Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 396

396. Recuperation

Shin Joong-woon looked in the direction Woo Sung-woo was pointing. There, Woo Yeon-woo lay motionless.

Woo Sung-woo bit his lip, appearing deeply saddened by the sight, but Shin Joong-woon’s voice was devoid of emotion.

“Well, that’s none of my concern.”

As Shin Joong-woon grabbed the Lion Lord’s arm, the Lion Lady, who had been silently standing by, promptly whisked Shin Joong-woon away, and they disappeared.

With the unwanted visitors gone, only the two brothers remained in the living room. Woo Sung-woo sat on the edge of the sofa, looking down at his younger brother.

In truth, Yeon-woo was already an adult, a grown young man, but like many siblings, he still seemed like a clueless kid to Sung-woo.

Moreover, Yeon-woo had almost died because of him in childhood, so Woo Sung-woo was burdened with guilt.

He looked at his brother with a troubled expression, then took a thin blanket from the drawer and covered him.

He had thought his brother was acting strange before. He had even considered that the person in his brother’s form might be something else imitating him.

Later, when Yeon-woo returned to normal, Sung-woo dismissed the idea, thinking it was just unfamiliarity due to memory issues.

But just when he thought Yeon-woo was back to normal, he suddenly became strange again. This time, he even attacked a god.

Seeing a god before his eyes was unbelievable enough, but his brother suddenly turning berserk and attacking that god was even more unbelievable.

“What on earth is this? What’s happening to you, Yeon-woo?”

Woo Sung-woo stared intently at his sleeping brother, then unconsciously slowly reached out towards his eyes.

He suddenly remembered Rembrary’s one eye turning black in the white part [sclera], and he wanted to check if his brother’s eyes had changed as well.

However, perhaps because he was too aware of his brother’s changes, he felt uneasy even with this simple action.

Finally, the moment Woo Sung-woo’s hand touched Woo Yeon-woo’s eyelid.

“!”

Woo Yeon-woo abruptly opened his eyes and sharply grabbed Woo Sung-woo’s wrist like a hawk snatching a mouse.

Surprised, Sung-woo looked down at Yeon-woo, who was staring back at him. There were no signs of his sclera turning black like Rembrary, but he looked eerily different.

They locked eyes for about five seconds. Then, Woo Yeon-woo’s lips slowly curved upwards, forming a perfectly even angle – a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

Woo Sung-woo blankly watched him as Woo Yeon-woo released his hand expressionlessly.

Woo Sung-woo withdrew his hand and looked down at his wrist. There was a red mark around it, showing how strongly he had been gripped.

“Yeon-woo, are you okay?”

Even as he tried to remain calm, Woo Yeon-woo suddenly looked tearful, gazing up at him with a trembling voice.

“Hyung [older brother]… you’re alive.”

The stark contrast from his previous demeanor made Woo Sung-woo swallow hard.

What… what is this? What’s happening to him?

* * *

Rembrary woke up to the smell of seasoned beef.

“Seasoned beef….”

Rembrary mumbled from inside the bed with his eyes closed, and the smell grew closer.

Opening his heavy eyelids, he saw Jang Tae-ri and Shin Joong-woon bringing in a small table, placing a burner on it, and grilling meat.

What are they doing? Are they eating meat without me? Right next to me?

Rembrary stared with wide eyes, and Jang Tae-ri, who was moving the cooked meat aside, noticed him and exclaimed, “Piggy!”

Shin Joong-woon, who had been flipping the meat, also looked over, put down the tongs, and quickly approached.

“Are you okay?”

Rembrary was still unsure of what was happening, so he examined the pile of cooked meat, the meat being grilled, the grilled garlic, the seasoned scallions, the soy-braised onions, and so on.

“Tae-ri, what is all that?”

But no matter how he looked at it, it seemed like the two were eating meat next to him while he was asleep, so Rembrary asked Tae-ri with a trembling voice.

“Meat.”

“I know it’s meat, but….”

“Why are you grilling meat here?”

“Ah, that’s…”

Jang Tae-ri looked at Shin Joong-woon, who went back to the burner and answered.

“‘Jang Tae-ri’ said you’d feel better if you woke up to the smell of meat.”

“Hey, Shin Joong-woon. What are you talking about? You were the one who said it!”

“I said grilling meat next to someone who collapsed was a bit much, but you said it’s okay if they’re not really sick.”

“Hey, you were the one who first suggested that pigs feel better when they smell meat, right?”

“You suggested it, and I opposed it.”

“Wow, he’s lying without even changing his expression. If you lie, I’ll pinch your nose with the tongs, okay?”

“Piggy, that’s Tae-ri’s true nature.”

As Rembrary still looked bewildered, the butler wheeled in a cart with a bubbling pot of soybean paste stew [doenjang-jjigae] from beyond the door and interjected.

“You two were excitedly making plans and suddenly blaming each other. I guess Mr. Rembrary doesn’t like the smell of meat?”

Jang Tae-ri and Shin Joong-woon glared at him simultaneously, but it was no use.

The butler placed the cart next to the table and approached Rembrary, asking kindly.

“How are you feeling? They said there’s nothing physically wrong with you, so I brought you here.”

Rembrary then realized that this was Shin Joong-woon’s room.

“Why am I here?”

Shin Joong-woon signaled the butler to leave, and as the butler left, he turned off the gas burner and answered.

“You suddenly fainted right after healing Woo Sung-woo.”

“I did?”

“Don’t you remember?”

“No, I remember healing Woo Sung-woo.”

“Right. You remember everything.”

Rembrary roughly combed his hair with one hand, but his expression didn’t brighten.

Shin Joong-woon didn’t say anything more but watched Rembrary carefully. ‘Remembering everything’ meant that Rembrary remembered Woo Yeon-woo attacking the god he believed in and the scene of that god disappearing.

As no one in the room spoke, the atmosphere quickly became heavy.

How long had it been? Rembrary slowly opened his mouth.

“Grill me some meat.”

Jang Tae-ri and Shin Joong-woon, who had been anxiously watching Rembrary, rushed to the table as soon as they heard those words.

“Ah, this.”

Jang Tae-ri even detached Ji-nyang, who had been clinging to his shoulder, and placed her in Rembrary’s arms.

As Rembrary held the squirming cat monster, Jang Tae-ri quickly went next to Shin Joong-woon and looked for perilla leaves [kkaennip].

For the next thirty minutes, Rembrary held the cat in his arms and simply opened his mouth to receive the meat wraps that Jang Tae-ri and Shin Joong-woon brought him.

Rembrary’s condition was unusually unsettling, so neither Jang Tae-ri nor Shin Joong-woon could say anything about it.

How long had it been? The smell of grilling meat filled the anxious room for a long time.

The sound of a ringing phone came from Jang Tae-ri’s pocket.

“Change your ringtone, Jang Tae-ri. Is that a doorbell?”

“Funny. It’s better than yours, okay?”

“Piggy, he says a doorbell is better than your song.”

“Tae-ri…?”

Jang Tae-ri glared at Shin Joong-woon, who tightly closed his lips and stuffed more meat into Rembrary’s mouth.

Jang Tae-ri shook his head and took his phone out of the room.

As Jang Tae-ri closed the door behind him, the smell of meat filled the room again.

But as they were left alone, Shin Joong-woon stopped making meat wraps for Rembrary and simply sat by the head of the bed for a moment.

When Rembrary poked him in the side again to bring more meat, Shin Joong-woon finally spoke.

“I have something to ask.”

“So that’s why you kept looking at me.”

“I was looking at you because I was worried, not just curious.”

“Ask away.”

“What happened inside… what are you going to do about it?”

“What do you mean, ‘do’?”

“Woo Yeon-woo killed your god. Are you just going to let it go?”

At Shin Joong-woon’s words, Rembrary raised his eyebrows.

“Should I have waited a bit longer to ask?”

As Shin Joong-woon asked cautiously at that reaction, Rembrary shook his head to indicate it was okay.

“You can talk about it. And everything you said is wrong, Sardine.”

“Wrong?”

“It wasn’t Woo Yeon-woo who killed him, but something inside Woo Yeon-woo that attacked. Redrin didn’t die either.”

“…He disappeared right in front of us. He’s not dead?”

“Gods don’t die.”

Shin Joong-woon pressed his temples a few times before lowering his hand.

“Your god’s name is ‘Redrin’… is that related to that hunter company, Redrin…?”

“Yep.”

“The hunter company Redrin is a cult too. The god they believe in…?”

“That’s right.”

Shin Joong-woon nodded, and Rembrary poked him in the side again.

“Will you join us? You saw him directly before your eyes, so you know how great he is.”

But he disappeared. Shin Joong-woon suppressed the words he wanted to say.

Even if he’s pretending to be okay, he must be a mess inside right now. If I say this, he might not be able to handle it and get even more upset.

Rembrary sighed.

“It’s a relief he didn’t die, but it’s true that he disappeared from that spot. He must be too weak now. That’s why I’m worried.”

He had already used half of his gathered power to save Lumena, so he was already weakened. If he gets even weaker here… will he be okay?

“It’s a relief he didn’t die. But still, Woo Yeon-woo killed him, right?”

“I told you, it wasn’t him. It was the Demon King inside Woo Yeon-woo who killed him.”

“Now we’re talking about a Demon King.”

Shin Joong-woon muttered in dismay, then pressed his temples again and asked.

“Then what are you going to do about Woo Sung-woo? Why did you save him?”

“He only stepped forward because he wanted to save his brother. What else is there to do?”

Shin Joong-woon didn’t like Rembrary’s words, so he frowned and stared at the pig, who was sighing heavily, before bringing a large piece of meat and stuffing it into his mouth.

* * *

Unlike Rembrary, who was immersed in sorrow over Redrin’s sudden disappearance, the situation in the underworld was quite pleasing.

As Redrin, who had been constantly opening rifts everywhere, suddenly disappeared, Yeomra [King of Hell] was able to busily move around and close the rifts during this gap.

As Yeomra returned to the underworld to rest after busily moving around, his aide fanned him from the side with a large feather fan and asked.

“Redrin disappeared, that’s great. Did he go to another world altogether?”

The Demon King had briefly appeared, attacked Redrin, and then hid behind Woo Yeon-woo again, so the underworld didn’t yet know why Redrin had suddenly disappeared.

“I don’t think so.”

“Then we should catch him when he’s weak and chase him out to another place, like the god we chased out before.”

“That would be nice.”

Yeomra nodded, placed his arm on the armrest of the throne, and clicked his tongue.

“I wonder why he manifested in this world and did such bizarre things.”

“Did he think humans would believe in him if he showed his face?”

“I don’t know. Anyway, we must close all the rifts during this gap. Then, even if it takes some time, we can slowly stabilize the world.”

But behind his pleased voice, a loud drumming sound, like a large drum being beaten in a steady rhythm, echoed from somewhere.

Yeomra, looking around, realized that the drumming sound was coming from beyond the sealed rift.