Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 559

◈ 559. Perhaps the Most Daring Person

Not in the way I expected, but we cleared Areas 3-5.

Now, there was only one entrance left in Area 3. Once we cleared that dungeon, we could destroy the pillar.

With a mix of anticipation and anxiety, Woo Yeon-woo felt a stomachache. On the quiet car ride back, he couldn’t help but ask.

“About the pillar… Will the demons come out to stop us when we destroy it?”

Rembrary, sitting in the passenger seat, took out a piece of gum and chewed it before turning around.

“Do you want to see them?”

“No. That’s why I’m asking. I just want to destroy the pillar.”

Woo Yeon-woo grimaced and muttered, then glared at Shin Jo-woon’s head from behind.

He had come to this dungeon with a firm resolution to improve his skills. But he was annoyed again when he remembered how his hands had frozen because of Shin Jo-woon before he could even do anything properly.

Rembrary smiled kindly and comforted Woo Yeon-woo.

“Either way, we will win, so don’t worry.”

“Why are you so sure?”

“There’s no reason to be pessimistic, is there?”

“Still, I need to prepare myself a little—”

Before Woo Yeon-woo could finish speaking, Shin Jo-woon cut him off.

“Anyway, I’m not taking Woo Yeon-woo next time, so don’t worry.”

Shin Jo-woon’s words made Woo Yeon-woo uncomfortable.

“Why are you deciding that?”

“Then hear the same thing from Nakru.”

Woo Yeon-woo frowned even more.

“Why do you think I’ll hear the same thing from Nakru?”

He knew that the best thing to do when he was in a bad mood was to stop talking and not engage in conversation, but he had just witnessed a bizarre scene and was feeling a bit emotional.

Even before seeing that scene, Woo Sung-woo was in the same dungeon as him but only talked to Shin Jo-woon.

In this situation, Shin Jo-woon sprinkled salt on the wound, and Woo Yeon-woo’s stomach churned.

Shin Jo-woon smiled lightly.

“Isn’t it obvious? Woo Yeon-woo is a bit too weak to take to the final battle.”

It was true, which made him even more upset, but Woo Yeon-woo was still a bit afraid of Shin Jo-woon to argue any further.

Woo Yeon-woo pretended to hit Shin Jo-woon’s head from behind, but when their eyes met in the rearview mirror, he pretended to be playing drums in the air, quickly closed his eyes, and lay down on his side.

Rembrary chewed his gum, watched the scene, and smiled contentedly.

“It’s fun even when the three of us are playing around, isn’t it?”

That clueless bastard. Woo Yeon-woo wanted to hit Rembrary too.

* * *

After dropping off Woo Yeon-woo. It was when Rembrary and Shin Jo-woon were left alone in the car.

“Don’t you have any other flavors of gum besides strawberry?”

“Why? Don’t you like that flavor?”

“No, it’s not that. It would be nice to have a variety.”

They were exchanging meaningless words as usual when, during a brief stop at a traffic light, Shin Jo-woon glanced at Rembrary’s condition and changed the subject.

“There’s something I want to talk about.”

“Should I pick out the gum myself? Should we go to the mart together?”

Shin Jo-woon turned the steering wheel toward the mart [convenience store].

“Avoid going into dungeons with Woo Yeon-woo in the future.”

Rembrary was about to turn on his phone’s memo app to choose something other than gum when he raised his eyebrows and looked at Shin Jo-woon.

“Why? Is he too weak?”

Shin Jo-woon tapped the steering wheel with his fingers a few times, wondering if he should say this or not.

But if he just told him not to take him, that stubborn guy wouldn’t listen, so he spoke honestly.

“He keeps showing you your childhood in the dungeon.”

Shin Jo-woon looked to the side again. Rembrary was looking at him with a ‘so what?’ expression.

“I don’t think you know what those guys are going to show you. Isn’t it a bit dangerous to show that to just anyone?”

Shin Jo-woon looked at Rembrary again. Rembrary was now staring blankly at him. He wasn’t even chewing his gum.

Meanwhile, the car arrived at the mart and entered the parking lot.

“Don’t you understand what I’m saying?”

Shin Jo-woon asked again.

Instead of answering, Rembrary burst out laughing. It wasn’t a loud laugh, but the kind of laughter that came out when he heard something funny.

As Shin Jo-woon parked the car and unbuckled his seatbelt, the laughter stopped.

Looking to the side again, Rembrary hadn’t unbuckled his seatbelt.

When their eyes met, Rembrary unbuckled his seatbelt as if he had forgotten and said.

“I know what you’re worried about. You’re worried that the enemies will show me some bogus illusions, right?”

Thinking that he was missing the point a bit, Shin Jo-woon nodded. Rembrary chuckled and got out of the car.

“You’re taking me, so there’s no reason not to take Yeon-woo, is there?”

Before Rembrary closed the car door, Shin Jo-woon heard him say this.

* * *

“What’s going on all of a sudden?”

Jang Tae-ri muttered in bewilderment as she opened the front door.

“And what’s this?”

She took the flat, large box that Shin Jo-woon handed her as soon as he came in.

She asked what it was, but she knew right away that it was pizza. A delicious smell wafted from the still-warm box.

“Is Rembrary supposed to come later?”

Jang Tae-ri walked into the kitchen with the box and continued to pepper him with questions.

“Didn’t you guys go into a dungeon? Did you come out today? Or yesterday?”

“Today. It hasn’t been a few hours since we came out.”

“But you came alone? With pizza?”

What on earth was going on? Even though it was nothing much, Jang Tae-ri found everything suspicious.

It wouldn’t be so strange if Shin Jo-woon had come empty-handed or brought bread or fruit by himself.

Was it because he brought pizza of all things? Various suspicions arose.

“Did you and Rembrary fight by any chance?”

Instead of answering, Shin Jo-woon picked up the pizza box that Jang Tae-ri had placed on the table and asked.

“Just hold this for a second.”

“This?”

Jang Tae-ri stood there, bewildered, holding a pizza box in each hand as Shin Jo-woon instructed.

Shin Jo-woon took out his camera and took a picture of her, then immediately sent it to Rembrary.

Jang Tae-ri opened her mouth in astonishment. What was with this absurd behavior?

“Did you really fight?”

* * *

Shin Jo-woon said he had an urgent matter to attend to, handed her a pack of strawberry gum, and hurried off somewhere.

He must be busy with work. Well, he had been working even inside the dungeon. Rembrary returned home without much thought.

But when he returned home and greeted his family, he received a text message from Shin Jo-woon.

He was probably saying he was sorry he couldn’t go out to eat something delicious this time and that he would set up a time to go with Tae-ri next time.

Rembrary opened the text message with a happy thought.

“…….”

However, Rembrary frowned as soon as he checked the message. What was this? Was he trying to provoke him?

In the picture, Jang Tae-ri was standing there holding two boxes of delicious-looking pizza. It seemed like Shin Jo-woon had taken the picture.

‘Why is he sending me this picture? Is he showing off?’

He was about to say something in bewilderment when he heard the doorbell ring.

Everyone was out, so Rembrary didn’t reply for a moment as he went to open the door.

“Jungseo?”

Unexpectedly, it was Jungseo who had come to visit.

Rembrary greeted him with a happy face, then remembered that he had told Jungseo to come over if he wanted to before he went into the dungeon.

Come to think of it, he had vaguely seen a message from Jungseo in the unread messages earlier.

He was going to look at it later. So, it was a message saying he was coming to visit.

“How have you been?”

A pizza smell wafted from Jungseo as he greeted him with a smile, so Rembrary looked back and forth between the two boxes he was holding.

“Is that pizza?”

“Yeah, you like it. I couldn’t come empty-handed—”

Before Jungseo could finish his sentence, Rembrary smiled brightly and asked.

“Jungseo. Can you stand there for a moment holding those pizza boxes?”

“Huh? This?”

Jungseo did as he was told, holding the pizza boxes and striking a pose.

Rembrary quickly took a picture of him and sent it to Shin Jo-woon as is.

Rembrary smiled contentedly, showed him the picture he had taken, and asked.

“Did it turn out well? Should I send it to you too?”

“No.”

Jungseo took off his shoes and came inside, bursting into laughter.

“But why this picture? Who did you suddenly send it to?”

“That Squid [멸치 – a Korean slang term often used playfully]. He’s showing off that he’s eating pizza with only Tae-ri, excluding me. I just did the same thing. I’m glad you brought pizza. Otherwise, I would have been very upset.”

“You guys are still close.”

“We’ve always been close. What about you? How have you been?”

“It’s the same as I said in the text. After the Second Great Cataclysm, Yeon-woo is more focused on hunter activities. We can’t release an album as a group.”

“Didn’t you do some variety shows?”

“People are only looking for sensational things these days. I’m going around as a guest, but these days, they don’t really do regular variety shows.”

Was the situation not good? Rembrary looked at Jungseo with concern as he cut the pizza with a pizza cutter.

Jungseo quickly waved his hand.

“No, it’s not that bad. I’m discussing it with Jongwoo hyung [older brother/friend], and I’m going to auditions for movies and dramas these days. Two of them are going well.”

“You’ll do well.”

“What about you? How have you been?”

Rembrary told him a few stories about the dungeon while eating pizza.

Jungseo ate pizza and then rushed to the bathroom after hearing about the tree, the cocoon, and the person spitting out blood vessels from their mouth, but overall, he seemed to be enjoying it.

Rembrary offered comfort to Jungseo, who had returned from the bathroom, looking pale.

“You have a weak stomach.”

“It’s not that, but I didn’t expect such stories to come up while eating.”

“Jungseo.”

“Yeah?”

“If you have any difficulties, tell me anytime. I’m always on your side. You know that, right?”

“!”

Jungseo was a little touched by Rembrary’s words.

In fact, there was something he wanted to say, but the content was so secretive and vague that he had been hesitating whether to tell him or not.

Finally, when Rembrary had finished eating the pizza, Jungseo opened his mouth with a heavier voice than before.

“Rembrary. Actually, there’s something I want to tell you.”

“Tell me.”

“Do you still keep in touch with PD [Production Director] Kim Murok?”

“Kim Murok?”

Why Kim Murok all of a sudden? Rembrary took out his phone, checked the text message history, and shook his head.

“At first, he kept contacting me to do a dungeon variety show. But these days… he doesn’t contact me. It’s been a while since we’ve been in touch.”

At those words, Jungseo let out a sigh of relief, and Rembrary thought there must be something going on and asked.

“Why? Did something happen?”

“The dungeon variety show kept getting rejected. People are looking for sensational broadcasts, but if you sponsor a show where people die, the company’s image will be ruined.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. So, there’s talk that Kim Murok has completely changed direction.”

“Changed direction?”

“I think he’s looking into documentaries.”

“Dungeon documentaries?”

No, wasn’t that guy scared? It seemed like even hunters often died or got trapped. Why was he, a non-awakened person, so eager to get in?

He clicked his tongue, thinking that he was quite amazing in a way, when Jungseo said in a serious voice.

“It’s not certain. He’s keeping the topic a secret. But there’s talk that he’s digging into you and Redrine.”

“Redrine, are you talking about Redrine-nim [formal suffix], or the Redrine Hunter Company?”

“Uh… usually, people don’t really distinguish between the two.”

“!”

“Anyway, it’s best to be careful. Malicious editing is his specialty.”