The Cult Leader in the Clergy Academy

Chapter 259

"..."

An awkward silence passed between Joseph, Sung Yu-Da, and me. Sung Yu-Da took turns looking at me and Joseph. I alternated between looking at Joseph and Sung Yu-Da too. The silence lingered for a long time as no one spoke.

Joseph broke the silence. He glanced at me briefly, then walked toward Sung Yu-Da.

"Inquisitor Sung Yu-Da, it's been a while. No, I suppose it's more appropriate to call you my senior now."

Sung Yu-Da remained silent, his eyes glued on Joseph. He didn’t bother to even greet him. Right then, Jin-Seo, who was standing at a distance, approached, dragging a sword on the ground.

"..."

She looked at me, then belatedly noticed Joseph and Sung Yu-Da's presence and stopped in her tracks. Joseph silently looked back and forth between me and Jin-Seo. He briefly closed his mouth with a stern expression, seeming to be deep in thought. After a brief moment of mental calculations, he smiled slightly.

"Let's save the conversation for later. I have much to catch up with this senior. I haven't seen him in a while. You go talk with your friend."

I nodded in acknowledgement. "Understood."

I headed toward Jin-Seo. Deep down, I was grateful she was there. If it weren't for her, this suffocating three-way confrontation would have continued.

I had used the members of the purification clan to restrain Joseph, and he was well aware of this. Sung Yu-Da was a member of the purification clan. I had gotten him to assist me in restraining Joseph through some subtle threats. Nothing good would come of me intervening between the two of them. No matter what conversation went on, I was sure it would go south for me.

Jin-Seo looked back and forth between Sung Yu-Da and Joseph.

"What's going on?" she asked cautiously.

I glanced at the two. They were having some kind of conversation, but I couldn't hear exactly what they were talking about. They were too far away.

"Hmm. I'm not sure."

I decided to just play dumb. To others, I was just a mere apprentice paladin. It would be strange for me to know about the affairs of higher-ups in the church hierarchy and in age like Joseph and Sung Yu-Da.

Jin-Seo looked at me suspiciously for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

"What have you been up to lately?" she asked.

I hesitated for a moment before answering. I didn't know what exactly she meant by lately.

"Just doing some dispatch training and participating in search missions for the missing. I also took care of various odd jobs."

"I see." Jin-Seo nodded.

She looked at me silently for a moment before she said, "You aren’t going to ask what I’ve been up to?"

"How have you been?"

"I didn't do anything special. Just like you, I went for dispatch training and took care of odd jobs. I also had a lot of battles."

"If you didn't do anything special, why did you want me to ask about you?"

She laughed. "Hmm, I wonder why?”

Her answer and laughter were so nonchalant and cheeky that I couldn’t help but chuckle along with her.

She sheathed the sword she was holding into the scabbard on her waist. "You remember you promised to grant my wish, right?"

"Yeah. You don’t have to ask. I won't forget."

"Aren't you scared?"

"Of what?"

"You don't know what wish I might ask for."

"Whatever wish it is, nothing will change..."

"What if I ask you to go out with me?"

"You won’t do that."

"Why? You never know."

"..."

When I didn't say anything, she burst into mischievous laughter. "You okay? I was just joking."

Before I could respond, someone called out to me.

"Oh, Sun-Woo. There you are."

Jin-Seo looked excited to tell me something, but she suddenly stopped talking. Her face hardened. I turned my head toward the voice to see Ha-Yeon walking briskly toward us.

She glanced briefly at Jin-Seo before she expressionlessly said, "When should we have our next secret meeting?"

"Secret meeting?" Jin-Seo interjected before I could respond.

I glanced at Ha-Yeon. She wasn’t wrong when she said ‘secret meeting.’ I had been meeting secretly with Ha-Yeon to use the purification clan, specifically to throw Joseph off my back.

However, the term ‘secret meeting’ would have weird implications for Jin-Seo.

Ha-Yeon acted surprised, although she didn't seem particularly shocked. "Oh, I didn't mean to talk about it in front of others. I'm sorry."

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"I'm sorry. I was in a hurry. We've only been in touch and haven't met him for a while."

Ha-Yeon's brazen words left me speechless. There was nothing I could say.

To explain the reason for my meetings with Ha-Yeon, I would have to mention Sung Yu-Da, Joseph, and other various details.

"..."

Jin-Seo silently looked back and forth between me and Ha-Yeon. I was taken aback by her gaze. Her face was so stiff that the smile she had just put on seemed like it had been in another lifetime.

At that moment, Han Dae-Ho approached me and called out, "Sun-Woo!"

Ha-Yeon looked at me and smiled slyly. "I will see you soon. Sooner than later."

"..."

"I'll take my leave. It seems like the priesthood folks are calling me too. Well then." Ha-Yeon nodded and walked briskly toward where the Central Priesthood priests were gathered.

The priests were picking up the bodies of the dead demons that didn’t disappear into black smoke, while some were healing the injured priests and crusaders by drawing healing arrays. The lower-ranking priests picked up the bodies of the dead demons, while those who appeared to hold higher positions took care of the healing. Despite her position as an apprentice priest, Ha-Yeon had taken on the role of healing. After Ha-Yeon left, only Jin-Seo and I remained in this quiet space.

Director Han Dae-Ho was waving his hand from afar as if urging us to come quickly.

"The director’s calling for me. I’ve got to get going."

Jin-Seo nodded in response to my words and headed toward the Crusader Order. "Yeah, sure. I need to go as well."

I watched carefully while she walked away because she seemed especially powerless. She seemed to be limping, favoring one leg. It seemed like she had been injured during the previous battle. She must have lied when I asked if she was hurt earlier.

Meanwhile, Han Dae-Ho approached me. He looked at me and smiled. "Hey, Sun-Woo! I've been calling you to come, but what took you so long? Do I have to come to you myself when I’m the director?"

"Ah, my apologies."

"It's fine. Anyway, good job! You can use a spear as your main weapon with your skill," Han Dae-Ho said, patting my back.

I just smiled and listened to him without responding. There was nothing else to say. The only time I could handle the spear was when I activated Bossou's power. I didn't even know how to properly hold a spear otherwise.

Han Dae-Ho took me to the Paladin Order’s vehicle. Oh Hee-Jin was sitting in the driver's seat, waiting.

I sat in the passenger seat, and he stared at me in silence for a while. Then he said with a stern expression, "You did well, Sun-Woo. I saw you fight earlier. You were much better than those clumsy paladins."

"Thank you, Paladin Oh Hee-Jin. You did a great job too."

"...Right." Oh Hee-Jin looked at me with a dark expression.

His eyes held a complex mixture of emotions. There were small emotions like suspicion and gratitude, while there were also big emotions like admiration and wariness.

What was he admiring and what was he wary of? I tried to read the emotions in his eyes more closely, but I couldn't because Oh Hee-Jin suddenly turned his head.

I stared silently at his back. Oh Hee-Jin knew a lot about the Voodoo Cult. He was even knowledgeable about Bossou’s existence.

I had just used the power of the Loa a lot in this battle. ‘A lot’ didn’t do it justice. I had used the power of the Loa conspicuously. Oh Hee-Jin might have caught on to the fact that I was the Cult Leader after he saw me throw the spear using Bossou’s power during the fight.

In that case, what should I do with Oh Hee-Jin? Should I kill him? Maybe manipulating his memories through spells might be more appropriate...

At that moment, Legba said, [You always think only as you wish.]

I couldn't grasp why he said such things.

***

After Sun-Woo left, Sung Yu-Da and Joseph stared at each other in silence for a while. Joseph carefully studied Sung Yu-Da's expression, but couldn't make out what he was thinking or feeling. He was only barely able to catch a momentary stiffness in Sung Yu-Da's expression when he looked at Sun-Woo.

Joseph suddenly extended his hand to shake Sung Yu-Da's hand. "It's really nice to see you like this. You were also present at the promotion ceremony when I became an inquisitor. It was such an honor."

Sung Yu-Da accepted the handshake somewhat hesitantly. "Yes, it's been a long time. I think I gave you a book back then. Are you still reading it?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I tore it up and burned it."

"Ah, I see. That's a shame, really."

"Haha. A shame..." Joseph repeated Sung Yu-Da's words quietly and smiled bitterly.

He thought about Sun-Woo. More precisely, about his suspicions toward him.

Joseph stared straight at Sung Yu-Da and peered into his eyes. "You seemed quite flustered when you saw Sun-Woo.”

Sun-Woo had recently found a long-term missing person. Her name was Yoon-Ah. Not only did it take a tremendous amount of effort, but it also took a huge amount of luck to find someone who had been missing for long periods of time that ranged longer than six months. It was an extremely rare occurrence to find a missing person who had been missing for over six months. ‘Rare occurrences’ like these seemed to happen frequently around Sun-Woo.

"If you're close to Sun-Woo, may I ask how you know each other?"

"We're only acquainted because of my daughter."

When Yoon-Ah was found, a woman suspected to be from the Voodoo Cult had appeared. The woman had used powers and spells to evade the paladins’ pursuit.

As a result, it naturally became the prevailing theory that the Voodoo Cult was responsible for kidnapping Yoon-Ah. Some, no, most clergymen speculated that the woman who appeared there might be the Cult Leader of the Voodoo Cult.

However, Joseph had a different opinion. "You don't have to pretend you don't know. Don’t you want to know more about Sun-Woo?"

"..."

Joseph suspected that Sun-Woo might be part of the Voodoo Cult. Not just that, but he suspected Sun-Woo to be the Cult Leader of the Voodoo Cult.