Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 503

◈ 503. I Will Come Find You

‘This time, I have a charged phone.’

He even brought a spare charger, just in case.

Rembrary smiled contentedly. He was going to take pictures of Mullet and Ferret wearing Redrin paladin armor and tease them with it.

Rembrary felt a pang of regret.

If everyone else were here, he could have taken pictures of them all and teased them. Sagamjae, Woo Yeon-woo, and the others.

‘Such a shame.’

But these two are enough.

Rembrary looked around with satisfaction.

Even a fantasy zone should have rules, since its basic structure is a dungeon. He intended to find those rules.

‘It shouldn’t be too difficult. The rules should be written where anyone who enters can see them.’

If he still couldn’t find them, the rules would probably reveal themselves.

‘As expected.’

As he predicted, when he followed the path down to the village, there was a large village map at the entrance, with the rules written beside it.

-Three people together can create a tiger.

‘The people here think the fake is me. Does this mean I have to let at least three people know that I’m the real one?’

Rembrary took out his phone.

Surely, following this road will lead to a temple.

It wouldn’t be the Grand Temple where Rembrary usually stayed, but he probably wouldn’t go all the way to the Grand Temple from here.

The fake was probably staying at whatever temple appeared along this road.

However, as Rembrary walked towards the fake and his group, he stopped after a few steps and tilted his head.

‘Huh?’

A thought suddenly occurred to him.

‘If I guess the rules, I can go outside. But if I go outside, I can’t destroy the pillars, and I can’t find Ardor, can I?’

Besides, Ardor from earlier.

Was that Ardor, who was smiling happily next to the High Priest’s carriage, part of this illusion, or was it the real Ardor?

“……”

* * *

The demon watched Rembrary standing blankly, deep in thought, through the crystal ball and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Be surprised.”

He had been startled to see the High Priest, who should have been hurt by seeing his close friends drawn to the fake, smiling normally.

But seeing him deep in thought now, it was clear that he had just been smiling out of embarrassment.

Some people smile when they’re embarrassed.

“That’s right, High Priest. You surprised me for a moment there, well done.”

The demon muttered, trying to save face.

Then, as if someone were watching, he even made a ‘Heh heh heh’ sound and sneered.

“Now, what are you going to do, High Priest? Your smile is just a bluff. You must be sweating bullets inside.”

Then, the demon frowned.

“What’s that?”

The High Priest, who should have been worried and heading to the temple, was now going in a completely different direction.

‘Is that guy directionally challenged?’

While the demon was worried and wondering if he should put an arrow up to show him the way, Rembrary was humming to himself.

“He sings well. Well, he does have a good voice.”

The demon was absentmindedly resting his chin on his hand, listening to the humming, when he suddenly jumped up in surprise.

“What the hell is that bastard doing! Why is he coming here?”

The direction Rembrary was heading was towards the pillars.

‘That bastard…! Could he be doing it on purpose!’

* * *

Rembrary, humming as he walked, stopped after about an hour.

‘Huh?’

Rembrary raised his eyebrows and looked back and forth between the path he had come from and the path he had to go.

‘It’s not getting shorter?’

He had been walking diligently, but the distance wasn’t decreasing. He had definitely walked for an hour.

Rembrary stared intently at the pillars in the distance. The distance between the pillars and Rembrary was also the same.

As he was wondering about this, the number of pillars even started to increase.

“!”

Rembrary’s eyes widened.

The pillars, which had clearly been only one at first, had instantly turned into at least dozens.

Rembrary narrowed his eyes and stared at the pillar he had been heading towards.

He could still distinguish which of the many pillars he had been heading towards… but he couldn’t say that it was the real pillar.

Even before the number of pillars increased, the distance between that pillar and Rembrary hadn’t decreased.

From the start, that pillar might have been an illusion.

Or….

‘I might have already passed the real pillar.’

Rembrary turned around in a full circle.

The number of pillars had increased, but the number of temples hadn’t.

The temples were related to the escape method, so they probably couldn’t be touched carelessly. Because that would go against the ‘rules.’

Rembrary examined the situation and made another guess.

‘The person in charge of the pillars here. It seems like they’re watching me on a live stream.’

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have left it alone at first and then belatedly increased the number of pillars.

They clearly hadn’t predicted that Rembrary would find the pillars right away.

‘That means they don’t want me to find them.’

In any case, he couldn’t keep wandering around here without knowing which pillar was real.

Rembrary thought for a moment, then changed direction and decided to first go find Ardor, who had a higher chance of being real.

After walking for about an hour and a half, he came to the entrance to the temple.

The road to the temple was already packed with countless carriages and people lined up to see the High Priest.

‘They even recreated this.’

Rembrary was automatically pleased by the familiar scenery.

‘The demons must have thought I was pretty impressive too.’

But soon, a slight problem arose.

“Hey, you there! Don’t cut in line!”

“……”

Rembrary had to stand in this long line too.

* * *

It took five hours just to stand in line.

Actually, he had stood in line for about 20 minutes before deciding that he couldn’t take it anymore and tried to use ‘Divine Majesty’ to make people step aside.

But Rembrary then realized for sure that this place, no matter how elaborately recreated, was ultimately an illusion.

From the start, those who weren’t human weren’t affected by Divine Majesty at all.

‘Should I have brought Hwasa Ja?’

He had left him behind because he wasn’t very helpful in the vanilla ice cream territory.

‘I should just bring him next time.’

Rembrary resolved in his heart and stood in line for five full hours before arriving at the temple entrance.

The lay priest standing at the temple entrance looked at Rembrary without any sign of surprise and asked with a commercially friendly smile.

“Yes, brother. What brings you here?”

Even as he asked, his face clearly showed that he was thinking, ‘Of course, you’ve come to see the High Priest too.’

They even recreated this.

‘Did that demon ever come to the temple to see me?’

Rembrary clicked his tongue inwardly and replied.

“I’ve come to find Priest Ardor.”

“Priest Ardor? Ah, you can meet him quickly.”

The lay priest, thinking, ‘What a strange person,’ smiled happily and pointed in a different direction from the others.

“You can go that way.”

Then, he gestured to the novice priest standing in a row behind him, and the novice priest bowed and ran inside ahead of Rembrary.

He had probably gone to call Ardor.

Rembrary slowly and comfortably walked inside the temple.

* * *

Watching that scene through the crystal ball, the demon was relieved that Rembrary had given up on coming to the pillars, but he was also enjoying himself.

“It won’t be easy, High Priest. To the humans here, you’re just a passerby. You’re perceived as having such an ordinary aura that you won’t even be remembered.”

The demon was so excited that he even laughed, making a ‘Heh heh heh’ sound.

The humans here are all illusions, so Rembrary’s divine power is completely useless.

He can’t heal with divine power, nor can he show his majesty.

Of course, he can’t show his abilities and say, ‘I am the High Priest.’

With the High Priest right here, if some strange person appeared and claimed to be the High Priest without any abilities, who would believe him?

The humans here are all illusions, but their way of thinking is a perfect recreation of the real models.

The stronger their belief in Rembrary, the less likely Rembrary would be to gain their recognition.

Watching Ardor approach Rembrary, who was standing with his hands behind his back in the crystal ball, the demon burst into laughter.

“Be attacked and hurt by your subordinate, High Priest!”

At that moment.

-High Priest!

Ardor, who had been walking with a gloomy face, suddenly ran up before Rembrary could even speak, knelt at his feet, and began to cry.

“H-How?”

The demon jumped up in surprise.

This situation was absolutely impossible, no matter how great his loyalty was.

No, the stronger his loyalty, the less likely Ardor would be to recognize Rembrary as the real one.

But why…?!?

* * *

‘The northeast shook for a moment.’

Rembrary sensed something sparkling in the air the moment Ardor clung to him.

‘As expected, there was an eye watching me.’

But without deliberately looking in that direction, Rembrary patted Ardor, who was crying, on the back and deliberately announced loudly.

“I’m glad I told Redrin to tell you that I was coming to see you.”

The northeast shook once more. Rembrary smiled contentedly.

Rembrary, recalling that Redrin seemed worried about Ardor and was listening to his voice in real time, had asked Redrin to find out what kind of place Ardor was in, and when he learned that it was a place similar to his own, he had asked him to tell Ardor that the person who was coming to see him now was the ‘real’ Rembrary, no matter what he looked like.

“High Priest, I, I was so captivated by the fake that I was happy. How could my heart be swayed by a mere fake? I can’t bear this trash-like self! High Priest, please punish me for being swayed by a wicked fake! I will gladly be spat on by the High Priest and crawl at his feet!”

“Crawling at my feet is unnecessary. Do you happen to have a mirror?”

“Should I break the mirror and swallow it? Would that make the High Priest happy to see me?”

“No, I want to see it. I’m curious about how I look right now.”

Ardor ran off and returned with a hand mirror from somewhere.

Rembrary took the hand mirror and looked at his face in it.

“Hmm. So this is how I look.”

At least to Rembrary’s eyes, his face was the same. But strangely, it was difficult to keep his gaze on his face for more than a few seconds.

It was as if his gaze would blurrily drift to the side if he tried to look closely.

“You are as beautiful as ever, High Priest!”

“It seems like my gaze isn’t fixed well.”

“Yes, that’s why a touch of abstraction has been added!”

“How fascinating, I should take a picture of it.”

* * *

The demon was dumbfounded and gaped as Rembrary actually took out his phone and started taking selfies.

“Is he crazy?”

Soon, that dumbfounded feeling turned into a shameful humiliation. The demon gritted his teeth.

“What a sneaky bastard.”

To persuade Ardor by asking Redrin for help. But soon, the demon took a deep breath and composed himself.

Okay. Ardor used the Redrin chance, but that’s the end of it. That method won’t work on the others.

The other priests are all illusions. Redrin can’t interfere.

On the other hand, Rembrary still needs to be recognized by two more people. Only then can he leave.

The demon felt better again and chuckled.

* * *

“Did the pictures come out well?”

Meanwhile, Rembrary zoomed in and out on the selfies he had taken of himself and smiled contentedly.

“Yes. They came out very well.”

The reason Rembrary had asked for a mirror was to accurately locate the crystal ball, and the reason he had taken several pictures was to take a picture of the crystal ball.

It seemed that the crystal ball temporarily gained presence when the demon on the other side was emotionally agitated.

And Rembrary had managed to get a decent picture.

When he zoomed in on a certain point in the air in one of the pictures, the crystal ball was captured.

It was to the extent that you would pass it by if you weren’t aware of it, but you could see it if you looked closely.

When he zoomed in on the crystal ball further, there was a blurry landscape visible inside.

Rembrary took his phone and went outside to check the many pillars and smiled.

“Around that area, perhaps.”