The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 104

"Hey, are you kidding me?"

Yeo Min-seo said. She was smiling, but her gaze toward me was cold.

Like someone who had never smiled once in their life trying to imitate a smile by raising the corners of their mouth for the first time, her eyes and mouth were completely disconnected. It was an awkward smile that felt somewhat eerie.

"...Don’t tell me it’s true?"

When I remained silent, Yeo Min-seo glared at me with a strangely furrowed face as if she couldn’t understand.

Yeo Min-seo seemed to think I was joking. But this wasn’t a joke at all. I had completely forgotten about having to write a proposal.

"I forgot. Sorry."

I first admitted my fault and apologized.

Any unnecessary excuses would cause adverse effects, and if the opponent was Yeo Min-seo, those adverse effects would certainly appear even more greatly.

Thanks to my quick apology, Yeo Min-seo’s distorted face gradually returned to normal. Fortunately, her anger seemed to have subsided somewhat.

"No, you bastard, it’s due today but you forgot? Are you crazy?"

Never mind.

Being cursed at without warning left me more confused than angry. Above all, it wasn’t a situation where I had grounds to be angry. It was true that Yeo Min-seo had assigned me to write the proposal, and it was also true that I hadn’t done it.

"Hey, he said he’s sorry, why are you talking like that? It’s not like he’ll die if he doesn’t do it today. And if it was so urgent, you could have done it yourself."

"Right. You could have done it yourself from the beginning."

The ones who came to my defense were Ma Yu-hyeon and Kim Jin-seo. Ma Yu-hyeon was looking back and forth between me and Yeo Min-seo with narrowed eyes, and Kim Jin-seo was staring intently at Yeo Min-seo with strangely unfocused eyes.

Yeo Min-seo let out a hollow laugh as if incredulous and opened her mouth.

"I clearly told him to do it last week, and he agreed to it, but it’s my fault that this bastard didn’t do it? And, should I forgive everything just because he said sorry? It’s not like saying sorry will make the missing proposal suddenly pop up..."

"Um, sorry to interrupt while you’re speaking."

Seong Ha-yeon cut into Yeo Min-seo’s words. In her hands was some kind of bundle of documents. Even at a glance, it was quite thick.

Yeo Min-seo looked at Seong Ha-yeon with puzzled eyes.

"Why are you..."

"Actually, I wrote the proposal. Should I give it to you?"

"What? No, then why didn’t you earlier... Yeah, give it here."

Yeo Min-seo snatched the proposal from Seong Ha-yeon as if taking it by force and quickly skimmed through it. The wrinkles that had been between her brows were gradually smoothing out. Having finished speed-reading in an instant, she smiled slightly and nodded.

"This is amazing. When he apologized, the missing proposal really did pop up."

Yeo Min-seo spoke as if joking. No one laughed.

I looked at Seong Ha-yeon. She briefly made eye contact with me, then immediately turned her head away. With furrowed brows, biting her lips repeatedly, desperately avoiding my eyes.

Something was strange. That wasn’t the Seong Ha-yeon I knew. She should have been showing off saying things like "Aren’t you going to say thank you?" or "What would you have done without me?"... Had her personality changed in the meantime? No, could a person’s personality change so suddenly like this?

Above all, how did she know in the first place that I wouldn’t write the proposal, and why did she bother to write it instead of me? Was there something else she wanted from me?

Was this also a stepping stone to recruit me into the International Theological Society? Even after I refused so firmly, she still hasn’t given up? Then, what’s the reason the International Theological Society wants to recruit me so much?

I don’t know.

I couldn’t understand at all why Seong Ha-yeon kept trying to help me. Numerous questions were floating around complexly in my head.

"Well, the proposal is settled... Next is this."

Meanwhile, Yeo Min-seo distributed papers to us one by one.

’Council of Elders-Sponsored Missionary Trip Application Form’

The application form contained formal and rigid sentences about the missionary trip, with blank spaces below for phone numbers and names.

"What’s a missionary trip? I demand an explanation!"

Kang Dae-man violently threw down the paper after reading what was written on the application form. Yeo Min-seo frowned with displeasure.

"Don’t tell me you don’t know what missionary means?"

"I don’t!"

"That’s something to be proud of, you bastard... How can a deacon lack such common sense..."

In terms of character, Yeo Min-seo wasn’t exactly qualified to be a cleric either, but I didn’t bother pointing it out.

Yeo Min-seo sighed and continued.

"Literally, it’s a trip to spread the Romanica Church to other countries. But that’s actually just the pretext..."

"Aha, so missionary means going to other countries to spread the Romanica Church?"

"That’s right, you blockhead. Stop exercising and read some books."

"I am reading sports nutrition books!" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Kang Dae-man said proudly. Yeo Min-seo lightly ignored his words and opened her mouth.

"Until last year, the destinations were Japan or Africa, places like that. It was really literally a trip for missionary work..."

Yeo Min-seo briefly hesitated with her mouth closed, then continued.

"This year, the purpose isn’t missionary work but ’rescue.’ They’re planning to get rid of us too while they’re at it."

"Rescue... Right, that makes sense."

"Wow, when you say it like that, I want to go even less. I wasn’t planning to go originally anyway."

Kang Dae-man nodded understandingly with his arms crossed, and Han Su-ryeon waved her hands in disgust.

Ma Yu-hyeon was dozing off, and Kim Jin-seo across from him was chasing empty air with hazy eyes. Seong Ha-yeon had her head down so I couldn’t see her face.

Yeo Min-seo looked around slowly and opened her mouth.

"Only officers who want to go will go, but this year it’s closer to being deployed to war than a trip, and it could be especially dangerous for inexperienced first-years, and so on and so forth. The teacher in charge also told us not to go if possible. But why do those elder bastards..."

Yeo Min-seo continued, but it wasn’t content I needed to listen to. Most of it was criticism and condemnation of the Florence faculty, council of elders, and Romanica Church.

’I want to pluck out all the few remaining hairs of those council of elders old men who try to force us to go on useless missionary trips every year.’

Summarizing Yeo Min-seo’s words as much as possible, it was like this.

"Those council of elders bastards seem to think students’ lives are their consumables. Looking at how they put on airs just because they’re elders..."

"..."

While Yeo Min-seo rattled off curses like rapid fire, I carefully read through the sentences written on the application form.

The schedule is set for right after the first exam, but depending on school circumstances, the schedule may be arbitrarily changed. We plan to visit only areas outside the influence of conflicts, but for safety, we will be accompanied by clergy of archbishop level or higher. Travel expenses will be fully covered by the Florence Foundation...

Among them, only one sentence strongly caught my heart.

"This really is just a trip in name only, if something goes wrong we could die. There haven’t been any students who died on missionary trips so far... but I think we’ll be the first students to die on a missionary trip."

Yeo Min-seo continued while scanning the kids’ faces.

"Anyway, for these reasons, I’ll assume everyone won’t go on this missionary trip. I’ll tell the teacher that all first-year officers are not participating."

"I’ll go."

The one who cut into Yeo Min-seo’s words was none other than me.

"...You’ll go?"

Yeo Min-seo asked back while scratching her neck in confusion. I nodded and continued.

"Yeah, I’ll go."

"Why?"

Yeo Min-seo frowned as if she couldn’t understand at all.

My eyes were still looking at the application form. Complex emotions that I couldn’t tell were excitement or fear rose in my chest.

Being careful that my unconsciously uttered voice wouldn’t tremble, I opened my mouth with a deep breath.

"Just. It seems like it would be fun."

The kids’ expressions all hardened after hearing my words.

Naturally, I didn’t really say I’d go because it seemed fun. Honestly, it didn’t seem fun at all. It would certainly only be dangerous as Yeo Min-seo said.

Nevertheless, I absolutely had to participate in this missionary trip.

The third staff of the Soul Tree, ’Regression’ - the country that possesses it, Saudi Arabia.

This was because the council of elders organizing the missionary trip had chosen that place as the destination.

It seemed they had decided on that place as the destination for Florence officers’ missionary trip, while also sending clergy to rescue Romanica Church missionaries trapped in Saudi Arabia.

[See, I didn’t lie.]

I heard someone’s voice mixed with laughter in my head, not Legba’s but someone else’s.

* * *

After the meeting ended, I was walking toward the classroom with the application form.

"Do Seon-woo."

Someone called me from behind. It was a female voice. It was definitely Seong Ha-yeon coming after me to show off belatedly. I reflexively frowned and turned around. But Seong Ha-yeon wasn’t there, instead there was Yeo Min-seo.

"I guessed about right..."

To me, Seong Ha-yeon and Yeo Min-seo were about the same. I disliked Seong Ha-yeon a bit more. Hearing my words, Yeo Min-seo frowned as if puzzled.

"What are you suddenly talking about?"

"Just talking to myself."

"What kind of talking to yourself... Well, anyway, moving on, can’t you fix this for me?"

Yeo Min-seo irritably handed me the bundle of documents in her left hand. I received it somewhat bewildered. It was the proposal for the religious essay contest that Seong Ha-yeon had given during the meeting. Even at a glance I thought it was quite thick, but holding it directly, it was thicker than I had imagined. It seemed like it would be thicker than most textbooks.

Setting aside what content she had put in to make a proposal this thick, I couldn’t understand why she was telling me to revise it.

"You said it has to be submitted right away. Won’t it be late if we revise it?"

"That’s right, but I think something big will happen if we submit it as is... Read page 12, line 20."

Following her words, I flipped through the pages and read page 12, line 20.

[The origin of the essay contest began from corruption in the council of elders. Previously, there was a system where essays written at home were submitted at the end of the semester and recorded in school records, but when it was discovered that the twin children of former elder Raphael had submitted ghostwritten essays, it was perverted into a contest format where essays are completed on the spot based on collected materials...]

"It does seem like we can’t submit it as is."

The thickness wasn’t the only problem. Seong Ha-yeon’s proposal contained too much of her personal opinion. Moreover, those opinions were all criticisms or hostile views toward the council of elders. It could be seen as a petition requesting the dissolution of the council of elders rather than a proposal.

Yeo Min-seo nodded with a quite serious face and opened her mouth.

"What you saw is actually just the tip of the iceberg. First, we need to make the sentences less aggressive, and delete all sentences hostile to the council of elders. Then the unnecessarily long length will be resolved automatically."

"But you could do that too. Or have Seong Ha-yeon do it."

If it was revision, Seong Ha-yeon who wrote the original would do it much better. Also, polishing sentences and deleting sentences criticizing the council of elders was something Yeo Min-seo could do sufficiently. I wondered if there was a reason I specifically had to do this work. I wasn’t busy, but because it was Yeo Min-seo’s proposal, I didn’t want to readily accept it.

"I tried talking to Seong Ha-yeon, but she doesn’t seem to know what the problem is..."

Yeo Min-seo briefly closed her mouth as if lost in thought, then looked at me with empty pupils and opened her mouth.

"I can’t do it either. I’m busy, and I can’t distinguish what constitutes hostile sentences."

"What kind of... strange thing to say is that?"

"I mean, an antisocial person can’t find antisocial sentences. Because I unconsciously sympathize with those sentences. The more I read, the more I can’t distinguish what’s right and what’s wrong."

She seemed to know that she was antisocial. Yeo Min-seo continued with a somewhat reluctant face.

"Um, and there are some things in the materials that Seong Ha-yeon made up with her own speculation. Can you change those to proper materials too?"

"Where do I find the materials?"

"That, Florence council of elders something... Central Library. Look there. Most materials are there, and there are also last year’s student council project proposals, so if you look at those and roughly follow them, it should work."

Her tone was unnaturally kind compared to usual. I guessed the reason.

First, it seemed Yeo Min-seo herself couldn’t do the revision work directly. Seong Ha-yeon was ’antisocial’ so she couldn’t do revision work, and Han Su-ryeon probably wouldn’t do it even if asked. Based on her behavior so far, she didn’t seem to have a particularly diligent personality. Same with Ma Yu-hyeon. Kang Dae-man didn’t even need explanation.

Listing them out, there was no one to ask except Kim Jin-seo and me. However, Yeo Min-seo had a bad relationship with Kim Jin-seo and seemed to feel some kind of victim complex toward her. She wouldn’t want to ask Kim Jin-seo for anything.

"You have no one to ask except me, right?"

Yeo Min-seo turned her gaze away and bit her lips. It was a face as if she’d been caught off guard. Right after, she forced a smile as if trying to hide her expression, but it was too late. I had already figured out her true feelings.

"...What are you talking about? Since I originally assigned it to you, I’m trying to have you do the revision at least. If I wanted to, I could easily have someone else do it."

Yeo Min-seo hastily explained as if making excuses.

"Then have someone else do it. I’m busy."

"Hey, you don’t even go to academy. What’s a guy who learns blessings from YouTube busy with?"

"You don’t have to go to academy to be busy... Anyway, I’m busy, have someone else do it."

"Ah, listen here, bastard. Listen and then decide."

Yeo Min-seo caught my steps as I was about to leave.

Yeo Min-seo has a personality of using people according to need. Therefore, she boldly discards those who aren’t needed and only takes care of those she considers necessary. And to her, I was a ’necessary person.’ At least for now.

I decided to use that appropriately. If she offered compensation for the work - for instance, information or benefits that would help me become a high-ranking cleric in the future - then I would accept the work. Even if Yeo Min-seo really assigned the work to someone else, I wouldn’t lose anything.

"What was your department? Holy Knight? Holy Warrior?"

"Holy Knight."

"Your goal? Central, right?"

She seemed to be referring to the Central Holy Knight Order. The fastest way to achieve my goal was to join the Central Holy Knight Order. If I distinguished myself there, I could become a papal inquisitor. It was the inquisitors who managed the Vatican’s underground prison.

When I nodded, Yeo Min-seo immediately opened her mouth.

"Then you know the conditions for joining Central?"

"I know."

Entrance test passing certificate. Recommendation letter from archbishop-level or higher clergy. Portfolio from when working at local Holy Knight Orders or while attending academy.

"I’ll register the essay contest proposal writing under your name. It’ll help when creating your portfolio."

Yeo Min-seo said as if doing me a favor. But it wasn’t the answer I wanted.

"And?"

"And? You bastard, just doing revision but registering it under your name is tremendous favoritism. You know?"

"That’s nowhere near enough for Central."

I needed more decisive benefits. Yeo Min-seo would know better than anyone what I wanted. She was just keeping her mouth shut to monopolize that achievement herself.

After silently watching Yeo Min-seo who just chewed her lips for a while, when I moved my steps toward the classroom again, Yeo Min-seo caught me again.

"Okay, hey! Wow, this bastard really... Okay, I’ll include you in the detection operation planning too. As co-planning with me, would that work?"

"Sounds good. I’ll do the revision. Is it okay if I finish it by tomorrow?"

"Ha, ha, ha... This is completely crazy. Since when did you know?"

"Looking at what you did this morning, I could tell right away."

Satan worshipper detection was work jointly conducted by faculty and student council. However, we always had to hear about the work’s progress through Yeo Min-seo.

At some point, I began to suspect that Yeo Min-seo had some kind of special authority regarding Satan worshipper detection work.

This suspicion solidified into conviction this morning. The method of pressuring Satan worshippers hiding somewhere through surveys while slowly narrowing down candidates.

It was exactly the kind of idea that would come from Yeo Min-seo’s head. From this point, I became convinced that Yeo Min-seo was involved in planning the Satan worshipper detection work.

"If I’m included in planning, I can also hear about the detection work’s progress, right?"

"...Probably. It’ll vary case by case depending on the situation."

Although she said it would vary depending on the situation, just being given the qualification to directly hear about the detection work’s progress was sufficient.

The main purpose of this detection work was to root out Satan worshippers, but there was a possibility that my identity as the Voodoo cult leader could be revealed in the process.

However, if I knew the detection work’s progress and overall plan, it would be possible to prepare countermeasures.

I could also decorate my portfolio for Central Holy Knight Order admission splendidly, so it was a negotiation that caught two birds with one stone.

* * *

Due to strange phenomena at Taebaek Mountain that appeared to be Voodoo’s doing, frequent appearances of demon species and magical beasts nationwide, and the full-scale Satan worshipper detection work, Florence’s council of elders formed patrol teams by pairing teachers who weren’t in class.

The patrol teams were instructed to immediately detain any students showing suspicious behavior outside classrooms under the pretext of unauthorized absence and refer them to the disciplinary committee. They were also to immediately report if strange phenomena that appeared to be Satan worshippers’ doing occurred.

"I should be taking a nap right now... This isn’t the time to be walking around..."

"Taking naps during work hours, what kind of negligence is that?"

So Do-jin and Kim Bok-dong, who had finished half a patrol round from Eden Garden to the stable and then to the divine training ground, were having a conversation. The dark circles under So Do-jin’s eyes were deeper than usual.

"Did the morning survey have any effect?"

Kim Bok-dong asked a question intending to wake So Do-jin up. So Do-jin opened his mouth while walking mechanically and listlessly.

"About... 20 people. Kids who seemed to lack faith or have some rebellious tendencies got caught."

"Oh my. So those 20 are suspected of being Satan worshippers?"

"No. Those kids are actually not Satan worshippers... The ones actually suspected are about 6 people."

Perhaps due to lack of sleep, So Do-jin’s words lacked clear logic. Kim Bok-dong tilted his head.

"On what basis are those 6 people suspected?"

"Unnatural normalcy."

So Do-jin widened his bloodshot eyes and continued.

"Kids who completely understood the questions’ intent and deliberately crafted their answers to appear ’normal’... that is, trying to ’look normal.’"

"Considering the nature of infiltrated Satan worshippers, that side is certainly suspicious. So who are those 6 people?"

"Do Seon-woo and Yeo Min-seo. I can’t remember the rest... Damn. Because I couldn’t sleep."

Unlike So Do-jin who spoke nonchalantly, Kim Bok-dong was aghast.

"Do Seon-woo? And isn’t Yeo Min-seo the student who helped with detection work planning? I understand the survey idea also came from that child?"

"Right. She only gave the idea, we made the questions... Anyway, I don’t understand why Yeo Min-seo got involved in planning in the first place. Did those council of elders old men finally go senile?"

"If Yeo Min-seo is a Satan worshipper, the split personality theory would be likely. Since she’s being suspected by the idea she came up with herself."

"That’s the same for Do Seon-woo. Does he look like a Satan worshipper to you? If that’s acting, he should be an actor."

Kim Bok-dong nodded at So Do-jin’s words.

Yeo Min-seo often showed insolent words and behavior, earning teachers’ hatred. But Do Seon-woo was the opposite. He never showed insolent words or behavior, not even slightly impolite actions.

If Do Seon-woo was a Satan worshipper and all his behavior was acting, then he truly possessed acting skills worthy of being an actor.

On the other hand, precisely because of that, there was also the possibility he was a Satan worshipper. Based on incidents so far, the Satan worshipper seemed to have strong perfectionist tendencies.

No, thinking in reverse, maybe he only showed perfectionist tendencies when causing incidents to avoid suspicion, while externally pretending to be sloppy...

"I don’t know."

Kim Bok-dong shook his head. The more he thought, the more tangled his reasoning became. He didn’t know who the Satan worshipper was, but their cunning made his teeth grind.

The Satan worshipper was making teachers suspect students and students suspect students, weakening Florence’s unity.

Even two students who received Holy Names ended up on the suspect list. Having two suspects among the seven Holy Names representing the grade was quite a shock to Kim Bok-dong.

"Yeah, I don’t know either. Let’s try until the day after tomorrow, and if there’s no effect..."

Kyaaaaaaaaahhhhh!

Then, a scream came from somewhere. So Do-jin reflexively gripped the sword at his waist, and Kim Bok-dong drew a blessing circle with divine power.

"Over there... the bathroom. The bathroom area!"

The scream was coming from the public restroom installed next to the divine training ground. As soon as Kim Bok-dong finished speaking, So Do-jin rushed toward the bathroom. Human presence was approaching from beyond the door. So Do-jin prepared to draw his sword and swing it at any moment.

Bang!

The door opened. But So Do-jin didn’t draw his sword. What came out opening the door was a female student.

The female student with particularly pale skin approached So Do-jin while making sobbing sounds, her face wet with tears.

So Do-jin didn’t let his guard down and took a couple steps back while opening his mouth.

"What class are you from! Why are you outside during class time!"

"Hic! I told the teacher I was going to the bathroom, sob, and came out, but... in the bathroom, hic! An ear, ear..."

"Ear? What ear! Speak properly!"

"A, a severed ear. I don’t know, I don’t know..."

So Do-jin passed the female student and walked into the bathroom. Some unidentified flesh was fallen on the sink. So Do-jin carefully picked it up.

"...An ear."

As the female student said, there was an ear there. It wasn’t an animal’s. This was definitely a human ear. The cross-section was jagged as if it had been torn rather than cut.

Was this a Satan worshipper’s doing? If so, what was the Satan worshipper trying to accomplish with this? Was it a warning, or simply a scheme to throw us into confusion?

"What happened! Whose scream was that?!"

Kim Bok-dong belatedly followed into the bathroom. So Do-jin looked at the ear in his hand with dazed eyes and opened his mouth.

"The female student who was outside. She found this severed ear on the sink and was startled..."

"What are you talking about? There was no one outside!"

Kim Bok-dong said in a confident voice. So Do-jin’s pupils shook.

"No one? What are you talking about? She was just there."

So Do-jin glanced outside the bathroom. As Kim Bok-dong said, there really was no one there. There wasn’t even a trace that someone had been there.

Kim Bok-dong put the severed ear into a bag he took from his pocket and opened his mouth.

"Let’s leave this to forensics. If we can find out whose ear this is, it’ll help the investigation."

"Right. But, there really was no one outside?"

"There was no one when I came. Maybe you briefly saw a hallucination because you were too sleepy?"

"No way. No matter how sleepy I am, I’ve never seen hallucinations..."

So Do-jin came outside and looked around. Not even a mouse was visible, let alone the female student. After looking around like that for a long time, So Do-jin swallowed his saliva.

Fear was clearly rising in his eyes.

This was a men’s restroom. There was no women’s restroom nearby.