Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 527

◈ 527. Well, That Helped

‘Seriously, is Shin Jo-woon crazy? I know it’s a ranking competition, but is this really necessary?’

Jang Tae-ri grumbled, dumbfounded, before someone slammed into the side of his car, sending him bouncing sideways.

“!”

Thanks to the seatbelt, the physical impact wasn’t too bad, but the seatbelt couldn’t cushion his startled heart.

Jang Tae-ri cursed and opened the window on the opposite side.

“Who is it?!”

Immediately visible was the profile of Rembrary in the driver’s seat.

Unexpectedly, the one who had crashed into Jang Tae-ri’s car was Rembrary.

Come to think of it, it made sense. Shin Jo-woon had frozen all the other cars’ wheels.

“Mr. Rembrary?”

Jang Tae-ri wondered if Rembrary didn’t know he was in this car, or if he didn’t know Jo-woon had frozen the other cars, so he shouted loudly.

“Mr. Rembrary!”

As if hearing him, Rembrary opened his window and asked with a smile.

“Haha, surprised you, Tae-ri?”

‘Don’t laugh after hitting someone and asking if they’re surprised!’

Shouldn’t he ask if I’m okay? Just as the flustered Jang Tae-ri was about to say something.

Rembrary, who seemed to be backing up, suddenly swerved in another direction and crashed straight into a utility pole.

“Ugh! Yeon-woo!”

Terrified, Jang Tae-ri shouted his old name and hurriedly opened the car door.

When the countdown started, the car door wouldn’t open. Fortunately, once the game started, the car door opened.

However, as soon as Jang Tae-ri got out of the car, he saw Rembrary seemingly backing up just a little, then crashing into the car next to him.

The car, sent flying with a crash, slid in front of Jang Tae-ri and stopped after colliding with another car.

Beyond the chaotic noise, they could hear the illusion that had explained the rules to them screaming.

“Get out! Get out! My cars! My precious cars!”

It seemed that all the cars the participants were driving belonged to the author. Whether it was real or just a setting.

Seeing Rembrary’s car start up again, Jang Tae-ri felt a threat to his life and quickly got back into his car.

‘He can’t drive. Mr. Rembrary is an incredibly bad driver.’

It wasn’t just that he was driving poorly and crawling along. He was a terrible driver and incredibly reckless.

At this point, the problem for Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon wasn’t the racing competition, but avoiding Rembrary’s car.

Rembrary would either team-kill [accidentally harm a teammate] or self-destruct; it would be one of the two.

‘Jo-woon must have known. Now I understand why he said finishing was the problem.’

Tsking, Jang Tae-ri decided to follow behind Rembrary, just like Shin Jo-woon.

That way, he would only crash forward or sideways. It should be okay.

Crashing like that would probably put a strain on Rembrary’s neck, but he could fix himself, so safety wasn’t a big concern.

However, the moment he thought this.

This time, instead of hesitating, Rembrary’s car suddenly and rapidly reversed, slamming into the front of Shin Jo-woon’s car as if to crush it.

“Shin Jo-woon!”

Seeing Shin Jo-woon’s car bounce backward, Jang Tae-ri was horrified and looked back.

He reversed a little, opened the passenger window, and shouted, “Shin Jo-woon? Are you okay?”

Then, Shin Jo-woon’s darkly tinted window lowered just a bit, and a faint voice replied that he was okay.

‘He doesn’t sound okay? It looks like the window won’t go down?!’

Jang Tae-ri swallowed hard in tension.

That self-proclaimed racer. He can’t even drive, yet he’s attacking in all directions.

‘This is dangerous. We need to avoid him, but if he keeps crashing like that, Rembrary’s car might break down and he’ll have to drop out.’

* * *

Waryon watched the situation unfolding in the Black Dragon’s area and felt pleased.

First, it was good that the High Priest’s group was in chaos among themselves. It was also good that the Black Dragon didn’t seem very competent.

Everyone seemed to see it the same way, as Cloth said something similar to Waryon’s thoughts.

Cloth: Wow, he’s getting a free ride like this.

Noir: I know, right?ㅋㅋㅋ After seeing that guy freeze the other cars, I thought, ‘That dragon noob failed to adjust the difficultyㅉㅉ’ㅋㅋㅋ But the High Priest is team-killing.

Waryon: Since when was the High Priest on our side?

Noir: Looks like the Dragon went to Redrin’s side and the High Priest came to usㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Black Dragon: It was a good deal.

Waryon gleefully mocked the Black Dragon.

Waryon: Showing off like that. Turns out, the Dragon isn’t so great?

Cloth: I know. All the Dragon can do is be cute. He’ll only ever be cuteㅠ

However, when Cloth said that even after seeing the dungeon difficulty the Black Dragon had created, Waryon felt inexplicably annoyed.

When his dungeon was cleared by the High Priest, everyone ganged up to make fun of him. But the Black Dragon can make this mess and still be called cute?

In the end, Waryon, even knowing he would be embarrassed by saying this, lost his temper.

Waryon: Isn’t the reaction a little different from when I fail, ㅅㅂ? [Korean slang, similar to “what the heck?”]

But Cloth confidently admitted the discrimination.

Cloth: The Dragon is cute and fine as long as he doesn’t do the kkyu kkyu thing ^^

Fortunately, the Black Dragon self-destructed on his own.

Black Dragon: Kkyo

Cloth: Isn’t your Dragon dead? He’ll die in 10 minutes.

Noir: Why is he suddenly dyingㅋㅋㅋ

Cloth: Because I’m going to go kill him.

Black Dragon: Kkyu↗ Kkyo↘ Kkyu↗ Kkyo↝

Cloth: That little bastard

Noir: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ [laughter]

Waryon: ㅅㅂ I don’t even do the kkyu kkyu thing, so why is the treatment different?

Cloth: Ask Noir to adore you. You’re not a Dragon, so I’m not interested.

Noir: Don’t come near me. I’ll despise you if you even get close.

Cloth: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Waryon: I’m not going, you bad bastards, you demon bastards! Go ascend, you demon sons!!!

Cloth: Waryon was adored by our High Priestㅋㅋ

Noir: ㄴㄴ [No no] It was me

Black Dragon: I think it was meㅋ [laughing]

Waryon: You’re distorting the past very naturally. He was like that from beginning to end

Waryon, who was furiously typing in anger, was startled by the crashing sound coming from inside the crystal ball and took his hands off the keyboard.

‘What was that?’

In the short time he had looked away. An amazing sight was unfolding.

‘Is that High Priest crazy?’

The car the High Priest was in was flying over the bridge railing into the air.

‘Where is that bastard going all alone?’

Meanwhile, Woo Yeon-woo was on the phone, arguing with Team Leader Gu Se-ji.

[What did I tell you! I told you to stay put!]

“When!”

[I told you that you might not appear inside the mansion area! I told you to think about it again and again! You didn’t listen to a word I said!]

“Did I know this would happen?!”

[That’s why! I told you not to go because you didn’t know!]

“Stop yelling at me!”

[You’re yelling too?!]

Around them, other people were murmuring among themselves.

Whether they were yelling, whispering to the person next to them, or keeping silent, everyone was equally perplexed.

It was inevitable.

Opening the door, what lay before them wasn’t the Vanilla Ice Cream Zone or the culprit-finding mansion.

It was a single room. A room with four doors.

And the phrase engraved on the floor: ‘Once you enter, you cannot return.’

It meant that if they opened the doors that only allowed forward movement and not backward, someone might escape.

There was no other explanation. Whether there were traps beyond the wrong doors or not.

Anyway, even if there were no traps, it was obvious that not all doors would lead to an exit.

Woo Yeon-woo swallowed and hung up the phone with the team leader.

‘Hyung [term of endearment used to address an older brother or male friend] was definitely not here. Then he had to escape from here no matter what.’

But how? There wasn’t even a hint as to which door was real.

To the nervous Woo Yeon-woo, one of the members cautiously suggested.

“We’ll go in there first. We won’t close the door, so it’s better for Yeon-woo to follow from the very back.”

“But if you do that-!”

“Yeon-woo getting out increases the chances of saving Sung-woo and eliminating the pillar more than we do.”

The determination that if he worked hard, if he tried, he could somehow make it through began to waver again.

The despair of not being able to escape his unknown days, no matter how hard he tried, now came in a more terrifying form with his life on the line.

Woo Yeon-woo anxiously bit his lip. What to do?

* * *

Rembrary thought that if the car drove fast enough, it might be able to fly a little.

When he jumped over the railing, that’s just what he thought.

But the car relentlessly fell downwards.

Then, with a thud, it stopped in mid-air, but it certainly wasn’t the sound of flying.

Wondering what it was, he looked out the window and saw a round plate made of ice underneath.

‘Ice? Anchovy?’

He looked up and, sure enough. Shin Jo-woon was looking down at him, leaning against the bridge railing. When their eyes met, he said firmly.

“Stay there. Don’t touch anything.”

As he was doing as instructed, the phone in his pocket rang.

Taking out his phone to check, it was unexpectedly a call from Woo Yeon-woo.

“Hello?”

Private calls had been completely cut off since Woo Sung-woo disappeared? Rembrary wondered what was going on, but answered the phone anyway.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he answered, Woo Yeon-woo whispered in a dark voice.

[I’ve entered the 1-3 area. I don’t know where to go.]

“Huh?”

[I came to save Hyung. But it’s not there. Here-]

“Haha, what to do.”

[……]

“Oh dear. What to do?”

[You’re annoying sometimes.]

“Is there anything about me that isn’t annoying?”

He wondered why he suddenly called. He must be in a difficult situation.

Rembrary comforted Woo Yeon-woo while looking around.

He wondered why Shin Jo-woon told him to stay still. He was now building up ice under the ice support he had made for the car, gradually raising it upwards.

At this rate, the car would be raised to a position slightly higher than the railing.

Even as he was admiring, Woo Yeon-woo continued to grumble.

“Are you okay?”

Then, when Rembrary asked, the words disappeared for a moment. Soon, Woo Yeon-woo sighed and asked.

[There’s a room and there are four doors. Once you go through a door, you can’t go back. I don’t know where to go. What would you do?]

“It seems like the time has finally come for you to believe in Redrin.”

[You’re looking for God first, so I guess you don’t have a solution either.]

“First, go forward. Something will come out.”

[What if the path is blocked?]

“Are you alone?”

[No… Twenty people.]

“Wouldn’t someone have a helpful ability?”

[I’ve only gathered useless people. Including me.]

Whatever comes out, shouldn’t you just keep going forward?

“Did you pack food?”

As the story of what Rembrary and his party experienced in the Vanilla Ice Cream Zone spread, everyone packs their suitcases full of necessities when entering the dungeon.

The reason Jang Tae-ri joined the group with a large suitcase was because everyone was already doing that.

So, Woo Yeon-woo and Nakru would be too.

As expected, Woo Yeon-woo agreed.

[I packed everything I need.]

“Then keep going forward, and if the path is blocked, tell me it’s blocked. If you hold out for a few days, I’ll get out of here and come pick you up.”

[……Where are you now?]

“Area 2-2. I’m racing.”

[Is it going well?]

“Ah, I just bounced off the railing and flew through the air.”

[!]

* * *

[Do you know, Yeon-woo? Cars can’t fly.]

After listening blankly to the gentle voice, Woo Yeon-woo hung up the phone.

People were glancing at him with anxious expressions.

Woo Yeon-woo sighed and pointed in a random direction with his hand.

“Let’s go that way. All together.”

He couldn’t completely understand Rembrary’s mentality, but he was sure that that guy wouldn’t be depressed here.

And hearing that calm voice even while falling from the sky, he felt like a fool for feeling hopeless from the starting point without even trying anything.

“All together?”

“If we split up, some will live and some will die anyway. It’s better to move together so it’s easier to put our heads together later even if the path is blocked.”