Chapter 21
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: There Are Breakwaters Everywhere
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I quickly cleared away the Lotus Sect handmade hangwa from the desk and poured a glass of orange juice for the nun.
"So, what brings you here today?"
Last time she visited, she tested me with St. Thekla's Rosary and the Earrings of Exhalation.
I remembered it wasn't so much that she truly saw me as the Antichrist, but more that she suspected I was a shaman or an onmyoji.
Was she here for the same reason today? Or had she really come to entrust me with a commission?
Either way, the Church was one of the few groups flush with cash even in this world, so I figured they'd pay well for the job.
"Well... I came today because I'd like to commission a search."
"A search?"
"Yes... Um, didn't you recently find that student, Han Ye-rim...?"
Han Ye-rim, the high school girl who had been flung into the hidden world by the media-type anomaly called 'Subsound' and kidnapped by the Melody Recorder.
It seemed the Church had gotten wind of that incident.
"That's right. I did find one missing student."
"That's why..."
Sister Shin Seo-hyeon pulled some documents from her bag.
It was a profile on some priest, complete with detailed records.
"There's a priest we've been looking for since four years ago..."
"Hold on. You've been searching for him for four whole years?"
"Yes... Here, all the details are written down."
Skimming the document Sister Shin Seo-hyeon handed me, I saw they were looking for the parish priest of a Seoul Archdiocese parish.
"Does it make sense that the Church still hasn't found a guy like this?"
The Church's search capabilities had to be better than mine.
And they were commissioning an outsider like me to find a missing parish priest from a Seoul Archdiocese parish? That was suspicious.
The even weirder part was that he'd already been missing for four years.
In a world overrun by anomalies, heretics, and all sorts of other monstrosities, he'd evaded detection for four years?
And from the eyes of Korea's most powerful Church, no less?
The odds of him already being dead were extremely high.
Why bring me a commission like this? What kind of test were they trying to pull this time?
"Well... We recently discovered traces of the priest again."
"Traces of a priest who hadn't shown his face for four years have suddenly reappeared? Didn't he just hole up overseas and come back?"
"No... We've scoured every trace over the past four years, and there's no record of him fleeing abroad. He had no reason to flee overseas either..."
A man with no reason to flee abroad, let alone vanish, had dodged the Church's eyes for four full years... and now suddenly showed signs of activity?
"This is a hard one to wrap my head around. A guy with no reason to hide from the Church vanishes for four years and then pops up again. This really the priest?"
"Honestly, that's our doubt too... Whether this is really Priest Kang Yo-han... or something wearing his skin..."
"Hold on. I have a few more questions. Why come to me instead of having the Church handle the search themselves?"
"There are... three reasons for that."
"Three reasons?"
"Yes..."
Sister Shin Seo-hyeon explained why the Church couldn't move on this.
"Truth is, a major incident broke out recently... So most of our priests are out handling that. And the Church's internal reaction to this case isn't great."
"Not great?"
"It might be the fall of our devout parish priest... No one wants to step up. Priest Kang Yo-han was highly trusted, so everyone's wary. And for our brothers and sisters with weaker mental fortitude... it could plant seeds of doubt."
If he'd just died somewhere, that'd be one thing.
But if Priest Kang Yo-han was alive and committing sins, it would put the Church in an awkward position.
This was also a measure to protect the mental state of any Church priests or nuns investigating, or clergy who might confront him directly.
"So you're handing it to an atheist like me."
"We understand Fixer Lee Do-hyun has no religion. Rather than faith in God, you work in this field for personal gain... That's our assessment."
"Well, not wrong. I'm no volunteer."
I definitely wanted to save people, but I also wanted to make money.
I was different from Buddhist monks who threw themselves into the fire for no reward, or Catholic priests who saw sacrifice as a given.
I moved for my own gain and to resolve my clients' cases. That's what a fixer did.
"That's why we need your help, Fixer... Someone who confronts evil not for religious motives, but other reasons. And unlike Anomaly Management Department agents, not tied to any group, yet believed to possess considerable skill..."
"So that's why you came to me. You see me as the right person for the job?"
"Yes. From your last visit, we ruled out shaman or onmyoji... So we want your assistance."
This explained the three reasons Sister Shin Seo-hyeon wanted to entrust a Church internal matter to an outsider like me.
First. For some unspeakable reason, they were critically short on priests they could deploy for this.
Second. It'd be hard to get an average priest or nun to see this through to the end.
Third. They needed someone without religious beliefs or motives, unaffiliated with any group.
"I get the gist. Any chance this is connected to... that thing?"
"Not certain, but... there are suspicious signs."
"Similar omens?"
"Yes..."
Something wearing Priest Kang Yo-han's skin—like a 'demon'—might be plotting something.
The Church wanted to deploy an outsider like me because I'd be easier to handle as a freelance fixer.
"If it's that important but you're short on priests, what the hell happened?"
"Something even bigger is happening in the West Sea... That's all I can tell you."
"Ah..."
Something happening in the West Sea, at sea, meant it was seriously bad.
In the World of Doom, sea-related anomalies were all top-tier threats.
'Things tied to the Old Gods.'
No time to be surprised by demons showing up...
If the Old Ones crawled out, it wouldn't just topple a city or country—it could mean the end of all life on Earth.
It might sound dire at first glance. The catch was, in the game, stuff like this happened pretty often.
Incidents players couldn't intervene in yet due to low levels were handled by the Church, Buddhists, or similar groups.
If you're wondering, 'Why push hard jobs on weak players instead of handling them yourselves?', it's usually because some 'bigger problem' hit and they had almost no manpower left. A matter of plausibility.
That's how it worked in the game. Various factions acted as breakwaters until players leveled up enough, then players started blocking disaster-class anomalies.
In short, other groups bought time while players grew strong enough.
So while they played breakwater, I'd handle minor incidents, build my rep, and solidify my position for the big events.
"I get the situation. I'll take the search for Priest Kang Yo-han."
Especially since the entity wearing Priest Kang Yo-han's skin started moving right when something appeared in the West Sea.
It meant it had timed its actions knowing the Church couldn't respond properly.
If I didn't help here, the Catholic faction could take a major hit or collapse.
Losing a breakwater like that would be bad, so taking the commission was the smart play.
"Thank you... The search starts in three days. Come with me... Probably heading to Incheon."
"With you? Not solo?"
"Yes. Truth is... I'm the lead investigator on this case. My search skills are lacking, so I can't just dump it all on an outsider... I'd like you to search with me."
"Aha..."
I'd thought she'd dump it all on me, but no. She must've called me because she couldn't investigate properly alone.
Anyway, commission accepted. Prep by three days from now and head out with her.
The Church probably didn't know my exact combat prowess yet, so they figured I'd find Priest Kang Yo-han's location, then their inquisitor Sister Shin Seo-hyeon would handle the exorcism or whatever.
Find Priest Kang Yo-han
The quest popped up too. Hard to find clues through the quest like usual.
"Um... Fixer... by any chance..."
"Yes?"
"Do you have a license and your own car...?"
"Uh, yeah?"
Surprisingly, though I'd never bought one, I now had a car.
A masterless automobile, the gray sedan I'd tamed in that underground parking lot where no such thing should exist.
Less a personal vehicle, more a pet, but I could drive it, so it counted as my own ride, right?
"Aha... Good..."
"What's up?"
"Well... Two days ago... I got into an accident. No car to drive now..."
"What? An accident?"
"Yes... I'm still bad at driving, so I hit a pole..."
The nun had totaled the car the Church gave her.
Already short on priests, and now she'd wrecked a Church-issued vehicle too. She seemed even more of an airhead than I'd thought.
Then again, she'd let me scam her out of commission fees last time like a sucker, so yeah, airhead fit.
"I'll include gas money in the commission fee."
"Yes. Sounds good, Fixer."
I wondered what reaction she'd have when she saw the car I drove was an anomaly.
Church folks insisted anomalies must be exorcised on sight, so I was a bit worried about Sister Shin Seo-hyeon's response, but I couldn't exactly hail taxis to hunt demons.
"Then... I'll head out. I'll come back in three days. Prep in the meantime."
"Yes. Take care."
Sister Shin Seo-hyeon bowed her head and descended the stairs.
Still no elevator for her.
"She gone?"
"Yeah. Three days till start, so we've got some breathing room."
Sowol, who had slipped out of the ring unnoticed, popped a hangwa into my mouth and stuck one in her own.
Now I could finally rest a bit?
Luckily, no other visitors seemed to be coming today.