Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 105

< 105. The Message (2) >

Meng Wooshin led the way through the secret passage via the cafe, just like before.

As Rembrary followed Meng Wooshin, he considered the structure of this place from a different perspective than before.

‘The fact that it’s hidden so systematically, could it be to hide from Nakru? Is the Archprelate a Saint [a holy person recognized for exceptional holiness or closeness to the divine]?’

The sound of footsteps echoed all around.

Perhaps to immediately detect the intrusion of uninvited guests, the secret passage was unusually loud.

Rembrary pondered as he walked, then glanced at Meng Wooshin.

“Meng, sunbae [an honorific term in Korean used to address senior colleagues or mentors].”

“What.”

“How did you end up in a place like this?”

“How did you try to get into a place like this?”

“I’ve always been interested in this kind of thing.”

“What kind of place is this?”

“Religion.”

“What is it? Was that interview about wanting to become a monk for real?”

“I’m not thinking of becoming a monk right now.”

“Then?”

“Why did sunbae try to come here?”

“Why should I tell you that?”

However, Meng Wooshin didn’t reveal his true feelings easily. Jung Seo said Wooshin was an attention seeker, but even attention seekers seem to keep their mouths shut.

In the meantime, they finally arrived at the waiting room they had been to once before.

The woman who was sitting at the front desk last time was sitting in the same spot, reading a foreign book.

Then, when Rembrary and Meng Wooshin approached, she gave them a curious look.

Before, she treated Rembrary as if he didn’t exist. Today, it was obvious that she was paying more attention to Rembrary than Meng Wooshin.

Well, it was an emergency situation last time, so she probably didn’t have the mind to pay attention to anyone.

“I’d like to see the Archprelate.”

Regardless, Meng Wooshin calmly requested to the woman.

The woman said, “Just a moment,” and checked the monitor before typing something on the board.

“He’s available. Would you mind waiting a moment?”

The woman, who had taken her hands off the keyboard, looked at Rembrary again with a curious expression.

Meng Wooshin pointed to the empty sofa with his chin.

“Let’s sit there and wait. Usually, you have to wait about 15 minutes before they tell you to come in.”

However, about 30 seconds passed.

The door on the opposite side of the passage Rembrary had walked through opened, and a white-haired man soon appeared.

Then, the woman sitting at the front desk widened her eyes and muttered, “Archprelate?”

Not only the woman, but everyone else in the room looked surprised. Meng Wooshin, who brought Rembrary, as well.

Rembrary realized that the white-haired man was more grounded than he thought.

Regardless, the white-haired man approached Rembrary without concern and said coldly but politely.

“Come in.”

The eyes of the people grew even larger at the polite words.

“You stay here.”

As the Archprelate stopped Meng Wooshin, who was naturally trying to follow, the people looked even more surprised.

The Archprelate, still with a calm expression, held out his hand towards the door he had come out of.

“This way.”

Rembrary, as if it were natural, walked ahead in the direction the Archprelate pointed.

***

The Archprelate’s room made Rembrary feel a familiar nostalgia.

“A temple…”

It was similar to the rooms of priests in a temple.

However, the materials and detailed shapes of the items were different, so it felt alien amidst the familiarity. It was as if he had imagined a place he had only heard about but never been to.

“Thank you for coming at this late hour.”

Only after hearing the Archprelate’s words did Rembrary come to his senses and quickly ask the main point.

“What is the message?”

The Archprelate smiled faintly on his cold face and said.

“You’re surprisingly impatient. I heard you were supposed to be relaxed.”

Heard… Rembrary listened to his words, but answered nonchalantly.

“Do I look like I have the leisure to be relaxed in this situation?”

However, this answer was to test the Archprelate.

To see if he really knew anything about Redrin or himself, or if he was just acting that way.

As if he knew his inner thoughts, the Archprelate answered with a smile that was hard to read.

“Well. It’s not good news.”

“!”

“But it’s also news filled with hope.”

Rembrary couldn’t urge the Archprelate or pretend not to know, and just stood there staring at him.

The Archprelate continued to speak calmly.

“Redrin-nim [a respectful suffix in Korean, similar to ‘sir’ or ‘madam’] is exhausted from forcing the High Priest to come here. Moreover, there is no High Priest there now, and the power has weakened, making it difficult to use power freely. The message he gave me was barely sent just before exhaustion, and since then, I have not heard his words.”

Rembrary was a little surprised at the more specific news than he had expected.

It could be a lie, but it sounded quite plausible. Redrin was actually receiving contact, but he wasn’t speaking.

Besides, listening to the Archprelate’s words, it seemed that it was Redrin himself who bounced Rembrary out here, not the Demon King.

Rembrary glanced at the evil spirit clinging to his shadow, recalling the chilling laughter and words he heard before crossing over here.

– I can’t let that happen.

Because he was bounced when he tried to use divine power greatly after hearing these words, he naturally thought that the Demon King had said it to him, and that the dimensional transfer was also the Demon King’s doing.

If so, was the Demon King’s target not Rembrary, but Redrin?

And that evil spirit…

‘Did it perhaps chase after me?’

Putting aside his thoughts, the Archprelate’s voice continued.

“Redrin-nim told me to create many believers here with the High Priest while he regains his strength. Only then can he recover his strength and return the High Priest to his original world and fight against the Demon King.”

“You really are someone sent by Redrin-nim.”

“Were you still doubting me?”

“Didn’t you doubt me?”

“I can see your halo. I can’t doubt you.”

“You can’t doubt me, but you ran away alone before?”

“…I wasn’t sure until I saw you in person.”

The Archprelate seems to be really Redrin’s man. All the words are coherent and there are no discrepancies.

Rembrary nodded sullenly.

After meeting Yeomra, Rembrary became less enthusiastic about raising his level as a celebrity. He thought that even if he joined a cult group by raising his level, it would be useless now.

Naturally, his sense of purpose for success also decreased.

However, since Redrin-nim told him to create many believers, he had no choice but to work hard to gather many believers, regardless of his sense of purpose.

If there was no Nakru group, he could rather openly display his divine power and inspire people’s faith. Here, he has to be mindful of Nakru, so he has to win people’s faith without divine power. In Rembrary’s opinion, there was no better job than a celebrity to win the hearts of the public.

“Redrin-nim ordered me to take good care of the High Priest. You’ve suffered a lot, haven’t you? Now you don’t have to worry about anything.”

“You’re going to take care of me?”

“I heard you couldn’t even eat a slice of pizza.”

“I eat a lot these days. More than that, Archprelate.”

“Yes, High Priest.”

“I know you really heard the message from Redrin-nim. But… who are you?”

“…”

“Who are you to know all that?”

“I am also a priest of Redrin-nim.”

“Did you cross over like me?”

“No.”

No? As Rembrary frowned, an amused smile appeared on the Archprelate’s lips.

“I was from here from the beginning, and I have never been to Redrin-nim and the High Priest’s world.”

“Then how do you know about Redrin-nim?”

“Well. But I am sure that I am the only priest of Redrin-nim in this world. Of course, there is also the High Priest, but the High Priest is not from this world.”

He’s a guy who even knows that I came from another world. As Rembrary clicked his tongue, the Archprelate took out his cell phone from his pocket and handed it over.

“I’ll give you my phone number. Contact me anytime if you need anything.”

When Rembrary entered his phone number and handed it over, the Archprelate immediately called to make his number appear on Rembrary’s phone, and then called Meng Wooshin and instructed him.

“He is a precious guest. Take good care of him in the future.”

Meng Wooshin’s expression quickly hardened as if he had been hit by an ice mallet.

***

On the way home, Meng Wooshin didn’t open his mouth with a frown.

It seemed that the thought of having to follow the Archprelate’s words and the thought of having to ‘take good care’ of Rembrary were clashing in his mind.

Rembrary also didn’t bother to tease Meng Wooshin and quietly returned to the dorm.

Because his mind was much more complicated than having a pointless argument with Meng Wooshin.

– Have you met that white-haired man?

Because of this, Rembrary couldn’t answer honestly when Sajae asked about the phone call and meeting with the Archprelate.

‘Sajae wouldn’t like it if I said I was going to spread Redrin-nim here. Yeomra either.’

Rembrary recalled Sajae’s serious expression when he said that he was thinking of starting a religion here.

He reacted that way even to a half-joking remark, so wouldn’t he hate it even more if he said he was really going to spread the Redrin faith?

– Wooyunwoo-ssi [another respectful suffix in Korean]?

“He was just an ordinary cult.”

– What kind of cult is an ordinary cult??

“I mean, there’s nothing special.”

In the end, Rembrary glossed over the part about the Archprelate and scolded Sajae for no reason.

“You should quickly catch the Cow Head and the people chasing after the Cow Head.”

Perhaps because he felt guilty, Sajae didn’t ask any more questions and hung up the phone right away.

However, Rembrary fell into deeper thought as soon as Sajae hung up the phone.

‘After talking about the people chasing the Cow Head, I remembered the people who tried to attack the Archprelate wearing sheep masks the other day.

‘Were those people Nakru?’

If the Archprelate is a priest, he would be treated similarly to a Saint here. It is possible that the Archprelate became a target of Nakru.

Rembrary took out his cell phone and texted the Archprelate directly.

[Archprelate, who were the sheep heads from before?]

[They are crazy guys called Nakru.]

[Do they know for sure that you are a Saint and are doing that?]

[I don’t know for sure, but they seem to suspect it. High Priest, please be careful too.]

As expected, those who were chasing the Archprelate were Nakru.

When he recalled the sheep mask, he remembered Woo Sungwoo, Wooyunwoo’s older brother, who was wearing a necklace similar to the sheep mask.

‘There’s no way Woo Sungwoo is Nakru in the meantime, right?’

***

Even while lost in thought, time passed quickly, and it was time to go out to film the next day.

Rembrary left the dorm with less energy than usual.

“Oh? Wooyunwoo-ssi, are you okay? Are you sick somewhere?”

He looked so listless that the VJ [Video Journalist], who got on the van, was surprised and asked.

“I’m healthy. I’m just troubled.”

“Ah… is it because you don’t like the three-people-living-together concept?”

“Two pizzas are no problem.”

The VJ, feeling a little sorry for Rembrary, who was sighing, carefully handed over the script. He said he was okay, but he must be worried that the three-people-living-together concept would have a big backlash.

“Oh, well, it’s confirmed that we’re living together. But we’re not filming the scene of living in the same house right away. We’re going to start with the scene where Shin Jo Woon-ssi and Jang Taeri-ssi unpack their luggage at home first, and then Wooyunwoo-ssi visits and declares that he will live with them.”

Rembrary sullenly unfolded the script.