Chapter 39: Hello Cult (2)
“Seems the head is a more incredible guy than I thought.”
After Teacher Lee and the cult leader entered the sanctuary, the atmosphere settled in a strange way.
“Teacher…….”
“What do we do now?”
The kids asked with anxious voices.
“What do you mean, what do we do.”
Yoo jin answered expressionlessly.
“If we came this far, there is only one thing to do. We go in.”
“What?”
“We’re just going in recklessly?”
Ye-na and Jin-ho’s anxious gazes hung in the air.
“Wait a moment. I haven’t fully understood the situation yet either, but I know a bit about this place.”
Lee Si-wang’s voice gathered attention.
“I heard they are picky about accepting believers here too. Especially the Friday service, only the rich can enter…….”
“I don't know, about that kind of thing.”
Yoo jin moved his feet indifferently.
Thud, thud.
Seeing Yoo jin slowly approaching the sanctuary, the kids and Lee Si-wang turned pale.
Judging from the data so far.
The picture to be drawn after this was obvious.
“Ha……. Everyone get ready. Since they won’t let us in anyway, that human will cause trouble again.”
“Probably. Someone else will go flying again.”
“Lord……. Another one goes…….”
Meanwhile, Yoo jin’s voice was heard.
“Hey!”
Now this place will become a sea of blood.
Thinking like that, Lee Si-wang and the kids’ gazes headed toward Yoo jin.
However.
“Hey, come quickly! They say they’ll let us in.”
Lee Si-wang and the kids looked at each other in surprise.
Unexpectedly, entry into the church was granted smoothly.
“Meekly…….”
“They’re letting us in?”
“Why…… on earth?”
***
“When I wore this necklace, they let me in right away?”
The chapel inside the sanctuary.
At Yoo jin’s voice, Jin-ho muttered in a small voice.
“Seems they thought you were a rich person……. Phew…….”
Although they weren’t saying it, Ye-na and Lee Si-wang next to him were also letting out similar sighs.
“Well, anyway, we entered safely for now…….”
“I didn't know it would be used here, but anyway the Guild Master will be happy too…….”
Gazes mixed with absurdity and admiration headed toward Yoo jin.
“What, that reaction. Did you guys perhaps think I would cause trouble?”
Yes.
There was no one who could say this.
So everyone just swallowed it inside.
Their eyes swept the air, avoiding an answer.
Small voices that wouldn't be heard by Yoo jin went back and forth among the group.
“He's unpredictable, Teacher…….”
“Exactly…….”
“You must be suffering a lot……. Vice Guild Master…….”
This time the kids' gazes lingered on Lee Si-wang.
“Why? Looking at me like that.”
One of the kids asked as if curious.
Orange eyes.
It was Ye-na.
“By the way, we are inside the building, so why are you wearing sunglasses?”
Lee Si-wang answered coldly.
“Even if I look like this, I am A-Rank No. 1. Because my face is known.”
“That stands out more though?”
Lee Si-wang answered with silence.
Like that.
The service began.
Yoo jin and the group blended in among the believers for an hour and looked for strange points.
However, the service flowed ordinarily like any other religious event.
Praising.
Worshipping.
The leader's sermon.
“It’s very different from what I imagined.”
“Exactly. Do you believe! They don't even do this kind of thing.”
“Yeah. In movies, they make people in wheelchairs stand up and rip them off for money.”
The voices of the kids and Lee Si-wang rang out.
Like their words, they couldn't find any particularly strange points.
It was just similar to the service of any other religion they basically knew.
It was clearly a cult, but that didn't show visibly.
“It really is just like a church…….”
Yoo jin, who had maintained a long silence, opened his mouth.
Dark brown eyes moving quickly.
Even in Yoo jin's view, no strange points were seen.
“Teacher, is it really true that Seong-hyeon is here?”
Behind Jin-ho's voice.
Yoo jin couldn't say any words.
Like that, behind Yoo jin's silence, shadows began to cast on the faces of the kids and Lee Si-wang.
After that, the service continued.
They watched while hiding among the believers for about an hour, but couldn't find any singularities.
Like that, the basic service ended.
“Then, with this, we will end the service. I hope everyone eats and goes.”
With the voice of the leader whose top head was shining as the last, the chapel became filled with the sound of applause.
Emptiness settled over Lee Si-wang's voice.
“Strange……. No matter how I look, it's just a church.”
“Exactly. It's similar to the church I followed along to in elementary school.”
“The believers seem ordinary too. In movies, everyone looked strange…….”
The kids looked at Yoo jin, unable to hide their anxiety.
“…….”
However, Yoo jin only stared intently at one place and didn't say any words.
At that time.
“You are the new believers who came today, right? I don't know for what matter you came, but there will be peace of mind.”
The leader stopped in front of Yoo jin and the group.
Trying not to show they were flustered as much as possible, the kids and Lee Si-wang didn't speak and just bowed their heads slightly.
“You can come out comfortably whenever you feel like it. Please make sure to eat before you go too. I hope to see you next time as well. Then…….”
The leader, who bowed his head slightly, left the spot.
When the leader vacated the spot, Lee Si-wang said in a small voice.
“He doesn't even force it.”
Silence arose for a moment.
Yoo jin, who had kept his mouth shut for a long time, opened his mouth while watching the back of the receding leader.
“Originally, even when selling goods, they don't force it.”
“He even looks kind. Like a real clergyman.”
“Even the brothers in the underground shopping mall look kind. Until you say you don't have money.”
“Even your examples are really…….”
Lee Si-wang shook his head.
Behind Lee Si-wang, who was still wearing sunglasses, the kids' faces were seen.
Yoo jin, confirming Jin-ho and Ye-na looking around with anxious faces, spoke calmly.
“Don't worry, because this is the right place.”
The kids' eyes became wide and blank.
“How do you…… know that?”
At Ye-na's question, Jin-ho and Lee Si-wang next to her also placed their gazes on Yoo jin with heavy expressions.
Yoo jin, who scanned the chapel once with his dark brown eyes, opened his mouth.
“Teacher Lee isn't visible.”
For a moment, everyone paused.
“Uh…….”
“Come to think of it…….”
The eyes moving following Yoo jin's gaze.
Lee Si-wang and the kids' eyes captured the chapel in their sight.
“This place is probably just a mask to hide the real thing. There is definitely a hidden place somewhere…….”
Yoo jin's eyes shone gold.
“Along with the leader's true form too.”
***
Underground where the exact location cannot be known.
A space so large that the front cannot be properly confirmed.
However, only one small light was illuminating that place.
There, Seong-hyeon was.
A cross made of cold machinery.
Seong-hyeon's figure hanging there.
His whole body was covered in wounds.
A haggard face.
Pupils that seemed to have no strength at all, making one doubt he was alive, were also seen.
Around where Seong-hyeon was tied, bloodstains and several beds were seen.
Like a hospital.
However, the ones lying there were not the living.
But even while being amidst that pile of many corpses, fear could not be found on Seong-hyeon's face.
At that time.
Jiiiing―.
A ray of light entering the dark space.
And inside that light, someone walked in.
Thud.
Thud.
Footsteps rang out.
“You son of a bitch…….”
Seong-hyeon's dead eyes came alive, harboring killing intent.
“Is an Awakener an Awakener? Or is it because of your age? You haven't drunk water for three days……. Keu, youth is indeed a blessing of God.”
The footsteps stopped in front of Seong-hyeon.
The owner of the footsteps was none other than the leader who was conducting the service just before.
Kim Seong-hak.
The leader of the Heavenly Mandate Holy Order.
When he stopped right in front, Seong-hyeon, who was only dying, put strength into his whole body and struggled.
“Stop spouting bullshit! Give me back my ability!”
“Are you still on about that? Didn't I say that is already a sacrifice to be offered to the Messiah?”
“Stop talking like a cultist and quickly give back my Unique Skill!”
Kim Seong-hak shook his head.
“Foolish humans can't be helped. To not even know that the true blessing of becoming a part of God is a blessing…….”
“What blessing! The people here! Is this all a blessing! I will reveal everything you guys are doing! Coaxing sick people! What on earth you are doing here!”
“What we are doing……. Then let me ask a question. Did I ever tell them to come?”
“What?”
“Coming here was the choice these people made themselves. Humans with not much life left. I never once told them to come first. Everyone came looking for us. At the end, at the very end. To this place. And everyone…… became a part of God smiling. They went to heaven.”
“Crazy bastard…….”
“Aren't you the same? You also came to me on your own feet.”
“…….”
In Seong-hyeon's view, the appearance of the leader Kim Seong-hak smiling happily was seen.
However, what was built on that face was not happiness, but an expression terrible enough to give goosebumps.
“You are a truly strange person. Even though I clearly gave you a chance. To keep barging in……. When you could have just lived quietly.”
The leader, who hardened his expression in an instant, slowly approached and grabbed Seong-hyeon's chin.
“You should be bowing in gratitude for letting you out alive, yet it's not enough……. The one who went easy on you was me, not you. I showed mercy for offering a Rare Skill, tsk tsk!”
Eyes darker and colder than the abyss headed toward Seong-hyeon.
“So I thought about it. Why on earth does he not give up. Even though he is clearly terrified. His eyes have given up. Why on earth…… does he keep coming to this place. Even while becoming a liar…….”
The leader, who was muttering to himself, lifted the corners of his mouth.
“What you are looking for is not your ability. What you are looking for, the other thing is…….”
As soon as the leader's words ended, one more light turned on.
And where that light illuminated, there was a human figure.
***
Yoo jin and the group moved to the cafeteria for a meal.
Separated from other believers, they were sitting at the table in the most corner spot.
“While coming here, I searched the sanctuary building here and there whenever there was a gap, but there were no doors leading to other places.”
“I also looked around using my stealth skill, but I couldn't find it easily.”
“Me too…….”
Those dropping their heads without even touching the food.
Lee Si-wang and the kids were making dark expressions.
And the gaze capturing them.
Yoo jin thought intently about something, then let out a deep sigh.
“Can't be helped.”
Yoo jin rising from his seat.
At Yoo jin's sudden action, not only Lee Si-wang but also the kids were surprised and lifted their heads quickly.
“P, please calm down.”
“N, no. If you kill…….”
“If you break this place, on the news…….”
The pale faces directed at him.
“How did my image become like this?”
You shouldn't ask us that.
There was no person who could say that.
Yoo jin, who shook his head, opened his mouth.
“I don't always just act recklessly. There is an ability used at times like this.”
At Yoo jin's voice, the kids' eyes became big.
.
.
.
Yoo jin and the group who came out of the cafeteria immediately.
“Whether it's a secret passage or whatever, we have to move to find it.”
“Didn't you hear the story earlier? We told you we looked for it.”
“You didn't look for it completely. There wasn't much time either. And the number of people is small.”
“Well, that is true but…….”
Although they didn't say the following words, everyone knew.
That nothing would change now.
There are many watching eyes, time is still limited.
And that the number of people who can search is limited.
Yoo jin, Lee Si-wang, Jin-ho, and Ye-na.
Because the fact that there are four people doesn't change.
However…….
Grin.
Yoo jin smiled.
As if he was seeing through your thoughts.
As if only he knew the answer.
“There is an ability used at times like this.”
Yoo jin raised his hand and brought it to his head.
And then…….
Pluck!
A dull sound rang out.
Yoo jin brought his hand back in front of his mouth.
“Whoo!”
He blew wind.
Then…….
Pang!
Pang!
Pang!
After sounds rang out consecutively.
“Wow…….”
“What is this…….”
Into the kids' view.
Numerous Yoo jins appeared.
Even at a rough estimate, twenty people.
“Teacher multiplied….”
Leaving the surprised kids behind, Yoo jin looked at the clones and opened his mouth.
“Find him.”
Poof!
When the original body's voice rang out, twenty clones disappeared quickly to find Seong-hyeon.
“Uhuhu!”
Yoo jin making a cool expression while looking at the kids.
“Did you see? That I don't always do things just by force…….”
Yoo jin, who was trying to act cool in front of his students after a long time, paused.
“What, that expression?”
Eyebrows that became diagonal.
A forehead that became a trident.
An expression full of killing intent.
Lee Si-wang's face was captured in Yoo jin's view.
“Don't you know by looking?”
“I don't know, so I asked.”
At Yoo jin's nonchalant voice, Lee Si-wang's expression became even sharper.
“Hmm……. Are you perhaps angry?”
Glare.
“Do I look like I'm not angry? While having such an ability, you made me tail him for that long time! Ha……. When you could have done it yourself. During that long time…… why did I suffer…….”
Lee Si-wang's appearance of being extremely sulky, obvious to anyone.
Yoo jin's gaze touched the kids.
When the kids quickly shook their heads and avoided his gaze.
Yoo jin, who scratched his cheek, settled his expression.
Very.
Seriously.
“There is a trap in this ability. Hmm, to speak precisely, it's a flaw.”
At Yoo jin's voice, Lee Si-wang slowly turned his body.
“I can't use it anytime. There is an equivalent exchange for this ability. An equivalent exchange more precious than life.”
At the heavy words, Lee Si-wang's expression softened a little.
“That…… what is it?”
A long silence flowed.
At the sound of equivalent exchange coming out of Yoo jin's mouth, not only Lee Si-wang but also the kids swallowed dry saliva.
And Yoo jin's mouth, where all gazes were gathered, moved.
“You get hair loss.”
The group was all lost for words.