Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 397

397. Not As the Boss Pleases

Yomra turned his head toward the sound. Beyond the crack he had just closed, the space shimmered between transparent and opaque. Fine cracks spread, making the gaps tremble precariously.

It was like pouring broken glass shards onto a table, then drumming the table’s edge to make the shards tremble.

The drumming from beyond grew louder, and finally, something terrifying forced its way through the crack Yomra had temporarily sealed.

“What… what is that?”

The subordinate muttered, bewildered by the strange sight.

What appeared as it tore through the crack was hard to discern at a glance, except that it was enormous.

Yomra stared up at it, then answered with a sigh.

“A head.”

The subordinate looked at Yomra, saying, “Yes?” Yomra didn’t glance his way, still watching the crack. The subordinate turned back to look at what was coming through.

“A head? What kind of head…”

Then the subordinate realized what Yomra meant, and his eyes widened. The thing coming through the crack was, on closer inspection, a head as massive as a ten-story building. Or rather, not a person’s head, but the head of something that resembled a person.

No other parts were visible, which made it all the more chilling.

Moreover, the giant head was facing downward, its eyes constantly darting from side to side, scanning the surroundings.

The subordinate swallowed hard at the eerie sight, rarely seen even in Purgatory [a realm or state of suffering].

“I think I’m going to curse, Your Highness.”

The giant head was terrifying, but the sight of its enormous eyeballs scanning around was truly spine-chilling.

Every time the giant head’s gaze passed nearby, his heart pounded, fearing eye contact.

The head’s presence was so overwhelming that the subordinate was slow to realize that other beings were carrying it.

The head wasn’t floating on its own. Small, black dragons were working together to carry it.

Of course, ‘small’ was only in comparison to the head’s size; the dragons were not small in any objective sense.

The subordinate looked up at the sight of countless dragons, each holding a clump of the head’s hair in its mouth, transporting it, filled with an emotion he couldn’t express.

“It’s an extremely evil and dark energy.”

“Is that also from that Redryn place, Your Highness?”

“Its energy is different from theirs.”

“Then did it come from a dimensional rift? There are many strange beings between dimensions.”

“I don’t know.”

Yomra narrowed his eyes and billowed his robe.

“One thing is certain. We must not let it in.”

With those words, Yomra shot up toward the sky of the underworld.

The subordinate watched anxiously, belatedly realizing this was no time to stand idly by, and hurriedly sent signals throughout the underworld.

Meanwhile, Yomra, having approached almost to the front of the giant head, floated in the air, glaring at it.

Yomra’s long robes, which he always dragged around, grew longer as he ascended into the air, and when he stopped floating, they stretched out sharply in all directions, beginning to push the giant head back.

The subordinate anxiously watched the scene, calling for help from all corners of the underworld.

* * *

After pouring in all five bath bombs, an enormous amount of foam rose, obscuring not only the surface of the water but even the bathtub itself.

Rembrary, having turned the bathtub into a giant ball of foam, roughly located the bathtub with his hand, carefully grabbed the edge of the tub to avoid slipping, and got inside.

He soaked his body up to his neck in the warm water and closed his eyes, his muscles relaxing and his mental fatigue easing slightly.

But the last smile Redryn had given him kept flashing in his mind, so Rembrary opened his eyes again. He stirred the foam around, trying not to think.

Shin Joowoon came to deliver clothes and frowned at the sight. But thinking that Rembrary was probably more upset than anyone else right now, he hung the clothes on the hanger and went back out of the bathroom.

Rembrary heard Shin Joowoon leave, but he just kept splashing in the foam, not turning around.

‘Should I grill him some more meat? Or should I pile up pizzas and let him choose?’ Shin Joowoon was thinking about how to cheer Rembrary up when he spotted the butler standing in the hallway.

As their eyes met, the butler quickly approached and reported, as if he had been waiting.

“Sir, I have explained the situation to the people at Rembrary’s house. I told them he would be back tomorrow or the day after.”

“Why is it his house? It’s my house.”

The butler simply smiled, and Shin Joowoon muttered, “Good job,” not knowing if he was sincere or perfunctory, then grabbed the railing and strode down the stairs.

The butler continued to follow him, continuing his report.

“People are very noisy right now.”

“The national hero, whom they took away with assurances that it wasn’t dangerous at all, was carried out unconscious, so of course they’re noisy. Woo Sungwoo was carried out too.”

“Yes, that too, but there’s something else that’s causing more of a stir.”

“Something else?”

Shin Joowoon, having reached the bottom of the stairs, went to the kitchen, and the butler followed him there.

“The director of the Official Hunter Research Institute.”

Shin Joowoon opened the refrigerator, took out water, and looked at the butler as if to say, ‘What about him?’

“When people asked him what happened inside, he officially said he saw a god…”

“Ah.”

Shin Joowoon recalled the emotion that had appeared on the director’s face when Redryn had appeared. Considering his expression at the time, it was plausible enough, so he wasn’t that surprised.

“He did look pretty out of it.”

“That’s not all.”

Shin Joowoon opened the water bottle, and the butler sighed and continued.

“He said he was enlightened after meeting the great god and announced his official position that he would join the Redryn Hunter Company.”

“He’s joining that religion?”

“Yes. I was already having trouble adjusting to the terms ‘cataclysm’ and ‘awakened.’ Now it’s ‘god.’ Something… is really strange.”

Shin Joowoon chuckled at the butler’s bewildered reaction and muttered.

“Is it just a god?”

He hadn’t felt this disturbed when he first saw Redryn. There were other urgent situations at the time.

But when Rembrary told him about the Demon King, he really felt strange.

Shin Joowoon was about to tell the butler about his feelings, saying, ‘The Demon King is coming soon too,’ when he suddenly noticed something odd.

Cloth, the restaurant chef who had introduced himself as a demon before. That guy had come to Shin Joowoon and offered to shake hands.

And Rembrary had advised Shin Joowoon to be wary of Cloth. That meant Rembrary might have known that Cloth was a demon…

And Rembrary had said earlier that there was a Demon King inside Woo Yeonwoo. So, is that demon Cloth related to the Demon King inside Woo Yeonwoo?

‘Or not?’

“Anyway, that director. He acts fast.”

“If the director joins Redryn, he might become Rembrary’s right-hand man.”

“Who says so?”

“Well… I guess not as the boss pleases.”

Shin Joowoon stared at him, and the butler muttered as if feigning ignorance.

“Rembrary should drink something too.”

Then, as the butler pretended to look inside the refrigerator, Joowoon warned him with a finger and took out his phone.

While Shin Joowoon opened the internet and moved his thumb around, trying to find the director’s announcement that the butler had mentioned, the butler opened the refrigerator and looked at a few kinds of juice that Rembrary might like.

But when he took out the orange juice and turned around, he saw Shin Joowoon had stopped moving his finger, frowning and staring intently at something.

His expression looked quite serious, so the butler looked at him curiously, and Shin Joowoon turned his phone around and showed it to him, asking.

“Is this what you were talking about?”

The photo on the phone showed a haggard-looking Woo Yeonwoo sitting in front of numerous microphones.

The butler’s eyes widened as he examined the content in detail.

It was an interview where Woo Yeonwoo was targeting the director.

“What was inside the research center was an evil god… It’s the god ‘Redryn’ that the Redryn Hunter Company worships, and that god tried to kill Woo Sungwoo and me to save Rembrary…”

The butler mumbled and then looked at Shin Joowoon.

“That’s the gist of it.”

* * *

Title: Do you think Woo Yeonwoo is telling the truth or the director is telling the truth?

Content: I trust Woo Yeonwoo. The director said it wasn’t dangerous to save Rembrary, but it was dangerous.

—I also vote for Woo Yeonwoo. Woo Yeonwoo has no reason to lie about this, right?

—If you look at it that way, the director has no reason to lie either. What are you talking about, lol [laughing out loud]

ㄴ222 The director has no reason to make such a false announcement.

ㄴ333333

—What would Woo Yeonwoo gain from lying about this? Nothing. I also vote for Woo Yeonwoo.

ㄴThe director has nothing to gain from lying either, lol

—I’ll believe Woo Yeonwoo. Woo Yeonwoo risked his life to enter the research center to save Rembrary.

—Is it important whether this is a lie or not? Isn’t the important thing that the director is joining a cult? How can such an influential figure join a cult? Oh, Rembrary is an exception. He’s…

ㄴThere’s Ji Taein.

ㄴJi Taein joined because of Rembrary, who is a healer. The director is really believing in a cult god and joining.

ㄴWhat’s wrong with believing in a cult?

ㄴAre you asking because you don’t know…?

ㄴI don’t know

ㄴJi Taein is just a popular singer, and the director is the director of a research institute officially supported by the country.

—It’s funny, lol. Fix the premise that it’s a cult first. Isn’t a cult something that harms people while believing in a non-existent god, lol? Woo Yeonwoo also called Redryn an evil god, but he didn’t say it was a cult, lol.

—I agree with everything the person above said. So I don’t think Redryn is a cult. Look at Rembrary, who is the representative figure there. He’s someone who helps people who have been harmed, not someone who harms people.

—lololololol I don’t know why you guys are fighting lololololol If you combine Woo Yeonwoo’s words and the director’s words, they’re not completely opposite. Anyway, there’s one thing they both claim in common.

ㄴWhat is it?

ㄴThat the huge figure that appeared in the research center this time is a god. Woo Yeonwoo says it’s a bad god, and the director says that the god is great, so he’s going to join Redryn, that’s the difference.

ㄴWow;; that’s true

—But if you think about it, isn’t it scary? What did they see in the research center that made them both suddenly believe in the existence of the god Redryn? When that huge human figure that wrapped around the research center appeared, no one thought it was a god. Neither of them said that. I’m so curious about what happened inside.

ㄴI got goosebumps

—I heard there’s another awakened person with abilities similar to Rembrary. Is that person also Redryn? Has anyone heard rumors about them?

ㄴThere’s another healer!!!!!

ㄴNo, not a healer.