Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 605

As the elevator doors were about to close, leaving him standing there dumbfounded, Rembrary caught the doors and quickly stepped out.

The image of the Demon King staring at him flashed through his mind, along with the other demons.

Among the various demons, the one Rembrary thought of last, but now considered significant, was Binak.

That demon who always acted like he was missing a few screws.

‘Surely, Binak’s ability was to amplify emotions.’

He knew it couldn’t create emotions out of nothing.

But Binak could greatly inflate any emotion that was already there, no matter how small.

Binak didn’t come to this world, but that wouldn’t necessarily prevent him from acting. A demon like Binak could easily send his ability somewhere, though it would be difficult to use it permanently.

So, did the Demon King come here with an object containing Binak’s unique ability?

‘Is he planning to make me pity the Demon King and amplify that pity? To prevent me from properly attacking the Demon King and his followers? Then what’s the story about the chaos that will arise when the pillars collapse?’

* * *

The mansion in the dungeon forest had several lights, but they were all so dim they seemed about to go out. They offered minimal illumination.

It was better than nothing, but the hallway floor wasn’t clearly visible, so Hwasa-ja kept his eyes on the floor and asked,

“The note said cooperation was important, right?”

Ardor, seemingly unconcerned about tripping, just stared at Shin Jo-woon’s head and answered,

“It did.”

Hwasa-ja frowned and asked again,

“But why isn’t anything happening? Shouldn’t there be a mission about cooperation or something?”

Ardor replied sullenly,

“I don’t know.”

At his sulky voice, Hwasa-ja clicked his tongue and muttered,

“Isn’t it because you’re being so uncooperative that nothing’s happening?”

As soon as he said that, Ardor glared not at Shin Jo-woon’s head, but at Hwasa-ja’s side.

His eyes gleamed even in the dim light, making Hwasa-ja uncomfortable, so he moved a little.

But still, he felt he had to say something, so Hwasa-ja asked again,

“Shouldn’t we really try to work together? How can nothing be happening like this? We can’t get out like this.”

Ardor was about to retort when Shin Jo-woon, who had been silently listening to their conversation, finally spoke.

“He has a point.”

“Right?”

Hwasa-ja was delighted and looked at Shin Jo-woon.

“At least this guy is easier to talk to than Arrrrdor.”

But Shin Jo-woon didn’t say anything more to Hwasa-ja after that. He just walked along, deep in thought.

With both Ardor and Shin Jo-woon acting like this, Hwasa-ja eventually got annoyed and shut his mouth.

Soon, only the sound of their footsteps echoed in the hallway.

Then, as the sound of insects outside faded, Shin Jo-woon, who had been silent, finally spoke.

“Let’s try this.”

“Try what.”

“Too many cooks spoil the broth [an idiom meaning that too many people involved in a task can ruin it].”

“So?”

“So, for the sake of cooperation, you two should shut up.”

“Huh?”

“How about I take care of everything, and you just follow quietly?”

Hwasa-ja was taken aback and retorted,

“That’s not cooperation, is it? Would that even work?”

Even as he said that, Hwasa-ja tilted his head and muttered,

“Or would it? Would it work?”

Now that he thought about it, it seemed closer to cooperation for one person to take action and the other two to cooperate, rather than all three of them just wandering around.

However, Ardor refused without a moment’s hesitation.

“A Redrin follower does not listen to the words of a heretic.”

Hwasa-ja couldn’t help but admire.

“Wow. What a discord. Are we ever going to get out of here?”

Ardor said,

“Then you guys can change your minds.”

Hwasa-ja clicked his tongue.

“Shin Jo-woon already said the same thing, you idiot. And you know what? I really hate getting involved in this kind of thing, but honestly, if only one of us should be giving orders, wouldn’t it be better if it was me? I can use my movement ability to carry all three of us around, you know?”

Ardor flinched at Hwasa-ja’s words. He seemed to think it made sense.

Shin Jo-woon also frowned, looking somewhat persuaded.

It was a spur-of-the-moment remark, but when Shin Jo-woon and Ardor showed some reaction, Hwasa-ja gained courage and suggested again.

“No, really, wouldn’t it be fastest if you two just shut up for an hour?”

At those words, Shin Jo-woon replied completely out of the blue.

“Wait.”

He even stopped walking abruptly, and Hwasa-ja was dumbfounded and muttered,

“You can’t? You can’t even stand it for an hour?”

But soon, Hwasa-ja noticed that Shin Jo-woon was staring intently at the wall next to him.

‘Wait’ didn’t seem to be about his suggestion.

Hwasa-ja turned his head in that direction as well.

“What’s wrong?”

As soon as he turned his head, Hwasa-ja was startled and let out a small scream.

“What is this?”

There were large, red letters written on the hallway wall, as if with blood.

Hwasa-ja took a step back and slowly read the writing, which was difficult to make out because it was scrawled and the red liquid was dripping down.

“A word has entered my head… If they are my companions, they will be able to guess the word… Even if I don’t tell them directly.”

Hwasa-ja thought this was it and shouted,

“This is like a mission, isn’t it?”

Shin Jo-woon muttered,

“A word-guessing game.”

Hwasa-ja laughed.

“Easy!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Hwasa-ja really heard someone’s voice in his head.

-Lion

Hwasa-ja was startled and shouted,

“Someone just whispered in my head!”

Hwasa-ja looked at Ardor.

Ardor was also scratching his ear, as if he had heard something.

“Me too.”

Hwasa-ja looked at Shin Jo-woon.

“You too?”

But strangely, Shin Jo-woon’s expression wasn’t good. He was even grinding his teeth slightly.

“What’s wrong?”

He looked like he had heard something, but he seemed very upset.

That was because the word Shin Jo-woon heard in his head was ‘sloth’.

Shin Jo-woon frowned and rubbed his forehead with a cold expression.

Whether it was when he followed Rembrary into the dungeon or now.

It was clear that these demons were deliberately bringing up sloths to him.

Shin Jo-woon instinctively glared sharply at somewhere in the air.

* * *

“Oooooh! He’s looking over here!”

Seeing that, Clot watched the situation in the mansion through Noir’s mirror, pretended to be scared, and pulled his body back.

But soon he chuckled and patted Noir on the back.

Warrion clicked his tongue at the sight.

“How childish. I told you to give them an easy problem, but you’re just playing around.”

* * *

Meanwhile, Rembrary, who had returned home, tilted his head and said, “Huh?” as Jang Tae-ri’s name appeared repeatedly as soon as he plugged his phone into the charger.

His phone was filled with texts and calls from Jang Tae-ri.

“Tae-ri?”

Seeing that, he immediately called her, and Jang Tae-ri urgently asked,

[Rembrary, do you know where Jo-woon went?]

“Anchovy [a nickname for Shin Jo-woon]? He went into the demon realm. Hasn’t he come out yet?”

Rembrary looked at the calendar on his phone.

Come to think of it, when the dungeon pillar broke, a lot of time had passed even though he hadn’t done much.

‘I thought Anchovy would have come out by now. So he hasn’t.’

Jang Tae-ri asked worriedly,

[He’s not trapped, is he?]

“The people he went with are all very skilled, so he’ll be fine.”

[Really?]

“Yes, he went with Ardor and Hwasa-ja.”

[I see…….]

Jang Tae-ri’s voice sounded more dejected than before she heard the names.

They talked more before hanging up, but her voice didn’t sound reassured at all.

Rembrary, also tainted by Jang Tae-ri’s worries, felt uneasy and looked down at his phone. Was sending those three together not a good combination?

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

Even though he said to come in, they didn’t, so he opened the door himself and saw Seon Woo-shil.

Seon Woo-shil stood in front of Rembrary’s door as if there was some kind of barrier, never coming inside.

“Why aren’t you coming in, senior?”

As soon as he asked because it was strange, Seon Woo-shil immediately asked for a favor.

“I’m sorry, but can you come to my house with me?”

“This is our house.”

“This isn’t our house, it’s your house. And the place I want you to go is my apartment.”

“Why? Didn’t your friend have a strange premonition? Is that resolved?”

“No. The manager got a strange text from the person downstairs. I feel uneasy and need to go check it out.”

“What did it say?”

“’Save me’.”

“Your manager is violent. I didn’t think he was that kind of person.”

“Our manager didn’t threaten him, okay? And when did you ever see our manager to act like you know him? No, that’s not the point.”

Seon Woo-shil quickly shook his head and explained about the time the person downstairs contacted him about a plumbing issue on the day he started living here, and how the manager handled the communication instead.

“In this situation, getting a ‘save me’ text is strange.”

“Then let’s go check it out together.”

Rembrary readily said and came out of the room.

Seon Woo-shil was about to say thank you but asked,

“Can’t we use the Shin Jo-woon chance [referring to Shin Jo-woon’s skills]?”

“He’s in the dungeon right now. Let’s go together. Am I not enough?”

“Ah. Why does he talk like Woo-yeon-woo [a character known for unusual speech patterns] sometimes?”

Looking at the back of Rembrary’s head as he went down the stairs, Seon Woo-shil felt both grateful and distrustful at the same time.

He was grateful for his willingness to help right after coming out of the dungeon.

Rembrary’s words were so strange that he couldn’t trust him.

However, Seon Woo-shil recalled that Rembrary breaking the second pillar had dominated the internet a few hours ago and forcibly suppressed his distrust.

‘He may talk like that, but he’s skilled. It’ll be okay,’ Seon Woo-shil thought and ran to the parking lot to get in the passenger seat.

He remembered Rembrary crashing into his car, but Seon Woo-shil thought it was a driving mistake, so he wasn’t afraid of Rembrary’s driving skills.

Besides, he didn’t want to drive any car that wasn’t his, especially not such an expensive car.

Rembrary also naturally sat in the driver’s seat and put on his seatbelt instead of asking Seon Woo-shil to drive. Then he floored the accelerator.

Seon Woo-shil screamed as he fastened his seatbelt.

“Aaaaaah!”

* * *

As soon as the car stopped, Seon Woo-shil opened the door and got out, gagging.

He felt carsick belatedly.

He had driven so frighteningly and stopped so abruptly that he hadn’t even felt carsick while in the car because he was so scared.

Should he be amazed that he followed the traffic signals so well in the midst of all that?

“I’ve really never been in a car that drives like a roller coaster before.”

“I’m always new.”

“I’m not complimenting you! It’s a good thing there aren’t many cars on the road after the cataclysm! Don’t drive when the world stabilizes!”

“Are you telling me to become a racer……?”

“Where did racer come from?!”

“It’s the dream you want for me, senior.”

“I never dreamed of such a thing!”

Seon Woo-shil stopped feeling carsick and grabbed his neck this time. His blood pressure was rising.

Before any suspicious people could come and attack him, it felt like the strange high priest in front of him was going to make him die of anger.

Seeing Seon Woo-shil like that, Rembrary clicked his tongue, feeling burdened.

“You blush whenever you see me. It’s troubling.”

“Ugh!”

In the end, Seon Woo-shil covered his ears and ran into the house.

He couldn’t think of anything suspicious or anything else.

Only after arriving in front of his house with his homing instinct did Seon Woo-shil realize and lower his hand, then flinch and look at the front door lock. It was broken.

Faint sounds could be heard from inside. Someone… was inside his house.