Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 162

162. Different Suspicions

Woo Sungwoo felt uneasy, like chewing gum someone else had spat out. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly why, but Shin Joowoon’s words were definitely making him uncomfortable.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, it’s nothing that grand as to have a ‘meaning’.”

Woo Sungwoo just stared back warily, not answering. Shin Joowoon chuckled faintly and muttered,

“Difficult to answer, huh? Guess you two aren’t that close.”

Even so, his eyes were constantly scrutinizing Woo Sungwoo, deep and contemplative, yet cautious.

Woo Sungwoo didn’t feel the need to tolerate that attitude, so he turned away abruptly.

Shin Joowoon didn’t stop him. The question he had for Woo Sungwoo was something he could ask the person directly.

Meanwhile, Rembrary had walked quite a distance to find the tiger-headed monster, only to realize Shin Joowoon wasn’t following. He went back, showering him with nagging.

“Shin Joowoon, I said we have to go!”

As Rembrary scolded him, Shin Joowoon waved his hands and said, “Sorry, sorry,” with a smile, coming out of the alleyway.

“But where are we going?”

“I don’t know either.”

This would only be resolved once they found the tiger-headed monster.

“…I think there’s a certain charm to living with a plan and living without a plan.”

“Is that so?”

“Shouldn’t we at least know where we’re walking to?”

Rembrary agreed, understanding what Shin Joowoon was saying since he was also the type to live with a plan.

Not likely. Shin Joowoon felt a bit awkward but obediently followed Rembrary, checking for landmarks.

After about 20 minutes, Rembrary finally found traces of a monster floating in the air. He couldn’t be certain they belonged to the tiger monster, but he followed them anyway.

‘That’s the one.’

As they walked, the trainee culprit they were looking for finally appeared. The tiger monster wasn’t visible, but there were traces of it having been there.

The trainee culprit was sitting on a swing in a small apartment playground, head bowed low. Each time he slightly swung his legs, the rusty metal made an unpleasant creaking sound.

‘Indeed. He’s becoming a monster.’

Rembrary immediately recognized the trainee culprit’s condition and clicked his tongue. The culprit had his head against the swing ropes, only moving his legs, and seemed to have no strength left.

Rembrary slowly approached. The culprit, who hadn’t looked back, turned his head slightly when Rembrary got closer.

“Woo Yeonwoo?”

So, he knew Woo Yeonwoo. The trainee culprit recognized Rembrary as soon as he saw him. It was Rembrary who didn’t recognize his face.

Rembrary inwardly regretted it. He should have asked the members his name earlier. He had heard on the news it was Kim something, but he didn’t know anything else.

But that wasn’t important right now. Rembrary needed to use divine power on the trainee Kim right away.

He didn’t know if using divine power would bring back the lost emotions, but at least he could prevent him from fully becoming a monster.

But… Rembrary glanced at Shin Joowoon. Come to think of it, Shin Joowoon also had ‘eyes’ [referring to the ability to perceive supernatural phenomena].

Ordinary people wouldn’t know whether the monsterization stopped, but wouldn’t Shin Joowoon be different? If the culprit’s monsterization stopped, Shin Joowoon might find it suspicious.

Shin Joowoon noticed Rembrary’s hesitation and asked with a smile.

“Why? Are you going to do something I shouldn’t see? Should I close my eyes?”

The trainee Kim, alternating between looking at Shin Joowoon and Rembrary, suddenly frowned.

“Hey, Woo Yeonwoo. Did you perhaps come to report me?”

“It’s Kim.”

“What?”

“Have you perhaps done some brushwork?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Brushwork. Have you done anything with a brush recently?”

The trainee culprit frowned and tilted his head.

He had. Rembrary was certain. Otherwise, he would have immediately asked what he was talking about, instead of looking at him like that.

The trainee culprit slowly got up from the swing. He couldn’t understand what nonsense Rembrary was talking about, but he seemed to think he should run. He took two steps back.

Rembrary immediately tapped Shin Joowoon’s back and asked.

“Catch him.”

“Me?”

“Quickly.”

As Rembrary urged him, Shin Joowoon jumped forward without thinking. The culprit, who had been stepping back, also started running at full speed.

However, someone undergoing monsterization was no different in strength and speed from an ordinary person when they were in their right mind. The trainee culprit, who had calmed down a lot while talking to Rembrary, was caught by Shin Joowoon before he could escape the playground.

“I caught him, but…”

Shin Joowoon placed the trainee culprit near Rembrary, giving him a bewildered look.

“What are you really going to do?”

Instead of explaining, Rembrary naturally said, “Good job,” and poked the trainee culprit’s head.

“?”

“Ah. Hey!”

The trainee culprit protested, but Rembrary poked his head several more times in a row and then sat on the seesaw with his arms crossed.

“Think about what to do now.”

“Did you come running without any plan?”

“I have to save him.”

“…You said you live with a plan. It hasn’t even been 10 minutes since you said that.”

Pickled anchovies [a Korean idiom meaning someone who doesn’t understand] could not understand the meaning of the high priest. Rembrary crossed his arms and inwardly praised his own smooth and amazing wit.

In fact, Rembrary had already sent divine power while poking the culprit’s head. A total of four times. This should prevent further monsterization. Moreover, after quickly examining him while poking, he wasn’t that far along yet.

“First…”

“First?”

“Just a moment.”

Judging that it would be okay to leave him alone with Shin Joowoon for a moment since the monsterization had stopped, Rembrary took out his phone and moved away from the two of them.

Afraid that Shin Joowoon might follow, Rembrary glared at him and went a distance away, then called both Daeju and Sajamjae in succession.

Daeju didn’t answer, but Sajamjae answered this time.

[Yes.]

“Gamjae [Rembrary is using Sajamjae’s nickname].”

[Yes, Woo Yeonwoo.]

“Do you know about a way to revive lost emotions?”

When Rembrary briefly told him about the ‘brush that shakes out emotions’ and the trainee culprit, Sajamjae thought for a moment before answering.

[In that case, it might work to break the problematic brush.]

“Are you sure?”

[I’m not sure, but if it’s a monster that’s entangled with an object, I remember that it usually came back when the object was destroyed or damaged.]

“Okay. Take care of your business.”

[But if too much time passes, you might not be able to find it.]

“Are you sure?”

[I’m not sure, but that’s usually the case.]

Rembrary said okay and hung up, then tried calling Daeju again. However, Daeju still didn’t answer, so Rembrary put his phone away and returned to where Shin Joowoon was.

Shin Joowoon was also talking on the phone with someone, but when Rembrary came, he said, “Let’s talk later,” hung up, and asked.

“Did you finish your business?”

Rembrary pointed his finger in the direction of the police station.

“I think we can return him.”

Shin Joowoon agreed and grabbed the culprit’s arm, and the trainee culprit hurriedly said.

“Yeonwoo! Let me go! Please, we were somewhat close!”

The trainee culprit struggled.

“Have you seen a brush?”

Instead of being swayed by the culprit’s words, Rembrary asked.

“Will you let me go if I tell you?”

The culprit asked with anticipation. And then, before Rembrary could answer, he quickly said.

“I borrowed it for a while. And the person who lent it took it back.”

“Who lent it to you?”

“Let me go first. If you let me go, I’ll write down who the culprit is and send it to your company. Disguised as a fan letter.”

Rembrary pointed his finger at the police station again.

“I’ll let you go over there.”

“You said you’d let me go if I told you!”

“I didn’t say anything.”

After taking the trainee culprit back to the police station, Shin Joowoon took Rembrary to the restaurant that was said to have delicious grilled butter shrimp, as promised before.

Rembrary was so moved that he almost cried as he ate the savory and sweet grilled butter shrimp one by one.

“It’s delicious.”

“Should I order more?”

“And cider too.”

Shin Joowoon quietly watched Rembrary happily eating the grilled butter shrimp and asked.

“But you surprisingly took the culprit back to the police station?”

“Should I order more? What’s surprising?”

“Order more. I thought you were going to rescue him?”

“He’s alive. That’s also a rescue.”

At least he had prevented Nakru from touching him.

He might come looking again, but wasn’t Nakru the one who noticed that monsterization was taking place, even without any information about the brush? He would be able to recognize that he had become a normal person again.

He had no intention of getting him out of the police station from the beginning. Since it was something he had done in a state where his emotions had disappeared, there were extenuating circumstances for the trainee culprit, but that didn’t mean that the act of killing an employee disappeared. Moreover, killing someone as soon as his emotions disappeared was, in any case, the trainee’s choice.

Rembrary put the grilled butter shrimp in his mouth and watched Shin Joowoon’s expression. Shin Joowoon had seen everything from beginning to end today, so he might be thinking that something was strange.

However, Shin Joowoon didn’t ask any particular questions. Rembrary thought he was lucky and ate the grilled butter shrimp diligently.

* * *

When Shin Joowoon dropped him off in front of the dorm, Rembrary bowed politely and went inside.

Shin Joowoon watched Rembrary enter safely from the car, then started the car and thought.

‘Pig *hyung* [older brother or male friend] seems definitely like Nakru. Pig is definitely not Nakru. But he’s definitely not an ordinary pig either.’

When Woo Yeonwoo poked the culprit’s forehead, the faint aura of the monster that was felt from the culprit disappeared. Shin Joowoon saw that scene clearly. Woo Yeonwoo himself seemed to think that he had used his head well, so he pretended not to know.

Shin Joowoon’s fingers moved at a constant speed on the steering wheel. It was his habit when he was holding the steering wheel and deeply immersed in thought.

‘The fact that he exudes the aura of a monster means that he’s not a strong monster. But considering that he shook off the ghost with a flick before, he’s definitely not an ordinary person either.’

The car rang. When Shin Joowoon pressed the call button, his secretary urgently asked where he had gone.

“Out for a breath of fresh air.”

Shin Joowoon answered that he would be right there, pressed the end call button, and sped up the car a bit more.

Meanwhile, Rembrary returned to the dorm with a proud heart, filled the bathtub with water, and took a bath.

Unaware that Shin Joowoon was curious about him, unaware that Woo Sungwoo was telling the Nakru team leader, ‘My brother really doesn’t fit in with this. His ideology itself is different. He’s too soft-hearted,’ Rembrary thought about Daeju.

Daeju had contacted him after arriving at the dorm, and according to him, he had arrived at the police station only to hear that the culprit had escaped and returned.

It was a possible story if the timing was off, so Rembrary said okay and hung up. But after thinking about it carefully, it became a bit suspicious.

Wasn’t there one more person who could have stolen the ‘brush’ at the gathering in the first place? It was Daeju himself.