The Cult Leader in the Clergy Academy

Chapter 62

“Are you doing this on purpose to make me feel like shit?”

Min-Seo’s voice was like a sharp knife. My body unconsciously shrank back at her threatening tone.

“It’s because I’m out of strength.”

However, I didn’t have time to relax. The moment I lost my psychological advantage, the chance of victory I had painstakingly created would disappear.

“You’re out of strength? Look at who you’re speaking to before you spout out retarded nonsense. Do you really want to die?”

“You’re really sensitive. It’s not like I’m going to die just because I lost this farce of a match.”

‘Farce of a match’ and ‘sensitive.’

For each word that I spat out, Min-Seo’s eyebrows increasingly twisted into a distorted fashion. It looked like I didn’t just touch a nerve. Based on her reaction, it looked as if the words themselves were gravely offensive to her. It didn’t deviate from my expectations. I seemed to have accurately predicted her mental state.

“...Ah, yeah. It’s not like you’re going to die if you lose. Sure, I understand why you’re tired.”

Min-Seo continued to mutter to herself while looking at me with completely empty eyes. In the next instant, she unleashed divine power and swiftly drew a blessing array.

She then threw her array at Sung Yu-Da’s blessing array.

Sung Yu-Da's blessing array became entangled and intertwined with Min-Seo's blessing array, causing it to distort and warp.

Boom–!

There was the ensuing sound of an explosion.

Sung Yu-Da’s blessing array ended up exploding.

The students absorbed in analyzing Sung Yu-Da’s blessing array flopped down onto the ground after getting startled. A few of the students screamed and urgently ran away. They were fairly light, but some students even suffered injuries.

“Now do you feel a little more motivated?”

Min-Seo approached me and the light of blessing continued to flow through her body. On the other hand, I had absolutely nothing. I had no light of blessing nor the power of Bossou flowing through my body.

But that didn’t mean I could just sit still.

I flung my mace at Min-Seo. I didn’t aim for her head. It was because if I carelessly smashed her head with the mace, it was possible that she might die.

Crumble.

However, when Min-Seo effortlessly grabbed my mace and smashed it into pieces, I realized that I wasn’t in a situation to go easy on her.

“Are you going easy on me right now? I’m astounded, you son of bitch.”

It was not that I had gone easy on her—it was that my strength had become astoundingly weaker after Bossou’s power had run out. However, Min-Seo seemed to believe that I had gone easier on her. Blood-red veins could be seen from the sclera of her eyes. It looked like she was extremely angry.

Soon, her fist flashed toward my face.

Clang!

I dodged the attack by ducking my head. Her fist narrowly went over my head and hit the cage. The cage had a fist-shaped mark on it. It was a terrifying amount of strength. No, perhaps it would be accurate to say that the power of the blessings was terrifying.

I had no time to admire Min-Seo’s handiwork before another flurry of attacks flooded in. This time, it wasn’t her fist but a knee kick. I’d definitely get a fracture if I received a knee kick while my head was down. If I unluckily got hit in the eyes, then I could potentially go blind or die.

Currently, Min-Seo was fighting me with the intention of killing me.

──!

I couldn’t dodge. I couldn’t even hear the sound of the impact. My ears rang the moment I got hit, and my vision went dark.

The body part that got hit was my nose, which was somewhat of a relief. If I had gotten hit in the eye, my eyeball would have exploded right then and there. However, I was in so much pain that it was difficult to say that it was a relief. I either had a broken nose, a dislocated nose, or a completely crumpled nose. It seemed to be one of those three cases. It hurt so much that I couldn’t even scream.

I had to avoid getting hit by another one of these kinds of attacks again.

While holding my nose, which was pouring out blood, I read Min-Seo’s next move with my eyes. However, Min-Seo’s attacks were too fast to track. She raised her elbow and swung it toward the back of my head. If I got hit by that, I would die for sure.

Crack! An ominous sound resounded through the sacred training ground.

However, the one who collapsed wasn’t me but Min-Seo.

Behind the fallen and unconscious Min-Seo, Do-Jin stood with one leg raised. His eyes were dropping from fatigue, but the glint in his eyes, which were observing Min-Seo, was crystal clear.

“It’s good that you use whatever means necessary to win, but don’t cross the line,” Do-Jin said as he returned his sword to his sheath. However, his warning was inaudible to Min-Seo as she had already fainted.

It was so fast that I couldn’t see clearly, but it appeared as if he had hit Min-Seo’s head with the sword’s pommel. I wondered whether it was okay for a teacher to hit a student like that, but I wasn’t the one who got hit, so I guess it wasn’t a problem.

"Min-Seo is disqualified, and Sun-Woo wins. You can come down now. Do you need treatment?" Do-Jin asked dryly. He didn't sound worried.

"It's alright– argh, ah."

Splash.

The blood pouring out of my nose soaked the floor. It wasn’t wet blood, but the blood came out in chunks. After seeing the blood, the pain seemed to intensify for no particular reason.

“What do you mean you’re alright? You might ruin your nose at this rate.”

"Sniff, ah."

“I’ll apply emergency first aid for now. Go to the hospital right away.”

Do-Jin unleashed divine power and drew a blessing array. Ah, it wasn’t a blessing array but a healing array. In any case, the light from the healing array flowed out and enveloped my nose. Nevertheless, the pain did not recede. It hurt as if my nose had been entirely ripped off.

“You treated it right? It still hurts though.”

“...Healing is not my specialty. Stop the jibber jabber and go. And stop the bleeding with this for now,” Do-Jin said as if he was embarrassed while handing me a towel.

I accepted the towel and stemmed the bleeding while looking around my surroundings. In-Ah and Jun-Hyuk looked at me anxiously, and Do-Jin was calming down the panicking students. Min-Seo stood up while clutching the back of her head while saliva dripped down from her mouth.

Sung Yu-Da's blessing array, which had exploded due to the collision phenomenon, was operating again as if it had never malfunctioned in the first place. Even Min-Seo, who acted like a noble staring down a bunch of peasants, could not completely destroy Sung Yu-Da’s blessing array. All she could do was temporarily disable it.

While covering my bloody nose with a towel, I strode out of the sacred training ground.

I had definitely won, but I felt like I had somewhat lost.

* * *

Instead of going to the hospital, I went straight to the underground chapel. I couldn’t really breathe that well along the way. Once in a while, it felt like a glob of blood was sliding down my throat. It was unpleasant.

[Who else can you blame? You brought it on yourself.]

"Oh, please."

[Why did you do such a reckless thing?]

"It’s not reckless. Ah. It hurts, so stop.”

What I was trying to say was that it hurt a lot, so please stop talking to me. Legba had said it was reckless, but it wasn’t entirely reckless. I had read Min-Seo’s inner thoughts by looking into her eyes. Min-Seo was obsessed with ‘proving’ herself. She was hell-bent on proving her thoughts, theories, and skills in front of other people.

However, if I had abstained, then she wouldn’t be able to prove her skills in the spar. I was confident that Min-Seo wouldn’t accept a half-arsed victory because she was so obsessed with proving herself. That said, I didn’t expect her to go so far as to break Sung Yu-Da’s blessing array. Regardless, things had worked out in my favor due to that.

Min-Seo was disqualified for rogue-like behavior, and as a result, I won the spar.

All things considered, I won.

[The whole thing was a giant gamble. From the beginning to the end.] Legba seemed to be very upset.

I did not respond. It was all because my nose hurt way too much whenever I spoke. Thus, instead of answering, I nodded.

[Also, you didn’t have to take that damage, all for the sake of winning a single match.]

“...”

What Legba said was correct, so I nodded my head. But Legba was only correct to a certain extent. Indeed, it was only a single match, but it was a meaningful fight for me. Regardless of everything else, it was because I had won an ‘unwinnable fight.’ Moreover, in order to win an unwinnable fight, it was necessary to be prepared to make sacrifices. This time, that sacrifice just happened to be my nose. It hurt tremendously, but this was a level that could be cured with a lesser restoration spell.

"Argh."

Upon experiencing another abrupt wave of pain, I pressed my nose with the towel in order to stem the blood as I walked. The towel, which had been white, was now stained red with blood.

The passersby glanced at me. The gazes felt uncomfortable, so I lowered my head, even though it wasn’t a big deal. Before I knew it, I arrived at the underground chapel. Uncle seemed to be out, and Ji-Ah was making coffee with sleepy eyes as if she had just woken up.

"You came early today, huh? What’s up with your nose?" Ji-Ah said.

"I got hurt during a spar at school,” I replied.

"You seem to get hurt every day," Ji-Ah said.

"I know, right? I feel like I’m getting hurt a lot these days,” I said while laughing casually. I then headed toward the bathroom.

I carelessly threw away the blood-stained towel into the trash and looked into the mirror. My nose was completely shattered.

I healed it with a lesser restoration spell.

"It hurts like hell."

The wound healed cleanly since it was a restoration spell instead of a healing spell, but the pain still remained. I wiped the blood off with water and looked in the mirror.

"I think I look uglier."

For some reason, it felt like my nose was a little crooked.

[You’ve always looked like that.]

"Really? That's shocking."

While feeling needlessly dismayed by the appearance of my face, I left the bathroom. Ji-Ah was sipping coffee and looking at me anxiously.

"Does it not hurt?"

"It hurts a little, but it's not terrible."

It was a tolerable level of pain. It was partly because I had a constitution that was quite insensitive to pain. I left Ji-Ah behind and searched the cupboard for something. I think I left those things somewhere here, but I couldn't find them when I tried to find them.

"Where did you put the keepsake and the ring?"

"Maybe in the warehouse... No, it should be in the drawer of Mr. Cult Leader's room," Ji-Ah said after shifting her eyes around here and there as if she was lost in contemplation.

I was walking toward my room when I abruptly stopped and looked at Ji-Ah.

“Ji-Ah... Um," I said. I still struggled to find the correct way to address her. Ji-Ah put her cup of coffee on the table and looked at me with her hands slightly gathered together.

"As I told you last time, you can address me comfortably. You can also say, ‘excuse me’ if you want to.”

"That's too stiff. Should I just call you nuna?”

"If it's convenient for you, Mr. Cult Leader, you can call me that."

"Yes, then that’s how I’ll address you. Anyway, please don't come into my room for an hour from now on."

"May I ask for what reason... Ah."

Ji-Ah stopped her sentence midway as she realized she had belatedly realized something. Her eyes were trembling with agitation. It also looked like her face was slightly blushing. Ji-Ah's facial expression was clear when she was unsettled or scared.

"Uh, don't mind me and relax. Yes, I'll absolutely not go inside," she finally said.

"What? I wasn’t going to mind you anyway... In case, it’s good that you understand. But seriously, you really shouldn't come in."

I begged Ji-Ah not to come into my room. Ji-Ah's expression was somewhat strange, but that wasn't important at the moment. When I searched the drawer, I found the box and the ring that were my father's keepsakes. I placed them on the floor, and then I used a spell.

Lesser replication spell, Candle of Consciousness.

Fog emerged from the candle fire that had been created through the replication spell. It was purple fog, which symbolized voodooism. I placed the candle on the floor and put out the fire. Within the deep darkness, only the purple lights of the candle and the fog could be seen.

"Phew."

I lightly collected my breath. This was not the first time, but it wasn’t something that I did too frequently, so I was a little nervous. I knelt down in front of the candle and poked my finger with a needle to let out some blood.

"Argh."

It hurt. I spilled the blood onto the candle. The candle's light touched the blood and gradually became a thicker and deeper purple. While looking at the flickering light, I recited, "Death and Life and Resurrection’s Gede, the ruler of all Loa, Baron Samedi, the leader of the Voodoo Cult wishes to meet you."

The Ritual of Desires.

Besides the time when I first accepted the Loa, it was a ritual I had never done. Normally, I wouldn’t have to do it except when first accepting the Loa. After accepting the Loa through the first Ritual of Desires, the Loa would reside in the body. After that, I would be able to call out the Loa without having to go through the ritual.

The situation with Baron Samedi was different. This was because Baron Samedi was a so-called Wandering Loa who traveled around the world and did not belong to me. In order to meet Baron Samedi, I either had to wait for him to reside in my body, or I had to 'force' him to be in my body through a Ritual of Desires.

[I wonder if he'll answer the call.] Legba murmured in a subtle voice.

Baron Samedi had a fussy personality that was beyond comparison with any other Loa. Although I said that I would forcefully summon him through the Ritual of Desires, it was unclear whether he would respond to the call. In the first place, Baron Samedi was not the type of Loa that could be ‘forced’ to do something. Purple-colored fog and light shone through the darkness. Within the stifling silence, I continued to wait for him with my eyes closed.

“...”

Tap, tap, tap.

In time, the welcoming sound of boots resounding through the darkness could be heard.

However, I did not open my eyes. I simply focused on the sound of boots tapping on the ground. His presence, which felt distant, was soon right in front of me. Even without opening my eyes, I could clearly feel Baron Samedi's gaze staring at me. I suddenly felt goosebumps on my back.

After a span of time that felt like an instant, yet also felt like an eternity, I said, "I have a long request to make."