Chapter 56
"Oh, hey! Why is your phone off? Do you want to die?"
“I don’t know if the battery is dead or if the phone is broken. In any case, that’s why my phone’s off.”
When I arrived at the underground chapel, Uncle Jin-Sung immediately came running toward me in a flurry. Ji-Ah followed along right behind him. Both had eyes that seemed half-asleep, but they were still dressed. They seemed to be getting ready to go out.
“What the? Where are you going?”
“Ain’t it obvious? We were getting ready to go out so we could check whether you were okay or not.”
“Huh?”
I was a little flustered. It was because my uncle’s reaction was different from what I expected.
“I’m fine, but my house burned down. Is that fine?”
Obviously, the house that my uncle gifted me was worth a significant amount of money. If it was my uncle, I thought that he would worry more about the house than me.
It might seem like there’s no way that anyone would think like that, but uncle was definitely that sort of person.
"What are you talking about? Why are you talking about the house all of a sudden? As long as you're alright, then it’s all good."
“...Did Jin-Sung get replaced by an imposter? You’re different from usual.”
For a moment, I couldn’t help but wonder whether I was hallucinating. That’s how unreal the situation felt. My uncle was a person who believed that the value of anything except money was a meaningless illusion. I couldn’t believe that my uncle was genuinely worried about me. This sounded a little harsh, but rather than feeling touched, I felt more suspicious.
Ji-Ah was twiddling her fingers in the back of the room. She asked, "Are you alright, Cult Leader?"
"Yes. I think I feel completely fine? Well, not completely fine, but I feel moderately fine."
"Then that’s a relief, but do you need to go to the hospital..."
"It's alright. I don't have to go."
After saying so, I threw the keepsake and holy artifacts I was holding onto the desk, took off my jacket, and roughly hung it on the chair. My body was so tired that I didn’t even have the strength to have a short conversation. It seemed like I would have to sleep earlier than usual today.
My uncle looked at the keepsake and the holy artifacts with narrowed eyes. “What is this? My brother-in-law’s keepsake? The thing that he told you to open when you become an adult?”
“Yeah. I brought it earlier.”
“What the heck are you talking about? How did you bring this here?”
“I just went into the house for a brief moment and grabbed it.”
My uncle furrowed his eyebrows.
"You went into the house that was on fire and grabbed it? For a brief moment? No. That doesn't make sense."
"Why? What you said is correct."
"I’m right?"
My uncle chewed his lips with a look of disbelief and spoke once again. "Ah, you crazy bastard! Value your life a little more, please. Like father, like son, I suppose.”
My uncle yelled and scolded me in a frenzy.
I couldn’t clearly understand the meaning behind his words. My ears felt like they were blocked, and it felt like my uncle’s words were all bouncing off my eardrums. Thus, the words ended up floating in the ear without delivering their message.
I shook my head, almost as if I was clearing the air, and entered a room.
I lay down on a damp bed and closed my eyes. The countless things that occurred today passed through my head, but there was not a single thing that remained clearly within my mind. It felt like everything that happened was a dream.
Sleep came quickly, but a sudden thought occurred to me, and I jumped out of the bed.
"Ji-Ah noo... I mean, Miss Ji-Ah."
"Yes, Mr. Cult Leader."
I called out to Ji-Ah and handed her Baal's Maw. Ji-Ah blinked in a questioning manner while placing Baal's Maw on her small palm.
"What are you...?"
"You know the zombie from last time? Back when we robbed the Zapduists."
"Ah, yes."
“I tried to take care of her myself, but there were some problems that cropped up here and there. I was wondering if you could take care of her for me...”
In-Ah’s sister had turned into a zombie, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t still a human. If she was not fed, she would starve to death, and if she wasn’t cleaned, then she would catch diseases.
I could feed her, but I wasn’t able to wash her. Thus, I decided to leave it to Ji-Ah.
"Oh, I understand. If that's the case, of course, I can take care of her.”
“But last time, it seemed like you were scared of her. Are you going to be okay?”
Ji-Ah was very easily scared. I wondered whether she would be able to take care Yoon-Ah properly.
Ji-Ah’s eyebrows twitched. It was a rare facial expression change.
"I can do it."
"Yes. Thank you."
"And I'm not a coward. At that time, I was just surprised," Ji-Ah said with a firm face. It seemed like her pride had been damaged because of that incident.
She was older than me, but she acted so childishly that I could help but let out a smirk. It wasn’t like I was not a child either but in any case...
"Ah. I see," I reluctantly nodded and said.
"It's true."
"Yes, I understand."
I quickly entered the room with a nod. Ji-Ah was a calm person, but she was also quite persistent, so if I didn’t leave quickly, it felt like the conversation would drag on.
I quickly changed my clothes and lay down as if I was throwing my body onto the bed. Insomnia was a disease of thought. It was a mischievous disease where if I closed my eyes to sleep, thoughts would rush in and prevent me from sleeping. Today, however, I was so tired that I didn’t even have time to think. As soon as I closed my eyes, I fell asleep as if I had fainted.
*
It was the first time I felt refreshed in the morning for a long time. My uncle had already woken up and was sitting in his usual spot while reading his book and surfing the internet for news.
“You wake up really early,” I rubbed my sleepy eyes and said. My uncle turned his head and glanced at me.
"When you get older, you sleep less."
"You're not old enough to say that yet.”
"Hmm, that's true. But I’ve always been a light sleeper.”
My uncle seemed to be in a good mood, so he continued watching the news with a bright smile. Looking from the side, it seemed to be a report of yesterday's fire. I read it together next to him.
In summary, there were no casualties thanks to the Seoul Paladin Order Eastern Branch’s good initial response, and only a few people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Although the suppression of the fire was delayed because the support team was late, Han Dae-Ho replicated a miracle and summoned a spray of water to contain the fire and prevent it from developing into a larger blaze.
The director himself denied he performed the miracle replication, but whether he denied it or not, there was a high probability that it was a feat that he performed. In conclusion, he was the one who cast the miracle replication spell.
“Well, since there were no casualties, I suppose it’s fine. I’m a little upset that the house burned down, though,” my uncle said calmly as he read the news.
I read the entire news article and then read the comments. It was full of praise for the Seoul Paladin Order Eastern Branch, and there were some that criticized the support team's incompetence. While the public praised the paladins for their wonderful rescue, they did not care about the victims who had lost their homes in the fire. The result was obvious, and I didn’t mean to say that the public was stupid, but for some reason, it felt like my heart was empty.
"Are you going to go to school? But is your school uniform okay? Doesn’t it smell like smoke?"
“I washed it, so it should be fine, right?”
“Really? Well, do as you please then.”
My uncle stopped reading the new report about the fire and moved on to the news about economics. He started reading the news with a level of concentration that was incomparable to his previous level of focus.
Uncle muttered about some mumbo jumbo, such as crypto being doomed and the water temperature of the Han River set at 36.5 degrees. I left my uncle behind while he talked to himself and began preparing for school.
"Hm."
Today, I was able to successfully tie my necktie. I nodded in satisfaction while tidying up and fixing up my hair.
Just as I was on my way out, Uncle Jin-Sung jumped out of his seat.
"Sun-Woo. I meant what I said yesterday. Take care of yourself.”
"Huh? What is this all of a sudden?"
Looking at my uncle, who was speaking as if he was worried, I slowly crept away. I felt such a strong sense of discontinuity that it felt uncomfortable. I wondered whether my uncle was about to die or something. However, thinking about it a little more deeply, just like me, my uncle had also lost family members during the Holy War. It was natural for him not to want to lose one of his last remaining family members.
Perhaps I was thinking of my uncle as too much of a piece of money-obsessed trash. Perhaps I had been looking at my uncle with tinted glasses the entire time... While internally regretting the way I had thought about my uncle, I reassured him. "It's okay because it’ll take a lot to kill me. You don't have to worry.”
"I know that, but I’m just telling you to be careful. Just in case."
"I told you, I get it. Why are you suddenly so worried about me, anyway? I thought you were only obsessed with money.”
I smiled and got ready to go out. My uncle stroked his chin with a frown on his face and then said with a serious expression, "In terms of value, you’re more valuable than a house. Do you know about the goose that lays golden eggs?"
"Oh, yes."
I ignored him and left the underground chapel. I retracted the internal regret that I had earlier.
*
I felt better than I did yesterday, but I could still feel pain in my body. I didn't realize this when I was preparing to go to school in the underground chapel, but when I walked, I felt a wave of pain. I was just barely able to drag my heavy body to school.
Before I entered the classroom, the sound of students talking was loud enough to ring in the hallway. Yet as soon as I entered the classroom, they became quiet, as if someone had poured cold water over them. All the students' eyes focused on me.
"...What is it this time?"
For some reason, I think I experienced a similar situation last time. A headache was forming already.
As I sat down and wiped off the cold sweat that was dripping down my forehead, In-Ah turned her head from afar and looked at me. She ditched the friends surrounding her and sat down right in front of me. Somehow, her expression was dark.
“Hey, you. I heard that your house caught on fire yesterday.” She continued in a trembling voice, "Are you okay? I received a disaster message yesterday, and I was surprised, so I called you. You didn't answer, so I was wondering if something happened...”
"I’m alright. If I wasn’t alright, then I wouldn't have come to school in the first place."
"Well, that's true.” In-Ah nodded in agreement. I liked how she was quick to understand what I was saying.
Soon after, Jun-Hyuk appeared. As soon as he saw me, he widened his eyes as if he were surprised.
"Hey! There was another fire yesterday. Wasn’t it your house?"
"Yup," I answered casually. There was nothing more tiring than answering the same question twice.
"Are you alright? Is it fine for you to come to school? But from what I can tell, you do look alright."
“If I wasn’t alright, then I wouldn't have come to school in the first place."
“Well, that makes sense.” Jun-Hyuk nodded. Just like In-Ah, he was quick to understand.
Jun-Hyuk looked at In-Ah sitting in the seat in front of me, and widened his eyes even further as if he was even more surprised. At this rate, his eyes would pop out of his skull.
"No, what! In-Ah, you’re here? Why are you here?"
"Why am I here? Shouldn’t you ask why I didn’t come?"
"Huh? Oh, you're right. Well, anyway, as long as you understood what I was saying, then it’s all good."
“I never understood what you were saying in the first place. What a load of bull... Hm.”
In-Ah was about to raise her voice, but she stopped talking. Jun-Hyuk was preparing for the shin attack, and he pouted as if he was encountering an unexpected situation.
"Oh, what's wrong with In-Ah? Did she break while she was away?"
“Break? I’m not a machine, what... No. I decided to reduce my anger, you see. Could you please cooperate?” In-Ah glared at Jun-Hyuk and said forcefully. Her tone was rather aggressive, considering that she had decided to reduce her anger.
Still, seeing that Jun-Hyuk's shin was still intact, she seemed to have resolved herself.
Jun-Hyuk looked at me with a smirk. "Do you want to bet how long she lasts? I bet twenty thousand won that she'll return to normal in two days."
"Oh, come on, I told you to cooperate."
"Then I'll bet twenty thousand won that she won’t."
In-Ah was about to berate Jun-Hyuk, but she stopped talking and stared at me. She looked very upset. "You, you too. Wow, you guys...!”
She complained with her mouth open as if she were dumbfounded. Jun-Hyuk laughed at In-Ah’s stupid expression. Obviously, In-Ah’s reactions were very interesting, so it was fun to tease her. After mucking around like that for a long time, Ye-Jin opened the classroom door and came in.
"Hi~ Good morning~"
Ye-Jin greeted the class energetically, and the noisy classroom quickly became quiet. Ye-Jin immediately called attendance and started homeroom.
"Yesterday, there was a big forest fire, so you had to leave school early, right? According to the regulations, we are supposed to close down the school, but since it’s almost exam period, we decided to leave the school open as normal!”
Some students sighed deeply. It seemed like their hearts were getting heavy after hearing that the exam period was approaching. Just like them, my heart also felt heavy.
"By the way, you absolutely must not approach Eiden Hill. There’s still a lot that we still have to deal with. Similarly, you must not approach the first barn either! That’s an absolute no-no!”
It seemed like they had no intention of informing the students that Eiden Hill was covered in demonic energy. They were probably planning to take care of it quietly without the students knowing. That was probably how Florence was going to handle this incident.
"It seems like the Holy Name of Charity’s re-election test will be next week. They will probably accept applicants starting next week as well. Those who need to get ready, get ready~ Okay. I think that’s it for today!"
According to the teacher, the re-election test would be held sometime next week. The contents of the test would not be disclosed until the day of the test. Of course, regardless of the contents of the test, I was planning to apply. It was because this was the fastest way to become a prelate.
"Ah, Sun-Woo, follow me for a second."
Then Ye-Jin called me. Judging from her tone, I didn’t think that I was in trouble. I didn’t do anything wrong in the first place, but I couldn’t help but get nervous when the teacher told me to follow her. I followed Ye-Jin out of the classroom while receiving the students' questioning gazes. Then we headed straight to the teacher's office.
Ye-Jin rummaged through the drawers for a long time. She took out a piece of paper and handed it to me. The way she spoke was quite serious.
"Read it and make your decision."
What Ye-Jin handed me was some sort of document.
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