The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 66

Time flows and before I know it, it’s the end of the weekend. Sunday evening, I was sitting in place holding the ring and continuously drawing spell circles.

[It’s good to burn with passion, but don’t try to burn your body along with it.]

Legba spoke worriedly as he couldn’t bear to watch anymore, but I didn’t answer and just silently continued drawing spell circles.

For the past two days, I hadn’t gone out even once. I barely slept and couldn’t eat properly either.

I was determined to use that time to draw even one more spell circle and research methods for containing spells in the ring.

Of course, I wasn’t only researching methods for containing spells in the ring. I was also making efforts in my spare time to reach the ’level of mastery’ that Legba had mentioned before.

However, there had been no results so far. Both containing spells in the ring and reaching the level of mastery had all failed.

At first I was disheartened, but now that I’d gradually gotten used to failure, I felt no particular emotion. Somehow it seemed like I was approaching enlightenment rather than the level of mastery.

Knock knock.

Then, the sound of knocking came from outside the door. The door opened with a bang even though I hadn’t answered.

"Cult Leader. Let’s have a meal."

"I’ll just not eat..."

"Cult Leader."

Just as I was about to refuse because I had no appetite and felt even the time to eat was precious, Kang Ji-ah interrupted my words while staring at me with extremely cold eyes. This was the first time she had interrupted my words, so I nervously swallowed my saliva.

After staring at me silently for a moment, Kang Ji-ah opened her mouth again.

"You must eat your meals."

"...Should I?"

When she said it to that extent, I had no choice but to eat. I smiled awkwardly and got up from my seat to go outside.

On the dining table where Uncle always placed his coffee cup and book every morning, a proper meal was set out.

"Did you make all this by yourself?"

"Yes."

Kang Ji-ah answered matter-of-factly. There was no sign of pride or showing off at all. It seemed like it wasn’t that big a deal to her.

I sat down and began eating. The soup, side dishes, and rice were all incredibly delicious without exception. It was a taste that forcibly grabbed the hair of my departed appetite and made it return.

"You could have been a chef, couldn’t you?"

"It’s not to that extent."

Kang Ji-ah, sitting across from me, answered while eating her rice in small bites. She seemed to have a small appetite to match her small build.

Kang Ji-ah’s food was so delicious that I felt bad about leaving any, and I quickly finished all the food.

As soon as I finished eating, Kang Ji-ah began clearing the table, so I quickly got up to help with the cleanup. Then Kang Ji-ah moved her lips as if somewhat uncomfortable.

"Ah, I’ll clean up. Cult Leader, you can just rest."

"Let’s do it together. It’s not difficult work."

"Pardon?"

While Kang Ji-ah was tilting her head in puzzlement, I cleared all the plates from the table and moved them to the sink. Then I immediately started washing dishes.

I was good at housework. Cooking, washing dishes, laundry, and so on. To be precise, it wasn’t that I was good at it, but that I had no choice but to be good at it. I had been living almost alone since 7 years ago.

"Uh, ah. Excuse me, couldn’t you just go in and rest?"

While I was washing dishes, Kang Ji-ah asked from behind in a restless tone. She seemed uncomfortable and unaccustomed to receiving help.

However, it was the same for me. Having Kang Ji-ah take over the housework on my behalf felt too uncomfortable and unfamiliar to me.

To add a bit of exaggeration, I even felt as if Kang Ji-ah had stolen my work.

"..."

Without responding to Kang Ji-ah’s dissuasion, I silently finished what I was doing. Only then did she seem to give up and quietly begin helping with the dishes beside me.

The sound of plates clinking, water flowing, and squeaky clean plate washing echoed gently in the silence.

"Sister, why do you help us?"

It was a sudden question, but it certainly wasn’t one I asked without thought.

This was something I’d been curious about for a while. With Kang Ji-ah’s abilities, it would be entirely possible for her to disguise her identity and attend school or lead an ordinary life. So why was she helping us?

After hearing the question, Kang Ji-ah opened her mouth without even a moment’s hesitation.

"I received kindness when I was young. From the Cult Leader."

"Ah, from my father?"

"No. From the Cult Leader."

"What? From me?"

This was news to me. I had no memory of doing any good deed that could be called kindness to Kang Ji-ah. No, I’d never even met Kang Ji-ah when I was young in the first place. At least not in my memory.

I carefully searched through my memories. Even going back to very distant times, there were no memories of Kang Ji-ah at all.

"Sorry, but I don’t remember very well."

I apologized with an embarrassed smile. Kang Ji-ah’s face looking at me was expressionless as always. No emotion showed on her expression, and I couldn’t dare guess her mood.

Kang Ji-ah rinsed the foam off the last remaining plate in the sink and opened her mouth.

"It’s fine. It’s normal that you don’t remember."

"It’s normal that I don’t remember? ...What exactly did I do?"

Crash!

While I was mulling over Kang Ji-ah’s meaningful words, someone burst through the door. Naturally, it was Uncle Lee Jin-seong.

He was carrying something in both hands. For someone who usually only bought daily necessities if anything, I wondered what he had bought so much of.

"I’m back. Did you all do well?"

Uncle greeted us while setting down the shopping bags in both hands on the floor. There was a heavy thud.

"You’ve returned, Master."

"Yeah, that’s right. Were you eating and washing dishes?"

Uncle spoke while looking at us lined up in front of the sink wearing rubber gloves.

His face was flushed and his voice tone was a bit higher than usual. For some unknown reason, he seemed to be in a very good mood.

Kang Ji-ah nodded slightly and opened her mouth.

"Yes. The Cult Leader prepared the meal."

"What? You can cook too? Well, they do say cooking skills improve when you live alone."

Uncle asked with surprised wide eyes as if it was unexpected. I became flustered for no reason and hurriedly shook my head.

"Sister prepared the meal. Sister, why are you suddenly lying?"

"Huh? Then what? Ji-ah prepared the meal and you did the dishes?"

"No. The Cult Leader prepared the meal and also did the dishes. I didn’t do anything."

Uncle looked back and forth between me and Kang Ji-ah with a confused expression... She continued lying without changing her expression at all. I couldn’t guess at all what meaning those lies had.

"Sister really prepared it."

"Well, I don’t really care who prepared it? I didn’t eat it anyway. Anyway, here."

Uncle casually moved on from the topic and handed me a shopping bag. Inside the shopping bag was packed full of various items.

At first glance they looked like useless junk, but I knew what value those items held.

"Offerings?"

"That’s right. I splurged a bit with the assets confiscated from that bastard Han Su-yeop."

I rummaged through the shopping bag and examined the offerings.

Although there were no top-grade items, most were high-quality offerings ranging from intermediate to high-grade.

I had wondered where he’d been wandering around for the past two days, but it seemed he’d been too busy obtaining offerings to even come home.

"I got what I could from here and there for now. But since I gathered them in a short time, the quality might not be that great."

"No, this is enough."

"Well, that’s fortunate then. Hey, Ji-ah. Bring Han Su-yeop over. So he can have some coffee."

Uncle Lee Jin-seong sat at the dining table, opened a book, and gave instructions to Kang Ji-ah. She bowed her head and walked quickly toward somewhere in the chapel.

I took the offerings Uncle gave me and headed to the storage room. The altar was in its usual place.

"Bosu."

Just before placing the offerings on the altar, I called Bosu. Bosu didn’t respond to the call.

"Bosu. Come out."

I called Bosu again.

[Bo, Bosu. Responds to the prophet’s call.]

Only then did Bosu answer.

I showed him the ’Bashan Buffalo Hoof.’ While the top-grade item was the ’Bashan Bull’s Horn,’ even the buffalo hoof had tremendous value as an offering.

The sound of Bosu swallowing saliva and smacking his lips echoed in my head.

[Hmm! If you offer that sacrifice, Bosu would be very happy.]

"Bosu."

I lowered my voice. Bosu’s power was one of the powers I used frequently due to its wide versatility.

For that reason, I needed to establish discipline firmly. If he suddenly decided to go on strike when I needed Bosu’s power, nothing could be more troublesome.

"No more strikes from now on."

[No strikes...! But if the prophet doesn’t give offerings, Bosu has no choice but to strike!]

"With the Bashan buffalo hoof, you’ll be energetic for the next month, right?"

[A month! I don’t know about a month, but at least two weeks will be energetic!]

"Then let’s average a month and two weeks and compromise. Three weeks. For the next three weeks, ’absolutely’ no strikes."

Bosu let out a contemplative groan.

[Three weeks is too long!]

"Then should I just throw this away?"

When I threw the buffalo hoof on the floor and pretended to step on it, I heard Bosu’s horrified voice.

[No! Fine, three weeks. For the next three weeks, Bosu won’t strike!]

"Yes, good."

Right after getting a definite answer from Bosu, I picked up the hoof that had fallen on the floor and placed it on the altar. Soon, the buffalo hoof placed on the altar turned to ash and disappeared. It meant the offering had been accepted.

However, Bosu didn’t show any particular joy. Rather, he made groaning sounds as if dejected.

"What’s wrong? I even gave you an offering."

[Not happy at all. Such an evil prophet! An even worse evil than Lee Se-hwa!]

"That’s high praise. Thank you."

Lee Se-hwa, our mother’s name. As the previous prophet, she was often called an ’evil prophet’ by the Loa.

To me, who admired Mother who had controlled the Loa almost perfectly, Bosu’s words were nothing short of high praise.

Bosu grumbled for quite a while after that, but I ignored it all. After offering all the remaining offerings Uncle gave me to the Loa, I left the storage room.

"Ah, Cult Leader."

As soon as I opened the door, I saw Kang Ji-ah. She was holding blankets and a pillow in her arms. It seemed she was preparing to sleep.

For some unknown reason, Kang Ji-ah always slept in the storage room. Come to think of it, I was curious why she always slept in the dusty storage room instead of using a proper bed.

"Sister, why do you always sleep in the storage room?"

"I’ve been used to this since I was young."

Kang Ji-ah spoke as if it was natural. I didn’t know what kind of childhood she’d had to be used to sleeping in a storage room, but if she was comfortable with it, I had no intention of interfering.

Some people find it more comfortable to sleep on the floor than in a bed, so some people might find it more comfortable to sleep in a storage room than a bedroom. There are all kinds of people in the world.

I thought of it as no big deal and entered my room. The room was full of smoke. It was the trace of my efforts to contain spells in the ring.

[Just how long are you planning to do this? No matter how I look at it, there seems to be no possibility of success.]

Legba spoke reproachfully to me as I sat on the bed and was about to draw spell circles.

I checked the time on my phone. It was 9:03. It was far too early to go to sleep.

"I’m going to try until 1 o’clock."

[1 o’clock... Fine. 1 o’clock. Do it only until exactly then.]

"Yes~ I’ll go right to sleep at 1."

I continued what I was doing. I repeated the process of drawing spell circles and trying to contain the spell mist that flowed out in the jewel embedded in the ring.

I also occasionally used spells on myself while not neglecting efforts toward the ’level of mastery.’

The promised 1 o’clock passed, but I didn’t stop. This futile effort that showed no results, let alone possibility, continued until 3 AM.

[I definitely told you to sleep at 1 o’clock. You won’t listen to my advice even with one ear?]

"Let me try just one more time. Really the last time. For real."

[That’s the 17th time you’ve said ’last time.’]

"...You counted every single one of those?"

[You kept dragging out time saying last time, last time. I had nothing else to do so I counted a bit.]

"Okay. Then this is also the last time I’ll say this is the last time. Really going for the final last time."

That day, I stayed up almost all night.

* * *

Although I said I stayed up all night, it was only ’almost’ staying up all night. Fortunately, I had about two hours to spare, and I tossed and turned for about 30 minutes then slept for about an hour and a half before coming out.

My head was a bit dizzy from lack of sleep and my ears felt stuffy, but I didn’t have that feeling of my feet sinking deep like walking through a swamp like before... The eventful March had ended, and April was right around the corner. The wind was now warm enough to be called spring, and the moisture-laden grass was even more fresh.

Perhaps because last night’s efforts, made by cutting back on sleep, had borne small fruit. The passing scenery was unusually beautiful. My mood was also inexplicably good.

[My goodness, sleeping so little yet being in such a good mood. This is the second time I’ve seen such an oddball.]

"Who was the first?"

[Obviously your father.]

I walked down the empty alley having idle conversation with Legba. Soon Florence came into view, and students walking with their heads deeply bowed and heavy steps began appearing one by one.

Among them, I saw Kim Jin-seo walking particularly listlessly. Kim Jin-seo also saw me. Our gazes crossed.

However, Kim Jin-seo didn’t greet me or acknowledge me at all, just turned her head away sharply.

Her expression was colder and more ruthless than usual. I’d felt it since last Friday, but she seemed to be angry about something with me.

I approached her first.

"Last week when you left early..."

Tap tap tap!

Before my words could finish, Kim Jin-seo ran away as if fleeing from me. I couldn’t see clearly, but the expression I glimpsed showed clear signs of panic.

My plan to give a greeting asking if she was okay now since she’d left early last time turned to nothing in an instant.

...Kim Jin-seo is ’intentionally’ avoiding me right now.

As expected, I couldn’t guess the reason.

...What did I do wrong?

But even searching my memory, I couldn’t think of anything I’d done wrong. While I was thinking, Kim Jin-seo had already gotten so far away she was out of sight.

[Your face looks so haggard that she was startled and ran away. That’s what you get for not sleeping when I told you to.]

"..."

I ignored Legba’s nonsense. I pondered for a while about why Kim Jin-seo was avoiding me, then concluded that no answer would come from thinking more and put aside my questions. Then I went up to the classroom.

"Do Seon-woo, your nose...! Huh? It’s fine...? Why is it fine?"

As soon as I entered the classroom, Jeong In-ah greeted me. I unconsciously touched my nose and smiled.

"The hospital treated it well. They said I wasn’t hurt that badly to begin with."

"Ah really? That’s a relief. Just seeing the blood made it look completely shattered..."

"I thought so too but it wasn’t."

I lied casually. Actually, Jeong In-ah was right that my nose had been completely shattered.

It’s a bit embarrassing to say myself, but I had achieved perfect treatment with restoration sorcery that was close to miraculous.

"Ah, hey! That’s right, that’s right. Did you see the poster in front of the main building? Yeo Min-seo..."

Jeong In-ah excitedly explained.

It was a story about how a disciplinary committee was held for Yeo Min-seo’s impulsive behavior, and Yeo Min-seo received a punishment of 15 days of school community service.

I was a bit surprised, but since whatever punishment Yeo Min-seo received wasn’t my concern anyway, I felt no particular emotion.

While Jeong In-ah and I were talking, Gu Jun-hyeok was sitting in his seat just staring blankly at me. I wondered why Gu Jun-hyeok, who was usually late, had come early.

"You came pretty early today?"

"...Huh? Ah. Right. I came a bit early today."

Gu Jun-hyeok answered somewhat reluctantly. The atmosphere was completely different from usual. There were clear signs of panic on his face.

...It might be speculation, but it looked like the same kind of panic Kim Jin-seo had shown.

I couldn’t even guess why Kim Jin-seo and Gu Jun-hyeok were acting like this today.

* * *

Kim Jin-seo, who had fled from Do Seon-woo, entered the secluded alley she usually used as a smoking spot. She leaned her back against the wall and slid down to sit on the spot.

"Ugh."

Kim Jin-seo hugged her knees and let out a groan mixed with regret.

The moment Do Seon-woo spoke to her, Kim Jin-seo instinctively chose to run away. How strange must she have seemed from Do Seon-woo’s perspective?

She recalled her appearance running away disgracefully without even being able to hide her panicked expression. Her face burned. She was embarrassed and ashamed.

’What’s with the ring...’

Kim Jin-seo, who had been immersed in regret, suddenly raised her head. Although she’d only glimpsed it, today Do Seon-woo had an unfamiliar ring on his left pinky finger.

A ring worn on the left ring finger is a couple ring.

Kim Jin-seo only knew that. She had no idea what other fingers symbolized. Because she didn’t know, she felt even more anxious and restless.

Tap, tap.

The girl who had been agonizing alone suddenly stood up and brushed the dust off her clothes. Then she immediately headed toward the Charity class.

If you don’t know, you can just ask.

Gu Jun-hyeok was right. If you keep your mouth shut, misunderstandings will only intensify, and nothing will improve.

When Do Seon-woo’s house caught fire. There must have been a reason he happened to be at Jeong In-ah’s house then.

Since Jeong In-ah had been absent for a long time, maybe he went to deliver notes with class content or something.

...Wasn’t it already over from the point he went to deliver that in the middle of the night?

"..."

Kim Jin-seo shook her head. It was an action to shake off distracting thoughts, but it wasn’t particularly effective. The distracting thoughts that had already found an outlet only grew uncontrollably.

Finally, in front of the Charity class.

"Haah."

She let out a deep sigh.

Last Friday, I heard he left early after injuring his nose, but I wonder if the treatment went well. The ring looked pretty, but what does it mean?

And why did he go to Jeong In-ah’s house?

She could pretend to ask about his wellbeing while naturally asking about it. Without trembling, without panicking, just naturally.

There was no reason it couldn’t be natural in the first place. Whether Do Seon-woo played at Jeong In-ah’s house or not had nothing to do with her.

Coming to the Charity class was also just out of curiosity. It wasn’t at all because she was interested in Do Seon-woo or because she was concerned about Jeong In-ah, who was in the same class.

Creak.

Kim Jin-seo carefully opened the door and peeked inside. She saw Gu Jun-hyeok first, then Jeong In-ah beside him, and in front of them.

She saw Do Seon-woo talking with Jeong In-ah and smiling brightly.

Bang!

Kim Jin-seo unconsciously kicked the back door of the Charity class and returned to her own class. The door seemed to have broken, but that wasn’t her concern.