Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 534

534. Speechless

Shin Joong-woon wants to save someone? That Shin Joong-woon? Woo Yeon-woo looked at Shin Joong-woon with disbelief.

However, Shin Joong-woon didn’t seem to care whether Woo Yeon-woo trusted him or not.

With his hands in his pockets, he was now looking at the chains wrapped around the iron gate.

‘So, what he said earlier was a lie, after all?’ He had that kind of look on his face.

But that attitude made Woo Yeon-woo wonder, ‘Is it real?’ and he asked Rembrary.

“Hey. Ask him if it’s real.”

However, unlike Shin Joong-woon, Rembrary was genuinely curious about the chains and was already busy examining them.

“Do we have to untie this to get in?”

“Hey, Rembrary.”

Woo Yeon-woo subtly tugged at Rembrary’s clothes and urged him again.

“I’m asking if it’s real!”

But Rembrary wasn’t that curious about who Shin Joong-woon wanted to save.

“It’s probably real. It’s probably someone close to him.”

When Rembrary answered casually, Woo Yeon-woo grabbed Rembrary’s sleeve like a bus handle.

“Hey. You’re close to that guy, aren’t you? Aren’t you curious about who he wants to save?”

Rembrary tried to use divine power to cut the chains, but when it didn’t work, he pulled Woo Yeon-woo’s ear and whispered.

“If it’s someone he wants to save, they’re probably already dead. If they were close enough to want to save them, there must be a painful story. Why try to dig up a painful story that they don’t want to talk about?”

Woo Yeon-woo frowned.

He thought so even when they shared the same body, but Rembrary really doesn’t like prying into other people’s business.

In a way, it was considerate, but in a way, it felt like a wall.

At that moment, Rembrary said, “Huh?” and let go of Woo Yeon-woo’s ear. He turned to the side.

“Why?”

Wondering what he was looking at, they looked in the same direction and, unexpectedly, the chains that were tightly wrapped around the iron gate were unraveling on their own.

“How is this happening?”

Muttering, Woo Yeon-woo looked around and realized not how it was happening, but why it was happening.

“There are more people.”

Nin-ling said.

Indeed, in the meantime, the number of people standing in front of the house had increased significantly.

“Does it seem like a hundred have gathered?”

When Rembrary asked, Shin Joong-woon, who had been silent all along, nodded.

“It seems like it, seeing the chains opening.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than the chain fell to the ground with a thud, and the large iron gate opened on its own with an eerie creaking sound.

People rushed inside as soon as the gate opened.

“Tsk, tsk. Being so impatient will only make it more dangerous.”

But not everyone was like that, and about half of them, like Rembrary’s group, didn’t join the rushing crowd and watched the situation.

Woo Yeon-woo glared at the few hunters who were acting arrogantly as if they were the only ones calm and muttered.

“It just seems like they don’t have anyone to save as their first priority for escape.”

It was barely audible, but everyone heard it and looked this way.

But they recognized the faces of Shin Joong-woon, Rembrary, and Woo Yeon-woo and immediately averted their gaze.

Rembrary was about to greet those who recognized him, but he lowered his hand, feeling dejected.

Woo Yeon-woo was about to nag Rembrary to be a little more dignified, but belatedly widened his eyes and looked at Shin Joong-woon.

“Hey, Mr. Shin Joong-woon. You said you have someone to save too. It’s first-come, first-served, what are you doing standing around like this?”

Shin Joong-woon calmly took a step forward.

“I was about to start moving anyway.”

Woo Yeon-woo tilted his head. He’s surprisingly relaxed? Are they not very close? But he doesn’t seem like the type to step up and revive someone he’s not close to…?

* * *

The mansion’s garden was even gloomier than it looked from the outside.

He had seen the garden beyond the iron gate, but it was much worse when he went inside.

Nin-ling watched a few people examining the garden and asked.

“What does it mean to pass through here?”

Woo Yeon-woo also muttered along.

“That’s right. If we had started inside the mansion from the beginning, going outside would be escaping. If we’re going from outside to inside, what is escaping? Are we supposed to go in and then come out?”

Rembrary glanced at those who were examining the broken cars and overgrown weeds.

They seemed to be thinking similarly and weren’t going straight into the mansion.

“We can test it out.”

Rembrary said cheerfully. Then, as he walked towards the iron gate, someone else tried that ‘test’ first.

They had only entered the garden but were trying to go out through the iron gate.

However, as soon as they went outside, the person let out a shriek and fell over. That was the end of it.

A person who hadn’t entered yet placed their hand on the fallen person’s neck, trembling, and hurriedly withdrew their hand, shouting.

“He’s dead!”

Nin-ling turned Rembrary’s body in the opposite direction.

The group ended their unspoken agreement like that and entered the mansion.

The meaning of ‘escape’ could be understood as soon as they entered the mansion.

“How many square feet is this?”

Woo Yeon-woo muttered blankly. Unlike what it looked like from the outside, the interior of the mansion was unbelievably large.

It wasn’t just large, but so large that there seemed to be dozens of rooms on one floor alone.

The people who had entered earlier were scattered in the wide hallway, opening each door one by one.

Rembrary turned around. The front door they had just entered through had already disappeared.

“This place itself is like a small dungeon.”

Woo Yeon-woo was scared and moved behind Rembrary. On the other hand, Nin-ling went in front of Rembrary in case of an emergency.

Meanwhile, Shin Joong-woon opened the door closest to him alone.

“Ah, come on! At least say something!”

Woo Yeon-woo, who saw it, screamed in horror, but the door was already wide open.

Shin Joong-woon looked inside and just went in, so Woo Yeon-woo moved in front of the room, using Rembrary as a shield, and asked.

“What’s inside? Is there something?”

“I can’t see anything.”

“But he went in? Is that guy really crazy?”

“Say that louder, Yeon-woo.”

“Then he’ll hear it!”

“Wasn’t that what you wanted?”

“No. I’m just saying it to myself.”

When Nin-ling looked at him with a ‘what a strange person’ look, Woo Yeon-woo was embarrassed and huffed to himself.

And soon, Woo Yeon-woo regretted holding Rembrary as a shield.

“Let’s go in too.”

After saying this, Rembrary also went inside like Shin Joong-woon.

Woo Yeon-woo, who was holding Rembrary’s arm, ended up following him in.

By the time he realized it, his body had already passed through the doorway, so Woo Yeon-woo screamed.

“Aaaaaah! Ah… Ah… Huh?”

Then Woo Yeon-woo realized that the situation wasn’t as bad as he thought and gradually stopped screaming.

“What is it?”

Woo Yeon-woo stopped screaming and looked around.

The room, which looked pitch black like a black hole from the outside, was actually a normal room when he came inside.

Shin Joong-woon was also standing in the center of the room, unharmed.

Woo Yeon-woo was angry and was about to tell Shin Joong-woon to ‘say something before doing things’, but he closed his mouth when he saw Shin Joong-woon staring intently at a student sitting at a desk.

Soon, he felt strange. Who would be studying here?

Woo Yeon-woo swallowed hard.

The student sitting at the desk was wearing slippers and comfortable home wear, solving problems.

Then, when something didn’t go well, he hit his head a few times, but no matter how he looked at it, he didn’t seem like one of the 100 people who had just entered the haunted house.

Woo Yeon-woo anxiously asked Rembrary in his ear.

“Is that a ghost?”

The moment he asked. The student’s hand, which had been moving continuously, stopped abruptly.

Then, the student muttered in a barely audible voice.

“I think I heard something behind me just now.”

It wasn’t just words. As the student slowly began to turn his head, Woo Yeon-woo hid behind Rembrary again.

It wasn’t that the student’s head was bending at a bizarre angle, but it was suspicious.

If someone wanted to turn around, they would just turn around quickly, who would turn around so slowly like that?

“Can’t we just leave?”

Woo Yeon-woo anxiously shook Rembrary and felt like his heart was dropping.

Suddenly, Rembrary’s arm dropped.

Surprised, Woo Yeon-woo trembled and couldn’t bring himself to look up, only screaming. Then—

“What are you doing?”

When he opened his eyes to the touch of someone tapping him from the side, Rembrary was standing next to him, looking blankly, and Shin Joong-woon was looking down at him.

Woo Yeon-woo was grabbing both of Rembrary’s arms and screaming. Woo Yeon-woo quickly looked around.

“Where is this?”

“Where else? We came into the room together.”

“Wasn’t it supposed to be somewhere else?”

“Somewhere else?”

“Yeah, it was just like a study room. A student was studying at a desk. Just, just a normal room.”

“Huh?”

Rembrary frowned. Shin Joong-woon also had a ‘what are you talking about?’ look on his face.

Nin-ling also shook his phone from side to side and then looked at Woo Yeon-woo with a sullen expression.

Woo Yeon-woo looked around at Rembrary’s unharmed arm and the interior of the room, which looked like a large dining room, swallowed hard, and opened his mouth.

“This area, I mean.”

“Yeah.”

“It was written in the rules. This is a haunted mansion.”

“?”

“It looks like real ghosts are coming out.”

* * *

Woo Yeon-woo told them what he had just experienced.

However, Rembrary, Nin-ling, and Shin Joong-woon didn’t look very surprised, so he stepped back in dismay.

He wondered if they were ghosts too.

“Y-you guys are ghosts? Aren’t you scared? Why are you all okay?”

At his frightened appearance, Rembrary smiled and said.

“Isn’t it all just an illusion anyway?”

Woo Yeon-woo immediately retorted.

“If it was an illusion, there wouldn’t have been a condition to revive the dead when we leave!”

“Is that so?”

“Yes!”

But Rembrary still didn’t look scared.

“Aren’t you scared?!”

When Woo Yeon-woo asked in horror, Rembrary smiled gently and replied.

“What’s there to be scared of? The living and the dead are all people.”

“S-still, aren’t you scared?”

“You can become a ghost too. Should I make you one?”

“No!”

Is it because he believes in God that he’s like this? Does believing in God make his faith stronger in situations like this?

Woo Yeon-woo looked back and forth between the unharmed Rembrary and Nin-ling, and then sighed when he saw Shin Joong-woon, who was calm even though he had no religion.

Is it just a personality issue?

Then Woo Yeon-woo realized that Shin Joong-woon was in a slightly different state than usual.

Wouldn’t Shin Joong-woon usually be more proactive?

But except for when he opened the door and entered at the beginning, Shin Joong-woon was being too still.

Could he have been turned into a ghost? Woo Yeon-woo was scared and looked at Shin Joong-woon, but Shin Joong-woon was looking not at him, but at another direction.

Could it be… is there a ghost over there too? Woo Yeon-woo trembled and looked in the direction Shin Joong-woon was looking.

But there was nothing there, so Woo Yeon-woo sighed in relief.

‘Surprise me. Why is he being like that?’

But if Woo Yeon-woo had seen that place through Shin Joong-woon’s eyes, he wouldn’t have been able to feel relieved like this.

In Shin Joong-woon’s eyes, there was a child of about seven years old. A child who looked exactly like Jang Tae-ri’s childhood.

The child didn’t do anything. He was just leaning against the wall, looking at Shin Joong-woon.

Shin Joong-woon fixed his gaze on that figure and asked Rembrary.

“Pig.”

“…….”

“Rembrary.”

“What is it?”

“Do you see something strange too?”

“Strange? Are you talking about yourself?”

“Not me. Someone else in this room, other than us. For example, in that direction.”

Before hearing the answer. Shin Joong-woon widened his eyes.

The child who resembled Jang Tae-ri looked back as if someone had called him and was trying to go that way.

Shin Joong-woon chased after him.

But in Rembrary’s eyes, it only looked like Shin Joong-woon was chasing after empty air.

Rembrary wondered if this twig [a derogatory term] had finally gone crazy and reached out to Shin Joong-woon, but the hem of the clothes he grabbed slipped out as he went forward.

“?”

Rembrary glanced at his empty hand once and looked at Shin Joong-woon again, but Shin Joong-woon was already gone.

“Oh, that twig—”

As Rembrary was about to say that he had disappeared, he realized that Woo Yeon-woo and Nin-ling were also gone. Rembrary was the only one left in the dining room.

As he was wondering where everyone had gone, someone appeared in Rembrary’s eyes.

“Kkokko?”

It was Lapsus. He was looking at Rembrary and saying something.

Rembrary didn’t have much to say to Kkokko, so he went outside to find the others.

* * *

Cloth: Ah, doesn’t that High Priest have any feelings of longing? He just ignores him and leaves;;

Noir: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ