Signs of Collapse (2)
Warm sunlight slipped along the window and seeped into the living room.
Someone sat in what could only be called an armchair. It had been specially made for his undersized frame and short limbs, and the price alone ran into the tens of millions of won. In the grand mansion on Paradise Hill, the cult leader lived there with more than thirty attendants. On the table sat a cup of top-grade coffee, brewed from beans grown on Saint Helena Island, and beside it, macarons dusted with gold leaf, made by a pastry chef educated in France, showed off their bright, decadent colors. Beyond the floor-to-ceiling glass, the pine trees and flowers planted in the garden were lush and vibrant, as though they were being cared for with obsessive devotion. It was a life of pure luxury and abundance. And within that abundance, Jeong Myeong-su, leader of Cheonyang-ji, sat scowling, his face crumpled like a sheet of paper as he breathed hard through his nose.
Hundreds of vicious comments kept piling up without end.
One of them caught Jeong Myeong-su’s eye.
Jeong Myeong-su’s hands trembled violently.
“You son of a bitch!!”
The tablet he had flung away slammed into the wall, and shards of glass sprayed across the floor with a sharp rattle. An elder came rushing over to the furious cult leader, who was even kicking over his chair.
“L-leader. Are you all right?”
He was one of the twenty-four elders, the man in charge of the legal team. He handled every lawsuit, every accusation, every bit of dirty legal business, and had spent years suppressing the noisy scandals that erupted inside Cheonyang-ji.
“Hahh....”
Jeong Myeong-su drew in a long breath and forced himself to calm down.
“What are we going to do about this?”
“We’ll pin it on Mathae’s solo act and quietly settle things with the police.”
Cheonyang-ji’s annual bribes to the police alone amounted to hundreds of billions of won. Besides, it was true that Jeong Myeong-su had given the order to abduct the woman, but there was no evidence anywhere that pointed to him.
“How much is his sentence? If it’s a first offense, won’t he be out pretty quickly? Right, where is Mathae? Under interrogation?”
Cheonyang-ji’s legal team employed an all-star lineup of expensive lawyers. If Jeong Myeong-su decided he wanted Mathae out, it would be no trouble at all.
“For now, the mood’s bad, so tell him to stay locked up for a bit. Damn it. What rotten luck. Normally this would have ended with probation. Tsk. Right?”
The elder he was speaking with clamped his mouth shut.
The incident had happened only a few hours ago, and with news articles going up in real time, Jeong Myeong-su had no idea what had happened after that.
“Hey. Elder. Why aren’t you answering me?”
“W-well....”
The elder stammered and went on, “Mathae was killed at the scene.”
“What?”
Jeong Myeong-su’s eyes bulged so wide they looked ready to pop out of his skull.
“B-by whom?”
“That hasn’t been confirmed yet. Here’s the latest update.”
The elder pulled out his phone and showed it to Jeong Myeong-su.
It felt as if Jeong Myeong-su had been struck hard on the back of the head with a sledgehammer.
“W-what is this....”
The one who had gone out to bring in Sua was the Seventh Apostle, Mathae. There had already been an incident recently in which some of the Twelve Apostles had been wiped out, but Jeong Myeong-su’s lust rarely cooled, so he had forced the matter forward anyway. Mathae’s swordsmanship was only middling, but he was competent enough. And yet...
Who the hell did this?
Jeong Myeong-su’s small, delicate, animal-like body caught a whiff of something ominous.
An image formed in his mind.
The iron tower he had built up so painstakingly was beginning to crack.
The fissures, sounding like sharp snaps, crawled higher and higher.
His limbs would be cut away.
The media would attack him relentlessly.
If it kept going like this...
Cheonyang-ji might actually collapse.
Jeong Myeong-su swallowed hard.
At that moment, someone rushed into the living room.
“Leader! We’re in trouble!”
The situation felt eerily familiar, and a nightmare-like sense of déjà vu came roaring back.
The Fifth Apostle, Paul, came striding in, panting for breath.
Yohan, who had been standing behind Jeong Myeong-su, frowned at the sudden uproar.
“Again! What now!!!”
The cult leader’s hysterical voice tore through the room.
Paul glanced around nervously and whispered into Jeong Myeong-su’s ear.
“W-well, Leader....”
When he heard the report, Jeong Myeong-su’s mouth fell open.
“What?”
He had thought there was nothing left that could surprise him anymore.
Staggering, he rose from his seat.
“You’re kidding, right? You’re doing this just to mess with me, aren’t you?”
Yohan hurried to steady him.
“Are you all right, Leader?”
Jeong Myeong-su looked at Yohan.
“Get ready. We’re all going to the Sole Cathedral.”
“Understood.”
His stubby finger shot upward.
“Summon everyone. Right now!!!”
The furious dwarf charged ahead with his bodyguard in tow.
The leader’s summons had gone out.
The contents were simple and clear.
- All Twelve Apostles and every elder are to gather at the cathedral immediately.
I could roughly guess what was going on.
It must be because of what happened earlier this morning.
Mathae’s death.
And...
I had prepared an interesting little event as the Purple Devil.
I wonder what expression the leader will make.
My phone had been ringing nonstop for some time. When I ignored the call, messages started coming in.
Every single one of them was from Peter.
I had fooled him into hunting down the weaker Apostles than himself.
How foolish.
For Peter, who had made an irreversible mistake, only one thing remained: punishment.
I took a breath and steadied myself in front of the cathedral doors. The leader would absolutely interrogate me. After all, among the disciples who operated outside, only Peter and I were still alive. There was no helping it; we were the two most suspicious people in the room.
Feels like I’m playing mafia.
If I got marked as the mafia, I wouldn’t be walking out of here in one piece. I’d have to disguise myself as an innocent citizen.
Aura of God
I had already laid out a flawless plan in advance.
My hand drifted to the cold Heoksikdo at my waist.
The leader was doing everything in his power to stop Cheonyang-ji from collapsing, but give me a break.
I’ll make you dance in the palm of my hand.
I drew up my mana and activated my ability. The cheat-like skill that could resist the cult leader’s magic without the slightest compromise.
Penetrate
Jeong Myeong-su stormed into the entrance of the Sole Cathedral, snarling, “Move!”
The guard stared in shock at the cult leader who had appeared without warning, then hurriedly lifted the safety latch.
“L-leader!”
People wearing masks followed behind him.
There were five of them total.
They were the upper-tier members among the Twelve Apostles, the ones assigned to guard the leader.
The guard quickly realized how serious this was.
Something massive had happened in the lobby of Cheonyang-ji. It had been shocking enough to empty the entire cathedral of believers.
Jeong Myeong-su stopped in the center of the lobby.
His gaze rose.
High above, fixed against the towering ceiling, was the object that stood as Cheonyang-ji’s symbol: the Jeong Cross, with a skull mounted at its peak.
Some people called it the emblem of heresy.
But to Jeong Myeong-su, that structure was the very symbol of his own status.
Except...
“...Damn it.”
Jeong Myeong-su could only spit out a curse at the feast spread out before him.
Something had been placed atop the Jeong Cross.
It was none other than...
The head of the Seventh Apostle, Mathae.
Like a child carelessly setting down the half-eaten remains of an ice cream cone, it had been perched there playfully.
Along the cross, the blood that had run from Mathae’s neck had gone black and congealed.
The sight was hideously grotesque.
“Ghk!”
Veins bulged in Jeong Myeong-su’s neck.
“GRAAAAH!!!”
The limit of the patience he had been forcing down finally snapped.
This was no longer just a threat to Cheonyang-ji.
He was being openly mocked.
The Fifth Apostle, Paul, cautiously stepped toward him.
“Leader. Everyone has gathered in the cathedral.”
He still didn’t know who the enemy was.
There were far too many people who might bear a grudge against him to even guess. There was always the chance that someone completely unexpected would appear.
As the saying went, the darkest place was under the candle.
The traitor may be hiding inside.
With all Twelve Apostles and twenty-four elders gathered here, Jeong Myeong-su clenched his teeth.
I’ll find them. I will find them no matter what.
He led his subordinates and kicked the cathedral doors open.
The cathedral, emptied of worshippers, was dead silent.
On the stage below, a cluster of people stood gathered in one place.
When they saw Jeong Myeong-su, they dropped to their knees at once.
“Leader!”
Jeong Myeong-su passed them without a word.
Then he sat down on the golden chair on the dais.
From there, he looked down on everyone.
The twenty-four elders.
The surviving Sixth Apostle, Judas, and the Eighth Apostle, Peter.
Jeong Myeong-su’s eyes widened until they ached with the cold.
I’m going to root out the traitor among these people!
Penetrate let its power reach those beneath the dais.
Leaning forward, he activated his ability. “From this moment on, answer the questions I ask. Anyone who knows about the string of atrocities that have recently occurred, raise your hand.”
One of the bowed heads moved.
“I know.”
The new apostle who had come in after Nike died—the hunter and Sixth Apostle, Judas Iscariot—was the one who spoke.
Under his mask, he continued, “The culprit is Peter, who is standing right beside me.”
It was already information he had received.
Peter had killed the Ninth through Twelfth Apostles by himself.
But why he had done it remained a question.
Peter still denied everything.
“Judas! What is that supposed to mean? That’s nonsense! You were there with me at the time too!”
Peter shook his hands wildly.
“I only did what I was told! Didn’t the leader give me the order personally!”
Penetrate passed through Peter.
Blue mana burst out from inside his body.
What that meant was truth.
Jeong Myeong-su’s gaze shifted sideways.
Judas, the one who had identified the traitor, spoke in an endlessly calm voice.
“Leader. This man is in league with the one who impersonated you.”
Blue energy also flowed around his body.
He’s telling the truth after all.
Still on one knee, Judas said, “I was there too, and I knew at once that he wasn’t the leader. Peter. Did you really think I’d fall for it?”
Peter sprang upright.
“Impersonated? So you’re saying the leader back then was an impostor?! I didn’t know. No, I did think something was strange...! But I never doubted the leader, not even once!”
Peter was beheaded.
The blue light in his body turned red.
That was the moment Jeong Myeong-su saw with perfect clarity that Peter was lying.
Judas looked directly at Jeong Myeong-su.
“Leader. Please judge him according to Tae Gospel 12:38.”
In Jeong Myeong-su’s mind, the pages of the scripture he had personally created fluttered open.
The leader said: Traitors must be executed on the spot.
“Yohan.”
Summoned by the leader, the First Apostle placed his hand on his sword.
Peter sensed what was about to happen and screamed.
“L-leader....!”
Yohan’s blade flashed so fast it was almost impossible to see.
Peter’s head dropped to the ground with a hollow thud.