Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 575

◈ 575. Why Them?

The Meerkat Mask, who had been staring at the screen with excitement, made a strange noise about a minute later.

“Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

The Red Hair asked as the Meerkat Mask tilted its head.

“Is there a problem?”

“It’s not exactly a problem, but…”

“What is it?”

The Meerkat Mask raised the tablet it was holding a little higher. Red Hair leaned in and exclaimed, “Oh!”

“Shin Jo-woon! He’s going in the wrong direction!”

Shin Jo-woon wasn’t heading east towards Jang Tae-ri or west towards Rembrary.

The round dot indicating Shin Jo-woon’s location was going somewhere between east and west, in the direction of Redrine’s headquarters.

Out of the blue, he was going back the way he came.

“What? Why is he going there?”

“Did he leave something behind?”

“His friends are in danger, and he’s going back to get something he left behind? Is Shin Jo-woon a psycho?”

“Maybe he’s going to request support?”

“Where did he leave his phone!”

“You were just saying you knew everything on his phone. Maybe he thinks his phone is being monitored, so he’s going in person?”

The Meerkat Mask cursed at Red Hair’s words. It sounded plausible.

“Damn it, does this guy want to go back in this situation?”

“He’s so calm.”

“Usually, in an emergency, you rush into danger, right? Does he not consider them friends? Is he not worried?”

Before the words were even finished, a roar that seemed to come from far away quickly approached and passed over their heads.

The noise wasn’t as loud as a plane, but it was enough to make them grimace. The Meerkat Mask covered its head with its hands and looked up.

“!”

The Meerkat Mask was so surprised that it almost dropped the tablet. What was passing over their heads was a motorcycle.

The motorcycle, which seemed to be moving in slow motion for a moment due to how surprised they were, regained its speed as it passed them and quickly landed.

“What is that? What was that?”

The Meerkat Mask shouted in surprise and tried to look to the side, but feeling a strange sensation, it looked back at its hand holding the tablet.

The Meerkat Mask screamed silently.

It had put force into its hand to keep from dropping the tablet, but somehow the tablet and its hand had frozen together.

Red Hair suddenly fell forward. The Meerkat Mask noticed that both of Red Hair’s legs were frozen.

The Meerkat Mask breathed heavily and looked at the person getting off the motorcycle.

“Shin Jo-woon…!”

It was Shin Jo-woon who had ridden the motorcycle over them and frozen them both in an instant.

They had guessed it would be him when they saw the frozen hand and legs, but it really was Shin Jo-woon.

“Why, why here…? Jang Tae-ri and Rembrary are in danger, why this way?”

The Meerkat Mask mumbled in dismay, and Shin Jo-woon told them right away.

“I calculated that this was the closest place.”

“But the screen clearly showed…”

“It’s my secretary.”

Shin Jo-woon, smiling as he told them, looked back and forth between the fallen Meerkat Mask and Red Hair, then took out his phone and called someone.

He was calling Jang Tae-ri.

He had already tried calling her on the way and confirmed that she wasn’t answering, but he thought he would try one more time since he seemed to have caught the enemies.

He didn’t think Jang Tae-ri was in danger, but there was no harm in checking.

“…”

However, Jang Tae-ri didn’t answer the phone this time either.

Shin Jo-woon looked down at the enemies, who still seemed to be wondering why things had gone so wrong, and this time called Jang Tae-ri’s secretary.

He already knew which of the secretaries Jang Tae-ri had brought to this meeting. He had seen her in the conference room the whole time.

A moment later, Jang Tae-ri’s secretary thankfully answered the phone.

—Yes, President.

Jang Tae-ri’s secretary knew Shin Jo-woon’s phone number, so she answered him right away.

Shin Jo-woon was relieved that the secretary’s voice was calm and asked.

“Is President Jang not there? She’s not answering the phone.”

—She was here, but she just went into a store for a moment. Did you call? Someone stole our president’s phone. That’s probably why she didn’t answer.

“Stole it?”

—Yes. I don’t even know when they stole it.

Her grumbling voice was full of suppressed anger, but there was no sign of fear.

So the enemies, who were sure that they wouldn’t be able to contact Jang Tae-ri, actually made Jang Tae-ri’s phone disappear.

At this point, Shin Jo-woon was a little worried and asked.

“Is everything else okay? Besides the phone.”

But the secretary replied nonchalantly.

—Yes.

“Okay.”

—Oh, we were driving, and it looked like something was flying towards the windshield.

“Flying? What was it?”

—Yes. But the president blew it away in the middle. I didn’t see what it was.

Jang Tae-ri’s secretary couldn’t say what had flown at them. Anyway, everything seemed fine except for the lost phone.

Shin Jo-woon said he understood and hung up, then slyly took off the Meerkat Mask’s mask and put it back on.

Red Hair was struggling to break the ice and constantly wary of Shin Jo-woon, but Shin Jo-woon’s next action was to call Rembrary.

He had tried calling Rembrary earlier, but he hadn’t answered either.

Fortunately, Rembrary answered the phone this time. And directly.

—Why are you calling, Sardine… Whale.

Is it fake?

“You keep calling me Sardine. Why suddenly Whale?”

—I think your heart is getting narrower and narrower. So I decided to call you Whale now.

It’s real. Shin Jo-woon relaxed his guard for a moment and asked.

“Why didn’t you answer the phone earlier?”

—I was driving, and suddenly a hand came out of the bottom of the seat.

“A hand?”

Was he attacked by the hand?

—So I couldn’t answer because I was holding hands.

Shin Jo-woon frowned, then unfrowned, then frowned again.

“It’s a stranger’s hand. Is there really a need to hold hands?”

No, do you usually hold hands with a hand that pops out of a chair?

—It reached out shyly. So I took the initiative.

“…”

Even if it reaches out shyly, you usually don’t hold hands. Usually, you’d be terrified thinking it’s a ghost, wouldn’t you?

Shin Jo-woon thought to himself, but he was relieved that it didn’t seem like a dangerous situation. Still, just in case, Shin Jo-woon checked again.

“Nothing else happened?”

—Hand….

“Anything dangerous.”

—There wasn’t anything like that. Ah.

“There was something.”

—Something flew in front of me. But I was so surprised that I twisted the hand I was holding, and it disappeared.

Where do I even start? Shin Jo-woon rubbed his forehead and confirmed.

“Anyway, you’re okay, right? I was a little worried.”

—Are you making excuses just to talk to me?

He seems fine. Shin Jo-woon hung up the phone and imagined the hand popping out of the chair.

It seems that’s the enemy’s ability. Reaching out a hand anywhere.

‘It seems they stole Jang Tae-ri’s phone with that ability too…’

Shin Jo-woon held the phone in his hand instead of putting it in his pocket, and pointed it at Red Hair and the Meerkat Mask alternately, asking.

“Whose hand did Rembrary hold that came out of the chair?”

As if resigned, Red Hair answered obediently while crying.

“Mine.”

“Something flew towards the windshield over there and disappeared.”

“I screamed when my hand was twisted… My colleague heard the scream through the in-ear and was surprised and fell off, I think.”

“Fell off?”

“There’s someone with the ability to fly like a cannon.”

It was unexpected that he was answering so readily. He sounded quite hostile on the phone….

‘No. This wasn’t the voice.’

Shin Jo-woon looked at the Meerkat Mask, who had been silent all along.

When he took off the mask, as expected. This one was keeping his mouth shut and not even making eye contact. Shin Jo-woon grabbed the Meerkat Mask’s chin and asked.

“Why did you do this?”

“…”

“Answer.”

“…”

But the Meerkat Mask resisted without answering.

It wasn’t just that he wasn’t talking, but he seemed determined not to answer no matter what he was asked, clenching his lips tightly and holding out.

Shin Jo-woon looked at Red Hair, who had been answering relatively well. This time, Red Hair was also avoiding his gaze.

“You wouldn’t answer even if I asked, ‘Who did this?'”

Shin Jo-woon, speaking calmly, nodded to himself and called somewhere with his phone.

“You’re going the hard way when you’re going to open your mouth anyway.”

* * *

Rembrary was playing hide-and-seek with the children when, unexpectedly, Shin Jo-woon told him to come out, saying he would buy him meat.

Rembrary scoffed. He suddenly called him during the day, too. It was clear that this Sardine was getting antsy because he hadn’t been playing with him lately.

[Do you think I’ll fall for meat? >ㅅ<] Rembrary tried to act arrogant, but he quickly added another text message, afraid that Shin Jo-woon would tell him not to come out. [Test whether I'll fall for it or not. Where should we go?] After that, Shin Jo-woon told him the time and place, so Rembrary quickly found the children without mercy and got ready. When he went to the meeting place, Jang Tae-ri was just arriving. "Tae-ri!" "Have you two made up a little now?" "I wasn't angry from the beginning. I'm resilient." "Wow." "Why?" "It's the first time I've seen someone use that word directly on themselves." Shin Jo-woon was the latest to arrive, even though he was the one who suggested making the appointment. After that, the group ordered several things and chatted for a while. Jang Tae-ri was worried that there might still be some unresolved feelings between Rembrary and Shin Jo-woon, but she was relieved to see them both talking well, so she concentrated on her meal. After they had been eating happily for a while and the dessert came out, Shin Jo-woon spoke more seriously than before. "Actually, about the time I called you guys during the day." "I was wondering when you were going to talk about that." Jang Tae-ri put down her sujeonggwa [Korean traditional cinnamon punch] and answered. Shin Jo-woon tried to contact her even through his secretary, so she wondered what was going on, and after arriving at the company, she called Shin Jo-woon with the company phone number. But Shin Jo-woon put off the answer, saying, 'The story is long, so I'll tell you later when I'm with the Pig.' "Why were you calling so much?" "I was on my way back when someone called me and said you two were in danger." Shin Jo-woon explained the situation from beginning to end. Jang Tae-ri and Rembrary were surprised by the unexpected backstory. "They were trying to drive a wedge between the three of us? Why? Why would they do that?" "I took them and found out. They wanted me to save you so that the Pig would distance himself from us." Rembrary asked blankly. "Why would I distance myself if you save Tae-ri?" "Because you're jealous?" "Why would I be?" "I don't know." Shin Jo-woon frowned slightly. "The purpose is the purpose. Anyway, the one behind them was unexpected." "Where were they from?" "Mirage." At Shin Jo-woon's answer, Jang Tae-ri frowned and said, "Uh oh…." "Isn't that, isn't that the place? Where is it. That, what is it. The newly established hunter company that was rising fiercely. But the president went missing and it became strange." Rembrary was surprised as he diligently picked up fruit. To Rembrary, Mirage was not 'the newly established hunter company that was rising fiercely.' That was…. 'Isn't that where Lumena was?'