The Saintess (3): The Bishop's Dilemma
Late at night at the Seoul branch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Bishop Nikolai sat listening to a progress report on the orders he had given to secure the saintess.
“Failed to secure the saintess?”
“Yes. All the execution priests except myself were killed.”
“...What did you say? All of them?”
“Th-that is… some kind of monster woman…”
Under Nikolai’s icy interrogation, Kirill—who had barely escaped with his life—stammered through his explanation of what he had witnessed. By the time the full story was finished, Nikolai’s face had gone dark.
‘Defeated by a single person?’
He had initially assumed an outside organization had intervened. The Orthodox Church’s execution priests were elite professionals, carefully chosen killing machines who lived for murder and abduction. They had survived endless training and real combat. Yet every last one had been wiped out by one individual. A woman, no less. This was no ordinary situation.
“The Korean government?”
“No. It was a woman of Germanic descent.”
“Pathetic.”
Nikolai’s mind turned at high speed. To handle eight execution priests at once required a top-tier awakener specialized in personal combat—upper A-class at minimum, possibly higher. And a foreign one at that. The first possibility that came to mind was the Catholic Church. After all, the Russian Orthodox Church was not the only faction moving to claim the saintess.
‘A paladin?’
Paladins. The Vatican’s guardians, composed of the highest-ranking awakeners. If it was a woman, it had to be the holy knight Lubenka.
‘This must be reported to Moscow.’
If Lubenka had come to Korea, the matter had already exceeded Nikolai’s authority. She was an S-class awakener the Western Church proudly boasted about.
“Clear away the bodies first. Before the Korean government notices.”
“Would it be that troublesome if they did notice?”
“Obviously. How can you not—”
Nikolai, in the middle of his outburst, suddenly froze. His face stiffened as he stared at Kirill. The priest turned in confusion, and his heart plummeted.
“!”
There, in the open doorway, stood the nightmare woman from the day before.
“M-monster…!”
Seeing Kirill’s terror, Nikolai instantly understood she was the one who had slaughtered the execution priests. He quietly pressed the bell beneath his desk—the signal to summon the elite priests stationed in the lobby.
Yet no matter how long he waited, only silence answered. Not a single priest appeared.
‘Wait…’
Now that he thought about it, how had she even gotten inside? A horrifying possibility crawled down his spine.
“The people outside are taking a little nap,” the woman said, settling comfortably onto the sofa.
“……!”
Only then did Nikolai realize how pristine she looked. Not a trace of combat, not a hair out of place. A calm, peaceful aura surrounded her. The heavy realization that this moment might be his last sank over him like cold, dark water.
When people are asked to name history’s most famous serial killer, the majority think of Jack the Ripper.
The phantom of death that terrorized the Victorian era. People call him an “unsolved case” and instinctively picture a vague, terrifying shadow.
The fear of the unknown. That collective dread across the world turned Jack the Ripper into a symbol—a legend.
As a result, Vanessa’s power had grown even stronger than in her own time. In this world, even the relics of the dead carried real strength. Of course, like Jeanne, her magical reserves had shrunk dramatically compared to her prime. Her power was proportional to that of her summoner, Choi Seojun.
Yet as an assassin, Vanessa had never relied heavily on raw magical output. Using the absolute minimum at the perfect moment to achieve maximum effect was her specialty. Even after being summoned, she remained an irregular—stronger than she had been at her peak, especially lethal in one-on-one combat.
Still, she did not blindly trust her own strength. She could have erased Nikolai and the entire Seoul branch of the Russian Orthodox Church if she wished. But she chose not to. She knew killing was not always the best answer.
Murder was the worst option. The organization she had researched was far larger than expected. Eliminating these men would only result in new agents being sent after Jeanne. Therefore, Vanessa decided to negotiate—in her own style.
“...What do you want?” Nikolai asked.
“Can you hand over information on everyone involved in this incident?”
“If you promise not to kill me, I will.”
“I won’t kill you.”
“Hah… then do as you like. Truthfully, I never wanted any part in this anyway.”
Emphasizing his own helplessness, Nikolai slid the list across the desk. Their identities had been thoroughly laundered; even if the names were handed over, no direct link to the Orthodox Church could be proven.
But Vanessa did not take the document.
“Not to me.”
“?”
As Nikolai looked on in confusion, Vanessa smiled sweetly.
“To the Korean government.”
“!!”
“Naturally, their affiliation will need to be clearly established.”
At the outrageous demand, Nikolai’s face drained of all color. Handing the Orthodox Church’s list to the Korean government would completely paralyze their operations in the country. The government would learn that every corpse found in Yeoksam-dong belonged to the Orthodox Church. Any future chance to target the saintess would vanish.
Vanessa went even further, telling him not to clean up the bodies in Yeoksam-dong at all.
Nikolai shook his head at the insane proposal.
“...Miss, you seem to be misunderstanding something. I don’t have the authority to make that decision.”
“You will find a way.”
“Hah, that’s simply imposs—”
Swish—
In an instant, Kirill’s head tumbled across the floor behind Vanessa.
Thud. Roll, roll.
The severed head stopped at Nikolai’s feet. Kirill’s body collapsed with a heavy thud.
Facing the now petrified bishop, Vanessa—scissors somehow already in her hand—smiled brightly once more.
“There are plenty of people I can negotiate with.”
“......”
Nikolai’s mouth clamped shut. The meaning was clear: if he refused, she would simply kill him and make the same offer to whoever replaced him. And if that failed, the next one. And the next. The eerie metallic whisper of the scissors swinging back and forth forced his decision.
The next day, we moved into our new house. Since it was property managed by the Constellation of Dawn Guild, we were able to move in immediately. The place came fully equipped with a TV, washing machine, refrigerator, air conditioner—everything. All we needed to bring was ourselves.
“Man, there really is nothing better than a nice house.”
The park view through the wide windows left me speechless. So this was why people fought to live in good homes. Five bedrooms and a living room the size of a playground filled my heart with satisfaction.
“Congratulations, Seojun-nim.”
“Congratulations, Master.”
“What are you talking about? It’s a house we’re all going to live in together. We should celebrate as a group.”
At my words, smiles bloomed on both Jeanne’s and Vanessa’s faces.
“It feels good that it’s so spacious.”
“This is my first time having my own room.”
Both of them looked genuinely pleased. Yes—this was exactly why people needed to earn money.
In that spirit, I decided to start a new side business.
Jeanne, who had been watching me work on my laptop, asked, “A detective agency?”
“That’s right.”
I had decided to transplant Sherlock Holmes’ famous office at 221B Baker Street onto the internet. Conan’s Fountain Pen was the all-purpose tool that made such a thing possible. The natural customer base was, of course, hunters. In this modern age, incidents caused by awakeners never seemed to stop.
I should register it on the black market.
The black market was a members-only open marketplace where massive transactions between hunters took place. The entry fee alone was a staggering three million won, but its popularity remained high because it allowed completely anonymous activity.
After creating an account, I immediately opened the Holmes & Watson office under a special concept: we could deduce anything.
“I hope it does well.”
“Of course it will. It’s Conan’s deduction, after all.”
While I was chatting with Jeanne, an alert rang out.
Two new client requests have arrived.
“......”
“It’s only the beginning,” Jeanne said gently.
“I suppose so?”
“...Yes.”
Thanks to her encouragement, I barely managed to swallow the urge to shut down the business on day one. You can’t expect to fill your stomach with the first bite. If I handled the small cases well, bigger ones would surely follow.
—The places where the dog might be are…
Conan’s Fountain Pen moved smoothly across the page. After quickly resolving the request, I began searching for the next gate to clear. I needed to increase my slots, which meant tackling higher-ranked gates.
But not all high-ranked gates were the same. The status window clearly stated that the higher the difficulty, the greater the chance of obtaining additional slots as a reward. Therefore, I looked for gates that offered higher difficulty but relatively lower risk.
This is where special gates shine.
Special gates could only be entered after meeting specific conditions. Naturally, the difficulty was high, but the danger was comparatively low. Korea had quite a few such gates. Among them, I searched for a dark-attribute gate that would be easy for us to clear.
With Jeanne, clearing a dark-attribute gate would be as simple as eating rice cakes while lying down. Of course, those gates were managed by the Church, so random entry was forbidden. The Church had no desire to see people dying inside.
But that didn’t apply to me.
“If Lady Jeanne is accompanying you, we are happy to allow entry at any time.”
Since the Yeoksam Archdiocese was on our side, the matter was simple. However, Archbishop Ambrosio suddenly asked something strange.
“Has the Russian Orthodox Church not contacted you? Any threats to your safety…?”
“The Orthodox Church? No, nothing like that. Did something happen?”
“The Russian Orthodox Church has been rather turbulent lately. We don’t know the details, but I asked out of concern that they might be targeting the saintess.”
“There was nothing of the sort.”
“I see. That’s a relief. Please visit tomorrow.”
I ended the call after saying I would stop by the next day. The Russian Orthodox Church, huh?
The world really has become dangerous lately.
There had been police cars gathered near the store as well.
CASE NO:YS-8741
LOCATION:Yeoksam-dong Residential Basement
VICTIMS:8 unidentified males
TIME OF DEATH:Approximately 3 days ago
Clean cuts. Precise heart stabs and perfectly severed necks. Professional work—skill level suggests top-tier awakener assassin. Identity laundering detected, but communication logs confirm affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church. Crime appears to target awakeners.
Yeoksam-dong residential area. Police vehicles had flooded the street, completely blocking the road. Eight unidentified bodies had been discovered in a house basement. The corpses, estimated to have been dead for three days, were found after a resident reported a suspicious bloody odor.
“The cut surfaces are extremely clean. What on earth was used?”
“Had to be a blade. This is a professional killer. The workmanship is no joke.”
The bodies had either been pierced cleanly through the heart or had their necks severed in perfect lines. The Association’s investigation team, which specialized in awakener crimes, felt goosebumps at the suspect’s skill. It was at a level that would be questionable even if multiple people had coordinated perfectly.
At that moment, a team member who had stepped outside returned to the basement.
“Captain!”
“What is it? Did you identify them?”
“Yes. They cleverly laundered their identities, but they belong to the Russian Orthodox Church.”
“Are you certain?”
“Communication records with the Orthodox Church were left completely intact. It appears to be a crime targeting awakeners.”
“What? These bastards.”
The furious team leader gave the order.
“Block every single Russian Orthodox route in Korea. Report immediately if any of them try to enter!”
“Yes, sir.”
“How dare they target Korean awakeners?”
The investigation captain glared at the corpses.
By the way… just who had killed them?