The First Class Change (1)
By the way, the church of my past life had no name.
It was the only religion in Icadia, so people simply called it "the Church" or "the Holy Nation."
Earth, however, was a different story. With countless religions already filling the world, the one I intended to build would need a name of its own.
And as it happened, it was the elders of Yeonok-dong who gave it one, naturally and without ceremony — the Providence Church.
It was my own name read backward, but it was hardly a bad name, so I figured I could leave it as it was.
"Providence Church — in English, Providence. Not bad at all."
"Hahahaha! I knew it would be!"
"Lee Seop, Seop-ri, and the Weaver of Providence! Anyone can see the Mother herself designed this!"
"That's right! We merely acted according to her design!"
When I showed my approval of the name Providence, the devout believers around me visibly relaxed and brightened with relief.
"That said, we won't be hanging a religious signboard out in the open just yet."
"Hmm? You mean it's time to bide our strength in the shadows?"
Elder Heo caught on to my policy at once and threw the question back at me.
"Yes. The power I possess is both magnificent and dangerous. And right now, when I hold no standing or authority, it is all the more perilous."
"So the name Providence Church has to stay shelved for now."
Elder Heo and the other devout believers of Yeonok-dong looked visibly disappointed.
"We may not be able to use 'Providence Church,' but we can still use the word 'Providence.'"
"How so?"
"We start a Providence Foundation, and under it, establish a number of corporations. That should do for a beginning."
"Starting a corporation instead of a religion? Well, it's a time-honored method, I'll give you that."
Old Heo Jae-su, who had run businesses in the past, had a gleam in his eyes.
"Not bad at all. To start, I'll invest my entire fortune into the Providence Foundation... no, donate it."
"Are you sure you want to decide that quickly? Let's think it over a little more."
"Don't make me say it twice."
"Lee Seop, take my land deeds too, won't you?"
"Would you happen to accept crypto or stocks as donations as well?"
"I don't have a house, land, or stocks... Do I just pay my pension into the Foundation every month? I may look like this now, but I earned quite a bit in my younger days, so my pension is a healthy one, mind you."
Once Elder Heo was the first to act, the devout believers nearby began chiming in as if in a competition.
"Seop-ah, I hereby donate my house deed to the Providence Foundation."
In the end, old Kim Sun-ja donated her entire fortune to the Foundation.
Passive Skill Read Emotions (C) activated.
Their desire to commit their assets to the Foundation was genuine.
Is it a peaceful end they hope for? Or salvation after death?
The root of that sincerity, I could not yet read. To peer into a believer's thoughts, I would have to undergo my class change first.
They clearly want something. Especially Grandfather Heo Jae-su — him more than anyone.
My gaze settled and locked onto the old man.
At present, Elder Heo was a devout believer.
And the richest man in all of Yeonok-dong.
Thirty percent of the land and buildings in Yeonok-dong belonged to him.
Yet he collected almost no rent from struggling elderly folks or children, which had earned him the deep respect of the neighborhood.
"Grandfather Heo Jae-su."
"Hmm?"
But donating one's entire fortune to a Foundation, just like that, could not be explained by faith alone.
There was something he wanted. Without a doubt.
"You mentioned your youngest granddaughter is ill, didn't you?"
And I thought I understood why the old man was doing all this.
"...That's right. Can you help her?"
After a brief hesitation, his eyes showed genuine desperation for the very first time.
Handled well, this could secure me an exceptionally valuable fanatic.
Old Heo Jae-su had two granddaughters.
Heo Yu-na, who would be a high school senior next year, and Heo Yu-mi, who should have been starting high school this very year.
"Grandpa! Is it really true that Mister Lee Seop is going to treat Yu-mi?"
"Not 'Mister Lee Seop.' You call him Lee Seop-nim."
"???"
Yu-na stumbled back a step at the sight of her grandfather so solemnly venerating Lee Seop.
"What's gotten into you, Yu-na?"
"L-Lee Seop-nim? Why all of a sudden, Grandpa?"
"Because that man is no ordinary person. If anyone can cure Yu-mi, it's Lee Seop-nim."
"What power could that guy possibly have to cure Yu-mi?!"
"Power? At the very least, he's a thousand, ten thousand times better than those quack doctors."
"He's just a guy who happens to give a decent massage, that's all!"
Heo Yu-na was one of the very few people in Yeonok-dong who regarded Lee Seop with suspicion.
"Watch your mouth! And Yu-na, aren't you being tutored by Lee Seop-nim yourself? For the one receiving his grace more than anyone else to talk like such an ingrate — I've never heard the like!"
These days she was indeed receiving tutoring from Lee Seop.
There were no proper academies anywhere around Yeonok-dong, and private tutors rarely bothered coming to such a run-down neighborhood.
Her grandfather, reasonably well-off as he was, was a complete stranger to the world of private education and had never taken an interest in Yu-na's schooling.
His thinking had been that as long as she attended school, had reference books bought for her, and watched a few online lectures, that would suffice.
Under those circumstances, Lee Seop's existence had been rain after a long drought for Yu-na.
For a girl about to become a senior, Lee Seop's tutoring had genuinely helped — however much unease and wariness she felt toward him.
"Tutoring is a completely different thing from treating Yu-mi!"
But no — different was different.
This was no longer a matter of gratitude.
This was the realm of reason, where her little sister's life hung in the balance.
"It is not different."
"Then why?! Why are you suddenly calling that guy Lee Seop-nim of all things?!"
"Because he is the chosen one, that's why."
"???"
Swallowed by bewilderment and frustration, Yu-na stared at her grandfather.
After exhausting every folk remedy under the sun, now he wanted to hand her sister over to a suspicious man whose only claim to skill was a decent massage.
"Grandpa, please, don't do this..."
Unable to bear the anxiety and the suffocating feeling any longer, Yu-na spoke up.
"Let's try the hospital again. A big university hospital this time."
"What would be the point? Didn't the doctors themselves say they don't know the cause?"
"Maybe a new treatment or research paper has come out since then!"
"Even if we took her to a major hospital, do you think Yu-mi's strength could endure the full battery of tests in her condition?"
"..."
faced with his rebuttal, Yu-na had nothing to say.
Yu-mi was in very bad shape indeed.
Hospitalizing her in a university hospital was one problem, but there was real doubt whether she could withstand the grueling rounds of testing at all.
"Yu-mi..."
Yu-na looked at her sister, two years her junior, lying in her room, eyes trembling.
A girl felled by an illness no one could name, unable to attend school, bedridden for close to three years.
"Haa... haa..."
A child who slept away most of every day. A girl who complained of crushing fatigue even in the few hours she was awake.
In the end, the hospitals had found neither a cause nor a cure.
All Yu-na could do was watch her grandfather throw himself at one folk remedy after another.
Could Mister Lee Seop really cure Yu-mi?
A flicker of hope welled up — only to fade just as quickly.
No matter how I look at it, it makes no sense. The odds are overwhelmingly good that he's a cultist or a con artist.
A man named Lee Seop who had appeared out of nowhere one day.
A kind-faced, good-looking older guy.
Somehow, she kept wanting to look at him, kept wanting to keep talking to him.
That he kept the neighborhood elders company, gave them massages, and tutored her and the younger kids — for all that she was grateful.
Truthfully, every time she saw him her heart pounded for no reason, which was exactly why she forced herself to call him not "teacher" but "mister," curt and cold.
As expected — he's finally showing his true colors. It has to be.
But Yu-na was a high schooler. Hers was a generation that took in every scandal and disaster in the world through YouTube, social media, and online forums.
According to Yu-na's internal big data, Lee Seop fit the profile of a textbook cultist or fraudster.
He would surely demand a fortune, claiming it was for Yu-mi's treatment. No need even to check.
If — and this is a very big if — he tries anything strange with Yu-mi or shamelessly demands money from Grandpa, I'm calling the police.
She kept her reason and her emotions in strict, separate compartments.
Her heart held the feelings of a teenage girl smitten with a young, handsome teacher — but her head carried sharper suspicion and doubt than anyone's.
She didn't want to believe it. She hoped with everything in her that it wasn't true. Even now it ached so wistfully it felt like her chest was tearing open.
And still, every circumstance pointed against Lee Seop.
Ding-dong, ding-dong.
Just then, the doorbell rang.
On the intercom screen, Lee Seop stood smiling a warm, easygoing smile.
"He's here!"
Her grandfather exclaimed heartily and hurried out to the yard.
Truth be told, I had steeled myself considerably for this visit.
I had come straight to Elder Heo's house first thing in the morning, without using a single scrap of divine power.
They called it an incurable illness — one whose cause and cure modern medicine could not identify.
The odds of curing such a disease with the divine power of a mere Cleric were not high.
Still, there should be some improvement.
I was prepared to pour every last drop of Heal and blessing into her until my divine power ran completely dry.
And if a stroke of luck happened to strike midway, all the better.
"Hello."
And so I entered Elder Heo's home.
"You've come, Lee Seop-nim."
Perhaps because we were indoors now, Elder Heo received me with unmistakable reverence.
"......"
And a short distance away stood Yu-na, glaring at me with eyes clouded by a tangle of emotions.
I gave Yu-na a brief nod of acknowledgment.
But Yu-na, still wary of me, didn't even properly return the greeting — unusual for her.
"Is that the room where Yu-mi is?"
After turning away from Yu-na, I took a deep breath and stepped inside.
Elder Heo has finally opened his heart to me. This is my chance. My chance to make a fanatic!
The man who had hidden the very existence of his ailing younger granddaughter all this time had now invited me into his own home — something only possible because he had become a devout believer.
Whether I pushed him further into fanaticism or left him a still-hesitating follower rested solely on me now.
O Mother of All Things, Weaver of Providence, grant me strength.
I traced the sign of the cross in a swift, practiced motion.
If I could turn the most influential figure in Yeonok-dong into a fanatic, everything to come would unfold on a smooth road.
She's asleep.
Under the piercing gazes of Yu-na and Elder Heo, I studied Yu-mi as she lay in her bed.
Hm?
As I examined the girl's condition and checked her status window, an unexpected line of text appeared.
◈ Diagnosis:TREATABLE
The healing that divine power works through Heal varies in difficulty depending on the treatment required.
Mild illnesses and injuries could be cured with a Cleric's Heal alone.
Conditions demanding complex treatment, on the other hand, required higher grades of healing.
Skill Heal (C) × 10 and Bless × 3 will achieve a full cure. (Total divine power required: 160)
And there it was in the status window before me: the word treatable.
It wasn't only the status window. My own sense for reading divine power was sending back positive signals as well.
So the disease hasn't been identified and no cure has been found — but the treatment itself must be simpler than anyone imagined.
Joy blossomed in my chest.
Delight that things were turning out easier than expected, and happiness that I could actually cure this young girl, surged within me.
"What do you think, Lee Seop-nim?"
Elder Heo's voice came from behind me.
"She's a truly pitiable child. When she was in elementary school, her father and mother died in a plane crash. The grandmother she was closest to was taken by a stroke... After that, she wasted away grieving until she became like this."
Thud!
The sound of Elder Heo's knees striking the floor of the room rang through the air.
"I'll do anything. Please, I beg you — save Yu-mi."
Unaware of what was in my heart, the old man pleaded with everything he had.
"A full cure isn't necessary! Even if you could only sustain her until a treatment is found, that would be enough!"
There was, admittedly, another path — to deliberately draw the treatment out over weeks and months, gaslighting him all the while.
That way I could wring far more out of him.
But that is not something a human being does.
I would never, ever stoop to that.
The moment I did, the Mother who had placed her faith in me might well strip my divine power away in her disappointment.
"I will proceed with the treatment. I will give it everything I have."
I would give the treatment my full strength, all at once.
Still, I gave no firm promise.
Even a one-shot cure needed a bit of dramatic staging — the sense of a hard-won, miraculous healing.
Something on this level the Mother of All Things would surely smirk at, murmur "he's working hard," and let it pass.