Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 566

◈ 566. I Hope It Just Passes By

Woo Yeon-woo quickly understood the problem. He seemed to have slipped up when he asked about the children earlier.

He couldn’t recall exactly what he’d said, but if there was a mistake, it had to be in that part. He hadn’t said anything else.

His throat felt dry and tight, and the back of his neck prickled with cold.

Nin-ling was someone who had even tried to assassinate the ‘fake High Priest.’ She wouldn’t just get angry; she’d take action.

‘She’s going to try to kill me.’

His hands began to tremble. He was going to die. Nin-ling was going to try to kill him.

He needed to move his hands and use his ability, but they kept spasming. With this trembling, he couldn’t even write properly.

He was facing only one enemy, yet he was so overwhelmed by fear that he couldn’t even attempt to use his ability.

‘This is why even Hyung and Rembrary don’t trust me.’

Even as he was blaming himself, Woo Yeon-woo saw Nin-ling’s sword.

Even when she was swinging it gently, the pressure made his heart sink.

Now, the back of the sword was facing forward, but soon she would flip it over, with the blade pointing towards him. With that sword…

The moment his imagination conjured the worst image of blood, Woo Yeon-woo decided to confront Nin-ling with what he was good at, what he could do even while trembling.

“It seems like Nin-ling is the one committing a sin right now.”

It was acting.

As an aspiring actor, Woo Yeon-woo was confident in his acting abilities.

And when he was consciously acting, he could hide his trembling.

Woo Yeon-woo maintained a frightened expression while also looking wronged.

As if thinking, ‘It’s scary because she’s holding a sword in front of me like this, but I don’t even know what’s going on.’

Using his ability with his trembling hands now would likely not work properly.

So, he had to rely on the kind side of Nin-ling that she usually showed.

‘Nin-ling won’t attack someone based on mere possibility.’

Indeed. Nin-ling narrowed her eyes but didn’t immediately swing her sword. That was a relief.

If it were another pseudo-holy knight or priest, they might have continued the attack anyway.

Woo Yeon-woo deliberately raised his voice.

“I asked Nin-ling because I was worried Shin Jo-woon would do this. If even Nin-ling is like this… I won’t learn anything anymore!”

Nin-ling tilted her head. She was probably thinking, ‘I don’t care whether you learn or not.’

He was trying to make her think that way on purpose, so he hoped she would.

As Woo Yeon-woo spoke, he became even more upset and even snapped.

“Seriously, these Redrin pseudo-religious people! There’s no one who isn’t a fake!”

“……”

“I’m going to tell Rembrary everything!”

Nin-ling still looked suspicious, but she wasn’t as terrifying as before. She seemed to be thinking, ‘Maybe not?’

‘Even if it was a slip of the tongue, it wasn’t a critical mistake.’

How long had he been huffing and puffing like that? Finally, Nin-ling erased her cold expression and said with a smile.

“Woo Yeon-woo, you need to practice more.”

Was she telling him to practice acting more? Did she notice he was acting? Woo Yeon-woo looked at Nin-ling with a sinking heart.

“The real thing will be scarier than this. You can’t do anything as soon as you get nervous. I guess even training like it’s the real thing isn’t the real thing.”

Woo Yeon-woo was relieved. She wasn’t telling him to practice acting, but to practice using his ability.

However, Woo Yeon-woo didn’t completely relax. Nin-ling was lying.

She was saying she was trying to simulate a real situation, but that cold look in her eyes had been genuine.

“Get up. I can’t train anymore today.”

Nin-ling, who had approached, took Woo Yeon-woo’s hand and helped him up, then patted him on the shoulder and walked ahead.

Woo Yeon-woo stared at her back, hoping that Nin-ling hadn’t noticed the trembling in his hand.

Meanwhile, the guilt crouching in the back of his mind poked at him, making its presence known.

‘But I couldn’t help it. What was I supposed to do in that situation? What’s so different about them? They fled to Earth to save themselves and turned a perfectly good world into a wasteland. What’s the difference between me and them?’

Woo Yeon-woo denied that guilt once again.

* * *

―Can you promise?

―I’ll save you.

Rembrary blinked at the sudden conversation that flashed through his mind.

It was like briefly plunging his head into cold stream water and then pulling it out; his hearing and sight were blurred before returning to normal.

Rembrary frowned.

‘What was that?’

The memories that the demons had shown him before were all illusions or acting.

Memories forcibly shown from the outside. Things he didn’t even remember. Things whose truth he didn’t even know.

But just now. That voice that suddenly came to mind… it didn’t come from the outside.

It was a voice that came from beyond Rembrary’s own memories. So vivid that it was startling.

‘Who did I promise?’

Rembrary frowned. The voice and content that came to mind were puzzling, and he couldn’t figure out the context before and after.

How did he end up making this promise? Who did he say it to?

Before he could finish thinking, Rembrary realized that the strong rose scent was no longer present.

Rembrary blinked.

Was he really inside the rose bed here? The petals touching his cheek were no longer soft. They were like thin, crispy potato chips.

But they didn’t smell good like potato chips. Was he really inside the rose bed?

As he wondered, a hand reached into the bed. The hand grabbed Rembrary and pulled him out from within.

The shrunken body was quickly pulled upwards by the hand.

‘How did they find me?’

Rembrary thought that Noir had found him and taken him out. But when he raised his body, there was no hand or person pulling him.

The room wasn’t the Demon King’s room either. There was no one around, let alone nearby.

There was also no place where Rembrary had been lying. There was no rose bed or anything similar to a bed. There wasn’t even Ardor.

Instead, there was a pillar in front of him that emitted a faint light on its own.

There was nothing around except the pillar. As he approached, he realized that the pillar was much larger than he had thought.

‘How do I knock it down?’

Rembrary sent divine power to the pillar before belatedly thinking.

Rembrary was good at fighting without using divine power, but he didn’t have superhuman strength.

There was no way to knock down a perfectly standing pillar with his fists or feet.

Ardor? Rembrary repeatedly looked around for Ardor.

Ardor had a gun, a gun with endless bullets, so he might be able to knock down the pillar.

“Ardor?”

However, Ardor, who would normally come running while shouting, “High Priest-niiiiim!” even if he just called out from afar, was nowhere to be found.

Had Ardor disappeared somewhere else? Or had he been moved somewhere else? As he was thinking that, someone slowly appeared from behind the pillar.

Warrion. Not the Warrion who washed the young Rembrary’s face in the 3-6 dungeon, but the Warrion that Rembrary knew.

“Was it fun?”

Warrion asked as their eyes met. His voice wasn’t the comfortable voice from the dungeon either.

‘This side isn’t an illusion, but a real entity.’

“It was more troublesome than fun.”

“Why? Were you surprised that a noble High Priest could get along with demons like us?”

“I thought it was shameless of you to embellish our relationship with such a warm atmosphere and show it to me.”

Warrion’s expression immediately soured.

He muttered, “He was cute when he was a baby. Now that he’s all grown up, he’s annoying,” which could also be heard.

“Where is Ardor?”

In response to Rembrary’s question, Warrion leaned against the pillar with one arm instead of answering.

Rembrary called out to Warrion with divine power.

“Warrion.”

He used the Majesty of God, but it didn’t work on Warrion. Warrion smiled sadly without showing any pain and said.

“I’m not here, High Priest.”

“Not here? Then is this current form an illusion?”

Rembrary asked back and then understood. Indeed. If Warrion’s current form was also an illusion, it would explain why the Majesty of God didn’t work.

But….

“Then what are you going to do standing there blankly? How are you going to protect the pillar? Are you just going to watch me knock it down?”

That was the problem. If he was standing there as an illusion, he wouldn’t be affected by Rembrary’s divine power, but he wouldn’t be able to exert much power himself.

Inside the dungeon, he would be fine with the power of the dungeon, but now he had finished the dungeon and was facing the pillar, wasn’t he?

However, even though the dungeon was on the verge of collapsing, Warrion shrugged nonchalantly, looked around, and suddenly approached Rembrary’s nose in the blink of an eye.

As Rembrary stared blankly, Warrion muttered, “You’re not even surprised,” and then slowly opened his mouth.

“Actually, High Priest. I don’t want you to knock down this pillar.”

It was a very quiet voice. As if he didn’t want anyone to hear.

“Are you even saying that? Who would benefit from it?”

If he couldn’t knock down the pillar, the Demon King and the demons would gradually expand their power, centering on the ‘Demon Realm.’ But he should leave the pillar as it is?

Warrion frowned as Rembrary smiled and asked back mockingly.

“I’m not asking you to look the other way, okay?”

“Then?”

“I’ll be honest. I think it’s too late for you or us to turn back now.”

“Too late?”

Besides, turn back? From what?

“I don’t think anything will change even if you regain your memories.”

“Memories? Are you talking about the illusions you create and show me?”

Warrion looked around again and then told Rembrary quietly.

“Every time a pillar collapses, you will regain your memories. But sometimes it’s better not to know things. At least, that’s what I think.”

“!”

“But if you still want to break the pillar… I’ll break it for you, High Priest. How about it? Do you still want to break it?”

“I want to break it.”

As Rembrary answered without a moment’s hesitation, Warrion smiled bitterly and stepped back.

At that moment. One of the firmly standing pillars began to crack in succession, and pillar fragments burst out in all directions.

* * *

He thought he saw the pillar bursting. There was a cliff in front of him. It was the cliff that the young Rembrary had first seen when he fell off the cliff.

Then, this time, his mouth opened on its own, and a muttering sound flowed out.

“How did the kid get down from here?”

It was Warrion’s voice. Then, Warrion suddenly started climbing the cliff, and in an instant, he reached the top of the cliff.

A wide field unfolded before his eyes. Rembrary realized that the field was near the cliff where the young Rembrary had jumped off.

‘Is it Warrion’s memory?’

Rembrary also noticed that there were more people near the cliff. Several people were lined up and glancing down the cliff.

‘Those guys?’

Rembrary realized that some of them were the ones he had seen in the illusion of Rembrary’s palace before.

They were the people who were hanging in cocoons on the tree in the center of the maze.

“Ah, damn it, this is driving me crazy. What are we going to do?”

“How would I know that the little brat would jump off from here?”

“What does the King say?”

“They should have been contacted, but there’s still no answer.”

“Damn it, that King. It seems like he’s trying to pass the buck to us and wash his hands of it because things are going wrong.”

The people seemed serious among themselves, completely unaware of Warrion’s presence.

“This won’t do. We need to come up with a plan. At this rate, we’ll be blamed for kidnapping the prince!”

“What kind of plan can we come up with?”