Wrong Choice
“Why haven’t you contacted me? I was worried.”
—Sorry. Nothing happened in the Grand Canyon? There were so many monsters…
The Doctor’s worried voice came through the phone. I answered as if it were nothing.
“It was a bit rough, but I got out fine. What are you still doing in Lyon?”
—Ah… I’ve been busy with interrogations and organizational restructuring…
“Restructuring?”
—I’m rooting out the corrupt people in the international organization so they can pay for their crimes. I want to put clean people in their places this time. It’s taking a while because I have to investigate their backgrounds. There are other things I need to look into too… It’d be boring if only the squeaky-clean ones were left… and it’d be awkward to use them as emergency contacts. I should have Marcela erase a few people’s records. Anyway, hearing you dig into people’s backgrounds without caring about the means makes me so proud I could burst.
“Other things you need to look into?”
—There are some. I’ll tell you when I get back. It’ll probably take a few days. I have to go back to work now. Make sure you eat properly… I’ll call you whenever I can. You really didn’t get hurt, right?
“I’m fine. Don’t worry and just focus on your work.”
—Okay. I’ll hang up now.
After ending the call, I smirked. The fact that I had nearly died seemed to have hit her hard, and now she was doing all this. It was admirable. But her voice had sounded off, and that bothered me. She seemed exhausted… When she returned, I’d have to cook her something nutritious.
While I was once again absorbed in crafting the Device, a voice came from my left shoulder.
“What are you doing?”
Startled by Adele’s voice, I flinched and turned to look at her.
“When did you get here?”
“Just now. Didn’t you even hear the lab door open?”
“No… I was focused…”
“You didn’t notice your beloved arrived… I’m disappointed.”
“I have no excuse, even with ten mouths.”
Wearing a repentant expression, I stood up, cupped Adele’s face with both hands, and pressed a deep kiss to her lips. Adele, who had been giggling with her eyes closed, smacked her lips regretfully when I pulled away. As I stroked her hair from top to bottom, I asked,
“You didn’t put your hair up today? It’s different. Is there a reason?”
“It’s because of you, Jihyeok.”
“Because of me?”
“Yes! You left a kiss mark on the back of my neck.”
“Embarrassed to show it to others?”
At that, Adele pouted.
“Jihyeok! How many times have I told you not to jump to conclusions!?”
What do you mean, don’t jump to conclusions… You’re embarrassed to show it, aren’t you?
“I’m sorry. But am I not even allowed to voice my opinion?”
“Are you arguing with me right now?”
“Not really, but it feels a little unfair…”
“Once your punishment is over, you can voice it all you want!”
She was making up childish excuses to extend the punishment period, yet she spoke so well.
“Understood.”
“Good. Since we’re on the topic of punishment, I’ve decided on an additional one for you. Well, it’s more of a reward than a punishment. So be grateful for my generous heart.”
“A reward… What is it?”
“From now on, you’re going to build a temple near Uijeongbu where we can enshrine Lady Rosario. It’ll be a building similar to a church or cathedral so modern people can easily approach it. How about that? Just imagining it makes you feel good, doesn’t it?”
What…? It only made me feel disgusted… A temple for the Rosario faith… If I obediently built it, Rosario might descend and smite me with divine punishment. Besides, if there was a temple, Adele’s wavering heart would probably steady itself, so I had to refuse outright. I needed to eliminate any risk factors.
“So you’re planning to proselytize.”
“That’s right. I’m also planning to officially appoint you as a follower, so starting today, look into construction companies.”
“Adele… I agree with your opinion, but could we delay the timeline a bit?”
“Delay it?”
“With the current recession, headquarters maintenance costs are tight… I might have to sell a few companies.”
Adele raised a hand to her mouth.
“I-is that so…? Is the situation that bad?”
“It’s not to the point of tightening our belts, but it’s not great.”
“In that case… We could make it smaller… Even a one-pyeong temple would be fine…”
She really couldn’t give up on the temple no matter what. Was Rosario that important to her? Don’t make me feel bad.
“One pyeong…? A temple enshrining Lady Rosario being only one pyeong… Even the oldest churches or cathedrals on Earth aren’t that small. I’d like the first Rosario temple to enter Earth to boast the finest facilities.”
“Really…?”
Her ears perked up, didn’t they? I nodded with a serious expression.
“If we’re going to build a temple anyway, it’d be better to make it grand, wouldn’t it? Later, when there are more followers, multiple temples will be built, and if the main one is smaller than the branches, it’ll be difficult for proselytizing. Once things improve, I’ll definitely commission a construction company.”
“The Rosario faith values spiritual matters more than material ones…? There’s no need for it to be grand at all. If a follower complains about the facilities, I’ll simply reject them.”
“Of course, faith is the most important thing.”
I smiled brightly as if she’d given the correct answer, pulled Adele close, and sat her on my lap. Then I gently stroked her cheek with my thumb.
“Let’s seriously think it over together later. The timing really isn’t good right now.”
Completely taken in by my troubled expression, she nodded.
“All right… It’s a shame, but I’ll allow the postponement.”
She was this naive, yet she was talking about a temple… You came up with a pretty good method from your perspective. Throw away that useless idea and just do as I say. Just focus on the pleasure I give you. You’re a good girl, aren’t you? You should listen to me well.
‘Before I have any more of these disgusting thoughts, I need to move up the trip with Silvia.’
As long as holy power resided in Adele’s body, I couldn’t inject Malice through ordinary means. It would obviously be detected. It was an incredibly troublesome power, but it definitely had a weakness. That weakness was Adele’s emotions… in other words, her heart. I was in the process of turning her heart, which firmly followed Rosario’s teachings, toward me. But that alone wasn’t enough, so I had brought Silvia into it. I planned to sow discord between Adele and the person she trusted most, make them fight, plant evil thoughts in her, and once I judged the time was right, inject neutralized Malice into her Aether. If the Malice and Aether then harmonized at that point? I would no longer have to worry about holy power.
@@
—I’m telling you, it’s really not true!? I did commit corruption. I admit that. The money I embezzled alone amounts to hundreds of billions of euros. But colluding with those insane monsters… I haven’t fallen that far!
The Doctor watched Pierre, the director, desperately defending himself beyond the monitor. The video she was watching was the recording of the interrogation conducted the day after Pierre’s arrest. She wasn’t watching it to prove his innocence. Even if he hadn’t colluded with monsters, he was someone who deserved to die for the corruption he had committed so far. Nevertheless, the reason she was replaying the video of a man whose sentencing was already over and who was only waiting for his execution date was because something about it felt off.
“This is strange…”
Pierre’s evidence had been vague at first, like grasping at clouds. But when the puzzle pieces scattered like a cellular organization were put together, everything became clear, and thanks to that, she had been able to arrest him and the Interpol red-notice targets. It should have been a satisfying achievement. However, The Doctor felt as if she had been deceived. It was as if all of this had been a meticulously crafted script. She only had a hunch… but perhaps Pierre and the red-notice targets weren’t the masterminds behind it. The feeling was that she hadn’t been fooled by his genuinely indignant outburst, but rather that someone had set Pierre up as a scapegoat.
‘The monster that fought Adele said the same thing… We’re being deceived by Tairat.’
Of course, one shouldn’t believe a monster’s words. However, Jihyeok was involved in the center of several incidents that had occurred so far, and monsters conveniently appeared whenever they tried to do something… There were more than one or two suspicious points. The situation was too coincidental, as if they were moving according to Tairat’s intentions.
After turning off the video, The Doctor began analyzing all the evidence from this case. She also looked into every incident that had occurred before. While searching through the Syria incident, which could be considered the most significant event from the early days, The Doctor suddenly had a strange thought.
Jihyeok had infiltrated Syria for the sake of humanity without her permission and had nearly been captured and humiliated. He had possessed such an outstanding sense of mission, so why had he come to hate humans? The old Jihyeok had been someone who would never break. She was certain. That was why she had made him her assistant in the first place. He was smart and had firm convictions, so she had brought him in as a colleague. Of course, that incident had been so shocking that it was enough to change his values. When they discussed humans, Jihyeok himself had even said that incident had been significant. However, Jihyeok had continued to act for the sake of humans even after the Syria incident. Even if he had wavered, he hadn’t broken. Until just before he properly met her, he had been a truly righteous person, so why had he changed?
‘At that time, Jihyeok was… meeting with Sehwa.’
Coincidentally, Sehwa’s personality had also changed slightly around that time. Not long after the Syria incident, a lion-like monster had appeared. At the time, Sehwa had hesitated before killing it, saying it was pitiful. Back then, she had thought Sehwa was just struggling and let it pass, but even in her transformed state, where her sense of justice should have been strong, saying something like that… That wasn’t all. After that, Sehwa had shown a tendency to view humans as insignificant. She had improved a lot now, but… it had definitely been strange.
Could it be… that Sehwa had been struggling due to some external influence and had confided in Jihyeok about it? Had Jihyeok, influenced by that, come to deeply empathize with Sehwa’s feelings? If so, it made perfect sense that he had come to hate humans.
There had been a brief period when monster appearances had temporarily decreased. The Syria incident had occurred during that timing, and after that, it had been quiet for a while before monsters began appearing frequently again. During that blank period, Tairat might have been plotting some scheme, and they might have fallen for it. That scheme was discord caused by division. What if… what if Tairat, thinking he couldn’t win with force alone, was trying to gradually corrupt the values of righteous people? What if Tairat was planning to use them to divide the Earth? What if the monsters appearing now were a smokescreen to encroach upon the Earth?
‘Have I developed schizophrenia…? Am I having delusions?’
Even so, when she organized everything that had happened so far, it was a delusion with possibility. It was worth investigating. Tairat was an extremely vile Demon King, so it wouldn’t be strange no matter what method he used. Fine, let’s assume this hypothesis is true for now. Jihyeok and Sehwa were being played by him, and their values had changed without them even knowing. The Doctor herself had also been influenced by Jihyeok, and because of that, she couldn’t view the situation objectively. That was why she needed help. The help of someone who would never yield to Tairat’s schemes.
Bang!
After slamming her laptop shut, The Doctor picked up her phone and called someone. After the ringing tone passed, a while later,
—Hello?
A calm voice came through. The Doctor spoke.
“Sorry for calling so early. Were you sleeping?”
—No. I woke up late and can’t fall back asleep. But why does your voice sound like that? You seem urgent…
“Something big seems to have happened. I need your help.”
—All right. Where are you right now?
“France, Lyon. You might have to travel all over the world, so it could take a while. Is that okay?”
—If it’s Doctor’s orders, of course I have to help. I’ll head over right away.
If the hypothesis she had thought of was true, then Yuria, whose kingdom had been destroyed by Tairat, whose parents had died, and who still held abundant compassion for humans, would be the most reliable ally in the current situation. Having overcome tremendous hardships, she could be said to have the strongest mental fortitude among the Beast Slayers. Her relationship with Jihyeok was also merely that of colleagues, nothing more and nothing less, and they had almost no points of contact, so she wouldn’t have been affected by any schemes. Even if Sehwa, whom she had been frequently with lately, had influenced her, if she was told that Tairat was involved, she would immediately steady her heart.
Even if the hypothesis wasn’t true, she needed to move with Yuria. Since Yuria was knowledgeable about monsters, she would be a great help in the investigation she was about to conduct, and since she held no hostility toward humans, she could make cool-headed judgments.
“Thank you. Meet me at the portal closest to Lyon right now. I’ll have the area cleared.”
—Yes, Doctor.
“Ah, and move in secret. You know what I mean, right?”
—Understood.
After hearing the reliable answer from Yuria and ending the call, The Doctor put on her coat, hoping that her thoughts were merely delusions and unnecessary worries.