Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 896

896. Rembrary’s Invitation (16)

“Erit? No, I’ve never heard of them. Why do you ask?”

The chief priest, unsure whether Rembrary’s interest in this ordinary priest named Erit was for good or ill, asked cautiously.

“I’m looking for that priest, so please pass this message along.”

Rembrary instructed, revealing nothing about his intentions.

“Understood.”

That was enough for the chief priest to cease questioning and agree.

Watching the exchange, Jang Tae-ri was bewildered. The chief priest had stated he didn’t know Erit. Yet, Rembrary instructed him to deliver a message to this unknown priest, and the chief priest immediately complied. ‘Isn’t that strange?’ It defied Jang Tae-ri’s common sense.

As they were shown to their room for the night, Jang Tae-ri cautiously broached the subject with Rembrary.

“It seems like no one here at the temple knows who Erit is. Is it even worth asking them to find him?”

Rembrary answered without the slightest hesitation.

“I told them to find him. They’ll find him on their own.”

Jang Tae-ri couldn’t help but admire him once again since arriving in this other world.

‘That confidence!’ She and Shin Jo-woon wielded considerable influence back on Earth, but they couldn’t make such pronouncements.

“Living like that, it must have been frustrating to suddenly become an idol…”

Jang Tae-ri was genuinely impressed.

* * *

The next day, Rembrary woke up feeling exceptionally cheerful. He often felt good upon waking.

But today, his awakening was particularly joyful.

It was likely because his friends, who had risked their lives to cross dimensions for him, were sleeping in the Redrin Temple, which he considered his home base, wearing priest’s pajamas.

Yesterday afternoon, Rembrary had deliberately summoned the chief priest and instructed him, as he desperately wanted Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri to wear the priest’s pajamas.

“Remove the Redrin emblem from those pajamas.”

“Pardon me?!”

The chief priest was taken aback, but when Rembrary explained his grand plan, he was deeply impressed and promised to comply.

Before leaving, he hesitated for a moment and asked, “But wouldn’t pajamas without the Redrin emblem just be… ordinary pajamas?”

But this was an unnecessary question.

“What are you talking about? You and I both know those pajamas are temple pajamas, so of course they’re our temple pajamas!”

Rembrary cleverly pointed out, and the chief priest was once again deeply impressed. He personally went to the alteration room, and by evening, Rembrary was able to present the temple pajamas to his two Earth friends.

When they all gathered in the dining hall for breakfast, Rembrary had to exert considerable effort to suppress his laughter.

If he laughed too much, the sharp-eyed Shin Jo-woon would definitely notice something amiss and demand an explanation.

Fortunately, it became easier to maintain his composure once the food arrived.

“It’s bland.”

The food from this temple tasted similar to the bread from the temple where Rembrary had briefly stayed as a novice priest.

“Huh? It’s okay, though?”

The kind Jang Tae-ri offered a white lie, but the truthful Shin Jo-woon agreed with Rembrary.

“It’s not good. The food at the Kamuel Temple seems to be better than at the Redrin Temple.”

Jang Tae-ri nudged Shin Jo-woon’s side with her elbow and shook her head, but it was no use trying to silence him after Rembrary had already heard everything.

“The main temple has delicious food.”

Rembrary quickly raised their expectations, worried that the two might not want to visit the main temple.

Remembering another excellent eatery in the Redrin Temple, he quickly added, “The Inquisitorial Office also has delicious food. Would you like to go there too?”

Jang Tae-ri seemed to have misunderstood and immediately refused.

“I don’t want to go there.”

“Are we heretics if we go there?”

On the other hand, Shin Jo-woon seemed somewhat intrigued.

“You’re heretics! Would you like to go? You can experience it!”

‘Experience it from whose perspective?’

“Would you like to go?”

However, Shin Jo-woon also shook his head when Rembrary excitedly asked. It was a shame, but Rembrary didn’t press the issue since their schedule was already tight.

“We have to go to the main temple and my house, so we don’t have time to go there.”

As Rembrary regaled them with stories about the Redrin Temple during the meal, Jang Tae-ri frowned and kept glancing at something.

Rembrary turned his head to follow Jang Tae-ri’s gaze. Beyond the archway, a group of ordinary priests were gathered, whispering among themselves.

“What’s wrong?”

There was nothing particularly strange about the scene, so Rembrary asked Jang Tae-ri for the reason. Jang Tae-ri hesitated and answered almost without moving her lips.

“It seems like those people are avoiding you, Rembrary.”

“Why do you think so?”

“There’s plenty of room, but they’re not coming in and keep glancing at you. And their expressions aren’t very good.”

Rembrary listened to Jang Tae-ri and carefully examined the gathered priests. Sure enough, upon closer inspection, he could see that their gazes were divided.

About half of them seemed unable to approach because they were intimidated by Rembrary, but the other half had expressions that weren’t very pleasant.

“It’s probably because Woo Yeon-woo used to work as a minion for the demons. But they can’t express their dissatisfaction as openly as the Kamuel priests, so you don’t have to worry.”

Rembrary thought Jang Tae-ri was worried about an attack, so he reassured her.

“I’m not worried about that…”

Jang Tae-ri trailed off. She was worried that Rembrary would be upset.

She already suspected that the Redrin priests wouldn’t be able to do much even if they were dissatisfied with Rembrary.

‘Wasn’t it only after leaving the Redrin territory that the coachman who tried to attack Rembrary revealed his true colors?’

“It’s nothing.”

Instead of bringing up such incidents, Jang Tae-ri pretended not to notice and picked up her spoon. However, her mind was racing.

‘Since we’re here, wouldn’t it be possible to help Rembrary’s image?’

As she pondered, Jang Tae-ri’s gaze naturally turned to Shin Jo-woon. Soon, she had an idea and smiled.

‘He’s really good at image management, isn’t he?’

* * *

“Shin Jo-woon, are you busy?”

After the meal, when everyone dispersed to take a break, Jang Tae-ri followed Shin Jo-woon into his room and asked.

Shin Jo-woon was about to close the door, but when Jang Tae-ri’s forehead appeared, he pretended to be annoyed and asked.

“Are you here to nag again?”

“No. I have something to ask you.”

Jang Tae-ri pushed Shin Jo-woon’s back and closed the door. Shin Jo-woon was inadvertently pushed to the center of the room.

“What is it?”

“Rembrary’s image isn’t very good right now because of something he didn’t even do. There’s a god who favors Rembrary, so it seems like it won’t drop below a certain level… but still.”

Jang Tae-ri thought it was unexpected that Shin Jo-woon brought up a story about Rembrary.

He clearly expected Jang Tae-ri to come and nag him again about the enemy.

He didn’t mind as long as he wasn’t the one being nagged, so Shin Jo-woon gestured for her to continue. Jang Tae-ri sighed.

“It’s too unfair, isn’t it?”

“He doesn’t seem to think much of it.”

“Still, if you were to say good or bad, it would be bad, right? So, Jo-woon, how about we help Rembrary with his image management? Do you have any good ideas? It’s your specialty.”

Shin Jo-woon’s eyebrows twitched at Jang Tae-ri’s bright suggestion.

“Since when has image management become my specialty?”

“People think you have a very good personality.”

“……”

“Besides, you’re the president of an entertainment agency. I think you’d be good at image making.”

Shin Jo-woon stared blankly at Jang Tae-ri and shook his head.

“Managing the image of an entertainer is completely different from managing the image of a religious leader. Besides, this isn’t even our country, let alone our world. We don’t know the values or common sense of this world, so we might do more harm than good if we try to help. A month is too short to learn the values here and then help.”

Jang Tae-ri’s expression clouded as Shin Jo-woon listed his reasons. Shin Jo-woon hesitated and added the last point.

“Above all, it’s useless if Rembrary himself doesn’t want to clear up the misunderstanding.”

Jang Tae-ri wanted to argue. But all three of Shin Jo-woon’s points were correct. In the end, Jang Tae-ri had to leave without any results.

But just in case, Jang Tae-ri decided to look into the common sense and values of this world, even if only roughly.

* * *

“Rembrary, would it be okay to stay here for another day and look around the nearby village?”

Jang Tae-ri, who had formulated a plan, went to Rembrary and suggested.

“You said you had to go back within a month, right? Is it okay with your time?”

Rembrary, who was dividing snacks to eat in the carriage, asked, bewildered. Jang Tae-ri hadn’t mentioned anything like this during the meal.

“The atmosphere will be completely different in a village close to the main temple and a village far away, right?”

Jang Tae-ri quickly offered a pre-made excuse. Of course, it wasn’t a complete lie either.

The closer a village is to the main temple, the more religious the atmosphere will be, right?

Jang Tae-ri wanted to grasp the values here through the most realistic and secular atmosphere of a place far removed from such an atmosphere.

“Okay, then.”

The one-month time constraint wasn’t on Rembrary, so he readily accepted the suggestion. Rembrary was rather happy if his friends stayed and played longer.

Rembrary had the novice priests run errands to inform Shin Jo-woon and Ardor about the changed schedule.

An hour later, Rembrary gathered with his group and they set out to explore the nearby village.

At Jang Tae-ri’s request, they deliberately didn’t take the temple carriage, and since none of the four were dressed in priest’s robes, no one paid attention to the carriage as they entered the village.

“Where’s the most bustling place? A place where a lot of people gather.”

As the carriage entered the village and paused, Jang Tae-ri stated her pre-planned request.

Shin Jo-woon noticed that Jang Tae-ri still had the request she had made to him in mind. But he only frowned and didn’t object.

After pondering, Rembrary directed the group to the market, which was said to be the most vibrant in the village.

“It’s probably here.”

When Jang Tae-ri looked out the carriage window, she saw that there were indeed so many people gathered that they could easily get separated from the group if they weren’t careful.

“Is it okay to look around there? I want to see people.”

Jang Tae-ri made a plausible excuse, and Rembrary had the coachman stop the carriage. Jang Tae-ri confidently stepped out of the carriage.

‘People living is all the same, right? How different can common sense be?’

Jang Tae-ri thought positively and looked around at the people walking busily. Shin Jo-woon, Ardor, and Rembrary also got out of the carriage.

“Shall we go get something to eat?”

Rembrary was convinced that Jang Tae-ri wanted to sample market food, so he asked.

If they went to a restaurant, they could overhear people talking. It would be easier to understand the atmosphere if they heard the conversations people usually have.

Jang Tae-ri considered this and readily agreed.

“Where is the restaurant?”

When Rembrary asked, Ardor pointed somewhere, and the group walked in that direction.

But after only a few steps, Jang Tae-ri was shocked and had to stop abruptly.

‘What on earth is that?’

A group of people were moving together, their necks tied together like dried fish. Jang Tae-ri was flustered and looked at Rembrary.