Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 880

◈ 880. Shin Jo-woon’s Side Story (5)

Shin Jo-woon brought Joo Tae-yeol back into the house.

Joo Tae-yeol trembled, returning to the basement he had escaped from. *What is that bastard planning to do to me?*

*Having escaped and been dragged back, he’ll surely treat me even worse.* Fear washed over him.

Joo Tae-yeol looked around for something he could use as a weapon. But the moment he realized there wasn’t a suitable weapon, Joo Tae-yeol changed his approach.

“H, hey. You.”

He pleaded with the culprit, who was busily pacing back and forth above the stairs.

“Spare me. Please.”

“What did you say?”

Shin Jo-woon lowered the tablet he was holding, which had been covering most of his face.

As the tablet lowered, it covered his nose and mouth like a mask, revealing only his chilling eyes.

“Spare me.”

Joo Tae-yeol clung to the wall, staring at him desperately.

Shin Jo-woon turned off the tablet and raised his eyebrows.

Joo Tae-yeol cowered even more, fearing that the psycho would hit him with the tablet this time, and pleaded.

“Spare me. I, I have nothing to offer the world if I die. There’s no reason for me to die.”

At those words, Shin Jo-woon tilted his head and let out a short “Ah.” He hadn’t immediately understood, but then his expression changed to one of belated understanding.

“I see.”

The culprit muttered as if agreeing, but Joo Tae-yeol couldn’t relax.

He had worn a similar expression of understanding when talking about why he killed the Saint.

Still, holding onto a glimmer of hope, he waited, and the culprit walked towards the stairs with the tablet, asking.

“That plea.”

“Y-yes.”

“Is it effective?”

“Huh?”

“You must have heard it a lot.”

“!”

“Was it effective?”

Joo Tae-yeol couldn’t answer Shin Jo-woon’s question.

“I guess not.”

Shin Jo-woon smiled as if he knew the answer and went up the stairs.

The door slammed shut, echoing throughout the basement, and Joo Tae-yeol curled up even tighter.

The stories he had heard upon entering Nakru, the stories he had believed to be his calling, suddenly felt heavy and frightening.

* * *

At the appointed time, Dong Gu-jong went to the meeting place. He applied a special liquid made by Nakru all over his body to prevent the demons from recognizing him, then hid under a large desk, holding a wooden board like a shield.

It seemed like a clumsy hiding spot, but it was night, and the space had no lighting whatsoever. This alone was enough to conceal himself.

In fact, several other Nakru members from Team C were hiding in various places, but even Dong Gu-jong, who knew their locations, couldn’t see them at all.

*The culprit who took Joo Tae-yeol will come soon, be attacked by the demons, and then collapse.* Dong Gu-jong’s palms were sweaty, and he rubbed them frantically against his shirt.

He had come making a big fuss about how easy the mission would be, but strangely, he kept getting nervous.

How long had he been waiting? Finally, he heard the sound of a car outside the building. The car sound grew closer and stopped near the yard.

The car’s headlights briefly swept through the dark interior of the building, creating shadows that appeared and disappeared.

Among them were shadows that were not human.

Dong Gu-jong swallowed and took out his weapon, gripping it tightly in his hand.

—Thump

The sound of a car door closing was heard. *How many people came?* Dong Gu-jong peeked between the desk panel and the wooden board.

—Creak

The rusty hinges of the door opened with a chilling sound, and a human shadow was revealed through the slanted moonlight.

Dong Gu-jong swallowed. From his angle, he could only see up to the other person’s knees.

As the person entered, the sound of shoe heels hitting the floor echoed.

Dong Gu-jong swallowed again, then gasped, startled by the sound of the door closing. He hurriedly covered his mouth and coughed silently.

Once the sensation of tears welling up subsided, Dong Gu-jong peeked out again.

Dong Gu-jong shook his head in disbelief at the sight before him.

Contrary to expectations, only one person had come. Just one person.

The culprit was crazy. To come alone, of all things.

Dong Gu-jong couldn’t understand. How could he come alone, knowing how many people were on this side?

*Joo Tae-yeol said the culprit was the Saint’s family. Is that why he’s so blinded right now? Is that why he came alone?*

*Or is it that, being the Saint’s family, his standards of thinking are different from ordinary people?*

Dong Gu-jong felt displeasure rather than joy. If several people had come and caused a ruckus, he wouldn’t have felt so uneasy after subduing them.

The Saint’s family coming alone to take revenge made him feel like he was truly the bad guy.

Dong Gu-jong was so caught up in these thoughts that he realized belatedly. *What’s wrong? Why is it so quiet?*

He looked around. Surely the demons would have attacked that crazy bastard in all sorts of ways? That crazy culprit should be panicking and trying to run away, right? Shouldn’t there be quite a commotion?

But the surroundings were silent. Moreover, the culprit wasn’t moving at all.

No, he wasn’t standing still. He was gone.

‘Where did he go? He was just there a moment ago?’

Dong Gu-jong looked around, then felt a chill and turned around abruptly.

At that moment, something struck his head.

* * *

After briefly confirming the fallen Nakru’s movements, Shin Jo-woon counted the number of people by pointing to each spot where he sensed their presence.

Of course, it wasn’t 100% certain. There might be someone who didn’t react even after seeing him come alone.

But even that person wouldn’t be able to hide here all night. Shin Jo-woon dragged a broken chair and placed it in front of the door, then sat down.

If he did this, the second reason he came alone would soon be realized.

‘Here they come.’

As expected.

After waiting for about 30 minutes, the Nakru, unable to endure any longer, began to approach him.

Those who were scattered and hidden in the dark, unaware that their comrades were being attacked, had finally run out of patience now that Shin Jo-woon was sitting alone in a clearly visible spot.

If he wasn’t alone, they would have acted cautiously, but having confirmed that he was alone, it was now their turn to be careless.

“One, two, three.”

Shin Jo-woon, having counted the remaining enemies, stood up and picked up the chair he had been sitting on.

* * *

When the last strike ended, there were no more moving people.

Something that didn’t look human was prowling around the fallen, cautiously poking them.

Shin Jo-woon checked his watch.

It would be best to take all the fallen Nakru and interrogate them, but it was difficult to take them all.

Shin Jo-woon pondered whether it would be better to pick one or two of these people and take them home, or just catch them one by one here and ask about ‘the culprit who killed that child.’

At that moment, he heard the sound of broken glass being stepped on from behind.

Turning his gaze, he saw that the window was half open. One of the Nakru, who had been hiding without a sound, must have secretly run away that way.

Shin Jo-woon frowned and walked towards the window.

Provoking the three Nakru who came to the graduation ceremony, or revealing his face while helping Joo Tae-yeol escape once, was his intention.

But the escape of someone now was not something he had intended.

Shin Jo-woon approached the window with the intention of catching the person who had run away. But before he crossed the window, there was a loud sound of a car crashing into something.

‘What’s that sound?’

Shin Jo-woon went outside through the window. Going to the yard, he saw a car, which hadn’t been there before, stopped with its front end crashed into one side of the wall.

Next to it, one of the Nakru, presumed to have escaped through the window, was rolling sideways, making painful noises.

*What’s going on?* As Shin Jo-woon frowned, the driver’s side door of the car opened and the butler got out.

“Oh dear. It’s dented.”

The butler clicked his tongue, looking at the front of the car, then made eye contact with Shin Jo-woon and said in an awkward voice.

“You should come in for dinner. You’ve been out for too long.”

The butler didn’t look surprised at all, even after hitting a person. Shin Jo-woon realized that the butler had done it on purpose for him.

“…Tell them I’ll eat with my friends and go.”

Instead of asking for more details, Shin Jo-woon asked the butler.

“I will.”

The butler answered nonchalantly and got back into the driver’s seat. The car reversed smoothly and headed towards the fence.

Before the car completely left the area, the tinted window was lowered halfway. As Shin Jo-woon approached, the butler said in a low voice.

“I didn’t see anything, young master.”

* * *

Shin Jo-woon took the Nakru that the butler had caught and went back into the trap they had created.

Although the sky was still pitch black, the smell of dawn was gradually spreading, Shin Jo-woon found out the name of the culprit he was looking for. And where that culprit was now.

But even though he found out the information, he frowned. He couldn’t just be happy. The culprit’s location was somewhere he hadn’t expected at all.

‘An entertainer.’

After finishing the cleanup, Shin Jo-woon returned to his rented house and took a bath, recalling one by one the words the Nakru had spat out.

According to what the C Team Nakru commonly claimed, that person was definitely not from C Team, and due to a previous injury, he was not active in the field now.

Instead, he had become an entertainer and was providing information and assistance on that side.

The C Team Nakru said that they were not even on the same team, and they rarely had any contact with someone who was not a field agent, so they knew almost nothing about that person, and other teams would be the same.

‘An entertainer.’

After finishing his bath, Shin Jo-woon finally returned to the house where his parents lived.

The butler opened the door casually and asked.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m fine. You were a great help today. Thank you.”

“Just don’t do anything too dangerous.”

“I won’t.”

* * *

For the next few days, Shin Jo-woon looked into that entertainer separately.

However, whether it was because he had only gone there looking for connections and information, or because something else had happened, that Nakru entertainer’s period of activity was very short.

Even after that, there was no publicly known information.

When Shin Jo-woon couldn’t gather much information, he asked his parents during dinner.

“Do you happen to have any connections in the entertainment industry?”

“No.”

“Is there any chance that will happen in the future?”

“No.”

Unable to get any help from his parents, Shin Jo-woon met Jang Tae-ri the next day and asked her during dinner.

“You like celebrities, right? Can you look up information on actors who aren’t active?”

“I like idols.”

“I know. Celebrities.”

“Are they an actor who came from an idol background?”

“I don’t know.”

At Shin Jo-woon’s question, Jang Tae-ri’s expression subtly changed.

“Who are you trying to find?”

Shin Jo-woon said the culprit’s name, but after searching a few times, Jang Tae-ri immediately replied.

“I don’t know who that is. There’s not much information either. It’s been over 5 years since they were active.”

As Shin Jo-woon frowned, Jang Tae-ri put down her phone and looked at him intently, asking.

“But why are you asking about that? You’re not interested in celebrities, are you?”

“…I am now.”

“Oh, really? Why? Are you going to become a celebrity?”

“No.”

Shin Jo-woon smiled and turned his gaze to the TV that was largely attached to the wall of the store.

“I’m going to start an entertainment company.”