The First Stigma Grant (2)

Suddenly, I decided to shift my perspective for a moment.

If I were someone who knew nothing about the Providence Church, what would this Day of Proof ceremony look like to me right now?

A young, handsome cult leader walks out, delivers a sermon like a corporate pitch presentation, and then — before you know it — performs the ritual of granting stigmas set to music.

And he wields the stage lighting so masterfully that a halo appears before certain people's eyes as naturally as if CG had been layered over a live broadcast.

The people performing alongside him deliver testimonies so polished you'd wonder if they were really ordinary civilians, and not seasoned professional actors.

As if that weren't enough, the faithful watching the stage on-site screamed out prayers and jubilation, tears and cries of rapture without a moment's pause, like some fanatical fandom.

And it would be a crying shame not to mention the live broadcast chat window, too.

People who were almost certainly paid shills kept spamming the chat with claims that something was appearing before their eyes, and — no surprise, birds of a feather — the chat moderators were letting it all slide without lifting a finger.

They only stepped in to scrub the occasional merchant advertisement or comments that insulted the Providence Church too crudely.

'From the outside, we must look like just another trendy, run-of-the-mill cult.'

The word ordinary felt a little off, but hey — these days, even the fraudulent religions pull off this much.

"As Providence wills. All things unfold as Providence wills."

I gave a brief embrace to Heo Jae-soo and Hong Dong-soo, the first two to receive their stigmas.

The two men descended from the pulpit, choking back tears like men half their age.

"Next — Kim Soon-ja! Prayer Meeting Leader of the Providence Church! Come forth swiftly and engrave the Mother's proof upon your body!"

From there, the stigma grantings continued one after another.

I burned through 300 Divine Power with each successive grant, but it replenished faster than I could spend it.

With thousands of people gazing at a single point and offering prayers of fervent devotion, the divine power kept surging in like a flood.

"Next — Sung Ok-ja! President of the Women's Association of the Providence Church! A Provian promised to her mission! Come forth and receive the Mother's divinity!"

Kim Soon-ja and Sung Ok-ja. The two former elderly women — thanks to the Holy Water, they now had to be called "aunties" — had done admirable work managing and watching over the church's members.

Kim Soon-ja in particular had led the prayer meetings with such skill that her contributions to Holy Water production were immense.

With Holy Water still accounting for nearly all of the church's revenue at this stage, the roles those two played were weighty enough to justify bestowing the Cleric class upon them.

"Jin Sung-do! Laborer whom the Mother shall put to great use hereafter! Approach with reverent steps and receive the divinity!"

Next, another of the Providence Church's elders revealed himself.

He was the last of the old guard of the church upon whom I had resolved to bestow stigmas at this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Day of Proof.

I placed the stigma upon a man of seventy wearing the face of someone in his fifties.

"Elder Jin Sung-do, you may begin moving in earnest now."

And then, just as I had with the elders before him, I embraced him briefly and murmured into his ear.

"I have been waiting for those very words."

Jin Sung-do answered my whisper in a voice brimming with devotion.

In his day, he had been a four-term National Assembly lawmaker.

He'd been swept up in one scandal after another, fallen from grace, and even gone to prison — but the political connections he'd forged back then still remained.

For a man like me, who now needed to begin courting this nation's ruling class, he was exactly what I needed.

And so I had granted him the stigma.

When the liturgy concluded,

it was finally time to grant stigmas to the young ones.

"Heo Yuna, faithful daughter of the Providence Church. The Provian whose future burns brightest of all. Come forth. I shall aid your holy endeavor."

"Heo Yumi, pure and steadfast Provian. Girl who carries a burning faith within her. Come forth. All your preparations are complete."

Among the young believers, Heo Yuna and Heo Yumi received their stigmas first.

No one practiced their faith more passionately in the schools and cram-school districts than these two.

Heo Yuna had thrown herself ceaselessly into outreach activities centered on her high school, while Heo Yumi — set to enter high school next year after a gap year spent battling illness — had been organizing the Providence Network throughout the neighborhoods around Yeonok-dong and the cram-school districts.

The results had been so outstanding that withholding the stigma from them was simply not an option.

"Your stigmas have been engraved in the least conspicuous places I could manage."

Unlike those before them, however, the young women received their marks not on the nape of the neck but in the center of the back, between the shoulder blades.

"Next — Kim Min-soo, come forth! Young man who bears the most fanatical faith of all! Pitiable Provian for whom Providence alone is ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠everything!"

Only three remained now, and none of them had been founding members of the Providence Church.

They weren't just newcomers to the inner circle — they had only recently, formally become Provians at all.

Tr-r-r-embling

The young man who had become an official believer through the Raising a Clergy app and had sprinted to Yeonok-dong the instant the worship invitation notification popped up stepped onto the pulpit.

He was so nervous that he shook visibly, trembling from head to toe.

"Min-soo."

"Y-yes! Firstborn Son!"

Min-soo's answer cracked and quavered.

"Your faith burns hot — and it is precisely that which makes it dangerous. Doubt me always, and at times doubt even the Mother herself. Doubt our doctrine."

"B-but… how could I commit such blasphemy…"

"Doubt is not an evil. Doubt is the barest armor the Mother has granted us. Doubt is like iron: the more you strike it, the stronger your faith becomes."

"…!"

"Worry not. When doubt sets you wandering, the Status Window Idol shall serve as your lighthouse. Look to that lighthouse. But doubt the Status Window as well. In the end, the only thing worth trusting is your own conscience."

Straining to keep up my past life's manner of speech, unlike my usual habits, was anything but comfortable.

Even so, the stigma-granting rite had to remain sacred,

so I maintained as dignified a bearing and diction as I could.

"AAAAAH!!!"

The moment his class was bestowed, Kim Min-soo convulsed head to toe, drenched in a fervor deeper than anyone's.

This young man was a peculiar case.

He had become an ordinary believer through the Raising a Clergy app.

The moment he became one, he came straight to Yeonok-dong to be baptized.

And the instant he completed his baptism and finally beheld the Status Window Idol, he skipped right past being a devout believer and became an outright fanatic.

Such heat and passion were precarious — but it was precisely that which made him suited to be a laborer.

"Beginning tomorrow, you will travel the cities of this nation. There, you will help the isolated young people you once were. But you must never proselytize. There must be no coercion of any kind."

"As Providence wills! All things unfold as Providence wills!"

Until recently, Kim Min-soo had been a textbook Resting Youth — a young man left behind by the race.

Because of that, he would empathize with the isolated even better than I could.

Why they couldn't bring themselves to leave their rooms.

What they truly needed.

My clergyman's instincts sent me a signal that this unpolished Cleric would do quite well.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Next — Koh Yohan! Clever Provian who doubts and wanders without end! Soul like iron, hammered without cease! Come forth, I pray."

The man who ascended the pulpit next was Koh Yohan.

Astonishingly, he was a former pastor.

And even now, a pure human being who doubted both me and the Mother.

"I still can't quite believe it. Granting a stigma to an unserious wretch like me."

Koh Yohan spoke up unprompted, standing before me.

"Lee Seop-nim, please reconsider. The elders of the council over there would suit this far better than I would."

His words weren't without merit.

He had become an ordinary believer through Raising a Clergy only recently.

Right after that, he'd attended a worship service and been baptized.

Currently he was a devout believer — but perhaps because of his former profession, he was still wandering.

"Yohan, it is precisely because of this attitude of yours that I am granting you the stigma all the more."

"Honestly… what is even happening here. Neither you nor I are entirely sane, I suspect."

Koh Yohan crossed himself with eyes still clouded by confusion.

It was not our style of holy sign, but the Christian one.

I watched the sight with quiet fondness.

"Keep doubting. Keep watching. Keep holding me accountable."

The man who had borne the majesty of a Pope until now used his everyday tone of voice — just this once.

"Is that really my job? Isn't that oh-so-brilliant Status Window Idol already doing it? The warning function ought to be more than enough for surveillance."

In truth, the Status Window Idols of the baptized came equipped with a guide.

The moment anyone tried to stray too far beyond the bounds, warning windows would pop up without end.

"Surveillance, doubt, and accountability are basic virtues every member of the church must practice. What you are to do beginning tomorrow is something else entirely."

"And what would that be?"

"You will travel the nation and do exactly what I did in Yeonok-dong."

"All by myself?"

"Don't worry. As the days pass, the clergy of Providence will only multiply. For now, do only what you can. Don't overreach, and don't be greedy."

Koh Yohan hesitated until the very last moment, so I granted him his stigma quickly.

"…vidence. All things unfold… as Providence wills."

The moment the stigma took hold, peace and faith at last settled into Koh Yohan's eyes.

He had been a reasonably conscientious pastor even before.

He would do fine as a Cleric of the Providence Church as well.

"And finally — Lee Jeong-ah, Provian who cradles the stars. Come to me."

The stigma-granting rite, long if you call it long and short if you call it short, was at last reaching its end.

"…"

At my summons, a young woman hesitated below the pulpit.

"Come forth quickly. Be not ashamed, be not hesitant. The Mother's decisions are, for the most part, right."

"…"

After a moment, a girl as lovely and luminous as Yuna walked out onto the pulpit.

Even without having received a stigma, a halo seemed to shimmer around the child before me like an optical illusion.

"I stand before the Firstborn Son of the Mother, Lee Seop-nim."

Even her voice was clear and gentle.

It was the kind of voice that made anyone — man or woman, young or old — want to keep listening.

"Lee Jeong-ah, I shall grant you a stigma."

"Can I… is it truly all right for someone like me… to receive it?"

"Why would you think otherwise?"

"I… I was baptized by you barely a few hours ago."

"That does not matter. What matters is your faith, your potential, your talent, your conscience."

The girl's eyes — a swirl of happiness and confusion, worry and apology and hope — were like stars.

"Above all, you have already proven your faith through the app long before today. You reached Fanatic level purely through the app alone. That is a genuinely difficult feat."

This earnest, stubborn girl had been playing Raising a Clergy for a long time.

And yet she had never once come to a worship service, not even after becoming a Fanatic.

It was Heo Yuna who had finally brought her here today.

Her baptism, for that matter, had taken place a mere three hours before the Day of Proof ceremony began.

'Yuna really did bring in a remarkable talent. When she suddenly asked to borrow Director Kim Dae-hoon last time, I wondered what that was about — turns out it was this.'

Lee Jeong-ah truly possessed star quality.

And if divine power were added on top of that?

She would become a mega-star destined to sweep not just the nation but the world. Without question.

'For now I'll grant her the Cleric class, and later advance her to Chaplain. The synergy will be even more explosive that way.'

The Chaplain — the combat-priest class — was also remarkably effective on fandoms.

After all, fandoms and armies were kindred creatures.

"Firstborn Son, if I receive this stigma… what am I to do? Right now, there is nothing I know how to do."

By the time I finally moved to grant Lee Jeong-ah her stigma, the girl — her self-esteem pierced through the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠floor — was on the verge of tears.

"Sing of hope. Bring comfort, happiness, and hope to the people. That is the one and only, all-important task that falls to you."

"Singing…!"

"For that, you must first carry the stigma and devote yourself to trainee life."

According to Yuna, she had already applied for auditions at several entertainment agencies.

Decent ones, Yuna said — agencies that had passed vetting by our Providence Network.

'That's why I rushed to grant her the stigma like this.'

Unless the agencies had collectively lost their minds, there was no way they would fail to recognize a talent radiating divine power and star quality so openly.

Truly, I had squeezed out that divine power as thriftily as wringing the last drop from a rag.

Of course, divine power drained this low replenished swiftly through the prayers of the faithful.

The stigma-granting ceremony — the highlight of the Day of Proof — had concluded.

Above the heads of those who had received their stigmas, faint halos shimmered, the emblem of the Cleric class.

And so the Mother's miracle — visible to any devout believer — was proven once more.

Unlike the devout believers, the ordinary believers — and those who weren't even ordinary believers at all, the outsiders — could not perceive the halos or the light of the stigma-granting at all.

'Something's different!'

Even so, even they could feel that the ten figures looked different after the ceremony than before it.

There had been no great change in their appearance.

But they had to admit that everything unscientific about them — their aura, their presence, the feeling they gave off — had changed.

'Is there really something to that religion?'

Seo Tae-joon, Bureau Director of the Social Safety Department at the National Intelligence Service, had been staring blankly at the broadcast when he picked up his phone.

'I'd better study what algorithms and methods these Providence bastards are actually running.'

Looking at the sorry state of the subordinates he'd had infiltrate the Providence Church, he felt uneasy — a nagging sense that they couldn't be trusted anymore.

And so he made up his mind. He would handle this matter personally.

He installed Providence: Raising a Clergy on his phone.

As he waited, his gaze drifted to the desk.

An ashtray sat on the desk, and atop it, cigarette butts had built themselves into a small tower.

"If divine power really does exist, then at least make me quit smoking."