108. What a High Priest Ought to Be

The man who had bent down to pick up the phone looked straight at Rembrary.

He doesn't seem like just a passerby...

Rembrary's heart pounded hard against his ribs. Of course he wasn't a passerby. If he had been, he would have glanced around the moment he picked the phone up, looking for its owner. If he'd meant to steal it, he would have slipped away at once. And besides, that black hat — with all the commotion erupting nearby, the man hadn't so much as glanced in its direction.

He stared quietly at Rembrary for a moment, then turned and walked clean away from the scene of the incident.

"What is going on here?"

Sa Gam-jae had appeared at last, belatedly, while Rembrary had been keeping watch on the man.

"Finished your proper work already?"

"All souls delivered. It was rather a large batch."

"A large batch, you say?"

"There was a major accident. And speaking of which... I smell blood."

Late as he was, the reaper's instincts remained sharp. Sa Gam-jae immediately turned toward the direction of the commotion, where an ambulance was pulling in, siren wailing.

"Who was injured?"

"The Ox-Head stabbed the spear wielder. The very man I told you might belong to Nakru."

"I see."

Sa Gam-jae accepted this without a flicker of expression, gazed oddly into empty air for a moment, then added, "He won't die."

"That's a relief. But Gam-jae, shouldn't we do something about that Ox-Head quickly? Those cute little horns are a fraud. He goes around stabbing people with them. He's more dangerous than he looks."

"The moment his head turned into an ox's, he stopped being cute. He looked dangerous, too."

"One more thing. The spear wielder was on the phone with me when he was attacked."

For the first time, something shifted in Sa Gam-jae's deadpan face.

"Is that so."

"It is. But he dropped the phone when the horn hit him. A man in a black hat picked it up and left with it."

"A black hat? Who is that man?"

"If I knew that, it wouldn't be a problem, would it?"

Rembrary looked toward where the black hat had been standing, but the man had long since ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠vanished from view entirely. The blood-tinged air mixed with the summer heat and turned clammy and unpleasant.

Rembrary looked down at his own phone and asked quietly, "Everyone here saw me, so even if word of the phone gets out, it shouldn't be a disaster. Still, I'd rather not have it turn into a circus. Can you clean up after something like this as well?"

"I will do what can be done."

While they were talking, Jong-woo came sprinting over from the edge of the scene, on the verge of tears.

"Yeon-woo! Are you okay?"

As it turned out, Jong-woo had been off fetching a cold drink for Rembrary when people suddenly began swarming toward one spot, and he'd panicked and run after them. With the entire staff clustered there and no way to see who had collapsed, the poor manager had every reason to be thrown into confusion for a moment.

As a result, the instant filming for the day was called off, Jong-woo drove Rembrary straight back to the dormitory, bought him an entire tub of ice cream — the kind he was normally never allowed — and headed home.

Rembrary, who had nothing whatsoever to do with the incident, couldn't quite understand why Jong-woo was making such a fuss over him, but since ice cream was involved, he let it pass without comment.

That evening, however, the members he met at the dormitory acted as though Rembrary had some connection to the incident too.

"Whoa, Woo Yeon-woo, you made the news."

Cathy teased, and Taein drawled, "Woo Yeon-woo's a news regular at this point."

Hye-gyeol grumbled under his breath.

"Wait, did Yeon-woo hyung stab someone with a knife? Why is his name even attached to this?"

The main evening news had just run a segment on the shooting location. The reporter relayed that a man had been assaulted and injured on the set of a famous drama — and then tacked this onto the end:

It wasn't just the news, either — the articles were the same. The worst of them dragged all three names into it: Rembrary, Maeng Woo-shin, and Lim Yu-han, while the rest each attached whichever of the three suited the reporter's taste, as if the actors had something to do with the incident at all.

If it ever came out that Rembrary had been on the phone with the victim right before the attack, they would attach his name far more noisily than this.

And yet, more than the members' teasing and concern, more than his name being dragged through the news for no reason, what gnawed at Rembrary was that phone the black hat had walked off with.

That was why he couldn't take his hands off his phone. Sa Gam-jae had said he would look into the man, and there was no telling when he might call.

But the first to reach out wasn't Sa Gam-jae. It was Jang Tae-ri.

"I'm fine."

Rembrary answered firmly.

"Really?"

"Of course."

At his resolute reply, Jang Tae-ri let out a sigh of relief. Almost in the same breath, Rembrary let out a heavy sigh of his own.

Things were fine for now — but if that phone ever fell into the police's hands, it would become a headache. What were you talking about? How did you know the victim? Did you see the attacker? He'd have to sit through interrogation after interrogation like that.

If the attacker had been an ordinary human, Rembrary would of course have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cooperated with even the most grueling investigation, giving it everything he had. The problem was that the attacker was a youkai. The police couldn't see youkai, let alone knew they existed — and it was obvious what would happen if he testified, "The Ox-Head swung his horn and attacked him."

"Miss Jang Tae-ri."

"Yes! Tell me anything you need, I'll help with everything!"

"What would you think of a man with an ox's head, who walks around with a sheep's horn and rips it out to attack whoever's standing in front of him?"

"Huh? Is that a movie? Why does an ox have a sheep's horn?"

A reaction that mild would count as one of the more forgiving ones, I suppose.

Rembrary mumbled some excuse or other, hung up, and went back to waiting for Sa Gam-jae's call.

Before long, a text arrived instead.

Sa Gam-jae? Rembrary snatched up his phone — but it was a message from Shin Jo-woon.

But as far as consolations went, Shin Jo-woon was nearly Sa Gam-jae's equal in sheer uselessness.

Rather than reply to the texts, Rembrary went back to anxiously waiting for Sa Gam-jae. About three minutes passed before another message arrived.

Gam-jae this time?

It was Sunwoo Sil.

And this one wasn't even comfort or concern. Still, curiosity got the better of him, and Rembrary did as he was told. Sure enough, Sunwoo Sil's feed held a flawlessly filtered photo of himself, captioned:

Beneath it, Sunwoo Sil's fans were crying along with him.

It seemed a reply was unnecessary, so Rembrary closed the app and gripped his phone again, waiting for Sa Gam-jae. About two minutes later, this time it was a ringtone.

This has to be Gam-jae.

Rembrary snatched up the phone — but it was Woo Sung-woo. Yeon-woo's older brother.

Has that grim reaper Sa Gam-jae gone and drifted off somewhere else again...

Rembrary clicked his tongue, but answered anyway. Unlike the call with Jang Tae-ri, though, this one made him a little nervous. He had to navigate this conversation carefully.

If Woo Sung-woo really did have ties to Nakru, and if the spear wielder did too, there was no telling which way this could tip.

Rembrary steadied his voice and spoke.

"Hello?"

He'd been the one to call, and yet the other end stayed silent for a while. Rembrary waited patiently, and exactly thirty seconds later, Woo Sung-woo's voice came through.

"You okay? Your name was on the news."

So he called after watching the news too. Relieved inwardly, Rembrary deflected quickly.

"I don't know why my name came up, but it has nothing to do with me. I was just one of the many people standing around near the scene."

Once it was out, it felt like he'd over-explained far more than necessary — but there was no taking the words back.

"Oh. Is that so?"

"It is."

Fortunately, the other man seemed to think nothing of it. His voice was flat, and he said little else. He'd called out of concern, perhaps, but it was entirely possible he still didn't think of Rembrary as his brother at all.

Taking that as a mercy, Rembrary opened his mouth to say he'd be hanging up now —

"That's a little different from what I heard."

But the other man slapped his eardrums with words first.

Rembrary flinched. What is that supposed to mean? As he strained to listen, a faint tap, tap, tapping came through the receiver — the sound of something hard, glass or steel, being rapped. Then came that dry voice again.

"It's a little different from what I saw, too."

Rembrary swallowed hard.

Could the black hat... be Woo Sung-woo?

"What are you talking about?"

He asked, playing dumb for now — and Woo Sung-woo said something unexpected.

"My friend says you saved his life."

"Your friend?"

"The guy from the news."

"!"

"He says that thanks to you, the blade missed anything vital."

Rembrary froze, only his lips twitching. He couldn't tell whether Woo Sung-woo was the black hat or not, but one thing was certain: Woo Sung-woo knew the spear wielder.

"So here's the thing, Yeon-woo. My friend's boss wants to thank you in person. You free?"

"No."

Rembrary said it flatly and jabbed the end-call button at once. His heart was pounding like a triple-time beat.

Whose boss? A Nakru boss? Do they genuinely want to thank me — or is 'thank you' a pretext to come take my measure?

His mind was a tangle.

No. They can't know I'm a Saint. Strictly speaking, I'm not a Saint — I'm a High Priest. No, wait — Yeomra called me a Saint of another world, so am I a Saint or not?

Still, just to be safe, Rembrary turned the recent events over in his mind, one by one. First: it was certain he hadn't used his powers in front of the spear wielder, nor in front of Woo Sung-woo. His ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ability to see youkai had been exposed, but the spear wielder could see them too — that alone wouldn't mark him as a Saint.

So it didn't seem they were asking to meet because they knew he was a Saint...

But what if the spear wielder's boss takes one look at my face, senses something holy about me, and recognizes me as a Saint?

Scratching at his phone screen in a haze of confusion, Rembrary stepped out onto the veranda and called Shin Jo-woon.

Shin Jo-woon picked up mid-sneer.

"Where'd all that nerve go — the kind that leaves my texts on read? Oh, I see. It turned into the nerve to drop honorifics on the phone."

"I need help."

"Oh? The audacity that ignored my texts has evolved into the audacity to speak casually?"

"I need your help."

"With what?"

"I'm going to ask you one question, and you have to answer it seriously. No teasing."

Shin Jo-woon sneered at first, but Rembrary's voice was so grave, so deadly serious, that he lowered his own voice to match.

"Fine. What is it? Something I can actually help with?"

"Just answer seriously."

"Go ahead."

"Do I give off Holy Power?"

"!"

"You have to answer seriously. This is very important."

"Hmm... hard to say. I've never thought about it."

"Quickly."

"...Did somebody say something to you?"

"If a stranger looked at me, would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they think, Ah — that man has Holy Power!?"

"...Hard to say. Most people wouldn't think anything at all, would they?"

— End of Chapter 108 —