Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 717

717. A Mind That Changes Every 5 Seconds

How could there be no Seal Orb?

Rembrary stared at the spot where he had placed the Seal Orb, waving his hand around it for no reason. But as expected, the Seal Orb was not there.

Rembrary looked at Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri and asked,

“I definitely put it here, right?”

Shin Jo-woon nodded, and Jang Tae-ri approached Rembrary and waved his hand around as well.

But it seemed there was nothing there even for Jang Tae-ri, who was in soul form.

“Where did it go?”

Changing direction, Rembrary began to examine the area around the Seal Orb.

The energy here seemed to only attack living things, but he was checking just in case.

The Seal Orb might have been swept away or rolled away by the cold, sharp energy.

However, no matter how much he looked around, he still couldn’t see the Seal Orb.

“…….”

As he couldn’t find the Seal Orb no matter how hard he searched, Rembrary looked at the sealed Demon King’s soul with suspicious eyes.

However, the soul was surrounded by a black membrane, and its appearance was no different from before.

Rembrary pointed at the orb and asked Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri,

“Am I the only one who finds that suspicious?”

Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri earnestly voiced their opinions, but their voices were swept away by the sharp energy again and did not reach Rembrary’s ears.

Forced to make a decision alone, Rembrary pondered for a moment before reaching out towards the sealed Demon King.

“!”

Seeing this, Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon were surprised and tried to stop him, but Rembrary didn’t stop his hand. Just before Rembrary’s hand touched the Demon King’s soul.

“I recommend you stop.”

An unexpected voice was heard, stopping Rembrary.

Rembrary didn’t lower his hand but only stopped it, turning his eyes towards the direction of the voice. Noir was standing there.

“You were here?”

Rembrary asked in surprise. He knew that the Demon King had sent out all his close aides just before the sealing. To suddenly see Noir?

“Weren’t you gone?”

“I came back. I couldn’t leave Aquari alone.”

“!”

Rembrary was surprised for a moment, then discovered the Seal Orb in Noir’s hand.

“You took it.”

“Yeah.”

Rembrary held out his hand.

“Give it to me.”

However, instead of returning it, Noir smiled, lifted the Seal Orb, and asked while tossing and catching it precariously.

“This?”

Seeing that he didn’t want to return it easily, Rembrary frowned and asked.

“Why did you take it?”

Noir shrugged and didn’t answer. Rembrary frowned and asked again.

“Warion said he doesn’t want an explosion to happen here.”

“Not everyone has the same opinion.”

At Noir’s meaningful words, Rembrary wondered if he could forcefully take the Seal Orb from him.

However, it was difficult to freely use power here. On the other hand, Noir didn’t seem to be greatly affected by the flow of sharp energy.

“You want to take this?”

Noir smiled as if he could see through Rembrary’s thoughts, then pretended to hug the Seal Orb tightly.

“What are you doing?”

“I don’t want to give it to you since you want to take it.”

“Then do you want the Demon King to fly to another dimension as he is?”

“The odds are fifty-fifty. If he’s lucky, he’ll go back to his original world. Then he won’t have to be sealed for a long time. Isn’t that right, High Priest?”

“If he’s unlucky, we might never see him again.”

“It’s not that we’ll never see him. It’s just that the probability of seeing him will be very low. Anyway, he’ll be living freely and well, even if it’s far away.”

Jang Tae-ri clenched his fist as if he was getting angry at Noir’s smirking appearance.

Shin Jo-woon also glared at Noir, but there was nothing he could do in his soul state.

However, Rembrary stared at Noir and realized that he was bluffing.

“You don’t seem sincere.”

The loyalty that the Demon King’s close aides had for the Demon King was genuine.

In the first place, the Demon King’s close aides were those who had followed Aquari, abandoning their brilliant glory and even going to the Demon Realm.

There was no way he could laugh like that when he might not be able to see the Demon King again.

At Rembrary’s words, Noir flinched for a moment, then soon chuckled and said, holding the Seal Orb in one hand again.

“You know me well, High Priest. That’s why it’s even more annoying.”

“What do you want?”

“…….”

Noir didn’t answer right away. He just kept tossing and catching the Seal Orb precariously, looking at Rembrary with a strange expression.

Then Noir threw something towards Rembrary. It was a mirror.

Wondering why he was giving him this, Rembrary held up the mirror and looked at Noir, who raised only one corner of his mouth and muttered.

“The medicine definitely worked well. Why didn’t you come to Aquari-nim [addressing the Demon King with respect].”

“The medicine worked well?”

“Tear marks.”

“You gave me a mirror to see my face?”

Rembrary threw the mirror back at Noir, but the mirror disappeared in mid-air.

A standoff continued for a while. After what felt like about five minutes, Noir finally opened his mouth.

“If you put two layers of seals, it will take even longer for Aquari-nim to wake up.”

“…….”

“I don’t want an explosion either. But I can’t stand seeing Aquari-nim sealed for so long that he has to break through two layers of seals.”

Rembrary frowned.

“Then what do you want me to do?”

“Release the Demon King.”

Noir said it indirectly, but in the end, the conclusion was the same as Warion’s.

As soon as Noir finished speaking, Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon sent signals to Rembrary from both sides.

He still couldn’t hear them, but it seemed they were saying no.

Noir watched the scene, shrugged, and smiled.

“You can refuse, High Priest. If you grant my request, we will get what we want, but if you refuse, we will get what we don’t want. Either way is fair. Isn’t it?”

“!”

Rembrary stared intently at the sealed soul of Aquari, standing at a crossroads of difficult choices.

If he released the Demon King, as Noir said, they could prevent the explosion and the Demon King could find freedom, which would be good for both sides.

The problem was that he couldn’t trust them. No one knew what the released Demon King and his demons would do.

‘Just because I have a past with them doesn’t mean I can blindly trust them… The damage they’ve caused is already too great.’

The Aquari he saw in the past was someone he could trust. But the current Demon King was not the Aquari who had saved the young Rembrary.

The current Demon King was the Demon King who had completely changed after Rembrary chose Redrin and came out of the Demon Realm.

He had to see him as a different character from the Aquari in his memories.

In fact, Aquari had harmed many people, made people slaves to demons, and drove the High Priest of Lumenas, who didn’t even have a clear grudge against him, to his death. And yet, can I trust him?

“Think carefully, High Priest.”

While Rembrary was lost in thought, Noir urged him in a sweet voice.

Rembrary looked at Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon this time.

If Rembrary didn’t make a deal with Noir, Noir wouldn’t give him the Seal Orb.

An explosion would eventually occur where the Demon King was sealed, and even if Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri survived, they would have to live in a ruined world.

‘Ah.’

Then Rembrary had a good idea.

‘First, I should rescue Tae-ri and Myeolchi [a nickname], take them outside, and then ask Gamjae to bring me another Seal Orb, right? Surely they’re not Seal Orbs that can only be made for one-time use.’

Sagamjae definitely didn’t say that he could only make the Seal Orb once. Rembrary took out his cell phone just in case.

“What? What are you doing?”

Noir asked in surprise when he saw it, but Rembrary quickly called Sagamjae.

However, Sagamjae didn’t answer the phone, probably because the signal didn’t work inside.

‘What if I go out and ask and come back? …No. Noir might completely get rid of Myeolchi and Tae-ri’s bodies while I’m away. If the bodies disappear, I can’t revive them.’

Then Rembrary had another good idea and opened his mouth.

“I need time to think.”

“Time?”

Noir raised one eyebrow.

“What time?”

“Isn’t this an important decision?”

“…….”

“I can’t think properly because of these two right now. So I’ll take them outside and then think about it.”

Noir narrowed his eyes and stared at Rembrary before asking.

“What are you plotting?”

“Plotting?”

However, Noir was very sharp.

“You’re thinking of taking these two outside and then getting another Seal Orb, right?”

“!”

Rembrary, who had been completely found out, still denied it firmly.

“No, I’m not.”

However, Noir seemed to be already convinced and drew a firm line.

“Decide now. I’ll give you as much time as you want to think inside here.”

“What if I just leave? What can you do to catch me?”

“I can’t catch you. But I can catch the corpses you’re trying to take.”

Rembrary, who was in a difficult situation, repeatedly called out to Redrin in his mind.

‘Redrin-nim [term of respect]. It’s a big problem. Redrin-nim’s Rembrary is in a very difficult situation right now. I don’t know whether to save my friends and leave the world to chance, or to give up my friends and save the world for sure.’

If it was his own life, he would have sacrificed it for sure. But the lives of Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri were at stake.

Rembrary really wanted to save them.

Then Rembrary noticed Noir making a strange expression.

When their eyes met, Noir muttered softly, almost inaudibly.

It sounded like it started with ‘Why are you to them,’ but it became increasingly blurred and the rest of the words were not heard.

It was then. A creepy sound like a giant seesaw breaking and tilting was heard.

Rembrary looked around and saw Noir.

“What did you do?”

However, Noir was also looking around. It didn’t seem like he had done it.

“What is this?”

When a surprised Rembrary asked again, Noir shook his head, then looked troubled.

“It seems like it’s about to explode.”

“Already?”

Rembrary was very surprised because he thought it would last for several months, even though there was no basis for it.

But when he thought about it, the energy flowing around the place where the Demon King was sealed was getting noticeably stronger every day.

Considering the recent speed, which seemed to be accelerating, it wasn’t strange that this suddenly happened now.

“Quickly hand over the Seal Orb! Hurry!”

Rembrary became urgent and shouted at Noir.

“You’ll be in danger if it explodes here! Don’t you want to see Aquari-nim for the rest of your life?”

“…….”

“Demons are good at killing time anyway!”

At Rembrary’s harsh words, Noir hesitated while holding the Seal Orb.

But in the end, he threw the Seal Orb to Rembrary, and Rembrary put down Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri, whom he was holding, and hurriedly caught the Seal Orb.

Then, he bent down, placed the Seal Orb on his knees, stretched out both hands, placed them on Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon’s heads, and sent divine power.

As the defense broke down while sending divine power, sharp energy attacked his body from all directions, but Rembrary didn’t stop healing.

Then Rembrary heard a loud noise like someone was banging wildly on glass around him and raised his head.

Noir was standing in front of Rembrary with an annoyed expression, and a round glass barrier was set up centered on him and Rembrary.

“Noir…….”

“Hurry up because your mind is changing every 5 seconds!”

“!”