Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 614

◈ 614. What Are You?

“Jo Woon?”

“Yes. Can I send the recording to the CEO? In my opinion, Mr. Rembrary didn’t say anything he shouldn’t have, but just in case. Think about what you said here. Was there anything you said that shouldn’t be known…?”

“Hmm.”

As Rembrary pondered, Secretary Yoon narrowed down the timeframe a bit more.

“Ah, the recording started as soon as you entered the town hall.”

Rembrary thought about whether he had said anything he shouldn’t have, then nodded.

“I don’t think so. You can send it. I don’t think I said much.”

“Okay. I’ll send it then.”

“Don’t you need to record more?”

“Well, we could, but you never know with conversations. If you keep getting treated like that, you might start swearing back. And you might accidentally reveal some secrets.”

“Is that so?”

“Of course. Do you know how hard I tried not to swear just now?”

Secretary Yoon smiled and pressed a few buttons on the device.

It didn’t take long. In less than 10 seconds, Secretary Yoon spread out her free hand and boasted.

“Ta-da! Done. I just sent it to the CEO.”

Secretary Yoon smiled brightly and put the recorder back in her pocket.

Rembrary realized why Secretary Yoon had been chattering away like a commentator all along.

She wasn’t just talking to herself like a commentator; she was actually explaining the situation for the person who would be listening to the recording.

“You’re a bit like our Mullu.”

Although it was difficult to understand Rembrary’s compliment exactly, Secretary Yoon laughed cheerfully and shook the chains wrapped around her hands.

“Don’t worry, some ridiculous rumors will be spreading soon.”

* * *

“CEO. Yoon Seo-hwa sent the recording file.”

The sound of keyboard tapping stopped for a moment. Shin Jo Woon raised his head.

The secretary was approaching with a laptop.

“Here you go.”

The secretary placed the laptop next to Shin Jo Woon’s desk and clicked on the file inside. Soon, two familiar voices began to be heard.

Shin Jo Woon listened to the entire recording from beginning to end.

When the playback automatically stopped, the secretary took the laptop back and asked.

“What should we do?”

“Except for the town hall part.”

“Yes.”

“Upload from the part where he’s misunderstood for trying to help to the part where he’s caught.”

“What about the gimbap? Won’t people be most angry about the gimbap [Korean seaweed rice rolls]?”

“Watch the reaction. If they ask why we edited it, we’ll release that part. Don’t upload it now.”

“Yes!”

* * *

―Wow, so disgusting

―WTF, they don’t even listen to what he says and just drive him into a corner

―Noㅋㅋㅋ Even if there are rumors, shouldn’t government hunters remain neutralㅋㅋㅋ Are they crazy

―I’m getting frustrated just watching. WTF, if I were Rembrary, I wouldn’t have held back and would have punched Ki Sung-hyun first WTFWTFWTFWTF

―Rembraryㅠ Why are you just standing there when you talk so crazyㅠㅠㅠ

―I guess he doesn’t use his strength on weak people.

―Honestly, wasn’t the Kim Mu-rok thing a bit forced? Saying he’s a psycho because he had fun riding bumper cars, and that he deliberately bullied or attacked Kim Mu-rokㅋㅋㅋ

ㄴI was thinking it was unfair too, but the atmosphere was too heated to say anything.

ㄴIf Rembrary was going to threaten Kim Mu-rok, he would have hit him with a car, not a bumper carㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

ㄴKim Mu-rok even bumped into him first with the bumper car. Someone uploaded that video too, but no one watched itㅠ

ㄴAre you serious?????

ㄴYeah

ㄴIt was weird if you thought about it a little. If Rembrary was trying to threaten Kim Mu-rok, would he have broken his arm and then healed it in front of everyone at the amusement park?

―Look at our Rembrary being so dispiritedㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ You bastardsㅠㅠㅠ

―Ki Sung-hyun, you ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡♡

ㄴWhy is the ♡♡ swear word coming out as a heart? It looks like ♡. The ♡♡ filtering is real.

ㄴI think you love Ki Sung-hyun

ㄴ♡♡♡

ㄴㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Don’t use swear words, you idiotㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

―What’s the point of fighting demons alone? They treat him like a hero, but then he becomes a traitor just for having fun riding bumper carsㅉㅉ [Korean slang expressing disapproval]

* * *

“So, there are no CCTVs around here at all?”

As Ki Sung-hyun asked, looking at the utility poles and high walls, the villager guiding him sighed and replied.

“That’s right. Compared to other non-cities, it’s decent, but it’s not as managed as a ‘city.’ We can’t have CCTV connected all the time.”

Ki Sung-hyun nodded and pointed to the houses within a distance where he could see the place where the incident occurred.

“I’d like to talk to the people who live around here—that house, that house, that house.”

“Ah, it’s okay, but…”

“Then please.”

The villager seemed a bit annoyed to take Ki Sung-hyun to each house, but Ki Sung-hyun pretended not to notice.

The villager reluctantly walked to the nearest house, and Ki Sung-hyun followed behind.

Still annoyed, the villager clicked his tongue and asked.

“I heard that the guy with the blonde hair attacked Mr. Kim and Mr. Won. Why are you bothering to ask about this…”

Ki Sung-hyun had imprisoned two people who participated in this restoration work in a temporarily rented warehouse, saying they had attacked the two villagers.

It was already known to all the villagers that those two had been imprisoned for attacking Mr. Kim and Mr. Won.

But now that Ki Sung-hyun, who had imprisoned them, was looking for witnesses, the villagers felt it was unnecessary.

“I need to make sure.”

“Haha, really. Do you think our villagers would lie to a government hunter?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“It sounds like that’s what you meant.”

Just as the villager, feeling a bit offended, was about to say something more.

Ki Sung-hyun’s phone rang.

“Excuse me.”

Ki Sung-hyun excused himself and took out his phone from his pocket. ‘Team Leader’ was displayed on the screen.

Why is he calling? Even while wondering, the moment Ki Sung-hyun answered the phone. A burst of shouting was heard from the receiver.

[Ki Sung-hyun. You XX bastard. Are you not doing your job properly?]

His superior was usually harsh and spoke informally, but it wasn’t usually to this extent, so Ki Sung-hyun was taken aback and protested.

“Why are you swearing at me out of the blue?”

[Why am I swearing? Check why I’m swearing.]

The call was immediately cut off, and a ‘ding’ sound came from the phone.

When Ki Sung-hyun exited the call mode, a message appeared in the notification window.

When he opened the message, there was a link, just like a spam email.

When he clicked on the link, a black playback screen appeared.

‘What is this?’

Even more strangely, Ki Sung-hyun pressed the play button and brought the phone to his ear.

Then, he heard the sound of two people, presumed to be Rembrary and Secretary Yoon, having a trivial conversation and walking.

Frowning even more, the two suddenly stopped talking.

And from a distance further away than the two, he faintly heard a bizarre sound whispering at an incredible speed.

Soon, he heard faint rustling and wind sounds. It seemed like they were moving while suppressing the sound as much as possible.

Then, suddenly, the voices of the three people shouted that they were being attacked, and Rembrary was heard asking Secretary Yoon.

“Cover your ears.”

After a while, he heard a voice whispering, “Quiet.”

At that moment. Feeling his brain ringing, Ki Sung-hyun hurriedly took the phone away from his ear.

“Hunter? What’s wrong?”

The villager asked, but Ki Sung-hyun was not in the right state of mind to answer immediately.

He blinked blankly at his still ringing head, then belatedly shook his head and replied.

“It’s nothing.”

Answering with a face that said it was anything but nothing, Ki Sung-hyun put his phone to his ear.

Now, in the recording, Rembrary was muttering, ‘Is he an Awakened?’

And the sound of chains was heard… A moment later, Rembrary’s voice followed, asking, “Why are you stopping me?” It was a word to him.

Having heard that far, Ki Sung-hyun stopped the video. He gritted his teeth and clenched his phone tightly.

“Hunter?”

The villager, now slightly frightened, asked in a shrunken voice.

“Is something really wrong?”

“Yes. Something… is wrong.”

Ki Sung-hyun, answering calmly, turned around abruptly.

The villager was flustered and chased after Ki Sung-hyun, but he strode only towards the warehouse.

“Hunter? What about the witnesses? Don’t you need me to guide you?”

* * *

“But Mr. Rembrary. Mr. Rembrary, why did you just stand there and watch when the villagers were throwing gimbap at you earlier?”

“Huh?”

“You could have subdued those people, right?”

“That’s right.”

“But why did you just take it?”

“Because they’re too weak.”

“Those people?”

“Yeah. If I had subdued them there. What if they had a heart attack or something?”

“Is it that serious?”

“Of course.”

That was true. What Rembrary could use in that situation was divine power to subdue them.

But the opponents seemed too weak, so it was really difficult to use it at all.

“I think the anchovy ability would be more convenient in this case.”

Rembrary muttered.

But it was the moment Secretary Yoon was about to agree with that.

Suddenly, the door opened with a thud, and Ki Sung-hyun came inside.

Ki Sung-hyun, who came in, had an angry face. Not the expressionless face he had when he first locked them up, but an angry face.

Wondering why he had such an angry face, Ki Sung-hyun walked towards Secretary Yoon.

He had been angry at Rembrary the whole time he was holding them captive, but this time the target had changed.

“If you had told me from the beginning that there was a recorder when I was misunderstood, this situation wouldn’t have happened, Secretary Yoon.”

It seemed that Shin Jo Woon had uploaded the file that Secretary Yoon had sent in the meantime, and Ki Sung-hyun had heard it.

However, Secretary Yoon smiled calmly at the angry Ki Sung-hyun and retorted.

“Ah. You heard the recording.”

At that sight, Ki Sung-hyun seemed even more angry, clenching his fists tightly and glaring, then looking at Rembrary and asking.

“Did you deliberately set a trap?”

“A trap?”

“Did you set a trap to get rid of your rumors?”

As Rembrary tilted his head, Secretary Yoon quickly interjected.

“Rembrary didn’t know about the recorder.”

It was the moment Ki Sung-hyun was about to say something to Secretary Yoon.

Rembrary, who had been tilting his head, finally opened his mouth.

“I misunderstood.”

Ki Sung-hyun stopped talking and looked at Rembrary. Rembrary smiled and continued.

“I’m sorry. I apologize. I only listened to one side of the story. I’ll release the chains.”

“!”

“When can I hear this story?”

Even as Ki Sung-hyun stared intently, Rembrary did not waver in the slightest. In that state, Rembrary continued to speak again.

“The two gimbap from earlier were too weak to press. But you…”

Rembrary suddenly raised his two arms, tightly wrapped in chains, and pointed at Ji Sung-hyun.

“You look strong, so I think I can press you.”

“Nonsense.”

Ki Sung-hyun scoffed, but the moment he made eye contact with Rembrary after saying that.

He staggered from a sensation that amplified the shock he felt on his phone by hundreds of times.

Ki Sung-hyun, unknowingly kneeling on the floor, gasped for breath. A sensation that was neither pain nor pressure was weighing him down.

“Oh my.”

Secretary Yoon, who saw that, looked back and forth between Ki Sung-hyun and Rembrary and asked.

“Hunter Ki? Are you alive?”

Ki Sung-hyun coughed.

“I think he’s alive…”

After a long time of doing so. Finally, Ki Sung-hyun raised his head. But unlike before, his eyes, which had raised his head, were filled with fear.

Ki Sung-hyun, looking at Rembrary, asked in a trembling voice.

“What are you? What… what are you?”