Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 571

Kim Murok waved back with a smile, then quickly turned around, his legs moving busily as he searched for the cafe exit.

But just three steps from the exit, Kim Murok was grabbed by two large men standing nearby.

“Wh, what is it?”

To Kim Murok’s bewildered question, one of the men kindly explained.

“The boss said you might run away, so he told us to hold you.”

*How did he know I would run?* Kim Murok was flustered but handled it with practiced skill.

Hiding his surprise, he laughed as if he’d heard a funny joke.

“Hahaha, run away! Me? No way! I was just… going to make a quick call.”

The men didn’t laugh at Kim Murok. Instead, they smiled kindly and agreed with him.

Their attitude made Kim Murok even more afraid. They were doing this so calmly.

Kim Murok gave them an awkward smile and returned to where Shin Joowoon was sitting.

Shin Joowoon had seen Kim Murok trying to escape, yet he was calmly talking to the server with the menu in his hand.

The server was nodding with a surprised expression, and as Kim Murok approached, the server glanced at him with a strange look, wondering what Shin Joowoon had ordered.

When the server took the menu to the counter and said something, the barista also stared at Kim Murok with an open mouth.

Kim Murok glared at Shin Joowoon very briefly and sat down across from him at the table.

Shin Joowoon greeted him with a smile.

“I was a little surprised when you suddenly turned away.”

*Surprised, my foot. You didn’t even blink an eye!* Kim Murok thought.

“Oh, I just forgot something for a moment.”

After making up the excuse, a sudden surge of anger rose within him, and Kim Murok glared coldly at Shin Joowoon.

*Come to think of it, Shin Joowoon was just a green kid to me.*

*If he hadn’t been lucky enough to awaken as a High-End Hunter [a hunter with exceptional abilities], would he have been able to threaten me like this?*

“Are you okay? You look pale.”

Shin Joowoon politely worried about him when their eyes met, as Kim Murok’s eyes were trembling with anger.

If you didn’t know the situation, you’d think he was genuinely concerned.

Kim Murok suppressed the burning anger inside and replied in a tone that wasn’t too agitated.

“I feel like I’ve been tricked by you, Mr. Shin.”

“In what way?”

“Didn’t you say you could unlock the phone password?”

Kim Murok’s voice softened a little. As he spoke, he realized that his own position wasn’t entirely honorable.

And Shin Joowoon… Kim Murok realized why he had reflexively run away as soon as he saw Shin Joowoon.

Shin Joowoon was close friends with the owner of this phone.

Kim Murok’s shoulders slumped a little more. Shin Joowoon smiled as he watched.

“Did I lie?”

“If you weren’t planning to deceive me-”

Just as he was about to protest that Shin Joowoon would have revealed himself earlier, Shin Joowoon naturally took Rembrary’s phone that Kim Murok was holding and entered the password in quick succession.

Kim Murok was stunned. There was no password input screen. Shin Joowoon had really unlocked the password.

As Kim Murok opened his mouth in bewilderment, Shin Joowoon smiled and asked.

“See? I can unlock it just fine, right?”

“You knew the password… I guess?”

“Ah. I set it.”

Kim Murok was shocked and stared at Shin Joowoon with his mouth open.

Shin Joowoon briefly pressed the power button on the phone once. Kim Murok asked in a dispirited voice.

“Putting aside unlocking the password. You’re not going to give the phone back, are you?”

“I will return it.”

*Return it? No way.* Kim Murok asked suspiciously.

“To whom?”

“To the phone’s owner, of course.”

It was like he was mocking him. Kim Murok was very angry when Shin Joowoon smiled at him.

But when he tried to express his anger, there was a speed bump between his instinct and reason.

Kim Murok rubbed his neck for no reason.

Shin Joowoon hadn’t had any particularly bad rumors since he was the CEO of an entertainment agency, and even now as a High-End Hunter, he was popular and had a good image.

However, Kim Murok felt something suspicious about him. It seemed like others didn’t quite understand this unease.

“Okay. I understand.”

Anyway, he said he would return it to the phone’s owner, so if he got angry here, he would be the bad guy.

Kim Murok cursed quickly in his mind but answered nonchalantly and stood up.

“Are you leaving already?”

But Shin Joowoon didn’t seem to want to let Kim Murok go like this.

“Have some coffee before you go. I already ordered.”

“…….”

“It would be nice if you could answer a few questions while drinking coffee. Dog. Ah. I like dogs. Do you like dogs?”

“Huh?”

When Kim Murok asked back, Shin Joowoon gave the smile that his fellow PDs [Production Directors] had enthusiastically admired.

“Ah, well. Not bad.”

Kim Murok sat back down in his seat, answering gloomily.

“Okay, what do you want to ask?”

In the meantime, the server who had glanced strangely at Kim Murok earlier carefully walked over with a large tray.

Kim Murok, who had been looking that way without much thought, widened his eyes. There were nine cups of all kinds of coffee on the tray.

“I’ll bring you the rest as they’re made,” the server said as he put down the coffees and walked back to the counter.

*More are coming?*

“Are you going to drink all of this?”

Kim Murok asked in disbelief, and Shin Joowoon took only one espresso and replied.

“This is enough for me.”

*That’s enough for me too,* Kim Murok thought to himself. But it was a difficult atmosphere to refuse. This wasn’t so much a treat as…

*How many questions are there? I can’t leave until I drink it all, is this a threat?*

Before he could shake off his suspicion, a question was asked.

“Who is the sponsor?”

Kim Murok reluctantly tried to take a sip of his cafe latte but almost spat it out.

“What?”

Kim Murok, who was coughing from choking, immediately protested.

“What are you talking about?”

“The documentary you’re preparing. Who is the sponsor?”

“What are you talking about?”

Kim Murok completely denied it, but Shin Joowoon smiled and asked again.

“The word is already going around among those involved. I also heard you were secretly hiring staff.”

“Damn it, I hired them secretly, how did you know?”

“It’s easy for news about hiring people to leak out.”

“…….”

Kim Murok silently gulped down the hot coffee, crushed three straws in a row, and said.

“Too bad, but I can’t tell you. It doesn’t work even if you ask with such a cool attitude.”

“I see. So, it’s not a good intention, then?”

“Well. Since you seem to know everything, I won’t deny it.”

Kim Murok reluctantly nodded, placed the crushed straws in the center of the table, and twisted up the corners of his lips.

“Okay. Then, well, let’s say my intentions are bad. What about you? What are your intentions?”

“…….”

“As you know, I wanted to film a variety show with Rembrary. That’s why I followed him into the dungeon even though I’m not an Awakened. And what else? I went around looking for sponsors, even hearing things like ‘crazy bastard’ and ‘money-hungry bastard’ from people.”

“…….”

“When someone like me changes direction, don’t you think there’s a reason?”

* * *

Shin Joowoon’s expression wasn’t good, even though he had safely retrieved the phone and confirmed that the sponsor attached to Kim Murok wasn’t an ordinary company or person.

Slowly turning the steering wheel, Shin Joowoon recalled the three prophecies that Woo Sungwoo had told him.

Woo Sungwoo said that the reason he accepted that ‘the demons’ claims might be true’ was because of someone’s prophecy.

Then, the person who told him the prophecy also told Shin Joowoon three other prophecies.

He thought that if Shin Joowoon confirmed that the prophecies were true, he would trust his words better.

So far, none of the prophecies had come true, so Shin Joowoon suspected that ‘Woo Sungwoo might have been deceived after all.’

Of course, he kept thinking that there must be something since a person like Woo Sungwoo had changed his mind. But…

-Kim Murok will acquire Rembrary’s phone.

*The prophecy was right. Is it a coincidence? Or…*

* * *

“I will make you food so delicious that it will make the High Priest’s taste buds faint with joy!”

Ardor was cooking with all sorts of flamboyant skills, and Rembrary was captivated by it, intoxicated by the increasingly intense smell of the food.

Then, the sound of the door opening was heard, and someone entered without permission.

Rembrary, thinking it was one of the family members, didn’t turn around, but when a familiar phone was held out in front of him, he finally looked to the side.

“Aren’t you Anchovy [a nickname]?”

“This is your phone.”

The person who appeared was unexpectedly Shin Joowoon.

“My phone?”

Rembrary took the phone that Shin Joowoon handed him and exclaimed with a half-beat of surprise.

“The phone I lost! Where did you find it?”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you.”

“I had a hard time finding it.”

“Did you find it?”

“I found it from the person who found it.”

Rembrary looked around at his phone and exclaimed in surprise.

“There’s still a lot of battery left, Anchovy. How many days has it been since I lost it? What happened?”

“Someone kept charging it.”

“Who?”

“Kim Murok.”

“Why him?”

“He was trying to open your phone.”

“Why?”

“He’s probably trying to see if there’s anything he can use against you.”

“Why would he look for my weaknesses? He’s a strange guy. Why look for something that doesn’t exist?”

Rembrary unlocked his phone and opened the text messages and photo album, muttering to himself.

“My photos are already posted a lot on SNS [Social Networking Services]. The text messages… there’s nothing special in the text messages either. Rather, wouldn’t these text messages be your weakness, Anchovy?”

Ardor, who had been ignoring Shin Joowoon and diligently cutting vegetables, turned around to look at Shin Joowoon with a scary look. *What kind of conversation did they have?*

But Shin Joowoon was just smiling, even when they were talking about weaknesses.

“Why is that my weakness? It’s Jang Tae-ri’s weakness.”

Saying things like that.

*What kind of text messages were they?* Ardor became so curious about the contents of the text messages that he sliced the cabbage excessively finely.

Rembrary, unaware of what was happening behind him, recalled the rumors that Kim Murok was making a documentary and sighed.

“Ah, was he trying to use it for the documentary?”

“Be careful.”

“Losing the phone was unavoidable. There was nothing I could do in that situation.”

“Still, be careful. It seems like Kim Murok’s sponsor thinks the upheaval is related to your religion. It seems like he told Kim Murok about it too.”

“Really?”

“It’s not certain. It’s just a guess.”

While Rembrary was lost in thought, Ardor picked up a frying pan and approached Shin Joowoon, holding out his hand.

“Where’s my phone?”

“I don’t have it.”

“You didn’t bring it even though you had it? Or you couldn’t bring it because you didn’t have it?”

“I didn’t have it, and I didn’t bring it.”

“…….”

“Anyway, all that’s in your phone is that you sent Rembrary a text message bomb, right?”

As Ardor looked back and forth between the frying pan and Shin Joowoon’s head with strange eyes, Rembrary shook his head and stopped him.

“Don’t do it, Ardor.”

* * *

His stomach was burning because he had drunk too much coffee.

Kim Murok was cursing at Shin Joowoon while looking for medicine in the medicine cabinet when his phone rang. He reached his hand back and answered the phone.

“Yes, hello.”

[The phone? Did you check the contents?]”

Kim Murok cursed again, suppressing his voice. It was the sponsor.

Perhaps it was because he hadn’t checked who was calling and answered the phone unconsciously, without preparing himself.

The unusually low voice felt chilling.

“Haha, well, you see.”

[Speak.]

“Haha. Well, you see.”

[…….]

“Well… you know Shin Joowoon, right? That High-End Hunter in our country. I was robbed by him.”

Kim Murok’s stomach hurt even more because the other person became ominously silent.

“Well, as you know, Shin Joowoon is close to Rembrary. They’re best friends. I was trying to proceed secretly, but somehow he found out and came.”

[……]

“This is just the beginning, and I think he’ll keep interfering. He also asked about you, sponsor.”

*Say something. You damn bastard. Shin Joowoon is a damn bastard, but this sponsor is no match for him.*

Kim Murok clutched his stomach, lay down on the sofa, and thought of a few more excuses to add.

“Well, but there probably wasn’t much in it. Shin Joowoon set the phone password himself. He’s the type of person who lets others set his password, so would there have been any important secrets inside?”

Even as Kim Murok spoke, he was anxious that this damn sponsor might stop sponsoring him or say he would look for another PD.

He didn’t like this sponsor, but the information this sponsor brought was enormous.

If he could properly complete the documentary with this information, he would be making a mark on human history.

Maybe he would be in textbooks in about 10 years.

“Um… well, sponsor?”

Kim Murok carefully opened his mouth because the other person was too silent.

*Should he have made more excuses? Should he have emphasized that Shin Joowoon was a High-End Hunter, so he, an ordinary non-Awakened, had no choice but to submit to the threat?*

Then, a chilling voice was heard again.

[Shin Joowoon.]

“Yes? Yes. You… know him, right?”

[I know him.]

“Yes, then you know how difficult it is for me to deal with him-”

[I’ll take care of him.]

“Yes?”

[Besides him, who else?]

“Yes?”

[Who else will be in the way?]

*Does he have the ability to handle it…?* Kim Murok looked at his phone suspiciously.