Chapter 91
I was able to successfully obtain the information I wanted from the mercenary by torturing him with the intoxication spell. As I had expected, the mercenary turned out to be an assassin that the other executives had sent to kill me. I learned which faction’s executive had ordered him directly from the mercenary's mouth. I planned on holding that executive personally accountable regarding this incident in the upcoming executive meeting.
After extracting all the desired information, I sent the mercenary back home. I also did not forget to erase his memories by using the memory annihilation spell. Unfortunately, during the interrogation process, the mercenary became addicted to the intoxication spell, and it looked like everyday life would be impossible for him from now on, but that was not my problem. I believed it was a merciful treatment considering the fact that they had tried to cut my ankle tendons.
The next morning, I arrived at the student council room.
The meeting was scheduled for seven o’clock. I arrived ten minutes early. My head felt extremely heavy, maybe because I didn’t sleep properly last night due to interrogating the mercenary. I plopped down on the student council desk and tried to sleep. I was planning to get some shut-eye for just ten minutes before the meeting started.
Tap, tap.
Darkness came as soon as I closed my eyes. However, someone woke me up. As I straightened my messy hair and raised my head, I saw that Jin-Seo was looking at me.
"You slept like a rock. You must have been tired."
"..."
Before responding to her words, I checked the time first. It was 7:05 a.m. It had been five minutes since the meeting was supposed to start, yet there was no one in the student council room except for me and Jin-Seo.
The chilly morning breeze shook the curtains. Suddenly, I remembered when Jin-Seo had smiled at me under the shaking moonlight. The only difference was that it was night back then, and now it was morning.
"What about the others?"
"No one else has arrived yet besides us two.”
“Besides us two.”
Her tone of voice was a bit strange, so I tried reiterating what she was saying. Jin-Seo looked at me and smiled softly. Her smile always felt strange and fantastical. It was clear and distinct, but it was not ordinary. It felt somewhat mysterious.
"Apparently, the supervisor for the gym that I go to woke up."
"Supervisor? ...Ah, that person."
"Yes, the one who was with me."
It seemed like she was talking about the dying person who was trapped under the collapsed building materials at the training center. Even in the midst of trying to save him, I wondered if he could really be saved. Fortunately, I heard that he survived, and it looked like he had regained consciousness as of yesterday.
"That's a relief."
“It seems like he can’t move anymore though because he damaged his nerves.”
“...”
I looked at Jin-Seo while regretting how I had hastily spouted out words of relief. She had a faint smile on her face while she cast her gaze down toward the ground. The mysterious feeling she was emanating had disappeared without a trace, and in its place was a smile devoid of emotions. The smile was similar to the one that she habitually had on her lips back when I had first met her.
“If only... I had done a little better back then...”
The smile gradually faded. The only emotions that remained on her tightly closed lips were self-blame, despair, and regret.
"I think the outcome would have been different, I think."
"I doubt it," I said while letting out a wry laugh.
At my response, Jin-Seo looked at me with a slightly surprised expression.
I continued, “How could you have done better there?”
“...”
“You did as much as you could.”
Within the confusion, Jin-Seo had steadfastly drawn healing and blessing arrays in order to heal the supervisor. It was all thanks to her that the supervisor survived with only injuries.
The one who should have done better was not her, but me.
If I had moved my body faster, no, if I had completely shattered all the taxidermied creatures in the Satanist's hideout from the beginning, then perhaps the explosion and the ensuing fire wouldn’t have occurred. Subsequently, the gym supervisor wouldn’t have become disabled.
Perhaps from the beginning, going to save Ji-Ah without any preparation while only being led by emotions was a mistake.
[You did what you could as well. You even went as far as jumping into the fire while continuously destroying your body with the intoxication spell,] Legba suddenly said in a faint voice.
Perhaps it was because Jin-Seo was right in front of me, but his voice was much softer than usual. Instead of answering, I shook my head slightly. The phrase "you did what you could" was nothing more than a form of despicable rationalization to me. No matter how hard I tried, even if I sacrificed my life and did my best, if I did not achieve the best outcome, then it was a failure.
It was not right to compare Jin-Seo and me. In the first place, the responsibilities we were given were different. Not only that, but our roles were also different.
[You have obsessive-compulsive disorder. It would be better for you to go to the hospital,] Legba sneered.
I ignored him and looked at Jin-Seo. She was combing her hair with her fingers while staring at me with a strange look in her eyes.
“Thanks,” she said.
It felt like I was frequently hearing words of gratitude from her. However, it felt like I hadn’t ever done anything that was worth receiving her gratitude for. I felt a little strange. I hid my expression with a smile.
"I already heard that from your father."
"...Then just listen to it again," Jin-Seo retorted curtly as if she was slightly upset.
"But where are the others?"
I looked around the room and changed the subject. It was already 7:10 a.m., and besides me and Jin-Seo, no one else had arrived. Something was strange.
She said with a smile, "Looks like everyone is late."
"Is it always like this?"
"They’re not this late. Usually."
Jin-Seo dragged her chair next to me and sat down. She rested her elbows on the desk, tilted her chin, and looked at me with a slanted gaze.
"It would be great if no one came in," she said.
"...Don't tease me."
I turned my gaze away. Her face was too close. I could smell a cozy yet refreshing scent coming from somewhere. It seemed to be coming from her hair.
"Look over here."
"No."
"Why are you avoiding eye contact? Are you embarrassed?"
"Stop teasing me," I said while turning my head toward her direction.
Her face was much closer than before. Jin-Seo looked at me with a half-opened mouth and widened eyes as if she were surprised. The room was filled with silence. Not long after, her face started to turn noticeably red.
"Ah..."
Crash—!
At that moment, the wardrobe door in the corner of the student council room opened, and blankets and clothes spilled out. A person was sprawled out in the mess.
"...Hello! I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but somehow it happened... Um, did I interrupt? Should I leave?"
The one who popped out of the wardrobe was Su-Ryeon, the Holy Name of Temperance. She quickly tidied up the scattered blankets and stuffed them back into the wardrobe before standing up abruptly from her spot.
“To tell you the truth, it’s not good if student council members are romantically involved with each other! I will not reveal this secret to anyone. Yup. I’ll carry this secret to the grave. Seriously.”
“...It’s a misunderstanding.”
"Ah, haha. Right. Of course, it's a misunderstanding. Anyway, I have something to do, so I have to go out..."
Bang!
"Ouch!"
The door suddenly opened. Su-Ryeon was hastily trying to leave the student council room, but she hit her forehead against the door and fell onto the ground. The one who had opened the door was Dae-Man.
"This can't be! I thought I would be the first one here, but I ended up being a disgrace to the Holy Name of Diligence," Dae-Man said and sat on an empty seat.
His body seemed to have become even larger than when I first saw him. His well-defined muscles were visible through his clothes. Su-Ryeon rubbed her forehead for a while while sitting on the ground. Then her facial expression distorted, and she abruptly jumped up from the ground.
"...Hey! You almost shattered my forehead!"
"Ah, I'm sorry. You were so small that I didn't see you."
"It’s not that I’m small. It’s that you’re too big! You’re like a bear!"
"I'll take that as a compliment! I still have a long way to go in order to fight a bear. I need to exercise more diligently."
Su-Ryeon and Dae-Man continued to argue back and forth for a while. When Dae-Man apologized again, Su-Ryeon seemed to calm down. She collected her breath before sitting down.
Within the brief silence enveloped the student council room, Dae-Man looked around and said, "By the way, why did everyone come so early?! The meeting was clearly supposed to start at 7:20 a.m."
"7:20 a.m.?"
I repeated Dae-Man's words in confusion and glanced at Jin-Seo. Her head was lowered, with her flushed face hiding behind her flowing hair. She cautiously glanced at me with apologetic eyes.
"...Sorry," she quietly apologized while she lowered her gaze as if feeling ashamed.
***
Soon, the ‘real’ starting time of 7:20 a.m. arrived. Ha-Yeon and Min-Seo also arrived at the student council room on time. In particular, Min-Seo opened the door at exactly 7:20 a.m. and entered the student council room to proceed with the meeting immediately. I didn’t know about anything else, but at the very least, her time management skills were always shockingly sharp and on point.
“Is everyone here? Besides Humility?”
Min-Seo looked around the student council room. Except for the Holy Name of Humility, everyone was already here. Min-Seo suddenly dropped a stack of documents she was holding with a loud thud and clapped her hands in the air.
"Good news. Sun-Woo has been re-elected as the Holy Name of Charity. A round of applause!"
Clap, clap, clap.
Starting with Min-Seo, Su-Ryeon, and Dae-Man also applauded. Ha-Yeon and Jin-Seo also joined in as if they had been swept into it. The applause lasted for about three seconds. When the applause stopped, Min-Seo picked up the papers that she had placed on the table.
"Let's keep today's meeting short and sweet. First of all, we need to write a proposal. It’s a proposal for a religious-related essay competition."
Thump.
Min-Seo dumped a thick stack of papers in front of me.
"So, since Sun-Woo just received the congratulations of the student council, he will be in charge of this. You just need to complete it by next week."
“I just joined—”
“It’ll be a handover while you also do some practical work. Or, well, something like that anyway.”
‘A handover while also doing practical work.’ I thought to myself that it was quite a funny way of portraying it. ‘A handover while also doing practical work’ was more or less a euphemism for getting work dumped onto me.
“Well then, let’s move on to the next topic.”
Min-Seo immediately moved on to the next agenda without even listening to my response. It was as if my opinion didn’t even matter in the first place. Min-Seo shifted her gaze between the documents and the window as she spoke.
"This topic is really important... Humility, that bastard!" Min-Seo cursed irritably.
"A-ack! Oh, I'm sorry." Ha-Yeon let out a strange sound in surprise while her shoulders trembled.
Min-Seo clenched the documents with her trembling hands as if she was crumpling them.
"...We can't proceed with the meeting because Humility is not here. I heard that he was arriving today. Dae-Man, have you heard anything from that guy?"
"Um... he said he’s arriving soon!"
"Really? Can I see?"
Dae-Man turned his phone screen around and showed it to Min-Seo. The phone looked miniature in Dae-Man's large hand.
“He said he would ‘arrive soon’ ten minutes ago, and he still isn’t here yet? Is he crazy?”
“Don’t get mad at me. It’s not my fault.”
"Yeah. It's not your fault. It's Humility, that bastard's fault. Everything is that bastard’s fault..."
At that moment, when Min-Seo was trying to calm down her anger by sighing deeply...
Bang!
The door opened, and someone walked in. He had sharp, raised eyes, subtly tanned skin, and disheveled blonde hair that looked to have been bleached. The muscles in his body looked quite strong and firm. He walked casually toward us and naturally took a seat at the head of the round table.
"Ah... I was a bit late because I overslept," he said weakly while placing his hand on his forehead as if he were trying to get rid of a headache. All the members of the student council looked at him as if they were dumbfounded.
"Why are you all looking at me like that? I am, umm... Humility. The Holy Name of Humility. Ma Yu-Hyun. Don’t you know me? You guys know me, right?”
Ma Yu-Hyun.
He was the only grandson of the Romanican Pope. It was a name that every clergyman knew, and it was even more so a name that I couldn’t dismiss as the leader of the Voodoo Cult. It was because of the two talents that he possessed.
"The high and mighty Holy Name of Humility has finally arrived. You're five minutes late, and you don’t even utter a word of apology."
Min-Seo broke the silence. Regardless of whether Ma Yu-Hyun was the Pope's grandson or not, Min-Seo's tone remained the same. Ma Yu-Hyun briefly stared at Min-Seo with his uniquely slanted eyes.
"Uh... So, didn’t I say I was late because I overslept?"
"You were late because you overslept... Do you think people come to meetings early because they don’t want to sleep more? Are you seriously saying that crap is an excuse? Do you know how many matters have been delayed because of you—”
"No, why are you getting all angry and acting like that? You’re making me feel embarrassed. You stupid-looking bitch," Yu-Hyun casually cursed while laughing cheerfully with a somewhat idiotic-looking face.
Min-Seo stared at Yu-Hyun with a dumbfounded expression. A dangerous aura flowed between the two. I had a feeling that a fight was about to break out, even though the two people had met less than a minute ago. Soon, divine power flowed out from Min-Seo's fingertips.
Su-Ryeon stood up abruptly in response to the brewing fight. "Hey, hey! We can't fight here!"
Before Su-Ryeon could stop her, Min-Seo had completed the blessing array. I wasn't exactly sure, but it seemed like a blessing related to enhancing physical abilities. She was determined to beat Yu-Hyun by using the blessing.
"...Huh?"
At that moment, Min-Seo looked at her own arm with confusion. It was because the light of blessing that should have been directed toward herself had changed course and headed toward Yu-Hyun. The light of blessing enveloped Yu-Hyun’s thick arm and shone brilliantly. Yu-Hyun abruptly stood up and silently approached Min-Seo.
"What the fuck. Why is this...!"
Min-Seo shifted backward and quickly drew up another blessing array. Similar to the last array, it was a blessing array related to physical abilities. However, the light of blessing did not go toward Min-Seo. It once again deviated and was absorbed into Yu-Hyun's body. Min-Seo's face stiffened in surprise.
Yu-Hyun gently grabbed Min-Seo's neck with his thick arm, which was enveloped with the light of blessing.
"A strong woman isn't bad either. Rather, I like it..."
It was a more terrifying statement than an ordinary murder threat. The shock reflected on Min-Seo's face gradually turned into fear. It was the first time I had seen Min-Seo with such a terrified expression. Her body trembled slightly. After a moment of silence, Yu-Hyun released his grip on Min-Seo's neck. He then looked around while laughing innocently.
"Just kidding~ Just kidding. What I was trying to say is, let’s not fight with each other.”
“...You, how did you do that?” Min-Seo said while trying to calm her trembling body.
Yu-Hyun stirred his finger in the air as if it wasn’t a big deal. The light of blessing swayed back and forth in response.
"I don't know how, but it's just something that I’ve been able to do since I was born," he said.
He could control the flow of divine power, just like how I could control the flow of Voodoo magic. This was his first talent. Leaving behind Min-Seo, who was staring at him with wide eyes, Yu-Hyun continued speaking.
"Why is the atmosphere like this? Um, should I make a proclamation? Didn’t the Holy Name of Chastity get re-elected this time?"
"...It's Charity. The Holy Name of Chastity is me."
"Ah, right. So Charity has changed."
Yu-Hyun looked at Ha-Yeon with narrowed eyes. It was a gaze that gave off a sticky and strange feeling of discomfort.
"What, it's Ha-Yeon? You've become so pretty. You remember me, right?"
"...I don't remember."
"Ah~ hey. We used to play together a lot when we were young. We even slept in the same bed.”
“Wha-what nonsense are you spouting out—?!”
“Ah, that wasn’t you. Well, who cares?”
Ha-Yeon and Yu-Hyun seemed to know each other. Ha-Yeon didn't seem to like Yu-Hyun very much. No, it seemed more like she hated him.
"Anyway, so the new kid that just joined..."
Yu-Hyun half-heartedly calmed down the enraged Ha-Yeon and looked around the room. His sharp gaze briefly scanned the faces of the student council members, from Dae-Man to Su-Ryeon, Su-Ryeon to Jin-Seo, Min-Seo, and then me. I avoided meeting his eyes and subtly dropped my head.
Suddenly, a memory from a long time ago came to mind. A few days after my father, the Second Cult Leader of the Voodoo Cult, died and the Holy War had ended, the extremist faction of the Romanican Church, the Levi Order, began searching every house and started arresting Voodoo Cult members.
The Levi Order gathered the Voodoo Cult members in pits that had been prepared beforehand and set them on fire, burning them all to death. During that time, it was said that the black ash that spewed out from the flames covered all the stars in the sky. Thus, the incident was often called The Starless Night.
“I definitely remember seeing his face at the appointment ceremony. Ah...”
On The Starless Night, the primary culprit of the extermination of the Voodoo Cult members was Yu-Hyun. He was only ten years old, but he had the uniquely sharp intuition to pick out the Voodoo Cult members. I didn’t know how he did it. As the Pope's grandson, he had the ability to distinguish the members of the Romanican Church from the others... That was what I suspected. After that incident, Yu-Hyun became known as the Cultist Discerner.
"Ah, it’s you."
That was his second talent.
I could clearly feel Yu-Hyun's sharp gaze directed toward me.
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