Chapter 47
“You’re saying there was no supervising teacher?”
"No. It was a class only in words, but it was actually life guidance...”
“Well, I’m speechless. And you called the students because of that reason? What would they know?”
The meeting hadn't even started yet, but the meeting room was already noisy. Do-Jin furrowed his brows as he saw the teachers chattering among themselves. “You guys talk a lot. While those guys were sleeping in the teacher’s office—”
“Shush! Be careful with your words.”
Next to him, Ye-Jin cautioned Do-Jin. He let out a hollow laugh as if he was dumbfounded.
“I didn’t say anything wrong.”
“If you only say the right things, you won’t live long.”
It looked like Do-Jin found the situation a little hard to accept, but he nodded and shut his mouth. Bok-Dong also nodded softly and agreed with Ye-Jin's words.
Creak.
At that moment, the door opened, and the vice principal entered. The noisy conference room became quiet in an instant. The reason for the silence was because of the gray-haired old man who was following behind the vice-principal.
The old man was one of the three elders on the Florence Elder Council—he was baptized as Gabriel by the Pope. He was one of the individuals who held real authority over Florence Academy along with the chairman.
“Elder Gabriel will conduct today’s meeting,” said the vice-principal. Gabriel greeted everyone by raising his hand, and the teachers solemnly bowed their heads and saluted him.
After a long silence, Gabriel brushed his white hair and said, “Let’s proceed quickly... Where are the three professors who investigated the Tower of Corpses and rescued the students?”
Bok-Dong, Ye-Jin, and Do-Jin raised their hands in turn. Gabriel quickly scanned their faces with his eyes. His speech and actions were slow, and only the movement of his eyes was quick.
“You’re saying that around the tower... there were Pentagrams installed?”
Gabriel always divided a sentence into two parts. It was either a habit or because he was too old and always out of breath. It was either one of those two cases or both.
“Yes, that's correct,” Bok-Dong answered.
“Have you figured out... The whereabouts of the Pentagram?”
“Two of the six Pentagrams have been roughly identified. They are ‘demonification’ and ‘contract.’”
“What about... The other four?”
“The ‘contract’ black magic is still in effect, so accessing is not possible, and as a result, we are having difficulties figuring it out.”
Those affected by ‘contract’ black magic would become humanoid demonic beasts or demons. Therefore, except for some bloodlines with special blood, it was impossible to even approach the Pentagram.
Bok-Dong continued immediately, “First of all, I called Cardinal Sung Yu-Da, no, the former Inquisitor, and asked for their cooperation.”
“Did they say... that they were coming?”
“There was no answer.”
“That guy always... responds late.”
Gabriel furrowed his brows and rummaged through the papers. Then he raised his eyebrows as if he had found something interesting. “Seven of the twenty demonic beasts... were electrocuted by lightning strikes?”
"Yes."
“Was the lightning strike... a ‘natural’ one?”
“I didn’t hear you, could you say it again?”
“I’m just asking whether there is a possibility... that it was a lightning strike caused by a Cult Demon.”
Bok-Dong loudly gulped.
Cult Demon.
He was asking whether the Voodoo Cult's Prophet used devils called 'Loa' to wield the power of lightning.
Seven years ago, in the Holy War, the Voodoo Cult Prophet terrified countless clergymen with the power of lightning. There were countless clergymen still reeling from the trauma from back then. They would panic and faint whenever lightning struck.
After thinking for a while, Bok-Dong shook his head and stated, “The odds are low.”
“Can I ask... why?”
“The scale is too small compared to that time.”
Bok-Dong suddenly remembered that time. On the night of a new moon, dark clouds rolled in and obscured the starlight, and the skies were filled with endless darkness. It was then that the Prophet caused lightning to split the sky.
No, to say that they had split the skies was an understatement. It was more accurate to say that the sky was completely covered by flashes of lightning. It was a devastating, apocalyptic sight as if heaven and earth were collapsing. If the lightning at that time was a tiger, today's lightning was just a puppy. It was unlikely that the lightning strike was caused by the Voodoo Cult's Prophet.
“Also, there is no reason for the Voodoo Cult Leader to save Florence's students.”
“That, too... is correct.” Gabriel nodded.
The Third Voodoo Cult Leader. He was the one who inherited the blood of the Second Cult Leader and the power of the Prophet. It was said that he was evil and cunning and that he was plotting evil plans to overthrow the Romanican Church. At least, that was how it was known to the public. There was no reason for him to save the students of Florence Academy.
“But it’s hard to say... that it was a natural lightning strike...” Gabriel murmured incredulously.
If it wasn’t the cult’s magic, that is, the power of Loa, it would mean that naturally occurring lightning strikes had killed seven of the demonic beasts. It wasn’t impossible, but the probability was very unlikely.
“I don’t think it happened naturally. I'm guessing it was a miracle replication spell.”
The answer this time was Ye-Jin—several faculty members tilted their heads while listening.
“Weren't students on Eiden Hill first-years? To say that they used a miracle replication spell is a bit of a stretch.”
“Among the children at the site, there was a student named Kim Jin-Seo.”
When the name ‘Kim Jin-Seo’ was mentioned, the teachers nodded in agreement immediately. Since Jin-Seo had previously cast a miracle replication spell, everyone believed that it was highly likely that she was the one responsible for the miracle replication spell.
“Of course, this is just speculation at the moment. You have to listen to the students and judge for yourself.”
However, it was all speculation at the moment. There was a high possibility that Jin-Seo was responsible for the miracle, but there were no guarantees. Beyond that, there were so many other unknown things about this case. This was something that could be guessed step by step by synthesizing the testimonies of the four students who would soon come to the conference room.
“When will the children... you called come?” Gabriel said while fiddling with his eyebrows with his little finger.
Ye-Jin checked her watch. “They will be here soon.”
* * *
A total of four kids had been called over. They were Jun-Hyuk, Min-Seo, Sun-Woo, and Jin-Seo. They were ordered to come at 3:00, 3:30, 4:00, and 4:30, respectively.
The first to come was Jun-Hyuk. He came at 3:15 pm. He was fifteen minutes late.
“I’m late~ I’m sorry~” Jun-Hyuk entered the conference room with a casual greeting. Several teachers clicked their tongues in disapproval.
“Jun-Hyuk. I told you to come at 3.”
"Haa... I definitely set my alarm before I slept, but the alarm didn’t go off for some reason. Perhaps it’s time to change my phone.”
"Why don’t you just sit down,” Ye-Jin said coldly.
Jun-Hyuk sat down while scratching the back of his neck with an apologetic look on his face. His shoulders were stiff. It was because the atmosphere in the meeting room was so brutal that he became nervous before he even realized it.
Jun-Hyuk looked around the room and asked, “Am I being investigated? I didn't do anything wrong, right?"
“Yeah, you didn’t do anything wrong. We will just ask you two questions and send you away,” Ye-Jin said with a bright smile. Jun-Hyuk let out a deep sigh as if he was finally relieved.
Ye-Jin meaninglessly rummaged through the papers containing the list of questions before asking, “Student Jun-Hyuk was surrounded by nine demonic beasts at the time of the incident, right?”
"Yes. I almost died.”
“Seven of them were electrocuted by lightning. Do you have any guesses?”
“Guesses? Guess what?” Jun-Hyuk asked back with an exceedingly naive expression on his face. His expression looked so naive that it was stupid. The intention of the question was to ask the cause of the lightning strike, but Jun-Hyuk did not seem to grasp the intention at all.
"I'm asking if someone caused the lightning through miracle replication."
“Ah~ aah. Yes! I understand now. Hmm... Ah!" Jun-Hyuk smacked his knee with his hand and exclaimed. His face was filled with confidence, as if he knew something. A thin smile formed at the corners of his mouth.
"I do not know! Ha ha ha, sorry.”
However, the answer that followed was not meaningful at all. Jun-Hyuk smiled shyly as if he were embarrassed.
"Ah, yes." Ye-Jin sighed in disappointment and moved on to the next question. She placed a small, unknown machine on the table. It was the machine that emerged from the head of the stuffed demonic beast.
“What do you think this is?”
Jun-Hyuk narrowed his eyes slightly and stared at the machine for a long time. It appeared as if he couldn't guess what it was no matter how much he looked at it. Thus, Jun-Hyuk tilted his head and asked, "Hmm. Is it a camera?”
“Alright~ well done. You may go now.”
"Huh? Is it over? Already?"
"Yes. Thank you for your sincere answer~”
Jun-Hyuk scratched the back of his neck nervously, got up from his seat, and immediately left the conference room.
Eventually, it was 3:30 pm, and Min-Seo opened the door and came in as if she had been waiting.
"Yes. I believe you said you had something to ask me?”
She sat down at a random empty seat and opened her mouth with an unkind tone. Ye-Jin furrowed her eyebrows slightly. But she couldn't frown openly in front of the students, so she forced a smile and said, “At the time of the incident, Student Min-Seo was attacked by nine demonic beasts—”
The question was the same as Jun-Hyuk’s. The first question was about the cause of death of the demonic beast, and the second question was about the machine that came out of the demonic beast’s head.
Sun-Woo and Jin-Seo would be asked the same questions.
Min-Seo tilted her head in response to the first question and scanned the faces of the teachers in the conference room. Then she smiled brightly like a child and commented, “Mr. Elder seems to be here.”
“Student Min-Seo, answer the question first—”
"Ah, yes. But you seem to be adding a lot of fluff to the question. Can’t you just get straight to the point and ask me who caused the lightning strike?” Min-Seo asked calmly. She was very quick-witted.
Ye-Jin felt discomfort and slight fear at the same time. Min-Seo’s flat, empty eyes looked like they were trying to deconstruct every single detail on her face.
“Anyway... I don’t have any guesses about the cause of the lightning.”
After staring at Ye-Jin's face for a while, Min-Seo gave her answer. Bok-Dong tilted his head in response..
Min-Seo had said that she had no guesses about ‘the lightning strikes.’ Based on her manner of speech, she seemed to have some guesses about some other things that were unrelated to the lightning.
“Wait, let me ask one more question. There were two demonic beasts with piercing wounds in the heart. They looked like gunshot wounds. Do you know anything about it?” Bok-Dong immediately asked Min-Seo a question.
Min-Seo tilted her head for a moment as if trying to understand the intention of his question, then laughed madly. For some reason, Bok-Dong felt an eerie chill run down his spine.
After laughing for a while, Min-Seo finally managed to stop her laughter and catch her breath.
“Oh, sorry. I thought of something funny.”
“Can you answer the question first?” Bok-Dong asked solemnly. Min-Seo wiped the laughter from her face. Then she lightly stroked her neck.
"To give you the conclusion, Sun-Woo did it.”
“What? Tell me more. What did Sun-Woo do?”
“I don't remember very well. It’d be better if you asked him directly.” She evaded the question with a vague answer.
She was speaking as if she knew everything before, but now she was saying that she didn’t remember. Min-Seo seemed to know something but had no intention of telling the teachers about it. It seemed that it would be difficult to expect an answer from her even if she was asked further. Thus, Ye-Jin resigned herself and moved on to the next question.
Tap.
Ye-Jin put the machine on the table. “What do you think this is?”
“It looks ominous. Is it something from the Satanists?” Min-Seo answered right away without thinking.
At her unexpected reply, Ye-Jin hesitated, forgetting her words. As a result, Bok-Dong took her place and continued the questioning.
“You, what are you—”
“Do you suspect us of being Satanists?” Min-Seo said after interrupting Bok-Dong.
Bok-Dong stared at Min-Seo for a moment with a bewildered expression. There was no sign of tension or nervousness on her face. She actually seemed rather laid-back.
“The mechanism is something Satanist-related or something like that. That thing must have come from where we were. So you guessed that there must be a Satanist among us?”
“...”
“I'm sorry, but Satanists aren't that stupid. You can’t catch them the old-fashioned way,” Min-Seo said as if she was stating the obvious.
The machine from the head of a stuffed demonic beast appeared to flash intermittently, but in reality, it did not. It was designed to light up in response to a certain ‘signal.’ In other words, Satanists had watched the situation on Eiden Hill and had delivered a ‘signal’ to the machine to control the demonic beast.
Thus, the Satanist was a student in the Class of Charity, Patience, or Kindness at Eiden Hill at the time of the incident. Among them, four were specifically close to a stuffed demonic beast with a machine attached to it. Jun-Hyuk, Min-Seo, Sun-Woo, or Jin-Seo was most likely a Satanist.
This was what the teachers were speculating, but Min-Seo's thoughts were a little different.
“There is a high probability that the machine was deliberately left where we were in order to make the teachers suspect the students.”
“What do you mean?” Do-Jin asked sharply. His eyes were cold. Still, Min-Seo continued speaking without a hint of fear.
"It's a Satanist trick to confuse the teachers."
Looking at what they had done so far, Satanists were pretty smart people. One could say that they were good at mind games. There was no way that people like that would have taken care of the aftermath so sloppily. They were likely trying to confuse and mislead the teachers by intentionally leaving evidence.
"Well, you look like a Satanist to me,” Do-Jin said quietly. Min-Seo smiled broadly.
“If I were a Satanist, would I say something like this? I would have been laughing like a ret—I mean, a stupid person. I would be pretending not to know anything.”
“...Okay, let's assume you're right. The Satanist put the machine there 'on purpose' to interfere with the investigation. Could they be doing a double interference?”
“It’s not impossible, but the probability is low. Because double interference is risky. And if you think of all those possibilities, then there is no end to it.”
"Hmm."
Do-Jin gave a small nod. What she was saying made sense, but Do-Jin still had doubts about Min-Seo. Even in this situation, Min-Seo was too calm. There was no other evidence against her, but her attitude was suspicious. More than anything, Min-Seo seemed to be trying to obliterate all the evidence found so far by saying that it was all a ploy devised by the Satanists. However, doubt was only doubt. Without definitive proof, he couldn't be sure of anything.
“I think I’ve helped enough with this. Can I go now? I don't have much time.”
"Yes... You can go now.”
Min-Seo bowed vigorously to her teachers and left her conference room with a cheerful smile on her lips.
For a while, a chilly silence hung over the meeting room.
“What kind of kid is that?” Do-Jin muttered to himself.
“She is smart, but something annoys me...”
Ye-Jin nodded in agreement with Do-Jin.
Knock knock.
Not long after, a knock was heard. Bok-Dong checked the time on his phone.
4:02 pm. It was time for Sun-Woo to come.
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