Chapter 68
Chapter 68
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 68
Chapter Title: Otherworld Cult (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The headquarters of the Peach Blossom Truth Church, located in Incheon.
Several people had gathered in the conference room of the antique mansion.
"……."
"……."
They were the leaders of a mere band of vagrants, but every single one was part of the Peach Blossom Truth Church's upper echelon.
Including the cult leader Han Jong-hoe and his two attendant secretaries who guarded him.
And seated right below them were the seven elders and the regional branch leaders, positioned throughout the conference room.
Normally scattered across various locations, it was extremely rare for all of them to gather in one place like this.
In other words, it was proof of just how important the agenda of this meeting was.
The roughly ten or so leaders let out groans while staring at the massive screen, all showing the same uniform reaction devoid of individuality.
The cause was the S-rank Awakened who was making waves in modern-day Korea every single day.
[I believe in the Peach Blossom Truth Church.]
It was all because of that one statement Kang Woojin had made on his broadcast appearance.
The people in the conference room had replayed Kang Woojin's broadcast multiple times before finally stopping the footage, each wearing a complicated expression.
"Mm……."
Then, the cult leader of the Peach Blossom Truth Church, Han Jong-hoe, opened his firmly shut mouth.
"……This is problematic."
For a pot-bellied middle-aged man in his fifties, his voice carried a dignity that overwhelmed the entire room.
With his personal Awakening ability and his iron grip on the Peach Blossom Truth Church, he tapped the table and muttered.
"Truly problematic."
His tall attendant secretaries on either side chimed in.
"Indeed."
"It's a problem."
The two men, exceptional in combat ability, responded in a dry tone like marionette puppets.
"What does our First Elder think?"
Han Jong-hoe nodded briefly and turned to the old man seated in one corner of the conference room, asking for his opinion.
The First Elder, the only one among the countless believers who received deference from Han Jong-hoe, let out a deep sigh.
"Well... I can't fathom his intentions at all."
The elderly man, known as the wisest within the Peach Blossom Truth Church and deeply experienced with wrinkles to match, shook his head.
"I see."
Han Jong-hoe didn't blame him and directed his question to the next person.
"Among our church's believers, is there anyone matching his appearance?"
In response, a middle-aged regional branch leader in charge of the church's general affairs department answered.
"No."
"Are you certain?"
"Since his face is covered, I can't say with one hundred percent certainty, but our church strictly distinguishes between Awakened and ordinary people internally."
"Hmm."
"Someone with that level of ability would have caught the inspection department's eye long ago."
"But what if he Awakened recently?"
"That's even more impossible. You know the inspection department monitors and controls every move of our believers."
"Right, of course."
After this sort of fact-checking, Han Jong-hoe scanned the conference room and continued.
"In short, that guy is absolutely not one of ours."
Like the sly fox he was, after going around in circles, he finally hit the nail on the head.
"Then why would he impersonate our church?"
There were two main possibilities.
One: He simply expressed a desire to join the church officially.
Two: Someone who had caught wind of the church's inner workings was declaring war.
Neither was welcome, leaving Han Jong-hoe and the vagrants thoroughly confused.
It was all exactly as Kang Woojin intended.
"Suppose he genuinely wants to join. What would you do, Leader?"
The previous regional branch leader then asked Han Jong-hoe in return.
"Of course, we'd block him. He might uncover the church's reality."
"You'd refuse his entry?"
"Even if he kept his faith after learning our true nature, the uncertainty itself is the issue. His existence is too much of a risk."
"Couldn't we use your ability to pull him to our side? We could make him part of our forces."
"Even with that weird name like Genova or whatever, he's still an S-rank Awakened."
"Ah, um……."
"With his ability unknown, whether my power would even work on him is completely uncertain."
True to form as the one commanding a massive band of vagrants, Han Jong-hoe exercised utmost caution.
"No matter his goal, we really only have one course of action."
The First Elder then stroked his long beard and spoke up.
Excluding Kang Woojin—no, the S-rank Awakened Genova.
With no other options, that was the only thing the Peach Blossom Truth Church could do.
Of course, they couldn't act rashly right away.
Getting their tails stepped on would be a huge hassle.
Even their surface activities aside, they had to be extra careful with their shady backroom dealings now more than ever.
"First, let's uncover his identity."
Han Jong-hoe scanned the room and concluded with a stern expression.
"First Elder, check the believers' lists and look into their relatives and acquaintances. He might be connected to one of our followers."
"Understood."
"Restrict external events for the time being. That one statement of his has the whole world watching us. Everyone, be extra mindful of your words and actions."
Thus, issuing orders one by one, Han Jong-hoe swiftly wrapped up the agenda.
"Third Elder, make direct contact with him separately. Since he's closely tied to Lunar Guild, dig into that side."
"As you command, Leader."
And just as the discussion was wrapping up...
Swipe.
One regional branch leader raised his hand and spoke.
"What about next month's 'Purification Ritual'? Several politicians are scheduled to observe this time."
The Peach Blossom Truth Church's Purification Ritual was an internal event held every one or two months.
It contained the core of their foundation, making it no exaggeration to call it their most important ceremony as a religious group.
'Purification Ritual...'
Han Jong-hoe suddenly reflected on their roots, mumbling to himself.
The Peach Blossom Truth Church, rooted in Taoism.
Their doctrines and ideology centered on harmonizing yin and yang through chamber arts.
Through this cultivation method, also called dual cultivation, they aimed to become immortal sages and ascend to the immortal realm.
"This ritual will proceed without outsiders, just our believers."
Though he ordered the leaders to lay low, Han Jong-hoe couldn't skip their sacred ritual itself.
No matter what, the Purification Ritual had to be carried out.
That was their essence.
From the start, they illegally dealt in mana crystals and artifacts, weapons, drugs, human trafficking, and labor—truly a scourge on Korean society.
And that was just the beginning.
The Peach Blossom Truth Church's vagrants piled up all sorts of evil deeds, then engaged in promiscuous sex with believers under the pretext of purifying body and soul.
Committing sins and washing them away with sex—that vicious cycle was supposedly how they harmonized yin and yang, their teachings and cultivation method.
In other words, the 'Purification Ritual,' open to formal disciples and above, was nothing less than a massive orgy party.
It might sound absurd to call such filth a purification ritual, but...
The disciples of the Peach Blossom Truth Church never doubted the doctrines taught directly by the leader, elders, and regional branch leaders.
They'd been steadily gaslit from the ordinary believer stage, but amusingly, their teachings actually worked to some extent.
The chamber arts circulated mana within the body, healing the frail or even reviving those on the brink of death—a common occurrence.
Not that it was entirely intentional from the church leaders like Han Jong-hoe at first.
Originally dormant until Awakening, people's mana began stirring through this so-called cultivation via sex.
Thus, formal disciples of the Peach Blossom Truth Church could be called quasi-Awakened without exaggeration.
Their influence was no joke.
The church members held absolute faith in immortality, translating to immense loyalty toward the leader.
In reality, they were all the leader's slaves and sex slaves, but through this process, Han Jong-hoe amassed followers without overusing his brainwashing ability.
"Let's end here and disband for today."
They were precisely Kang Woojin's enemies.
In a way, potentially trickier than Choi Si-hyeok and the Radiant Guild.
By uttering just one sentence, Kang Woojin had already restricted their movements as his opening move against them.
"Genova, Genova...'
Han Jong-hoe remained alone in the now-empty conference room, gazing out the window and picturing the masked Kang Woojin's face.
Whether his true face or the church's reality would be exposed first remained to be seen.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Time flew by.
The full autumn weather now felt distinctly chillier.
Kang Woojin had boldly thrown down the gauntlet(?) to the Peach Blossom Truth Church, but his daily life hadn't changed much.
Well, except for one thing, just like before.
"……."
"……."
It was the awkwardly strained relationship between Kang Woojin and Kang Eun-seol.
"Eu……."
The moment Kang Woojin, back from the academy, spotted his younger sister and opened his mouth to speak...
Clunk!
Kang Eun-seol, who had been in the living room, hurriedly dashed back into her room.
She seemed to have been more shocked by the previous incident than expected.
'Was it too early for Eun-seol?'
Kang Woojin scratched his head, left awkwardly standing in the living room.
He'd just hopped on the early education bandwagon like everyone else.
But seeing Kang Eun-seol act awkwardly for over a week now, he had to admit he'd overdone the 'education.'
"Sigh."
Spilled water was spilled, though.
'Time will heal it.'
Besides, it was something she'd have to face eventually anyway, so Kang Woojin brushed it off and headed to his room.
Bzzz!
As he changed clothes, his smartphone buzzed.
[You got home safe, Woojin-ah?]
It was Cynthia.
[Oh, we got cut off earlier—how'd finals go?]
She, whom he'd parted with just ten minutes ago, sent messages in rapid succession.
[Home. Finals were so-so.]
[So-so?! What do you mean so-so?! You skimped on midterms too, saying you were busy with other stuff!]
[It's fine. Just mind attendance, and keeping grades like this is enough.]
Kang Woojin sprawled on the bed, tapping away at his phone screen.
[Don't worry about me—worry about your own exam, Sia.]
Unlike him in the general track, Hunter class final exams were practicals.
And as the last exam of the semester, they were notoriously brutal.
Not that it concerned Kang Woojin.
That was why the general students' finals had been moved up.
[How's exam prep?]
[Yeah, Harin helped a lot, so I'm good.]
[Glad to hear. You two have gotten really close.]
Yoo Harin and Cynthia, once like water and oil, were now thick as thieves.
They still bickered occasionally, but after spending countless nights together, their bond surpassed typical friendships.
It would've been weirder if they hadn't grown close.
Especially after going at it so fiercely with Kang Woojin in between.
[By the way, have you made up with Eun-seol?]
[We weren't fighting to begin with. You can't make up if you didn't fight.]
In stark contrast to them, Kang Woojin sighed anew at his inability to close the distance with Kang Eun-seol.
[What? Woo-chin, you still awkward with Eun-seol?]
Right on cue, Yoo Harin, apparently home, chimed in on the group chat.
[Tsk tsk, should've been more careful.]
Kang Woojin furrowed his brow at Yoo Harin's follow-up.
[You two should've been the careful ones.]
[Hey! To repeat, we cleaned up properly that day! Got up before Eun-seol, showered, even washed the bedsheets spotless!]
[Then she must've heard you two in the early morning. Ah, pussy makes me wanna fuck.]
[You pervert bastard!]
After bantering pointlessly with the two girls as usual, Kang Woojin got ready to head out.
As he threw on a neat jacket and coat, heading for the door...
"Where you going?"
Kang Eun-seol poked her head out of her room and asked his back.
Turning to his sister, who had finally(?) opened her heart, Kang Woojin flashed a brief smile and answered.
"Classmates' gathering."
"Classmates' gathering? They still do those?"
Kang Eun-seol instantly reverted to her usual self, nitpicking his words.
"Isn't that for old guys?"
As if the awkwardness had never happened.
"Strictly speaking, it's not just a classmates' gathering."
"Huh?"
"One of my middle school classmates is getting married this time."
"What? Married?"
"Yeah. It's a dinner to hand out invitations, and we're all going together—like a reunion."
In truth, Kang Woojin wasn't that close to the autumn groom from middle school.
Not close enough for a physical invitation, at least.
But given their age, their networks were inevitably narrow.
With few people to invite, it had come around to even loosely connected middle school classmates.
"Anyway, I'm off. I'll grab dinner there, so take care of yourself and eat well, Eun-seol."
"……Got it. Bring ice cream on the way back. Finished the last ones."
Thus, reconciling(?) with Kang Eun-seol through mundane chit-chat and putting the awkwardness on hold, Kang Woojin waved.
"Sure, heading out. Do well on your stream."
"What's there to do well or not? Just starting out, barely any viewers."
Kang Eun-seol had finally stepped into the world of internet streaming.
"That's exactly when you gotta do well, kid."
After lightly encouraging her, Kang Woojin left the officetel and headed to the meeting spot.
A dinner where he could see Han Ye-eun.
The bar that served as the main event location in the original story.