Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 408

408. You Weren’t Trying to Help Me

Rembrary looked back and forth between the gun and Ardor, his face conveying, ‘Are you kidding me?’

Sensing this, Ardor tactfully added an explanation.

“Of course, I mean *I’ll* shoot. High Priest, you just pretend to be surprised.”

Ardor’s tact failed. Even with the added explanation, Rembrary’s expression didn’t change. Ardor awkwardly put the gun back.

Seeing his dejected look, Rembrary sighed and chided him.

“If you kill Lapsus in front of people, do you think they’ll come to Redrin [Rembrary’s religious order]?”

“The enemies are already using underhanded methods. Should we always be fair? We could threaten them or make an example of a few….”

“If we do that, Redrin will become a demon king’s domain.”

Ardor hesitated, unsure whether to admire Rembrary for thinking of something he hadn’t, marvel at his realization, or simply accept the criticism. He let out a short “Ah,” and lowered his eyes.

“I see. High Priest, you truly are insightful.”

“It’s not that I’m insightful, but that you’re short-sighted.”

Rembrary sighed and placed the remaining crumb of cupcake back on the tray.

“I’m too troubled to have an appetite. I should stop eating. Be gone.”

* * *

The day of the music show recording arrived. Rembrary, having secured a spot right after Lapsus with Shin Joowoon’s help, arrived at the broadcasting station with a complicated heart.

“It’s Rembrary.”

“It’s the Healer.”

“Wow, awesome.”

As he got out of the car and walked down the hallway, unlike his Wild Animal [Rembrary’s former idol group] days, people whispered in admiration. However, Rembrary couldn’t enjoy the changed atmosphere.

He waved back appropriately, but his heart was still withered with worry for Redrin, who hadn’t contacted him.

And that wasn’t all. Ardor, who was following behind with fiery eyes, was also a concern.

—I will act as the High Priest’s road manager.

It was difficult to leave him behind or take him along, but he had brought him along for now. He was constantly bothered by the thought that Ardor might go crazy and pull out a gun at any moment. It was only this manageable because Mullu was also brought along and kept by his side; if Mullu had been left behind, he would have been even more worried.

“Pig, where are you going? This way.”

“I thought this wasn’t the way before?”

“I changed it. There was an incident during the Second Great Shift [likely a cataclysmic event in their world].”

However, Rembrary wasn’t the only one feeling uneasy with various worries.

The other singers’ managers and broadcasting staff, who were running busily through the hallway, were also very uncomfortable with Rembrary’s appearance.

‘Why is Shin Joowoon wearing a manager’s name tag?’

‘Is Shin Joowoon a manager?’

‘Why did he come himself?’

Shin Joowoon was following Rembrary around as a manager, making the staff and other real managers uncomfortable.

It wasn’t that Shin Joowoon was happy to follow, but to the real managers and broadcasting staff, the fact that a High-End Hunter [powerful individuals] with only ten people was threateningly wandering around, claiming to have done some entertainment work in the past, was an ecosystem disruption.

Moreover, that disheveled silver hair following behind Rembrary with hollow eyes and a smile. Wasn’t that the crazy guy who became famous for shooting at Woo Yeonwoo in the parking lot?

For people who had gathered purely for a broadcast appearance, this group was bound to be uncomfortable.

“Excuse me, can I ask you something for a moment?”

“Yes, Mr. President. Yes.”

“I’m a manager today. Where do I get the rehearsal schedule?”

“Ah, if you go straight down that hallway and turn right.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

Shin Joowoon, asking the staff who were acting like subordinates in front of their boss, managed to get the rehearsal schedule and safely found the waiting room with Rembrary.

However, the moment he stood in front of the waiting room, Shin Joowoon didn’t grab the doorknob but stood in place, narrowing his brows.

Rembrary, who had been following right behind, saw the name tag on the waiting room and made a sound of “Huh?” in bewilderment.

The names of the singers or groups using the waiting room were written on the door, and here, two names were written one above the other: Rembrary and Lapsus.

Shin Joowoon frowned, not because he expected a private room. Of course, he did expect a private room, but what surprised him now was that Lapsus’s name was posted with Rembrary’s.

“Looks like I’m sharing a room with Cock-ko [a derogatory nickname for Lapsus].”

Rembrary muttered without much thought, though he found it a bit unexpected. Having experienced several broadcast-related coincidences during his Wild Animal Woo Yeonwoo days, Rembrary wasn’t too bothered by this.

But Shin Joowoon was not. Rembrary and Lapsus had been fighting on social media, calling each other chickens and dogs, as soon as their music was released. Anyone interested in celebrities knew that the two were on bad terms. Even if they weren’t interested, they would know if the rumors were loud enough. There was no way the broadcasting station staff wouldn’t know.

Yet, they openly put these two in the same room? The intention was malicious. Fight.

As soon as he finished his assessment, Shin Joowoon turned around with a stiff face.

“Excuse me, passing by.”

Shin Joowoon randomly picked a passing staff member, and as the staff member approached hesitantly, Shin Joowoon pointed to the door with his finger.

“What is this?”

A question he couldn’t possibly not know the answer to. The staff member smiled awkwardly, but Shin Joowoon’s expression didn’t soften.

“I want to change the waiting room.”

He didn’t even beat around the bush, making a request disguised as a favor. The staff member apologized with a troubled face.

“I’m sorry. I’m not the one who decides that. I can’t change it arbitrarily….”

“Then who is the person who can change it arbitrarily?”

“Pardon?”

“I’d like to see that person.”

In the blink of an eye, Shin Joowoon led the staff member to find the staff member with the authority to change the room.

Rembrary was left standing blankly in front of the waiting room door, staring at Shin Joowoon’s back, then looked back and forth between Ardor and Mullu.

“What should we do? Should we wait here or follow?”

However, the two of them knew even less about this kind of work than Rembrary, so they had nothing to say. When the two shook their heads, Rembrary finally came to a conclusion on his own.

“Let’s go inside, for now.”

“Would that be okay?”

“Even if we change the room, Lapsus will probably change it back. This room will be my room.”

But as soon as he finished speaking and opened the door, Rembrary immediately faced the other room owner, Lapsus.

Lapsus was already sitting in front of the mirror, eating a sandwich, with his makeup perfectly done. There was no way he hadn’t heard the commotion at the door, yet he had a nonchalant expression.

As soon as Ardor spotted Lapsus, he reached for his gun again, but this time he couldn’t even pull it out. Mullu, who had been watching the previous incident closely, grabbed his wrist from behind as soon as he touched the gun.

“I’ll be outside for a moment, High Priest.”

Mullu, having confirmed that there was no one else in the room besides Lapsus, decided that it would be better to remove Ardor, said that, and took the brake-less Ardor out into the hallway, closing the door.

As the two left, Lapsus stopped looking at Rembrary and sneered while looking in the mirror.

“Is it okay even without people to take care of you? You can’t even feed yourself.”

“To be concerned about my meals. How kind of you.”

“You still interpret things however you want.”

“You remember so much about me.”

Lapsus gritted his teeth, but remembering that Rembrary wouldn’t react no matter what he said, he eventually shut his mouth and tried to ignore him.

“I heard you’re enchanting people with strange powers. Is that a power you gained by joining hands with the Demon King?”

But as soon as Lapsus tried to ignore him, Rembrary asked a question. It was true, but Lapsus didn’t answer at all, as he had decided earlier.

Mixing words with Rembrary would make anyone’s blood boil. He was no exception. If he couldn’t do anything with words, it was better to just ignore him.

“Lumena raised you wrong.”

“……”

“Lumena’s taste is bad.”

“……”

“Come to think of it, Lumena always cherished the weak and clumsy ones. Now that I think about it, her taste is terrible.”

But as Rembrary muttered three words, Lapsus realized. Mixing words makes you angry, but ignoring him makes you angry too.

“Is that what you have to say about the person who was harmed trying to save you, even though she’s not your god?”

“I was talking about you.”

“You son of a bitch!”

Just as Lapsus, angry, threw a perfume bottle at Rembrary, and Rembrary was catching it and spraying it on his neck, suddenly the temperature seemed to drop in an instant, and people in black suits appeared around them like a mirage, filling the waiting room.

All of them had pale skin and bloodless lips, exuding a beautiful but eerie aura. Rembrary and Lapsus recognized them as grim reapers almost simultaneously.

As soon as they realized they were grim reapers, Rembrary exuded divine majesty. The grim reapers, pressed by the majesty, immediately staggered, making suppressed noises as soon as they appeared. Some fell, some grabbed the wall, and some collapsed altogether. Lapsus was among those who collapsed.

Lapsus, who had suddenly collapsed without being able to deal with the grim reapers, instinctively trembled and shouted at Rembrary.

“I don’t need any help!”

Rembrary, who had used ‘Divine Majesty’ because he remembered being kidnapped by grim reapers before, tilted his head, wondering what Lapsus was talking about.

“I’m not helping you, I’m doing my job.”

“Your job is interfering with me!”

“You just said you were helping.”

“Everything you do interferes with me!”

“Then keep lying down.”

In that state, Rembrary sat comfortably in the waiting room chair, pondering what to do with these grim reapers.

Not because they were pretty, but he had no intention of harming the grim reapers any further. With Redrin’s power weakened so drastically, the only ones who could fight the Demon King’s side were the underworld.

But he didn’t want to be dragged to the underworld again if he released his divine majesty here. Lapsus seemed to believe that the grim reapers had come for him, but he wouldn’t know until he released his majesty.

Even if they really came to catch Lapsus, they might try to catch him as well while they were at it.

‘What should I do?’

But before Rembrary could make a decision.

“Please don’t interfere.”

Someone else appeared.

Rembrary turned his head to the side at the voice from the doorway. Sagamjae was standing in the doorframe, opening the door with one hand.

“This matter is not related to you, so it’s best not to get involved.”

Lapsus’s eyes flashed sharply at Sagamjae’s appearance.

“Are you working as a manager again?”

Lapsus’s eyes became even more ferocious as Rembrary greeted Sagamjae familiarly. To talk so intimately. Even the grim reaper who heard that friendly greeting wasn’t surprised and reacted.

“No. I’m on duty. So I’d appreciate it if you could step aside.”

As the grim reaper treated Rembrary politely and Rembrary treated him intimately, a twisted smile appeared on Lapsus’s lips.

“I see, Rembrary. You weren’t trying to help me. You were trying to help those grim reapers.”