Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 378

378. Why Are You Here?

After thanking the old monk, Rembrary urged the Lion Lord to head straight to the lake where Tiger and Yuhan were.

As soon as the scenery changed, the Lion Lord, seemingly pleased by the clear water scent entering his lungs, raised his nose to the sky and sniffed.

“Take off the mask, take off the mask.”

“Why does it matter?”

While the Lion Lord kept sniffing at the air, Rembrary spotted Yuhan Lim sitting by the lake.

Yuhan Lim was sitting on a large rock, singing, and Tiger Head was leaning against the rock, half-closing his eyes.

Both of them seemed to have noticed Rembrary’s presence, but they just looked back and smiled without stopping their song.

When the song finally ended, Tiger Head applauded wildly, and Yuhan Lim laughed, clutching his stomach as if it was funny.

Hugging his stomach, Tiger Head shook his tail wildly and asked Rembrary proudly.

[Our Miss Lim is a great singer, Great Demon. Isn’t she amazing?]

Seeing their harmonious scene, Rembrary nodded, smiling along.

“To think this song sounds good to you, you must really like Yuhan. I’m glad you two are getting along so well.”

[…….]

[…….]

Yuhan Lim splashed the water with her mermaid tail, and water splashed towards Rembrary. After splashing several times, Rembrary’s shirt became a little damp, as if it had been drizzled on.

“I’m glad you seem at peace, *sunbae* [senior/mentor].”

Even as Rembrary just kept smiling while getting splashed, Yuhan Lim eventually smiled along.

[How can I not adore her?]

[Ahem.]

But this time, Tiger Head’s *masu* [magical energy/aura], seeing Yuhan Lim and Rembrary getting along too well, cleared his throat for no reason.

“Alright, you dignified tiger.”

Rembrary approached Tiger and handed him the gold thread bracelet that the old monk had made.

[What is that?]

“If you have this, you’ll be able to pass through the barrier.”

[Barrier…… Ah. That barrier?]

“Yes. Could you go to the research center one more time?”

[Of course.]

Rembrary said he was counting on him and was about to turn around to leave with the Lion Lord when he spotted an icebox by a tree stump. It wasn’t there when he came before.

Sensing his gaze, Yuhan Lim quickly explained.

[My younger sibling gave it to me. They stop by occasionally and give me things like ice cream or drinks.]

“Giving you food. What a kind sibling.”

[Haha. Giving food makes them kind?]

“Of course. Ah, *sunbae*. How is your memory these days?”

[It’s much better.]

“Much better means you still lose your reason sometimes.”

[But the frequency is decreasing. Thankfully.]

Rembrary poured divine power on Yuhan Lim as if to make sure, and after telling Tiger Head to take care of things again, he returned home with the Lion Lord.

“You should go rest too.”

Arriving home, Rembrary patted the Lion Lord’s shoulder, who had worked hard today, and walked to the kitchen.

He said that because Ardor had left home to find Ninring, so the Lion Lord was staying in that room these days.

However, instead of going to his room, the Lion Lord followed Rembrary.

Opening the refrigerator door, Rembrary gave him a look that said, ‘Why are you following me?’ The Lion Lord took off his mask. Inside, he had a confused expression for some reason.

“Who are you talking to every time you go there?”

Rembrary took out an orange from the refrigerator and answered.

“What are you talking about?”

“I can’t see anything. But you always talk as if someone is there. Before and now. Besides, when you gave the bracelet to the air, it suddenly disappeared.”

Rembrary sat down on a chair at the table, peeled the orange, and answered nonchalantly.

“There must have been someone there, even if you couldn’t see them.”

“Why can’t I see them?”

“Because you don’t have ‘eyes’.”

“Where can I get those ‘eyes’? I want them too.”

Rembrary flicked the Lion Lord’s forehead.

“Don’t think about nonsense.”

* * *

The dinner was peaceful and friendly for the first time in a while. The children talked non-stop as if they were making up for not being able to talk all this time, and Mullu listened intently, barely eating, as if everything the children said was fascinating.

The Lion Lord kept muttering “eyes…… eyes……,” but still participated well in the conversation.

Number 305 watched Rembrary intently and, having mastered the new skill of subtly adjusting the position of the dishes to place his favorite foods in front of him whenever he seemed to enjoy something.

“Wasn’t that dish at the other end? Why did it suddenly move over here?”

While Number 305 was embarrassed at being caught by Siyoung, Rembrary brought up a topic that he had been too busy to address.

“Number 305. How do you register the children for school?”

Number 305 quickly avoided Siyoung’s gaze and answered.

“I don’t know much about it because Bido City, where I was, is an isolated place.”

Siyoung also agreed while glaring at Number 305.

“Where are the schools? Everyone was busy finding food and avoiding monster birds, Healer.”

When Rembrary looked at Mullu, Mullu quickly lowered his head and began to stare intently at the bean sprout soup.

Rembrary didn’t expect Mullu, who came to this world later than him, to know the system here anyway.

So Rembrary immediately turned his head towards the Lion Lord.

“Do you know, Lion?”

“I graduated before the Cataclysm, so I don’t know the current system. I heard the system has changed a lot since before the Cataclysm.”

“Then should I ask Tae-ri?”

‘There’s no one helpful,’ Rembrary muttered quietly.

He was about to eat again when the Lion Lord, whose pride was hurt by being the only one without ‘eyes,’ started a fight with Rembrary for no reason.

“You haven’t been to school either, have you?”

“I didn’t go to school here. But aren’t school systems all the same anyway? Competition. Victory. Survival. Team battles.”

“Team battles?”

“Turf wars.”

“Survival is?”

“Duels.”

‘Was there such a thing? Is it new?’ While the Lion Lord was confused, Rembrary instructed Jugyeong and Siyoung.

“When you enroll, you must form a gang together. Don’t forget that school is a turf war. You must win no matter what.”

Siyoung laughed as if dealing with kids her age was easy, but Jugyeong asked with a slightly frightened face.

“Do we have to fight? Then what happens if I don’t win, *Cheonsanim* [Angel]?”

“As far as I know, you’ll be expelled.”

“!”

“But I’ll still support you. Even if you get expelled.”

Seeing Jugyeong’s frightened face, the Lion Lord thought, ‘This isn’t right,’ and cut in firmly.

“That’s not true.”

“What do you know?”

“Even after the Cataclysm, it’s not that bad. There would be chaos if the school taught such an attitude.”

Just as Rembrary was about to protest at the firm words, Tiger Head’s *masu* peeked at them from the archway between the living room and the kitchen.

“Let’s talk later.”

Rembrary put down his fork, muttered that he was done eating, and left the kitchen.

“The Healer must be sick. He left food!”

* * *

“How did it go?”

Rembrary, who had brought Tiger Head into the room, quickly asked. Rembrary thought Tiger Head would come tomorrow or the day after. But he came in half a day, so he was curious about the answer. Was there no one there at all, so there was nothing to check?

[Beyond the barrier, there were us, and humans were trapped there. I thought it might be, so I checked a few people in detail, and in my opinion, they were definitely humans. Of course, there were more non-humans, but the number of humans seemed considerable.]

‘As expected.’

Rembrary’s expression became serious.

“It’s just as I thought.”

[I was going to look more closely, but I thought I should tell you this news first, so I came right away.]

Rembrary was about to thank him when Mullu knocked on the door from outside.

“High Priest. It’s Mullu.”

As soon as Rembrary opened the door, Mullu pointed to Tiger Head with his eyes. He seemed worried and came to see what was going on when Rembrary left the meal and followed a tiger-headed *masu*.

“Do you know that tiger?”

“Don’t worry. He’s a gentle and friendly tiger.”

Anyway, thinking it was good timing, Rembrary briefly told Mullu about the current situation.

“There is a research center here that experiments on Awakened. You know Awakened, right?”

“Yes.”

“People from our world are trapped in the basement of that research center, mistaken for monsters. Tiger Head went to check that place.”

“Is that true?”

Mullu, who asked back in surprise, soon had a cold look in his eyes and jumped up.

“We must invade. We must save the people.”

But Rembrary carefully considered it and couldn’t answer right away.

“It’s not that easy.”

It wasn’t a matter of the number of people. No matter how many people were in the research center, Rembrary was confident that he could break through them. He could suppress all the living things around him with the dignity of God.

The problem was the reputation of the research center.

Judging from the fact that the kind old monk believed in it so firmly, the research center seemed to be highly trusted by people. It’s also a national institution.

What if things go wrong after invading such a place? The image of Redrin will plummet. Redrin has already lost half of his power taking care of Lumena. Perhaps because of the aftereffects, he hasn’t been in touch lately.

In this situation, I need to help Redrin recover his strength quickly. If I raid the research center and rescue people, and Redrin’s image plummets…….

‘What about the Lion going back and forth and taking out the trapped people? No. It can’t be done. The head of that research center said that his ability was to prevent Awakened from using their abilities. If something goes wrong, even the Lion could be caught.’

[Then think about it, Great Demon. I’ll look into it in more detail and come back here.]

As he was contemplating, Tiger Head *masu* tactfully excused himself.

Rembrary also sent Mullu out, telling him to talk later. Then he crossed his arms and groaned alone in bed.

At that moment, the phone rang in the midst of all this.

Rembrary, who was too busy racking his brain, didn’t want to answer the phone, but changed his mind when he saw the caller’s name.

“What’s going on?”

It was because he confirmed that the person calling was the current road manager of Wild Animal and the disguised demon, Owan. But what Owan said was unexpected.

[You said before that you wanted to meet the Demon King and talk to him. Do you remember?]

“Did he say he’d meet me?”

[Yes. He wants to set a meeting place.]

* * *

The appointment date was two days later. The Demon King decided to let him know the time on the day or the day before, depending on the situation.

[Our Demon King hasn’t been able to handle a whole body yet.]

I thought, ‘What if he wants to meet at dawn?’ but the next day, the Demon King had Owan tell him the meeting place and time, which were uneventful.

3 PM, at a barbecue restaurant.

It was a surprisingly ordinary place, so Rembrary dressed comfortably and went to the barbecue restaurant on time.

However, Rembrary’s expression was not bright as he went to the barbecue restaurant. Even if the Demon King told him his purpose willingly, it was obvious that the purpose would not be good, and there was a high possibility that he would not tell him willingly.

In any case, the story that would come out was bound to be serious, so even while smelling the meat, he became troubled in many ways.

But what? When he went to his seat with the guidance of the restaurant employee, there was even a familiar face standing in front of the Demon King. Moreover, that person was someone who should not be with the Demon King.

“No, aren’t you Kkokko?”