The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 31

Near the end of lunch break, four of the seven holy names named after the seven cardinal virtues were gathered in the student council room.

They had assembled for a meeting about two agenda items, but the meeting hadn’t even started yet.

"Humility is absent. Charity is vacant. Patience said she’d come but is nowhere to be seen. Why are there so many losers in our grade? Huh?"

Yeo Min-seo, holder of the holy name of Kindness, lamented while looking at the empty seats. With 3 out of 7 people missing, there was no way they could proceed with the meeting. She meaninglessly flipped through the documents in her hand as she continued speaking.

"Patience, well, at least she came to school so I’ll let that slide. But why isn’t that Humility bastard coming to school?"

"I heard his father passed away. He went to the funeral."

"That’s already the third time with the funeral excuse. Does he have three fathers or something? Is he Lu Bu or what?"

Yeo Min-seo crumpled up the documents she was holding. Her words and actions were completely at odds with the name ’Kindness.’ The meeting atmosphere became stiffly tense.

"Well anyway, since they’re not here, let’s just proceed without them. The first agenda item is..."

Creak!

Just as they were about to start the meeting, the door opened.

Kim Jin-seo entered the student council room slowly, breathing heavily. Yeo Min-seo glared at Kim Jin-seo sharply yet subtly.

"You’re here? You’re late, aren’t you? Quite a bit."

"Sorry. Something came up."

"Right, I’m sure you had your reasons. Being 5 minutes late. Kids who are late always have their stories."

Kim Jin-seo’s eyebrows twitched for a moment. But that was all. Kim Jin-seo bit her lips and suppressed her rising anger inwardly as she went to sit down.

Tap tap.

Yeo Min-seo, sitting at the head of the round table, tapped the documents on the desk to organize them.

"Now that everyone who’s coming is here, let’s start the meeting."

Yeo Min-seo flipped through the documents. Normally the holder of the holy name of Humility should conduct the meeting, but that "bastard" with Humility had been absent for 2 weeks. So Yeo Min-seo, holder of the holy name of Kindness, took charge.

"First agenda item. News that Satan worshippers have infiltrated Florence. The basis is the ’Livestock Barn Magical Beast Incident’ and the ’Go Jun-min Incident.’ So we’ve been ordered to find the Satan worshippers. There’s a high possibility they’re among the freshmen. That’s why the teachers specifically entrusted it to us."

"Is there a way to find them?"

Kang Dae-man, holder of the holy name of Diligence, asked.

Though he appeared to be sitting, that wasn’t actually the case. There was no chair at his spot. Kang Dae-man had been doing an invisible chair exercise the entire time even before the meeting started.

"Look at this first before we talk. These are photos from when the incident occurred."

Yeo Min-seo spread documents on the table to show them. They were CCTV photos from Florence’s livestock barn.

The photos had something in common. A man in a black hood and mask was captured drawing some kind of unidentified magic circle.

"What’s this black guy? And is what he’s drawing a blessing circle? The color looks strange."

Kang Dae-man, who had been looking at the photos with narrowed eyes, asked.

"That would be the Satan worshipper. I wish you’d think a little before asking questions."

Yeo Min-seo answered irritably.

"I see. Then what’s this guy drawing? Is it a blessing circle?"

"It’s not a blessing circle, it’s a black magic circle. If you don’t know, please stay quiet. Don’t ask useless questions."

Kang Dae-man glared at Yeo Min-seo. Yeo Min-seo glared back at Kang Dae-man without backing down. Their gazes crossed and sparks flew. The atmosphere became murderous.

The other holy name holders couldn’t even think of intervening and just watched them quietly. Naturally, it became a back-and-forth between Kang Dae-man and Yeo Min-seo.

"The holder of the holy name of Humility. If we use that bastard well, I think we could find them."

"Right. But that bastard keeps being absent. And it’s not clear if he’ll cooperate."

"Ah. But you seem to have been nitpicking everything I say since earlier. If you’re going to object, shouldn’t you provide alternatives?"

"Wow, you’re right. You’ve been saying such stupid things that my intelligence must have dropped too. Sorry."

Kang Dae-man jumped up from his seat. Just as he was about to stride toward Yeo Min-seo, a slender arm stopped him.

"Stop. Don’t fight."

It was Han Su-ryeon, holder of the holy name of Temperance. She flipped through documents as she continued speaking.

"Only the livestock barn CCTV? Where did the Go Jun-min incident happen?"

"Right in front. Near the city park."

"Right. Are there no CCTV photos from there?"

"None. They were all destroyed. There’s no evidence at all related to the Go Jun-min incident..."

As Yeo Min-seo was answering Han Su-ryeon’s question absent-mindedly, her eyes suddenly sparkled as if a brilliant idea had occurred to her.

"No wait, thinking about it, there is something. There’s a sole witness right here. Kim Jin-seo."

Kim Jin-seo’s shoulders flinched.

Yeo Min-seo looked at Kim Jin-seo with a sinister smile. Madness dwelt in those eyes.

"Do you have any guesses? Was there anything particular when Go Jun-min transformed into a demon race?"

"...I don’t remember."

"Don’t lie. Cooperate a little, would you?"

Kim Jin-seo hung her head and took a deep breath. Just recalling that incident made her breathless. Just repeating the name ’Go Jun-min’ made her chest feel stuffy.

"It’s true. I don’t remember."

She didn’t want to remember either. She actually didn’t remember well. Even if she did remember, she wouldn’t have wanted to voice it.

"Fine. If you don’t want to talk, then don’t. Being late and not cooperating. Very useful."

It was a blatantly sarcastic tone. Though she was angry, Kim Jin-seo just endured it without saying anything.

She didn’t even want to exchange words with Yeo Min-seo. When she got into arguments with Yeo Min-seo, she was always the one who suffered losses.

Han Su-ryeon, who had been looking at the photos for a while, finally spoke up.

"I don’t think we can find them with just these photos. Let’s talk about it when that guy, the holder of Humility, comes. How about it?"

Yeo Min-seo nodded.

"Right. Then the next agenda item is Bae Seong-hyeon. That idiot did idiotic things and got expelled. So the holy name of Charity is vacant. We need to hold a re-election."

"Why is that an agenda item?"

Kang Dae-man chuckled. Yeo Min-seo’s eyebrows twisted.

"...Right. I’m going to explain now. Say we pick someone through a re-election exam. But what if the kid who gets in is also a moron who does stupid shit like Bae Seong-hyeon and gets expelled again? What do we do then?"

"What’s the problem? Then we just hold another re-election exam..."

"This is why we shouldn’t give speaking rights to stupid bastards." Yeo Min-seo cut off Kang Dae-man’s words. Kang Dae-man’s arm muscles, visible through his workout clothes, twitched. His patience was reaching its limit. Nevertheless, Yeo Min-seo continued speaking without caring.

"Just planning a re-election exam takes at least 2 weeks. If we hold re-election exams twice? That’s a month just for planning. So we waste a whole month. Then we won’t have time to study either, right?"

"I don’t study anyway."

"Of course you wouldn’t. You stupid muscle pig."

"In our industry, that’s a compliment. Thanks."

Kang Dae-man smiled as he retorted. Yeo Min-seo shook her head and let out a deep sigh.

"Anyway. To avoid wasting time, let’s pick someone proper this time and go smoothly for 3 years. Let’s not pick idiots like Bae Seong-hyeon or stupid bastards like Kang Dae-man."

"But that’s not something we can decide. Is there a way?"

Han Su-ryeon, who had been listening, asked.

"You know we can also get involved in the re-election exam, right? Using that well, I’m thinking of doing some behind-the-scenes maneuvering."

Behind-the-scenes maneuvering.

She meant deciding who to pick in advance and getting involved in the re-election exam to funnel points to that person. Simply put, cheating.

Kang Dae-man, who was listening, spoke with a puzzled expression.

"But why do behind-the-scenes maneuvering? If they have ability, they’ll get picked naturally."

"Exams often have results that depend on luck. What if some dimwit without ability gets lucky and is selected as the holy name of Charity? They’ll immediately be out like Bae Seong-hyeon. So let’s predetermine someone safe who can last long and block variables."

"That sounds good. I like it. Behind-the-scenes maneuvering."

Kang Dae-man agreed without much thought.

Yeo Min-seo sorted through several documents and spread three sheets on the table. The three documents contained personal information about three people. Grades, family circumstances, personal statements, etc. Personal information that couldn’t be obtained through legal routes.

"What I’m thinking is three people for now. Jeong In-ah, Gu Jun-hyeok."

Yeo Min-seo tilted her head thoughtfully.

"And though it’s a bit ambiguous, Do Seon-woo too."

Do Seon-woo.

When that name was mentioned, all three reacted simultaneously.

"Huh? That, that person absolutely can’t do it!"

Seong Ha-yeon, holder of the holy name of Purity, jumped up from her seat. It was the first opinion she’d voiced after staying silent throughout the meeting.

Seong Ha-yeon, who belatedly realized she’d been undignified, blushed and slowly sat back down.

Thunk.

Amid the commotion Seong Ha-yeon caused, Kim Jin-seo suddenly banged her head on the desk.

Her face wasn’t visible as she hung her head, but her reddened ears could be glimpsed through her fallen hair.

"Ugh."

Now even just hearing the name ’Do Seon-woo’ made her feel strange. It was because of what Gu Jun-hyeok had said to her at the gym yesterday. She was embarrassed at herself for getting worked up over that childish provocation.

"Hmm. Let’s go with Do Seon-woo!"

Meanwhile, Kang Dae-man shouted energetically. His booming voice resonated throughout the student council room.

Yeo Min-seo’s face contorted grotesquely. She was sensitive to noise, so Kang Dae-man’s loud voice always irritated her. This was also why she disliked Kang Dae-man.

"Phuh."

Yeo Min-seo took a deep breath and suppressed her anger. Then she spoke.

"I just mentioned Do Seon-woo casually. He won’t work anyway. There’s a reason I said he was ambiguous."

"What’s the reason?"

Kang Dae-man asked with displeasure.

"First, his family circumstances aren’t good. If selected as the holy name of Charity, he has to donate to Florence, right? Do Seon-woo isn’t in a position to donate. He can barely put food in his own mouth."

"Poverty isn’t a crime!"

"It’s not a crime. But it’s not a virtue either. Why do you think Charity is called ’Charity’?"

Kang Dae-man just blinked his eyes silently. He didn’t seem to understand Yeo Min-seo’s words properly.

Yeo Min-seo shook her head to lament Kang Dae-man’s ignorance.

"If you didn’t understand, forget it. Second, his reputation isn’t good. You saw that post on Granche before, right? All that fuss about him being a perpetrator."

"Wait a minute."

Kim Jin-seo, who had been lying down and quietly listening to Yeo Min-seo’s words, suddenly sat up. There was a vivid red mark on her forehead where it had touched the desk.

"Oh Byeong-hun posted a clarification. It was revealed to be a rumor, and that was ages ago."

"Whether it’s a rumor or not isn’t my concern. The fact that Do Seon-woo’s image is bad is a fact, isn’t it?"

"Why does image matter?"

"It matters. The student council’s image is already ruined because of Bae Seong-hyeon. If we expel Bae Seong-hyeon and the re-elected person is Do Seon-woo? What will the kids say?"

"Do Seon-woo’s image isn’t that bad."

"Jeong In-ah and Gu Jun-hyeok have better images than Do Seon-woo. So why would we need to pick Do Seon-woo?"

Yeo Min-seo spoke sarcastically. Kim Jin-seo glared at Yeo Min-seo silently. It wasn’t that she had nothing to say, but she kept quiet thinking that arguing with Yeo Min-seo would only result in her own loss.

Yeo Min-seo, conscious of the glare directed at her, chuckled and spoke.

"Come to think of it, you went through something similar to Do Seon-woo once, didn’t you?"

"...What?"

"I was wondering why you were only defending Do Seon-woo. It’s because of that incident back then, isn’t it? You feel kinship and empathy and all that?"

Yeo Min-seo and Kim Jin-seo were middle school classmates. Even knowing how painful that incident had been for Kim Jin-seo in middle school, Yeo Min-seo deliberately mentioned it.

The reason was just because Kim Jin-seo was acting annoying.

Kim Jin-seo’s expression clearly darkened. Her lips were trembling.

"Ah, did that hurt your feelings? It was just a joke. Sorry~"

Seeing this, Yeo Min-seo grinned and offered an insincere apology. Kim Jin-seo couldn’t say anything and just hung her head.

She felt like tears might come if she opened her mouth. She didn’t want to cry in front of Yeo Min-seo especially.

Yeo Min-seo smiled triumphantly and spoke.

"Anyway, for these reasons, Do Seon-woo is excluded. We’ll choose the predetermined candidate between Jeong In-ah and Gu Jun-hyeok. I think Gu Jun-hyeok would be better. Shall we decide on Gu Jun-hyeok?"

If you’re going to do whatever you want, why hold a meeting? Just decide by yourself.

Kim Jin-seo grumbled. Of course, only internally.

"If you’re going to do whatever you want, why did you hold a meeting?"

But Kang Dae-man didn’t just think it internally. He had a personality that required him to voice his thoughts immediately to feel satisfied.

At Kang Dae-man’s point, Yeo Min-seo’s eyebrows twitched momentarily.

"My thoughts are usually right. If I have to gather opinions from stupid kids like you one by one, the meeting will never end."

"Aha! That’s quite right. Do you want to get hit?"

"Go ahead and hit me, you moron. Do you have money for the medical bills?"

An eerily cold current flowed between Yeo Min-seo and Kang Dae-man.

Kang Dae-man cracked his knuckles and strode toward Yeo Min-seo. Yeo Min-seo was preparing to emit divine power and draw blessing circles.

They looked ready to fight at any moment.

"Stop."

Then Han Su-ryeon jumped out and mediated between them.

"If you’re going to fight, go outside and fight. Not here."

If Yeo Min-seo and Kang Dae-man seriously fought each other, the student council room would be destroyed. That had to be prevented at all costs.

Han Su-ryeon desperately tried to kick them out. But Yeo Min-seo and Kang Dae-man were already furious. There was no way to stop them.

However, the fight didn’t happen.

"...No. Let’s not fight. What good would come from fighting?"

The first to back down was Yeo Min-seo. She sighed deeply, then smiled as she looked at Kang Dae-man.

"Right. What are you so dissatisfied about?"

"I want Do Seon-woo to be selected as the holy name of Charity."

"The reason?"

"Do Seon-woo trains his physical strength at the gym every day. He’s very sincere and diligent. That’s the reason."

"Just that kind of reason, no, that reason. It’s really convincing."

Yeo Min-seo sighed deeply and sat down. She almost lost her temper for a moment, but forcibly suppressed her boiling emotions and swallowed her anger.

"But still, Do Seon-woo won’t work."

"Why not?"

"I told you earlier. Even if I give you a hundred concessions and overlook the bad image. But what about the donation? Do Seon-woo can’t pay the donation because he’s poor?"

Yeo Min-seo’s tone became increasingly agitated.

"If he can’t pay the donation, he can’t be selected as the holy name of Charity in the first place, okay? That’s why Do Seon-woo won’t work. Mister, do you understand?"

"I’m not a mister. And money can be earned."

"Ah, please, you pig bastard! It’s not at a level where he can earn and pay! You can say such things because you don’t know Florence’s structure!"

Frustrated Yeo Min-seo shrieked. Her eyes were bloodshot.

"Phew. Ah, fine. Then let’s decide by show of hands. Whether to go with Do Seon-woo or Gu Jun-hyeok. That works, right? Following fair and square democratic principles. Okay?"

"Good."

Kang Dae-man agreed. Yeo Min-seo immediately proceeded with the vote.

Those who raised their hands for Do Seon-woo were Kang Dae-man and Kim Jin-seo, those who raised their hands for Gu Jun-hyeok were Yeo Min-seo and Seong Ha-yeon.

Thus, the result was a 2-2 tie.

"Han Su-ryeon. Why didn’t you raise your hand?"

"Abstention. I don’t really care whoever it is."

"What. Huh? No, ha."

Yeo Min-seo was dumbfounded and grabbed the back of her neck. As she sighed repeatedly and barely suppressed her anger, Han Su-ryeon watched her with a smile.

"We can have both Gu Jun-hyeok and Do Seon-woo as predetermined candidates."

"What are you talking about? There’s only one position."

"There’s a rumor that holy item possession will be permitted in this re-election exam. I only heard about it too."

Han Su-ryeon suddenly brought up something out of the blue. Yeo Min-seo tilted her head as if she didn’t understand.

"So what?"

"We can create a 1-on-1 structure between Gu Jun-hyeok and Do Seon-woo in the re-election exam."

"...Ah."

Yeo Min-seo exclaimed as if she finally understood. Han Su-ryeon continued.

"Say their abilities are similar. Victory or defeat will depend on who has more expensive and better holy items. Simply put, whichever side has more money wins."

"So we create a situation where Gu Jun-hyeok and Do Seon-woo compete, and leave the rest to capital?"

"Right. How about it?"

Han Su-ryeon smiled. It was a clear smile without a trace of malice. In contrast, the smile on Yeo Min-seo’s lips was wickedly evil.

Kim Jin-seo, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, urgently spoke up.

"If we do that, Do Seon-woo will be too disadvantaged."

"Why?"

"Why, you ask. Obviously..."

According to the documents Yeo Min-seo provided, Gu Jun-hyeok was the only son of a high-ranking cleric couple.

Meanwhile, Do Seon-woo lost his mother in the holy war, his father was an ordinary cleric, and even he was away on an overseas business trip.

Common sense dictated that Gu Jun-hyeok had stronger capital. It was natural that Do Seon-woo would be disadvantaged in a capital fight.

"Ah, so Do Seon-woo lacks capital, so he’d be disadvantaged if we create a 1-on-1 structure with Gu Jun-hyeok?"

When Kim Jin-seo hesitated and trailed off, Yeo Min-seo answered for her. Kim Jin-seo quietly nodded.

"Can’t help it. Losing in a capital fight already means he lacks qualifications as the holy name of Charity."

"What’s that supposed to mean? Then we’re not picking based on ability. We’re picking based on parents’ jobs."

"Being born to good parents is also a talent. And for the holy name of Charity, parents’ jobs are important too. It’s Florence’s complex mechanism. Your dad is the chairman, isn’t he? You know roughly too."

The holy name of Charity donates to Florence. In return, Florence provides conveniences for the student council. The student council’s status changes depending on how much the holy name of Charity donates.

For this reason, the holy name of Charity was selected based on capital rather than ability.

"Honestly, Bae Seong-hyeon wasn’t particularly talented ability-wise either, right? Since his dad was the dBP chairman, he basically got in through donation admission. Isn’t that right?"

"Still, this is too unfair..."

"Unfair? Hey. You live off that system, so what unfairness?"

Yeo Min-seo pressed Kim Jin-seo. Kim Jin-seo couldn’t say anything and just opened and closed her mouth, then hung her head.

Kim Jin-seo’s adoptive father was Florence’s chairman. The reason she could live so luxuriously was all thanks to donation money.

Kim Jin-seo wasn’t in a position to talk about fairness or unfairness. She was the biggest beneficiary of the unfair world.

"Anyone else have objections? Then let’s decide this way. Meeting over. Let’s go."

With Yeo Min-seo’s words, the meeting ended. On the way back to the classroom, Kim Jin-seo’s heart remained heavy throughout.

* * *

After school, I got a call from Uncle Lee Jin-seong. It was news that the holy items we had promised to receive from Bae Jeong-hwan had just arrived.

With high expectations, I went to the chapel, and the holy items were showing off their beautiful forms as they welcomed me.

"Wow. This is amazing."

"Right? They’re really worth the money."

[How mysterious. In my time, we couldn’t even imagine such things.]

So we were in the middle of performance testing the holy items. Though we called it performance testing, it was no different from just playing with them.

"Hey, no need to carry bags around. I can just put everything in here and carry it."

"That’s right!"

Today’s underground chapel was filled with laughter.