Volunteer Activity (2)
“What exactly do you mean by… not to trust women…?”
“……”
I’ll explain when night falls.
Obviously, I had no intention of replying with a simple “Yes, I understand.”
How was I supposed to know if this man would even be alive by then?
‘No matter how I think about it, there’s something going on.’
I decided to ask anyway.
“Is there a reason you can only explain it at night…?”
I lowered my voice slightly and asked Father Malik.
He widened his wrinkled eyes and stared at me blankly.
“Ares… you’re quite calm.”
“Am I?”
I had no choice but to be calm. After everything I’d been through so far, this was nothing.
“It’s as if you already expected to hear something like this.”
“No… I didn’t expect anything at all…”
“I see.”
Father Malik closed his eyes for a moment, lost in thought. Then he looked at me and smiled faintly.
“Not to trust women too much… that’s exactly what it means. Always stay on guard around them.”
“Yes…”
“And the reason I can only speak of it at night is…”
Father Malik glanced out the office window. Then he leaned in and whispered to me.
“Because someone might overhear…”
“……”
The expression on his face as he said it was deadly serious.
Doesn’t that mean something’s gonna go down tonight??
Since we’re not staying in a safe zone like the dorms for the next week.
‘Suspect everyone, huh…’
After a brief greeting with Father Malik, I dropped my things off in the room I’d been assigned and joined everyone for breakfast.
“This is Ares, who will be volunteering at the cathedral for the next week starting today.”
“Please take care of me.”
Clap clap clap clap.
Just like the day I transferred to Wonder Academy, people applauded at my introduction. The only difference was that there were fewer people here.
‘Five nuns… and four priests, I think.’
They all looked like kind people. However…
‘What’s this…?’
Unlike the perfectly normal-looking nuns, the four priests seemed to be in bad shape. Aside from Father Malik, every single one of them was injured somewhere.
The large priest had an eye injury. The tall priest had one arm bandaged. The stern-looking priest had a leg wound.
‘Don’t trust women…’
Seeing the priests’ conditions made the nuns sitting in front of me feel even more suspicious. That said, they were all beautiful enough that it was hard to feel purely suspicious of them.
“You said your name is Ares, right? Is the food to your liking?”
“Yes, it’s delicious.”
“Hehe, I’m glad. Sister Martha and I put in extra effort since we knew you’d be coming today.”
The red-tinged brown-haired nun who introduced herself as Agnes pointed to the timid-looking Sister Martha sitting beside her.
‘The only one my age is Claire.’
I’d heard none of them were students from the academy. They were all older than Claire and me—every one of them was an older sister figure.
“Ah, Ares… how did you end up volunteering for this activity…?”
“More importantly, how’s school life? Are you close with Claire?”
“…Do you have someone you like? I’m… curious about your love life.”
“Uwee…! Top of the entire school! That’s amazing… I’m bad at studying, so that’s really impressive!”
Timid, mature, quiet, and airheaded. The nuns were all women with distinct personalities. For reference, their bust sizes could be categorized as small, medium, large, and extra-large. Even though they wore loose nun habits, I could tell. I had plenty of memories of seeing both clothed and unclothed versions recently. Claire was somewhere in the medium range—roughly the same size as Lana.
“It feels weird being here instead of at school, doesn’t it, Ares?”
“Yeah, kinda.”
Since Claire was the only one my age, she sat next to me and talked the most during the meal.
For something the priest warned me about, it was way too normal.
You’re not NightRat, you bastard.
After breakfast, Claire gave me a tour of the cathedral. There weren’t many places I’d actually use during my volunteer period, but since I didn’t know what might happen at night, I memorized the layout anyway.
Once the tour was over…
‘Is this really it…?’
I just lay around on the bed.
Was that really the reason they weren’t making me do anything?
‘Then what the hell is the point of this volunteer work…’
I’d assumed it was punishment for breaking too many rules. I’d even braced myself for nonstop labor all day, but…
“This is gonna make me lose all sense of tension…”
Something was definitely going to happen, but if they left me alone in my room all day, I’d inevitably let my guard down. Right now, I was yawning and staring blankly at the ceiling. I’d woken up earlier than usual, and…
‘Ah… Lana’s chest I touched this morning… that was insane…’
Drowsiness slowly crept over me.
I can’t sleep.
Falling asleep would be bad.
It was still broad daylight…
If I slept now, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night…
More importantly…
The ghost story event…
“……”
—Knock knock knock.
“……”
—Knock knock knock.
“……”
—Knock knock knock knock.
“Hrk…?”
I opened my eyes after briefly closing them and looked around in a daze.
“Huh…?”
The sun had set.
“……”
You crazy bastard…
The moment I woke up, I cursed at myself. This wasn’t even my dorm room, and it wasn’t like I hadn’t dealt with ghost stories before. Even with the puppet doll giving me an extra life…
“Sleeping until sunset…”
I’d only meant to close my eyes for a second. Wait… why did I wake up, anyway?
While I was trying to remember, the knocking came again.
—Knock knock knock knock knock knock.
“Hup…!”
I swallowed my breath at the sound of knocking on the door.
“……”
In the dark room, moonlight faintly illuminated the door where the knocking echoed. The sound instantly cleared away my drowsiness.
“……”
—Knock knock knock knock knock knock.
“What the…”
Whoever it was just kept knocking without saying a word.
‘Doesn’t seem like Lana…’
Only Lana had the rule where opening the door meant death. At least, among the supernatural events I’d encountered so far. But Lana never just knocked. She always tried to persuade the other person to open the door somehow. Simply knocking wasn’t her style.
Is it the priest…?
“Father…?”
After quickly asking the gallery for advice, I carefully spoke toward the door.
“Is that you, Father Malik?”
When I asked a second time, a reply came from the other side.
[Shh…!]
“……”
Then Father Malik answered in a small voice.
[Ares, …follow me. It’s time for your volunteer work.]
“……”
Instead of telling me to open the door, he told me to follow him.
Thud, thud, thud.
I heard footsteps walking away from the door. At the very least, it didn’t seem like a ghost-type entity.
‘I can’t just ignore this…’
I had the puppet doll, so even if there was an instant-death judgment, I could survive once. If it really was instant death, I’d abandon the volunteer work and run straight back to the dorm.
Click.
Creaaak…
I carefully opened the door. Father Malik stood in the distance holding a lantern and waving me over.
“……”
“……”
When I approached, he gave me a look and silently started walking down the hallway.
‘The confessional…?’
The place we arrived at a moment later was the confessional—the place where people usually did confession. Father Malik made the sign of the cross in front of it, then gave me a look. It was a signal to come inside.
Father Malik and I each entered our own side of the confessional. In the dark interior, I could vaguely make out a chair, so I sat down.
“Were you surprised, Ares?”
“……A little.”
Once we were inside the confessional, Father Malik finally spoke.
“Was there a reason you couldn’t speak earlier?”
I asked the reason right away. After a brief pause, Father Malik answered in a grave voice.
“Because you weren’t supposed to hear it…”
“What do you mean…?”
“I’m talking about the existence whose name you must learn from now on.”
“Excuse me…?”
Learn its name. There were too many gaps in the story for me to understand.
“Um… Father. I’d like a more detailed explanation.”
“Ah, I’m sorry. I was a bit nervous…”
“……”
“Then first… let me explain what your volunteer work here at the cathedral will entail.”
“Yes…”
A moment later, I heard something I never expected.
“Ares… I want you to perform an exorcism.”
“……Excuse me? An exorcism…”
“Exorcism. Driving out the demon possessing someone’s body.”
“……”
“The truth is… we no longer have any other options…”
“Options?”
“Every priest has participated in the exorcism… and we’re all on the verge of being overwhelmed by the evil spirit…”
Father Malik’s voice trembled slightly from the other side of the curtain. He was terrified.
“We can fight the evil spirit because we believe in the Lord. Since the Lord is stronger than anyone, those who serve Him can drive out evil spirits.”
“……”
“But we can’t anymore. We’re afraid. And being afraid of the evil spirit means… we’ve also lost our faith in the Lord.”
“I… see.”
I didn’t really understand what he was saying, but I’d just go along with it.
That said, there was something even more confusing.
“But I’m an atheist…?”
I didn’t believe in that almighty Lord of theirs.
“We’re well aware of that. …But if things continue like this, someone will die. Asking the academy for help was our last resort.”
“Hmm…”
“Don’t worry too much, Ares. Even though we’ve been consumed by fear after succumbing to the evil spirit… it’s not as if we achieved nothing.”
“What do you mean…?”
“It means the evil spirit has also grown weaker.”
“……”
“All that remains is learning its name. We decided to borrow your strength for the final battle.”
At Father Malik’s words, I recalled the injuries on the other priests I’d seen earlier that day. Their eyes, arms, and legs had all been hurt. That must have happened during the exorcism.
‘I just need to learn its name…’
From what I’d heard, this didn’t seem like a particularly difficult ghost story event. More than anything, the fact that I only had to land the final blow was appealing. However, there was one thing I needed to confirm before agreeing.
“This exorcism… isn’t it dangerous?”
“……”
“For example… if it fails, someone dies? Or there’s a risk of death? Or there’s any possibility of dying in some way?”
“……”
“Tell me everything, Father. No omissions.”
I was fighting to survive. At the very least, if I was going to die, I wanted it to be after having sex with either Lana or Ellie—or better yet, both at the same time. Dying without that would be too unfair to move on peacefully. So I needed to thoroughly confirm whether this event had a dead-end route.
And the answer to my question was…
“Don’t worry, Ares. …There won’t be any danger to you.”
“I see…!”
Thankfully, this event had nothing to do with my death.
“However… if you fail, the person possessed by the evil spirit will die.”
“Ah…”
So it was structured so that someone else would die instead of me.
‘Familiar.’
It was the same structure as the doppelgänger ghost story from before. I wasn’t in danger, but someone else would die if I didn’t stop it.
“What do you say, Ares? Can you do it?”
Father Malik asked me in a tense voice. Would I perform the exorcism in their place? Of course, the choice was mine. My answer was simple.
“I’ll do it, as long as I can quit midway.”
“……”
If it looked like I was going to die, I’d quit. That was the best I could do. Part of me wanted to just go back to the academy and forget about the exorcism, but I didn’t know what kind of penalty I’d get for not completing the volunteer work. According to Father Malik, there was no dead-end route in this event. Compared to the unknown academy penalty, this side had less risk.
“Very well. Then let’s begin right away.”
“Right now?”
“The exorcism will be conducted from 8 PM until midnight. If it goes past midnight, consider the ritual over.”
“Four hours…”
“And this is a manual containing the methods for the exorcism. Use it along with these tools during the ritual.”
Swish…
A bag slid over from the other side of the curtain.
You obtained the Exorcism Kit!
“Um, Father.”
“What is it?”
“…I understand talking here is to keep the ghost from hearing us. But… what happens if it does hear?”
“It will threaten the person performing the exorcism—Ares—so that you won’t approach.”
“……That’s definitely something I should avoid.”
“So after leaving the confessional, do not speak a single word. Understood?”
“Yes…”
After that, Father Malik gave me a few simple precautions. The ritual would be performed every day for seven days, from today—Monday—until Sunday. If we couldn’t learn the evil spirit’s name by Saturday, we would perform the exorcism together with all the priests on Sunday. If that failed too, the possessed person would die.
‘There’s basically no risk for me.’
I could run away midway if I wanted. With the puppet doll, I could withstand some physical damage. It wouldn’t hurt to give it a try.
“Since today is the first day, the evil spirit’s resistance won’t be very strong.”
“Yes…”
“So treat it as practice and perform the ritual however you like, Ares.”
“Understood.”
“And always remember this.”
Swish…
A cross necklace slid over from the other side of the curtain.
“Even if you have no faith… the Lord loves all humans. That includes you, Ares. …The Lord is watching over you from behind. Therefore, you can make the evil spirit submit.”
Father Malik emphasized this part the most.
“Have faith. Faith that you can do it because the Lord is with you. Of course, I believe in you as well, Ares.”
“……”
It was a lot of pressure in many ways, but…
‘If He’s going to protect me, there’s no reason to refuse.’
Maybe He’d protect me during the other ghost stories too. It wouldn’t hurt to make a connection now.
After hearing all the explanations, I packed my things, changed into priest robes, and left the confessional.
“……”
“……”
After that, I silently followed behind Father Malik. He offered no further explanation. He simply guided me, trusting that I would succeed.
Shiver…
‘Why is it so cold here…’
As I followed the priest, the atmosphere in the hallway changed. Soon we arrived in front of a room. Father Malik looked at me once, then opened the door.
Creaaak…
When the door opened, a dark room appeared. Candles dimly lit the space, and strange smoke filled the floor. In the center was a bed. Someone was tied to it.
“……”
Thud, thud…
When I carefully stepped inside, Father Malik immediately closed the door behind me.
‘He’s really scared…’
I could see his hands trembling as he shut the door. He didn’t even glance inside the room before closing it. After that, I heard footsteps walking away from the other side.
Current time: 8 PM.
From now until midnight… no one would approach this room. Father Malik had said he would return around midnight.
“……”
Swish.
Thud, thud, thud…
I turned and walked toward the person tied to the bed. And then…
One of the nuns I’d seen in the dining hall earlier that day. The mature-looking woman with red-tinged brown hair. Her bust had been “large.”
Sister Agnes was tied up.
Her arms and legs were bound to the corners of the bed. A luxurious cloth embroidered with gold thread covered her eyes, blocking her vision.
Comments started appearing on the post. At the same time, Sister Agnes seemed to come to her senses and turned toward me, opening her mouth.
“Who’s there…? Father…?”
“……”
“Is that you, Father…? Um, what’s going on today? I can’t see… Father, I’m scared… Please don’t…!”
“……”
Thud.
Without a word, I set down the bag I’d received from Father Malik.
Swish swish swish.
Comments flooded in on the post displayed in the corner of my vision.
“Hmm…”
“Father…? You’re there, right…! Father, I’m scared…! Please don’t do this…!”
I approached her and carefully examined Agnes’s condition. I needed to learn the evil spirit’s name. To do that, I’d have to draw it out and ask. However, Agnes was still hiding the evil spirit.