Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 332

332. I Don’t Want to Lose You

Who does he think he is, sticking so close when he’s not even the High Priest? Ardor clicked his tongue, aimed his gun sideways, and kicked the person away.

A shiver ran down his neck, and the back of his head throbbed. He immediately wanted to shake off this unpleasant feeling with the High Priest’s holy prayer.

He needed his phone. He needed his phone.

“Oops.”

Even as Ardor shuddered, he unflinchingly aimed his gun and fired. The owner of the voice, who had silently approached and whispered to him, clicked his tongue.

“Eyes gone wild, and skilled. But I don’t know your name. You must belong to the Yggdrasil Temple.”

The voice was filled with admiration and mockery, but Ardor didn’t respond at all. He had no intention of exchanging words, especially since this person was someone he couldn’t let his guard down against, not even for a moment.

Pretending to be a good person, acting scared, but this person was a demon. And not just any demon, but a very dangerous one. Perhaps this person’s identity was…

“What’s going on here?”

At that moment, another person muttered nearby. The demon fighting Ardor stopped dodging bullets and turned his head, saying, “Huh?” He seemed intrigued that a voice suddenly came from nearby when there had been no sign of anyone approaching.

Ardor, equally surprised, fired his gun repeatedly at the demon’s head.

The demon, who took three direct hits to the head, cursed softly.

“You’re a real devil, you crazy priest. Isn’t it common courtesy to stop attacking when someone suddenly appears?”

Ardor still didn’t lower his gun, and although the demon was curious about the newly appeared person, he gave up asking and sent a bolt of electricity towards Ardor.

The demon, who had been only dodging, suddenly attacked, and Ardor’s vision flashed. Ardor hurriedly rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding a blue light that scorched the spot where he’d been standing. The Eastern High Priest, who had intruded in the middle of the fight, watched the scene with his arms crossed.

“What should I do?”

The Grim Reaper, who had brought the Eastern High Priest here, also couldn’t take his eyes off the chaotic battlefield where guns and electricity were flying.

“That guy with the dark circles looks like a Saint from another world. And what’s with the pink hair? The hair color is refreshing, but the feeling is terrible. Very.”

Originally, the Eastern High Priest couldn’t touch Daeju and Rembrary, so he was wandering around to deal with the other Redrin priests. Then he discovered Ardor, and thinking it was a good opportunity, he came to deal with him… But unexpectedly, a Redrin believer was fighting someone with even more violent energy, so he couldn’t intervene and was watching. The pink-haired demon was giving off an ominous aura.

“Looks like a demon.”

Although he had switched gods in the middle, he was still a High Priest, so the Eastern High Priest soon faintly guessed the identity of the pink-haired demon and frowned.

“A demon?”

The Grim Reaper furrowed his brow.

“There were a few demons who crossed the rift out of curiosity, but there wasn’t a demon as unpleasant as that one. The atmosphere is very different from other demons.”

“That means he’s a much more dangerous demon than those minor ones.”

The Eastern High Priest muttered, raised his hand, and took a step forward.

“Are you going to fight too now?”

The Grim Reaper asked in surprise.

“Instead of waiting for one of them to win?”

Wouldn’t it be better to wait for them to fight until one of them runs out of energy and collapses? Then it would be much more advantageous to only have to deal with the one who’s exhausted.

But the Eastern High Priest folded and unfolded his fingers one by one, muttering in a tone that suggested the idea was absurd.

“Are you going to wait until I die to take my soul? If not, don’t stop me.”

“Is it that bad?”

Instead of answering, the Eastern High Priest quietly joined Ardor from behind.

* * *

Deep in the forest, Yuhan was only showing her upper body above the pond, and the tiger-headed monster leaned against a rock by the pond, turning his body towards Yuhan and watching her the whole time.

The two splashed water at each other, playing, and occasionally stopped splashing and silently looked at each other.

Then, Yuhan spoke first.

[I lost my memory again.]

As Yuhan raised her hand, the tiger-headed monster quickly lowered his hand and held her hand tightly. Yuhan’s hand, which had just come out of the pond, was damp and cold. The tiger held Yuhan’s hand tightly and blew on the back of her hand.

[You’ll be alright soon.]

A lonely smile appeared on Yuhan’s lips.

[I don’t think so. You know. The frequency of memory loss is increasing. When I first became a monster, I lost my reason completely. Then my reason completely returned. I thought that was the end… But my reason is disappearing again, and these days, the frequency of losing my reason is increasing and the time is getting longer. What do you think this means?]

[Milady…]

[I wasn’t afraid of anything when I was human or when I became a monster. But I’ve become afraid. I’m afraid I won’t be me anymore. Am I me when I can’t think this thought? Can I be called me when I can’t think that I’m me and I’m thinking other thoughts?]

As the tiger-headed monster held Yuhan’s hand tightly, Yuhan leaned her upper body further out of the pond. Then, a little of the sparkling scales, as if made by attaching thousands of diamonds under her plain T-shirt, were revealed. It was part of a mermaid’s tail.

Yuhan playfully blew on the tiger-headed monster’s head, just as he had done for her, and then slipped back down into the pond.

[Oh, it’s cold. It’s not warm when Milady blows on me, it’s cold.]

The tiger-headed monster shivered, and Yuhan laughed brightly at the sight.

[So you don’t like it?]

[It’s good in the summer.]

[In the winter?]

[……]

[You don’t like it in the winter?]

I guess you don’t like it? Is that why you’re not answering? Yuhan pinched the tiger-headed monster’s instep lightly, and the tiger-headed monster pretended to cry, saying that the mermaid was tormenting the poor tiger.

Seeing that, Yuhan laughed again, and the tiger-headed monster plunged into the pond and hugged Yuhan tightly in his large arms. As she leaned her head against the tiger-headed monster’s chest, her hair spread out in all directions in the water. The tiger-headed monster whispered in Yuhan’s ear.

[I like it in the winter too, and I don’t mind freezing to death. I’m so happy when Milady smiles.]

Yuhan leaned against his chest, which was always warm even in the winter and in the water, unlike her, and muttered.

[What if I lose my reason and then lose you?]

[Even if Milady doesn’t remember me, I will remember Milady. I will continue to take care of Milady, so Milady just needs to be healthy and smile like this.]

[Then you’ll be lonely.]

[This memory will not disappear. It’s just that Milady and I are meeting for the first time again. We’re creating new memories again. Others only have a first meeting once, but we’re having it twice. Others only fall in love once, but we’re falling in love twice. Then, later, when the long journey is over and we close our eyes together, Milady will find all these memories and praise this body, saying it’s beautiful even after seeing it three times. That’s all I need.]

Yuhan wrapped her arms around the tiger-headed monster’s neck, leaned her forehead against his forehead, and closed her eyes. Tears were mixed in the pond water and couldn’t be seen, but the tiger-headed monster felt the cold pain touching his forehead drop by drop and drooped his tail.

* * *

“People are bothering you? No, what? What? What? How outrageous! Is that true?”

Daeju was walking down the hallway to check the educational speeches to be distributed to the new believers when he stopped, hearing Rembrary talking on the phone in an unusually unpleasant tone.

Walking back a few steps, he saw Rembrary pacing back and forth alone near the vending machine, talking to someone on the phone. Listening to the content, it seemed that the person Rembrary was talking to was being harassed by people…

Who could it be? Daeju recalled Rembrary’s few friendships, which weren’t very wide. The Wild Animal members, the production staff who were running around the Redrin office with their eyes burning to find stories, Shin Jo-un and Jang Tae-ri, the strange psycho-like low-ranking priest from another world he had never actually seen, a few other celebrities, the Lion Lord…

“Why are you looking like that?”

As he was doing that, Rembrary, who had already hung up the phone, lowered his phone and called out to Daeju. It seemed stranger to suddenly leave the spot, so Daeju approached and asked honestly.

“I overheard you passing by, and it seems like something bad happened. What’s wrong?”

“Ah, it’s Joogyeong. I was talking to the kid I met as soon as I came back to this side in my original body.”

“You mentioned it briefly before. You said that child provided food and lodging for you for a few days…”

“Yeah. So when she entered the hunter training camp, I pretended she was my younger sibling and left her there, but it seems like that caused some problems.”

“Problems?”

“……”

But for some reason, Rembrary couldn’t answer easily.

“Rembrary-nim?”

As Daeju called out again, Rembrary muttered in a slightly gloomy voice.

“It seems like the other kids there are teasing Joogyeong, calling her a pseudo-sibling.”

Daeju was shocked. A pseudo-sibling?

“Is that true?”

“Yeah.”

“No, it can’t be just kids there, right? Aren’t the other adults stopping them?”

Rembrary sighed.

“They’ll probably stop them. But they can’t be there all day. Even if they are there, they won’t be constantly monitoring the kids.”

Rembrary plopped down on the chair next to the vending machine, rested his chin on his hand, and frowned. It was hard to just leave Rembrary in this state, so Daeju ended up sitting next to him. How long had they been there? Daeju carefully suggested to Rembrary.

“How about bringing Joogyeong here?”

“I was thinking about that too.”

“Yes.”

“The training camp is still looking for Joogyeong’s parents. What if we bring the kid here, and then Joogyeong’s parents or relatives show up late and say we made Joogyeong join a strange religion? What if Joogyeong resents us when she grows up?”

“A strange religion…”

“Unfortunately, the image is bad here.”

“That’s true.”

“Joogyeong is still too young to choose a religion that is rejected.”

“That’s true.”

As Daeju readily agreed, Rembrary pondered for a moment and then shouted, “Ah!”

“What do you think about creating an institution that provides food and lodging for kids like Joogyeong and powerless elderly people? Without forcing them to join a religion just because they come here. If they’re all together, they won’t be ostracized for receiving support from a cult!”

“Do you have money?”

“……No.”

“I don’t have that much either.”

“!”