Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 693

◈ 693. The Rembrary Scramble

Everyone looked even more surprised at Rembrary’s nonchalant words.

“Who is it?”

The Association Head asked, frowning. Everyone fell silent. Rembrary also stared at the Association Head without a word.

After about three minutes of this, with Rembrary continuing to stare at the Association Head, some Hunters began to whisper.

“Isn’t he staring because the Association Head is the culprit?”

“Or maybe they’re just having a staring contest?”

“No, why would they suddenly have a staring contest here?”

“Would they suggest a staring contest in a real-life situation? That’s even stranger.”

“Maybe he’s signaling that he won’t answer here since the Association Head is asking publicly.”

“More than that, I’m curious why everyone believes Rembrary’s words as fact.”

Some of the whispers reached the ears of Rembrary and the Association Head.

Even so, the Association Head did not back down, maintaining his stance that he would hear Rembrary’s words in this place. Rembrary pointed to the culprit the deceased had told him about.

The Association Head, seeing where his finger was pointing, burst into laughter.

“Goodness. Mr. Shin. Who did you bring?”

* * *

“How did you know I was the culprit?”

Blue asked with a gloomy expression after writing dozens of incident reports.

Rembrary was eating popcorn that Black Gambler had brought and looked at him.

In just three hours, Blue had lost half his weight.

He was haggard, with dark circles under his eyes, and his original bright demeanor had shrunk, making him look dejected.

“My ‘friend’ who gives me prophecies told me that, too.”

Rembrary sold his imaginary prophet friend again this time.

To be precise, it was the stories the Grim Reaper and the deceased had told him, but Shin Jo-woon had said it would be better not to talk about them.

So, he attributed the credit to a fictional character.

Blue sat next to Rembrary with a sullen look. Rembrary grabbed a handful of popcorn and handed it to him, asking.

“Still, you’re getting less punishment than I thought? Just writing an incident report and that’s it. I thought you’d be locked up in jail.”

“You say scary things so easily, Mr. Rembrary.”

“Should the one who killed a colleague be saying that?”

Rembrary rebuked him gently with a warm face, and Shin Jo-woon sent him a look from the side.

Blue drooped his shoulders and retorted.

“That guy wasn’t a colleague.”

Blue couldn’t tell Rembrary that it was the Association Head’s order to deal with him, so he grumbled inwardly.

That employee was secretly colluding with Black Lynn and leaking information. Originally, they were preparing to arrest him formally.

However, just before the arrest, the quick-witted guy destroyed all the evidence. Moreover, he even planned to bring Black Lynn here.

They couldn’t be taken advantage of with their eyes open, so the Association Head ordered him to be dealt with secretly, and Blue followed the order.

Just in time, the glass monster invaded, drawing everyone’s attention, so he was able to finish the job smoothly.

But to think that Rembrary himself would come here and find out he was the culprit.

Blue sighed and looked at Rembrary with a heavy heart.

Since the group the traitor colluded with was Black Lynn, and the one Black Lynn revered was Rembrary, the Association Head had no choice but to keep an eye on Rembrary as well.

If Black Lynn hadn’t been hostile to Rembrary’s Red Lynn, the Association Head would have suspected that Rembrary and Black Lynn were in cahoots [collaborating].

Fortunately, Black Lynn only used Rembrary’s name and did nothing to actually help Rembrary or Red Lynn.

Because of this, the Association Head did not see Rembrary and Black Lynn as being in the same group.

But when Rembrary suddenly appeared when the traitor who colluded with Black Lynn died, the Association Head had reason to be strongly wary [cautious].

Even now, he was the one who wrote the incident report, but the Association Head was watching Rembrary more keenly.

“Well, your colleague is the Association Head.”

Then Blue heard Rembrary muttering and was horrified.

“Yes?”

It was as if he knew that he had done it under the Association Head’s instructions.

“Yes, did your prophesying friend say that?”

Blue asked in a fluster, but Rembrary calmly put popcorn in his mouth and said, “No.”

“Wasn’t it you who took me to that conference room?”

“!”

Blue took Rembrary to a place he didn’t need to go, and the Association Head found Rembrary even though he was well hidden and approached him, and even though an employee died, Blue was only released after writing a short incident report.

Naturally, Rembrary couldn’t help but think that the Association Head and Blue were in cahoots.

Listening to Rembrary’s words, which seemed to be saying whatever he wanted but had already grasped the most essential parts, Blue drooped his shoulders, thinking he had completely earned his hatred.

* * *

For several days after that, Rembrary got a guest room and lived there.

Although the atmosphere was strange for a while at the beginning, Rembrary was soon able to live peacefully, sightseeing on the island, as it was all someone else’s business.

On the other hand, Shin Jo-woon was summoned by the Association Head the day after the incident.

“Aren’t you getting angry at Shin Jo-woon for no reason?”

Blue followed Shin Jo-woon as he walked towards the Association Head, asking worriedly.

Since the incident happened when Rembrary came to see Shin Jo-woon, he was worried that the Association Head would cast his suspicious gaze on Shin Jo-woon as well.

“It’s okay.”

However, Shin Jo-woon answered calmly.

“He called me to the conference room used by High-End Hunters, not the Association Head’s office, so there won’t be a big misunderstanding.”

The High-End Hunters and the World Hunter Association were tied together with the Association Head as the only common ground.

Perhaps because of this, the Association Head tried to thoroughly distinguish between his role as a High-End Hunter and his role as the Association Head of the Hunter Association.

The fact that the Association Head called Shin Jo-woon to the High-End Hunters’ conference room to discuss the Rembrary case meant that he was leaving some room for conversation.

When they arrived in front of the conference room, Blue stayed outside and only Shin Jo-woon went inside. When Shin Jo-woon entered the conference room, he saw the Association Head talking on the phone with someone.

“Let’s talk more later.”

The Association Head hung up the phone when he saw Shin Jo-woon and gestured for him to sit down. Shin Jo-woon sat in the seat farthest from where the Association Head was sitting.

At the long table where twenty people could sit, Shin Jo-woon sat in the farthest seat, creating a long distance between the two.

Shin Jo-woon put one arm on the table and stared blankly, and the Association Head smiled and asked.

“You know why I called you, Mr. Baby?”

“I thought that nickname disappeared years ago. I don’t know why you’re suddenly bringing it up again.”

“It came back to me.”

The Association Head said teasingly, then leaned back in his chair and spun his phone on the table, asking.

“Rembrary said he heard about Mr. Shin from a friend who makes prophecies, so he came here. I’m worried. Well, let’s say that’s true. But how did he come? To come to this island, you have to take a boat, and all ships are thoroughly inspected. Did he stow away or something?”

“You don’t know how proud he is. Stow away? There’s no way.”

“Proud? He even took on infamy for the sake of the people and disappeared. A proud person can’t do that.”

The Association Head spoke as if he knew all about Rembrary’s past actions. Shin Jo-woon only smiled silently.

“Even someone who can’t kill a single bug can pick up a knife to protect their family. Even if they are proud, they can suppress it if there is a greater purpose.”

The Association Head tilted his head.

“So, not stow away. How did he come?”

He couldn’t say that he followed the Grim Reaper. Shin Jo-woon wore a relaxed smile and blamed himself inwardly.

He regretted not calculating this situation, even though he knew that Rembrary had a personality that could bounce anywhere.

“I don’t know either.”

But Shin Jo-woon only had one thing to say in this situation anyway.

He could make up a lie with specific methods, but if he did, it would look like Shin Jo-woon brought Rembrary here.

The Association Head had been concerned about the problem of someone leaking information about the island to Black Lynn ever since he found out.

This incident also seems to be related to that, as he is trying to smooth it over at this level without telling me the details. It was better to pretend not to know and stay still than to get caught in the crossfire.

But the Association Head didn’t just let it go.

“The employee Blue attacked this time was a traitor who kept leaking our information to Black Lynn and trying to bring them here secretly. Black Lynn originated in Korea and mainly operates in Korea, right?”

“…….”

As Shin Jo-woon tried to pull his feet out, pretending not to know, the Association Head deliberately gave Shin Jo-woon information by force.

“Ah, you don’t have to frown like that, Mr. Shin. We know very well that your friend Rembrary has nothing to do with Black Lynn. Black Lynn is a group that appeared when Rembrary lost consciousness, and they are only doing things that harm Red Lynn and Rembrary.”

Shin Jo-woon thought to himself that the Association Head was good at lying without batting an eye.

If the Association Head trusted Rembrary 100%, he wouldn’t have brought up these words.

It was obvious that he was saying these things because he thought that he had nothing to do with Rembrary, but he still had doubts.

He could see the inside so clearly, but he was pretending not to know.

“I see.”

Even so, Shin Jo-woon only wore a socially adept smile, pretending not to know anything.

The Association Head and Shin Jo-woon simultaneously thought of each other as raccoons and snakes [sly and cunning individuals].

After staring at each other silently for about ten minutes, the Association Head finally opened his mouth first when he realized that Shin Jo-woon was going to keep his mouth shut and pretend not to know anything.

“I won’t make an issue of Rembrary coming here. I don’t know how he came, but I’ll turn a blind eye. Even if he’s not related to the murder case, I can make an issue of it, but I’ll let it go.”

“You’re letting it go because you like Rembrary’s abilities. Should I tell Rembrary that?”

The Association Head smiled with blue veins rising on his forehead.

“Ah, that would be great. I’m thinking of recruiting about five more High-End Hunters, and I’d be even more grateful if you could persuade them to join.”

“!”

Shin Jo-woon briefly raised his eyebrows and cast a suspicious gaze at the Association Head.

“Why are you trying to put Rembrary here?”

“If Black Lynn doesn’t have any ulterior motives, they won’t do anything more harmful to this side if Rembrary, whom they nominally ‘revere,’ becomes a High-End Hunter.”

“What if they have ulterior motives?”

“They’ll try to approach Rembrary. Wouldn’t it be easier to keep an eye on him if there’s a target?”

Shin Jo-woon laughed in disbelief at the Association Head’s words that he would use Rembrary like a big bait.

He would use him as bait, promote him as the world’s only healer, and receive treatment at any time. If Rembrary only came here, the Association Head would have many ways to exploit him.