Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 533

◈ 533. Yearning for the Deceased

“Which district and entrance did you go through?”

“I wouldn’t know that.”

“You don’t know? Did you leave your memory behind when you came back?”

“No, that’s not it. It hasn’t been long since the districts were named, right? When I went in, they didn’t have names yet.”

Rembrary realized his mistake. The hunter was right.

The districts were named after Rembrary, Shin Jo-woon, and others who returned from another world.

They properly named the districts while listening to Redrin and Yeomra about what the Demon King was planning and what they needed to do to stop it.

However, Rembrary didn’t immediately understand because the hunter hadn’t explained it properly from the start.

Rembrary displayed the magnanimity of a great man.

“It’s alright. Be careful next time.”

“Huh?”

The hunter looked at Rembrary, bewildered, but Rembrary had a serious expression, so he also shut his mouth.

Rembrary crossed his arms and looked down at his palm.

‘Could it be that Cheol-soo was trying to tell me that there are five pillars instead of four? Was he trying to tell me that he’s in that fifth district? But it’s strange. If Cheol-soo is a King Sardine [a powerful being], why is he with the demons? Considering he helped me, it doesn’t seem like he’s completely on their side…….’

“Hey. Why do you look so serious?”

“I’ve been to all four districts, but I’ve never seen a golden pillar. The pillar colors were black, white, red, and blue.”

The high-end hunter blinked and tilted his head.

“But what I saw was definitely a golden pillar.”

That’s what frustrated Rembrary.

To find out if Emperor Shin Jo-woon was referring to District 5 and why he was staying there, he needed to go to the place with the golden pillar.

According to what was known so far, there was no way to enter District 5, where the golden pillar was, no matter where you entered from.

Rembrary pondered and asked.

“If you don’t know where you entered, was there anything unusual about the time, date, or weather when you entered?”

“Huh?”

“Maybe District 5 can only be entered under specific conditions.”

“Ah.”

The high-end hunter nodded and thought again before saying.

“I don’t remember the exact date, but… uh… oh, right, the ‘Black Cloud’ phenomenon occurred. So I hurriedly went in anywhere.”

“Hurriedly? Anywhere?”

“Originally, I was going to investigate the surroundings and enter more carefully. But the car I came in was smashed by a monster that came up from underground, and pillars were falling from the sky. So I just opened the nearest door and went in.”

‘So, District 5 only opens when the Black Cloud phenomenon occurs?’

* * *

Rembrary, having come up with a hypothesis, immediately began experimenting.

Rembrary first sent a message to Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon in their group chat, explaining the situation.

[Rembrary: Help me]

[Jang Tae-ri: What’s wrong? Should I call you?]

[Shin Jo-woon: ?]

[Rembrary: I need a camper van]

[Jang Tae-ri: ㅇㅠㅇ]

[Rembrary: Tae-ri-ssi… ?]

[Jang Tae-ri: Sorry. But it’s better not to drive.]

[Shin Jo-woon: Did you see the pig? Jang Tae-ri throwing up.]

[Jang Tae-ri: As if you were perfectly fine.]

[Shin Jo-woon: I didn’t throw up.]

[Jang Tae-ri: I didn’t throw up either ^^]

[Shin Jo-woon: Scroll up, CEO Jang]

[Jang Tae-ri: ㅇㅠㅇ]

[Rembrary: I need a camper van. Help Rembrary]

[Jang Tae-ri: Are you going to drive it yourself?]

[Rembrary: Yes!]

For a moment, Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri didn’t reply, and Rembrary was shocked.

He might have driven a bit roughly in the racing dungeon, but that was because the terrain was crooked and messed up.

Rembrary was confident that he could drive perfectly fine outside the dungeon.

But just because they saw him make a mistake in the dungeon, the two of them were so horrified.

After a while, fortunately, Shin Jo-woon replied.

[Shin Jo-woon: I’ll send you a camper van. Someone else will drive.]

[Rembrary: That’s fine]

[Shin Jo-woon: Where should I send it?]

* * *

When Rembrary parted ways with the high-end hunter and arrived home, a large camper van was parked in the yard.

A driver he had seen a few times was yawning in the driver’s seat.

“We meet again like this.”

The driver noticed Rembrary and greeted him with a smile.

“Come out. Why are you staying there uncomfortably?”

“The boss told me never to get out of the driver’s seat.”

“!”

“He wanted to come himself, but he’s been away for a long time, so he has a lot of work.”

“The Sardine [Shin Jo-woon] doesn’t necessarily have to come in person.”

As Rembrary got into the passenger seat, the driver immediately started the car and asked.

“Where shall we go?”

“Anywhere. Let’s go to the nearest ‘Maze’ entrance.”

The car, which smoothly left the yard and entered the road, faltered for a moment at Rembrary’s request.

The driver’s eyes widened as if he couldn’t believe they were going to the demons’ area.

“Wouldn’t it be better for the boss to come in person to such a place?”

“We’re not going inside.”

“Yes?”

“I have something to check outside.”

It was a complicated matter to explain, so Rembrary only said that much. The driver didn’t ask further.

He seemed to think that he would get involved if he knew the situation.

Anyway, about two hours later, Rembrary finally arrived near Entrance 5 of District 1.

Before the Cataclysm [a world-altering event], he would have arrived earlier, but among the non-cities that emerged after the Cataclysm, there were places where you shouldn’t go inside and had to turn back, and there were also dangerous zones where monsters popped out from time to time.

As a result, even when traveling by car, the travel distance was, on average, longer than before the Cataclysm.

The driver stopped the car and asked worriedly.

“You’re not going in alone, are you?”

“Would I do that?”

In fact, Rembrary had intended to go in alone if it was District 3, but he quickly denied the past while looking at the District 1 sign.

“Then what are you going to do now?”

“I’m going to wait here until the ‘Black Cloud’ phenomenon appears.”

“Yes? Why?”

“There’s something I’m looking for. It might only appear during the Black Cloud phenomenon.”

What Rembrary wanted to confirm was whether a new path to District 5 would open up when the Black Cloud phenomenon occurred.

Just like when that high-end hunter accidentally went inside.

But since he didn’t know when the Black Cloud phenomenon would appear, he had asked for the camper van.

For the next three days, Rembrary stayed in the car, waiting for the Black Cloud phenomenon to appear.

However, the Black Cloud phenomenon, which used to occur quite frequently, did not appear easily even after waiting for several days.

“Why isn’t the Black Cloud phenomenon appearing?”

As Rembrary looked out the window and elegantly drank coffee, the driver yawned from across and informed him.

“After the demons appeared en masse, the scale and frequency of that phenomenon have actually decreased. I don’t know why, though.”

How long had it been?

Around the time when acquaintances were worrying about Rembrary, asking if he had gone into the dungeon alone.

The Black Cloud phenomenon he had been waiting for finally occurred.

Rembrary quickly opened the window and looked at the door.

‘It looks ordinary.’

However, the entrance to District 1-5 was just the entrance to District 1-5 in terms of appearance. No other entrance appeared next to it, and it didn’t shine around the entrance.

District 5 or something like that wasn’t visible beyond the Black Cloud phenomenon either.

‘There’s no difference in the entrance. Maybe if you go through the door at that time, you’ll be transported to District 5?’

Rembrary thought that and went out of the camper van.

“Rembrary-ssi? It’s dangerous!”

The driver was surprised to see Rembrary going outside even though pillars were falling from the sky and called out to him, but Rembrary was calm.

Whether the pillars were avoiding him or Rembrary was avoiding the pillars, he naturally arrived in front of the District 1-5 door.

‘……Let’s do it.’

Then, just as Rembrary was about to turn the doorknob, someone grabbed Rembrary’s wrist.

It was a large, slender hand with several rings on its fingers.

The hand, which gripped his wrist as if to stop him from going inside, disappeared as soon as Rembrary turned his head.

“?”

He didn’t know who the owner of the hand was, but it was certain that they had just stopped Rembrary from going inside.

Before he could finish thinking about who it was, the Black Cloud phenomenon ended, and the sky regained its original clear light.

Rembrary turned around and got back into the car.

“Oh my! You don’t know how surprised I was!”

The driver was horrified and shouted when Rembrary came back unharmed.

He couldn’t chase after him to tell him to come back and seemed to have been very surprised in the car.

“I’m fine.”

“Still. Suddenly sitting next to me here, then going outside and trying to open the door, how scary do you think that was?”

“I’m fine.”

Rembrary calmed the driver and asked.

“But by any chance, when I was about to go inside, did anyone grab me?”

“Yes?”

The driver tilted his head, bewildered.

“No. Who would go out in the rain of pillars unless they were a weirdo like Rembrary-ssi?”

* * *

“There’s no way one person can see all of the demon’s territory.”

After returning the car to Shin Jo-woon, Rembrary went to see Dae-ju with him and told him the details of the situation.

Dae-ju listened seriously to the story that District 5 might exist, but he didn’t like the fact that Rembrary had tried to find the district alone.

“You shouldn’t have gone alone. Even if District 5 really opened, it’s dangerous to go alone. You should know that.”

“Of course, I know.”

“You don’t know.”

“Why are you deciding that I don’t know when I say I do?”

“If you knew, you wouldn’t have gone alone.”

While Dae-ju was sternly scolding him, Shin Jo-woon pretended not to listen. He didn’t seem to have any intention of saving him from Dae-ju’s nagging.

Still, after a round of nagging, Dae-ju said that he would investigate District 5.

“If we can’t find District 5 even after destroying all four pillars, we won’t be able to eliminate the demon’s territory after all. If we can’t find District 5, we have to change the plan itself to seal the enemies by destroying the pillars. So I will also search thoroughly for a way to enter District 5.”

“How are you going to find it?”

“We can install cameras around the entrance and watch.”

“!”

* * *

The next day.

Rembrary had spent too much time investigating the Black Cloud phenomenon, so the group decided to form a team and depart immediately.

The members this time were Rembrary, Nin-ling, Woo Yeon-woo, and Shin Jo-woon, according to the ‘rotation’ that Nak-ru insisted on.

“Isn’t your turn coming too quickly?”

Rembrary was dumbfounded and asked Shin Jo-woon, who had joined last, but Shin Jo-woon replied without much emotion.

“I don’t trust the group I’m going with.”

Nin-ling and Woo Yeon-woo were taken aback, but that was all.

Nin-ling was a calm and good-natured person, so she wasn’t the type to fight just because she heard a word or two from others, and Woo Yeon-woo knew that Shin Jo-woon’s personality wasn’t good, so he suppressed himself.

After that, there was a brief disagreement about whether to go to District 1 or District 3, but the group finally decided to enter District 3-4 due to Shin Jo-woon’s strong insistence on passing through the three remaining District 3s first.

Woo Yeon-woo was worried that he couldn’t save his brother right away, but he thought that the more he cleared weak dungeons, the more experience he would gain in handling his abilities and become stronger, so he steeled his heart.

And on the day of departure.

Rembrary opened the 3-4 entrance with a light heart and went inside.

“It’s eerie.”

“The atmosphere isn’t good this time.”

“Wasn’t it like this before, High Priest-nim?”

But it was unexpected.

This District 3 had a much more eerie and dark atmosphere compared to the illusion zone of 3-1, the school of 3-2, or the fairy tale zone of 3-3.

Lightning struck continuously in the sky, and there were no leaves on the trees. In front of them was a large mansion blocked by a high iron gate.

The mansion, which was momentarily brightened by the lightning and then darkened again, had only one nickname that could be attached to it at first glance: the Haunted Mansion.

What was even stranger was the numerous people standing around the mansion.

People wearing different clothes, who didn’t fit in with this haunted mansion.

Rembrary walked towards the mansion. The people glanced at Rembrary’s group but didn’t stop them.

When they reached the iron gate, which was tightly closed with chains, they saw a rule that was kindly presented next to it.

Woo Yeon-woo slowly read the rule.

“100 people enter and start at the same time. All survivors can pass through and leave. Also, the first person to pass through out of the 100 people can take one deceased person out of the haunted mansion.”

Woo Yeon-woo finished reading the rules and turned around.

“There aren’t any particularly difficult rules. It seems like we just have to survive and leave.”

Then he muttered while glancing at the last part.

“But that part about being able to take out the deceased. Does that mean they’ll revive the dead?”

Rembrary replied.

“It seems like it.”

Then Woo Yeon-woo asked worriedly.

“Then can we save my brother too?”

“Your brother isn’t dead yet, Yeon-woo.”

Woo Yeon-woo muttered, ‘Is that so?’ and then asked Rembrary.

“Then what about you? Is there anyone you want to revive? If there is such a person, let’s all give way to the person who has someone to revive so they can pass through first.”

Rembrary nodded.

“Let’s do that. I agree to yield. But I don’t have anyone worth saving.”

Nin-ling also answered on her own.

“I don’t really have anyone either…….”

Naturally, the group looked at Shin Jo-woon.

“What about you?”

Woo Yeon-woo, who didn’t have good feelings for Shin Jo-woon, asked curtly.

Assuming that he wouldn’t have anyone. Would that human have someone he misses who he can’t meet anymore?

Shin Jo-woon gave an answer that Woo Yeon-woo didn’t expect.

“I do.”