Chapter 358

I was shocked.

My mother, whom I had missed so much, was right in front of me.

It didn't feel real. My mother had died at least five years ago. I couldn’t understand how my mother was still lingering at the Crossroads.

At first, I thought the mother in front of me might be fake. It could have been just an illusion that Baron Samedi had created. He was a mischievous Loa, after all. However, no matter how mischievous Baron Samedi was, he wouldn't joke about something like this. So, the person in front of me right now was my mother.

Acknowledging that made my mind blank. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to start a conversation.

What should I say? What should I say...

[How about starting with the story of grabbing my neck? You know, when you begged me to save your mother’s life,] Baron Samedi said as if he had read my mind.

"What? When did I ever do that?" I replied hastily, flustered.

I pretended it didn't happen, but the truth was that I had grabbed Baron Samedi's neck when I had been half-driven mad after seeing my mother’s dead body. Unable to make rational judgments, I vented my anger on Baron Samedi. But I couldn’t have pathetically begged him to ‘save my mother’ to Baron Samedi, right? No, I wouldn't have done that...

"Did Sun-Woo do that?" my mother asked.

I turned my head. After avoiding her by using excuses like feeling awkward, being taken aback, and not knowing what words to say, I finally looked directly at my mother's face.

She looked back at me with a gentle smile. Her tone was calm, just as it had been before. Everything was the same: her soft smile and her gentle voice, which seemed calm but carried a warmth when listened to closely. My mother's blurry images and faded memories were clear again—at least at this moment. I couldn’t help but shed tears.

[It was a mess, with his crying and all. Just like right now,] Baron Samedi said as he watched me cry.

Disliking his mocking tone, I quickly wiped away my tears. Thankfully, the tears soon stopped.

Mother smiled as she looked at me. "I’m surprised. When you were young, you hardly cried, so I was worried."

[He’s been prideful ever since he was young. That makes sense, considering what he’s like right now!] Baron Samedi chimed in.

That was unfair. I didn't cry because I was prideful. But, thinking about it, there were times when I held back tears because of my pride. There was no reason to feel that it was unfair. I just smiled.

Even when Baron Samedi teased me and Mother laughed at his words, I felt good regardless.

"How have you been all this time?" Mother asked.

Her smile seemed somewhat bitter. I knew what she was trying to say, but I didn't answer. I didn't know what to say or where to start. Mother looked at me silently for a moment before speaking.

"It must have been very difficult when you suddenly became the Cult Leader."

Mother seemed a bit strained when she said those words. It was more difficult for me to see her like that.

"I did quite well," I said with a smile.

I proceeded to share numerous stories with her. I told about what happened after the First Holy War, how I got into Florence Academy, and how I lived afterward. As I talked about entering Florence Academy, I also shared my experience with Jun-Hyuk. I didn't mention that he was a Satanist. It seemed too long to explain, and so I vaguely referred to him as a friend.

"Don't hang out with him. I have a bad feeling about him," Mother said as she listened to me.

"Ah, we're not close now."

I wasn’t lying.

I then told her about Uncle Jin-Sung, Ji-Ah, and all the other executives. I even told her about the story of the Second Holy War.

I didn't tell her everything. I omitted unnecessary stories, just like how I didn’t mention that Jun-Hyuk was a Satanist. I refrained from discussing the deaths of Yun Chang-Su and Ha Pan-Seok, my uncontrollable tears upon seeing her corpse in the underground prison, and several actions I had committed when I was not in my right mind.

I left out that I had a much, much harder time than she had anticipated. I didn’t talk about any of those things. I didn’t want to talk about them. In the underground prison, I had told her those stories many times in front of her dead body. There was no need to tell them twice.

"You did well. You really did," Mother said after hearing my story.

I didn’t say those words because I wanted her to feel bad for me.

"Have you been here all this time, Mother?" I asked out of curiosity.

She nodded. "Yes. I've been waiting for you. You came back much earlier than I expected. And I kept feeling sorry. I took too much from you, and it felt like I left you behind..."

For the first time, her face looked sad.

I tried to nod my head, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Yet, I couldn't shake my head either. I didn't cry, nor did I smile. I just stayed still and finally lifted the corners of my mouth slightly.

"It wasn’t easy," I said.

I used to live chasing the past. I lived intending to rescue Mother, who might have been dead or alive, from the underground prison. Looking back, I resented Mother a little, just like I resented Father. Resentment was not so different from longing. Maybe that was why I was so fixated on saving her. But now, it felt like I no longer had to wallow in the past. The past could remain as it was—as memories.

I was glad.

[Well, it’s time to go. I've given you plenty of time. "It seems like there's nothing more to say," Baron Samedi said as the silence fell after we had discussed everything.

‘Good timing.’

Baron Samedi pointed somewhere at the Crossroads with his lanky fingers. Like any other place at the Crossroads, it was dark, with no end in sight.

[Keep walking in that direction. If you keep going straight, you'll find where the dead should stay.]

Mother nodded and started walking in the direction Baron Samedi pointed toward. I tried to follow her, but she shook her head, and Baron Samedi blocked my path.

"No. Not from here..."

Mother and Baron Samedi said, [Yes, it's yet to be your time.]

Ignoring Baron Samedi, I tried to walk past him and alongside Mother, but he persistently blocked my path. Because of that, I couldn't take a single step forward. Meanwhile, my mother slowly walked further and further away.

[You still have unfinished business,] Baron Samedi said.

I couldn't understand what he was trying to say. I also had no idea why he was blocking my path.

"What...”

[Contract of the Dead,] Baron Samedi said.

It was then that I recalled the contract I had made with Baron Samedi. I remembered what he had told me before. The Contract of the Dead. My last chance.

[Choose. To be or not to be.]

It was a monumental choice that could be my last or my first.

[That is the problem. Haha!] Baron Samedi said as he handed me the dice nonchalantly.

I stared at the dice he offered me.

***

The Holy War had ended.

The Voodoo Cultists spread news of Yu-Hyun's death throughout the battlefield. Of course, the Romanican Church Holy Army, the Last Knight Order, did not believe the words of the Voodoo Cultists. They did not believe them at all.

However, the soldiers finally came to terms with Yu-Hyun's death when they witnessed the dozens of Berakat embedded in his body ascending to the sky, one by one.

The Pope's death meant that the Head Guardians, the main force of the Last Order, had either died or lost their ability to fight. Deeming that there was no chance of victory, the Last Knight Order chose to surrender.

Some resisted, unable to accept the fact that Yu-Hyun had died. However, they were few in number and did not pose a significant threat to the Voodoo Cult.

Ha-Yeon's occupation of the Holy See at the time led to the establishment of a new Holy See.

"Coup d'état Pope, step down!"

"To the dogs with the Pope! How dare you question the master!"

"We do not need a Holy See that has joined hands with the wicked Voodoo Cult!"

Naturally, forces that supported Yu-Hyun and those who adamantly opposed compromising with a cult rose collectively.

Their justifications for rising were diverse. For some, it was because Ha-Yeon had staged a coup and seized power. For others, they could not accept that the Purification Clan members who had initially been under the Pope had seized the Pope's authority. Others were angered by the fact that the Holy See had joined hands with the cultists and so on. The reasons were diverse.

Watching Ha-Yeon pondering on how to quell their wrath, Yeon said, "Don't worry about it. Priest Ha-Yeon... Ah, should I address you as ’Her Holiness?’ It feels strange to call you that.[1]"

"Call me whatever you're comfortable with. It doesn't matter to me."

"It would probably be more comfortable to call you Your Holiness. Anyway, there's no need to worry about those things, Your Holiness." Yeon continued, "After recovering from the damages of the Holy War and establishing relations with the Voodoo Cult, they will naturally quiet down."

"..."

"After all, they’re just loud. When their voices grow weaker, we can gradually work on improvements.”.

It was true. Ha-Yeon prioritized recovery above all else. She revived the areas paralyzed by the Holy War and provided economic support to those affected by the battles. As a result, the number of protesters holding banners decreased rapidly, just as Yeon had predicted.

The next step was to establish a relationship with the Voodoo Cult and clearly state that the Voodoo Cult was no longer a cult but a religion different from the Romanican Church. The Holy See had to declare that the long-standing conflict with the Voodoo Cult that originated from the First Holy War had finally come to an end.

To do so, it was necessary to publicly announce the death of the Cult Leader of the Voodoo Cult. The public needed to understand that the Voodoo Cult posed no threat to the Romanican Church.

Ha-Yeon dispatched paladins to recover the area near Noah's Ark, where the final battle occurred. There, they found the bodies of those who had participated in the Holy War. Their identities were all confirmed. Most of them were Romanican Church clergymen, but there was also a considerable number from the Voodoo Cult.

However, two bodies remained missing: Jin-Seo, a member of the Last Order Special Forces, and Sun-Woo, the Cult Leader of the Voodoo Cult.

"..."

Ha-Yeon asked Do-Jin and Simon, also members of the same special forces, about their whereabouts. They also claimed not to know where the two were. Instead, they stated they clearly remembered seeing Jin-Seo plunging a blade into Sun-Woo's heart in the final moments.

However, without finding the bodies, they could not confirm Sun-Woo's death. According to the testimonies, it was highly likely that Sun-Woo was dead. No, he was definitely dead. The problem was that there was no concrete evidence to announce it officially.

Jin-Seo was also a problem. The avalanche had swept her away, but considering Jin-Seo's physical abilities, she wouldn't have died by getting caught up in a mere avalanche. She was alive and had covered her tracks.

One hypothesis was that Jin-Seo had fled somewhere with Sun-Woo's body. The reason for fleeing with Sun-Woo's body may have been because she didn't want him to be used as a tool to announce the end of the Holy War. Thinking about it that way made sense.

"It's not a bad idea to maintain a hostile relationship with the Voodoo Cult. We can use the fear by saying that the Cult Leader is still alive," Yeon cautiously advised from the side.

Ha-Yeon frowned at Yeon and shook her head. "No. That would be breaking a promise.”

Yeon flinched as she stepped back from Ha-Yeon, putting on a fake smile. "Just kidding."

"Right. So let’s say the Cult Leader is dead," Ha-Yeon said firmly. "Then we will end the conflict with the Voodoo Cult here."

1. Her Holiness in Korean translates to ?? (pronounced Sung Ha). Yeon points out it’s weird to call Ha-Yeon by this title because she feels like she’s saying her name but isn’t quite finishing it (Sung Ha and Sung Ha-Yeon.) ☜