Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 286

286. The Lord Is a Swindler

The Lord looked a little surprised but readily agreed without hesitation.

“Sure.”

His cool response surprised even Rembrary a bit. Anyway, there was no reason to refuse since he was offering, so Rembrary decided he should accept the Lord’s position. He was at a loss for how to make a living, but wouldn’t it be easier to get by as a Lord? Plus, he’d gain some power, which might make it easier to find ‘Redrin’.

However, just as he was about to say with a smile, ‘Then hand over the Lord’s seat…’

“But if I give you this position, I’ll become unemployed.”

The Lord continued calmly.

“I’ll lose my money and my house.”

Then, he made an unexpected condition.

“So, you have to take care of me for life.”

As Rembrary looked at him in surprise, the Lord pointed to the woman with her eyes closed.

“This is my mother.”

“I know.”

“I have to take care of my mother, but if I become unemployed, she’ll have no way to make a living either. So, you have to take care of me and my mother.”

Rembrary’s eyes widened. Moreover, the Lord seemed serious. Hearing his words, the Lord’s mother, sitting in the wheelchair, politely greeted him.

“Please take good care of my son and me.”

Rembrary instinctively put his hands together and bowed, but then thought, ‘This isn’t right?’ and looked at the Lord.

However, the Lord, receiving his gaze, also put his hands together and said, “Let’s get along without fighting,” Rembrary recalled something that had happened a few days ago: becoming the representative of the freshmen.

He thought it was a position of mere honor and power, but in reality, he was being called around by the instructors and doing all sorts of chores.

Of course, he would get extra points upon graduation, making it easier to get into a good hunter company, but with Rembrary’s great abilities, he could choose any hunter company without needing extra points. In other words, the representative position was utterly useless.

Rembrary felt a sudden fear. Judging by the way the Lord was talking, the Lord’s position seemed likely to turn out the same way.

He said he would take care of him and his mother, but this Lord had many subordinates. He might end up being asked to take care of them all. And Rembrary would be so busy feeding and clothing all those people that he wouldn’t be able to find Redrin, and he’d waste away.

He didn’t need to diet anymore, but he’d lose weight because of a lack of food. That was too sad. Rembrary was confident in ruling, but he wasn’t confident in skillfully leading people to make money.

“I won’t do it.”

In the end, Rembrary firmly changed his mind.

“I’m too great to be responsible for someone.”

The Lord shrugged as if he didn’t care and asked again.

“Then? What do you want me to do to heal my mother?”

Rembrary thought hard. What should he ask for? Should he ask him to find Mullu and Nin-ling, who had fallen into this world with him, or the holy knight from the Eastern Continent? But could this guy even distinguish between the three of them?

Or should he ask him to find Redrin? But the Archduke had voluntarily cut off all contact, and even the people at the training center couldn’t find him. Could this Lord, who seemed to have no friends, find the Archduke?

‘Ah!’

Fortunately, a great idea came to him before long. Rembrary smiled brightly, admiring his brilliant mind.

“I’m always amazed by myself.”

“?”

Rembrary took out the signature paper the training center instructor had given him from his pocket and held it out.

“I need to fill this with fourteen more names. Four Lords, five hunters, and five market leaders need to add their names and signatures. That’s how I can get early dismissal.”

He handed the paper to the Lord, who looked at Rembrary with a bewildered expression. Rembrary grabbed the lion mask’s beard three times and smiled.

“Fill in all these signatures for me. Originally, it was fifteen people, but since I put your name on one, now you only need to fill in fourteen more. Easy, right?”

The Lord thought for a moment and then agreed, taking the paper and putting it in his pocket. Rembrary clapped his hands twice and turned to the Lord’s mother.

“Now, let me heal you.”

* * *

“He’s getting early dismissal?”

Woo Yeon-woo was so surprised when he received the call that he stomped his feet.

“You just stood by and watched? Is there anything you can do?”

He shouted, and he heard a mumbled excuse from the other side of the phone. Woo Yeon-woo was so angry that he took a breath, but he didn’t want to hear his voice, so he just pressed the end button.

‘Useless!’

Woo Yeon-woo threw his phone onto the bed, rubbed his face roughly, and shrugged his shoulders. But he still couldn’t calm down easily.

How long had he been like that? There was a knock on the door.

“Who is it?”

He composed himself and asked, and a voice from outside the door said, “It’s me.”. Woo Yeon-woo managed his expression and opened the door. Jong-woo and Jung-seo were standing outside.

“What’s wrong, hyung [older brother or male friend]?”

Woo Yeon-woo asked, and Jong-woo frowned and asked back.

“Are you okay? I heard a huge shout from outside?”

Woo Yeon-woo shook his head.

“No, it’s just because of hunter work.”

“Is there a problem?”

“Just.”

Woo Yeon-woo didn’t want to bring up Rembrary, so he vaguely brushed it off. He looked back and forth between Jung-seo and Jong-woo and frowned. Jung-seo was dressed comfortably but had full makeup on her face, and Jong-woo was also wearing a more starched suit than usual.

“Where are you two going?”

Seeing that, Woo Yeon-woo asked, and Jong-woo smiled and patted Jung-seo on the back.

“Ah, they’re starting some program to find promising hunters. Jung-seo is joining as a regular guest.”

“Ah. Really? That’s great.”

Woo Yeon-woo praised without enthusiasm, and Jong-woo felt awkward and laughed. When Woo Yeon-woo lost his memory for a few months, he seemed to get closer to Jung-seo. As soon as he regained his memory, they became awkward again, which was a difficult situation for the manager stuck in the middle.

“So. Did you come to brag to me about that?”

Woo Yeon-woo asked, checking his watch, and Jong-woo waved his hand.

“No, I remembered something I wanted to tell you on the way.”

“What is it?”

“It’s about the next album…”

Jong-woo saw Woo Yeon-woo checking his watch again and thought he would forget everything he said, so he just mumbled no and turned around.

“No. You seem busy, let’s talk later.”

Even as Jong-woo finished speaking and took Jung-seo out, Woo Yeon-woo kept looking at his watch. It wasn’t because he was really busy, but it was a habit he had when he was anxious. He had a habit of constantly checking his watch when he felt impatient.

Once he was completely alone in the room, Woo Yeon-woo paced around the living room, chewing on his thumb.

‘If Sloth gets early dismissal, it will definitely become a hot topic… Not only hunters but also city people are interested in the actions of hunters. Famous hunters are no different from celebrities. Sloth will definitely blow up with just a little opportunity. What should I do?’

* * *

As Rembrary took the Lord’s mother’s hand and closed his eyes, the Lord fidgeted nervously. How long had he been like that?

Less than 10 seconds had passed when Rembrary let go of her hand and smiled proudly, saying he was done.

Already? The Lord was surprised and bent down to check his mother’s face. But it was difficult to tell whether she had been healed because his mother’s eyes were closed.

“Mom?”

Still, he cautiously called out to her, and the mother, who had been tightly closing her eyes, slowly lifted her eyelids. The moment their deep, warm brown eyes met.

The Lord couldn’t help but shed tears as his mother’s gaze, which had never been able to focus properly with any artificial eyes, met his.

“Lion.”

The Lord’s mother also carefully called out to her son, and her eyes trembled. The Lord took off his mask and hugged his mother’s knees, sobbing.

Seeing the mother and son hugging and crying, Rembrary was also moved and took a picture of the scene with the phone the instructor had lent him.

At the sound of the shutter, the Lord stopped crying and turned to look at Rembrary, then jumped up and hugged Rembrary this time.

“Remb. You’re a good person. You’re a kind person.”

The Lord’s mother also got up from her wheelchair and wrapped her arms around Rembrary and the Lion. Rembrary also took a picture of this scene with his phone.

“Stop taking pictures, Remb.”

In the blink of an eye, the phone was taken away by the Lord’s ability, but two proud moments were well preserved in Rembrary’s phone photo album.

* * *

“Long live the Lords! Long live Hyun-eo and Lion!”

“Long live Rembrary!”

That night. A party was held to celebrate the healing of Lord’s mother, Lee Hyun-eo’s eyes.

Thanks to Rembrary saying, ‘Now, let the people you’ve captured go,’ all the people who had been captured in the prison as eye candidates were released, and the Lord’s subordinates were so happy that they cheered.

In a world where power is everything, they had repeatedly captured and offered people according to the Lord’s orders, but they were also ordinary people before the cataclysm. Cleaning up eyeless corpses every few days was a sad and terrible thing for them as well.

Rembrary was also pleased to see the various foods piled up in front of him and enjoyed the party.

He was very pleased and proud to think that while he was living comfortably eating this kind of food for the next few weeks, the Lord would take the initiative to get signatures from other hunters, Lords, and market leaders.

“It’s good to eat meat. It’s even better after a long time.”

As he was doing so, the Lord suddenly called Rembrary.

“Remb.”

As Rembrary chewed on scallion shreds and looked up, the Lord poured juice into the empty glass in front of him and asked.

“What exactly is your ability? Usually, ability users only have one, right?”

“Is that so?”

“But you have the ability to make people feel eerie, you smell good, and you can create eyeballs. All three seem like completely different abilities.”

“My ability is dignity. I don’t know what you mean by smell.”

He was wondering if he should reveal that he also had healing abilities, but Rembrary decided to keep that part a secret until he found the escorts.

The Lord tilted his head when Rembrary didn’t mention the eyeball story, but he didn’t pry any further because he was still his benefactor.

The party continued in a good atmosphere until dawn the next day.

* * *

However, the next morning. Rembrary realized that he had been swindled by the Lord.

“What are you doing?”

He woke up to someone waking him up and saw the Lord standing between two large bags. Wondering why he was doing that, he asked, and the Lord picked Rembrary up and said.

“We have to leave to fill out the list.”

Rembrary rubbed his eyes and said goodbye, saying he understood and to have a good trip. But the Lord tilted his head and said as he made Rembrary get out of bed.

“Hurry up and wash up.”

“Are you asking me to see you off?”

“We have to go together.”

Rembrary was taken aback by the unexpected words and asked.

“Weren’t you going to fill it out?”

But the Lord was even more surprised by Rembrary’s words and asked back.

“That’s why I took the paper.”

“!”

“I’ll do the asking too. But it’s your job, so you have to go with me and check. Hurry up.”