Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 498

◈ 498. Finding a Way Back

Redrin couldn’t manifest for long.

Once a god manifests on Earth, the number of priests who can supply divine power drops sharply.

In a world overrun by monsters, this was fatal.

Imagine suddenly losing your power in the middle of fighting a monster.

“My child, you must let me hear your voice often.”

With that, Redrin delivered the shocking news that Ardor was trapped in the illusion zone, and without another word, she returned.

“Wow, she left so cleanly.”

As Redrin vanished, the Hwasa [a Korean shaman or sorcerer] who had been watching, briefly marveled.

As the rose vines that had appeared, breaking a perfectly good tree, disappeared, the Hwasa marveled once more, looking at Rembrary.

“It’s just like your religion. The tree is our Earth.”

It wasn’t entirely wrong. Rembrary avoided his gaze.

* * *

After Redrin left, the Hwasa took Shin Jo-woon and Rembrary to Rembrary’s house in a good school district before returning home.

“Please don’t call me. I’m supposed to watch a movie with my mom.”

He pleaded on his way back, but Shin Jo-woon didn’t listen, and Rembrary pretended not to notice.

And the next day.

After the children rubbed their sleepy eyes and went to school, Rembrary took Nin-ling, Moolu, and Shin Jo-woon to the hunter company, Redrin.

The person who came to pick them up was Shin Jo-woon’s secretary, who had lost half his size in the meantime.

‘Well, the president, the anchovy, disappeared, after all.’

Rembrary nodded and looked at Shin Jo-woon.

Come to think of it, he had only seen Shin Jo-woon bickering with Jang Tae-ri, so he hadn’t given it much thought.

Even when going to meet Redrin, he never took his phone off his ear.

He kept talking to his secretary, giving instructions to someone on his phone, and even had his laptop on his lap the entire ride.

Rembrary didn’t want to disturb him, so he deliberately closed his eyes.

Then, he drifted halfway into sleep. Suddenly, the driver spoke to Rembrary.

“Are you aware that the number of hunters affiliated with Redrin has increased significantly, Rembrary-nim? She will be very pleased when you visit this time.”

“It increased a lot even without me?”

In the rearview mirror, the secretary’s bitter smile was visible.

“The world has become more dangerous. This area is no different from before, but… about half of the former non-urban areas have already become mazes, and their size is increasing.”

“Mazes?”

“Demon territories.”

Moolu, who had been dozing off beside him, frowned. Nin-ling sighed.

Rembrary silently looked out the window.

Where the power of the Awakened was mobilized, it was still similar to Earth before the rifts.

The gap between the clean appearance of this city and the news the secretary was delivering made the listener even more uncomfortable.

“We’ve arrived. I was going to tell you good news, Rembrary-nim, but I just made the atmosphere gloomier.”

In the meantime, the car stopped in front of a large site.

‘Isn’t this a parking lot?’

Rembrary was puzzled, but he opened the car door and got out, unconsciously looking at the letters in front of the site, and was slightly surprised.

“?”

The old Redrin consisted of a tall high-rise building as its main structure, where Redrin’s followers, hunters, and Honghwa Brigade members lived.

But what he saw now looked like the entrance to a small town.

“Wasn’t that a university?”

Shin Jo-woon expressed that sentiment more concretely.

The secretary burst out laughing.

“That’s right, President. We bought the entire unused university site and built several new buildings. We bought up the other school’s campus and dormitory sites next door as well. The buildings are still under construction to make them suitable for hunters.”

It was hard to understand everything, but it seemed that the number of believers had increased a lot.

As Rembrary was marveling, a line of flashing cars came into view from inside the round arch-shaped sign that read Redrin.

As he was watching, wondering what that was, the car at the front stopped right in front of the arch that read Redrin, and someone got out from the passenger seat.

“Rembrary-nim.”

It was Archpriest, dressed in a black suit with only a white priest’s robe draped over his shoulders.

“I heard you were coming and came to escort you.”

His expression was full of pride.

* * *

“Why did you bring so many cars?”

“I wanted to show you how much we’ve grown while you were away, Rembrary-nim.”

“That’s commendable.”

“Now we can serve you more comfortably, Rembrary-nim.”

“Your mindset is truly righteous.”

Shin Jo-woon’s secretary knew he shouldn’t, but he was reminded of a corrupt religion as he listened to Rembrary and Archpriest’s conversation.

Is Redrin’s situation… okay?

But he had a mountain of other work to do.

He didn’t have time to worry about other people’s religions, so he soon returned first, and Jang Tae-ri and Sa Gam-jae, who had been contacted, filled his place.

Archpriest seemed eager to show off this new Redrin base to Rembrary, but at the news that there was an urgent meeting, he had no choice but to guide the group to the conference room.

Once all the appropriate people were present, Rembrary told them about the whereabouts of the Demon King’s fragment, the story of Emperor Shin Jo-woon, and the story of Ardor that Redrin had told him. Shin Jo-woon then summarized the story once more in Earthling terms.

Archpriest listened to the story quietly, and when Shin Jo-woon finished speaking, he opened his mouth, saying, “I think I know where Ardor is.”

“You think you know?”

Already? As Rembrary looked at him in surprise, Archpriest answered, “Yes,” then projected a map on the white wall and pointed somewhere with his finger.

“If it’s a strange place that’s hard to explain properly, it’s probably a demon’s territory, High Priest. I think he’s somewhere in there.”

“I see.”

Rembrary frowned.

From the moment Ardor contacted Redrin but didn’t know where he was, and had illusions about Rembrary being by his side, he had thought that he might be related to the demons.

Besides, from what he heard, it seemed that the demons had not only increased their power but also created their own territory here.

‘Could Emperor Shin Jo-woon be there too?’

But while Archpriest was explaining to Shin Jo-woon, Moolu, and Sa Gam-jae what had happened while they were away,

Rembrary was also listening to the explanation with some concentration when he heard Redrin’s voice.

Rembrary leaned on the table and focused on Redrin’s voice.

After listening for a while, Rembrary finally raised his head after Redrin’s voice stopped.

When he did, everyone was staring at Rembrary.

“Would you like to rest for a while before we talk again, High Priest?”

To Archpriest’s worried question, Rembrary shook his head.

“No. Redrin-nim just conveyed the story she shared with Lord Yeomra [the King of Hell in Korean mythology].”

“What did she say?”

“The Demon King has already lost an important soul fragment, so he can never be resurrected in complete form. Since there is no main body, he cannot use all of his power. The Demon King’s territory, the ‘maze’ that Archpriest mentioned earlier, it seems that the Demon King created that dungeon to regain his power, even conditionally.”

The expressions of the people from Earth and those from the other world changed differently.

The people from Earth didn’t quite understand Rembrary’s words, but the people from the other world immediately looked worried.

Rembrary noticed this, but he thought that explaining each one would keep interrupting the story, so he continued.

“It seems that he is trying to recover some of his power by imposing restrictions and gather more power by drawing people into that territory.”
The Hwasa asked blankly.

“That’s not good for us, right? So, we have to stop the Demon King from doing that? Again?”
Moolu informed him.

“It’s different from dealing with the fragments. No matter how weakened the Demon King’s power is, you must never confront him head-on. Even if he only regains some of his power, humans can never face the Demon King.”

“Then what do we do?”

Moolu looked at Rembrary, and Rembrary nodded and said.

“Avoid confronting the Demon King at all costs, and destroy the dungeon pillars that the Demon King has created.”

“Pillars?”

Archpriest frowned.

“There won’t be just one or two pillars.”

Rembrary shrugged.

“We have to think of a way. Anyway, if we get people out of the maze, the Demon King’s power will weaken, and if we destroy all the pillars, we can seal the dungeon entirely.”

“Seal…”

“Then the people who want to return to our original world will return, and Lord Yeomra and Redrin-nim will close the rifts from both sides. It will take time to close them all, but if things go well, we can return to the way we were before the rifts in about 10 years.”

Rembrary smiled brightly and looked at Archpriest, Jang Tae-ri, Shin Jo-woon, and the Hwasa in turn.

Although the task of destroying the pillars was a bit daunting, if things went well, there was a possibility that Earth would regain its original form.

Wouldn’t those who were originally from Earth be very happy?

But surprisingly, all four of them had ambiguous expressions.

“Why are you doing that?”

Rembrary asked, puzzled by their expressions, and Jang Tae-ri frowned and asked.

“Then, Rembrary-ssi, are you going back to your original world when the incident is resolved?”

“Probably.”

The atmosphere in the conference room became even stranger.

* * *

Although it was still unclear how many pillars the Demon King had erected, where they were, and whether we just had to destroy them, the group decided to enter the demon’s territory first to see the situation.

It turned out that it wasn’t a scary area that you could never get out of once you entered.

According to Jang Tae-ri, there were quite a few hunters who had entered the maze for investigation and returned safely.

Still, just in case, Rembrary decided to enter the maze with only the Hwasa and Sa Gam-jae.

“You haven’t been back for long. Wouldn’t it be better to rest a little longer before going?”

“What if Ardor dies while I’m resting?”

“I don’t really care.”

Rembrary told the worried Archpriest several times that he was okay and prepared to enter the demon’s territory with the Hwasa and Sa Gam-jae.

But as they were loading their luggage into a large car to leave for the demon’s territory,

A car they hadn’t seen before came and stopped in front of Redrin.

Wondering what it was, the Woo Yeon-woo and Woo Seong-woo brothers got out of it. And after them….

‘Kim Moo-rok?’

For some reason, Kim Moo-rok PD [Production Director] was following them.

Kim Moo-rok PD, who got out of the black car, staggered with a pale face as if he had motion sickness on the way, but as soon as he saw Rembrary, his face immediately lit up and he shouted.

“My muse!”

“?”