Chapter 298

Yu-Hyun led me to a deserted alley behind the club.

As soon as we left the club, he said, "Are you crazy?"

We occasionally spotted people in the deserted alley staggering around while smoking cigarettes, or something more sinister than cigarettes, like marijuana.

I summoned Dan Wedo to make it rain. Due to the pouring rain, the cigarettes and marijuana that the people were smoking were extinguished.

The smokers cursed and hurriedly sought shelter. Only Yu-Hyun and I remained in the alley. Due to the rain, my wet hair poked my eyes.

I pushed my hair back and looked at Yu-Hyun. He was still looking at me with a bewildered expression.

Splash!

I pushed Yu-Hyun, causing him to fall into a puddle. I then kicked his face with my foot. He spat blood from his mouth and writhed in the puddle.

I clenched my fist and was about to strike Yu-Hyun's face once more, but Yu-Hyun curled up and waved his arms while shouting something. I couldn’t hear him properly due to the rain, so I leaned closer.

"What did you say?"

“My face... Just don’t hit my face!” Yu-Hyun shouted.

I chuckled. I found it absurd that he was concerned about his face even in this situation. I grabbed Yu-Hyun by the collar and lifted him up.

"I told you before that it’s fine to mess with me, but not with others.”

"When the fuck did you say something like that?! I’ve never heard anything like that from you,” Yu-Hyun yelled in a furious voice.

Did I never tell Yu-Hyun that? I honestly couldn't remember. I most likely said something similar to him in passing.

Well, it didn’t really matter. Whether I had warned him or not, Yu-Hyun had messed with the Voodoo Cult. That alone was enough for me to beat him up.

I clenched my fist and was about to hit Yu-Hyun again. However, it felt like it was too much effort, so I decided against it. Yu-Hyun was hunched over and shivering.

I looked down at him and said, "You once said that we were alike."

"..."

"I admit it. The way we think is similar."

We were similar in the sense that we were both the leader of a religion or someone who was about to become the leader of a religion. Since we were different people, there was no way our way of thinking would be completely the same. However, there were definitely times when our thought patterns were the same. Thus, to some extent, Yu-Hyun probably knew what I was thinking, and vice versa.

I could roughly guess how Yu-Hyun intended to use me in the conclave. He was probably trying to gain an advantage in the election by orchestrating my downfall.

But I was going to move according to Yu-Hyun's intentions.

"Don't think that I don’t know what you're thinking."

"..."

Yu-Hyun did not respond and just continued hunching. I turned around and left the alley.

The rain that I had summoned via Dan Wedo drenched the world, and the people outside were either running or hiding beneath shelter to avoid the rain.

I walked through the crowd of people.

***

The frequency of demons and demonic beasts appearing in the country decreased over time. It reached its peak when the Satanist Executive named Lust entered the country, but it now decreased to an unprecedented low.

Various speculations arose among experts. Some said that the Satanist Executives had lost their power due to Lust’s death. Others said that they were temporarily exercising caution because of Lust’s death. Some believed that there was internal conflict occurring among the Satanist Executives, so they were currently busy fighting among themselves. Some suggested using this opportunity to start a Holy War to completely eradicate the Satanists.

However, the Holy See did not take any stance. As a result, rumors of the Pope's death began to circulate among the public. Some rumors speculated that a papal conclave would be held soon.

"..."

During this time, which could be considered peaceful and chaotic, Jin-Seo held onto a sword. Just because the frequency of appearances of demons and demonic beasts had decreased didn’t mean that they were gone.

Swish!

After responding to a call, Jin-Seo went out and skillfully beheaded demons and demonic beasts with her sword. There was no chance for the other crusaders to step in. In just a few months, Jin-Seo had become the top force in the Northern Crusader Order.

𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Wow, you’re amazing today as well. After this, can we maybe have a duel—"

Naturally, many of the crusaders showed interest in Jin-Seo. Her appearance, skills, and everything else were perfect, so she was popular with the crusaders regardless of their gender.

The newly appointed director of the Northern Crusader Order, who had been appointed after the previous director of the Northern Crusader Order had died in battle against Lust, showed a lot of interest in her.

However, Jin-Seo ignored all the attention from the crusaders. Some crusaders criticized Jin-Seo for lacking social skills, but others admired her cynical personality. Opinions were divided on her character, but there was no disagreement about her skills.

Upon joining the Northern Crusader Order, she immediately shocked all the crusaders. In a celebratory duel to commemorate the new crusaders' induction, Jin-Seo emerged victorious against all the crusaders, including the director.

She had outstanding skills, was young, and remained fearless even in the face of demons and demonic beasts. Some people praised her, saying she would achieve all titles, such as the youngest director and the youngest cardinal.

“...”

However, Jin-Seo remained indifferent to such rumors. Her crusader colleagues would celebrate whenever they finished subjugating demons or demonic beasts by holding social gatherings, but Jin-Seo did not go to any of those.

Instead, she went to Central Crusader Order and the Central Paladin Order’s joint training facility. There, she wielded her sword alone and trained. She relentlessly swung her sword, causing calluses to form on her hands. Eventually, those calluses peeled off, making her hands bleed.

She only took a short break from her training session when her vision turned white, her breath felt stifled, and her legs trembled so much that she could barely stand. Then, she stared blankly into the air.

As she rested, memories of her long-deceased mother, her recently deceased father, and the countless demons and demonic beasts she had slain came to mind.

"Ah."

By the time she snapped out of such thoughts, she found that she was biting her nails. To be more precise, her nails were worn down so much that there were no longer any fingernails that she could even bite into. Thus, she had bitten into her fingers until they bled.

She felt anxious. However, she couldn't figure out why. Not knowing the cause of her anxiety made her even more anxious.

She tried to become stronger to protect her loved ones. At this point, she believed she had become strong enough to protect her loved ones. Jin-Seo now had the strength to protect others, but who was she supposed to protect with her strength? There weren't many loved ones left for her.

The people she cherished had long since passed away. She no longer had anything left to protect, which also meant that she couldn’t protect anyone. Did anything change then? She thought she had become much stronger, but the situation hadn't really changed from the past.

As she continued to ponder for a few minutes, she suddenly stood up from her seat and grabbed her sword. Her palms hurt. The handle of the sword was slippery and sticky from her blood, making it difficult to grip.

Jin-Seo gripped the sword more tightly. The pain she felt in her palms when she gripped the sword disappeared.

Swish!

When she swung the sword once more, a voice came from somewhere.

"What are you doing? So noisy."

Jin-Seo looked over with fierce, narrowed eyes. Her face, which had been stiff with discomfort, slowly formed a smile.

"Why is a crusader from the Northern Crusader Order at the Central Training Ground?" Sun-Woo said as he approached with a smirk.

Jin-Seo put the sword back into her sheath and hid her injured hands behind her back.

"I was training because I had nothing else to do."

"I heard that the North Crusader Order was going to eat out together today after completing a subjugation mission,” Sun-Woo said.

Jin-Seo wondered how Sun-Woo knew about that. But then she realized that Sun-Woo was now a member of the Central Paladin Order. Since he was a formal member of the Central Paladin Order, it was not unusual for him to know what was going on in the Northern Crusader Order.

"I didn't go because I thought it would be a waste of time."

Sun-Woo nodded and murmured, "I figured."

Sun-Woo's eyes fell on Jin-Seo's hands. Her hands were so badly damaged that they were bleeding.

Startled, Sun-Woo grabbed Jin-Seo's wrist and furrowed his brow.

"What happened? Did you get hurt during the subjugation mission?"

"During the training session..."

"It seems more like you're inflicting self-harm rather than training though?"

Jin-Seo remained silent. Her training session was indeed closer to self-harm, just as Sun-Woo had pointed out. Despite feeling a bit embarrassed, she was grateful for Sun-Woo's concern. Jin-Seo pushed away Sun-Woo's hand and hid her injured hands behind her back once again.

Sun-Woo looked at Jin-Seo with a flabbergasted expression.

"What are you doing? I was trying to at least cast some healing blessings on your injuries.”

"It's fine. I can do it myself. And..."

"Why are you feeling embarrassed all of a sudden?" Sun-Woo said with a mischievous smile.

That made Jin-Seo feel even more embarrassed. She felt her face flushing.

Jin-Seo tried to maintain her composure and not show any signs of embarrassment as she said, "So, why are you here? You didn't come to train as well, right?"

"Oh, right.”

Sun-Woo nodded belatedly as if he just remembered.

"Where is your director?"

***

Ha-Yeon was searching Sung Yu-Da's research lab.

Sun-Woo's admission to the Central Paladin Order was confirmed, and the admission ceremony had taken place. Thus, Sun-Woo had become an official paladin. Not just any paladin, but an official paladin that belonged to the Central Paladin Order.

After joining the Central Paladin Order, Sun-Woo frequently visited Sung Yu-Da. The two mainly met at the research lab. It didn’t seem like Sun-Woo was visiting Sung Yu-Da just to express gratitude for his help in joining the Central Paladin Order. If that were the case, he would have visited once or twice, but Sun-Woo regularly visited the research lab to meet Sung Yu-Da.

Ha-Yeon did not know why Sun-Woo visited Sung Yu-Da so frequently or what they discussed when they met. She had a curious personality that compelled her to find out anything she did not know about.

There was nothing special in the research lab. Research on miracle replication. Research on blessings and divine powers. Medical applications for healing blessings... They were all ordinary research materials.

"..."

At that moment, something caught Ha-Yeon's eye. It was a drawer locked tightly with a padlock. The other drawers were not locked—only that drawer was firmly locked with a huge padlock. The drawer was clearly suspicious. The padlock was the type that required a password to unlock. Ha-Yeon tried to guess the password by fiddling with it.

Since it seemed to be an important padlock, it wouldn't be set with an obvious password. For example, Ha-Yeon's birthday...

Click.

The padlock opened. The password actually turned out to be Ha-Yeon's birthday.