The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 142

During the school closure period when I was stuck only in the chapel, I conducted these experiments.

First, I tried calling upon two Loas that seemed like they would have good compatibility. Marinette, the Loa of fire, and Bade, the Loa of wind.

This was based on the idea that combining fire and wind would increase the efficiency of their powers, so I planned to try combining the powers of these two Loas.

To put it simply, it was a failure.

[You want me to collaborate with such an inadequate guy? Absolutely impossible! That fool can’t even utter words with more than three syllables!]

[Me too. Bade. Hate. Very!]

[Besides, that guy has a history of betrayal. I have no intention whatsoever of cooperating with such a turncoat!]

This was because the two of them had a very bad relationship.

I tried to encourage reconciliation, but it didn’t work. Bade strongly expressed that he had no intention of ever reconciling with a fool like Marinette, let alone cooperating.

"Can’t you just reconcile? You’re being unnecessarily picky."

[It’s not being picky! I find it shameful to even be treated as the same kind of Loa as that guy!]

[Me, very, hurt...]

Bade really hated Marinette.

In fact, there are many Loas besides Bade who dislike Marinette. This is because she has a history of betrayal, having sided with Han Su-yeop in the past.

It would be fair to say that almost all Loas hate Marinette. I don’t particularly like her either.

Anyway, it seemed I wouldn’t be able to combine and use the powers of Bade and Marinette.

Whenever I had time, I also experimented to ’master’ sorcery. Through various methods and tricks, I seemed to have succeeded in mastering fainting sorcery, but since I hadn’t used it in actual combat yet, I wasn’t certain if it was truly successful.

When practicing sorcery alone, I often doubted whether what I was doing was correct.

When father was alive, training in sorcery was much easier and more comfortable. This was because the path to follow was clearly presented. I suddenly recalled the times when I trained in sorcery with father.

"Now, this is called memory destruction. It’s a very difficult sorcery..."

"Wow, how do you do it?"

"Just watch and follow along. Our son is a genius, so he can do it."

"Huh? I can’t do it though?"

"Really? Oh dear... It seems you’re not my son after all."

Looking back on it, it didn’t seem like such a good memory. Anyway, after practicing sorcery, I recorded the details meticulously in a notebook. Occasionally when conversations with father and mother came to mind, I recorded those too.

Memories that aren’t recorded are bound to fade someday. Just like how I can no longer recall mother’s face, which I used to be able to recall whenever I wanted to. I was afraid of that.

When the school closure period was almost over and no more school closure extension messages came, I went to the bathroom, took off my shirt, and looked in the mirror.

Come to think of it, it had been quite a while since I had closely examined my face through a mirror.

"What kind of beggar is this..."

Beard had grown in the meantime, and my face looked much more gaunt than before.

Perhaps because I had been sleeping irregularly, dark shadows under my eyes had spread down to my cheeks. My hair was disheveled and long, and my eyes lacked strength.

Overall, my face had no vitality. The scar on my stomach was still hideous and large.

I wondered how I had ended up looking like this. I had occasionally exercised at home, but even so, the overall outline of my body had become thinner.

I had lost weight, and it seemed I had lost a lot of muscle too. This was probably because I had often skipped meals while focusing on experiments.

"Cult Leader."

I could see Kang Ji-ah approaching through the mirror. She burst through the door without even knocking and came over to my side, speaking to me nonchalantly.

Then she examined the scar on my stomach and my gaunt face in turn without showing any sign of embarrassment.

"...You’re thinner than I expected."

"It’s because I haven’t been exercising."

"Isn’t it because you don’t eat properly?"

"That’s part of it too."

"You don’t drink enough water either. You don’t get much sunlight, and sometimes I see bloodstains in your room - what exactly are you doing in there?"

"Practicing sorcery and... that’s how it ended up."

Those bloodstains were from the process of mastering sorcery.

After I answered roughly, Kang Ji-ah stared at my face with hazy eyes for quite a while.

It was the same expressionless face as usual, showing no readable emotions, but I sensed a vague resentment from her face.

She lowered her gaze to look at the scar on my stomach and opened her mouth.

"Won’t the scar disappear?"

"It might fade a bit over time, but it probably won’t disappear. According to the doctor."

"That means you did something reckless."

"You’re speaking rather hurtfully..."

"Eat. I’ve prepared food."

Kang Ji-ah said this and left the bathroom without looking back.

Left alone, I watched Kang Ji-ah’s retreating figure heading to the kitchen for a moment, then turned on the water. I washed my face briefly, shaved, and trimmed my hair.

Only then did I look somewhat human. Though I was still haggard all the same. I dried off the water and went to the dining table.

A feast prepared by Kang Ji-ah was spread out on the table. The quantity was excessive. I couldn’t imagine being able to eat it all by myself.

"This is too much for one person to eat."

"If there’s leftover, teacher will eat it."

"Uncle always eats only leftover food."

"Since he’s rarely at the chapel, it can’t be helped."

Kang Ji-ah spoke matter-of-factly as if it were natural.

Uncle is constantly running around, so he often doesn’t eat on time or comes in after eating outside.

Even now uncle wasn’t at the chapel, and had gone out earlier saying he had various things to handle.

I began eating. I could barely taste anything, and the texture was also vague and dull. The only thing I could properly sense was the smell.

"Does it taste alright?"

Kang Ji-ah asked. I nodded while swallowing the food in my mouth without fully chewing it.

"It’s delicious."

"That’s good."

"But you don’t need to prepare it next time."

"Why?"

"I think it would be better if I ate on my own. Isn’t it annoying for you to cook all the time?"

After narrowly saving my life through the contract of the dead, I lost my sense of taste. Not completely lost. It would be more appropriate to say that the range of flavors I could perceive had narrowed considerably.

In other words, whether Kang Ji-ah carefully prepared meals or I made them myself didn’t make much difference... Kang Ji-ah looked at me with a coldly hardened face after hearing my words.

"...But if you exclude meal preparation, there’s nothing for me to do here. Don’t you do everything else yourself? Laundry, dishes."

"I do those because you can’t, so I just do them myself."

"I can do them."

"You broke a plate last time while washing dishes."

"That was because my hands are small."

"When you do laundry, the clothes smell."

"That’s because this place is underground. It’s summer now too."

"It’s fine when I do it."

"That’s..."

Kang Ji-ah trailed off while glaring at me.

"So I’m saying I’ll continue cooking. Since I can’t do other things."

"Then just prepare simple things. Chicken breast or something like that."

"Do you really need to eat such tasteless things?"

"My body isn’t fully recovered yet. To recover quickly, I need to eat only good things."

I finished eating while saying this. Since I couldn’t taste properly anyway, I only ate as much as I could manage. I felt a bit sad that I could no longer properly taste Kang Ji-ah’s excellent cooking.

Kang Ji-ah looked at me silently with her mouth closed, then slowly nodded reluctantly and opened her mouth.

"Then I’ll prepare healthy food from next time."

"Thank you. Actually, I’d be more comfortable doing it myself."

"Then I’d be uncomfortable. Is it enough if only you’re comfortable?"

"No, that’s not what I meant... But you’ve been speaking rather harshly since earlier. Did I do something wrong?"

I asked because my feelings were a bit hurt. Recently, Kang Ji-ah had been openly showing that she was in a bad mood toward me.

I tried to recall what I might have done wrong to her, but I hadn’t done anything bad enough to deserve this treatment. Still, I might have unconsciously hurt her feelings, so I asked just in case.

Kang Ji-ah’s eyes widened in surprise. As if she had belatedly realized that her tone had been a bit sharp.

"I’m sorry. Unintentionally..."

She apologized carefully while lowering her gaze.

"Why are you like this lately?"

When I asked, Kang Ji-ah hesitated and picked up her phone. She checked the time and fiddled with the phone meaninglessly before finally opening her mouth.

"I heard you decided on Ha Su-yeong as the next cult leader."

"...It’s not confirmed, just temporarily. Where did you hear that?"

"She said so herself."

Kang Ji-ah handed me her phone while saying this. Through the screen, I could see the conversation between Kang Ji-ah and Ha Su-yeong.

[I’m the 4th cult leader. Treat me respectfully from now on]

[Bullshit]

[Do Seon-woo just said so directly]

[Do Seon-woo? Is the Cult Leader your friend?]

Since Ha Su-yeong didn’t reply to Kang Ji-ah’s message, the contact ended there.

I scrolled up to see more of the conversation between the two. Most conversations started with Ha Su-yeong teasing Kang Ji-ah and ended with Kang Ji-ah ignoring Ha Su-yeong.

"You two are close?"

I asked because it seemed odd to see these two, who I thought would never be close, exchanging messages like this. Kang Ji-ah’s face hardened.

"We’re not close."

"You seem close though."

"Not at all."

She firmly denied my words and snatched the phone from my hand.

I didn’t know when they had exchanged contact information, but the two seemed quite close.

Since these two might work together someday, I had been thinking of making them get along even if by force if their relationship was too bad, but seeing the messages they exchanged, it didn’t seem necessary.

"Anyway, so you’re upset because of this?"

"I’m not upset... I’m not upset."

"Then what?"

Kang Ji-ah hesitated and couldn’t answer. Just as I was about to correct my words thinking I had been too interrogating, Kang Ji-ah raised her head and answered.

"I don’t think it was necessary to decide on the next cult leader so hastily."

"What? So you are upset about this."

"That’s not what I mean. I’m..."

Kang Ji-ah trailed off. A hint of confusion appeared faintly on her face.

She cleared the dishes spread on the dining table as if to hide such expression. It was unusually flustered behavior for her.

After neatly organizing the dining table, she sat down across from me properly and continued speaking.

"When are you planning to die, Cult Leader?"