Change (1)

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Change (1) — Third Floor of the Hanmaum Guwon Cult

"Wh-what the hell did that son of a bitch just say?"

"Yoon Ayoung, Jeong Shinwoo. Get behind me."

Ignoring Kim Cheolsu's insolent snapping, I called Ayoung and Shinwoo to my side. After confirming the two of them had scrambled into position behind me, I spoke again.

"From today onward, you are the glorious rank-and-file believers of the Hanmaum Guwon Cult. You must submit to my word as the Cult Leader, but if you follow along well, you'll be granted ample compensation and—"

"PWAHAHAHA! You're calling yourself a Cult Leader, you sorry piece of—"

Crrrunch—

The sickening sound of bone wrenching against bone filled the room. I deliberately waved my hand back and forth in front of everyone. Their trembling eyes left my fingers and followed the invisible line outward in a straight trajectory.

"AaAAAAAAAGH!"

With every twitch of my hand, Kim Cheolsu's head kept twisting at increasingly unnatural angles. Beside him, Lee Gyeongmin started convulsing, piss spreading across the floor beneath him.

"In the tutorial, the fairy always kills the first human who opens his big mouth. It's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tradition."

"AAAAAGH! U-UUUUUUH!"

"Gyeongmin, do you want to die too?"

"HuuK— N-n-no, sir! No, Cult Leader-nim!"

Thud—

The body I'd been holding aloft with telekinesis collapsed pathetically onto the floor. I pushed the tongue that had lolled out of his once-yapping mouth back in with a flick of thought.

"……"

Amid the frozen chaos of shock and terror, I picked up where I'd left off.

"So, you all… ah, shit! I lost my place again!"

"Y-you said you'd grant ample compensation if we followed you well, sir."

"Ah, right, that's it. Thanks, Ayoung."

"Hehehe—"

I cleared my throat and straightened my neck.

"If you obey and follow my word, I will guarantee you a comfortable bed, good food, and proper facilities. Any questions?"

"……"

With the leader of the opposition, 'the late Kim Cheolsu,' lying dead with a twisted neck, the silence was entirely expected.

I glanced over at Seong Gaeul, who had been strangely quiet this whole time. The one person who should have objected most fervently stood there half out of her wits, not making a sound.

Something must have happened again while he was persuading Kang San.

So Kang San was playing the martyr again, was he? 'My brother never did anything for me' — and then he goes and leaves behind a gift like this on his way out.

Ah, Kang San, you endlessly generous man. I will enjoy your camp, and your women, with gratitude.

I touched the [Cult Leader Statue] in the religious facility menu and installed it right beside me. The moment I did, sacred light began pouring down onto that spot in a straight beam, and from the ceiling, my massive stone likeness descended slowly.

Thud—

A blinding flash erupted as the statue settled into place, forcing everyone's eyes shut.

"Grrrgh—"

I opened my eyes slowly to the sound of Seo Taesan groaning in agony.

The statue's appearance was nothing special, really. The face of the great man himself — a figure you'd see on busts at schools and tourist sites, except that face happened to be mine — carved from white marble that looked undeniably expensive. If those counted as features, then fine, features they were.

Current Faith: 5,900 (300/H)

Ha. Apparently being a Holy Relic meant the Faith cost of even a single level was astronomical. Choking back blood-flecked tears, I pressed my hand to the statue. The white energy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠flowing through my body began to drain into the stone, absorbed in full.

Vmmm—

Along with a suitably sacred sound effect, the statue grew visibly larger before my eyes.

Fwaaash—

Light spreading from the crown of the Cult Leader Statue began expanding gradually beyond the library walls.

Screech—

I slid the window open with telekinesis to check, and there it was — a dome stretching all the way to the library's doorstep, shielding the entire building.

Even the name of the authority alone gave me chills.

The description was simple, but the power behind it was anything but. Awe washed over me. As long as the Cult Leader Statue — the Holy Relic itself — remained unbroken, I now possessed an absolutely safe zone that was mine and mine alone.

Whoa! I only raised it one level and the ability is already insane?

The 5,000 Faith didn't feel wasted at all. No — even if it had cost ten times that price, I would have gritted my teeth, scraped it together, and paid it anyway.

The requirement had doubled in one leap, yet it somehow didn't feel excessive at all. If I just scrimped for a couple of days, I could gain an ability on par with Heavenly Barrier again!

Faith. From today onward, I had to grind for Faith like my life depended on it — because it did.

Just as I was starting to collect my thoughts, a sharp, acrid stench jabbed at my nose. Only then did I notice Lee Gyeongmin, still standing there hunched awkwardly in his urine-soaked trousers.

"Gyeongmin."

"Y-yes, hyung."

"A lowly believer calling me 'hyung'? How insolent. From now on, you will address me as Cult Leader-nim."

"Y-yes! C-Cult Leader-nim!"

"Go change your clothes. If you don't have any, come back without them."

"I-I'll go right away!"

I sent the scrambling Gyeongmin up the stairs and turned my gaze to Kim Cheolsu's corpse.

"Shinwoo."

"Y-yes! Cult Leader-nim!"

As expected, our Shinwoo could read the room. The man might just live to a hundred on his instincts alone. He nodded eagerly at my satisfied smile, and I could see the trembling relief washing over him.

Then, a deliciously amusing situation occurred to me.

"Wh-what should we do about the zombie?"

"Huh? Wh-what?"

"That thing. The zombie I had no choice but to deal with."

"Uh… th-that…"

Shinwoo fumbled, unable to hide his bewilderment. I turned the question to Yoon Ayoung behind me instead.

"Ayoung-ah, what is that thing?"

"A z-zombie! A very, very bad zombie — and O-Oppa killed it for us!"

"How does our Ayoung always know exactly what Oppa wants to hear? Shinwoo's got a long way to go, doesn't he?"

"O-only slightly better than that p-piss-soaked idiot over there!"

Well, Lee Gyeongmin had just been officially crowned the designated bedwetter. And in that department, Yoon Ayoung was no pushover herself, was she?

With a mischievous grin, I whispered, "And you?" — and her face flooded crimson from ear to ear.

"Shinwoo, when I say something, you're supposed to understand it. Are you going to clean that up or not?"

"Y-yes! Cult Leader-nim!"

Shinwoo sprinted over and grabbed Kim Cheolsu by both legs, dragging the corpse across the floor. Every scrape of the dead body against the tiles painted fresh terror across the believers' faces.

"Everyone to the rooftop."

Scrape—

The believers poured out of the reading room as if they'd been waiting for my cue to eject them.

…Huh?

Usually in moments like this, their legs would be frozen solid, giving me the chance to strike a dramatic pose and declare, 'I do not say things twice… none of you may leave!'…

Damn it all. The human survival instinct truly was a magnificent thing.

"Ah, Kim Eunbyeol. You stay."

"Y-YES?!"

I had told Eunbyeol to stay, but the startled shriek came from right beside her. After calming down Yoon Ayoung yet again as she plunged into needless despair, I seated Kim Eunbyeol back at my side.

"Ayoung-ah, don't eavesdrop. Go on up."

"Eep—"

Once I confirmed that Yoon Ayoung — who had clearly been planning to spy on the conversation through the minimap — had gone upstairs, I turned to Kim Eunbyeol.

"What do you think?"

"About… what, Cult Leader-nim?"

The cool, composed librarian I'd met on day one was gone. The confident eyes and assured tone had died a little the moment she witnessed Kim Cheolsu's end. But she hadn't completely capitulated — of course not. I could tell from her speech alone, but more tellingly, there was no 'Proof of Faith' visible anywhere on her body.

"This might just be prejudice, but you're a librarian — you must read a lot. In this situation, is there truly not a single thing you're curious to ask me?"

"…No, Cult Leader-nim."

Short answers, stonewalling, all the way through. If anything, the more I poked, the faster my own interest cooled.

I plucked her glasses off her slightly bowed face with telekinesis and forced her trembling chin up — she was shaking, probably picturing Kim Cheolsu's fate — and took a long look.

Right, as I always ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠say: to judge whether a woman is truly beautiful, you have to take the glasses off first. Even just removing those thick lenses brought her features vividly to life. The librarian aura combined with that mature face gave off a rather potent charm. She was a bit older than Yoon Ayoung or Seong Gaeul, but plenty of men out there preferred exactly that.

Should I just plow her right now?

I tilted my head at the greatest dilemma of my life, which had sprung up out of nowhere. Even if I forced her right now, she wouldn't instantly become a fanatic. She didn't radiate warmth the way Yoon Ayoung did, and that awkward, half-defiant posture of hers was more submissive than Seong Gaeul's, but only just.

The thrill wasn't there. Her appeal as a person simply hadn't reached me yet.

Shit, is this really the point where I start becoming a picky eater?

Either way, my second target was, without question, Seong Gaeul. I figured it wouldn't hurt to build her a hill to lean on — some safe ground before I started tormenting her mercilessly. Women draw great comfort from their relationships with people.

Of course, if she actually tried to pull some love-triangle sabotage on me, I wouldn't forgive either of them.

"You should head up too."

"…Yes."

With her answer received, I turned to the system functions I actually needed. I touched the Cult Leader Statue and moved it elsewhere.

Nice — so once installed, an object could be relocated for a modest Faith fee.

I could even demolish parts of the building itself. Good. This structure, too, would be remodeled thoroughly to suit my tastes.

I remembered the notification that new items had been stocked in the shop the moment the Cult Leader Statue went up.

As expected, the catalog had been flooded with religion-related items. The 'Promotion Center' mentioned in the tip caught my eye. I searched for it under the Religious Facilities tab in Sanctuary Management, but nothing showed up. Another hidden facility, it seemed — one that only appeared once some unknown conditions were met. Or maybe it was like the early base-building phase of an RTS game.

Who better than a former hardcore gamer to think this way? The moment I framed it like that, ideas and roadmaps came gushing out of my head like water from a burst dam.

First things first — whether scouting or farming, you secure your main base before anything else. An idiot who can't even build his own house properly and charges into someone else's is destined to self-destruct. I needed to build sleeping quarters for the believers, upgrade the statue as fast as possible, construct at least one of each newly unlocked religious facility, and the convenience facilities were urgent necessities even for me.

Once I laid it all out like that, the places crying out for Faith were endless, while my supply was pitifully limited.

Current Faith: 900 (300/H)

Damn it. Faith. I needed Faith so desperately it hurt.

But it didn't matter. I could simply earn more from here on out. Sending all the believers up to the rooftop had been part of that plan all along.

All I had to do was keep grinding efficient, repeatable work.

The zombies around here are running dry anyway.

It was time to start my Faith grind.