Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 901

◈ 901. Rembrary’s Invitation (21)

Since arriving at the Great Temple, Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri had been living the dream they’d imagined since coming to this world.

Rembrary took Ninning and Mulu around, showing them the ins and outs of the Great Temple.

He also showed them what the Redrin priests’ daily life was like and gave them a glimpse into his work.

Jang Tae-ri was touched to see Rembrary, who had seemed so clumsy on Earth, working so skillfully here.

“The reason Mr. Rembrary seemed unable to work on Earth isn’t because he actually couldn’t.”

“Tae-ri? Is that what you thought?”

“I almost never thought that. Just occasionally. Very rarely.”

Shin Jo-woon watched Jang Tae-ri hastily try to smooth things over but didn’t voice his thought, ‘Didn’t that pig hardly ever take the initiative at work on Earth in the first place?’

When Rembrary was too busy to show them around, Shin Jo-woon would ask Mulu about how the people here fought monsters, and so on.

However, Mulu, as Rembrary’s closest chief guard knight, mainly focused on protecting Rembrary.

Instead, he called a few paladins whose main mission was to fight monsters, and Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri listened to their explanations about the otherworld’s combat methods.

When Mulu had to go somewhere else with Rembrary, Ninning guided Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri, but when even Ninning was too busy to be with them, Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri freely wandered around the Great Temple without a guide.

Rembrary even tried to assign Ardor to them, but Jang Tae-ri refused, abhorring the idea.

“You wandered around fine on your own at the lord’s castle when we first arrived, Mr. Rembrary. If we get lost, we can just ask people. It’s okay.”

“But the lord’s castle was small. This place is big.”

Jang Tae-ri burst out laughing at Rembrary’s treatment of the sufficiently large, spacious, and magnificent lord’s castle as a ‘small castle’.

It wasn’t so much that Rembrary’s words were funny, but that he found it amazing that he could now understand Rembrary’s perspective.

In the past, Jang Tae-ri hadn’t quite understood when Rembrary spoke like this.

But now that he knew where Rembrary’s standards were set, it was much easier to understand him.

“It’s really okay. Even if this place is big, the main building is so large that we can’t get lost.”

At first, Rembrary was worried about sending Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri off without someone to guide them.

But once he did it once, from the second time on, he let Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri wander around as they pleased without saying much.

After spending a few days like that, Rembrary suggested to Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon during breakfast.

“Now that you’ve seen enough of this place, would you like to go to my house?”

“By ‘my house,’ you mean the palace?”

At Shin Jo-woon’s question, Rembrary nodded quickly with an expectant expression.

“You’ll be surprised when you see it. The beds are better there, and the food is very delicious.”

“Wow. I’d love to go!”

Jang Tae-ri shouted excitedly. He had been to a few palaces for sightseeing on Earth before the Cataclysm [a large-scale disaster].

But a palace in another world! Jang Tae-ri counted the number of batteries he had left in his head. Would he be able to take lots of pictures of the palace?

“Just a moment.”

Jang Tae-ri quickly took out his phone.

Jang Tae-ri had been recording the planned schedule and changes in preparations on his phone, so he didn’t have to go back to his room to count the remaining batteries.

“Okay. I have enough batteries!”

However, as soon as he checked the calendar, Jang Tae-ri’s expression faltered.

“Why?”

Shin Jo-woon noticed and asked from the side.

“The date…….”

Jang Tae-ri muttered blankly.

“The date?”

Shin Jo-woon’s gaze turned to the phone Jang Tae-ri was holding. The calendar had many things marked in various colors.

Shin Jo-woon saw the mark that read ‘Must return by this date’ among the many words. And he saw the date marked as ‘Today.’

“Oh, dear.”

Shin Jo-woon immediately realized why Jang Tae-ri was surprised.

“What’s wrong?”

“The return date…… is not far away.”

Jang Tae-ri continued to mutter blankly before slamming his forehead on the table and collapsing.

“No way!”

Ardor laughed inwardly, ‘There’s no reason it can’t be!’ He had been eagerly waiting for Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon to return quickly, so he had been accurately checking the date.

Ardor had known for several days that Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon would have to leave without staying here long because the travel time had taken longer than expected.

“How much time do we have left? Don’t we have time to visit my house?”

Rembrary asked again, feeling disappointed.

“How long does it take to get to the palace from here?”

Shin Jo-woon asked, thinking of trying to be as flexible as possible. If it didn’t take several days, he wanted to visit for even a day or two.

He wanted to come again if he had the chance next time, but it was difficult for Jang Tae-ri and him to take a long time off at the same time.

“Um. Well, that is.”

Rembrary couldn’t answer right away and suddenly gave a gentle smile.

Jang Tae-ri flinched. Rembrary usually had a warm expression, but when he smiled so particularly benevolently, strangely enough, his subsequent words and actions were often not benevolent.

“A fortnight [two weeks]?”

As expected. Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri were silent at the ridiculous date Rembrary brought up. If it took a fortnight from the Great Temple, shouldn’t he not have suggested going to the palace together in the first place?

“We…… came with a month’s time, Mr. Rembrary.”

Jang Tae-ri muttered weakly after a long time.

Rembrary asked dissatisfiedly.

“Why did you come so close to the deadline?”

“Well, we thought that if we went through the passage, we’d be near the destination, or even if we weren’t near the destination, we wouldn’t be too far from it. You’re a Redrin high priest, Mr. Rembrary, so we couldn’t imagine the passage would appear in the far north continent.”

Jang Tae-ri suddenly felt carsick at the thought of having to travel by carriage again for a long time to return.

When he first came here, he was so excited that even the fatigue was enjoyable, and afterwards, he was too worried to be bored by riding in the carriage for so long.

But was it because his body had become more comfortable? The thought of traveling that long distance by carriage again made him feel stuffy belatedly.

“Next time, we must bring the Lion.”

Rembrary put down his fork, feeling disappointed.

“If I had known this would happen, I shouldn’t have stopped at other temples in between to rest.”

Jang Tae-ri felt sorry for no reason, even though it wasn’t his fault.

* * *

The time to play passed quickly, and eventually, the day to leave again arrived.

“Are you already leaving? How many days has it been since you arrived?”

When the story came up during the meal, the highest priest asked in surprise.

“It seems it will take a long time to get there.”

Jang Tae-ri answered weakly.

“We miscalculated. We should have taken three months of vacation to come.”

At Shin Jo-woon’s words, the highest priest recalled Rembrary’s explanation that Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon were quite busy people in the other world.

“I see. That’s too bad.”

The highest priest lamented sincerely. Just in case, he had also sent a messenger bird to Lydal, and as far as he knew, Rembrary had also sent a messenger bird to the Libulen Imperial Family.

But Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon had to leave before a reply even came.

He had been a little worried because they came from another world, but the highest priest felt very sorry because Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon had not caused any problems and had quietly enjoyed the sights.

After finishing the meal, Jang Tae-ri confided his regret to Shin Jo-woon as they walked down the hallway.

“Since we’re coming to the other world to play, I wanted to see a lot of things, have amazing experiences, and do something helpful here or on Earth, but I guess a month isn’t enough. I wanted to help restore Mr. Rembrary’s image, but I can’t even do that.”

“You wouldn’t be able to do everything you’re talking about even with three months.”

On the last day of staying at the Great Temple, Jang Tae-ri couldn’t sleep because he was so disappointed.

Since he had already packed his luggage during the day, he eventually took his phone and went out of the room.

As he walked to the large flower garden, much clearer air and richer floral scents than on Earth spread from all directions.

Jang Tae-ri sat on the flower bed and tried to capture every detail of the scenery in his eyes.

‘No, no. Let’s take it all on my phone. Since the way back is the same way we came, there’s no need to take more pictures. Let’s take a lot of pictures here.’

Jang Tae-ri took out his phone and put the flower garden full of unknown flowers, the fountain with water soaring high, the deep navy blue sky and beautiful lights, and the Great Temple looking like an ancient building all into his phone photos.

‘But didn’t Mr. Rembrary also have a phone? Is he unable to use it now because the battery is dead? Well. Even if the phone works, he can only use it to take pictures or keep records like me.’

Jang Tae-ri walked around and took pictures until the battery ran out.

Later, Jang Tae-ri became so tired that he couldn’t even distinguish what he was taking pictures of.

‘I can check what pictures I took later while riding in the carriage. Let’s organize the badly taken pictures then. There’s nothing else to do in the carriage anyway.’

Jang Tae-ri put his phone in his pocket, yawned, and returned to his room.

* * *

The next morning, Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon, who had their last meal together at the restaurant, exchanged sad farewells with those they had become close to during their stay here.

Rembrary was also by their side at first.

But in the middle, Rembrary suddenly remembered a gift he wanted to give to Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon and moved to another place alone.

However, as he was walking busily, a bird raised by the Imperial Family as a messenger bird flew quickly.

As Rembrary reached out his hand, the messenger bird quickly landed on his arm and elegantly shook its tail feathers. Rembrary took the paper from the bird’s leg.

‘Oh, dear.’

Rembrary clicked his tongue. He thought it would be a reply asking when they would arrive, but unexpectedly, the letter’s contents completely saw through the current situation.

―You’re going back in a month, so can you come all the way here? I’ll come to you. I’m leaving right after sending the letter.

But even if the person who wrote this letter had left the Libulen capital a few days ago, it was already useless. Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon were leaving today.

Rembrary made the judgment that he couldn’t help it, wrote a reply saying he didn’t have to come, packed the gifts, and returned to where Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon were waiting.

Rembrary gave the gifts to Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon, and then told the highest priest in advance, just in case.

“A messenger bird came from the Imperial Family. They said they’re coming here directly. They’ve already left. I replied that they didn’t have to come, but just in case, if someone from the Imperial Family arrives here when I’m not here, please speak well of me.”

Jang Tae-ri looked at the unidentified gifts and asked in surprise.

“Who’s coming here from the Imperial Family?”

“It’s probably my older brother or sister. They didn’t say who’s coming, so I don’t know who’s coming.”

“But is it okay to just leave?”

Jang Tae-ri asked the question, then answered himself and closed his mouth. Of course, he had no choice but to just leave.

If it takes a fortnight to go from here to the palace, it would take a fortnight to come from the palace to here.

Eventually, the group finished their meal as planned and left the Great Temple in a carriage 40 minutes later.

Jang Tae-ri waved his hand out the window until the end with a regretful heart and only lowered his hand reluctantly after a long time.

Meanwhile, Shin Jo-woon was looking at the pictures Jang Tae-ri had taken all night and making fun of them one or two words at a time.

But after flipping through the pictures for a while, Shin Jo-woon paused at one picture and frowned.