The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 84

I opened my eyes.

The shadows of the sunset were stretching faintly through the window. The scenery was unfamiliar. The air smelled of disinfectant.

After looking around for a while, she finally realized that she was hospitalized.

Her memory returned quickly. While exercising, an explosion had tilted the building, there was a fire, tiles fell and the gym owner lost consciousness...

As the nightmare-like memories came flooding back, Kim Jin-seo held her head. It was a headache that came along with the memories.

"Jin-seo!"

Kim Chang-won entered. He looked surprised at first, then tears welled up in his eyes as he rushed toward Kim Jin-seo. A kindly-looking doctor slowly followed behind Kim Chang-won.

"You’re awake! Are you hurt anywhere? Does anything hurt?"

"My head... No, I’m fine."

The headache was so severe that even her father’s words right in front of her sounded dim. However, Kim Jin-seo pressed her temples to forcibly drive away the pain, then smiled brightly and lied.

"Cough, ugh. Ah, I’m fine..."

Then she felt something scratchy stuck in her throat. Kim Jin-seo, who had unconsciously tried to cough, swallowed her saliva and suppressed the cough. Not showing pain even when she was hurt had now become a habit for her.

Kim Chang-won made a deliberately serious face and gestured to the doctor beside him. The doctor understood the meaning of that look and quickly spoke up.

"Well, you inhaled a lot of smoke so your throat is quite damaged. It’s not severe, so if we combine it with blessing treatment, it will heal quickly. Well, you don’t hurt anywhere else, do you?"

"Ah... No. Nothing except my throat."

"Really? You should have a bit of a headache though?"

Kim Jin-seo’s eyes darted around as if she’d been hit where it hurt. The doctor chuckled and drew a blessing circle. The light of blessing that flowed out enveloped her. The pain didn’t disappear completely like it had been washed away, but it was much better than before.

"When you’re in pain, you need to honestly say you’re in pain so you can heal quickly. Your throat hurts, your head hurts, is there anywhere else that hurts? The student is so healthy that there probably aren’t many other places that hurt..."

Kim Jin-seo tried moving her arms or lifting her legs. As the doctor said, there weren’t any other places that hurt. The headache and sore throat were everything.

"Doctor, what exactly is her condition..."

Kim Chang-won asked with a face full of worry as he looked at Kim Jin-seo. The doctor smiled reassuringly.

"Well, she’s almost completely recovered so you don’t need to worry. She could be discharged right now. Still, it would be best to rest for a few days for now."

"Ah...!"

Kim Chang-won let out an exclamation of relief as he stroked his chest. He wanted to collapse and sit down right there, but he couldn’t do that in front of his daughter.

He forced strength into his legs to support his body that was about to slide down, then bowed his head toward the doctor.

"Thank you, doctor."

"What thanks. Your daughter has a strong body and recovers quickly, so she healed fast. Well, I can’t guarantee the same for the other student who came in with her."

When he thought of the other person, the faint smile that had been on the doctor’s lips disappeared. Seeing the doctor’s bitter face as he lowered his head, Kim Jin-seo suddenly felt an inexplicable anxiety.

"The other student who came in with me?"

Kim Jin-seo hesitated for a long time about whether to ask, then finally spoke. If she didn’t ask now, it seemed like there wouldn’t be another chance. Kim Chang-won and the doctor lowered their heads almost simultaneously as if they had planned it.

If they came in together, then surely...

Anxiety was gradually growing in Kim Jin-seo’s heart. Someone’s face flashed through her mind.

"The child who entered through special admission that you mentioned before..."

Kim Chang-won answered, trailing off his words. Her face turned pale.

"Where, which part of the hospital, where is he hospitalized?"

"Well, probably the room next door..."

Clatter!

Kim Jin-seo bolted upright from the hospital bed. Before they could stop her, her steps were already heading toward the next room.

* * *

Do Seon-woo was hospitalized in the room right next to hers.

"When he was late for the appointment ceremony, I wondered what was wrong, but he came in this condition..."

Kim Chang-won continued his explanation. Do Seon-woo, who had come to the main auditorium forcing his battered body that wouldn’t be strange if it died immediately, collapsed unconscious as soon as he climbed onto the podium.

Kim Chang-won was alarmed and quickly tried to contact his guardian, but couldn’t reach them, so he had him hospitalized at Florence’s affiliated hospital as an emergency measure.

"..."

Kim Jin-seo stared blankly at Do Seon-woo’s face as he lay on the hospital bed.

His complexion was pale and his parched lips were completely dry. One leg was wrapped in bandages, and purple bruises were scattered all over his body. His breathing was so thin it seemed like it would break at any moment. His shoulders rose and fell slightly with each breath he took in and out.

"First of all, dehydration. The dehydration is the most severe. If you don’t drink water at all for three or four days, your body becomes like this, but how did the student... His muscles are also mostly ruptured. His blood pressure also shot up like a hypertension patient, then sometimes dropped like a corpse, so his vascular condition is also bad."

Kim Jin-seo recalled the words of the doctor who had just left the room.

"Well, but this student also has a really strong body. Others would have died long ago, but he’s surviving and enduring like this. His recovery is also really fast, but I can’t guarantee when he’ll regain consciousness..."

Even the doctor said he couldn’t guarantee when Do Seon-woo would be able to wake up.

Do Seon-woo’s body was broken from very deep inside, more than what was visible on the surface. She suddenly felt short of breath and her consciousness becoming distant. It was hyperventilation.

"Are you okay?"

Kim Chang-won asked. It was a question directed at Kim Jin-seo, but it was also a question directed at Do Seon-woo. However, neither of them answered.

Kim Chang-won looked back and forth between his daughter immersed in worry and the unconscious Do Seon-woo. He knew nothing about this child called Do Seon-woo.

He only vaguely knew that he was a student who lost his mother to a holy war and entered Florence through special admission.

Kim Chang-won recalled the look in Do Seon-woo’s eyes as he climbed onto the podium dragging his mangled body. In those eyes was something that was difficult to express as simple obsession - a strong yearning. If he had to express it, it was close to conviction... He had assumed it was an obsession with success that had formed stronger than others due to his unfortunate family environment... When he heard the story that Do Seon-woo had gone to the building on fire instead of the appointment ceremony and rescued Kim Jin-seo, Kim Chang-won’s heart became endlessly complicated.

"Jin-seo, now..."

"Let me rest here for a bit."

"..."

"I’ll rest here for a bit and then come out."

Kim Jin-seo said while facing her father directly. He was startled. It was almost the first time since his wife died that his daughter had expressed her own will so clearly.

"Alright, rest and come out slowly."

Kim Chang-won seemed to understand his daughter’s feelings and eventually nodded and left the room. Even as he walked down the corridor, Kim Chang-won’s heart remained troubled throughout.

He unconsciously fidgeted with the cigarette pack in his pocket. The urge to smoke was rising.

Kim Jin-seo, left alone in the room, looked at Do Seon-woo.

"It’s okay. You’re not dead yet, so it’s still okay..."

The words Do Seon-woo had muttered to himself while carrying her on his back through the flames and out of the building. Those words echoed faintly in Kim Jin-seo’s ears.

"What’s okay about this...!"

She raised her clenched fist then put it back down.

Do Seon-woo’s condition was not okay at all. Even at that moment when he was rescuing her, it probably wasn’t okay at all. From that time, Do Seon-woo’s body was probably already broken beyond repair.

Nevertheless, Do Seon-woo didn’t look after his own condition at all and stupidly went out to rescue people. He saved countless people trapped in the building, but he alone couldn’t save himself.

Thump.

Kim Jin-seo buried her face at the edge of the hospital bed. The blanket was permeated with the smell of disinfectant, Do Seon-woo’s body odor, and various other smells. Among them, the most intense was still the smell of blood.

"Don’t die."

No answer came back. Looking at Do Seon-woo who just lay there without answering, Kim Jin-seo felt fear. It seemed like Do Seon-woo would never wake up and would eventually die like this. Just like all the people she had relied on and depended on until now.

"..."

She buried her face deeper in the hospital bed to hide her tears.

She dozed off and in her dream saw Do Seon-woo’s death.

His corpse was abandoned and bugs came running to eat the corpse. Kim Jin-seo stared blankly at the corpse that had only bones left after being eaten by bugs. The bugs that had grown fat after eating Do Seon-woo’s corpse climbed up her legs and eventually completely covered her face.

Thunk!

"Ugh."

She woke up. While getting up, she hit her head on the bed rail, but that wasn’t what was important right now. She hurriedly looked at Do Seon-woo. Fortunately, he was alive. However, no matter how much she confirmed this, her startled heart wouldn’t calm down.

"Just wake up, really..."

Kim Jin-seo glared at Do Seon-woo with half-open eyes for no reason.

If he would just wake up, she would pay him back for all the humiliation she suffered in her dreams. Starting with flirting with another woman in her dream last time, all the way to today’s - she would hold him responsible for everything.

...So please, just wake up.

Kim Jin-seo prayed to the Father in heaven and buried her face in the hospital bed.

* * *

"No matter what, can we overlook being 50 minutes late? If it were any other day, maybe, but on the day of the appointment ceremony..."

"He was late because he was rescuing citizens at a fire scene, so of course we should overlook it. The fact that there were no deaths in this fire is all thanks to that student."

The conference room where the meeting was in full swing was filled with commotion. However, despite the commotion, there weren’t many people gathered. It was a meeting of only the so-called power holders who were qualified to speak in deciding the Seven Holy Names.

Even Chairman Kim Chang-won and the principal, who frequently missed meetings, were exceptionally present for this meeting.

"There were no deaths, but there is someone in a coma. That gym owner person."

"So, the fact that that person didn’t die and only ended up in a coma is all..."

"Isn’t that Kim Jin-seo’s achievement? If she hadn’t quickly sealed the wounds with healing, even if he had been rescued, he would have died according to medical opinion..."

"Even if she had healed him, he would have died if he hadn’t been rescued! Vice-principal Yu, are you really that inflexible?"

"It’s not about flexibility, but, really. Suddenly what talk of flexibility..."

"Now, now, don’t nitpick each other’s words like that..."

The meeting had been going on for over 2 hours, but no conclusion had been reached and only disputes were accelerating. When someone presented an opinion, someone would rebut it, and when they rebutted again and the meeting became heated and turned into an argument, someone would stop it - this pattern repeated several times.

"What do you think, Chairman?"

Vice-principal Yu, who had always been at the center of disputes, casually asked Kim Chang-won. Since no conclusion seemed to be in sight no matter how much they met, he passed the baton to Kim Chang-won, the power holder among power holders.

"Hmm..."

Kim Chang-won let out a contemplative sound.

The opinions in the conference room were largely divided into two. The opinion to select Do Seon-woo as originally decided, and the opinion to strip Do Seon-woo of his qualifications according to principle and select another student again.

Both opinions had their own validity, and because of this, the meeting’s momentum didn’t easily lean to one side.

However, Kim Chang-won’s mind had been made up early.

"I believe it’s right to grant the Holy Name to Do Seon-woo as originally decided."

A brief silence settled over the conference room. Everyone attending the meeting opened their eyes wide as if surprised.

The news that Do Seon-woo had rescued Kim Jin-seo was something that, although no students knew about it, all Florence teachers knew. Because of this, Kim Chang-won was in an even more difficult position to take Do Seon-woo’s side.

If he took the side of Do Seon-woo who had saved his daughter, he could be misunderstood as making a public judgment based on private emotions.

"I trust you didn’t make that judgment for private reasons. But may I ask the reason?"

Gabriel, who was part of the Florence Council of Elders, asked. Kim Chang-won kept his mouth shut and briefly lowered his head.

"If there aren’t enough positions, I’ll just drop out instead."

These were the words his daughter had said before the meeting. His daughter thought that Do Seon-woo was late to the appointment ceremony because of her. If Do Seon-woo wasn’t selected for the Holy Name of Charity because of that, she said she would drop out to make room.

It was the first time that child had desperately wanted something so much, so Kim Chang-won was surprised once again.

Still, he thoroughly excluded private emotions. He tried to make the most rational and reasonable decision possible. Nevertheless, or rather because he made a thoroughly rational and reasonable judgment, Kim Chang-won had to grant Do Seon-woo the Holy Name of Charity.

"I received a call from a theological society. They said that if we’re thinking of retaking the re-election exam, they’ll cut off their support, making semi-threats."

"A theological society? Which theological society are you talking about?"

Principal Heo, an executive of the ’Gospel Healing Theological Society,’ raised his eyebrows. The Gospel Healing Theological Society he belonged to was famous for being quite large and having high status among theological societies. Therefore, whenever theological societies were mentioned, Principal Heo’s voice always got louder.

"The International Theological Society."

"...Ah, I see. That place is, haha, it’s a bit difficult for me to say..."

Principal Heo’s voice, which had been about to get louder, suddenly became quiet. No matter how high the Gospel Healing Theological Society’s status was, it couldn’t compare to the International Theological Society led by Saint Judas.

Moreover, the amount the International Theological Society sponsored to the Florence Foundation was at an astronomical level. There was even a joke that if the International Theological Society’s support was cut off, half of Florence’s buildings would have to be demolished. The International Theological Society’s statement couldn’t be ignored.

"For the International Theological Society to directly... Why?"

"Since they provided the location for this re-election exam, they probably don’t have the leeway to support it again."

"Well. Would the International Theological Society say such things because they can’t provide one ark? Saint Judas is cunning, but he’s never been a stingy person..."

Due to the International Theological Society’s statement, the divided opinions were almost leaning to one side.

"But still, don’t we not know when Do Seon-woo will wake up? He might lie there forever..."

Then, Vice-principal Yu’s words brought the situation back to square one. As Vice-principal Yu said, it had already been five days since Do Seon-woo was hospitalized and hadn’t come to school. His condition hadn’t improved at all and even doctors couldn’t guarantee when he would wake up.

"If we hastily grant him the Holy Name of Charity and he dies, what greater disaster could there be? At least, until he wakes up..." 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"Vice-principal Yu! Is that something an educator should say!"

"Please don’t misunderstand. I’m saying this from a purely practical standpoint..."

"Practically speaking, you’re right. As a cleric, I’ll refrain from speaking."

The gist of the opinion was that they didn’t know when Do Seon-woo would wake up, and they couldn’t just leave the Holy Name of Charity vacant until then.

It wasn’t wrong, but Kim Chang-won felt slightly uncomfortable. Even if it was practically correct, he wondered if it was right for someone who was an educator to so easily speak such ominous words about a student possibly dying.

"No, practically speaking, it’s actually better to grant it to Do Seon-woo. Don’t the Seven Holy Names have inspiring stories that match their names?"

"That’s right. Rescuing people left in the building and being late to the appointment ceremony... I think it’s an inspiring story that perfectly matches the name of charity that devotes itself to others."

"But then wouldn’t we be reversing the opinion we already reversed? What about the image that will be damaged by that? Students definitely won’t listen to or trust our words..."

"Hey, Vice-principal Yu! You’ve been making logical leaps since earlier!"

"You keep interrupting me, but it’s not a leap..."

Creak... Thud!

When the meeting atmosphere was getting heated, someone opened the door and entered.

Seemingly overwhelmed by the overheated meeting atmosphere, she hunched her shoulders, rolled her eyes around to read the room, then finally opened her mouth.

"Um, excuse me... It’s good news, but they say Do Seon-woo has woken up. Yes, then I’ll be going now...!"

Tap tap.

Ha Ye-jin, the homeroom teacher of the Charity class, left that message and quickly went home. The air in the meeting room froze coldly.