Chapter 101.2

"Hmm..."

While I was pondering the best way to explain the principles behind merging spells, suddenly, a good idea came to mind. Now that I thought about it, I didn’t even need to explain it to her.

"When is the next executive meeting?"

"Isn't it in July?"

"Will you also come then?"

"Maybe? No, not maybe. I will definitely come," Soo-Yeong said as she slowly nodded.

"Well then... learn about the principles behind the spell activation when combining three or more arrays. That's your homework until we meet here again in July."

"Huh? Homework? What the? What do you mean by homework? Just tell me. Please tell me," Soo-Yeong exclaimed with widened eyes as if she were perplexed.

I shook my head.

"Voodoo sorcery is all about the mindset. You have to figure it out yourself in order to improve your skills quickly."

[You sound like Wonhyo,] Legba interjected with a chuckle. I tilted my head in confusion.

Who the heck was Wonhyo?

[Ah, I see. Come to think of it, you probably wouldn’t know. The burning of books and burying of Confucian scholars [1]... No, I'll explain later. Keep going.]

Legba continued to speak words that I didn’t understand. Wonhyo and the burning of books and the burying of scholars were terms that I had never learned or heard before. Since he said he would explain it later, I decided to move on for now.

Meanwhile, Soo-Yeong was tilting her head, lost in thought. Finally, she raised her head and said, "Until July?"

"Yes, until July."

"...Alright, then when I come back in July—"

"Ah, hold on."

I interrupted Soo-Yeong's words. My phone was vibrating in my pocket. I was receiving a phone call. After switching my phone to a new one, my contacts were also cleared. As a result, I had no idea who was calling me. I wondered if Uncle or Ji-Ah were calling to ask me to hurry up and return.

"Hello?" I answered the phone.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the receiver. It didn't seem like it was Uncle. If it were him, he would have hung up straight after stating his business. It was highly likely that it was Ji-Ah.

"Is it you, nuna?"

- ...Nuna?

The voice that came through the receiver was clear and a little cold. It sounded like water that was flowing from a winter valley. It definitely wasn't Ji-Ah. This voice was most likely Jin-Seo's.

"Oh, it's you. My phone got reset, so I didn't know who it was. Why did you call?" I quickly explained.

There was a frightening silence from the other end of the receiver.

- Just because... I had nothing to do today.

"I’m at my relative's house, and I think I’ll return in the evening."

- Ah.

A sense of disappointment could be felt in the sigh she let out. Me visiting my relative’s house was just a lie that I had cooked up on the spot. No, it wasn't exactly a lie since I did have a relative with me here. Anyway, I managed to successfully evade the question. It wouldn't be appropriate to truthfully say that I was attending the Voodoo Cult’s executive meeting.

- Yeah, but... weren’t you an only child?

"Huh? Yeah, I’m an only child."

- Really? But why did you say

nuna

as soon as you answered the phone?

There was a hint of laughter in her voice, but it definitely wasn’t a friendly laugh. It was then that I realized that I had said something that I shouldn’t have said. I had to quickly come up with an excuse.

"Well, I thought you were my cousin, so I said that."

- The way you said it was too affectionate to just be just that.

"Affectionate? What are you talking about?"

- Hm.

Jin-Seo made a sound as if she was contemplating something.

I went to my relative’s house on the weekend, and because I received a call from a number I didn’t know, I thought it was my cousin. My explanation seemed to make perfect sense.

Since I was currently at the Voodoo Cult executive meeting, it was necessary to block any suspicions in advance, no matter how trivial.

- I understand. Well, if you have time next time...

"What? Is it a woman? Why are you so flustered?"

Soo-Yeong interrupted Jin-Seo's words. My heart sank instantly. It was because if Soo-Yeong said something unnecessary, there would be a risk of exposing my identity.

Silence flowed through the receiver, and Soo-Yeong looked up at me with an innocent face as if she knew nothing.

- Who’s that?

Jin-Seo asked in a short and concise manner. Would it be fine to say she was my cousin’s younger sibling? No, it was too obvious of a lie. Only beginners would make the mistake of lying in the same pattern over and over again.

"...It’s my cousin’s younger sibling."

However, I couldn't think of any convincing words to say. In the end, I explained with a vague lie that it was my cousin's younger sibling. Soo-Yeong looked at me in disbelief.

"How am I your cousin? That's nonsense, ugh...!"

I quickly covered her mouth. Soo-Yeong struggled, but I didn't give in. This was a matter of life or death for me.

- It doesn't seem like she’s your cousin's younger sibling, though?

But it was already too late. Jin-Seo interrogated me with a tone full of suspicion, as if digging for answers. Cold sweat ran down my forehead.

The fact that I had lied had been exposed, giving Jin-Seo a reason to doubt me. It might just be a minor suspicion at the moment, but there was a possibility for that small suspicion to snowball into a major problem in the future.

"It’s someone similar to my cousin’s younger sibling...?"

- Well, then it’s just a sibling that you know.

"That's right."

- A sibling that you know.

Jin-Seo repeated. Her tone was incomparably colder and more distant than usual. I always got caught whenever I lied in front of her. It was because Jin-Seo's ability to read the atmosphere was far superior to others, but it was also because it was difficult for me to maintain my composure in front of her.

- Alright. Let's meet on Monday.

The call ended there. The phrase "Let's meet on Monday" felt more like a warning rather than a formal goodbye message.

"Ah..."

I had a little bit of a headache.

***

Watching Sun-Woo tightly closing his eyes while touching his temples, Soo-Yeong suddenly felt doubt.

“Who was that?”

Who in the world called that made Sun-Woo so nervous?

The Sun-Woo who accepted the call was unlike the charismatic and strong-willed person she encountered yesterday. Like many of the ordinary riff-raff boys that littered the school, Sun-Woo would occasionally stumble and hesitate. Soo-Yeong found this kind of Sun-Woo unfamiliar.

"Didn't I say that I was going to Florence Academy?"

"Huh? Yeah, I know."

To be more accurate, Soo-Yeong overheard Sun-Woo telling her father, but she decided not to mention that.

Sun-Woo sighed and said, "I happened to meet her at Florence Academy."

"Meet? Is she your girlfriend then?" Soo-Yeong asked with an innocent face.

Sun-Woo shook his head.

"Just a friend."

"Just a friend? Then why are you so flustered? Did someone find your weakness?"

"Your sentences are getting shorter?"

"Oh, it was a slip of the tongue. Anyway, did someone find your weakness,

sir

?"

Sun-Woo shook his head. If his weakness was exposed, then what on earth was it? Was he being bullied at school? Considering Sun-Woo's personality, it was definitely a possibility. That aside, to make Sun-Woo, who was usually tough, tremble like that... The wickedness of the clergymen in the Romanican Church far exceeded her imagination. She suddenly felt that it was impressive that Sun-Woo could infiltrate and blend into Florence Academy, which was filled to the brim with devil-like clergymen.

"Isn't it tough in Florence Academy? There are only bad people there, right?"

"It's not that tough. And there are more kind people there than you think."

"Kind people?"

Soo-Yeong tilted her head. In her memory, all the Romanican Church believers were devils.

They were shameless people who would use God and their doctrine as a means to justify their massacres. That was her perception toward the believers of Romanicanism. Therefore, she couldn't understand how Sun-Woo could say that there were more kind people than she might think.

"Yeah. There are quite a few kind kids. Of course, there are also bad kids as well."

"Aren’t they all trash?"

"There are good people and bad people. That's how it is. It's the same for any religion. Whether it’s the Voodoo Cult or the Romanican Church."

It was difficult to accept immediately, but Soo-Yeong reluctantly nodded her head. She had a lot of questions since last night, so she immediately asked another question. “But is sir Cult Leader good at using divine power as well? Don’t you have to use divine power in all the tests over there?”

“I’m much worse at using divine power compared to Voodoo sorcery.”

“Then how do you get good grades?”

“I just need to secretly use the power of the Loa.”

“Oh,” Soo-Yeong let out a short exclamation.

One had to emit Voodoo magic power in order to cast Voodoo spells. However, since the power of the Loa didn’t require any Voodoo magic power, it was possible to secretly use it.

Because she had never experienced what it would be like to use the power of the Loa. It seemed like a very innovative idea to her.

"Then you'd be in first place for everything, right? The power of the Loa is totally hacking."

"No, it's not always like that... There are times when I place first and times when I don’t."

"Still, I'm jealous," Soo-Yeong said with her head bowed.

There was a shadow on her face.

"I want to try it too..."

She was reminiscing about the distant past—the day when countless Voodoo cult members were killed and when black smog covered the skies such that not a single star could be seen.

Soo-Yeong’s mother was thrown into a pit and burned to death during The Starless Night by the hands of the Levi Order. Her brother assassinated the leader of the Levi Order in order to avenge his mother and was subsequently imprisoned in an underground prison.

Previously, she secretly thought that if she were the Prophet instead of Sun-Woo, and if she was the one that was able to use the power of the Loa instead of Sun-Woo, then she could have saved both her mom and her brother...

"Sorry."

Soo-Yeong, lost in her thoughts, suddenly raised her head after hearing Sun-Woo’s apology. Soo-Yeong was both surprised and puzzled that he was apologizing out of the blue even though he hadn't done anything wrong.

Before she could respond, Sun-Woo suddenly began drawing a spell array.

"Huh? Hey, what are you—!"

Puff...

The spell array was completed before she could stop him. Soo-Yeong analyzed the spell array that Sun-Woo drew before losing consciousness due to breathing in the mist that had dissipated from the spell. It was a fusion Voodoo spell created by combining two spells.

One of the spells seemed to be a spell related to auditory hallucinations or illusions, but she couldn't determine what the other spell was.

"Huh?"

However, contrary to her expectations, she didn't lose consciousness. Instead, she had a headache. It was an intense migraine that made her temple throb. The faint pain gradually became more distinct. A small voice seemed to whisper inside her head. As the size of the headache increased, the voice ringing in her head also grew louder.

[Can you hear me...?]

"W-what did you do? Why do I keep hearing strange voices...!"

[Banu bo gap ri rumda, gudal sae myeon i ro in a unga? Rim seon hada jiha! Unja geu bam yeo. Reor ina rida. Neungak yeol leok eopguk ba, ji. Dol mona godeun neun dollo juka a eum gyo ui i cha ji ni ro bae kka. Guja na. Da.]

[Bo o jo su di yong neun o hi je ga jom mul gyeop hae i chi yo. Geup jan seon ha a! Ji da! Ju ja eol in ga reun gong a je eun pun mul beon geot eul gae gat ba in eu chi na ni do da! Kka. Rok!]

“This, the voices. The voices are... Urgh, urgghhhh...!”

Countless voices were ringing inside her head. The voices all had different manners of speech. The tone of the voices and the volume of the voices were all different.

The countless voices gathered into one spot and mixed into a cacophony. It was a sound that humans could not resist.

Before two seconds even passed, she felt nauseous, and she felt like she was suffocating. She had a splitting headache that was so unbearable that she couldn’t help but grab her hair in agony. Soon, the sounds dissipated. The sounds could only be heard for a brief moment, but to Soo-Yeong, that brief moment felt like an eternity.

When she regained her bearings, she realized her entire body was soaked with sweat. Soo-Yeong pushed back her hair which had clumped together due to the sweat, and glared at Sun-Woo.

“You, why did you suddenly...!”

“When you become the Prophet, you’ll hear those sounds,” Sun-Woo said as he stared blankly at Soo-Yeong.

His eyes, which were usually filled with enthusiasm and conviction, were currently filled with futility. Soo-Yeong swallowed hard and then looked at him.

"For about a year... except when I sleep, I hear those sounds as soon as I open my eyes. I even hear them before I go to bed."

"..."

"They say it's okay to prepare in advance, but I couldn’t do that. Becoming a Cult Leader and a Prophet happened so suddenly for me."

Just hearing those words for a mere three or four seconds made her breathless and nauseous. However, if she were to hear those sounds every day for an entire year... It was clear that she would have lost her mind.

Soo-Yeong couldn't sleep because of the noise between floors, so she knew better than anyone how much noise could drive a person mad. Even the noise between floors was nothing compared to the noise that the Loa generated.

"At that time, I wasn't in my right mind either, so I couldn't do anything during the Starless Night. That's why I apologized..." Sun-Woo said. His words trailed off as he lowered his head.

He had a resigned smile on his face as he continued, "Now that I think about it, it's just an excuse. I was just incompetent, that's all."

"No, um... It’s alright."

She didn't know what words to use to comfort him, so she just kept her mouth shut.

The reason why she disliked Sun-Woo was because she had initially thought that he was incompetent as a Cult Leader.

She felt that he was pathetic, and she felt resentful about how he had not responded to or sought revenge for the persecution of Voodoo Cult members and the massacres committed by the extremist group Levi Order within the Romanican Church after the Holy War.

At some point, she started to feel that her mother's death and her brother's imprisonment were all Sun-Woo's fault, and as a result, her resentment toward him grew even stronger. Eventually, she pushed Sun-Woo away and even made up her mind to become the Cult Leader herself.

"I think it’s time we go back now. I said that I was just going out for a moment, but I’ve been out for too long."

"Huh? Yeah..."

Soo-Yeong followed Sun-Woo with a blank expression as she captured his back with her eyes. As she did, she imagined a life where she had suddenly lost her parents, became a Cult Leader, a Prophet, and had to endure noises that could drive her insane in just a few seconds, all the while struggling to gain recognition from the executives as the Cult Leader.

She couldn’t really imagine it very well. It was because, up until now, she had thought that Sun-Woo had simply become a Cult Leader because his luck was really good.

"Ah, slow down a bit, please!" Soo-Yeong shouted as she watched Sun-Woo briskly walking alone, completely disregarding her much shorter strides. Sun-Woo silently looked at her and waited for her to catch up.

Until yesterday, she had resented Sun-Woo and, at the same time, envied him. She envied his ability to effortlessly manipulate the power of Loa. And she resented how he did nothing, even with all that power.

Now, her thoughts had changed a bit.

"But why are you telling me all this? Don't you have someone to talk to?"

"Yeah, I don't."

"...If you just respond like that, what am I supposed to say?"

Soo-Yeong looked at Sun-Woo. When she examined his face from the front, it looked composed. No, it actually looked like there was a faint smile on his face.

That appearance felt somewhat pitiful to her.

1.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_books_and_burying_of_scholars

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