Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 546

◈ 546. What Do You Want to Show Me

Longchacha, who had been watching the situation, giggled and teased.

“Hey, Jiho. You look so petty right now.”

Packchup chimed in from the side.

“Well, he wasn’t exactly known for being magnanimous anyway.”

Sunhari drove the final nail in the coffin.

“Wow. That brown hair is so kind. Unlike Jiho.”

As the other organizers sniped from the sidelines, Jo Jiho became even angrier than he already was.

But his colleagues were right.

If he eliminated the brown-haired guy who went to save someone else, it would be Jo Jiho’s own image that would take a hit.

Of course, Jo Jiho wasn’t a celebrity, and he wasn’t exactly known for having a good image among personal broadcasters.

Rather, his selling point was that he acknowledged his bad image and was honest about it.

But even that ‘bad image’ had its limits.

Eliminating someone who was going to save another person, even a child, would cross that line.

Jo Jiho gritted his teeth.

“It’s not cool to change my mind here after saying I’d eliminate him.”

“Come on. No one expects you to be cool anyway.”

“Longchacha. I’m going to kill you.”

* * *

Rembrary, unaware of Jo Jiho’s dilemma, dissuaded Maeng Wooshin and Ardor, who were prepared to follow him, even if it meant elimination.

“Stay here. There’s no need for all three of us to be eliminated.”

It was a valid point, so Maeng Wooshin and Ardor stayed put. They both knew that Rembrary would be safe even if he went alone.

Rembrary approached the rock where the child was hiding.

The closer he got, the more genuinely impressed Rembrary became.

The child really did resemble his younger self. The only difference was the lack of confidence.

Rembrary stared blankly at the child, then blew a puff of divine power, just in case.

The child peeked out from behind the rock and frowned.

At that moment, the child’s hair briefly changed from blonde to a dark color with the wind before returning to its original color.

‘Is it an illusion?’

Rembrary realized that the child’s appearance was indeed fake. The demons were clearly plotting something.

But the problem was that he couldn’t tell whether the child’s existence itself was an illusion or whether they had overlaid an illusion on a real person.

As Rembrary hesitated, continuing to stare at the child,

The child walked out from behind the rock, glanced at Rembrary as if telling him to follow, and ran off.

It was leading him away, in the opposite direction from where his companions were, quite openly.

Rembrary looked back and forth between Maeng Wooshin and Ardor, and the direction the child was running.

‘I’m curious to see what they want to show me….’

* * *

Noir watched from afar, then commanded the giant scorpions crawling on the ground.

“Once the High Priest is lured away, drag those humans into the ground and kill them all.”

The giant scorpions all disappeared into the ground.

“Come and find them. Rembrary. Go get what you lost.”

Noir smiled wickedly and looked ahead.

But as soon as he saw Rembrary, his wicked smile shattered.

“What’s wrong with that High Priest? Why did he go back there so quickly?”

Rembrary, who seemed to be following the child, was returning to his companions.

* * *

Waryon scoffed as he watched the scene on the crystal ball.

‘Did you think I was letting the High Priest get away with it because I liked him? It’s because I couldn’t predict his next move when he acted so erratically,’ Waryon thought.

But even as he grumbled, Waryon couldn’t take his eyes off the High Priest’s childhood self. He knew it was an illusion, but it still stung a little.

“He was kind of cute back then. Why did he turn out like that as he grew up….”

Then, he heard the sound of someone eating snacks next to him, and Waryon turned his head in surprise.

The black dragon was next to him, munching on snacks, as if he had appeared out of nowhere.

When their eyes met, the black dragon put a snack in Waryon’s surprised mouth and said.

“Cute? Are your memories being romanticized, Wary? You couldn’t even have three conversations with the High Priest back then. You were too angry.”

“…….”

* * *

Maeng Wooshin was puzzled when Rembrary went off so dramatically and then just came back, so he asked.

“Why are you back? Weren’t you going to save the kid? The kid ran over there?”

Rembrary recalled the child whose hair color had changed in the wind mixed with divine power and replied.

“It’s an illusion. But there might be something real beneath the illusion.”

“Then shouldn’t we save them? What if they’re really people?”

“If there’s something real, they’re probably in cahoots [conspiring together].”

The child was openly saying, ‘Follow me.’ If the illusion were removed, it probably wouldn’t even be a child.

Rembrary yawned casually.

“When do you think we’ll be leaving?”

“We stopped because of you.”

At that moment, one of the eliminated contestants standing behind Rembrary suddenly pushed past him, saying, “Excuse me,” causing Maeng Wooshin to shut his mouth.

Rembrary also shut his mouth, following Daeju’s advice.

Meanwhile, the eliminated contestant who had pushed past Rembrary deliberately walked all the way to where the camera was, and whispered to the camera.

“Do you see that brown hair? The one who saved people earlier. Unbelievable. He went over there like he was going to save a kid, saying there was a kid there. But he just came back because he didn’t want to be eliminated.”

Knowing that the conversation between Rembrary and Maeng Wooshin wouldn’t be picked up by the cameras here, he was deliberately twisting their words in a negative way.

The eliminated contestant was furious because he felt that he had been eliminated because of ‘brown hair.’

The eliminated contestants who felt favorably toward Rembrary as their savior were all around Rembrary, so they didn’t know what this eliminated contestant was doing.

‘Oh ho. What’s that,’ Jo Jiho thought.

But Jo Jiho, who was paying attention to everything as an organizer, noticed this scene, grinned, and approached the eliminated contestant.

“You’re Gong Do-hyun, right?”

The eliminated contestant flinched and looked up, and Jo Jiho ordered the cameraman to film somewhere else before asking again.

“You seem to be using your head a bit. Shall we talk?”

Jo Jiho took the eliminated contestant to a place a little away from the others.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“I heard what you said to the camera earlier. Is it true?”

“…….”

“It’s closer to a fact-based lie, isn’t it?”

Gong Do-hyun hesitated and said.

“I didn’t lie.”

It was true that he had said he would save the child and then returned, and ‘he must have come back because he didn’t want to be eliminated’ was his own speculation, so he certainly hadn’t lied.

Jo Jiho chuckled.

“What exactly did you change?”

“The brown hair said that the child behind the rock was an illusion.”

“So he came back. But you left that part out, didn’t you? To the camera? With a negative ‘guess’?”

“If you’re criticizing me—”

“No, it’s great.”

“!”

“Keep following those three celebrities and find out things like that and tell me. Things that could damage their image.”

Jo Jiho frowned.

“So what’s in it for me? Why should I do that?”

If it was just once or twice, it would be fine, but if he kept acting like that, the participants would know that he was acting with malice.

Besides, Gong Do-hyun’s dissatisfaction was with the brown hair, not the other two celebrities.

“I’ll give you some of my prize money.”

Jo Jiho spoke as if it was a foregone conclusion that he would receive the prize money.

“100 million won [approximately $75,000 USD].”

Gong Do-hyun gritted his teeth.

“That kind of prize money isn’t enough.”

“You’re greedy for money.”

“I don’t want to hear that from the organizer.”

Gong Do-hyun stood there blankly for a moment, then sighed and confessed.

“What I need isn’t that kind of prize money.”

“Then?”

“Rembrary.”

“Rembrary? That quack healer? Are you sick? Or, around you……?”

“My child is sick.”

“Ah.”

Jo Jiho clicked his tongue.

“That’s too bad. But if you need a healer, shouldn’t you go to the Redrin Assembly [a fictional organization of healers] instead of coming here? If you put your name on the waiting list there…….”

“I don’t have time to wait for that order.”

“Still. I haven’t heard that they’ll move you up the list if you bring money.”

“I know someone in the Redrin headquarters who’s in a high position. That person said that they’ve talked to Rembrary a few times and that they’ll tell him about my situation and he’ll treat me.”

Jo Jiho let out a hollow laugh. Could it be……?

“That high-ranking person wants money to tell him about your situation?”

“Yes. But because of that goody-two-shoes brown hair, this opportunity…….”

Jo Jiho became sullen. Is this guy being scammed?

But he couldn’t say anything more to someone who was struggling to save their child.

“Well. I hope it works out. Think about my offer too.”

* * *

The group started moving again.

Jo Jiho had initially said he would eliminate Rembrary, but he didn’t actually do it and just walked on.

Maeng Wooshin was relieved, but soon became unpleasant.

One of the eliminated contestants started following the group particularly closely. He couldn’t talk to the group because of that person.

After about 15 minutes, Maeng Wooshin decided that he couldn’t take it anymore and decided to talk to that person—to ask why he kept following them.

But suddenly, a high-pitched wailing sound rang out, and Maeng Wooshin stopped what he was about to say and looked in the direction of the sound, almost falling backward.

Animals that looked like dinosaurs were running towards them from somewhere.

“Go, go over there!”

“Over there! Quickly!”

“Spread out to the sides!”

People instinctively ran backward, also moving to the sides to get away from the dinosaurs’ path.

Those who took out their weapons while running continued to run, trying not to get caught up in the dinosaur herd.

Rembrary’s group was caught in the middle, between the eliminated contestants and the participants, so they had to run along with the others to avoid being trampled.

Maeng Wooshin ran while putting a shield around himself, then looked to the side to put a shield around Rembrary as well.

But when he tried to put a shield around him, he couldn’t see the kid.

“Hey! Where is he?”

Surprised, Maeng Wooshin shouted to Ardor.

After confirming Ardor’s location, Maeng Wooshin realized his mistake. Ardor wasn’t right next to him either, but a little further away.

They must have gotten separated while running, pushed by the crowd.

Fortunately, Ardor took out his gun and kept shooting somewhere, but he heard Maeng Wooshin’s words and looked back.

“What?”

Maeng Wooshin ran towards him and shouted, putting a shield around Ardor, who was on his side.

“Where did he go! That crazy guy who talks weird!”

Ardor looked around and asked, his face turning pale.

“Where is he?!”

“I’m asking you!”

* * *

As for where he was, Rembrary had completely deviated from the direction people were running and had moved to the side.

He saw the child who looked like him again and witnessed the dinosaurs running towards him after seeing the child’s gesture.

‘That child seems to be related to the method of escaping this dungeon,’ he thought.

He had only thought of the child as an illusion created by the demons. But it seems he has more of a role than that. Rembrary ran straight towards the child.

The only one who properly followed Rembrary was Gong Do-hyun, who was fueled by resentment.

When Rembrary looked at him, he stared at Rembrary with a serious expression.

Instead of talking to that person, Rembrary looked at the child.

The child was standing there as if he had been waiting for Rembrary to come.

Rembrary approached the child and asked this time.

“Is this your doing?”

In fact, he had already seen everything the child was doing.

The child smiled brightly without any hesitation. Then, just as he was about to say something, someone grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up.

The one who grabbed and lifted the child was a blue-skinned demon. The demon shook the child like a doll and shouted excitedly.

“I wondered what the commotion was about, so I came to see. And there’s something amazing here?”

The blue demon didn’t even look at Rembrary.

Rembrary’s eyes widened at the blue demon’s attitude.