Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 509

509. School Escape

When Warion and Hwasaja made eye contact through the mirror, Hwasaja answered nonchalantly.

“I knew you were only watching Rembrary.”

Rembrary had guessed that Warion would likely be in the principal’s office.

The problem was that if Rembrary headed to the principal’s office, Warion would avoid him and put that radish head [a derogatory term for someone with a simple or foolish demeanor] back in the principal’s seat.

Before, he had completely avoided it. This time, he seemed to be using his head.

Because of this, Rembrary had Hwasaja go straight to the principal’s office to find Warion while he drew Warion’s attention.

At the time, he thought, ‘Would that really happen?’ He never expected it to be so spot on.

Warion looked at Hwasaja’s eyes and asked again.

“The principal’s office?”

He now knew that Rembrary had decided to draw Hwasaja’s attention, but that wasn’t the reason Hwasaja chose the principal’s office right away, was it?

“It’s nothing much, but it bothers me.”

However, Hwasaja did not answer. Or rather, he didn’t have time to answer.

He was surprised and tried to take his hand off Warion.

But his hand didn’t come off. No, his hand didn’t move at all. It was because his hand had turned to stone.

Not only that, but the petrification was spreading from his hand to his shoulder.

“This is……!”

Hwasaja, surprised by the change, murmured blankly. Did this guy do it?

He looked at the back of Warion’s head in his hand.

Just then, he heard the other party whispering meaningfully.

“Are all the high priests like this? Every dog and cow [an idiom referring to common or unimportant people] tries to climb up.”

It was a displeased voice.

* * *

“…….”

Rembrary, who had called Hwasaja, frowned and took the phone away from his ear. Ardor, who was next to him, asked.

“What’s wrong, High Priest?”

Hwasaja had promised to always answer Rembrary’s calls unless something happened. At least inside this school dungeon.

But Hwasaja wasn’t answering the phone. Something must have happened.

“I’ll have to go to the principal’s office.”

Rembrary hurriedly left the gym and ran towards the main building.

“Hey, don’t run in the hallway!”

The vividly realized teachers in the dungeon scolded Rembrary, but Rembrary didn’t stop and ran to the principal’s office, bursting open the door.

“Hwasaja!”

Inside the principal’s office, behind the principal’s large desk, only Hwasaja was standing, without Warion or the principal.

His appearance was that he had turned to stone up to his shoulder.

As Rembrary approached, Hwasaja muttered.

“My hand suddenly turned to stone without me doing anything much. What is it?”

“Warion’s specialty is impersonating other gods and eavesdropping on prayers. But would he have become the closest aide to the Demon King with just that?”

“Ah.”

“He can turn anything that touches him into stone. The closest aide to the Demon King can’t be achieved just by accumulating years.”

Hwasaja tried to say something, but Ardor was taking pictures of him with his cell phone camera, so he gritted his teeth in anger.

Rembrary shook his head at Ardor to stop and asked.

“Where’s Warion?”

In the meantime, Rembrary was using divine power to restore Hwasaja to his original state.

Hwasaja felt his shoulder and hand, which had felt heavy enough to fall off, gradually lightening and replied.

“I don’t know. I was so surprised that I cut off his head and he ran away with it.”

“You cut off his head?”

“I was surprised. But my hand turned to stone.”

“You and that guy both need to get close to the opponent to make a valid attack, don’t you? It seems like you’re not a good match when fighting.”

“Match or whatever. How can he be alive and moving when I cut off his head?”

“He looks like a human, but a demon is not a human. They are different races. You can’t think of them like humans.”

Ardor, who was anxiously rolling his eyes because he couldn’t join the conversation, quickly jumped in when the conversation was briefly interrupted.

“Anyway, now that Warion has run away, the difficulty will be lowered, High Priest. How will it be lowered?”

“Let’s go and check the difficulty again.”

* * *

However, even after checking as they went to the classroom, there was no significant change in the conditions for completing the mission.

‘Why?’

He thought it would be easier now that Warion’s interference was gone. It was strange that the mission remained the same even though Warion had disappeared.

Ardor’s mission was still to receive model student evaluations from fifteen people.

“Surely it would be easier now that he’s interfering less.”

Rembrary muttered as he watched the temporary class president, who was happy to be elected as the new class president.

Then Rembrary exclaimed, “Ah!” and suddenly walked towards the temporary class president.

“Are you going to get rid of him and have a re-vote?”

Hwasaja asked a terrifying question from behind, but Rembrary didn’t answer and immediately walked up to the temporary class president and asked.

“Class president. Have you met with the principal recently?”

“Huh? The principal?”

The temporary class president looked back at Rembrary with a questioning face and answered.

“I saw him a few days ago.”

“Did he ask you to do anything or ask you for anything?”

“Oh. He was preparing name tags and photos for the new students. Why?”

“Thank you for letting me know.”

Instead of explaining, Rembrary took Ardor and Hwasaja out into the hallway.

Hwasaja looked like he had caught on, and Ardor still had a bewildered expression.

Rembrary took off the ‘Gifted’ name tag attached to his top and also took off Hwasaja’s name tag.

“Huh?”

Ardor’s eyes widened.

“Are you trying to switch them again, High Priest?”

“If my guess is correct, what Warion interfered with wasn’t the dungeon rules, but…….”

Rembrary finally took off Ardor’s model student name tag and attached it to himself.

Then, the words ‘Ardor = delinquent’ disappeared from above the heads of the students in the class, and the words ‘Rembrary got suspended’ appeared.

* * *

“Rembrary is in school right now. It seems like the inside of the dungeon is like a school. He’s actually playing the role of a student.”

Jang Tae-ri didn’t bother using her cell phone or email and came to Shin Jo-woon’s company in person to let him know.

“What do you think? Doesn’t it remind you of the old days?”

Shin Jo-woon was sitting with a tired face, as if he had worked all night, and laughed when Jang Tae-ri came in.

“What are you going to tease me with this time?”

“Does he know it himself? Does he have a lot of history to be teased about?”

Jang Tae-ri provoked him again, but Shin Jo-woon didn’t waver and just flipped through a document he was looking at.

“What. How boring.”

Jang Tae-ri grumbled and sat on Shin Jo-woon’s desk, picking up the document on the very top and flipping it back and forth.

Shin Jo-woon shook his head and continued to look at the documents.

Then, suddenly, he raised his head.

“Did Mulchi contact you?”

“Yeah. I guess it’s true that you can contact each other from inside. He even sent me a picture.”

Jang Tae-ri answered without much thought, then smiled when she noticed Shin Jo-woon’s brow furrowing.

“Why? Are you sulking because he didn’t contact you?”

Shin Jo-woon noticed Jang Tae-ri’s eyes sparkling and calmly lowered his gaze.

“Not really.”

“You’re sulking?”

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

But Jang Tae-ri didn’t give up and kept poking at Shin Jo-woon.

Even someone who isn’t angry will get angry if you keep poking at them, saying they’re sulking.

Shin Jo-woon looked at her in disbelief, and Jang Tae-ri finally smiled with satisfaction.

* * *

Redrin.

I finished the second dungeon. It took a little longer than the first one.

No matter how well we prepare here, we couldn’t do anything if the conditions weren’t met.

Ah. The conditions I’m talking about are things like the class president election date or the exam date.

We couldn’t set it here, so we had to wait for that date to come around.

Fortunately, the order of return was much faster than in a real school.

Ah. Did I not tell you? The class president and 3rd place in the exam were conditions for escaping this dungeon.

Not my conditions, though.

Actually, my original condition was to be a ‘Gifted’ who gets 3rd place in the exam, but I found out that I could exchange it with someone else, so I exchanged it with Sajamjae.

I’m smart, but I’m not familiar with the knowledge here yet.

Hwasaja, who is good at studying, took on the role of Gifted, Ardor took on the role of disciplinary officer, Sajamjae took on the role of class president, and Woo Yeon-woo took on the role of model student to get out of the dungeon.

It doesn’t suit them all, but that was the easiest way to meet the conditions.

Anyway, I’ve cleared two dungeons with this.

If I clear four dungeons in Area 3, I can seal one pillar.

*

Redrin. When I came out of the second dungeon, Mulchi was waiting in front with his car, leaning against it.

He said he was busy. I guess he’s free now.

When I asked him what he was doing, he said he came to take me.

When I said Hwasaja was faster, he said he could give me meat on the way.

So I asked Hwasaja.

“What will I get if I follow you?”

Hwasaja said, ‘There’s nothing to gain, so don’t follow me’ and left…….

I had no choice but to get in Mulchi’s car because my choice was gone.

*

Redrin, I think people get a little petty when they’re stressed.

I was dozing off in the car, and Mulchi suddenly asked me.

“Do you follow anyone if they just give you food?”

I said no, and he asked why I only contacted Tae-ri when he had fed me more than Jang Tae-ri.

“You were away for several months. I didn’t do it on purpose because you said you were busy catching up on work.”

When I explained my deep consideration, Mulchi turned on the music.

I don’t know what he’s doing. Is he dancing in his heart?

*

Redrin.

I’m resting well to recover from the fatigue of the dungeon.

I also received the 3rd place report card that you sent me, which I requested before.

Don’t you think you gave it to me too late?

Honestly, I suspect it was intentional!

* * *

While Rembrary and his party were sharing what they had learned, praying to Redrin, and resting.

Warion paced anxiously around the room, biting his lip.

“Damn it. There are only four entrances left in Area 3.”

Another close aide to the Demon King watched him and clicked his tongue.

“There are four left. You’ve only cleared two. Don’t be so distracting, just sit down.”

“They destroyed two in an instant! They’ll clear the other four soon too. What should I do? Then the pillar I’m in charge of…….”

“Stop with the negative talk, Warion.”

But Warion couldn’t calm down easily.

He was also bothered by the fact that the team that entered around the same time as him had achieved completely different results.

* * *

“Everyone’s missing?”

It was when the Woo brothers of Nakru participated in the meeting for the first time in a while, after repeatedly meeting with Redrin and Worldboom.

They brought unwelcome news.

The team that went to Area 1-1 to find the emperor who looked like Shin Jo-woon, in place of Rembrary’s party, had all gone missing.

“Have you contacted them? You can contact them even inside the maze.”

“I tried, but they’re not answering.”

“Have you tried continuously?”

“I’ve tried continuously, with several people. I’m not saying this because they haven’t been reached for a day or two.”

Everyone who gathered fell silent at Woo Sung-woo’s words.

Woo Yeon-woo sighed, thinking that he could have ended up like that too.

Daeju listened calmly, then frowned and asked.

“Do you know if they died there, or if they can’t get out of the dungeon, or…… if they surrendered to that side?”

Woo Sung-woo’s eyes sharpened at the mention of surrender.

It sounds good to say surrender, but isn’t he asking if they ended up siding with the devil?

However, Woo Sung-woo’s sharp eyes subsided a little when Shin Jo-woon stared at him.

“All three possibilities exist. But I don’t think they would have surrendered. We’re not just a group of people gathered at random, we all have firm beliefs.”

“The belief to kill the Saint.”

Shin Jo-woon sneered with a smile, but Woo Sung-woo didn’t answer and changed the subject.

“Before contact was lost, there was a report that they had seen the target.”

Woo Sung-woo pointed at Shin Jo-woon with his eyes.

“They said it was someone who looked exactly like CEO Shin, so it must be him.”

Shin Jo-woon frowned, but Rembrary quickly asked.

“Where was he? What is he doing?”

Woo Sung-woo’s expression became ambiguous.

“That’s…….”