The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 28

The next day at school. It was an ordinary day that flowed no differently from any other, except for the fact that Bae Seong-hyeon and Oh Byeong-hun were absent.

After school, before going to my studio apartment, I first stopped by the underground chapel. Fortunately, Uncle Lee Jin-seong was reading a book in his usual spot.

I got straight to the point.

"Uncle. How about selling the dBP stocks now, even at this point?"

"Oh please."

Uncle didn’t even bother listening, casually reading his book. Even his response was half-hearted. It wasn’t even clear whether it was a response or just an interjection.

"I’m telling you it’s going to fall soon. It’s not a feeling, it’s certainty. Really."

"Tsk. Do you know how bright dBP corporation’s future is?"

"No. It’s going to get dark soon. Please believe me."

Uncle shook his head and sighed.

"Hey man. Right now the stock price is rising so much it’s about to break through the chart. It’ll be a long time before it peaks! If you sell now, you’ll be a complete sucker!"

"Just don’t regret it later."

"Yes, cult leader. I absolutely won’t regret it. No, in the first place, you don’t even know how to read stocks, so why are you interfering so much?"

"That’s true, but... Ha."

I sighed from feeling frustrated and suffocated. Explaining everything about Bae Seong-hyeon from beginning to end seemed like it would take too long.

[Just don’t tell him.]

While I was deep in thought, Legba casually offered advice. Before I could respond, Legba continued.

[Let him lose money as he is.]

"What?"

[This is a good opportunity to imprint the fact that ignoring the cult leader brings misfortune.]

"Even so, that’s..."

[You are the cult leader. Lee Jin-seong is a priest. But Lee Jin-seong is ignoring your words. This could be considered overstepping authority.]

It was somewhat reasonable, but even so, Uncle Lee Jin-seong was my family. I couldn’t just let him lose money like this.

"Uncle. I’ll say it one last time. Sell."

"Why do you keep telling me to sell? Is there a reason? Don’t tell me it’s another feeling?"

"dBP stocks are bound to fall. I made it so that would happen inevitably!"

"What ability do you have to manipulate stock prices? That’s nonsense."

No matter how much I tried to persuade him, uncle wouldn’t listen. At this point, I was starting to get angry.

"Ha. Do whatever you want then. I clearly told you to sell."

"Oh dear, yes. Don’t whine asking me to buy you something later."

"Yes, yes."

Do as you please. It’s not my money anyway. Just don’t regret it later.

I gave up and turned around. To cool my anger, I decided to watch the news. I actually had a reason to watch the news too.

I went into my room at the back of the chapel. News was playing on the small TV in the corner of the room.

The recent serial kidnapping cases had no clues whatsoever. The Seoul Eastern Holy Knight Order commander had resigned due to corruption, and a new commander had taken office, and so on.

Somehow there wasn’t a single piece of good news. Though I suppose that’s how news usually is.

[The state of the world is beyond words.]

Legba, who was watching the news with me, lamented anew.

I stayed at the chapel until that evening, just watching the news. No matter how I changed channels, the news I wanted didn’t come on.

At this point, I was starting to get impatient.

[There’s no need to rush. They might still be investigating.]

"That’s true."

I nodded. As Legba said, there was a high possibility they were still investigating. There was nothing to be impatient about. I should stay calm and wait. If I waited, everything would work out fine. I had manipulated the situation so it would have to turn out that way.

Buzzzzz!

"Ah, startled."

I seemed to have dozed off while watching the news like that. I was startled awake by the sudden vibration sound. There was a text message. The sender was Jeong In-ah.

As always, it would probably be a meaningless greeting message. I checked the content without much thought.

"Huh?"

However, the content was more serious than I thought.

[It doesn’t seem like good news. I can’t tell exactly just from the title, but.]

"Ah, please. O Adonai."

[What? This bastard.]

I prayed while clicking on the link Jeong In-ah had sent me.

’Granche.’

It was the same place where that false exposé post about me had been uploaded before.

* * *

The investigation of the case was assigned to the Seoul Eastern Holy Knight Order. Han Dae-ho, who had newly taken office as commander due to his predecessor’s corruption, had such a headache from this case that it felt like his head might split.

"No evidence? None at all?"

"Yes. Just this scrap of cloth that was placed on student Bae Seong-hyeon’s head. Nothing else besides this."

The subordinate knight held out evidence contained in an envelope. It was a piece of cloth with bizarre patterns drawn on it. He didn’t know what religion the pattern symbolized, but it was certainly not from Romanica.

"Did you show the evidence to the victim students too? What was their reaction?"

"The other students didn’t have much reaction, but that..."

The subordinate knight hesitated, trailing off.

"Speak comfortably."

"Yes, um. Student Bae Seong-hyeon had a seizure when he saw the evidence."

"A seizure?"

Han Dae-ho jumped up from his seat in surprise.

"Yes. His condition isn’t serious, but it would be difficult to continue the investigation..."

Clang clang! Clang clang clang!

"Ah, commander. Sorry. It’s a phone call."

"What kind of ringtone is that... Never mind. Go take it."

The subordinate knight left the commander’s office to take the call.

"A seizure. A seizure, huh. There must be something there."

Han Dae-ho, left alone in the commander’s office, muttered.

A piece of cloth with strange patterns. Bae Seong-hyeon who had a seizure upon seeing it. There was definitely a connection between the two.

However, he couldn’t tell what kind of connection it was. There was only rampant speculation and no real clues.

"Commander."

Eventually the subordinate knight who had gone to take the call returned and pulled Han Dae-ho from his thoughts.

"Oh, yes. Tell me."

"I just got word that this piece of cloth is likely a ritual item used in cult ceremonies."

"Cult? Did you also find out exactly what religion it is?"

"Yes. We found out."

A smile finally appeared on Han Dae-ho’s worry-filled face. If they could just identify the source of the cloth piece, there would be progress in the investigation. The subordinate knight, who had been looking through documents, opened his mouth with a beaming face.

"Yes, it’s Voodoo..."

"Voodoo!"

"...or Satanism, Sumerian religion, Druidism, Semitic religion. One of those, plus 3 other religions."

Han Dae-ho’s face contorted.

"You idiot. So you still don’t know anything!"

"Huh? But I did narrow it down to 8?"

"Forget it. It’s my fault for trusting you. What’s Druidism? This isn’t a game."

Han Dae-ho let out a quiet sigh.

"It’s an actual religion. The official name is Celtic polytheism."

"Hey bastard. Instead of memorizing stuff like that, do your job properly."

"Commander, I’m someone who gets thorns in my mouth if I don’t memorize religions for even a day."

The subordinate knight said matter-of-factly. It wasn’t a joke. He was what you’d call a religion otaku.

From the national religion of Romanica to Satanism, Voodoo, and Druidism. Information about every religion in the world was in his head.

"Phew, let’s just proceed step by step according to protocol. Since cult ritual items were found at the scene, convert the victims to suspects and start searching for cultists."

"Yes, then I’ll start with digital forensics."

"Right. If you find anything strange, report it immediately."

The subordinate knight left the commander’s office. Left alone, Han Dae-ho sat down and sighed while rubbing his face with dry hands.

’This is driving me crazy.’

His head was already splitting from trying to find the culprit of the serial disappearance cases, and now the "alley mass fainting incident" involving 8 high school students fainting in an alley had occurred.

Moreover, among the victims of the alley mass fainting incident was Bae Seong-hyeon. The son of dBP corporation’s Bae Jeong-hwan. Perhaps because of this, there was tremendous pressure from above. Not just any higher-ups, but very high higher-ups.

If he failed to find the culprit, he might have to resign from his commander position. Resignation immediately after appointment...just imagining it was horrifying.

’I will definitely find them.’

That’s why Han Dae-ho was desperate. The image of his mother crying tears of joy when she heard he had been appointed commander flickered before his eyes. He felt like he might cry for no reason.

"Sigh..."

Han Dae-ho was looking through the case file again with a sigh when someone burst through the door into the commander’s office.

"Commander!"

It was that subordinate knight from earlier. That religion otaku.

"What? Did the forensics finish already?"

"What? No, that’s not it." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"What? Then why are you here?"

"Look at this."

The subordinate knight held out his phone to show a photo. It was a picture of some high school girl smoking a cigarette. There were several similar photos besides that.

Han Dae-ho tilted his head.

"What’s the problem? Don’t tell me it’s voyeurism? Whose phone is this?"

"It’s student Bae Seong-hyeon’s phone. But this isn’t just voyeurism. That, you know about the demon race from before, right?"

At the mention of "demon race," Han Dae-ho’s eyes widened. Come to think of it, the photo looked familiar. Go Jun-min, who had transformed into a demon race. It was identical to the photos on that guy’s phone.

What this meant was clear.

"What about the rest? Is there anything else strange on the phone?"

"Yes."

"Investigate the rest cursorily and release them. And convert Bae Seong-hyeon to a suspect. Investigate the possibility that he’s a Satan worshipper or connected to Satan worshippers."

"Yes, understood."

The subordinate knight hurriedly left the commander’s office.

’Now I understand.’

Han Dae-ho smiled slightly.

Bae Seong-hyeon was a Satan worshipper, or had connections with Satan worshippers. While directly conducting Satanic rituals or assisting with them, an accident occurred, and all 8 students including himself fainted.

This would also explain why he had a seizure upon seeing the cloth piece. Either he was afraid his identity would be revealed, or he was acting to avoid giving testimony.

Finally, it seemed like he was getting a lead.

"Commander!"

30 minutes later, the subordinate knight who had left returned again.

"Yes. What are the investigation results?"

"Bae Seong-hyeon is avoiding answering anything at all. So we just investigated his phone for now. It’s still insufficient but should be enough as evidence."

"Tell me."

"Yes. First..."

The subordinate knight began reporting the investigation results.

First, the photos. The photos on Bae Seong-hyeon’s phone were identical to those on Go Jun-min’s phone. There were also records of calls and texts with Go Jun-min. This was clear evidence that Bae Seong-hyeon had been involved in the Go Jun-min incident.

Besides that, there were many other bizarre things on Bae Seong-hyeon’s phone. Photos of male students naked with their hands tied behind their backs exposing their private parts, torture videos of repeatedly breaking students’ bones and using healing to reattach them, and so on.

"Is this school violence?"

"It seems so."

"Release this story too."

"Um, commander. But this..."

The subordinate knight hesitated and trailed off.

"What? Why? Speak quickly, don’t beat around the bush."

"Is the case suspect Bae Seong-hyeon really the only son of dBP corporation’s chairman?"

"That’s right. So what?"

"dBP corporation chairman Bae Jeong-hwan is coming here. He’s scheduled to arrive in 10 minutes."

"What? No, this fucking..."

Knock knock.

Just then, there was a knocking sound. Han Dae-ho, who was about to unleash a string of curses, suddenly stopped.

Cold sweat that had formed on his forehead flowed down his temples to his chin. A heavy silence filled the commander’s office.

"Is the commander in? This is Bae Jeong-hwan."

Creak.

Before Han Dae-ho could even respond, Bae Jeong-hwan opened the door and entered the commander’s office.

"Nice to meet you. I said I’d come in 10 minutes, but I’m naturally impatient."

Bae Jeong-hwan spoke with a smile. It was a gentle and warm smile that was somehow chilling at the same time.

When Bae Jeong-hwan slowly offered a handshake, Han Dae-ho hurriedly accepted it.

"Hello. I’m Seoul Eastern Holy Knight Order Commander Han Dae-ho."

"Yes, hello. You’re quite large in stature. Hahaha."

"Ah, yes. Haha..."

Both Bae Jeong-hwan and Han Dae-ho were smiling, but the atmosphere was strangely murderous.

"I heard you recently took office. How is work? It must be very difficult."

"No, it’s fine."

Han Dae-ho said with an awkward smile. Bae Jeong-hwan cleared his throat.

"Well, if the introduction gets too long it’ll be boring for both of us. I’ll get straight to the point."

"Yes?"

"I heard my son is being held as a victim. I don’t know the detailed circumstances, but please take good care of it."

"Ah. ...Yes, of course."

Han Dae-ho answered reluctantly. Bae Jeong-hwan still had that gentle smile as he opened his mouth.

"By the way, I heard the Seoul Eastern Holy Knight Order is quite lacking in holy items. Is that right?"

"Not a lot. Just a little."

"It’ll become abundant soon. If this matter goes well, that is."

Bae Jeong-hwan smiled coldly.

’Bribery.’

Han Dae-ho could easily guess the intent behind those words. Bae Jeong-hwan raised his wrist to glance at his watch.

"Oh my, it’s already this late. I’ve interfered with your work. Well then, I’ll be going."

"Haha, yes. Take care."

"I’ll be expecting good news."

Han Dae-ho kept bowing toward Bae Jeong-hwan as he left the commander’s office. When Bae Jeong-hwan had completely left the knight order, Han Dae-ho collapsed in place as if flowing down.

"Haaaah..."

A deep sigh. His face, already full of worry, seemed to have aged 10 more years from the meeting with Bae Jeong-hwan.

The subordinate knight who had been standing there dumbfounded approached Han Dae-ho.

"Commander. Are you alright?"

"Does this look alright to you?"

"Um, well. No."

Han Dae-ho let out a hollow laugh.

"Commander, so how do you plan to proceed with the investigation?"

"..."

Han Dae-ho remained silent for a long time. Silence filled the commander’s office. Eventually Han Dae-ho smiled slightly. It was a transparent smile, as if he had lost his mind or given up.

"How long has it been since I took office?"

"Unofficially 2 weeks, officially 2 days ago. The announcement was today."

"Right. Not long."

Han Dae-ho hung his head heavily. The face of his joyful mother came to mind again. It was complicated.

"It’s still too early to resign already, right?"

"...Yes. No one would be able to blame you, commander."

Han Dae-ho stood up abruptly.

"Right. This is natural. This is right."

Then, slowly nodding his head, he muttered to himself.

"Now I don’t even know what’s natural anymore. Damn it..."

"..."

Han Dae-ho’s lament echoed through the commander’s office. There was no other sound besides that.