Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 650

◈ 650. For the Spurt

As soon as Woo Yeon-woo heard the name ‘Morso,’ he tensed up like a sea urchin.

“Morso?”

“No. Hunter Ki Seong-hyun. Isn’t he Morso’s subordinate?”

Rembrary pressed the call button and held the phone to his ear.

“Oh, Ki Seong-hyun. What is it?”

Woo Yeon-woo bit his lip, looking like he wanted to run away immediately.

But he couldn’t run away without hearing the call, as he was too concerned about it.

[I have something to report.]

“Report?”

[I couldn’t find a significant correlation between the increased damage caused by demons and the reduced territory of demons. Dungeon entry is permitted again, so you can go in.]

“Morso seems to have changed his mind?”

[…No. I just confirmed there’s no connection.]

The delayed answer lacked strength.

But Rembrary wasn’t the type of petty high priest to nitpick such things.

“Okay. Tell Morso I appreciate him changing his mind.”

[Yes. No, it’s not related to Morso.]

Rembrary glanced at Woo Yeon-woo.

Woo Yeon-woo was staring intently, seemingly very concerned about the content of Rembrary’s call, or rather, Morso’s current state.

“What’s Morso’s current state?”

[State?]

“Is he angry? Deep in thought? Or has he become peaceful?”

After about three minutes of silence, a vague answer came back.

[He doesn’t seem peaceful.]

“Okay.”

As soon as Rembrary hung up, Woo Yeon-woo asked urgently.

“What did he say? Is he very angry?”

Rembrary remained silent, looking down at his phone, then smiled kindly and rephrased.

“I’m going into the dungeon now, Yeon-woo. I’d feel much better if you came with me.”

Woo Yeon-woo’s face turned pale. Was Morso so angry that being outside the dungeon was more dangerous than being inside?

Mulu also asked in surprise, though for a different reason than Woo Yeon-woo.

“Are you going into the dungeon now?”

Rembrary nodded and instructed Ardor.

“Yes. I’m going now. Ardor, let’s go to dungeon 1-6.”

“Now? Aren’t you going to keep an eye on Gu Ju-il?”

Ardor’s expression turned sullen, as if he thought Gu Ju-il had committed a great sin and didn’t need to be kept alive if he was useless.

“Even if we have the data, it’ll take some time to create a new video to refute it. Even if it’s made quickly, we need to release it at the right time, or it might be buried. It’ll take time anyway. Wouldn’t it be more efficient to go into the dungeon and knock down a pillar or two in the meantime?”

Woo Yeon-woo felt wronged when Ardor glared at him in the rearview mirror.

Since earlier, the High Priest had been making decisions and talking to himself. What did he want him to do!

But seeing Ardor’s fierce gaze, Woo Yeon-woo thought he would be killed by Ardor if he stayed at Rembrary’s house to avoid Morso. Or have a limb broken.

“Stop glaring at Yeon-woo and look ahead, Ardor.”

* * *

Following Rembrary’s instructions, the group arrived at dungeon 1-6.

Rembrary remembered the reporters camped near the entrance and thought it would be troublesome to enter, but unexpectedly, the entrance was deserted.

Hunters from the Hunter Management Office were densely guarding the entrance, so the reporters seemed to have given up, thinking there was no news to cover.

“That’s good. It’s nice and quiet.”

“I’ll go with you, High Priest.”

“No, Rembrary-nim [term of respect]. I’ll go. Of course, I may not be sufficient to escort you, but I will squeeze out every ounce of effort to be of help to Rembrary-nim―”

Rembrary opened the door with one hand.

“It opens.”

Ardor couldn’t finish his sentence and shut his mouth.

That anger was directed at Woo Yeon-woo, who was standing blankly behind Rembrary. Ardor glared at Woo Yeon-woo with a fierce look again.

Woo Yeon-woo hurriedly escaped to Rembrary’s side and grabbed his sleeve.

“Let’s go. Let’s go quickly.”

Rembrary grabbed Woo Yeon-woo’s arm, worried that the demons might separate them again like with Jang Tae-ri, and advised Mulu and Ardor.

“If things seem to be getting out of hand because of the documentary, contact me.”

“What if it’s a dungeon where we can’t reach you?”

“Then ask Anchovy or Gamja [likely nicknames for other hunters] to help. I’ll try to knock down the pillar and get out as quickly as possible.”

Rembrary waved his hand and entered the door, then turned back and looked at Mulu and Ardor worriedly.

If the documentary was released and people became angry at Redrin, they would distrust and try to stop whatever Rembrary did.

Last time, it was Morso who blocked the dungeon entry, but in a few days, it might be ordinary people.

If that happened, it would be difficult to knock down the pillars, so he was trying to enter the dungeon right away and knock them down.

But as he was about to enter, he remembered the story of High Priest Memi that the Demon King had told him, and he felt a little uneasy.

‘I hope people’s anger doesn’t grow as much as the anger towards Memi while I’m away?’

“Rembrary?”

Woo Yeon-woo asked, puzzled, as Rembrary hesitated and stood at the doorway.

“What’s wrong?”

Rembrary looked at the already wide-open door and shook his head.

“Nothing. Ah, contact Fire Lion and tell him to quickly resolve dungeon 4.”

Even if he was a little uneasy, he had to go in since the door was open. He had no choice but to go in, knock down the pillar as quickly as possible, and get out.

“Let’s go.”

* * *

“I’ve conveyed the message to Rembrary-ssi [term of respect].”

Ki Seong-hyun looked at Morso as he hung up the phone.

Morso had been standing no more than five steps away from him the entire time he was talking to Rembrary.

He was pretending to look at the calendar, but his ears were probably focused on this side.

There was no need to look at a blank calendar for so long.

As soon as the call was completely disconnected, Morso finally put his hands behind his back, nodded, and walked to his desk.

Ki Seong-hyun observed Morso’s expression and asked.

“Wouldn’t it be better to just tell him honestly?”

“Honestly?”

Ki Seong-hyun recalled what Morso had said while pushing back the hunters he had ordered to block the dungeon entrance. At that time, Morso had said this.

“The Deputy Director said, ‘What do you expect from weak people?’ and that he wouldn’t be very angry with Woo Yeon-woo-ssi. Wouldn’t it be good to tell him that story?”

“I said he wouldn’t be very angry, not that he wouldn’t be angry at all.”

“Ah.”

“The resentment has decreased, but it’s not gone. So I’ll let him be scared until he’s satisfied.”

At Morso’s firm words, Ki Seong-hyun smiled awkwardly and asked.

“More importantly, will it be okay? It seems like there’s another uproar because of the documentary trailer that came out earlier. If this happens, won’t it be useless even if the Deputy Director forgives him…?”

“That’s why I’m going to use public power now.”

“Yes? Public power?”

Ki Seong-hyun frowned, wondering what he meant.

He didn’t understand why he was suddenly talking about using public power when they were talking about the documentary.

“I’m going to search the Shingiru headquarters. Prepare for it.”

Only after Morso added that did Ki Seong-hyun’s eyes widen in surprise.

“You’re going to search the Shingiru headquarters?”

Unlike ordinary companies, the Hunter Management Office was almost entirely in charge of handling matters related to hunter companies.

This was because hunter companies did special work, and most of the people employed were hunters, making it difficult for non-awakened people to handle them.

Searching hunter companies was also within the scope of what the Hunter Management Office could do for this reason.

However, this was only the case with the permission of the Director of the Management Office.

Moreover, even this was essentially a power only indicated in documents. In reality, it was difficult to do.

Since there was a great need for the help of hunters, even state institutions didn’t want to deliberately antagonize hunter companies if they could avoid it.

But to order a search without even getting permission from the Director.

“Will it be okay? The Director―”

“I’ll get permission later.”

No, that can’t be called permission. Informing him after causing an accident is just a notification. Ki Seong-hyun swallowed the words that came up to his throat.

Morso continued to speak calmly.

“Proceed quickly. If the Director finds out, he might try to stop it immediately.”

It had come to this, so Ki Seong-hyun couldn’t say anything.

He was going to proceed with the work without the Director’s knowledge, so how could he stop him?

“Yes.”

Ki Seong-hyun answered sharply and turned towards the door with a resolute attitude, then looked back in embarrassment.

Morso, who had seemed to be about to sit at his desk earlier, was already taking out his coat and putting it on. He was ready to go out at any moment.

Why was he suddenly preparing to go out? Ki Seong-hyun asked, puzzled.

“Deputy Director? Where are you going?”

Instead of giving a specific answer, Morso brushed past him and said.

“Let’s go.”

Was he going with him? To Shingiru? Was he going to take direct action? Ki Seong-hyun was left standing blankly for a moment, then quickly followed after him.

* * *

“Oh my. What’s going to happen to him.”

Fire Lion clicked his tongue while watching the documentary trailer featuring Rembrary.

“This is a big problem.”

Fire Lion scrolled down the phone screen, then clicked his tongue again as he saw the comments piling up without him even having time to check them.

“This one’s going to be a bit tricky?”

Fire Lion grabbed a handful of popcorn, put it in his mouth, and shook his head.

As expected, it’s useless to run around diligently for the world.

What’s the point of suffering? In the end, there’s no one who recognizes you, or only a few. You only need to run enough to protect yourself and your family.

“Wouldn’t it be better for the Young Lord to go help him?”

One of the managers here asked, looking at Fire Lion like that. It was because he remembered the call from Rembrary’s paladin about 20 minutes ago.

The call had the nuance of ‘Rembrary-nim said he’s going into the dungeon to completely destroy the first pillar. He said you should quickly destroy the fourth pillar and come over there.’

“My heart wants to help, but my sincerity tells me to keep my distance.”

Fire Lion answered gruffly and put more popcorn in his mouth and chewed.

Rembrary was the one who saved his mother, so he really tried hard to help him by his side.

He followed him to another dimension, even though he didn’t want to, and followed him to several dungeons after that.

Then, in the last dungeon he followed, he was really in danger.

“I almost died in the last dungeon I followed. If Rembrary hadn’t been by my side, I would have definitely died. I’m never following him again.”

At Fire Lion’s firm words, the manager asked awkwardly.

“Then didn’t Rembrary save you again?”

“…….”

Fire Lion’s expression twisted.

The manager realized that Fire Lion didn’t want this truth pointed out.

But he had already said it, and Fire Lion had come to recognize it again.