Chapter 288

After taking the entrance exam for the Central Paladin Order, I soon had the final exam for Florence Academy.

Although I didn't study as hard as before, with my consistent studying and Legba’s help, I achieved good grades. I didn't come in first place, but it was a satisfactory result considering I hadn't studied much.

The practical exam took place at the school. It was a survival game using shock detection devices set on Eiden Hill, behind the school.

The longer one survived, the higher their score, but it was relatively small in scale for a practical exam. It was similar to the practical evaluations conducted during class. I wondered if the change in educational policy was due to the death of the previous chairman, Chang-Won, or if it was in response to the Satanists' threat. Regardless, I headed to Eiden Hill for the practical exam with In-Ah.

She tapped on my shoulder. For some reason, the way she tapped me felt cautious.

"What is it?"

"...It's nothing serious. I was just wondering, have you been meeting Yoon-Ah these days?" In-Ah asked.

I could tell why the way she tapped me felt unnecessarily cautious. Yoon-Ah knew that I was the leader of the Voodoo Cult, and she had asked me if she could help me occasionally.

There was nothing Yoon-Ah could do to help me in my current situation. But I still decided to meet with her to prevent her from having any foolish thoughts. In other words, I was keeping an eye on her. Back when Yoon-Ah was a zombie, she had seen me cough out blood to cure her.

So, although it seemed unlikely that she would betray me, I couldn't let my guard down. I knew that she would ask about this, so I told her the lie that I had prepared beforehand.

"Yeah, occasionally. She’s preparing to enter Florence Academy, and she was curious about how to prepare for the practical exam,” I said.

Yoon-Ah said that if I continued to meet her, eventually In-Ah would start to wonder why I was meeting her, and hence it would be good to prepare an excuse in advance.

The excuse Yoon-Ah came up with was that she was preparing for the Florence Academy entrance exam. When In-Ah heard my words, she raised her eyebrows.

"She's preparing for the Florence Academy entrance exam? But if that's the case, wouldn't it be better to ask me about that...?" she said.

“Oh... come to think of it, it was supposed to be a secret from you."

"A secret? Why?"

"She wanted to surprise you by secretly passing."

Yoon-Ah said that if I mentioned that she was meeting me under the pretext of preparing for the Florence Academy entrance exam, In-Ah would wonder why she specifically sought help from me instead of her. Yoon-Ah said that if I roughly mentioned something about her wanting to surprise her sister by passing secretly, the doubt would be resolved.

Yoon-Ah was smarter than I thought. Whenever Yoon-Ah's predictions matched up perfectly like this, it scared me. That was also the reason why I was trying to keep an eye on Yoon-Ah. She was so smart that sometimes I didn't know what she was thinking.

"Why bother to do that...?" she said.

"Since she caused her family so much heartache during her disappearance, she probably wanted to repay them like ths."

"Well, I suppose that makes sense."

In-Ah still had a face of disbelief, but after hearing my words, she seemed to finally understand and nodded. Soon, she raised her head and gave me a stern look.

"Next time, call me too! You guys are always leaving me out."

"Okay, okay," I replied.

I then looked at In-Ah. She was in a sulky mood, so she avoided eye contact. I was clearly deceiving her right now, and so was Yoon-Ah, her younger sister.

Jun-Hyuk was once her friend, and he had also deceived her. In-Ah still seemed unaware of everything though.

Someday, if I ever revealed to In-Ah that I was the Cult Leader of Voodoo Cult, how would she react? If she found out that I, who she had thought was only a friend, was actually a cultist just like Jun-Hyuk, what would she think?

Meanwhile, I arrived at Eiden Hill. The students taking the exam, along with the teachers including Do-Jin and Bok-Dong were gathered there. As I looked around, I spotted the person I was looking for.

"Wait a moment," I said.

"Huh? Yeah..." In-Ah said.

After telling In-Ah to wait a moment, I moved to another spot. I walked briskly.

The group of chatting students looked at me in surprise and made way for me.

I had become somewhat famous among the students for accumulating achievements and getting involved in various incidents.

In any case, I kept walking. My gaze was fixed on one point, which was Yu-Hyun. He had been absent from school for the past few days, and he was present today for the exam.

"Yu-Hyun."

When I called out to him, Yu-Hyun turned his head away from his friends.

As soon as he saw me, his expression stiffened. The expression on his face could truly be described as ‘rotten.’

"Ah, it's you?"

"Yeah."

Yu-Hyun gestured to his friends as if to ask them to wait for a moment. I led him to a relatively less crowded place.

Yu-Hyun stood crookedly, looking at me as if he was displeased about something. His long, slanted eyes looked particularly aggressive.

"What? Do you have something to say?"

I glanced briefly at the watch on Yu-Hyun's wrist as I said, "I heard that the Pope is going to die soon."

I had given the watch to Yu-Hyun, and it was equipped with a bugging function. In addition, if he tried to remove or damage the watch at all, a spell would be activated to make him and everyone around him lose consciousness and lose their memories.

Through that watch, I overheard a conversation between Yu-Hyun and someone named Yeon.

They exchanged words, hinting that the Pope would soon die. They also discussed various topics related to the leader of the Voodoo Cult.

I carefully listened to the conversation between the two. I planned on activating the spell immediately if he said something he shouldn’t.

I wasn’t quite sure I could say it was fortunate, but Yu-Hyun did not reveal to the person named Yeon that I was the leader of the Voodoo Cult.

However, there were too many strange moments in their conversation.

Yu-Hyun seemed momentarily flustered, but then he confidently replied, "So?"

His unpleasant gaze scanned me up and down.

I clenched and unclenched my fist. It wouldn't be good to punch Yu-Hyun, the next Pope candidate, as it might interfere with my admission to the Central Paladin Order.

In an attempt to gauge his reaction, I said, "There will be an election soon. The Pope position cannot remain vacant forever after all."

Yu-Hyun chuckled and nodded. He then said, "Of course. Why are you asking the obvious?"

"You said you would win in that election by using me. What’s that supposed to mean?"

Yu-Hyun had said to Yeon that he would use the information about me to win in the upcoming papal conclave. Specifically, he said that he would use the information about the leader of the Voodoo Cult to win. And Yu-Hyun had not told anyone about the fact that I was the Cult Leader of the Voodoo Cult for

some reason

. He had not told the Holy See, his friends, or Yeon.

There was some sort of connection between the two of them. However, I still couldn’t figure out how Yu-Hyun was planning to use me, and why he was not revealing the fact that I was the leader of the Voodoo Cult to anyone.

Yu-Hyun looked around and said, "With so many people around, is it okay to ask such a question? It seems like no one is listening to our conversation, but still..."

Just as he said, no one was listening to our conversation. The teachers were busy making sure that the students were wearing the shock detection devices, and the students were busy preparing for the exam and chatting with their friends.

In the first place, I did not directly mention that I was the leader of the Voodoo Cult, so there wasn't really any issue.

"How do you plan to use me? I can't seem to grasp it no matter how much I think about it."

"Are you crazy? Why would I tell you that? Isn’t it ridiculous for you to ask me directly like this?”

"In the first place, how are you able to so confidently say that you will use me?"

I pondered deeply. What exactly was his plan? How was he planning to use me, and how was he planning to win the election?

No, the truth was, I wasn’t really curious about anything else. I was only curious about one thing. How on earth could he so confidently say that he would be able to use me?

"How are you so sure that I won’t kill you after saying something like that?” I said.

“...You bastard, you’re bluffing again.” Yu-Hyun pointed at me while trying to appear relaxed and said, “You’re so lively. Always going on about killing me and things like that.”

“Does it look like I’m bluffing?”

"Then are you not bluffing?" Yu-Hyun said with a chuckle.

“You can’t do anything to me right now. Maybe you’ve grown to like me.”

“...”

I couldn't easily respond to Yu-Hyun's words, because what he said wasn’t wrong. I had a lot to lose if I killed him. No, it wasn’t a lot, but I didn't want to lose the few things I had gained. As a result, I had lost my desire to kill Yu-Hyun if it meant that I had to endure the pursuit of the Holy See.

"I'm not the only one who can kill you."

However, that didn’t mean that there wasn’t a method.

"There are many of us. Probably more than you think..."

There was a large number of Voodoo Cultists. While the number of key figures, such as the executives, was small, when all the believers were gathered, the number would be quite significant.

Ordering one of them to kill Yu-Hyun was not a difficult task. For example, I could use Yuk Eun-Hyung who was already on the run from the pursuit of the Holy See.

“...”

Perhaps the threat was effective, as Yu-Hyun remained silent and just stared at me. There was no sign of fear in his gaze. Instead, I saw a hint of confusion as I stared into his eyes. A deep silence passed between us.

At that moment, someone interrupted and said, "What are you guys having so much fun discussing?"

Yu-Hyun and I both turned our heads simultaneously. Do-Jin had been leading the students in the distance, and he approached us unnoticed.

He pointed his sword at the gathering of students from the Class of Charity and the Class of Humility and said, "The exam is about to begin. Return to your locations."

I nodded and turned toward the students from the Class of Charity. We couldn’t exactly continue this conversation in Do-Jin's presence.

Yu-Hyun also turned toward the students from the Class of Humility. Then, he suddenly turned toward me, clicked his tongue, and muttered under his breath, "This brat, instead of being grateful..."

I did not understand what Yu-Hyun was trying to say. Was there anything I had to be grateful to him for recently?

No matter how much I thought about it, there was nothing. As always, I thought of it as the usual nonsense that Yu-Hyun spouted and brushed it off.

***

After all the students wore their shock detection devices and chose their training weapons, the exam began.

I chose a training spear. The weather was gloomy, but I felt like I had to use it carefully.

Any weapon, especially a spear, could become a deadly weapon when used with Bossou's power, no matter how dull the blade may be.

The students moved to their respective areas under the guidance of the teacher and scattered around Eiden Hill. For some reason, I ended up starting the exam in a particularly remote place, and the scenery seemed strangely familiar.

“...”

I looked around quietly and identified the cause of my unease. Come to think of it, this was the place where I had faced Jun-Hyuk. The scars on the giant rugged tree trunks and the few trees which were rotten due to the demonic energy made it clear. A strange feeling washed over me.

Crack!

An arrow flew from somewhere and brushed past my cheek. Since it was a training arrow, it was slow enough to dodge.

I tightly gripped my spear and immediately adjusted my stance. Then I turned my body in the direction the arrow had come from. It wasn't difficult to find the one who shot the arrow at me. I just had to shift my eyes in the direction where I felt a presence.

Technically, sensing a presence wasn't a simple task, but I could do it now. Thanks to the training sessions with Yuk Eun-Hyung at Noah's Ark, my senses were heightened to an extraordinary level.

Just as I was about to throw the spear as a threat, the opponent said, "Huh? Fuck. Hold on a second!"

The voice was sharp, husky, and oddly familiar. I relaxed my stance immediately.

"No... ah, damn it. Why did it have to be you?"

She emerged from the bushes, muttering curses under her breath as she slowly crawled out. She had a bow in hand, but the bowstring wasn’t stretched, and based on her posture, I could tell that she had no desire to fight.

"Oh, long time no see," I greeted her slyly.

Min-Seo did not respond to my greeting. Instead, she sighed deeply and bowed her head.