Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 542

◈ 542. 5 Billion Project

Having passed through Zones 4-6, Rembrary had failed to rescue Siyeong.

No, to be precise, they hadn’t even found the children, let alone rescued them.

Meng Wu-shin, his face pale, tore at his hair.

“It’s all because of you, Rembrary! You wasted too much time on the phone at the entrance!”

Sagongjae, who was still somewhat closer to Rembrary, defended him.

“The call lasted about 20 minutes, so that can’t be it.”

“20 minutes is more than enough time to save the kids!”

“You have to calculate relatively. Meng Wu-shin only knows how to defend, so he couldn’t save anyone even in 200 minutes.”

“What kind of logic is that? There are four of us going in, why are you basing the calculation on me?”

“Well, Rembrary was on the phone.”

“What? But you and Hwasa-ja are still there. It wouldn’t be 200 minutes based on you guys, would it?”

“Are you saying you’re incompetent?”

“Is this guy crazy?”

“Probably not.”

The bickering between Sagongjae and Meng Wu-shin almost turned into a quarrel, but fortunately, a timely phone call from Daeju resolved it.

“Siyeong is already out. All the children are safe and sound.”

At Rembrary’s words after hanging up, Meng Wu-shin, who was about to lash out at Sagongjae, felt relieved.

“That’s a relief.”

“Indeed. Even though the one who saved them was a demon.”

Meng Wu-shin, who had been relieved, widened his eyes at the mention of a demon.

“What? A demon?”

Rembrary looked down at his phone and relayed the story Daeju had just told him.

“Exactly. A demon saved the children without a scratch. Daeju suspects the demons deliberately saved the children to improve their image.”

Sagongjae muttered seriously.

“Because image is power to the Demon King.”

“Exactly.”

Hwasa-ja, catching his breath, raised his hand.

“Oh, then I have a question.”

“Go ahead.”

As Rembrary answered, Hwasa-ja asked, bewildered.

“Did it work? Do the kids immediately like the demons because they saved them?”

“It seems so… Hold on. Daeju is calling again.”

Meng Wu-shin, saying they should return, drove the car he had parked.

Rembrary, the last to board the car, spoke with Daeju.

“Aren’t you tired?”

Hwasa-ja, seeing his serious expression, clicked his tongue and muttered.

As if amazed that Rembrary was so engrossed in the call even after going through such hardship.

Of course, he was tired. Rembrary, too, had been to two dungeons in a row without rest. There was no way he wouldn’t be tired.

His body wasn’t tired, but mentally he was.

However, what Daeju was saying now was so important that he couldn’t hang up.

About 20 minutes of the car swerving back and forth on the half-destroyed four-lane road. Rembrary finally ended the call.

“What did he say?”

Meng Wu-shin asked Rembrary immediately.

In fact, he was practically Daeju’s bodyguard, so he knew very well that Daeju didn’t make long calls.

But to call Rembrary and talk for 20 minutes. He wondered what was going on.

“It’s about the person who sent the CCTV footage to Ju-gyeong.”

“Ah. Did you catch him? That was fast?”

“It’s Woo Seong-woo.”

As soon as Rembrary finished speaking, the car swerved out of its lane and shook violently.

“Wow. Meng, you’re a terrible driver.”

*What* is he talking about, *he’s* the worst driver in the country.

Meng Wu-shin cursed inwardly, but he wasn’t even angry at the harsh words because the other person’s driving skills were so infamous.

Meng Wu-shin brushed off the driving talk and asked.

“More importantly, what are you saying? Woo Seong-woo? I don’t like him, but he’s not the kind of person to join hands with a demon, is he?”

* * *

When Nakru [a powerful organization or group] found out that Woo Seong-woo had sent photos to Ju-gyeong to create discord, they vehemently denied it, saying it was impossible.

Daeju immediately sent the evidence to their upper management and notified them.

-Just in case, Nakru people are no longer allowed to enter our headquarters.

Nakru was upset, but they couldn’t help it.

It wasn’t essential to have meetings or gatherings at Redrine, and the evidence was clear.

Meanwhile, Meng Wu-shin parked the car in front of Rembrary’s house, and Rembrary got out first.

Rembrary was curious about whether Siyeong had come out okay, and what Siyeong’s condition was like since the children seemed to have been somewhat swayed by the demons, so he hurried inside.

But from the moment he opened the front door, he could hear screams like sparrows chirping in the living room.

It was Ju-gyeong and Siyeong fighting.

“The demons are using our dad as a puppet! But you’re saying the demons might be good? Would good people make our dad a puppet?”

“Did I say the demon who attacked your dad was good? When did I say that?”

“You did!”

“There’s more than one or two demons. Just like we’re all different people with different personalities, demons can be too! I’m saying the one who attacked your dad was a bad demon, and the one who helped me was a good demon.”

Nin-ling was standing nearby, wringing her hands, but couldn’t stop them.

The children and Nin-ling belatedly discovered Rembrary during their fight.

Before Nin-ling could signal anything, the children rushed to Rembrary and clung to him.

“Angel, demons are bad, right? Right?”

“Healer, not all demons are bad, right? Isn’t that right?”

Nin-ling looked at Rembrary with a troubled expression. She seemed sorry that Rembrary was now facing the same questions she had been tormented with for the past hour.

Besides, those kinds of questions were hard to answer.

“Ju-gyeong is right.”

*Isn’t* it hard?

Nin-ling was stunned and opened her mouth as Rembrary answered in a second.

Is it okay to answer like that?

Looking at Siyeong, as expected. The child was sobbing and running into the room.

Nin-ling lowered her voice and asked anxiously.

“High Priest. If you take sides with only one person so decisively, won’t Siyeong misunderstand that you’re favoring Ju-gyeong?”

“I can’t just spout nonsense about there being good demons.”

“But…”

Before Nin-ling could argue, they heard a door slam shut.

Nin-ling wrung her hands and followed Siyeong upstairs.

* * *

At that moment. The topic of the 5 billion won prize survival game was a hot topic on the internet, but Rembrary was too busy with his own work to pay attention to it these days.

The aftermath of Si-gyeong and Ju-yeong’s fight hadn’t subsided for days.

Everyone was surprised by the children’s words, attacking each other at every meal.

It was also unfamiliar to see the two children, who were always so close, acting like this.

In particular, Nin-ling was going crazy with worry because Siyeong wouldn’t even try to come out of her room even after two days.

“They should be out playing at that age, High Priest.”

“Well, contemplation is good too.”

“Aren’t you worried about Siyeong, High Priest?”

“More than that, you’re annoying.”

In the end, Nin-ling chased after Rembrary and openly asked him to comfort the child, and Rembrary decided to comfort Siyeong.

However, Rembrary had no idea how to comfort a child who was saying the wrong thing.

In the end, before going to comfort Siyeong. Rembrary decided to practice first and sent a text message to Shin Jo-woon.

[Anchovy. Ju-gyeong and Siyeong fought over whether demons are good or bad. When the kids asked me who was right, I sided with the truth, and Siyeong got angry.]

[I’m going to comfort her now, so see how it sounds if I say this.]

Rembrary quickly moved his thumb to write comforting phrases, but soon thought it wasn’t right and deleted them.

Siyeong needs to be comforted with words. What good is practicing comforting with text messages? Nuance is important in words.

[It’s important, so you have to judge carefully.]

In the end, Rembrary stopped texting and called Shin Jo-woon.

* * *

Shin Jo-woon was in the middle of a hastily convened High-End Hunter meeting regarding Woo Seong-woo stealing CCTV footage from Redrine headquarters.

Since they were talking via video conference, everyone noticed when Shin Jo-woon’s phone vibrated repeatedly and suggested.

“It looks like you’re getting a call?”

“Shouldn’t I answer it?”

“Or just turn it off altogether.”

Shin Jo-woon glanced down at his phone. The caller was Rembrary.

And in the small notification window above, the last text message Rembrary sent was displayed.

[It’s important, so you have to judge carefully.]

“He says he has something important to say.”

As Shin Jo-woon muttered, the other High-End Hunters generously suggested.

“He says it’s important, so take the call.”

“Isn’t that guy related to the agenda we’re discussing now? Let’s take it.”

“Turn on speaker mode. If it’s important, we’ll have to hear it anyway, so I’d like to listen together right away.”

If Rembrary says it’s important, it must be about Woo Seong-woo and the demons.

Shin Jo-woon agreed and answered the phone in speaker mode.

Then, just as he was about to tell them that he was in a High-End Hunter meeting and in speaker mode, he immediately heard Rembrary’s voice from beyond the phone.

[How can you just get angry and sulk and leave?]

“?”

[Let’s talk. It’s true that I didn’t take your side at the time, but that doesn’t mean I hate you and only like her.]

“!”

[My baby. Aren’t you a good baby?]

“?”

Before Shin Jo-woon could ask ‘Is this call for me?’, his secretary, who had turned pale, pressed the end call button as if by mistake.

“I’m sorry, CEO. My hand slipped.”

Another hunter burst out laughing from across the screen and kindly suggested.

“Mr. Baby. Do you need time to talk? It sounds like a personal matter.”

Shin Jo-woon sighed and said.

“Let’s continue with the meeting.”

* * *

“How can your phone manners be so terrible?”

He asked for advice on how to comfort a child. Rembrary was dumbfounded when Shin Jo-woon hung up before even hearing a few words.

Did he hang up because it didn’t sound like he was comforting her much? Or did he hang up because he was annoyed?

“I should ask Tae-ri.”

In the end, Rembrary was about to change his target this time, but first, he received a call from someone else. It was an unknown number.

‘Who is it?’

Rembrary, who didn’t answer because it was an unknown number, lost all motivation to call, so he decided to sleep for about 30 minutes and then try again.

But that’s when he was just crawling into bed.

Just as he was about to cover himself with the blanket and close his eyes, the phone rang again.

It must be Anchovy [slang for Shin Jo-woon]. He must have felt sorry for suddenly hanging up and called. Rembrary thought, feeling triumphant, and picked up his phone.

However, the caller was the unknown number from before. Again.

‘Was it not a wrong number?’

This time, Rembrary answered the phone.

“Who is this?”

-Excuse me. This is Gu Se-ji, team leader of Nakru.

“Gu Se-ji? Ah, that person.”

Even though he didn’t know the number, the caller was someone he knew. Was he calling about Woo Seong-woo?

“Oh. What’s wrong?”

As Rembrary answered, the other side asked in a serious voice.

-Have you checked the internet now?

“No.”

-Would you like to check it out?

“Do I have to?”

-Yes. It’s too complicated to explain in words.”

What is it? Is he not calling about Woo Seong-woo? Rembrary did as he was told.

He turned on the computer and connected to the internet. What Gu Se-ji was talking about could be seen as soon as he went online.

“What is this? 5 Billion Project?”

Internet broadcasters were gathering together and saying they were going to enter a dungeon with 5 billion won on the line.

Gu Se-ji sighed over the receiver.

-People were expecting Kim Mu-rok’s broadcast. Since his filming keeps getting canceled, it seems they decided to proceed on their own. But the content is ridiculous. Go and stop them.

“Why don’t you go yourself?”

-I went myself, but they kicked me out. Everyone knows Nakru is related to the government. They kicked me out, saying I came to interfere.