Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 420

420. Piggy

Rembrary walked alone in the empty hallway after everyone had left.

He heard the sound of quick, light footsteps approaching from behind. A cold hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.

It was the Grim Reaper he’d seen briefly before, the one who had been with Larthus when Larthus was aligned with the Underworld.

‘Larthus must be gone,’ Rembrary realized. He didn’t bother to confirm it, asking plainly, “What is it?”

Instead of answering, the Grim Reaper looked at Rembrary with confused eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“What are you talking about?”

The Grim Reaper opened his mouth, then frowned, closed it, and shook his head. “No, it’s nothing.”

“It looked like you were going to ask something.”

“It’s probably useless to talk about it now that Larthus is already dead.”

The Grim Reaper excused himself and disappeared.

What the Grim Reaper had originally wanted to ask was, ‘Why didn’t you tell us that a part of the Demon King was inside Woo Yeon-woo?’ If he had known that, things would have been much easier.

He still didn’t know the reason for the omission. But the moment he asked, Rembrary would know that the Grim Reapers had learned Woo Yeon-woo’s secret, the one he had been hiding.

He had to deal with it quickly, before Rembrary tried to stop him again.

* * *

“He was hiding inside a human in our world?”

“Yes. Woo Yeon-woo, the human who used to share a body with Rembrary.”

Yama clicked his tongue in disbelief at the Grim Reaper’s report and let out a hollow laugh. He knew that a Saint from another world was hiding inside a person in his world, but he never imagined there would be one more below that.

“No matter how much I looked, I couldn’t find him. So that was the reason. That was the reason.”

Yama muttered, drumming his fingers anxiously on the armrest of the throne. Then, Yama’s eyes turned sharply towards Sa Gam-jae, a look that asked, ‘Did you know and hide it too?’

It was something he could be scolded for whether he knew or not, so Sa Gam-jae quietly lowered his gaze. Yama stopped drumming on the throne, looked around at the gathered Grim Reapers, and spoke.

“You all heard it, right?”

“…….”

“A fragment of the Demon King is attached to the soul of a human in our world. The fact that he hid his existence so thoroughly means that he has deeply permeated it.”

The Grim Reapers’ expressions darkened. Yama asked with a stern face, “The human who has a part of the Demon King inside him… who will kill him?”

A Grim Reaper who kills a human not on the list must return to the cycle of reincarnation. This was why the Grim Reapers couldn’t properly deal with the humans enchanted by Larthus’s song in this battle.

Moreover, the Grim Reapers having to return to the cycle of reincarnation wasn’t just a personal problem.

It meant that the number of Grim Reapers in the already understaffed Underworld would decrease even further. The number decreases and isn’t replenished, so the power gap will gradually widen. Overall, it wasn’t good for the Underworld.

Because of this, even while gritting their teeth at the sight of the Demon King’s demons using humans addicted to Larthus’s song as shields, they couldn’t step forward freely.

However, Larthus himself withdrew the power he had received from the Demon King, broke the contract, and died, so the enchanted humans will also find their place.

Now, if we only destroy the soul fragment inside Woo Yeon-woo’s body…….

“Killing that human doesn’t mean the fight is over. We have to keep fighting. But it’s a fight with an end in sight.”

Yama looked around at the Grim Reapers with a heavy gaze. If he gave the order, anyone would follow it, but since they had been together for a long time, it wasn’t easy to choose one and order them to cross into reincarnation again.

“I will do it.”

At that moment, someone walked in front of Yama.

* * *

“How’s the Chui [Demon King’s song] doing?”

“The sound source is still high, but people’s reaction speed is getting slower and slower.”

“There’s also talk that they’re getting tired of hearing it too much. I guess it’s because the addictiveness is gone.”

“Is there any news about Kkokko dying?”

“Not really. Is he really dead?”

“He is.”

“Well, there’s no news about it.”

After Larthus died, Rembrary returned home and checked to see if people were getting out of the Demon King’s song.

If Larthus had just died from exhaustion, the addictiveness would have remained in the song even after his death. But Larthus withdrew as much addictiveness as he could before he died.

Perhaps because of this, people seemed to be getting out of the Demon King’s song quickly, without any withdrawal symptoms.

The family members, who had no connection with Larthus, were happy about this, but Rembrary felt a bit bitter to be simply happy. He lay down on the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling.

How long had he been doing that? His cell phone vibrated. He took it out and saw a text message from Woo Yeon-woo.

[Piggy]

Rembrary frowned.

“Piggy?”

Why was this guy picking a fight again? Was it because Larthus, whom he took to his agency, died?

Rembrary clicked his tongue, sent a ‘ㅗ’ [middle finger emoji] message back to Woo Yeon-woo, put down his cell phone, and lay down blankly again.

* * *

“Rembrary, you son of a bitch!”

Woo Yeon-woo couldn’t help but shout when he saw the ‘fuck you’ text message from Rembrary.

He said he would protect me! What’s with the ‘fuck you’ reply as soon as I send a text asking for help? Woo Yeon-woo gritted his teeth and looked around.

The living room and kitchen, usually spacious and clean, were filled with Grim Reapers in black suits. There were so many of them that he wondered if they could even see in front of them.

In the midst of this, Woo Yeon-woo, standing in his workout clothes, and a red punching bag looked like a picture of isolation.

Woo Yeon-woo took a step back. The back of his neck tingled with fear. He couldn’t think rationally in this confusing situation.

He was afraid of being possessed by the Demon King, but he didn’t think the Grim Reapers would kill him first. But who knew they would come before the Demon King?

How should I think about this? The bullshit about it being fortunate to die while conscious was nonsense.

Woo Yeon-woo’s eyes stopped on Sa Gam-jae, the most familiar of the Grim Reapers.

Sa Gam-jae, who stood out among the identical black suits, came forward and looked at him with sad eyes.

Woo Yeon-woo thought it was hypocritical, but Sa Gam-jae was just as unhappy with the current situation.

It’s not like Grim Reapers can’t have feelings. They usually don’t build relationships with humans, but…

Anyway, Woo Yeon-woo, although it was a friendship built when he was a different human being, was someone he had once taken care of as a manager. But he couldn’t be happy about ending up killing his agency’s idol, who hadn’t even reached the end of his life.

“I’m, I’m not the Demon King. I’m just… I’m just a real person.”

Woo Yeon-woo stammered and repeated what he had said several times.

The Grim Reapers didn’t explicitly say they came because of the Demon King, but Woo Yeon-woo was sure that was the reason. If not, there’s no way they would come in such a large group.

However, no matter how pitifully Woo Yeon-woo spoke, the Grim Reapers didn’t budge.

Woo Yeon-woo’s gaze clung to Sa Gam-jae as if he was clinging to a lifeline. Like a helpless young animal entrusting its life entirely to the other person, Woo Yeon-woo looked at Sa Gam-jae.

Sa Gam-jae did not avoid his gaze and opened his mouth heavily. “I have a connection with you, so I volunteered to take on this task. I won’t go into a long explanation since it seems like you already have an idea of what’s going on.”

“If you know me, you shouldn’t come to kill me! You should stop it!”

“I will take you away as if you are sleeping, without any pain.”

“!”

“That’s why I’m here. Close your eyes… and rest for three seconds. I promise there will be no pain.”

Woo Yeon-woo shook his head and stumbled backward, threw the punching bag he was holding, and ran forward.

However, he couldn’t go forward because he was bounced off the Grim Reapers lined up like a huge wall, and he was caught.

Woo Yeon-woo turned back again and sobbed in fear.

‘Rembrary!’

Because they couldn’t interfere with Woo Yeon-woo’s death, the Grim Reapers only created a wall and didn’t directly touch him.

Woo Yeon-woo, who didn’t know this, thought that he was such an insignificant and weak existence to the Grim Reapers that he wasn’t even worth catching, and his pride was hurt even in the midst of his fear.

As Sa Gam-jae slowly began to approach, Woo Yeon-woo felt his presence and widened his eyes.

Woo Yeon-woo, filled with fear, slowly turned his head. Sa Gam-jae was right behind him.

“I’m sorry. I, too, will pay a heavy price for killing you. But… if you don’t die, more lives will suffer.”

Sa Gam-jae reached out his hand towards him. That white hand had never looked so ghostly as it did today. As the pale, white hand came near his face, Woo Yeon-woo screamed and hunched over.

“Mom!”

At that moment, the cell phone alarm that Woo Yeon-woo had set began to ring.

A sign that 23 minutes had passed since his consciousness had returned. It was an alarm set to indicate that the Demon King would wake up in 7 minutes.

Sa Gam-jae’s hand, which had paused for a moment at the sound, completely touched Woo Yeon-woo.

At that moment.

“Kuk.”

Sa Gam-jae let out a short scream and collapsed forward.

Not only Sa Gam-jae, but the Grim Reapers who had been standing like a solid wall were also collapsing forward.

Woo Yeon-woo trembled and looked at the Grim Reapers, who were suddenly collapsing, the collapsed black walls, and then turned around.

Sa Gam-jae was frowning and struggling to kneel on the floor. He barely managed to avoid falling completely, but he looked as if he was receiving several times the gravity of others alone.

What is this? Woo Yeon-woo, turning his head in confusion, discovered a familiar person standing at the front door.

The High Priest with long blonde hair and red eyes. It was Rembrary.

Woo Yeon-woo’s eyes widened.

The tension that had been frozen solid dropped sharply, and tears and shouts burst out at the same time.

“Hey!”

Woo Yeon-woo shouted, but quickly tried to stand, afraid that Rembrary would abandon him and leave.

But he couldn’t put strength into his legs.

He hadn’t felt it because his fear had already reached its peak, but it wasn’t just the Grim Reapers who were suppressed by the dignity Rembrary used.

Woo Yeon-woo couldn’t stand up and squatted down, crying out to Rembrary.

“Why are you here now! I thought you weren’t coming!”

Rembrary looked around to see if there were any Grim Reapers left, then smiled gently and apologized. “I thought you were calling me ‘Piggy.’ Si-young said it sounded like ‘help me,’ so I came quickly.”

I almost died because of such a reason? Woo Yeon-woo was dumbfounded by the absurd answer and trembled before shouting, “Would I call you a pig in this situation!”

He was even more angry because he knew that Rembrary was the kind of guy who would really make that mistake.

Rembrary calmly looked around the living room again, looked down at the Grim Reapers lying densely on the floor, and asked Sa Gam-jae, “I’ll try to cross over, avoiding them as much as possible. But I might step on your clothes. Is that okay?”