The Heavenly Demon Becomes an Idol chapter 6

Juja had never believed in the concept of Martial-arts.

Even when he had said that he couldn’t see anything else while his brothers performed, he thought it meant they were simply that immersed.

He often said as much in interviews, to show just how passionately he engaged with the stage.

But what was this feeling?

Moving his body as the Heavenly Demon had instructed.

Following the steps.

Despite the brevity of the movement, it felt unfinished.

No, it felt like he could keep dancing if told to continue.

The next move, not taught by the Heavenly Demon, naturally came to mind.

‘I want to dance a little more… I feel like I’m about to realize something.’

A sensation flowing through his veins.

A heat coiling inside his stomach…

‘Is this what Hwashan feels like?’

A faint scent of plum blossoms wafted through the air.

Due to the Hwashan’s concept, both the photo shoots and costumes were all plum-themed.

Despite being sick of plums, the fragrance was pleasant.

Yes. The mystery of Hwashan, that is—

“Juja! Stop!”

***

“Ah!”

Startled by the loud noise while dancing, Juja collapsed to the ground.

The CEO, who had burst into the practice room and stopped Juja’s dance, sighed softly.

The Heavenly Demon clicked his tongue nearby.

“Why did you appear suddenly and interrupted me?”

“…What?”

“Tch. Why interrupt?”

“Interrupt?”

The CEO, smiling, approached the Heavenly Demon.

“I brought what you were looking for.”

He handed over a brand-new smartphone, which brightened the previously displeased Heavenly Demon’s expression.

The smartphone flew from The CEO’s hand into the Heavenly Demon’s grasp—another instance of his levitating trick.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, it seemed Juja hadn’t seen it.

Usually, he would have fawned over The CEO’s presence, but now he just clutched his head as if lost in a trance, perhaps overwhelmed by the dance’s aftereffects.

“The work is done quickly, which is good.”

The Heavenly Demon, pleased, tucked the smartphone away as The CEO stared at him for a moment before asking:

“Are you not satisfied with Juja?”

What an odd question.

Just moments ago, the Heavenly Demon had been watching Juja’s dance with a contented look, as if watching his own child.

Juja wasn’t known for dancing well.

But just now, Juja had been different; it was almost as if he had made plum blossoms bloom in fiery red.

So, was he stopped because the CEO disliked the performance?

In the CEO’s eyes, Juja’s dance must have seemed lacking while the wrecked practice room went unnoticed.

The Heavenly Demon calmly replied.

“Impossible.”

“Then why…”

“I was merely finding it amusing for a while.”

The Heavenly Demon answered naturally, and The CEO, after a moment’s thought, nodded.

“You know it would be hard to debut without Juja.”

“I know. He has twice the parts compared to the Alliance Chief.”

“Understood. Do you know how to use the smartphone?”

“Roughly. I’ll ask this manager here if I have questions.”

“Good.”

The CEO nodded at me, signaling his approval.

I guess I need to set up the Heavenly Demon’s KakaoTalk ID.

“Ah? Mr. CEO.”

Just then, the members who had stepped out for the restroom came bustling back.

Upon spotting the CEO, they instinctively bowed at ninety degrees, a habitual greeting.

The Alliance Chief stepped forward and said:

“Mr. CEO, we decided to use the choreography adjusted by the Heavenly Demon.”

“That’s fine.”

The Alliance Chief stared at the CEO and added:

“There was an earthquake just now; were you alright, sir?”

“Earthquake? Ah, this mess…”

Upon hearing the Alliance Chief’s meaningful question, the CEO seemed to grasp the reason for the chaos.

He turned to me and asked.

“Mister, is there another practice room available?”

“Yes, it seems we can move there now.”

“Good. I know it’s tough to change the choreography just before the final performance, and there might be some complaints. But it would be great if everyone could muster their strength to support Mr. Heavenly Demon’s debut.”

The CEO added with a smile.

“It will be a great help in expanding the Nine Sects’ universe.”

***

A 3-year old Gaebyeok, known on the app as ‘MarryMeJuja’.

‘MarryMeJuja’ is notorious among the Hwashan’s hardcore fans.

Though a fan of Gaebyeok, she regularly criticized other members for looking heavier or supposedly dating, and was vicious toward any members who left the Nine Sects, treating them as sworn enemies.

On the night the broadcast was almost over, she switched channels and gripped the remote tightly.

Today was the day.

The day of her favorite, Juja’s, last performance for this activity period and also the day the mad CEO had announced the Heavenly Demon’s debut.

‘How could they insert a nobody into our boys’ final performance…’

It was utterly infuriating, no matter how she thought about it.

Initially, when the Heavenly Demon’s debut was decided, ‘MarryMeJuja’ had posted inciting a boycott.

But the boycott had little time to take effect, and although some joined, many were swayed by the Heavenly Demon’s teaser photos, commenting things like, “He’s got the second-best looks after the Alliance Chief, are the Hwashan trolls scared he’ll lose his popularity ranking? lol.”

It was annoying to be treated as a villain, but what she hated most were the neutrals.

Fans who always sat on the fence, saying let’s just wait and see.

It was mostly the Shaolin fandom doing this.

While she was grumbling about why anyone would follow a pretender like Baek Nahhan, a top-tier idol group just below the Nine Sects finished their performance.

As the familiar lighting of the camera set in, ‘MarryMeJuja’ sat up from the couch.

“Damn it.”

When the camera pulled back to show the whole stage, he cursed out loud.

Chillingly, it was the Heavenly Demon or whatever, positioned at the center.

The Heavenly Demon looked arrogantly at the camera and covered his mouth with a folding fan.

“Be thankful you can witness this with your own eyes.”

‘MarryMeJuja’s’ eyes widened.

Not because of the offensively informal speech to the audience, but because it had always been an unspoken rule that the Alliance Chief opened the Nine Sects’ songs.

She wasn’t a fan of the Alliance Chief, but she had a soft spot for him since the Chief often took care of Juja and appeared in many camera shots.

And now, this newbie was taking over the Alliance Chief’s part on his debut?

‘MarryMeJuja’ was angry.

‘If he steals our boy’s parts, he deserves to die.’

He watched the Nine Sects’ performance with a menacing glare.

Whether it was the energy from it being the final show or adjustments made for the six-person formation, the performance was several times more polished than usual.

“Wow… my boy’s flying today.”

His bias was never one to be praised for his dancing.

Juja didn’t need to dance well.

He sang beautifully. His voice was mesmerizing.

She had always said that, but seeing her favorite excel in dance too was overwhelmingly delightful; she felt she had to share it somewhere.

‘MarryMeJuja’ hurriedly logged onto Twitter to hammer out a tweet.

[It’s like watching a thousand-year-old plum tree from Hwashan dance, Jujaㅠㅠ How can you still be growing solo after six years, you really are…Awesome!]

The reactions of other Gaebyeok fans on social media weren’t much different.

[What’s going on today, did someone feed Juja an elixir?]

[Guys, am I seeing things or are there plum blossoms around Juja?]

[I saw it too, definitely saw it.]

[No, seriously, I can see them; special effects maybe?]

It wasn’t just me seeing the plum blossoms around Juja.

Considering that no such effects were seen around the other members, it seemed these were added just for Juja.

“Ah, truly the embodiment of a plum blossom tree…”

Covering his mouth as he watched, it became clear a significant part had been modified for the six-person formation.

How much practice had Juja put into this? His grit during the performance was admirable.

Even as a notorious critic of the Hwashan, when the Heavenly Demon performed a brief levitating act, he couldn’t help but gape in awe.

He felt relieved that this wasn’t a hasty inclusion like with Namgung Jun as the performance neared its end.

“…Huh?”

‘MarryMeJuja’ realized something.

The Heavenly Demon’s part was just that opening.

And that was it.

***

During the week of preparation for the Heavenly Demon’s debut stage.

It was incredibly hectic.

The members were busy with their individual schedules and learning the new choreography.

I was occupied with fitting the Heavenly Demon’s stage costumes, negotiating with the broadcast station, and requesting additional staff.

Given that Nine Sects was already a top-tier idol group with packed individual broadcast schedules, there was a need for dedicated stylists and hairdressers for the Heavenly Demon.

Accommodations were another issue. While the Nine Sects had a dormitory, it’s uncommon for top-tier idols in their sixth year to still live in one.

The dormitory had been neglected as members lived independently. Namgung Jun was the only member who frequented the dorm, and many problems went unreported as he tended not to complain.

Therefore, the dormitory was under extensive repairs, and Namgung Jun temporarily went back to his family home. The Heavenly Demon and I were staying in a temporary accommodation at the agency.

The CEO wanted me to manage the Heavenly Demon closely, meaning I too would move into the dorm once renovations were completed.

My salary had tripled.

Naturally, my workload too.

And I had to teach the Heavenly Demon how to use a smartphone.

…Thinking about smartphones was frustrating.

He didn’t need separate practice for his choreography.

Nor did he have a schedule or preparations to make. The Heavenly Demon was busy with his phone.

“Smartphone minion, show me Nertube.”

-Master, please call me Cherry, not minion~

“Hmph, don’t flirt.”

-Searching for AnYang spicy hot soup.

“What?!”

…That had been his routine for a week.

Even after his debut stage, it was the same.

“Mr. Heavenly Demon, aren’t you looking at your phone too much?”

At my caution, the Heavenly Demon looked at me indifferently.

“I’m just curious about the reaction to my debut. You said it’s okay for you to look it up too.”

The Heavenly Demon had been monitoring.

The reaction to the Heavenly Demon’s debut stage was lukewarm for different reasons.

An unprecedented rookie had his debut on the final stage of Nine Sects, a top-tier Korean idol group.

But his part was only the initial opening.

The public was confused whether this was a well-backed newcomer or not.

Still, the Heavenly Demon’s debut was considered a success.

The impact of the choreography, now set for six members, was better than before.

And since the Heavenly Demon didn’t take many parts, the response to him as a sudden additional member turned somewhat sympathetic, almost as if he’d been deceitfully debuted.

Nonetheless, the Heavenly Demon didn’t watch anything but his ‘I’m joining the Heavenly Demon cult today’ fan Nertube videos.

Idol-related content had long since been pushed out of his recent playlist.

What the Heavenly Demon really wanted to watch with his smartphone was…

“You only watch food vloggers.”

“Aren’t you curious how much an untrained human can eat?”

“Sure, there’s curiosity about how much they could possibly eat.”

“…! …!!!!”

It seemed a new and somewhat curiosity had arisen in the Heavenly Demon, but I ignored it and continued with what I was saying.

“Before long, Mr. Heavenly Demon, you will have a schedule like the other members. If you are to appear on broadcasts, you’ll need to practice speaking and think of topics to discuss. You should also familiarize yourself with modern common sense.”

“The CEO mentioned that it might actually be better for broadcasting if I just appear as I am.”

The CEO said that?

“Maybe you should at least look over some predicted interview answers.”

“The nagging from the Manager seems to be getting worse. Right, my Smartphone minion—no, Cherry, what do you call someone who nags a lot?”

-A typical nag~

“So it is, you nag.”

“…”

“Annoyed?”

Until now, it had been a vague unease, but the reality that the Heavenly Demon’s speech might turn into slang had dawned on me.

I had already mentioned to the CEO that the Heavenly Demon might be addicted to smartphones, but the CEO, as if possessed by some strange spirit, only responded with enigmatic answers like “It seems like the Heavenly Demon was not immune to the addiction of the smartphone…”

“Mr. Heavenly Demon, there are many great inventions in the modern world besides smartphones.”

“That Hwashan guy says that smartphones is the peak of modern inventions.”

That Juja?

“Hmm, but Manager, if you really want me to, I can indulge you.”

“Really?”

Just when the Heavenly Demon seemed ready to set aside the smartphone for anything else, he asked sulkily,

“Ah, is this AnYang spicy hot soup tasty?”

“…”

I realized then.

The Heavenly Demon was being fed the same calorie-restricted diet as the other members.

Being confined to the agency, eating only on bland protein shakes, and practicing dance moves—none of this was more than mere seclusion training for him.

I would have stared at a smartphone too if I had one during seclusion training.

“Mr. Heavenly Demon. Let’s go.”

“To AnYang for the spicy hot soup?”

“No.”

I solemnly presented the black card I had received from The CEO.

“The essence of modern inventions. I’ll introduce you to something called molecular gastronomy.”

“I know it. It’s what goes into the spicy soup.”

That’s the ingredients, not the genre.

And precisely an hour and a half later.

At the French restaurant I had taken the Heavenly Demon to.

We ended up face-to-face with a former member, Sin Taeul representing Jongnam, who had left the group.