Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 679

◈ 679. It’ll Probably Be Alright

Rembrary couldn’t help but smile, recognizing the familiar passion in Jongwoo, a trait he often witnessed when he was Woo Yeonwoo.

“You’re always so enthusiastic.”

Jongwoo frowned at the comment.

“It’s not just me who needs to be enthusiastic. What are you talking about? Hurry up and get over here. We need to flesh things out, you know?”

“Why the rush? Now that we’ve met, let’s grab a bite first—”

“If you weren’t my partner, I’d take my time. But now that you’re an official LLL partner, LLL’s reputation is on the line, you know? Hurry up. You’re sneakily slacking off, aren’t you?”

Rembrary’s eyebrows, which had been raised in amusement, furrowed slightly.

“You’re being a bit of a pain.”

Rembrary narrowed his eyes, but Jongwoo, unfazed, walked to the side of the desk and tapped on it.

“Come on. You’re a high priest, so you should be better than our slackers, right?”

Woo Yeonwoo, one of ‘our slackers,’ frowned.

“Hyung, does that include me too?”

“You’re the main culprit.”

“That wasn’t me—!”

Woo Yeonwoo knew Jongwoo was referring to Rembrary as the slacker, so he felt wrongly accused and protested.

Rembrary reluctantly sat down at the desk.

Jongwoo placed a file directly in front of Rembrary, flipping through its thick cover, and demanded, “I’ve laid out the framework, but I don’t know what happened during the two years you were missing, so it’s a bit lacking here and there. Please take a look and mark the parts that need fixing or filling in.”

Rembrary’s displeasure with Jongwoo grew.

“Can’t you just make something up?”

“How can I fabricate a press conference?”

“You’re the only one who knows the truth anyway. If you make it sound plausible, I’ll just say it’s all correct.”

“No way.”

Jongwoo was adamant.

Rembrary reluctantly picked up a pen and stared blankly at the wall of text.

* * *

While Rembrary was preparing for the press conference, the group gradually gathered in Daeju’s office. Initially, they just watched Rembrary, but as boredom set in, they began offering advice from the sidelines.

“No, no, not that. Take out the Lumena story. People don’t know Lumena is a god from another world.”

“Lion is right. It’s better to leave that out.”

“You should also change the part about not knowing why you went to another dimension. No, take out the dimension talk altogether. It feels too fantastical.”

Jang Taeri, who had arrived unnoticed, also chimed in with advice.

“Then what should we say? Just say you were on Earth but reclusive?”

“What if we don’t specify the destination? Just say you were trapped somewhere unknown… No, no. Just say you collapsed.”

“Wow, that’s good!”

Seeing Jongwoo immediately agree with Jang Taeri’s suggestion, Rembrary recalled Jongwoo’s words from 40 minutes ago: ‘How can I fabricate a press conference?’

‘This is basically fabrication,’ he thought.

In the end, after everyone had their say, Rembrary’s two-year disappearance was framed as follows:

—The lie that everything was my fault was to prevent people from being divided in the face of a common enemy.

—The two-year disappearance was a side effect of closing the demon realm alone.

—Due to using excessive power, I was unconscious for two years.

—The healing ability remains, but there are some side effects due to the aftereffects.

Rembrary muttered sullenly.

“It seems like only two things here are true.”

“Two things is enough, isn’t it? That’s half! And the others aren’t complete lies either.”

‘Being unconscious seems like a complete lie,’ Rembrary thought.

But he didn’t want to argue about the press conference content anymore, so he remained silent.

After all, he couldn’t tell people the whole truth.

“Shall we practice once?”

“You want me to practice too?”

“You have to speak naturally. It’s better not to use informal language during the press conference.”

Rembrary was disgusted, but Daeju surprisingly agreed with Jongwoo’s suggestion.

The group, having Rembrary sit in the middle of the sofa, went to the opposite side and held up their phones, demanding.

“Okay. Do it.”

“Imagine we’re reporters.”

“Hey, focus your gaze properly.”

“You’re outstanding even from this distance!”

Rembrary wanted to rest. He had been running around since returning to Earth.

Of course, he was sitting while eating pork cutlet in Gyeongju, but other than that, he had been constantly chased, fighting, and moving.

Shouldn’t he eat something delicious first and then lie down and sleep soundly, instead of doing a press conference or whatever?

“Daeju-nim.”

Fortunately, the mock press conference was interrupted by Daeju’s secretary knocking and entering.

As Daeju walked towards the secretary, Rembrary quickly got up from the sofa.

“What’s the matter?”

However, the name that came out of the secretary’s mouth was unexpected.

“It’s President Shin Jo-woon.”

‘So the anchovy came too?’ Rembrary stepped back, then perked up and moved forward again.

“He sent his secretary. He brought a gift.”

However, Shin Jo-woon didn’t come himself.

Rembrary couldn’t help but look at Jang Taeri. Jang Taeri didn’t seem to find it strange.

She tilted her head, but that was it. She didn’t seem to know about Shin Jo-woon’s anchovy-like [stingy or cheap] behavior.

In the end, when Shin Jo-woon’s secretary came in with a bouquet and handed it over, Rembrary received it and asked outright.

“Isn’t Jo-woon coming?”

The secretary, who had been handing over the bouquet with a smiling face, flinched for a moment at the question. Rembrary noticed the change.

However, as Rembrary stared intently, the secretary soon smiled politely and replied.

“I’m sorry, Rembrary-nim. The president is not feeling well right now.”

‘He looked fine when I saw him recently?’ Jang Taeri, puzzled by the mention of illness, looked at the secretary.

The secretary ignored Jang Taeri’s gaze and greeted Rembrary again.

“Then I’ll be on my way.”

The secretary’s words were, of course, a lie. Shin Jo-woon was giving instructions in perfect health.

There was no mention of falsely reporting his condition.

However, since Rembrary and Shin Jo-woon’s friendship was so well-known, the secretary had cleverly made up the excuse.

It would be disappointing if he didn’t come even though he was healthy and didn’t have any urgent business.

The secretary realized his mistake 15 seconds later.

“Let’s go together. I’ll heal you.”

“!”

‘I should have said he was busy!’ The secretary regretted it belatedly, but Rembrary was already rummaging around and approaching.

* * *

‘I hope the secretary delivered the gift well,’ Shin Jo-woon thought as he watered the plants.

His gaze went to his phone several times, but he didn’t even bother to check it.

He had already told his butler to relay any urgent matters by tomorrow, so it was fine.

‘I don’t know why I have to go this far.’

Shin Jo-woon thought inwardly as he put down the watering can and sat on the sofa.

He was letting time pass by doing nothing when there was a hurried knock.

“What’s wrong?”

He asked as he opened the door, and the butler, who was standing there with a flustered expression, quickly replied.

“President. Rembrary-nim is outside.”

“!”

The butler seemed to be more flustered than usual because he knew that Shin Jo-woon had deliberately not gone to see Rembrary and had only sent a gift.

“What should we do? Should I tell him you’re not feeling well and ask him to leave?”

The butler asked cautiously, and Shin Jo-woon chuckled and shook his head.

“Then he’ll try to come in even more. He’s a healer, after all.”

“Ah.”

The butler sighed and looked at Shin Jo-woon. After a long deliberation of about 30 seconds, Shin Jo-woon reluctantly replied.

“I have no choice. Tell him to come in.”

The butler glanced at Shin Jo-woon worriedly until the end before leaving.

As the butler left, Shin Jo-woon stood alone, blankly. Was it because of the sudden visit? He couldn’t quite figure out how to react.

Even as he was doing so, a commotion began to be heard from outside. It seemed the butler had opened the door.

Shin Jo-woon slowly went outside and stood holding onto the railing of the stairs.

Rembrary, whom he was seeing for the first time in two years, was talking to the butler in an excited voice.

Then, sensing his gaze, he immediately looked up at him.

As soon as their eyes met, Rembrary waved his hand. Shin Jo-woon almost reflexively waved back.

But he didn’t. Still, Rembrary gave a gentle smile and quickly came up the stairs.

Then, he arrived right in front of him in an instant and asked in protest.

“Taeri came right away, but you, Anchovy, don’t even reply to my texts.”

“I was busy.”

“You don’t even have time to look at texts? You look at them well even when you’re busy.”

“I look at them well even when I’m busy. But this time, I was too busy to even do that.”

“Your secretary said you were sick.”

Rembrary said that and pointed to the secretary, who was looking around with a pale face.

The secretary shrank back as Shin Jo-woon glanced at him with a displeased look.

Rembrary stared at Shin Jo-woon intently and muttered.

“Yeah. You seem to have lost a lot of weight.”

He wasn’t sick, but it was true that he had lost some weight. Shin Jo-woon reluctantly turned around.

“Come in.”

He wasn’t sick at all, but he couldn’t just send him away after he had come running after hearing he was sick.

He also couldn’t say, ‘I didn’t want to see you, so the secretary lied.’

So it was better to just get treated once and be done with it.

After all, Rembrary’s treatment didn’t involve taking harsh medicine or anything like that, so there was no reason why he couldn’t receive it in a perfectly healthy state.

“I thought you were very busy.”

“I am busy. I’m going to have a press conference.”

“Press conference?”

“Yeah. But Jongwoo said that it takes time to notify people and gather them for a press conference. So I came to see you, Anchovy, first.”

Rembrary, who had strode into Shin Jo-woon’s room, looked around without the slightest awkwardness and asked.

“Can I eat something after you treat me? I’m hungry.”

“…Tell the butler. He’ll bring you anything.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be resting here.”

“I’ll heal you, and you’ll be all better soon?”

“My mind and body are both tired.”

Shin Jo-woon plopped down on the sofa as if his whole body was heavy.

Rembrary, who had rolled up his sleeves to treat him, raised his eyebrows. Not sick, but tired?

Shin Jo-woon, sitting on the sofa, closed his eyes and leaned his back and head against the backrest.

He had intended to confront him about ignoring his texts, but seeing Shin Jo-woon’s face looking so gaunt, Rembrary found it difficult to bring it up.

‘Did he fight with Taeri?’

Rembrary first went behind Shin Jo-woon and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Then, as he gathered divine power, he remembered something he had forgotten and told him.

“Ah, there will be some side effects after my treatment. Is that okay?”

“!”