Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 690

◈ 690. Does He Read the Future Too?

Shin Jo-woon wasn’t sure whether to be more surprised that Rembrary had appeared here, or that he had tagged along after hearing news of someone’s death.

‘To seize the opportunity and follow when someone is dying. Is that what a Saint would do?’ Shin Jo-woon chuckled to himself.

“Saintly when it’s useless. Not saintly when it matters. What are you trying to do?”

Rembrary accepted the sarcastic remark without a flinch, and Shin Jo-woon shook his head, a small laugh escaping him.

Rembrary studied Shin Jo-woon’s expression, and when he seemed to be in a relatively good mood, he brought up what Jang Tae-ri and Hwa Sa-ja had said.

‘He doesn’t seem angry at me, does he?’ Rembrary wondered.

“Sardine.”

“What?”

“Are you angry with me?”

Rembrary asked directly, and Shin Jo-woon twisted his lips in a playful retort.

“What do *you* think?”

“I don’t think you’re angry.”

Just as Shin Jo-woon was about to respond to Rembrary’s words, Rembrary continued.

“Now that I think about it, Tae-ri is the sardine.”

Shin Jo-woon immediately shut his mouth, surprised by Rembrary’s non-sequitur.

He couldn’t fathom what mental gymnastics had led Rembrary to suddenly label Jang Tae-ri a sardine.

Narrowing his eyes and staring at Rembrary, Rembrary shook his head and headed inside, saying,

“I knew you weren’t angry with me. But Tae-ri said you were angry with me. Since Tae-ri is angry with me, Sardine, you must be angry with me too. But now I see you’re not angry. Then Tae-ri is the only one who’s angry. It seems your generosity is a bit broader than Tae-ri’s.”

“!”

Shin Jo-woon found himself in a position where agreeing with Jang Tae-ri would instantly make him seem petty, so he pondered for a moment and then conceded.

“I’m not angry. Jang Tae-ri is weird.”

If Jang Tae-ri had witnessed this, he would have been dumbfounded, shouting, ‘Traitor!’ but Jang Tae-ri couldn’t see this, anyway.

Shin Jo-woon drove the wedge in even further.

“Tae-ri is the sardine.”

Shin Jo-woon went into the room with a smile on his face, already anticipating teasing Jang Tae-ri with, ‘Now you’re the sardine.’

Rembrary saw Shin Jo-woon looking pleased and nodded, confirming his own judgment.

It was unexpected that Jang Tae-ri was more of a sardine than Shin Jo-woon, but Jang Tae-ri had only briefly expressed anger and quickly moved on, so he couldn’t have been *that* small of a sardine.

“Tae-ri is a big sardine.”

Shin Jo-woon was curious about the latest twist in Rembrary’s thought process, but he decided not to question it, content to pass the ‘sardine’ label onto Jang Tae-ri.

“That’s right. Jang Tae-ri is a big sardine.”

Rembrary smiled contentedly, having reached a satisfactory conclusion in his own way, especially since Shin Jo-woon immediately agreed.

“Then my generosity is the greatest of the three.”

“!”

Shin Jo-woon stared, mouth agape, at the sudden leap to self-admiration, and eventually burst out laughing.

* * *

While Shin Jo-woon was out for a while, Rembrary was on the sofa in the reception room, talking to Dae-ju on the phone.

Dae-ju was initially flustered when Rembrary, whom he had met only a few minutes prior, was suddenly on a remote island, but he quickly told him to enjoy himself and offered his well wishes.

[I hope you reconcile with President Shin. President Shin is quite a helpful person.]

“There’s nothing to reconcile. Sardine wasn’t even angry.”

[It didn’t seem like that.]

“No. Really. I asked if he was angry, and he said no.”

[……Then why did he ignore my calls for almost a month?]

“He was busy.”

[He seemed to be answering other people’s calls just fine, though.]

“He said that time flies by when he talks to me, so he couldn’t help it.”

[That man is like a snake.]

“What do you mean?”

[No, it’s nothing. Anyway, I’m glad you’re not angry. I hope you have fun. I’ll be investigating the state of the Gathering Order [a shadowy organization] in the meantime.]

“Do that.”

Rembrary hung up the phone with a smile and was about to call Jang Tae-ri as well.

He wanted to inform him that his assessment was correct and Jang Tae-ri was wrong.

Then he heard the sound of the door opening, so he put down his cell phone and turned around to see Shin Jo-woon coming in with a paper bag.

“What is it?”

Rembrary smelled the food and quickly got up to ask. Shin Jo-woon took out a sandwich in a clear wrapper from the bag and handed it to him.

“You said you haven’t eaten anything. Eat this. There’s only a place that sells simple food like this here.”

“Then how do they make money?”

The only organization officially established here was the World Hunter Association [a global organization that oversees hunters].

They provided the venue for national summits and oversaw all other matters.

They wouldn’t be providing the venue and lodging for free, and there would be plenty of other ways to generate revenue, but Shin Jo-woon thought it would take too long to explain all the details, so he changed the subject for now.

“More importantly, you said there would be deaths here? What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know either.”

“You must have followed because you knew something. The Grim Reapers [beings that guide souls to the afterlife] wouldn’t voluntarily tell you where people are going to die.”

“Of course not. I asked you first who was going to die around you.”

Shin Jo-woon raised his eyebrows.

“Around me?”

Shin Jo-woon thought about who was around him. Most of the Korean team that came with him had returned, and those who remained were not working directly with him.

The only people he could call friends currently staying here were all High-End Hunters [elite hunters with exceptional abilities].

“Is one of the High-End Hunters going to die?”

“I don’t know that far ahead.”

Rembrary unwrapped the sandwich with a nonchalant attitude.

At times like this, Shin Jo-woon wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or worried about the situation, given Rembrary’s demeanor, which didn’t seem like a Saint at all.

In the meantime, Rembrary quickly ate the crab sandwich that Shin Jo-woon had brought him and asked with satisfaction.

“How long will you be here? Is the summit still going on?”

“No. That’s over. There will be a High-End Hunter meeting soon.”

“Then you’ll stay longer?”

“Why?”

“If you stay longer, I’m going to ask the Grim Reaper to go with us again.”

Shin Jo-woon’s expression hardened as soon as he heard Rembrary’s words.

“No way.”

Rembrary smiled contentedly. He must be telling me to stay and have fun since it’s been a while since we met.

But Shin Jo-woon was thinking about a slightly more sensitive issue when he said that.

“There’s no one here who’s ordinary.”

“Why is that?”

“What do you think will happen if someone dies when you show up, and then you disappear as soon as someone dies?”

“There may be more than one death. Why do you think it’s just one?”

“……Then it’ll be even more of a headache.”

Shin Jo-woon said firmly once again.

“Wait a few days, and then let’s go back together. Whether one person dies or several, traveling with the Grim Reaper will look suspicious.”

Rembrary pondered for a moment and then nodded.

Dae-ju had told him to have a good time anyway, and there was no one to heal for the time being. It didn’t really matter if he stayed a few more days.

* * *

While Shin Jo-woon was wondering whether to ask the World Hunter Association or the High-End Hunters to get a room for Rembrary,

Rembrary leaned out the window and looked around.

He was amazed that there were hardly any individuals working here, and most of them were moving around in groups.

The sight of large ships coming and going in the distance also caught his eye. Moreover, those ships were completely different from the ships in the place where Rembrary lived.

“It’s better to talk to the High-End Hunters.”

Then Rembrary turned his head when he heard Shin Jo-woon muttering next to him.

“What?”

“You need a room if you’re going to stay here for a few days.”

“Ah.”

Rembrary didn’t know why he had to talk to the High-End Hunters to stay here, but he followed Shin Jo-woon as he walked ahead.

After walking down a long hallway and up two flights of stairs, Shin Jo-woon stood in front of a door and knocked.

Then, instead of from the door, a voice was heard from nearby, saying, “Why?”

Looking in the direction of the voice, a woman with green hair was approaching.

Rembrary stared intently at the hair color, which reminded him of Mullu, and the woman who was approaching saw Rembrary and exclaimed, “Oh!”

“It’s Rembrary!”

The woman’s eyes soon narrowed, and she chuckled, looking at Shin Jo-woon.

“The guest who’s coming is Rembrary? Did you two fight―”

“Rembrary, this is Amarina.”

Rembrary stared blankly, and when Shin Jo-woon pointed to the green-haired woman, he held out his hand.

“Hmm. I think you interrupted me.”

The green-haired woman, ‘Amarina,’ looked at Shin Jo-woon suspiciously but shook hands with Rembrary anyway and asked.

“But why is Rembrary here? I don’t think I’ve heard that he’s coming.”

“That’s why I came to see you.”

“Me?”

“Let’s talk for a moment. Rembrary, wait here for a moment.”

Shin Jo-woon instructed Rembrary and then gestured to Amarina.

As Amarina followed Shin Jo-woon into the room with a puzzled look on her face, Rembrary was suddenly left alone.

‘Is it something I can’t be told?’

Rembrary frowned and stared at the closed door, but the door didn’t open. Rembrary had no choice but to lean against the window.

“…….”

But Shin Jo-woon didn’t come out even after waiting for 5 minutes, and Rembrary only became bored, so Rembrary raised his cell phone and smiled brightly to take a selfie and post it on SNS [Social Networking Service].

Someone shouted from afar, “Hey, you!” but Rembrary kept taking pictures because he wasn’t ‘there.’

“Hey. You can’t take pictures here.”

As he was doing that, the person who had shouted earlier came up and tried to snatch Rembrary’s cell phone.

Rembrary dodged the rude touch and poked the back of the other person’s hand with his cell phone.

“Ouch!”

Then, looking at the other person jumping up and down, the stranger grabbed his hand and stomped his feet, then his face turned red, and he protested.

“What are you doing! Don’t you know that fighting and filming are prohibited on this island?!”

It was a stranger in a uniform with a white background and purple trim.

‘Sardine seemed to have those clothes.’

Rembrary stared intently at the clothes, which looked familiar, and the stranger muttered, “What,” and suddenly frowned.

Then he stared at Rembrary and asked.

“Rembrary?”

Before Rembrary could answer, the man asked with a fierce expression and a scolding tone.

“I’ve never heard that you were coming here. Why are you here?”

It was an implication that he was suspecting something bad, so Rembrary quickly stated his purpose.

“I came to see Sard, Shin Jo-woon.”

“Why Shin Jo-woon?”

“Because someone is dying here. I came to protect him.”

Rembrary gave a plausible reason on purpose, thinking that he would look too timid as a high priest if he said that Shin Jo-woon didn’t answer his calls, so he came.

But the man frowned even more at Rembrary’s words and muttered.

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

As soon as those words were finished, a noise like several panes of glass breaking at the same time was heard from beyond the window.

Rembrary turned around and saw a huge monster, about 15 meters tall, with a body that glittered like glass, landing on the harbor side and roaring.

Rembrary sensed a fellow Grim Reaper from the Sagamjae [a region known for supernatural events] near him and smiled.

“That must be it.”

Then he looked to the side and saw the uniformed hunter staring at Rembrary with an expression that looked like his eyes were about to pop out.