Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Let's Go on a Date! (2)
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Primordial Truth Cult.
It was, at its core, a pseudo-religion based on Taoism.
Cults like this were typically seen by those around them as groups that caused harm, treated like a scourge on society.
However, the Primordial Truth Cult wasn't your run-of-the-mill(?) kind of cult.
The cult leader himself was an Awakener with brainwashing abilities.
Most of the executives were vagrants, each with their own Awakening abilities, making the Primordial Truth Cult a sort of rogue collective.
In other words, an antisocial criminal organization.
Of course, what surfaced was just the tip of the iceberg, and no one knew their true nature.
And right there, my middle school classmate who belonged to that very Primordial Truth Cult was a heroine with full-on villainess vibes.
Han Ye-eun, who had the cult leader as her father and was destined to become the cult's saintess in the near future.
In a way, she blinked her eyes, trapped in a truly tragic fate.
"K-Kang Woojin?"
She recognized me.
"Long time no see, Ye-eun."
I flashed a bright smile and extended my hand to her.
It was a handshake that came out habitually from all the business dealings I'd been doing lately.
"Ah, uh... yeah, long time..."
Han Ye-eun, who had been wearing a soft expression while proselytizing moments ago, awkwardly smiled and took my hand.
"You've changed a lot, Woojin. I almost didn't recognize you..."
"Really? Well, you've gotten ridiculously pretty yourself."
"Th-thanks..."
We weren't that close in middle school, but having experienced all her backstory and antics through the original story, I spoke to her familiarly.
"Anyway, how've you been? First time seeing you since graduation, right?"
"Yeah. First time since graduation. You weren't big on SNS either, Woojin."
"True."
"You live around here?"
"Yeah, about a ten-minute walk. Around my officetel."
The third wheel, Kang Eun-seol, stood there with her arms crossed, silently watching our greeting.
Whether she was annoyed at having to wait or displeased at being mistaken for my girlfriend, Eun-seol's face was scrunched up.
"Still living in Gyeongseong-dong, huh."
Without noticing Kang Eun-seol's expression, Han Ye-eun continued chatting with me, seeming genuinely pleased.
"And you, Ye-eun?"
"Oh, I live on the complete opposite side. Today I just..."
Han Ye-eun trailed off, glancing down at the questionnaire clutched in her arms.
"You're out proselytizing, huh. I didn't get a good look at that—what's it about? Mind telling me?"
I ignored Kang Eun-seol, whose mouth was practically hanging open, and tried to build more connection with Han Ye-eun.
"Uh, I'll tell you next time. Next time."
Han Ye-eun's expression grew even more awkward.
She seemed to have some reservations about proselytizing to a middle school classmate.
Paradoxically, Han Ye-eun was fundamentally a good person at heart.
It was proof that she still retained her humanity and hadn't fully fallen yet.
"Sure, then let's grab coffee at a café next time. You still got the same number?"
"No, it changed."
"Mind giving it to me?"
"Huh? Oh, sure."
I handed my smartphone to Han Ye-eun.
Tap. Tap tap.
She quickly entered her number.
It felt a bit anticlimactic to part ways so easily, but I wasn't too disappointed.
I was going to see her again at the class reunion anyway.
Having made the promise for later and established contact ahead of time was enough.
Lucky break.
Thinking that, I took back my phone from her and said,
"By the way, I didn't expect you'd be proselytizing already at this point. How's your dad doing, Ye-eun?"
It was meant as casual small talk.
"Huh?"
But to Han Ye-eun, with her far-from-ordinary background, it came as a shock, and she blinked in confusion.
Whoops.
The conversation had gone so smoothly that I'd slipped up without thinking.
I belatedly recalled the setting that Han Ye-eun kept her family situation secret from everyone.
"Who'd you hear that from? About my dad—no, Woojin, do you know something?"
Her face hardened in an instant as she stared intently at me.
"Heard it from my sister."
I scratched my head, mixing truth with lies.
"Sister?"
"Got a stepsister. Lee Yeon-hee. Lives down south now, but she's a follower of the Primordial Truth Cult."
Han Ye-eun's eyes widened like a startled rabbit at this first-time info.
"What?"
Everything I said was true, except for the part about hearing it directly from Lee Yeon-hee, whom she hadn't contacted once.
But Han Ye-eun didn't seem ready to believe it easily.
Strictly speaking, her suspicion was understandable.
True to its rogue nature, the Primordial Truth Cult had a very rigid hierarchy.
At the top was the leader, with executives handling various roles below him.
Under them were the cult's disciples, and below that, the ordinary followers.
In short, ordinary followers were the lowest rung, akin to new initiates.
They handled external propaganda, unwittingly concealing the cult's true face even from themselves.
Lee Yeon-hee would one day become the cult's next saintess alongside Han Ye-eun, but for now, she was just a lowly follower—someone Han Ye-eun wouldn't know.
"She said she saw you and your dad during volunteer work a while back."
"Oh, I see..."
"Probably joined after that. You never met her?"
"No, I've been busy with school and all, so I don't meet the other followers often."
I did my best to dispel Han Ye-eun's doubts, but she still clung to a thread of suspicion and suddenly pulled out her own smartphone.
"Let's talk more details next time we meet. This is your number, right, Woojin?"
Han Ye-eun showed me her smartphone screen.
But there was no phone number displayed.
"Huh?"
Floating on the transparent screen was a two-tone spiral of black and white lines.
"Kang Woojin, no—you two never met me today... Forget you ever met me, forget you ever talked to me..."
A subtle magical power laced Han Ye-eun's voice.
Hypnosis app?
As a member of the rogue group, she was using her smartphone as a medium to evade the Management Bureau's mana detection.
It wasn't an exaggeration to call it a kind of artifact.
"Forget everything, and go back to living your normal lives..."
Kang Eun-seol, caught in Han Ye-eun's hypnosis, replied in a dazed expression.
"Yes, got it, sis. I'll forget everything that just happened."
Han Ye-eun nodded curtly and turned back to me.
"Yeon-hee, was it? Sorry to hear about your sister, Woojin. But don't get any more involved than this. Stay out of it. I'll handle your sister who's joined the local chapter somehow."
Unlike Eun-seol, however, Han Ye-eun's hypnosis had no effect on me.
Swoosh.
The moment she held out her smartphone, I'd controlled my own senses.
Hypnosis ultimately distorted and manipulated human perception through the senses.
No matter how skilled Han Ye-eun was, it was a complete mismatch against me.
Status effects like hypnosis or sensory control were heavily influenced by the user's and target's mana levels to begin with.
The same went for the cult leader—her father's brainwashing ability.
As long as their mana didn't surpass mine, the chance of me falling under hypnosis or brainwashing was near zero.
"Got it, Ye-eun. I'll forget everything."
But I pretended to be hypnotized, forcing a dumb, vacant look on my face.
And shortly after.
Clack. Clack.
Han Ye-eun slowly walked away from me and Kang Eun-seol.
"Huh? Why're you standing there, oppa?"
Kang Eun-seol snapped out of it right away and called to me.
"Did you see someone you know? We gotta go—Cynthia unnie's waiting."
"...Yeah, let's go."
I smirked, etching one last glance of Han Ye-eun blending into the crowd, then started walking.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Why're you so late?"
Yoo Harin's words as she greeted us in front of the department store.
"Did something happen?"
And Cynthia's, with her worried expression.
Having blown past the promised time, I fiddled with my nape awkwardly and made an excuse.
"Came with my little sis."
I dumped all the blame on Kang Eun-seol.
No way could I explain the Han Ye-eun thing to them.
It wasn't that I didn't trust them, but it wasn't time to let them know yet.
Especially Cynthia, who'd gone to middle school with me—she knew Han Ye-eun.
Better to keep it secret until I needed Sia’s help and minimize variables.
My very existence, knowing the original story, was a bundle of variables, already causing butterfly effects everywhere.
No harm in being cautious.
"Why drag me into it? You got lost, oppa—that's why we're late, right?"
Blissfully ignorant of my reasoning, Kang Eun-seol—who'd forgotten the incident entirely—pouted.
"Oh, so you're Woojin's little sis. Heard about you. Nice to meet you—I'm Harin. Yoo Harin."
Yoo Harin added her greeting toward her.
"Call me Harin unnie, nice and casual."
"Ah, sure. I'm Kang Eun-seol."
"Eun-seol, huh. Damn, you're pretty. Could be an idol. Mind a hug?"
I'd heard of hugging someone 'cause they're cute, but hugging 'cause they're pretty? First time.
"Uh, sure. Okay."
With Eun-seol's reluctant permission, Yoo Harin pulled her into a hug.
"Wow. You even smell good. Wanna be my little sis, Eun-seol~?"
Her intentions were transparent—she wanted to bond quick with my sister and rack up points.
"Cut it out, Harin. Let's head in—people are staring. Movie's about to start."
Cynthia checked Yoo Harin while slyly taking my hand.
The two girls, who'd been burning with rivalry since morning, were aggressively vying for my attention in every way.
"Speaking of, you two look stunning today."
Cynthia and Yoo Harin's casual outfits were clearly more effort than usual.
Cynthia in a fresh sky-blue dress and flat wedge heels.
Her coordination, with subtle accessories and a pedicure for accents, screamed college girl on a date.
In short, insanely pure and pretty.
And amid that purity, the faint glimpse of her chastity belt added a perverse allure.
Was that what they called gap moe?
By the way, after ditching Choi Si-hyeok completely, I'd given Sia a spare key.
I'd even told her there was no need to wear the uncomfortable thing all the time.
But she diligently kept it on, savoring the feeling of being owned by me.
What a good girl.
"Sia's one thing, but Harin, your outfit's pretty bold too."
Yoo Harin was the total opposite of Cynthia.
She wore a black sheer blouse, paired with mini skirt-pants that flaunted her figure.
"Like it?"
With a choker around her neck, Yoo Harin grinned and asked back.
"What’s there to say."
I tugged the corner of my mouth, brushing back the stray hair peeking from her ear.
"Whoa... keep saying he's changed, and that damn nerd's turned into a total player..."
Kang Eun-seol openly clicked her tongue watching us three.
"Fine if it's Sia unnie, but Harin unnie, why hang out with my oppa?"
She even questioned the stunningly pretty Yoo Harin, who any girl would envy.
"He's got a crap personality, and that's all he's got going for him—looks."
Yoo Harin burst out laughing.
"He's fun to hang with. In all sorts of ways. Like you said, Eun-seol, he's got the frame, and a handsome face. Nice to look at."
"Him? Handsome? Maybe get your eyes checked, unnie?"
Yoo Harin smiled again at our sibling-like banter.
"You need the eye check, Eun-seol. Anyway, let's go in for real. Time's up."
I lightly smacked Eun-seol's head—in her cap—and led the three girls into the theater.
"Ow?!"
Kang Eun-seol let out a short yelp.
Once she turns legal, I'd tally up today's antics as debt and torment her plenty.