Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 285

285. Anything

9 PM.

Rembrary and Mory were lying face down on the floor of their dorm room, poring over a map of the area, an early dismissal form given by the instructor, and a blank sheet of A4 paper. They were marking various spots with a felt-tip pen.

They needed to get fifteen signatures, and they were putting their heads together to figure out who would be the quickest and easiest to get them from.

Mory, remembering the rumor that Shin Jo-woon had been having some close conversations with Rembrary, asked,

“Right, you know CEO Shin Jo-woon, don’t you?”

“…I know him.”

“Doesn’t the CEO know you?”

“He probably knows me. But he doesn’t know everything.”

Mory blinked at Rembrary. If you know someone, you know them, and if you don’t, you don’t. What kind of relationship was it that made him phrase it as ‘doesn’t know everything’? He looked puzzled.

Rembrary shook his head.

“Think of it as a complicated relationship.”

“Complicated relationship?”

Instantly, Mory thought of Rembrary and Woo Yeon-woo and flinched. It seemed like there was someone important between them. Could that person be Shin Jo-woon?

“Hey, Remb.”

“What is it?”

“Did you get into that complicated relationship with CEO Shin Jo-woon because of… Woo Yeon-woo?”

“How did you know?”

“!”

“I asked how you knew?”

Rembrary asked again, and Mory quickly shook his head, startled. This kind of information would be difficult to handle if he knew it. It was better to pretend he didn’t know. Rembrary found Mory strange, but he didn’t press further.

Mory was relieved that Rembrary wasn’t persistent and quickly changed the subject.

“CEO Shin is an Awakened, too. Getting signatures from five Hunters, we can get one from CEO Shin. Right?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why? Oh. Right. You said it’s complicated.”

“That doesn’t matter to me.”

“?”

“But I don’t know where he lives, do I?”

“We could ask the director. What if the Hunters are annoyed or don’t like early dismissal and don’t sign? Isn’t it easier to ask someone you know?”

“I don’t need acquaintances who live far away. And if I ask, even strangers will do it for me. So, I want to solve this in the shortest distance, Shin Jo-woon or whatever.”

Mory was dumbfounded and about to ask if that made sense when the blue button on the electronic device issued to the trainees flashed. It was a signal to gather in the lobby.

Mory shouted, “First floor! Let’s go!” and rushed out first. Rembrary quickly folded the form, put it in his pocket, and followed Mory down to the first floor.

‘Did another monster appear?’

However, as he descended the stairs and stopped on the landing to look down, he saw no monsters, only a man with reddish-brown hair and a crowd of Hunters surrounding him.

“That guy…?”

Rembrary recognized the face and muttered, and Mory asked,

“Do you know him? What’s going on?”

Mory couldn’t help but be surprised. The Hunters weren’t just surrounding the man. Those who wielded weapons had taken them out, and Awakened without weapons were preparing to use their abilities, all surrounding the man.

It wasn’t like a monster had appeared, and there were two Hunters present. The air was so tense that it felt like a fight could break out at any moment, so it was natural for Mory to be puzzled.

“He’s the lord of the neighboring non-city [a territory outside the main city, often with its own rules and power structure].”

As Rembrary answered, Mory thought, ‘That crazy bastard?’ The lord, who was smiling leisurely even while surrounded by Hunters, raised his head and looked towards Rembrary. As if he had heard the voice.

Mory was about to shout, ‘That guy’s looking at you!’ but stopped, surprised to see Rembrary making eye contact with the lord and staying still. He looked back and forth between Rembrary and the lord.

Mory had heard that the lord had kidnapped Rembrary, but Rembrary had escaped on his own. So, he was worried that a fight might break out.

However, unexpectedly, the lord simply waved and smiled. Rembrary just looked down calmly.

‘Are they not on bad terms? No, but can they not be on bad terms?’ Mory was clueless and just rolled his eyes quickly.

But it didn’t stop there. The lord shouted loudly towards Rembrary,

“I heard that if I came in person, you would accept my invitation. Will you come with me this time?”

The voice was full of goodwill and didn’t sound like he was picking a fight at all. But before Rembrary could answer, one of the Hunters standing next to the lord put a gun to his forehead and threatened him harshly.

“Don’t talk to our trainee recklessly. Unless you don’t value your life.”

“Really?”

But as soon as the lord asked back with a smile, the Hunter who was pointing the gun at his forehead was surprised and stepped back. The gun he was holding had disappeared. Moreover, the gun was already in the lord’s hand.

As soon as he noticed that, the lord pointed the gun at the Hunter’s forehead and smiled.

“What should I do?”

That was the signal, and a fight broke out instantly.

“Ugh, what should I do?”

Mory, who was watching, hid behind Rembrary’s shoulder and fidgeted, but he couldn’t go down into the middle of the fight.

Still, he thought it would be resolved somehow since there were so many people. But the lord was a lord, and despite the clear difference in numbers, the injured were starting to come from the Hunters’ side.

Moreover, the method was very strange. The person being attacked was clearly the lord, but a completely different person would often scream. It wasn’t just screaming; wounds would actually appear on random parts of that person’s body.

‘He’s an Awakened with space abilities. Quite a troublesome ability to deal with.’

Rembrary nodded contentedly, thinking that it was the right choice to use the Majesty of God [a divine power or ability] to subdue that lord.

“I’m amazing after all.”

Mory was staring at the ‘real’ Hunters’ fight with his mouth open, then turned his head towards Rembrary, saying, “Huh?”

“Why is the conclusion going that way? What were you thinking?”

“There is, something like that.”

Rembrary answered calmly and reached out his hands to cover Mory’s ears.

“Ah! Hey! It hurts!”

Mory was thinking, ‘Why my ears?’ when Rembrary suddenly squeezed his hands covering his ears, causing him to tear up and scream.

Instead of just covering Mory’s ears, Rembrary sent some divine power to cover them, and with his mouth, he commanded with the Majesty of God.

“It’s noisy.”

He said this, but Rembrary was actually stopping the fight not because it was noisy, but because there were so many injuries.

At that moment, those who were fighting in the lobby simultaneously stopped moving and collapsed to the floor. Then they even put down their weapons and started to tremble. Only Mory was unaffected.

‘That bastard, he used that!’

However, Mory, who had already been defeated by Rembrary one-on-one during the entrance exam, immediately realized what Rembrary had done and became scared, wrapping his arms around himself. The fear from that time was scary just to imagine.

The lord had also been defeated one-on-one before, and this time Rembrary had adjusted the intensity, so he was trembling but not collapsing. Instead, the lord hugged himself with both arms and shivered.

“This was it.”

He muttered something incomprehensible to himself. Then, he recovered faster than the others and spread his arms, asking Rembrary again.

“My guest! I really want to invite you this time! Do you have any intention of accepting my invitation?”

The eyes of the Hunters lying on the floor naturally gathered in one place. Towards Rembrary.

“…”

Mory also looked at Rembrary. He didn’t know what tricks he used, but he knew that Rembrary was an amazing person who could overwhelm even that lord at once. But separately, he didn’t seem like he would accept the invitation.

What kind of crazy person in the world would accept an invitation from someone who tried to kidnap them? Wouldn’t they hate it just because they felt bad?

However, Rembrary’s expression didn’t change, so he couldn’t tell what he was thinking. With that expression, Rembrary walked down the stairs, his pace no different from usual.

Then, avoiding the fallen people, he approached the lord and took out the early dismissal signature form and held it out.

“If you sign it.”

Mory, who naturally thought Rembrary would refuse, gaped, thinking, ‘Is he crazy?’

No matter how strong Rembrary is, the lord has a lot of subordinates over there. What is he trusting in to follow such a person? Someone who has already tried to kidnap him once?

The Hunters seemed to have the same thought, with crazy expressions, but no one could open their mouths properly because they were still afraid.

But the lord, who was just amused by this situation, smiled and took the paper that Rembrary was holding.

“Of course.”

“Then I’ll go. Treat me lavishly.”

“Of course.”

As Rembrary was about to follow the lord, Mory finally realized and grabbed the railing and shouted.

“Remb! That person is dangerous!”

But Rembrary had already gone outside. The Hunters who arrived in the lobby later than others were confused when they saw the Hunters who had arrived earlier crouching on the floor and asked about the situation.

In that noisy sound, Mory fidgeted, wondering what to do. Goo Byung-in, who had been hiding in the emergency stairs and watching the situation, quickly picked up his phone and went up to the roof.

He didn’t know what was going on, but he felt like he had to report it to Woo Yeon-woo.

* * *

“Is your name Remb?”

“Rembrary.”

“Since both are weird, should I call you by the shorter one?”

On the way to the non-city, Rembrary was annoyed by the lord who was chattering next to him and rebuked him firmly.

“Put on some clothes. You took off the mask, but why are you still half-naked? If you take one off, you should put one on to balance it out.”

“If blood gets on my clothes, I have to keep washing them.”

“If you don’t hurt people, blood won’t get on your clothes.”

“Of course, you can handle people without spilling a drop of blood, so you don’t need to dress like this.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“We’ve arrived.”

While they were talking, the car they were in had already passed through the tunnel from before. The barrier that had been blocking the front of the tunnel, whether it had been removed by the lord’s subordinates, was gone, so this time they could just comfortably drive through the tunnel.

Rembrary briefly opened the window as the car was going to the lord’s house, and when the people who had been chasing Rembrary during the practice looked at him with surprised eyes, he waved to them, puzzled.

Finally, when the car arrived in front of the building, the lord got out first and approached the building.

Rembrary also told the driver he had worked hard and quickly followed him out.

When the lord put his hand on the entrance, the door opened smoothly, unlike when Rembrary had tried to enter alone.

“I accepted the invitation, so quickly give me the signature.”

Rembrary demanded from the lord as soon as he entered the building.

“I will.”

The lord obediently signed against the wall. But that was the end of being obedient. Instead of giving the signed paper, the lord held it up between his fingers and proposed.

“Let’s make a deal.”

“What kind of deal are you talking about?”

“If you grant me one request, I’ll grant you one request.”

“A request?”

Instead of explaining, the lord went ahead, telling him to follow. Following the lord, they soon came to an ordinary bedroom. In that bedroom, the woman he had seen before was sitting in a wheelchair, leaning her head against the window. When she heard the sound, the woman raised her head but didn’t open her mouth.

“Give her eyes.”

Rembrary thought of the person who had been imprisoned and the person who had been trying to escape covering their eyes. Has this lord been doing this all along to cure that person?

“Can you do it?”

When Rembrary didn’t answer, the lord asked again with a slightly anxious voice. Rembrary didn’t answer this time either. Instead, he asked a question in turn.

“Then what will you do for me?”

“Anything. Anything you want.”

“Even the lord’s position?”

“!”