Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 556

◈ 556. Someone in the Maze

The one who appeared was Woo Sungwoo, who had disappeared from District 1 and whose whereabouts were unknown.

“Your brother would be disappointed if he knew. The brother he was so worried about didn’t even say hello to him, but wanted to talk to me, whom he dislikes,” Shin Jowoon said, looking at Woo Sungwoo with a nonchalant expression.

He hadn’t realized from the beginning that Woo Sungwoo was here.

Woo Sungwoo appeared almost at the same time as the woman who announced the rule, ‘Find the Prince.’

However, Woo Sungwoo tried to step forward but then hid himself when he saw the woman. In the process, he made eye contact and subtly signaled only to Shin Jowoon: *Stay. Stay. Only you. Stay.* At least, that’s how Shin Jowoon interpreted his lip movements. If not, then so be it.

Woo Sungwoo didn’t react to Shin Jowoon’s provocation. When Woo Sungwoo didn’t show any reaction, Shin Jowoon got straight to the point.

“Are you completely on the opposite side now?”

“The goal is the same. I’ve just changed the path.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to save the excuses for when you call your brother later?”

“…I didn’t side with them for the sake of the Demon King. Ultimately, I thought this path would be more helpful to people.”

“Still, wouldn’t it be better to call your brother?”

When Shin Jowoon feigned consideration and showed his annoyance, Woo Sungwoo frowned and snapped back, as if he couldn’t stand it any longer.

“I didn’t come looking for you because I wanted to see you either.”

Shin Jowoon smiled and gestured for him to continue. Woo Sungwoo checked his watch. Definitely. There was no time to argue.

“I saw fragments of the future.”

“The future?”

“At first, I thought it was the demons’ intention. I thought they were deliberately fabricating lies to confuse me. In the future they showed me, I wasn’t even alive.”

“Oh dear. Did I perhaps kill you?”

“…I didn’t see the scene of you killing me. I just heard that I was dead.”

“Then you might still be alive, right?”

“That’s right.”

Shin Jowoon’s eyes narrowed. *So, you joined forces with the enemy after seeing an uncertain future?* His eyes showed disdain.

“I haven’t even gotten to the main point yet.”

“Then keep talking.”

“I saw the pillars collapsing.”

“?”

*Then the plan should be completed, right? Why did he side with the Demon King after seeing that?*

“After that, a third chaos comes.”

“Upheaval?”

“It was a bit different from an upheaval. But I don’t know exactly what it is. As I said, I only saw fragments.”

“…….”

“But during that chaotic period, I saw the color of Rembrary’s clothes changing.”

“People change their clothes all the time.”

“No, I saw the white clothes he was wearing turning black. Like black ink being dropped on them.”

Shin Jowoon frowned for the first time.

“That means…….”

“I heard that if you become a priest of the Demon King, your clothes turn black.”

“!”

Woo Sungwoo sighed.

“People have already been hurt and struggled so much through the two upheavals. If a third chaos comes on top of that… the situation will only get worse. It might be better to stabilize the situation while maintaining the current state.”

“Then wouldn’t it have been better to tell Nakru [presumably a powerful organization or individual] that? Instead of immediately switching to the Demon King’s side?”

“I can’t guess how people will react to this. Not then, not now. Besides, I needed time to judge whether this was true or not.”

“How did you know it was true?”

“I checked it several times with different futures.”

Shin Jowoon frowned a little more. Woo Sungwoo spat out words he didn’t want to say.

“I hate you, but anyway, you’re the only one who can judge these things rationally. That’s why I’m telling you.”

Still, Shin Jowoon didn’t easily give in.

“Well, you have a pretty big voice in Nakru, don’t you? I think Nakru would carefully consider your words.”

When Shin Jowoon didn’t easily let his guard down, Woo Sungwoo had no choice but to bring up something he really didn’t want to say.

“There’s also a private reason besides the public intention.”

“Private intention?”

“Think about it. What will happen to Rembrary if I tell people what I saw?”

“!”

“He might be attacked. Rembrary, who has fallen into the hands of the enemy, is dangerous. My opinion is to ‘maintain the status quo and stabilize the Earth,’ but people might take it a step further. Under the pretext of eliminating a major risk in advance, they might try to attack Rembrary.”

Shin Jowoon initially looked a little surprised, but soon smiled and asked.

“Why are you worried about that, Mr. Woo Sungwoo?”

*Is there no end to his suspicion?* Woo Sungwoo sighed heavily and replied.

“Of course, I’m not close to Rembrary, nor do I have a good relationship with him. But anyway, both my brother and I owe Rembrary our lives. So, I want to prevent him from being attacked for something he hasn’t even done.”

“…….”

“Mr. Shin Jowoon is neither Nakru nor Redrine [another organization or individual], and he doesn’t seem to have biased standards. You’re rational enough to think about my words calmly, but you’re close enough to Rembrary to agree with me. Do you understand now? Why I’m bothering to talk to you?”

Woo Sungwoo’s words didn’t sound like a lie, but there was still something unreliable about them to believe right away.

He said that the future he saw was true, but that’s only believable if Woo Sungwoo’s words are true in the first place, right?

If Woo Sungwoo had already made up the future story, then everything he just said couldn’t be trusted at all.

Above all, Rembrary, whose brain structure would be 90% filled with Redrine, didn’t seem like he would suddenly go to the Demon King’s side after going through some chaotic period.

But again, completely ignoring Woo Sungwoo’s words was troubling because of the fact that the demons had tried to tell Rembrary something.

Like when Redrine took Rembrary and kept him by his side for several days before sending him down.

“Does that mean the pillars don’t just serve to seal the Demon King?”

“I don’t know. As I said, I only saw fragments.”

As he was lost in thought, Woo Sungwoo checked his watch again and said.

“Since you don’t seem to believe me, I’ll tell you three prophecies I heard in advance. If these are all correct, you’ll trust my words a little more, right?”

“Tell me.”

* * *

Woo Yeonwoo, as Shin Jowoon had told him, was going back the way he came, but when his legs became too sore, he stopped for a moment and spaced out.

He had admired the place for being so wonderful. But now that it took so long just to go back and forth in the garden, he didn’t think it was a very good house to live in.

The garden was one thing, but the inside of the building was also incredibly large.

If people at opposite ends of the room wanted to talk to each other, wouldn’t they have to use their cell phones even inside the house?

*It seemed like he didn’t have a cell phone where he lived. How did he manage?*

Woo Yeonwoo sighed and turned around to walk again, but he felt suffocated when he discovered that there was still a long way to go.

It was even harder because it was uphill.

Woo Yeonwoo suddenly became suspicious.

*Shin Jaesu, that bad-tempered bastard. He wouldn’t be deliberately making me go back the way I came to give me dog training, would he?*

He became even more suspicious as he thought about it, but going back to protest would also mean a long way back.

Woo Yeonwoo had no choice but to continue on his way.

After a long time, when he felt like he had climbed quite high, Woo Yeonwoo caught his breath and looked back again.

“Shin Jaesu, you son of a bitch. I knew it was intentional.”

At that moment, Woo Yeonwoo gasped and choked.

He coughed until his throat hurt, and then looked down at the scenery below with wide eyes.

“What is that……?”

What he saw below was not the splendid and beautiful palace from the beginning.

It was a terrifying, hellish landscape.

The floor was a mixture of jet black and red, and the building was so dark that it seemed to absorb and eliminate all light.

Woo Yeonwoo looked towards the maze where Rembrary had gone. The maze also looked dangerous.

In the innermost part, there was a huge mass of yarn, and there were human-like figures hanging on it.

Moreover, something was moving quickly between the bushes that made up the maze walls, but he couldn’t see what it was from here.

Woo Yeonwoo tried to figure out Rembrary’s location, but he couldn’t see him. Shin Jowoon’s location…….

*Damn it. Come to think of it, that guy didn’t even clearly say where he was going, did he?*

Did he say he was going to wander around? But wherever he goes, it looks dangerous.

First, Woo Yeonwoo called Rembrary. They had scattered because it seemed safe, but if it was a dangerous zone, they shouldn’t be wandering around separately.

“Answer, answer…….”

* * *

Rembrary, who had entered the maze, was slowly walking towards the center when he belatedly realized.

“Oh dear. I don’t know the way very well either.”

This maze-like area completely changes its shape once a year.

People who use the maze forget the maze they experienced years ago after a few years.

The same was true for Rembrary. He used to run around inside the maze like it was his own room, but now that he was an adult, he didn’t remember the inside of this maze completely.

“What should I do?”

But Woo Yeonwoo and even Shin Jowoon probably didn’t know the inside of this maze either.

In the end, Rembrary decided to just keep going straight. Anyway, he would be able to escape eventually, even if it took a long time.

But how long had he been walking? When he heard a rustling sound, he saw a child disappearing at the very end of the road.

*The mission was to find the prince. Does that mean I have to catch that child?*

Rembrary changed direction and walked towards that side.

As he was walking along a path blocked by plant walls where even sunlight didn’t shine well, he heard children’s laughter coming from all directions.

Even from places that were completely different from where the child who had disappeared earlier would have been.

It was eerie because he could only hear laughter without seeing anyone, but Rembrary didn’t care and continued to go to where the child had disappeared.

However, as if guiding Rembrary somewhere, the child would be just ahead, and then disappear again to another side as soon as Rembrary saw him.

*Is he telling me to follow him?*

Rembrary walked again in the direction he had seen the child. Even in the midst of this, the laughter coming from all directions was getting louder than before.

Then, the moment Rembrary was about to turn a corner, his cell phone rang.

It was a call from Woo Yeonwoo. *Did something happen?* Rembrary stopped and answered the phone.

“Hey, Yeonwoo. What’s wrong?”

Soon, a hurried voice was heard.

[I went up and saw the palace, but its shape is completely different from before. It’s changed into a very suspicious, strange, and scary shape.]

“Is that so? It looks the same from here.”

[Don’t be impressed! Come out. There’s something strange in the very center of the maze!]

“Something strange?”

[Some hair… Is Shin Jowoon crazy?]

“Huh?”

[Come out quickly!]

Rembrary blinked blankly because Woo Yeonwoo suddenly hung up the phone. *Why did he suddenly curse at anchovies [a possible mistranslation or idiom] while he was talking?*

*Did he see something from the higher ground?*

Rembrary tilted his head and put his cell phone in his pocket. However, instead of turning around and leaving, he continued on his way.

―Don’t even have curiosity.

―There’s no need to pay attention to their words.

The voice that Redrine had repeatedly whispered to him when he was asleep in his arms echoed in his ears.

Rembrary thought for a moment, then continued walking forward without stopping.