Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 438

◈ 438. Offers from Two Places

Rembrary wandered the streets for a while longer but eventually returned to the inn, unsuccessful.

“Rembrary? Where have you been?” Nangil asked, eyes wide, as he entered the inn. It seemed he had only just noticed Rembrary’s absence.

Seeing the Lion Dance Myeosu, whom Rembrary had rescued from Goriburi, happily eating with the rest of the group, it seemed Nangil had been too busy taking care of him.

“I went to look for the scattered members.”

“Did you find them?”

“No.”

“Oh dear. What should we do?”

“I’ll have to look again. But what are you holding there?” Rembrary was about to look for the server to get something to eat when he noticed the unfamiliar paper in Nangil’s hand and asked.

The letters on the paper were still damp, as if it had just been written.

“Ah, this. Myeosu told me that performances are often held here irregularly.”

“Performances?”

“Yeah. There are regular performances, but it’s difficult for us to attend those. So I’m trying to attend the irregular ones. It’s an application.”

“So, do I just sing again?”

“Right? Let’s coordinate the order this evening.”

At Nangil’s bright voice, Rembrary nodded and approached the server.

“What’s good here?”

* * *

The Hwachinqin troupe gathered in the evening to decide on the performance order.

The dancers, Hwanmae and Hocho, wanted to see Myeosu’s performance, but they postponed the opportunity to the next time, as they heard that the Goriburi troupe had a lot of influence here.

Although Myeosu had joined Hwachinqin of his own volition, Goriburi might still feel offended.

They didn’t want to cause problems with other troupes.

“Now that we’ve brought Myeosu, the problem has already started,” Rembrary corrected with a smile, but the Hwachinqin troupe members said there wouldn’t be any problems.

However, two days later, it was revealed that there was a problem.

Before the performance time.

They were practicing and went to perform at the appropriate time, but when the manager there heard the name of the Hwachinqin troupe, his expression suddenly changed, and he said this:

“Huh? Hwachinqin? That troupe isn’t on the schedule?”

The members reflexively looked at Nangil, the leader.

“Leader, didn’t you apply?” Nangil asked again, dumbfounded.

“Of course, I did. I came here two days ago and showed the recommendation letter I received from Lord 14 and registered. How can it not be on the schedule?”

At the firm protest, the manager showed the list he was holding.

“Look, look here. It’s not here.”

The name of Hwachinqin was on the list. However, it was crossed out.

It was obvious that someone had canceled it arbitrarily, and Nangil opened his mouth in dismay.

“What is this line?”

“Cancellation line.”

The manager didn’t bat an eye, as if removing the name was intentional. Nangil was speechless and angry, his mouth agape.

But the manager just smiled slyly and waved them away.

“If you don’t have a performance, get out of here. Other participants can’t come.”

“Is this guy crazy-” Sanmyeong, unable to watch any longer, was about to say something in anger, but Nangil reached out and stopped him.

Nangil quickly shook his head, telling him not to.

“But Leader!” Sanmyeong tried to protest, still not relieved of his anger, but Nangil shook his head again.

He knew that protesting here would only involve them in a commotion and wouldn’t help at all.

Nangil was also very angry, but as the person in charge, she had to manage the troupe so that it didn’t cause problems.

“I’m sorry. It’s because of me…….”

“Why is this your fault? Don’t be discouraged, Myeosu.”

“The Goriburi leader is quite close to the lord here. The lord may have taken the name off at the request of the Goriburi leader.”

“Still, it’s not your fault.”

But as the Hwachinqin troupe was about to leave, unexpectedly, there was booing from the audience, “Ooooo!”

It wasn’t the majority booing, but the voices were so loud that people’s attention naturally turned to them.

There, people wearing the same black martial robes and exuding a threatening atmosphere were gathered.

They were booing at Hwachinqin and the manager, seemingly criticizing the manager for arbitrarily removing Hwachinqin’s name.

The manager frowned, a little scared by the menacing atmosphere of those who were booing in unison.

But he didn’t say anything because he didn’t know why they were booing.

He just muttered in a very small voice, pretending to be brave, “What are those guys?”

The answer to that was unexpectedly given by Rembrary.

“Huh? Aren’t those the ones.”

Nangil was thinking, ‘Why are those people booing for us?’ and asked, “Do you know them?”

Rembrary nodded.

“I saw them once. They said they were from some place called the Demonic Cult.”

At that, the manager, who had been indifferent, opened his eyes wide. The manager stared at Rembrary as if trying to gauge whether it was true.

Nangil was also surprised by this.

“The Demonic Cult?”

“Do you know the place?”

“How could I not know it!”

“Is it famous?”

“Famous! Of course! Even non-martial artists know about the Demonic Cult, Blood Cult, Shaolin Temple, Mount Hua Sect, Wudang Sect, and the Zhuge Family! Besides, the Demonic Cult is famous for being scary!”

Rembrary had no idea, so his expression didn’t change.

“Is that so.”

He answered because he felt like he had to answer something, and then he heard the voice of ‘Hwachinqin!’ again from the audience.

When Rembrary looked over there, the Demonic Cult members in black martial robes were shouting for Hwachinqin to be put on stage immediately.

“Why are these people, who are famous for being scary, acting like this now?” At Rembrary’s question, Nangil shook his head.

“I don’t know. Why are they doing this?”

* * *

“That blonde has to be treated like a nasty audience member when he comes on stage.”

The Demonic Cult members’ intention was simple.

They had come to see the stage to choose a beauty to invite to the Demonic Cult, and they were angry when they saw the familiar face that had played with their patience two days ago.

They were martial artists, and Rembrary seemed to be a non-martial artist, so they didn’t use their hands at the time.

However, the story changes when that background goes up on stage.

If they could take revenge for that day without using their own hands, they should, of course, do so.

“Boo him when he goes up.”

“No, we shouldn’t do that during other people’s turns, but only during his turn. That’s more dramatic.”

“Won’t it be obvious?”

“It has to be obvious. That’s why we’re doing it.”

The Demonic Cult members were convinced among themselves and snickered, saying that it was a way to take revenge for making them feel unpleasant by messing around between them, and to protect their pride as martial artists who didn’t touch non-martial artists.

But they were eagerly waiting, but for some reason, the manager was trying not to put the troupe, which included that annoying blonde, on stage at all.

So, the Demonic Cult members had booed the manager first.

* * *

The group, unaware of this, was just beaming because the Demonic Cult members were standing up for them.

“Wow, they’re really grateful people.”

“I guess you shouldn’t just listen to rumors and believe them.”

On the other hand, the manager wondered why the martial artists were making such a fuss, but as they continued to shout fiercely, he reluctantly canceled the cancellation.

“There seems to have been some error in the process. Go on in.”

The Hwachinqin members chuckled at the manager’s obvious lie as he changed his words, covering his eyes and ringing.

However, they didn’t want to ruin this opportunity since they were finally able to perform.

“Thank you, sir,” Nangil bowed on behalf of the members and quickly took the group to the place where the entertainers were waiting for their turn.

When they arrived at the waiting area, Nangil, the leader, calmed the members who had been briefly disturbed by the sudden incident and encouraged them.

“There was a strange incident, but don’t worry about anything. You know? Just do as you practiced and come down.”

Still, some of them still seemed dazed by the sudden situation, so Nangil pointed to Rembrary with a wink.

“Do it like that, like that.”

Even in this situation, Rembrary had the same gentle smile as usual.

Duran trembled and frowned, feeling a little strange about Rembrary. When he thought about it, Rembrary seemed to have that expression most of the time.

Meanwhile, when it was finally Hwachinqin’s turn, the manager approached with a forced smile and informed them, “It’s your turn.”

Nangil took the members behind the stage and sent them up according to the performance order.

Some focused on dancing, some focused on singing, and some combined dancing, singing, and acting, so there were many things to see.

Perhaps because of the commotion of booing earlier, the audience seemed to be particularly focused on Hwachinqin’s stage.

And finally, it was Rembrary’s turn.

In fact, it’s difficult for a newcomer who hasn’t been in a troupe for long to get an entire turn to himself, but Nangil boldly arranged it because Rembrary had already achieved excellent results in the 14th Fortress.

Nangil was relieved when Rembrary went up without trembling, with a face that said, ‘I’m great! I’m great!’ and dropped his shoulders.

“Well, I don’t have to worry about him.”

As he was about to take care of the next two in line, the sound of booing started to ring out again as soon as Rembrary went up. Even though he hadn’t done anything yet.

Nangil and the members, surprised, looked at the stage and saw that the people who had booed for taking Hwachinqin’s name off were now booing at Rembrary.

“Why are those people doing that?”

“Weren’t they on our side?”

“It’s obvious they’re not.”

The person in charge, who had been booed once, was grinning, happy that he wasn’t the only one being booed.

Since Rembrary’s expression couldn’t be seen from behind the stage, Nangil and Duran rushed to the side of the stage, worried.

If you’re with everyone, you shrink when you hear booing. If you go up alone and hear booing-

“He’s waving his hand?”

He must be waving his hand.

Far from trembling or being surprised, Nangil almost fell over, his legs giving way, at the sight of Rembrary smiling gently and raising one hand to wave at those who were booing.

Duran hurriedly grabbed him from behind, so he was safe, but Duran, who saw Rembrary late, was also surprised and took a step back, so the two ended up falling together.

Fortunately, they weren’t the only ones surprised. Other audience members, as well as those who had booed Rembrary, were also dumbfounded.

“They’re not cheering him on.”

“Why is he responding?”

“He’s smiling in that situation?”

People were either taken aback by Rembrary’s firm smile, or…

“Are they acquaintances?”

“They must be friends. They’re just joking around.”

They independently interpreted the relationship between the Demonic Cult members and Rembrary.

The Demonic Cult members, who had deliberately booed Rembrary to discourage him, became even more angry and fumed when Rembrary didn’t bat an eye.

“Let’s disrupt his song.”

“When he sings, let’s ruin the important parts.”

“If his song is ruined, that expression won’t come out anymore.”

However, the moment Rembrary started singing, the expressions of the Demonic Cult members, who had been firmly determined, froze.

A subordinate who had grabbed Rembrary’s collar at the inn whispered to Yeon Seung-kyung.

“Great Lord, I think we should take that man.”

* * *

The stage was successfully completed, and the Hwachinqin members prepared to return.

Myeosu, who heard Rembrary’s song for the first time, even teared up while helping the group pack and praised Rembrary.

“Rem hyung [older brother or respected male figure] is really good at singing.”

When Rembrary, whose name had been drastically reduced again, raised his head sharply, Duran bit his lip and moved his hands to hold back his laughter.

But just as they were about to finish preparing to leave, suddenly, strangers began to approach from both directions.

The one coming from one side was an old man they had never seen before, and the ones coming from the other side were the Demonic Cult people who had seemed to be on their side, but then booed Rembrary.

They were wondering why they were coming, and as soon as they approached, they threw words at them.

“Did you say Hwachinqin? If you don’t have any next schedule, I’d like to invite you to the Murim Alliance [Martial Arts Alliance].”

“I’ll give you a generous reward, so perform at the Demonic Cult.”

At the proposals that came almost simultaneously, the leader looked left and right in surprise.

The ones who spoke also looked at each other’s revealed identities in surprise and sent wary glances.