Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 537

◈ 537. Who to Save

[About that big black dragon that flew away a while ago. The black dragon.]

[It was scary. They say black dragons are the Demon King’s dragons. Ominous. But what does the Prince have to do with it?]

[The Prince was riding on the black dragon.]

[Really? No way. There’s no way that’s true.]

[No, it’s true. Someone saw it flying. They say the dragon flew all the way to the castle?]

[I also heard the story that the dragon disappeared near there…….]

In this world, dragons are legendary beings, and there’s no saying that black dragons are *necessarily* the Demon King’s dragons.

*Could* those pitch-black figures be ghosts from this place? Or something else entirely?

Rembrary listened to the ghosts whispering, picked up a few petals from the floor, infused them with divine power, and sent them flying in that direction.

As the petals landed, the black shadows turned into black smoke and disappeared.

‘Is that black dragon those ghosts were talking about the same black dragon that’s currently the Demon King’s right-hand man?’

Are those shadows ghosts belonging to this dungeon, or are they illusions that the demons are showing off as they please?

Rembrary was lost in thought, and as he looked to the side, he finally noticed that the fan who had been sticking with him the whole time had disappeared.

It seemed he had fallen behind and disappeared while Rembrary was picking up the petals.

Rembrary looked around the room, but the black shadow did not reappear. When he went out into the hallway, the path covered with petals was also gone.

* * *

While wandering around the hallway looking for his companions, Rembrary heard a voice from inside a room saying, ‘Help me! Help me!’

‘Who is it?’

When he opened the door and went inside, unexpectedly, a huge guillotine was placed in the center of the room.

A human body was fixed on the guillotine, and two heads were visible below it.

The ones screaming for help were those two heads.

As Rembrary looked back and forth between them, the heads stopped shouting to be saved and instead started making the same request to Rembrary.

“The one lying there is my body. Please attach my head there.”

“No, it’s my head. Please attach me there.”

“It’s my body!”

“What are you talking about? It’s my body!”

Rembrary looked back and forth between the two heads and then just turned around.

“Hey, are you just leaving?”

“Oh, my, what kind of person is that!”

Then the heads started cursing and blaming Rembrary in unison.

Still, Rembrary was about to just go outside, but he eventually changed his mind, turned around, and asked.

“Okay. Then I’ll grant your wish.”

“Me!”

The two heads again shouted that they were the owners of the body, but Rembrary already had something in mind.

“Tell me a unique characteristic of that body. I’ll attach the head that identifies it correctly to the body.”

At those words, one of them shut his mouth, and the other one excitedly shouted.

“Look at the fingers! One of the fingers is noticeably shorter than the others!”

Sure enough, upon closer inspection, there was one finger that was noticeably shorter.

Rembrary attached the head that mentioned the finger to the body.

Then, the person with the attached head slowly got up, supporting himself on the guillotine with his hand, and soon seemed fine. He approached Rembrary to greet him.

“Thank you. I was lying on the guillotine asking for help, but instead, this is what happened. He repaid kindness with evil.”

The person repeatedly bowed to Rembrary and then glared at the severed head and left.

Rembrary counted to about 30 seconds and was about to leave.

However, about 10 seconds later, the severed head began to complain to Rembrary again.

“You did something stupid. The one who *did* this to me was that guy from earlier.”

“?”

“The dungeon we went to before was a sacrifice dungeon. A dungeon that could only be passed with a sacrifice. That guy arbitrarily sacrificed me and went out alive. I was just getting revenge for that. But you ruined my revenge.”

The severed head seemed to feel more and more wronged as he thought about it, and his voice gradually faded until he disappeared altogether.

‘There’s a dungeon like that. That’s going to be tricky.’

Rembrary clicked his tongue and went outside.

But unexpectedly, the man whose head had been cut off was still standing outside. The man was standing there blankly, and when Rembrary came out, he said.

“Um, I’m sorry. Would it be okay if I followed you while escaping outside?”

“Do as you please.”

As Rembrary readily said and went ahead, the man followed closely behind and said.

“Um, I know who you are. You’re a famous healer, right? I thought you were amazing from the first time you appeared.”

“Is that so.”

As Rembrary’s answers were all short no matter how much he praised him, the man excitedly told Rembrary the heroic tales he had heard about Rembrary, then asked in a dark voice.

“That ghost must have said something bad about me to Rembrary.”

“It wasn’t a good story.”

Rembrary didn’t bother to lie.

The man sighed.

“I can guess what he said. I also fell into a trap because I felt guilty and tried to help him as soon as I saw his face. But in the end, one of us had to die there. If that friend had lived, I would have died.”

“Is that so.”

“I…… I’m going to survive and get out of here no matter what. Because I’m looking for my lost daughter.”

“Daughter?”

“Yes. I have two daughters, and the older one disappeared. My wife and the younger one are left alone, and I’m worried about them too. It’s been a few years, so the kids must be a bit older now. The younger one must be around eight or nine years old. I miss them.”

Rembrary was listening to the story without thinking, but then he paused.

Such stories may not be uncommon in a world that has undergone two upheavals… but still, doesn’t it sound a bit like someone’s family situation?

A lost older sister. A father who left to find that sister. A mother who left to find the two who didn’t return. The youngest left alone.

“What are the children’s names?”

“The first or the second?”

“Both.”

“The first is Lee Kyung, and the second is Joo Kyung.”

“!”

“They’re both really kind and cute kids. They’re good at talking and smart… It’s not just because they’re my kids, but they’re really angels, no different from angels?”

The man was excited and told stories about his family, even though Rembrary didn’t react much.

Rembrary was embarrassed when he realized that this man was Joo Kyung’s lost father.

It couldn’t be helped. The severed head earlier grumbled that Rembrary had ruined his revenge, but his revenge was successful.

This man was already dead when his head was cut off at the guillotine. He was just a ‘bodyless ghost’ who became a ‘ghost with a body’.

* * *

“Isn’t that Rembrary?”

When five forks appeared in the road, Woo Yeon-woo shouted, pointing somewhere.

It was a completely different direction from the one pointed by the ghost guide that Shin Jo-woon had frozen.

“Rembrary!”

When Woo Yeon-woo shouted, Rembrary stopped walking and turned around.

Rembrary recognized the group and soon came over to them. An unfamiliar person was following beside him.

“Who is it?”

As soon as he arrived, he asked, and the person answered more kindly than Rembrary.

“I was in danger, and Rembrary helped me. So I’m following him. I’m going to stay with him until I escape.”

Since it wouldn’t be any more difficult to have several people together, the others didn’t bother to object.

This time, Rembrary looked at the ghost with his lower body frozen and asked.

“What is that?”

“He says he’ll guide us.”

At Shin Jo-woon’s answer, the ghost with his lower body frozen pouted.

As if to let them know, even with his expression, that he wasn’t doing it willingly.

Rembrary wasn’t very interested, so he just answered, “Okay.” The group walked down the hallway again.

But after walking for about 5 minutes, Rembrary asked Shin Jo-woon.

“Anchovy [Shin Jo-woon’s nickname]. You said there’s someone you want to save. Who is it?”

As soon as those words came out, Woo Yeon-woo deliberately laughed loudly and teased Rembrary.

“You said you weren’t interested! So you were curious too?”

Shin Jo-woon glanced at Rembrary and then readily answered.

“The appearance is the same as Jang Tae-ri, but the inside is a saint similar to you.”

“Then just Jang Tae-ri looks like a crazy…….”

Woo Yeon-woo muttered without realizing it but stopped talking when Nin-ling stepped on his foot.

However, Shin Jo-woon had already heard the sound, glanced back at Woo Yeon-woo, then looked at Rembrary again and said.

“The inner self I’m talking about is about the degree of goodness.”

“Am I good, Anchovy?”

“Sometimes annoyingly so.”

Soon Shin Jo-woon thought and added.

“If you take the Honey Pig [Rembrary’s persona] out of Rembrary, he’d be like that kid.”

Woo Yeon-woo grumbled.

“What. Then it’s just a different person.”

Honey Pig is Rembrary’s identity, so if you take that out, there’s no similarity at all.

Woo Yeon-woo kept muttering from behind, but Shin Jo-woon didn’t even look at him, as if he had decided to ignore Woo Yeon-woo altogether.

Rembrary asked again.

“When did he die?”

This time, even Woo Yeon-woo wondered, ‘Is it okay to pry this much?’ and shut his mouth.

He doesn’t pry into things the other person doesn’t want, but isn’t he prying too much now?

Fortunately, Shin Jo-woon answered without much reaction.

“A long time ago.”

At that answer, Rembrary was even more embarrassed.

“Oh, dear.”

Woo Yeon-woo wondered, ‘Why is he so serious?’ and glanced at Rembrary. If a guy who doesn’t care about other people’s business does that…….

“Nin-ling. Is that really Rembrary?”

“I think so. All three of them are looking at us properly.”

Rembrary didn’t care whether Woo Yeon-woo was whispering with Nin-ling or not and looked at Joo Kyung’s father’s ghost.

Even strong demons can’t ‘perfectly’ revive dead people.

But if they can revive them ‘even in an imperfect form,’ the one with the most potential is Joo Kyung’s father, who hasn’t been dead for long.

Not someone who died a long time ago, even before the upheaval.

In other words, if Shin Jo-woon leaves here first, the chance to ‘save one person you want to save’ is likely to just fly away.

But he already decided to give Shin Jo-woon a chance to save a dead person.

It was also uncomfortable to say, ‘That probably won’t work,’ and try to save someone with more potential.

On the other hand, thinking about Joo Kyung made him feel uncomfortable. Because he’s not saving Joo Kyung’s father, who has the most potential to be saved.

‘It’s troublesome.’

If Rembrary himself had someone he wanted to save, he could change it to saving Joo Kyung’s father, who has a greater chance.

He can’t force that on others.

Rembrary glanced at Shin Jo-woon again.

Shin Jo-woon was following the ghost, and when he felt the gaze, he turned his head this way, smiled, and asked.

“Why?”

Woo Yeon-woo made a ‘yuck’ gesture in the middle, but no one cared.

‘Anchovy will be uncomfortable if I tell this story.’

Rembrary shook his head and looked ahead.

The weak spirit that trembled in the racing area will not be able to handle this choice.

‘What to do.’