Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 558

◈ 558. A Missing Memory

“You were a prince?”

Woo Yeon-woo wasn’t sure whether to be more surprised that Rembrary was a prince or that the person inside the cocoon was alive and talking.

However, unlike Woo Yeon-woo, who was utterly astonished, Rembrary acknowledged it nonchalantly.

“In terms of worldly status, yes.”

Woo Yeon-woo was even more taken aback.

‘What is this? I teased him for talking like a king. Was he really royalty? Crap. Is that just how his family talks? What if his whole family talks like that?’

Woo Yeon-woo glanced at Shin Jooyoon, feeling anxious.

However, Shin Jooyoon seemed unfazed and was asking Rembrary about the person in the cocoon.

“Someone you know?”

Right. This isn’t the time to be surprised by his manner of speaking [formal and archaic speech]. Woo Yeon-woo quickly snapped out of it.

Rembrary’s manner of speaking had nothing to do with escaping this dungeon.

Rembrary answered immediately.

“No.”

At that answer, the person in the cocoon widened their eyes.

‘That person seems to know you?’ Woo Yeon-woo looked at Rembrary, feeling awkward.

Besides, when that face was revealed from the cocoon, didn’t Rembrary momentarily wear an ambiguous expression?

“You really don’t know?”

When Woo Yeon-woo asked again, Rembrary replied with a seemingly indifferent expression, unlike before.

“That’s someone I’m seeing for the first time. But they do look familiar.”

“Where did you see them?”

“Were they a villain in some movie?”

Shin Jooyoon, formerly the head of a successful entertainment agency, immediately denied it.

“No.”

“Was it a documentary, then?”

“No.”

Again, Shin Jooyoon immediately denied it.

“No, why are you like this? Rembrary could have seen movies or documentaries that you haven’t.”

Woo Yeon-woo retorted, annoyed by his arrogant attitude, but in truth, Woo Yeon-woo also knew it wasn’t the case.

He knew their general lifestyle patterns. Rembrary probably hadn’t watched significantly more movies or documentaries than Shin Jooyoon.

Rembrary added.

“That person… Doesn’t give a good impression.”

At those words, the person who had revealed their face lowered their eyes. Shin Jooyoon watched the reaction before stepping forward.

“It would be better if they just revealed who they are themselves.”

It was a valid point, so Woo Yeon-woo also looked at the person.

‘That’s right. He heard the conversation up close, so he should know that Rembrary doesn’t remember him.’

“…….”

However, the person in the cocoon remained silent. They only wore a troubled expression, still looking down.

“Looks like you weren’t on good terms.”

Shin Jooyoon concluded after seeing their attitude, and Rembrary asked the person.

“Is that so?”

The person in the cocoon seemed perplexed and remained still, unable to answer even Rembrary’s simple question.

Then, as the wind blew and the tree swayed slightly, the person suddenly pleaded with a terrified expression.

“High Priest, please save me.”

“Save you?”

“If the High Priest forgives me… I can be saved.”

“?”

It was a sudden request. But even while feeling puzzled, just as Rembrary was about to say he understood,

Almost simultaneously, Shin Jooyoon and Woo Yeon-woo covered Rembrary’s mouth with their hands.

However, as the two, disgusted that their hands had overlapped by chance, quickly pulled their hands away, Rembrary’s mouth quickly regained its freedom.

Rembrary looked at Woo Yeon-woo and Shin Jooyoon, bewildered, and Woo Yeon-woo said, feeling even more annoyed.

“You were going to say you’d forgive him, weren’t you? Are you crazy? You said you don’t even know who he is! You don’t know what happened, so why are you forgiving him first?”

Shin Jooyoon also advised in a colder voice than usual.

“Idiot. The fact that he’s asking for your forgiveness means he’s someone who has wronged you. You need to know what that is.”

At those words, the expression of the person in the cocoon wavered.

“If all that person needs is my forgiveness, I can give it. They’re not someone I remember fondly enough to hate.”

However, Rembrary said nonchalantly, and before Woo Yeon-woo and Shin Jooyoon could stop him, he said it.

“I forgive you.”

Shin Jooyoon was extremely annoyed and frowned seriously.

He usually doesn’t show much of a saintly side. He didn’t like how he acted like he was revealing ‘I’m actually a saint’ only at times like this.

Woo Yeon-woo also sulked, but the person in the cocoon smiled brightly and bowed repeatedly.

“Thank you! Thank you, High Priest!”

“…….”

“…….”

“?”

However, no matter how much they watched, no change came to the person in the cocoon. They just remained inside the cocoon.

Frankly, Woo Yeon-woo thought that if Rembrary said he would forgive them, the cocoon would disappear.

“Why isn’t anything happening?”

Woo Yeon-woo muttered quietly.

The person in the cocoon also seemed bewildered. There was clearly some phenomenon they had been expecting.

The person in the cocoon looked at Rembrary.

But still, nothing happened, and as the wind blew and the cocoon began to sway, the person screamed with a pained expression.

“It’s because the High Priest didn’t sincerely forgive me. Why can’t you even forgive properly when you’re a High Priest!”

Rembrary watched the scene with the same expression he had when he said he would forgive them.

“I was dragged here because of the High Priest. This is all because of you. I may have sinned against the High Priest, but when you think about it, you’re the one who made me like this!”

The person in the cocoon sobbed and began to change their words little by little from the beginning.

Woo Yeon-woo didn’t know exactly what was going on, but he was annoyed and snapped.

“He doesn’t even know who you are or what happened. And you’re not telling him who you are or what your relationship is. It’s ridiculous to think that forgiveness exchanged in that state would be effective! At least tell him what kind of relationship you had!”

Meanwhile, Shin Jooyoon walked around, tearing off the facial parts of the other cocoons hanging on the tree one by one.

All the cocoons contained people, and they were all crying like the person in the first cocoon they had torn open.

The person in the first cocoon sobbed, and seeing Rembrary’s gentle expression, which seemed to have shown no change from the beginning, they cried even harder.

But feeling like they couldn’t stay like this, they finally blurted it out.

“I… we… kidnapped the prince.”

Kidnapped? As a more shocking word than expected popped out, Shin Jooyoon and Woo Yeon-woo widened their eyes and looked at Rembrary.

However, Rembrary tilted his head as if it was the first time he had heard the story.

“Me?”

The person in the cocoon opened their mouth to say more. But instead of words, what came out was a thread that looked like extracted blood vessels.

The person in the cocoon began to cough and struggle. The other people in the cocoons were the same.

The blood vessel-like threads that came out of them slowly came out of their mouths, and later, they crawled up the cocoons surrounding them like earthworms and clung to the tree.

Woo Yeon-woo swallowed hard.

‘Are the threads that make up this tree all made like that? Is it a tree made of threads, or are those threads clinging to the tree?’ Either way, it was horrifying.

Besides, Rembrary was kidnapped? And that person is one of the kidnappers? Rembrary doesn’t even seem to remember being kidnapped?

“Is it true?”

Woo Yeon-woo asked cautiously.

If those people in the cocoons were really kidnappers, he could understand why they were asking Rembrary for forgiveness. He didn’t know why they were blaming Rembrary, though.

Rembrary tilted his head and pointed to the tree with his hand, saying.

“I don’t know about the kidnapping. But I remembered something related to that tree.”

“The tree? Did a tree like that actually exist? At your house?”

“According to my memory, it was just a big, normal tree. It’s true that red threads were hung on it, though.”

“!”

“I was playing with those kids in the maze. The bet was… as always, to be the first to reach that tree.”

‘Those kids?’ Shin Jooyoon, who thought that the demons and Redrin were subtly opposed regarding Rembrary’s childhood, listened to Rembrary’s words.

“And as always, I arrived first…”

Rembrary’s eyes narrowed.

“I think I saw that person. I think they were hiding behind the tree and then came out.”

The moment Rembrary said that much, the person in the cocoon began to sob again.

“Please forgive me, please forgive me.”

Rembrary tilted his head.

“But why are you here?”

“I’ve been here for almost 15 years. I’ve suffered enough, so please forgive me.”

Not only the person who had the first cocoon torn open, but also the people in the other cocoons were all crying in unison, as if they were playing a dirge [a lament for the dead] with people. Woo Yeon-woo quickly rubbed his arms.

Shin Jooyoon said dryly.

“There must be more to say.”

“More to say?”

“Why you kidnapped him. Whether you were trying to use him as a hostage, extort money, or were paid by someone else to kidnap him.”

Woo Yeon-woo nodded and muttered.

“But can a person be like that for 15 years? Is this an illusion? Why are the demons creating such an illusion?”

Just by looking at it, it was difficult for Rembrary to say for sure.

Rembrary approached the person in the cocoon and used his divine power to poke their forehead with his fingertip.

The expression of the person in the cocoon cleared up for a moment. It wasn’t an illusion.

Then, as soon as Rembrary took his hand away, the person in the cocoon raved like someone who had received a drop of water after a long thirst.

“It seems it’s not an illusion.”

Shin Jooyoon carefully asked Rembrary.

“Do you remember anything?”

“No. I remember seeing them. But other than that…”

Rembrary’s nonchalant expression didn’t seem like someone hiding a wound.

As Shin Jooyoon looked at the people in the cocoons, the person hanging on the other side shouted.

“Enemy country, to the enemy country―”

The moment they said that much, suddenly, blood vessel-like threads began to pour out of the mouths of the people hanging in the cocoons again.

The threads that were coming out this time were bundles, and since they were much thicker than before, the people struggled even more painfully.

Moreover, this time the threads didn’t crawl up the tree. The threads instantly filled the facial parts of the cocoons that Rembrary and Shin Jooyoon had torn off.

In the blink of an eye, the cocoons returned to their original state, and the faces of the people inside were no longer visible.

Woo Yeon-woo stared at the violently wriggling cocoons with a disgusted look, and as the movement subsided a little, he cautiously approached and trembled as he tore off the facial part of the cocoon again.

“Eek!”

However, what was inside was not a person but a skull.

As bugs poured out like black tears from the skull’s hollow eye sockets, Woo Yeon-woo was horrified and fell backward.

At that moment, the sound of the sky breaking was heard, and the surrounding scenery changed.

Woo Yeon-woo hurriedly got up and hid behind Rembrary.

The surroundings were already outside the dungeon. The door to the 3-5 area they had entered was visible nearby. They had passed through the dungeon.

‘How did we get out? We didn’t even break the conditions?’ Feeling puzzled, Woo Yeon-woo looked at Rembrary.

“The prince that woman was looking for… was you?”