The Conditions of a Believer (9)
Steam rose in shimmering plumes above the hot spring water.
The floor was made of Italian marble, and the ceiling was decorated with tiles painted in lavish Oriental patterns.
On the wall hung a massive skull-topped cross.
This was the grand bathhouse inside Paradise Garden.
Jeong Myeong-su, submerged in the water, groaned and shuddered all over.
"Ugh."
His hair was sparse as weeds, and his sagging skin made him look like a Sphinx cat.
It was the kind of face that should never have attracted anyone of the opposite sex, but—
"Lord. Is the water temperature all right?"
"Shall I scrub your back a little harder?"
"Let me rub your shoulders for you."
Beautiful women crowded around him from every side.
The Cheonyang-ji Cult even had a group whose sole purpose was to satisfy the leader’s lust.
Every one of them belonged to that group.
They usually entered it through one of two paths.
First, they had been believers in the Cheonyang-ji Cult before being dragged in.
Second, they had been kidnapped.
Once a woman entered that group, she could never leave without the cult leader’s permission.
If she tried to run and got caught, she would simply disappear without a trace.
The cult leader waved a hand.
"Enough. Pour me more wine."
That strange, childish voice slipped out of his wrinkled mouth.
"Yes, Lord."
One woman obediently poured him a bottle of expensive champagne.
The liquor in that golden bottle was worth tens of millions of won.
Another woman beside her held a canapé topped with caviar up to his mouth.
"P-please, eat your snack."
She was the newest member of the pleasure squad, assigned to serve him in the bath for the first time.
So nervous she could barely breathe, her hand trembled violently.
Caviar dribbled from the corner of the leader’s mouth and spilled all over.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing!"
"S-sorry..."
"You stupid bitch!"
"Eek!"
The cult leader slapped the woman across the face.
"Please forgive me. I’ll never—"
"Damn it. You’re ruining the taste. Tch!"
He spat on her, then poured the leftover champagne over her head.
It looked exactly like a real-life version of a decadent feast of wine and women.
A few of the Twelve Apostles standing guard around the bath saw the scene, but quickly pretended not to notice.
The head of the pleasure squad sidled up to the leader.
"Please calm down, Lord. She’s new."
The woman had delicate eyes and skin as white as jade, and she soothed the cult leader like a child.
Jeong Myeong-su let out a sigh and leaned back against the tub.
"Hah. Pathetic. Pathetic. I go through all this trouble to feed you people."
"Of course, Lord. We know."
"If you know, then do better."
His gaze drifted to the skull-topped cross.
It stirred something in him.
How hard had I worked to raise that thing?
His name was Jeong Myeong-su.
Though he looked hideous now, he had once been handsome enough to draw the attention of countless women.
He had been born into a strict, devout Christian family.
Jeong Myeong-su had felt stifled by that conservative upbringing, and he often indulged in rebellion.
As he slept with more and more women and gradually turned into a lecher, his father finally slapped him across the face one day.
"You worthless bastard! If you live like that, no one will ever respect you!"
After clashing with his father, Jeong Myeong-su left home on the spot.
He drifted from one friend’s house to another, and in the end even the people around him began to distance themselves.
"Myeong-su, why don’t you try doing something productive?"
"Quit acting so full of yourself just because you’ve got a good face!"
"Are you planning to live off women for the rest of your life?"
He had thought they were close friends.
But one by one, they all abandoned him too.
As he spent day after day in a jjimjilbang, Jeong Myeong-su awakened by pure chance.
His Talent was Brainwashing.
He could control people, erase memories, or forcefully implant new ones.
He had a face and popularity fit for an entertainer, and on top of that, he had special power.
Jeong Myeong-su thought,
Oh, Lord! You have chosen me!
At first, he used his ability for small tricks, almost as a joke.
Things like buying something and not paying for it.
Or taking a stranger’s wallet right out of his hand.
He even got a sports car as a gift from some rich woman.
With brainwashing magic alone, he could live in luxury for the rest of his life.
But did human desire grow larger the more it was fed?
Jeong Myeong-su’s ambition swelled beyond measure.
I am the only special being in this world. Just like God!
Once he realized he was a godlike being, he devoted himself to black magic.
Necromancy, demon summoning, curses.
There were countless kinds of black magic, but Jeong Myeong-su focused on mental manipulation.
One day, while drinking expensive liquor for free at a club and enjoying the night with a beautiful woman, she woke before he did and wrapped her arms around his back.
Jeong Myeong-su, still half-drunk in sleep, rolled over.
And just as he was about to kiss her, she shot upright and screamed.
"A-ah! A monster!!"
Frantically clutching her clothes to her chest, she stared at the grotesque man beside her.
Black magic always exacted a backlash from its user.
His hair fell out, and his once-solid frame shrank like a punctured balloon.
The dazzling exterior Jeong Myeong-su had once been proud of slowly rotted away.
For a moment, he felt his stomach churning violently and was overwhelmed by sickening self-loathing.
"Blegh!"
He vomited all over the bed.
The woman looked at him as though he were a bug, then fled the hotel in terror.
"Wait!"
Jeong Myeong-su chased after her and burst out into the street.
"What the hell is that thing?"
"Heh. Those looks are art."
Passersby stared at him with open contempt.
In particular, the women’s eyes were no longer the same.
Jeong Myeong-su felt as though he had been cast out into the world all alone.
In an instant, he had become a monster.
A crumpled flyer was kicked against his feet.
- You were born to be loved.
It was the kind of ordinary church slogan you saw on the street all the time.
The corners of Jeong Myeong-su’s mouth curled upward in a grotesque grin.
How many women had told him they loved him?
How many so-called friends had hovered around him, hoping to feast on scraps from the women he slept with?
All of it felt like a lie.
He snatched up the flyer and tore it to pieces.
Love? Friendship? Respect? If I want those things, I can just take them by force!
Hasty footsteps rang out inside the bathhouse.
"Lord! Something terrible has happened!"
Jeong Myeong-su snapped out of his thoughts.
His expression darkened at the interruption to his precious rest.
"I told you not to bother me when I’m resting."
"S-sorry. It’s urgent."
The one who came running in a panic was Paul, the 5th Apostle.
Jeong Myeong-su yawned dismissively.
"What is it? Did some bastard come asking for his donation back again?"
Since they had been using large-scale mental manipulation magic throughout the cathedral, there were occasionally cases where the effect wore off.
When some of them came to their senses, they would even protest to the cult leader.
"No. It’s not that."
Paul’s face had gone deathly white.
"Four of the Twelve Apostles are dead."
For a while, the only sound in the huge bathhouse was the steady rush of water pouring into the pool.
Jeong Myeong-su puckered his lips.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Paul began counting on his fingers with a stammer.
"James, Barnabas, Matthias, Nathaniel... they’re all dead."
Aside from the 1st through 5th Apostles who were with the cult leader, the remaining 6th through 12th Apostles had all been sent out for outside operations.
"Seriously?"
With his limbs suddenly massacred, Jeong Myeong-su was thrown into confusion.
There had been plenty of people who held grudges against him and attacked Cheonyang-ji over the years.
Men whose wives had been stolen, or those whose entire fortunes had been robbed from them and who came too late with weapons in hand.
Most of them had been executed by the Twelve Apostles.
That was how formidable the cult leader’s apostles were.
What the hell kind of bastard did this?
Jeong Myeong-su sprang to his feet.
The women serving him hastily helped him into a robe.
"Tell me properly. Who killed them?"
Paul dropped to one knee.
"It was... Peter."
Jeong Myeong-su’s eyes widened.
Peter was the 8th Apostle.
In terms of power, he could easily kill the 9th through 12th Apostles.
Theoretically, at least.
The problem was—why?
Jeong Myeong-su worried his thumbnail between his teeth.
It was a habit that surfaced whenever he became anxious.
Something’s wrong.
One of the cult leader’s skills was True Sight.
It allowed him to see through not only objects, but also the hearts of others.
Among the Twelve Apostles, Peter was especially loyal.
Black mana began to rise from Jeong Myeong-su’s body.
"Are you certain?"
"Yes, Lord."
Paul was not making a false report.
Then—
Jeong Myeong-su’s eyes turned venomous.
Someone is controlling Peter!
The women in the bath shrank back in fear.
The cruel dwarf was like a rugby ball no one could predict where it would bounce next.
But then why is the 7th Apostle fine?
Perhaps Peter had been beyond his ability and had simply been left alone.
That made sense, if one thought about it rationally.
Still, something doesn’t sit right.
"What about the new one, Judas, the 6th Apostle?"
The newest recruit among the Twelve Apostles.
A man who had originally been a hunter in the Dio Guild.
"He’s alive. They say Judas wasn’t attacked."
So not everyone who had been sent out had died.
Small comfort, perhaps, but comfort all the same.
"Yohan."
Jeong Myeong-su called his most trusted Apostle.
He was the one who had spent the longest time at his side, and the strongest among the apostles.
"Yes, Lord."
Unlike the others, Yohan did not kneel. He stood directly before the cult leader with his head bowed.
"You called for me."
"What’s going on?"
"It’s only a minor incident. Please do not worry."
He felt a gaze from somewhere.
The attendants were staring fixedly in this direction.
Jeong Myeong-su waved a hand.
"All of you, get out."
This kind of conversation had to be handled in secret.
The women hurriedly rose and dressed themselves.
Yohan said,
"As long as I am here, no one can harm you, Lord."
The women splashed water as they passed by him.
Sshk.
Yohan swung his sword, slicing through the droplets suspended in the air.
One of the women who had been serving in the bath collapsed after taking only a few steps.
Her body had been severed cleanly at the waist.
She was the same woman who had dropped the caviar on the cult leader’s mouth.
Blood and water spread quickly across the marble floor.
The remaining maids covered their mouths, tears streaming down their faces as they fled.
At the sight of that, Jeong Myeong-su finally relaxed and curved his lips into a smile.
"That’s right! As long as you’re here, that’s all I need!"
Jeong Myeong-su called for the 4th and 5th Apostles.
"Philip. Paul."
"Yes, Lord!"
"Yes, Lord!"
His short, stubby fingers pointed outside the bathhouse.
"Bring me that bastard Peter. Now."
I was stalking a shadow through the dark.
The person being pursued had no idea I was there and kept glancing around nervously.
We were in the underground parking garage of an apartment building.
The one I was following was the 7th Apostle, Matthew.
Since Peter couldn’t beat Matthew, I’d decided to step in myself.
What I couldn’t understand was why Matthew was loitering around here in the first place.
At first, I thought this might be his home.
Then—crack!
Matthew looked around and smashed the CCTV cameras in the underground lot one by one with the scabbard of his sword.
What is he doing?
Right then, a car drove into the parking garage.
As its headlights lit up the space, Matthew slipped behind a pillar.
The black vehicle was a large van.
The door opened, and a woman got out.
"You worked hard, Sua. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah. See you tomorrow, manager."
I checked the words printed on the side of the vehicle.
<< KX Management >>
It was a new agency that mainly trained girl groups.
The van drove off, leaving the woman alone.
Only then did Matthew move.
No way.
Matthew strode forward and blocked her path.
"Are you Sua from Bernice?"
"Yes. Who are you?"
"Come with me for a moment."
"What... ngh!"
With a swift motion, Matthew clamped a hand over the woman’s mouth.
She collapsed without even managing to resist.
Once he confirmed she had lost consciousness, Matthew slipped the wad of cotton in his hand back into his pocket.
That crazy bastard.
He was kidnapping someone right now.
And not just anyone—a member of a girl group.
Was this Matthew’s own plan?
No way.
It was obvious the cult leader had ordered it.
Matthew hoisted the woman over his shoulder and started walking back to his car.
"Hey, stalker."
At my voice, Matthew stopped and turned around.
We faced off in the silent underground parking garage, glaring at each other.
"Who the hell are you?"
He didn’t recognize me.
That made sense. I wasn’t wearing Apostle robes.
I’d done that in case the 7th Apostle, Matthew, turned out to be stronger than me.
I’d also prepared a backup plan.
That backup plan was—
"The Purple Devil."
A high-tech suit and a purple mask.
My hero costume.
"Hm."
Matthew tilted his head.
"What kind of pervert are you?"
"Don’t know me? I’m kind of a justice apostle... no, a hero."
I’d made some noise by smashing up Big Lava, but that fame had only spread online.
Compared to the Gangnam Hero, the Purple Devil was still less well known.
"Looks like my recognition still isn’t great."
I muttered to myself, then deliberately let my killing intent spill out.
"Move aside, Purple. I don’t do unnecessary killing."
The apostles couldn’t kill unless they had the cult leader’s orders.
"Sorry. Can’t do that."
When I refused to back down, Matthew lowered the woman to the floor.
Then he drew his sword.
"I’ll take one arm and one leg. That’ll be enough. You can stop the bleeding yourself."
He was awfully confident.
"I’ll take just one thing."
I drew White Revenge, my white yo-do.
"Your head."