Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 223

< 223. Between Reality and Reality >

“What is wrong with these people?”

Jang Tae-ri was dumbfounded and protested into his cell phone.

“Isn’t this a business card you gave me to contact you when I need help? You can’t just change the number like this!”

But no matter how much he fumed, the other party didn’t answer the phone. No, the number didn’t even exist. Now that it’s come to this, he can’t even protest. Jang Tae-ri was at a loss and pressed the end button.

“Mr. President? Is something wrong?”

The secretary was coming into the office and asked, puzzled, when she saw the president yelling into his cell phone.

“I’m angry because nothing’s wrong.”

Jang Tae-ri was embarrassed to be angry alone, so he put down his cell phone and sighed.

“Even mysterious groups can’t escape the flow of time. Reality is merciless after all. If you can’t keep up, even mysterious groups disappear.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s like that. More importantly, what’s the matter?”

“An interview regarding the car accident…….”

“Tell them I don’t want to think about it because I was traumatized.”

* * *

“Shocking. Some kind of saint…….”

Isn’t a saint supposed to be a mascot of self-sacrifice? Are saints from another world different? Well, I guess. A saint’s abilities are different, so their character might be different too.

But there are three people here who can deal with that monster. Two grim reapers and one saint. There’s no need for sacrifice or anything.

Sa Gam-jae ran away at a rapid pace and stared blankly at the empty seat next to him, where not even a trace remained. The more he looked at it, the more he felt it was too much. He could have at least said he was leaving.

But he can’t chase after him. Even in the midst of all this, his colleague was running towards him quickly.

“That’s disgusting! Help me!”

For a grim reaper to say a centipede is disgusting… Sa Gam-jae clicked his tongue, but still took out the sword he usually kept hidden.

“Thank you!”

The grim reaper, who came to his side in a fluster, rubbed his arm, distressed.

“It was too visually disturbing.”

Even in the midst of all this, the centipede with human heads was running towards them at a rapid pace. It didn’t have feet, only hands, but it was definitely running. Every time its head hit the wall, it even made sounds like, “Ouch. It hurts. Ouch. Ouch.”

That was even scarier, and the fellow grim reaper teared up and complained.

“I’m really weak against things like that.”

“Be quiet if you’re not going to help.”

The centipede, which had been hitting its head against the wall and muttering ouch ouch, finally discovered Sa Gam-jae.

[Two. Two.]

The centipede, upon seeing Sa Gam-jae, changed its words and made even stranger noises. Then, it opened its mouth wide and charged. And at that moment, when the centipede was right next to Sa Gam-jae.

-Clang

The door of a nearby pizza place opened with the sound of a bell, and a group of about six college students came out.

The fellow grim reaper widened his eyes and looked at the group of college students.

But the group of college students didn’t see Sa Gam-jae, the fellow grim reaper, or the large centipede, and simply turned to the side and passed by.

However, even if the group of college students didn’t see the centipede, the centipede did. The centipede, which was about to attack Sa Gam-jae, suddenly stopped moving and rolled its eyes, looking directly at the students.

But Sa Gam-jae didn’t let the centipede get distracted. At the very moment when the centipede’s gaze was elsewhere, Sa Gam-jae split the centipede’s forehead with his sword.

The centipede, which had briefly looked elsewhere, soon screamed and rolled to the side.

―Aaaaaaaaaa!

“Annoying.”

However, merely slashing it once with a sword wasn’t enough to end the situation, as the centipede’s size was too large. The centipede’s body was as huge as a large truck, so Sa Gam-jae’s single slash was merely a scratch.

In the meantime. The grim reaper, who had retreated, frightened by the centipede, seemed to have calmed down a bit, and rushed forward, grabbing and snapping off the entire front row of fingers on the centipede’s head.

―Euaaaaaaaa!

The centipede screamed and twisted its body again.

“Weaker than I thought?”

“Don’t let your guard down. Even this level can cause significant damage.”

Sa Gam-jae, who sternly warned his colleague who was muttering, slashed the centipede’s eyes again with his sword.

It wasn’t that the centipede was strong, but because it was so large, it took the two grim reapers longer than expected to successfully defeat it.

In the end, the centipede, which had been rampaging, smashing walls in all directions without regard for front or back, collapsed without being able to launch a significant attack. Just before dying. The centipede muttered, bleeding from its eyes.

[Monster. Monsters live here.]

Sa Gam-jae frowned upon hearing the faint voice as he approached the centipede, thinking about how to dispose of such a large centipede corpse.

‘Monster?’

[Immediately co…… must stop them…….]

That wasn’t all. The centipede kept muttering something. But in the end, it couldn’t finish its sentence and stopped breathing. Sa Gam-jae’s cut was clearly etched in its unclosed eyes.

‘Why did it say that?’

Sa Gam-jae frowned, feeling uneasy, and asked his fellow grim reaper.

“What is this?”

“A monster centipede with human heads. Presumed to be a yokai [a class of supernatural monsters, spirits, and demons in Japanese folklore].”

“Where did it suddenly come from? If it’s this big, location reports should have been coming in continuously. I didn’t hear anything. I wasn’t informed.”

“That’s probably right. Because it’s not a yokai from here.”

“Not a yokai from here?”

“The rift. The cliff rift. It popped out from there.”

“This thing?”

“To be exact, it came out while breaking the rift.”

The fellow grim reaper shuddered, as if just recalling it gave him goosebumps.

“It was desperately trying to get in here, shoving its head into the narrow rift. Wow. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“I think this yokai said something strange just now.”

“It probably said that because we’re stronger than it thought. To prevent its comrades from coming. Yokai here can talk too, you know.”

“I see.”

The fellow grim reaper habitually reached into his pocket, then said, “Ah,” and took his hand out, asking.

“What time is it now?”

“About three in the afternoon.”

“I’ll go to the underworld for a bit. Please take care of the aftermath and the corpse later.”

Sa Gam-jae frowned.

“You’re going to the underworld directly? What about your cell phone?”

“The battery died and it got smashed.”

“?”

“I was angry that the battery died, so I swung it around and dropped it off the cliff.”

The fellow reaper once again habitually put his hand in his pocket, then said, “Oops,” and took his hand out again.

“Take care of it.”

Then, he waved that hand at Sa Gam-jae and hurriedly disappeared.

Sa Gam-jae looked once in the direction the fellow grim reaper had disappeared. Once at the corpse of the dead centipede. Once in the direction the saint had run away. Sa Gam-jae turned his head and looked around, then followed the direction Rembrary had gone.

* * *

“Put your hand on your conscience. You know you were being unfair, right?”

“I do not know.”

“Is it that you don’t have a conscience to put your hand on, or is your conscience too far away for your hand to reach?”

“Neither.”

“You speak very elegantly for someone who ran away in a hurry.”

Rembrary smiled gently at Sa Gam-jae’s quiet and gentle protest.

“Is that so? I have heard that often.”

For a moment, Sa Gam-jae almost slapped Rembrary on the forehead. But like a grim reaper, he exercised patience and didn’t do such a thing. Instead, he protested again with words.

“Even so, how could you run away without looking back?”

“There are two grim reapers, so there was no need for me to step in, was there?”

“Didn’t you see how big it was?”

“It was big, but it wasn’t a strong yokai.”

“How do you know that without even fighting it?”

“I can tell at a glance.”

Sa Gam-jae thought Rembrary was bluffing, but what Rembrary said was true. The stronger the yokai, the more small insects float around it. But even at a glance, that centipede yokai didn’t have a single one of those insects nearby.

In other words, it was a very weak yokai. If it’s a weak yokai, the grim reapers can handle it sufficiently, so there’s no need to suffer while looking at that centipede.

Of course, this was Rembrary’s own opinion, so Sa Gam-jae was still dissatisfied.

“I’m weak against that kind of thing. Like centipedes.”

“…….”

“Yes. Did you catch it well?”

Sa Gam-jae sighed, but even during that time, Rembrary was eating pizza by himself.

“Aren’t you going to eat?”

“I can’t eat it. It upsets my stomach.”

“Oh, dear.”

“Whose fault is that…… Haa.”

“That’s good. This one pizza isn’t enough. It’s not enough for two people.”

Rembrary laughed inwardly. In fact, he was deliberately teasing Sa Gam-jae right now. Because Sa Gam-jae always left his post whenever he was needed, he wanted him to experience it too.

But that behavior wasn’t much different from his usual behavior, so Sa Gam-jae thought, ‘The saint is more annoying than usual,’ but hid his feelings and explained.

“Anyway, the important thing is that it came from beyond the rift.”

“You don’t know what’s beyond the rift.”

“If those things come in droves…….”

Sa Gam-jae’s expression darkened.

“And if they start affecting the real world, something enormous will happen.”

* * *

“Tae-in.”

“Busy.”

“How would you feel if the floor suddenly cracked and a huge monster popped out?”

“Busy.”

“I see. You’d be busy running away.”

As Rembrary nodded, Tae-in frowned and looked at Rembrary while listening to the sound source sent by the company.

“If you’re going to say useless things, talk to the other guys?”

“It’s not a useless thing.”

“It’s the most useless thing I’ve ever heard.”

Tae-in said firmly and stood up.

Today at noon. Jong-woo told him that the order of the special album had changed, and that Tae-in would be the first. Since it’s a two-year project and the situation Wild Animal is in right now is complicated, the company will push it as much as possible.

He wants to have good results as much as they push him, so he wants to focus on work as quietly as possible. But it’s annoying that he’s saying such useless things next to him.

“I want to take your side, but it really sounds like a useless story, Yeon-woo hyung [older brother or older male friend],”

As Hye-gyeol teased, laughing, Rembrary sighed inwardly.

It’s frustrating. It’s not that they’re strange, but that they’re normal.

Those without ‘eyes’ will not even be able to respond if a threatening being that is neither human nor animal suddenly appears. Aren’t they even denying its existence itself?

“Besides, reality is scarier, so what monster.”

But without knowing Rembrary’s feelings, Hye-gyeol muttered while fixing his gaze on his cell phone.

“Why reality again? Did something happen?”

“A body, presumed to be a foreigner, was found abandoned.”

“Oh, dear.”

“But it might be a crime of personal grudge. Ugh. They broke all the fingers and slashed the eyes with a sword.”

Tae-in couldn’t stand it any longer and jumped up.

“Seriously, everyone is so noisy.”

As he disappeared, Hye-gyeol grumbled and read the news to Rembrary again.

“Who would do such a thing…….”

While listening to the sad news, Rembrary prayed silently for the dead.

< 223. Between Reality and Reality > End