Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 287

287. What are you doing?

After packing two large suitcases full of luggage into the trunk, Rembrary left the territory with the Lion Lord in the car.

However, throughout the journey, Rembrary couldn’t shake the feeling that he had been scammed. It just seemed so strange no matter how he thought about it.

“Lord, I heard that the Lord’s seat is always being taken and retaken, is that true?”

“That’s right.”

“If you leave your seat, won’t it be taken? You seem to have a bad reputation.”

“Maybe.”

“Then let’s do this. I’ll stay in your territory and protect your seat, and you can go get the signatures alone. How’s my idea?”

“It’s okay. I have Mom. Mom is strong. Stronger than me.”

The Lion Lord answered readily without batting an eye, and Rembrary angrily tore open a bag of chips. He felt like he needed to soothe his annoyed heart with potato chips.

For a while, only the sound of crunching chips filled the car. How much time had passed? As Rembrary didn’t say anything while eating his chips, the Lion Lord, bored, suddenly started telling his own story.

“Mom lost her eyes because of a man with big horns.”

“Horns?”

“Horns like a big horned mountain goat.”

“Why him?”

“There was a huge uproar during the second Cataclysm [a large-scale disaster or upheaval] when monsters appeared en masse.”

“…That’s right.”

Although it was a past he didn’t remember, Rembrary nodded as if he understood, and the Lion Lord’s hand clenched tightly.

“You really know. The monsters passed by in swarms like ants. Didn’t they?”

“No, anyway, that guy took Mom’s eyes.”

It seemed that he wasn’t clenching his fist because he knew Rembrary was lying, but just thinking about that big horned mountain goat made him angry.

“He must be a monster. Now that I’m out of the territory, I should look for him. I have to take revenge.”

Rembrary stared at the Lion Lord as if he was strange, then asked, genuinely curious.

“But what’s the difference between you and that monster?”

“!”

“Hasn’t anyone come to take revenge on you?”

The Lion Lord didn’t answer and frowned.

* * *

Late at night.

The Lion Lord stopped driving, parked the car on the side of the road, turned off the engine, and said.

“We should sleep here.”

The place was literally in the middle of nowhere, surrounded only by mountains.

“Wouldn’t it be better to go somewhere with buildings?”

Rembrary asked, puzzled, and the Lion Lord looked at Rembrary as if he was ignorant.

“What if the ‘Black Cloud’ appears at night?”

“Didn’t you come to the training center at night?”

“That’s because it’s close. And there are hardly any sections like this that are just roads.”

The Lion Mask yawned, saying there was no need to overdo it, then leaned the seat back as far as possible and closed his eyes. He really seemed to be trying to fall asleep in that position.

Rembrary wanted to go somewhere else quickly, but he didn’t know how to drive, so he had no choice but to recline his seat as well. As he tried to close his eyes in that uncomfortable position, the Lion Lord asked, still with his eyes closed.

“If you fill up all the signatures, which hunter company are you going to go to?”

Rembrary thought, ‘This guy is going to be surprised again,’ and answered.

“Redryn.”

Everyone showed similar reactions when Rembrary mentioned Redryn. He was now used to people being shocked and making dumbfounded expressions.

However, unexpectedly, the Lord didn’t seem surprised and readily replied.

“I thought so.”

A completely different reaction from what he was used to. Rembrary was rather surprised by the reaction and opened his eyes, and the Lord nodded slightly and muttered.

“There are many people like you there. You’ll adapt well if you go.”

“What kind of person am I?”

“…”

“Why aren’t you answering?”

Suddenly, the Lord pretended to be overly asleep, and Rembrary frowned. He thought he should check Redryn’s image and completely change it when he met Daeju later.

* * *

The next day. After a simple breakfast in the car, and driving for another two hours, the car finally passed the endless road and entered a long tunnel.

“The road is broken in places and blocked in many spots. It’s taking longer than I thought.”

While listening to the Lion Lord muttering next to him, Rembrary blankly recalled the power transmission tower he had seen earlier, half of which was broken. Just then, his phone made a ‘ding’ sound.

‘Mori?’

Mori was the only one who had sent him a text message since he received this phone from the instructor, so Rembrary naturally assumed it was Mori again and checked his phone with one hand. But it wasn’t.

[This is Shin Jo-woon.]

It was Shin Jo-woon.

‘Anchovy?’

How did he find out my phone number and contact me? Rembrary was surprised and looked down at his phone, then rolled up the window and quickly asked.

[How did you get my number?]

[The training center gave it to me. They said you were going through the early discharge process?]

Why did the training center give out my number? Puzzled, he stared at his phone, and then another text message arrived.

[How far have you come?]

Rembrary frowned. The question of how far he had come sounded like something you would ask if you were about to meet.

[You wouldn’t know even if I told you.]

Not knowing how to answer, he sent that for now, and Shin Jo-woon immediately replied again.

[What are you doing right now?]

[Just existing.]

[What do you mean by just existing?]

[Just existing is just existing.]

[Are you coming properly?]

Why does this anchovy keep acting like I’m on my way to him? As Rembrary tilted his head again, Shin Jo-woon sent another message without waiting for a reply.

[Are you going somewhere strange? Send me a picture of your surroundings.]

‘You wouldn’t know even if you saw it. Tunnel scenery is all the same.’

Thinking that way, Rembrary still took a picture of the road outside the window and sent it to Shin Jo-woon.

“Ah.”

But because he pressed something wrong in the middle, the picture he sent wasn’t a picture of the road, but a scene of the Lion Lord and the Lion Lord’s mother hugging Rembrary and crying.

‘I sent the wrong one.’

Rembrary realized his mistake and tried to send the road picture again, but Shin Jo-woon had already seen the wrongly sent picture and immediately rebuked him.

[You’re not just existing, are you? It looks like a huge situation? What’s the situation where everyone except you is crying? Why are you the only one smiling and taking pictures?]

[You must be very bored.]

Seeing how quickly he replied, it seemed that if you were a CEO of a hunter company, you must be very free. Rembrary clicked his tongue and explained the situation.

[It’s a scene where people are moved by my benevolence.]

Whether he was really free or not, a quick reply came again in 3 seconds.

[Doesn’t look like it? Who’s the guy with the lion on his head who’s naked?]

[He says he always ends up taking his clothes off anyway, so he just goes around naked. I told him I like it when he wears clothes, but he keeps taking them off.]

[What are you talking about? What kind of guy is he? Answer the phone.]

This time, a call came right away before he could even reply, but Rembrary just pressed the end button. He thought it would be rude to talk about the Lion Lord with him right next to him, where he could hear everything.

[Why did you hang up?]

However, Shin Jo-woon didn’t understand Rembrary’s deep intentions and sent another protest message.

[I’m busy.]

[You said you were just existing a while ago?]

[I sent the wrong picture. That was a picture from a few days ago, and I’m busy now.]

[Send me the right picture.]

How annoying. Rembrary thought about just ignoring the message, but since he was bored too, he took a picture of the Lion Lord driving next to him and sent it to Shin Jo-woon.

[What are you doing? Aren’t you supposed to be getting early discharge signatures right now? That person next to you is driving naked?]

[The person driving naked is the Lord. He gave me the signature.]

Perhaps bothered by the constant ‘ding ding’ sounds, the Lion Lord frowned and looked over while turning the steering wheel.

“Who keeps texting you?”

“World Boom’s CEO, Shin Jo-woon. I showed him your picture, and he asked why you were naked, so I told him the story.”

“Why does he care about that? What a funny bastard. Tell him to come and see for himself if he’s curious. I’ll pluck his eyeballs out if he doesn’t lower his gaze.”

Rembrary told Shin Jo-woon what the Lion Lord had said, as he was instructed.

[Shin Jo-woon. I told the Lord that I was texting with you? Then the Lord told me not to just send messages, but to come and see him in person.]

However, the words ‘pluck his eyeballs out’ seemed too harsh, so Rembrary softened the statement according to his own beliefs.

[He said your eyes will pop out if you look all the way down.]

Seeing that, Shin Jo-woon’s face hardened, and he deleted both pictures Rembrary had sent, but Rembrary didn’t know that.

[Come to the city where I am. I’ll give you the signature. I can fill up about five hunters right away. Don’t hang out with that strange person.]

Rembrary was about to answer ‘No,’ but stopped his fingers for a moment at the sound of filling up five hunter signatures.

It was annoying to go all the way to Shin Jo-woon’s place to get signatures, but if he could fill five slots at once there, wouldn’t that be a bit easier? Just considering the time, it sounded much more efficient.

In the meantime, the car, which had been moving all along, finally stopped, and the Lion Lord said.

“Arrived.”

Hearing this, Rembrary sent a text message to Shin Jo-woon.

[I’ve arrived at B-city now. I’ll think about it after getting a signature from the Lord here first.]

[Where is that location?]

“Where is this location?”

“Singing Forest.”

It was an ordinary city with no forest to be found, but what forest was he talking about? Rembrary thought to himself that this Lord had strange naming skills, but he told Shin Jo-woon the location for now.

[Singing Forest.]

But the reply that came back was ominous.

[? Get out of there right now.]

Feeling the panicked tone from the text message, Rembrary replied, ‘Why?’ at that moment.

With a ‘thud’ sound, a large boulder landed in front of the car. It was a boulder so large that even an adult couldn’t fully embrace it with both arms, and seeing two endlessly slender legs sticking out weakly from under it, it was no ordinary boulder.

Before Rembrary could ask if that was a monster, the Lion Lord disappeared from next to him and appeared outside, kicking the boulder.

But all he had was momentum. As soon as his foot touched the stone, he writhed in pain and fell backward.

‘He can be that weak!’

Rembrary was surprised and opened his mouth at the unexpected discovery of the Lord’s weakness.

Apparently, the Lord could teleport not only his own body but also small objects held by the opponent, and even teleport attacks that touched him for a moment, but ultimately, his fist was just his own fist.

In the meantime, the phone vibrated again.

[The Lord there is that person. The Puppet Doll.]

The Lord is a doll? Just hearing the name wasn’t that threatening.

But judging from the nuance Shin Jo-woon gave, it seemed that ‘Puppet Doll’ was the Lord’s nickname, and that nickname was quite famous. In a bad way.

“!”

Before he could even search for who that was, the front windshield of the car was completely shattered with a ‘bang’ sound, and Rembrary quickly opened the door and rolled out of the car.

Rembrary, frowning, sent divine power towards the troublesome boulder to get rid of it first.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

But this time too, the boulder was not affected at all.

No, instead of being affected, the boulder tilted its head, and its size doubled, and the Lion Head was so angry that he cursed at Rembrary.

“You stupid benefactor! Can’t you get out of here carefully right now?”

In the end, at the moment when Rembrary decided to suppress both the boulder and the Lion Head with the majesty of God, the boulder suddenly shattered into pieces and turned into gravel all at once.

“It’s been a while.”

And the voice that came from behind. Rembrary turned his head towards the sound and was startled. Standing behind him was a familiar face.