Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: Suspected Infiltration
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"Take care, devotee Anis."
The leader of the Pulsnal Church, the emerging cult quietly spreading through the city—Geum Taeyang—saw the girl off and returned to his room.
"...Betty."
Geum Taeyang muttered into empty air.
Then space warped, and a white-haired girl appeared.
She looked about seventeen now.
Her body was covered in tattoos. Not just her arms and legs, but even her face and fingers were densely inscribed with black letters.
"What do you think?"
"That academy student just now?"
"Yeah."
"Hmm~"
The girl called Betty crossed her arms, tilted her head, and let out a long hum.
"Um... she cried a lot, didn't she? First time I've seen someone burst into tears like that right away. Is that even possible?"
"No way. I was just trying to plant a simple suggestion that I'm not a bad person."
Geum Taeyang's ability wasn't some omnipotent power that could brainwash someone with a finger snap. It weakly stimulated the target's trauma multiple times, gradually making them dependent on him.
Moreover, people with sufficiently high mana reserves could notice and resist it.
That was why, seeing that Anis was wearing an academy uniform, he'd used his ability more weakly than usual. Just in case she caught on.
If he got lucky and the suggestion took, he'd slowly brainwash her over time. If she noticed, he'd kill her on the spot.
But after using his ability and saying a few plausible words, she suddenly burst into tears.
So Geum Taeyang grew suspicious of Anis.
No one would react like that unless their psyche was plastered with trauma like a clingy remora.
Annoying. Geum Taeyang frowned as he said it.
"Then maybe she just has a remora-level mentality and fell for it easily?"
Betty, who had been quietly listening to Geum Taeyang's explanation, tilted her head.
"No, you idiot. The academy doesn't admit anyone with mental issues from the start. The entrance exam includes a mental fortitude test."
Geum Taeyang snapped irritably at Betty's carefree attitude.
"Um... really?"
"And I searched that girl's name—she's the one who got a hero medal from the association just recently."
"Whoa, really? Isn't that the medal more dead people get than living ones?"
The hero medal.
An honorable award given to true heroes who risked their lives to save others. It was only natural that more dead received it than the living.
"They say she took down over a hundred magic beasts by herself during the cherry blossom festival attack."
And yet, a girl like that crumbled to a single suggestion? Suspicious.
"Oh. I set up the summon stone there."
"Yeah?"
"Yep."
It was news to Geum Taeyang. He'd been focused on other plans, so it wasn't surprising.
"Tch. Anyway, that Anis Harper... she's not just some idiot who wandered in off the street."
Geum Taeyang clicked his tongue.
The plan's endgame was almost here, and now an unexpected variable had appeared.
"Really? Then what is she?"
Betty asked, eyes wide.
Geum Taeyang drew in a breath and paused dramatically at Betty's question.
"...She could be a spy."
"The association's?"
"Probably. It's too obvious... suspicious...!"
Geum Taeyang groaned, roughly clutching his head.
He couldn't just kill her outright. The association hadn't made any big moves yet, so they were likely still at the suspicion stage.
But if their spy vanished, they'd come charging in with certainty.
...That couldn't happen. He hadn't gathered enough devotees to offer as sacrifices yet.
"...This'll mess up the plan."
"Maybe she really was just dragged in like an idiot and fell for it because of her remora mentality?"
A vein bulged on Geum Taeyang's forehead at Betty's innocent words.
"I told you, no way. Betty, the problem is you handle things too sloppily. That's why even he only assigns you simple stuff like installing summon stones."
"Nuh-uh? He said it's because my ability makes it easy to install and slip away undetected."
Geum Taeyang trembled with clenched fists, his face screaming for a forehead flick.
"Hoo... Anyway, Betty, keep an eye on that Anis girl from a distance for now. No telling what tricks she'll pull."
"If you say 'pretty please~'... Ow! Why'd you hit me!"
The childish bickering of a man and woman echoed in the cramped room.
"2320... That's weird. Anis's mana isn't increasing at all."
Anis's expression darkened at her homeroom teacher Silbi's words.
Han U-sol felt distressed about it as if it were his own problem.
Anis's mana wasn't growing at all. There were cases of slow growth followed by a sudden surge, but none where steady training yielded zero increase.
Lately, Anis had seemed really down because of it.
Yoon Na-rin had also voiced worry that Anis was reverting to her withdrawn state from the start of the semester.
He wanted to comfort her, but had no clue how.
This was the first case of mana stagnation like this—no known solution. Empty reassurances would just annoy her. Like telling a terminally ill patient they'd recover.
So Han U-sol had been focusing solely on weapon crafting lately.
When he gifted her cool, pretty weapons, she'd smile brightly—at least then.
Han U-sol, who'd never cared about design before, had even started studying it diligently for Anis's sake. She valued a weapon's appearance over its performance.
"Narin, wanna go to church?"
"Reisi, let's go to church together."
But lately, Anis had been acting a bit off.
She'd started proselytizing religion to people. Not randomly, but relentlessly to anyone she had even a slight connection with.
"Han U-sol, let's go to church."
"Ah, sorry, Anis. I'm not religious..."
And if they refused,
"Tch!! You'll get divine punishment!!"
She'd snap at them just like that.
She wasn't as extreme as those subway aunties, but it still felt off.
"...Anis seems hooked on something weird. Do something about it."
Yoon Na-rin gave him a subtle hint.
"...Got it."
He said that, but had no idea what to do.
Persuading someone deep in a cult was next to impossible.
With no clever plan coming to mind, Han U-sol and Yoon Na-rin decided to secretly tail Anis after school.
"Anis, church again today?"
"Yeah. Narin, you wanna come?"
"...Maybe next time."
"Okay. See ya."
After Anis left, Han U-sol and Yoon Na-rin exchanged glances and began shadowing her.
[Pulsnal Church]
The tail led them to a church they'd never seen before.
"Pulsnal Church...?"
"Heard it's a rising cult. My brother mentioned it."
"Cult...?"
Han U-sol glared at the church, face hardening. A faint unpleasant smell wafted into his nose. Not unfamiliar.
This is... just like back then...
Yes. Similar to the stench from the magic beasts that appeared in the park. An acrid smell like polluted air.
"...Narin. You smell anything weird? Like from magic beasts..."
"...What smell? Do magic beasts even smell?"
Yoon Na-rin seemed oblivious.
Han U-sol felt something off. Come to think of it, in the park, he'd wrinkled his nose at the stench while others seemed fine.
...Can only I smell it?
He wondered why, but that wasn't important now.
What mattered was the smell emanating from that church. Faint, but enough to stoke his unease.
Anis might be in danger.
"Looks like naive Anis got duped by a cult... Hey, hey! What are you doing!"
Han U-sol had hopped the fence and pressed against the church's outer wall.
Bang!
Geum Taeyang slammed his fist on the desk.
"That Anis Harper bitch...! Keeps interfering...!"
"Why?"
Betty asked.
"She's been slyly planting weird ideas among the devotees...!"
"Saying stuff like overly forceful proselytizing backfires, or just give a little guidance and people will eventually realize true happiness, so be patient...!"
"Because of her, the number of devotees... no, sacrifices joining is dropping!"
Geum Taeyang poured out his agitated words.
"Then just say the word yourself? No need for that. Hurry up and gather more devotees. You're the leader."
"Argh, of course I want to! But that bitch suspects us and is pretending to be brainwashed to infiltrate! If I butt in here, she might contact the association!"
Geum Taeyang breathed heavily in excitement.
"...Fuck. What about tailing that bitch?"
"...Nothing much? Just proselytizing friends, grabbing snacks at the canteen... then came here and straight to the dorm to sleep. Outwardly, she looks properly snared by your suggestion."
"...Cunning bitch. Acting natural in case of tails. Maybe that proselytizing to friends is some kind of code or signal."
Geum Taeyang steadied his ragged breathing and spoke lowly.
"...No helping it. A bit short on sacrifices, but no telling when Anis Harper contacts the heroes."
"We'll execute the plan tomorrow... You keep monitoring Anis Harper."
"......!"
Han U-sol and Yoon Na-rin, eavesdropping with enhanced hearing while pressed against the church's outer wall, exchanged looks.
"Narin, that was..."
"Shh."
The two snuck away from the church.
"That talk just now... you don't think..."
"...Probably."
"Traitors who contracted with demons are plotting something in there. Hearing about sacrifices confirms it."
Yoon Na-rin was certain.
"At first I thought naive Anis got lured by a cult... but infiltration?"
He didn't know how it happened, but Anis was pretending to be brainwashed, disrupting their plans, and signaling them. And they suspected her too.
Then her relentless proselytizing to them was to dodge surveillance and send signals.
Acting convincingly cultish to bait them into tailing her and investigating the church.
"Anis...!"
Even if to save people, this was too reckless alone.
Anyway, her message got through loud and clear. Only one thing left to do.
Yoon Na-rin dialed somewhere.
"...Oppa? It's me. Right now..."
It didn't take long for the Hero Association to dispatch heroes.
They were already suspicious of the Pulsnal Church, and Yoon Kang-woo's influence was enough to mobilize them immediately.
Boom!
The heroes kicked down the church doors.
"Hero Association! Traitors are plotting here! You've all been deceived by their brainwashing!"
"Where's the leader!"
The church filled with chaos at the sudden intrusion.
Han U-sol and Yoon Na-rin slipped in behind the heroes and locked eyes with Anis amid the devotees.
Yoon Na-rin gave Anis a discreet thumbs-up.
"...?"
Anis tilted her head.
The heroes soon spotted the leader on the podium and surrounded him. A golden-haired man with tanned skin.
The leader flailed in panic before glaring at Anis and bellowing.
"Anis Harper...! Your doing, huh!!"
"...Huh?"
"Fuck...! The plan was almost complete...! Because of your meddling!! Calling in the heroes!!"
Geum Taeyang raged, spewing curses at Anis.
The heroes subdued and bound Geum Taeyang. He couldn't overcome the numbers and fell easily.
A man who seemed to be the hero leader said to the restrained Geum Taeyang.
"That's right. Thanks to Miss Harper over there, our suspicions turned to certainty, letting us deploy fast. Your plan's failed."
"Grk... Betty! Betty, you bitch!! You ditched me and ran!!"
Geum Taeyang screamed into the air this time.
Thwack! The heroes knocked him out with a blow to the back of the head.
The apparent leader approached Anis.
"Excellent work, Miss Anis Harper."
"Huh?"
"On behalf of the association, we truly thank you for preventing our oversight. Without you, we wouldn't have mobilized in time, and disaster would've struck."
The man patted Anis's shoulder with a smile.
"Everyone here owes their lives to you, who braved danger to pass us the intel."
"...Huh?"
Anis's eyes wavered.
"So, how'd you end up infiltrating?"
"Uh... It wasn't infiltration. I just got dragged in by some auntie by chance..."
"I see!!"
The man shouted as if struck by realization.
"It started as coincidence, but you realized the leader was a traitor!!"
"Pretended to be brainwashed, sabotaged the plan, and secretly alerted those around you!!"
"Truly splendid!!"
The man began clapping. Those around him soon followed suit.
From the heroes to the devotees, everyone present clapped while looking at Anis.
"...Well, you could see it that way."
For some reason, denying it felt wrong, so Anis decided to go along with it.