Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 282

282. Lord of the Non-City

Rembrary noticed the strange looks from the people following him and asked,

“Why are you following me?”

The people stared blankly at each other when Rembrary spoke to them. Some shook their heads slightly, but no one answered his question.

‘These people are strange.’

Since they didn’t say anything, Rembrary turned and continued walking along the main road.

After walking for some time, Rembrary finally spotted two people wearing black hats in front of a closed 24-hour convenience store. They had a small stand with a few water bottles and snacks, so they must be the people the instructor mentioned.

‘I’m glad I found them so quickly.’

Rembrary quickly approached them to get his stamp.

“Are you from the training center?”

Rembrary asked as he approached the stand, checking for the stamp on the counter. However, these people didn’t answer either.

‘Why is everyone ignoring my questions?’

Frowning, Rembrary looked at the black hats.

“!”

Rembrary’s eyes widened as he looked at them. There was blood pooling around their eyes under the black hats, and traces of blood flowed from their mouths. Most of all, their pupils were dilated.

‘Could it be…?’

Rembrary slowly reached out and poked one of them on the shoulder. The moment he touched him, the person collapsed to the side.

The other person, bumped by the falling body, also fell in the same direction. As the two corpses hit the ground, their heads rolled away.

‘They’re dead.’

Startled, Rembrary quickly turned to look at the people who had been quietly following him.

‘Did they do this?’

However, those who met his gaze flinched and stepped back, not appearing threatening at all.

‘Then who killed them? If they were important enough to be stationed in a dangerous place, they must have had some power…?’

Just then, he heard laughter from above. Rembrary quickly looked up. On the roof of the convenience store sat a man wearing only dress pants and a lion mask.

The lion mask covered the man’s eyes and nose, but not his grinning lips.

‘Why is that guy dressed so strangely…?’

As their eyes met, the lion mask jumped down and appeared in front of Rembrary in the blink of an eye. It was a movement no ordinary person could make.

‘A monster?’

Rembrary, deciding it wasn’t a person, used his divine power at almost the same moment the lion mask grabbed him by the neck.

“Ugh.”

Rembrary was instantly slammed against the convenience store wall. As he let out a short groan, the lion mask pretended to sniff his neck and muttered,

“You have a nice scent.”

‘Did I not send the divine power properly?’ Rembrary tried sending divine power again. However, the lion mask didn’t recoil in pain; instead, he trembled with pleasure.

“I feel a pleasant power from you.”

‘Divine power doesn’t work? A person?’

Surprised, Rembrary tried to use God’s Majesty this time, but he was ambushed by the lion mask and lost consciousness.

As the car carrying Rembrary disappeared, the people watching clicked their tongues.

“He got caught again.”

“I knew it would happen.”

“It’ll be quiet for a few days, right?”

* * *

“It’s better to go in first and get out quickly.”

“Isn’t the last person to go in the one who comes out at night?”

“Ah, man. I think it’s more nerve-wracking to go last.”

While the trainees waited anxiously near the tunnel, the instructor checked his watch and ate the kimbap [Korean seaweed rice rolls] he had brought. Next to him, the fourth trainee to enter was chewing on his tongue and scratching his palm nervously.

“Want some?”

The instructor offered the kimbap, but the trainee was too nervous and quickly shook his head.

“I think I’ll get indigestion if I eat now.”

“There’s no need to be so nervous.”

“You said we might die!”

“They say even a ghost who dies eating looks good.”

“Ah, Instructor!”

The instructor chuckled as the trainee screamed, and he resumed eating his kimbap.

He had threatened that they might die, and it was indeed very dangerous, but it wasn’t to the point of trembling like that. It was true that the non-city was dangerous. However, the lord of this non-city was moderate and cooperative with the government, and had a good relationship with the training center to the point of engaging in unofficial deals. This was why the new recruits’ first outdoor practice was in this non-city.

However, the instructor knew that if he said this, the trainees would relax, so he just laughed to himself and diligently ate his kimbap.

But at the very moment the burdock passed his throat,

—Beep beep beep beep beep beep

The alarm in the instructor’s pocket started ringing loudly. Startled, the instructor handed the lunchbox to the trainee next to him and took out the pager.

This pager only rang when the trainees pressed the emergency button they had taken with them. They had been strictly warned to only press this button in emergencies, or they would be dismissed or receive a huge penalty. Yet, the pager was already ringing.

As the trainees began to murmur, the driver, who had been smoking in the corner, stubbed out his cigarette and quickly approached.

“What’s going on?”

He was working as a driver now, but he was also a hunter affiliated with the training center.

“I don’t know. I’ll have to go see. Trainees!”

The trainees fell silent with stiff faces as the instructor called out.

“I’ll go check what’s happening, so everyone wait here. Don’t scatter, stay together. If the ‘Black Cloud’ comes, get inside the bus.”

The instructor, having given his strict instructions, quickly jumped over the fence and ran into the tunnel, with the driver quickly following behind.

Not long after entering, the two found the two trainees standing at the first checkpoint. And the two dead employees behind the stand.

“What happened?”

“Are you hurt?”

The second trainee, who had entered, trembled as the instructor and driver approached and explained.

“I, I don’t know. We came here, and these people were dead…”

The third trainee, who had entered, looked so pale that he seemed about to collapse.

“Where’s Rembrary?”

Both trainees shook their heads at the instructor’s question.

“He wasn’t here when we arrived.”

“I didn’t see him either.”

The driver urgently asked a person nearby who was watching the scene.

“Hey, did a very handsome blond young man come this way?”

However, the person who was asked didn’t answer and ran away. He asked another person, but the result was the same.

As the people all scattered and ran away, the driver created sharp threads from his hands and muttered under his breath.

“Should I catch them and make them spill the beans?”

The instructor quickly shook his head.

“We don’t know what happened yet. Don’t start a fight for no reason.”

“Two employees are dead. If that’s the case, they started it first.”

“Judging by the way they ran, those people didn’t do it. Let’s find out more.”

The driver gritted his teeth, causing the trainees to move away from him. They had thought he was just a driver, but seeing that, they were scared of him too.

Meanwhile, the instructor spotted an old man watching them from across the street and approached him.

“Excuse me, sir.”

The old man clicked his tongue as the instructor asked.

“Everyone’s dying. Everyone’s dying. Did I live this long to see this?”

The old man spoke strangely, but fortunately, he didn’t run away like the others.

“Sir, do you know who killed these two people?”

“The lord killed them.”

Moreover, the old man even gave a proper answer. However, the instructor found it strange because it was an unexpected answer. The lord here was known to be moderate, so he killed the training center employees?

“I know the lord here is less violent.”

“He was replaced a month ago.”

It was ambiguous whether he meant the personality changed or the person changed. Moreover, the old man suddenly started cursing wildly, so the instructor waited for the old man to calm down. When the old man stopped cursing, he asked again.

“Did a blond young man happen to pass by? He has a very noticeable face.”

“The lord took him.”

“!”

The old man spat on the ground and muttered sadly.

“He’s taking people as he pleases. The people who are taken all come out dead. That young man will die too. It doesn’t matter how handsome he is. It’s useless once he becomes a corpse.”

The driver, who had crossed the street, cursed under his breath.

“If the opponent is the lord… should we request support?”

* * *

The place where the lion mask took Rembrary was a prison. The lion mask threw Rembrary into the prison and left, humming.

Rembrary, who had fainted and woken up, was surprised to find that there were many other people imprisoned besides himself. He was even more surprised to see some people wearing black hats among them.

“Wait, aren’t you guys from the checkpoints?”

As Rembrary looked around at them and asked, the people wearing black hats recognized Rembrary.

“It’s Representative Baek Gi?”

“Have other trainees been captured too?”

Rembrary shook his head and asked again.

“I’m the only one who was captured. What happened? Who is that lion mask in that hideous outfit, and why are you all captured?”

However, the people wearing black hats had nothing to say.

“We don’t live here either.”

“We’re training center employees. We came a few hours before you arrived.”

“We thought things were settled with the lord, but suddenly we were dragged here…”

Rembrary recalled what he had heard about ‘lords’ during the theory classes at the training center.

Cities have mayors, and non-cities have lords. Unlike mayors who operate cities according to the law while being controlled by the country, the lords of non-cities are those who rule areas with pure power.

Some lords properly govern to turn non-cities into cities, but there are also lords who arbitrarily rule people like absolute monarchs.

‘Is the lord here the latter…?’

As he was wondering, a person huddled in the corner trembled and repeatedly muttered.

“We’re going to die. We’re all going to die. We’re going to leave as corpses.”

At that moment, the closed prison door opened with a clanging sound. Rembrary grabbed the bars and went as far forward as possible.

However, this time it wasn’t the lion mask who came in. It was two burly men with fierce expressions, both with ominous glints in their eyes, as if they had terrible tempers.

“Hey there.”

Rembrary quickly called out to them.

“Let’s talk for a moment.”

He didn’t know what was going on, but he knew that the test had gone wrong, and he knew that the opponent was dangerous, so he thought he should get out of here on his own.

One of the burly men completely ignored Rembrary and went to another prison cell, but one frowned and looked at Rembrary.

‘I got him!’

The moment the enemy gave him his attention, Rembrary quickly raised his third finger that he had prepared.

“Ugh! What are you doing!”

The person wearing the black hat shouted in surprise when he saw it, but Rembrary raised his other finger as well.

“You bastard!”

The moment the enraged burly man saw that and strode closer, clenching his fist, Rembrary made eye contact with him, filled with God’s Majesty.