Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 206

206. A Continuing Dream

It was morning again.

Rembrary yawned and got up. Remembering the events of the previous night, he quickly turned his head to look at his shadow. The shadow, somewhat fainter than usual in the soft morning sunlight streaming through the window, was indeed visible. And protruding from it…

Rembrary reached out and flicked the red finger. It dangled and swayed. The strange finger that had appeared yesterday was still sticking out of his shadow like that.

He channeled divine power into it, but there was no reaction, just as there had been the day before.

“What is this?”

As he was pondering, Jung Seo entered the room with a toothbrush in his mouth and asked,

“What are you doing?”

Rembrary, startled, pointed to the red finger.

“Can you see it?”

“The shadow?”

“Can’t you see anything *other* than the shadow?”

Seeing Jung Seo’s blank expression, Rembrary quickly corrected himself.

“You can’t see it. Never mind, then.”

Jung Seo opened his mouth wider. Rembrary’s sudden change of subject after initiating a conversation made him feel uneasy.

Regardless, Rembrary continued to tap the red finger before finally letting it go.

Meanwhile, Jung Seo quickly rinsed his mouth in the bathroom and returned to the bedroom. When he came back, Rembrary was lying face down on the bed, no longer poking at the shadow, and was changing out of his pajamas.

“Wait a minute. Sit down.”

“Brushing your teeth for three minutes is ideal, Jung Seo. As someone who shares a room with you, if you’re going to brush for less than three minutes, don’t let me catch you.”

“I brushed for four minutes where you couldn’t see me, so sit down.”

As Rembrary sat on the bed in his tracksuit, Jung Seo rubbed his face and took a moment to choose his words.

His expression looked quite serious, so Rembrary stared at Jung Seo with a ‘What’s wrong with him?’ look. Jung Seo hesitated for almost three minutes before finally speaking.

“I usually try not to get involved in your… mysterious… stuff.”

“Is that so?”

“But this time, I think I need to ask.”

“The finger?”

“What?”

“Is it because of the finger?”

“……”

“Oh, it’s not. Then what is it?”

When Rembrary suddenly adopted a gentle tone and changed the subject, Jung Seo felt even more uneasy. But what was important now wasn’t the finger story Rembrary was alluding to, so Jung Seo honestly revealed why he had called Rembrary.

“I had a dream.”

“Dream interpretation isn’t my specialty.”

“It seems like that dream is connected to the dream Hye-gyeol had.”

“Dreams are connected?”

“I found out while talking about it. Hye-gyeol’s dream is connected to Keshi’s.”

“To Keshi’s too?”

“Keshi’s is connected to Tae-in’s.”

“!”

“Do you think this has anything to do with you?”

Rembrary stroked his chin at Jung Seo’s sudden but very concerning words.

“That’s strange.”

“Maybe you too…”

“No. I slept well today without any dreams.”

“Oh? Really?”

When Rembrary nodded, Jung Seo rolled his eyes with a bewildered expression.

“Then what on earth is it?”

* * *

The Wild Animal members sat in a circle around a large sketchbook in the living room. Jung Seo sat slightly forward, drawing on the sketchbook with a marker.

“So, to summarize, the very first? The beginning? Anyway, if we’re talking about us, the earliest time slot is me, right?”

When they compared the dreams the four of them had, the earliest was Jung Seo’s, followed by Hye-gyeol’s, Keshi’s, and Tae-in’s in that order.

The content didn’t change much as time went on. It was just a matter of matching the people or monsters that appeared in the dream.

Moreover, even in Jung Seo’s dream, which occupied the earliest time slot, there was no content that could be considered the beginning of the ‘incident that occurred in the dream.’

Rembrary looked down at Jung Seo’s drawing. It depicted cracks forming in the air, with strange things peeking out. These entities looked nothing like the plants and animals of this world.

Some were attacking people, who were screaming and running, many getting injured… It was a disturbing scene, enough to make anyone frown.

“Ugh. This is seriously unsettling,” Keshi said, rubbing his arms unnecessarily. He then asked Rembrary, “Wooyeonwoo, this has nothing to do with you, right?”

“How foolish. How could I manipulate your dreams? If I could, I would have done it a long time ago.”

“Who’s calling who foolish?” Keshi retorted, instantly annoyed. But Rembrary’s point was valid, so he quickly dismissed the idea that his colleague was responsible.

Afterward, the members put their heads together, pondering the meaning of the dreams and researching everything from astrology to dream interpretation and even alchemy.

But when they couldn’t find an answer, they eventually dispersed. Rembrary headed to the bathroom.

As soon as he closed the bathroom door, Rembrary’s expression shifted dramatically. His face became stern.

‘What’s going on?’

Although the details differed slightly, the scene the members saw in their dreams… it wasn’t that different from what happened in his original world when the Demon King attacked.

Of course, there, the Demon King covered the sky, while in the members’ dreams, cracks appeared in the air.

“Cracks.”

Those cracks were also deeply unsettling. When he went to prepare for the awards ceremony stage… the hallway in the waiting room. There was a crack there, and something like wind was flowing out. Should he have examined it more closely, even if it meant being treated strangely?

Labrum. What was that strange thing Labrum said?

Rembrary hesitated, then called Daeju. Daeju also had some unsettling feelings, and he was the only one Rembrary could talk to about the ‘original world’.

‘I should tell Daeju to investigate it.’

As he dialed, the ringing tone sounded before Daeju’s voice came through.

[Yes, High Priest. Merry Christmas.]

“Daeju, have you ever seen a crack in the air?”

[A crack?]

Rembrary quickly recounted what he had seen while preparing for the stage.

Daeju listened without interrupting.

“Could you investigate it?”

[……]

But there was no answer, even after he finished speaking.

“Daeju, did you hang up?”

Rembrary, thinking Daeju might have hung up, took the phone from his ear and checked the signal.

Daeju finally answered.

[No, I’m still listening.]

“Okay, can you investigate it?”

[Actually, High Priest.]

“Yes.”

[Redrin is in a very difficult situation right now.]

“What?”

After a long silence, Daeju said something completely unexpected.

“Redrin? Why suddenly?”

Of course, she was already in a difficult situation before he came here. The place with the most of Redrin’s followers was attacked by the Demon King.

But if he was talking about *that* situation, Daeju wouldn’t have said ‘in a difficult situation’ as if it were new news.

“What else is going on?”

[I don’t know if I should say this…]

“Tell me.”

When Rembrary urged him, Daeju hesitated a little longer before revealing, [It’s because of you, High Priest.]

“Because of me? Because I disappeared?”

[It’s a bit…]

As Daeju continued to hesitate, Rembrary tapped his phone impatiently. Only then did Daeju continue.

[It’s because of you, but it’s also not because of you. It’s a problem caused by someone else entering your body right now.]

“What?”

[I’m talking about the real High Priest’s body in the original world. But that person can’t imitate the High Priest’s divine power, so he’s useless in many ways…]

‘Someone else entered my body?’

[In conclusion, the faith of the people in the High Priest’s original world is weakening. Could this be related to the crack in the air you mentioned, High Priest? Now that I say it, it doesn’t seem like it. But the timing is so coincidental…]

This time, Rembrary couldn’t immediately respond to Daeju’s words. He was too flustered.

Rembrary opened and closed his mouth a few times before ending the call.

“Okay. Let’s talk later.”

Hanging up, Rembrary placed his phone on the sink and paced around the bathroom several times. What’s going on? Someone else entered my body?

Of course, he himself had entered someone else’s body, so such a thing could happen to him.

But it was definitely not a common occurrence. That’s why he himself couldn’t easily accept this when he entered Woo Yeon-woo’s body and was confused.

But now his original body has accepted another soul?

‘Something’s up.’

Was Daeju right to be suspicious? Are his original body losing power, Redrin’s power weakening, and the cracks appearing in the air all related?

Then, an even stranger thought occurred to Rembrary, and he stopped pacing around the bathroom. He turned his head to look in the mirror. Woo Yeon-woo in the mirror was looking back at him.

‘Isn’t it strange?’

Rembrary frowned and stared at the mirror.

‘Why did Lord Redrin only tell Daeju that story? I’m the one he cherishes the most, isn’t I?’

* * *

Hanging up, Daeju looked down at his phone with an unreadable expression, then walked out to the waiting room with it in his hand.

There, a guest was already sitting on the sofa, waiting for him. An actor that anyone in South Korea who has any interest in movies or dramas would recognize. It was Im Yu-han.

However, Im Yu-han, who had been smiling brightly and confidently in commercials, now had a stiff expression and was sitting in a rigid posture.

Daeju smiled and sat down opposite Im Yu-han.

“I’m sorry. The call took longer than expected.”

“If it’s an urgent call, you can continue.”

“No. The other party hung up first, so it’s okay.”

“The other party? Were you talking to your boss? I heard that you’re the highest… in position.”

“I don’t have a boss, but there are two people who are similar to bosses.”

Daeju smiled kindly once again, but instead of talking more about himself, he neatly changed the subject.

“So, you want to join us.”

“I’m not trying to join. I just came to hear the explanation. Just in case, my manager knows the location here. If I don’t contact him every five minutes, he’ll report it.”

“You’re very thorough.”

“I heard it’s a cult.”

“But you know it’s a cult, and you’re wary of it, but you’ve come all the way here because you need our power, right?”

“…”

“Yes, Im Yu-han. What do you want and why are you here?”

Im Yu-han resisted the urge to clench his fists on his lap. Taking such a posture would openly show that ‘I’m nervous right now.’

Instead, Im Yu-han raised his eyes and looked straight at Daeju. So that he could react at any time if there was any strange sign.

“I heard that if you join here, they’ll grant your wish. Is that right?”

“That’s right. And since you seem very wary, I’ll tell you that you don’t have to join right away. You can join after attending a meeting and witnessing a miracle first.”

“My wish isn’t easy.”

“To be honest, it’s hard for us to grant very difficult wishes.”

Daeju said that and opened the file on the coffee table.

“These are examples of wishes that are commonly requested. It’s possible within this range.”

Im Yu-han quickly scanned the list of wishes in the file and asked.

“I want to have the eyes to see monsters.”

Daeju didn’t say anything for a moment. He only raised his eyebrows as if surprised. But after a while, he let out a soft laugh.

“That’s easy.”

“Easy?”

“If you’re prepared for it.”

“I’m prepared. I guess I’ll see terrible things, things that aren’t very pleasant to look at, too.”

“Seeing that you said ‘see together,’ it seems like there’s a monster you want to see?”