The Cult Leader in the Clergy Academy

Chapter 31

Toward the end of lunchtime, the Seven Holy Names, named after the Seven Heavenly Virtues, were gathered in the student council room. They had gathered for a meeting on two issues, but the meeting had yet to begin.

"Humility is absent. Charity is vacant. Patience said she would come, but I don't see her here. Why are there so many worthless people in our school year?”

Yeo Min-Seo, Holy Name of Kindness, lamented as she looked at the empty seats. There was no way they could proceed with the meeting because three out of seven people were not there. She continued to speak as she meaninglessly looked through the documents in her hand.

“At least Patience came to school, so there’s that. But why in the world is Humility not even coming to school?”

“Humility’s father died, so they had to go to his funeral.”

"This is already the third time I've heard the excuse about the funeral. Don’t tell me he has three fathers. Does he think he’s Lu Bu?[1]”

Min-Seo crumpled up the documents she was holding. Her manner of speech did not match the title of Holy Name of Kindness at all. The atmosphere of the meeting was stifling.

“Well, if they’re not coming, let’s just start without them. The first issue is–”

Thump–!

Just as the meeting was about to begin, the door opened. Jin-Seo slowly stepped into the student council room, gasping for breath. Min-Seo glared sharply at Jin-Seo.

“You’re here? You’re quite late, aren’t you?”

“Sorry, I had some business to take care of.”

“Yeah, sure, you must have had a reason for being five minutes late. Anyone who arrives late will always have an excuse.”

Jin-Seo's eyebrows twitched for a moment, but that was it. Jin-Seo sat down and bit her lips to quench her inner anger.

Tap tap.

Min-Seo sat in the upper seat of the round table and straightened out the documents using the desk to organize them.

“Since everyone who needs to come has come, let’s start the meeting.”

Min-Seo rummaged through the papers. In principle, the meeting was supposed to be conducted by the Holy Name of Humility, but Humility had been absent for two weeks. As a result, Min-Seo, the Holy Name of Kindness, was the meeting’s host.

“The first issue is about the Satanist who infiltrated Florence Academy. There is clear evidence that they have infiltrated the academy because of the ‘barn demonic beast incident’ and ‘Jun-Min’s case.’ Thus, we’ve been ordered to find the Satanist. Apparently, there is a high probability that the Satanist is among the first-year students. That’s why the teachers have left the task to us.”

The Holy Name of Diligence, Dae-Man, asked, "Is there a way to find them?"

He looked like he was sitting, but in reality, he wasn't. There was no chair in his seat. Instead, Dae-Man had formed an invisible chair with his legs by squatting at a perfect 90-degree angle even before the meeting had started.

"Look at this first before we talk. It's a picture from the time of the incident."

Min-Seo unfolded the documents on the table. They were CCTV photos of the Florence barn. The photographs all had something in common—they all showed a picture of a man wearing a black hood and mask. He was drawing an unidentified magic circle.

"Who is this black guy? He seems to be drawing a blessing array, but the color is weird,” Dae-Man asked while looking at the pictures with narrowed eyes.

"Isn’t it obvious that it’s the Satanist? Why don’t you think before you ask a question?” Min-Seo replied angrily.

"Is that so? Then what is this guy drawing? A blessing array?”

"It's not a blessing array, it's a Pentagram. If you don't know, I'd like you to stay quiet. Don't ask useless questions."

Dae-Man glared at Min-Seo. She did not lose to him and glared back at him. The eyes of the two parties crossed, and the sparks exploded. The atmosphere was violent. The other Holy Names stared at them without even thinking of intervening. It naturally turned into a situation where Dae-Man and Min-Seo would exchange barbs.

"If we make use of the Holy Name of Humility, I think we can find the Satanist."

“Yeah, but they’ve been absent the whole time, and it's not clear whether they will cooperate.”

“Aha... It feels like you’ve only been criticizing everything I’ve been saying since earlier. If you’re going to refute, then shouldn’t you suggest an alternative?”

"Wow, that's right. I must have lost my intelligence because you said so many stupid things. I'm sorry."

Dae-Man jumped up from his invisible seat. Just as he was about to walk toward Min-Seo, a long arm blocked his path.

"Stop. Don't fight."

It was the Holy Name of Temperance, Han Su-Ryeon. She continued while rummaging through the papers, "It looks like there's only CCTV footage of the barn. Where was the Jun-Min incident?”

“Right in front of the school. Somewhere around the city park.”

“Ok. Don't you have any CCTV footage from there?”

"No. It's all damaged. There is no evidence in relation to the Jun-Min case—"

Min-Seo was about to answer Su-Ryeon's question indifferently, but her eyes glittered as if she had thought of an amazing idea.

"No, come to think of it, there is. Jin-Seo, the sole witness of the incident, is right here.”

Jin-Seo's shoulders trembled.

Min-Seo looked at Jin-Seo with an eerie smile. There was madness in her eyes.

“Do you have any leads? Was there anything unusual about Jun-Min when he turned into a demon?”

"...I don't remember."

"Don't lie. Why don't you cooperate?"

Jin-Seo took a deep breath while looking down. Just thinking about what happened at that time made her suffocate. Just repeating the name Jun-Min made her chest feel tight.

"Really. I don't remember."

She didn’t even want to remember. In fact, she couldn't remember well. Even if she could remember, she didn’t want to talk about it.

"Alright. If you don't want to talk, then that’s fine. You come late, and now you don't cooperate. You’re very helpful," Min-Seo said in a blatantly sarcastic tone. Jin-Seo felt angry but didn't say anything and just held it in.

She didn’t even want to talk to Min-Seo. It was because she would always lose when she quarreled with her.

Su-Ryeon sat at the side and looked at the pictures. She belatedly said, "I don't think we can find them with just these pictures. Let's talk when the Holy Name of Humility comes back. What do you think?"

Min-Seo nodded.

"Alright. Then the next agenda is Sung-Hyun. That retard was expelled from school for doing moronic things. As a result, the Holy Name of Charity is currently vacant. That’s why we need to elect a new person.”

“Why is that on the agenda?” Dae-Man smirked.

Min-Seo's eyebrows creased. "...Alright. I'll explain it from now on. Let’s say they do the re-election test, and another fool gets elected. What are you going to do if they do a bunch of stupid things like Sung-Hyun did?”

“What’s the problem? Then we just need to hold another re-election test—”

"This is why you shouldn't give stupid people a chance to speak." Min-Seo interrupted Dae-Man. Beneath his tracksuit, Dae-Man’s arm muscles twitched. His patience was slowly reaching its limit. Nevertheless, Min-Seo continued without a care.

"It takes at least two weeks to plan the re-election test. What do you think will happen if we do the re-election test twice? Then we’ll have to spend a month planning. Then we’ll essentially be wasting an entire month. We probably won’t even have enough time to study.”

“I don’t do pointless things like studying.”

"I can tell, you stupid muscle pig."

“That’s a compliment in our industry. Thank you," Dae-Man replied with a smile. Min-Seo shook her head and sighed deeply.

"Anyway. Let's pick the right person this time and go smoothly for three years so that we don't waste time. Let’s not pick a retard like Sung-Hyun or an idiot like Dae-Man."

Su-Ryeon asked, "But that's not something we can decide. Is there a way?”

"You know we can also be involved in the re-election test, right? I'm thinking of making good use of that opportunity to manipulate the election."

Election manipulation.

They were going to select a person to be elected in advance, and they were going to help that person obtain the highest score on the test. In other words, it was cheating.

Dae-Man said with a questioning look, "By the way, why bother to manipulate the election? If they have the ability, they’ll naturally be elected."

"Tests often depend on luck. What if a clumsy, incompetent brat is lucky enough to be chosen as the holder of the Holy Name of Charity? Then we’ll end up in a sticky situation like what happened with Sung-Hyun. So let’s manipulate the election so that a person who can last a long time will be selected, and we can reduce the number of variables.”

"That seems alright. Election manipulation sounds good." Dae-Man agreed without much thought.

Min-Seo sifted through some of the documents she was holding and spread out a few pages on the desk. The three documents contained the personal information of three individuals. This included their grades, family circumstances, self-introduction, etc. This was information that couldn’t be obtained through legal routes.

"There are three people that come to mind. Jung In-Ah and Koo Jun-Hyuk.”

Min-Seo tilted her head at an angle as if contemplating.

"And it's a little awkward, but also Do Sun-Woo."

Sun-Woo.

When his name was mentioned, three people responded in unison.

“Huh? That, that person is definitely no good!”

Ha-Yeon, the Holy Name of Chastity, jumped out of her seat. It was the first sentence she had said since the start of the meeting. Ha-Yeon, who belatedly realized that she had not acted in a dignified manner, blushed and sat down.

Thump.

During the commotion Ha-Yeon caused, Jin-Seo suddenly hit her head on the desk. Because she was lowering her head, it was impossible to see her face, but her reddened ears could be seen through the gaps in her flowing hair.

"—Uh."

Now it felt strange just to hear the name 'Sun-Woo.' It was because of what Jun-Hyuk told her at the training center yesterday. She was ashamed of herself for falling for such a childish provocation.

"Yes, let's go with Sun-Woo!" Meanwhile, Dae-Man shouted vigorously. The huge voice rumbled in the student council room.

Min-Seo's face distorted in a strange way. She was sensitive to sound, so Dae-Man's loud voice always bothered her. This was also why she hated Dae-Man.

"Sigh." Min-Seo sighed deeply and calmed down her anger. Then she added, “I said Sun-Woo just for the heck of it. We can’t pick him anyway. There’s a reason why I said it was a bit awkward.”

"What's the reason?" Dae-Man asked disapprovingly.

"First, his family situation is bad. If you're chosen as the Holy Name of Charity, you'll have to donate to Florence. Sun-Woo can't even afford to donate. He barely has enough money to scrape by.”

"Poverty is not a sin!"

“Indeed, it’s not a sin. But that doesn’t mean it’s a virtue either. Why do you think the Holy Name of Charity has the word ‘Charity’ in it?”

Dae-Man blinked silently. He didn't seem to understand Min-Seo's words properly.

Min-Seo shook her head and lamented Dae-Man's ignorance.

"If you don't understand, that's fine. Secondly, the public perception of him is not very good. Did you see the post that appeared last time on Grandce? The one about him being the perpetrator of school bullying and all? There was chaos in the school because of that.”

"Wait a minute." Jin-Seo, who was listening to Min-Seo while lying down on the table, immediately straightened her body. There was a clear red mark on her forehead from touching the table.

"Byung-Hoon posted an explanation. It's been a while since it’s been determined as a rumor."

"Rumor or not, that's none of my business. It's a fact that Sun-Woo's image is not good, right?"

"What’s so important about his public image?”

"It's important. Come to think of it, the student council’s image has also recently been ruined because of Sung-Hyun. If someone like Sun-Woo gets elected right after Sung-Hyun is kicked out, what do you think people will say?”

"Sun-Woo’s public image is really not that bad, though."

"In-Ah and Jun-Hyuk’s public images are better than Sun-Woo’s, so why should we bother to choose Sun-Woo?" Min-Seo said sarcastically. Jin-Seo stared at Min-Seo in silence. It wasn’t that she had nothing to say, but she closed her mouth because she thought she would lose the battle if she had an argument with Min-Seo.

Min-Seo smiled and said, while being conscious of the gazes of the other student council members, "Come to think of it, you had a similar experience as Sun-Woo once, right?”

"...What?"

"I wondered why you only support Sun-Woo. Is it because of that experience? Do you feel the same way and sympathize with him?"

Min-Seo and Jin-Seo were middle school alumni. Min-Seo dared to mention that experience even though she knew how much pain she went through because of that experience in middle school.

The reason why Min-Seo was doing this was because Jin-Seo was being uncooperative.

Jin-Seo's expression clearly darkened. Her lips trembled.

"Oh, did I hurt your feelings? It was a joke. Sorry~"

Min-Seo smiled and offered an insincere apology after seeing Jin-Seo’s change in expression. Jin-Seo couldn't say anything and just lowered her head. She felt like tears would come out if she opened her mouth. Maybe if it was someone else, it might have been fine, but at the very least, Jin-Seo didn't want to cry in front of Min-Seo.

Min-Seo smiled triumphantly. "Anyway, because of the reasons that I previously listed, we’ll exclude Sun-Woo. We'll choose the nominee between In-Ah and Jun-Hyuk. I think Jun-Hyuk would be better. Should we choose Jun-Hyuk?"

‘What's the point of holding a meeting if you're just going to do as you please? You were going to decide on your own anyway.’ Jin-Seo grumbled. Of course, only internally.

"If you're going to do as you please, why did you hold a meeting?” But Dae-Man didn't just think to himself. He had a personality where he had to express what came to his mind in order to relieve his pent-up emotions.

Min-Seo's eyebrows twitched at Dae-Man's criticism.

"Because what I think is usually right. If we collected everyone’s opinions, including stupid guys like you, then the meeting would never end."

"Aha! That's very true. Do you want to get hit?"

"Hit me, you retard. Do you have what it takes to deal with the consequences?"

A chilly atmosphere settled between Min-Seo and Dae-Man, so much so that it was almost eerie. Dae-Man strode up to Min-Seo while cracking his fist. Min-Seo was preparing to draw a blessing array with divine power. It was an atmosphere where a fight could break out at any moment.

"Stop."

At that time, Su-Ryeon jumped up and mediated between them.

"If you're going to fight, go out and fight. Not here."

If Min-Seo and Dae-Man truly fought with each other, the student council room would be ruined. That alone had to be stopped, and Su-Ryeon tried desperately to kick them out of the student council room. However, Min-Seo and Dae-Man were already angry. She wouldn’t be able to stop them herself.

However, there was no fight.

"...No, let's not fight. There's nothing good that will come out of fighting." Min-Seo bowed down first. She sighed deeply and then smiled and looked at Dae-Man. "Alright then, what are you so unsatisfied about?”

"I want Sun-Woo to be chosen as the Holy Name of Charity."

"Why?"

"Sun-Woo trains his stamina at the gym every day. He’s very hard-working and diligent. That’s the reason."

“What a stupid reason... No. I see, so that was your reason. It makes sense now.” Min-Seo sat down with a deep sigh. She almost had a temper tantrum for a moment, but she forced herself to suppress her boiling heart and swallowed her anger. “We still can’t choose Sun-Woo though.”

“Why?”

"I told you earlier. Let's say that we overlook the fact that his public image is not very good after compromising a hundred times over. But what about the donations? I told you that Sun-Woo is not going to be able to donate because he’s poor.”

Min-Seo's tone became more and more incensed. "If you don't make a donation, you can't even be selected as the Holy Name of Charity in the first place. That’s why we can’t choose Sun-Woo, do you understand, mister?”

“Stop calling me mister. And money can simply be earned.”

"Oh, come on, you stupid pig! It's not at a level that you can simply earn! The only reason you can say something as foolish as that is because you don’t know how Florence Academy is structured.” Min-Seo shouted out loud in frustration. Her eyes were bloodshot.

"Sigh. Alright, fine. Then let’s vote with a show of hands on whether we want to go with Sun-Woo or Jun-Hyuk. There. Are you happy now? We’ll follow the laws of democracy to decide all this fair and square. Okay?”

“Sounds good.” Dae-Man agreed. Min-Seo immediately held a show of hands vote.

Dae-Man and Jin-Seo raised their hands on Sun-Woo's side, and Min-Seo and Ha-Yeon raised their hands on Jun-Hyuk's side.

So, the result was a two-to-two tie.

"Han Su-Ryeon. Why didn’t you raise your hand?"

"I’ll pass. I don't really care who it is."

"What? Huh? No... Ha..." Min-Seo was so amazed that she grabbed the back of her own neck. She was barely able to hold back her anger. She let out a deep sigh as Su-Ryeon looked at her with a smile.

"You can leave both Jun-Hyuk and Sun-Woo as nominees.”

"What are you talking about? We only have one seat.”

“There’s a rumor that in this re-election test, students are allowed to bring their own holy artifacts. I found out after I heard about it from somewhere.”

Su-Ryeon suddenly talked about something that didn’t seem to be related to what they were currently discussing. Min-Seo tilted her head at an angle as if she didn't understand.

"So what are you suggesting?"

"We can manipulate the re-election test so that we have a one-on-one face-off between Jun-Hyuk and Sun-Woo."

"...Ah," Min-Seo exclaimed as if she finally understood what Su-Ryeon was saying.

Su-Ryeon continued, “Let’s say their skills are roughly similar. Then the battle will depend on who has the more expensive and better holy artifacts. Simply put, the one who has more money wins.”

"So what you’re saying is that we’ll make it a competition between Jun-Hyuk and Sun-Woo, and leave the rest to their wealth?"

"That’s right. What do you say?"

Su-Ryeon smiled. It was a clear smile that did not reflect a single hint of malice. On the other hand, Min-Seo's mouth had formed an exceedingly evil smile.

Jin-Seo, who was listening to their conversation, hurriedly quipped, "If you do that, Sun-Woo would be in too much of a disadvantageous situation.”

"Why?"

"Why, of course..." According to the documents handed over by Min-Seo, Jun-Hyuk was the only son of a family of prelates.

Sun-Woo, on the other hand, lost his mother during the Holy War, and his father was an ordinary clergyman that was on a business trip abroad.

Just based on common sense, it was obvious that Jun-Hyuk was more wealthy. If the fight came down to how much capital they each had, then Sun-Woo would be at a disadvantage.

"Oh, so since Sun-Woo lacks capital, you’re saying it's disadvantageous to make it a one-on-one battle between him and Jun-Hyuk?"

Jin-Seo hesitated to answer, so Min-Seo answered instead of her. Jin-Seo could only sit there and nod.

"It can't be helped. If you lose in a battle of wealth, it means that you’re already not qualified for the title of the Holy Name of Charity.”

“What is that? Then we’re not picking based on ability, we’re just picking based on their parents’ jobs.”

“Having good parents is also a talent. For the Holy Name of Charity, the parents’ occupations are also important. It's because of a complicated mechanism at Florence Academy. Since your father is the chairman, you also roughly understand, don't you?"

The Holy Name of Charity contributed money to Florence Academy, and Florence Academy helped out the student council in return. The status of the student council depended on how much money the Holy Name of Charity contributed.

For this reason, the Holy Name of Charity was elected based on capital rather than ability.

"Let’s be honest here. If we only looked at Sung-Hyun’s skills, then he would just be a candidate with jack shit. He was picked purely out of his ability to donate large amounts of money because his father is the president of dBP. Isn’t that right?”

"But still, this is so unfair–"

"Unfair? Hey. You’re also benefiting from that sort of unfairness, so what gives you the right to complain?”

Min-Seo backed Jin-Seo into a corner. Jin-Seo couldn't say anything, so she just silently opened and closed her mouth and eventually lowered her head. Jin-Seo's adoptive father was a Florence Academy’s chairman. It was all thanks to his donations that she had lived such a good life. She was not in a position to argue about fairness or unfairness. It was because she was one of the biggest beneficiaries of this unfair world.

"Other than her, we have no objections, right? Then it’s decided. The meeting is over. Let's go."

The meeting ended with Min-Seo's words. Jin-Seo's heart felt heavy throughout the journey back to her classroom.

* * *

After school, Uncle Jin-Sung contacted me. The news was that the Holy Artifact, which I had promised to receive from Bae Jung-Hwan the other day, had just arrived. When I went to the underground chapel with high expectations, the holy artifacts welcomed me with their beautiful appearance.

"Wow. This is amazing."

"Isn’t that right? They’ll definitely provide their money’s worth.”

[How mysterious. Back in my day, I couldn’t even imagine things like this.]

Thus, we began testing out the performance of the artifacts. Even though we called it a performance test, it was more accurate to say that we were playing around with the artifacts.

"Hey, you don't have to carry a bag. You can just put it in here."

"That's right!"

The underground chapel was full of laughter today.

1. Lu Bu is a character from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms who had three fathers. ?