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Chapter 95

The reason for this was found in an unexpected place: the screeches of the Executioner\'s Sword, which was in the hands of the Cult Leader. Throughout the meeting, the Cult Leader had held the sword and gazed at both Yeom Man-Geun and Ha Pan-Seok silently.

"Executive Yeom Man-Geun, it seems like you have something to say...."

"Uh, well... I reckon I ain\'t got nothin\' to say \'bout that."

Yeom Man-Geun quickly avoided eye contact and avoided answering Yun Chang-Su’s question.

Ever since Sun-Woo entered the chapel, Yeom Man-Geun couldn\'t even think of opening his mouth due to the tremendous majesty shown by the Cult Leader.

It felt like the chillingly cold and flashy Executioner’s Sword had locked onto him, and a slip of the tongue would be enough to sever his head clean from his neck.

Moreover, the Cult Leader seemed to be able to manipulate the Loa\'s power with ease.Two years ago, it was difficult to figure out whether Sun-Woo was a puppet or a prophet, but now he had suddenly become the respectable Cult Leader and Prophet.

"Since no one has anything to say..." Yun Chang-Su trailed off, looking stumped.

Because no one pitched in new opinions, the meeting could not go on.

Meanwhile, Yeom Man-Geun, with his head bowed, was subtly glaring at Ha Pan-Seok.

"Oh, the Executioner\'s Sword looks well-suited for beheading, haha. As expected, the Cult Leader\'s sorcery..."

Taking in Yuk Eun-Hyung\'s disgusting flattery through one ear and out the other, Yeom Man-Geun chewed on his lips.

He said, without the Altar, Sun-Woo wouldn\'t harness the power of the Loa, let alone castin\' spells right. Darn nonsense! But heck, it\'s on me. I was downright foolish to put my trust in a no-good dimwit like him. Dag nabbit!

He cursed to himself as he continued to glare at Ha Pan-Seok.

***

There were three main agendas for the meeting. The first agenda was the decreasing number of believers. The second agenda was about the worsening financial crisis. And the final agenda was the escalating persecution by the Holy See, which was like pouring fuel on the fire.

These were problems without any current viable solutions, and due to the frightened executives keeping their mouths shut, the meeting had not progressed thus far.

"It doesn\'t seem like the meeting will proceed right away... It would be better to reconvene at 11 p.m. tonight. How about temporarily adjourning and gathering again later?" Yoon Chang-Su of the Gangwon faction suggested this during the meeting, and I accepted his proposal. Thus, the end of the meeting was somewhat anticlimactic.

Immediately after, I headed to the restroom.

"Cough, cough. Urghhh...!"

I vomited blood into the toilet, my face buried in the bowl. I had already reached my limit after I had prayed to Granbwa to shift the structure of the mountains, and using Granbwa’s power again on top of that meant that I had to deal with a lot more backlash.

“I feel like I’m gonna die...”

[It was not a bad strategy.] Legba calmly spoke while I tried to catch my breath.

I let out a hollow laugh.

"Now you don’t even worry about me, eh?”

[Are you okay?]

"Yes."

[Alright. Anyway, the strategy was good. Your body will be a bit battered, but it\'s better than dying.]

I felt a slight resentment toward Legba for not worrying about me, but I didn\'t say anything. He was right.

Using Granbwa\'s power consecutively to tilt the building horizontally to even the ground and carrying the Executioner\'s Sword throughout the meeting was all for show.

All of it was a display of power to suppress the opposition.

If I showed weakness to the executives as the Cult Leader, my position would no longer hold prestige. The rebel forces would gain confidence and they would eventually carry out their rebellion plans.

On the other hand, if I suppressed the opposition by demonstrating the power of the Loa, I could bring down the confidence of the rebel forces and increase the weight of my words.

[Through your actions, you have obtained the dignity that a Cult Leader should possess.]

"Right."

I tried to nod my head in agreement with Legba\'s words, but I didn\'t have the strength.

I forcibly suppressed and then swallowed the blood-ridden vomit that rose up my esophagus, and tried not to show any weakness.

In short, I had risked my life in order to save face. It was a bit difficult, but ultimately, it seemed like I had succeeded in breaking the spirits of Yeom Man-Geun and Ha Pan-Seok, the suspected leaders of the rebellion. The result was somewhat satisfying. That is, of course, if we were just talking about the results. If I were asked to go through this again, I would say no. I just couldn’t.

[Your existence must already be deeply ingrained in the minds of the executives. There’ll be no need to push yourself like this in the future]

"I\'m glad..." I said as I took comfort in Legba\'s words and left the bathroom.

The smell of blood lingered in my mouth.

***

Next to the Gangwon Branch, there was a huge mountain lodge with six rooms and an attic. At the lounge, accommodations were prepared for each branch of the cult. It was decided that everyone would reconvene at the chapel for a meeting at 11 o\'clock after resting at their given accommodations.

We, the Seoul Sect, were given Room 301. While looking at the key with the number 301 engraved on it, I stated, "Room 301... That’s the room connected to the attic."

"Executive Yun Chang-Su gave us the largest room. Last time when I came alone, they gave me Room 102, but they’re definitely treating us better since you came with me," my uncle said.

Ji-Ah\'s eyes sparkled at the mention of the room being connected to the attic. "Ah, then I will sleep in the attic."

Using the attic in place of a storage room? I chuckled.

"Were you a mouse in your past life? Why do you always sleep in either the storage room or the attic?" I asked.

"Ji-Ah naturally likes those kinds of places where it’s dark and damp. Makes sense, given her gloomy personality."

"You two are teaming up... that\'s not fair..."

My uncle and I laughed as we climbed the stairs, teasing Ji-Ah. The surrounding area was completely covered in trees. Except for the chapel and the mountain lodge, there was not a single building. Since civilian access to Taebaeksan was prohibited, there were no hikers. It was a good place to try out and practice harnessing some of the Loa\'s powers that I couldn\'t use in the city.

Suddenly, someone bumped into my shoulder as they passed by. I had tried to avoid them, but they had deliberately bumped into me. It felt like it was intentional, not a mistake. When I turned my head, a girl who looked a year or two younger than me was glaring at me through narrow slits.

"Tsk." The girl clicked her tongue and swiftly turned around, walking away. Voodoo magic, which took on a noticeably dark hue, flowed from her fingertips.

"Who the heck was that?"

"It’s Ha Su-Yeong." Ji-Ah stood next to me, and immediately answered when I voiced my question. "She’s the daughter of Ha Pan-Seok from the Chungcheong Sect. She’s thought to be very talented, and people have been voicing requests to set her up as the new Cult Leader. Although she does have talent, it is nothing compared to you, Cult Leader.”

"Ha Pan-Seok...."

At the mention of Ha Pan-Seok\'s daughter, a familiar face came to mind. Two years ago, when I attended the executive meeting, there was a child sitting next to Ha Pan-Seok who glared at me with intense hostility in their eyes. According to my memory, we were about the same height. Now, I had grown much taller.

"Yes, he’s the instigator of the rebellion. It seems that Ha Pan-Seok plans to impeach the Cult Leader and make Ha Su-Yeong the 4th Cult Leader," Ji-Ah said.

I nodded. I thought it’d be something along those lines. The Voodoo magic flowing from the fingertips of the kid named Ha Su-Yeong was incredibly powerful and pure. Her skills would easily surpass most executives with that level of talent. Moreover, she must have considerable spell skills if she was nominated as the next Cult Leader.

"Should I look at her as a competitor?"

"It’s difficult to call her a competitor. She’s simply not on the same level as you,” Ji-Ah said. She seemed not to like this Ha Su-Yeong that much.

My uncle then turned around and said, "I’ve heard that just looking at her sorcery alone, she is comparable to the second Cult Leader. It\'s not reliable information as it’s words from the executives, though."

"Oh, really?"

If her skill were comparable to the 2nd Cult Leader’s, then that meant that she was far more skillful than me. Rumors were not to be believed, but there wouldn’t be smoke without a fire. Until I saw it for myself, I wouldn’t know for sure what she was actually capable of. For now, it’d be better to be cautious. I drew a spell array in the air as an experiment. It was the intoxication spell array, which I used the most often these days, and it was the spell I felt most confident in.

"Compared to this, what do you think her skill level is at?"

My uncle looked closely at my spell array, but he tilted his head as if he didn\'t know.

"...I can’t tell. After all, I don’t know how to use spells."

“What about you, nuna? Can’t you use spells?”

Ji-Ah turned towards my direction. She wasn’t great at using spells, but she could use a few.

"I dare not evaluate Cult Leader\'s spell. I have no discernment."

"But, if you had to choose, which one would you say is better?"

"...I don\'t know. Just as a mouse cannot understand human intentions, I also cannot understand the Cult Leader\'s spell.”

Why was she comparing herself to a mouse? Then, suddenly, I remembered the words I had said to Ji-Ah when she said she would sleep in the attic.

"You’re not mad because we made fun of you and asked if you were a mouse in your past life, right?"

My uncle pretended to be surprised as he looked Ji-Ah up and down.

"Wow, I didn\'t see you as one, but you\'re a really scary person, Ji-Ah. I didn’t know you held grudges."

"No, when did I ever hold a grudge...? That\'s not true. It\'s just that the only animal that came to mind was a mouse." Ji-Ah hurriedly gave an explanation as cold sweat poured out from her body.

Uncle looked at Ji-Ah and smiled mischievously. “No, when did I ever hold a grudge? Are you talking back now? What do you think, Cult Leader?”

“Hm... Fragging is an offense that should be treated with Zombification...”

“Oops, um, I wasn’t talking back. I made a slip of the tongue out of surprise. I\'m sorry, I\'m sorry...”

Meanwhile, we had reached the third floor.

Even while we were unlocking the door with the key, Ji-Ah kept her head down. It seemed like she had completely lost her spirit. Did I tease her too much?

"It was just a joke. I’m sorry if I made you upset."

"No, it\'s okay..."

"Okay then. Let\'s quickly go in and see the attic."

“...” Ji-Ah kept her mouth shut and stared at me, to which I nodded slightly. Her expression seemed to show that she had something to say, but she was forcing herself to swallow her words.

The accommodation was better than I imagined. There were three rooms, each with a bed. In the spacious living room, there was a sofa and a TV, and through the window, the forest surrounding the lodge came into view. The forest had long been painted black by darkness.

"How’s your phone?" Uncle suddenly asked as he looked around the room in awe.

I took out the phone Uncle had given me from my pocket and turned it on. The phone had good reception even in deep woods like these. It was an ordinary phone tinkered to have better reception, even while underground.

"It’s great. It’s got great reception as well."

"That\'s a relief. Even if you\'re trapped underground like what happened to Ji-Ah last time, bad reception won’t be a problem."

"Trapped underground like Ji-Ah?" [1]

"Come to think of it, that rhymes. Underground like Ji-Ah."

Ji-Ah turned her head and looked at us. "Please don’t make fun of me. It’s not nice to use someone else’s name to make fun of them like that....”

"Huh? Someone else? Ji-Ah, I thought we were closer than that."

"Wow... I’m really upset..." I added, fueling the fire my Uncle had ignited.

"No, that\'s not what I meant. It\'s just that you keep teasing me..." While Ji-Ah was speaking, she suddenly noticed something strange and raised her head abruptly. “Are you still teasing me?”

“Haha, good job figuring that out!”

“I’ll be resting in the attic. I hope you rest well. If you need anything, please call me." Ji-Ah angrily climbed the stairs, almost tripping over her own feet. She continued to climb, pretending as if nothing had happened.

Uncle chuckled softly as he watched her.

"She seems upset. Do you think she’ll be fine?"

"Yeah, it’ll pass. It\'s not like she hates this kind of atmosphere," Uncle responded nonchalantly.

"This kind of atmosphere?"

"Playing around and stuff. You probably don\'t know, but our orphanage had a somewhat gloomy atmosphere. So she grew up a bit gloomy too... Anyway, when I asked her last time, she didn\'t seem to hate it."

"That\'s a relief."

I was worried that making fun of her would make her upset, but it seemed like I was worried for nothing. After all, I\'d never teased her to the point where she would feel genuinely hurt.

“On that note, what was it like in the orphanage?”

I was suddenly curious about why Ji-Ah always wanted to stay in the attic or the storage room and why she wanted to help us even though we weren\'t paying her to do so. I had been curious for a while, but I couldn\'t find the right time to ask, so my curiosity remained unresolved until now. I thought it would be the perfect time to ask since the topic of the orphanage had come up.

"What? How was it for Ji-Ah? Or are you asking what I thought of it?"

"Both."

"Well... It\'s been so long that my memory is a bit hazy."

Uncle stroked his patchy beard and got lost in thought for a moment.

"Hm, I forget. Was Ji-Ah bullied? She was always small since she was young. Since there were no kids to bully, they picked Ji-Ah, who they thought was easy prey."

"Didn\'t you scold them?"

"Do you think brats listen when they get scolded? If I scolded them, they would have bullied her even more."

He was right. Uncle continued, "Originally, they only bothered her during the day, but then they would either be caught by me or the daycare teachers. So, they started bothering her at night when we were asleep. Those kids, they\'re not all that innocent. The wicked ones are extremely wicked."

"Even during the night..."

"There was a warehouse behind the orphanage building... It was a place that no one other than the teachers could access after it was locked. Ji-Ah probably went there every night to take shelter and to sleep. Of course, I only know this because I heard this story later on from one of the teachers.”

To avoid harassment, she had used the warehouse as her hiding place, and perhaps because of that memory, she preferred dark and humid places like storage rooms or attics.

"Hey, don’t you remember? You came and visited the orphanage yourself.”

I tried to recall, but I couldn\'t remember. I shook my head.

"You don’t remember? You fought fiercely with the kids who were harassing Ji-Ah back then."

"Did I win?"

"Win? No way. You came back beaten up badly. You were against five or six others at that time.”

Whether it was 5:1 or 6:1, there was no way I could have won. In a fight, the side with more people had the overwhelming advantage, especially if they were young. Come to think of it, the reason why the Voodoo Cult lost in the Holy War was also because we were heavily outnumbered.

"I remember your father and mother were shocked when you came up to them with your face all battered up... What did you say back then? ‘It’ll go away with a restoration spell?’ Anyway, you were crazy even then as a child," Uncle said with a soft smile on his face.

I had never seen him look so animated while telling a story before. He seemed to enjoy reminiscing about the past.

"And I remember your father saying, ‘That’s my son alright,’ and praising you. My sister slapped the hell out of his back for saying that. It was such a fun time... "

At that moment, the smile that lingered on Uncle\'s lips disappeared. The sparkling eyes that were present throughout the story suddenly turned empty.

Uncle rubbed his hands on his face. "...I think it\'s best not to talk about the past."

"That’s fair. Just think about what is to come."

"I will. But for some reason, I don’t feel excited about the future at all."

Since the past were days that had gone by, they were regrettable yet beautiful at the same time. However, the days that lay ahead somehow felt bleak and scary. I still didn\'t know why. Even though tomorrow would eventually become yesterday, why did I find yesterday beautiful but tomorrow scary?

“When the future passes, it will become a thing of the past as well."

"Damn~ It does have a different ring to it when the Cult Leader himself says it," Uncle laughed teasingly.

After closing his mouth like he was in deep thought, Uncle went through his bag. From it, he took out a cell phone. He threw it at me.

I barely caught it. "What’s with the extra phone?"

"Think of it as an allowance. There are some coins inside. Exchange them and use them if you really need them."

"But you just told me that the coins you had failed miserably..."

"They\'re still good for money laundering. Oh, by the way, one coin is worth 0.87 dollars. About 1,000 won."

I turned on the cell phone and checked the number of coins inside. If each one was worth 1,000 won, then the amount of money inside the cellphone was...

"...It\'s a bit much to call it an allowance, isn\'t it?"

"Is it? Then consider it an offering."

Judging by his reaction, it didn\'t seem like a lot of money to my uncle. To me, it was an incredibly large sum. With this amount, I wasn’t jealous of Do-Jin, who received 300 million won in monthly sponsorship from fans.

At that moment, an idea flashed through my mind. "Uncle, about the Jeolla faction, um....”

“Yum Mang-Geun?"

"Yes, Yum Mang-Geun. What was he doing again? Other than running his faction, doesn’t he have a factory as well?”

“Yeah, something like a makgeolli [2]">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makgeolli[/ref] or soju factory. He should have made some money with that. Maybe that\'s why this guy doesn\'t have any respect for the Cult Leader.”

I quickly prepared to leave. My uncle looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"What\'s going on? Where are you going all of a sudden?"

"Just going out. To do this and that."

"This and that? ...Well, I guess you won\'t get lost. Just make sure to come before the meeting."

I nodded and tied my shoelaces.

"By the way, this is something I thought of because we were talking about the past." My uncle seemed to hesitate—his lips twitched and his eyes darted around before finally speaking. "I\'m sorry. I still regret what happened back then."

Back then...

I felt like I knew what he was talking about. I nodded and smiled at my uncle.

"It\'s in the past."

"Yeah... Anyway, take care, and don\'t be late for the meeting."

I left the lodge, leaving my uncle’s farewell behind me. The forest beyond the railing was covered in gloomy darkness. I made my way down to the lower floor.

1. Underground is ?? in Korean, which is Ji Ha sounded out. Uncle here was dropping rhymes, as Ji Ha and Ji-Ah sound similar. ?

2. ?