The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 114

"Taxidermy...?"

So Do-jin blinked both eyes and showed reluctance.

His head, which had been filled with thoughts that he must stop Do Seon-woo and then kill him, was completely emptied.

Clatter.

The sword he had been holding fell to the playground floor with a dry sound. So Do-jin, who had been chasing empty air with vacant eyes, belatedly looked around to grasp the situation.

Bae Seong-hyeon’s extracted heart burst while spilling sawdust. Bae Seong-hyeon’s sprawled corpse was wrinkled like a deflated balloon. Sawdust and cotton-like material protruded from the pierced chest.

Do Seon-woo was right. That was taxidermy. It was definitely the work of the Satan worshipper who caused the ’Tower of Corpses’ incident in Incheon 2 years ago.

"Then, what was I..."

So Do-jin collapsed onto the playground floor.

"What on earth was I trying to do..."

Taxidermy sometimes explodes according to the Satan worshipper’s will. If Do Seon-woo hadn’t dealt with it quickly, the taxidermy might have exploded and caused great damage to the students. Do Seon-woo had dealt with the taxidermy to save the students.

And So Do-jin had almost killed such a Do Seon-woo. If he had completely let go of the thread of reason, Do Seon-woo’s head would have long since fallen and been rolling on the playground floor.

Sometimes failing to make rational judgments and surrendering to emotions was one of So Do-jin’s long-standing weaknesses.

Because of that weakness, So Do-jin had committed sins in the past. And today, he had almost committed the same sin against Do Seon-woo. So Do-jin was suffering from the overwhelming sense of self-reproach.

"...Ah."

Thud.

Then, a female student also collapsed next to the seated So Do-jin.

No, she hadn’t collapsed but had fallen. The unconscious female student was none other than Jeong In-ah. Gu Jun-hyeok rushed toward her urgently.

"Hey, hey! Open your eyes, ah, damn it...!"

When she didn’t wake up even after tapping her shoulders and touching her cheeks, Gu Jun-hyeok tried to lift Jeong In-ah.

"Ugh, why is this so heavy?"

And put her back down.

* * *

I went to the infirmary and received treatment.

Bandages were wrapped around my wounded palm and neck. The neck needed only one layer of bandage for the bleeding to stop, but the palm required two or three more layers of bandages. It didn’t hurt, but I felt chilly, perhaps due to the blood loss.

The unconscious Jeong In-ah was lying in the infirmary room sleeping. According to the health teacher, she had just temporarily lost consciousness from shock, and fortunately there were no particular external injuries.

While I was resting in a chair watching Jeong In-ah sleep, Gu Jun-hyeok came.

"Teacher Ha Ye-jin wants you to come to the counseling room, now."

"Ah, okay."

Gu Jun-hyeok’s tone was somehow dejected. His expression also looked somewhat sharp. It seemed he had been scolded in the counseling room.

I went to the counseling room. When I opened the door, first there was Ha Ye-jin, and beside her So Do-jin was covering his face with his hands and hanging his head.

"Hello."

I greeted and took a seat. Ha Ye-jin smiled at me, and So Do-jin still kept his gaze on the floor. Brief silence flowed.

"So, so..."

So Do-jin rubbed his face dry and suddenly raised his head.

"So that wasn’t Bae Seong-hyeon but taxidermy? Made by a Satan worshipper."

"Yes."

"And you dealt with it in advance before it did something strange."

When I nodded, So Do-jin’s face hardened coldly. Then he stared at me quietly with hazy pupils that reeked of fatigue.

However, it wasn’t a gaze as if trying to interrogate or question me. His eyes held shallow fear.

"I have something to ask."

"Yes."

"How did you know? At that time... no, even thinking about it now, it’s the same. To me, that was a person. Not taxidermy. No matter how I looked at it, it didn’t look like taxidermy. It just looked like a person..."

So Do-jin tried to ask me a question, then muttered in a trembling voice as if confused.

When Ha Ye-jin lightly tapped his shoulder, he finally came to his senses and continued while keeping his gaze on the floor.

"...How did you distinguish it?"

I was briefly lost in thought at So Do-jin’s question.

I became certain that Bae Seong-hyeon who appeared at Florence was taxidermy right after calling his father, Bae Jeong-hwan.

When I asked if his son was well, Bae Jeong-hwan answered yes without a moment’s hesitation. When I asked where his son was, he said he was sleeping in his room. In other words, the ’real’ Bae Seong-hyeon was at home.

Most importantly, Bae Seong-hyeon should fear me due to sorcery. However, the Bae Seong-hyeon who appeared at Florence casually offered me a handshake and even acted in a threatening manner toward me.

There was no way Bae Seong-hyeon could have broken my sorcery with mental strength or will, let alone a Romanica Church priest breaking my sorcery. Therefore, I thought the Bae Seong-hyeon in front of me was fake.

Confidence in my sorcery. That was the first reason I thought Bae Seong-hyeon was taxidermy.

"The body temperature was different."

However, I couldn’t tell the truth. To truthfully explain why I thought Bae Seong-hyeon was taxidermy, I would have to explain that I could use sorcery and was also the Voodoo cult leader.

So I decided to make up a plausible reason.

So Do-jin tilted his head upon hearing my words.

"Body temperature?"

"When we shook hands, the temperature I felt on my hand was different from other people. It was cold like ice."

"Just for such a trivial reason..."

"It was cold enough to make me certain he wasn’t human. Cold enough that it wouldn’t make sense unless he was a corpse or reptilian human."

When I spoke firmly, So Do-jin closed his mouth.

However, saying I distinguished by body temperature was actually a lie. When we shook hands, Bae Seong-hyeon’s hand was lukewarm, no different from other people. I didn’t feel any characteristic temperature difference, whether cold or hot.

In the silence that flowed again, Ha Ye-jin glared at So Do-jin with narrowed eyes.

"When are you going to apologize? After making a child like this."

"I was about to do it now."

So Do-jin hung his head deeply. So Do-jin let out a heavy, deep sigh. Fatigue was accumulated in his downcast eyes, and he was also soaked in guilt.

"I never thought it might be taxidermy. I thought... that a murder had occurred at school. I’m sorry..."

"That could happen. It looked almost exactly like a person."

"Yes, thank you for understanding..."

"But why did you cry earlier?"

I habitually pressed the palm wound wrapped in bandages and asked.

I honestly wasn’t curious about why So Do-jin had attacked me. At first glance, it would have looked like I was killing Bae Seong-hyeon by pulling out his heart, so from teacher So Do-jin’s perspective, it would have been natural to attack and stop me even by force.

However, I had no idea why he had shed tears.

Had he watched some sad movie? If it was a movie that could make So Do-jin cry, someone who wouldn’t bleed a drop even if stabbed, it must have been a masterpiece. I thought I’d like to see it too.

"...Are you mocking me?" 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

So Do-jin glared at me with flashing eyes while placing his hand on his sword. It was quite flustering because it was so different from the reaction I had expected.

"No, I wondered if you had watched a sad movie or something. You were crying so sadly."

"If you open your mouth any more, I’ll kill you."

"Didn’t you say people shouldn’t kill people?"

"...Ah... I want to die, shit."

"Oh! Bad language!"

Ha Ye-jin scolded So Do-jin who sighed and uttered profanity. So Do-jin hung his head with a face suffering greatly from the overwhelming confusion and self-reproach.

Ha Ye-jin looked at him with pity, then turned her gaze to me.

"You can go up now. Originally I was just going to let you rest, but he insisted on being called to apologize... Anyway, you worked hard."

"Ah, yes."

"Oh! There was a commendation that came for Seon-woo?"

Ha Ye-jin spoke urgently as if she had suddenly remembered.

A commendation... I recalled Han Dae-ho’s promise to give me a commendation as a token of gratitude last time. It seemed to have already arrived.

Ha Ye-jin smiled warmly and continued.

"Seon-woo secretly does a lot of activities here and there. Should I give it in front of the kids? Or would it be more comfortable to give it separately?"

"Um... I think it would be better to give it separately."

"Really? It would be nice to receive it in front of the kids to have something to brag about. Anyway, I understand."

I left the counseling room, leaving behind Ha Ye-jin who nodded with a benevolent smile.

The more commendations I receive, the better. The more awards I have, the more splendid my portfolio will become, and the greater the possibility of joining the Central Holy Knight Order.

Even so, I wasn’t extremely happy for some reason. Honestly, Seong Ha-yeon’s contribution was greater than mine in that incident. While I had blocked the clergy, she was the one who resolved the incident by dismantling the black magic circle.

[It’s true that you couldn’t have resolved the incident without the child named Seong Ha-yeon, but that child couldn’t have dismantled the black magic circle without you either.]

Legba comforted me and continued.

[At that time, you dealt with it calmly and well. Rather, the child named Seong Ha-yeon lost her composure and panicked. She seems to take after her father a lot.]

"What?"

Takes after her father?

Seong Ha-yeon’s father was Saint Judas. Had there been a time when Saint Judas showed loss of composure and panic? Even searching through all the articles and videos floating around the internet, Saint Judas was always just calm.

No, he was beyond calm and cold and chilly like a machine. The Saint Judas I had seen was always like that.

[...Well, everyone has such times. Try to forget it.]

Legba hastily changed the subject. He extremely avoided mentioning my father, mother, and Saint Judas.

I didn’t know the reason. Because he wouldn’t even tell me the reason. Since it was obvious he wouldn’t answer even if I asked, I decided to just let it pass.

[Did you find out anything from this incident?]

When I reached the front of the classroom, Legba asked a question.

I sat down, took out my books to prepare for the next class, and recalled the ’fake’ Bae Seong-hyeon who appeared at Florence, namely the taxidermy. At first glance, that taxidermy was no different from a person. Appearance, voice, body temperature, even personality and way of speaking.

If I hadn’t been the one who cast sorcery on Bae Seong-hyeon, and if Bae Jeong-hwan wasn’t a Voodoo believer, I wouldn’t have noticed that he was taxidermy. That’s how precise and cunning this taxidermy was.

[Has a fanatical obsession with perfect taxidermy.]

The sentence I had seen in the Central Library came to mind. ’Perfect taxidermy.’ Was this taxidermy perfect for him? Or was it just a defective product that wasn’t satisfactory... I wasn’t sure.

However, one thing I could assert was that the Satan worshipper was growing at a frighteningly fast pace.

* * *

Right after counseling, Ha Ye-jin went up to her assigned classroom because she had class, and So Do-jin remained in the counseling room to collect himself.

Before his eyes, the image of Bae Seong-hyeon... no, the taxidermy impersonating Bae Seong-hyeon who had died with his heart pierced was flickering.

"Taxidermy..."

Thinking of taxidermy, the Tower of Corpses incident came to mind next.

Animals that became magical beasts due to black magic, citizens who became demon species. For So Do-jin, the Tower of Corpses incident was such a terrible incident that he wanted to forget but couldn’t.

Knock knock.

So Do-jin, who had been lost in thought with his forehead on the desk, raised his head. With the knocking sound, the door opened and Kim Bok-dong entered.

The approaching footsteps were as scattered as his bulk. Thump, thump, thump, thump... So Do-jin couldn’t tell whether it was Kim Bok-dong’s loud footsteps or his own heart beating loudly.

"I heard you almost killed Do Seon-woo, is what I heard correct?"

"...Where did you hear that?"

"Ha Ye-jin told me. She said you caused a big accident so I should scold you a bit. From your reaction, it seems true that you almost killed Do Seon-woo."

Kim Bok-dong sat next to So Do-jin while stretching as if to loosen his tight muscles.

Ha Ye-jin, that girl went around spouting unnecessary things again. How far will the rumors spread this time...

So Do-jin shook his head to chase away Ha Ye-jin’s face that suddenly came to mind.

"What about your class? You said you were packed with classes this afternoon."

So Do-jin asked while blankly staring at the dark red blood stuck to the blade. That blood belonged to Do Seon-woo. Guilt raised its head and glared at So Do-jin.

"I gave them self-study and came down."

"Is that okay?"

"It’s almost exam period. The kids also preferred studying rather than physical activity. I just gave them the self-study they wanted."

Kim Bok-dong spoke as if it was nothing. So Do-jin felt burdened by Kim Bok-dong who had come to find him even doing that, and was also grateful on the other hand.

And suddenly the Bae Seong-hyeon taxidermy he had seen today came to mind. Taxidermy that looked completely no different from a person on the outside.

"Hey, if you and I fought, who would win?"

"What kind of question is that at this age... Did you hit puberty late or something?"

So Do-jin looked at Kim Bok-dong. If taxidermy that looked exactly like Kim Bok-dong or Ha Ye-jin appeared, could he kill it without hesitation like Do Seon-woo?

"...Right, never mind."

He shook his head to brush away the stray thoughts. He still wasn’t confident.