Chapter 241

With the staff in hand, I entered the room that Yoon-Ah was in. She was sleeping in a curled-up position, and her back rose and fell rhythmically.

In the past, Yoon-Ah didn’t sleep. Instead, she would stare into space for days with a blank expression. That was how zombies like Yoon-Ah rested. However, right now, she was peacefully resting, just like everyone else. It meant that her condition was slightly improving.

I unleashed Voodoo magic, and the staff greedily absorbed the Voodoo magic without asking for my permission. The staff’s tip began to glow purple.

I drew a spell array. It was the reverse enthrallment spell for the curse of intoxication. Mist poured out from the spell array and enveloped Yoon-Ah. Her body trembled slightly.

It looked like she was about to wake up, but she tossed and turned a bit before continuing to sleep. I looked between Yoon-Ah, who was sleeping, and the staff.

"...It’s behaving well."

The staff was behaving differently. In the past, it would whimsically use strange spells at the drop of a hat. The drawbacks had been so strong that I had to be prepared to spew copious amounts of blood whenever I used the reverse spell technique.

Now, not only was I able to cast the exact spells that I wanted to cast, but there were also almost no drawbacks. I only felt a small amount of dizziness. I think I knew the reason why this was the case. Back when I was burning the corpses of the mercenaries from Yuk Eun-Hyung's mercenary corps, the staff had absorbed the ashes of the corpses on its own.

Ever since then, the staff stopped being whimsical. Perhaps I was just imagining it, but it also felt like the concentration of Voodoo magic power had increased.

Creak...

When I turned my head to the sound of the door opening, I saw Soo-Yeong peering into the room through the slightly ajar door. Soo-Yeong gazed intently at Yoon-Ah, who was sleeping with her brows furrowed.

"What are you doing?"

“...That thing... I think that thing is acting,” Soo-Yeong said abruptly.

I couldn’t understand what she wanted to say. I tilted my head.

"Acting? Acting like what?"

"She’s acting like she’s not fine when she’s actually fine.”

“What kind of nonsense is that...? Then why am I here doing all this?”

“Doesn’t she only know how to say

be quiet

?” Soo-Yeong asked.

Yoon-Ah's language skills hadn't fully returned yet, so she kept repeating, ‘be quiet.’ I had never heard her say anything else.

Seeing me nod, Soo-Yeong glared at Yoon-Ah and said, “But when you’re not here... Oh!”

Soo-Yeong stopped talking, and her eyes widened. She was looking at Yoon-Ah. When I turned around, I realized that Yoon-Ah had woken up.

She looked at Soo-Yeong with half-opened eyes. Soo-Yeong pointed at Yoon-Ah and said, "Look at that! As soon as I started talking about her, she woke up. Isn’t she completely fine?”

"..."

I stared at Yoon-Ah. She silently got out of bed and was now crouching down on the spot. She had her knees gathered together and was resting her chin on top while silently looking at me.

I peered into her brown eyes and detected a small but clear brightness within them. Her eyes resembled In-Ah’s so much that I was once again surprised.

Yoon-Ah just continued to stare at me in that state without saying a word. I couldn't help but chuckle. Soo-Yeong's cautiousness toward the seemingly harmless Yoon-Ah was amusing.

"She probably woke up because we were being noisy."

"Ah, I'm telling you, that's not it! Do you know what she said when you weren't here? She said─"

"Be quiet!" Yoon-Ah said.

Her voice was quite loud. Soo-Yeong jumped back in surprise.

I laughed at the sight. “She’s telling you to be quiet.”

"...Ah, damn it. Just wait and see. The truth will be revealed someday!" Soo-Yeong shouted before closing the door.

Slam!

Her words were not directed at me but at Yoon-Ah. Yoon-Ah slowly blinked her eyes while looking at me and then yawned. I raised my staff, unleashed Voodoo magic, and drew a spell array.

Once again, the staff did not show any capriciousness. Not only was it not capricious, but the power of the reverse spell technique was growing stronger over time.

It must have been because I had offered the deceased mercenary corps members' bodies as sacrifices to the staff. It had become stronger and more obedient after consuming the bodies.

It bothered me a little that their deaths and sacrifices were being used for me, the Cult Leader.

"..."

No, now was not the time to think about such things. I just had to focus on healing Yoon-Ah at the moment.

Yoon-Ah's condition was improving day by day, and the staff was now obediently listening to my commands. It was only a matter of time until Yoon-Ah would recover. The day when In-Ah and Yoon-Ah would meet was not far away.

*

"It withered...."

I had to go to school because it was the exam period. Before going to school, I stopped by the dormitory early in the morning and found that the flower that had been growing had withered.

I touched the leaves with my hand. It didn't seem completely dead yet, but it seemed like it would die soon. Seeing the plant that hadn't even bloomed yet all withered made my heart ache.

Come to think of it, I had forgotten to water the flower because I had been too concerned about Yoon-Ah. I quickly brought water and sprinkled it in the pot.

I didn’t know if this would revive the flower. I heard a sniffle in my head. It was Granbwa.

[Poor thing.... It met the wrong owner....]

Feeling a bit hurt, I replied, “...There's no need to say it like that. I had my reasons."

It was true that I neglected to take care of the flower because I had many other things to worry about. From the flower's perspective, it had met the wrong owner. It wasn’t wrong, but...

I didn’t know. Anyway, I felt bad. I wondered if I felt this way because Granbwa had scolded me or because the flower had withered.

I roughly cleaned my dormitory and went to school. On the way, I noticed students making their way there too. Some were still wearing their summer uniforms, but most were dressed in their spring uniforms. I hadn’t realized it had gotten cold, so I came to school wearing casual clothes. It didn’t really matter though because I wasn’t really cold.

At that moment, I smelled cigarette smoke.

[Long time no see.]

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"..."

Baron Samedi was walking beside me. He casually exhaled smoke on the pathway.

The smoke reached the students behind me. However, the students just kept walking as if nothing happened. To them, neither Baron Samedi nor the smoke he exhaled were visible.

[Listen to me without responding. I guess you were probably thinking of doing so anyway.]

I didn’t look at Baron Samedi. Instead, I just looked ahead as I walked. My lips were firmly shut. Just like Baron Samedi had said, I intended to listen to what he was saying without responding.

Baron Samedi exhaled a mouthful of smoke and said, [Regardless of your will, you will be entangled in an unnecessary event. Make sure to resolve it well. This is an event that was predetermined by causation. This time, it's not a prophecy or a warning.]

"..."

[To be frank, this is me being worried for you. Well... as long as you handle it well, there won't be any big problems. You might get caught up in rumors, though.]

I unconsciously ended up turning my head toward Baron Samedi. I never expected the word ‘worried’ to come out of Baron Samedi’s mouth. However, Baron Samedi had already turned into purple smoke, flying away in the wind. It looked like he was embarrassed.

I entered the classroom. While I was in the hallway, I heard the students talking, so I thought it would be noisy, but when I actually went in, it was dead silent. Perhaps the classroom had gone silent because of my entrance. The reason I suspected this was because all the students were looking at me.

"...So, anyway—"

But the silence was only temporary. The students only glanced at me briefly before they once again continued their conversations. The classroom quickly became noisy.

I was grateful that the students didn’t pay too much attention to me. I sat down and admired the view of the classroom. It all felt unfamiliar to me. The classroom was noisy enough to make ears feel stuffy, and the students were laughing and chatting for whatever reason. The windows were tightly closed, and there were a few empty seats.

Everything felt strange and awkward because it had been so long. While looking around, I spotted In-Ah. She was sleeping with her head on her desk. I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to tell her that I had come to school as promised. But she was sleeping so soundly that I didn’t want to disturb her. It wasn’t such an important message that I needed to go so far as to wake her up in order to tell her.

At that moment, someone's words caught my ear.

"Right, they say that the Voodoo Cult did that, right?"

I clearly heard them mention the Voodoo Cult. However, I couldn’t pinpoint exactly who had said it.

I didn’t know exactly why, but my heart started beating really fast when I heard those words. I focused on regulating my breathing, and my heartbeat soon calmed down. I then began to search for the group talking about the Voodoo Cult.

"Do you know that kid from the Class of Humility who hangs out with Yu-Hyun?"

"Oh, yeah. I know him. Wasn’t his father a crusader? It’s that guy, right?”

"Yup. His father went to suppress the mercenary corps, and then...”

“Ah, is that why he didn’t come today?”

"Apparently, the Crusader Order they belonged to disbanded. Well, they say that even the remaining people all resigned afterward...”

It was easy to find the group. However, it wasn’t just a single group of people discussing the Voodoo Cult. It wasn’t every group, but a large number of groups were talking about the Voodoo Cult.

They talked about the operation to suppress the mercenary corps and the crusaders who went crazy during the operation. They also talked about the Cult Leader who appeared at that time, and the Crusader Order that disbanded.

I heard someone say that one of the crusaders who went crazy was the father of a Class of Humility student and was close with Yu-Hyun. They said that the student hadn't been to school for several days. There were rumors that he was taking care of his father, and there were also rumors that he was so shocked that he was in a state where he couldn't go to school.

"What should I do? I feel so sorry—"

Bang!

Someone forcefully opened the door and entered the classroom. His golden hair, which had grown longer, swayed as he confidently approached me.

The students who had been talking looked at Yu-Hyun with wide eyes. Yu-Hyun shoved his face right in front of me as if provoking me into a fight and revealed his characteristically unpleasant smile.

"So you really came, Sun-Woo."

"..."

"Come out."

The classroom was silent. Everyone was staring at Yu-Hyun and me. Due to Yu-Hyun suddenly popping out of nowhere and stirring up an unnecessary commotion, I had the urge to punch him in the face. However, with so many eyes watching, I couldn't resort to violence, so I stood up from my seat. I followed Yu-Hyun out of the classroom.

He guided me to the hallway and then suddenly grabbed my collar.

Thud!

"...Why are you suddenly acting all batshit?" Yu-Hyun asked.

"You were the one who acted batshit first," I replied.

Yu-Hyun stared straight into my eyes and said, "What are you even trying to do? If you were going to kill them, then just kill them. If you were going to let them live, just let them live... Is this a declaration of war? You wanted to go to war so much that you went insane?”

"..."

He was talking about the mercenary corps attacking the Crusader Order.

I was flabbergasted and curious about what Yu-Hyun would say next, so I stayed quiet.

Yu-Hyun grabbed my collar with trembling hands and said, "And do you even intend to hide your identity? A snake, plants, and the wind? You make it so obvious. If you continue like this, it's only a matter of time before the Holy See finds you."

"I don't understand why you're worried about my identity being exposed. And..."

I grabbed Yu-Hyun's wrist, which was holding onto my collar.

"Where did you learn the habit of grabbing someone's collar out of nowhere? Did your father do this to your mother?"

"What? This bastard...!"

Thwack!

Yu-Hyun clenched his fist and struck me in the face. After getting hit, I fell to the ground.

I couldn’t tell how hard I had been hit because it didn’t hurt.

Spit.

When I spat out saliva, a mixture of spit and blood came out. It appeared as if I had bit the inside of my mouth. It felt strange that there was a large amount of blood but no pain.

Suddenly, Baron Samedi's words came to mind, especially his warning about being entangled in an unnecessary event against my will. He was most likely referring to the situation I was in right now.

I looked up at Yu-Hyun with a smile and said, "Did you get your home education beaten into you? You punch well."

"This bastard is still...!"

"Bossou."

When Yu-Hyun raised his fist, I called out to Bossou.