Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 492

◈ 492. What He Aimed for in the End

After massaging his neck a few times, Gain let out a silent scream and glared at the Grand Prince.

The action spoke volumes: his voice was suddenly gone.

Yeon Seung-kyung, remembering the black-eyed Rembrary stroking Gain’s neck earlier, thought, “Could it be?” He glanced at Rembrary.

Rembrary was smiling, making no attempt to hide his actions.

Enraged, the Grand Prince’s eyes widened. He dismounted his horse, strode towards Rembrary, and swung a fist.

“Grand Prince!”

Yeon Seung-kyung shouted, startled.

It was obvious that Rembrary would be knocked flat by the Grand Prince’s powerful punch.

However, the Grand Prince’s fist was easily intercepted by the black-eyed Rembrary.

Hanging in mid-air.

Even after stopping the accelerated fist, Rembrary didn’t even flinch.

“!”

The Grand Prince’s eyes widened further. He had never been overpowered like this before.

The black-eyed Rembrary calmly informed him, “It’s pointless to save others. This will just happen again.”

“You…!”

The Grand Prince’s pupils trembled, a mix of anger and frustration churning within him. If this was going to happen, Gain should have at least sung well for him.

To prevent him from calling other Gains without even a decent performance… what kind of twisted mind was this?

“Why are you doing this?”

The Grand Prince asked, his voice trembling. He felt like he was on the verge of crying for the first time in ten years.

The black-eyed Rembrary gently lowered his arm and smiled.

“I have something to tell you.”

The Vice Leader, unable to tear his gaze away from the scene, quietly asked Yeon Seung-kyung, “His eye color is strange too. Has that Gain fallen into demonic cultivation [a dangerous and often forbidden practice in martial arts] and gone mad?”

“How could someone who hasn’t even learned martial arts fall into demonic cultivation?”

“But his behavior is so different from usual. It’s more than just revealing his true colors. Besides, how can someone who hasn’t learned martial arts catch the Grand Prince’s fist?”

“The Grand Prince must have been holding back.”

“He didn’t look like he was holding back when he got caught, though?”

Even as they whispered, the black-eyed Rembrary and the Grand Prince were locked in a stare.

The black-eyed Rembrary appeared relaxed and confident.

The Grand Prince gritted his teeth. It was clear who held the upper hand.

* * *

Rembrary yawned and glanced at the sunlight streaming through the doorway. Another day was beginning.

I wonder how Redrin is doing.

Rembrary thought blankly, rubbing his forehead against the blanket and pulling it over himself again. Since there was nothing to do, he might as well sleep more.

However, just as he was drifting back to sleep, another voice echoed in his mind.

[I am ready.]

Rembrary’s eyelids shot open. Was that a sound he heard in his dream?

[Let’s go back to the cave.]

The voice repeated, as if to ensure he wasn’t mistaken. It was the Demon King Fragment speaking to him.

* * *

Now that everyone was ready, all that remained was to go to the training cave in the Demonic Cult and release the Demon King Fragment.

Rembrary informed Lumena of this through prayer and told his companions to prepare to depart.

“And Lion, you and I need to go somewhere for a while.”

“Where to?”

“To the Grand Prince.”

He hadn’t expected the Demon King Fragment to enter the cave wall last time, so he hadn’t bothered to prepare the Grand Prince.

But this time, it seemed likely that the Demon King Fragment would readily enter the cave wall, so he planned to find the Grand Prince and mentally prepare him.

Of course, there was still a chance this wouldn’t cure his insomnia. But—

“Didn’t you say something ridiculous to the Grand Prince again?”

When they arrived at the inn where the Grand Prince was staying, the atmosphere felt distinctly strange.

It wasn’t as if the Grand Prince’s aides had ever been particularly friendly to Rembrary.

They usually treated Rembrary as someone who invited trouble with his words.

To be specific, somewhere between Oh Jung-shin [Likely a reference to a character known for causing trouble] and Keshi [Possibly a reference to someone disliked].

But today, their attitude was even colder and more distant than usual.

One of them even got up from his meal, muttering that he had lost his appetite when he made eye contact with Rembrary.

Hwasaja was flustered and looked at Rembrary. Wouldn’t even Rembrary be upset if they acted like that?

“Hey there.”

But in Hwasaja’s opinion, Rembrary seemed subtly malicious.

“You, over there.”

Ignoring the many people who were avoiding him, Rembrary deliberately pursued the person who had turned away, grabbing him with a smile.

When that person tried to violently shake his hand off, he quickly let go, even causing him to stumble.

“XX!”

The angry Demonic Cult member spat out a curse, but when Rembrary looked at him with a gentle smile, he frowned at himself for cursing.

“What is it! What do you want!”

“Where is the Grand Prince?”

The angry Demonic Cult member pointed in a completely different direction. Only then did Rembrary stop chasing him and head upstairs.

Hwasaja glanced at the Demonic Cult member’s back and followed Rembrary, asking, “The atmosphere is really strange, but why bother calling that person?”

“Don’t you hate me being around?”

“Exactly. Why bother talking to that person?”

“I don’t care if that guy hates me. But that guy can’t stand himself when I’m around. Then who wouldn’t be happy?”

Hwasaja stuck out his tongue as he watched Rembrary knock on the door of the Grand Prince’s room.

Is that guy’s mentality made of super alloy with a reflector function added…….

But as strong as it was, there was definitely something missing.

Hwasaja wanted to advise Rembrary, ‘Why don’t you ask why people’s attitudes have suddenly changed first?’ but Rembrary was already entering the Grand Prince’s room.

“Lion, wait here for a moment.”

As the door closed and Rembrary disappeared from sight, Hwasaja sighed and looked to the side.

Another Demonic Cult member was glaring at him as if he hated even Rembrary’s companion. Hwasaja couldn’t help but bare his teeth.

“How about I pluck out your right eyeball and let you check how unlucky your eyes are with your left eyeball!”

* * *

Inside the room, Rembrary realized that something had happened to the Grand Prince.

Not only were the Grand Prince’s subordinates glaring at him differently than usual, but the Grand Prince was also looking at Rembrary with the gaze of someone looking at a nuisance.

Rembrary clicked his tongue and approached the Grand Prince to comfort him.

“Don’t worry. You’ll be able to sleep soon.”

Instead of asking what that meant, the Grand Prince sat blankly, then raised his hollow gaze and looked at Rembrary’s face.

His pupils scrutinized Rembrary’s face, and later, his unfocused eyes paused for a moment at the clear corners of his eyes.

That alone was enough for Rembrary to realize that the Demon King Fragment had visited the Grand Prince and done something.

“Did you meet me when my eye color became strange?”

The Grand Prince frowned at the question but didn’t answer. Instead, he just kept looking at Rembrary.

Seeing that the Grand Prince didn’t seem to want to talk, Rembrary told him about his business first.

“I’m going to the place where your insomnia started. If we go there, maybe your insomnia will be cured this time.”

“…….”

“Tonight, take some sleeping pills, take a warm bath, then cover yourself with a blanket and lie in bed. Don’t wander around thinking you won’t be able to sleep. Got it?”

Rembrary, having kindly explained, gave him a gentle smile and turned around.

But just as he was about to open the door and leave, he heard the sound of clothes rustling behind him. When he turned around, the Grand Prince was getting up.

Wondering why he was doing that, Rembrary looked at him. The Grand Prince followed right behind Rembrary and said in a dark voice.

“I’ll go with you.”

“Where to?”

“Into the cave.”

“Why?”

Rembrary was puzzled, but the Grand Prince just looked down at Rembrary with eyes that conveyed he would follow even if told not to.

After thinking for a moment, Rembrary nodded.

“Come if you want to.”

* * *

After Rembrary told him what time to come and disappeared with Hwasaja, a little later, Yeon Seung-kyung came to see the Grand Prince.

Having heard from the guards that Rembrary had visited his room, Yeon Seung-kyung asked worriedly.

“The guards said he acted like a completely different person. Is it alright if I don’t ask about what the blond Gain said last night?”

* * *

After saying goodbye to Duran, the Queen Dowager, the Chief Eunuch, and others, Rembrary finally gathered all his companions and left for the cave in the Demonic Cult.

In the meantime, the Grand Prince and Yeon Seung-kyung were also among them. The two, experiencing Hwasaja’s teleportation [instantaneous travel] for the first time, were so surprised that they temporarily forgot to maintain a stoic expression.

No matter how fast one’s lightness skill [a martial art technique for moving swiftly] was, it was impossible to move to another place in the blink of an eye, especially with others.

To them, Hwasaja’s teleportation was beyond amazing; it was astonishing.

Before long, they arrived at the Demonic Cult cave.

When they arrived at the cave, Lumena had already arrived, and the elder of the Demonic Cult, whom they had seen before, was watching Lumena from a distance.

“Grand Prince?”

Elder Yoo was flustered and widened his eyes when he saw the Grand Prince suddenly appear with Rembrary’s group.

The elder tried to approach, but the Grand Prince waved his hand, indicating it was okay, and stepped away from Yeon Seung-kyung and Sagamjae, whom he had been forced to hold hands with during the teleportation.

Meanwhile, Rembrary nodded to Lumena and went to the cave wall closest to the sleeping god’s location and placed his hand there.

‘Hurry up and go over there.’

But a strange thing happened. The Grand Prince, who was watching this, slowly went over and placed his hand next to Rembrary’s.

Why are you? Rembrary looked at the Grand Prince in puzzlement.

However, the Grand Prince didn’t even look at Rembrary and just stared blankly at the wall.

At that moment, a slight tremor seemed to occur inside the wall, and the tremor gradually grew larger.

Rembrary quickly turned his head and looked at the wall. The energy of the ‘sleeping god’ felt deep inside was fluctuating.

It was faint, but it was a clear movement compared to the previous state where there was no movement at all.

Rembrary felt that something was different from what he had expected and looked back at Lumena.

The ‘sleeping god’ had to continue sleeping. Not reacting.

The energy was quite distinct, so Hwasaja, who couldn’t feel anything, was yawning, but Sagamjae was frowning.

When he made eye contact with Rembrary, Lumena looked at the Grand Prince and muttered.

“That guy. Is he perhaps a descendant of the priest?”

Rembrary looked at the Grand Prince. The Grand Prince was just standing there blankly without any expression.

It was clear that the Demon King Fragment had ordered the Grand Prince to do this.

Sagamjae frowned and asked Lumena.

“Shin Jo-woon told us that the god fell asleep here after the priest died. Could it be that the Demon King Fragment knew this and is trying to awaken the god halfway by stimulating the priest’s descendant?”

Hwasaja asked with a sullen expression.

“Awakened only halfway?”

“They must be taking a gamble too.”

Lumena muttered and looked at Rembrary.

Rembrary was constantly looking back at Lumena with eyes that didn’t know whether to take his hand off or keep it on.

At that moment, Rembrary felt ‘something’ slipping out of his fingertips.

The Demon King’s soul fragment had passed over there.