Chapter 302

Ha-Yeon knew of Joseph. It wasn't only because Joseph had connections with Sung Yu-Da. Ha-Yeon had encountered him during the battle against Satanist Executive Lust at the Central Priesthood-affiliated cathedral.

Additionally, all clergymen knew Joseph. His story of defeating the Satanist minion Ji Hye-Sung of the Central Paladin Order had been published in the news. He had played a big role amongst the members of the Romanican Church. However, his current appearance was no different from that of a street beggar, and his office had been burned to the ground. Ha-Yeon couldn't even begin to guess what had happened to him.

Joseph stroked his beard. "Are you surprised to see me like this?"

Ha-Yeon didn't react at all. She just stared at Joseph with a baffled expression.

Upon closer inspection, there were burn marks on Joseph's hands, face, and skin. His smile was wry but also bitter.

"Of course you’d be surprised. I startle myself occasionally when I look in the mirror these days... But being surprised is one thing. Don’t you have something you give me rather than standing there dumbfounded?"

"Oh, right!"

Ha-Yeon handed Joseph the USB she received from the director. Even as she did so, Ha-Yeon's gaze was fixed on Joseph's disheveled and injured appearance. She wondered how someone could have ended up in such a state. However, she never got the chance to ask because Joseph had already entered his office.

Left alone, Ha-Yeon stared blankly at Joseph's office.

She was confused. The golden age of the Crusader and Paladin Order had dawned, and the Romanican Church was constantly improving. Or at least it seemed that way.

Ha-Yeon looked at Joseph's burnt office and couldn’t help but think about Sun-Woo. Perhaps they weren’t amidst a golden age but rather the calm before the storm.

And there was nothing Ha-Yeon could do.

***

Joseph reminisced about his past not too long ago. After all, only a few weeks had passed since the incident.

Rumors had spread that a spy had infiltrated the Romanican Church. Inquisitors everywhere tried their best to catch the spy.

However, Joseph continued his investigation. He believed that if he could uncover the suspicions that had risen about Sun-Woo being the Cult Leader of the Voodoo Cult. He could also reveal the source of the circulating rumors.

Joseph had his suspicions. Upon scrutinizing Sun-Woo, he noticed that Sun-Woo’s actions were full of inconsistencies. But he had no concrete evidence, something profound enough to convince the most clueless believers who saw Sun-Woo as a righteous Romanican Church member. He needed evidence that would be able to convince those with nothing in their heads that Sun-Woo was indeed the Cult Leader of the Voodoo Cult.

Although Sun-Woo slipped up, he was quite cunning and clever. Joseph could easily understand how Sun-Woo had hidden his identity as the Cult Leader of the Voodoo Cult for all this time.

"I’m trying to find the whereabouts of a certain individual... I’m looking for permission to conduct a heresy investigation."

Unable to find clear evidence no matter what he did, Joseph officially requested a heresy investigation from the Holy See in order to uncover Sun-Woo's identity.

Heresy investigation was the privilege of an inquisitor. With a heresy investigation permit, Joseph could legally investigate Sun-Woo's residence, conduct wiretap recordings, and put him under surveillance. Once an official heresy investigation was underway, evidence would come to light. No one was ever truly clean—at least that was what Joseph thought.

"We’ll submit a request for heresy investigation. If you could provide what exact information you’re looking for in regards to the identity verification..."

"Everything you can find starting from their birth to the present. I want a deep analysis of every aspect of their life."

Joseph went to the Holy See to request identity verification for Sun-Woo and permission to conduct a heresy investigation. Up until that point, he thought things had gone well. He believed his opportunity to reveal Sun-Woo’s identity, which had been shrouded in mystery, was finally here.

However, his high hopes were shattered in mere seconds. When Joseph returned, his office was ablaze. The bandits suspected of setting the office on fire gleefully watched the crime scene.

As soon as they saw Joseph, the bandits fled. Joseph didn't even consider chasing after them. By the time he came to his senses, he found himself inside the burning office. He rummaged through the drawers and tore apart his computer, hoping to salvage some information and bring it out of the office.

However, the fire had burned all the important documents into ashes. His desktop had been damaged to the point where no restoration spell would be able to save it. Someone had intentionally destroyed the computer before setting it on fire.

Who would do such a thing? Joseph thought about who might hold a grudge against him. There were more than a handful, but they were all individuals who had been imprisoned. Others who came to mind were cowardly troublemakers who wouldn't dare commit such an act.

The real problem arose after the fire was extinguished. The Holy See denied his request for identity verification and a heresy investigation. To make matters worse, Joseph had been penalized, and his rights as an inquisitor were revoked for a while. They cited abuse of power as the reason for the discipline, but they did not specify detailed reasons.

"What is this? Abuse of power? What abuse of power have I...!"

—We received direct orders from the Holy See.

"Holy See? Who from the Holy See made such a decision?"

—We can’t have you causing any more trouble.

Although Joseph had immediately protested over the phone, he was met with the same response.

—We received direct orders from the Holy See.

Click.

The call ended, and Joseph stared blankly into space for a while. Joseph was scheduled to undergo a cardinal trial for his role in defeating Lust, but he lost his qualification due to the sudden disciplinary action.

He had been told that his burnt office was deemed difficult to restore. The few subordinates he had also faced disciplinary action and were sent away to other inquistors right when their disciplinary actions were to be lifted.

A series of misfortunes. Joseph was once a competent inquisitor, but he had completely fallen.

"Aha."

That was when he realized this string of misfortune events had not been a coincidence. Just like the broken computer, he had fallen due to someone's deliberate intention.

Someone clearly wished for Joseph's downfall.

'We received direct orders from the Holy See.'

The Holy See, or someone closely related to the Holy See, was watching over Sun-Woo. Someone did not want Sun-Woo's true identity to be exposed.

He didn't know this person. Why did the person who had plunged him into ruin want to keep Sun-Woo's true identity hidden? Why did Joseph have to suffer? Joseph needed answers.

The disciplinary action, rather than suspension, handed down to Joseph was indeed very long. During the disciplinary period, Joseph could not exercise his power as an inquisitor, let alone his basic powers as a clergyman.

He had to rely on the help of other clergymen. Fortunately, he had a good relationship with the director of the Central Priesthood.

"So you’re saying that bandits burned down an inquisitor's office, and yet not a single word was said about this in the press?”

"That's right."

"Haha... The world is going crazy."

The head of the Central Priesthood was dissatisfied with the current state of the Romanican Church, its corrupt institutions, and the Holy See's attempts to oppress clergymen through controlling information and manipulating clergymen. The head of the Central Priesthood willingly helped Joseph.

That was how Joseph obtained the USB.

Click.

Joseph plugged the USB into the broken laptop and extracted the files inside. He read through the files carefully, taking care not to miss a single sentence or word. His unkempt hair, scruffy beard, and bloodshot eyes made him look like a madman.

"Pope," Joseph muttered. "Ah. He’s already dead. The conclave is coming soon. Conclave, conclave... Ha. Hahaha."

The Pope was already dead, and he hadn’t been dead for long. However, the official announcement of the Pope's death to the public would come later.

Therefore, the conclave was scheduled soon, and the public and secret Pope candidates would have already locked in a secret battle.

But one candidate showed overwhelming dominance. And that was...

"Yu-Hyun."

Joseph nodded. Yu-Hyun was a fellow student of Sun-Woo who studied at Florence Academy. One by one, the puzzle pieces started falling into place.

Yu-Hyun probably already knew, and he used that fact to leverage his win at the conclave and solidify his position as the Pope.

Although Joseph didn’t know what Yu-Hyun’s exact plans were, it seemed like he planned to maintain a friendly relationship with Sun-Woo first and then betray him at a crucial moment. When he revealed that Sun-Woo was the Cult Leader of the Voodoo Cult, the Second Holy War broke out.

However, the Voodoo Cult relied heavily on the Cult Leader and the Prophet. It was not an exaggeration to say that 80% of their combat power came from the Cult Leader and the Prophet.

The Romanican Church would easily prevail against the leaderless Voodoo Cult, strengthening Yu-Hyun's position as the Pope.

Joseph laughed. "Haha! Hahaha!"

He’d been right all along. Sun-Woo was the Cult Leader of the Voodoo Cult. There was no need to find evidence now. All the pieces of the puzzle had fallen into place. Joseph continued to laugh and cheer like a madman.

His laughter didn't last long. It stopped with a dry cough. His face now showed only disappointment and emptiness.

So what now? Joseph thought. What more could he do? What had he been chasing after in the first place? Was it the truth he sought?

No, he had been chasing after the sweet truth—the truth that would prove his worth through its demonstration and revelation. He had not wanted to know the truth that made him so uncomfortable.

"I didn't realize there was so much I didn't know."

Since an inquisitor's job was to uncover lies and reveal the truth, he should know everything. The Holy See would not restrict information to the inquisitor, negotiate with information, or convey false information to them. Likewise, an inquisitor was expected to faithfully report the information he had discovered to the Holy See.

Surprisingly, this was part of the official handbook for training inquisitors at the Holy See.

"False information from the beginning. Impressive."

All he had to himself was his body. Joseph had mastered the Nazirite arts, the strongest martial arts known to man. He had used his powers to serve Adonai.

But what good was that to him now? He was no longer a servant of Adonai but merely a dog of the Holy See—a discarded dog, even. When he realized this, he was finally ready to face the truth.

Joseph trudged to the bathroom.

"I wish I had a tooth left," he muttered.

The bathroom was broken and barely functional, and the mirror was shattered. Joseph shaved in front of the broken mirror. He tied up his long hair that reached his shoulders, and his appearance became neater.

"A nail would have been nice as well."

Joseph pulled out a USB and left the office.

***

Winter break was over. Although it was called a break, I didn’t get any rest because I had to go to work at the Central Paladin Order.

The investigation on X continued, but it seemed to be coming to an end, and a trial would take place in a few months. Shortly after the trial, X would be imprisoned in an underground prison, all thanks to a great job of framing X with the charges of collusion and sedition with the Cultists.

There was no need to go to school on the first day because there was an entrance ceremony for new students. The next day, regular classes began, but I had to go to work at the Central Paladin Order, so I still couldn’t make it to school. However, I was still marked present on the attendance record, thanks to the school viewing it as an internship program.

So, two days passed since the entrance ceremony when I returned to school. The scenery seemed somehow new. I could see the faces of new students on their way to school—faces filled with excitement, nervousness, and fear. It felt refreshing to see them.

At that moment, someone greeted me.

"Hello. Cu-oh."

At first, I thought it was In-Ah. I didn’t know anyone else with brown hair and brown eyes except her, but then I remembered one more person.

"I guess you’re my senior now?"

"Looks like you passed the exam."

It was Yoon-Ah.

She smiled brightly and nodded at me. "Yup."