Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 511

◈ 511. Beware of Mullu

Daeju explained that they were short on personnel.

The Hwasa-ja [likely a specific type of hunter or team member] was afraid of being caught in the dungeon again, so he visited his mother for two days and then disappeared, cutting off all contact.

Sagamja [another team member] couldn’t participate due to his main job, and Woo Yeon-woo seemed to be genuinely unwell, running a fever and generally feeling sick.

“I can heal Yeon-woo.”

“He says he wants to be sick, so don’t bother him.”

“Isn’t he faking it?”

“It’s highly suspicious, but he’s insisting on it for now.”

The existing Redryn Hunters were already stretched thin, so there were no additional personnel to pull from.

Even if there were, it would be risky to bring in a large number of people unfamiliar with Demon Kings or other worlds.

Naturally, Ardor volunteered to go, and Mullu also expressed his willingness to join this time.

Ninling also wanted to go, but Rembrary, wanting someone to stay behind in case of an emergency, asked her to remain at home.

As a result, the team heading to the 3-2 area consisted of Ardor, Mullu, and Rembrary – the three individuals from another world.

Seeing this, Daeju felt uneasy about sending only those three. If another Earth-style school dungeon or something similar appeared, it might be difficult for them to navigate, given their unfamiliarity with Earth culture.

Ultimately, for various reasons, Daeju decided to send his bodyguard, Maeng Wooshin, along with Rembrary.

“Let’s be clear. I didn’t want to go. I still don’t want to go. I’m going against my will,” Maeng Wooshin stated firmly, his voice sulky, after Daeju’s explanation. He seemed less than thrilled about the assignment.

Ardor ignored him and whispered to Rembrary, “As expected, President Shin seems to be distancing himself from the High Priest. The High Priest is running around so diligently, but he’s nowhere to be seen.”

Even Maeng Wooshin, who was initially angry, momentarily forgot his anger and stared at Ardor with a dumbfounded expression at his excited tone.

Daeju pushed the packed carrier towards the group and explained the situation further. “Ah, Shin Jo-woon was originally going to participate, but a high-level hunter meeting was urgently called. He was pulled away for that.”

“What’s it about?”

“Well, the agenda that comes out of those meetings is almost always confidential. Woo Sung-woo also went.”

Maeng Wooshin received the large bag, looking at Rembrary with a very displeased expression.

Rembrary gave him a bright smile.

* * *

While Daeju was setting up the camera for filming in front of the entrance to the 3-2 area, Maeng Wooshin sternly warned Rembrary.

“Hey. I’m telling you in advance, just because you’re not a newbie doesn’t mean you can act all friendly with me. Got it?”

“I got it.”

“Just because you’re a high-ranking person doesn’t mean I think of you as my boss. You and I belong to different departments. You’re not my boss. Got it?”

“I got it.”

“Don’t use that tone either.”

“Daeju.”

When Rembrary called out to Daeju, Daeju sent a warning signal to Maeng Wooshin.

Maeng Wooshin reluctantly shut his mouth, then turned his head sharply at the sound of a click from the side.

Ardor was making the sound of cocking a gun that didn’t need to be cocked, and was smiling with the gun pointed at his head.

“Cutting off those ears will solve everything, brother.”

Maeng Wooshin’s face turned white, and he closed his mouth.

‘These crazy bastards! I might have to spend several days with these guys!’ Maeng Wooshin cursed inwardly, then looked at the green-haired Mullu.

Mullu was standing there blankly and politely, so he looked okay at first glance, but Maeng Wooshin remembered clearly.

That green-haired guy tried to stab him with a spear when they first met.

He looks normal now, but he still remembered that image.

That memory was so strong that Mullu seemed almost on par with Ardor to Maeng Wooshin.

Maeng Wooshin was still complaining inwardly that he didn’t want to go into that dungeon with this group.

He thought his position had risen because he became Daeju’s bodyguard. But now he has to follow them to a place like this!

In the meantime, Daeju finished setting up the camera and handed it to Maeng Wooshin, explaining. “Here. It might be helpful to the people who come in later. Film at least the beginning. It’ll turn off later because of the battery, but it’ll run for about eighteen hours.”

“Yes.”

As Maeng Wooshin reluctantly took the camera, Rembrary approached the entrance, put his hand on the doorknob, and said, “Stick close.”

Ardor hurriedly ran to grab Rembrary’s shoulder, and Mullu grabbed Ardor’s shoulder.

‘Why are they all grabbing shoulders!’ Maeng Wooshin screamed inwardly, but reluctantly grabbed Mullu’s shoulder to avoid standing out.

Only after confirming that the group was well connected did Rembrary open the door and enter.

* * *

Opening the door revealed a completely new world as usual, and the door they had entered disappeared.

Rembrary wasn’t as surprised as before, but he let out a small exclamation at the sight of the dungeon, which was completely different from the environment he had seen earlier.

“What is that?”

What appeared this time was a huge book cover like a giant castle wall entrance. And a small archway in the middle.

“A book… I think?” Maeng Wooshin muttered as he approached it. As Daeju had instructed, he filmed all the scenery well with the camera.

Maeng Wooshin went close to the book and confirmed that the archway that looked like a door was a real door.

“I can see something like… a village inside.”

“A village?”

“This seems to be at a high altitude? I can see a very large village below. No, is that a city? The colors are pretty. It’s not a modern city. It’s like a fairy tale.”

“A fairy tale?”

Rembrary wondered what he was talking about and approached, and he really saw a beautiful pastel-toned city.

“Should we go there? Shall we go in?” Ardor also looked through the door and asked.

At that moment, a hologram appeared in front of the group.

“What!” Maeng Wooshin was startled and took a step back. After calming down, he saw that the hologram was text.

“What is this? ‘Some of the characters in Cinderella have disappeared?’ What are you talking about?”

Mullu asked, bewildered.

“What’s Cinderella?”

“What? You don’t know Cinderella? Everyone in the world knows the main character, how can you not know?”

Mullu, who didn’t belong to ‘everyone in the world,’ naturally didn’t know. He hadn’t been here long before he fell into another world again.

As Mullu blinked blankly, another hologram appeared below the hologram text.

“?”

-Cinderella, the stepsister, the fairy godmother, and the prince have disappeared. Please finish Cinderella quickly!

Rembrary raised his eyebrows. He doesn’t know all the fairy tales here, but he knows the story of Cinderella. But beyond that…

“Since the main character, Cinderella, has disappeared, it doesn’t seem like a Cinderella story anymore.”

Maeng Wooshin didn’t like it either, but he agreed with Rembrary.

“I know, right? What is this? If two main characters and two supporting characters are missing, there’s no common ground with Cinderella, is there?”

However, the dungeon rules don’t care about that.

Rather, as soon as the complaint came out, the archway frame began to flash white as if telling them to come in quickly.

Maeng Wooshin, who had already heard about the dungeon from Daeju, muttered, “Anyway, that weird thing is the rule this time, right? If we take on those roles one by one and proceed to the end of the fairy tale, we can escape the dungeon? Easy.”

As soon as he said that, Ardor urgently said to Rembrary, “Rembrary-nim is the prince! I’ll be Cinderella!”

Maeng Wooshin was reading the rules again, but he frowned when he realized Ardor’s urgent cry.

The problem wasn’t ‘Is Cinderella still Cinderella if two main characters and two supporting characters are missing,’ but that the roles they had to choose were limited.

“What are you talking about! I’m the prince! Why are you deciding the roles on your own?!” Maeng Wooshin shouted, but he had to shut his mouth when Ardor pointed a gun at him and glared.

“The High Priest is the prince. If you have any complaints, I’ll make you swallow them with a bullet.”

Rembrary, who thought, ‘I have to take the main character with a high proportion,’ actually wanted to be Cinderella, but he couldn’t say it because Ardor was acting up too much.

While staring blankly at the scene, Mullu asked again, “Someone tell me what Cinderella is…?”

Maeng Wooshin cursed inwardly, but quickly turned his head and thought about which role, the stepsister or the fairy godmother, would be the next best thing.

The fairy godmother who uses magic and helps the main character. It’s a good role and cool, but…

“Then I’ll be the stepsister,” Maeng Wooshin said sulkily.

The fairy godmother has to help Cinderella, and the stepsister has to harass Cinderella.

‘Who is Cinderella? Crazy Ardor. Then, of course, I have to play the role of harassing Ardor!’

Besides, the stepsister role doesn’t have any scenes with the prince. There’s no chance of getting involved with Rembrary.

Thinking about it, Maeng Wooshin liked the next best thing and pretended to be generous to Mullu. “You be the fairy godmother. It’s a good role.”

“What kind of role is that?”

“When Ardor goes to the ball, you give him glass shoes, a pumpkin carriage, a coachman, and clothes that disappear at twelve o’clock, and you give him a time limit saying, ‘You have to be back before twelve o’clock.'”

“That’s all I have to do?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

“Okay. Let’s go in then.”

When everything seemed to be decided, Rembrary stepped into the door.

Unexpectedly, when viewed from beyond the archway, the inside of the door was clearly a village, but as soon as they stepped inside, their vision turned white.

How long had it been? Finally, the white light subsided and their vision was secured.

Then they saw wooden furniture. It wasn’t a village, but someone’s house.

Sunlight streaming in through the square window, a wooden table, stains on the table, and leaning against the table…

“Oh.”

Rembrary admired Maeng Wooshin, and Maeng Wooshin belatedly discovered Rembrary and blinked.

After about 3 seconds of silence, he screamed. “What are you! Why are you with me! You, aren’t you the prince?!”

Rembrary pointed at Maeng Wooshin’s face. “You should be more concerned about something else, senior.”

“What? Why, why?”

Maeng Wooshin hurriedly ran to the mirror hanging on the wall and widened his eyes when he found black ash smeared all over his handsome face.

‘No way… this is…’

“Why am I Cinderella!”

* * *

‘I was going to go together this time,’ Shin Jo-woon thought, looking at the presenter of the meeting with a nonchalant expression.

He came because they called it an emergency, but the agenda that came out every time they called it an emergency meeting was, frankly, always the same content in Shin Jo-woon’s eyes, so he didn’t pay much attention to it.

He thought, ‘If it’s this kind of content, just send it by email.’

At that time, his cell phone vibrated and Rembrary’s name popped up.

Tick, Shin Jo-woon carelessly pressed the screen and the corners of his lips quickly went up. His dry eyes narrowed.

“What is this again.”

Instead of explaining, he showed his cell phone screen, which he rarely did. Soon Woo Sung-woo’s eyes also widened.

“Maeng Wooshin is Cinderella? Rembrary is the stepsister?”

His voice became as loud as his eyes, and the meeting room quickly became quiet and the attention of the high-end hunters was focused.

Woo Sung-woo hurriedly closed his mouth and asked Shin Jo-woon. “Does this kind of dungeon exist?”

* * *

“It’s an impossible dungeon… it doesn’t make sense… why is it like this…”

“Maeng-sunbae [senior].”

“What.”

“Stop grumbling and bring me a delicious cake.”

Maeng Wooshin waved the duster absentmindedly and gritted his teeth. He wanted to shout, ‘Get it yourself and eat it!’

But 30 minutes ago, when he actually shouted something similar, a stepmother role fantasy appeared and shouted at Maeng Wooshin fiercely.

“Cinderella! You bad thing!”

It was just a scolding, but it appeared so suddenly that Maeng Wooshin was a little too surprised.

Besides, when Maeng Wooshin suppressed his surprised heart and tried to get angry together, she suddenly tilted her head and spat out a chilling word.

“Who are you? You don’t seem like Cinderella?”

If they acted like someone else beyond a certain level, the actual characters seemed to feel a sense of incongruity.

In the end, Maeng Wooshin brought delicious food to Rembrary, cursed, sat down opposite him, and grumbled. “Damn it. Is the current time period after Cinderella’s father died and before the ball was announced?”

“I think so. When I asked when the ball was, they didn’t understand.”

“Damn it!” Maeng Wooshin grumbled and sat down with his legs crossed.

“Now that it’s like this, I hope that Ardor bastard isn’t the prince.”

“Why?”

“Imagine having to run from the palace ballroom to the front gate wearing only one glass slipper, and that crazy bastard is chasing after you! Is that a fairy tale? It’s horror!”

* * *

What Maeng Wooshin should be worried about wasn’t Ardor, but Mullu. Who doesn’t know the Cinderella story.

Mullu, dressed in a sparkling fairy dress, stood blankly in an unknown place and muttered. “So… I told Ardor to give him glass shoes, a pumpkin carriage, and clothes that disappear at twelve o’clock. That’s the role.”