Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 902

“What’s wrong?”

Jang Tae-ri asked, becoming anxious at Shin Jo-woon’s expression.

“Something’s caught on it.”

Shin Jo-woon replied, smoothing out his frown. However, his answer made Jang Tae-ri even more uneasy.

“What is it?”

“Something that’s not human.”

Jang Tae-ri gasped and leaned back.

“A ghost? A spirit?”

Shin Jo-woon burst into laughter at the sight of Jang Tae-ri, the ‘holy’ one, being so startled.

“What are you scared of? You see ghosts sometimes, don’t you?”

“Seeing them with my own eyes is different from them being captured in a photo!”

Jang Tae-ri retorted, trying to sound confident.

Rembrary put down the snacks and reached out.

“Let me see too.”

Shin Jo-woon handed the phone to Rembrary. Rembrary carefully examined the phone screen.

Jang Tae-ri asked worriedly.

“Is it really a ghost?”

Jang Tae-ri was even more surprised when Rembrary’s expression turned serious.

“Is it really a ghost?!”

Rembrary shook his head.

“No. It looks like a demon.”

Jang Tae-ri sighed in relief and muttered.

“Ah, that’s a relief.”

“Are demons less scary?”

“You can at least talk to them.”

Jang Tae-ri said jokingly. In reality, it was just the influence of horror movies, but he didn’t want to explain it in detail.

However, Rembrary, unaware of this, was concerned that Jang Tae-ri seemed to take demons too lightly and advised him.

“It’s even more dangerous because you can talk to them. Don’t treat demons too familiarly, Tae-ri. Demons are good at finding weaknesses and exploiting them.”

Jang Tae-ri raised both hands as if surrendering.

“Alright, I got it.”

Jang Tae-ri was just more afraid of ghosts or spirits; it wasn’t that he felt friendly towards demons.

Rembrary returned the phone to Jang Tae-ri and also advised Shin Jo-woon.

“You be careful too.”

Shin Jo-woon didn’t respond. He wasn’t particularly scared or friendly towards either. Instead, Shin Jo-woon asked a practical question.

“But is it okay for a demon to appear in the Great Temple? Isn’t it dangerous?”

“Isn’t the Demon King in your world? It’s fine. Without the Demon King here, demons won’t be able to cause any major incidents.”

Jang Tae-ri looked at the faint silhouette captured on the phone and felt strange. This silhouette was definitely looking in his direction.

The demon had been watching him diligently taking pictures of himself with his phone at night.

Thinking about it, Jang Tae-ri didn’t know whether to be scared or dumbfounded.

‘Anyway, as Rembrary said, nothing much will happen. The Demon King is sealed… and another demon, a close aide to the Demon King, is working with Rembrary to prevent the seal from exploding, and even came to this world with us, right?’

* * *

Perhaps because he knew the way, the journey from the Great Temple back home felt surprisingly shorter than the first time he went to the Great Temple.

Was it because he could anticipate a certain amount of hardship in advance? Enduring long stays in the carriage or occasionally failing to calculate the time and having to sleep uncomfortably in the carriage became bearable.

To even reduce the time spent being welcomed at the temples, the group rested at inns in the villages they happened to pass by in the evenings on their way back.

Jang Tae-ri occasionally bought small carvings that could be used as souvenirs when he had time in the morning or at night.

He planned to put them in a display case when he returned to Earth and reminisce about this time.

After traveling like that, the group finally crossed the mountain range that spanned the northern and southern continents.

However, Jang Tae-ri’s mood, which had been calm throughout, faltered when it was time for a sandwich lunch at the mountaintop.

The nemesis look-alike, whom he had managed to forget for several days, came to mind.

After promising to meet the nemesis look-alike, Shin Jo-woon had acted as usual, so Jang Tae-ri had forgotten about it too.

But as the day to meet him approached, the worries he had temporarily put aside resurfaced.

While Rembrary went to fetch the sheep-like monsters, Jang Tae-ri cautiously asked Shin Jo-woon.

“You’re not going to fight the nemesis look-alike when we get to that village, are you?”

Ardor was eating bread indifferently, but he raised his head with a glint in his eyes. What was that about?

“Why would I?”

Shin Jo-woon replied with a smile.

“Right?”

Still, Jang Tae-ri couldn’t relax and glanced at Shin Jo-woon while chewing his bread. Then, belatedly feeling Ardor’s gaze, he realized his mistake and didn’t say more.

“A nemesis? Is there a reason to fight? Should I help you?”

However, Ardor had already sensed something from their conversation and was asking with an unusually kind tone.

Jang Tae-ri got goosebumps and replied coldly.

“No, there isn’t.”

“It seemed like there was.”

“There isn’t.”

Instead of asking further, Ardor resumed his meal. But one corner of his mouth didn’t come down.

‘If those heretics that Rembrary is so protective of cause an accident, they will surely lose Rembrary’s favor. If those guys cause an accident and I solve it, that favor will surely come to me.’

Jang Tae-ri noticed Ardor’s unpleasant expression and pulled Shin Jo-woon closer, advising in a small voice.

“Be careful. I think he noticed something. Make sure nothing happens.”

Shin Jo-woon glanced at Ardor but thought it was nothing and laughed lightly.

“Alright.”

* * *

When Rembrary appeared with the sheep-like monsters, the group descended from the mountain together.

Descending the mountain at a rapid pace, Jang Tae-ri looked back several times with a feeling of regret.

When he first heard that he had to cross this place, he almost fainted. But now, he felt a sense of regret.

“Tae-ri? Shall we go up one more time?”

Rembrary noticed the regret and asked.

“No.”

The regret disappeared as soon as he heard Rembrary’s suggestion.

Finally, the group arrived at a village near the mountain range. Jang Tae-ri got off the sheep monster’s back and checked on Shin Jo-woon.

Shin Jo-woon wore a seemingly relaxed smile as usual.

‘That’s a relief. Jo-woon seems to have calmed down a bit now.’

However, unlike his appearance, Shin Jo-woon’s heart wasn’t entirely at peace. His reason knew that the nemesis look-alike he was about to meet wasn’t the same person as his nemesis, and wasn’t even Nakru.

Since he was a Redrin priest, he would be even further removed from Nakru.

However, just the fact that he resembled his nemesis made Shin Jo-woon feel as if he had heavy shackles on his legs.

Rembrary had no thoughts at all.

The person with the lightest heart among them was Ardor. Ardor was doing his best to hide his expression, eagerly anticipating the heretics causing an accident.

However, Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon got along smoothly even while unpacking their luggage and settling down in the restaurant. They didn’t exchange any more of those suspicious whispers.

Just as Ardor was about to be disappointed, Shin Jo-woon finally asked a strange question.

“That person?”

Rembrary, who was holding the menu and looking at what to eat, raised his head.

“Who?”

“That person.”

Shin Jo-woon realized that Rembrary had forgotten about the person he was looking for.

“Ah, that person.”

Rembrary recalled it a beat late and smiled comfortably.

“He’s probably somewhere around here. I’ll send a messenger bird later after we finish eating.”

The moment he heard those words, Shin Jo-woon’s lips twitched.

Rembrary noticed Shin Jo-woon’s expression but brushed it off. The person Shin Jo-woon was looking for resembled someone Shin Jo-woon disliked, but he wasn’t the person himself anyway.

Therefore, Rembrary thought that just helping them meet was a great consideration on his part, so there was no need to put more effort into making them meet sooner.

Rembrary left the ‘anchovy’ [a metaphor for someone who is restless and fidgety] to fret alone and focused on his meal.

“But this doesn’t taste good. I seem to have ordered the wrong thing. I should order something else.”

However, Shin Jo-woon couldn’t hide his ‘anchovy-like’ [restless] insides and snatched Rembrary’s menu away.

Rembrary was so dumbfounded that he almost told Shin Jo-woon to walk all the way to the aisle.

But Rembrary didn’t do that, befitting his benevolent high priest status. How could a high priest act like an anchovy?

“Bring me a new menu here.”

Of course, he ordered a new dish.

And only after finishing his meal leisurely did Rembrary book a room at the inn and summon a messenger bird to write a note.

The note said that he was staying at such and such inn, so come find him there.

Rembrary tied the finished note to the messenger bird’s leg and sent it flying.

However, the bird, which had been flying well, unexpectedly faltered and landed somewhere.

‘What is it? Is the person the anchovy is looking for there?’

Rembrary thought about telling the anchovy to go, but then he remembered that the person the anchovy was looking for was a Redrin priest, so he went there first.

If he met the look-alike of the person the anchovy disliked, he might glare menacingly, so he thought he would give him a heads-up in advance.

Rembrary went out of the inn and walked to where the messenger bird had landed.

But the person where the messenger bird had landed was not a Redrin priest. Rembrary frowned. Why is that guy here?

“Why are you here?”

Rembrary strode towards the familiar person. To be precise, this person was not a ‘person.’ Because he was a demon.

“I was about to say the same thing.”

Noir frowned and scanned Rembrary up and down.

“Why are you here?”

He seemed surprised and pleased to see Rembrary.

But he was clearly frowning on purpose because he thought it would damage his demon image if he expressed his joy openly.

Rembrary thought it was troublesome. Just like he had advised Jang Tae-ri, Rembrary didn’t want to be close to demons.

But this Noir must have been too fond of him since he had prevented the Demon King’s seal from exploding.

“Hey, High Priest. What are you thinking that makes your expression annoyed and then disgusting?”

“Did you come to see me?”

“Nonsense.”

“But you have my bird with you.”

When Rembrary pointed to the bird sitting on Noir’s shoulder, Noir was disgusted and chased the bird away.

“If I had known it was your bird, I would never have brought it!”

“Then whose bird did you think it was when you summoned it?”

“……Hey, don’t get the wrong idea. I didn’t come to find you, High Priest. I just summoned that bird because it looked useful as a messenger bird. The one I came to find is Aje.”

“Who was that again?”

Noir’s expression twisted.

“You idiot. Even a goldfish has a better memory than you.”

“Just kidding.”

Noir’s expression twisted even more when Rembrary burst into laughter. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something more.

It was probably an apology. But in the end, he couldn’t say anything more and turned away abruptly.

Rembrary looked at his retreating figure with mixed feelings and shook his head. But before he could take a few steps.

“High Priest?”

Someone called him from behind. When Rembrary turned around, an unfamiliar general priest in Redrin priest robes was approaching. It was a face he had never seen before.

But Rembrary recognized the messenger bird in the priest’s hand. It was the bird that Noir had chased away earlier.

This lucky messenger bird seemed to have completed its mission by flying only a short distance away.

“So you’re the one.”

Rembrary recognized that this unfamiliar priest was Shin Jo-woon’s nemesis look-alike and burst into laughter.

The unfamiliar priest followed Rembrary with an awkward smile on his tense face.

“I was a bit surprised that the High Priest wanted to see me.”