Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 322

322. Even People from Other Worlds Work Hard

If it weren’t for that teddy bear… Rembrary hesitated for a moment but then nodded in agreement.

[Yeah. It’s me. Who are you? Another one who crossed over?]

Rembrary made sure it was a secret comment before posting. But the other person didn’t reply immediately. Unable to wait, Rembrary set up an alert for when that person commented, and the alarm finally went off about 20 minutes later.

[Yes.]

It was a short reply, considering they had initiated the conversation. Just as Rembrary was about to ask if that was all they had to say, comments started pouring in as if the previous one was just a trailer.

[Rembrary-nim is commenting on my post]

[〜(￣△￣〜) (〜￣△￣)〜 〜(￣△￣〜) (〜￣△￣)〜]

[I’m so honored, I’m so excited right now]

[Look at my trembling hands]

Rembrary’s eyes widened at the comments flooding in with a ‘ding, ding, ding’ sound. What is this? Are they not from our world?

Of course, Rembrary could use idol-like emoticons, cursing emoticons, crying emoticons, and actor emoticons. But he didn’t bother using other emoticons. It was too much trouble to create the shapes.

Even Daeju, who was originally from this world, rarely used emoticons except for adding ‘ㅜ’ at the end of sentences sometimes.

But this guy, who claimed to be from the same world, was spamming emoticons more than the locals, which made Rembrary a bit suspicious.

[What is your name?]

Could this guy be a monster who accidentally followed them from another world, or a demon who deliberately came along…? Was he excessively using emoticons to hide the fact that he was dangerous?

[I’m just a low-ranking priest •́︿•̀ A great person like Rembrary-nim wouldn’t know my name even if I told you ( ͒ ́ඉ .̫ ඉ ̀ ͒) ]

Rembrary narrowed his eyes. Look at this guy. He’s definitely suspicious, subtly avoiding revealing his name.

[Your way of speaking does not seem like someone from our world.]

[Yes, people here treat you like a monster if you come from a frog egg… I have been diligently studying the language and behavior of the people here to blend in naturally.]

[Yes, you sound just like a native speaker.]

So much like a native speaker that it was suspicious.

But the low-ranking priest seemed to take it as a compliment rather than suspicion, and sent an even bigger emoticon, overjoyed.

▬▬▬.◙.▬▬▬

═▂▄▄▓▄▄▂

◢◤ █▀▀████▄▄▄▄◢◤

█▄ █ █▄ ███▀▀▀▀▀▀▀╬

◥█████◤ The name of the person I worship

══╩══╩═ Calling and descending!

╬═╬

╬═╬ ＼○ノ Rembrary-nim!!!

╬═╬ /

╬═╬ ノ)

╬═╬

╬═╬

This is quite overwhelming…

Rembrary frowned and leaned back, looking at the strange emoticon left by the self-proclaimed low-ranking priest.

[I tried my best to adapt to the local culture, Rembrary-nim. How is it?]

[Tell me your name first. I might know it. I know the names of a few low-ranking priests.]

[You make me anticipate it, Rembrary-nim. I’ll close my eyes tightly from now on. My name is Ardor.]

‘Ardor?’

Rembrary frowned and tilted his head. He had a hunch… but he really didn’t know. There was no such name among the low-ranking priests Rembrary knew.

‘Well, the number of low-ranking priests isn’t just one or two.’

The Redrin Temple spanned two continents, and there were several countries within those two continents. The only low-ranking priests Rembrary knew were those in the main temple, so it was natural that he wouldn’t know.

[I still don’t know.]

When Rembrary answered honestly, a crying emoticon came about a minute later.

[I knew you wouldn’t know me ㅠㅠ]

The emoticon was much simpler, as if he was really disappointed. But that was only for a moment. Starting with that simple crying emoticon, the excessive emoticons disappeared, but this time, comments started pouring in.

[Of course. How could someone like Rembrary-nim know someone like me.]

[I only live looking at Rembrary-nim’s feet, and I’m a low-ranking priest who can’t even look at Rembrary-nim’s side.]

[I should be happy just to be talking to Rembrary-nim like this.]

[I was a little excited because you said you might know me, but I’m honestly a little sad that you don’t.]

[I’m sorry for this impious feeling. How dare I say I’m sad to Rembrary-nim.]

[I’ll tie up these ten fingers and receive punishment tonight for making disloyal remarks to Rembrary.]

Rembrary frowned in a different way than before and leaned back. This guy is a bit much…?

He kept muttering and writing comments, and the number quickly exceeded 50. Just as he was thinking of turning off the notifications because it felt a little crazy.

Someone knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

The person who came this time was Daeju.

Daeju tried to approach Rembrary, calling him ‘High Priest,’ but changed his words when he saw the camera on the closet.

“Rembrary-nim. I’ll tell you the location of the restaurant.”

Then, when Rembrary’s phone kept making ‘ding, ding, ding’ sounds, Daeju looked down.

“Who keeps sending you texts like that?”

“It’s not texts, it’s comment notifications… take a look.”

Rembrary showed him the phone, where the number of comments had increased to 60, and Daeju quickly approached and looked at the screen, immediately looking disgusted.

“That seems like a strange person. It’s better not to go out, just in case.”

“Go out?”

They hadn’t even talked about that? Rembrary was puzzled and pulled the phone back to look at the screen.

As Daeju said, Ardor, who had been pouring out his sadness, was now begging Rembrary to meet him somewhere.

[The High Priest grew up so delicately that he probably can’t even use chopsticks properly, so I want to be the High Priest’s hands and feet and take care of him.]

[Of course, a low-ranking priest like me is not enough, but it seems like there is no one to take care of the High Priest right now…]

[Actually, I watched the program the High Priest was on. The High Priest is too neglected.]

[Rembrary-nim. You’re not refusing because I said I was sad earlier, are you? We’re not like that, are we… right?]

Daeju was about to ask in a somewhat reluctant voice ‘Are there many people like this in the original world?’ but changed his words, conscious of the camera.

“You’re not going, are you?”

Rembrary hesitated, saying, “Well…” and stared at the screen pouring out comments.

“What to do.”

* * *

After thinking about it slowly while eating, Rembrary made a decision. To meet Ardor and bring him to Redrin.

“Do we really have to bring him here?”

Daeju didn’t seem to like the idea of Ardor coming here, but Rembrary nodded.

“This is the first time someone from my hometown has approached me first, how can I ignore him?”

“That’s true, but the way he talks is a bit creepy.”

“It’s okay. It’s not like there’s only one or two like that.”

Daeju’s eyes widened as he was drinking the scorched rice water with a spoon at Rembrary’s words.

“There’s more than one or two?”

Rembrary nodded. There were actually many people like Ardor in Rembrary’s original world. It’s just that those people didn’t directly comment on Rembrary’s posts, and Rembrary didn’t have to reply to them.

And the followers belonging to Redrin were not considered like the followers of the original world, although the only one he had properly met was that gourd [likely referring to a specific character or object].

But Ardor, whom he was about to meet now, was different. That person was a priest who came through a frog egg [a metaphorical term for being born into a different world] from the original world and diligently studied emoticons to adapt to this place. Perhaps he was the person most similar to Rembrary among the people around him now.

As the car entered the tunnel leaving the city, the sky-blue background disappeared and a faint vermilion light subtly permeated the car, Rembrary suddenly realized one thing he had to do right now.

‘Should I give the viewers a hint about how things are going so they won’t be surprised when Ardor suddenly appears?’

That’s right. That would be better. As soon as Rembrary thought of it, he turned on the portable camera and spoke into it.

“I’m going to catch a follower to put in Redrin right now.”

Then, as soon as he turned off the camera, one of the Redrin followers who had been quietly focused on driving in the driver’s seat glanced at Rembrary.

“Look ahead. Don’t look at me.”

Rembrary gave the follower advice and then closed his eyes, putting the camera next to him.

―Show us tooㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

―Why are you turning off the cameraㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

―What? Why did you say that and turn it offㅠㅠ

Rembrary’s fans, who were trying to see if there were any new videos related to Rembrary, were disappointed when they saw that scene and tapped on their keyboards, but Rembrary couldn’t know that.

Kim Murok checked the video and thought, ‘I shouldn’t have sent him alone!’ and belatedly asked Daeju where Rembrary had gone, but Rembrary didn’t know that either.

Meanwhile. The car finally entered the non-city [likely referring to a rural or less developed area] and stopped at the meeting place.

“Shall I go with you?”

Rembrary told the Redrin follower who asked from the driver’s seat that it was okay and went out alone.

The place was a closed wedding hall in a particularly dreary non-city, and the atmosphere seemed very desolate, perhaps because there were several broken cars rolling around in the large parking lot. Anyway, since the meeting place wasn’t the parking lot, Rembrary went inside the building.

The wedding hall was a place where all the halls inside were made with a flower theme, and the inside of the hall was clearly visible from the hallway because most of the doors on the first floor were broken. Looking around the extremely luxurious but empty place, Rembrary looked at the map set up in the center of the lobby.

‘Hydrangea Hall… this is it.’

The Hydrangea Room, which Ardor had asked him to come to, was fortunately easy to find as it was the room at the very end of the first floor. Rembrary walked straight ahead. But when he went inside, there was no one there.

‘Am I here first?’

Rembrary took out his cell phone, admiring the hydrangea models that covered the ceiling and hung down like vines, thinking he would wait until they came.

‘This is a background I should take a selfie and upload.’

But before he could even take a picture with his cell phone. There was a bang from behind and he felt pain in his chest.

“!”

Rembrary grabbed the injured area with one hand and turned his head. There, an unknown person was standing with a gun pointed at him.

Rembrary frowned and quickly removed his hand from his chest, which had recovered quickly.

“Who are you.”

He had been shot at the Lion Lord’s mansion, but at least then he was secretly escaping from prison. But this wasn’t a situation where he should be suddenly attacked like this. A random shooting from behind. It was absurd.

However, as soon as Rembrary’s question ended, the person who lowered the gun showed a bright smile.

“You are the High Priest.”