Chapter 112
"Hmm...." Sung Yu-Da murmured as he savored the strong scent of the tea called Witch's Blood.
He was watching the black box recording of the situation he had received from the Eastern Paladin Order. The video was dark, and the quality was poor, making it difficult to distinguish the human figures, but he could roughly grasp the situation. A man and a woman were under the influence of black magic and slapping each other's cheeks. They were foolish paladins and priests who approached the scene without wearing any anti-magic masks, only to be ensnared by black magic themselves. As time passed, the fight became more intense. As the demonic energy flowing out from the pentagram grew thicker, so did the clergymen's hatred toward each other.
In the center of this entire crisis stood a kid named Sun-Woo, and he calmly assessed the situation. He confirmed the consciousness of the woman who became the medium for black magic. He searched for a method to remedy the situation, but there was no method. That was when Ha-Yeon appeared. Sun-Woo explained his strategy for getting out of the situation to Ha-Yeon and then broke a glass bottle.
The clergymen’s anger was focused on Sun-Woo and Ha-Yeon. Sun-Woo had shown excessive calmness for his age, but he was taken aback at this. Eventually, he regained his composure and began to draw the holy cross.
—!
Miracle replication.
The wind blew, causing the waves to gather and creating a whirlpool. The whirlwind created by the consecutive gusts engulfed the clergymen. Eventually, Sun-Woo was swept away by the storm.
Ha-Yeon had been hesitating, but she seemed to have made up her mind after witnessing this. She created a wound on her palm. She completed the blessing of purification and dismantled the Pentagram. As a result, the situation came to an end.
Sung Yu-Da reviewed the footage several times before he turned off the screen and nodded with a smile.
"Excellent."
Ha-Yeon sat across from him. She widened her eyes in surprise. "...What?"
What was excellent? Was it Sun-Woo's miracle replication, or was it the blessing of purification that she had drawn...? A small expectation blossomed in her heart.
"The boy's name was... Sun-Woo?"
"...Yes."
"He seems to have skills beyond his age. It's an amazing talent."
Ha-Yeon bowed her head. As she thought, her father didn’t have any intention of praising her... She clenched her fist and covered the scar on her palm.
Meanwhile, Sung Yu-Da was recalling the miracle that Sun-Woo had replicated. Although he couldn't control it in the end and was swept away by the storm himself, the fact that he could replicate such a tremendous miracle was an incredible talent. He was partially on par with the active-duty clergymen who were all talk and no show. No, in terms of skill alone, he had already surpassed the level of the active-duty clergymen.
"What happened to the proposal for him to join the Theological Association?" Sung Yu-Da asked with a low voice.
Ha-Yeon had been absentmindedly curling her toes and daydreaming, when she suddenly snapped out of it and looked up.
"I got rejected..."
"Why?" Sung Yu-Da asked as if he was surprised.
Ha-Yeon had a pretty good idea why. It was probably because of her past actions. According to her friends, whenever she got bored, she would verbally attack Sun-Woo for no reason other than because she didn’t like the look in his eyes. But Ha-Yeon failed to even remember that, and without apologizing, she boldly suggested he join the Theological Association.
It was only natural for her to be rejected. How repulsive must have she appeared to Sun-Woo? Just the thought made Ha-Yeon feel sick to her stomach.
"He didn’t tell me the reason, so I don’t know..." she mumbled with her head lowered.
Sung Yu-Da slightly tilted his head. There were often kids who were like that. They would become obsessed with testing and proving their own abilities, and as a result, they would reject any help from others. They were children who held the strange principle of wanting to become clergymen solely through their own abilities instead of relying on organizations like the Theological Association.
It was not easy to convince those with such principles. There was a time when Sung Yu-Da followed someone who had a stronger conviction than anyone else. They never followed others but rather had a unique charm that made others follow them.
However, there was never a good ending for them. Yes, never.
Sung Yu-Da shook his head as if chasing away the memories of the past. Leaving his teacup on the table, he abruptly stood up.
"It looks like it’d be best to create an opportunity to directly meet him soon. And..."
Sung Yu-Da looked at his daughter with a worried expression and continued, "Be careful when you go out at night."
"...Yes."
"You never know when something like that will happen again," Sung Yu-Da said bitterly as he entered the study.
Ha-Yeon was left alone as unwanted memories began to surface in her mind. She remembered those people staring at her with cold and indifferent eyes as if they were looking at an animal instead of a human. Those hunters had haphazardly cut off her hair and prepared to cut off her arms as she screamed. They were known as the Albino Hunters. They collected the bodies of people with albinism for their Voodoo spells.
Ha-Yeon was a victim of the Albino Hunters.
***
I revised Ha-Yeon's proposal based on the data that I collected. In reality, there wasn't much to add, and I just needed to remove the nonsense that Ha-Yeon had written. Thanks to Legba, who translated all the languages in the books in the library, it didn't take long.
After finishing all the work, I opened the book titled List of Satanists Active/Imprisoned in the Country and Their Information. Legba didn't need to translate this. It was already written in a language that I could understand.
[There are two primary groups of Satanists active in the country. They are led by those who go by the Seven Deadly Sins of Wrath and Envy, and among them, Wrath was captured in the year 19XX and is currently imprisoned in the underground prison of the Holy See Headquarters.]
I couldn't tell exactly when they had been captured. It was because part of the year had been skillfully torn off. It was evident that it was not torn off naturally.
Who could it be? If it was a student, it could be one of the seven Holy Names, and if it was a teacher... Come to think of it, was it possible for the Satanist to be a teacher?
It was meaningless to think about this. I had to move on.
[The characteristic of Wrath is regeneration. During the suppression process, their arms and legs were cut off, but they quickly regenerated in a matter of seconds. Whether it was cutting the neck off or cutting their entire body horizontally or vertically, it was the same. They would inflict self-harm at regular intervals. This was presumed to be part of a ritual for offering blood and flesh to the devil they served.]
I continued reading, but it was just a relentless tale of how the brave crusaders and paladins captured him, with no mention of taxidermied creatures. I quickly flipped the page.
[Envy, the *Commander.]
At around the middle of the book, the section about Envy began. There was a footnote next to the word Commander. At the bottom of the text, there was a small description that explained the word Commander.
[The Commander, after absorbing the Satanist Pride Branch, which was active in California, left a note. The following is the contents of that note.
Call me Commander... The reason is... because I also want a cool nickname....
The title of Commander is self-proclaimed, but it became an official title due to them leading most of the Satanist branches.]
This guy was clearly insane. I continued reading.
[The Commander collects corpses, and using those corpses, they create and control taxidermied creatures. They use the taxidermied creatures as a medium for their black magic, and they obsessively pursue the perfect taxidermied creature. It is said that they delude themselves into thinking that they are an artist.
They infiltrated Korea during the chaos that occurred due to the Holy War seven years ago and covered up their tracks after causing the Tower of Corpses incident in Incheon two years ago. After the incident, we attempted to identify the Satanist among the residents. However, the operation ended in failure.]
[It’s this person,] Legba said.
I turned the page without responding.
[The reason why they were named Envy is related to the Commander's childhood. According to a few scarce pieces of evidence, the Commander loved their biological mother. Jealous of their biological father, the Commander made a deal with the devil. The Commander skinned and killed their father, filling their skin with cotton and sawdust as a gift for their grieving mother.
There is a rumor that they are a homosexual, but there is no evidence. This is because their gender has not been revealed.]
"..."
It was difficult to understand, especially the fact that they loved their mother and the fact that they were jealous enough to kill their father. Well, up to this point, I could somehow understand if I really tried. But turning their father into a taxidermied creature as a gift for their grieving mother...
[They aren’t Satanists for no reason. They probably have a moral compass that normal people can’t understand.]
I nodded slightly at Legba's words and continued reading. None of the information could become a clue. The author's intention to expand the length by rephrasing the same content was evident.
After placing the books I had read into the bookshelf for returning books, I left the Central Library. I thought about the insane woman who had been the medium for black magic, who also happened to be Jun-Hyuk's mother. The Satanist loved their biological mother, so they killed their biological father. If Jun-Hyuk was the Satanist, it meant that he had used his beloved mother as a medium for black magic. It didn't make any logical sense.
No, trying to understand the Satanist through logic itself was probably foolish.
[It's complicated. How about thinking about it more simply?]
"Is it even possible to think of it in a simpler way than this?"
[Well, it depends on how you think.]
Legba's ambiguous words added to my confusion. He didn't give me a clear conclusion when it came to deducing the Satanist’s identity. It was not like he was joking around or something. Did he catch the Baron Samedi disease...?
I sighed and returned to the classroom.
***
After refining the revised proposal little by little during the morning break, I emailed it to Min-Seo just before lunchtime. Later on, I walked together with In-Ah and Jun-Hyuk along the mountain trail.
"There will be no end if we assume things like that. Shouldn't we only discuss things based on the given information?"
"Hey, considering the topic, shouldn’t we account for the worst-case scenario?"
"Sigh... It’s impossible to talk to you," Jun-Hyuk said.
In-Ah and Jun-Hyuk had been engaged in a heated debate since before lunch, and the argument had continued up until now. The topic of the debate was 'What weapon should we carry in case of a zombie outbreak?'
In-Ah argued that a baseball bat was the best, while Jun-Hyuk insisted that a bamboo spear was better. It was truly a practical, productive, and mature argument.
"Hey, imagine if the zombie outbreak ended. With a baseball bat, you can play baseball."
"No, the assumption that the outbreak will end is absurd, isn't it?"
"What's so absurd about it?" In-Ah challenged, and Jun-Hyuk sighed.
"Let’s set that aside for now. If there was a zombie outbreak, then what about food? Can you get food with a baseball bat?"
"Then what about a bamboo spear? Can you get food with a bamboo spear?"
"If you're hungry, you can tear off bits of the spear and eat them. You try eating the baseball bat, then."
"Are you a panda? What kind of nonsense is that?"
The argument continued, and as time passed, their voices grew louder. I had no choice but to distance myself from them as we walked. I didn't want to be mistaken for being involved in their childish argument. Although I kept my distance, I carefully listened to Jun-Hyuk and In-Ah's conversation. It was a combination of observation and surveillance. I still hadn't dismissed the suspicion that Jun-Hyuk might be a Satanist.
"And the spear has a longer range."
"How are you going to pull it out once it gets stuck inside a zombie? You might get bitten by a zombie and turn into one while pulling it out."
"Just stab the next zombie without pulling it out. It’s like a zombie kebab—"
"—Hey! Is it fine for you to come to school?!"
The childish conversation between In-Ah and Jun-Hyuk was interrupted by a shout coming from the field. A male student expressed his frustrations by loudly shouting in an irritating pre-pubescent voice.
"What's going on?" In-Ah expressed her confusion, and Jun-Hyuk shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't know either.
Curious, they walked across the field and toward the center of the commotion. I followed them as well. From up close, I could see that the ones causing the disturbance were none other than our former classmates, Bae Sung-Hyun, and his gang.
"Wow, it's been a long time. You didn’t contact me at all. What have you been up to?"
"Bastard, your skin seems to have gotten paler. It looks like you’ve been eating well?"
The gang members surrounded someone, asking about their well-being or playfully insulting them. Their reactions were varied, but the joy that appeared on their faces was the same. The male student standing in the center of the gang scratched his head awkwardly and gave a shy smile. In-Ah looked at the male student's face and opened her mouth with a stern expression.
"...Bae Sung-Hyun?"
Sung-Hyun had been expelled, but he was dressed neatly in his school uniform while standing shamelessly on Florence Academy grounds.
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