Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 80

< 80. Can I Go Back? >

“Wait a minute, you’re saying I’m being arrested on the spot? Gamjae, what are you talking about?”

Rembrary asked Sagamjae, flustered.

Sagamjae calmly replied, handcuffing Rembrary.

“It’s exactly as I said.”

“Could it be you misunderstood that I pushed Senior Im Yu-han? No, I-”

“I know you saved him.”

“You know? Then why am I being arrested on the spot? What about him?”

Rembrary pointed his chin towards the curtain, and the cow-headed creature hiding behind it hurriedly ran out the window.

“That’s a separate department’s responsibility. And if that one gets caught, they’ll be killed without arrest or anything. I’ll explain the details upstairs.”

Rembrary stared at Sagamjae with his mouth open, then sighed and submitted as Sagamjae snapped the handcuffs on his wrists.

Instantly, the grim reapers around him tensed up and became wary of Rembrary. All sorts of weapons popped out from who knows where.

Sagamjae looked down at the handcuffs that had been cut off as easily as a child cutting clay, clicked his tongue, and asked.

“Are you refusing to comply?”

Rembrary kicked the fallen handcuffs away and asked.

“What will I be doing if I go with you? I can’t go if it’s to prison. I get claustrophobic in narrow, desolate places.”

“Most people usually do. And there’s a high probability you won’t go to prison.”

“Then what? What will I do?”

“You’ll meet Lord Yeomra [the King of the Underworld in Korean mythology].”

“Who’s that?”

“A god.”

At Sagamjae’s words, Rembrary quickly picked up the handcuffs again, holding one side each, and urged.

“Let’s go quickly.”

***

‘Where will they take me?’ Rembrary wondered with great anticipation.

As a great high priest, he often talked with gods and exchanged gifts, but even Rembrary had rarely seen a god in their true form.

But a god from another world!

‘Could he finally find a way to return to his original world?’ Rembrary was very excited.

“He’s going to the underworld, but he’s too happy about it?”

“I told you, he’s a strange human.”

He didn’t care whether the people in black suits next to him were whispering or not.

“Let’s go quickly. Gamjae, I’m in a hurry. Let’s go quickly.”

Sagamjae sighed and took off his suit jacket, covering Rembrary’s head with it.

“What are you doing?”

Rembrary frowned and removed the jacket, genuinely surprised.

The moment he removed the jacket, he felt something swirling around him. Before he knew it, the surroundings had turned into a hazy fog.

“Where is this?”

As he asked the question and looked around, he saw things with indefinable shapes staggering through the fog.

“It’s a riverbank.”

“A riverbank?”

“Humans call it by various names, but we just call it the River.”

The shape of the silhouette passing by closest to him became relatively clear. Rembrary almost let out a gasp without realizing it.

It looked like a human, but its entire body was densely covered with fingers, pointing haphazardly in all directions. Even each finger was whispering, “Here?” “There?” “Here?” “Here?”

As Rembrary stared blankly at the being, Sagamjae put the jacket back on his head and urged.

“Keep the jacket on.”

Then he started walking ahead.

‘You shouldn’t do what you’re told not to do in a place like this.’ Rembrary obediently put on the jacket and followed Sagamjae.

How long had they been walking like that? He thought he smelled burning, and then his ankles became wet. Looking down, he saw that his ankles were already submerged in flames.

“Water?”

Rembrary kicked the water a few times and then said forward.

“There’s water. Gamjae.”

Rembrary thought Sagamjae had taken the wrong path. But he hadn’t. Sagamjae and his colleagues were walking on, stepping through the water.

‘Should I walk like this too?’ Rembrary clicked his tongue but simply followed along, stepping through the fire.

But as he followed, he felt something was strange. Not only Sagamjae and his black-suited colleagues, but even the ferrymen sitting on the boats were staring at Rembrary with astonished faces.

“Why are you doing that?”

As Rembrary asked, bewildered, one of the black suits gasped as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have.

“How is he just walking through?”

“Should I have taken off my shoes?”

As Rembrary asked back, not understanding, the black suit’s expression became even stranger.

“On this river, every human becomes as heavy as the weight of their guilt. There’s no human who doesn’t feel guilt, and they should sink, but I thought you’d struggle a bit and ask for help.”

“I guess it’s because I’ve lived diligently.”

Sagamjae whispered in a small voice, “I told you he’s a strange human.”

The group started moving again and arrived at the opposite riverbank. On the opposite riverbank, there were many large trees with branches stretching out everywhere, and all kinds of clothes were hanging on those branches, fluttering in the wind.

Rembrary realized that the fog that had been gradually clearing had completely disappeared. After that, they entered a path that looked like an ordinary promenade and walked more comfortably, passing through a beautiful flower garden and entering a large black and white castle.

Sagamjae stopped only after going up to the second floor of the castle and said.

“Here it is.”

The central part of the second floor was open on one side without a wall, and a long red carpet was laid out with a fancy chair at the end of it.

And the person sitting in that chair, dressed loosely from head to toe in a bright red outfit, had a bored-to-death expression on their face.

With legs crossed, tapping their feet listlessly and flipping through the documents on the desk in a perfunctory manner, that person glanced up with a look of annoyance when Sagamjae’s group entered. It was a look that said, ‘I’m annoyed to death, who are you guys again?’

As that gaze reached Rembrary, a tiny bit of life returned to it.

Rembrary examined the red clothes and whispered to Sagamjae.

“Who is that wearing those gaudy clothes, Gamjae?”

The red person answered instead, standing up.

“I am the king. The saint of this world.”

***

‘How can a being called a god have so little presence…’ Rembrary glanced at the king in front of him with curiosity.

It seemed that the only striking thing about him was his clothes. His face was handsome if you looked closely, but it didn’t catch your eye at first glance.

‘More like air than a god?’

The god in his world was not like this. Especially the god he served was even more different. The god Redrin was a god even from afar, and a god even up close. His every word was full of presence, and his silence was full of dignity. ‘Isn’t that what a god should be?’

It might not be true, but Rembrary had lived believing that. That had become a prejudice. Because of that, he hadn’t recognized the ‘king’ god from before.

But Rembrary wasn’t the only one looking at the other strangely. The ‘king’ sitting across from him was also observing Rembrary closely, sighing inwardly several times.

When the report came from Sagamjae that a fake saint had appeared, the king didn’t think much of it. Even when he heard the report that the fake saint didn’t seem to be simply impersonating, he didn’t really think anything.

Only after hearing the report that a different energy from this world was felt from the fake saint did the king begin to take a slight interest in it.

Rembrary didn’t know, but in fact, not long ago, the gods of the underworld had gathered and made a bet on whether the saint of another world would be different or similar to the saint here.

The ‘king’ was on the side that predicted that the saint would be the same whether it was another world or here.

But the saint of another world that he actually saw…

“Gamjae. I want coffee, black. Make it strong.”

Was definitely different from this world.

The king sighed inwardly several times. ‘Weren’t saints supposed to be humble, modest, and kind, caring for the weak? Why is that saint from another world naturally ordering my subordinates around? Isn’t he afraid of the grim reapers?’

“Oh dear. Gamjae. Isn’t this too strong?”

‘And why is Sagamjae listening to all of that?’

The king tilted his head, looking back and forth between the two, and decided to take care of business first. Right. He didn’t call them here just to watch. He called them for a serious matter.

The king ordered the coffee that Rembrary was obsessed with to be moved aside and then opened his mouth.

“Drink the coffee later, saint of another world. Let’s talk about serious matters first. Do you know what you’ve done here?”

“I was wondering about that too. I saved someone and suddenly got arrested.”

“You disrupted the order.”

“I heard it vaguely, but I don’t understand what that ‘order’ is.”

“The order is the order of our world. The order of our world is to hide our power, and the detailed circumstances are not something for you, the saint of another world, to know. Because you are not the saint of this place.”

“Then why did you call me?”

“I don’t know why you came here, but go back to your original world.”

‘Did he call him to say that?’ Rembrary raised his eyebrows.

‘Go back. If that were possible, he wouldn’t be here like this. He was staying here reluctantly because it wasn’t possible.’

“I want to go back too.”

Rembrary sighed and explained his unfortunate circumstances.

The Demon King, the expedition to stop the Demon King, the sudden ejection, and waking up to find himself in the body of the idol ‘Woo Yeon-woo’.

“Moreover, I was so embarrassed to hear that this world has no magic or divine power.”

At Rembrary’s explanation, the king frowned.

“Then you can’t go back?”

Rembrary clasped his hands together and pleaded.

“If you send me back, I will go back.”

“What is your god doing?”

“He sends me divine power, but he doesn’t answer.”

“Is that so?”

‘Why is that?’ The king asked that and then stood up, saying confidently.

“Anyway, you said you’d go back if I sent you back, so I’ll contact him. If I get in touch, go back right away.”

“Of course.”

The king nodded and walked somewhere with one hand behind his back.

Rembrary naturally tried to follow, but Sagamjae stopped him, and he sat back down to drink his coffee.

But the king, who said he would be back soon, didn’t come back no matter how long they waited.

Rembrary drank two cups of coffee in a row and eventually got bored, so he called Sagamjae.

“Gamjae. What is your role here?”

“Grim reaper.”

“What is that?”

“Bringing the dead.”

“What are the dead?”

“Souls, dead souls.”

“Do you take care of the souls yourself? You? No, do the souls here need to be taken care of one by one?”

“Isn’t it like that in your world?”

“Oh my, of course not. Everyone crosses the bridge on their own as soon as they die.”

“Really.”

“Really. Do you know why?”

“?”

“My world has a very beautiful underworld. It’s really well decorated. But look here. You’ve made the underworld so scary that everyone is afraid and runs away. Look at the riverbank from before. Does it look inviting?”

‘So you guys should redecorate.’ Sagamjae stared blankly at Rembrary, who was giving absurd advice, and shook his head.

“It’s not within my authority.”

In the meantime, the king, who had gone somewhere, returned with a serious face.

“Did you get in touch?”

Rembrary quickly jumped up and asked. ‘Could he finally return to his original world?’ His heart was pounding with anticipation.

“I did try to contact him, but.”