Chapter 269

Under the pretext of going on vacation, Sung Yu-Da did not come to work for several days.

Since becoming an inquisitor, Sung Yu-Da had never skipped a day of work, so no one dared to stop him. During that time, rumors circulated among the clergymen that Sung Yu-Da would soon be promoted to the position of archbishop from a cardinal.

After resting at home for a few days, he started feeling restless, so he walked to his research lab out of habit. There, he looked at the research materials he had been working on. There were many research materials on divine power, blessings, and miracles, but there were far more on the Voodoo Church and Voodoo spells.

"..."

Since all the research was done for Lee Seh-Hwa's sake, they were no longer needed. Sung Yu-Da considered tearing them up and burning them all. However, he felt that doing that would waste all the time he had spent on his research. He didn't know about everything else, but he believed that the research materials on the Voodoo Church and Voodoo spells would be useful someday.

During his vacation, he met the woman who had been chosen as his marriage partner by the clan members of the purification clan. It was a meeting that he had been putting off until now. Sung Yu-Da knew how to distinguish between a good person and someone pretending to be a good person, and he could tell that she was just a plain old good person. However, he didn't feel attracted to her.

To be more precise, he wasn't interested. He felt that he hadn’t sorted out his feelings toward Lee Seh-Hwa yet. Whenever he saw Lee Seh-Hwa, he felt nervous and excited, but at the same time, he also felt angry and wronged. Emotions that couldn't be described as just 'having a crush on' or 'liking' Lee Seh-Hwa still lingered.

He believed that if he was going to get romantically involved with someone else, he first needed to sort out his existing feelings. It was also a matter of courtesy to his marriage partner. His clan members continued to push for the marriage, but Sung Yu-Da asked for some time and postponed it.

Before he even had an opportunity to replace the table he had cracked during their last confrontation, he met Lee Seh-Hwa again.

“Sung Yu-Da,” she said.

Last time, she was with Do Myung-Jun, but this time she was alone. Sung Yu-Da's face hardened. He glared at Lee Seh-Hwa with bloodshot eyes and said, "What are you here for?"

"I came to ask for a favor."

Lee Seh-Hwa sat across from Sung Yu-Da and silently stared at him for a moment.

Sung Yu-Da looked into her eyes. Her eyes, which were slightly squinted as they had always been in the past, were still charming, but the light in them seemed to have changed slightly. Her pupils contained a power that was much stronger and more resolute than before.

A chill suddenly ran down his spine. It felt like some other

existence resided deep within her pupils.

She looked straight at Sung Yu-Da and said, "Do Myung-Jun... needs help."

Apparently, Do Myung-Jun wanted to create something, and to do that, he needed Sung Yu-Da's help. Do Myung-Jun believed that the origins of the Voodoo Church and the Romanican Church were the same, and he believed that by combining Voodoo magic and divine power, he could create something new and unique.

Though her explanation was long-winded, Sung Yu-Da just decided to interpret it as a proposal to develop a new holy artifact by combining two different forces: Voodoo magic and divine power.

"I know it's shameless, but..."

Without even fully listening to Lee Seh-Hwa's words, Sung Yu-Da asked, "Where is Do Myung-Jun? If he wants to request something, tell him to ask me in person.”

“...”

Lee Seh-Hwa quietly got up from her seat and left the office. As soon as she did, Do Myung-Jun entered. He had clearly sent Lee Seh-Hwa into the office first and had been eavesdropping on the conversation from outside the door.

"You despicable bastard."

"I felt like you would hit me if I came in first."

Smack!

As soon as Do Myung-Jun finished speaking, Sung Yu-Da punched him. As a result, Myung-Jun's nose started to bleed.

Do Myung-Jun immediately unleashed Voodoo magic and drew something in the air. It was similar but different from a blessing array. Sung Yu-Da concluded that it was a spell array. Mist enveloped Do Myung-Jun's face. Then, his nosebleed stopped.

"That wasn't too bad. If I had known it was going to be like this, I should have just entered first,” Do Myung-Jun said with a laugh.

Sung Yu-Da stared at him blankly and said, "Ha, you crazy bastard. You haven't changed at all from the past."

"People don't change easily."

"So, you need my help?"

"Yes," Do Myung-Jun said with a nod.

"What are you trying to create?" Sung Yu-Da asked.

Do Myung-Jun began to explain as if he had been waiting for him to ask.

He wanted to create a massive 'place.’ He wanted to create a place that could contain someone's memories and show them to someone else, and a place where new memories and experiences could be created that no one else could ever experience.

Apparently, he needed Sung Yu-Da's help in order to create it. More specifically, he needed his wealth, his ability to cast the blessing of purification, as well as the permission of the Romanican Holy See.

"As you probably also know, the situation with the Voodoo Church these days is no joke," Do Myung-Jun said.

Recently, the Voodoo Church was losing its strong foothold due to the crimes committed by an extremist faction within the church. Another reason why he was seeking help from Sung Yu-Da was so that he could avoid scrutiny from the Holy See and the other Romanican Church factions if he collaborated with Sung Yu-Da.

Do Myung-Jun explained everything truthfully.

After listening to Do Myung-Jun's explanation, Sung Yu-Da nodded and said, "Alright, I'll help."

Before color could return to Do Myung-Jun's face, Sung Yu-Da continued, "In return, we will be jointly credited for constructing the Ark, and all research papers related to the invention should list me as the primary author."

"..."

"The invention will be named Noah's Ark, and the Ark must ultimately be affiliated with the Romanican Church. If you agree to all these terms, I will help you."

In reality, Do Myung-Jun would be the one coming up with the ideas and all the inventing, so it didn't make sense to jointly credit them for constructing the Ark. Moreover, designating Sung Yu-Da as the primary author of any research papers relating to the Ark and assigning the final ownership of the invention to the Romanican Church was an extremely unfair and inhumane agreement.

Sung Yu-Da was well aware of this fact. He had come up with these absurd conditions hoping that Do Myung-Jun would reject his conditions.

Do Myung-Jun stared at Sung Yu-Da for a while, then chuckled as if he was dumbfounded. "What the... it seems like the conditions are no big deal."

"..."

Contrary to Sung Yu-Da's expectations, Do Myung-Jun accepted the proposal all too easily.

*

Constructing the Ark was an extremely easy task for Sung Yu-Da. This was because Do Myung-Jun and the Voodoo Church members did most of the work. All Sung Yu-Da had to do was provide divine power and monetary support. Essentially, his only real role was to prevent the Holy See and other Romanican factions from interfering with the project. Besides occasionally visiting the construction site, Sung Yu-Da mainly focused on his duties as an inquisitor. As he did so, the Ark approached its completion.

When he came to the Ark to celebrate its completion, Lee Seh-Hwa approached Sung Yu-Da and initiated a conversation.

"Sung Yu-Da."

"Ah, Seh-Hwa."

After calling out to Sung Yu-Da, she remained silent and just quietly stared at him. Sung Yu-Da looked at the Voodooists gathered below the completed Ark. They were gathered around Do Myung-Jun, their faces filled with emotion.

Sung Yu-Da looked at them with a chuckle and said, "Do you remember what you said back then?"

"What did I say?" Lee Seh-Hwa asked.

Come to think of it, she had almost lost the memory of that day. He realized there was no way she would remember.

"No," Sung Yu-Da said as he shook his head.

He couldn’t help but think that it wouldn’t be so bad if the three of them could continue to meet like this occasionally.

Sung Yu-Da looked at Do Myung-Jun. He believed that Do Myung-Jun was a person who was different from himself. He thought that Do Myung-Jun had changed at some point, and that was the reason Sung Yu-Da had drifted apart from Do Myung-Jun and Lee Seh-Hwa.

However, the sight of Do Myung-Jun smiling brightly in front of the completed Ark was not much different from the Do Myung-Jun he knew during his childhood. Sung Yu-Da realized that perhaps the person who had changed was not Do Myung-Jun, but rather himself.

Just a few months ago, whenever he saw Do Myung-Jun, he would feel breathless and his body would tremble due to anger. But now, Sung Yu-Da didn’t feel angry at him at all. His chest, which had boiled with frustration and nervousness whenever he looked at Lee Seh-Hwa, no longer boiled when he looked at her. He truly didn’t feel any of that anymore.

"That was quick."

“Yes, it feels like we were able to construct it sooner than we expected,” Lee Seh-Hwa said as she nodded in agreement.

She was referring to the completion of the Ark, while Sung Yu-Da was referring to forgiveness.

*

All the research materials and papers that were written during the construction of the Ark ended up in Sung Yu-Da's hands. They were research materials about Voodoo spells related to memory, such as spells that injected memories into people or spells that read others' memories. They were of no use to Sung Yu-Da since he couldn't use Voodoo spells, but he decided to keep them for now. It was because Do Myung-Jun wanted Sung Yu-Da to keep them.

Sung Yu-Da successfully defeated one of the Satanist Executives, an executive named Greed, and using Do Myung-Jun's research materials as a basis, he created a new way to utilize blessings called Adonai’s Blessings.

As a result, he was bestowed the title of Youngest Cardinal of All Time. It was during this time that Sung Yu-Da married the partner that the members of the purification clan had chosen for him. When he heard the news that Lee Seh-Hwa and Do Myung-Jun got married and had a child, it surprisingly didn’t bother him too much.

It was around that time that Sung Yu-Da also had a child, and they named her Ha-Yeon. She had albinism.

That year, there was a conclave to decide the next Pope, and since Sung Yu-Da was a cardinal, he had voting rights. The candidate that he supported ended up being elected as the Pope.

The following year, there was a meeting between the newly elected Pope and the leader of the Voodoo Church, Do Myung-Jun. After the meeting, the Pope summoned Sung Yu-Da to the Holy See.

"Yes, Your Holiness. Did you call me?"

Sung Yu-Da kneeled before the Pope and paid his respects. Sung Yu-Da was not nervous at all in front of the Pope. From the Pope's perspective, making enemies with the purification clan was not favorable, and the same was true for the purification clan.

Rather than a relationship in which only one side respected the other, they had a relationship in which they respected each other.

The Pope sweated coldly and trembled as he said, "Cardinal Sung Yu-Da, the reason why I have summoned you is none other than... I am going to start a Holy War with the Voodoo Church. I want you to lead the war."

“...”

The Pope's sudden request surprised Sung Yu-Da. Terrible words such as ‘Holy War’ and ‘war’ flowed all too easily out of the Pope’s mouth.

Moreover, it was a Holy War with the Voodoo Church. The leader of the Voodoo Church was Do Myung-Jun. If Sung Yu-Da led the Holy War, he would inevitably have to face his friend Do Myung-Jun.

"I'm sorry," Sung Yu-Da said as he bowed his head.

Even if the leader of the Voodoo Church was not Do Myung-Jun, Sung Yu-Da still would have rejected the Pope's request.

War was never the right answer in any situation. The Pope coughed and said, "Don't you know? Some of the cardinals think poorly of me."

"..."

"Above all, that man named Do Myung-Jun..." the Pope said as he trembled.

One of his seven bodyguards tried to help the Pope calm down. The Pope rejected the bodyguard's support and continued, "He is an existence that needs to disappear. I’m sure you also know what I mean."

"I'm sorry, sir," Sung Yu-Da said as he stood up.

He understood that the Pope was focused on tightening his grip on power due to being labeled as one of the worst Popes in history who wouldn’t have been selected if it wasn’t for the purification clan. However, the leader of the Voodoo Church was Do Myung-Jun, and the Prophet was Lee Seh-Hwa. Sung Yu-Da did not want to face them on the battlefield.

"I have a child. I do not want to get involved in such matters."

Above all, he did not want to get involved in the war because he had Ha-Yeon. Sung Yu-Da left the Holy See. His back felt cold, perhaps because the Pope and his seven bodyguards were all gazing at him. However, Sung Yu-Da never looked back.

In the year Ha-Yeon turned two, public criticism against the Voodoo Church intensified. It was because rumors spread that the Voodoo Church performed human sacrifices and cannibalism. There were also rumors that they burned people alive.

Groups and factions discriminating against the Voodoo Church emerged. They demanded that the Voodoo Church disband or be designated as a 'cult.'

The members of the Voodoo Church did not stay silent either. They held protests to counteract the accusations, and the protests escalated as they gradually resorted to using violence.

It was reported that a paladin died during a suppression, causing sorrow among the citizens...

"..."

A paladin died during the process of suppressing a protest. The criticism toward the Voodoo Church intensified further, and the rumors circulating about the Voodoo Church were being treated as facts.

At the center of those rumors was Do Myung-Jun. People said that Do Myung-Jun primarily consumed human blood and that he used Voodoo spells to turn innocent people into zombie slaves. They said he brainwashed people, ate snakes alive, led orgies, and spread diseases. People called Do Myung-Jun a devil.

Sung Yu-Da rejected these rumors. The Do Myung-Jun he knew was not a devil. He might have been lacking in some aspects, and he appeared eccentric when he obsessively focused on his research, but he was someone with a pure soul. Sung Yu-Da believed Do Myung-Jun was a person worthy of respect.

However, the rumors circulating about Do Myung-Jun painted him as a devil. The media and the public were all calling Do Myung-Jun a devil. Sung Yu-Da tried to contact Do Myung-Jun to ask about the truth, but he was unable to reach him.

And the year Ha-Yeon turned five...

"Cardinal Sung Yu-Da! There was a kidnapping incident!"

"What?"

Ha-Yeon was kidnapped.