Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 478

◈ 478. The Same Thing Happened Before

Rembrary’s sudden announcement, gathering everyone, brought them to a standstill.

“No, when did she visit?”

Hwasaja, who was eating fruit, asked in bewilderment. “Lumena is a god, isn’t she?” Not that he believes in her, but still, she’s a god.

Shouldn’t something significant happen when a god visits? But for her to come and go so quietly felt strange.

Shin Joong-woon asked,

“When did she visit?”

Before Rembrary could answer, Ardor covered his mouth and chuckled darkly.

“Playing the heir of heresy, only to be abandoned the moment Rembrary arrives.”

Shin Joong-woon glanced at Ardor but showed no particular reaction.

He clearly didn’t want to engage.

Rembrary looked around at the group before answering Shin Joong-woon’s question.

“She came to the shrine.”

Rembrary had been frequently visiting the shrine recently, wondering if Lumena might appear, since she hadn’t been around. He had sensed Lumena’s energy there when he briefly stayed in Woo Yeon-woo’s body.

The shrine itself seemed to be built for Lumena.

Rembrary’s hunch was right; he was able to meet Lumena right there.

Seeing that no one else seemed to have any questions, Rembrary continued.

“I told her about a place where a sleeping god might be, so she’ll be looking around there. Until then, we should stay together and not scatter.”

“Anything else?”

Rembrary shook his head at Sagamjae’s question.

“That’s all she said before leaving.”

After speaking, Rembrary suddenly looked at Shin Joong-woon.

The group fell silent at his gaze.

Everyone had noticed Rembrary distancing himself from Shin Joong-woon in recent days.

They watched Rembrary and Shin Joong-woon alternately, curious about what would happen today.

“…….”

However, Rembrary didn’t say anything and stood up.

Sagamjae watched this with amusement before chuckling briefly.

Rembrary’s gaze turned to Sagamjae at the sound of his laughter.

But his gaze was just as cold, so Sagamjae stopped laughing.

This wasn’t the time for him to be laughing at Shin Joong-woon.

Rembrary, who usually had a gentle smile, made people wonder, ‘Why is he acting like this?’ simply by not smiling.

As soon as Rembrary stood up and left, Ardor, filled with happiness, quickly followed.

“High Priest, I will assist you! Step on my hands!”

No sooner had Ardor left than Mullu, in the blink of an eye, drew the spear from his back and pointed it at Shin Joong-woon’s neck.

Shin Joong-woon frowned. Mullu said coldly, without a change in expression.

“Beg the High Priest for forgiveness.”

Shin Joong-woon flicked the tip of the spear with his finger.

The spearhead instantly turned to ice with a ‘clang’ and broke off.

Shin Joong-woon picked up the broken piece, handed it to Mullu, and asked.

“Shouldn’t you ask if something happened before pointing a spear, whether there’s a reason to be angry or not?”

Mullu, who had no intention of actually attacking, put the spear back on his back, took the broken piece, and said indifferently.

“I don’t need to ask.”

Shin Joong-woon smirked, raising one corner of his mouth.

“Why? Is he a person of great virtue?”

“I don’t need to find a reason for the High Priest to be angry. You just need a reason to beg for forgiveness. If there isn’t one, create one.”

As Mullu left, Hwasaja muttered quietly.

“That’s why they seem like cultists. Don’t they realize it?”

Hwasaja, who had attended temples with his mother, couldn’t understand such ideology.

On the other hand, Shin Joong-woon didn’t seem surprised and said to Sagamjae.

“I think Rembrary knows we’re deceiving him.”

Sagamjae, who also wasn’t receiving warm glances from Rembrary, nodded.

“It seems so.”

Shin Joong-woon frowned and fidgeted with the long, flowing sleeves of his robe, which were definitely more cumbersome compared to his usual suit.

Sagamjae, who stubbornly wore only black clothes even here, said calmly.

“It’s unavoidable, even if we feel sorry. Resolving things quickly is ultimately better for Rembrary.”

“He’ll probably avoid talking to us for a while.”

Sagamjae shrugged at Shin Joong-woon’s muttering.

At that moment, Hwasaja, who was fiddling with his mask, said something strange.

“It would be fortunate if it stopped at avoiding us.”

It could be heard as ‘it’s fortunate that it stopped there,’ but it also had the nuance of ‘it didn’t stop there.’

Sagamjae and Shin Joong-woon looked at Hwasaja simultaneously.

Since his ability was teleportation, Hwasaja’s range of activity was twice as wide as theirs.

He might have seen something while wandering around.

“What’s wrong?”

When Shin Joong-woon asked directly, Hwasaja hesitated before revealing.

“Actually, I’ve seen Rembrary acting strangely lately.”

“Acting strangely?”

“He’s been wandering around alone. Outside the palace.”

Sagamjae raised a question.

“Isn’t he just going out for a walk? It doesn’t seem that strange. He also has colleagues he met here at a nearby inn.”

“I don’t know.”

However, Hwasaja still spoke suspiciously.

“I don’t think so.”

When he met Shin Joong-woon’s eyes, Hwasaja, who was a little afraid of him, retracted his arms, which had been stretched comfortably behind him, and said.

“He was wandering around without snacks.”

When Sagamjae asked, “Snacks?” Hwasaja nodded.

“Yeah, snacks. He buys something to eat whenever he gets the chance. But he was walking around empty-handed.”

“!”

Sagamjae and Shin Joong-woon exchanged glances. That was definitely strange.

“And Rembrary… He’s been hanging out with the Emperor here.”

“?”

* * *

At that moment, Loyal Subject 8 reappeared before the Emperor, who was reading petitions.

The Emperor didn’t take his eyes off the petitions.

Because the ‘making friends at the night market’ that he had suggested was completely useless.

Of course, his faith in Loyal Subject 8 wouldn’t disappear just because of this, but for now, he wanted to look at the petitions more than Loyal Subject 8.

However, Loyal Subject 8 stood firmly without calling out until the Emperor looked at him.

He believed that the Emperor was cold and thorough, but not a tyrant who would treat his loyal subjects harshly just because he was slightly upset.

So, he quietly waited for the Emperor to look at him.

As expected, after about an hour, the Emperor laid the petition he had been holding down and looked at him coldly.

“What is it?”

“I have something urgent to tell you, Your Majesty.”

Loyal Subject 8 bowed deeply.

The Emperor gestured for him to rise and lightly folded the petition in half, placing it aside.

Only then did Loyal Subject 8 feel relieved and tell him what he had seen.

“Actually, I went to see Doctor Rem in person to properly teach Your Majesty how to make friends this time.”

“A useless act.”

“Since every person is different, I need to know what they like and what their nature is to properly help Your Majesty this time.”

Once he had conveyed his loyalty, Loyal Subject 8 cautiously brought up the main point when the Emperor seemed to be relenting.

“So, I went to the place Doctor Rem frequents. It was near the shrine. But… I saw a very strange sight there.”

The Emperor, who had been instructing the head eunuch to grind more ink with his eyes, paused as he heard the story.

Shrine.

The shadow, who had been standing beside him without a presence, also flinched and looked at the Emperor.

The Emperor frowned. Shrine. It was there that he had experienced a bizarre and mysterious event for the first time.

Perhaps it was because he had experienced such a thing at that time that he wasn’t so surprised when he first saw Hwasaja.

The Emperor put down his brush and leaned back in his chair.

Unlike before, he seemed ready to listen to the story in earnest, and Loyal Subject 8, feeling puzzled, continued to speak.

“Doctor Rem didn’t enter the shrine but stood near a large tree. It was facing the entrance. He was just standing there without doing anything. The strange thing was the shrine. It was originally a place with bizarre rumors. But really… it was the first time I had seen a god do such a thing…”

As Loyal Subject 8 was about to stray from his words, the head eunuch cleared his throat loudly on behalf of the Emperor.

Loyal Subject 8, who had been briefly absorbed in the eerie sight he had seen, quickly started speaking again.

“Someone was standing inside the shrine building facing Doctor Rem. He was wearing very unique clothes and was very tall… a very tall person. He looked like a person on the outside. But even though he was standing still, his hair was shaking, and his clothes were fluttering. Doctor Rem, who was facing him, was fine even though he was outside, even though not a single breeze was blowing.”

The Emperor frowned.

“Was he shaking his body himself?”

That would be eerie in its own way, but Loyal Subject 8 strongly denied it.

“Absolutely not. I would have recognized it if he was. Besides the wind, day and night were also changing near him, Your Majesty.”

“Day and night changed?”

“Yes. Only around that shrine was it as dark as night. But Doctor Rem wasn’t afraid and didn’t approach it. When Doctor Rem approached, that strange person standing in the room took a couple of steps out the door. In that state, the two of them had a conversation, but I couldn’t hear the conversation from where I was hiding.”

Shaking with fear just thinking about it, Loyal Subject 8 trembled.

“Afterward, the strange person greeted Doctor Rem and went back into the shrine, and Doctor Rem went somewhere else. After a while, I went to see that the shrine door was locked, Your Majesty. I clearly saw that person standing in the doorway, but it was locked from the outside.”

It was indeed an eerie event, and the head eunuch felt goosebumps all over.

However, the Emperor’s expression wasn’t that of someone who had heard a scary story.

He was tilting his head with shining eyes, as if he had remembered something.

In fact, the Emperor was recalling an old event. Well, not a very old event.

Although very few people knew, a court eunuch had been possessed by a ghost before.

He wasn’t possessed for very long, and the ghost inside the eunuch suddenly attained enlightenment near the shrine. A golden soul came out.

Perhaps he was caught by a grim reaper. A white hand pulled the soul out of the eunuch.

After the ghost left.

The eunuch didn’t remember anything, and even after watching him, he lived like an ordinary eunuch with no particular abnormalities.

But when Loyal Subject 8 said that he had experienced a strange event at the shrine, that incident came to mind.

Come to think of it, the eunuch who was possessed by the ghost at the time also called him ‘멸치(myeolchi – anchovy)’. He had completely forgotten about it afterward.

The Emperor looked at the shadow.

The shadow was looking down and not moving, but he seemed to be recalling the event as well.

The Emperor recalled the golden soul leaving the eunuch and muttered.

“…That ghost?”