The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 42

"Why are we even doing such a useless class?"

"You heard earlier. For students’ mental health and all that."

"That’s what’s ridiculous. How is this any different from taking a regular walk?"

Gu Jun-hyeok grumbled.

Today’s entire morning class had been replaced with something called "Landscape Viewing and Nature Observation," which was completely unidentifiable.

It was supposedly for students’ mental health, depression prevention, and various other reasons, but I hadn’t listened properly so I couldn’t remember well.

But if depression prevention was the goal, wouldn’t it be better to just let us rest at home? I couldn’t understand why they dragged us all the way to Eden Hill just to make us hike.

"Wow, looking at trees really comforts me. It feels like seeing those suicide prevention messages on Mapo Bridge."

Gu Jun-hyeok said with a bright smile. His tone was openly sarcastic.

I half-listened to Gu Jun-hyeok’s words while observing the scenery of Eden Hill.

When I cleared my mind and looked, the scenery was actually quite nice. Though I wasn’t sure if this really helped with depression prevention.

I walked through the hill with various thoughts. Different students were walking around the hill grumbling like us. Among them were faces I’d never seen before.

"Those are kids from other classes, right?"

I pointed at passing students with my eyes and asked. Since there were so many students, even within the same grade, we often didn’t know faces from different classes.

"Yeah. That one’s from Patience. That one’s also from Patience class. Ah, the kid who just passed is from Kindness."

"Are three classes doing this together?"

"Right. Our class, Patience class, and Kindness class. A whole three classes! Nearly 300 students are wasting time completely!"

Gu Jun-hyeok raised his voice sarcastically as if amazed. He seemed really displeased with this class.

Of course, I initially thought the same as Gu Jun-hyeok. However, when I actually walked through the hill viewing the scenery, my complicated thoughts seemed to organize themselves. It meant there was some effect after all.

While blankly staring at rolling stones, Gu Jun-hyeok spoke to me.

"But did you ask about that thing?"

"What thing?"

Gu Jun-hyeok often tried to express everything with the single pronoun "that thing." It was the same habit as Uncle Lee Jin-seong. Why does he do this when he’s not even old?

"That thing from back then. What I told you to ask Kim Jin-seo about."

I roughly knew what he was talking about. That day when Gu Jun-hyeok came with his face swollen from being beaten by Kim Jin-seo. He seemed to be talking about that incident.

"I haven’t asked yet. I haven’t talked to her recently."

Rather than not talking, I hadn’t encountered Kim Jin-seo much recently. I barely remembered it in the first place.

"Really? If you ask, her reaction will be amazing..."

"What should I ask about?"

At the clear voice that suddenly appeared, Gu Jun-hyeok’s words stopped.

Gu Jun-hyeok died standing there like that. Beads of sweat were forming on his forehead. Gulp, the sound of swallowing was particularly exaggerated.

Gu Jun-hyeok eventually turned his stiff neck as if forcing it, then showed a bright smile.

"Haha. What brings you here...?"

His face was pale with fear, but his mouth was forcing a smile. It was an extremely bizarre expression.

"What should I ask about?"

Kim Jin-seo stared at us with a blank face, repeatedly asking the same question.

She walked straight toward us with big steps. Her steps made no sound and her expression showed no movement.

It was a distant moment that felt like time had stopped.

"Uh? Hey! Watch your feet!"

Gu Jun-hyeok suddenly pointed at Kim Jin-seo’s feet and shouted. Kim Jin-seo stopped firmly in place.

There was nothing under her feet.

"Right. Don’t come any closer than that. Let’s talk from there."

"...So, what are you asking about?"

It was Gu Jun-hyeok’s strategy to create distance, but it seemed to only anger Kim Jin-seo more. The wind was cold.

"Gu Jun-hyeok said he talked about me to you. In the gym."

Before the atmosphere could become more dangerous, I intervened.

Both Gu Jun-hyeok and Kim Jin-seo’s faces hardened simultaneously. However, the type of stiffness was different.

Gu Jun-hyeok hardened with fear and a sense of betrayal, while Kim Jin-seo... was difficult to describe precisely.

"Gu Jun-hyeok said that?"

"Yeah. He said if I asked, the reaction would be interesting."

"Really?"

Kim Jin-seo glanced at Gu Jun-hyeok. Gu Jun-hyeok’s shoulders trembled.

"Are you coming to the gym today?"

"No? I decided to go somewhere else starting yesterday."

"That’s too bad."

She smiled. Gu Jun-hyeok also smiled along, but somehow it was a reluctant smile.

Somehow, my intervention seemed to make the situation more complicated.

Gu Jun-hyeok hurriedly approached me and lowered his voice.

"You crazy bastard...! You should have asked when I wasn’t here...!"

"Why? This is more fun."

"Wow, I called such a guy my friend...!"

For Gu Jun-hyeok’s safety, it would have been right to ask when he wasn’t there.

But asking right here seemed like it would be much more fun. Actually, a more interesting situation was created. I was satisfied with this level.

Behind Gu Jun-hyeok, who was complaining with wide eyes, Kim Jin-seo was staring at me intently. When I looked at her, she quickly turned her head to avoid my gaze.

"So what did you say?"

I couldn’t understand what he had said to get this kind of reaction.

In the end, I never got to hear what conversation Gu Jun-hyeok and Kim Jin-seo had.

No matter how much I asked, Gu Jun-hyeok just played dumb, and Kim Jin-seo only avoided eye contact.

* * *

Whoooosh.

All sounds were being buried and disappearing in the waterfall. There were no bird songs, no cries of branches swaying in the wind. Only the sound of the waterfall filled everything.

Yeo Min-seo, holder of the holy name of Kindness, deployed blessing circles in that roar.

First one. Then two, three. The blessing circles that accumulated like this achieved unity and became a fusion blessing circle.

The waterfall sound that had been deafeningly loud disappeared at some point. In such a state of complete concentration, Yeo Min-seo quietly drew blessing circles.

Like that, she combined about 8 blessing circles and deployed a fusion blessing circle.

Bzzzt!

However, soon there was an explosion along with a vibration that made the air buzz.

A ’collision’ phenomenon had occurred between the blessing circles.

Again, failure due to the damn ’collision’ phenomenon.

"Damn! Shit!!!" Enraged by this, Yeo Min-seo spewed out curses too foul to repeat and kicked around. The branches, leaves, and stones stepped on by her feet broke with pitiful sounds.

According to rumors, Seong Ha-yeon could deploy fusion blessing circles by herself. But Yeo Min-seo couldn’t.

That made her so angry. She wanted to destroy everything in sight, and actually, she did destroy everything in sight. It was rage close to madness.

"..."

However, the anger soon stopped. Yeo Min-seo sighed deeply, sat down in place, closed her eyes, and began meditating.

If you use inferiority complex, you can foster will and desire for improvement. On the other hand, if you’re swayed by inferiority complex, you fall into a swamp of despair and depression.

It’s not just inferiority complex. All emotions are medicine if used, but poison if you’re swayed by them.

Therefore, Yeo Min-seo often meditated to avoid being swayed by emotions. The waterfall sound gradually faded beyond the darkness.

Silence.

Nothing was visible and nothing was audible. In the void, Yeo Min-seo felt comfortable.

And she opened her eyes.

"What?"

There was something in front of her eyes. It had wings and a beak. It was a bird, but at the same time not a bird.

It was too big to be called a bird.

Its feathers were pitch black, its eyes were pure white, and its beak was sharp like a blade.

A magical beast.

Moreover, it was a giant magical beast comparable to "Baphomet II."

"Damn. Shit!!"

Yeo Min-seo cursed and stepped back a couple of steps. The magical beast tilted its head, preened its feathers with its beak, and looked at Yeo Min-seo. The magical beast’s white eyes had no focus.

Flap! 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

The magical beast flapped its wings. It seemed to be preparing for an attack. Yeo Min-seo immediately deployed blessing circles, but they didn’t draw as intended.

The magical beast flapped its giant wings and rushed toward Yeo Min-seo. Death was right in front of her.

This isn’t the death I planned.

Thinking this, Yeo Min-seo twisted her body. A blade-like beak grazed her collar.

Even though it only grazed, her clothes were completely torn. If she hadn’t dodged, what would have been torn wouldn’t have been clothes but her head.

"Shit."

Yeo Min-seo quietly cursed. Just grazing meant fatal injury, no, instant death.

Soon the magical beast spread its wings and prepared for the next attack.

Left arm? No, right leg. It seemed like it might aim for the head directly. She couldn’t read the attack.

She had somehow luckily dodged the first attack. But this time she might not be able to dodge.

If she couldn’t dodge, she would die.

Yeo Min-seo focused her consciousness on the magical beast’s movements.

She might not be able to dodge, but staying still would definitely mean she couldn’t dodge. Now was the time to gamble with her life.

Whoooosh...

Yeo Min-seo devoted her sight and hearing entirely to the magical beast. The vigorous waterfall sound gradually grew distant.

What remained was quiet and silence.

Flash.

Then, light suddenly struck before her eyes. It was a flash like distant lightning.

Yeo Min-seo frowned. Her concentration broke and the distant waterfall sound gradually grew closer.

At that moment, the magical beast charged.

However, the magical beast’s target wasn’t Yeo Min-seo. The magical beast passed right by her and suddenly disappeared somewhere.

"...?"

Yeo Min-seo looked up at the sky in puzzlement. The magical beast was flying endlessly, flapping its giant wings and riding the wind.

She walked as if enchanted in the direction the magical beast had flown.

* * *

Kim Jin-seo was following us from a couple of steps behind. It seemed like she was monitoring to prevent Gu Jun-hyeok from saying useless things.

"But did you know? Ghosts sometimes appear here."

Gu Jun-hyeok glanced back and watched her reaction, then suddenly brought up ghost stories.

Ghosts at Florence. It was the first time I’d heard such a story. Does it even make sense for ghosts to appear at a clergy academy in the first place?

Still, I was bored, so I decided to listen to the story. It seemed like it would be quite interesting.

"Kids who do night study sometimes come here for courage tests, and they say there’s this demon-like thing with horns walking around. They said it was eight cheok tall. You can see its head above the trees."

"How tall is eight cheok?"

"One cheok is about 30cm, so 2.4m?"

"Wow. Isn’t that just Kim Bok-dong that someone mistook?"

I knew Kim Bok-dong’s height was just over 2m. It wasn’t an impossible story.

Gu Jun-hyeok shook his head.

"No way. It had horns, didn’t it? There’s also a theory that it’s a demon."

"A demon just walks around at a clergy academy?"

"Hmm... Right? Was the demon from Romanica?"

Like ghost stories usually are, it lacked credibility when examined. But that’s what makes them interesting.

"Anyway, there’s a rumor that if you see that ghost or demon or whatever, your grades improve. There’s an anecdote related to this."

"Tell me."

"Some kids came for a courage test to see the demon, three of them. After night study ended at 10."

Gu Jun-hyeok lowered his head and made a spooky expression to set the mood.

"After 9 o’clock it gets dark and you can’t see anything, right? Even though it’s called a hill, a mountain is still a mountain."

"Right."

"You can’t see anything ahead. Strange sounds come from all directions. So they were scared and stuck close together, talking. Telling funny stories, talking about people they liked."

I didn’t answer and just quietly listened to the story. When I glanced back at Kim Jin-seo, she trembled.

Kim Jin-seo was also pretending not to listen to Gu Jun-hyeok’s story.

"But suddenly, the three voices became four."

Flash.

Then, light struck before my eyes. A flash like lightning falling right in front of us.

That flash seemed to work as part of Gu Jun-hyeok’s performance, like a theatrical technique. The timing was perfect. From behind came a short scream.

"So one of them said, ’Hey, who just spoke?’ but then there was no answer."

"Scary!"

"Right? They suddenly got scared too and just ran toward the school. But from behind, that voice they heard earlier kept shouting and chasing them. Do you know what that voice said?"

"Let’s play with me!"

"Huh? Have you heard this story somewhere before? Hey, you should have said so. This kills the mood."

It was the first time I’d heard this story... Gu Jun-hyeok’s face, which had been excitedly telling the story, suddenly hardened.

"...Who just said that?"

I looked around. At first I thought Kim Jin-seo had said it, but no matter how I thought about it, it wasn’t her way of speaking.

Kim Jin-seo was also looking around puzzledly like me. There was slight fear in her eyes.

Gu Jun-hyeok, who had been touching his arms as if getting goosebumps, grinned and opened his mouth.

"Hahaha. You’re joking, right? I just got a bit of goosebumps..."

"Let’s play with me!"

A voice was heard. A childishly innocent voice. The faint smile remaining on Gu Jun-hyeok’s lips completely disappeared.

Play, play, play...

The voice became an echo that filled the area. The sound was coming from above.

I slowly raised my head upward.

Two birds were sitting on a branch.

One was a parrot. It only looked like a parrot, but in size it was no different from an eagle. Its beak was set sharp like a blade. The voice seemed to have come from the parrot.

The other was a finch. Its size was also like an eagle. No, it seemed even bigger than an eagle. Its beak was blunt and pointed, with red blood on it.

Both had black feathers and pure white pupils. The birds looked at us, tilting their heads for a while, then proudly spread their giant wings.

Then, they aimed their sharp beaks at us.

Whoosh!

Those sharp, pointed beaks instantly rushed toward Kim Jin-seo and Gu Jun-hyeok.

No time to resist or dodge. The birds’ speed was too fast. Fast enough to make it difficult to follow with the eyes.

Thud.

"Whaaat?!"

"Ah."

The birds that had been rushing like arrows landed gently in front of them and picked up their collars in their beaks, like a tiger carrying its cubs.

The birds thus kidnapped Gu Jun-hyeok and Kim Jin-seo into the sky.

"Ah."

Watching them grow distant while caught in the birds’ beaks, I let out a blank sigh.

It felt unreal. The scene before my eyes all seemed like a dream.

Rather, I wished it were a dream - that would be more accurate.

The appearance of giant bird magical beasts.

The kidnapping of Gu Jun-hyeok and Kim Jin-seo.

All of this happened too suddenly and in an instant.

Dark clouds had covered half the sun, and the forest’s hidden darkness poked its head out. Darkness was accumulating layer by layer everywhere.

"Hey!"

Then, a sharp, rough voice leaked through the darkness. Someone was running this way. I couldn’t see who it was because of the darkness.

More precisely, I couldn’t distinguish who it was because my consciousness was hazy. Even then I hadn’t come to my senses.

[Are you planning to just watch? If you don’t act now, it’ll be difficult later.]

Legba spoke calmly. His tone was dry and bleak, with no emotion felt. It wasn’t something he said out of worry for me, but rather like stating observations as a third party.

That awakened my mind.

Who was running toward me, what the weather was like - none of that mattered. I simply pondered what the best choice would be.

There were many options, but only one correct answer.

"Bosu."