The Cult Leader in the Clergy Academy

Chapter 264

Yeom Man-Gun and Yuk Eun-Hyung blinked their eyes and stared at her while Ha Pan-Seok furrowed his brow as if he was not impressed. Ji-Ah had no expression from the start.

The only ones who smiled at her were Uncle Jin-Sung and Yun Chang-Su. Yun Chang-Su smiled especially brightly and approached her.

"You look much better."

"Executive Yun Chang-Su, you haven't changed at all! You even seem to have gotten younger."

As the two shared a tearful reunion, Uncle approached her.

"It seems like you were able to make it. I thought you wouldn’t come.”

"Thanks to you, I was able to arrive. I was a bit late because I had some work that I had to deal with."

After greeting Yun Chang-Su and Uncle warmly, she greeted the other executives via eye contact.

Yeom Man-Gun and Yuk Eun-Hyung stood aloof without responding to her greetings, while Ha Pan-Seok accepted the greetings with a stoic expression and a bow.

Her gaze turned toward me. Instead of greeting me, she widened her eyes in surprise. Then she approached me.

"Oh my, is that Sun-Woo?"

"..."

"You've really changed so much! How did this happen?" she said.

She reached out to touch my cheek, but I swatted her hand away. She said that I had changed, but in my eyes, she was the one who had changed a lot.

Her personality had hardly changed, but her appearance had changed significantly. Although each individual change wasn't major, when put together, they made a big difference in her overall look.

"Executive of the Gyeonggi Branch, it's fortunate that you've returned," I said in a formal tone.

Her expression slightly stiffened.

"Why are you being so formal and distant? Can’t you be like in the past..."

"Because the memorial service is ongoing. An executive meeting is also still taking place,” I said.

Woosh!

I used Marinette's power to try to push her away and prevent her from acting friendly with me.

The flames burning in the center of the square fiercely soared toward her. The flames engulfed me before charging toward her and stopped right in front of her.

She took a step back with a surprised expression on her face. It was only then that I extinguished the fire.

"Let's save personal conversations for after the event is over," I said.

"...Fussy," she muttered with a smile.

I then announced the end of the memorial service and entered the Chungcheong Branch’s chapel.

The reason I pushed her away was simply because I didn't like her.

Except for Uncle Jin-Sung, the executives of the Voodoo Cult feared me as the Cult Leader. Uncle had no thoughts about me. Soo-Yeong envied me as the Cult Leader.

However, that woman had always pitied me since I was young. She looked at me with sympathetic eyes and always with a gaze filled with pity.

I disliked her pity.

* * *

"By the way, what was your name?"

"Me? I haven't really settled on one. I don’t just have one or two names, you see. Was the most recent one I used 'Anna' or 'Cozette'? Just call me whatever. I don't care."

"It’ll be convenient to call you Anna," Jin-Sung nodded.

The Executive of the Gyeonggi Branch, Anna, was exchanging greetings with the other executives.

She talked about the time when she lived in hiding to escape the pursuit of the Holy See. She changed her name several times, altered her face many times, and was finally able to completely evade the pursuit of the Holy See.

The executives found Anna's stories enjoyable. Anna had a talent for making her words witty.

Even if she said the same thing as someone else, it became a bit more interesting and exciting when she said it.

Jin-Sung, in particular, listened attentively to her story. It didn't seem like someone else's business.

As Anna's story was coming to an end, Ha Pan-Seok said, "Executive Jin-Sung."

Jin-Sung, who had been listening to Anna’s story with great interest, stiffened his expression. For a long time, Jin-Sung did not have good feelings toward Ha Pan-Seok. If I had to be more specific, he only had bad feelings towards him.

Jin-Sung would usually respond informally, but he replied to Ha Pan-Seok's words in a distant, polite manner.

"...Ah, yes."

He must have looked at Ha Pan-Seok's face and realized that he did not need to respond sharply. That was because Ha Pan-Seok's face was noticeably pale.

"Is Soo-Yeong still in the chapel located in the headquarters? Why didn’t you bring her to the executive meeting today?"

"The Cult Leader told her not to come. She also said she didn't want to come."

Soo-Yeong did not attend the executive meeting today. Sun-Woo said there was no need for her to come, and most importantly, Soo-Yeong strongly expressed her unwillingness to attend.

Jin-Sung stared blankly at Ha Pan-Seok before he said, "The kid seemed really upset. Did you hit her by any chance?"

"That's nonsense! Why would I hit Soo-Yeong?"

Jin-Sung asked, "Then what did you do? She’s been at headquarters for weeks now, with no intention of going back home.”

Ha Pan-Seok hesitated and could not speak easily. He pursed his lips for a while, then let out a deep sigh—a heavy sigh filled with agony.

"Perhaps it's because of the new wife I met this time. She used to be a Romanican Church member in the past."

"..."

"I heard she even donated a considerable amount to the Romanican church during the Holy War. Maybe she didn't like that... even though she's now a fervent Voodoo Cult follower."

Ha Pan-Seok continued to sigh as he said, "Maybe she just can't stand to see my face. Once you find someone unpleasant, everything they do seems hateful. Maybe that's why she left home..."

Bang—!

At that moment, thunder struck. Heavy rain was pouring down outside the chapel where the executives were having their discussion.

Lightning would occasionally flash, and strong winds blew, causing the windows to rattle. The weather was so severe that it almost seemed like the end of the world was approaching.

Anna stared worriedly at the thick raindrops hitting the chapel window and the tree branches swaying in the wind.

"Isn't Sun-Woo outside? With the wind blowing like that, it seems dangerous to leave him out there..."

"Who's worrying about whom?" Jin-Sung replied with a snort to Anna's words.

He looked out the window and continued, "They were all summoned by the Cult Leader. The wind, the rain..."

Crackle—!

At that moment, thunder and lightning struck. Lightning struck a tree in front of the chapel. Branches and leaves fell off and were scattered by the strong wind before disappearing into the distance.

"And the thunder and lightning."

Anna, Jin-Sung, and the other executives looked out the window. During the previous executive meeting, Sun-Woo had summoned a storm to practice his power.

A fierce storm had raged back then, and they were concerned that the wind would blow away the mountains. However, the storm back then was nothing more than a gentle breeze compared to the one they were facing today.

Rumble, rumble—!

Thunder roared again, and lightning struck. The sky flashed, and the ground trembled like an earthquake.

Beyond the noise of the storm, a thudding sound could be heard. Jin-Sung knew what that sound was. It was the sound of Sun-Woo striking the ground with his staff.

"....It's good to see Sun-Woo again. He seems to be much better than before. I used to worry a lot because he couldn't speak properly," Anna suddenly said as if such a thought had just come to mind.

Jin-Sung gazed at her face intently.

Although her face had changed greatly due to plastic surgery, her melancholic expression had not changed at all. Anna stared blankly out the window as the storm raged.

"So, I feel relieved, but... thinking about how difficult it must have been for him to get used to it, I also feel sorry for him."

“...”

Jin-Sung remained silent as he looked out the window. The power of the storm was much stronger than before, but besides that, the storm summoned by the Cult Leader seemed to be filled with emotions.

He could sense irritation mixed with rage in the raging wind and the lightning striking in all directions.

It was almost as if he was not practicing his control over the power of the Loa but rather trying to vent his anger.

Jin-Sung suddenly remembered Sung Yu-Da. He was the friend of his brother-in-law and sister, and the enemy who had killed his brother-in-law and had put his sister in prison.

Even though he had the opportunity to confront him, he had been held back because it felt like he wouldn’t be able to control himself if he faced him.

If Sung Yu-Da was repenting for his past mistakes, living every day in such a pitiful state that there was no need for him to exact revenge on him, would he be able to forgive him?

He tried to imagine it, but Jin-Sung couldn't imagine forgiving Sung Yu-Da.

Rumble—!

Lightning struck, followed by thunder. The sound of rain hitting the window was loud.

* * *

After the executive meeting ended and we returned to the chapel, my uncle asked me if it would be okay for Anna, the executive of the Gyeonggi branch, to stay in the underground chapel for a while.

Since the Gyeonggi Branch’s chapel had collapsed a long time ago, Anna had nowhere else to stay. He told me she would stay for a short while until she found a room, so I agreed.

In order to avoid Joseph's surveillance, I hadn't been visiting the underground chapel very often, so it didn't matter to me.

I planned to minimize my visits to the underground chapel in the future. This decision was influenced by what Sung Yu-Da had told me today.

"Inquisitor Joseph suspects... no, he is almost convinced that you are the Cult Leader of the Voodoo Cult."

I had previously asked Sung Yu-Da to tell me the location of Noah's Ark.

To fulfill that promise, Sung Yu-Da was taking me to the site of Noah's Ark when he abruptly mentioned the story about Joseph.

I knew Joseph had suspicions about me, but I didn't realize he was convinced I was the Cult Leader.

"How did you know?" I asked.

"He asked me directly if I knew more about you. It was a question he asked knowing that you are the Cult Leader."

"Then why hasn't he reported or arrested me yet? If he's an inquisitor, he could have arrested me on the spot."

"Probably because he still doesn't have objective evidence. From now on, he will probably follow you persistently to gather irrefutable evidence. Be careful."

"..."

That was definitely true. Recently, Joseph had been more persistently following me than before.

He suddenly appeared at the Eastern Paladin Order, where I was doing my dispatch training. Last time, he even sent a spy to stalk me.

I made up suitable excuses to avoid or evade the situation, but I couldn't continue living such a precarious life forever.

“Can’t the purification clan do anything about that guy? For example, can you dismiss him?"

"Dismissing him may be difficult, but creating a pretext to get him off your tail will be possible. I will try to do it as quickly as possible."

I nodded without saying more or asking questions. I couldn't understand why Sung Yu-Da was going to such lengths for me. It wasn't solely because I was holding Ha-Yeon hostage.

As my uncle mentioned in the recent executive meeting, Sung Yu-Da was not someone who could be restrained by holding a hostage.

He had stronger shackles. He must have taken an oath, or perhaps something more substantial than an oath, like a conviction.

It was clear that there were other reasons why he couldn't report me to the Holy See and why he had no choice but to help me.

Or maybe, as my uncle had said, he might be trying to stab me in the back.

Sung Yu-Da turned around and asked, "Are you listening to my request to not approach Ha-Yeon?"

I carefully studied his face. From his expression alone, it seemed like he had asked such a question because was genuinely worried about Ha-Yeon.

However, there were times when a strange expression and gaze that I couldn't quite understand would surface, making it impossible for me to judge.

"You don't need to worry. I haven't been in contact with Ha-Yeon."

Crumble!

At that moment, the ground collapsed.

"Ah, ahh...!"

"Why is the ground collapsing like this?"

Sung Yu-Da and I simultaneously fell. The time it took for us to fall felt strangely long. It was if we were falling from several kilometers high in the air. Sung Yu-Da and I screamed as we continued to plummet for a while.

At the moment, I tried to stop the fall using Bade's power or whatever I could use.

Thud—!

Finally, our bodies hit the ground. It felt like we had fallen for an unimaginably long time, but our bodies were unharmed once we landed on the ground.

I opened my eyes and looked around. The surroundings were filled with pitch-black darkness, so I couldn't see anything.

"Oh, I was wondering who it was..."

At that moment, a voice came from the darkness. It sounded like a voice I had heard somewhere before.

It was not recently, but also not very long ago. I remembered it from a somewhat recent past.

"It seems like welcome guests have arrived!"

"..."

When the darkness lifted and light poured in, I finally remembered whose voice it was. The owner of the Ark, Noah, stood in front of us.