Chapter 79
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: #2 You Have to Know the Theme (1)
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-Why.
-Why?!
After hearing Dom's story, the innkeeper's mind was dyed with bewilderment.
The vice priests were special individuals who could communicate directly with "Him," taking on various roles such as managing the church's devotees.
Above all, they were the ones who bestowed "Grace."
They offered tributes to "Him" and distributed the Grace received, allocating it according to each person's offering.
They generally didn't interfere in the devotees' affairs, but they also handled purging those who broke the rules from time to time.
The innkeeper had witnessed such a purging exactly once.
At a previous gathering site, right in front of everyone, a man who had violated the rules was beaten to a pulp. He still remembered that scene vividly.
They enriched the devotees' lives with "Grace" and meted out "Punishment" to sinners.
The innkeeper lacked the courage to treat these god-like proxies lightly.
He first ordered Dom to attend to the vice priest briefly, then hurriedly cleared away Gyeol Ryeong and washed himself.
There was no time for a proper shower, so he splashed water roughly, toweled off, and threw on a pair of underwear and his stretched-out tank top.
With that makeshift preparation, he rushed downstairs.
He had told Dom to guide the vice priest to her room, but the man was standing at the front entrance.
Dom, whom he'd instructed to escort him, lay collapsed at his feet for some reason.
Was she unconscious?
"Oh dear, sorry to disturb you so early in the morning. Were you in the middle of washing up?"
"Ah, y-yes, yes. A little, uh. Yeah..."
He'd only splashed water without scrubbing properly, so a lewd odor wafted unpleasantly from his entire body.
His clothes were filthy, grabbed haphazardly from the messy room.
Even though his disheveled state screamed what he'd been up to, the vice priest neither frowned nor shot him a contemptuous glance.
"Um, I told our girl to guide you inside..."
"You mean Dom here. I told the young lady it was fine and to let her nap here for a bit. I didn't exactly ignore your instructions, so please don't be upset."
"N-no, no, of course... More than that, why didn't you come in... Wait, why are you even here?"
"Yes, it's nothing urgent."
The vice priest spoke without losing his smile.
"There's a violator who broke the church's laws. I've come to purge him under vice priest authority."
Gyeol Ryeong's actions held no particular significance.
She roughly wiped her soiled body with tissues from the room and, after pondering what to wear, draped a thin bedsheet around her naked form for cover.
The inn's rules basically required nudity inside, but somehow it felt wrong to wander around like that.
And so Gyeol Ryeong, in that very state, trailed behind the innkeeper who had gone ahead and descended to the first-floor entrance.
To reiterate, there was no deeper meaning to Gyeol Ryeong's actions.
The innkeeper had told her to follow, but he hadn't said not to.
"Wh-what do you mean?! Me, a violator?!"
As Gyeol Ryeong reached the entrance, the innkeeper's panicked voice rang out.
Descending the stairs, she saw him at the door in his baggy tank top, pleading his case like a wronged man.
And standing before him──
'Th-that person...'
A friendly face. Gentle eyes and a relaxed smile. Pure white devotee robes.
She remembered him.
He was the first vice priest she'd encountered in this district.
The very man who had barged into the house she and Dom used as a hideout and toyed with them using the power of "Grace."
Of course, the details of that "Grace" and exactly how they'd been toyed with still eluded her memory.
But his face remained etched in her mind. And the fact that he was dangerous.
"Th-that exorcist girl... Did I monopolize her or something? W-well, if so, that's not right! I never heard any rule against it! As long as 'Grace' permits it, we can do as we please...!"
"Rest assured. There's no issue there. As long as 'Grace' allows it, do as you please. That's the creed of our church."
Monopolizing Gyeol Ryeong and Dom at this inn, using the inn's flesh toilet merchandise to draw in crowds, and profiting from them—all that was fine.
The vice priest explained with a kind face that he hadn't branded him a violator for such reasons.
"Th-then... why...?"
"Our church has only a handful of laws that must be upheld. Just four. You broke one of them. Any guesses?"
The innkeeper was shaken but clueless.
The vice priest continued patiently, unperturbed.
"Lately, whispers among the devotees... that their 'Grace' was unjustly stolen."
The vice priest's eyes—whether they had been open or not—flicked wider.
Beneath the lifted lids, gray irises gleamed with ominous light.
"Come to think of it, it's odd. I recall the tributes you submitted and your contributions to the church... but they seem far too meager to warrant enough 'Grace' to monopolize two offerings at will."
The innkeeper felt his breath catch, as if it had stopped.
Flustered, he stammered an excuse.
"Th-that's...! Y-you might not believe me, but it wasn't me! I just received it──"
"Received it from whom?"
"W-well, I don't know exactly, but there was definitely some devil-like someone, so I get it's hard to believe, but it's true?!"
The innkeeper desperately tried to explain.
He attempted to relay every detail about the devil—precisely, the yokai—that had passed him the "Grace."
But the more he spoke, the more his thoughts tangled into chaos.
His memory wasn't clear.
The devil had seemed tall... or short. Male... or female.
Twisted horns... or straight ones. Wings and a tail... or neither.
Nothing definitive, so his account naturally unraveled into nonsense.
Now reflecting, it was a miracle he'd used that "Grace" so freely without question.
Why had he never doubted it?
The fear of being purged for it parched his throat.
Yet he also felt indignant. I just used what was given. I was the one deceived...!!
"Intriguing tale, but no need to hear more. It's mere suspicion anyway—unrelated."
"Eh...? Then no punishment for that...?"
"Just rumors floating around. I asked to check any connection. Turns out it's not a violation. A gray area at best, but vice priests aren't so idle as to nitpick every one."
Only then did the innkeeper's chest loosen.
Fortunately, the "Grace" he'd received periodically from that unidentified entity posed no problem.
There was no proof it had been stolen from other devotees, after all.
So it should be okay.
'Then... why...?'
If not that, then what had brought him here?
A purge for what violation?
To the perplexed innkeeper, the vice priest continued amiably.
"I'll now call some names. Speak up if any ring a bell."
With that, he abruptly began listing them.
Various people, mostly men.
Likely devotees, as he dutifully added "Devotee So-and-so" after each.
Listening, Gyeol Ryeong felt a strange familiarity.
...Right. They were names of the inn's guests.
Included were the "lingerie shop manager" and names from the "labor office trio," confirming it.
They were regulars at the inn—especially Gyeol Ryeong's—so she'd heard their names multiple times and remembered them clearly.
And all of them
had suddenly stopped coming here.
Even after the vice priest finished, the innkeeper wore a blank expression.
He truly had no inkling.
He'd noted some hadn't shown up lately, sure.
But he wasn't particularly miffed.
He'd already reaped plenty, and it gave him more time to monopolize Gyeol Ryeong.
So why bring up their names all of a sudden──
"Odd. A few more might be unaccounted for; I don't have the full list. ...So, no guesses?"
"Hmm. None. Just casual acquaintances..."
"Truly no idea?"
The vice priest pressed.
Puzzled yet increasingly irritated, the innkeeper bristled.
He'd said he had no clue.
His precious happy time with Gyeol Ryeong had already been ruined; now this.
Vice priest or not, he had no right to trample his freedom.
If this kept up, he wouldn't stay quiet.
"Over the past week, the devotees you murdered─really, nothing comes to mind?"
And the vice priest declared it flatly.
It.
Doesn't.
Make sense.
What on earth was he talking about?
Why insist he was the culprit?
More than that.
Murdered? Who? Them? Those people?
"Wha......."
He started to demand what he meant, but the vice priest extended a finger, silencing him.
As if unauthorized speech was now forbidden.
"That face—you really seem clueless. Hidden acting talent? Or do you genuinely not remember?"
The vice priest pressed on.
Still without granting the innkeeper leave to speak.
"Pity if it's an act; it changes nothing. The evidence is all in place. CCTV footage of you, yokai power traces at the scenes, witness statements from those around—all fingers point to you."
"Th-that can't..."
"Looks like you truly don't know. Can't recall? Or did you erase it yourself?"
The vice priest sighed and reached into his robe.
He produced a single photo, shaking it in his hand without revealing its contents.
"Then, a question. Devotee, what were you doing two days ago around 3 p.m.?"
What did.
You.
Do.
Two days ago? Hard to recall every moment.
"Don't... remember... Probably here... Gotta run the place..."
"I see. Shall we ask that offering girl, then?"
At the vice priest's words, the innkeeper turned.
Only then did he notice Gyeol Ryeong standing at the entrance.
The vice priest's gaze shifted from the innkeeper to Gyeol Ryeong.
"The offering it is. You—do you recall if this man was here two days ago in the afternoon?"
Gyeol Ryeong slowly shook her head.
The innkeeper relaxed at the sight,
but
"Not sure. ...Two days ago, Uncle was out all day..."
Her follow-up made his heart plummet.
He whipped around in panic.
The vice priest held out the photo he'd pulled from his robe earlier, making sure the innkeeper could see it.
The image captured
himself, transformed into a five-armed yokai, assaulting the lingerie shop manager──
