The College Student - (FIN)

I continued to clear the rooms. This time, I tried the left one...

Ah, damn it.

I’m back at the beginning.

The time it takes to clear these rooms is getting longer. I’ve been taking notes on my phone about the order of the rooms, so I don’t have to worry about getting confused, but... it feels way too harsh that failing a guess sends me straight back to the start without mercy.

Being trapped alone in a confined space for so long makes all sorts of thoughts run through my head.

Suddenly.

A question arose regarding the existence of our enemy, that "college student."

Park Donghyun told me. That the human sacrifice ritual of that cult, "The Last Smile," was performed for the descent of a Fervent Follower.

Kim Junghwan proved that Park Donghyun’s words were the truth, not a lie.

Doesn't something seem off?

A "descent" implies that an absolute being, transcending humanity, is coming down to this land. But that Fervent Follower, the one called the "college student," is already walking around the streets of South Korea naturally, dressed in a college student cosplay. She’s already descended to Earth.

Don't tell me.

Are there two Fervent Followers, not just one...?

It’s not an entirely impossible theory.

It is said that there are a total of three Fervent Followers of the One Who Swallows Shudders. "Nameless" was the first Fervent Follower who presided over "Fear" among those three, and besides Nameless, there are two more Fervent Followers called "Gluttons."

It’s information from the Wiki, so it must be certain.

Therefore, that college student bitch might just be one of the many Fervent Followers of a certain Great One, and she could be committing human sacrifices to summon other Fervent Followers to this land to swallow the Earth whole.

...Just imagining that is terrifying.

She already seems several times more powerful than any other Fervent Follower I’ve met, and on top of that, other Fervent Followers might appear? If that happens, it’s truly beyond what Yoo Iseul and I can handle.

So please, do something.

Oh, Shining Stars.

While I was lost in such random thoughts, I finally reached the twenty-fifth room.

The human sensory organs that had been plastered all over the walls were gone.

The ear-piercing screams, the disgusting texture felt from the floor, and the gaze of the eyeballs flying like daggers—everything disappeared in an instant, and my mind felt a little more at ease.

Watching the sensory organs of people offered as sacrifices makes me feel like my own mind is crumbling in real-time, even without being hit by the anomaly’s mental attacks, so it’s better for my heart not to see them.

...Or perhaps the very fact that those sensory organs were plastered on the walls was the anomaly’s mental attack itself.

Anyway, all I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠can do for them is to dispel the summoning of this Sanctum as soon as possible, or just kill that college student bitch.

Upon arriving in the twenty-fifth room.

I realized that "something" was placed right in the center of the room.

It was as brilliant as sunlight.

And as beautiful as moonlight.

I don’t even know how to describe its form. Even though I was clearly seeing it with my own eyes, it was impossible to accurately describe its shape.

But one thing was certain: it was so beautiful that anyone in the world would be left speechless, staring at it blankly for a long time.

Thank goodness I entered the left room.

If Yoo Iseul had entered the left room, she wouldn’t have known what this thing was.

Not just Yoo Iseul, but even if you brought every Awakened in the world to this spot, they wouldn’t have been able to identify it.

But who am I?

I am the Fervent Follower of the Great One who presides over knowledge, Shining Stars.

Of course, the information might be censored this time too, making it impossible to identify. Still, I should be able to get at least the minimum amount of information.

Soon, I checked the information on that brilliant and beautiful something.

"Whoa."

Why is such a precious item just lying around like junk in this shabby place? It feels a bit awkward to call a human soul an "item," but since the Wiki says it’s a materialized form of a soul, it probably isn’t wrong.

Suddenly, I remembered what Park Donghyun said to me yesterday.

[I have been mortgaged to a religion.]

...That’s right.

Park Donghyun clearly said he was mortgaged to that college student’s religion, "The Last Smile." As if to prove those words, he had a black hole pierced through his left chest.

This... this is a huge harvest.

I don’t know why such a valuable item is just sitting here, but regardless, if I force this materialized soul into Park Donghyun, I should be able to liberate him from the religion.

Let’s handle it carefully.

According to the Wiki, not only Park Donghyun himself but also a "Fervent Follower" can harvest the soul... so that means I, as a fellow Fervent Follower, can harvest this soul too.

Soon, I lifted Park Donghyun’s materialized soul as carefully as if I were handling a sacred relic. The soul was very small, and the texture felt like touching a smooth marble.

But this.

Where am I supposed to keep it?

No matter what, carrying a person’s soul in my hand doesn’t seem right.

The clothes I’m currently wearing are, as always, the Omnia Archive’s head librarian uniform. Which means I was wearing a skirt.

The reason I didn’t come wearing the casual clothes I bought with Yoo Iseul is simple.

I deliberately wore this because I thought Shining Stars would find me prettier if I wore the head librarian uniform. The opponent is a Fervent Follower, after all.

Whether it’s superstition or a jinx, I have to do everything I can to prepare.

Originally, this skirt didn’t have pockets, but carrying my phone in my hand was so uncomfortable that I had it altered to add one. The pocket size was small. It was so small that there was no room left once I put my phone in.

It feels like Park Donghyun’s soul would be perfect for slipping out of the pocket if I moved even a little bit vigorously. It even says it can be destroyed.

If Park Donghyun’s soul rolled out of my pocket, it would shatter into pieces, and in that moment, I would be reborn as a murderer who smashed a human soul.

Hmm.

In that sense.

I should carry Park Donghyun’s soul in a "real" pocket that is much safer than that one.

Soon, I unbuttoned the top two buttons of my shirt and tucked Park Donghyun’s soul deep into the soft, warm flesh inside.

Ugh.

Even I think it’s a bit embarrassing, but there’s no space safer than this. I tried a few quite acrobatic movements, but Park Donghyun’s soul, nestled deep in my chest, showed no signs of slipping out.

Look at that, it’s very safe.

This is what you call a proper pocket.

I bow my head once again to express my gratitude to Shining Stars, who gifted me this natural pocket.

...Geez, thanks a hell of a lot.

When I returned to the hallway, Yoo Iseul was waiting for me. I let out a sigh of relief and opened my mouth toward her.

"Ah, Iseul unni. Thank good—Gyaaaak! W-what is that!"

"This? Park Donghyun’s heart."

What Yoo Iseul was holding in her left hand was none other than a black heart. Whatever magic she had used, the heart was continuing to beat at a steady rhythm in her left hand.

Whether I was flustered or not, Yoo Iseul said.

"Check it."

"I-I don't want to touch it!"

"Just do it."

"...Yes, ma'am."

At Yoo Iseul’s coercive attitude, I obediently listened to her.

Park Donghyun, this guy.

He wasn't just mortgaged once.

"...How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"That this was Park Donghyun’s heart. How did you know? Ah, did you pray to Shining Stars as I advised..."

"As if. Just seeing a black heart, the answer is obvious."

"So you guessed."

"It wasn't a guess, it was a logical deduction."

Hmm, so it was a guess after all.

It’s not like his liver popped out, but seeing a heart pop out of his body is a sight I’m seeing for the first time in my life. However, since I had already acquired "Park Donghyun’s soul," I wasn't that surprised.

Soon, I briefly summarized what had happened in the left room to Yoo Iseul.

"What should we do now? It seems like we’ve done everything we can in this Sanctum."

"I don't know."

"Pardon?"

"I said I don't know. Like you said, we did everything we could in here. There’s no answer."

"..."

Seeing Yoo Iseul speak like this, it really seems like a situation with no solution. We can’t go back to the Association now and return this soul and heart to Park Donghyun. Because as soon as we arrive at the Association, we’ll be arrested on the spot.

Hmm.

So it turns out this is the only way.

Soon, I piously knelt down.

And I began to hold a surprise service with my hands clasped together.

"Hey, Lee Jia."

"Quiet. Don't disturb me while I'm praying."

"You, do you properly realize the situation you're in..."

"I'm serious."

I am more serious right now than I have ever been. When the situation is this hopeless, you have to pray to the great Shining Stars—when else would you pray?

This is a situation where the grace of Shining Stars is desperately needed.

Oh, Shining Stars.

I beg you, please summon Park Donghyun or that college student to this spot.

Watching me pray incessantly, Yoo Iseul began to get angry, as if she were frustrated.

"Hey, you thoughtless bitch! Do you really think the situation will change just because you pray to that damn god..."

Click.

That was when it happened.

A man with a quite familiar face walked into the villa.

"Oh, Jia-nim...?"

It was Park Donghyun.

Watching that scene, Yoo Iseul looked back at me with an expression of disbelief. I shrugged my shoulders once and said.

"See? It normalized."

"..."

"Let's think after we return the heart and soul to Park Donghyun first."

"..."

Yoo Iseul seemed to have lost her words, but she soon regained her composure and walked down the stairs to return the heart to Park Donghyun.

No.

Just as she was about to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠go down.

Click.

Following that, the entrance door of the villa opened once again.

Someone revealed their figure.

Having witnessed that person’s figure with my own two eyes.

I muttered in a small voice without even realizing it.

"...God?"