Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 700

◈ 700. A Flawed Preliminary

The assembled participants buzzed with curiosity, wondering what they were seeing.

“Isn’t Ardor incredibly strong…?”

“I thought he’d be in the top ranks.”

“What’s going on? Why can’t I see the enemy?”

“No, something’s strange. One’s running away, one’s passed out, and one’s just spacing out?”

The participants murmured, surprised that the infamous Ardor had collapsed without even getting a chance to fight properly.

At first, they just laughed, but when all three who had passed the document review failed to put up any real fight, they belatedly wore tense expressions.

After all, they would all experience the same thing.

Cutting through the murmurs, someone spoke up.

“Ah, it’s due to the special nature of the opponent.”

The participants who had come to watch were leaning over the railing, looking down. They turned their heads toward the voice.

A hunter in a black and white uniform was standing there.

Seeing the color of the uniform, the participants recognized that the person who appeared was a national hunter directly under the Deputy Director. They all removed the arrogant look from their faces and stared seriously at the staff member.

One of them cautiously stepped forward and asked.

“Special nature, you say?”

“The opponent is themselves.”

“Huh? Ardor was greeting someone before he fainted, though?”

“Ah, well, how should I put it? Taking Ardor as an example, it’s not Ardor fighting Ardor, but Ardor fighting the opponent he least wants to face.”

The participants all stared at the staff member. Seeing that they didn’t understand at once, the staff member explained again.

“Ardor could fight himself, if he doesn’t want to fight himself. But usually, you don’t think that way, right? He’ll probably fight someone he likes, someone he fears, something he dreads, and so on. It doesn’t matter whether the reason for not wanting to fight is good or bad.”

“So, they’re fighting an illusion?”

“Right. It’s a kind of mental battle.”

The participants, who had come expecting to compete against each other, were all dumbfounded by the sudden talk of a mental battle.

It was hard to call it an easy fight, as all three of the previous participants had reacted strangely.

In the meantime, the second whistle blew, and another three people stepped forward.

However, they were no different from the previous ones.

One of them pretended to fight, but he just kicked at the air and fell over, making the onlookers feel embarrassed.

One of the participants watching this suppressed his angry voice and asked.

“We’re all in the same boat. But the participants competing today went into the match without this prior information, right? Is it okay to tell us? Isn’t that unfair?”

Rather than genuinely thinking it was unfair, it was more of a nuance of wanting to get angry and finding fault.

But since it was a valid point, everyone stared at the staff member.

The staff member gave a strange smile and said.

“This notice will be sent to all the other participants via text message. But Group 1, who is taking the preliminary round today, is an exception. In the document review, we put all the participants with excellent skills but problematic backgrounds into Group 1.”

“!”

At the staff member’s words, the participants widened their eyes in surprise.

The staff member didn’t think it was necessary to mention that the high-end hunters had added that ‘personality doesn’t matter,’ so he wished them luck and left the area.

He had come to tell them this story in the first place, not to chat.

Rembrary watched the staff member’s retreating figure and then looked down at the railing again, thinking.

‘Ardor seems to have thought of me.’

It was clear from the fact that he collapsed without being attacked.

‘The illusion wouldn’t really show the dignity of a god, but Ardor collapsed. The others weren’t actually hurt either. Is that why they called it a mental battle?’

It seems like there’s someone with related abilities. But they don’t seem to want to tell us the details.

Then, Rembrary noticed that Hwasa was among the third group of participants coming out.

With Ardor’s elimination confirmed, Rembrary looked forward to Hwasa with anticipation.

Since he wasn’t likely to appear in Hwasa’s illusion, wouldn’t he be able to pass this time?

‘I’d like to see at least one person go to the main round with me.’

However, Hwasa didn’t even do as well as Ardor.

He just shook his head blankly and turned around and went in. Not even trying to fight, it seemed like an almost certain forfeit.

“What?”

“Why is he just leaving?”

The onlookers were murmuring.

Then, when the two people who had come out to the center of the training ground with Hwasa also went back in, people started murmuring even louder.

“Aren’t all the members of Group 1 going to be eliminated at this rate?”

“No, but isn’t there a problem with the preliminary round method at this point?”

The fourth group of people who came out started fighting an invisible enemy again, but this time none of the watching participants made a sound.

“I don’t even know what I hate.”

“They didn’t say they’d fight someone they hate. They said someone they don’t want to fight would appear.”

“That’s the same thing.”

Then, the participants discovered Ardor coming up the stairs and simultaneously fell silent.

Rembrary waited for Ardor to come up completely and then asked.

“Are you alright?”

Ardor wasn’t the type to be discouraged by being eliminated in a place like this, but seeing his shoulders slumped like that still bothered him.

Ardor said in an angry voice.

“The heretics have taken advantage of my respect for Rembrary to prepare this wicked test. They are truly vile.”

So, Ardor’s mental opponent was me.

Rembrary saw Ardor collapse immediately and thought that would be the case, but it was still funny to hear it confirmed.

“I appeared?”

“Yes.”

“The real me just took your bullets without attacking you. Why were you immediately attacked in the illusion?”

At Rembrary’s words, the eavesdropping people were shocked.

‘He actually shot him?’

‘Multiple times?’

The people looked at Ardor with disgusted faces, but Ardor was just grumbling about being eliminated.

As they were doing that, another whistle sounded from below, and some of those who had finished the preliminary round came up again.

The ones who came up approached people they were close to, like Ardor, and started talking about the preliminary round.

People’s interest gradually scattered towards them.

However, while many people were still glancing at Ardor and Rembrary, Hwasa finally came up.

Rembrary asked as soon as Hwasa found them and came closer.

“Who did you face?”

People weren’t as interested in Hwasa as they were in Ardor, so they slowly started turning their attention elsewhere.

“My mom.”

Then, the moment Hwasa answered, everyone fell silent in an instant.

“I couldn’t fight her at all.”

The participants’ faces turned pale.

Most of the participants gathered here naturally abhorred patricide [the act of killing one’s father].

Even if they knew it was an illusion, it would be difficult to attack if their parents appeared as their opponents.

Regardless of winning or losing, the very act of facing them was mentally burdensome.

“It seems like only scary opponents appear.”

“The staff member in uniform told us that earlier, right? That the reason for not wanting to fight could be because it’s someone you like too much.”

“Still. I never thought my mom might appear. And if you think about it like this, what about hunters with children? Their opponent could be their own child. What if they show you your three-year-old child in front of you?”

“No way, that’s crazy, this has nothing to do with strength?”

The people whispered among themselves, glancing at Hwasa and Ardor, and then naturally shifted their gaze towards Rembrary.

The worried gazes turned into expressions mixed with laughter when they reached Rembrary.

One of the participants pointed at Rembrary with his chin and muttered softly.

“It must be easy for him since he knows who will appear.”

“Bugs.”

Rembrary heard the participants giggling among themselves.

Ardor and Hwasa looked at the group of participants, but they were all talking among themselves and didn’t even notice the gazes, just laughing.

“Rembrary would fight a demon but not a bug.”

“What to do.”

Hearing that, Ardor and Hwasa exchanged glances.

* * *

Throughout the three days of the preliminary round, unexpected events occurred one after another.

The people that the participants and staff had predicted would pass were largely eliminated, and only a small number of people that many hadn’t noticed passed the preliminary round.

Even the number of people who passed was less than the number they originally intended to select.

Of course, all those who passed the preliminary round were stronger than the other hunters, but since the results were like this, complaints started to pour out one by one among those who were eliminated.

In the process, one of the hunters who was dissatisfied informed the internet about this and vented his frustrations, worsening public opinion.

―WTF, calling this a preliminary roundㅋㅋㅋㅋ [laughing sounds]

―Won’t only nobodies be on the broadcast later?

―It’s a chance to produce another high-end hunter in Korea. It’s ridiculous that they’re eliminating all the strong people because of this absurd preliminary round. It doesn’t make sense.

―Isn’t it that the hunters are keeping each other in check and deliberately dropping all the plausible people?

However, since they couldn’t suddenly change the contents of the preliminary round, the day Rembrary would take the preliminary round finally arrived without any changes.

* * *

“Are you sure you’ll be alright?”

As the contents of the preliminary round spread among the people, Daeju seemed worried and personally drove Rembrary to the Management Office, asking.

“Of course. I’m confident.”

“It’s just that what High Priest dislikes is too obvious. I’m worried.”

“Everyone says bugs will appear in front of me. But that’s a misconception. I have confidence. A confident person isn’t swayed by such things. Probably nothing will appear in front of me.”

However, unlike Daeju’s worries, Rembrary didn’t seem to care much.

“Don’t worry. I would usually do it moderately. But this time, I have to pass. I’ll take care of everything.”

Rembrary said confidently, but the more he did, the more Daeju’s anxiety grew.

Then, Daeju asked, puzzled.

“But why didn’t Ardor come to High Priest’s preliminary round, even though Hwasa did? He’s not the type to not come to something like this.”

“He said he has a sense of what’s going on.”

“He said that to me too. But I don’t understand what it means.”

“I don’t know either.”

But Rembrary wasn’t too concerned, so he calmly looked out the window.

Later, Rembrary, who arrived in front of the Management Office, was guided inside by the national hunter, just like on the first day.

All the other procedures proceeded similarly to the first day, and Rembrary finally stood in the place where Ardor and Hwasa had stood.

Rembrary listened to the national hunter’s reminder about the contents of the preliminary round, which everyone already knew, once more and looked straight ahead.

He couldn’t see anything yet.

Then, when he looked up, he saw people leaning on the railing and watching him. There seemed to be more people than on the first day.

It was because the national hunters who had heard that the famous Rembrary was competing on the fourth day had come to watch, but Rembrary didn’t know that far.

Nor did he know that the national hunters were whispering among themselves about bets.

Then, Rembrary was puzzled when he found someone putting his hands together and praying towards him.

That person was the Deputy Team Leader who had written Rembrary’s name on the bet.

‘Is he a prospective believer?’

Rembrary thought so, but then he lowered his head when he felt a strange presence about twenty steps away in front of him.

Rembrary didn’t think it would be himself, but as everyone expected, a huge bug was appearing.

Moreover, the bug looked like a centipede, and its size was about twice that of Rembrary.

It even had a cockroach on the left and a camel cricket on the right as subordinates, and their sizes were as big as Rembrary himself.

As soon as they appeared, Rembrary immediately unleashed ‘God’s Dignity’ in all directions. He intended to prevent them from even getting close.

The illusions all disappeared without even getting a chance to do anything.

‘I’m glad I heard about the contents in advance. I wouldn’t have known if something like that suddenly appeared.’

Rembrary was relieved, but he looked around in disgust at having seen three pairs of giant bugs even for a moment and realized something.

Not only the people who had gathered to watch, but also the people who were waiting in the back, and even the staff who were there for the proceedings were all passed out.

Rembrary was the only one standing on two feet in this vicinity.

“Oops.”