Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 270

270. The Second Test

Beyond the monitor, and unaware of the five examiners’ reactions in the other room, Rembrary asked Mori,

“Are you alright?”

Rembrary approached Mori, reaching out a hand to help him up. Mori also seemed to reach out towards Rembrary, as if to take his hand.

“I’m fine.”

But before their hands could meet, Mori slapped Rembrary’s hand away with a sharp sound.

“!”

Rembrary raised his eyebrows, and Mori quickly apologized.

“Sorry.”

It didn’t seem intentional, but rather a reflexive action. Yet, he still didn’t take his hand.

When their eyes met, Mori scratched his cheek, then grabbed the ropes of the ring to stand up. Even after standing, his legs were trembling, and his expression looked deeply troubled.

“I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you.”

From Mori’s perspective, it was an unavoidable reaction. Just now, the moment he made eye contact with Rembrary, he felt a cold lightning bolt run down his spine. The feeling was so intense that it was hard for him to even look at Rembrary, talk to him, or even accept his help for a moment.

The examiner—or rather, the supervisor who identified himself as an examiner—watched the whole scene from around the ring and thought.

‘Did Mori just trip and fall? Why is he so scared?’

“Participant in waiting room 35, are you sure you don’t need to go to the infirmary?”

“Yes. I’ll just sit here.”

The supervisor asked again, but Mori replied weakly and sat down on one of the chairs outside the ring. Rembrary, unsure of what was going on, simply squatted down near Mori while the others finished their tests.

In fact, the other participants, like the supervisor, didn’t pay much attention to Rembrary’s strength.

‘That guy is lucky.’

‘He must have been paired with the weakest partner.’

‘Wow, he’s so lucky he can win like that.’

Rembrary finished the test in the longest time, but the other participants just chalked it up to luck. Because he met the weakest opponent, he didn’t do anything, and the other guy just chickened out and gave up.

Naturally, they saw Rembrary as ‘a very lucky guy.’ Few seriously considered him a competitor. In this atmosphere, the first test continued, and when it finally ended, the number of successful candidates was exactly halved.

“The second test will be after a meal. Everyone, please return to your previous waiting rooms. We have brought your meals there.”

* * *

Rembrary followed the other participants back to his room. Opening the door, he saw familiar but missed foods on a low table.

‘It looks like the lunch boxes I used to see on set.’

When filming dramas, if it took too long, the staff would hand out lunch boxes, and they looked exactly like that. Rembrary, who was already hungry, sat on the sofa and immediately opened the lunch box. But just as he was about to awkwardly pick up some rice with the chopsticks that had been placed with the lunch box…

Knock knock. Someone knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

The person who came in was unexpectedly Mori, the person who lost to Rembrary in the first test, and that was only a few seconds after it started.

“You look like someone I know,” Rembrary said to Mori while eating kimbap [Korean seaweed rice rolls]. Mori muttered in disbelief, “Then don’t you know?” and came to sit across from him. Rembrary looked back and forth between the lunch box and Mori, then asked with a reluctant expression.

“Want some?”

It was obviously a hollow offer, and Mori chuckled.

“No, you eat a lot.”

“You must be hungry.”

“I just came to talk to you for a moment.”

Rembrary closed the lunch box and placed the chopsticks on top of it.

“What is it?”

Saying he came to talk, Mori only stared at the lunch box lid instead of answering. Rembrary became uneasy at the persistent gaze. ‘…Does he want this? Not just some, but all of it? He said he has many younger siblings to feed at home, so does he want me to give it up if I have a conscience?’

“What… is your identity?”

That wasn’t it. Rembrary was relieved by Mori’s answer after a long silence. ‘Ah, he’s not interested in the lunch box, but in me. That’s better.’ But compared to the lighthearted Rembrary, Mori was very serious.

“You’re not human, are you?”

It couldn’t be helped. Among the monsters, there were those who looked like monsters at first glance, so you could be careful right away, but there were also those who naturally blended in with people, pretending not to be monsters.

That’s what a monster disguised as a participant did in the dormitory when aired a few years ago, and that’s what the purple-haired person did later, causing confusion in the investigation by gradually changing the color of their hair and causing great harm to people.

After most of the eggs scattered on Earth hatched and the Second Cataclysm occurred, some monsters began to infiltrate people so naturally that it was hard to tell. That’s why Mori is wondering if Rembrary is one of them.

Rembrary stared intently at Mori, then gave him a look full of sympathy.

“You must be very upset that you lost to me.”

* * *

Before the second test.

While the participants were eating in their respective waiting rooms, the training center staff were busy cleaning up the first test site and preparing for the second test.

Among them, there was one person who didn’t lift a finger, and that person was the second examiner. The second examiner was sitting on a chair against the wall, looking at and memorizing some question papers and the personal information of the first passers.

It was then.

“Examiner.”

Someone called him from the front. When the second examiner looked up, Mori was standing there. The second examiner teased Mori as soon as he saw him.

“Hey, 5-second cut.”

Mori frowned, but instead of getting angry, he gave serious advice.

“During the second test, keep an eye on a participant named ‘Rembrary.'”

“Your opponent?”

“He might not be human.”

“Because he beat you?”

The second examiner chuckled jokingly, and Mori frowned and explained.

“That was the scariest I’ve ever been in my life, even more so than during the Cataclysm or the Second Cataclysm. When our eyes met, it felt like all the fear in the world was brought together. Don’t underestimate him.”

Still, the second examiner remained lighthearted.

“As a senior, a guy who was eliminated in less than 10 seconds shouldn’t say things like that.”

Mori flared up.

“Well, you’ll see when you see him in person.”

But instead of fighting, he turned around obediently. If he was really the only one who felt that chilling sensation when their eyes met, then this wasn’t something he could explain to others. But before he could take a few steps, Mori was surrounded by his fellow classmates. They had been helping to clean up the test site and were excited to approach him when they found Mori.

“Hey, 5-second cut. You’ve rewritten the history of the training center?”

“The best, the best.”

“That Rem-something guy must be surprised to see that his opponent was a senior when he came to the training center. Are all the seniors here weak? He must be thinking that.”

It wasn’t the first time his colleagues had joked like this.

“Whether he ignores me or all of you, you’ll have to see.”

There might be some colleagues who were really sneering, but Mori once again cut off the conversation with a warning instead of explaining about Rembrary in detail, and left the test site.

* * *

Rembrary didn’t know that Mori was actually a senior in the training center or what misunderstandings he had about him. He just ate his lunch, dozed off on the sofa, and suddenly woke up when he heard the broadcast.

[The first passers will immediately take the second test. If you pass the second test, you will be officially admitted to the training center, receive essential training to become a hunter, and then be assigned to hunter guilds or work as freelance hunters. Please do your best a little more.]

‘Then, when I get training and am assigned to the guilds, should I choose Redryn? Then I might be able to meet Daeju naturally….’

Rembrary put the chopsticks in the lunch box, closed the lid on top of it, and focused on the broadcast.

[The second test is a simple interview, so you don’t have to be too nervous. If you wait in the waiting room, a guide will come in and tell you where to go. Successful candidates, please feel free to stay in your rooms until the guide arrives.”

When the announcement turned off, Rembrary lay down in a comfortable position on the sofa. He thought that the second test would be similar to the first test, where he had waited for twelve hours straight. But less than five minutes after Rembrary lay down, someone knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

When Rembrary opened the door, there was an employee with an earpiece in his ear and a large name tag on his chest. Rembrary wondered why he came, and the employee stepped back and pointed to the hallway with his hand.

“You’re the first passer of the first test. The second test will be conducted in order of the first test scores.”

* * *

The place he followed the employee to was also on the 5th floor, but there was no one in the ring and no other participants besides Rembrary.

“You can go up there.”

The employee pointed to the ring closest to Rembrary. Even after coming up, there was nothing on the ring. Besides, isn’t it strange to have an interview here?

Rembrary was puzzled, but he obediently went up there. After about 30 seconds of doing so, suddenly, all the lights on the 5th floor went out, and only the ring where Rembrary was standing remained dimly lit. ‘What is it?’ While Rembrary was looking around, a person he had never seen before came up to the ring and asked.

“I’m only going to ask you five questions, and you just need to answer them properly, but honestly.”

‘Just asking questions?’ The first test seemed quite fierce. Isn’t the second test too sloppy? It’s an interview, but it’s really just an interview. Rembrary thought to himself, but he nodded obediently.

“So be it.”

When Rembrary agreed, the supervisor immediately asked.

“What is your biggest secret?”

* * *

Rembrary doesn’t know, but the second examiner is actually a very unique Awakened [a person with supernatural abilities], and when he asks someone a question, he can hear a short, 150-character-or-less inner thought from the person who received the question.

Besides, he can not only hear it, but also display the answer on the screen for others to see, so his talent was truly born to be an interview examiner.

Because of this, Rembrary doesn’t know, but the five examiners who watched the first test from beyond the screen were once again in the same room, looking at the letters that the second examiner had displayed on the white wall with his ability. Then, when Rembrary slowly opened his mouth.

“That is… ?”