Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 260

260. Purple Hair VS Rembrary

After healing five more people who had turned into vinyl, Rembrary was on his way home to rest. In the car, he read the Hunter Survival 3rd mission briefing that Jongwoo had given him. It seemed that after he’d agreed to continue participating in the survival program, they sent him the briefing, assuming he would attend.

“This time, we’re doing a few days of training camp.”

As Rembrary read the briefing and muttered to himself, Jongwoo asked, “Again?”

“Why do they have so many training camps?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

Rembrary answered calmly and turned the page. Aside from the training camp, there was nothing particularly unusual.

Later, Rembrary returned to his accommodation, immediately took a shower, changed into comfortable clothes, and prepared to become one with the sofa.

“헐 [Korean slang expressing disbelief or shock]. Hyung [older brother or male friend], look at this.”

However, the moment he sank onto the sofa and closed his eyes, Hyegyeol ran over with a laptop.

“I don’t want to see whatever it is.”

Annoyed, Rembrary turned his back to the sofa, but he couldn’t help but turn his head back at the sound coming from the laptop.

-Listen, Mint Sparkling. If you want to save this aggro [short for aggravation, meaning the person causing trouble], come here two days later when the clock hands overlap.

“What is that?”

“Remember the monster who ran away after you slapped him in the back? The one who took the color from people’s bodies and turned them into vinyl.”

“Why is he doing this?”

“That person, no, it looks like a monster is doing it.”

Rembrary stared at the screen, but he couldn’t see the video because of the comments.

-What does it mean when the clock hands overlap?

-If you’re going to threaten someone, you should tell the time;;

-Who is Mint Sparkling?

-ㅋㅋㅋ [Korean laughter abbreviation] Even the monster calls him aggro ㅋㅋㅋ Monster certification ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

ㄴAre you laughing now?

ㄴDid I say anything wrong? You’ve been attracting aggro with people’s sensitive issues, so it’s funny that you’re attracting aggro when you’re about to die.

Rembrary stretched out a finger and scrolled the screen up. The video, which had been paused, started playing, and a familiar face was visible. The hair color had changed to black, but it was definitely that purple-haired monster from before.

“He escaped and became a blackmailer.”

“Shouldn’t Hyung go catch him?”

“Nakru will go now.”

Rembrary said that much and then tilted his head for a moment. Something……?

“What’s wrong?”

“Doesn’t that name sound familiar?”

“Mint Sparkling?”

“Yes. I remember it being very delicious.”

“That’s the drink we advertised. I did Apple Sparkling, Jungseo Hyung did Mango Sparkling, and Hyung did Mint Sparkling.”

“Ah, right. Surely that drink……”

Rembrary trailed off, then abruptly sat up and turned to look at Hyegyeol.

“Is this guy talking about me when he says Mint?”

* * *

Around the same time, other people with sharp eyes were also suggesting that ‘Mint Sparkling’ was Woo Yeonwoo.

If a monster was calling him out with threats like that, there had to be a grudge, and the only person the monster could have a grudge against right now was Woo Yeonwoo. Since Woo Yeonwoo did the Mint Sparkling drink advertisement, it was only natural that attention would be focused on him.

[Is that you?]

Woosungwoo, who had the same thought, even called to ask.

“Probably.”

Rembrary honestly admitted and asked.

“Do you know where the monster is?”

[Are you going?]

“If you tell me where it is.”

[Do you know what time it is?]

“Isn’t it twelve o’clock?”

[……Well, the monster might have thought as simply as you did.]

“What do you mean?”

[They sent someone to the address of the hostage YouTuber, but no one was there.]

“He’s hiding. Until I come.”

[!]

“If you tell me the location, I’ll go and come back. If he’s not there, he’s not there.”

Woosungwoo didn’t answer right away. It seemed like he had something to say, though. His voice was faintly heard, and there was the sound of people talking. It seemed like he took the phone away from his mouth and was talking to someone. After waiting for him to finish talking, Woosungwoo called out, “Hello?” after about three minutes.

“Are you done talking?”

[Yeah. I’ll tell you the location. It’s not like it’ll hurt to go and see, like you said.]

“Where is it?”

[I’ll go and tell you in person.]

“You?”

[Dooshin is coming too. It wasn’t like he said you had to come alone, right? It seems safer for everyone to go.]

“Well.”

Rembrary recalled Undooshin and Woosungwoo’s skills and answered with a sullen expression. But after answering, he was sure that they wouldn’t hold him back. Woosungwoo was strong even before awakening, and Undooshin seemed to have pretty good abilities after awakening. Especially since Undooshin went to catch the eel-tail monster alone and returned safely when he was fighting the purple hair, wasn’t he?

And decisively, Rembrary didn’t have the ability to go to the address even if Woosungwoo told him. It was obvious what kind of reaction he would get if he asked Jongwoo to take him.

“Okay. When are you coming?”

* * *

An hour and thirty minutes later, Woosungwoo arrived as promised. Rembrary quickly got into the back seat of the car.

“Hi.”

Undooshin was already in the passenger seat and waved at Rembrary, greeting him lightly. Seeing that his expression was bright and there was no tension, even though he was going to face the purple-haired monster, he seemed to think that the three of them were enough to handle it.

As Rembrary fastened his seatbelt, Woosungwoo started the car and said.

“I told the detective in charge of that purple hair in advance. I asked him to keep people away from the area because we’re going there.”

As Woosungwoo said, as they entered a residential area, a police line was set up on one side of the sidewalk, blocking people from entering. The road was not blocked, but the police were standing there and checking each passing vehicle.

Some drivers got angry, asking why they were blocking the road.

“There’s a monster roaming inside. The probability of dying if you go in is high. If you sign here that you have been fully notified of the danger and understand that you may be swept away by the monster, you can go.”

When the police said this and handed out the list, people hesitated and eventually backed up their cars. But the police didn’t stop Woosungwoo’s car, probably because they had been notified of the car number in advance.

Rembrary repeatedly watched the purple hair video in the car, and when the car stopped, he put his cell phone in his pocket and got out.

“Which one is it?”

However, the place where Woosungwoo’s car stopped was in a high-rise apartment complex where the surroundings were as dense and high as cliffs. It was difficult to know which one was the YouTuber’s house because there were similar-looking buildings everywhere.

“That way.”

Fortunately, Woosungwoo knew the house and pointed to one side and walked ahead.

“Have you been here before?”

“Yeah.”

“You too?”

When Rembrary asked Undooshin, he also nodded.

“I didn’t come with him. I’ve been here separately. I went with that detective. But the monster wasn’t there when he went, and it wasn’t there when I went.”

As Undooshin added an explanation, Woosungwoo added, “There was no hostage either.”

While talking, the three arrived in front of the YouTuber’s house.

Even though there was no one at home, Woosungwoo pressed the doorbell again. But there was no answer from inside. Instead, the door next door opened slightly, and someone peeked out and looked at them. They seemed to know what was going on and were very curious about this side.

Since he couldn’t make the person inside the house leave, Woosungwoo just stared at the doorbell and calmly advised, “It’s dangerous. Maybe you should close the door.”. Still, when the neighbor didn’t close the door, Woosungwoo sighed and pressed the doorbell again.

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

But even this time, there was still no answer from inside. When Rembrary looked back at the two, asking what to do now, Undooshin muttered that he couldn’t help it and then calmly pressed the house password.

‘How did he know?’

Rembrary’s eyes widened, but Undooshin acted as if he was entering his own house. Moreover, the lock was unlocked right away with one try, as if he had pressed the number accurately.

Undooshin went inside, and Rembrary followed him.

Before going inside, Rembrary looked at the neighbor once. When their eyes met, the person looked surprised but still didn’t close the door.

Woosungwoo closed the door of the house where the YouTuber lived as he entered last.

The moment the door closed, the sound was cut off, and the whole house became quiet. A creepy atmosphere lingered in the living room, as if silence was crawling in an uneasy shell. It was so quiet that even the sound of shoe heels hitting the floor echoed. Maybe it was because all the lights in the house were off and the windows were covered with blackout curtains.

Rembrary slowly entered the living room and looked around. There were no bugs floating in the air near the monsters, goblins, or demons, but if you think about it, there were never any around the monsters that came out of the cracks, so you couldn’t let your guard down. But the moment he looked around…

“!”

Rembrary reflexively dodged to the side. As soon as he did, a chair that was nearby flew past Rembrary and crashed into the wall.

Undooshin and Woosungwoo, who had been quietly walking around in different rooms, ran to the living room where Rembrary was at the same time.

“What is it?”

“What’s wrong?”

They looked at the broken chair and each took a defensive stance in the direction where they guessed the chair had flown from. But they couldn’t see anything, and there was no enemy.

Woosungwoo swallowed hard. There was definitely nothing, but there was definitely something. Two impossible things were felt at the same time.

“If you can’t see it…… you can just hit it directly!”

After being on guard for a while, Undooshin muttered in a low voice and swung the long spear in his hand towards the air. But there was nothing to hit. In the meantime, Woosungwoo was concentrating and trying to observe the surroundings as much as possible.

‘It seemed like the ability was to make something transparent. Can he make his own body transparent too?’

Rembrary also speculated about the purple-haired monster’s abilities in his own way.

At that time, the spear that Undooshin was wielding made a sound as if it hit something.

“There it is!”

Undooshin shouted and pounded it with his spear. But the spear, which seemed to hit properly a couple of times, ended up hitting the floor on the third time. The ‘something’ that was caught on Undooshin’s spear had slipped to the side. In response, Undooshin turned his body and tried to hit another place with his spear, but this time there was nothing to catch.

Still, everyone knew that at least the enemy was definitely inside.

“You’ve come, Mint.”

A laughter was heard from the room that had not yet been checked. When Rembrary turned, the purple-haired monster, who now had black hair, was standing in the doorframe, smiling.

Almost at the same time, Undooshin shouted from behind.

“There’s someone else besides that guy! Be careful!”

With that sound, something shattering was heard from the kitchen. Rembrary didn’t look at the side where the sound came from and made eye contact with the purple hair. When their eyes met, the purple-haired monster smiled and explained.

“How many people are here?”

The moment he asked the question, a reddish light briefly illuminated the house in turn, like when a car with headlights on passes by on a night road. And shadows appeared and disappeared wherever the light passed.

This time, Rembrary frowned a little nervously. The number of shadows that appeared and disappeared briefly was not one or two. There were literally invisible things all over the place.