Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 376

376. So Glad to See You After All This Time…

Shin Joong-woon’s eyes widened as he tried to speak, but Rembrary had already turned and dashed into the house. The door slammed shut with a bang, emphasizing the hasty retreat from within.

Just as Shin Joong-woon was about to voice his bewilderment, Rembrary’s old diss track from his Woo Yeon-woo days began blaring from his pocket.

*What is going on?* Shin Joong-woon chuckled, unsure whether to laugh or be annoyed. He reached for his phone.

“Hello?”

The response came from the back seat.

“Yes, hello. Forgive my sudden intrusion.”

Shin Joong-woon held the phone to his ear as he turned around. In the back seat sat a man, frozen solid up to his neck, yet smiling.

“You’re quick on the uptake. Freezing me before even turning your head. Do you have eyes in the back of your head?”

“The chef?”

Though the man introduced himself as a stranger, Shin Joong-woon recognized him instantly and muttered.

“I believe you were the chef at Perfect Kitchen.”

Surprisingly, it was the famous chef who had taken Rembrary there before. The chef who had warned Rembrary about the danger.

“You recognize me exactly.”

Cloth grinned and gestured with his eyes at the ice encasing him.

“Could you perhaps start by releasing me from this?”

“State your business first.”

Shin Joong-woon spoke calmly, unwrapping a peppermint candy and popping it into his mouth. Seeing his nonchalant attitude, Cloth wriggled within the ice a few times, then smiled awkwardly.

“You’re a bit stronger than I heard. Much colder, too. I’m freezing to death.”

Shin Joong-woon unwrapped another candy and put it in Cloth’s mouth. Cloth groaned and chuckled.

“A sliver of kindness amidst the cold. Is this supposed to warm me up enough to melt the ice?”

Even so, Cloth chewed the candy and continued.

“My business isn’t much. I heard you’re having trouble with the Grim Reapers. I’m here because of that.”

“Word travels fast.”

“We keep a close watch on the underworld. Aren’t you surprised, though? That I’m talking about the underworld?”

*If I were to be surprised, it should have been when Cloth spoke to me from the back seat,* Shin Joong-woon thought. He waved his hand, signaling him to continue.

“Whatever the reason, you’ve earned the ire of the underworld, so your soul is in a bit of danger after death, right?”

Shin Joong-woon stared at him with a ‘so what?’ look. Cloth grinned like a sinister kiwi.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend, as they say. So, would you be willing to join forces with us?”

“Who are you?”

“In your world’s terms, we are demons.”

“!”

* * *

Inside the spacious kitchen, the members were sitting around the table, eating. Yeon-woo, looking unwell, was among them.

When one person expresses negative emotions, it tends to affect those around them, so the atmosphere during the meal was terrible.

“Where’s Hye-gyeol?”

Jong-woo, unable to bear the oppressive atmosphere any longer and feeling indigestion coming on, asked Oh-wan about Hye-gyeol, who wasn’t present.

“She said she had some guild war thing and would be out in ten minutes.”

Just as Jong-woo was about to respond, Yeon-woo suddenly put his fork down on the plate.

“Oh, Yeon-woo.”

Seeing his listless appearance, Jong-woo abandoned the topic of Hye-gyeol and tried to comfort Yeon-woo.

“We can release a good album too. Hey, Tae-in getting first place now? It’s all because of Wild Animal. It’s his first album since leaving, so the reaction is good.”

“That’s not really it,” Keshi muttered, but Jong-woo quickly shook his head, signaling him to be quiet. Keshi reluctantly shut his mouth. Jong-woo continued to shower Yeon-woo with cheerful and positive words.

“We should prepare our album now too. Pick a good song and shoot a music video, like, really cool! Huh? Then it’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Yeon-woo, who hadn’t reacted, finally sighed and asked after a long pause.

“Hyung [older brother or close male friend], should I go live in a temple for a year?”

A temple? Jong-woo opened his mouth in disbelief.

“Are you really going to become a monk? You stopped talking about that after regaining your memories, so why suddenly again?”

Yeon-woo couldn’t bring himself to explain and just slumped his shoulders. Only Oh-wan, who knew why he was like that, smiled faintly.

Just then.

“Hul [gasp], hul, hul, hul! Look at this!”

Hye-gyeol, who was supposed to be busy with the guild war, came running into the room noisily.

“Hey. I told you not to play games while eating?”

Jong-woo scolded her as soon as he saw the laptop in Hye-gyeol’s hand, but Hye-gyeol said it wasn’t that and pushed all the dishes in the center of the table aside, placing the laptop in the center and turning the screen towards Jong-woo.

“Look at this, hyung. It’s crazy!”

What appeared on the screen was an entertainment news article.

“Tae-in hyung can’t sing anymore!”

-Former Wild Animal member and solo artist Ji Tae-in, loses his voice?

Jong-woo’s eyes widened at the title.

“What does this mean? He can’t sing?”

“I don’t know. Tae-in hyung’s new song was a huge hit, right? A lot of reporters went to the showcase too. But he suddenly stopped singing in the middle of the song, and he hasn’t been able to sing since. I don’t know if it’s psychological or if he’s really sick.”

Perhaps because they had known each other for a long time, Hye-gyeol had a somewhat bittersweet expression even as she jumped around and spoke.

Keshi also just sighed, “Oh dear,” and couldn’t react properly. Everyone knew how sincere Tae-in was about singing, even though he had a bad personality.

Besides, even though he had betrayed them at the last minute, he was a member who had gone through everything together, from the long years of obscurity to the days of gaining both fame and hate comments, to the days of being a top group with a good image.

Jong-woo unconsciously looked at Yeon-woo. It was a natural reaction since Yeon-woo was on the worst terms with Tae-in.

However, Yeon-woo didn’t look happy either. But he didn’t look worried either. Yeon-woo’s face was completely stiff, like dried persimmon.

In that state, Yeon-woo looked at Oh-wan. Oh-wan was picking up and eating avocados one by one, but when he met Yeon-woo’s gaze, he raised his head, smiled faintly, and raised his pinky finger.

A signal that no one else knew, but Yeon-woo could recognize. A signal that he had kept his promise.

A signal that he had fulfilled Yeon-woo’s wish to ‘get revenge on Tae-in, but not kill him.’

Seeing that, Yeon-woo was filled with terror and collapsed backward.

As the weight shifted to one side, Yeon-woo fell backward with the chair, and those at the table jumped up in surprise.

“Yeon-woo hyung!”

“Woo Yeon-woo!”

“Are you okay?”

Everyone got up from their seats and rushed to Yeon-woo, but he was already unconscious.

“119 [emergency services number in South Korea]! Call 119 quickly!”

Jong-woo screamed in terror.

* * *

“Shin Joong-woon came looking for me. Dae-joo came looking for me. I came looking for me. I even found out who set up the barrier… I’ve been busy lately,” Rembrary muttered as he ate a snowflake red bean bread. The Lion Lord tilted his head and asked.

“Do you include being found as something you did?”

“Did you find me?”

“No.”

“Did Dae-joo find me?”

“No.”

“Did Anchovy find me?”

“……No.”

“Then I found me.”

“Forced.”

The Lion Lord muttered quietly, but Rembrary, regardless, smiled contentedly and opened the keyboard on his phone, pressing the number of the monk that Dae-joo had given him.

As he pressed the call button, the clear Heart Sutra [a popular sutra in Mahayana Buddhism] rang from beyond the phone.

[Hello?]

And soon after, a deep voice answered the phone.

Rembrary quickly sat on the sofa and asked.

“Are you the monk Joon who set up the barrier around the research center?”

[Yes… who is this?]

“I think some people I know have been captured in the research center. I was trying to check, but I couldn’t get in because of the barrier you set up.”

[Are you a monster?]

“No?”

[If you’re human, you shouldn’t have any problem passing through the barrier.]

“I am human.”

[Then just go through.]

Rembrary stared intently at his phone. The Lion Lord, having heard everything, chuckled to himself, shaking his shoulders.

Rembrary spoke into the phone again, explaining that the situation wasn’t that simple.

“I can’t go myself because the people at the research center won’t let me in. So I asked a friendly monster, but that monster can’t pass through because of the barrier you set up.”

[You asked a monster? Can you even communicate with monsters?]

“Yes.”

[Are you perhaps a monster?]

“I told you, no.”

[But for a monster to listen to a human’s request… that’s…]

“Our tiger is gentle.”

The Lion Lord chuckled again, but the monk didn’t respond. Rembrary thought he had hung up, but the call time was still running.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Finally, unable to wait any longer, Rembrary urged him. The monk sighed and said.

[Then let’s do this. Let’s meet once. I need to see for myself if you’re trustworthy, and if a monster is trying to trick me.]

“If I pass your judgment, will you tell me how to get through the barrier?”

[I will.]

“Good. Where should I go?”

[I’ll text you the address.]

As soon as he hung up, a text message arrived with a ding. Rembrary showed the Lion Lord the map in the text and demanded.

“Let’s go. Let’s go quickly.”

“Am I going too?”

“Then am I supposed to drive?”

* * *

With the Lion Lord’s help, Rembrary soon arrived at the temple the monk had told him about.

“Huh?”

But upon arriving, the surrounding scenery looked quite familiar.

“I’ve been here before.”

“A past life?”

The Lion Lord didn’t believe Rembrary and asked casually, but Rembrary shook his head.

“I came here for a temple stay [a program where people experience life at a Buddhist temple].”

“Why did you do a temple stay?”

The Lion Lord, knowing that Rembrary was a high priest of a strange religion, frowned and suspected Rembrary’s intentions.

“Were you a religious spy or something?”

“No.”

“When I was doing idol activities. I came in Woo Yeon-woo’s body. I came with Oh Jeong-shin.”

Rembrary put his hands behind his back and smiled contentedly, lost in the memories of that time.

As he was doing that, a familiar old monk approached from the path beyond the bushes, and upon discovering the two, he asked kindly.

“Who are you?”

The monk didn’t seem to think that the person he had spoken to on the phone 30 minutes ago would have arrived here so soon.

But this old monk was the same old monk Rembrary had met when he came for the temple stay, so Rembrary was delighted and smiled brightly.

“You’re still alive?”

The Lion Lord, who had been certain that Rembrary was a religious spy, widened his eyes and looked at Rembrary.

On the other hand, the old monk, who had been approaching kindly, frowned at the unexpected words.

“Do you know this old monk? This old monk is meeting you for the first time, but you speak as if you know me.”

Only after hearing those words did Rembrary realize his mistake.

*That’s right. No matter how happily Rembrary greeted him, the person he had met when he was Woo Yeon-woo could never recognize him and return the same feelings.*

Realizing this fact again, Rembrary apologized sadly.

“I see. I’m sorry, Monk. I saw a monk with a similar hairstyle to you, so I got confused.”

“!”

The Lion Lord, whose heart was pounding, looked back and forth between Rembrary and the monk.

The monk, who had been kind but then frowned, now had deeper nasolabial folds [lines from the nose to the mouth].

But even in this situation, the old monk showed amazing patience and forced a smile, interpreting Rembrary’s expression in a positive light.

“Listening to you speak, you’re definitely not a monster.”

Rembrary put his hands together and thanked the old monk for his wisdom.

“Your wisdom shines as brightly as your head, Amitabha [a principal Buddha in Pure Land Buddhism].”

“!”

*Did this crazy guy not just do a temple stay, but come here to have religious arguments?* The Lion Lord finally decided he couldn’t take it anymore and poked Rembrary, putting his hands together.

“I’m sorry, Monk. This person talks like this to everyone, so please ignore him with your generous heart.”

“Wow, Lion, you’re good at putting your hands together?”

“My mom is Buddhist,” the Lion Lord muttered quietly. The old monk, seeing the Lion Lord’s sparkling eyes like an eye collector, groaned and rubbed his forehead.

“Please, come in.”