Chapter 147
When I opened the door, I was greeted by the dormitory supervisor standing in front of me with a package in her hands.
"Here’s a package for you. Your name is Sun-Woo, right?"
"Ah, yes."
"A letter came with it. It seems like it's from your parents."
"Ah, I see."
Rather than from my parents, Joseph must have sent the package. I wondered if it was the “benefit” he had mentioned before. The dormitory supervisor handed me the package and glanced inside the room.
"How's the room? It's pretty nice, isn’t it?"
"Yes, it's good."
"That's a relief. A lot of students didn’t want to move into the dorms in Area C because of the strange rumors, you know? Well, I guess it’s fortunate for you because you ended up in such a nice room thanks to those rumors, but anyway..."
According to the dormitory supervisor, there was a significant amount of strange rumors about the dorms in Area C compared to the others. The rumors said that the dorms in Area C were built on the ruins of a mental hospital, that they were haunted, and that there were incidents where people threw themselves off the roof of the building to commit suicide.
Of course, the rumors were all baseless and had been made up by students who lost their minds studying. Even if the rumors were true, I didn't care.
"Oh, look at me. I didn't tell you the check-in and check-out times earlier, did I?"
"No."
"You can check out after 5:30 in the morning, and check-in is until 10:00 at night. If you can't meet the curfew, there will be penalties, but you don't have anything specific that you do at night, right?" the dormitory supervisor asked.
I hesitated for a moment.
"Not at the moment."
"If anything happens or if you have to sleep outside for some reason, you have to tell me in advance. Got it?"
"Yes."
"Oh, and the broadcasting system in Area C is down, so there won't be morning alarms for a while. You can wake up on your own, right? Or I can wake you up if needed, but I guess that would make you uncomfortable."
"Yes..."
"By the way, be wary of your noise level! You shouldn’t sing loudly during the night."
"Alright..."
The dormitory supervisor had a lot to say. Even with all that, she seemed unsatisfied because she gave me a few more words of advice before finally leaving.
Despite the fact that the conversation wasn’t that long, I felt considerably drained. Before anything, I brought the box and letter that the supervisor had given me into the room.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, I opened the box. Upon seeing its contents, I was convinced Joseph had sent the box. The first thing that caught my eye was an envelope. Inside the envelope was a recommendation letter with Joseph's name written on it.
[I, Joseph, the 中央聖騎士團 所屬 異端 審問官 大主敎, 推薦 the following student. This student actively assisted in the investigation of the so-called 俗稱 ‘軍團長 terror 事件' and has 協助 in 剔抉 the 邪敎, making 至大 process in doing so...][1]
"What is this? Is he showing off?" I muttered with a furrowed brow.
Joseph's recommendation letter was written in a confusing mix of Korean and Chinese characters, making it difficult to read. I only managed to read up until “Central Paladin Order affiliated inquisitor archbishop” and couldn't interpret the rest, so I just put it back into the envelope.
Besides the recommendation letter, there was a holy artifact, a water bottle, a watch, and an envelope with money. Naturally, the money envelope contained cash. It wasn't too large of a sum to be called a bribe, but it was too much to call pocket money.
I wondered if clergymen were allowed to do this, but there was no reason for me to refuse when they had given it to me. While I was at it, I tried on the watch. I thought it would be a bit big, but surprisingly, it was a perfect fit. It didn’t seem like a coincidence. The length of the watch strap seemed like it had been adjusted to fit my wrist size. How Joseph knew my wrist size was a mystery.
The problem was the holy artifacts and the water bottle.
"What is this?"
I took out the holy artifact from the box and examined it. I understood that it was a holy artifact. However, I couldn't figure out its exact purpose. It was a small sword-like object that could fit between my fingers, but it was too small to be used in battle.
The bottle seemed to contain holy water. However, I still couldn't determine its exact purpose. I tore open Joseph's letter and read it. The letter contained explanations about the holy artifact and the bottle.
[I wrote a recommendation letter for you since you expressed your desire to join the Central Paladin Order. The Central Paladin Order is not a place where you can join solely based on recommendation letters, but I hope this helps a little.
The more recommendation letters, the better, so I'm thinking of asking other archbishops I know to write recommendation letters for you as well. I'll send them to you as I receive them.
The holy artifact is a miniature Flame Sword of Eden. When in contact with divine power, it will emit flames that will circle around you. Paladins favor using it when entering dark places like mountains or caves. They say it can also be used in combat, so try and make good use of it. The artifact is also suitable for reading books or studying at night instead of a desk lamp, but I'm not sure about that.
The watch is, well, a watch. It's expensive, but not to the point where it’s brag-worthy.
The bottle contains hydrogen water, which, consumed regularly, will greatly improve your health. Are you a smoker by any chance? I've been drinking it every day lately, and it has been very effective for a smoker like me. My head feels almost clearer when I drink it.
If you have any more questions, you can call me using the business card I gave you last time.]
"..."
And that was the end of the letter.
Since the moment I met him, Joseph had seemed a bit strange. After reading the letter, he seemed even stranger than I initially thought. It felt unnecessary to send a letter when he could have just texted or called. I wondered if I had encountered an unexpectedly strong enemy. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed for a moment by fear.
Anyway, now that I knew the purpose of the holy artifact, I decided to give it a try. I unleashed divine power and infused it into the holy artifact. The Flame Sword reacted to the divine power and started spewing flames, and then it floated in the air, circling around me.
"Woah..."
I wasn’t sure how efficient it would be, but at least it looked beautiful. However, I'm not sure if I could use it in battle. With Bossou's power, I could maybe use it as a throwing dagger. The Flame Sword followed me, chasing after me while emitting light. It was quite cute and resembled a firefly. I liked it.
[Oh, Prophet.]
While playing with the Flame Sword, I heard Legba's voice. Legba hadn't said a word since the supervisor appeared, but now he spoke in a solemn and serious tone. I tried to respond, but Legba didn't give me a chance and continued speaking.
[Do not answer or show any signs of emotional excitement. Just listen to me without doing anything.]
"..."
[There is a bug planted in that holy artifact.]
I looked at the Flame Sword without saying a word. The Flame Sword circled around me, emitting small flames. Of course, I couldn't see any bugs or tracking devices with my naked eye. Legba continued speaking.
[This is according to Ogun, so it’d be easy to believe it.]
"...Hm."
[You might raise suspicion if you break the holy artifact right now. It looks like it’d be better to play along for now and then pretend to accidentally break the holy artifact when the opportunity arises.]
I grabbed the Flame Sword floating around me and held it in my right hand. I gathered strength in my right hand using the Blessing of Superhuman Strength. Legba raised his voice, seeming startled.
[Didn't I say there would be suspicions if we break it now? Stay calm and find a better method─]
Crack. The Flame Sword broke.
Legba stopped mid-sentence, seemingly flustered. Silence fell over the dormitory. I collected the scattered pieces of the Flame Sword and a small device that seemed to be the bug, plopped them into the toilet bowl, and then flushed the water. The sound of water going down expelled the silence and brought back vitality to the quiet dormitory.
I wiped the cold sweat running down my forehead with the back of my hand.
"Phew, well, that’s done!"
[...You crazy bastard, what do you mean that’s done??!] Legba shouted.
There was no need to answer him right away. I exited the bathroom and immediately called Joseph.
***
Joseph diluted a suitable amount of hydrogen water and drank it in one gulp. As if he felt refreshed, he said, “Hmm, very good...”
Recently, while he had been worried about his health due to increased stress from work, he happened to stumble across hydrogen water. Before the hydrogen water, it felt like his left chest ached with every breath, but after drinking the water, the pain completely disappeared. Of course, hydrogen water was not scientifically proven to have any health benefits, and many said it didn't actually help with health. People called it pseudoscience.
But so what?
Joseph experienced an improvement in his health after drinking it. In his opinion, no science or theory could surpass personal experience.
Joseph fed his Venus flytrap. This plant turned out to be much more annoying and useless than he thought. He thought it would catch flies on its own, but he ended up having to catch flies himself and put them directly into its mouth. And there were more than one or two things that he had to pay attention to other than that.
"Senior!"
At that moment, a subordinate barged into the office without knocking. Joseph frowned, seemingly displeased.
"Hey, why did you open the door so suddenly like that? You didn’t even knock."
"Ah, my apologies. It's an urgent matter..."
"You look pale. I wonder how urgent the matter is. Tell me."
Joseph picked up a pair of tweezers and put a bug into the mouth of the flytrap. The subordinate took a deep breath and began to speak.
"Um, well... It seems that the surveillance device we sent to Sun-Woo's house has been broken."
"Broken? It’s not something that would be easily damaged."
"The holy artifact was damaged after it was delivered to Sun-Woo's dormitory. Maybe it was intentionally broken..."
Joseph raised an eyebrow and scolded the subordinate.
"Don't trail off. Aren't you going to be an inquisitor someday? Inquisitors should be confident."
"Ah, yes! I will keep that in mind!"
"Stop mumbling. Also, get rid of the habit of saying 'ah' when reporting. It makes you look like a fool." Joseph smiled slightly and continued, "Now, try again."
"Yes, sir! The surveillance device we sent to Sun-Woo has been broken. It seems that he noticed the presence of the device and intentionally destroyed it."
"Much better."
Joseph nodded approvingly.
"Has Sun-Woo contacted us?"
"Ah, there hasn't been any contact with Sun-Woo─"
"Just now. Didn’t I tell you not to say ah?"
"There has been no contact with Sun-Woo!" The subordinate finished the report with a trembling voice.
Joseph nodded slowly, observing the flytrap swallowing its prey. He was thinking about the holy artifact he had sent to Sun-Woo and the bug he had planted inside it.
Disregarding how Sun-Woo had broken the durable Flame Sword of Eden that could be used in the paladins' practical missions, the most puzzling thing was how Sun-Woo knew that there was a bug inside the holy artifact.
It was highly likely that he found out by using something like a metal detector. Or maybe he noticed the faint sounds or light emitted by the surveillance device.
Regardless of the method he used to figure it out, Sun-Woo was clearly wary of them. He couldn't have just coincidentally noticed that there was a bugging device planted in the holy artifact.
"But there was no need to break it," Joseph muttered, tilting his head slightly.
1. The Korean language borrows a lot of words from Chinese characters. Sometimes, when someone is getting a prestigious award, they swap out some of the Korean characters with Chinese ones. ?
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