The Heavenly Idol: Episodes 3-4 » Dramabeans MGG

The Heavenly Idol: Episodes 3-4

by Unit

If it were all up to our pontifex, I bet he’d rather be singing in the heavenly realm than on earth — and in the body of an idol no less. No one said being an idol was easy, and his case is further compounded by the presence of The Evil One who’s out to get him. But with the holy vow of confusion at stake, what else is a pontifex to do?

 
EPISODES 3-4

Following Rembrary’s visit to the hospital last week, he is diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder. Apparently, the doctor thinks he created the Rembrary identity to evade his current reality as a washed up idol, preferring to be a pontifex of another world instead. And after the stunt that the real Yeon-woo pulled during his telekinetic session with Rembrary, this might as well be his diagnosis. Lol.

Rembrary’s participation in the Sing Survival show is the first step to winning Artist of the Year (and returning to his body), but the other contestants dismiss him as actual competition — after all, he was cast for the buzz and not actual talent, since Yeon-woo is a terrible singer. But aside from having issues with the “harmful and materialistic” lyrics of the song chosen for the first round, Rembrary is pretty confident in his vocals — after all, 100 years of singing in a heavenly choir will do that to anyone. Wait, how old is this guy?

We finally get our introduction to SHIN JO-WOON (also played by Lee Jang-woo) — the vice chairman of the network airing Sing Survival, and The Evil One’s earthly host. But unlike Rembrary who acts differently from Yeon-woo, The Evil One is right at home in Jo-woon, and he infects everyone around him with a dose of evilness, turning them into his little red-eyed minions. I’m sure his choice of Jo-woon as a host is part of his plans to mess with Rembrary — who ends up putting on a spectacular first round performance that puts other performances to shame! Unfortunately, Rembrary and Dal don’t get to bask in the euphoria of his performance, because they return to the dressing room to meet Cash in the middle of a panic attack.

Apparently, Cash developed a panic disorder after harsh criticisms for his behavior on a variety show a while back. And from dissociative to panic disorders, these Wild Animal boys are going through a lot. Sigh. Rembrary’s divine powers can’t cure illnesses of the mind, but Dal has a better solution: Rembrary can just become an idol who comforts and gives strength to his fans. Sounds good! But when Rembrary — who can tell that Dal is also fighting her own inner demons — offers to cure her too, she’s touched, but she denies having any such problems.

Back to Sing Survival, the result of the first round is released, and while Cash wins fourth place (yay!), Rembrary comes in last. What!? This clearly has The Evil One’s fingerprints all over it, but Rembrary handles the loss better than I expected him to. For the second round, he is paired with the winner of the first round, SEON WOO-SHIL (Tak Jae-hoon) — a senior artist who just so happens to be Wild Animal’s former vocal coach. Woo-shil loathes Yeon-woo because Yeon-woo preferred to coast on his good looks rather than improve on his nonexistent singing skills. Now, Woo-shil is determined to crush Yeon-woo for good, and that cannot be good for Rembrary.

Things get worse when the first episode of Sing Survival airs, because as expected, Rembrary is slaughtered on the altar of malicious editing. Dal blames herself for not being firm enough with the PD (who is now a red-eyed minion), but as usual, Rembrary takes it all in stride. Since he can’t cure Dal’s self-blame, he promises to win in the second round so as to make her feel better. He’s learning fast! Unfortunately (no thanks to a spiked drink from another red-eyed minion), Woo-shil loses his voice when he goes onstage with Rembrary for the second round. Gasp!

While Dal and the audience begin to fret, Rembrary — who knows that this is The Evil One’s doing — carries on with the song, his hand clasped firmly in Woo-shil’s for his divine powers to flow into — and heal — Woo-shil. The plan works, and they’re able to finish their beautiful duet to the delight of everyone — except The Evil One, of course, and a Black-Hooded Minion who accompanied him from The Other World. But unlike The Evil One who wants to end Rembrary in a flashy and amusing style, Black-Hooded Minion just wants to kill Rembrary anyhow and be done with it.

Rembrary and Woo-shil win first place in the second round (yay!), but Rembrary wins an enemy alongside, in the person of popular idol and fellow contestant OH JUNG-SHIN (Oh Jin-seok). In the meantime, Rembrary tries to adjust to life as Yeon-woo, finds out that Dal is THE biggest Yeon-woo fangirl — or worshipper, as he calls her — and thinks she’s in love with Yeon-woo. Heh.

Rembrary also learns from Wild Animal’s leader — and resident papa bear — CHOI JUNG-SEO (Hong Seung-bum) that Yeon-woo was about to join a secret religious group shortly before he “became a different person.” And Rembrary recognizes the insignia of the group as a symbol of Lord Redrin. Interesting.

When Cash gets into a dating scandal, Dal is reminded by the reporter — who leaked the news — about the incident from her previous job. (Apparently, an idol under her care committed suicide over hate comments.) Rembrary rescues Dal from the horrible reporter and this leads her to address him as “Rembrary,” as she finally decides to differentiate between his two personalities. The duo share a gentle moment together where she says she likes being with Rembrary more, and I share Dal’s sentiment because with everything we have seen about the real Yeon-woo, it’s hard to reconcile him as the caring guy who saved Dal’s life back then. (By the way, is it just me who noticed that Rembrary has mentioned more than once that “his calling is to heal people” — which is exactly what Yeon-woo wrote on the photocard he gave to Dal? Hmmm.)

As it turns out, the source of the dating rumor is Jung-shin’s manager, or more accurately, Jung-shin himself — under orders from The Evil One. For the guy who pushed a trainee (who was supposed to debut in his stead) down the stairs, The Evil One expects more from Jung-shin because Yeon-woo went unscathed in Cash’s dating scandal. So, Jung-shin is turned into a red-eyed minion. And from the Sing Survival PD to Jung-shin, it seems like having a naturally evil nature is a requirement to becoming a red-eyed minion.

On sighting him at the third and final round of Sing Survival, Rembrary can tell that Jung-shin is now a minion. To worsen matters, Jung-shin’s minion powers are at an all-time high, and he’s strong enough to lift and fling a staff member to the ground when she catches him messing around with cables backstage. Rembrary heals the staff member in the presence of Dal — who can’t comprehend what her eyes are seeing — and they track Jung-shin to the parking lot. And this is where we close for the week: with Rembrary gearing up for a face off against Jung-shin — who basks in all his full minion glory. The dude is even sprouting horns! Whoa!

Okay, Dal has to be one of the most courageous people on the planet, because I’d have fainted after what I witnessed backstage. And even if I managed to stay conscious, there is no way I would’ve followed Rembrary to face the darkness waiting in the parking lot. On the bright side, this is undeniable proof that Rembrary doesn’t have a dissociative disorder as she thinks. But between her beloved idol being diagnosed with a disorder, and learning that he’s currently in another realm, I don’t know which option is meant to ease Dal’s worries the most. Lol.

Speaking of realms, The Heavenly Idol introduced us to yet another one this week: The Afterlife — where the humans’ Book of Life and Death has been changing more often of late. “Who dares to meddle with the humans’ destined lifespans?” The Queen of the Underworld bellows? And if this was a multiple choice question, I’d shade the Rembrary option since he’s always healing sick people. Heh. Anyway, the queen (Jang Young-nam) sends an inspector to the earthly realm to bring in the “fool” who’s messing with their order, and inspector SA GAM-JAE (Park Sang-nam) gets himself hired as Wild Animal’s new roadie. Hehehe.

Between The Evil One and his minions, and now Gam-jae, Rembrary has his hands full. There’s also the matter of the vow of confusion with Yeon-woo. Sigh. No one said being a pontifex in an idol’s body was easy, but if there’s anyone who can handle the burden, it’s Rembrary. And all he needs is to just be armed with a constant supply of tributes — hypoglycemia or not.

 
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