Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 570

◈ 570. This Way

Without a HwasaJa [a being capable of instant movement], he couldn’t use instant movement. Without a cell phone, he couldn’t call for a car.

As Rembrary stared blankly at Ardor, Ardor quickly shouted,

“Since it’s come to this, there’s no helping it, High Priest. I’ll have to carry you on my back!”

“Why would you when I have my own feet?”

“Didn’t you just collapse and wake up? You mustn’t overexert yourself. And it’s quite a distance home! Me carrying you is the best option.”

“……”

Rembrary, whose body was not only fine but exceptionally healthy, didn’t answer immediately.

Ardor’s expression began to crumble rapidly.

“Do you not like it? I suppose a mere subordinate like me couldn’t possibly have the honor of carrying Rembrary-nim [a term of respect] on my back? Even the benevolent Rembrary-nim wouldn’t want to be carried by someone like me. I thought I had grown much closer to Rembrary-nim since coming here, but I guess that was just my delusion. I was happy to be Rembrary-nim’s titmouse [a small, clinging bird, implying closeness and dependence], even if only for a little while. Without being a titmouse, I’m useless……”

Ardor quickly shut his mouth when Rembrary flicked him on the forehead.

But he still looked sullen, so just as Rembrary was about to say something to soothe him,

A reporter who had been listening to their conversation cautiously approached and kindly offered,

“If you’re having trouble with transportation, would you like me to give you a ride?”

The reporter’s offer stemmed from kindness, but to Ardor, it felt like snatching away a reward he was about to receive.

If the person hadn’t intervened, it would have been maximum approval, or at least consolation!

As Ardor glared at him, the reporter flinched and wondered, ‘Did I say something wrong?’

Rembrary, worried that Ardor might chase the reporter away, stepped forward and accepted the offer.

“That would be great. How far can you take us?”

* * *

The reporter didn’t know where Rembrary’s house was in the upscale school district, so he took them to the Redrin headquarters.

Rembrary took Ardor, who was still huffing and puffing, into the headquarters.

As they passed through the main gate, guarded tightly by security, the believers and employees who recognized Rembrary’s face exclaimed, “Huh?”, “Huh!”

However, no one approached to speak to him directly.

Because he was so famous, even people within Redrin found it difficult to strike up a conversation easily.

Of course, Ardor, who was glaring fiercely from behind, was also partly responsible.

“Relax your eyes a little. The believers are getting scared.”

“If they can’t even withstand this much, they’re not qualified to believe in Redrin-nim.”

“One does not need qualifications to believe in Redrin-nim.”

“But one needs qualifications to approach Rembrary-nim.”

“Have you passed those qualifications?”

“Are you going to test me?”

Rembrary wondered if there was a way to turn Ardor back into a titmouse as he got on the executive elevator.

The elevator ascended without the slightest tremor and stopped on the 5th floor.

As they stepped out into the hallway, the Grand Master was hurrying towards them, having heard the news in the meantime.

“High Priest!”

“Grand Master.”

“I saw the news flash anyway.”

“News flash?”

“Yes. It said that District 3 has disappeared. It seemed to imply that you and Ardor eliminated District 3. There were no other details in the news flash.”

“That’s right.”

The Grand Master’s face brightened at Rembrary’s answer.

“So you finally completely eliminated a district!”

The Grand Master gestured for them to come this way, extending his hand towards his room, and continued to speak.

“I was worried because I lost contact with you after you went in. But I’m relieved to see that you’ve come out safely.”

“Fortunately, it seems we don’t have to eliminate all the domains set up at one entrance. It seems we only need to eliminate one per entrance.”

“Yes. The first time is the hardest; the rest will be easier.”

“Tell him to try it himself.”

The Grand Master, who had been smiling, flinched and turned his eyes at Ardor’s subtly interjected words.

“Don’t say such things, Ardor. The Grand Master is weak.”

Rembrary quickly intervened, worried that the two might fight, and gestured for the Grand Master to continue speaking.

The Grand Master told him about some of the major events that had occurred while Rembrary was away.

First, Kim Murok PD [Production Director] had denied the rumors that he was producing a documentary related to Rembrary and Redrin.

“It’s probably a lie. He probably wants to prepare in secret.”

“Have you found out who the sponsor is?”

“We’ve been investigating separately, but we haven’t found out yet. It’s become difficult to track the flow of funds after the Cataclysm.”

The Grand Master took Rembrary to his room, told his secretary to bring drinks and snacks, and invited Rembrary to sit on the sofa.

“Are you alright, High Priest? Exactly how did the pillar collapse? Did the demons attack to protect the pillar?”

Ardor scoffed, noticing that the Grand Master was deliberately ignoring him, but he quietly listened, curious about Rembrary’s answer.

Ardor had been with Rembrary the whole time but hadn’t seen the scene of the pillar collapsing, so he was equally puzzled about what had happened.

Rembrary opened the bag of snacks that the secretary had left and replied,

“We didn’t fight the demons.”

“Yes? You didn’t fight? Didn’t the demons attack?”

“No.”

At Rembrary’s words, the Grand Master became serious and asked,

“Will the third Cataclysm really come if the pillar collapses? It’s unsettling that the demons didn’t stop it.”

Rembrary recalled Warion’s memories, seen through Warion’s perspective, after the pillar collapsed.

Could this be related to the third Cataclysm that Woo Sungwoo mentioned? Just hearing it…… it wasn’t related at all.

Besides, Warion had even advised Rembrary before collapsing the pillar. That it would be better not to collapse the pillar.

Ardor sucked on his straw, glancing sideways at Rembrary.

Rembrary was just chewing on snacks.

When neither Rembrary nor Ardor answered, the Grand Master cautiously changed the question.

“Do you have any advice regarding collapsing the pillars?”

“I have no other advice regarding that. The demons didn’t stop us from collapsing the pillar as much as they should have.”

“I see.”

The Grand Master wanted to ask the question he had asked earlier again.

Will the third Cataclysm really come if the pillar collapses? Is that why the demons are letting it happen?

He’s just asking for an opinion. Why aren’t they answering? Does not answering mean…… do they know the answer?

As he continued to think, Rembrary suddenly swallowed his snack and said,

“Oh, right, Grand Master.”

“Yes, High Priest.”

“Ardor and I lost our cell phones.”

“Yes? Ah. Is that why I couldn’t reach you?”

“Now that the dungeon has broken, it’s even harder to find them. Could you possibly find them for us?”

“Yes, I’ll look for them. But just in case, I’ll prepare a temporary cell phone for you. It’ll be troublesome if we can’t reach you.”

After receiving a temporary cell phone from the Grand Master, Rembrary and Ardor saved each other’s phone numbers and then went into their SNS [Social Networking Service] accounts to tell Shin Jo-woon, Jang Tae-ri, Jung Seo, Woo Yeon-woo, HwasaJa, and Sa Gam-jae about the situation and gave them their phone numbers.

‘Mulu and Ninling, the kids can go home and save the numbers.’

It was a shame to lose the phone numbers that he had just saved after returning from another world, but otherwise, there was no particularly important information on the phone.

Afterward, Rembrary completely entrusted the matter of the cell phone to the Grand Master and didn’t pay much attention to it himself.

* * *

Rather, it was the reporter who received the cell phone from the hunter who was more concerned about the cell phone.

The reporter watched the news confirming that Redrin’s Rembrary and Ardor were being praised for completely eliminating one of the demon’s domains, and he happily fiddled with the cell phone.

‘Whichever of their cell phones it is, it’ll be a huge story.’

But when he tried to check the cell phone, it was locked with a password. It wasn’t even a simple four-digit number.

‘How annoying.’

The reporter went to a related company with an acquaintance to unlock the password.

“Unlock this password for me.”

However, the acquaintance examined the cell phone and shook his head.

“I can’t do it. This model will wipe out all the contents inside if you enter the password incorrectly more than a few times. Is it yours?”

“No.”

“You’re starting again [getting into trouble].”

“Then find me an expert who can unlock the password.”

Even so, the reporter checked all the broadcasts, photos, etc., that Rembrary or Ardor appeared in to find out whose cell phone he had.

But even this wasn’t easy.

There was a time when Rembrary’s whereabouts were completely unknown for several months, and both of their cell phones had changed around that time.

Only after searching through photos of the people around them did the reporter realize that the cell phone belonged to Rembrary.

‘Jackpot! It’s Rembrary’s cell phone?’

The reporter became even more attached to the cell phone.

However, when it became difficult to unlock the cell phone password while preserving the contents intact, he eventually decided to sell the cell phone to someone else.

No matter how precious something is, it was useless if he couldn’t use it.

Just by hinting at it, several people immediately contacted him and offered various conditions.

The reporter chose Kim Murok, who offered the highest price.

“Rembrary’s cell phone, huh? Very good!”

The reporter met Kim Murok, handed over the cell phone, received money from an unknown source, and asked,

“What are you going to use it for? There’s a rumor that you’re going to film a documentary. Maybe in there……?”

“I’ll use it for something useful.”

Kim Murok smiled and said only that, then carefully put the cell phone he received from the reporter in a box and took it away.

After that, Kim Murok began to look for experts who could unlock the cell phone. Unlike the reporter, he approached people with money from the beginning.

And not long after he started looking, Kim Murok contacted someone who could unlock the password.

Moreover, that person showed a very confident attitude.

A few days later.

Kim Murok decided to meet that person.

The meeting place was a cafe on a large street with many people passing by, deliberately choosing an open place in case of an emergency.

When exchanging emails or texts, they communicated well, but he couldn’t be sure that the person he actually met wouldn’t just try to take the cell phone or be a robber.

On the day of the appointment.

Kim Murok packed the cell phone, the promised money, and a weapon in case of an emergency and went to the meeting place.

As he opened the cafe door and entered, he heard the cheerful sound of a bell.

Kim Murok walked inside, looking around diligently to find the trading partner he had arranged to meet in advance.

He felt sorry for Rembrary, but today he would be able to see all of Rembrary’s private life.

Unlike the previous reporter, he had no intention of stimulating people by publishing articles with it.

He just wanted to use it in the documentary. Anyway, there would be at least one piece of information there that would help the documentary.

‘Let’s see, where…… where did we agree to meet?’

At that moment.
A familiar face caught Kim Murok’s eye. Kim Murok’s pleasant mood vanished as soon as he saw that face.

‘Shin Jo-woon? Why is he there?’

Kim Murok clicked his tongue, then quickly counted the location of the table where Shin Jo-woon was sitting, thinking, ‘Could it be?’

Soon, Kim Murok dropped his hand. It wasn’t ‘could it be’; it was ‘as expected.’ The seat where Shin Jo-woon was sitting was the place where he had arranged to meet his trading partner.

‘Was I tricked!’

Kim Murok reflexively took a step back, then made eye contact with Shin Jo-woon, who was looking at him. Shin Jo-woon smiled and waved at him.

“This way.”

“!”