Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 584

Rembrary noticed Nin-ling had stopped abruptly at the front door after hearing the bell. Curious, he went to see what was happening.

It was Woo Yeon-woo. Nin-ling and Woo Yeon-woo were standing face to face, as if engaged in a staring contest.

Neither of them moved, and they remained like that.

“Ah, this.”

Rembrary pondered for a moment, feeling like he’d seen this scene somewhere before, and then finally remembered, saying,

“A front door proposal.”

Woo Yeon-woo, who had been staring at Nin-ling without moving, finally shouted,

“It’s not!”

“But in movies, you hold a bouquet of flowers—”

“I didn’t bring a bouquet!”

In the midst of his seriousness, Woo Yeon-woo was about to curse at Rembrary for talking nonsense, but he spotted Ardor in the kitchen glaring with a kitchen knife in hand and shut his mouth.

“Damn it. This is your territory, huh.”

Rembrary asked Woo Yeon-woo, who was grumbling,

“But are you really not coming in? What are you doing?”

This time, Woo Yeon-woo didn’t answer but instead looked at Nin-ling.

“Nin-ling, did you tell me not to come in?”

Seeing that, Rembrary then asked Nin-ling, and both of them fell silent.

About 10 seconds passed like that.

‘What is it? Did she really tell him not to come in?’ Just as he was thinking that, Nin-ling said to Rembrary,

“I’ll go talk to him for a bit.”

Upon hearing those words, Woo Yeon-woo immediately turned around and went out, and Nin-ling followed, closing the front door behind her.

‘What is it?’ Rembrary stared at the closed door with his mouth open, then walked to the kitchen and asked,

“Ardor, what do you think that was just now?”

“High Priest, in my opinion, Nin-ling doesn’t want to be a paladin anymore. But it seems difficult for her to say it herself, so shouldn’t we just kick her out first? If the High Priest is too heartbroken to kick her out, I, who am not heartbroken, will kick her out instead.”

“…Isn’t that a bit extreme?”

* * *

“What do you want to talk about?”

Nin-ling, who had been following Woo Yeon-woo, stopped and asked when they arrived at an empty lot with no one around.

That empty lot was the same one where the two of them had their ‘practice like a real battle’ before.

That empty lot, which had firmly taken its place in both of their hearts with different meanings, was now visited by the two of them once again.

Woo Yeon-woo hesitated, clutching his hands tightly, then squeezed his eyes shut and confessed.

“It’s me! The, the fake High Priest!”

Woo Yeon-woo had agonized over this confession for a long time.

He was confessing to being the person his opponent was determined to kill. Naturally, it wasn’t an easy decision.

‘What will happen if I reveal this? Will she try to kill me? Even if she doesn’t kill me, she’ll probably beat me to the point of death. Maybe she’ll even try to lead me to my death.’

Woo Yeon-woo was prepared for all sorts of thoughts like these as he revealed the truth.

He still didn’t know why he was confessing directly when he had been trying to keep it a secret all along.

Just, the moment Nin-ling cut him with her sword and then wore an even more surprised expression than he did.

The moment he saw that expression of regret and bewilderment after she had cut the very person she had resented so much.

‘If I survive, let’s just be honest,’ he thought.

But was it because she was too angry? There was no response from the other person.

‘Of course, she’d be angry.’ Woo Yeon-woo thought to himself and took a deep breath.

‘Isn’t a sword going to fly in front of my eyes the moment I open them?’ A sense of fear washed over him.

Still, because there was no reaction, he carefully opened his eyes and saw, unexpectedly, that Nin-ling was bowing.

“!”

‘What is this?’ Woo Yeon-woo reflexively squeezed his eyes shut again, counted to 10, and then opened his eyes again.

Nin-ling was still bowing.

“Why, why are you doing this?”

Woo Yeon-woo, surprised and overwhelmed, asked, and Nin-ling finally straightened up and said,

“I apologized. Me too.”

“Yes?”

Woo Yeon-woo took half a step back. She said she apologized, but Nin-ling’s expression was extremely fierce.

“Is this an apology before killing me? Are you wishing me luck before I die?”

He asked anxiously, unable to interpret it any other way, and Nin-ling raised her eyebrows and then chuckled.

“Yes.”

“!”

Woo Yeon-woo slumped down on his butt, and Nin-ling changed her words nonchalantly.

“Just kidding.”

Woo Yeon-woo almost cursed.

‘No, if you make jokes like that, it sounds like the real thing! Besides, you’re the one who almost killed me!’

Still, unable to protest and trembling as he watched, Nin-ling plopped down next to Woo Yeon-woo.

‘Why are you sitting here?’ Woo Yeon-woo was startled and moved a little further away.

Nin-ling didn’t look at Woo Yeon-woo, but with her hands on her knees, she remained still for a moment before opening her mouth.

“I didn’t cut Yeon-woo on purpose.”

“Ah, I know.”

“You know?”

“You were surprised after you cut me.”

“…….”

Woo Yeon-woo glanced at Nin-ling and moved a little further away.

Nin-ling still remained still and continued to speak.

“I was deceived by the demons’ tricks, and I saw the person in front of me as a demon, not Yeon-woo. So I cut you. And later, when I thought about it, I realized that Yeon-woo must have been in the same situation as me.”

“Yes…?”

“I thought that Yeon-woo must have had his own reasons. The demons’ tricks are cunning, after all.”

“!”

“Actually, that’s right. How could someone as incompetent as Yeon-woo intentionally impersonate the High Priest?”

Nin-ling was smiling and saying considerate things, but Woo Yeon-woo wanted to hit her.

She was being considerate, but he felt subtly bad.

But because Nin-ling was smiling kindly while still having a cold aura in her eyes, he couldn’t do that.

She had decided to forgive him, but in reality, she was still angry.

Woo Yeon-woo guessed that Nin-ling’s current state was probably around that level and muttered quietly.

“Ah, sorry. For being incompetent.”

“I suspected it, but I wasn’t sure. Thank you for telling me first.”

Woo Yeon-woo hesitated and then nodded.

* * *

While Ardor was making snacks, Rembrary ordered five bowls of black bean noodles and five bowls of seafood noodles and sat on the sofa.

Then, hearing the sound of the door opening, he excitedly went out, only to find Woo Yeon-woo.

“Ah.”

“What’s with that openly disappointed expression?”

“I thought it was seafood noodles.”

“Are you saying I’m worse than seafood noodles?”

“You know the answer.”

Woo Yeon-woo was about to get angry, but he closed his mouth when Ardor came out of the kitchen with a kitchen knife and tilted his head at a strange angle.

Rembrary looked behind Woo Yeon-woo. Nin-ling, who had left with a stiff face, was standing behind him with a much more relaxed expression than before.

Woo Yeon-woo soon took off his shoes and went inside, and Nin-ling followed behind him.

Then, when their shoulders bumped into each other for a moment, they bowed to each other, and they looked quite friendly.

‘I’m glad I sent Nin-ling as my substitute.’ Rembrary thought happily as he looked at the friendly pair.

Woo Yeon-woo felt bad when he saw that smile, but he didn’t say anything, conscious of Ardor holding the kitchen knife.

But he was a little angry. ‘Why is that crazy bastard Ardor holding a knife in the kitchen all day long?’

“Hey, do you always make Ardor do all the work?”

“What work are you talking about?”

“He’s always in the kitchen whenever I come. Can’t you send him somewhere else?”

“Ardor is a baker, Yeon-woo.”

“But that crazy bastard is always holding a knife… Never mind.”

Rembrary watched Woo Yeon-woo get excited and then quiet down on his own for a moment, then soon remembered that Woo Yeon-woo was a popular celebrity and asked.

“That’s right, Yeon-woo. Let me ask you something about the interview.”

“What is it?”

Rembrary explained that he had received an interview request from some talk show on PBS [Public Broadcasting Service, a US television network] and that he was worried about Kim Mu-rok if he accepted it, and then asked.

“Would you do it if you were me?”

Woo Yeon-woo answered honestly and bluntly.

“I don’t know. Jong-woo *hyung* [an honorific used to address an older brother or male friend] has been arranging my schedule. I’ve said what I wanted to do, but Jong-woo *hyung* or CEO Lim have been adding and removing schedules that came in.”

“Jong-woo. He got angry often, but he was a really good young man…”

“Why are you talking like he’s dead? He’s still working with me now?”

“He’s got a pretty long lifeline.”

“Hey!”

Woo Yeon-woo was about to shout, but he quickly closed his mouth when Ardor came with a plate of fruit and tilted his head at a strange angle.

Woo Yeon-woo huddled quietly in the corner of the sofa and said to Rembrary,

“Anyway, I don’t know much about this kind of thing. Ask Shin Jae-soo. That person was in a position to choose schedules, so he’ll know well.”

“Myeolchi said it’s better not to do it.”

“Then you don’t have to do it. Actually, I don’t think it’s a good idea either. You know Kim Mu-rok. What kind of person he is.”

“Is that so?”

Rembrary, who had muttered, picked up his phone and stared at it intently.

‘Since Shin Jo-woon also said not to do it, he won’t do it.’ Woo Yeon-woo thought so and, glancing at Ardor, picked up a fork.

* * *

“Hoo-oo-oo. No contact.”

Kim Won-bi held his phone high towards the ceiling and stared blankly at it before sighing and putting it back down.

A senior PD [Producer-Director] passed by the desk and teased him with a chuckle.

“PD Kim, it looks like there’s no contact from Redrine after all?”

Kim Won-bi put his phone down dejectedly.

“I guess so. They said they couldn’t answer because they were in a dungeon. I guess they just don’t want to do it. Rembrary is posting a lot of pictures on SNS [Social Networking Service] right now.”

“He didn’t used to have an image of disliking broadcasting.”

“Could it be that the CEO of Redrine didn’t tell Rembrary? Should I send a personal message via SNS?”

The senior shrugged.

“If it makes you feel better, go ahead. They’ll just ignore you again if they don’t want to.”

“Should I send it then?”

Kim Won-bi thought that he should ask anyway, whether it worked or not, so he quickly went to the SNS account that Rembrary often used.

“Hello… Rembrary-*nim* [a Korean honorific suffix]… I’m a long-time fan of Rembrary-*nim*…”

“How many years has it been since he appeared that you’re a long-time fan?”

“I can’t say I’m a short-time fan, can I?”

Just as Kim Won-bi was diligently writing a message while fending off the senior’s interference.

A notification window came down with a ‘ding’ sound at the top of the phone.

Kim Won-bi thought that the notification window seemed to be from someone he didn’t know, so he didn’t check it and continued to write the message.

But suddenly, the senior said, “Wait, wait,” and interfered again.

“Ah, senior. Please stop interfering!”

“No, check the notification from earlier. Check it out.”

“It’s an unknown number.”

“It’s an unknown number, but I see a name I know.”

“Yes?”

Kim Won-bi frowned, but he didn’t think the senior would joke about this kind of thing, so he pulled the phone screen down.

Then, a part of the text message that had come earlier was visible in the notification window. Even if it was only a part, it was only about ‘Hello’ but…

“Huh?”

The word ‘Rem’ was attached after ‘Hello’.

“No way. No way!”

Kim Won-bi hurriedly opened the text message, thinking that there was no way he would have sent the text message himself.

[Hello, this is Rembrary.]

Kim Won-bi opened his eyes wide and looked at the senior. The senior patted Kim Won-bi’s shoulder.

“Is it really Rembrary? Ask if it’s real. Is it real?”

“Just a moment.”

Kim Won-bi read the text message sent by Rembrary once, read it twice, and even read it three times just in case, then screamed and high-fived the senior.

It was the real Rembrary. The Rembrary who knew that she had contacted Daeju. And that Rembrary…

“He said he’ll come!”