immediately held a meeting to discuss the casting.

“Do you think casting works just however we want it to?”

“What should we do? Just say we couldn’t cast him?”

Such opinions were voiced, but.

“No, the Police Agency helps us tremendously with the program production.”

“I doubt they’d specifically check if we actually tried to cast him, but….”

“Still, you never know. If we get caught, it’ll be a headache.”

The opinion leaned toward not ignoring it completely.

Furthermore, it wasn’t as if the production team was reluctant to cast the Demon God.

“I think it would be good for us to cast Sun-woo too.”

“Right. It’d become an issue, and he’s the variety show member there.”

Before they knew it, the Demon God had firmly established his position as a variety show member.

Even if the trend of idols appearing on variety shows had waned, if the member himself was good at variety shows, it was a different story.

Moreover, the Demon God had high recognition not only among idol fans but also the general public, and his image was favorable, making it even more so.

“But the thing is, Origin doesn’t just casually throw him into anything.”

“It’s strange, right? He’s so good at variety shows, I wonder why?”

“To prevent consuming his image?”

It was his true nature, not his image, that was the problem, but no one knew that yet.

“To say that—he appears out of nowhere on shows like Mystery Horror Commando.”

“I heard he did that because he likes the occult.”

“But we’re not that kind of show?”

It seemed there was no hook to draw his interest.

“Oh?”

“What?”

“I heard there are strange rumors going around about the place we’re going to this time.”

Someone on the production team suddenly thought of something somewhat resembling the occult.

However, an immediate rebuttal came in.

“Strange noises coming from the mountain? Isn’t that just a water deer? And that’s not police work anyway.”

“If we go up the mountain for no reason and there’s nothing there, we’ll just waste time we could have spent filming something else. And they’re in their comeback promotion period right now, so they probably don’t have much time.”

“Do you think the company will just sit by if we say we’re taking a currently promoting idol up a mountain?”

“Ah, I suppose so.”

The bizarre rumor naturally faded from the conversation.

“Whatever. Just try contacting them. If it doesn’t work out, it can’t be helped.”

The conclusion was reached.

Anyway, they would try to cast him.

Whether it would work or not, they didn’t know.

“Uuuuurgh, what a disgrace.”

A brief moment of stopping by the dorm between busy schedules.

The Demon God had his face buried in his phone.

“What are you watching? What are you watching?”

Ha-gyeom poked his head in from the side.

“Watching closely degrades your eyesight. Maintain an appropriate distance.”

Ji-ho grabbed the Demon God’s phone and tried to pull it away from his face.

Of course, the Demon God pushed Ha-gyeom’s head away and swatted Ji-ho’s hand off.

“Look at this. Do I not look like an idiot here?”

The Demon God was trembling as he watched the video featuring himself.

Why had he made such an expression back then?

What did it matter if he smashed one human building?

The Demon God was filled with nothing but utter regret.

“So what? Everyone has at least one dark history.”

“Excuse me? Is it my imagination, or do you seem somewhat excited?”

The one who brought up the topic of ‘dark history’ was Tae-young.

Having gained a dark history of his voice cracking at the MAMA due to the Demon God—

No matter how calm Tae-young always was as a leader, this must be the first time in his life he tasted such schadenfreude.

“Hmph.”

“Tae-young?”

For some reason, the Demon God felt like he was being mocked.

“It probably can’t be helped. I think this will last for quite a while.”

Yoon-seo explained in place of the usual Tae-young.

The Demon God was currently at the peak of public interest.

Resolving the fire incident on the day of the comeback and then immediately causing an accident at the appointment ceremony. He was continuously producing issues within a short period.

“Is that so? Can this not be covered up? Is there not something called ‘public opinion manipulation’?”

“Excuse me? Hyung, don’t say things that people might misunderstand if they hear. Origin isn’t Izm.”

“Would it not be fine just sometimes?”

Yoon-seo made an appalled expression.

“Then what should be done? I wish to erase this.”

However, a dark history is bound to be brought up again and again.

No one could offer appropriate advice.

Just then, the CEO came up from the floor below.

“The atmosphere is strange? Only Sun-woo is serious and the rest of you are enjoying yourselves?”

““Hmph.””

While the CEO looked around, feeling a sense of mismatch.

“Dwellers of the lower floor, what brings you here? Is it not yet time to leave for the schedule?”

“Can you do something about that title….”

The Demon God lightly ignored him.

“Ugh. Anyway, Sun-woo, a variety show offer came in for you.”

“A variety show?”

The Demon God slowly raised his head.

“What kind of variety show is it?”

“It’s a program called [Neighborhood Guard].”

It was a program where they went to a different region every episode and experienced police work.

This was precisely the program the National Police Agency supported.

“Right now, our buzz is surpassing EXI’s, so it would be great if you did just one more variety show. But still, you probably aren’t interested in this, right, Sun-woo? I’ll tell them no.”

“I will do it.”

“What?”

The Demon God also knew.

That an issue is best covered by another issue.

He couldn’t do anything about it being brought up again, but he might be able to bury it for now.

In the end, he ended up making an unavoidable choice.

“The keywords are maintaining order, service, and justice, though?”

Even as the CEO asked again in puzzlement, the Demon God ended up nodding his head.

“Order—, service—, justice—, uuuuuurgh.”

“I’m telling you, if you don’t want to do it, don’t do it?”

“I will. I will try doing it.”

And thus, the Demon God became the cane of the people.

The punishment called ‘Idol’ was truly endless.

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