The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 112

"Hmm..."

Saint Judas inhaled the strong fragrance of the tea called ’Witch’s Blood’ as if savoring it, letting out a contemplative sigh.

He was watching the black box footage from the Eastern Holy Knight Order that recorded the situation at the time. The video was too dark and the quality was poor, making it difficult to even distinguish human shapes, but he could grasp the general situation.

Two men and women slapping each other’s cheeks while intoxicated by black magic. The incredibly foolish Holy Knights and priests who approached the scene without anti-magic masks and got caught up in the black magic as well. As time passed, the fighting became rougher. As the magi flowing from the black magic circle thickened, the clergy’s hatred toward each other also thickened.

At the center of it all stood a child named Do Seon-woo.

He calmly assessed the situation and checked the consciousness of the woman who had become the medium for black magic. He looked for a way to break through the situation. There was no way. Then Seong Ha-yeon appeared. Do Seon-woo gave Seong Ha-yeon operational orders and broke a glass bottle.

The clergy’s anger concentrated on the two people, Do Seon-woo and Seong Ha-yeon. Do Seon-woo, who had shown excessive composure for his age until then, became flustered. Eventually, regaining his composure, he began making the sign of the cross.

----!

Miracle reproduction.

The incoming wind brought waves, and the gathered waves created whirlpools. The waterspout created by the consecutive gusting winds swallowed the clergy’s bodies. Finally, even Do Seon-woo was swept up in the storm.

Seong Ha-yeon, who had been hesitating, seemed to make up her mind upon seeing this and wounded her palm. The completed purification blessing circle dismantled the black magic circle, and with that, the situation ended.

Saint Judas, who had rewound and watched the footage several times, turned off the screen and nodded with a smile.

"Excellent."

"...Yes?"

Seong Ha-yeon, sitting across from him, opened her eyes wide in surprise and answered inadvertently.

What was excellent? Was it Do Seon-woo’s miracle reproduction that was excellent, or was it the purification blessing circle I drew... A small hope bloomed in her heart.

"The boy’s name is... Do Seon-woo?"

"...Yes."

"He has skills that don’t match his age. Remarkable talent."

Seong Ha-yeon lowered her head. Father still has no intention of praising me... She clenched her fist to hide the scar on her palm.

Meanwhile, Saint Judas was reflecting on the miracle Do Seon-woo had reproduced. Although he ultimately couldn’t control it and was swept up in the storm himself, being able to reproduce such an enormously scaled miracle was tremendous talent in itself.

Not lacking even when compared to active clergy who only talked big. No, in terms of skill alone, he was already at a level that overwhelmed active clergy.

"What happened to the proposal to join the theological society?"

Saint Judas’s voice asking this was low. Seong Ha-yeon, who had been spacing out while wiggling her toes, suddenly came to her senses and raised her head.

"I was... rejected."

"What was the reason?"

Saint Judas asked as if surprised. Seong Ha-yeon actually had some idea of the reason. It was probably because of what she had done in the past. According to what she heard from a friend, she had verbally abused Do Seon-woo whenever she was bored. Just because she didn’t like the look in his eyes.

However, Seong Ha-yeon didn’t even remember doing that, and had suddenly appeared without even saying sorry to propose that he join the theological society.

Being rejected was natural. How disgusting must she have looked from Do Seon-woo’s perspective? Just imagining it made Seong Ha-yeon feel nauseous.

"He didn’t give a reason, so I don’t really know either..."

She trailed off and lowered her head.

Saint Judas tilted his head slightly. There were often children like that. Those who were obsessed with testing and proving their abilities, stubbornly refusing others’ help.

Children with the strange belief of wanting to become clergy solely through their individual abilities without borrowing the power of organizations like the theological society.

It wasn’t easy to persuade those with convictions. Saint Judas had once followed someone with stronger convictions than anyone else. They never followed others, but rather had the unique charm of making others follow them.

However, their endings had never been good. Not even once.

Saint Judas shook his head to brush away the reminiscence and suddenly stood up from his seat, leaving his teacup on the table.

"It would be better to create an opportunity to meet him directly soon. And..."

Saint Judas looked at his daughter with clearly worried eyes and continued.

"Always be careful when going out at night."

"...Yes."

"Because we don’t know when something like that might happen again."

Saint Judas spoke bitterly and went into the study together.

Memories that Seong Ha-yeon didn’t want to recall began surfacing in her mind as she was left alone. Those who looked at her with dry, indifferent eyes as if viewing an animal rather than a person. They were hunters who cut her hair randomly while she screamed in agony, then tried to cut off her arm next.

The so-called ’Albino Hunters’ who collected body parts from people with albinism for Voodoo ritual ceremonies.

Seong Ha-yeon was a victim of albino hunting.

* * *

I revised Seong Ha-yeon’s proposal based on the collected materials. There wasn’t actually much to add, and the rest just required removing the nonsense Seong Ha-yeon had written. Thanks to Legba translating all the languages written in the books into our language, it didn’t take long.

Immediately after finishing all the work, I opened the book titled ’List and Information of Satan Worshippers Active/Incarcerated Domestically.’ This didn’t require Legba to translate separately. It was a book written entirely in our language.

[The core forces of Satan worship active domestically are in two places. They are those who profess the names of the seven deadly sins ’Wrath’ and ’Envy,’ of which ’Wrath’ was captured alive in 19_ _ and is currently incarcerated in the Vatican’s underground prison.]

I couldn’t tell exactly when he was caught. Only the year part was cleverly torn out. It wasn’t naturally torn but showed traces of someone deliberately tearing it out.

Who could it be? If it was a student, it would be one of the seven Holy Names, and if it was a teacher... Come to think of it, wasn’t there a possibility that the Satan worshipper was a teacher?

It was a meaningless thought. Let’s move on.

[Wrath’s characteristic is regeneration. During the subjugation process, his limbs were cut off, but they regenerated immediately within seconds. The same happened when his neck was cut, or when his body was cut horizontally or vertically. He self-harms at regular intervals, which is presumed to be part of a ritual offering blood and flesh to the demon he serves.]

I continued reading, but it only contained heroic tales of how Holy Warriors and Holy Knights had captured him, with no mention of taxidermy. I flipped through the pages quickly.

[Envy, *Legion Commander]

Around the middle of the book, the Envy section began. There was a footnote mark next to Legion Commander. Below the text was a small-font explanation of the term ’Legion Commander.’

[The Legion Commander absorbed the Satan worship Pride branch that was active in California, USA, then left a note. The following is the content of that note:

’Please call me Legion Commander... The reason is... I want to have a cool nickname too...’

While Legion Commander is a self-proclaimed title, it became the official designation because he commanded multiple branches.]

He was definitely crazy. I continued reading.

[The Legion Commander collects corpses to make and control taxidermy. He uses black magic through the taxidermy he creates and has a fanatical obsession with perfect taxidermy. It is believed that he deludes himself into thinking he’s an artist.

He infiltrated Korea 7 years ago during the chaos of the Holy War, and after causing the ’Tower of Corpses’ incident in Incheon 2 years ago, he disappeared. Detection operations were conducted targeting residents immediately after the incident, but identification failed.]

[So it’s this bastard.]

Legba said. I didn’t answer and turned the page.

[The reason he was named Envy is related to the Legion Commander’s childhood. According to the little information available, the Legion Commander loved his biological mother. The Legion Commander, who was jealous of his biological father, made a deal with a demon to skin and kill his biological father, and to comfort his grieving biological mother, he stuffed the biological father’s skin with cotton and sawdust and gave it as a gift.

There are theories that he’s homosexual, but there’s no evidence. This is because his gender is unknown.]

"..."

It was difficult to understand. The part about loving his biological mother and being jealous enough to kill his biological father.

No, I could somehow understand up to this point if I tried. But making the biological father into taxidermy as a gift for the grieving biological mother...

[There’s a reason he’s Satan worship. He probably has moral concepts that are difficult to understand in general terms.]

I nodded slightly at Legba’s words and continued reading. There was no information that could serve as clues. I could see the author’s intention to increase the volume by stretching the same content with different expressions.

After returning the books I had read to the return shelf, I left the Central Library. Then I recalled the mad woman who had become the medium for black magic, namely Gu Jun-hyeok’s mother. The Satan worshipper loved his biological mother, so he killed his biological father.

If Gu Jun-hyeok was the Satan worshipper, it meant he had used the mother he loved so much as a medium for black magic. It didn’t make sense by common standards.

No, trying to understand a Satan worshipper by common sense might be foolish in itself.

[It’s complicated. How about thinking about it a bit more simply?]

"Can I think about this more simply than this?"

[Well, it depends on how you think about it.]

Legba’s ambiguous words added to the confusion. He didn’t give me clear conclusions when it came to deducing the Satan worshipper. It’s not like he’s teasing someone. Did he catch Baron Samedi’s disease... 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

I sighed and returned to the classroom.

* * *

I refined the revised proposal bit by bit during morning breaks and sent it to Yeo Min-seo by email just before lunch. After finishing the meal, I walked the walking path with Jeong In-ah and Gu Jun-hyeok.

"If you assume it that way, there’s no end to it. We should talk based only on the given information."

"Hey, considering the topic, shouldn’t we consider even the worst-case scenario?"

"Sigh... We can’t communicate."

Gu Jun-hyeok sighed. Jeong In-ah and Gu Jun-hyeok had been engaged in a sharp debate from before eating until now. The topic was ’What weapon should you get if a zombie outbreak occurs?’ Jeong In-ah argued for a baseball bat, while Gu Jun-hyeok argued for a bamboo spear.

It was truly a practical, productive, and high-level topic.

"Hey, let’s say the zombie outbreak is over. If you have a baseball bat, you can play baseball."

"No, the assumption that it ends doesn’t make sense!"

"What doesn’t make sense?"

When Jeong In-ah argued back, Gu Jun-hyeok sighed.

"Forget it, if a zombie outbreak came, what about food? Can you get food with a baseball bat?"

"Then what about a bamboo spear? Can you get food with a bamboo spear?"

"With a bamboo spear, when you’re hungry, you can tear off pieces and eat them. You go eat a baseball bat then."

"Are you selling them? What kind of nonsense..."

The argument continued endlessly, and their voices grew louder as time passed.

I had no choice but to decide to walk at a distance from them. I didn’t want to be misunderstood as participating in that childish conversation.

Although I kept my distance, I listened carefully to the sounds of Gu Jun-hyeok and Jeong In-ah’s conversation. It was part of observation and surveillance. I hadn’t yet dismissed my suspicion that Gu Jun-hyeok might be the Satan worshipper.

"And bamboo spears have longer range."

"So what, once you stab it, how are you going to pull it out? You’ll get bitten by a zombie while pulling it out and become a zombie yourself."

"Don’t pull it out, just stab the next zombie like that. Like skewering..."

"...Hey! Were you allowed to come to school?!"

What cut off Jeong In-ah and Gu Jun-hyeok’s childish conversation was a shout from the direction of the playground. A male student was expressing delight, shouting loudly with an annoying voice that made it unclear whether he was going through puberty or not.

"What’s that?"

Jeong In-ah expressed puzzlement, and Gu Jun-hyeok shrugged as if he didn’t know either.

The two walked across the playground toward the center of the commotion as if enchanted. I followed them. Looking closer, the cause of the commotion was none other than our class’s former Bae Seong-hyeon gang.

"Wow, it feels like it’s been really long since we’ve seen you. No contact either, what have you been doing all this time?"

"You bastard, your skin seems to have gotten whiter. Looks like you’ve been eating well?"

The gang members surrounded someone, asking after their well-being or cursing playfully. Their reactions were varied, but the joy on their faces was all the same.

The male student at the center of the gang was scratching his head embarrassedly and smiling shyly. Jeong In-ah looked at the male student’s face and opened her mouth with a hardened expression.

"...Bae Seong-hyeon?"

Bae Seong-hyeon, who had been expelled, was shamelessly at Florence wearing his school uniform properly.