Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 394

394. Return

The approaching presence exuded an overwhelming aura from afar.

Those who had been wary and watching each other couldn’t even breathe properly for a moment.

Even Woo Yeon-woo, who had faced the Demon King several times, was silent under the pressure.

Like music that starts with two simple notes and gradually increases in volume, the sense of intimidation grew stronger as he approached.

When the person finally stopped nearby, everyone realized, just as Shin Jo-woon had earlier.

This person is not human.

The eyes revealed between the half-closed eyelids were as beautiful as amber jewels, but the arrogant boredom within them made those in front of him feel infinitely inferior.

The head researcher swallowed hard, looked at the being, and asked Shin Jo-woon.

“Who is this…”

“God.”

At Shin Jo-woon’s curt reply, the head researcher was as thrilled as if an electric needle had been stuck in his spine.

God.

As a scientist studying superpowers, what word could drive him to despair and lift him up more than this?

The head researcher recalled what Rembrary had told him.

He said the secret of his power was ‘God’s love.’ Could the God he was talking about be the one before his eyes?

Was it not just some invisible thing when he said, ‘I’m lucky,’ but a real, existing, and visible being?

Woo Yeon-woo also felt strange in a different way from the head researcher.

He had shared a body with Rembrary, so he knew better than anyone how steadfastly Rembrary, the Rembrary he hated so much, believed in that being.

Meeting such a being right in front of him, he couldn’t help but feel strange.

How could he possibly express this feeling of finally witnessing the one he had most wanted to deny, because the person he hated believed in him?

But no matter how people reacted, the being with long red hair silently raised a hand.

When that hand reached near his head, Woo Yeon-woo involuntarily squeezed his eyes shut.

But only the fingertips touched lightly. Rembrary’s God did nothing more.

* * *

Hye-gyeol had fallen asleep after finishing organizing the drawers, but Rembrary couldn’t sleep.

Once Hye-gyeol was asleep, he got out of bed again and put on his shoes.

As soon as he opened the creaking door, Rembrary ran towards the shrine.

No one was visible around the shrine today either.

‘But you never know. Someone might be watching.’

Isn’t that why they brought burdock after hearing his prayers?

But since what he had to do now didn’t matter whether others saw him or not, Rembrary strode to the front of the shrine.

Standing there blankly, Rembrary stared at the object that Lumena, or a god with similar powers to Lumena, had left behind.

The object was wrapped in silk, so he couldn’t see what it looked like, but the appearance of the object was not important to Rembrary.

‘If I get past that… can I get through the rift?’

Rembrary stared blankly at the silk and thought.

No matter what happened in that rift, if Redrin was at the end of it, he could get through it.

But the problem was that he didn’t know where that rift led. Lumena and Redrin had directly connected his original world and Earth, but the process was not easy for them either.

However, it was difficult to expect that the rift would be connected to Earth or his original world.

‘Lumena might have created that rift and then gone somewhere else…’

Rembrary, who had been listlessly looking at the silk cloth, eventually turned his body weakly.

And as soon as he turned around, he found Shin Jo-woon standing in white clothes.

He was standing in front of the shrine’s main gate, looking at Rembrary.

Behind Shin Jo-woon was a person wearing black martial attire, meticulously covering his face, and wearing a sword at his waist.

Why is he doing that? While thinking for a moment. Shin Jo-woon stretched his hand diagonally back and slowly drew the sword from the waist of the person in black martial attire.

With a rustling sound, the moon briefly flashed on the white blade.

“Anchovy?”

The moment he called out, wondering why he was doing that.

“!”

* * *

The Emperor, who had drawn the Shadow’s sword to directly assess the opponent’s martial arts skills, was surprised when a large white hand suddenly appeared from the shrine and touched a low-ranking eunuch in the blink of an eye, and dropped his sword and ran towards him.

“Your Majesty!”

The startled Shadow hurriedly tried to grab him, but the Emperor was faster.

And the white hand was even faster than the Emperor.

The white hand seemed to grab the eunuch’s body, and soon pulled out a golden ‘something’ from the eunuch.

The ‘something’ that came out of the eunuch merged with the white hand in the blink of an eye and shattered like light dust.

Like scattered falling stars in the sky, the pile of light swept into the shrine at a rapid speed.

On the other hand, the eunuch, who had been standing upright, collapsed powerlessly to the side as the pile of light disappeared.

The Emperor hesitated whether to chase after the pile of light or catch the eunuch, but inadvertently caught the eunuch.

However, even while receiving the eunuch, the Emperor stared at the receding pile of light, and when the Shadow came close, he entrusted the eunuch to him and ran after the light himself.

But the light disappeared right into the shrine, and the silk cloth covering the object left by God suddenly flew away as if hit by a whirlwind right next to it.

What remained in the place where the silk flew away was a painting. A portrait that realistically depicted a person to the point of being lifelike.

“This is…?”

An object that he had never even seen once because he was told he should never touch it. The Emperor slowly reached out and lifted the portrait.

“Your Majesty, it’s dangerous!”

When the Shadow, who had run over while holding the eunuch, dissuaded him, the Emperor reluctantly put down the portrait and turned around. The eunuch was still unconscious.

“Just now, what was that just now?”

The Shadow asked, trembling with fear, as he placed the eunuch down.

He seemed to still be out of his mind from the terrifying and beautiful event that had just happened in front of him.

“I don’t know either.”

The Emperor muttered and lowered his gaze.

“This one will know.”

Soon he bent down and tapped the fallen eunuch’s cheek.

“Hey there. …Hey there.”

But the eunuch did not get up.

“Is he dead?”

The Shadow Guard put his hand on the eunuch’s neck, but he was clearly breathing. The guard, who took his hand off the eunuch, shook his head repeatedly, looking back and forth between the shrine and the eunuch.

“This one doesn’t even seem to be an ordinary martial arts expert. What on earth is going on… I don’t really know if this one is related to the phenomenon just now, or if such a thing happened because he was near the shrine―”

Then, the guard was startled and jumped up and reported to the Emperor.

“If this happened because he was near the shrine, you must leave this place immediately, Your Majesty.”

* * *

“What’s wrong, Master?”

The disciple, who was brewing tea beside him, asked in bewilderment when the person who had been sitting leisurely with a fishing rod suddenly turned his head.

The master got up and slowly walked towards the cliff.

The disciple looked at him in bewilderment, frowned, and jumped up.

“Did those righteous sect guys come to catch Master again?”

When the master gave a shushing signal, the disciple frowned, but kept his mouth shut.

The master put his hands behind his back and looked in a certain direction.

Soon, when the master’s lips, which had been tightly closed under his bamboo hat, opened slightly, the disciple looked at the master’s profile with an inexplicable sense of unease.

The master, who had suddenly appeared one day, saved him, and made him his disciple, was driven into the Demonic Sect because of an unknown power, but he showed a divine side, and exuded a detached demeanor as if he would suddenly leave one day.

Because of this, the disciple had developed the power to leave this place and become independent, but he could not leave the master’s mountain hut. He was afraid that if he went out and came back, the master would be gone.

The master always pretended not to notice the appearance while clicking his tongue. Suddenly, he was showing interest in something, so the disciple became anxious.

“Master. What are you looking at?”

“Redrin.”

“Yes?”

“I felt Redrin’s presence. Just for a moment.”

“What is that…”

The moment he asked the question, the master was already flying into the air.

* * *

The God, who had been touching the tip of his finger to Woo Yeon-woo’s head, slowly withdrew his hand and smiled faintly for the first time.

“You’ve returned.”

Woo Yeon-woo blinked in bewilderment and looked at his brother.

What are you talking about?

He expected something huge to happen. All that the God Rembrary believed in had done was lightly touch his head with his fingertips.

And while withdrawing his hand, he glanced at Shin Jo-woon with strange eyes.

When Shin Jo-woon tilted his head, the God raised the corners of his lips slightly and slowly turned around.

Following that action, Woo Yeon-woo and everyone else looked in that direction.

Surprisingly, Rembrary, who had disappeared, was standing there. Looking perfectly fine without a single wound.

* * *

When he opened his eyes, the scent of Redrin filled the air.

Rembrary looked around in a good mood, tilted his head after discovering a researcher buried among the flowers.

“Who did such a bizarre thing?”

As he was doing that, he felt Redrin’s presence even more strongly not far away.

When he approached that side, he saw Redrin. Redrin, who recognized him first and turned around.

“Lord Redrin.”

For some reason, there were other things too, but the important thing was that Redrin was there. All he had to do was look at Redrin.

Rembrary smiled brightly with joy.

The thought that Lord Redrin shouldn’t be here came after he smiled with joy.

The appearance of God meant that he was cornered that much. Like Lumena.

‘Did you consume your power again to save me…’

Worried about that thought, Rembrary quickly took a step towards him to check Redrin’s condition.

At that moment.

Woo Yeon-woo, who was standing half a step behind Redrin, seemed to stagger, lowered his eyes, and then raised them.

“!”

The look in his eyes changed at that moment. That look was not Woo Yeon-woo’s look.

It was a very brief moment, but Rembrary could recognize it right away. He had already seen the Demon King take over Woo Yeon-woo’s body right in front of him.

Rembrary’s eyes widened.

And the moment he tried to call Redrin.

A black hand popped out of Redrin’s smiling heart. The Demon King had pierced Redrin’s heart with his hand from behind.

“Lord Redrin!”

Rembrary hurriedly took a step towards that side, and Shin Jo-woon instantaneously created an ice spear and stabbed Woo Yeon-woo.

But what his spear pierced was not Woo Yeon-woo, but Woo Seong-woo. Almost at the same time as Shin Jo-woon attacked Woo Yeon-woo, Woo Seong-woo used all his power to defend against it.

He blocked the spear with his body and used his telekinesis to the fullest to push Shin Jo-woon far away.

All of that happened in the blink of an eye.

In a situation where he didn’t know who to attack or who to stop, the head researcher couldn’t do anything.

The Lion Lord picked up Shin Jo-woon and put him back in his original position, and the fingertips of Rembrary, who had run over, almost touched Redrin.

However, the moment Rembrary’s touch touched Redrin.

Redrin, whose face was covered with black blood vessels, smiled faintly and disappeared as it was. The manifestation was released.

“Lord Redrin!”

Rembrary shouted urgently, but Redrin’s figure was no longer visible, and the red rose petals that had bloomed around him rapidly withered and turned into powder.

The Demon King looked at the sight with pleasure, and smiled as he poked the end of Rembrary’s forehead with his finger.

Rembrary’s eyes turned red and punched the Demon King’s face, but it was already Woo Yeon-woo in that place.

“Damn it!”

Woo Yeon-woo, who rolled on the floor, cursed and got up, and his eyes widened when he discovered Woo Seong-woo, who had an ice spear stuck in his stomach and was frozen as he couldn’t even fall down.

“Hyung [older brother]!”