Chapter 259: "……."
“…….” Mun Yo-seop, Seong Yu-da, and me. An awkward silence flowed between the three of us.
Seong Yu-da stared at me, Mun Yo-seop alternated glances between me and Seong Yu-da, and I alternated between Mun Yo-seop and Seong Yu-da. Since no one opened their mouth, the silence dragged on for a long time.
“……Seong Yu-da, Inquisitor. It's been a while. Or should I call you Senior now?”
Mun Yo-seop was the one who broke the silence. He glanced at me, then strode toward Seong Yu-da as he spoke.
Seong Yu-da said nothing, just stared at Mun Yo-seop. Not even a greeting.
At that moment, Kim Jin-seo, who had been standing a bit away, dragged her sword along the ground as she approached.
“…….”
She looked at me, then belatedly noticed Mun Yo-seop and Seong Yu-da and stopped in her tracks.
In the silence, Mun Yo-seop alternated glances between me and Kim Jin-seo. His face stiffened rigidly as he kept his mouth shut for a moment. He seemed to be thinking something over.
After running some calculations in his head, he flashed a grin at me and spoke.
“We'll talk later. I have a lot to catch up on with Senior here after so long. You chat with that friend of yours.”
“Understood.”
I bowed my head in acknowledgment and headed toward Kim Jin-seo. I was inwardly grateful to her. If she hadn't shown up, I might have been stuck in that suffocating three-way standoff.
I'd used the Purification Clan to keep Mun Yo-seop in check, and he knew it. Seong Yu-da was from the Purification Clan and had helped rein him in after a not-quite-threat from me. There was nothing good for me in getting caught between those two. Whatever they discussed, it would only put me in an awkward spot.
“……What's going on?”
Kim Jin-seo asked cautiously, glancing back and forth between Seong Yu-da and Mun Yo-seop. I looked at the two of them as well. They were talking about something, but I couldn't make out the words from this distance. It was too far.
“Who knows. No idea.”
I decided to play dumb. To outsiders, I was just a lowly apprentice paladin. It would be weird if I knew anything about the dealings between heavyweights like Mun Yo-seop and Seong Yu-da, who outranked me in both the church hierarchy and age.
Kim Jin-seo eyed me suspiciously for a moment, then nodded in acceptance.
“……What've you been up to? All this time.”
She looked at me and asked. I hesitated before answering. I wasn't sure how far back “all this time” went.
“Just dispatch training, searching for missing persons, handling this and that odd job.”
“Aha.”
Kim Jin-seo nodded. She stared at me for a moment before continuing.
“But why not ask me? What I've been up to.”
“You?”
“Nothing much. Dispatch training like you, odd jobs, lots of combat though.”
“……If it was nothing much, why ask if I remembered?”
“Who knows?”
She said it and laughed. Her response and laugh were so brazen and nonchalant that I couldn't help but chuckle.
She sheathed the sword she'd been holding in the scabbard at her waist and spoke.
“You remember that promise to grant my wish, right?”
“Yeah. I won't forget, so no need to ask.”
“Not scared?”
“Of what?”
“You don't know what wish I might make.”
“Wishes are all pretty much the same……”
“What if I said 'date me'?”
“You won't.”
“Why? You never know.”
“…….”
When I didn't reply, she grinned mischievously.
“You're flustered? Just kidding.”
“Ah, Do Seon-woo. There you are.”
Before I could respond, someone called out to me. Kim Jin-seo's expression, which had been about to say something, hardened.
I turned toward the voice and saw Seong Ha-yeon striding toward me. She glanced at Kim Jin-seo, then spoke expressionlessly.
“……When's our next rendezvous?”
“Rendezvous?”
Before I could answer, Kim Jin-seo cut in.
I shot Seong Ha-yeon a glare. Technically, “rendezvous” wasn't wrong. I'd been meeting her secretly now and then to use the Purification Clan—or more precisely, to shake off Mun Yo-seop. But saying it in front of Kim Jin-seo was ripe for misunderstanding.
Seong Ha-yeon feigned surprise without much actual shock.
“Oh, this isn't something to discuss in front of others. Sorry.”
“……Hey, what the hell?”
“I said sorry. I must've been too eager. We've only messaged lately, no meetings.”
I was at a loss for words at Seong Ha-yeon's shameless words. There was nothing I could say. Explaining why I'd met her privately would require spilling about Seong Yu-da, Mun Yo-seop, and a bunch of other things first.
“…….”
Kim Jin-seo silently alternated glances between me and Seong Ha-yeon. When her gaze lingered on me, I flinched. Her face was rigidly set, making her recent smile seem out of place.
“Do Seon-woo!”
Just then, Han Dae-ho approached, calling my name.
Seong Ha-yeon smiled at me and spoke.
“See you later. Soon.”
“…….”
“I'll head out first. Seems the Priest Order is calling me too. Bye.”
Seong Ha-yeon bowed her head slightly and hurried toward where the Central Priest Order priests were gathered. They were picking up the demon corpses that hadn't dissolved into black smoke, gathering the remains. Some drew healing circles to treat injured priests and paladins. The lower-ranking ones handled the corpses, while the higher-ups managed treatment. Despite being an apprentice priestess, Seong Ha-yeon was on healing duty.
After Seong Ha-yeon left, silence filled the space between me and Kim Jin-seo. Captain Han Dae-ho was waving from afar, urging me to hurry.
“Gotta go. Captain's calling.”
“……Yeah, go. You should. Me too.”
Kim Jin-seo nodded at my words and headed toward the Paladin Order. I watched her back. Noticing her gait lacked strength, I looked closer and saw she was limping on one leg. Probably injured during the earlier fight. When I'd asked if she was hurt, she'd lied and said no.
By then, Han Dae-ho had arrived. He grinned at me and spoke.
“Hey, you punk! I call you over and you don't budge. Gotta come fetch you myself as captain?”
“……Sorry.”
“Just know it. Anyway, good work! At that level, you could make spears your main weapon from the start.”
Han Dae-ho clapped my back as he said it. I just smiled and listened without replying. Nothing else to say. I could only wield the spear when Bosu's power was active. Otherwise, I didn't even know the proper grip.
Han Dae-ho led me to the Paladin Order vehicle. O Hui-jin was in the driver's seat, waiting. As I sat in the passenger seat, he stared at me intently for a while. Then, with a stiff expression, he spoke.
“Good work, Do Seon-woo. Saw you fighting well earlier. Way better than those half-assed paladins.”
“Thank you. You too, Paladin O Hui-jin.”
“……Yeah.”
O Hui-jin replied, then looked at me darkly. His eyes held complex emotions: faint suspicion and gratitude. But the strongest were envy and wariness. Envy toward what? Wariness of what? I tried to read deeper, but he suddenly turned away, so I couldn't.
I stared at his back. O Hui-jin. He knew a lot about Voodoo—enough to know about the Loa called Bosu. I'd used Loa powers conspicuously in that fight—not just a lot, but noticeably. A Voodoo expert like him might have pieced it together from seeing me hurl that spear: that I was the cult leader.
So, what to do with O Hui-jin? Kill him? Or maybe manipulate his memory with a spell, since he wasn't too strong……
[You always think only the way you want to.]
Legba spoke then. I couldn't tell what he meant.
After Do Seon-woo left, Seong Yu-da and Mun Yo-seop stared at each other wordlessly for a long time.
Mun Yo-seop scrutinized Seong Yu-da's expression closely. But he couldn't tell what Seong Yu-da was thinking or feeling. He'd barely caught the fleeting stiffening of his face when he saw Do Seon-woo.
“Great to see you like this, Senior. You were at my promotion to inquisitor. Such an honor.”
Mun Yo-seop suddenly offered a handshake as he spoke. Seong Yu-da accepted it somewhat reluctantly.
“Yes…… It's been ages. I think I gave you a book back then. Hope you're reading it well?”
“Ah, sorry, but I tore it up and burned it.”
“Ah…… Yeah, figures. A shame, really.”
“Haha. A shame……”
Mun Yo-seop echoed Seong Yu-da's words softly, a bitter smile on his lips. Then he thought of Do Seon-woo. More precisely, his suspicions about him.
Mun Yo-seop stared straight at Seong Yu-da. Peering into his eyes, he continued.
“You seemed pretty rattled seeing Do Seon-woo student.”
Lately, Do Seon-woo had found a long-term missing person. Jeong Yun-ah. Finding someone missing for over half a year was extremely rare. It required immense effort and insane luck. And Do Seon-woo had pulled it off.
Too many “rare” things happened around Do Seon-woo.
“If you're acquainted with Do Seon-woo student, mind if I ask how you know him?”
“……He's a friend of my daughter, so I just know his face.”
When Jeong Yun-ah was found, a woman presumed to be a Voodooist appeared. She used powers and spells to evade the paladins' pursuit. Naturally, it fueled assumptions that Voodoo had kidnapped her—and that the woman was their leader. Most clergy thought so.
“You can drop the pretense.”
But Mun Yo-seop thought differently.
“Don't you know more about Do Seon-woo student?”
“…….”
Mun Yo-seop suspected Do Seon-woo was a Voodooist. No, further: that he was the Voodoo cult leader.
(To be continued in the next chapter)