The Cult Leader in the Clergy Academy

Chapter 228

"Do-Jin, did you take a look at the upcoming mission?"

Thump!

A massive man tapped Do-Jin's back roughly. He had a thick beard, and his flushed skin was visible through his unbuttoned shirt.

He was John, a sniper from the Trinitas Crusader Order and a colleague of Do-Jin’s.

Do-Jin pushed away his thick arm and frowned. "...Of course I saw it."

"Really? Then, you must have read the last part of the briefing as well. What do you think?"

"What is there to think about? I’m just..."

Do-Jin recalled the details of the mission. The task was to suppress a mercenary corps. It wasn't a mission suitable for the Trinitas Crusader Order, which wasn’t even directly under the Holy See.

The Trinitas Crusader Order had always been assigned glamorous missions such as exterminating demons and demonic beasts and rescuing civilians. More precisely, they only took on missions that would allow them to gain public popularity. Just as its name suggested, the Trinitas Crusader Order was comprised of only three members. With a small number of members, they were inevitably limited in the missions they could take. Above all, the Trinitas Crusader Order usually wasn’t assigned radical missions like suppressing a mercenary corps since it had been established to change the image of the Crusader Order positively.

"...Disgusting. It's fucking dirty, really," Do-Jin muttered.

Unlike usual, the Mercenary Corps Suppression mission involved the Trinitas Crusader Order and the Crusader Order unit that fell directly under the Holy See. Furthermore, at the end of the message delivering the mission details, a passage stated: Killing is authorized due to a high possibility of the mercenary corps turning into insurgents. It was also the reason why Do-Jin felt conflicted about this mission.

"I’m bringing live ammunition just in case... but I hope I won't have to use it. We're all people, after all."

Do-Jin interrupted him. "John."

His expression was unnervingly stern. John hesitated, alternating his gaze between Do-Jin's stern face and the sword at his waist.

Do-Jin cleared his throat. "...I sympathize with your feelings, but it's best not to use the phrase, all people. We might draw unnecessary attention to ourselves."

"Aha... I'll keep that in mind. By the way, you seem really upset. Is it because you disagree with the authorization to kill?"

"More than that, I suddenly had this indecent thought that the Holy See might be using us."

"That really is an indecent thought. But I agree, too," John said, agreeing with Do-Jin's words.

Initially, the Trinitas Crusader Order was supposed to carry out the mission, but the Holy See's Crusader Order had suddenly been added to the plan along with the authorization to kill. No matter how one looked at it, the Holy See was trying to exploit the Trinitas Crusader Order’s image.

If the mercenary corps attempted to resist, they would be assassinated through the Holy See's Crusader Order, using the Trinitas Crusader Order as a shield to avoid public criticism for their brutal repression. If they made a mistake, all the criticism for assassinating the mercenary corps could be directed solely at the Trinitas Crusader Order.

"We can't even refuse the mission at this point."

"Yeah. In that case, there's only one thing we can do, Do-Jin. We have to capture the head of the mercenary corps before the Holy See's Crusader Order has a chance to kill them.”

Do-Jin nodded. The mission had been labeled as the Mercenary Corps Suppression. The ultimate goal of the suppression was obvious—to capture the leader of the mercenaries. If they could quickly capture the leader, there would be no bloodshed.

Do-Jin soon recalled the name of the boss of the mercenaries he would soon confront. Although Do-Jin was not good at remembering other people's names, he remembered the name of the mercenaries’ boss because he had a unique name.

"The director's name... was it Yuk Eun-Hyung?"

"Yes, I heard that the mercenaries are not that large in scale. Let’s try to negotiate. If that doesn't work, we'll bring them in by force. Peacefully," John said.

Do-Jin nodded.

*

"Ugh...!"

I blocked the blood that was flowing out of my mouth. The blood that I hadn’t been successful in stopping dripped through my fingers and dropped onto the floor. The color of the blood was now closer to black than red.

Was this the sixth or seventh occurrence? I didn't know.

Clack.

The staff made a hollow sound as I placed it on the floor. I wiped the flowing blood with a towel I had prepared in advance and rinsed my mouth with water.

"Hoo..." I sighed.

I stared at Yoon-Ah in front of me. I had received Joseph's bugging device back from Bae Jung-Hwan, and he confirmed that the device was only for intercepting messages and calls. It wasn’t equipped with functions like tracking locations or eavesdropping on conversations. Upon receiving the device, I attached it to my cell phone—the one that I used as a Florence Academy student, of course.

Except for occasionally contacting Ha-Yeon, I ignored all other forms of communication from the other students. I wasn’t intentionally ignoring them, but I had no mental space to reply.

I told my homeroom teacher that I would be taking a few weeks off. I used the attack on the mission trip and the fear of Satanists as my excuse. My homeroom teacher allowed me to take time off from school, using different excuses like taking time off from experiential learning or illness. If possible, I was encouraged to come back during the exam period.

While I was back home, I did not go to school. I dedicated my time to occasionally watering the flowers I used to grow in the dormitory and devoted myself to practicing utilizing the staff inside the underground chapel. It didn't take me long to learn the reverse spell technique. Sometimes, the whims of the staff would cause me to use the wrong spells, but the number of such cases went down as time passed.

After mastering the reverse spell technique, I used it on Yoon-Ah. I tried writing each spell needed for zombification in reverse and even attempted to use the reverse fusion spell technique.

A few days had passed since then, and...

"Hyaaaak—!"

"Quiet down."

"Hyaaak..."

I had failed.

Yoon-Ah's condition hadn’t improved at all. She hadn’t been washed ever since Ji-Ah was absent from the underground chapel. As a result, she was becoming more and more irritable.

Thanks to being consistently fed, her condition improved a lot compared to before. Unlike back then when blue veins stood out from her pale skin, she now had a decent complexion.

However, that was it. The most important thing, which was her language ability, still had yet to return. Her footsteps were still lifeless, like those of a zombie. Nothing had improved except for her complexion. In the end, I had achieved nothing with the reverse spell technique.

"..."

Honestly, I didn’t know what to do. Yoon-Ah hadn’t become a zombie just through spells. She was a zombie created through savage methods such as drugs and violence. It was extremely difficult to heal Yoon-Ah with just the reverse spell technique.

Moreover, the staff was capricious and didn't allow me to use the specific type of spell I wanted. Occasionally, it cast spells opposite to the ones I intended to use.

At this rate, Yoon-Ah might never recover. Maybe the reverse spell technique was worsening her condition instead. I couldn't grasp how much more time I would need to pour into healing her in the future.

Yoon-Ah, whether she knew about my frustrated heart or not, weakly let out a hoarse scream. "Haargh..."

I stood up, using the staff for support. My legs trembled. I could smell the metallic stench of blood from my mouth, and my vision went pitch black before brightening and flickering white.

At that moment, Legba spoke to me even though he hadn’t spoken since I started practicing the reverse spell technique with the staff.

[Rest.]

There was no sign of concern in his voice. Instead, it felt like he was scolding me.

"What's this? You've been quiet ever since I’ve been working on the reverse spell technique."

[And I was planning on staying quiet. It didn’t seem like you would listen to me even if I tried to talk to you.]

"I do tend not to listen to what other people say."

[But now, I have no choice but to talk to you.]

Legba solemnly said, [You cannot handle the reverse spell technique. Unlike regular spells, the cost is much higher, both physically and mentally.]

I nodded, wiping away the blood from the corner of my mouth.

"Seems like it."

[If you use the reverse spell technique one more time, you might collapse. So take a break. If you collapse now, you'll have to lie down for three days and three nights.]

"Sure, I was planning to rest anyway."

I grabbed the staff and started heading back to my room. I glanced back behind me as I came out of the room Yoon-Ah was in. Yoon-Ah was sitting quietly, looking at me.

As if under the influence of a spell, I stared blankly into her brown eyes. Yoon-Ah’s gaze looked similar to In-Ah's when she had warned me not to go on the mission trip.

I turned around, walking back toward her. And once again, I stood in front of Yoon-Ah.

"...One last time."

‘One last time, just once more.’ I might collapse, but I still wanted to give it one more try.

[...And in the end, you won’t listen to me.]

Without responding to Legba's words, I raised the staff and unleashed Voodoo magic. It emitted a purple glow as it was infused with the Voodoo magic. I moved the staff and drew a spell array.

Enthrallment and intoxication spells decorated the air. They were the most basic components of the zombification spell and the spells I had used the most. The spell array emitted a strong light and mist, which enveloped Yoon-Ah.

She accepted the mist without resistance. I carefully looked into Yoon-Ah's eyes beyond the fog. The light briefly flickered in her pupils and disappeared.

"..."

Contrary to my expectations, nothing happened. No, it was just as I had anticipated. I wasn't even disappointed at this point. Perhaps I had mistaken the flicker of light in her eyes. I sat down hesitantly in that spot and lowered my head. I didn't have the strength to lift it.

"Damn it."

Laughter escaped me.

"Be quiet."

"...Huh?"

At that moment, I heard an unfamiliar voice. I raised my head and looked at Yoon-Ah.

Just like before, Yoon-Ah was staring at me with her mouth tightly shut. It seemed like someone had said, "Be quiet."

Judging by her expression, it didn't seem like Yoon-Ah had said it. Then who was it? Was it an auditory hallucination? Was it the drawback of using the reverse spell technique too much?

Right, then Yoon-Ah moved her lips. "Be. Quiet."

She was speaking. Without a doubt, this was Yoon-Ah's voice. She looked at me with her eyes that had regained their twinkle and spoke again.

"Be quiet!"

"Okay, I got it. I'll be quiet. I'll be quiet," I said, tightly gripping the staff.

My hands were trembling. I felt an itchy sensation in my teeth. Strangely, my ears felt stuffy, and my chest felt hot as if it was boiling. An involuntary smile crept onto my lips.

I stared at Yoon-Ah for a while. She did the same.

I had succeeded.

It seemed like she could only say, ‘Be quiet,’ imitating the admonishment I had given her earlier. But that was good enough. I was moved.

Finally, a good result. It could be considered a small achievement compared to the hardships I had endured since she hadn’t completely regained her ability to speak, but that was fine with me. I was grateful just to have achieved something. I felt like I was going to cry. But in reality, tears didn't come out. I thought about how many days it had taken to hear that insignificant word, that short phrase, and that voice. Was today the third day? No, the fourth? Had it been a week? No. Today, so...

"What day is it today...?"

I couldn't remember. I needed to take a little break. No, it seemed like I needed to go outside and soak up some sunlight. I picked up my phone.