Chapter 185
Crackle!
Marinette's flames flickered on my palm. For some reason, the shape of the fire was beautiful. I could control the temperature of the flames summoned through Marinette's power, create contradicting embers that froze everything they touched, or create hellish flames to incinerate everything in its vicinity.
However, if the flames were too cold, then it wouldn’t soothe the hearts of the Voodoo Cult members unjustly killed in The Starless Night, and if it were too hot, he would die before I could inflict pain on him. I adjusted the temperature of the flames to a moderate level, similar to that of boiling water. It was the most suitable temperature for inflicting pain and instilling fear.
"...Y-you had a talent like that? You should have joined the circus instead of F.A. Then we wouldn't have met," Yu-Hyun taunted, his voice laid-back.
However, I knew he was only pretending to be relaxed and was actually trembling with fear. He couldn't hide the fear emanating from his trembling voice. Just like everyone else, he shrunk in the face of pain.
"No... I'm actually glad I met you."
I brought the fire to his bound hands. Yu-Hyun twitched, instinctively trying his best to avoid the fire. I chased after him and brought fire to his hands again. Yu-Hyun writhed, desperately trying to escape the fire, and I pursued after him yet again.
"Don't be scared. I don't intend to kill you..."
My heart raced. I couldn't tell if it was because I was looking at the fire or because I was reminded of the tragedies of The Starless Night.
A laugh escaped my lips. I felt joyful and exhilarated. Was it because I found the scared Yu-Hyun amusing? Was it because the tables had turned, and I was now the hunter rather than the hunted? I couldn't tell. Ah, if I could just light this guy on fire and kill him, then perhaps this pent-up feeling in my heart would...
Knock, knock.
My impulsion came to a stop when I heard the sound of knocking. I briefly put out Marinette's flame and looked toward the door. No matter how I thought about it, now was not the time to knock on the door. Uncle hadn't shown up in the underground chapel for a while. Did he come back today?
Or could it be Ji-Ah? No, it couldn't be Ji-Ah. I had instructed her not to come out of the room under any circumstances.
Knock, knock.
"..."
Meanwhile, the knocking sound came again. I glanced at Yu-Hyun. He was sweating profusely and struggling to catch his breath. It was weird to see a guy who didn't flinch, even when I stabbed his thigh with a blade, to be strangely sensitive to flames. Was he afraid of fire, like me?
Now was not the time to think about that. I held my breath and approached the door where the knocking sound was coming from. It could be my uncle or Ji-Ah, but it could also be an intruder. It wouldn't be strange at all for someone like Yu-Hyun to have a few pursuers or bodyguards.
Then what about Ji-Ah, who was on the upper floor?
"..."
No, let's not think about Ji-Ah right now. I told her not to make any noise once she entered her room, so with luck, she'd be safe. Even if she wasn’t... then there was nothing I could do.
Click.
Holding the Dawn's Blade in my right hand, I turned the doorknob with my left. Yet, there was no reaction from the other side of the door. Did they sense how cautious I was? The other person didn’t rush into the room even though I had deliberately opened the door.
If that were the case, then I would leave first. This was my underground chapel. No matter who the opponent was, no matter how powerful they were, suppressing them was only a matter of time as long as I could freely use spells and the power of the Loa.
Creek...
I slowly pulled the doorknob. With a chilling sound, the door slowly began to open. However, there was still no reaction on the other side of the door.
Baang!
I forcefully pulled the door. There was a sound of something breaking, and it seemed like the doorknob was broken. It wasn’t something I needed to worry about. I pushed the opponent on the other side of the door with my elbow and pinned them against the wall, pressing Dawn's Blade against their neck.
It was much easier to subdue the opponent than I thought because it felt like I was fighting a child. The eerie glow from Dawn's Blade illuminated the opponent's face.
Their face came into view from the thick darkness and fog.
"Cult Leader, it’s Ji-Ah...”
I immediately put down the blade and touched the part of her neck where the blade had rested. Blood stained my fingers. I had only intended to threaten with the blade, but it looked as if I had somehow cut her a little.
"...I thought I told you not to come out of the room."
"Yes, you did say that, but..."
"Then why did you come out?"
I was annoyed. To be honest, I couldn’t express my feelings with just the word "annoyance." It was complicated. I felt angry and sad at the same time. I couldn't breathe properly. I felt suffocated and felt like I wanted to say something, anything. But words didn’t come out easily from my mouth.
Ji-Ah’s lip twitched as if she had something to say, and then she lowered her head.
"I'm... sorry. "
"Wait a moment."
After saying that, I used a restoration spell to heal the wound on her neck. The shallow wound healed quickly, not even leaving a scar. However, my mind still felt uneasy. I couldn't tell if it was because I had hurt her or because she hadn’t listened to me and had come out of her room.
I couldn't figure it out.
My body felt heavy. It felt like I was thrown to sink amidst an endlessly deep sea. I was angry and sad, but for some unknown reason, I was also scared. I felt like I would go crazy at any moment if I kept my mouth shut and let my thoughts spiral out of control.
"So, why did you come out?" I blurted.
I needed the sound of someone else’s voice. She hesitated without saying a word and handed me the object she was holding.
"I found this in your room."
It was a notebook. A notebook where I had written down fragments of memories that occasionally came to mind when I had practiced spells and the power of Loa in the underground chapel during the break.
"This─"
I was about to say, “This is why you didn't listen to me and crawled out of your room?”
But when I unfolded the notebook and saw the contents written inside, I was speechless. I had recorded the memories of my parents and their words in the notebook. Things that shouldn't be forgotten but keep slipping away—the memories that I thought would be clear for a lifetime but had suddenly become faint. I didn't want to forget those memories, so I diligently wrote them down in the notebook. That had been my intention.
"..."
-The nail clipper didn't listen, so I broke it. I had to open the door. It wouldn't open because there was no handle. I saw the inside of the ground at some point. There were many bugs. The basement is too stuffy. Someday, I will also... have a chance to go somewhere high... A chance. Just one.
-Dad didn't come back. Did something happen? Ah.
-Save me.
It was challenging to read. The words were scattered everywhere. The letters were different sizes, and the sentences were so confusing that I couldn't understand the meaning behind them. It seemed that I hadn’t tried to write meaningful sentences to begin with. As if written with blood, the red letters filled the notebook. It was eerie and chilling just to look at it.
"...Cult Leader?" Ji-Ah called.
I didn't answer and closed the notebook. Cold sweat trickled down. I felt scared. The handwriting in the notebook was mine. I had never tried to write such bizarre words, nor did I have any memory of writing them. That was why it frightened me even more. I wiped away the flowing sweat and looked up. Ji-Ah was looking at me with a worried look in her eyes.
"Are you oka—"
"I'm fine," I answered before she finished her sentence.
Although I had said I was okay, I didn't feel particularly okay. I was deteriorating day by day. My senses were getting dull. Now, I couldn't even tell what was hot and what was cold. My sense of taste was long gone. I was trying to remember what the food Ji-Ah made tasted like.
The loss of touch and taste made each day faint and blurry. Each day passed by boringly and hazily. I didn't feel alive. At this point, it felt like I was no different from being dead. No, I even thought it would be okay to die.
"I'm fine, so go upstairs now, Ji-Ah."
I thought I was going crazy, but I guess I was already insane. On my way back to the basement after sending Ji-Ah away, I burned the notebook with Marinette's fire.
***
I leaned against the wall and stared blankly at the dispersing and gathering fog. I took a deep breath, letting the fog fill my entire body. Although it felt refreshing and cleansing, I also couldn’t feel anything. I couldn't even tell how much time had passed or how it was drifting by.
"Hey."
At that moment, I heard Yu-Hyun's voice. He was moving his body restlessly, his head turned toward me. I couldn’t see his expression very well because of the fog. I didn't respond and instead looked at his silhouette, which was faintly visible through the fog.
I wouldn't have had time to be like this initially. I had to do something. Whether it was torturing Yu-Hyun or using a spell, I had to extract information from him. How much did he know about me? Had anyone else realized that I was the Cult Leader? Or information that was necessary to escape and hide from the Holy Army.
"Hey, did you die?" Yu-Hyun said, joking around.
“..." I didn't answer.
I could have easily extracted information from Yu-Hyun if I wanted to. However, I didn't feel like doing it. How did I end up getting exposed? When did I start going crazy? There was no end to the thoughts of what and when it all went wrong.
I lay there helplessly, wailing in self-blame and regret. I thought about why I wanted to become a prelate. Why did I want to become a prelate again? What was the reason why I had tried to gain a good standing with the teachers, wore a mask to get a good reputation, and lost myself just to get into F.A.?
"...The underground prison.”
I remembered. I held up the Dawn's Blade that I had been clutching in my hands. I embed the blade with Marinette's flames. Yu-Hyun, who had been calm when I only held the Dawn's Blade, saw it, and fear flashed in his eyes. Marinette's flames met with Voodoo magic and glowed purple.
Come to think of it, there was no need to use a restoration spell to close the wound if I did this. The fire would take care of the wound. Why didn't I think of this? What a great discovery.
Yu-Hyun squirmed when I pushed the Dawn's Blade without saying a word.
"Hey, hey, you bastard! If you're going to torture me, shouldn't you ask questions first?"
"Ah. Right."
"Huff, huff...! You're crazy. I thought you were someone I could reason with, but you're just a crazy bastard obsessed with torture..."
Crack.
Yu-Hyun didn’t get to finish his sentence. His toes were twisted grotesquely. I had broken them. Yu-Hyun trembled with a flushed face and started to scream from the belated pain. The scream soon turned into a sob.
"If you say anything useless or fail to answer my questions, I'll break your toes one by one... Or I’ll stab your soles with my blade."
"Ah, ahhh... They're already broken—you crazy, fucking, crazy bastard...!"
"Don’t make a scene about it. It'll get better soon," I said, drawing a spell array.
It was an advanced restoration spell. The Voodoo mist touched Yu-Hyun's twisted toes. The toes wriggled as if they were living creatures and returned to their original state as if nothing had happened. However, Yu-Hyun was still trembling from the pain.
"It will still hurt, though."
The restoration spell could only restore the target's condition but couldn’t eliminate the pain one experienced. I pushed the blade toward his foot. His struggle intensified more than before. Actions were more effective in instilling fear than words.
"Tell me about the underground prison of the Holy See Headquarters. Its location, characteristics... Anything you know," I continued.
Yu-Hyun didn't answer my question quickly. He clearly knew something, but it looked like he was hesitant to answer. Without hesitation, I immediately tried to thrust the blade into his chest. At that moment, Yu-Hyun urgently stopped me and spoke up.
"W-wait, hold on! ...L-let's negotiate."
"Negotiate?" I scoffed. "How can we negotiate when we're not on equal terms? Do you still think this is an examination site? You know what? I'm going to break at least one of your toes because you’re just spouting nonsense."
"W-wait, just listen to me! Fuck, can you listen and hear me out, huh? You can do whatever you want after you listen to me, alright?" Yu-Hyun shouted at the top of his lungs.
Curious about what he was going to say, I decided to hold onto breaking his toe for a moment.
He took a deep breath and said, "First, let me say this. If you kill me, you'll also be at a loss. As for me, I think it’s pretty self-explanatory."
"Why do you think I'll suffer a loss?"
"Because there's a machine implanted in my body due to my heart not being in the best condition. If my heart stops, the Holy Army will know my location."
"..."
"If you kill me here, you’ll expose the location of this place."
I couldn't sense any signs of lying from Yu-Hyun's expression or tone. If he was telling the truth, then I couldn't kill him here. After all, it was preferable to expose my identity and run from the Holy Army than to reveal the location of the underground chapel.
Of course, that didn't mean I couldn't kill Yu-Hyun.
I smirked. "Is that so? Then I'll kill you somewhere else."
"But you'll still end up on the run," Yu-Hyun said quite calmly. "If I die, the Holy Army will search through nationwide CCTV and car cameras. I don't know if they’ll be able to catch you, but it's only a matter of time before it's revealed that you're the one who killed me."
"..."
He wasn’t wrong. Whether Yu-Hyun had a mechanical device implanted in his body or not, he was an essential figure in the Romanican Chruch. If he died or went missing, my identity would be exposed.
"The same would be true if I were to spare you."
However, the outcome would be the same if we were to let him live. In the end, my identity would be exposed. After Yu-Hyun had figured out my identity, the results were unchanged.
Upon hearing my words, Yu-Hyun quickly raised his head.
"I will never tell anyone else about your identity. I swear. I can promise."
"Do you think I would believe that?"
"Information loses its value when it becomes public."
Out of the blue, Yu-Hyun made a nonsensical remark. He seemed afraid of the blade coming towards his feet, so he hunched his body quickly.
"As far as I know, I am the only one who has the information that you are the Cult Leader of the Voodoo Cult. And that information is most valuable when only I know it."
"..."
"So, I shouldn't tell it to anyone else because I would be diminishing the rarity and value of the information that I possess."
Yu-Hyun spoke fast, making it difficult to understand all at once.
I slowly and calmly pondered his words.
"What are you planning to do with the knowledge that I am the Cult Leader?"
Ultimately, his words were nothing more than a plausible excuse. It was true that rare information had a higher value. However, if there were no use for it, no matter how rare it was, the value of the information would be low. Yu-Hyun listened to me and smiled faintly.
"There's a lot I can do with it. Although I'm known as the next Pope, I have many competitors, more than you might think.”
"Huh?"
"The Holy See restricts a lot of information. Although you probably noticed it already... And I can give you that restricted information."
Restricted information. Just hearing those words brought up many thoughts. One of the prominent ones was Jun-Hyuk. The Holy See considered it dishonorable to reveal the fact that Satanists had infiltrated Florence Academy, and upon considering various social repercussions, they had concealed the fact that Jun-Hyuk was a Satanist.
"Of course, I don't know everything, but I know more than ordinary people. About things you're curious about... like the underground prison or the Holy War. Or the dark side of the Romanican Chruch."
"But what do you gain from telling me that information?"
"I gain a lot. For one, you won't be able to kill me so recklessly."
"I could simply kill you after extracting the information."
"I won't reveal all the information I know. That's how I can stay alive."
He was right. I couldn't kill him until I obtained the information I wanted. The reason I hadn't killed him yet was not because I didn't want to, but because I couldn't. Yu-Hyun seemed to understand this as well.
He forced a smile and continued, "So, what do you think? I think this isn’t too bad of an offer."
"Hmm... It's not bad. But..."
It was definitely not a bad proposal. Yu-Hyun was known to be next in line for becoming the Pope, so he had access to more information than others. There were a lot of things that I didn't know about the Romanican Chruch. If I negotiated with Yu-Hyun, I would be able to acquire several valuable pieces of information that I didn't know.
"Is there really a need to negotiate..."
However, there was no reason for me to negotiate at the cost of taking losses. I unleashed Voodoo magic. The massive clump of Voodoo magic that flowed out dispersed and coalesced, cutting through the mist. The Voodoo magic transformed into dozens of spell arrays in an instant, merging into a fusion spell array. The mist that flowed out from the spell array was thick and viscous.
"...When there are better methods?"
There were many ways to extract information from him without having to deal with a negotiation.
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