Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 490

490. I’ll Find You

“Your Majesty?” Rembrary paused, waiting for the rest of the sentence.

The Head Eunuch, however, seemed unable to speak, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

Rembrary stepped closer, peering into the eunuch’s face. Startled, the Head Eunuch finally managed to stammer,

“Please, come this way for now.”

The ‘this way’ referred to the inside of Rembrary’s room.

Hwasa, standing nearby, found himself drawn in, following along since he was next to Rembrary.

The eunuch glanced at him but didn’t explicitly ask him to leave.

“What on earth is going on?” Rembrary asked as they entered the room. The eunuch sighed heavily, tears welling in his eyes, and finally spoke.

“Your Majesty has disappeared, Doctor Rem!”

“Disappeared? Didn’t he just go out for a stroll?”

“No. He literally ‘disappeared.’ If he had been kidnapped or attacked, why would I be telling Doctor Rem?”

“I don’t know why you’re telling me even if he disappeared.”

“Because Doctor Rem often visits the shrine.”

“The shrine? Did he disappear from the shrine?”

“Yes.”

The eunuch trembled, as if the mere thought was horrifying.

“It was truly bizarre. We were discussing moving the shrine when His Majesty saw the sacred object. People were too afraid to touch it. Even the old eunuch in charge was reluctant to move it. Then, His Majesty said, ‘I dropped this once before. I picked it up and kept it,’ and he lifted the sacred object. That’s when he disappeared.”

Hwasa muttered, “What an idiot,” but quickly shut his mouth under the eunuch’s glare.

The Head Eunuch shot Hwasa an angry look before turning back to Rembrary to explain.

“It’s not that His Majesty was careless, Doctor Rem. Didn’t Doctor Rem briefly visit with light once before?”

“Me?”

“Why, the eunuch’s body—”

Before the eunuch could finish, Rembrary pushed Hwasa out.

Hwasa stood blankly for a moment before being shoved and stumbling down the hallway.

“Why did you push me!”

“Don’t come in. This is grown-ups’ business.”

“I’m also an adult, or am I older?”

Rembrary hurriedly closed the door and gestured for the Head Eunuch to continue.

He didn’t care whether Hwasa was older or younger; it didn’t matter.

The Head Eunuch had business with Rembrary, not Hwasa, so he obediently continued speaking.

“Doctor Rem, you once entered Eunuch Woo’s body, didn’t you? I don’t know how you did it, though.”

“I don’t know either, but I did.”

“Yes?”

“Keep talking.”

“Yes… Back then, when you were passing away, Doctor Rem, I don’t know if you intended it, but the silk wrapping the sacred object in the center of the shrine flew off, revealing the portrait inside. We were told never to touch it, but His Majesty was curious and picked it up… Actually, he had to pick it up to wrap it back in silk.”

“Whose portrait was it?”

“I don’t know. But it was a very vivid portrait… No, that’s not the point. Anyway, he thought it would be fine this time too, so he just picked it up. But suddenly, he vanished without a trace…”

The eunuch shed a tear.

“Fortunately, Doctor Rem often visits the shrine, does strange things there, and has a deep connection with it in many ways. So, I’ve been waiting for Doctor Rem to return. I thought you might know what happened.”

Rembrary clicked his tongue.

“Oh dear, oh dear.”

Rembrary didn’t know much about traversing dimensions, but he seemed to understand what had happened.

Lumena probably didn’t tell them not to touch the portrait, calling it a sacred object, just to show off.

It was probably more like a key or a switch.

Something to activate something, or to prevent activation.

It was fine before but disappeared this time, so there must be more activation requirements, but Rembrary couldn’t know that much.

Anyway, Lumena seemed to be using it to connect spaces.

That’s why he appeared there when coming to the palace, and why monster shadows sometimes appeared there.

But he touched the center of it…

‘He probably crossed over to some dimension.’

Can I pick him up again?

“Doctor Rem?”

As Rembrary clicked his tongue, the Head Eunuch became even more anxious, clasping his hands tightly.

Rembrary gave him the best answer he could.

“I’ll ask someone who knows well.”

* * *

The fact that the Emperor had disappeared before people’s eyes was a huge incident.

Everyone couldn’t just stand by and wait while Rembrary asked ‘someone who knows well’ and received an answer.

The Head Eunuch reported this to the Dowager Empress, the highest elder in the palace.

The Dowager Empress summoned Rembrary, and Rembrary repeated the same words once more before her.

“I’ll ask someone who knows well.”

The Dowager Empress asked where this ‘someone who knows well’ was, but Rembrary had no idea.

However, to maintain the dignity of the High Priest, Rembrary just named a random place.

“It’s about 15 days away by horse from here.”

The Dowager Empress looked suspicious, but Rembrary was the most reliable person at the moment.

Besides, he wasn’t entirely free from suspicion since he had been absent when the Emperor disappeared.

Anyway, Rembrary also lived in a hierarchical society, so he knew how dangerous it was for the apex to disappear.

In the temple, the sect would be halved if the High Priest disappeared, and in a country, war could break out if the Emperor disappeared.

“I’ll find him quickly.”

Rembrary didn’t just stop at words; as soon as he parted with the Dowager Empress, he walked towards the shrine.

The Emperor’s shadow guards stood menacingly in front of the shrine, but they didn’t block Rembrary.

Rembrary stood at the entrance of the shrine, placed his hand on the token Lumena had given him, and shouted inwardly.

‘Lumena! Lumena! It’s a disaster!’

After doing that for half an hour, the shadows followed Rembrary and bowed their heads towards the shrine.

Rembrary was a priest of Redrin, not Lumena, so he didn’t like the shadows’ actions at all, but he didn’t stop them, considering Redrin and Lumena’s friendship.

‘Heretic. Heretic!’

Perhaps it was thanks to so many people praying to the shrine. Lumena responded a bit faster than usual.

[I’ve heard the situation.]

‘You heard quickly, didn’t you?’

[It’s noisy.]

‘Then, Lumena, where do you think the Emperor went?’

[Where else? Somewhere in the dimension.]

‘Can you bring him back?’

[I can bring him back.]

‘Then please bring him back.’

[Not me, Redrin.]

The last words were conveyed in his mind, but he clearly showed his displeasure.

Rembrary widened his eyes, knowing that Lumena wasn’t in front of him.

‘Our Redrin?’

[I’m better at handling space, but that bastard you follow is better at groping souls than I am. Everyone should be good at something, right?]

‘I see. I’m glad Lumena is good at handling space, at least.’

The connection was cut off for a moment, so Rembrary quickly apologized.

‘I’m sorry, Lumena. I briefly forgot that you are narrow-minded.’

Beyond the shrine, Lumena muttered that he had raised one child well, faintly audible.

‘Thank you, Lumena. I grew up diligently.’

As Rembrary politely thanked her, Lumena sighed in admiration and continued.

[Yes, High Priest of the bastard. Anyway, you can bring back the Emperor, but you need two things. One is Redrin, and the other is Shin Jo-woon.]

‘Why the anchovy [slang for someone insignificant]?’

[Because the souls of the anchovies are connected.]

‘Then Redrin needs to meet Shin Jo-woon first… So we need to go to Earth.’

[That’s right.]

After going around in circles, the goal returned to the starting point.

Rembrary looked reverently at the shrine, and as he turned around, the shadows stopped and surrounded him.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Is there something there?”

“Do you feel His Majesty?”

They seemed to think Rembrary was summoning the Emperor from beyond the shrine.

It was complicated to explain in detail, so Rembrary said calmly.

“Let’s go see the Dowager Empress.”

* * *

When Rembrary visited the Dowager Empress, she hurriedly pulled him into the room and asked in confusion.

“I heard it would take fifteen days just to ask, but why are you here so quickly?”

“Fortunately, I made contact quickly and learned of His Majesty’s whereabouts, Dowager Empress.”

The Dowager Empress seemed bewildered as to how contacting could shrink 15 days to 15 minutes, but she skipped that part since shrinking was better than increasing and asked.

“Yes, where is His Majesty?”

He couldn’t say that the Emperor had fallen into a dimensional rift, so Rembrary smoothed it over and explained.

“I don’t know if His Majesty told the Dowager Empress, but my companions and I came from another world.”

“What?”

He probably didn’t tell her. It was clear from the Dowager Empress’s ‘Is he crazy?’ look.

“Hye-gam, what is Doctor Rem saying?”

“It’s hard to believe, but it’s true, Dowager Empress. I saw it from the side.”

The Head Eunuch had never seen Rembrary come from another world, but he had seen the golden light coming out of Woo Yeon-woo’s body being sucked into the shrine.

Besides, Hwasa, who was Rembrary’s companion, had appeared out of thin air.

Knowing that there were many circumstances like this, the eunuch exaggerated a bit to reassure the Dowager Empress.

“It was truly amazing. Another world exists.”

The Dowager Empress was speechless for a moment.

“Then that great medical skill is from another world…?”

“No, that’s because I’m good, Dowager Empress. I was special even where I lived.”

“Ah. Aha. I see.”

The Dowager Empress calmed down at Rembrary’s unwavering arrogance and returned to the main topic.

“Yes, you came from another world. What does that have to do with this?”

“I think His Majesty is there.”

The Dowager Empress touched her neck, and the Head Eunuch quickly rushed over.

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty.”

The Dowager Empress waved him away and took a sip of water before asking.

“Is it dangerous there? Is His Majesty in danger?”

Honestly, since he had fallen into a dimensional rift, Rembrary couldn’t give a definite answer.

There were terrifying things wandering around in the dimensional rift that even the gods found difficult to handle.

No, in fact, what happened in the dimensional rift itself was still a distant area.

But Rembrary spoke well this time too.

“His Majesty is clever, so he’ll be fine.”

“I can’t believe it. Another world.”

“When my companions and I return to where we originally came from, I’ll send His Majesty back.”

“That’s… really fortunate. But Doctor Rem, you’re from another world, so how did you come to stay here?”

“I don’t know how to go back.”

“!”

As the Dowager Empress looked at Rembrary with distrust, Shin Jo-woon, who had been quietly watching the situation from the side, took off the veil he was wearing.

The moment he took off the veil, the Dowager Empress was so surprised that she almost shouted, “Jo-woon!”

She had thought he looked similar to the Emperor even with the veil, but she didn’t know that the quietly standing young man looked so much like the Emperor.

If his hairstyle hadn’t been different, the Dowager Empress would have thought the Head Eunuch had gone mad and concocted this prank.

“This person is…”

Shin Jo-woon, who had taken off the veil, answered directly.

“He has the same name and face as His Majesty. Everyone in our world and this world has two of them. Fortunately, my position is not low in that world, so if one of my subordinates sees His Majesty, they will make sure he is comfortable.”

Rembrary was puzzled by his unusual effort to reassure the Dowager Empress.

But he soon found the reason.

The Dowager Empress had the same face as Shin Jo-woon’s mother.

Shin Jo-woon didn’t want to see the Dowager Empress, who looked exactly like his mother and whose soul was also connected, grieving so much.

Rembrary, moved by the anchovy’s filial piety, looked at Shin Jo-woon with affectionate eyes, and the Dowager Empress looked back and forth between the two with a sullen expression.

As Shin Jo-woon put the veil back on, Rembrary told the Dowager Empress what she wanted to hear most.

“I’ve almost found a way to go back, so don’t worry.”