Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 389

As the car pulled up to the accommodation where Woo Yeon-woo and Wild Animal were staying, Shin Jo-woon instructed his secretary to remain in the car and entered the building alone.

A person who happened to get into the elevator with him glanced at him with curiosity, noticing his stern expression. They had seen Shin Jo-woon entering and exiting the ‘Reddened Research Institute’ on the news just moments ago. Seeing him here again naturally drew their attention.

With a ding, the elevator doors opened, and Shin Jo-woon immediately stepped out. The other occupant sighed in disappointment.

Shin Jo-woon rang the doorbell of Wild Animal’s accommodation and waited for someone to answer.

“Who is it?”

A bright voice soon responded.

“This is Shin Jo-woon.”

The bright voice quickly turned into a shriek. A moment later, the door swung open, and a young man with pink hair popped out.

“Wow, it’s really Shin Jo-woon.”

Hye-gyeol muttered something incomprehensible, then stared at Shin Jo-woon with curious eyes before asking, “Are you here to see Jong-woo hyung [older brother or close male friend] or Yeon-woo hyung?”

“Yeon-woo.”

Shin Jo-woon answered curtly, and Hye-gyeol told him to come in, then started running around, shouting, “Woo Yeon-woo! Hyung! Woo Yeon-woo! Hyung!” Noticing that Shin Jo-woon was still standing in the entrance without taking off his shoes, he yelled, “You can come in!” and began opening doors to the living room and bathroom.

“Hyung! Mr. Shin is here!”

As if he had been sleeping, Woo Yeon-woo slowly emerged from one of the rooms with messy hair. His eyes were still full of sleep, and he was in his pajamas with disheveled hair, but his gaze towards Shin Jo-woon was sharp.

“Hyung, Mr. Shin is here…”

Hye-gyeol tried to explain to Woo Yeon-woo with a smile, but seeing his expression, he cleared his throat and stepped back, retreating into his room and closing the door. It seemed like they were about to fight, so he simply avoided the situation.

As soon as Hye-gyeol entered his room, he sent a text to Jong-woo to inform him of the situation.

[Jong-woo hyung, Shin Jo-woon came to see Yeon-woo hyung. OMG. But the atmosphere is not good. What should I do?]

[Really? Why?]

[I don’t know.]

[Are you sure they’re fighting?]

[I don’t know. Yeon-woo hyung glared and went out, so I just came into the room]

[Good job. They won’t fight. They used to be close. But just in case, don’t get involved.]

[Okay]

Jong-woo said that Woo Yeon-woo and Shin Jo-woon wouldn’t fight, but unfortunately, the situation was similar to what Hye-gyeol had sensed.

Shin Jo-woon hadn’t come to fight, but Woo Yeon-woo was full of resentment towards Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri. He couldn’t just say ‘Long time no see!’ when they suddenly showed up out of the blue.

“I came because I need help.”

At Shin Jo-woon’s abrupt request for help, Woo Yeon-woo retorted with a sulky tone, “What kind of help?”

Shin Jo-woon was lost in thought for a moment, wondering how to explain this. He could well guess that Woo Yeon-woo disliked Rembrary from a series of events.

But if he suddenly came and asked him to save Rembrary and go to the Reddened Research Institute, which looked incredibly dangerous, would he willingly come along? Of course not. That’s why he had tried to mobilize the Lion Lord.

Shin Jo-woon thought for a moment longer, and when he couldn’t think of anything else to say, he told the truth.

“I’m trying to save someone, and I need you.”

“Who? Tae-ri? Rembrary?”

As Shin Jo-woon was about to answer, Woo Yeon-woo interrupted him sarcastically.

“Ah, never mind. I’m not going to help anyone. I can guess who you’re trying to save anyway.”

“Isn’t it something that wouldn’t be bad for you either?”

“I feel bad. You know from the news. I really don’t like that person.”

“The other party is the only healer in the world. If you incur a debt at a time like this, you can get help at any time. And they’re not the type to pretend they didn’t receive help.”

“You’re good at persuading. But persuasion only works on people who are ready to be persuaded, Mr. Shin. Besides, the person persuading is Shin Jo-woon, so do you think I’ll grant your request? It’s even more shameless if you came with that expectation.”

“Is there a need to lose out by being swayed by emotions?”

“If you act against your emotions, you’ll be tormented by the feeling of losing out from that moment on.”

The firmly closed lips and hardened cheeks were resolute. Shin Jo-woon realized that nothing he said would work, so he turned around, saying he understood.

‘I guess I have no choice but to call the Lion Lord and just take him along.’

* * *

“What did he say?”

As Shin Jo-woon got into the car, his secretary asked cautiously.

Then, when Shin Jo-woon gave him a look that said, ‘You don’t even know what I went to ask, do you?’ the secretary smiled awkwardly, took the steering wheel, and asked again.

“Where shall we go?”

Instead of giving instructions right away, Shin Jo-woon cast his gaze out the window, staring at a balcony somewhere.

“Sir?”

When the secretary asked again, Shin Jo-woon tried calling the Lion Lord one more time. When the Lion Lord still didn’t answer, he pressed the power button on his phone and instructed.

“Tell the Dancing Mountain Non-City Lord that I want to meet him regarding his son, the Lion.”

* * *

At that moment.

Rembrary, who had once again entered the body of Woo Yeon-woo from another dimension, couldn’t stand it any longer and jumped up from the narrow, cramped, and hard bed in the lower-ranking eunuch’s quarters, tossing and turning.

‘How can anyone sleep here!’

Wild Animal’s accommodation was cramped, but it was wider than this. Besides, the bed was softer than this. Rembrary shuddered, got out of bed, refreshed his body with divine power, and went outside.

As he went outside, the sound of insects chirping in the clear night air was charming. Feeling a little better, Rembrary put his hands behind his back and took a walk around the area.

But as he was walking towards a secluded rear garden, he heard a rustling sound. Turning his head, he saw a masked man dressed in black, perfect for blending into the darkness, slowly emerging from the bushes.

Wondering what this was, he watched as the masked man drew his sword and warned in a low voice.

“You will pay the price for speaking carelessly in the palace, so don’t be resentful.”

Then he drew his sword and attacked, and the speed was surprisingly fast. So fast that his movements were almost invisible.

However, Rembrary was in a very upset state, not only because he was in danger of being avenged by someone he didn’t know, but also because he had suddenly become a eunuch. The food was poor and the bed was poor, so his upset feelings were growing.

When he was ambushed in the midst of all this, Rembrary immediately sent out the Majesty of God to slow down the man’s movements, then quickly took off his shoes and slapped the man’s head left and right.

“You! You! You!”

“Ah! Ah! Ah!”

The opponent knelt on the ground, overwhelmed by the majesty, and when Rembrary repeatedly slapped his face, he panicked and let out a shrill scream. If he had been stabbed with a sword, he would have suppressed the scream. But when he was hit with a shoe by a eunuch, the masked man couldn’t help but cry out.

Then, when Rembrary switched shoes, the masked man took the opportunity to quickly use his lightness skill [a martial art technique that allows one to move quickly and lightly] to escape the scene.

The masked man headed straight for the Emperor’s bedchamber. Hiding his presence, the masked man hurriedly entered the Emperor’s bedchamber, and only when he reached the place where he always stood guard did he take off his mask and breathe heavily.

He hadn’t realized it while running away in a hurry. Goosebumps had risen on his arm, so the masked man kept rubbing his arm.

As he did so, a voice, lower than usual due to the night, was heard from inside the curtained bed.

“I smell blood.”

Two eunuchs standing on either side of the bed pulled the strings connected to the curtain, and the curtain that had covered the bed was folded to the sides, revealing the inside. The Emperor was wiping his sword, wearing only his lower garments and casually draping his dragon robe over his shoulders, with one leg comfortably raised on the bed.

“Did you finally kill that eunuch? A pointless act.”

At the indifferent voice that couldn’t even be distinguished as a rebuke, the shadow guard hesitated without saying anything.

The Emperor, finding his awkward attitude strange, raised his eyes, and the guard hurriedly put down his sword and knelt before him.

“I am sorry, Your Majesty. It is the smell of my blood.”

“?”

The Emperor glanced at the clean sword that the guard had put down, and then smiled with amusement.

“That big eunuch was stronger than I thought, wasn’t he?”

In fact, the guard didn’t even know what had happened to him. But the terrifying murderous intent and oppressive feeling he felt the moment he attacked the man, and the aura that made him unable to move even though he hadn’t been hit in a pressure point, still sent shivers down his spine.

Besides, he couldn’t say that he, the Emperor’s shadow guard, had been defeated by an insignificant person, so the guard put his forehead to the ground and praised the opponent’s skills as much as possible.

“Experts who have reached a realm beyond boundaries are not bound by weapons and use ordinary objects like hidden weapons or precious swords. That man seemed like such an expert. He looked like an ordinary eunuch, but he can never be ordinary.”

“Is that so?”

The Emperor continued to wipe his sword, seemingly unconvinced, and the guard slowly raised his face so that the Emperor could see him clearly under the light.

The Emperor frowned.

“What are those shoe marks?”

“I am ashamed to say that I could not even avoid his shoes, Your Majesty. His identity is suspicious, so we must investigate him.”

* * *

At that moment, the Lion Lord, whom Shin Jo-woon was looking for, entered the research institute alone as soon as he saw the news, but lost his way and was wandering around, unable to do anything.

He had entered as usual. But once he entered, he couldn’t get out. Besides, he couldn’t get his bearings, so when he tried to go to the right, the background was completely different.

He could only tell because the building structures were slightly different; otherwise, he wouldn’t have even realized that he had moved to a different place. All sides were covered with roses.

‘What kind of structure is this?’

The Lion Lord grumbled and moved around aimlessly. He hoped that he would eventually get close to the entrance.

After a long time, he stopped in surprise when he arrived in a completely different space.

It was a truly wide-open space with few pillars or walls. And dozens of coffins made of flowers occupied the space. There were even people lying in the coffins.

‘Researchers?’

At first, the Lion Lord thought they might be researchers, but he changed his mind when he saw their clothes. None of them were wearing lab coats.

Besides, their hair colors were very diverse and colorful, and the colors were so natural that they didn’t seem like dyed hair.

‘Why are these things here?’

At that moment, a hand came out from among the petals on the floor and grabbed his ankle. The surprised Lion Lord pulled his foot away and looked down, and the director of this research institute gave a ‘shh’ signal.