Ch.95095 – Those Who Bow to Idols 2

# 095 – Those Who Bow to Idols # 2

We went to the address Kwon Sua had given me.

It was an officetel in a busy district.

Knock knock-.

“Hello. It’s Ha Yeongwon.”

When I knocked, someone approached and opened the door.

It was a girl with her hair tied back, wearing leggings, a short-sleeved shirt, and arm warmers.

She looked about my age, but her face had a gentle puppy-like impression, and above all, her chest area caught and held my attention.

“You came earlier than I expected?”

Wow.

I heard she was the same age as me, but it was hard to believe. I’d heard that girls mature earlier than boys their age, and that seemed to be true.

Is she really Korean?

Is that genetically possible?

“……”

Idol Kwon Sua folded her arms.

Was she trying to cover her chest?

I felt embarrassed for unconsciously staring so obviously, but honestly, this was unavoidable.

Woof woof-!

Just then, I heard a dog barking.

A Shiba Inu appeared from somewhere and ran toward the door, and Kwon Sua shouted.

“Hurry and block it! Hurry! Don’t let it out! If it gets out, we won’t find it! Quickly come in and close the door!”

“Uh-oh-.”

I was flustered.

While Kwon Sua was blocking the Shiba Inu with her legs, Yang Juhui and I had no choice but to enter the officetel.

Ding-.

The door closed completely.

Soon, Kwon Sua picked up the Shiba Inu and said.

“This is Wangwang, a dog that Suho oppa and I were raising together.”

“Ah. Wangwang.”

“My uncle hates raising dogs, so Suho oppa was secretly raising it. I’m too busy to take care of it properly, so my brother mainly took care of it.”

I never would have guessed that Kwon Suho was secretly raising a dog.

I remembered that the reason Kwon Suho had drowned Gu Hyena was because she had seen a ‘photo with a dog’ in Kwon Suho’s wallet.

He didn’t want others to know he was raising a dog.

So that’s what it was.

“But who is this?”

Idol Kwon Sua asked, looking at Yang Juhui with slight wariness.

I quickly answered.

“She’s my friend. She’s trustworthy, so don’t worry.”

It felt strange using formal speech with a girl the same age as me.

To me, all celebrities had the image of being older sisters or brothers, and even seeing her in person now, that feeling remained.

Being a celebrity really isn’t for just anyone.

She literally sparkles.

Even to my eyes, which had become quite discerning from being around girls like Yang Juhui or Yu Dahui, Kwon Sua was a pretty girl.

If we had gone to the same school, I would have surely ended up having a crush on her.

“So why did you call me?”

I asked.

Why would an idol call me?

I was very curious.

Soon Kwon Sua, with glistening eyes, said:

“I heard you were with Suho oppa until the end? You were friends with my brother, right? Please help me! My brother might die tonight!”

“…Tonight?”

“My uncle is holding a big gut ritual tonight to open some kind of sluice gate. If this goes wrong, many people could die. We have to stop it somehow!”

“Wait, what’s a gut ritual and what’s a sluice gate…?”

“I know. It’s natural not to believe when I suddenly say things like this. But ghosts are real. Since I was young, I’ve seen so many strange things…! Ghosts and such…!”

Tears soon fell from her clear eyes.

Seeing a woman cry made my heart feel like it was being torn apart.

“Oppa told me that if anything happened to him, I should contact Yeongwon. He said you were someone I could trust. Because you’re similar to me…”

# # #

Kwon Sua was born into an ordinary middle-class family.

It was a family so ordinary that you could see them anywhere.

But Kwon Sua was far from ordinary.

Since childhood, Kwon Sua had seen things others couldn’t see and heard things others couldn’t hear.

These were probably what could be called ghosts.

“Kids, Sua should play too.”

“Teacher! Kwon Sua is too quiet, she’s no fun!”

“She even wet her pants the other day!”

Until elementary school, Kwon Sua was ostracized for her strange behavior and for frequently wetting herself.

She simply couldn’t get along with children her age.

During those times, her cousin brother Kwon Suho gave her a lot of help.

“Hey, what are the names of the kids who bullied you?”

After rumors spread that she had a cousin brother with all sorts of bad rumors about him, Kwon Sua was no longer bullied.

And as Kwon Sua entered the upper grades of elementary school and then middle school, she became accustomed to pretending not to see or hear things.

It would be better to say she became desensitized.

And it was quite effective, as she no longer saw ghost-like things.

She even began to think that perhaps it had all been delusions created by her mentally unstable elementary school self.

“Sua, do you want to try being an idol? I’ve seen a lot of pretty girls, but with your visuals alone, you’d pass with flying colors.”

Kwon Sua auditioned to become an idol at her cousin brother’s suggestion.

It was to change her timid and fearful self.

That’s how Kwon Sua the idol of Dorangmul Girlz was born.

‘I want to reclaim my life too. If I don’t live as brightly and glamorously as I’ve lived in fear until now, I’ll be at a loss.’

The idol life wasn’t easy, but it was enjoyable.

The cheers of people and the feeling of her heart racing after practicing choreography until her underwear showed through her sweat-soaked clothes made her feel alive.

But that was only until very recently.

After the big earthquake in Gaeryong City, Kwon Sua couldn’t calm down.

She had nightmares every day, and the apparitions and ghosts that hadn’t appeared since middle school started to appear again.

They were more hideous and terrible than before.

Meanwhile, her cousin brother Kwon Suho, who had been a great emotional support, changed.

It had the exact same face as ‘Kwon Suho,’ but it was absolutely not ‘Kwon Suho.’

Kwon Sua could tell that fact better than anyone.

“Youngsu. On the new moon, I’m going to hold a big gut ritual to open the sluice gate and call back my son’s spirit, so gather all the skilled practitioners you know. Not just any random frauds.”

“Chairman… if we’re not careful… something uncontrollable might happen like 17 years ago. Back then, 52 people went missing…”

“So you’re saying we should just watch my son rot alive? Shut up and bring them! And bring Kwon Sua too. The water veins of Gaeryong like virgin blood.”

When Kwon Sua learned that Kwon Suho’s father, Kwon Oseong, was preparing a big gut ritual, she could instinctively feel that something ominous would happen.

I have to stop it-.

With that thought, she focused on the message Kwon Suho had recently sent her.

“Sua, there’s a boy who sees ghosts just like you. Want me to introduce you? He’s not lying, he’s the real deal.”

If it was someone who had seen the same scenery.

Kwon Sua thought she wanted to trust anyone, so she contacted Ha Yeongwon.

That was the very brief story of how things had come to this point.

“My brother told me. Yeongwon, you can really see ghosts too. Then you know how terrible, scary, and cruel they are. How cruel and terrible…”

I wasn’t sure, but if Kwon Oseong opened what he called the sluice gate, the world might be flooded with more ghosts.

For people like Kwon Sua who could see things others couldn’t, such a situation would be like the world becoming hell, so she thought she had to stop it by any means necessary.

# # #

Kwon Sua cried her eyes out.

A woman’s tears.

In some sense, a pretty woman’s tears were more tormenting to a man’s heart than the hideous appearance of terrifying ghosts.

I hadn’t done anything wrong, but I felt like I had done something wrong and should apologize.

“So according to Sua, you can see ghosts too? What kind of things have you seen? It’s just, it’s my first time meeting someone like me…”

There was a high probability that Kwon Sua was a Watcher or my enemy, a Hero.

That meant I couldn’t rule out the possibility that all this was a trap to deceive and backstab me.

Being the cousin sister of that scoundrel Kwon Suho doubled my suspicion.

You might fool others, but you can’t fool me who’s been through thick and thin.

With such thoughts and wariness, I asked, and Kwon Sua replied:

“Ghosts… I used to see them often… Recently… Before releasing a new album, I went to Queen Jang Hui-bin’s tomb to receive energy to enchant men, and I saw a ghost dancing on the grave. It was so scary. Its eyes were bright red…”

“Ohh?”

I was surprised.

Could such a coincidence exist in this world?

We had also met a dancing ghost at Queen Jang Hui-bin’s tomb not long ago. It seemed there was someone who had encountered the ghost there before us!

“Also… sometimes ghosts pretend to be my friends and push me onto the road…”

“Me too! I’ve had ghosts appear with my friend’s face and push me into a pond!”

I had recently been drowned by a water ghost that took on Yu Dahui’s appearance.

It was a frustrating story that I couldn’t complain about to anyone, but who would have thought I’d form a connection with the youngest member of a top idol group who seemed completely unrelated to my life.

Kwon Sua’s eyes, which had been sniffling until just now, sparkled brightly.

“Really? Do you sometimes turn on all the lights when you come home and deliberately leave the bathroom door open when you use it? I do that. In case the door suddenly locks or a ghost appears! I even keep my eyes open when washing my hair!”

“When I sleep under a blanket, I’m afraid a ghost will grab my feet if they stick out, so even on hot days, I always cover myself up to my feet with the blanket.”

“Me too! This is real. I couldn’t talk about this anywhere. You’re the first person I’ve met who’s suffering exactly like me!”

Swish-.

Idol Kwon Sua showed me her palm.

I awkwardly raised my hand and gave her a high-five.

It felt quite thrilling.

So this is why people buy albums, merchandise, and go to idol fan signing events.

Actually, I had never been interested in idols or female celebrities before, but from now on, I might start taking an interest.

Conversely, Yang Juhui, who had been a fan of the idol group Dorangmul Girlz, remained calm and composed despite seeing her favorite idol in person.

“Ha Yeongwon. Now is not the time for such talk. She asked for help, so you should ask how and in what way we can help.”

“Ah. Right.”

“This is my fault. This is my first time talking about this too…”

I understand.

You can’t complain about ghost stories anywhere.

“Tonight… there will be a big gut ritual at the Oseong Building headquarters. We just need to disrupt and stop it. I have clothes prepared, so let’s all change into them!”

Kwon Sua’s plan was like this:

At the gut ritual tonight, many fraudulent shamans and mediums would gather, and we should pretend to be one of them.

Then we could sneak in and disrupt the ritual.

Disrupting a gut ritual…

I had an ominous feeling.

But Kwon Sua emphasized again that if we didn’t stop it, a greater danger would occur.

“From what I’ve heard, the sluice gate was opened in Gaeryong 17 years ago too. They say about 52 people went missing then… there’s no law saying it won’t happen again this time!”

When the sluice gate opens, people go missing.

17 years ago.

That was around the time I was born.

Is it a coincidence?

With such thoughts, I decided it would be better to prevent another situation where people would be separated from their families due to disappearances and grieve, like my mother or Yang Juhui’s sister.