Chapter 57
"Dormitory... Dormitory? Can we still apply for the dormitory?” I asked.
"Didn't I tell you before? We're recruiting additional applicants because we have a few rooms available," Miss Ye-Jin responded.
"Oh."
"It seems like you don't listen to me during homeroom at all." Ye-Jin glared at me with narrowed eyes. Beneath her joyous demeanor, there was a hint of coldness. Ye-Jin always hid her inner thoughts with laughter. At least, that's what it felt like to me.
"I listened, but I didn’t pay too much attention. I'm sorry." I tried to make an excuse, but I thought it was lame, so I just apologized right away.
Ye-Jin just maintained a smiley face without any changes to her facial expression.
"There's nothing to be sorry about. I know that a lot of people don't listen to me. Anyway, if you're going to join the dormitory, I'll write you a recommendation letter and other documents–" Ye-Jin continued to explain. Considering family circumstances, the fire, and various other factors, I was given top priority for getting a spot in the dormitory. Apparently, as long as I had a recommendation letter from the homeroom teacher, I could join the dormitory immediately.
Of course, if I didn’t want to, I didn’t have to join the dormitory. The teacher stated formal information such as this.
“Think about it, and ask your father too. By the way, is your body alright?” Ye-Jin asked as if it had suddenly come to mind after talking about stiff topics.
"Yes. I was outside when the fire happened."
"What were you doing outside at that time?”
"I was in the library."
I lied nonchalantly.
"Aha. Anyway, if you’re fine, then that’s a relief. Then, go back to class. Once you decide, you can come to visit me.”
"Yes, thank you for your concern."
"Oh, also."
I bowed my head and tried to get out of the teacher's office quickly, but Ye-Jin stopped me. She moved her lips with a rather complex expression and finally said, “Don't feel too much resentment.”
“What? Ah... yes. Thank you."
I understood the meaning of her words a little late and nodded.
"If you're having a hard time, tell me. Florence Academy has better welfare than you might think, such as scholarships or counseling."
I answered by bowing my head again and left the teacher's office.
Florence Academy had better welfare than I had thought. The reason why I was able to enter Florence was because of its welfare.
Resentment...
While walking down the hall, I brooded over Ye-Jin's words. She probably wanted to tell me not to resent God even if reality was hard. Of course, I didn’t resent God, and I didn’t intend to do so, no matter what happened in the future. It was cowardly to attribute the cause of misfortune to others, much less to the machinations of God.
To believe that misfortunes were given by God and that happiness was earned by one’s self was an exceedingly arrogant and cowardly mindset. When I entered the classroom, In-Ah and Jun-Hyuk welcomed me. In-Ah had a worried expression, while Jun-Hyuk’s was mixed for some reason.
"What did the teacher say? What's going on?"
"She said that if I wanted to apply for a dormitory, then I could go for it. The rest was a bunch of small talk."
"Ah... That's a relief. I thought you were in trouble."
"What could I have possibly done wrong?"
"Oh, that's true. I mistook you for Jun-Hyuk." In-Ah breathed a sigh of relief and understood.
Jun-Hyuk looked at In-Ah as if he was baffled. "Why are you talking about me all of a sudden? You're being ridiculous, you know that?”
"You don't have a reason to go to the teacher's office other than to get scolded,” In-Ah said nonchalantly.
"No, that... It’s not to that extent. Sometimes I go because of other reasons.”
"What other reasons?"
"Oh, well, you know. Cleaning?"
When Jun-Hyuk spoke bitterly, In-Ah laughed as if she knew that this would happen. Jun-Hyuk frowned deeply.
"Hey, don't laugh. I feel offended because it feels like you're making fun of me."
“I am making fun of you, though? You're right.”
“Ah, is that right?”
Tap.
Jun-Hyuk twisted one of In-Ah's hair strands and pulled it out. In-Ah lightly shrieked and wrapped her head with both her hands.
“You crazy...! No, what are you doing!”
Jun-Hyuk shook the strand of hair that he pulled out and barked, “Huh? Didn't you just curse at me?”
In-Ah's face convulsed and alternated between a smile and a serious face. It seemed as if she was so angry that she couldn't even maintain her expression properly. Jun-Hyuk continued to just smile.
Thus, the two ended up staring daggers at each other. Both were silent, and whether it was intentional or not, their eyes showed bloodlust.
“You’re gonna end up fighting again. Why are you guys like this so early in the morning?”
I quickly stopped them before a fight could break out. When the two of them fought, I would suffer the most because I would be the one stuck in the middle of the conflict.
In-Ah looked at Jun-Hyuk and me and then sighed deeply while lowering her head. "Sigh, alright. Let's not fight."
"Okay. Ceasefire! But looking at you from above, the top of your head seems a bit empty. Are you balding?"
"Ah... Hey. You come here."
In-Ah jumped out of her seat and strode toward Jun-Hyuk. He backed away from her.
"Thanks, but no thanks~ Did you think that I would come towards you just because you said so?"
Rather than apologizing, Jun-Hyuk continued to provoke In-Ah. She hardened her face without saying a word and approached him.
"Hey guys... Give it a break already."
There seemed to be no sign of stopping, even if I tried to stop them again. I gave up and decided just to sit and watch. I didn't think they would listen to me even if I tried to stop them, and most of all, intervening between the two was too embarrassing.
When In-Ah approached, Jun-Hyuk drifted away. The two started a silent chase.
Bang!
The reason why the duo’s movements stopped at once was because of Jin-Seo, who suddenly appeared. Jin-Seo slammed the door open so hard that it seemed like she was going to make it shatter, and she slowly strode toward me.
"Come out."
"Huh? What is it all of a sudden–"
She snatched me by the wrist and took me out to the hallway.
The noisy classroom soon became quiet after Jin-Seo’s appearance. Everyone was looking at me, but without having time to be conscious of their gazes, I was dragged out of the classroom.
"Was it your house that caught on fire?”
Her expression was stiff, and she narrowed her eyes so sharply that it looked like they could cut. Her eyes were a little red as if she was tired, and it looked like she had dark circles under her eyes. I was just barely able to nod.
"Yeah. Why?”
"Why didn't you pick up your phone?"
“It turned off because I ran out of battery.”
“Ah...”
Jin-Seo shifted her eyes left and right. She must have called me while my phone was off. I didn't know that she called because calls were not recorded while the phone’s power was off. I didn't know about other phones, but at least this was the case for my model. It was an old phone.
"What about the hospital?"
"I don't have to go. I was outside when the fire broke out.”
Jin-Seo nodded slightly as if she was relieved to hear my answer, but her face was still stiff.
"...Outside, where?" she asked carefully. She was tilting her head at an angle as if she were looking away, but her eyes were staring at me.
"I was in the library."
I repeated the same lie I told Ye-Jin. It also happened to be the exam period, so most people would understand if I said that I went to the study room.
"Which library?"
“The one in front of my house. The one next to the park.”
“Really?”
Jin-Seo shut her mouth and remained silent for a moment.
Her face was still expressionless. Unlike when she smiled, she looked a little scary when she was serious. She had an aura that made me feel scared even though she didn’t pose a threat. She seemed to be particularly serious in front of me.
A moment of silence passed by, and then she grinned and opened her mouth.
"I must have seen the wrong person."
She walked away from me at a brisk pace and soon disappeared. Her pace was so fast that it was comparable to the running speed of most people. I wasn’t really sure, but it seemed like she was angry for some reason. It wasn’t obvious because it wasn’t apparent from her expression.
Jun-Hyuk had been watching the situation from behind, and he came up to me while covering up his teasing smile.
“What happened? Did you do something wrong?”
“I don't know,” I said with an empty laugh.
What did it mean when she said that she saw the wrong person, and why was Jin-Seo angry again? I thought we had gotten close, but was it just my misunderstanding? Various thoughts went through my mind.
"Perhaps she just doesn’t like me?"
It was not an unlikely conjecture. Jun-Hyuk tilted his head as if he didn't understand. His face was strangely wrinkled. I was wondering how on earth he could make such a weird expression when he said, "What kind of reta–, sigh. If she didn’t like you, why would she bother to come all the way to the classroom to see you?”
“Then why is she like that?”
“I don’t know either. Anyway, treat her nicely. If you keep acting like this, I can't go to the training center."
"What? What has that got to do with this?"
Jun-Hyuk touched the hair on the back of his head and shifted his eyes around the room. He looked like he was contemplating something. I had no idea what was troubling him.
“Well, I wonder. It has to do with very complex and profoundly interwoven human relationships—argh!”
At that moment, Jun-Hyuk stopped talking and collapsed onto the floor. In-Ah stared at Jun-Hyuk, who had fallen down, with a furious face.
"Hey. I told you to come."
"Oh, wait a minute. This isn't right. How can you kick the back of my knee?"
“Then what about you plucking my hair?”
"What am I supposed to do about your balding head?"
Smack.
In-Ah kicked Jun-Hyuk's leg once more without listening to him. The sound was more destructive than normal. The two of them continued to fight for a long time. I was too ashamed to be with them, so I quickly left the area.
*
"The Book of Revelation consists of 22 chapters and 404 verses. You have to be particularly careful in interpreting this part of the—"
Just before lunchtime, we had our last morning class. The subject was ‘Understanding the Holy Books,’ and we were currently studying the ‘Interpretation of the Book of Revelation’ module of the course. Perhaps because it was right before lunchtime, but the overall level of concentration in the room was quite low.
"Then let me present two perspectives on interpreting the Book of Revelation... What? Why are these kids sleeping during class? Where's the class president?”
"There's no class president yet, sir."
"There's no class president? Ah... It's the Class of Charity. My bad.”
The Class of Charity did not have a class president yet since former class president Sung-Hyun lost his qualifications and was expelled. The teacher swept his bangs back as if he was in a dilemma.
"Wasn’t this year's evaluation subject Understanding the Holy Book? Am I right?”
The teacher frowned and tried to recall the details. In Florence Academy, the evaluation subject changed year by year, and this year it was Understanding the Holy Book.
If it was a natural subject such as sacred dynamics instead of Understanding the Holy Book, it would have been difficult for me to even place 300th, let alone first place. It was purely because of Legba that I could achieve first place. Legba may be good at history, but he was weak in natural subjects.
"It's kind of bad to mention evaluations right now. Anyway, the person who scored first place on the evaluations is in this class, right? Get up."
Of course, this was not what was important. I sensed a bad premonition from the moment he started talking about the evaluations, and as expected, the teacher called me up. I raised my hand and rose carefully from my seat.
"What's your name, student?”
"My name’s Do Sun-Woo."
"Ah yes, that's right. Do Sun-Woo. I remembered that your last name was Do, but I couldn’t remember your name. Anyway, there are two main perspectives on interpreting the Book of Revelations. What are they?”
Fortunately, I knew what the teacher was asking for.
"They are the world-centered perspective and the church-centered perspective."
"Yes. Could you explain the difference between the two viewpoints?”
"First of all, the world-centered perspective is–"
I wanted to explain it as briefly as possible and sit back down, but when I opened my mouth, my sentences got longer.
“The world-centered perspective is when you consider the Book of Revelations as a direct prophecy without considering the historical background, and the church-centered perspective is when you consider the historical background, and blah, blah, blah....”
"Uh, you can stop there."
When the presentation reached its climax, the teacher interrupted me. The teacher said with a satisfied expression on his face, "You said your name was Do Sun-Woo, right? You’re going to teach the class that I’m supposed to teach at this rate."
"What? Ah... I'm sorry."
"What do you mean sorry, my friend? It’s a win for me because I can spend less time teaching the class. Good work, you can sit back down now.”
The teacher for Understanding the Holy Book was famous for his lack of praise, so this was a lavish compliment in his own way. I bowed deeply and sat down.
I lifted my pen and wrote down all the words that came to mind when thinking about the Holy Book. Words such as prophecy, interpretation, method, perspective, etc. And then, by combining the words, I organized the ideas floating around in my head.
"Sometimes, there are kids who only know about SD or SM, and they don't bother with the Holy Book. Technically, the miracle replication spells that you all like so much all come from understanding the Holy Book—”
SD referred to Sacred Dynamics, and SM was the acronym for Sacred Material Science.
The teacher continued the class, lamenting the attitudes of students who only dug into the natural subjects and neglected the humanities subjects. Meanwhile, I focused only on organizing my ideas.
Prophecy.
I was organizing the ideas that came to mind from the word prophecy.
Baron Samedi's words were predictions, too. It was not as grand as the Romanican Church's Book of Revelations, so it was closer to a fortune teller’s ramblings. It could be said to be a short and simple prediction. However, that prophecy didn't help much. It was because Baron Samedi's predictions were always vague and fuzzy.
"As you all know, the prophecy contained in the Book of Revelations is very ambiguous. Scholars say it's a metaphor and all that, but I don't know—”
However, to say that the prophecy of the Book of Revelations was clear was also not true. In fact, the prophecies contained in the Book of Revelations were even more vague and fuzzy than Baron Samedi's prophecies. It was not an exaggeration to say that all sentences and words were made up of metaphors. Nevertheless, the hermeneutics could still interpret it.
If so, Baron Samedi's predictions could be sufficiently interpreted. No, perhaps Baron Samedi’s predictions were hundreds of times easier to interpret than the Book of Revelations. No matter how vague Baron Samedi's prophecy was, it was intuitive compared to the Book of Revelations.
Satanists had directly come to our house and burned it down. It was time to not only accept prophecies but to interpret and utilize them. If I just idly sat by and continued to watch the show, I would end up dying at the hands of Satanists before I could even try anything.
[Just because interpretation is possible, does that mean that there is any point? Baron Samedi isn't the kind of convenient guy who comes over when you want them to. I'm sure you know that.] Legba said.
Of course, Baron Samedi's predictions were not something I could listen to whenever I wanted to. Baron Samedi was the type of fickle Loa to come over when I didn’t want them to and not when I wanted them to.
However, there was still plenty of room for utilization. With the right amount of communication skills, I could take advantage of the relationship between the Prophet and the Loa. I could place little shackles on the free-spirited Baron Samedi's ankles.
"—That's all. Today’s class was about the Book of Revelations, and the next class is going to be a review of Genesis. Bring a Holy Book. You can relax for the remaining time~"
While I was organizing my thoughts, the class ended, and it was lunchtime. In-Ah, who was slowly dozing off, and Jun-Hyuk, who was just openly sleeping, opened their eyes. The two got up at almost the same time and staggered out of the classroom. The way they walked resembled zombies.
"Hey, guys. Wake up. Wakey, wakey."
I don’t know about Jun-Hyuk, but watching In-Ah walk like that made me feel anxious for some reason, so I quickly woke them up.
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