Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 648

◈ 648. Enraged Ardor

Goo Joo-il picked up the phone he had dropped with trembling hands. His head was spinning.

‘How could this happen?’

Targeting Rembrary and giving up on treatment himself was completely different from his family losing the chance to be treated.

Goo Joo-il never imagined such a thing could happen.

“How… This can’t be.”

—Hello? Hello?

A hurried voice came from the other end of the phone.

Goo Joo-il quickly put the phone to his ear.

“I, I’m sorry. I dropped it for a moment. More importantly, what are you talking about? My sister and brother-in-law live inside the city. How could they be attacked by monsters, and with the kids too? Are you sure?”

—Would I joke about something like this?

“No… I’m just so shocked right now—I’ll talk to you later.”

Goo Joo-il realized his mistake and frantically clicked everywhere to cancel the file he had sent to the vice president.

“Damn it. Damn it. Damn it!”

He pounded the desk with his fist. The file had already been sent. He couldn’t cancel it.

Goo Joo-il hurriedly called the vice president.

—Yes, what’s the matter?

Fortunately, the vice president answered. Goo Joo-il made up an excuse.

“I’m sorry. After reviewing it, there’s a serious problem with the file I sent. I’ll send it again, so please wait a few days. Just a few days…!”

—We’ll take a look at it here, so it’s okay.

“Please!”

Goo Joo-il shouted, and the other person was silent for a moment.

It seemed strange that he was begging over a file that could just be fixed if there was a problem.

—Is something wrong?

The vice president asked directly, sensing something was off.

Goo Joo-il stammered. Shame washed over him.

He had made a documentary attacking Rembrary. He had edited it so maliciously.

Now he was about to ask for Rembrary’s help, and he felt ashamed.

He wanted to kill the version of himself from a few days ago who had confidently said he didn’t need any help.

—Goo Joo-il?

“My, my sister and her husband were seriously injured. They were attacked by monsters, so Remb, Rembrary, that person’s help is needed. But if the documentary comes out, he will never help me.”

Goo Joo-il shamelessly confessed.

He knew the other person would look down on him, but his family’s lives were at stake, and he didn’t have time to worry about that.

However, the voice coming from the phone didn’t laugh at him.

—What does that have to do with me?

It coldly drew a line.

“Huh?”

Goo Joo-il asked blankly, and the vice president said indifferently.

—I made a request, and you accepted it. I’ve already sent the remaining sponsorship money. And now you’re saying I should give up my request because of PD [Production Director] Goo’s situation?

“I’ll return the money!”

—I don’t need it. Goodbye.

The call ended.

Goo Joo-il threw his phone down and clutched his head.

‘What should I do? He will absolutely, absolutely not help me.’

The three conditions Rembrary had set for the treatment fee flashed through his mind.

He shook his head. Even if he fulfilled all three conditions, Rembrary would not help him.

Perhaps, like his fellow PD had said, he would become disillusioned with the world and go into seclusion.

“Ah… what do I do? What do I do?”

Goo Joo-il’s eyes trembled incessantly.

* * *

For different reasons, Jongwoo was also shaking as violently as Goo Joo-il.

“You crazy bastard!”

Jongwoo went to Rembrary’s house to find Woo Yeon-woo and burst into the room, starting with a curse.

“Are you crazy? Are you crazy? You crazy bastard, what are you doing!”

But when he saw Woo Yeon-woo curled up like a snail under the blanket, Jongwoo couldn’t even curse anymore.

“Why are you doing this?!”

Jongwoo shouted, and Woo Yeon-woo pulled his face halfway out of the blanket and muttered.

“I’m scared.”

“You’re scared, so you cause an accident and turn off your phone?!”

“I’m scared to see the reaction! That’s why I’m trying not to see it because I’m scared!”

“You crazy bastard, if you’re not confident you can handle it, don’t cause an accident!”

Jongwoo shouted and tried to grab Woo Yeon-woo’s head and pull him out of the blanket, but Woo Yeon-woo grabbed the blanket and struggled.

“Jongwoo, hello. You’re going to break his neck.”

Only when Rembrary came to greet them and intervened did Jongwoo realize his mistake and let go of Woo Yeon-woo’s head.

Woo Yeon-woo took the opportunity to hide back under the blanket.

“This is real…!”

At that sight, Jongwoo was worried and angry, so he shouted, but in the end, he couldn’t finish his sentence.

The kid was scared and cowering, so he couldn’t bring himself to push him any further. Jongwoo couldn’t control his anger and just pounded his own chest.

“Oh dear, oh dear!”

“Jongwoo, that’s not your head.”

Even with Rembrary’s kind advice, Jongwoo’s blood pressure rose sharply, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

After a long time, he finally calmed down and squatted on the floor.

Then, after sighing deeply, he gave up on Woo Yeon-woo, who was in no state to talk, and said to Rembrary.

“Yeon-woo didn’t write exactly what happened in the apology. But it seems like our Yeon-woo did something really wrong to Rembrary… I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry? It’s not even your fault.”

“I’m Yeon-woo’s manager.”

“It’s okay. You were doing your best at the time.”

“Yes? Me?”

Jongwoo blinked, wondering what he was talking about.

Instead of explaining further, Rembrary clicked his tongue as he looked at Woo Yeon-woo, who had become a lump under the blanket.

“I only found out later that Yeon-woo suddenly posted that apology on social media. There wasn’t even time to stop him.”

“I figured.”

Jongwoo sighed heavily again, stretched out his legs, which had been squatting, and stood up from the floor.

“I just got here. Are you leaving already?”

“When he’s like that, he won’t listen even if you talk to him.”

“He seems to be listening to everything, judging by how he’s wriggling.”

“He’s probably hearing it with his ears. Please contact me later when he’s calmed down a bit and comes out.”

Jongwoo muttered, looked at Yeon-woo’s blanket again, shook his head, and left the room.

Rembrary saw Jongwoo off, returned to the doorway of the room, and stared at Woo Yeon-woo, who had become a blanket snail.

Jongwoo just seemed worried about Woo Yeon-woo, but Rembrary’s mind was complicated by this incident.

Woo Yeon-woo had taken responsibility for his actions in his own way by posting a sudden apology, and now he was struggling like that, so he was worried in many ways.

“Yeon-woo.”

“……”

“What if Mors comes to kill you?”

“Hey!”

Woo Yeon-woo threw off the blanket in an instant and shouted, and Rembrary finally smiled in relief.

“Then I will protect you. Don’t worry.”

“……Can you beat that person?”

“Should I give you the answer that will make you feel better, or the honest answer?”

“What’s the answer that will make me feel better?”

“I can beat him.”

Despite the good answer, Woo Yeon-woo’s face darkened, and he asked.

“What’s the honest answer? Is it that you’ll actually lose? Or that you can win, but it’ll be difficult?”

“I even got caught by the demons because of you. And now I have to lose to you. I feel sorry for Mors.”

“……”

Woo Yeon-woo opened his mouth and stared at Rembrary for a moment, then gathered a pillow and threw it with all his might.

* * *

‘He’s probably cheered up a bit, right?’

Rembrary, who easily dodged the pillow Woo Yeon-woo threw, closed the door and came out, relieved.

Mulu, who happened to be coming out of a nearby room, saw the scene and asked.

“Is Woo Yeon-woo okay, High Priest?”

“Judging by his condition, he’ll probably be like that for a few days and then recover.”

“That’s a relief.”

Mulu muttered with a vague expression as he looked at the closed door.

He was grateful that Woo Yeon-woo had bravely stepped forward for Rembrary, but he was also a bit hesitant to be completely grateful because of the content of that apology.

Mulu moved his lips, but in the end, he slightly changed the subject.

“Thanks to Woo Yeon-woo, people seem to be less hostile to the High Priest. They seem to be considering the possibility that Mors’s remarks were exaggerated or false.”

“Yeah. I heard. I was curious, so I looked it up.”

“But I’m worried about Mors. How do you think he’ll react? The misunderstanding about the High Priest will be resolved, but at this rate……”

Mulu’s gaze returned to Woo Yeon-woo’s closed door.

Rembrary lowered his voice so that Woo Yeon-woo couldn’t hear him and replied.

“I’m planning to stay home for a few days. I don’t know how Mors will react.”

“Do you think he’ll try to take revenge on Woo Yeon-woo?”

“We have to consider that possibility.”

“What will the High Priest do if Mors invades?”

“Well……”

Rembrary, who was answering as he went down the stairs, stopped speaking when he heard something collapsing in the kitchen.

“What’s that sound?”

Rembrary quickly went to the kitchen.

Unexpectedly, freshly baked, warm bread was scattered on the floor, having fallen from a basket.

Ardor, who usually didn’t make such mistakes, was staring at the tablet set up on the counter with wide eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

Rembrary also looked at the tablet, but it didn’t seem to have anything special on it.

Ardor then picked up the bread and muttered.

“Something strange just passed by.”

“What do you mean by strange?”

Ardor went to the tablet and pressed the screen here and there.

“A video automatically played and then disappeared, High Priest. But even at a glance, something very absurd came out and disappeared. Such a tremendous content that I couldn’t think of anything as soon as I saw it……”

When a short video appeared on the screen, Ardor stopped speaking and gesturing at the same time.

“This.”

Rembrary also looked at the screen and raised his eyebrows.

Mulu also couldn’t close his mouth and stared intently at the screen.

When the video ended, the screen moved on to other content, but Rembrary, Ardor, and Mulu couldn’t easily open their mouths.

After a long time, Rembrary opened his mouth.

“Who is Goo Joo-il? He’s said to be Kim Murok’s successor?”

The video was about how PD [Production Director] Goo Joo-il, who was Kim Murok PD’s successor, had taken over and completed the documentary that Kim Murok had prepared at the risk of his life.

It was a short, 30-second trailer, but all sorts of sensational phrases were included in that short time.

Among them, the most surprising phrase was ‘Rembrary and the relationship of upheaval.’

“I know who Goo Joo-il is, High Priest.”

“Ardor, you do? How?”

“I think I saw such a name on a tombstone while passing by. I’ll go check.”

Ardor said firmly and threw off his apron. Rembrary quickly grabbed him from behind.

“That’s enough. What are you going to do? Just leave it alone.”

At that, Ardor firmly protested.

“Rembrary. That person just did something worth dying for. I’ll go write a receipt with that person’s blood. My bullets are the value-added tax.”

“It’s not that I’m telling you to stay still because that heretic is doing well. We don’t know where that heretic is, do we? But where are you suddenly going?”

“You’re very clever. If I’m going to kill him, I need to know his location first.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than Rembrary’s phone vibrated.

Rembrary checked his phone, frowned, and tilted his head.

“What’s wrong?”