Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 489

◈ 489. I Knew It Would Turn Out Like This

The group fell silent, puzzled by Rembrary’s sudden departure with only Hwasa.

Ardore couldn’t decide whether to be upset that Rembrary had left him behind or pleased that Shin Jo-woon was abandoned as well.

Moolu assumed Rembrary had his reasons and began cleaning his spear, while Sagamja harbored a faint hope, wondering, ‘Can we go back soon?’

Hwasa, after teleporting several times to reach the entrance of the Demonic Cult’s cave, asked in surprise,

“Are we going back now?”

Rembrary didn’t answer, too busy looking at the people lined up at the cave entrance.

It hadn’t seemed like this when they first visited. Now, numerous martial artists were standing guard.

“Who goes there!”

The same was true even when they went inside the cave. The interior was also lined with guards.

“Who is it!”

After Rembrary and then Yoomena visited, it was clear that the Demonic Cult suspected something was inside the cave and had sent numerous guards.

“Hey! Who are you!”

“Let’s go deeper inside.”

Rembrary tugged at Hwasa’s clothes.

As the two people who had suddenly appeared disappeared again in the blink of an eye, the guards looked at each other before hurriedly blowing small whistles.

The ‘beep’ sound echoed everywhere.

“Deeper inside.”

Hwasa, visiting the Demonic Cult for the first time, grumbled incessantly as he teleported in the direction Rembrary guided him.

“I don’t understand what’s going on. You’re not even explaining properly.”

However, even after arriving at their destination deep inside the cave, Rembrary couldn’t give a proper answer.

There was even a Demonic Cult martial artist patrolling there.

“Who goes there!”

As Hwasa heard the words he had heard all the way here, he grabbed the man and threw him somewhere before returning.

The cave quickly became quiet. Hwasa thought he would get an answer now and asked again.

“Are we really going back now?”

“Probably not.”

“What? Then why did we come here?”

“Hoping we are.”

Hwasa was about to ask what that meant, but he stopped when someone called out kindly from the dark part of the cave, “Come here?”

Turning his head, he saw someone who didn’t look like a person at all.

From the simple features of his face and his overall aura, he was completely different from ordinary people, so Hwasa hid behind Rembrary.

The perceptive Hwasa immediately guessed Lumena’s identity.

Even if he didn’t know of her existence, Hwasa already knew about the existence of gods and had seen the overwhelming Redrin.

He had also heard from Shin Jo-woon that Lumena was wandering around here under the name ‘Yoomena.’

Since she had a similar overwhelming presence, he could naturally deduce Lumena’s existence.

Lumena chuckled as she looked at Hwasa.

“A cowardly lion.”

Hwasa quietly lowered his head.

Rembrary wanted them to play a little longer, but he knew it was urgent to finish what he had to do first, so he urged Lumena.

“Lumena-nim [term of respect]. Where exactly is the ‘Sleeping God’?”

Rembrary knew that the ‘Sleeping God’ was somewhere deep inside a wall in this cave, but he couldn’t pinpoint the god’s exact location and extract the body.

Rembrary looked around the cave walls and stopped his gaze on the side where the aura of the ‘Sleeping God’ was strongest.

It was near the wall where Lumena was leaning.

“There, where you’re looking.”

Hwasa, with a face that showed he didn’t understand anything, grumbled with hurt pride, but neither Rembrary nor Lumena paid any attention to it.

As Rembrary was about to put his hand on the wall, Lumena nodded.

“It won’t be lying down in human form, so it’s probably quite large. It would be difficult for us to extract a body without consciousness, so just put your hand on the wall.”

Hwasa also muttered next to him, “Sounds easy.”

Rembrary gently placed his hand on the spot where he felt the strangest sensation.

It was a stone wall that should have been cold, but he felt a faint warmth.

Lumena watched the scene carefully.

Hwasa also didn’t know what was going on, but he was caught up in the atmosphere and put on a serious expression.

“…….”

However, as time passed and Rembrary remained expressionless, just touching the wall, Hwasa began to feel a slight suspicion.

‘Is he really doing something?’

The soul fragment wouldn’t be visible, but how could such an important task as moving the Demon King’s fragment be done so unimpressively?

The way to save the world felt half-baked and bland.

Still, as he stayed quiet and anxious, he began to hear a rush of footsteps from beyond the cave passage.

It seemed that those who had been scattered and patrolling were all gathering here at the sound of an intruder.

Fortunately, those who came nearby recognized Lumena’s face and stopped.

“Yoomena?”

“It’s Yoomena again.”

“Isn’t that blonde the person who came with the Grand Prince before?”

Amidst the commotion, Rembrary didn’t budge.

He wasn’t just pretending to be calm.

Rembrary was exerting a high degree of concentration, trying to send the Demon King’s fragment, which was somewhere in his body, into the wall through his hand.

Unfortunately.

How long had he been doing that?

Just as his concentration was gradually weakening, he heard the Demon King’s fragment laughing deep within his heart.

[High Priest. Do you think I’m an idiot?]

Rembrary, who had been keeping his eyes closed the whole time even as many people watched, finally opened his eyes wide, and Hwasa asked urgently,

“Did it work?”

What? The Demonic Cult martial artists, who had inadvertently become spectators like Hwasa, waited for Rembrary’s answer, thinking the same thing.

Rembrary lowered his hand dejectedly.

“Lumena-nim. The Demon King says he’s not an idiot.”

“!”

With this, it became clear that the Demon King’s fragment would not flow into the ‘Sleeping God’ until it had finished its business.

Lumena and Shin Jo-woon had tried to give the Demon King’s fragment the illusion that it could take over the body of the sleeping god, but the Demon King’s fragment had already realized there was a trap there.

It had no intention of leaving Rembrary’s body until it broke that trap.

In any case, Rembrary wasn’t bothered in the slightest, as he had expected the first attempt to fail.

However, he had to deal with the unauthorized intrusion into the Demonic Cult’s cave well in order to proceed with the second attempt.

Rembrary glanced at Lumena, who was still reeling from the shock of being called an idiot, and looked at the Demonic Cult martial artists.

As they began to talk to each other, a man with a gray beard slowly walked out from among the Demonic Cult martial artists.

The gray beard approached and asked cautiously,

“What is going on here?”

It was a question without a subject, but his gaze was directed at Lumena.

The gray beard was Elder Yoo of the Demonic Cult, and as soon as he heard the intruder was Lumena, he had rushed over, only to end up waiting here with his subordinates for nearly half an hour.

Of course, the only reason Elder Yoo had been so patient was because he recognized Lumena’s face.

“It’s an extension of the previous visit.”

While Lumena was talking to Elder Yoo, Rembrary went back to the wall from before and put his hand on it again.

However, the Demon King’s fragment didn’t even curse this time.

How long had he been doing that?

Whatever Lumena had said, the gathered Demonic Cult members began to retreat one by one.

The sound of many people’s footsteps moving away at the same time echoed throughout the cave.

Turning his head, he saw the martial artists tilting their heads and leaving.

When they had all retreated, Lumena looked back and forth between Rembrary and Hwasa and smiled nonchalantly.

“It failed once, but it’s okay. There will be another chance. Soon.”

Then, Lumena signaled Rembrary to stay where he was for a moment and gestured for Hwasa to follow her.

“Me?”

“Yes. You.”

Hwasa didn’t know why Lumena was calling him, so he looked back at Rembrary.

However, Rembrary deliberately turned his head and stood with his hands behind his back, staring at the cave wall.

“This way.”

Before he could even figure out the reason, Lumena called him again, so Hwasa followed Lumena for now.

‘Well, she’s supposed to be a kind god, so she wouldn’t call me to badmouth him behind his back, right? Of course, it wouldn’t matter even if she did.’

After passing through a few cave corridors, Lumena waved one hand in the air.

She just waved it once, as if brushing it aside, but surprisingly, when Lumena lowered her hand, a strange barrier appeared around them, through which they could see the outside.

“What is this?”

“I’ve slightly separated this part of the space so that sound doesn’t leak out.”

“Huh?”

Hwasa was startled.

“Why?”

“Because the Demon King’s fragment shouldn’t hear what I’m about to say.”

“Oh… then, couldn’t we have just made this, this bubble thing, back there and talked… ?”

“Then Redrin’s child would be upset.”

“Oh….”

‘What is this consideration?’ Hwasa looked at Lumena, who seemed completely different from the Redrin he had seen before, with wonder.

“I had told Shin Jo-woon about it before, but it’s difficult to meet that child separately now, so you should tell him. The Demon King’s fragment is probably looking for a way to keep the ‘Sleeping God’s’ mind asleep and only awaken the body.”

“Didn’t we already deceive him about that?”

“Now that he’s found out he was deceived, he’ll be looking for it.”

“Then isn’t that dangerous? Should we stop him…?”

“Let him be. The ‘Sleeping God’ can never be awakened, no matter what he does.”

“Huh?”

“But the Demon King’s fragment won’t be able to figure this out. After all, he’s borrowing Rembrary’s body right now. It’s difficult for him to meet the demigods and hear explanations.”

“Demigods? There are more gods?”

The head of a Buddhist monk, who didn’t have strong religious beliefs, began to get confused.

“Whatever the Demon King’s fragment finds will be a wild goose chase, but he’ll only leave Rembrary’s body if he finds something. So, if he finds something, tell me. Let’s try again.”

As he nodded, Lumena smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

The large bubble-like thing had already disappeared.

And as he looked ahead, amazed by the disappearance of the large bubble, Lumena had also disappeared.

‘When did she leave?’

Even as he looked around in confusion, there wasn’t even a sign of anyone.

Hwasa rubbed his arm for no reason, feeling bewildered, and went back to find Rembrary.

* * *

Hwasa was bothered by the fact that he had talked to Lumena without Rembrary knowing.

Because of that, he kept fidgeting with his beard and watching Rembrary’s reaction, but Rembrary didn’t care because he already knew why Lumena had acted that way.

Rembrary didn’t bother asking what Lumena had said.

Because he knew it was better for him not to know.

What was unfortunate was….

[I think I know what those children were talking about, High Priest. What about you?]

Both the Demon King’s fragment and Rembrary could easily guess the content of the secret conversation.

‘I know too.’

As Rembrary muttered inwardly, a low laugh tickled his eardrums.

* * *

Thanks to Hwasa’s continuous teleportation, Rembrary returned to the capital in less than a day.

However, instead of returning directly to the palace, Rembrary met the Grand Prince and put him to sleep first.

Then, he bought snacks, wandered around, and returned to the palace.

It was already late at night.